First published by Allen & Unwin in 2021

Text copyright © Anh Do, 2021

Illustrations by James Hart, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or ten per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.

Allen & Unwin

83 Alexander Street

Crows Nest NSW 2065

Australia

Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100

Email: info@allenandunwin.com

Web: www.allenandunwin.com

ISBN 978 1 76087 642 5

eISBN 978 1 76106 158 5

Cover design by Kristy Lund-White and James Hart

Text design by Kristy Lund-White

Set by Kristy Lund-White

‘She can’t have gotten far!’

Agent Ferris’s eyes were full of rage behind his square glasses.

He addressed the military guys around him. ‘Use where we found Firefighter as the starting point,’ Ferris snapped. ‘Concentrate the search north, deeper into the forest.’

He turned to a huge screen, jabbing at it.

‘That one – that’s Firefighter coming back, right?’ asked Ferris.

‘Yes sir,’ replied one of the officers.

‘Get him to the medical bay as soon as he returns, then send the chopper back out to search. The rest of you, land vehicles. Let’s get some boots on the ground,’ ordered Ferris. ‘MOVE.’

Amber heard helicopters in the distance, but they didn’t sound like they were getting closer. She sat with her back leaning against a tree deep in the forest; the dragon-shaped swarm of locusts had been vital in helping her escape, but the insects weren’t made to carry such weight for a long time. Their flight had slowed and faltered, and grown closer to the ground. So she’d given them a break and sat down, trying to make sense of what she’d seen through the rips in the Firefighter’s uniform.

Those scars looked just like my brother’s, she thought. They told me Reggie died, but can I trust them? What would his scars look like after this many years, anyway?

Amber looked up to the sky. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. The sun felt good on her face. She closed her eyes, and in an instant the action of the previous night caught up with her and she fell asleep.

Amber woke sharply to a loud buzzing sound. A trail bike zipped past her resting spot, engine whining as the rider jumped over a log.

The rider spun the bike’s back wheel around and revved the engine.

Amber realised the locusts had dispersed while she’d been asleep, so she scrambled to her feet and ran. She ducked and weaved around branches and shrubs as the rider closed in, blocked only from reaching her by the thickness of the foliage.

The locusts started to return, but there weren’t enough of them yet. Amber sensed grasshoppers in the foliage disturbed by the spinning tyres, and reached out to them with her mind.

Helmet.

Nine grasshoppers leapt onto the rider’s helmet.

Amber thought one more single word.

Face.

The grasshoppers climbed into the helmet as the rider screeched in terror, the trail bike slipping sideways from under him. It skidded into a bush and slammed the rider into a shrub.

Amber swung around to look, then heard the buzz of more trail bike engines. More locusts had gathered, enough to take her up to the sky. She lay flat against the insects, and they swept her around branches up towards the treetops.

Amber needed to get her bearings. She broke through the foliage and looked out to the horizon just as a helicopter swooped over the treetops.

The rotor sent a hard wind buffeting down on her and the locusts. They stayed as close to Amber as they could, but the force of the wind was too much. Amber began to fall.

She clutched at branches as she dropped. Twigs snapped in her hands. As she plummeted, the plants gave some cover and the locusts started to gather underneath her again. Amber felt them supporting her.

More locusts came, seeming to be drawn by her panic. Her fall slowed down, and then stopped with a crunch. Amber found herself hanging from a sturdy branch.

Then the pain came. Nothing felt broken, but her ankle burned and throbbed. She looked down and saw that the branch had caught her not far off the ground.

Her locusts gathered around. I can use them to get me down on the ground gently, she thought, just as there was a crack and the branch she was holding broke. She fell, yelping in agony as her weight came down on her right foot.

‘Over here!’ A man’s voice sounded behind her, and she heard tramping feet crunching leaves and sticks.

Soldiers! Amber dragged herself back up to her feet and limped away from the voice as fast as she could.

As she lurched away, she fought to ignore the pain and focus her mind. The locusts surrounded her, and she felt other insects too, jumping and skipping alongside.

Grasshoppers, thought Amber. Now, how do I get them to help?

The locusts gathered under her legs and pushed. She was still limping, but moving along quicker as the bugs took some of her weight.

It still wasn’t enough to get away from the soldiers. They were gaining on her.

Amber suddenly had an idea. She could get the insects to form two boots walking away from her to trick the soldiers!

But how do I tell the grasshoppers?

Amber focused on the rhythm of footsteps. Ca-crunch. Ca-crunch. Ca-crunch.

The grasshoppers started to bunch together.

Footsteps, heavier and more regular than her own, formed and walked west, away from her.

Now she needed the locusts to take her east.

Amber realised that she had ordered her insects around, but for the first time was going to ask them a question.

Ready?

The answer came back not as a word, but a feeling. Ready.

Amber sat in mid-air, giving all her weight to the locusts. They swooped her around a mighty oak, big enough to hide behind.

Amber snuck a peek around the tree and saw five soldiers. A few metres away, the grasshoppers kept the rhythm. Ca-crunch. Ca-crunch.

‘This way!’ One soldier pointed, and brought a radio to his ear as they all ran. ‘She’s headed west, sir. We’re closing in.’

Amber gave a sigh, and asked her insect friends to carry her east.

After a couple of kilometres, Amber could feel the locusts starting to tire. The soldiers hadn’t reappeared since heading off after the grasshoppers, so Amber asked the locusts to set her back down on the ground. Her ankle was still tender; she hoped it was just a sprain.

Sensing her pain, the locusts returned to her leg, but she shook her head.

No. Rest.

The locusts retreated, and Amber smiled. The last couple of hours had taught her that the insects weren’t merely servants, they were allies, and she needed to treat them that way.

She found a branch that was the perfect length to use as a crutch, and tried her weight on it. Amber needed somewhere to hide and heal.

As she looked around, considering her options, the sound of helicopters in the distance startled her.

Ahead was a cliff face jutting twenty metres up, which could give some extra cover from the helicopters - even if they could see her, they couldn't land.

She lurched her way towards the wall of stone, and watched with curiosity as the locusts flew on ahead to a patch of creeping vines. They flew straight into the vines and pulled them apart like curtains, revealing a cave opening just big enough for Amber to crawl into.

Amber stood still for a moment before the mouth of the cave. The helicopter noises weren’t getting any closer, so she sat down by the hole in the cliff face.

She gasped as she took her right boot off, wincing as she prodded at her ankle. Swollen, but not too badly, she thought.

Boot back on, Amber gritted her teeth and slowly crawled into the cave.

Reggie sat up on the bed in the medical bay, the skin under his bandages itching like crazy. He didn’t scratch – he didn’t want to feel the damage those beetles had done.

The medic was shining a torch in his eyes, one at a time, checking for concussion.

That clawed fist, Reggie thought. There must have been thousands of insects in that thing. Tens of thousands. It hit like a truck.

The medic clicked off the torch, and Reggie blinked away the discomfort it had caused. Power like that, she could cause total chaos, he thought. She said she just wanted to be left alone. Maybe we should leave her alone.

The door opened and Agent Ferris entered, frowning.

‘Well?’ Ferris asked.

‘He’s banged up,’ replied the medic, ‘but no signs of concussion. I recommend a week—’

‘Your recommendation is noted.’ Ferris turned to Reggie. ‘We need you back in the field tomorrow.’

‘I’ll find her, sir.’ Reggie straightened his posture, trying to hide his doubts.

‘No, she apparently has you outgunned. We’ll get her another way. We have different plans for you.’

‘But sir—’

Ferris turned and walked out. ‘See you at six a.m., Firefighter.’

Reggie watched him leave, a bit embarrassed but also a bit relieved.

Amber crawled in deeper, and the cave continued into a tunnel. The tunnel turned a corner and the sunlight gave way to darkness, but little green glowing flecks dotted the way ahead. Her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, and she saw … worms.

Glow-worms, Amber realised. She remembered reading about them and their natural firefly-like glow.

She continued on her hands and knees until she hit a point where the passage split in two.

Which way?

As the thought entered her head, the worms to her right changed colour, their green glow replaced by red. To her left, the green remained.

Glow-worms glow red when they feel threatened, Amber recalled. Could they be warning me?

Amber had no better ideas, so she crawled into the left passage. After a few more metres her ankle started to really throb, just as dim light filtered in from around the next corner. The cave opened up into a small tree-filled canyon, surrounded by stone walls.

The plants were lush, with berries dangling from some branches. The leaves overhead were thick enough to make it tough to see in from above, but with large enough gaps to let in sunlight and warmth.

Amber sat, the vines covering the ground beneath her. She listened for the sounds of aircraft, but could hear nothing. She closed her eyes and lay back. The last time she slept she’d woken into a panicked chase, so it took longer for her to relax this time, but eventually sleep came.

