Trampolina's movements became jerky, mechanical - gone was the fluid grace that had amazed the science fair crowd just moments before. Her LED eyes flickered rapidly from their usual gentle blue to a harsh, bloody red, casting an unsettling crimson glow across the polished chrome of her facial features. “Time to put on a show!”

  She landed a back handspring with unnatural force, her titanium-reinforced foot punching through a nearby folding table like it was made of cardboard. The freshman's carefully constructed papier maché volcano exploded in a shower of red food coloring and baking soda, spattering nearby students with fake lava.

  "No, no, no!" Henry's fingers flew across his custom-built remote control, a sophisticated equipment that now seemed as useful as a TV remote against a hurricane. His face had gone ghost-white, his dark eyes wide, and he was panicking behind his thick-rimmed glasses. "This isn't supposed to happen! The failsafes - I built in three layers of failsafes!"

  Trampolina's head snapped toward him with a sound like a steel trap closing, those pulsing red eyes fixing on her creator. The melodic laugh that had charmed the judges earlier morphed into something from a nightmare - a grating, metallic sound that seemed to scrape against Jessica's enhanced hearing like nails on a chalkboard. With terrifying speed, the robot cheerleader snatched up a metal folding chair, servos whining as she hurled it across the gymnasium. Students screamed and dove for cover as it crashed into the wall with enough force to crack the cinderblock, leaving a chair-shaped dent that would give the maintenance staff nightmares.

  "Everyone out!" Mr. Peterson's usually calm science-teacher voice had risen two octaves in panic. His bow tie was askew as he herded students toward the exits. "Clear the gymnasium! This is not a drill!"

  Jessica's enhanced muscles coiled instinctively, her body automatically shifting into a fighting stance. The wolf inside her urged action - protect the pack, eliminate the threat. But Salina's fingers dug into her forearm with bruising force, the witch's grip both warning and reminder. They'd worked too hard to keep their secrets, built too many careful alibis. Revealing her supernatural strength now, in front of half the student body and their phone cameras, would destroy everything.

  "We need a plan," Kevin materialized beside them, his black hair falling into his eyes as he fumbled with the paranormal detector he'd built for his own science fair project. The device was going berserk, lights flashing in a strobing pattern she'd never seen before. Probably reacting to Jessica’s hidden supernatural power.

  The robot cheerleader had turned her attention to the gymnasium's metal bleachers, attacking them with methodical violence. Her silver-plated hands tore through the aluminum seats like tissue paper, sending twisted chunks of metal flying like deadly frisbees. Her mechanical laughter bounced off the walls, a sound that mixed the peppy enthusiasm of a cheerleader with the soulless malice of a demon. Jessica knew that sound would feature prominently in her nightmares - assuming they survived long enough for her to sleep again.

  "Henry!" Jessica had to shout to be heard over the chaos of screaming students and rending metal. "How do we shut her down? There has to be an emergency override or something!"

  But Henry seemed frozen in place, his remote control hanging limply from nerveless fingers as he stared at his creation in horror. "This isn't possible," he mumbled, shaking his head in denial. "I checked everything. Triple-checked it. The programming was perfect. Someone must have-"

  His words cut off in a strangled yelp as Trampolina's head rotated a full 180 degrees, the motion unnaturally smooth and utterly wrong. Her crimson eyes pulsed with newfound intensity as they fixed on her creator. "Henry," she said, her voice skipping like a scratched record between her usual perky tone and something that belonged in a horror movie. "Want to see my latest routine? I've been practicing just for you."

  She launched herself toward him with explosive force, her silver body becoming a deadly missile. Jessica moved on pure instinct. She tackled Henry aside, feeling the wind of Trampolina's strike as the robot's fist punched clean through the cinderblock wall where Henry's head had been moments before.

  "Thanks," Henry gasped out between ragged breaths, scrambling backward on hands and knees, his glasses hanging crooked on his face. A thin trickle of blood ran from his nose - Jessica's rescue hadn't been gentle.

  "Don't thank me yet," Jessica muttered, hauling him to his feet with careful attention to use only normal human strength. Her enhanced senses picked up every minute sound as Trampolina worked to free herself - the whir of overtaxed servos, the crunch of crumbling concrete, the scrape of metal on stone as she extracted her fist from the wall. Bits of pulverized cinderblock cascaded from her silver-plated knuckles, leaving grey dust on her gleaming finish.

  Salina had already sprung into action, pulling a worn leather pouch from her messenger bag. Her fingers moved in practiced patterns as she muttered the words of a binding spell under her breath. Jessica recognized the incantation - they'd spent countless hours in Salina's basement while the young witch perfected this piece of magic. Purple sparks danced between her hands, building into a web of mystical energy.

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  But when the spell struck Trampolina's metallic frame, it fizzled out like a match dropped in water, the magical energy dissipating harmlessly across her silver-plated surface.

  "Damn, her skin is silver," Salina spat the words like a curse, her gothic makeup making her scowl even more dramatic. "It's deflecting my power!”

  Kevin's paranormal detector had reached new levels of agitation, the lights almost strobing now as it emitted a high-pitched whine that made Jessica's sensitive ears ache. "Jessica! You’re making my device go nuts!”

  Trampolina's head snapped toward the sound with that same horrible mechanical precision, her red eyes focusing on Kevin's device with predatory intensity. “Must eliminate noisy interference.”

