by R. J. Ross
“It’s fine,” Ginger says, her frustration causing her hands to clench for a moment. She feels so helpless. Her boys are out there with a ruthless monster of a man--one that had made her do things that went against her personal values--things that she feels dirty even thinking about. If he’s so willing to contemplate changing his own grandson, what would he do to two kids not even related to him?
She can’t help but fear him turning her sons into test subjects. She had feared it earlier, but not as much as now. Earlier, they had been leverage against her--now--
“I will leave you to yourself,” Voltdrain says gently, touching her shoulder and making her look at him. He has a look of compassion in his eyes, one that almost makes her cry. “If you have need for anything, there are two black suits in the main room. They will arrange things for you, Señora.”
“Thank you,” she whispers. She turns away from his look, not capable of seeing it any longer. She hears the door open and close. Voltdrain is gone.
For a long moment there’s silence, and she looks around the empty room. It’s spacious, but rather sterile in appearance. There’s a bed, a table, and a chair--which she heads over and sinks into, letting the tears fall. Will she ever see her boys again?
“This is rather depressing,” a familiar voice says from the corner. Ginger jerks, her eyes widening with shock as she sees Shadowman leaning casually against the wall, examining his fingernails. “Kunnins is looking for you,” he says as her mouth opens and closes without a word. “Those two boys of yours are causing a lot of problems without you there--the last time something caused him trouble he used it as an experiment, according to the muscle boys.”
“I didn’t--I wasn’t--” Ginger says. “Has he done anything to them?”
“Not yet,” Shadowman says, “and if you come quietly, he might not.”
She hesitates, looking at the door leading to the main room and back to him. She gets to her feet.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Shadowman says, taking her hand.
***
I fell asleep halfway through the movie. At least I think I did. Right now I’m waking up in my bed, dressed in my ever-so-classy “Firefly Rocks” pjs. I take that as a sign of Liz putting me to bed. She’s constantly buying me clothes with her logo on them. I feel better, I realize as I stretch. A night’s sleep is enough for my healing factor to let me completely recover.
“Em, you going to school today?” Aubrey calls through the door.
“Yeah, I’m coming!” I call back, hopping out of bed and heading for the bathroom. Shortly I’m cleaned up, fed, and heading down the stairs with the rest of the group. To my shock, Zoe jumps me from behind as we reach the bottom floor.
“You stood us up!” she says.
“Sorry--I mean--tonight?” I offer, guilt hitting me sharply.
“You’ll have to talk Adanna into it. I think Sunny ate all her cookies.”
“Darn you, Sunny!” I yell at the teen in question. “Those cookies were mine!” He has the gall to laugh! How rude. We head through the security and for the campus, chatting casually as we wake up. Adanna joins us as we get to school, heading straight for me with a dark look on her face before she hauls me into a hug.
“Now that you know how to teleport, I expect you to come over to my house more often,” she orders me.
“Liz grounded me,” I say, a bit depressed over that thought. Going over to Adanna’s whenever I want sounds AWESOME. She’s got this huge cat sanctuary in her backyard. “Maybe when I’m thirty?”
I glance up, distracted as another car pulls up to the school. Keliah comes out, carrying a box. My eyes widen as I see the words “Krispy Kreme” on the side. Oh no she didn’t! “Now remember, you’re sharing with everyone,” Falconess calls through the window to her.
“I know, I know,” Keliah mutters, looking at her mother darkly as the window rolls back up and Falconess drives away. Today isn’t a mentoring day--I think she’s got rounds to make. Keliah looks over at us, her eyes going straight to Jack, who is staring at her… Well, more like he’s staring at the donut box.
This is DEFINITELY trouble.
“Donuts,” Trent says from behind me.
I look at Aubrey, Aubrey looks at me. Looks like our boyfriend protection job isn’t anywhere close to done, I think. “Hey, Jack, did you ever come up with a name for your dog?” she asks.
“I think we should name him Donut,” Jack says, his eyes glued to the box.
“I like Donut,” Trent agrees stupidly, “or maybe Krispy.”
