Rocky Road (Cape High Series Book 18)

by R. J. Ross

  “Yeah,” she says, looking back down.

  “I hated what I’d become,” I say quietly, holding up my hand so we’re both looking at it. “I was ugly and I kept breaking things. But… when we were fighting Lance’s uncle, I lost my powers. I looked at this hand, and it was small. I mean, it wasn’t as small as yours, or anything, but it was tiny, compared to this one. And all I could think was… if my hand was like that, how could I protect him?”

  “Do you hate your hands?” she asks.

  “It’s hard to do a lot of things,” I admit. “Using a fork is a really big one. I never liked spoons to begin with, but, you know, sometimes you could really use a spoon.”

  “What do you have against spoons?” she asks. “What did spoons ever do to you?”

  It startles a laugh out of me. “I don’t like soup, either,” I tell her.

  “You just haven’t had the RIGHT soup,” she says. “If you’d had the right soup, you would know the true joy of soup-ness!”

  I look at her, since she’s doing the most dramatic pose EVER over… “soup-ness.” I feel the laugh trying to escape, and let it, roaring with laughter and bringing up my phone to snap a picture of her. It might be a bit blurry, but I don’t care. I’m going to use it as a screen saver on my game, and add the words “The True Joy of Soup-ness” over it.

  “So?” she says as I stop laughing. “When are we going?”

  “To where?”

  “I don’t know, anywhere,” she says. “I want to go with you. I’d like to see some of the other branches before I decide what Hall I’m going to join, or if I’m even going to join one. I mean, if there was one huge Hall that just dealt with all of the coasts in America, I’d be first in line… but they broke them up.”

  “Huh,” I say. “So you just… don’t want to go out on your own?”

  “It’d be lonely.”

  “Carla would probably go with you,” I say. They’ve always been best friends, even back in the zoo.

  “She’s got two Halls to take care of, and school,” Malina says. “Plus, her dad is coming home and training to be a black suit, now. She will probably want to be close for that.”

  The screen flashes in front of me, and I blink as a shiny, tough looking woman appears, with a bio right next to her. Neither of us says anything for a moment as we stare at her picture. “She’s—” Malina says.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I say, knowing exactly where it came from.

  “She’s in Marigold’s branch,” Nico says over the speakers. “I can get you permission—in fact, we could set up a little trip for Malina to check out the coasts, and say you’re her bodyguard.”

  “So… she IS Sandra’s mom?” Malina asks, looking a bit awe-struck.

  “Yeah.”

  “And you’d let just the two of us go?” I ask. “Yeah, right.”

  “I’d insist on an adult in some form or another,” he says. “You can pick, though. I’d suggest someone who’s been dying to spend some more time with you, though.”

  “What?”

  “I think Jeanie could get some time off for it,” he says. “But again, it’s up to you.” The screen switches back to my new screen saver, a picture of my underground base. I stare at it for a moment, my mind still picturing the rock mimic woman.

  “She’s beautiful,” I say quietly.

  “She reminds me of you,” Malina says, “but smoother. Maybe she does something?”

  I shrug, trying to play it off. I’m faking it. I mean, now that I’ve seen her, now that the path is just so wide-open… “He’s really weird.”

  “Yeah,” Malina says. “But how is he weird this time?”

  “What, he’s weird in other ways?” I ask, side-tracked.

  “Lots of ways,” she says. “But he’s a really good principal to have. He pretty much takes everything we can do in stride, like it’s perfectly normal.”

  “I uh, noticed that,” I admit, looking at my hands. “But here he is, basically shoving me towards my birth mother, but sending the woman that he wants as my new mom along. Shouldn’t he just give up on the old mother and try and get me to like the new one?”

  “Life isn’t that simple,” Malina says. “Plus, it’s not like a boyfriend, or something. You can have more than one mom.”

  “You could probably have more than one boyfriend, too,” I have to point out.

  “Not at the same time! That’s—that’s not nice!” she protests.