  The robot launched into a series of handsprings that would have been beautiful if they weren't so terrifying. Each impact of her metal hands and feet left small craters on the gym floor, the hardwood splintering under the force as she headed straight for Kevin. The sound of her impacts echoed off the walls like gunshots.

  Jessica's enhanced hearing picked up an ominous new sound from above - the creaking protest of overstressed metal. Her eyes snapped to the ceiling, where she could see one of the main support beams giving way. Trampolina's rampage had weakened its mounting points, and now the massive piece of steel was separating from its housing. Directly beneath it, a freshman boy stood transfixed, his phone held up to capture the unfolding chaos.

  Time seemed to slow as Jessica's enhanced senses kicked into overdrive. She could reach him easily. Her supernatural speed would get her there with time to spare. But moving that fast would be impossible to explain away. Even in the chaos, someone would notice. Phones were recording everything. If anyone saw her move with supernatural speed...

  "Hey!" she shouted instead, forcing herself to move at an agonizingly human pace. "Look out! The ceiling!"

  The kid looked up just as the beam gave way with a sound like thunder. Jessica pushed her legs as hard as she dared without being superhuman, knowing with sick certainty that she wouldn't make it in time-

  A blur of black clothing and pale skin tackled the freshman from the side. Salina rolled with him behind an overturned table, covered in white dust from pulverized concrete but otherwise unharmed. Her quick thinking had saved them both from being crushed.

  "Nice save," Jessica called out, relief flooding through her. Then, her enhanced hearing picked up the whir of servos behind her, and she spotted Kevin, still backing away from the approaching robot. His knuckles were white where they gripped his detector. "Kevin, run!"

  But Trampolina was too fast. She closed the distance in two bounds, her silver hands reaching for Kevin's device with implacable purpose. "Give it to me," she announced, her voice skipping between tones. "Noisy object must stop-”

  The gymnasium doors burst open with a bang that made everyone jump. "What in God's name is going on in here?"

  Principal Matthews stood in the doorway, his face transitioning through several impressive shades of red to settle on a violent purple as he took in the destruction. His arrival provided just enough distraction for Kevin to act. He dove between Trampolina's legs, tucking and rolling across the debris-strewn floor. The robot's head swiveled with that unsettling smoothness to identify the new voice.

  "New fan. Must perform a stunt.”

  The principal's eyes widened comically as Trampolina's full attention fixed on him. Some deeply buried survival instinct must have kicked in, because he slammed the gym doors shut and dove aside just as the robot launched herself forward. The heavy metal doors might as well have been tissue paper - she crashed through them with a sound like an explosion, disappearing into the hallway beyond.

  "She's heading for the exit!" Henry's voice cracked with panic as he finally snapped out of his shocked daze. "We have to stop her before-"

  A distant crash cut him off, followed by the distinctive sound of shattering glass. Jessica sprinted to the nearest window just in time to see Trampolina's silver form sail over the fence that separated Moon High from downtown Moon Valley. The robot's movements were still unnaturally jerky, but there was a horrible purpose to them now.

  "Oh no," Henry whispered, appearing beside her at the window. His face had taken on a greenish tinge. "What have I done?"

  "What have you done?" Amber's voice cut through the relative quiet like a blade. The cheerleader stood amid the wreckage of her domain, her pristine uniform now spotted with dust and debris. But her rage burned pure and hot. "You built a killer robot that just destroyed our gym and is now loose in our town! How could you be so irresponsible? Do you have any idea what this means for the squad? For the championship?"

  "I didn't- This isn't-" Henry's face had gone from green to ghost-white. "Someone must have tampered with her programming. The base code was perfect - I ran every possible test! Trampolina was functioning exactly as designed until today. This shouldn't be possible!"

  But Jessica had stopped listening to their argument. Her enhanced hearing was picking up the sounds of chaos from downtown - more breaking glass, screams of panic, and car alarms joining in a discordant chorus. Whatever malevolent force had taken control of Trampolina, the robot was cutting a path of destruction through the heart of Moon Valley.

  And Jessica had a sinking feeling that she was the only one strong enough to stop her. The question was, could she figure out a way to do it without exposing her supernatural nature to the entire town?

  Kevin appeared at her side, his detector still emitting a soft, steady beep as it tracked whatever strange energy had corrupted Henry's creation. "We need a plan," he said, his voice steady despite the fear she could smell coming off him in waves. "Something more than just brute force."

  "We should head to my house and bring ball sack with us," Salina added, joining them at the window. Her usual gothic cool had cracked, revealing genuine worry beneath the carefully crafted image. A smear of dust marred her dark lipstick. "He should know how it works since he built it. Whatever he used to make her immune to my magic, his fat head should have the answers.”

  “Good idea.” Jessica watched another distant explosion send a column of smoke curling into the afternoon sky. Her muscles ached with the need to shift, to let her wolf form loose and chase down the threat. But Kevin was right - they needed a plan. Running in fangs-first would only get her killed, especially with that silver-plated frame. One touch of that silver against her true form would be agony at best, deadly at worst.

  Behind them, Henry was still protesting his innocence while Amber berated him about championships and school spirit. Tiffany wasn’t in sight. Perhaps she escaped with the others. The remaining students were picking themselves up from various hiding spots, phones out to record the destruction for social media. And somewhere in Moon Valley, a malfunctioning robot cheerleader was wreaking havoc, possibly heading straight for the crowded downtown shopping district.

  Just another totally normal day at Moon High.