“Krispy’s good, too.”
Aubrey and I groan.
####
Bonus Material:
Emily the Spy
I’m looking for Ace. I figure if I can corner him for long enough he’ll agree to plot out my debut with me--if it’s plotted out, I MIGHT just be able to talk Nico into letting me do it. I head up the stairs to the second floor of the main school building, where the villains spend their free hour.
“You know, if that whole donut episode with the mini blonde gets you dumped--” I hear Ace say.
“It’s not going to get me dumped! All I did was eat a donut or two!”
“You ate half a dozen of them, and that’s only because your brother got the others,” I hear Max drawl.
“Whatever, I don’t see what the big deal is--”
“Aubrey’s totally going to toss him to the curb,” Max says. “That little blonde was practically sitting on his lap as he shoveled them down.”
“I’m going after Aubrey when she does,” Ace finishes.
“Emily’s more likely to dump Trent than Aubrey is me,” Jack mutters. “You can go after Emily.”
“Nah, Emily’s way too much for me to want to deal with--there’s THREE of her, now,” Ace says. “It sounds cool, but that’s two too many for my taste. Plus, who knows how many there’ll be when she’s an adult?”
“So you totally gave up on Morgan, huh?” Max asks. Okay, I know I shouldn’t spy, but this is WAY too interesting to pass up. “You chicken.”
“Not a chicken, just not stupid,” Ace says. “Justin is going to ask her out.”
I hear someone choke on something, complete with a spluttering sound. “You’re kidding me, right?” Jack asks. “She’s going to turn him down so freaking fast--”
“What do you mean?” Ace asks. “How do you know?”
“I’m dating her best friend, remember? Aubrey would have said SOMETHING about her being into him. She never has. I think Morgan’s like… asexual or something. Or maybe she’s just got taste.”
“She won’t turn him down,” Ace says, his tone a bit dark. “Even she’s smart enough to realize he’s a famous singer. Girls go for that sort of thing.”
“Won’t happen,” Jack says again. “She still calls him boyband boy.”
“Ten bucks she says yes.”
“I’ll take that bet,” Jack says, sounding far too smug. “What do you say, Max? Think she’ll go for it?”
“Don’t know,” Max says thoughtfully. “I’ll put ten on her avoiding him until he gives up like chicken boy, here.”
“It’s a bet,” Ace says, not sounding too enthusiastic. “I got this one in the bag, though, so you’d better keep the cash on hand.”
“So where do you plan on taking Aubrey for your first date?” Max asks.
“I will beat you like a drum, man,” Jack says.
“I was thinking the movies,” Ace says, cheering up. “I mean, look at the standard she’s got--beating it shouldn’t be a problem!”
“Do you seriously think the donut thing is going to get me dumped?” Jack asks after a long moment of silence.
The sound of them laughing covers the sound of me racing away. Justin is going to ask Morgan out? I have GOT to get this on video!
I find Morgan at Adanna’s tree house, surrounded by half of the dorm. They’ve left one of the hammocks to my best friend (how kind, considering it’s her place) and I head straight for Adan
na, climbing up the ramp and sliding into the hammock with her.
“What--” she starts out.
I lean over, knowing how good her hearing is, and breathe, “Ace says Justin is going to ask Morgan out.”
She pulls back, staring at me blankly before starting to laugh. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” she whispers back.
“What’s going on?” Carla asks, her head popping out over us. “Whatcha whispering about?” She is just so adorable. No, seriously, those little poof pigtails, a huge grin, big golden eyes--I just want to HUG her! I blink as Ditto appears behind her, hauling her into a massive hug and getting an “EEP!” in return.
The rest of the group starts laughing, watching the two with amusement, especially when Ditto starts saying exactly what I was just thinking. Poor Carla is so red that her ears are practically glowing. She doesn’t run away, though, I notice with a little grin.
“Very nice distraction,” Adanna compliments me silently.
“Distraction from what?” I ask her.
For a long second she stares at me before shaking her head with amusement. “Never mind. So when will it happen?”