  I let out a laugh, but it’s short lived. My mind is full of complicated family stuff. I almost jerk as she places her hand on mine. It’s tiny, in comparison. I look up at her, seeing how serious she looks, now. “I’ll go with you, too,” she says. “And not just because I want to get out of the dorms—okay, maybe a little because of that, but I still want to support you.”

  “The Liberty family eats gingerbread men almost as big as you,” I have to say.

  “I want one,” she says, her eyes widening with wonder. “That would be amazing!”

  “That wasn’t the reaction I was going for, you know,” I say.

  “Who WOULDN’T want a cookie as big as they are?”

  “I definitely wouldn’t,” I say. “It’d be MASSIVE.”

  “I’d help you eat it!”

  “Can you imagine the size of the oven?” I ask. “You could fit a small car inside.”

  “You aren’t THAT big,” she says. “But a cookie the size of a small car would be incredible…”

  “You’re drooling.”

  “Sugar windows,” she says, wiping at the drool absent-mindedly, “and a frosting paint job—”

  “Malina,” I say, waving a hand in front of her face. “You’d be able to FIT in the cookie.”

  “I could DRIVE it!” she says excitedly.

  That wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for, either, I think with a sigh.

  “Are you online, Sandra?” Superior says, making me look at the screen and reluctantly tapping on my phone. “Sorry it took me so long.” His avatar’s image appears on the screen. “I had a sunken ship to pull up.”

  “A sunken ship?” Malina asks.

  “Yeah, don’t worry about it. We’re looking into it. But that didn’t sound like you.”

  “Oh, sorry, sir, it’s me, Malina,” Malina says. “I was trying to talk Sandra into letting me train with her, especially if you wind up training her up where you live. I would like to come visit Toodles and everyone, again!”

  “You actually like her?” he asks.

  “Toodles? Of course I like her,” she says, looking stunned.

  “She keeps throwing me out of the workshop,” he says. I start shaking with suppressed laughter, because he sounds so irritated.

  “And why does she do that?” Malina asks.

  “I might, or might not have, rebuilt a few of their toy soldiers once,” he admits. “We had a miniature civil war playing out in the middle of the workroom. My side was about to win, too.”

  “You… sound so much like your son right now,” she says.

  “It gets extremely boring up here,” he says, completely shamelessly. “So you’re the little water manipulator, right? Do you have any experience with snow or ice?”

  “I learned to make it snow from Santa!” she says. “I’d like to learn more—if I can control snow, I could be a lot of help during snow storms in the winter. Also, as much as I like the campus, I’d like to see some of the world. I need to decide what Hall I’m going to join.”

  “Not Central?” he asks.

  “Well, um… Central is very nice,” she says, “but there’s not much water front property.”

  “You mean none at all, save for a few lakes,” he sums up. “I see the problem. I was planning on bringing in a few more tanks, like the Liberty boys, but if you really want to, sure, we’ll see how you do.”

  “Thank you! But we want to go visit Sandra’s birth mother before we start,” she says.

  “Sandra’s what?” he asks.

  “
I never said I was going to do it,” I grumble.

  “Going to meet Avalanche’s kid, huh?” he says. “Sounds interesting, want someone to come along?”

  “What happened to, ‘I’m supposed to be dead’?” I ask.

  “It only applies when the alternative is less interesting.”

  “You’re a terrible influence,” Malina says with a laugh. “But we were going to ask Jeanie to come with us. If she can’t go—” she looks at me.

  “I guess you’ll be next on the list,” I say, a bit reluctantly. It isn’t that I don’t like Superior, but I do get the feeling he’s using me as his latest form of entertainment.

  “Maybe I can convince one of the grandkids to go on a road trip,” he says, thoughtfully. “Actually, I think I’ll set up a few more training spaces for you and your brothers. I’ll give you two days.”

  “Two days for what?”

  “To go meet your mother, after that, I’ll start your training.”

  “Nico could probably train her just fine, you know.”