By ten past six the next morning, Reggie was in a van with four heavily armed agents.

He opened the envelope Ferris had given him, containing the notes on the mission they were all heading for.

A hacker known as E-Boy has used an internet connection traced back to the address you’re heading to. Arrest and question anyone there. Let no one get away.

The only other document in the envelope was a floorplan of a house.

Reggie read the instructions again. Arrest and question anyone there. That’s pretty vague, he thought.

Twenty minutes passed without anyone speaking. Then the van’s GPS beeped, and the driver said, ‘Get ready. Almost there.’

Three of the agents checked their equipment as Reggie looked through the van window at an average suburban street. He tried to settle his doubts.

Amber woke not long after dawn. The canyon was a handy place to hide, but didn’t offer much shelter from sunlight.

Sleeping on vine-covered ground had left her aching and sore, most of all from her injured ankle. Amber wrapped it tightly with a vine and stood, but her leg would barely support her weight. She grabbed some low-hanging berries then sat straight back down to eat, putting her foot up on a log so that the ankle was elevated, like she’d been taught in school.

Well, she thought, I guess I’m staying put for a little while.

The van pulled up in front of a low-cut hedge. All five men poured out and leapt over the hedge, quickly crossing the front porch to the door. Two agents lined a small battering ram up with the lock. The driver nodded and the agents swung, the door flying open with a crunch.

They all charged in, two of them shouting, ‘Government agents! Show yourselves!’ as they moved through the living room, dining room and kitchen. The lead agent, Reggie and one other scaled the staircase.

At the top of the stairs, they found an old man in short pyjamas, hurriedly trying to pull a dressing-gown around his thin frame.

The old man said, ‘What on earth? What’s going—’ and gasped as an agent grabbed him and shook him roughly.

‘Where is he?’ the agent shouted. ‘Where’s E-Boy?’

The other black-clad agent charged away down the hall as the old man stammered, ‘Wh-what?!’

‘Where’s E-Boy?’ The agent twisted the old man’s arm, making him wince.

‘I don’t know what that is!’

Reggie put his hand on the agent’s shoulder. ‘He’s not a threat.’

The agent snarled, ‘Back off, matchstick. The professionals are handling this.’

Reggie’s hand didn’t move.

Their colleague returned from down the hall. ‘I found his computer.’ He motioned for the others to follow, which they did – handcuffing the old man and hauling him along behind them.

They entered a study and saw a computer that was at least a decade old.

‘No one’s hacking anything with that,’ Reggie said.

‘Hacking?’ The old man’s face was full of panic and confusion. ‘I just use it for a bit of banking and to—’

‘SHUT UP.’ The lead agent lifted the hand holding the handcuffs, bending the old man forward and making him cry out in pain. ‘A criminal’s internet connection was traced back to this house.’

‘Please.’ Tears formed in the old man’s eyes. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

Another agent entered the study, carrying a wallet and driver’s licence.

‘Arthur Stratton, aged seventy-eight, licence shows this address,’ he said. ‘Do you live here alone, Mr Stratton?’

‘Since my wife died three years ago,’ sobbed the old man.

Reggie put his hand on the chain connecting the handcuffs and pushed down, letting Arthur stand straight again. ‘It’s obvious that your hacker tapped into this connection without the owner’s knowledge. We’re wasting our time.’

The lead agent came nose-to-nose with Reggie. ‘We have our orders. Either follow them or get out of the way.’

Reggie said quietly, between gritted teeth, ‘It looks like you have things under control. I’ll be outside.’

He stormed down the stairs as the lead agent shouted, ‘Tear the place apart!’

As Reggie walked outside, he could hear glass breaking, and the old man protesting. He stood for a moment, then shook his head and picked up a rock from the garden. He walked up to the driver’s side window of the van, and broke it with the rock.

Reggie put his hand to the jagged hole and gave a slight flicker of his power, then returned to the house.

‘Guys,’ he shouted, ‘there’s a problem outside. A big one.’

‘What is it?’ one of the other agents called back.

‘You need to follow me. Now.’

Reggie walked back outside, two agents following. He pointed to the front of the van, which was now billowing smoke.

‘Where’s the fire extinguisher?!’ one agent shouted.

‘In the glovebox,’ the other replied resignedly. The fire was making it unreachable.

The first guy ran back to the house. ‘Agent White, we have a situation,’ he yelled.

Agent White charged out of the house, dragging the old man with him.

‘WHAT IS GOING ON?!’ he screamed. He ran to the van and saw sparks as the fire short-circuited the ignition and the dashboard. The van wouldn’t be drivable for a long, long time.

Agent White gave a frustrated grunt and barked at another officer to order a pickup from headquarters, before unlocking the old man’s handcuffs. ‘Don’t leave town, Mr Stratton. We’ll be in touch.’

White then shot a furious look at Reggie, who shrugged.

Normally Amber didn’t mind staying in one place, observing and studying. But now that she had to stay still, against her own wishes, it was starting to annoy her.

It occurred to her that she hadn’t had a chance to really test her abilities. She’d mostly called the insects when she was reacting to a situation, when she was angry or threatened. Maybe it was time to find out what she could do and when.

Amber concentrated, and soon saw glowing purple dots all around. They were different sizes and shapes, but she couldn’t quite tell which glow meant which insect.

Over the next two hours, Amber called on different types of insects, and noticed how long they took to arrive. She called for ants, and they appeared in great numbers from under the ground almost instantly.

She summoned mosquitoes, which took a little longer to arrive. Mosquitoes don’t usually swarm, and when they came in their hundreds the whiny buzzing was almost deafening.

When she reached out for moths, she was surprised at the amount of movement in the leaves and vines all around her. Sphinx moths, she thought. Coloured to blend in with the plants.

What about bees? Unlike wasps or hornets, a bee can only sting once and then it dies. But bees scare people, she thought. Maybe I can use that.

She concentrated. Only two turned up at first, so she waited.

Agent Ferris stood behind his desk and shook his head. ‘This is bad, Reggie.’

Reggie stood in front of Ferris’s desk, posture stiff at attention. ‘I agree, sir. I’m sorry. I only wish I had seen the criminal or criminals responsible.’

‘Why didn’t you put the fire out with your water-power?!’

Reggie shrugged. ‘I’m still learning how my powers work, sir. Maybe I can’t create the water when I’m annoyed.’

‘An investigation was sabotaged by this fire,’ said Ferris. ‘We will get to the bottom of this, Firefighter.’

Reggie rolled his eyes. ‘Investigation? The, uh, suspect was almost eighty, his computer was a relic – there was no way any hacking was happening from that house.’

Ferris locked eyes with Reggie. ‘Agent White has twenty years of experience, and a lot of interrogations under his belt. He knows what he’s doing.’

Reggie put both fists on the desk and leant towards Ferris. ‘That wasn’t an interrogation. It was bullying. And next time you need a full squad to hurt an old man, leave me out of it.’

Ferris raised both hands in a calming gesture. ‘Look, we didn’t know what to expect. We’re chasing someone dangerous. White had to go in heavy. Maybe he went a bit overboard.’

Reggie sighed. ‘Surely there are people you could send me after that are just straight-up bad? I can’t keep second-guessing these missions!’

‘So trust us,’ said Ferris. ‘Trust me. Nothing is simple in running a government, or protecting one.’ He walked around his desk. ‘I’ve spent my career making these sorts of decisions so that people like you don’t need to. You’re a powerful asset, Reggie. We’re not going to waste your talents.’

Reggie looked down at his hands, silent. Ferris put his hand on Reggie’s shoulder and said, ‘Go take a break. Lie down. It’s been a frantic few days.’

Reggie nodded, and left without another word. As he walked out of one door and closed it behind him, Agent White entered through another, behind Ferris.

‘So you think I went overboard, do you, sir?’ White asked.

Ferris smiled but didn’t turn around. ‘I had to tell him something,’ he said. ‘He packs a punch, but he’s still a civilian at heart.’

‘That’s a problem, sir. A large one.’

Ferris’s smile faded. ‘Might need to keep an eye on him next time out.’

There was a knock on the door. An agent came in without waiting for permission, and with him was an older man wearing overalls.

‘Sorry to barge in, sir,’ said the agent, ‘but I think you’ll want to hear this.’

‘I hope for your sake you’re right, Nordstrom,’ said Ferris. ‘How can I help you, Mr …’

‘Uh, Wallace. Jackson Wallace. I run the honey farm just outside town.’

Ferris looked at Agent Nordstrom, who said, ‘Tell him what happened, Mr Wallace.’

