It took Maggie a moment to process what she was seeing. After a whole day of desperately trying to find Nova and failing, Nova was suddenly right in front of her? In August Pawn? What was she doing there?

It didn't matter, did it? Nova had her bullet. Maggie prepared to run at her, tackle her to the ground, maybe beat her up a little while she took it back…

Nova walked calmly toward Maggie and held out her hand. In her palm, completely unscathed, was the bullet.

Maggie glared distrustfully at the older girl. Was this some sort of trick? Why, after putting Maggie to sleep in order to steal it, would Nova just give it back to her, no strings attached? Was it a fake, rigged to explode when she would least expect it? Was it poisoned? Had Nova turned it into some sort of tracking device or camera?

Its signature was still the same. Nothing about it felt any different than it had for the past thirteen and a half years. It seemed like it hadn't been tampered with.

But… why?

Nova's expression was unreadable as she said, "Take it. It's yours. I'm sorry for stealing it."

Maggie continued to eye her suspiciously, even as she used her powers to snatch the bullet from Nova's hand and tuck it safely back into her pocket, where it belonged. There. Her most prized possession was safe. Everything should feel right now.

But everything still felt off. There had to be some ulterior motive, some pernicious reason Nova would give the bullet back. Her heart leapt for a moment at the thought that maybe Max had said something, maybe he'd realized that Maggie actually was telling the truth and had demanded for Nova to go find her and make things right. But that seemed an awful lot like wishful thinking.

"Why?" she asked Nova, staring her dead in the eye. "Why did you give it back to me?"

Something flickered in Nova's eyes. Some kind of emotion, though Maggie couldn't tell what. "It didn't belong to me," she said simply. "It belongs to you. You had my bracelet for a little while and then I got it back. I had your bullet for a little while and now you have it back. We're even."

Maggie narrowed her eyes. "You got your bracelet back because you came and took it from me. I just tried to steal it from you again last night. Your logic doesn't make sense."

Nova shrugged. "Maybe I just realized that stealing from people who annoy you doesn't make anything better. Maybe it's better to… try to get along instead."

Maggie scoffed. "Try to get along? Who are you, Ca—" The name got stuck in her throat. She couldn't mention him here, especially not to Nova, who'd been there when he— when Maggie—

She swallowed hard. "Me and you will never get along," she said instead, fighting hard to keep her voice under control. "There's no point in even trying."

Nova held her gaze, emotions starting to become visible again. Sadness. Sorrow. Pain. "Maybe there is," she said softly. "Maybe we could get along if we tried. Maybe… maybe someday we'll look back and wish we'd spent more time getting to know each other instead of just fighting."

Maggie scoffed. Was this Nova speaking? Nova, who had never once shown an interest in getting to know Maggie, and who had definitely been the one responsible for most, if not all, of their negative interactions? "Yeah, right," she said. "I don't know what kind of game you're trying to play with me, but I'm not interested. How about you leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone, and that will be that."

Nova hesitated, her mouth opening slightly as if she wanted to say something, but then she just nodded and turned around, giving Maggie one more sad look before walking back out of the store.

What was that all about? Maggie wondered, her suspicions still running rampant. What was Nova up to? Had she somehow gotten wind of the plans for the parade, and was trying to get Maggie to trust her so she could learn more? It was far too late for that to ever happen.

"It opened," August noted, surprise evident in his voice. Maggie jumped. Nova's appearance and the strange interaction that had followed had almost made her forget where she was, and that she'd just somehow managed to open an un-openable box.

She looked back down at the box, and the folded piece of paper that had just been revealed inside. The side facing her was blank, but she could tell there was writing inside. It's probably a love letter or something equally boring, she thought disdainfully, even as her hand reached out and took a hold of the paper.

"Are you going to buy it?" August asked.

She fixed him with her most scathing look. "Does it matter?" she asked.

"Until you've bought the item, that paper belongs to me," August said, reaching out a hand as if expecting her to give it to him.

Maggie pulled it closer to herself and continued to glower at him. "You didn't think the compartment would ever open in the first place," she reminded him. "It's only because of me that we know this paper exists. So I think that makes it mine."

"How did you open it?" August didn't sound combative, just curious.

"That's not your concern," Maggie said loftily.

"I don't have to do business with you, you know." There was a warning in August's voice.

Maggie bit back a retort of, And I don't have to answer your questions. It was reasonable for August to wonder how she'd managed to do something that he'd thought nearly impossible. And if she actually knew how she'd done it, maybe she would've been willing to tell him.

"How much are you selling it for?" she asked instead, keeping the paper firmly clutched in her hand but not opening it. A compromise of sorts.

He gave her a price. Her jaw dropped. It was astronomical.

"That's outrageous," she said flatly. "You've sold much better items than this for a lot less."

"I can discount it if you give me that paper," he offered.

Maggie huffed in exasperation. This was the oldest trick in the book—ramp up the price to something that no one would be willing to pay, with the promise of lowering it if they did what you wanted them to. She was pretty sure it qualified as some form of blackmail.

She reached out for the box with her powers. It still felt warm and inviting; its signature the same as before she'd opened the compartment. The paper wasn't the valuable. The box itself was.

But she had to know for sure what the paper said before giving it up.

"Give me a minute," she decided, turning around and unfolding the paper.

As expected, it contained a note, written in small, slanted cursive.

Dear N and E,

I hope you will never need to read this letter. If you're reading it, it most likely means I didn't survive. And if I didn't survive, my death was probably orchestrated by your uncle Ace.

There is a lot to explain, but I'm going to try to keep this as simple as possible. I made something I never should have made—a helmet that amplifies the powers of anyone wearing it. Worse, I gave it to Ace. You have no idea how much it pains me to know that I am, in a way, responsible for all the havoc and destruction he is wreaking on the city.

