“Really?” Max said. “I guess that makes me a kind of superhero, huh?”

“You already were, bud,” said Nine.

“Do we know where Six and Sam are?” Max asked.

“Not yet,” said Nine. “But we’re working on it.”

“Actually, we do,” said Lexa, walking in.

Nine and Max looked at her.

“Six called me,” Lexa explained. “A couple of minutes ago.”

“Where is she?” said Nine.

“Las Vegas,” Lexa answered. “A place called the Saturn Hotel.”

“Is she okay?” Max asked anxiously.

Lexa nodded. “She’s fine. For now, anyway. But the Mogs took Sam somewhere else, and she doesn’t know where yet. She’s working on it.”

“The Saturn Hotel,” Nine said. “Why does that name sound familiar? Wait. Isn’t that the place where they’re doing that circus thing based on us?”

“Cirque des Étoiles,” Lexa said. “Battle for Earth.”

“That’s it,” said Nine. “They contacted me a while ago and asked if I wanted to be a special guest on opening night. Even offered me a free suite. I said no.”

“Afraid they’re going to get it all wrong?” said Lexa.

“Holding out for the penthouse,” said Nine.

“Can we get back to Six and Sam?” Max said impatiently. “We’re going to go help them, right?”

“Of course we are,” said Nine.

Max started to get out of bed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Nine said, stopping him.

“You just said, we’re going to go help them,” said Max.

“Not so fast,” Nine said. “First, Six is okay for now. Second, I told you, we need you to create an antiserum to that thing. That’s going to take time.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know,” said Nine. “But right now you need to stay here. Lexa and I have some planning to do.”

“But—”

“I’ll be back in a little while,” Nine promised. “In the meantime, keep practicing your telekinesis. When I come back, I want to see you throw that thing across the room.”

Nine and Lexa left, and Max leaned against the pillows. He stared at the glass. It moved a quarter of an inch. He lifted his hand and slapped it with the other hand.

“Did you just high-five yourself?” Nemo asked from the doorway.

“No,” Max said, embarrassed. “Okay, yeah.”

Nemo laughed. “You’re something else,” she said, walking over to the bed and sitting where Nine had been a moment before. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” Max said. “How about you?”

“Better,” Nemo said. “I actually slept a couple of hours. It was nice to be in a real bed. But then I woke up and started thinking about everybody.”

“Six and Sam?”

“Them,” Nemo said. “But also Ghost and Lava and Bats. We don’t know what happened to them. Or Seamus.”

“Forget that guy,” Max said angrily. “After everything he’s done?”

“Yeah, I know,” Nemo said. “Still. I saw his dad this morning. He looked upset.”

Max grunted. He wasn’t going to waste any time worrying about Seamus. But he was worried about the others. He’d been relieved to be out of the bunker, but he wondered if some of them were still trapped in there.