by R. J. Ross
“That… is going to be extremely interesting,” I say, already picturing it.
***
Everyone is chattering as our bus pulls to a stop in front of the Hall. There’s another school bus in the parking lot, and I look out the window, seeing where they’re from. “Looks like this wasn’t an original idea,” I say over my shoulder.
“Should we pretend to be norms?” Trent asks Dad.
“If you get caught, put a mask on,” Dad says, “and if you’re caught doing something stupid, run for it.” The bus pulls to a stop in front of the building and he opens the door. “Keep to your groups, don’t start anything with the other school, and anything you buy will be charged to your running account.”
“We’ve got a running account?” Ward asks.
“Of course you do,” Dad says. “Your sponsor pays for it. Speaking of which, you should remember to thank Mega the next time you see him.” We push through the door before Ward can come up with some sort of reply. It’s not a surprise to any of us. Mega’s extremely open about his desire to be a part of Ward’s life, and as a Central cape, he makes really good money.
“I’m not going to buy anything ever again,” Ward mutters.
“Why not?” I say. “He’s going to put you to work, right? You might as well make him pay for it!” He looks at me, opening his mouth to argue, and then closing it again.
“I don’t have a sponsor, do I?” Kaden says.
“Central is covering it at the moment. When you get formally accepted by a Hall, they’ll take over, and probably compensate Central for everything they spent,” Dad explains. “They won’t want Mastermental having something on you.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Kaden says, starting down the steps of the bus.
“Kaden?” I say.
“Huh?”
“Button your shirt, man.”
“Dang it,” he mutters, starting to button up. “I thought for sure he’d be the easier twin to deal with.”
“Maybe if he falls asleep?” Piper offers, yawning.
“Hey, I would like to run around without shoes on, but you don’t see me doing it,” I point out, following them out onto the parking lot and towards the Hall. The other school is waiting outside the door. It’s a class, instead of an entire school, I guess, since there are only about thirty of them. Their teacher is lecturing them on proper behavior inside of the Hall. They keep shooting us resentful looks as we walk right past them and inside.
“Should we be giving a lecture on how to behave inside?” Zoe asks Dad.
“Why? I already told them how to act. Besides, Jack’s wearing his watch, and Ace is in disguise.”
“Yeah, but what about the people watching us?” she asks.
“Okay, fine,” Dad says, lifting his fingers to his mouth and whistling. Most of the group covers their ears, wincing in pain. “It wasn’t THAT loud,” Dad says. “Gather up, everyone, while I lecture you on proper behavior inside the Hall.”
We obediently crowd around him as he tries to look like he really cares how we act inside. “If you see a super, make sure to get their autograph, got it? Unless it’s Mega, then don’t bother, he’ll just enjoy it,” Dad says quietly. “Don’t go into the back part unless you’re absolutely sure no one is watching, since you’re out of mask for the moment. If it gets to be too much, mask up and act like a super imposter. Ace, you’re on duty for that.”
“Got it,” Ace says.
“Now, don’t do anything I wouldn’t... on second thought, don’t do anything I WOULD do,” Dad finishes with a clap. “And break. I’ll take... Rocco’s group, Emily’s group, and one more... Zoe, bring your kids. We’ll leave the rest of you to go shopping.”
“Got it,” I say. We break into groups and head into the Hall, starting at the gigantic sculpture at the front. Grandpa is right in the center of the statue of heroes, and I grin up at it.
“I like that,” Piper says.
“It’s pretty amazing. Dad hates it,” I say. I turn as Adanna and her group comes over. “What’s up?”
“Is there anything here that would work for a present?” she asks me. “Probably not, right?”
“Well, I mean, Dad loves to wear stupid super shirts, but I doubt you’d want to give him one for the wedding,” I admit. “There is... one possible thing that might work, though, especially for Mom.”
“You know a good gift?” Kaden asks. “Other than the video?”
“Well, maybe,” I say. “I don’t know if she’d be willing to sell Grandpa Tree, exactly, but she had some others...” It’s a long shot. People get really attached to their bonsai trees. “We’ll have to go into the back.”
