Almost Invincible by Kristen Brand

Author:Kristen Brand [Brand, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Superheroes | Supervillains
Publisher: Kristen Brand
Published: 2017-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Us poor dumb suckers—we were traveling underground. I’d thought it had been a great idea at the time. There were secret tunnels! Bloodbath and Mother Earth would never find us. I should have thought it through and realized we’d surrounded ourselves with the one element Mother Earth could control.

The cracks in the walls had expanded from hairline to gaping, and chunks of plaster fell off. One of the pipes in the ceiling snapped and crashed to the floor, spewing steam. Rosa screamed, and I hurried toward her and Agent Lagarde. If the ceiling collapsed, I might be able to shield them. If the whole tunnel collapsed, though… I couldn’t hold it all up, at least not for long. We had to get out of here.

The biggest crack in the wall widened, showing an earthen cave on the other side, and Mother Earth stepped into the tunnel.

The shaking stopped. Dust and bits of plaster sprinkled down, visible only when they passed through the flashlight’s beam, but the earthquake seemed to be over. Julio, Agent Lagarde, and I formed a sort of wall in front of Rosa, but the supervillain made no move to attack.

Daphne Villa, AKA Mother Earth, wore a loose green dress that reached her ankles. Her feet were bare and covered in dirt, and brown soil stained the dress’s leafy design. Dark circles stood out around her eyes, and her stay in the Inferno had left her pallid, underweight, and bony. Stringy, dark brown hair reached her waist, and a crown of incongruously bright flowers sat atop her head. She looked like a fairy from an old story—and not the sanitized version where everyone lived happily ever after. There was something unsettling about the way she silently gazed at us with her hollowed eyes.

“I’m guessing Bloodbath wants us alive, or we’d be buried right now,” I said. “Let the girl go, and we’ll talk. She’s an innocent bystander.”

“I’m here to let all of you go,” Mother Earth said.

A beat of silence followed her statement.

“I beg your pardon?” said Agent Lagarde in a flat voice.

Mother Earth took one step to the right, holding out her hand and beckoning to the cave entrance she’d stepped out from. “Follow this tunnel, and it’ll take you under the wall and out of the park.”

“Sure,” said Julio. “You’re not going to collapse it on top of our heads once we go in or anything?”

“If I wanted that, I’d collapse the tunnel right here.”

“If you wanted to help us, you’d take down the wall,” Julio shot back.

Mother Earth’s mouth tightened. “This is all I can do. Just leave. Please.”

Julio, Agent Lagarde, and I shared a quick glance. Mother Earth watched us silently, and there was something about the tightness of her neck as she leaned forward that made her seem desperately invested in our answer. I didn’t like it. If she was helping Bloodbath, why would she aid our escape?

“Sorry,” Agent Lagarde said, “but you can’t expect us to trust you—”

“Everyone who trusted me

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