King Of Bad [Super Villian Academy Book 1]

by Strand, Kai

Jeff glanced at Mystic. She shook her head slightly and he knew he needed to keep quiet. He looked back at the woman who still stared at the fire.

  “You have received decent training up until now, boy. I can feel the strength of your abilities. Why have you been kicked out of so many schools if you listen enough to learn? It does not make sense.”

  Jeff panicked. He didn’t know how to answer this.

  Mystic smirked. “He has a way with the ladies, Señora.”

  “Ah. I do feel an unusual charm about him.”

  She rose from her chair and turned toward them for the first time. Her eyes were coated with a thick milky white substance. She was blind.

  Jeff sucked in his breath.

  Mystic had no reaction.

  “Señora, Blaze has a few unusual abilities. I believe you’d be happy to add him to your student population.”

  Señora Valdez nodded. “His power is his conflict. I feel weighted and weightless, warmth and coolness, brightness and darkness within him.”

  She moved toward them so gracefully it seemed she floated. “What is this light you have within you? I have never felt such a thing before.”

  “I’m not sure to which ability you refer, Senora,” Jeff said.

  “Electric, blue, alive.” Her chin lifted as if she watched the ability dancing through the air.

  “Oh, you mean the blue flame.” Jeff gathered a small amount of magnesium into his hand and ignited it.

  Señora Valdez seemed to look directly at it through the milky film. “It is so alive. Your abilities are so much a part of you. Do you tire quickly?”

  “Sometimes,” Jeff admitted. He knew this academy didn’t have Source. He was almost ready to leave. “Señora, you mentioned darkness. I have not discovered an ability for darkness.”

  “I suspect you will continue to have a difficult time finding it. It is deep within you and you avoid exploring your depths.” Señora Valdez turned away and floated back toward the fire. “We do not have what you are looking for here.”

  Mystic bowed her head. “We thank you for your consideration, Señora.”

  Jeff and Señora Valdez turned to stare at Mystic.

  Mystic’s mouth fell open when she realized what she’d just done. Frustration and fear clouded her eyes as she stared accusingly at Jeff.

  Señora shifted her cloudy gaze toward Jeff. “You are powerful, young man. But until you explore your depths you will be volatile.”

  Mystic spun on her heel and marched to the door.

  Jeff wanted to ask what the woman meant, but he needed to stay with Mystic. He jogged out of the room after her. When he caught up with her, tears balanced on the rims of her eyes. Jeff stumbled at the sight of them.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Don’t talk to me.”

  “Look, I really appreciate what you’ve done to help me.”

  “Stop talking!”

  “Mystic, I’m trying to say I’m sorry.”

  Mystic skidded to a halt. “Polar, you’ve got to stop talking. Every time you talk my heart aches more and more. Just shut up.”

  Jeff stood there flapping his mouth like a fish out of water. Finally he nodded.

  He remained silent all the way home.

  Chapter 24

  Frank Tohler looked anything but Chill. Face flushed and pacing, he spun on Jeff as soon as they walked through the door. “Where have you been?”

  “I’m sorry if you were worried, Chill,” Mystic said. Tears sprang to her eyes. She growled in frustration and stormed out of the lobby.

  “What the hell was that?” Frank’s mouth hung agape.

  Jeff sighed. “It seems my abilities project onto people the longer they’re around me. Mystic is thanking and apologizing to everyone she sees.”

  Frank raised his eyebrows. “You can make villains nice?”

  “Apparently.”

  Frank laughed. “That’s a good one. We’ll have to figure out how to develop that one.”

  Jeff gawked at his dad. “You think that’s good?”

  “Heck yeah! Nothing like stopping a competing villain in his tracks by making him care about the consequences of what he does. It’s classic.” Disdain dripped from the word “care”.

  “But, Dad, I do care.”

  Frank cocked his head. “I don’t understand.”

  Jeff ran his hands through his hair. “I’ve got an ever increasing good side to me that I’m having a hard time controlling. So now I care if I hurt someone’s feelings.”

  Frank’s brow scrunched and he looked up at the ceiling.