We’re suddenly surrounded by the rest of the class. “Who’s Grandpa Tree?” Adanna asks.
“He’s a bonsai tree that Kim is growing in a little hothouse room in the back,” I say quietly. “He wasn’t doing so well, so she had me take a look, but she had some others. But there’s the question of if she’d even be willing to sell, maybe one of the younger ones?”
“We could just go out and buy a bonsai tree, though, right?” Piper says.
“Yeah, sure, but not one like these,” I say. “Even the youngest one was pretty old and extremely well cared for. I really doubt she’ll agree to it, but hey, it’s worth asking?”
“Your mom would love that, wouldn’t she?” Sandra asks. I look over. She’s wearing her illusion watch, which means she’s not nearly as awesome looking at the moment.
“You should see them, too, Sandra!” I say. “I know they’re not quite your element, but they definitely complement it.”
“Then... how are we going to get everyone back there?” Ace asks. “I can do a large scale thing, if you want—“
“Wait, wait, hello, can you all hear me?” I hear Kim asks over our commlink. “Your sister clued me in, Sunny. I’m going to have some of the black suits bring out a few of the trees for you to choose from, okay?”
“Really?” I ask. “I mean, I would understand not wanting to sell anything—“
“If it was to someone else, I wouldn’t,” she says, “but to be given as a gift to THE Lady Rose, well, I would be honored to say she has one of my babies. You’ll make sure they’re not traumatized by the move, won’t you?”
“Of course I will,” I say. “In fact, I’ll come escort them, okay?” I head through the group to the entrance to the back part of the Hall, noticing eyes watching me. “Er... I’ll meet them at the door,” I say as I realize the problem. The door opens a few moments later and a handful of black suits come through it, wheeling carts with at least four trees each on them. To my shock, Grandpa Tree is the only one on the last cart.
“What the heck? They’re bringing in trees,” I hear someone say. “Shouldn’t they be bringing in something more impressive? Like super heroes? This is lame, man.”
“Sir,” one of the black suits says to me, nodding slightly, “this is the first group that Ms. Nao said to bring out. If you don’t find something you think will work, we can bring out more.”
“No, I, uh, these should be plenty,” I say, turning and looking for a place empty enough of people that we can spread them out. There are kids from the other school standing to the side, staring at me. I try to ignore that fact, absently running a hand through my hair, only to stop as they start to whisper. My white streak is showing. Most of the time I forget I even have it. “Can we take them… there, I guess?” I say, motioning to the spot to the side of the statue. “That way my friends can look, too.”
They nod and start wheeling the carts over. “Hey!” one of the kids from the other school says, “Why does that kid get preferential treatment? We’re supposed to be given a tour, over here. We’ve been waiting a really long time, now!”
“The tour will start in ten minutes,” the black suit tells them. “We thank you for your patience.” They start complaining, clearly NOT being patient at all. I try to ignore it as I walk alongside the cart carrying Grandpa Tree.
> “So… we’re gonna give Summer a tree?” Jack asks, looking a bit bored. “A really… short tree.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being short,” Justin says, defensively, before Malina can even comment.
“He’s right, well, except for having to use footstools all the time,” Malina says. “That can be a bit annoying, but Jack put in a fold down step for the bathroom sink for me, so it’s not that bad,” she tells Justin.
“He did?”
“Yeah, it’s really convenient!”
“These are bonsai,” I tell them, not sure I’ll get their attention. It’s not like I’m Zoe. Zoe can get an entire room to turn at—they’re all staring at me, expectantly, huh? “It’s a Japanese art form of growing trees in small pots. This actually came from a Chinese tradition called Penjing, where they created small landscapes in pots, complete with miniature trees. The term bonsai actually covers all types of miniature trees like these, as long as it’s a perennial—”
“*Cough* boring *cough,*” someone fake coughs behind me. “What is this, some sort of lecture? I thought people came here to see supers.”