“I… have no clue. I just wanted to get it on video.”
“You can’t exactly follow him around for the rest of his life until he does it.”
“I was hoping he would do it now,” I complain.
“Who would do what now?” Vinny asks, looking over the side of his hammock at us. I hesitate, but he IS one of my cooking teachers, so I wave him over. He lazily gets out of the hammock and heads over to ours, leaning over to hear me whisper.
“Ace says Justin is going to ask Morgan out,” I tell him as silently as possible.
“Nah, won’t happen,” Vinny says after a long second of just staring at me.
“What won’t happen?” Morgan asks.
“It doesn’t matter, since it won’t happen,” Vinny replies.
“Hey, Adanna, I got the candy!” Sunny says as he comes around the building, his arms laden with snacks. “Hey, Em, what’s up?” he asks as he hands over the candy to his girlfriend. I grab a few, since I’m here.
I look over at Vinny, who’s giving Morgan a hard time, and lean down, whispering in Sunny’s ear, “Ace says Justin’s going to ask Morgan out.”
“He DID?” half of the dorm asks, alerting me to the fact I might have whispered a little too loudly.
Morgan jerks Vinny’s fingers out of her ears. “What is going on, here, people?” she demands.
“I don’t think it’ll happen,” Ward says.
“It might!” Carla says.
“I think Ace should do it, instead,” Vinny drawls. Morgan gives him an extra dark look for that.
“What. IS. GOING. ON?” she demands--right as Justin walks around the corner, his hands in his pockets.
The entire area goes silent, staring at him expectantly. He hesitates, looking behind him but not seeing anyone. “What?” he finally asks. “Actually, on second thought, I’ll just be going,” he says, turning on his heel and walking away.
“I’m going to follow him!” I announce, grabbing my phone only to grunt as Adanna hauls me back into the hammock.
“Not now,” she says, sighing. “What were you talking to Ace for, anyway?”
I stare at her in surprise. “I totally forgot to ask him about my debut!”
Operation: Happy Family
Aubrey is working again--she works a lot, okay? That means it’s just me and Liz for movie night. There’s yet another strange anime movie playing on the television, the bowl of popcorn is almost gone, and Liz is rooting for some guy that turns into a pig whenever he gets hit by cold water. Yeah, this is a typical weekend.
“Moooom,” I say, moving closer and giving her my biggest innocent look.
“Whaaaat?” she asks in the same tone.
“I think you and Taurus should make it official.”
“What?” she almost yelps, clearly thrown off guard.
“Like go out in public or work together as partners or something! It’d be on television EVERYWHERE,” I say.
“No, wait, let’s back up here,” she says. “WHAT exactly are we making official, anyway?”
“That you’re dating,” I say cheerfully. “That way all the other girls know he’s taken. He’s a seriously good looking guy, you know. I’m surprised there isn’t, like, a line-up of super girls trying to get into Central just to take a chance.”
She gives me a dirty look, one that almost makes me laugh. Sometimes she’s just TOO easy. “We’re just friends,” she says stubbornly. “He can date whoever he wants.”
“Oh? Then I’ll pass that on to Falconess next time we have a mentorship class,” I say. “Actually, I’ve got her number and it’s a Friday night, so maybe I should--” I go on, pulling out my phone. She grabs it before I can tap on the screen.
“NOT Falconess!” she says.
“Mmm… how about Skystep? She turned out to be okay, after all!”
“ABSOLUTELY NOT,” she yells, holding my phone far away from me. “She’s insane!”
“Mmm… maybe Jeanie knows someone, then?” I offer. “She’s been in the fighting game for a while, right? I bet she’s met lots of super girls!”
She looks like she’s going to crush my phone, I realize a bit too late. The crunching sound makes me wince. “Taurus is perfectly fine focusing on his work,” she says, handing me the broken phone. “Sorry… um, why don’t you go get Nico to fix this for you?” she adds a bit guiltily.
“You killed my phone,” I say, taking the crushed piece of metal.
“I’m sorry,” she repeats.
“You totally OWE me for that, you know--if the sim card is crushed I’ll lose all my selfies.”
