The lab coats scream as the explosion rips through the laboratory, their excitement over my stunt with the fork forgotten. The building shakes with a force I feel in my bones. I watch in horror as people writhe on the floor, swallowed by fire. Others, standing closest to the blast, are simply nowhere, instantly wiped out by the explosion. A second blast shakes the building again, the force of it knocking me from my chair and sending me flying back against the far wall of the small observation room. The guard’s landing flings the door open, and I watch in horror as he flails about, on fire, until he goes still.

          Fire alarms blare throughout the lab and it almost blocks out the ringing in my ears. The smell of burnt hair and flesh sears my nostrils and I cover my nose and mouth with my hand as the heat makes my eyes water. I yank the wires from the electrodes with my free hand, releasing myself from the cords. I struggle to my feet and cross to the door.

          The lab proper is consumed with flames. The entire east wall has been blasted open, revealing a rainy Central City beyond. A piece of equipment explodes, and I cover my head as glass rains down on me. A few pieces lodge themselves in my forearms. I can hardly see through the smoke, but I catch Asher’s blonde hair as she crawls to me and grabs my arm.

          “We go now,” she hisses. Her eyes are red and irritated, and she is streaked with dirt and blood—whose? We help pull each other to our feet. We step over fire and bodies as we make our way to the east wall, now blasted open. We stand maybe a dozen feet off the ground. Before us is a steep drop into the canal running next to the building. Asher points to it.

          “When we get down to the ground, run for the canal,” she says. “Got it?” I nod, my throat too thick with smoke to speak. “Trust me,” she says. Her voice is like gravel.

          Another explosion rocks the building, and it should vaporize us—we’re standing in the middle of it—but the flames lick around us, like there’s some sort of invisible barrier protecting us. It’s hot, but doesn’t burn us.

          I don’t have time to wonder at it. Asher shoves me forward, and we hurtle out of the building. I land on my ass in the bushes and scramble to my feet. Asher is a little more graceful about it than I am, with her smaller frame. We sprint to the drop down to the canal. The rain soaks us through almost immediately, chilling my heat-warmed skin. It leaves my teeth chattering as we slide down the muddy embankment to the water.

          There’s a thin cement walkway on either side of the canal, stretching along its length. For a moment, I think we’re going to jump into the water, but Asher grips my hand and pulls me to the right, along the walkway.

          Further down is a large drainage pipe, almost as wide as I am tall. I have to duck my head when Asher leads me into it. Rainwater flows through it, dumping into the canal. Our legs are muddy, my flimsy shoes and her high heels ruined.

          “Where are we going?” I ask, breathing heavily. I run a hand through my hair, flipping the sodden locks out of my eyes. Asher’s hair is mussed and tangled, her bare arms and legs flushed with cold.

          “What do you know about the Defiants?” she asks, hands on her hips.

          “They’re the resistance, they all have abilities like mine,” I supply, exasperated. “Is that where you’re taking me? Is that where my brother is?”

          “Easy, Sasquatch,” Asher says. “The Defiants have a base in the city. All your questions will be answered there.”

          “What about my brother?”

          “Like I said, all your questions will be answered at our base,” she says. She starts walking, her heels splashing in the flowing rainwater.

          I hurry to follow her, realizing what she’s just said. “You said ‘our,’” I say. “Are you… one of them?”

          Asher pauses and quirks an eyebrow at me. In response, she raises a hand. As she spreads her fingers, flames dance across her hand, its tendrils weaving between her fingers. It gives off a golden glow, and warms the air between us. She shifts her hand so her palm is up, and the fire consolidates to a small bundle glowing above her hand. She meets my gaze and gives me a small, crooked smile.

          “The explosion,” I begin, my voice soft. “That was you?” She nods.

          “Yes,” she replies, and keeps walking.

          “You killed a bunch of people back there,” I breathe.

          Asher doesn’t stop to look at me. “I had to. I had to make it look like we died in there with the rest of them,” she says. She holds the flame out from her body, illuminating the drainage tunnel with a deep orange light.

          I follow her. I want to feel guilty for the lab coats and guard that died at Null Enterprises, but… I hate myself for not resenting it, but I’m grateful for the havoc Asher wreaked on them. For the deaths she caused, like it made up for the dozens of people like me that had likely died in captivity like a bunch of lab rats. Some small, sick part of me wishes I had caused that chaos.

          We walk for what feels like days, though it must only be an hour or so. Asher navigated the drainage tunnels easily, making turns that seem random to me. Finally, she comes to a ladder leading up to a manhole cover. Gloomy afternoon light leaks down into the tunnels, dripping rain on our heads. As Asher reaches the top of the ladder, someone on the surface lifts the manhole cover up and hoists her up onto the street. I’m about to duck back down, thinking the police have caught her, but then I hear laughter up above.

          A hand reaches down as I near the top of the ladder, and I let myself get pulled up. The brightness, even with the rain, is overwhelming compared to the dark orange light from Asher’s flames in the tunnels. I blink it away, my eyes bleary until they adjust. I take in the hand still grasping my wrist, and the rough-hewn jacket and jeans worn by the person who pulled me up. I raise my eyes.

          Standing before me, with gray eyes like storm clouds and our mother’s dark curls, is Aiden.