  “Dad, I can’t intentionally hurt someone.”

  Frank leapt back as though he’d been struck. “You mean you’ve turned into a white hat?”

  Jeff shrugged helplessly.

  “No, no, no. I’m sure you’re mistaken. You just need more direct training. We’ll help you control it.” Frank had a casual smile on his face.

  The temperature in the room warmed slightly and Jeff caught a subtle scent of sea salt and heard the faint cry of seagulls. His muscles relaxed. “You’re right, Dad. I just need some training.”

  Back in his room, the tension returned and Jeff realized that his dad had chilled him. He mumbled aloud, “Dad, you’re just prolonging the inevitable.”

  Discouraged, Jeff flopped onto his bed and stared up at the shadowed ceiling. He’d had a reputation for being a bad kid his entire life. This unexpected goodness was as disconcerting to him as it was to Mystic or his dad. Jeff didn’t really want to be good. But he didn’t want to be all bad either. What he really wanted was to find a happy medium. He tried to think of an example of a person he knew that had a healthy balance of good and bad, but all he could think of were people who were either bad or good. The two didn’t seem to exist together equally. One had to rule.

  And what about Source? If he wasn’t at either of the Mexican academies, where was he?

  And what was the darkness that Senora Valdez referred to? She was right to say Jeff didn’t explore his depths. He was scared to death to explore his depths. What if all he found was goodness?

  The very corners of his ceiling were so dark, he couldn’t see into them, but the further away from the corner to the center of the room he looked, the lighter it got. Though the bulb of the overhead light wasn’t particularly bright, staring directly at it made his eyes water. Like Mystic’s just had? Was he a bright light to her? There were too many questions that Jeff was afraid to find answers to. He couldn’t ignore them much longer though. Tomorrow he’d have to attend classes and more than likely it would become very obvious that he had an unfortunate and growing good streak in him.

  Jeff drifted off to sleep. In his dreams he swam into his own dark depths under black skies. Beautiful neon fish lit his way and grotesque sharks with cutting teeth snapped at him. Suddenly he stood on an unfamiliar shore. Wet, coarse sand stretched into an immense darkness. Two figures approached from opposite sides. Both appealed to him though for different reasons. When they got close enough, Jeff recognized Mystic and Oceanus. Though the sand he stood on felt heavy and thick under his feet, a cloud of sand swirled and danced through the air around Mystic, clouding his view of her. Oceanus strode toward him her eyes sparkling and mischievous. The waters of his depths lapped upon the shore and sprayed a cool, refreshing mist upon him that smelled like Oceanus, fresh sea breeze and lavender.

  Jeff looked from Oceanus to Mystic. Mystic blended into the darkness of his depths; Oceanus appeared to glow, as if backlit from a mysterious source.

  All the darkness began to brighten.

  The girls faded. The depths seemed to lighten and disappear. Jeff felt as if he floated up and out of the place he now wanted to stay and explore.

  He blinked awake. He pounded the bed and roared in frustration. His dream told him something, but the wispy thoughts fluttered away before he could make sense of them. Flipping off the overhead light, he curled onto his side and tried to recapture what he knew was lost.
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br />   * * * *

  The next morning Jeff walked into the cafeteria to grab breakfast. As usual, when he entered the room, the clanking of silverware, the bustle of kids in line, and all conversation stopped. Jeff looked around. Hundreds of gazes, mostly hostile, were trained on him.

  Jeff rolled his eyes and walked to the end of the food line. Still no one moved so Jeff walked to the front of the line, grabbed a tray, orange juice, and a pack of powdered doughnuts. He turned on his charm and asked the cook for waffles. She fluttered and bustled around giddily until she handed him a plate piled high with fresh, steaming waffles. Jeff winked at her and continued down the line. The people behind him requested food again and slowly the room gained its previous momentum. By the time Jeff grabbed his silverware, butter, syrup and milk, the room was fully active again.

  When he turned to find a table he realized that everybody was talking about him. Some kids tried to be less obvious with pseudo-covert, sideways glances and conspicuous whispers made more obvious because they were hidden behind hands. Others stared or pointed directly at him. Jeff looked around for a nice empty place to sit and found one in the center of the room. Just as well, he thought. Perhaps they’d get over him faster if they had the opportunity to gawk and talk openly.

