Rocky Road (Cape High Series Book 18)

by R. J. Ross

  “That’s just what television tells you,” Max says. “The real elves are supers that prefer a peaceful life to playing the photo-op game. I’m arranging for Alyssa and Jonas to come up. Zoe’s working on the watch, now.”

  “Thanks,” I say, making a run for it. “Hey, Skye! Toss me the list, and I’ll bury it!” I yell, waving my hands at her. This is like the ultimate football game, I think as I slip through a pair of waiting elves and jump into the air. The list soars towards me, and I grab for it, only to be tackled by the same bulky guy that grabbed me earlier.

  “I’ve got the list!” a female elf crows. “I’ve saved the list! I just need to write both of your names on here—” she blinks as the list is pulled from her hand, looking up at Skye.

  “Naughty elf!” Skye says, waving a finger in her face. “Only Santa can write on the list!” And then she runs. It’s inappropriate, and I know it, but I burst out laughing. I stop as I see a flash of light and hear a scream. I don’t even want to look, I think, but I do, turning to see one of the slimmer elves’ eyes flash out light. A curtain across from him lights up in flames.

  “You’re kidding me,” I say. “Laser eyes?”

  “JINGLES!” someone yells. “YOU HAVE TO CONTROL IT!”

  “I’m going to have to knock him out, aren’t I?” I say reluctantly before running into battle. Again. I’m so far up on the naughty list now that I’ll NEVER get off, regardless of how long I live.

  Maybe I can arrange for him to “accidentally” burn it before I take him out! I can definitely see that! I hear more crashing noises from the distance and glance in that direction. As much fun as this has been, I wish I could watch that fight, instead. I mean, Technico vs. Santa… that should be recorded for posterity sake!

  “Sandra! Heads up!” Skye yells, throwing me the list again. I grab it and grin as I race towards the laser eye guy.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “I always pictured—” Nico says, grunting as Santa punches him, “taking over the North Pole as less messy.” They’re in the Christmas Cafeteria. The large, once-jolly looking room is now drenched in hot chocolate and broken cookies. Several of the cooks are screaming at him to “STOP HURTING SANTA!” but he ignores them. Santa is supposed to be a pacifist, right? For a pacifist, he’s got a seriously dangerous right hook. He also has a rather dangerous bear-hug, Nico thinks as the other man wraps his arms around his waist and pushes off of the ground, flipping them both to send Nico head first into the icy floor. The ice cracks with the hit, and Nico is encased in it up to his shoulders for a second before he shoves himself up and out of it.

  It doesn’t make sense. His old man had been conscious and known what was going on around him, even though he was affected by the venom—Santa doesn’t. He’s fully stuck in attack mode. Well, maybe breaking into the North Pole has something to do with it… possibly.

  “YOU WILL NOT RUIN CHRISTMAS!” Santa bellows. He’s full of righteous rage.

  “I’m not TRYING to ruin Christmas!” Nico says only to get a red gloved fist to the face. “Ouch.” Time stops, again, except for the two of them and the girls in the other room. The time stop isn’t voluntary, and it shows when Santa looks around with a hint of confusion.

  “What—”

  “Santa, you’ve got to LISTEN TO ME!” Nico says. He groans as the other man turns to him, rage replacing the confused look. “My name is Nico Masters! I’m Superior’s son—we met just a month ago, remember? We did a—” He dodges a heavy fist, growling under his breath in frustration. “I really don’t want to do this.”

  “YOU WILL NOT RUIN CHRISTMAS!” Santa bellows again, only to grunt as Nico slams into him, dragging him across the room and straight into the nearest wall. Nico barely registers that the room is full of creatures before they crash to the ground. He pins Santa to the floor, raising one fist in a threatening manner. “You aren’t yourself, Santa! And as much as I hate to do it, SOMEONE has to knock some sense into—”

  A primitive bellow catches him off guard, and he looks up just in time to see a dozen Yeti running straight for him. He jumps into the air just as they try to dog-pile him, leaving Santa to take the brunt of the attack. “Hold him down, boys, we’ve got healers coming to help.”

