Rocky Road (Cape High Series Book 18)

by R. J. Ross

  He shudders, trying not to imagine the woman dragging Sandra down into the ice-cold water. He’s not going to allow that to happen, he swears. He starts downward, only to jerk to a stop as Reaper appears in front of him. He doesn’t stop in time. The large man grabs him by the shirt and throws him off of his board. He hits a crack in the ice and his heart begins to pound so loudly that it echoes in his ears. He’s going to die, he thinks. If he goes through this broken ice and falls into the water, he will absolutely drown. Images of people flash through his mind, Aubrey, his parents, his brother, Max and Ace, and—

  The face of his kid from the future appears at the forefront of his mind. “Like hell I’ll let that kid have another dad,” he growls. It’s a strange, selfish reason, but it spurs him to do something he’s never done before. The metal in his skin starts to move, and his fingers spread and lengthen, clamping down on the ice on his right. He pulls himself away from the crack and gets to his feet, balancing on the ice as easily as if it was standing still instead of rocking precariously.

  “If that’s how you want to play,” he says, holding out his arms. Curved blades shoot out from his forearms, ripping through his coat, and he races straight for Reaper, aiming his elbow at the tall man’s face. The scythe blocks the attack, but Jack is past play-fighting right now.

  He brings his other elbow up right under the scythe, slicing through the man’s fancy suit and hitting flesh. It seems to shock Reaper, but Jack doesn’t let up. The metal on his leg moves, forming a long blade along his shin. He kicks up, slicing the older man’s clothes again. He follows it up with kicks and slashes. He’s not as fast as the other man, so it won’t last long, but he doesn’t care. He’s going to keep attacking as hard as he can. Maybe it’ll give Nico time to get back and save Sandra from drowning.

  He’s not sure WHY Reaper is acting this way, but he can guess. His eyes fall briefly on the hole in the now tattered suit. The venom is affecting Reaper, just like it did everyone else. He shouldn’t have looked away, he realizes a second later as a large hand covers his face. He feels his heart pound once more before the world goes black and he falls to the ground, unconscious. The last thought that goes through his mind is, ‘The E.P.B.—’

  The ice under his heavy body cracks.

  ***

  I can hear her. I speed up, chasing the octopus digging through the ice. She’s going downward. I can’t let her get to the water. If she gets to the water, I’ll never be able to survive. The water will come up through the hole in the ice and drown me. A tentacle brushes my hand and I react instinctively, grabbing it and hauling her back towards me. If she bites me, I might die. If she hits me with her venom, I might lose control of my powers. I can’t think of that. I kick off of the ice and start for the surface, dragging her along with me. I feel the venom drip over my hand, but I grit my teeth, ignoring it. This isn’t easy, she’s resisting, but I’m physically stronger than she is. She seems to realize that quickly, and the resistance stops abruptly.

  I feel tentacles wrap around me and I start to panic. She’s going to bite me. If she does that, I’ll lose control and my powers will add to my mother’s—the ice that’s already threatening to fall apart will be completely destroyed. Everyone will fall into the ocean, since only Jack can fly in this group. Maybe Reaper will get free, but Diamond Dust will die, just like me—

  I feel teeth on my skin and the worry that had been building overflows. I feel the same power that knocked Superior out rush through my body. I can’t stop it, I realize as it goes into Atlanti. I don’t know if I would, even if I could, I admit as her body jerks and stiffens for a moment before going limp. She might have gotten me, but while I still have control I’m going to get both of us to the surface.

  I head straight up, cracking through the surface and tossing the unconscious octopus to the side. She shifts, turning into her human form. I don’t have time to look at her, though, or even the ability. The world is pitch black—if I didn’t have such good night vision, I’d be blind right now. I lift my hand, touching the darkness and trying to figure out what it is.

  “Reaper?” I ask, pulling myself out of the hole. Before I can take another step, he appears in front of me. He looks like a monster. His clothes are hanging off of him, his scythe is twice the size it was the first time I saw it, and his eyes are glowing red. He’s going to attack me, I realize too late.