  He did his best to ignore the fishbowl effect he felt sitting alone in the middle of a room full of kids watching him and gossiping about him. He wondered if it would always be like this because his dad was the big cheese. Maybe the kids would always stay an arms length away. Maybe Jeff wouldn’t last long enough to find out. He suspected none of the teachers were going to want to help him squash his good side, especially if they were spouting “please” and “thank you” while they did it.

  Jeff shoveled the last of his waffles into his mouth and washed it down with the last of the milk. When he stood to leave, the room temporarily hushed again. Jeff dreaded his first classroom and prospect of embarrassing himself and his dad when he failed to be bad enough.

  Jeff dumped his tray and headed to his dad’s office.

  He knocked on the door to the anteroom as he opened it. Hans looked annoyed at first, but jumped to his feet and bowed his head as soon as he recognized Jeff.

  “What can I do for you this morning, sir?”

  “Sir?” Jeff scoffed. “I’m no sir.”

  Hans didn’t reply, simply stood with his head down, staring at the floor, waiting.

  “I want to talk to my dad,” Jeff said as he strode across the room.

  “He’s not in yet, sir.” Hans’ voice quavered as if he feared the result of having to break such unpleasant news. His hands shook at his sides.

  “When does he usually get in?” Jeff asked.

  “9:00 a.m., sir.”

  “But I’ll be in class then.” Jeff sighed. He looked around the little office. A framed picture of his dad shaking hands with someone Jeff didn’t recognize hung on the wall. A rag rug, like the one in the entryway of their house, lay on the floor in front of his dad’s office door. “That’s it!”

  “Excuse me?” Hans’ eyes darted up to meet Jeff’s momentarily.

  “I’ll just go home.” Jeff smiled and slapped Hans on the back. “Thanks for your help, dude.”

  The school was a long way from his house. Jeff wondered how his dad got back and forth. Unfortunately the only way Jeff could get home was to run. And he had to run fast if he hoped to catch his dad.

  The extensive physical training at S.V.A. had helped Jeff improve his speed and endurance beyond anything he’d ever imagined. He was able to cover the sixty or so miles in forty minutes. But as soon as he came to a halt in front of his home, he knew he’d missed his dad.

  Standing on the front lawn staring at the house he hadn’t seen in just under a year knotted his stomach in an unexpected way. At once Jeff felt both homesick and glad to be away. He smirked at the shutter hanging askew that his dad had been promising to fix for years. He frowned at the strange jittery sensation that churned in his stomach when he looked at his parents’ bedroom window. He climbed up to his own window. It slid upward with no hesitation. He climbed into the room, careful not to knock over the mementos someone, probably Mother, had put on the footlocker. The room had been cleaned. Jeff gnawed the inside of his cheek, fighting the instant guilt he felt imagining his mother picking up all the clothes and broken guitar strings Jeff had flung on his floor. He picked up the stuffed alligator he’d won at a fair and had always dreamt of giving to Tammy Jenner and looked around. Here in his room, Jeff felt right. This was always his safe spot. No one bothered him when he was in here. The jitters faded.

  “Freeze, bad guy!”

  Startled, Jeff dropped the stuffed alligator. The alligator disintegrated in a laser blast; the smell of burnt synthetics filled the room. Jeff looked up and Sandra stood in the doorway, hands raised menacingly toward him. Their surprised gazes locked.

  “Jeff!”

  “Sandra?” they said at the same time.

  “What are you doing here?” Sandra asked.

  It didn’t escape Jeff’s notice that Sandra had not relaxed her stance. “I live here. What’s with the laser tag?”

  Sandra chuckled.

  Jeff chuckled.

  Sandra laughed. Dropped her hands and leaned against the door jam.

  Jeff only chuckled, still too freaked out to think anything was that funny. The nervous anxiety was again shaking his stomach like a snow globe.

  “Um, there have been some changes while you’ve been away,” Sandra blushed.

