by Zoe Quinn
“That's awesome!” I said, and I was so happy I hugged him.
Howie blushed. “Yeah.”
My visitor, of course, was Grandpa Zack. And Zander's was his grandpa Zeb. I was able to spot Zeb easily—he looked a lot like my grandfather.
I wanted to go over and introduce myself, but Amanda was gathering the team together. We stood in a small circle around our counselor. For a moment, I was afraid she was going to tell us she was disappointed that we hadn't won.
“I just want to tell you how proud I am,” she said, her eyes tearing up. “I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of superkids. I'll never forget you guys.”
She hugged each of us. From the podium, Bertram was calling for quiet.
“Now we have two special presentations.” He nodded at our little circle.“Will the Intrepid/Bravery team please come up here?”
We marched to the podium behind Amanda, wondering what was up.
“Your counselor Amanda has asked that you be given a special award in recognition of outstanding teamwork and quick thinking in the face of nearly insurmountable odds! So, to Team Intrepid/Bravery goes our first-ever Winning Isn't Everything Medal, created to remind us all that sometimes, true joy comes from simply being a part of something bigger than ourselves.”
“Right!” said Amanda.“But next year…we're going to win!”
Everyone applauded as Bertram awarded us our medals, which were not gold or silver or even bronze. They were circles of yellow plastic cut out from our sunken raft! We all thought that was incredibly clever and way cool. In the background, I could hear Simon hammering his tiny fists on the glass door of the display cabinet. I saw Sam turn around and make the Loser sign at him once more, just for fun.
“Now,” said Bertram, “I'll turn the podium over to Zander, who will make our second special surprise presentation.”
When Zander stepped forward, I noticed the Fearless girls with their gold medals, sighing and giggling.
Grinning, Zander addressed the campers and their guests. “Today we're very lucky to have some special camp alumni visiting us. They've gone down in Camp Courageous history as the most magnificent team ever to play for the cup. Now, for the first time since they were our age, they're together again.”
I glanced at my grandfather. Clearly, he'd had no idea this was coming. Neither had I.
“Will Zack, Zeb, and Gil please come up here,” said Zander, “and take a bow!”
The kids erupted into cheers as the three heroes came forward. Bertram opened his arms and gave Zeb and then Gil giant bear hugs. Zeb and Gil shook hands.
Then Zeb and Zack turned to face each other.
I held my breath.
My grandfather gave Zeb a warm smile.“It's been a long time, cousin.”
“Too long,” said Zeb, returning the smile.
As the campers applauded and whistled, Zander caught my eye and we smiled, too. My grandfather was right. Family was the most important thing of all.
Saying good-bye to my teammates was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We hugged each other and cried a little, and promised we'd IM and e-mail as often as we could. Melanie would be included, too, of course.
“I'm sure we'll end up being sent on supermissions together,” I said.
“Yeah,” said Casey.“And in the meantime, we can meet up to go shopping.”
“Well, guys,” said Megan, whose uncle Altitude was waiting for her, “I've gotta fly….”
“Literally!” I said, and we all laughed.
Camp was over. It was time to go home.
On the ride home, Grandpa relayed what Zeb had told him.
“The thing was,” he said, “that Zeb had always sort of looked up to me. He felt that I was the more advanced hero—although he was a darn powerful guy himself. And when his daughter, Zia, was super, he felt as though he was under a great deal of pressure to prove himself worthy of the responsibility. Which, of course, he was.”
“It's funny,” I said, remembering how Simon had worked so hard to make all of us doubt our own ability, “how even Supers like Simon can feel insecure about themselves. And I thought it was because he was stuck-up.”
“Zeb was afraid I'd be angry or jealous that he was getting the chance to raise a superkid. I would have never felt that way, but he cared about me so much that he didn't want to take the chance of making me feel bad.”
I shook my head. “I guess that's why he put so much pressure on Zander to be a winner, too. He needed to prove he could be a good mentor to a young Super.”
“Well, we've worked it all out,” said Grandpa. “So Zeb and I will be back in touch from here on in.”
I heard a buzzing sound and reached into my backpack to answer my communication device.
“Kid Zoom,” said Thatcher, “I've got Zander on wavelength Beta for you.”
“Hi, Zander.”
“Hi, Zoe. I just want to tell you that I had a long talk with my grandpa Zeb and he's going to go easier on me.”
“That's great.”
“I'm sure I'll always prefer winning to losing,” he said, laughing, “but at least now, I'll be able to take it as it comes.”
We made plans to get together with our grandfathers once school was under way and we were all back in the swing of our regular life—well, as regular as life ever got for secret superkids.
“I gotta hang up now,” said Zander.“Thatcher's beeping in on the other wavelength.”
“I bet it's one of those Fearless girls!” I joked.
“I hope so,” said my cousin.“That redhead with the power to control the weather was kinda cute.”
“Grandpa,” I said as we drove down the shady country lane, “did you know that the Feds expect Zander and me to be the Super leaders of our generation?”
“Well,” he said, grinning and giving me a sidelong glance, “I guess you could say I had a hunch.”
I let that sink in. Talk about pressure. Still, I truly felt that Zander and I would be able to handle the responsibility.
“And what about Howie? Do you think his grandpa will ever get over the fact that he isn't going to be super?”
“I'm sure of it,” said Grandpa Zack. “Howie may not have powers, but he is amazing in many other respects.”
“True,” I said. “Very, very true.”
I leaned my head back against the car seat and closed my eyes. In a while, I'd get to see my mom and dad, and I was pretty sure there was already a lasagna in the oven, just waiting to be served for my homecoming dinner. And then I'd call Emily, and maybe tomorrow I'd see Josh Devlin, and soon I'd be getting ready to head back to school.
Back to the regular—fabulous—life of a secret superkid!
TO SHANNON, MY OWN SUPERHERO
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO
LISA FIEDLER
Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children's Books
a division of Random House, Inc., New York
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Text copyright © 2007 by Working Partners, Ltd.
Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Brie Spangler
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address Yearling Books.
Yearling and the jumping horse design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Visit us on the Web! www.randomhouse.com/kids
Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at www.randomhouse.com/kids
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upoon request.
eISBN: 978
-0-307-49428-3
v 3.0