  I’m going to die at the hands of my own father—

  I blink as arms wrap around me, pulling me close in an almost life-threatening hug. I can feel that energy that took out Atlanti flowing from his body. If I was someone else, I think, I would be dead right now.

  “You’re alive,” he whispers hoarsely as he falls to his knees in front of me. “Stop me before I—before I hurt someone else.”

  “Who did you hurt?” I ask, looking through the darkness. I see Jack lying motionless on cracked ice. I see Diamond Dust doing the same.

  “The boy—I thought he was attacking, but… but he loves you…” he has a confused expression on his face, which turns to a look of horror. “I killed him. I used my full power—”

  “Son of a—” I hear Jack mutter. I look over just in time to see him sit up, rubbing his temple. “That really sucked, old guy!”

  “You’re alive?” Reaper asks.

  “External Power Blockers,” Jack says, holding up his wrist. “I guess it wasn’t quite enough to stop the hit completely, but…” He stops, looking down a mere second before the crack in the ice beneath him starts to spread. “Cra—”

  He falls through the ice.

  “JACK!” I bellow, diving into the hole that he’s just fallen through. I don’t even think about the water that I was just worrying about. I’m just going to get him back. It’s all my fault that he’s up here in the first place, I’m sure. He should still be down in Central Hall, acting like a villain. I see a flash of light off of his metallic skin and I reach for it, grabbing his ankle. His weight is pulling both of us down. We’re going to drown—

  Someone grabs my ankle and pulls both of us up. Soon I’m dangling in the air, holding Jack by the ankle as I look up at the one that just saved us both.

  “You know, now’s really not the best time to find out if you can swim,” Nico says, yawning again. I look around, realizing that the black energy that had surrounded us earlier is gone.

  “What happened?”

  “We need to get him inside!” Alyssa calls up to us. I look down, seeing her holding a shivering Reaper in her arms. “Otherwise he’s going to freeze to death without his powers.”

  “Jack, Sandra, grab onto Alyssa,” Nico says, letting us down. He drops down as well and picks up Diamond Dust. “We’re going to my old man’s place.”

  I look around, seeing the chunks of ice that had once been solid. “What about the ice?” I ask.

  “We’ll fix that after we’ve finished healing everyone,” he says.

  “Wait, one more thing,” I say, grabbing the still unconscious octopus. “I caught Atlanti.”

  The look of surprise on his face makes me feel extremely proud of myself. I blink as Alyssa grabs my hand. “What—”

  I feel a strange rush of energy race through me and she grins. “I gotcha, girl,” she says before touching Diamond Dust, as well. “Okay, are we ready? Everyone grab on.”

  We teleport a second later.

  ***

  *Superior and Tatiana’s Mountain*

  “SANTA!” Toodles shouts as Santa steps through the door. To his surprise, she throws herself into his arms, clinging to him while sobbing. “I heard—I heard what happened,” she says.

  “Ho ho, Toodles, have a little faith in me,” Santa says, hugging her. “Or should I say, have a little faith in Technico? We’ve gotten most of the workshop cleaned up, but the Yeti are still feeling a little skittish. How do you feel about coming home?”

  She looks up at him, teary eyed and red-nosed. But instead of nodding, as he expected, she shakes her head. “I can’t, not ye
t,” she says, pulling out of his hold and dropping to the floor. “A lot has happened, and I am worried about the elves, but there’s someone here that needs me more.”

  “What?” Santa asks as she crosses the room, stopping in front of Malina. “I see…” he says, although he still sounds a little confused. “Malina, is there a problem?”

  “No! I—I’m fine! I mean, I’m a little worried, and I have some—well, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do, after this. I felt the ice break,” she says, looking down at her hands, “a lot.”

  “I’m not leaving her,” Toodles declares, wrapping an arm around the girl and pulling her close. “I’m going to help her with whatever she needs to do, Santa. If that causes you problems, well, I apologize.” But her determined expression shows that nothing he says will change her mind. Her next words cement that fact; “But I’m sure that whatever the problem is, you can deal with it on your own for a while.”

  “Toodles, it’s okay, really,” Malina protests, but she’s cuddled up under Toodle’s arm, all the same. “Although, um, maybe we could fix both problems at the same time?”

