The Pyramid Chronicles: Tyche Point (#1)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Delaying the Inevitable

It wasn't often that Willow was able to catch a break from work that required all her mental focus. Training did take a fair amount of attention, but it was nothing compared to coding or hacking or researching equations.

Which meant her mind had a chance to wander.

"I'm off to work," Eric said, not long after the four left. "I have to take the car, you guys are okay to walk when you leave, right?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Adam said. Willow nodded.

The door closed behind Eric.

Adam summoned a fireball over his outstretched palm. "Wanna keep going a little longer?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, sure." Willow moved into a defensive stance with her fists raised in front of her face. Adam took a step forward and sent the fireball flying her way.

Willow pulled up a flat square of ice and stepped to the side. The fireball collided with the shield and shattered it, sending a spray raining against the carpet.

"You okay?" Adam asked. "You seem distracted."

"I'm fine."

Adam relaxed his stance. "You don't have to train with us, you know."

"Duh."

"You just don't seem to want to be here, the way the others do."

Willow rested a hand on her hip. "Well, I care more about my tech work than my powers."

"Then why help us? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're getting us that data from SCI," Adam said. "But I feel like you're not even trying to improve your abilities."

Willow tensed. He wasn't entirely wrong, but not for the reasons he thought. And all at once, she felt bad for lying to him. About multiple things.

She chided herself in an attempt to drown out the guilt. What you do with your powers isn't his business.

And what was the point of telling him the truth about the fragment? What would he do if he knew the town was on the verge of destruction? There was nothing he could do. Nothing any of them could do.

Except her.

"If you don't care about helping us beyond stopping the kidnappings, that's okay. But we are here," Adam continued. "And it'll be easier to take on Scorpion as a team."

"Sure." Willow's voice threatened to falter. Why did he care if she helped? She wasn't nice. She didn't laugh and joke around like the others.

"You okay?" Adam pressed.

She wished he'd stop asking before she was stupid enough to give him an answer. Kate. The rest of the tech club. Her father. Willow's fists tightened. Frost crept across the skin of her hands, spreading to her wrists.

She was drowning. The offer from Scorpion was a lifeboat.

And Adam—

"I don't know," Willow admitted. The words she never said to anyone. Not like this. "I—"

The alarm on her phone went off. Her heart flipped. "The cameras."

"What?" Adam asked.

Willow mentally kicked herself. What the hell was she going to say to him? Tell him that she'd left the tech club, her last semblance of community at that stupid school? Or that her father was trying to contact her, that he was suddenly interested in having her work for him now that she was a promising engineer? Admit that she was angry all the time? That she was ready to do anything to one-up the people around her? That she wanted them all to regret moving on without her?

Reveal that deep down, some part of her wanted to watch this stupid town crumble in front of her eyes?

Now wasn't the time. Willow swallowed the lump in her throat and grabbed her phone, ignoring the way her hand trembled. "Remember those cameras I set up?"

Adam frowned. "Yeah?"

"I also have them programmed to let me know if there's motion around the building." Willow opened her camera feed and held it out for Adam to see. Three kids in matching black jackets exited the alleyway. "People are leaving the arcade."

"They could be going after another kid," Adam said.

Willow scanned the faces on the camera feed. She didn't remember seeing any of them when she toured Scorpion's lab. They wouldn't recognize her, right? "Should we follow them?" she asked, thinking aloud. "Call the others?"

"I'll text them," Adam said. "But we should go try to find these guys now. Maybe we can keep an eye on them until the others can back us up."

Was it really that easy for him? To just run out there and get involved in this?

Willow grabbed her bag, hiding her conflicted expression from Adam. "Okay. Yeah. Let's go."