The Dominion Key (22 page)

“They’ll be pulling up soon,” Sophie said. “Maybe we can escape out the back door.”

Sophie skidded around a corner into a sleek white kitchen. She was halfway across the room when the door on the opposite side blew off its hinges.

Standing in the obliterated doorway was nFinity.

“Hey, Soph.” His voice came out casual, as if he’d just bumped into a friend after school. But in his eyes, I saw murder. “I was wondering when we’d get the chance to hang out again.”

Sophie returned his greeting by reaching for the silver refrigerator beside her. With remarkable ease, she wrenched it from the wall. Pipes burst; steel scraped against marble. And in the next moment, Sophie thrust the fridge nFinity’s way.

Our former teammate sidestepped the attack. The refrigerator smashed through the wall.

“Is that any way to say hello?”

nFinity ran a hand through his floppy brown hair. He might have acted all calm and confident, but he looked even worse than he had in the food court: Dark rings under his eyes. Splotchy, pale skin.

The four of us—Sophie, Milton, Cassie, and I—were crowded at the other end of the kitchen.

Sophie made a move for the stove, but nFinity was ready this time. He thrust out an arm and unleashed a blast of fire that was bigger than Sophie. Flames tore through the air. Sophie stumbled backward.

nFinity snapped his hand shut. The fire went out at once.

“There’s no need for this to get violent,” he said. “Give yourselves up and I’ll talk to Vex. Ask him to go easy on you. He listens to me.”

“He’s
using
you!” Sophie spat back.

“News flash: that’s the way the world works. You think it was any different when I was a superhero? As long as you’re making money and bringing in commercial deals, everyone treats you like a rock star. But that all ends the second something new comes along.”

nFinity flashed a dirty look my way. Obviously, he was still ticked about being upstaged by the Nameless Hero.

“At least with Phineas Vex, I know exactly what he stands for.” Flames swirled in the palms of nFinity’s hands. “He doesn’t hide who he is. If he wants something, he steals it. No lies, no hidden motives. Not like Gavin Garland. Or your friend Nigel Fleming. Where is Fleming, anyway?” nFinity glanced around. “Ah well, I guess it doesn’t matter. We have what we’re looking for.”

nFinity’s eyes fixed on me.

I clenched my jaw. Any minute, Vex would arrive. And I really didn’t want to be here when he did. I lurched to my side and grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on. Which happened to be … a spatula. Not exactly the world’s best weapon. But with a little spontaneous combustion, it would do.

Energy surged inside me. I reared back and threw the spatula with all my power. By the time it left my hand, it was blazing. But nFinity was ready. He lifted both hands, surrounding himself with a wall of fire. It was like a shield, incinerating anything that came close before it could harm him.

As he rose, the flames rose with him, transforming before my eyes into an eight-foot-tall dragon made entirely of fire. Flames curved into sharp teeth and a long lizard tongue. A blazing pair of wings flapped up and down, sending sparks scattering. Burning talons slashed at the air. A red and orange tail whipped from side to side. On either side of the dragon’s head, two white-hot eyes flickered.

I desperately reached for anything I could find on the counter—a spice rack, a salad bowl, a toaster. One after the other, I charged the objects with spontaneous combustion and tossed them nFinity’s way.

The dragon snapped its fiery teeth and slashed with its flaming claws, turning my “weapons” into ash before they could cause any damage.

It was clear that I wouldn’t have much success fighting an enormous fire dragon with kitchen utensils. Time to move on to another strategy.

Run.

My friends and I staggered into the dining room. The dragon chased us, leaving fire in its wake. Flames danced across the walls. The table was a red blaze. In the living room, Milton pointed at a back window. “Sophie, can you break the glass?”

“No problem.” Sophie grabbed a large-screen TV off the wall and tossed it through the window like a giant Frisbee. Glass shattered, giving us an opening.

