Before the legends. Before the lies. Before Deceptive High became a battlefield.

Janelle Sparks was born powerful—and trained to hide it. At Douglas High, the Agency’s elite academy disguised as a boarding school, she’s everything they admire and everything they fear: disciplined, brilliant, and dangerously different. Every step she takes toward the Top Five puts her under sharper scrutiny, especially from rivals determined to prove she doesn’t belong.

Duante Sparks doesn’t have powers—but he doesn’t need them. With unmatched situational awareness and a fighter’s instinct, he’s learned how to survive an institution built on manipulation, ranking systems, and quiet betrayals. Where Janelle is fire and wind, Duante is control, strategy, and loyalty.

Together, they are unstoppable.

As graduation approaches, surveillance tightens, rivalries turn lethal, and the cost of being extraordinary becomes impossible to ignore. One mistake could cost Janelle her future—or turn her into something the Agency no longer sees as human. To protect what they’re building, Janelle and Duante must decide how much of themselves they’re willing to sacrifice… and what kind of legacy they’ll leave behind.

This free prequel novella reveals the untold story of how Janelle and Duante became the legends whispered about in Deceptive High.

Power has a price. Legacy always comes due.