  “Hmm?” Toodles asks.

  “Can your Yeti help me fix the ice?”

  “Absolutely!” Toodles says. “They’ll do whatever you need them to.”

  A smile spreads across Malina’s face. “Then it sounds like we’ve got a plan!”

  “Before we do that, you need to eat and wear warmer clothing,” Toodles says. “I have just the thing back at the workshop, so we’ll get it while I calm down the Yeti.”

  “Can I get some hot chocolate, too?” Malina asks.

  “Absolutely,” Toodles says. “Tatiana, I’m going to just take Malina off of your hands for a while, okay?”

  “Of course, zaika!” Tatiana says. “You two have fun!”

  Santa just watches as the two walk past him, completely ignoring that he’s there. A strange look crosses his face as the door closes behind them. Tatiana laughs at him. “She is very fond of the little one,” she says. “Perhaps there will be an adoption in the future?”

  “Adoption?” Santa repeats.

  “It is not good for a super to be alone,” Tatiana explains. “Family is precious, in all forms. Toodles will be wonderful mother!”

  It’s like a light breaks through the clouds in Santa’s mind. “She will, won’t she…”

  Before she can reply, there’s a poof from the front room and they hear Nico call out, “Jonas, we’re going to need you! Mom, do you have any spare blankets? All that you’ve got.”

  “I am coming!” Tatiana says, leaving Santa to ponder just how he feels about things.

  ***

  “Is she dead?” The question has been bothering me ever since I used my powers on Atlanti. Yes, she’s crazy, and yes, she could have killed several people that I… well… you know, like, and stuff. I glance around the room that we’ve just teleported into, my eyes landing on Jonas as he pulls the venom out of Diamond Dust, and then moving on to Superior and Tatiana. I like them, but I still don’t want to be a murderer. I’d seen exactly how terrifying that thought could be when Reaper begged me to stop him.

  I look over at him, seeing that he’s changed into a pair of jeans that are too short and a t-shirt that’s showing a bit of midriff. He looks even stranger wearing Nico’s clothing. I always figured that Nico and Superior were really big guys, right? But Reaper makes them look small. He sees me looking at him, and looks down, a self-depreciative smile on his face as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking. “The shiny coat doesn’t sound so bad now, now does it?” he says.

  I laugh. “I think I’m still not ready for that,” I say.

  “You haven’t killed her,” he says, answering my earlier question. “But there’s a chance she won’t wake up for a while. That’s good enough.” He looks over at where Jack is sitting on the couch, playing Technico World on the nearest wall. “I… apologize, Cold Steel. I was not in my right mind at the time—”

  “No need to get formal,” Jack says, waving him off. “I picked up on that. I probably owe you a new suit, though…”

  “We’ll call it even,” Reaper says.

  “Are you going to go check on Jeanie?” I ask Jack. “Do we know what happened to her? She’s okay, right?”

  He looks over and laughs at me, rudely. “Do you really think getting tossed onto another world would hurt Mom?” he asks.

  “Well… no, but—”

  “She’s fine. Nico’s making special com-bracelets that’ll work over several galaxies. I heard Cosmic came with the ability built in, so he didn’t have anything we could rip off. Besides, Trent joined her. I think Aubrey’s thinking about going as well.”

  “Will you?” I ask.

  “Nah,” he says. “I’ve got work to do while they’re gone. I might even make it look like I kidnapped Trent.” There’s a wicked little grin on his face at the idea, which turns to a frown, “Only problem is that we’ll probably starve while Mom’s gone.”

  “That’s your only problem,” I repeat, deadpan.

  “It’s a HUGE problem. Maybe I’ll start eating over at the cafeteria!”

  “So glad your major problem was so easily solved,” I tease him. He grins proudly.

  “And they say that villains don’t use their brains,” he brags.

  “Oh yeah, you’re a real Einstein,” I say, only to ruin it by laughing again.

  “Oh, wait, I need to go get Bobby,” Jack says, stopping his game and getting to his feet. “He’s got to fix the dress I knocked over—”

  “Don’t bother,” Marie says, walking into the room. She looks extremely proud of herself. “I’ve fixed it, already.”