‘Okay. This will sound ridiculous, but … my bees ran away. Well, flew away.’

‘How do you mean?’ asked Ferris.

‘About an hour ago, they just up and flew out of my hives. All in one direction. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘Which direction did they fly in?’ Ferris asked.

‘I’m not sure,’ said Wallace. ‘North, I guess?’

‘Thank you, Mr Wallace,’ said Ferris quickly. ‘Nordstrom, see that Mr Wallace gets home okay. White, come with me to the satellite room.’

‘And our hot-headed friend?’ asked White. ‘Are you going to assign an agent to watch him?’

‘Not one,’ said Ferris. ‘Three.’

On the biggest screen in the room was a satellite photo of Wallace’s honey farm. Four large white boxes behind the house were clearly the beehives.

‘Wallace said the bees left about an hour ago,’ said Ferris. ‘Show me sixty-five minutes ago.’

The screen flickered, but there was no other change.

‘Okay. Move forward two minutes at a time.’

The screen flickered again, then again. After one more flicker, what looked like a small cloud of dots could be seen erupting from the hives.

‘There!’ said Ferris. ‘Follow that swarm.’

The view on the screen kept the cloud of bees in the middle as the landscape changed. After a few minutes they disappeared into the forest.

‘That has to be Skydragon calling them. No other reason for them to leave their hive and then travel in a straight line like that.’ Ferris turned to Agent White. ‘Take a team into the woods, following the exact line the bees were flying in. It’ll lead you straight to her. Oh, and White … use the new Cloudvision.’

‘Is it ready?’ asked White.

‘It’s ready enough,’ said Ferris.

Amber smiled at the ants as they crawled over the bindings on her ankle.

She had spent hours summoning insects of different kinds, and moving them around the canyon in various shapes and formations. Now, though, she was trying something different – by her will, the ants were making small adjustments to the vine bandage so that it fitted better, adjustments too tiny to make with her own fingers.

Then she heard it.

At first it sounded like the mosquitoes were returning, but the sound wasn’t as high-pitched. Amber could feel her flying friends getting out of the way of whatever was coming. Still sitting, she dragged herself into some bushes so that she couldn’t be seen from above.

The noise grew louder, and then through the leaves she saw a drone fly into the canyon. It had a long, complicated-looking camera sticking out from its underside. The camera slowly panned around the canyon, and Amber’s breath caught in her throat.

The camera aimed its lens straight at her and stopped moving.

Surely that thing can’t spot me, Amber thought.

‘I think I have her,’ Agent White said into his helmet microphone. ‘The heat-reading camera on the Cloudvision drone has spotted someone in a canyon less than half a kilometre from here.’

‘I see her,’ said Ferris, looking at the same picture on a screen in the satellite room.

‘That’s rough terrain,’ Ferris continued. ‘I have a chopper on its way. Get there as soon as you can. We’ll keep an eye on … wait, what just happened?’

The picture from Cloudvision vanished, replaced by static.

‘Maybe the Cloudvision wasn’t ready enough,’ said White.

‘Or her bugs took it out! Go get her! The woods are too thick for satellite coverage. Don’t let her get away!’

The drone crashed into the ground, ants crawling out from inside it and back into the foliage. The locusts had flown the ants up into the drone.

Amber heard the helicopter closing in. It didn’t have room to land, but it could lower agents or soldiers into the canyon. She moved her leg and her ankle twinged. Surely she wouldn’t get far on it.

I don’t think I have much choice, she thought.

The wind from the helicopter’s rotor whipped smaller branches around in every direction. Six ropes dropped from the chopper and six agents lowered themselves into the small canyon.

They looked around, tasers drawn. They moved branches and shrubs aside and looked everywhere, including the bushes Amber hid under. An agent squatted down and saw drag marks leading from the bushes to the tunnel entrance.

The agent tapped his earpiece and said, ‘Agent White, it looks like she’s crawled into a cave in the southwest corner. Might be a tunnel. It’s too small for us to follow.’

‘Leave one agent there in case it’s just a cave and she has to come back out,’ said White. ‘The rest of you get back in the chopper and watch the area. If it is a tunnel and she gets out to the open, those bugs of hers can move her fast.’

The agent at the cave entrance called out to his team. ‘Finlay, stay here in case she comes out. Rest of you, back in the chopper.’

Five of the agents grabbed ropes as they were reeled back into the helicopter, and it headed southwest to search for Skydragon.

Amber waited.

She heard the agent’s orders and heard the chopper fly off. Slowly, one at a time, Amber asked the sphinx moths that were covering her to move away. They had camouflaged her perfectly when the agent looked in under the bushes.

The trail to the cave, made by ants and beetles pushing rocks, had also worked like a charm.

The agents had been fooled, but one had stayed behind. So Amber moved as slowly and quietly as she could, parting the leaves just enough to see the agent standing at the tunnel entrance.

One by one, Amber brought the locusts into her hiding spot.

She felt like it was taking forever. Her heart was beating heavy in her chest, and her breathing sounded loud in her ears. The locusts gathered around her, waiting to carry her away. She just needed the right moment.

After another fifteen long minutes, Amber heard the agent say, ‘Nothing to report, sir. No movement … ’

As he spoke, Amber sent twenty eastern Hercules beetles into the cave.

Six centimetres long and pale yellow, a clump of them walked into the tunnel right under the agent’s nose.

‘Wait,’ said the agent. ‘Some beetles have just gone in … no, it doesn’t look like a natural formation. I’m going to look a little closer.’

The agent crouched down, holding a taser and a torch side by side, both aimed into the tunnel.

Now.

Amber propped herself up on her elbows and her uninjured foot, and in a blink the locusts crowded underneath her and lifted her, flying her out of the hiding spot.

‘I can’t see any— wait, SHE’S HERE!’ Amber heard the agent shouting behind her, followed by the electric crackle of the taser. She shut her eyes and waited for the shock …

None came. She must have gotten out of range.

‘She’s flying out of the canyon heading northeast,’ the agent yelled. ‘Repeat, northeast!’

The locusts carried Amber over the edge of the canyon feet first. She could hear the helicopter above the treetops, so she kept herself as flat as possible, but the leaves and branches whipped over her feet towards her face. It felt as if the trees were trying to blind her. Between the speed and her fear, she was struggling to breathe.

Then a feeling washed over her. It was a sense of calm, almost relaxation, but it didn’t come from her.

It came from the locusts. If the feeling they sent could be translated into words, it would have said, Don’t worry. We’ve got you.

Amber closed her eyes and let them take her to safety. Her ankle still hurt, but she couldn’t waste any more time. She needed food and answers, and had an idea where she could get both.

Agent Carlton, who had led the team of agents into the canyon, stood stiff with his hands behind his back.

He was alone in Agent Ferris’s office, waiting. The ticking of the clock on the wall was the only sound in the room. After the longest three minutes of Carlton’s life, the door behind the desk opened and agents Ferris and White walked in.

Carlton said, ‘Sir, I—’

Ferris pointed at him, his finger centimetres from Carlton’s nose.

‘No,’ said Ferris. ‘You don’t talk. I don’t want to hear from the agent who searched the exact spot where a teenage girl was hiding and didn’t find her. I will decide which of our faraway bases you’re going to clean toilets in, and until I do you will keep your mouth shut.’

Carlton did as he was told, nodding to show he understood.

‘Right,’ said Ferris. ‘Any good news?’

White shook his head. ‘She kept low and quiet. By the time we got our people to the other side of the canyon, there was no trace of her.’

Ferris rubbed his forehead in frustration.

‘Why wouldn’t she just leave?’ Ferris asked. ‘She must have some reason to stick around, something … or someone.’

He looked at White. ‘Monitor phone records, bank records, everything. Someone’s in touch with her, and I want to know who.’

White nodded and left. Ferris turned to look at Carlton.

‘Now,’ he said. ‘What are we going to do with you?’

The ants crawled all around the window latch and unfastened it.

Amber eased the window open and climbed in awkwardly, some of her locust friends boosting her injured leg to help make her entrance as quiet as possible.

Irene jumped as Amber slid into her living room. ‘Amber, you frightened the life out of me! Why are you sneaking around like this?’

‘The National Service keep trying to catch me,’ Amber said. ‘I don’t want to put anyone else at risk, especially you.’

Irene saw the makeshift bandage. ‘What on earth … sit down, you’re hurt!’

‘It’s just a sprain, it’s not that bad.’ A familiar smell from the kitchen made Amber’s mouth water.

Irene saw the look on her face, and smiled. ‘Come on. Then we’ll wrap that ankle properly.’

Amber beamed.

The instant Irene set a plate of beef casserole on the dining table in front of her, she wolfed it down.

