Starlight in Crystal City (Book 2)

17: A Camera, a Subway, and a Rose

"Midnight isn't here. That's impossible," I argued, but my voice was feeble—brittle—and I wasn't convincing anyone, not even myself.

Jax shook his head, and the face of the clasp shone in my eyes. It was the same one Midnight wore during our battle; the pointed edges of the star were rounded and blunt, the pin cracked off.

"Where did you find it?" I asked quietly, not knowing if I wanted to hear his answer, but I needed it at the same time. If he saw Midnight, there was no grey area. Nowhere to run. Nothing to deny.

"Before the fight. I wanted to ride that big rollercoaster, so I was climbing the stairs to board with the guys when I spotted it sitting on the railing like it belonged there," Jax said. "It could be a coincidence. This one looks a bit older than Midnight's."

I blinked. It was more likely that Midnight was here, in Crystal City, than her badge appearing at the park without her. "I doubt that, too."

"Well, it's either one or the other. Either she was here, or she wasn't. We can't have both," he pointed out. "It's a matter of deciding which option sounds more probable, right?"

I pondered over it as I scuffed my shoe against the carpet. How could Midnight know we were no longer in Astral City? Was her badge purposely placed in a location where she knew Jax would find it?

I had reached a mental impasse. Neither option seemed less likely than the other; couldn't the pin be a generic, mass-produced item that Midnight bought for the purpose of taunting her enemies?

And I kept repeating the two words I'd seen Phantom murmur in the video footage Halley sent to me, never quite forming them into a comprehensible sentence.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"I don't think, normally," Jax said blandly. "But I will make an exception for a second. Say, for example, that Midnight is here. That would mean that she has a plan. And we both know that Phantom is gone, so he isn't giving her a mission to complete. It's Midnight by herself."

I had faced her last year, and back then, it seemed like she desired control.

You're nothing but a doll, she had told me. In due time, the universe will watch you fail. You're their only hope, but that hope is misplaced. It's going to wither and die, and this city will be mine.

"Maybe that's not a bad sign," I said. "Without Phantom, she's weaker."

Jax paused. I nudged him with my elbow and continued, "And how are you planning to get back to the park? Your power is drained."

"I'm slowly gaining some energy back. If I wait another few minutes, I should be able to teleport back to the park. And this time, we won't get stranded. I memorized the streets, so it's not a one-way trip," he replied, clambering away from the wall to stroll around the hallways. I fell into step with him, the camera around my neck swinging back and forth.

"I really thought you weren't going to make the jump to the top of the platform," I said. "You're lucky you didn't wind up flattened like a pancake."

He snorted. "If I hadn't gotten it, I would've just kept opening more runes until I got it right. It wasn't as dire and earth-shattering as Lydia made it sound."

"Did Sparrow say anything while you were there?" I asked.

Jax pondered, then said, "Yeah, she kept referring to the fact that she didn't know who I was. And she called me a nobody." He sounded a touch offended, as if the thought of anonymity was ridiculous.

But it wasn't; of course, small-time heroes in Astral City were just that—people who never progressed past having an inkling of fame. It was possible—highly possible—that Rune and Starlight's stories hadn't gotten the chance to travel outside of the confines of the city.