  They either don’t understand him, or don’t believe him, he realizes as they get up. He lets out a curse and braces himself for the next attack.

  ***

  Atlanti slips through the ice, making her way to the surface. It’s far too crowded in Santa’s Workshop to finish her work—she’ll let the ones she hit take out the others, first, and wait to see what happens. For now, she needs to check on the mountain. That large woman that she’d left buried there is weighing heavily on her mind. No, not because she might be dead, but because she might NOT be. There’d been something extremely worrisome about how she’d just shrugged off her first attacks with the venom. Could she shrug off the bite, as well?

  Her heart is pounding in her ears, but she keeps going, her skin the color of the snow drifts, her thoughts focused on what she’ll do if the woman is still alive. If it were a norm, it would be easy. She’d just make sure she stayed buried, and the cold would kill her. But it’s obvious that she’s no norm. In fact, Atlanti is almost positive that she’s the woman that had so easily lifted the sunken ship out of the water. Atlanti knows exactly how hard throwing ships is. The white haired woman is no ordinary super. Atlanti keeps wracking her mind to try and think of if she’s ever heard of the woman before. Something about her white hair and large build is nudging the back of her mind.

  She sees the mountain looming in front of her, but there’s something at the base, this time. It looks like an R.V. She moves closer, creeping along the ice to get there. What sort of R.V. can drive all the way up here? What sort of R.V. has wings?

  She’s about to come to a conclusion that she doesn’t like when she sees someone step out of the front door. A ball of water floats in the air behind the person, and then rises into the sky as soon as it’s out of the mountain. It starts to fall apart, the water droplets rapidly changing into snowflakes.

  “I’ve taken care of it, Superior,” the girl that had brought the water out says, turning towards the door behind her. “What should I do next?”

  A water manipulator, Atlanti almost gasps in surprise. A wide, excited smile crosses her face. Someone who can change water into snow… and possibly, ice?

  She moves closer, her eyes firmly glued to the prize in front of her.

  ***

  “We’re approaching the North Pole, Diamond Dust,” the pilot says over the speakers of the small cargo plane. She’d witched over from the personal jet in Canada. “There isn’t enough space to land properly; do you think you could jump? The red parachute to your right has been specially designed for you.”

  “Got it,” she says, undoing her buckle and getting to her feet. The plane shakes slightly with her weight, but she ignores it as she grabs the parachute and straps it on. She would freefall, usually, but she doesn’t want to hurt the ice with her weight. “When you say the North Pole, are you talking about Santa?”

  “As close as our intelligence network can figure it, yes,” he says. “It’s very possible we’re off a bit. Are you certain you want to take that risk? The temperature is below freezing—”

  “I’ll be fine,” she says. “Thanks for the ride.” She pushes the button and the back ramp comes down. “This will close automatically, right?” she yells to be heard over the wind.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he says. “It’ll close as soon as you’re out.”

  “Then I’ll be going now!” she yells, jumping off of the plane. She falls through the icy wind, not bothered by the cold. When the light reflecting off of the snow threatens to blind her, the color of her skin around her eyes changes slightly, blocking the glare. She lands about ten thousand feet below where the jet had been. She packs the parachute up again before looking around.

  As far as she can see is only snow. She can’t pick up on an
y gems or stones in the area, either—wait, no, she thinks, below her is a large structure of concrete and metal.

  Before she can figure out how to get down, someone comes flying up through the snow, crashing into her. It sends her sprawling on the ground with the stranger on top of her. She looks down, seeing a strangely familiar face with a white beard. He looks a bit confused before he gets to his feet, his hands up in fists. A man comes out of the ground, swinging. The two take to the air, exchanging heavy blows right in front of her. She stares, stunned at the sight of Technico fighting Santa Claus. Around her, a handful of Yetis crawl up through the hole, but they only stare up at the fight overhead. Most of them look like they’ve been hit by a hurricane.

  “Not only do you use KIDS as soldiers,” she says, growing angrier with every second, “you attack THE Santa?! TECHNICO!”