  I stay silent, thinking of the story that Nico told me in the Science room. I have to ask. “Hey, Superior?”

  “Yeah?”

  “When you were a hero, back when Nico was, like, fourteen or so, did you ever see him in the crowd?”

  “Huh?”

  “I guess not, huh,” I say.

  “I did,” he says, “once. It was a thing in Saint Louis. He stood out too much for his own good,” he complains.

  “Wh—what?” I say.

  “At the time he was still coming into his powers. There he was, looking almost exactly like me already, and wearing a stupid baseball hat as his only disguise. I should have yelled at him for it, but I never got around to it.”

  “Why would you have yelled at him?” I ask, still stunned.

  “Because I was always being watched back then and the villains weren’t as nice as they are today. If they’d have figured out that I had a half-grown kid, well, who knows what they’d have done to him?”

  “Oh,” I say.

  “He might have been tough enough to toss Sparky out, but there were still stronger capes out there. That’s probably why he’s sending Star Spangled with you. You might be a tank, kid, but you’re a young one. There are stronger capes out there.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I say. “It won’t always be like that, though—”

  “It will,” he says. “Most likely you’ll either know or be related to them, though. But right now, be careful on your trip, girls.”

  “Thank you, Superior,” Malina says. “Let’s go ask Jeanie.” She stands and tugs on my arm. “We want to be back in time for the training, right?”

  “I was going to let Lance come,” I say, hesitating, “but his mom’s still getting used to this place, right?”

  “Yeah,” she says.

  “Then… let’s go talk to Jeanie,” I say, reluctantly. “Nobody’s going to shut up about it until it’s over, right?”

  “Pretty much.”

  I sigh and get to my feet.

  CHAPTER THREE

  I step into the rec room, only to stop as Lance blocks my way. “What?” I ask when it becomes obvious that he isn’t moving.

  “Are you going after your mother?” he asks. He looks from me to Malina, and back. “I’ll just go pack, okay?”

  “I—” I start out.

  “Are you sure you should?” Malina asks. “I mean, you’ve been through a lot, and your mother is here—”

  “I’m coming with you,” he says. “Sandra didn’t let me go alone—”

  “But I’m not alone,” I say. “Look, it’ll be a quick trip there and back. It’s not like I’m going to be fighting some crazy uncle that I never knew about along the way. You need to recover. You still only have two of your animal forms, right?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Who knows when more will come back?” I say. “Plus, you actually know and love your mom, right? You should spend some time making sure she’s comfortable. Malina will go with me, this time.”

  “But I—” he starts out, looking from me to Malina with a frustrated expression. “I want to go.”

  I don’t know what to do, really. I mean, a part of me wants him to come along, just because HE wants to come, but if he goes I’ll definitely be forced into actually speaking to my birth mother. I don’t want to do that. I was planning on catching a glimpse of her and calling it done, you know? I already know that Lance won’t let it end that easily. He’s probably more protective of me than he is of himself. I look around, making sure that no one is watching, and then pull him into a light one-armed hug. “I’ll call, okay?”

  “Every day?” he asks, wrapping his arm around my waist. “I think I should steal Nico’s teleportation watch, again. That way if you need some more backup, I’ll come—”

  “I’m bringing Jeanie,” I say, trying to pull away, and failing. “When did you get stronger?”

  “When I lost my forms,” he says, bringing his other arm around me and holding tight. “Hey, you can’t just take a look and run, got it? You’ve actually got to confront her before you come back. Malina, make sure she does, okay?”

  “I promise I will,” Malina says, giving me a little smirk as she sees the irritated expression on my face.

  “You have to promise, too, Sandra,” he says, “otherwise I’ll just keep clinging onto you like this for the entire trip.”

  “So you know you’re being annoying,” I say as he gives me a shameless grin.

  “Of course I do,” he says. “You think I can’t hear you gritting your teeth?”

  “You’re a pain in the neck.”

