Free Totally Toxic by Zoe Quinn Page B

direction. Gran was staying home because (a) although her security clearance allowed her to know about Super activities, she was not certified to attend test sessions, and (b) I was a bit worried that my parents might call to check in or something.
    The superhero test! It was hard to believe I
was finally
taking it!
    Grandpa guided the car through the streets of Sweetbriar; to anyone who saw us, we would have looked like any grandfather and granddaughter out for a pleasant evening drive. What no one would ever have guessed was that on the backseat of the convertible was a backpack with its own alarm system, containing a newly hemmed and virtually indestructible superhero suit in preteen size 12 slim and a very cool identity-concealing face mask.
    Grandpa hadn't said much about where we were headed.
    “Where are we going, anyway?” I asked.
    “Not far.”
    Well, that narrowed it down.
    We drove on toward the highway. Grandpa merged into traffic and stayed in the right lane, obeying the speed limit.
    We passed a sign that read TEMPLETON HEIGHTS MALL NEXT EXIT. I would have loved to ask Grandpa if we could stop at the mall so I could get some new barrettes to match my supersuit, but since that would be a blatant violation of my grounding, I didn't even bother to suggest it.
    Ten minutes later, Grandpa flipped on the turn signal and began veering toward an exit.
    “Uh, Gramps, the sign says that exit is closed due to construction.”
    “Yes, it does.” He went right on veering.
    “Look. The ramp is blocked. There's a flashing light at the end.”
    “I see that.” He calmly drove on, slowing to a stop only when the shiny chrome grill of the car was an inch from the orange cones that closed off the road. The yellow warning light blinked, throwing us in and out of darkness. Grandpa put the car in park.
    “We're here,” he announced, getting out of the car.
    I got out, too, grabbed my backpack from the backseat, and followed him.
    The exit ramp led to a gravel road. As far as I could tell, there wasn't a house or even a gas station for miles. Behind us, the sound of cars whipping along the highway faded away as we crossed the unpaved road toward a giant shadowy mass. After another five minutes of walking, I realized that the shadow was actually a huge rocky hill.
    I looked up, up, up the side of it. The peak disappeared into the night clouds.
    “Do I have to climb this?” I asked.
    “Not today.”
    Grandpa reached out and placed his hand on a crag jutting out from the side of the stony slope.
    I heard the grinding sound of rock scraping against rock, and before my eyes a door-sized chunk of the hill slid sideways, revealing an opening.
    I smiled broadly. “Way cool.”
    “I've always thought so.”
    Grandpa stepped aside and let me enter first. I hesitated,expecting the inside to be a gloomy, cavernous place with stalactites and stalagmites and creepy shadows.
    Not even close!
    Inside that doorway, under the mountain, was a huge, brightly lit space that made the gymnasium at Sweetbriar Middle School look pretty bogus in comparison.
    “Welcome to the Superhero Federation's Training and Testing Facility,” Grandpa announced proudly. “It's one of many, of course. We have facilities like this all over the world. In my opinion, this one is the best.”
    “Why? Is it impenetrable to all natural forces? Undetectable by radar?”
    “Well, yes, actually, it's both of those things. But I like it because it has the cleanest locker rooms.”
    I followed Grandpa to the center of the enormous space.
    “This part of your test measures your physical abilities. Speed, strength, balance … the basics.”
    Grandpa explained the test to me. It was like an obstacle course, except that I couldn't see the obstacles… yet. That was due to the fact that in actual hero-versus-villain situations, a hero could never know what to expect and had to think on her feet. The obstacles would just pop up, appearing randomly during the