But before we could set off for the broken window, a spark hit the rug in front of Cassie. Flames rose, taking the form of the dragon’s claws. They slashed at Cassie. For one horrible moment, I thought she was a goner. But by the time the fiery claws swung, Cassie had vanished. A wisp of silver smoke rippled across the living room. When it reached my side, the smoke transformed back into Cassie.

“Any other ideas?” she asked.

I cast a glance back the way we’d come. nFinity was standing in the dining room. Or what used to be the dining
room. Now it was an inferno. Fire roared all around him. Orange and red blazed in his eyes.

“It’s hopeless, Dread,” he snarled. “Give yourself up.”

Sophie grabbed my arm. “Don’t listen to him!”

She pulled me toward a hall. Milton and Cassie ran after us. The fire spread on all sides, shifting and changing around us, taking on awful forms. The dragon’s head—huge and horrifying—snapped its fiery jaws. The tail swung down from the ceiling. A claw slashed the air.

Heat seared my skin. Everywhere we turned, another flaming obstacle stood in our way. My friends and I huddled at the edge of the living room as the blazing red dragon circled us, closer and closer and—

Then it vanished. And so did the rest of the fire. The forest of flames winked out like a light.

I whirled around to see nFinity lying on the floor, unconscious. Mom was standing over him, gripping a frying pan.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to play with fire?” she said (even though I doubt nFinity heard her).

Dad stepped into the charred dining room beside her. The two of them weren’t dressed like Dr. Dread and the Botanist. More like a suburban couple. But the way they glared at nFinity was pure supervillain. A hundred different emotions well up inside my throat: relief, love, excitement.… But most of all, I was confused.

“Where … What …” I swallowed. “How’d you find us?”

“We received a call from Edwin Alabaster,” Mom said.

I’d never been so happy to find out the principal had
called my parents. I rushed across the room on shaky legs. As I hugged my mom and dad, they updated me on the rest of the story.

“Alabaster told us about how the school was attacked,” Dad said.

“And that you kids managed to get off the island,” Mom added.

“It must’ve been a bad connection, because it sounded like he said you escaped on a giant duck—”

“We assumed he was trying to say ‘truck’—”

I chuckled. “Actually, you had it right the first time.”

“Anyway,” Mom went on, “Alabaster informed us that he’d just received a call from his daughter, who said you were all on your way to a safe house of some kind. He gave us the address and we came straight here.”

“Just in time, by the looks of it.” Dad’s eyes were magnified behind the thick glasses he wore whenever he wasn’t dressed up as Dr. Dread. He examined the charbroiled interior of Dr. Fleming’s house. “What exactly happened here?”

“The explanations are going to have to wait.” Sophie was standing at a window, peering outside. “There’s an evil army in the front yard.”

Milton rushed to the shattered back window. “There are more bad guys out here too!”

Sophie clenched her glowing jaw. “They’ve got us surrounded.”

Looking out the window, I saw Vex’s minions everywhere. Hundreds of Cyclaurs guarded the perimeter of the
house. The morning sun gleamed off their bald heads and motorcycle parts.

And from the sky, their leader emerged.

The figure was a colossus of impenetrable titanium and horrible gadgetry, with hulking arms and legs and chest. Jet boosters flamed from the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet as he drifted closer and closer to the ground. I could just barely see the clear window in the head of the bionic body. The scarred face of a nightmare peering down at us.

Phineas Vex had arrived.

“This is bad,” Sophie muttered.

Milton turned from the broken window, his features pale with worry. “This is
worse
than bad. This is the end of the world.”

Fear buzzed in my chest like a hive of angry hornets. The Cyclaurs revved their engines, as if to cheer on the arrival of Vex. My brain was a screaming match of differing opinions about what to do next.
Run for your life! No, stand and fight! No, pee your pants and cry like a baby!

I was getting dangerously close to going with option #3 when an astonishing sight appeared over the tree line.

Daisy.

Her broken wing had been repaired. The enormous robotic duck swept over the enemy lines. And riding on Daisy’s back were two superheroes making their first public appearance in a
very
long time.

Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid.

Somehow they’d managed to squeeze into their old uniforms—although the
M
logo had completely faded from Mr. Marvelous’s chest and the fabric of Whiz Kid’s one-piece was stretched so tightly across his paunch that it looked ready to burst.

We watched through the window, amazed. The duck angled low over the yard, grabbing hold of a Cyclaur in each of its webbed feet. The tattooed motorcycle dudes looked a little surprised that they were suddenly in the grasp of the world’s largest waterfowl … and even more surprised when Daisy flung them at a couple of trees. The Cyclaurs smashed into a mass of bionic body parts and twisted metal.

Other Cyclaurs turned their headlights on the huge duck. But by the time they fired, Marvin and Gus had navigated Daisy high into the air. Flying over the Cyclaurs, the bird released a series of egg bombs, one after the other.

BOOM!

POWWW!

KABLOOOEY!

The ring of Cyclaurs was consumed by explosions. A wave of fire was followed by a storm of shattered motorcycle parts and shrapnel.

“Nice try, but nothing will stop me this time.” Vex’s voice boomed across the front yard. The window frame rattled.

All around him was a scene of pure chaos. The wreckage of demolished Cyclaurs was scattered everywhere. Craters
had formed in the earth where Daisy’s eggs had crashed. Fire raged in the trees.

But Vex was unharmed. He began walking toward the house, each step shaking the floor beneath our feet. Flames were reflected in the window that shielded his scarred face. A red glow danced in his good eye. The other eye was white and unseeing. His lips curled into a horrible leer.

In the sky, Daisy veered toward him. Marvin and Gus were still perched on the duck’s back, their expressions sharp with determination. Without slowing his pace, Vex raised a hulking arm. A bolt of lightning formed in the clear blue sky and struck Daisy’s wing. The robot rocked sideways and crashed into a stretch of trees.

I lost sight of Marvin and Gus. I could only hope they’d survived.

“You really think a couple of washed-up superheroes and a robotic duck can do anything against me?” Vex’s terrible scowl deepened. “I am invincible. And once I have captured you, Joshua Dread, I will possess the key to ultimate world domination.”

My head filled with horrible visions of Phineas Vex using The Device—
and me
—to bring the world to its knees. Entire armies unable to defend themselves. Governments crumbling. People living in fear, slaves to the wishes of an evil overlord.

Then something else appeared. Something so unexpected—so unbelievable—that for a moment, I was sure I was hallucinating.

Miranda.

I blinked, taking another look. It was really her. She was alive!

She emerged from a bend in the road, racing in our direction. And she’d brought most of Alabaster Academy with her. Students ranging from sixth graders to high schoolers, rushing forward like an attacking army—except for the fact that they were wearing school uniforms. And it wasn’t just students either. A bunch of teachers were in the crowd. I recognized Coach Stillwell with his bristling mustache and undersized shorts. Above him, gripping the handlebars of a hover scooter, his silver hair whipping in the wind, was Principal Alabaster himself.

They must’ve raided Dr. Fleming’s supply of high-grade weaponry. Older kids had plasma cannons and rocket launchers. Middle schoolers were equipped with explosives the size of baseballs. Many of the teachers held glowing spears. Most of the crowd was on foot, but those with the Gyft of flight soared alongside some students and teachers who were outfitted with jet packs and hover vehicles.

The sight of them made my heart jump. Especially Miranda. Ever since I’d watched her fall, fear had settled in the pit of my stomach. The fear that she was gone. That she was dead. I’d never been happier to be wrong. She’d survived. And by the looks of it, she was leading the charge to save us.

My exultant mood lasted for about half a second. Then reality crashed in. There was just one thing standing between us. And that one thing happened to be huge. Invincible. Unstoppable.

Phineas Vex turned to face the students and teachers. Two hatches opened in his shoulders and a duo of guns emerged, each taking aim at the group.