Irene sat quietly, happy to see Amber eating so heartily, but worried that she’d gotten so hungry.

‘You look like you needed that,’ said Irene, ‘but I don’t think you came here just for a meal.’

Amber looked up. ‘My brother may not be as dead as we thought.’

‘What?’

Amber told Irene about her encounter with the Firefighter.

‘He was wearing a mask,’ said Amber, ‘but part of his uniform ripped. I saw scars on his back that looked like I remember Reggie’s. Just like mine.’

Irene sat silent, processing it all.

‘Can I have another look at our family photos?’ asked Amber.

With a nod, Irene ducked out of the dining room and returned a moment later with a photo album. ‘If you think it’ll help,’ she said, ‘but none of them are from after … you know.’

Amber nodded. After the meteorite. She looked through the pages, but all the photos were the family posing, nothing candid or natural. No real clues.

She closed the album and was about to hand it back to Irene when a DVD slid out from the rear cover and onto the table. The words BASEBALL STATE FINALS were written across it in texta.

‘What’s this?’ asked Amber.

Irene picked it up. ‘Don’t you remember? Your brother’s team made the Under 14 finals the same year I bought that video camera... I probably still have it around somewhere.’

Amber jumped to her feet.

‘Can we watch it?’

Irene moved her sewing basket from in front of the little-used DVD player and slid the disk in. The TV flickered on to show a sunny day and a park filled with kids in baseball uniforms, their families and friends lining the perimeter.

One boy came into focus. So much of Amber’s memories of Reggie relied on photos or seeing him in a coma, it was beyond strange to watch him move.

Irene’s voice, but younger, came from the TV. ‘Give us a wave, Reggie!’

Reggie gave a nervous little wave. Reggie never liked cameras, Amber recalled, video or otherwise.

‘And here’s his doting family,’ said TV Irene as the view panned across to the sidelines.

Amber’s breath caught in her throat. There she was, all of six years old, sitting in her dad’s lap, her mum lounging on the grass beside them. Young Amber waved energetically while her parents gave big, warm smiles.

Irene’s voice said, ‘Are you all right?’ It took Amber a moment to realise that this was coming from the real Irene in the room with her. She nodded.

The baseball team started warming up. One of Reggie’s teammates tossed him the ball, and Reggie threw a practice pitch.

Amber stood up suddenly, not even noticing the pang from her injured ankle. ‘Show that again,’ she said.

Irene reversed the footage, then let it play again.

Reggie threw the pitch, and Amber saw, in her memory, the Firefighter shooting water at her. The arm and shoulder motions were the same.

Amber frowned. Most people looked the same pitching a baseball. It could be him, she thought, but it’s not enough to be sure.

She sat back down, still frowning.

Irene walked over with a first-aid kit and knelt by Amber’s sprained ankle. ‘You know,’ she said, ‘I wasn’t the only person worried about you.’

Amber looked down at her as she took out a clean white bandage.

‘Your friend Justin came by again yesterday. I didn’t tell him anything, but he’s still concerned.’ Irene wrapped the ankle tightly.

He sure is persistent, thought Amber. I do owe him an apology.

Irene could tell what Amber was thinking, by the look on her face. ‘Just be careful,’ Irene said. ‘You know, you could stay here until your ankle is fully healed.’

Amber shook her head. ‘Too risky. But thank you. For everything. Again.’

Irene grabbed Amber in a tight hug. For a moment, Amber nearly changed her mind and told Irene she would stay.

Instead, Amber gave Irene a last kiss on the cheek and climbed out the window, into the darkness.

‘You wanted to see me, sir?’

Reggie was back in Agent Ferris’s office, trying to be on his best behaviour.

Ferris said, ‘I have your next assignment, Reggie. There’s going to be a protest at Capital University tomorrow. We need you to keep things from getting out of hand.’

Reggie frowned. ‘Crowd control?’

‘We have … sensitive research facilities that need protecting. People have the right to protest, but there is a risk of things getting ugly. Your water-power may be needed.’

‘So you need me,’ said Reggie, ‘because you don’t have a hose long enough?’

Ferris took off his glasses. ‘You may not take this assignment seriously, Firefighter, but we do. So seriously, in fact, that you won’t be the only one with special abilities who’s been given this task.’

Ferris pressed a button on the intercom on his desk. ‘Send them in.’

The door behind the desk opened, and three people in their late teens, two guys and a girl, came in.

Reggie was surprised. What is this?

‘Reggie,’ said Ferris, ‘I’d like you to meet Nic, Stefan and Anna. They’ll be your partners for this assignment.’

Nic, who was wearing a pair of large sunglasses, offered a handshake, which Reggie took.

‘What are your powers?’ asked Reggie.

Ferris said, ‘Hopefully they won’t need to be used tomorrow. If everything goes smoothly, they can keep their abilities under wraps.’

Reggie frowned again. ‘I might be able to assess the situation better if I knew who, or what, was on my side.’

Stefan stepped forward. ‘Assessing the situation won’t be your job.’

Ferris stood up and gently pushed them apart. ‘What Stefan means, Reggie, is that there will be a field commander calling the shots for the operation. You just need to follow Agent White’s lead.’

Reggie snorted. ‘Agent White again? Because that worked so well last time.’

‘I’m sure he, and you, will be able to do this job without a fuss,’ Ferris said. ‘Go show me I’m right.’

With that, Ferris handed Reggie an envelope holding the details of the next day’s assignment.

Reggie stepped back up to Stefan and said, ‘Be seeing you.’

Stefan said nothing, just shrugged and smiled as Reggie left the office.

What did that mean? Reggie thought. Can they turn invisible?

In the corridor, Reggie bumped into Benny, the medic who had helped him recover from the fight with Skydragon. Benny was the closest thing Reggie had to a friend here.

‘Hey Reg,’ said Benny. ‘Something up? You look worried.’

‘Just got a bit on my mind,’ said Reggie. ‘Do you know anything about triplet agents? Stefan, Anna and Nic?’

Benny looked around and said quietly, ‘They’re pretty hush-hush. They have a group nickname – Senseless.’

‘Senseless? What are their powers?’ asked Reggie.

Just then a door further along the corridor opened. ‘Best not to talk about it,’ Benny said. ‘Ultra-classified. I’d better go.’

He hurried away before Reggie could say goodbye.

Reggie gazed after Benny, thoughts whirling. Senseless. Powers, but it seems we can’t ask what they are. What am I in for tomorrow?

Amber walked carefully along the creek towards the back of Justin’s garden, rehearsing in her head what she was going to say. Each time, she got as far as ‘Justin, I …’ and couldn’t go any further.

Even if Amber hadn’t been injured, the walk along the uneven ground and wet stones would have been tricky. Amber’s insect friends could have carried her, but she didn’t want Justin to see her like that. Not after the last time they had been face to face.

Maybe that could be my opening line. ‘Hey Justin, how’s the hand?’ she thought as a kind of grim joke.

The sun was setting, and the fireflies would soon appear. Hopefully that would be enough to get Justin to come down to the creek – she didn’t like the idea of going up to his house.

As she got closer, she heard a noise that set her teeth on edge. It sounded like a song was being interrupted by an angry cat.

She looked around a tree and there was Justin, sitting on the rock he called his ‘reserved seat’. He was playing a saxophone, and making hard work of it. Amber’s heart beat faster, her nerves getting out of control. She stepped into his line of sight and he jumped to his feet.

Amber put her hands up in front of her, a gesture to show she wasn’t a threat. ‘Oh no,’ she said, ‘I didn’t mean to startle you.’ There was an awkward pause, then she nodded to the saxophone. ‘That’s new.’

Justin stared for a moment, then said, ‘I practise out here most evenings. Our house is pretty small, so it’s better if I make a racket out here.’ He looked down at the saxophone. ‘And I figured that if you wanted to see me, you’d look here.’ He shuffled his feet. ‘I was close to giving up.’

Amber stepped towards him, tears welling in her eyes. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you, I was … I was just …’

‘Irene told me what happened. To your brother,’ said Justin. ‘I get why you lost it, I do, but … you know …’

They stood, looking at each other, neither knowing what to say. Neither knowing if there was any point saying anything. Then a little spot of light rose from the creek, followed by another. The last of the sunset drained away as more fireflies lifted from the water and the reeds and flitted around in a kind of natural dance, uneven and beautiful.

‘Are you doing this?’ asked Justin.

Amber shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It seems like I only ever use them to hurt people.’ She started to cry.

Justin stepped over and put an arm around her. Amber tensed for a moment, and then relaxed as the tears flowed. Justin let go of the sax and brought his other arm up to complete the hug.

‘It’s okay,’ he whispered. ‘It’s okay.’