  “Oh, right, we need to collar you, still, don’t we?” Superior says, not sounding bothered by her walking around free at all. He and Tatiana are sitting on the couch, enjoying a drink.

  “You have finished the wedding gown?” Tatiana asks, getting to her feet and heading into the dress making room. She lets out a little gasp and claps her hands. “It is beautiful! Summer will be stunning!”

  “I finished up a few of the bridesmaid dresses, as well,” Marie boasts. “I knew I didn’t have much time, so I took advantage of it.”

  “Yes, time you could have spent running away,” Tatiana says.

  “And where would I run off to? The capes hate me, and there are people that can hunt me down. Speaking of which, Skye, darling, come in here and try your dress on!”

  I look over at Skye, who’s been floating in the air, napping. The look on her face is priceless. It’s a mix of confusion and pout. “I don’t wanna,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “You will be first of Summer’s bridesmaids to try on dress,” Tatiana says, “before even Liz!”

  “I don’t like dresses, so I’m not going to wear it,” Skye says, stubbornly.

  “You will not be in wedding if you do not wear dress,” Tatiana says firmly, her hands on her hips.

  “But—” Skye says.

  “Come try on dress, you will be beautiful!” Tatiana says as Skye reluctantly drops to the ground. “That is my girl!”

  “I still don’t like you,” Skye says as she walks past Marie.

  “I think we should at least tie her up,” I say, earning strange looks from almost everyone in the room.

  “Making a few dresses doesn’t exactly—” Superior says.

  “Not her! Atlanti,” I say, motioning to the still unconscious woman. “She’s a super, so she might recover sooner than we think. I’m not going to hunt her down again.”

  “Good point,” Superior says, getting to his feet. “I’ll go get something from Nico.”

  “Do you really need to?” I ask.

  “Of course I don’t, but this is more entertaining.”

  I feel someone watching me. I look over to where Jonas and Diamond Dust are. She’s watching me. I don’t really want to talk to her, though. As soon as this is over, I’ll be going back to my Hall and she
can go back to hers. We won’t ever have to see each other again.

  “Diamond Dust,” Superior says, coming right back, “can you build us a fish tank big enough for her?”

  “A fish tank?” Diamond Dust repeats, looking surprised.

  “Nico’s busy right now, but I’ll have him make a power blocking lamp in a bit. For now, since she’s an octopus shifter, well, what better way to keep her in place? Make sure it’s hard to break through.”

  “Shouldn’t you be able to do that?” I ask him.

  “I’ve seen the ring she made,” Superior says. “I want something beautiful. If I make the material, will you carve it for me?” he asks, looking at Diamond Dust again.

  “I—” she says.

  “Sandra will help you,” he says. “Here, I’ll make a room for it. I figure I’ll keep the fish I catch there until I’m ready to eat them.”

  I’m certain she’s going to say no. He’s talking about carving a fish tank that’s big enough for a full-grown woman to stay in, so it’s worth a lot of money, right? But to my surprise, she nods.

  “I’d like that,” she says, standing. Jonas reaches up, trying to stabilize her as she sways slightly, but she regains her balance quickly. “Sandra?” she says.

  I hesitate, looking over at Superior. He’d just dumped this on my lap because he wanted a piece of art. That’s not fair! But then again, I still like Superior. I sigh, giving up, because I don’t have many friends, and this isn’t that big of a deal, right?

  “This will work,” he says, holding up both of his hands at one of the walls. It opens up into a large room. With a flick of his wrist, we soon have large chunks of clear crystals laid out for us. “If you need more, just call me,” he says, heading back for the couch.

  ***

  “Now look at you!” Marie says as Skye steps out of the room she’d changed in. “It looks perfect. Oh, but we’re going to have to bring the chest in a little more, aren’t we?”

  “Heck, no, I’m getting padding!” Skye says, glaring at her and then looking down at her chest. “Not only does she brainwash me, now she’s making fun of my girls, too,” she mutters, much to the rest of the room’s amusement.