I turn, seeing some of the kids from the other school just standing there, trying to give me a hard time. “Sorry, I’m a bit of a plant aficionado,” I say, faking a smile. “I’ll try to keep it down.”
The looks on my classmates’ faces aren’t nearly as friendly as the one I’m trying to keep. “I’m sure there are other things to do, here,” Trent says mildly, “Have you looked at the plaques of the fallen heroes, yet?”
“We’re waiting for our tour guide,” they say. “But if we have to go on a tour with you guys, we might as well go to sleep, now.”
“Jeff,” a girl says, poking the boy complaining. “Just leave them alone. They don’t… seem normal.”
“They’re not even being watched by a teacher and they’re still acting like nerds. Of course they’re not normal,” he says. “They’re probably from some nerd private school.”
“Sunny,” Trent says, “which one would you pick?”
“I’m good with that,” Jack agrees. “Sunny, you pick the tree. They probably want to send the rest of them back to their place, soon, right?”
“Yeah, okay,” I say. “I… I don’t really want to take Grandpa Tree—” Jeff snorts, loud enough for everyone to hear him.
“Grandpa Tree? That’s so stupid!”
I feel my hand clench. “He’s a four-hundred-year-old Japanese White Pine,” I go on, forcing myself to breathe. “He’s been with her family for a long, long time. So I think one of the younger ones would be fine.”
“It looks like a piece of drift wood stuck in a pot,” Jeff says.
“Then don’t look,” I say, my irritation starting to show. “Can you please take this one back to Ms. Nao’s hothouse?” I say to the black suit next to the cart. “Take… this cart, this cart, and this cart back as well,” I decide, pointing to the ones I don’t think I want. My eyes are on a younger white pine. “Mom would love this one. Let me take a picture so I can show Ms. Nao which one we’re thinking of. Um, does everyone else like this one?” I ask the group.
“I think it’s beautiful,” Piper says.
“Where are the heroes when you need them?” Jeff asks loudly. “I need saved from dying of boredom!”
“Mr. Rosenthorn,” the black suit says, “would you like us to throw him out?”
“Ah, it’s going to be Masters, soon,” I say, earning a little smile.
“Then, Mr. Masters would you like us to throw them out?”
I look over at the group of worried-looking kids standing behind the idiot. “If he gets thrown out, will it cause all of you to have to leave?” I ask the girl that had tried to stop him. She nods, chewing on her bottom lip. “Then no, don’t. I’m not going to ruin a tour just because one guy’s a jerk.”
“Why would some short little kid even have that power?” Jeff asks. “He’s probably rich, or something. How much are you paying to keep the Hall in your back pocket? You some sort of skunk man Richie Rich?”
“I’m not paying anything, and the Hall doesn’t accept bribes,” I say, trying to keep the smile on my face. Inwardly I want to smack him upside the head for being so oblivious. “I apologize if our shopping for a wedding gift is so offensive to—”
Adanna places a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “Look,” she says, “this is a big building, and there are a lot of things you can do while you wait for your tour. So you,” she says to the girl that tried to stop him, earlier, “take your boyfriend and go look at something shiny, would you?”
“Jeff, come on, already,” the girl says, tugging at his wrist. “They’re minding their own business.”
“Stop pulling on me, Keesha, I’m—” he jerks his hand out of her hold and she falls back, tumbling into one of the carts that should have been taken away. I don’t even think, I race forward, grabbing the trees that are falling to the ground. Jeff stares at me, and then at the space ten feet away, where I’d been before. I barely notice. I think I heard something snap during their tumble.
“It’s okay, pretty ones,” I say as I place each of the trees back on the cart.
“I’m so sorry,” Keesha says, looking at me with teary eyes. “Are they hurt?” She starts for me, but I wave her off.
“I know it was an accident,” I say, my attention on the bonsai. “I’m going to go with you to take them to the back,” I tell the black suits.
“You’re kidding, right? They’re just stupid trees! You can buy them for twenty bucks at the grocery store! You’re acting like they’re actually something important!”