Amber pulled away, wiping her eyes. ‘It’s weird, is what it is.’ She took a deep breath. ‘My brother might be alive.’

Justin’s eyes widened as Amber told him about the Firefighter. When she was done, Justin shook his head.

‘What are you gonna do?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know. Try to find him, I guess. Talk to him. I just have to work out how.’ Amber shrugged.

‘Do you have somewhere to stay?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Good. Look, wait here for a minute. I’ll be right back.’ Justin dashed back to his house.

Amber turned and watched the fireflies. No, she thought. I wouldn’t ask them to dance. They do so much for me, I’m not gonna make them entertain me as well.

When Justin returned, he handed Amber a phone.

‘It’s an old one,’ he said. ‘The sim card is in my name. I got a new one a month ago, and haven’t disconnected this one.’

‘I don’t know how good the reception is where I’m staying,’ said Amber.

‘Well, just if you want to send me a message or something, find somewhere with some signal I guess,’ said Justin.

‘I will. Thank you.’

Another awkward silence fell, but this one was warmer than the first.

‘I better get back inside,’ Justin said. ‘My parents will wonder where I am, and I can’t really tell them about you. I tried to lie about how my hand got hurt, but they heard about what happened.’

Another wave of guilt swept through Amber, and it showed on her face. Justin immediately said, ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean … I was just explaining why I can’t invite you in.’

Amber took a deep breath and said, ‘It’s okay. I get it. Thank you for the phone, though. I’ll text you.’

‘Cool,’ said Justin. ‘Be careful.’

Amber gave Justin a quick hug before another awkward silence could set in, and turned to go.

‘Hey,’ said Justin. ‘There is one thing I can play on this.’ He brought the saxophone to his mouth and blew a note, then another lower one, and back and forth between the two.

Amber laughed. ‘That sounds just like a fire engine.’

Justin smiled. ‘It’s more fun than doing scales. Text me soon, yeah?’

Amber nodded and walked away. One she was out of sight, she gathered her locusts around her and they carried her back to her cabin.

Reggie was again in a van being driven by Agent White. This time, White kept checking the rearview mirror to see what Reggie was doing. Each time he did, Reggie gave him a big smile, which just made White angrier.

Agent White, the triplets and Reggie were all dressed casually. One of the triplets sat next to Reggie, the other two behind. The triplets whispered among themselves, occasionally looking at Reggie. At one point Reggie subtly leant closer to try to hear what was being said. They fell silent, and Stefan shot him a dirty look.

Reggie sat back. Just what I need, he thought. To be surrounded by more secrets. He glanced up to see White looking at him in the mirror, and gave him another fake grin.

At the university, the protest was in full swing. The open area called the Quad was full of people, and surrounded by portable fencing that was meant to, according to the authorities, ‘minimise disruption’. Put in less fancy terms, it was a cage.

Most of the protesters were students, but many more were from further afield, and from different backgrounds.

‘What’s this protest actually about?’ Reggie asked Agent White.

‘There are rumours that the government is using part of the science faculty to develop and test new weapons,’ said White. ‘But believing rumours can be … unhealthy.’

Once through the gate, the van stopped behind an office building and the five field agents got out.

‘Spread out through the crowd, try to blend in,’ White commanded. ‘Keep the chatter down – our earpieces might be hard to spot, but if we keep looking like we’re talking to ourselves we’ll get found out.’

Reggie wandered through the crowd. Most of the protesters seemed to be concerned, rather than angry. After about ten minutes, he heard the voice of one of the male triplets – he couldn’t tell which – in his earpiece. ‘Crowd’s getting pretty thick here in the northeast corner.’

‘Northeast?’ asked another voice. Agent White’s. ‘That’s not good. Any news from the rest of you?’

‘Why is that not good?’ asked Reggie.

‘Questions later, matchstick. Information now,’ said White. ‘Anyone?’

Reggie heard a chuckle. That’s gotta be Stefan. ‘There’s a construction site for a new gym in that direction. They’re saying that it’s a cover for the weapons testing site.’

‘Where are they getting their information from?!’ spat White. ‘Right, all of you, they cannot reach that construction site. No. Matter. What.’

Reggie listened to the conversations around him, and started to hear snippets of what people were talking about. Construction site. Weapons testing. Northeast corner.

The protesters started chanting, quietly at first. ‘Books and brains, not bullets and bombs. Books and brains, not bullets and bombs.’

Security guards gathered near the northeast corner, looking to block the path, but they were hugely outnumbered.

The chant got louder and faster, fists raised to the air in time with the words. ‘BOOKS AND BRAINS, NOT BULLETS AND BOMBS.’ Someone grabbed the fence and shook it.

‘Black them out. Now,’ White said.

Reggie only managed to say, ‘Wha—’ before his world seemed to vanish.

Everything went black, and silent. What on earth?!

He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear! He tried to call out, but no sound came.

It was like he became … senseless! It was the scariest, most disturbing feeling he’d ever had, to not be able to see, hear or speak. Reggie froze. After what seemed like ages, he felt something bump into his shoulder.

As quickly as they had disappeared, the sights and sounds of the world came flooding back. For a split second, everything was too bright and too loud, but within a moment Reggie’s senses had resettled.

He could hear White’s voice in his ear. ‘Firefighter, can you hear me?’

‘Yes,’ Reggie replied. ‘What the heck happened?’

‘We needed to get everybody, so it was quickest to cover the whole area then bring you back on,’ said Stefan.

‘Bring me … you did that?!’ Reggie was in shock.

Stefan didn’t answer. Reggie thought he heard White chuckle. They’re called Senseless, thought Reggie. Now I get it.

Reggie looked at the protesters, and felt a chill go through him. Most were standing, eyes wide and searching, arms outstretched. Some were stepping gingerly, others standing still, a few curled up on the ground. One man sat clutching his sign and crying. All were silent.

‘What happens now?’ Reggie asked.

‘We have local police coming,’ said Agent White. ‘We’ll start giving them their senses back slowly, from the southwest corner, and have the cops usher them away.’

Reggie frowned. ‘Do we have that sort of time? These people won’t stay this still forever.’

‘What do you think, Stefan?’ asked White.

‘No idea. We’ve never blacked out a group this big before,’ Stefan replied.

‘What?!’ shouted Reggie.

‘We were asked if we could do it, not what would happen if we did.’ The lack of care in Stefan’s tone infuriated Reggie.

‘I need some help here,’ said the other male triplet.

‘What’s the problem, Nic?’ said White.

Reggie looked around to see if he could spot any of the triplets, but the forest of slow-moving protesters was all he could see.

‘I’m in the northeast corner, and it’s real crowded here. A few of them are bumping into each other. It’ll get ugly here before long,’ said Nic.

Reggie started weaving his way through the crowd. ‘They’re going to stampede. You need to give them their senses back.’

‘Negative,’ said White. ‘We protect the construction site.’

‘We need to protect the people,’ said Reggie. ‘Including ours.’

‘Uh oh,’ said Nic.

Reggie was too far away to see one of the protesters trip over another who was sitting down, who then got up in a hurry and barrelled blindly into another.

This began a chain reaction through the crowd. Within seconds protesters were shoving, punching and trampling each other, unable to see or hear who was hurting them, or who they were hurting.

‘LET THEM GO!’ Reggie shouted, backing towards the fence.

‘Wait – something’s happened,’ said Stefan.

‘Report, Stefan. What do you mean?’ asked Agent White.

‘They’re not blacked out anymore. Nic, are you okay?’ Stefan had a touch of concern in his voice.

Reggie looked closer at the protesters. They were still in a frenzy, but their eyes seemed less blank. And the shouting had begun.

‘Nic must be down,’ said White. ‘Can anyone see what’s happening at the northeast corner?’

‘People on the ground. People running in all directions. A large number at the fence, shouting at the guards.’ The voice was calm, and definitely female. Guess that’s Anna, Reggie thought.

The protesters were gradually regaining their composure. Some people were being helped off the ground, others were simply standing and trying to breathe normally.

‘One of the guards has his rifle up,’ said Anna. ‘Not something we need right now.’

‘Not your call, Anna,’ said White. ‘To repeat, we protect the construction site.’

Reggie was furious. ‘THERE’S GOING TO BE ANOTH—’

Gunfire cracked through the air: shots from an automatic rifle. Immediately the crowd turned back into a stampede.

‘Warning shots, that’s all,’ said White.

Reggie felt the fence against his back. He turned and sent a blaze from his right hand to melt a huge hole in the fence, followed by a surge of water from his left to cool the metal back down.

‘What are you doing, Firefighter?’ snapped Agent White.

‘Someone has to help get these people out of here,’ said Reggie.