  “I do it because I love you,” he says. I would blush, but we both know what he means. He sees me as a sister and a best friend. I’m starting to see him as the annoying little brother I never had, as well. At least I know he’ll let me go, eventually. It’s the other “brothers” I’m going to have a problem with. I’ll deal with that when I get there, I tell myself as I pry Lance off of me, trying not to hurt him.

  “Go spend some time with your mom,” I say. “I’ve got… mother problems to deal with, too.” All my life I never had one, now I sort of have two, huh? It’s weird. “Of course, Jeanie might not want to come…”

  “She’ll go,” he says.

  “How do you know that?” I ask.

  “Because she already loves you, I could tell when you went to visit. She’ll probably drop everything the moment you ask… at least, I bet she will.”

  “So you don’t know for sure,” I have to point out.

  “Well, no, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.”

  “If you’re wrong—”

  “I’m not,” he says. “Just go ask her, yourself. If she doesn’t go, we can ask Skye to go with you!”

  “No, thank you,” I say quickly. Skye is clingier than he is. She’d probably run all the way up here just to follow me around and draw attention to us all. She still doesn’t know how to walk without floating. “Now let go, so I can go ask Jeanie.”

  “You haven’t promised.”

  I stare at him, wondering if knocking him out would be considered sibling abuse. No, I decide, it’d be justified—

  “Promise that you’ll at least try to talk to her,” he says, “and I’ll let you go without me.”

  “Fine!” I say. “I promise I’ll try.”

  “Good,” he says, letting go. “And you’ll call, right?”

  “What are you, my mother?” I demand, only to almost jump as he holds out his arms, threatening to hug me again. “Fine, I’ll call!”

  “Good,” he says.

  “I thought you were supposed to be the nice one,” I mutter, giving him a glare.

  “How is a hug not nice?” he asks. “Hugs are nice, right, Malina?”

  “Hugs are great!” Malina says, and promptly wraps her arms around my waist. I look at her and she starts laughing. “Come on, we need to go get permission to leave the campus and find Jeanie.�
� She lets go and heads for the door, leaving me to follow. A bit awkwardly I reach up and mess up Lance’s hair.

  “I’ll be back before you know it,” I promise.

  “Good.”

  I head out the door, stopping as the sun hits me and looking at my arm. It gleams a bit, I realize, and it almost looks pretty, but… I touch my com-bracelet, and an illusion takes its place.

  “Nico, hi, can Sandra and I have permission to go over to the apartment building?” Malina asks. “We want to talk to Jeanie.”

  “I would say yes, but Jeanie’s doing rounds today. You’ve got permission to hunt her down, if that works for you,” he says over both of our com-bracelets.

  “Sounds fun!” Malina says. “Come on, Sandra, let’s go look for Jeanie!”

  “I’m already looking for one person,” I complain, half-heartedly. Getting out and seeing a little of the world might be fun. I start up the steps leading out of the school campus, only pausing at the top to look down at our school. It’s huge. There are three large buildings, a small house, a small village of tree houses, a huge in-ground pool, and more, but there’s still a lot of empty space left. I can almost imagine what it’ll look like in the future.

  “Come on,” Malina says, making me look at her. “Let’s go.”

  I follow her without a word, feeling as if I’m stepping into an alien world as I step out of the laser security field. Sure, I’ve been outside a lot more lately than I was for over a year, but I’m still not used to it. I’m certain that at any moment people are going to see through the illusion. It’s happened once, already—two little girls figured out I was a super because my bracelet was glowing. How many more will figure it out?

  I cover my bracelet with my opposite hand, wondering if I can walk around like this. Malina looks over at me, her eyes falling on my hand. “Don’t worry,” she says. “Norms don’t notice that sort of thing, especially during the day.”

  “Two kids did the other day,” I say.

  “Kids? Were they short?” she asks.

  “Can you call anyone short?”

  “If they’re little, little kids, I can call them short,” she says, once again not as offended as I’d planned on her being. “Otherwise, everyone’s just too tall to be a proper height.”