I try to ignore him as I look the bonsai over, my eyes stopping on the broken limb on a beautiful oak. I reach out, touching the limb gingerly, and watching as it starts to grow out again. “There we go, precious,” I whisper.
“Stop ignoring me!” Jeff snaps, grabbing my shirt and tugging, hard. Nothing happens. Like a norm could budge me. I reach up, smacking the arm away, only to groan as I hear something crack. Jeff screams, grabbing his arm.
“Darn it, you really should have just let go,” I mutter. “Aubrey?”
“On it,” she says, smacking a mask on her face.
“How did—how did you BREAK MY ARM?” Jeff wails, almost falling over.
“I’m sorry,” I say, seeing phones aimed at us from all around. I groan, running a hand over my face, only to stop as I feel a mask there. It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?
“Don’t touch me,” Jeff says as Aubrey reaches his side. “You’re all freaks.”
“She’s a healer,” I tell him. “She’ll fix your arm.”
“No way, I’m going to sue you for everything you’ve got!” he says, “You AND the Hall! You’re obviously one of the freaks!”
“You are welcome to,” I hear a calm voice say from above. “I’m sure your parents and the judge will be quite interested to see how much you harassed him before you forced him to defend himself.” We all look up to see Mastermental floating above us. “There are plenty of witnesses here, as well.”
“He broke my arm!” Jeff says, pointing at me, only to grab his broken arm again.
“If you allow our healer to fix it, we can let all charges drop. That’s if our friend here is willing,” Mastermental says, looking at me.
“I didn’t mean to break his arm,” I admit. “He grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me.”
“I had a guy break his hand on my face in a very similar manner,” Ace volunteers.
“So did I!” Vinny agrees.
“Yeah, but I actually did it to him,” I have to point out.
“Sunny? Shut up,” Adanna says quietly.
“Shutting up,” I say. The teachers from the other school are heading over at a jog, looking worried. Really, they should have been here earlier, I think irritably. Of course, we don’t even HAVE a teacher here at the moment, do we? But we were behaving! “We should have brought Banshee,” I mutter.
“Are t
he trees okay?” Trent asks me.
“One of them broke a limb,” I say, “but he should be fine. I gave him a little help. Hey, Pop?” I say, touching my commlink, “can you come out here? We’ve got a little… problem.”
“What did Jack do?” Dad asks. Everyone except me lets out a snort or laugh.
“It was me,” I admit.
“Well… this should be interesting,” he says. “I’m on my way.”
***
“It’s just a crack,” Aubrey says as Dad joins us. “He grabbed Sunny and Sunny swatted his arm away. I could heal it from here, actually.”
“It hurts!” Jeff says. His arm is swelling and turning a really ugly purple color.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Jeff’s teacher says, looking pale. I’m actually a little more worried about his health than I am Jeff’s. “I don’t know what could have gotten into him. I should have been watching more closely. It’s just—”
“HE’S the one that hit me!” Jeff says. “Why are you trying to make it out like I’m the one at fault?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, again, “but did anyone check on that Keesha girl? She might have been hurt when she fell into the cart.”
“I’ll do it,” Alyssa says, looking at the huddle of kids to the side. “Which one of you is Keesha?” she asks, her hands on her hips.
“What were you all up to, anyway?” Dad asks me. “Why are there trees in here?”
“We were planning on chipping in together to buy one of Kim’s bonsai trees for…” Trent stops, looking at me.
“For your wedding gift,” I finish. “Well, it’d be more for Mom than you, but I didn’t figure you’d mind, right?”
“You mean you’re his DAD?” Jeff asks, looking from me to Dad and back. “That’s… that’s Technico, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’m Technico,” Dad says, sighing. “And no, it’s a great idea. Your mom is going to love it. But she’s not going to be happy about what happened while you were getting it.”
“It’s not Sunny’s fault!” Adanna says. “That guy was trying his hardest to pick a fight with him.”
“And Sunny was being sickeningly polite the whole time, until the guy grabbed him,” Jack says.