“I--”
“In repayment, you have to go out on a date with Taurus!” I announce.
“Over selfies?” she says incredulously.
“I have some really great ones with Trent!” I tell her. “And Zoe, and Adanna, and--”
“Okay, okay!” she says. “I’ll do whatever you want!”
“I’ve already got the outfit picked out!” I say excitedly, hopping to my feet and running for her bedroom. “You’re going out for dinner, by the way. Taurus has reservations!”
“What? NOW?” she yelps, jumping to her feet and racing past me into her bathroom. “You could have told me earlier!” she yells through the door.
“That never works!” I call back as I lay out the outfit on her bed and head for the door. I swing it open, grinning widely at the sight of Taurus standing there in a suit with flowers in his hand.
“Nice job,” he says, bumping fists with me.
“I sacrificed my phone for this, so you’d better make it good,” I tell him, letting him in.
“Are you really okay with me taking your movie night?” he asks.
“Trent said he’d come over,” I say. “We’re going to watch My Neighbor Totoro!”
“Does he know that?” he asks as Liz comes out, looking amazing.
“Not yet,” I say, standing on tiptoe to close his mouth for him. It was hanging open. “Now get going, I’ve got a date to get ready for!” I add, shoving them both out the door.
Coffee Coffee
Ken watches blankly as Emily holds out her coffee cup to Jeanie. He actually doesn’t know when she got the cup, he’s never actually seen her drink coffee before. It’s a little worrisome, actually. Not as worrisome as giving Carla coffee would be, but still enough to give him pause. “Emily?” he asks.
“Can I get more of the creamer stuff in it? I can still taste the coffee,” Emily says, looking in the cup with a little frown.
“Of course!” Jeanie says.
“Am I the only one that’s wondering about this?” Ken asks, since Emily hasn’t replied to him yet.
“Nope,” Trent says, but that’s the only word that makes it out around his mouthful of pancake. Jack grunts, but that’s all anyone gets out of him on pancake day, so Ken ignores it.
/>
“She said she has a deal with God,” Aubrey says, eating much more properly than his boys do. “Something about staying awake for church?”
“I see...” Ken says, taking a drink of his own coffee and thinking for a long moment. He watches as Emily gulps the coffee down. A part of him is almost looking forward to seeing the tiny redhead hyped up on coffee–the other part reminds him that he’s the one that has to do the preaching. “You ah, realize it doesn’t work like that, don’t you?”
Emily stares at him. “It doesn’t?”
“Nope. God doesn’t do deals, He helps you out because He loves you,” he says, “and you try to do right because you love Him.”
“Just because He loves me?” Emily asks.
“That’s right. That’s why Jesus came, too–because He loves you.”
“So... I don’t have to stay awake through church?”
“Well, we’d appreciate you staying awake–“
”Thank GOD!” she says, putting the coffee down and shoving it away. “I don’t like that stuff at all,” she adds, making a face, “and I don’t want to be five feet tall for the rest of my life! Coffee stunts your growth, you know?”
Ken smiles slightly and picks up her cup, finishing it for her. Waste not, want not.
They head out for church a little while later, along with Summer, Zoe, and Sunny, and drive to the small building where the church now gathers. The group stumbles out of their cars and head inside, where they head for their various classes. By the time Ken’s at the pulpit, he’s forgotten about Emily’s “deal with God” entirely.
Then he hears her snoring. Inwardly he sighs, looking at the little redhead laid out on the front pew. Maybe he should have told her AFTER church was over.
Coming Soon:
CAPE HIGH
BOOK TEN: SUNNY DAZE
I lift my hand, letting the wind breeze through my fingers as we drive down the road. Everything except the road is green. Once in a while you see a herd of cattle, lounging next to small ponds or standing under tall trees. This is Kansas. Flat, boring, fields as far as the eye can see. I glance over at my mom, watching her sing along with that CD she’s constantly listening to--this folk singer lady. She’s beautiful. No, not the folk singer--my mom. I still find it hard to believe we got her back.