‘Stand down,’ White said in a growl. ‘Remember your orders!’

Reggie pulled the earpiece from his ear and threw it to the ground. He started waving his arms and shouting, ‘This way! You can escape through here!’

Some of the protesters heard him and fled through the gap in the fence, but many more were too loud and scared to notice him.

Reggie wasn’t carrying his helmet – it would’ve been too conspicuous – so he pulled a full head mask from his back pocket and put it on, then took off his jacket and threw it away. The metal harness underneath glinted in the sun. He pushed a button near his right shoulder and the two spouts that had been nestled against his back clicked into place. His jetpack ran on his own power, so it could be kept light and small, and now he used it to launch into the sky.

He flew several metres over the protesters’ heads, his right hand trailing fire to get their attention. Once about a third of them were looking, he drew an arrow of fire in the sky, pointing towards the exit he had made. Every time he saw someone still panicking, he fired a quick burst of water directly into their face, and they soon looked up.

Some people were limping, others were being carried, but in less than five minutes all the protesters had gone.

Reggie looked over to the northeast corner and saw Nic on the ground, bleeding. Anna and Stefan were kneeling either side of him, while Agent White stood at Nic’s feet. Security guards were taking the fence apart.

Reggie was about to land when he saw White make a hand signal to the security guards. It was small and quick, but it was definitely there. Three guards walked over, trying to look relaxed, but each one was reaching for his taser.

Reggie stayed a safe distance away, hovering.

‘Is Nic okay?’ asked Reggie.

‘Medical help is on its way,’ Agent White said. ‘How about you land and we talk about what just happened?’

Reggie frowned. ‘What’s to talk about?’

‘A field commander needs to trust that his orders will be carried out,’ said White.

‘Then those orders shouldn’t put innocent lives at risk,’ answered Reggie, his right hand glowing a faint red.

Agent White turned to one of the security guards. ‘Put him down.’

The guards drew their tasers and fired, sending electrified wires straight at Reggie.

Reggie slapped the wires away with his burning hand, the tips melting before they could touch his skin and zap him.

‘Not smart.’ He swooped, sending the guards who had tried to tase him diving into the ground, and let out two small blasts of fire.

Agent White threw his arms in front of his face to protect himself, but then looked down sharply. Reggie had melted his shoes into the asphalt of the Quad. He was stuck.

‘GET UP AND GET HIM!’ White yelled at the guards, but by the time they had scrambled back to their feet, Reggie had flown away.

Amber returned to her log cabin warily. She had no reason to think the National Service knew about it, but they had found her more than once when she thought she was safe.

She entered quietly, feeling for any disturbance among the ants and flies through the cabin. Detecting nothing, she relaxed.

Amber felt better than she had in ages. She had eaten well, her ankle was recovering, and the talk with Justin had gone better than she could have hoped. Now the main job was to find the Firefighter, and see if he actually was Reggie.

She gazed at the photo of her family. All smiles. Her father’s hand on Reggie’s tousled hair.

Amber had no idea where they were keeping him, or how to contact him. So, she was going to have to get his attention. If she made a public show of power, they would send him after her again.

Then … what?

As the sun started to set, Amber readied herself to head back into town for supplies. She tucked the photo of her family into her jacket. Maybe if he sees it, it’ll jog his memory, she thought.

It was unlikely, but right now it was all she had.

Amber walked out onto the front porch. Her winged friends gathered and took her up, and in less than an hour she was landing behind a food store that had closed for the night.

She felt bad about targeting this shop, a little family-owned general store. There were two supermarkets in town owned by massive corporations, but they had increased security since she had started … helping herself to their goods.

The security probably cost way more than what I was taking, she thought.

Amber told herself that she would put in the time and effort to get around the extra defences of the big stores, but tonight she needed to get her supplies quickly and then focus on other things.

Like any shop with automatic doors, there was a green button inside, so that staff could open the doors to leave after they had been locked. Amber knew where it was, so she sent some ants in to press it.

The door opened. Amber figured an alarm would go off soon, but until it did she was going to grab what she could, and then leave as soon as the alarm sounded.

She pulled out a small torch and scanned the shelves in the darkness, until a sound made her jump. But it wasn't the alarm.

‘I was wondering when you’d come here,’ said a deep, old-sounding male voice. It came from the store’s PA system.

Amber turned the torch off and froze. The only insects inside were the ants, and unless the green button was pressed again, no others could get in.

‘It’s okay, love, I won’t call the cops. Won’t even turn the lights on. Nobody needs to know you’re here.’

After a moment of silence, Amber said, ‘Why?’ ‘This is my store,’ said the voice. ‘From what people have told me, you’ve only taken a bit of food here and there. You’re not like these twerps who shoplift for a thrill. I reckon you only take what you need. Sound about right?’

‘Yes.’

‘My niece had a run-in with the National Service. Near ruined her life, and she’d done nothing wrong, so I don’t automatically believe everything the government or the news shows tell me about you being a threat. You just seem hungry.’

Amber relaxed a little. ‘So what are you going to do?’

‘Well,’ said the voice, ‘as long as you promise not to send me broke, I could let you have a few things. Maybe even give you the alarm code.’

Amber’s relaxation ended. Give me the alarm code? That’s being too nice. What’s going on?

She reached out with her thoughts to the ants. In her mind she saw the little purple dots all around her – with no reason to do anything else, the ants had stayed close.

‘That would be amazing,’ Amber said. ‘Why do—’

Some of the purple dots were flaring, then vanishing. Someone was stepping on the ants, probably without noticing in the darkness.

Behind me.

Amber ducked into a gap between aisles, as something clattered to the floor. The fluorescent lights flickered on, and she saw a net where she had been standing a moment before. Behind it was a thin man wearing a hoodie and a shocked look.

‘For cryin’ out loud, Leroy!’ shouted the deep voice.

‘She moved, Dad,’ whined the man in the hoodie.

‘Block her at the door! It’s the only way out! Don’t let the little thief get away!’

Leroy and Amber both sprinted for the rear of the shop. Amber grabbed a can of soup in each hand. Leroy got to the door and stood, trying to puff his thin frame up to look scary.

‘You gonna hit me with soup, thief? There’s a reward for bringing Skydragon to the National Service, and we’re gonna get it!’

What felt like a million years ago, Reggie had taught his little sister to throw.

Amber hoped she remembered enough.

She threw a can of soup at the green button … and missed.

Leroy realised that she wasn’t aiming at him, and leapt at the button just as Amber threw the second can. Leroy caught it.

But the force of the throw pushed Leroy’s hand back against the green button.

The automatic doors opened, and a torrent of locusts flooded in.

Leroy curled up in a ball, arms over his head, as the insects poured past him. Amber ran towards them and jumped with her arms outstretched. The locusts swept underneath her and carried her straight outside, and up into the night sky.

It took about fifteen minutes for Amber’s heart rate to get back to normal. Just as she was realising she had left without any supplies, Justin’s phone buzzed in her pocket.

She looked at the screen and saw a message from Justin, saying You need to see this, and a web link.

Amber landed and sat under a tree. The reception was weaker at ground level, but not gone completely. She pressed the link on the phone screen. A WLN news report filled the screen, and the voice of news anchor Barbara Cook came from the speakers.

‘Shocking reports from Capital University today as the Firefighter, previously thought by many Woodville residents to be a hero, has created a panic at a pro-government rally at Capital University.’

The screen showed people in a frenzy, running into and trampling over each other, then cut to a shot of the Firefighter sending a blaze across the sky.

Amber was puzzled as the report showed footage from before the chaos. A student was holding a BOOKS NOT BOMBS sign.

Cook continued, ‘Students and supporters were celebrating President Bonner’s decision to boost education funding when the Firefighter attacked, causing a stampede among the well-wishers. He then attacked National Service agents who were trying to apprehend him. One was lucky to escape only suffering from singed feet.’

On the small screen of the phone, the Firefighter and the agents looked like toys. The fire that sprang from the Firefighter’s hand and melted one agent’s boots, however, looked very real.

Amber was stunned. Something wasn’t right.

‘All of us at WLN News wish those hurt a speedy recovery.’

The video ended. Amber started typing a message to Justin straight away.

No, this is all wrong, her text said. He talked a lot when we were fighting, and it sounded like he thought he was doing the right thing, that I was some major criminal. The person who said those things wouldn’t have done this.

She only had to wait a few seconds for Justin’s reply. What do you think is going on?

I don’t know. Maybe he found something out about the National Service. Whatever happened, there’s more than that news story is telling. Someone’s working hard to make the Firefighter look bad.

Amber looked into the night sky. The lights of Woodville blinked in the distance.

The phone buzzed again.

What’re you gonna do?