But there is hope, because I have come up with a way of destroying the helmet. I am creating a set of specific items, which when combined should give me complete control over the helmet's powers. My plan, once all of these items have been created, is to approach Ace with them in my possession, and use them to obtain the helmet from him. I do not think that I can bring myself to kill my own brother, despite how evil he is. But outside of that, I will do everything I can to stop his reign of terror and unchecked power.

I am telling you this because if I do not survive, these items will work just as well for you. I do not want to put you at risk. This is a last resort. But I want you to know that it is possible.

I have a backup plan as well. Somehow I figured out how to harness the power of the stars and hide it somewhere safe, someplace no one should ever be able to find it until the time is right. I hid that power inside you, N, while you were sleeping. It is in you, but it does not belong to you. It belongs to everybody, and is therefore dangerous. It is capable of breaking all the laws of prodigiousness, and it would be a catastrophe for it to fall into the wrong hands. If my original plan works, I will retrieve this power from inside you and send it back to where it came from. But if my original plan fails, my hope is that you will find a way to access it and use it to destroy the helmet.

I recognize that this is a tremendous burden to place on you both. I sincerely hope that this is never necessary. But just in case, the items you will need are any four of the following:

This box, which will only open for you

A golden spoon, engraved with my initials

A small decorative finch

A small decorative jaguar

A filigree bracelet

A filigree ring

If either of you possesses four of those items at once, and puts on the helmet, it should give its allegiance to you and allow you the choice of what to do with its powers. This seems a safer bet than activating the power of the stars.

As I have said, I hope you will never have to read this. But if you do, please know that I love you very, very much and that I am sorry I had to leave you without a father. I would do anything for you if I could. I love you.

Love,

Papá

Maggie read the letter over and over, not even bothering to turn away when August moved closer to read over her shoulder. Each time she read it, something new jumped out at her, making certain facts very clear.

This letter had been written by David Artino himself.

The star had been a backup plan.

There was another way to control the helmet's powers.

Maggie owned one of the items mentioned in the letter. She was holding another in her hand. And she knew where a third was.

She hadn't figured out a way to open the box at all. It had been Nova's presence that had unlocked it.

Nova was who the letter had been intended for. Nova, and someone whose name started with E, possibly David Artino's wife.

If Nova ever read this letter, she would know how to destroy the helmet for good.

And she would waste no time in doing it.

Maggie folded the piece of paper back up and kept it tightly clutched in her hand. Her original plan had been to read the note and then let August have it. But that seemed risky now. August would've made the same deductions Maggie had, that the letter would be valuable to Nova. She could see him biding his time until Nova came back to the store, then selling it to her just to make a profit.

"I'll pay the full price," she told August, mind scrambling to figure out a good excuse to tell her gang about why she had less money than she'd had last week.

"Why is such an item worth so much to you?" August asked.

Maggie huffed. "Does it matter? You said you'd sell me the item, so sell it to me."

August's expression didn't change as he accepted her money and placed it in his cash drawer. "Ace Anarchy's helmet has already been dealt with. On top of that, it sounds like it's only David Artino's immediate family members who would be able to use these items to accomplish anything. What use do you have for this box?"

Only David Artino's immediate family members who would be able to use the items? That gave her pause. The note hadn't said that… or had it? Maybe it had sort of implied it, but that didn't mean it had to be true, right?

Well. Even if it was true, she needed to take the box and the letter so there'd be no chance of Nova getting them. But she wasn't about to tell August that.

"David Artino was an extremely famous and talented prodigy," she said loftily. "His items are quite valuable."

August continued to watch her, his green eyes boring into her soul. "I'm leaving," Maggie said abruptly, stuffing the letter into her pocket and snatching the box from the counter. "Good bye."

She kept her eyes out for Nova as she hurried home, half expecting the girl to jump out from some alleyway and attack her. She didn't think Nova had noticed the box when she'd come in the store. But what if she had? Sweet marvels, what if she'd recognized it? What if the box was something Nova had seen all the time as a small child, before her parents had died? Could that be the reason she was so uncannily nice to Maggie—some sneaky reason involving the box?

Maggie was so involved in her thoughts, she almost didn't notice that someone fell into step with her as she turned down the road that led to her theater. She jumped, causing Genissa Clark's mouth to curl into a smirk. "You'd think a soon-to-be world-class villain would pay a bit more attention to her surroundings," the older girl remarked.

Maggie scowled. "What are you doing here, Genissa?"

Frostbite's expression darkened. "That's not my name."

"Uh, yeah, it is," Maggie said testily, in no mood to pander to her unlikeable ally. "What do you want?"

"It's Friday night, isn't it? And a pretty big one at that?"

Ugh. She was here for the meeting. "Who said you were invited?"

"Trevor. He told me there was a meeting going on here, and that I should come over and check it out. It's good to be in the know about your allies' plans."

Maggie gritted her teeth. Stupid Gargoyle. She supposed it was a good thing the parade was only a week away—only one week until she'd be rid of him.

"Whatever," she said. "You already know our plans. They haven't changed."

"What's that?" Frostbite was peering at the box.

"A trinket I stole from an old lady," Maggie lied. To her relief, Frostbite didn't display any further interest.

"Oh," Frostbite said suddenly as Maggie opened the door to enter the theater. "I almost forgot to mention. We're meeting Flamethrower tomorrow at ten, in the basement of the Barlow building. Make sure you're there. We have some things we need to review before the big day."

Maggie's stomach swooped, and she fought hard to keep her expression impassive. "I know. You already told me. Of course I'll be there."

Ten o'clock tomorrow morning.Great. Only fifteen hours to come up with a viable excuse about why I can't show up.