The word “now” seemed to take a long time to Shade.

She was out of the casino doors, down the driveway and turning onto the Strip before the “w” was done resonating.

She had run fast before. But this was Cruz.

She felt her clothing flap and shred. She felt the way her Plasticine body reshaped itself to use the wind to push her down, to keep her from flying off wildly into the air like some out-of-control race car.

Her legs were a blur. Her hands moved so fast she felt the heat of friction.

The Strip blew past. Bodies were blurs.

She skidded into a turn and there were the tanks. She ran past them, a whirlwind, a sudden gust of wind like a tractor trailer passing at a thousand miles an hour.

In a split second she saw it: the gas truck. The immobilized mob. The sparking toy twirling slowly down and down.

At any second the gas fumes would . . .

No time!

She kicked off, leaped into the air going the speed of sound, bounced off a man’s shoulders, stretched out her hand . . .

With her accelerated vision she saw the very moment a spark caught the vapor. Saw the spark become a flame, a slow-motion fire rose unfolding in midair.

Shade snatched the toy in midflight, closing her fist around it to stop it sparking.

The wind of her passing sucked the oxygen away, and the flame . . .died.

Shade landed at the far edge of the mob, but it was an uncontrolled landing, and she plowed into three people, a hundred pounds of armored girl moving at eight hundred miles an hour, killing two instantly, spinning the other like a top.

Shade rolled away her momentum, stood, and threw the toy as far as she could. It landed on the roof of the mall.

Villain, Chapter 26