For now, she typed, I’m gonna get some supplies. I’ll try to figure things out from there.

The evening took on a chill. Amber pictured Justin at that spot by the creek, watching for her texts as she was watching for his. His next message arrived. Let me know if I can help with supplies. Or figuring. Or whatever.

I’ll visit soon, Amber replied. Can you keep an eye on the news for any more stories about the Firefighter? I don’t get any signal where I’m staying.

No problem.

Amber smiled as she put the phone back in her pocket, but the smile quickly faded. What little plan she had to get close to the Firefighter again was gone. He was now running from the authorities, just like she was, so drawing him out would be almost impossible.

It also meant that she needed to be even more careful. If the National Service had the Firefighter, they would have other people with special abilities.

Who’s gonna come after me next?

‘All of us at WLN News wish those hurt a speedy recovery.'

The late news was replaying the report on the protest. Stefan turned the TV off and settled back into the chair.

‘The propaganda team put that together quickly,’ he said.

‘The fact that they had to means White will be in trouble,’ replied Anna. ‘Probably us too.’

Between them, Nic lay in the hospital bed, still unconscious. His head was heavily wrapped in bandages, but none covered his face. His sunglasses sat on the table beside the bed, making this one of the rare times his eyes were uncovered.

The doctor Ferris had sent said that Nic didn’t need surgery, but that he didn’t know when Nic would wake up.

‘It’s been a while since one of us was hurt like this,’ said Stefan.

Anna nodded. ‘Not since the meteorite.’

‘Since we got our powers. Life was a little bit harsher before then,’ Stefan said with a small chuckle, then stopped. ‘Although in many ways it was simpler.’

Anna turned sharply. ‘Simpler? Would you be willing to go back to begging on the streets… to have things simpler again?’

Stefan stood up. ‘Sister, I have not forgotten! I have not forgotten what it was like for the three of us to be alone on the streets.’

Anna relaxed. ‘Look, we won’t be under Ferris’s thumb forever. But we have to do what he says for now.’

She walked around the bed and put her hand on Stefan’s arm. ‘We still have each other’s back, though. As always. Right?’

Stefan nodded, but with Nic lying unconscious, he and Anna felt incomplete.

Anna’s phone rang. She checked the number, and raised her eyebrows at Stefan. ‘Hello, sir,’ she said.

Agent Ferris’s voice replied, ‘Hello, Anna. How’s Nic?’

You already know, thought Anna. You can get a full report any time you want one. But instead, she said, ‘No change, sir, but thanks for asking.’

‘He’s under good care,’ Ferris said. ‘I’m sure he’ll be fine. I hate to bring up business, but we may have a target for you and Stefan. Still waiting for confirmation, and of course we won’t bring you in unless we absolutely need you, but be ready.’

‘Of course, sir.’

‘Thank you, Anna. And of course all three of you are in my thoughts. I’ll be in touch.’

In your thoughts for as long as we’re useful, thought Anna.

Reggie was glad he had been in street clothes at the protest: his helmet and uniform would have made sure he was spotted a mile off.

He had no money of his own – everything had been provided by the National Service, including a place to live.

I should have thought things through more, Reggie thought. Should’ve found a way out of the Service.

Reggie was at a loss. He had made it across town, keeping out of the way of any police and agents, and was now standing in a bathroom at the Woodville Intercity Bus Station. He couldn’t decide whether to stow away on the next bus out of town, or lie low for a few days and attempt to get back into the National Service offices to try to find out about his past.

As he looked at himself in the mirror, he heard the door open, and glanced across to see Agent White walk in.

‘Don’t look so surprised,’ said White. ‘We keep tabs on all our powerful assets, and you didn’t even bother to change your clothes.’

Reggie winced. Stupid, he thought. They must’ve hidden a tracker on me.

He turned to face White directly, his right hand glowing red.

White shook his head and chuckled. ‘We’re at a bus station,’ he said. ‘There’s fuel and fumes everywhere. How many innocents could die if this place exploded?’

He put a gloved hand into his coat and pulled out a baton.

‘Yeah?’ said Reggie. ‘Fire’s not all I can do.’

Reggie pushed his left hand forward, and a jet of water surged from it. White stepped to his right, putting his back to Reggie, and pressed a switch on the baton. The baton crackled with electricity, and as the water hit it, a bolt flowed through the water and into Reggie, knocking him out cold.

White shook his head. ‘Amateurs with powers.’ He brought his coat sleeve up to his mouth and said, ‘Target is down. Bring the costume in.’

Amber couldn’t guess what the Firefighter would do, so she tried to think of what Reggie would have done in the same situation.

About a year before the meteor hit, thirteen-year-old Reggie had his first and only screaming argument with his dad. At his angriest, Reggie had grabbed his baseball and thrown it, not aiming anywhere in particular, but it hit a framed photo of Grandma and broke it.

Reggie immediately ran out of the house.

When he hadn’t come back a couple of hours later, Amber’s dad went looking, with Amber insisting on coming along despite how cold the night was. They found Reggie at the bus station. He was just sitting at one of the stops, hands in his pockets. He didn’t look angry. He looked scared.

Dad told Amber to stay in the warmth of the car and got out. Amber watched as Dad sat beside Reggie at the bus stop and talked to him. After about a minute, Reggie started to cry, and he and Dad hugged.

Amber never found out what Dad had said to Reggie, but while they still disagreed on things they never shouted at each other again.

It was the only idea she had. Amber went to the bus station.

When she got there, she saw a crowd gathered around an armoured car. Someone from the National Service was talking to a reporter in front of a TV camera. Behind them, strapped to a stretcher and not moving, was the Firefighter. Three agents were about to load him into the back of the armoured car.

Amber only had a split second to choose …

She took her mask out of her pocket and pulled it on.

The hum started quietly, then grew quickly louder. It started to distract a few people in the crowd, then more, and then the agent and the reporter.

A cloud of mosquitoes circled around the scene, their whiny buzz making the crowd and the agents wince. While everyone watched them, some covering their ears, gypsy moths flew to the straps and began to eat.

As the distraction from the mosquitoes continued, fleas jumped their way up trouser legs. Agents went from swatting locusts to scratching and slapping at themselves as the fleas started to bite.

Amber couldn’t help but give a small chuckle as the agents danced around in torment. She could hear the reporter asking, ‘Agent White, what’s happening? Are you all right?’

Finally the straps were eaten away, and the locusts crawled under the Firefighter, lifting his unconscious form into the sky.

‘It must be her! Stop them!’ shouted Agent White, before he looked around and saw that his team were all too busy scratching to respond.

The locusts carried an excited Amber and a limp Firefighter into the night.

Amber knew that going straight back to the cabin was risky – someone or something might have followed them from the bus station – but she didn’t have any better options.

She felt a vibration in her pocket as she and the Firefighter flew through the trees. Pulling out her phone, she saw a message from Justin. Was that you???

She quickly typed back. Yes. Talk later.

The Firefighter started to stir. Amber slowed their flight down and watched as his face showed confusion, then anger.

‘WHAT’S GOING ON?’ he yelled.

‘Shhh,’ replied Amber. ‘I’ve got you.’

‘I’m in the air surrounded by bugs! WHAT THE?’

‘I rescued you from the National Service,’ Amber replied. ‘Why are they—’

The Firefighter cut her off. ‘Let me go!’ His right hand flared, and three locusts caught fire.

‘HEY! Don’t!’ Amber wasn’t sure what reaction she’d been expecting, but this wasn’t it.

‘Let me down!’

The Firefighter launched a ball of flame at Amber, but the insects carrying him dropped sharply, putting him off his aim. He tried another burst, but the locusts veered sharply to the left so that he missed again.

‘STOP!’ Amber screamed. ‘We don’t have to fight!’

The Firefighter gave a half-shout, half-growl that sounded more wounded animal than human. Then, for an instant, he burst into flame completely. The locusts carrying him were reduced to ash.

Amber watched, tears streaming down her face, as the Firefighter started to fall. She couldn’t tell if the pause was from her or the insects, but they didn’t go to catch him straight away. As he plummeted, thin streaks of flame trailed from his back. These were meant to be channelled through the jetpack attachment on his costume, but that had been taken away.

By the time the locusts swarmed towards him, it was too late. Amber watched him crash through some branches and land heavily on the ground.

After a few seconds, the Firefighter stirred, and let out a soft groan. Amber then flew off, thumbing a message to Justin as she went.

‘What on earth were you thinking?’ asked Agent Ferris, slapping a hand on his desk.

Agent White replied in a calm, even tone. ‘We made Firefighter look like a threat in the news. This was supposed to show the public that we can protect them; that even with superpowered people out there, the National Service is in charge.’

