INFAMOUS

It was the first morning back to class after winter break, and Natalia was already dreading the subway ride to school. Natalia and the Zephyr, the enchanted subway that connected New Victoria to her hometown, had gotten off on the wrong foot last semester when Natalia commented on how old the Zephyr was. Unbeknownst to Natalia and thanks to MERLIN Tech, a special technology created by the Templar, the Zephyr had a personality. And could hold a grudge.

The moment Natalia sat down in the subway car, her bench lurched. Natalia flew out of her seat before toppling to the floor.

“I’ve had just about enough,” she said as she scrambled to pick her things off the floor. Her face was bright red. The students seated nearby were laughing. “How many times do I have to apologize before this bucket of bolts will leave me alone?”

“We tried to warn you,” Todd Toad said. “The Zephyr doesn’t like it when people make fun of her.”

“Subway trains aren’t living creatures,” Natalia said. She reached for a tube of lip gloss that had slid beneath Todd’s bench.

“When you mix magic and technology, strange things can happen,” Todd’s brother, Ross, said. “That’s the beauty of MERLIN Tech.”

The Toad brothers looked nothing alike. Ross was the pudgier of the two. He had a thick shock of auburn hair that looked like an overgrown hedge. Todd was unusually thin, with square glasses and rabbit teeth. They had one thing in common, though. Natalia thought they were both annoying.

Natalia rolled her eyes and stood up. Then she grabbed one of the leather straps that hung from the ceiling. “Did anyone see Ernie this morning? I think he missed the train.”

“I didn’t,” Harley said.

“Me neither,” Max said as he stroked Sprig’s back while she slept next to him in her natural form.

“We saw him,” Todd said. “He’s sitting a few cars back with Kenji Sato.”

“The kid with the Bounder drake?” Max asked.

“I guess,” Todd said with a shrug. “He’s the only Kenji I know.”

“That’s weird,” Max said. “Ernie’s scared to death of that thing.”

“Not anymore,” Ross said. “It was perched on his head.”

“Thanks for the update,” Natalia said. “Now if you don’t mind, we have official Grey Griffins business.”

“We don’t mind,” Ross said.

“Yeah,” Todd said. “Go right ahead.”

Natalia stared at them until they got the hint.

“Oh, sorry,” Todd said. They put on headphones that were both plugged into the same portable music player.

“I doubt they even turned it on,” Natalia said. She lowered her voice as she leaned toward Max and Harley. “Anyway, I think I know why we didn’t see much of Agent Thunderbolt over the break.”

“Why?” Max asked.

Natalia pulled out a folded newspaper from her purse and tossed it to Harley. Sprig opened an eye warily, but then she went back to sleep. “Take a look at the story on the bottom of the front page.”

“ ‘Evil Spirits Banned from Ice-Cream Parlor’?”

“Try the other one.”

“ ‘Vigilante Crime Fighters Strike Again,’ ” Max read aloud.

“So?” Harley asked before he yawned.

“Keep reading,” Natalia said.

Max sighed. He wasn’t in the mood to read the newspaper, but he didn’t feel like arguing.

A masked vigilante group calling itself the Agents of Justice continues its fight against alleged members of a human-trafficking cartel. This marks the third time in less than two weeks that suspected kidnappers have been found tied to gas lamps in an area that locals refer to as Bludgeon Town.

There are some who believe these vigilantes are students from the changeling program at Iron Bridge Academy lashing out in response to the disappearance of two classmates, Becca Paulson and Robert Hernandez, both presumed dead.

“It’s preposterous,” Connie Nipkin, dean of the changeling program at Iron Bridge Academy, said. “The changelings are carefully monitored for their own safety, and I can assure you that none of our students have been wandering around the streets alone.”

When Max finished reading, he folded the paper, handed it to Natalia, and then sat back against the bench.

“There’s no way Ernie could pull off something like that,” Harley said. “I mean, come on. We’re talking about the same kid who refuses to water-ski because he thinks a giant snapping turtle is going to swallow him.”

“Who else would dress up in a costume to fight crime?” Natalia asked.

“Look, I know that’s Ernie’s fantasy,” Harley said, “but I’m telling you, there is no way he’s wandering around New Victoria looking for a fight. Did you see the picture of the guy they caught? He had a tattoo on his neck, and it looked like he could bench-press a car.”

“I’m more worried about Smoke,” Natalia said. “What’s going to happen when Ernie bumps into him?”

“Yeah, well, Smoke is definitely looking for him,” Harley said.

Natalia frowned.

“Monti and I saw him in New Victoria last night. He wanted us to give Ernie a message.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure,” Harley said. “I told him to bug off.”

Natalia bit her lower lip. “What are we going to do?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Max said. “Ernie’s fast enough that he should be able to get away from just about anything.”

“Not if he’s asleep,” Natalia said.

“The Templar placed nullifiers around his house,” Max said. “Smoke can’t get in or out—at least not when he’s using his power. He’ll have to walk in like everyone else, and since it’s under twenty-four-hour surveillance, I doubt he’ll show up anytime soon.”

“All it takes is one mistake, and we could lose him forever,” Natalia said.

Max sighed. “Why didn’t he come to us?”

Before anyone could answer, the students heard the brakes screech. The passenger car lurched, and sparks flew outside the window as the lights flickered overhead. Moments later the Zephyr came to a stop.

Ross fell from his seat and tumbled down the aisle. The flap of his backpack flew open, spilling the contents across the floor of the subway car.

“What are these?” Natalia asked, reaching down to pick up a mask and a black driving cap from under a stack of comic books.

Ross regained his balance and snatched the mask out of Natalia’s hand. “Those are expensive collectibles, thank you very much.”

“You don’t even want to know how much they cost,” Todd said.

“Try me.”

“Never mind,” Ross said, placing them back in his bag.

“If they’re so expensive, what are you doing carrying them around in your backpack?” Harley asked.

Ross looked like he’d just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Are you two part of that Agents for Justice nonsense?” Natalia asked.

Ross looked to Todd for help, but Todd was watching the commotion outside.

“This isn’t good,” Todd said over the murmurs of the other students. His head was craned out the open window.

“What?” Natalia asked, forgetting about the mask and the hat.

“I heard the conductor talking about shield failure this morning.”

“What?”

“Here’s the deal,” Todd said. “To move between dimensions, you need a powerful shield, or you get pulled apart like quantum spaghetti.”

“That’s disgusting,” Natalia said.

Max could see small clockworks on wheels through his window. They were heading toward the engine as the tunnel echoed with the sound of air wrenches, welding torches, and clanging metal.

“Assembler bots,” Todd said.

“Technically they’re Assembler clockworks,” Ross said.

“You’re right,” Todd said. “If they were robots, they’d have wires and silicon chips.”

“Let’s just hope they can get that shield repaired,” Ross said.

“Wait,” Natalia said. “They’re going to test it first, right?”

“That’s a good one,” Ross said.

“Then how are they going to know if the shield is working?”

Lightning raced along the underside of the subway train before slamming into one of the clockworks. With a yelp, it flew backward.

The Zephyr flared back to life.

“It looks like we’re about to find out,” Ross said.