  “What the heck is green laser? I’ve seen red and purple, but never green.” Jeff froze realizing he’d just given too much information away. But Sandra didn’t look surprised or confused.

  “Well, it’s a good guy color, moron,” Sandra said.

  Jeff blinked.

  Sandra chuckled again. She pushed away from the door jam and walked into Jeff’s room, pulling him by the shirtsleeve to the bed. “Have a seat.”

  Jeff studied Sandra and realized the heavy eyeliner was gone. The black hair dye had been softened to a deep chestnut. She still wore mostly black clothing, but nothing was studded or strategically torn.

  “I know you’re a villain,” Sandra started. She sighed. “I’m a hero. It really sucks that we’re on opposite sides.”

  “How do you know? When did you…?” Jeff’s mouth hung open.

  “It happened just after that visit to your school. I think it was because of Source, actually.” Sandra blushed again. “My feelings for him and him being a villain and all, well I think it jump started my powers.”

  Sandra’s eyes grew large and she stared at Jeff. “Did you know Mom’s a white hat too?”

  Jeff nodded. Sandra sighed in relief. “Good. I didn’t want to be the one to break the news to you. Anyway, I started levitating on a regular basis. I know, how cliché, right? I thought I was possessed by some demonic presence, but Mom recognized it right away. I go to academy now too. It is so much fun. I love it!”

  Jeff groaned.

  “You don’t like yours?”

  “Well, I’m not actually sure. I’ve only been there about a week. I was hoping to talk to Dad about…well…some issues I’m having before I started class this morning, but I guessed I missed him.”

  Sandra gawked at Jeff like he’d started speaking Chinese.

  Jeff closed his eyes and scrunched his nose. “Oops.”

  Sandra’s voice sounded very small. “Dad?”

  “You didn’t know? That means Mother still doesn’t know.”

  Sandra panted like she’d just finished a sprint. “Dad? Has he always…”

  Jeff shrugged and nodded. He shared a condensed version of how he’d recently found out about their dad. He held back the information about Dad being a big name in villainy and how their last name wasn’t even real.

  “I wondered how you went bad. I guess it makes complete sense now,” Sandra said.

  “Well, lots of the kids don’t have villains in their family. It
just happens most of the time,” Jeff said.

  “Mom’s real bummed that you’re bad because good is supposed to be really strong and passes down easily through families. She says she feels like she failed you somehow.”

  “Yeah, well, she’ll be happy to know I’ve got all sorts of good in me too.”

  “Huh?”

  Jeff told Sandra about the good stuff that had been growing stronger inside him and his discomfort with it. “Do you guys have nicknames?”

  Sandra shook her head.

  “We do. It’s always annoyed me, but as soon as your root ability is discovered they tag you with a nickname and that is the only thing they ever know you as. Mine is Polar.”

  “As in the bear?”

  “No, as in opposite. Each ability I have, I have the opposing ability to go along with it. I have fire and ice. I can build up elements or break them down. I have bad and…”

  “Good,” Sandra finished for him.

  Jeff nodded. “Exactly. And now I don’t fit in either world because of it.”

  “So what were you going to talk to Dad about?”

  “I was going to tell him that I didn’t want to attend his school.” Jeff took Sandra’s hand in his. “Sandra, Source was taken from our school a while ago. I’ve been trying to find out what school took him, but I haven’t been able to figure it out. I’ve decided to focus all my efforts on finding him.”

  “Oh, I’ve got him.”

  “What?” Jeff threw her hand at her like it had stung him.

  “We took him. It broke my heart to see his awesome skills stuck working for the wrong side. So we took him. He’s much happier now.” Sandra leaned back against the wall, tucked her feet up under her and looked dreamily up at the ceiling.

  “You took him? You mean those blue flames were good guys? What about Detainee? She’s a bad guy, isn’t she?” Jeff ran both hands through his hair.

  “Oh, Detainee owed Mom a favor for something that happened years back. We used her to throw your school off our trail. But those blue flames were ours. Cool ability, huh?”

  “Yeah, but it really drains you. Maybe I just don’t know how to control the release of the magnesium, though.”