Ferris picked up a remote control and aimed it at the large TV on the wall. Footage appeared from the bus station, showing White and the other agents dancing around scratching, while the Firefighter was flown off by insects.

‘Does that look like “in charge” to you?’ asked Ferris, pointing at the screen.

Agent White didn’t answer, he just looked down.

Ferris turned the TV off. ‘Why wasn’t Firefighter in handcuffs, instead of those cloth straps?’

‘They were fireproof bindings,’ said White. ‘He would have melted metal handcuffs. Besides, we weren’t expecting to have an insect problem. Why would she help him?’

Ferris shook his head. ‘I don’t know. We need to find that out.’

Another agent burst through the door carrying papers. He handed one to Ferris. ‘Firefighter’s stopped moving. According to the sensors in his suit, he’s hurt but not critically. His flight path stopped here.’ The agent pointed to a spot on the paper.

Ferris nodded and said, ‘White, go pick him up. This time, hang on to him.’

‘There’s something else,’ said the new agent, handing Ferris another map. ‘This is something we’ve been tracking for a while.’

Ferris looked at the second map, then held both of them up side-by-side. His eyes opened wider and wider.

‘How long ago was this?’ he asked.

‘Less than a minute,’ the new agent replied.

‘Right. Operation Lights Out is a go. Keep tracking. I want the teams in the air in four minutes.’

‘Yes sir,’ said the new agent, as all three men charged out of the office.

Amber and Justin sat by the creek.

‘I shouldn’t have dropped him,’ she said.

‘You didn’t,’ Justin replied. ‘He blazed his way down, remember?’

‘I know, I should’ve tried harder to catch him, though. Shouldn’t have left him there.’ Amber looked up at the stars.

‘If someone tried to burn me, I don’t think catching them would be my first thought. Do you still think he could be your brother?’

Amber shrugged, then something startled her and she stood up. Little flashes of purple darted around her eyeline, and in her thoughts. A warning from her insect friends.

‘What is it?’ asked Justin.

‘You need to go,’ said Amber quietly.

‘What? Whatever it is, I can—’

‘Justin, I need you to trust me, and I need you to run. NOW.’

Despite Justin’s concern and desire to help, the tone of Amber’s voice convinced him.

He ran.

Amber pulled her mask on and looked around. The purple flashes were coming more often, and from every direction.

Come.

Her locusts gathered around her, preparing to carry her swiftly away, when she heard a series of loud metal clunks. Suddenly the area was flooded with light. She was surrounded by huge searchlights.

Three helicopters and at least a dozen drones hovered overhead. As Amber’s eyes adjusted to the brightness of the searchlights, she saw about thirty people closing in.

Each one was wearing a thick protective suit, and a clear mask with what looked like a speaker in front of the wearer’s mouth. One of them stepped forward.

‘I don’t know your name,’ said the man. ‘Is it okay if I call you Skydragon?’

‘What do you want?!’ shouted Amber.

‘My name is Agent Ferris. I’d like you to come with us. Quietly.’

‘How did you find me?’

Ferris chuckled. ‘We’ve been looking for unusual mobile phone activity, and one signal kept disappearing into the woods and then reappearing. When we looked at satellite images, it looked like the phone was being carried by a swarm of insects. I think that’s a bit unusual.’

As Ferris was speaking, Amber sent ants and fleas to probe for a way into the protective suits.

‘You could just leave me alone,’ said Amber. ‘I can just vanish into the wilderness.’

‘Even if that were possible before you flew Firefighter away, it certainly isn’t now,’ scoffed Ferris. ‘Oh, and these suits have been specially designed to keep your insects out, so there will be no repeats of today’s embarrassment.’

‘Oh well,’ Amber said. ‘I guess I’ll just go with brute force then.’

She swung a punch at Ferris, despite being metres away. As she did, a fist of locusts swung from behind her back and into Ferris, sending him flying.

Five agents approached Amber nervously as she sent an instruction to the bugs.

Blind them.

The bees flew straight at the agents’ helmets. The agents retreated … despite the clothing’s protection, their first instinct still to duck and swat at the swarm.

‘They can’t sting through your suits!’ shouted Ferris as he got back to his feet. ‘All of you, move in!’

The agents closed in a circle. There were too many trees for the helicopters overhead to get close, but the wind from their rotors meant Amber wouldn’t be able to fly away. She raised her fists like a boxer, and two massive swarms of locusts copied her forearms and fists, only much bigger.

The agents were armed with electrified batons and wearing gloves, except for one: a woman with bare hands and no weapon. Wondering why, Amber called out to a few wasps and hornets to fly close to her.

If she wants to lay a hand on me, she thought, it’ll cost her.

As the circle closed in, Amber stepped towards two of the agents, who immediately stepped back. She then turned and swung her locust-fist at one of the men behind her, the impact of ten thousand bugs sending him sprawling. The bare-handed woman lunged at her, but Amber dodged, and three wasps stung the woman on the palm. She retreated, clutching her hand.

Drones started flying down to the woman to distract Amber, but they weren’t any better protected than Cloudvision. Mosquitos flew in through tiny gaps in the drones’ casing, gumming up the works. A drone dropped suddenly from the sky, then another, forcing the agents to dodge the falling machinery. One agent was too busy looking up, and a bug punch laid him flat.

From Amber’s left, two agents charged with tasers crackling. One got so close that she felt the heat from one electrified weapon against her face. She caught the agent with a backhand blow from her own hand, followed half a second later by the same blow from the locusts.

She raised her left hand towards the second attacker and made a twisting gesture. The huge insect hand surrounded the agent and gave the same flick, spinning him up and straight into another drone.

Then Amber felt a touch on the back of her neck, and the world went silent.

She turned to see the bare-handed woman retreating, and sent her on her way with a locust strike to the back.

It was bizarre to see so much activity and hear nothing. No shouted orders, no helicopter rotors, no buzzing from her allies. Amber turned from one direction to the next as the agents closed in. She felt a jab in her side and a shock sent her reeling.

The attacker who struck her looked confused as Amber regained her footing, but Amber could feel the hornets that had gotten between her and the baton, taking the brunt of the electrical charge.

Amber started to panic, disturbed by the silence, and then calmed herself. She saw – felt – the thousands of purple sparks from the insects all around her, and through them felt where the agents were.

She held her arms out.

Surround me.

The agents watched in awe as the swarms of insects flew straight to Amber, and then clung to her.

With each second, Amber’s form grew. She lifted off the ground as locusts, beetles, bees, and all manner of flying bugs nestled together tightly, joining her. Grasshoppers propped up her feet. Extra shapes formed as her insect friends gathered. Horns on her head, claws on her hands and feet. A thick, long tail. She was a dragon!

‘WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?’ yelled Ferris.

Amber stepped her dragon form forward and swung an arm, levelling eight agents. Four more agents came in from behind and jabbed with the tasers. Amber felt the bugs they hit drop away. She reached up and grabbed a drone in each clawed hand, throwing them at her enemies.

The agents would step in, zap and then step back, but each taser shot would only get rid of seven or eight bugs, and Amber was at the core of thousands upon thousands.

I’d better end this before they get a better plan. Amber spotted Agent Ferris and charged towards him, flinging a dozen men out of her way.

And then, suddenly … complete darkness!

She could see nothing, hear nothing. She tried screaming but no sound came. Amber felt utterly senseless. In her shock, she lost her connection with the insects, and hit the ground hard.

What happened?!

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, when she felt something hit her on the back of her neck.

This time, the darkness was complete. There were no purple flashes. She was unconscious.

Agent Ferris stood over Amber, breathing heavily, baton in hand.

He looked over to the four-wheel drive a few metres away, saw Stefan and Anna leaning against it, and saw Nic’s bandaged head through the window. Nic still looked in bad shape, but he had come.

Agent Ferris gestured to the driver of the four-wheel drive. ‘Go. Get Nic back to his hospital bed.’

As the four-wheel drive pulled away, Stefan and Anna approached.

‘That was hard work,’ said Stefan.

Ferris just nodded as he saw some agents limp away, others collecting up damaged drones, still others lying on the ground, not yet conscious. Ferris’s phone rang.

‘Yes, Agent White?’

‘We got him,’ said White. ‘He was still down where he fell. He’s banged up, but looks like he’ll be okay.’

‘Secure him, but if he wakes up during the trip back, play nice. I want to talk him into rejoining us. He doesn’t have anyone else, so I should be able to talk sense into him.’

‘And was your mission successful, sir?’ asked White.

‘Mission accomplished,’ said Ferris. ‘We have her in custody. Now, just to figure out who she is.’

Ferris ended the call, and Stefan and Anna leant in as Ferris reached for Amber’s mask …