  “Not now—” Technico says, only to be distracted as Santa launches himself at him, grabbing him by the arm and spinning before letting go. Technico hits the ground this time, lying there for a second before shoving himself to his feet again. Before he can take off, Diamond Dust tackles him.

  “STOP ATTACKING SANTA!” she bellows, punching him repeatedly. It’s just like punching Star Spangled, she thinks, but she’s too angry to care that her knuckles are threatening to crack. She only stops when he grabs her wrists, forcing her to.

  “Santa’s attacking me!” he says before throwing her off just in time. Santa’s fist hits Nico, where Diamond Dust would have been seconds earlier.

  She blinks a second later, as Nico pats her face with a hand. “Time’s back on,” he says. “Run for it.”

  “Run for—”

  “SOMEONE’S BEEN VERY NAUGHTY!” Santa bellows. He starts straight for Diamond Dust, this time. Before she can react, Technico shoves her out of the way and clotheslines the most famous legend in the world. Santa flips over his arm and hits the ground on his back.

  “How’s that group of healers coming, Max?” Technico demands.

  “Why is he attacking people?” Diamond Dust asks, still several questions behind at this point.

  “We’re here,” someone says from behind her. She turns, seeing two kids that look almost the exact opposite of one another. “We got Jonas right before he was finished packing for South Cape High,” the girl adds.

  “Jonas, Alyssa, good to see you,” Nico says. “I’m going to see if I can hold him still—Alyssa, you’ll take this, Jonas, you and Diamond Dust go through that hole and find Sandra and Skye. They’re dealing with a handful of infected elves, so it’ll take all of you.”

  “I got it,” Alyssa says.

  “I wouldn’t ask this of you, usually, Al. He got a full dose, it looks like,” Nico says. “The only reason I’m having you do it instead of Jonas is because there are a lot more of them downstairs.”

  “I can handle anything. Aubrey says my recovery speed has tripled since she first met me,” she says, but there’s a hint of worry on her face. Nico nods, and the second of silence gives Diamond Dust a chance to speak.

  “Sandra’s down there? You brought a fifteen-year-old girl into this mess?”

  “I brought a few of them,” Nico says bluntly. “Alyssa here is around that age, too, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, but it’s not going to stop me!” Alyssa says. “Jonas, you’ve got this.”

  The albino healer nods, looking a bit nervous. “I’ll try my best,” he says, before turning to the hole in the ground. “Are you coming?” he asks Diamond Dust before climbing into the hole.

  “He’s barely a D-class in strength, so take care of him, would you?” Nico says to Diamond Dust before running off to grab Santa.

  “Why did you even let them come here if they’re that weak?” Diamond Dust says, only to jump in the hole as she hears a scream from below. She can only hope she’s not too late.

  “STOP THE ROCKY ONE! SHE’S GOT THE LIST!” she hears someone shout.

  “What list?”

  ***

  “Excuse me, but can you grab one of the infected ones?” I hear over my earbud. I’ve got the list and I’m about to feed it to the fireplace, but the question is so out of the blue that I stop and look around blankly. My eyes fall on Diamond Dust, and I almost fall over as three elves tackle me, grabbing the naughty list out of my hands.

  “Who said that?” I demand.

  “I did,” the pale teen standing next to my birth mother says, raising a hand. “I’m the healer you sent for, um, I don’t know if we’ve been introduced—”

  “Oh, right, Skye! We’ve got a healer!” I call out to the villain taunting the elves. “We need to get to work, now.”

  “Did you burn the naughty list, yet?” she asks.

  “They got it back,” I admit.

  “Pooh,” she says.

  I get to my feet, three of the elves still hanging off of me. “Grab the laser guy, would you? I’ve got my hands full at the moment.” I lift one arm, looking at the elf hanging on it, a cute little female that has translucent skin. “Are you infected with venom?” I ask her.

  “What?” she says.

  “The stuff that hit Santa, did it hit you?”

  “Is THAT why you’re here?” she asks. “We thought you were out to steal the lists!”

  “That was just, um, Skye. She’s a villain,” I admit, a bit sheepishly. I’m trying to ignore the fact that my mother is here.

