Free Totally Toxic by Zoe Quinn

been oiled, because it took a lot of effort to get it to budge. But when it gave, we could hear the squeak of the lid rising on its giant hinge.
    Howie had reached the top of the ladder. Taking hold of the rim of the vat, he stuck his head under the lid.
    “Do you see anything?”Josh called in a whisper.
    Howie popped his head up. “Nope. Clean as a whistle.”
    Josh and I exchanged broad smiles.
    “That means Mitchell has never used this vat to contain the gunk left over from manufacturing detergent. Which means he must be getting rid of it somewhere else. Like dumping it straight into the Sweetbriar River!”
    “We were right!” I gushed. “And the pictures will help us prove it.”
    “Start taking photos!” Josh called up to Howie. “And use the flash. It's getting darker by the second.”
    And it was. But I found I didn't mind at all. The sky had turned the color of blueberries, and only a pale pink glow remained on the horizon. The air was cool but not unpleasant, with a mild breeze. I couldn't believe I was standing there,
alone
, with Josh Devlin.
    “Good thing you wore your bracelet,” he said,”or we'd never have gotten in the gate.”
    I felt myself blushing. “Good thing you figured out how to use the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard charm to pick the lock.”
    “I guess that means we're a good team.”
    “I guess it does.”
    The moment was so amazingly sweet that I began to feel a little dizzy with happiness. A couple of stars had begun to twinkle above, and the whole world smelled of spicy autumn leaves.
    And soap …
    I ignored it. I wanted to just sit there under the stars with Josh and talk about what a terrific team we were. But the breeze carried the scent straight to my nose, and with every windy rustle of the tall grass, the soap smell grew stronger.
    Too late, I realized that I wasn't dizzy because Josh was flirting with me, I was dizzy because of that darned soapy smell. And that was when I saw the security guard creeping up to the vat— his dazzlingly clean uniform must have just been washed in the factory's laundry detergent.
    “What do you think you're doing up there?” the guard's voice boomed.
    Howie was so startled, he bobbled, then wobbled; his foot slipped from the top rung and he began to fall.
    Instinct took over and I prepared to execute a superpowered flying leap to save Howie Hunt… again! I could feel the power surge in my legs, and I was about to lift off when Josh leaped in front of me from our hiding place beside the vat and positioned himself bravely beneath the swiftly falling Howie. He held out his arms like a fireman prepared to catch a person leaping from a burning building.

    Howie was safe, but it wasn't Josh who'd caught him. It was the security guard, who'd nudged Josh aside in the nick of time and grabbed Howie himself.
    “Gotcha!” the guard said, then turned to Josh. “Got you, too.”
    I was still in Super mode. I knew I could take off into the night and escape. I'd be such a blur of motion that the guard probably wouldn't even notice me. But I couldn't do it. Not just because I was on probation, but because I couldn't bail on my friends.
    The tingle of strength fizzed around my calves for a moment more and was gone. I stepped out from the dark shadow of the vat.
    “You got me, too,” I said.

    We waited in the security office for my father to pick us up.
    The guard had demanded our phone numbers. He'd called my house first and explained everything to my father, who told him he'd come down and collect the whole lot of us. My mother would call Howie's and Josh's parents to give them the heads-up.
    The security office was a small room on the ground floor of the factory, and the smell of the officer's clean uniform was making my stomach turn. I sat on a bench between Howie and Josh while the guard filled out an incident report.
    “Where's the camera?”Josh whispered across me to Howie.
    “In my pocket,” Howie whispered back. “I slipped it in