  “Don’t do that sort of thing if you’re here to help!” she scolds me. “Everyone! They’re here to help the ones that are having trouble with their powers!” she yells to the room. “Grab the affected ones! You really have a healer? Is it Aubrey? She’s my FAVORITE!” Suddenly half of the elves are turning on the other half, wrestling them to the floor. It’s done a lot faster than I expected—my guess is they play a lot of sports up here. I see a few picture-perfect tackles.

  “You can let go of my arm, now,” I say, since she’s still just hanging there. “How do you know the healers, anyway?”

  Before she can answer, a flash of laser light comes straight at me. Automatically I raise a hand, blocking it, only to groan as it reflects off of my flesh and hits one of the hanging strands of tinsel. The fire spreads and soon all of the ceiling decorations are aflame. “Well… crud,” I mutter.

  “So pretty!” Skye says as a lot of the elves start screaming. Sprinklers start going off, drenching everything. Time stops. Skye looks over at me, grinning. “You’re laser proof!” she says.

  “Just help me put the fire out, Skye,” I say, sighing. “Jonas, did Nico turn your E.P.B. on?” I ask, hoping. This entire thing is a debacle. The albino teen is poking my mother, curiously.

  “I guess so,” he says. “What happened to everyone? Is it part of the disease?”

  “In a way,” I say. “Santa’s a time stopper, like Century, I guess. His powers are going out of control, so this keeps happening. Can you find which ones are infected?”

  “Yeah, I see them,” he says. “Is there a reason the floor is covered in water?”

  “Yeah,” I say. “I’ll go stop that, while you’re doing your thing.” I sludge through the icy water, heading for the holes that are bringing it in. I’ve actually filled in half of them, already, thanks to the time stops, but every time that time started again the elves attacked me. They had started it, you know. I just sort of… might have encouraged it with the whole list thing… but they ABSOLUTELY started it.

  “Hey, hey, why won’t this thing work?” Skye says, making me look over. She’s got the fire extinguisher in her hand and is tugging on the trigger, but nothing is happening.

  “Time’s stopped, remember? It won’t react until—” Time snaps back into place and white foam spouts out of the extinguisher, covering everything, “that happens,” I finish dryly. “Jonas, did you get any of them taken care of?” I call over to him as chaos erupts once more.

  “FIRE!” the girl that had been hanging on my arm earlier shouts. Then she blinks, seeing the white foam. “Oh. Did it happen again?
”

  “Everyone, um—” Jonas says too quietly.

  “SAVE THE TOYS!” another elf shouts.

  “I need to—” Jonas says, trying again. I groan, because even though we’re in a room full of supers, they’re not listening. They’re too busy freaking out about the fire.

  “LISTEN UP!” I bellow. It echoes, and most of the group stops what they’re doing to turn to me. “We’ve got a healer. If you think you’ve been affected by venom, line up over there and laser boy, CLOSE YOUR EYES! Someone get him a pair of sunglasses, or something. Those of you that are unaffected try and stop the fire.” The sprinklers have already taken care of most of it, along with the ice of the ceiling melting.

  “You really think sunglasses would stop that?” someone says, laughing. Those that have been pinned down by the others are pulled to their feet and dragged over to make a line. Some of them have to be held quite firmly by a few others, but I ignore that fact.

  “It’s worth a try,” I say. “And uh, sorry about the list thing, it was just too tempting to resist.”

  There’s a hint of silence from the room, until one person raises a hand, “I’ve thought about doing it, too,” she says.

  “Either way, the healer should be helping Santa, first!” someone else calls. “Santa was going crazy!”

  “I always get jet lag whenever he stops time like that,” someone complains.

  “No you don’t.”

  “I swear I do!”

  “Whatever.”

  “Is everyone sorted out?” I say.

  “YES!” they say. “It’s Sandra!” I hear one whisper. “She was SO adorable! She’s my favorite!”

  “How do you even know who I am?” I ask.

  “We watched the Christmas Advent,” the translucent lady says. “It was wonderful! It definitely made the Christmas season more joyful! And it’s so good to see you out of your room, now!”