Rainbow Rush (Cape High Series Book 19)

by R. J. Ross

  “I’m, um, not sure it works that way…” he sees all three of the Deadly Darlin’s look at him, “but who am I to say that?” he asks quickly, starting to type. “I’m going to need a phone number to get a hold of you—”

  “We’ll have our dog check and see when it comes in,” Doris says, waving it off.

  “Your… dog?”

  “We’ve got a chupacabby!” Ariel says happily. “He’s the cutest, most amazing, most BEAUTIFUL—”

  “Just order it,” Doris interrupts, getting a pout from Ariel. She ignores the pout, and turns to us, lifting her fists. “Now, let’s get this started.”

  “Oh, oh, I didn’t get my comic art books yet!” Skye says.

  Everyone in the room groans as she races away. “We’re not being filmed yet, are we?” Ruckus asks Dolly.

  “Well, only by HTV South,” she says. “And every single super in the branch knows exactly how she is.”

  “But it had better not get out to the public,” Ruckus says.

  “We’re enough for you to play with until she does what she needs to do,” Doris says, shifting into her jersey devil form. “Or are you scared, little metal girl?”

  “I could dance with you all day, screechy,” Ruckus says, her skin turning metallic.

  “That leaves you two to play with me!” Ariel says, turning to face me and Dolly. She floats over to us, smiling so sweetly that it’s almost scary. “Do you two like to swim?”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Where are they…” Skye says, phasing through one of the shelves to peek at the books on the other side. “Nope, not here…” She goes all the way through and starts down the aisle, searching for the art books. She usually doesn’t spend much time in a bookstore, so a part of her is enjoying this chance. Oh, sure, she needs to get back soon, but the five of them can play together while she’s doing this! It’ll give her girls time to take center stage for once. That’s hard to do when there’s someone as amazing and powerful as her there.

  “Skye… Wow, I don’t even know what to say. I’ve dreamed of this day.”

  She goes still, all thoughts of how amazing she is leaving as if they’d never been. She turns, and there he is, standing in front of her. “You,” she whispers.

  “Skye,” he says, again.

  “How DARE you?” she says, all thoughts of what’s going on downstairs leaving her mind. “How DARE you show your face to me now? Do you know what you’ve done to me?” She lifts her fists, fighting an inward battle with herself. It would be so easy to kill him now. If she kills him now, she’ll never wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares of the past. She’ll never have to worry about someone filming her without her knowing. She’ll never have to wonder if he’s grabbed some other trusting super—

  But if she kills him now, she’ll be punished, and never see her family again. The thought makes her freeze, her hands clenching as she argues with herself.

  He reaches into his coat, pulling out a small spray bottle and spritzing the air. The “spray” races straight for her, floating all around. “We need to talk, my girl,” he says.

  “NO!” someone shouts, as Skye starts to take a step forward, her fist pulled back. She’s going to kill him, after all, she decides, just because he dared to call her that. Before she can reach him, a small body slams into her from the side, and they both hit the shelves, crashing into the ground, along with the shelf. “Don’t do it,” the boy says. Skye looks down, her eyes widening in shock as she realizes who it is.

  “David?” she says.

  “It’s Davis,” the boy says.

  “Davis!” someone calls from the stairs. “Where did you go? Did something happen?”

  Richard Penski looks at them for a second before shoving the spray bottle into his pocket and running away.

  “Why did you do that?” Skye demands of the boy. “I was going to finally be rid of him! He’s still here! Get off of me, I can still do it!”

  “No! You can’t!” Davis says, wrapping his arms around her waist. She starts to phase, but she can’t. “You can’t go after him, Skye,” he says, pulling up one hand and showing it to her. “He’s figured out how to stop you,” he says.

  “Davis? What in the world are you doing, boy?” Cheval asks, coming into view.

  “How did you do that?” Skye asks, the blood leaving her face as she stares at the hand he’s showing.

  “He created nanobytes that randomly change their atomic vibration speed, Skye,” Davis says. “Actually… I created nanobytes that change their atomic vibration speed,” he corrects himself as he stands. “I’m… I’m the reason he might have been able to capture you.”

  “You did what?” Skye asks. Her voice is tiny, just above a whisper. She clears her throat, since even in the worst situation she’s a diva, “You did WHAT?” she demands, grabbing his shirt and hauling him a foot off of the ground. The shirt threatens to rip, but the boy just stares up at her with a mixture of defiance and guilt.

  “He’s my uncle,” Davis says. “And he said that you would be the most likely person to cause the fall of society.”

  “I think,” Cheval interrupts, “that Davis and I will have a little talk while you go finish your job, Skye.”

  “How can I focus on that when this is happening?” Skye demands. Davis lifts both arms and slides out of the shirt, looking rather skinny and pale without it. She points at him. “HE created things that can ruin my life! How can I let him go after learning something like that? After learning that he gave it to my WORST ENEMY? Those nanobytes—they change at different speeds, don’t they?”

  “Yes,” he says. “And only one or two will be the same rate of speed at the same time. He’s the one that told you how your powers work, right?”

  Skye looks at the shirt in her hand. “I HATE mad scientists.”

  “But this one just saved you,” Cheval says. “He didn’t have to do that.”

  Skye looks at Davis, her expressions crossing her face rapidly. “I still don’t trust you. You could have done it for a more devious reason! Don’t think I can’t smell…” she pauses and moves closer, sniffing him. “Well, either way, I still don’t trust you! There’s nothing that could have changed your mind that quickly, and we all know it!”

  “That… yeah,” he admits. “You’re right. It doesn’t make any sense… other than Uncle Richard’s a real jerk.”

  “Skye,” Cheval says.

  “Fine!” Skye says. “I’m going, already! I need to wash up, first.” She points at Davis, and then points two fingers at her eyes. “But I’m going to be watching you, boy. I can get access to your school cameras, you know. I’ve got a dog!”

  “She… has a dog,” Davis repeats blankly as she races away.

  “Davis, focus,” Cheval says. “You and I need to have a talk.”

  “Just a second,” Davis says, pulling out his old phone and tapping away, “I have to do this before she’s out of range to turn them off.” He looks at Cheval. “Now you can lecture me.”

  ***

  *Somewhere Across the Galaxy*

  “Okay, line up the shot,” Trent says to the tiny woman standing next to him. He leans down, watching from behind before he reaches out and adjusts her hold on the arrow. “Remember, the wind and the amount of force has a big impact on where it lands.”

  “But the monster is eating—”

  “Yes, I know,” Trent says, grimly. “But it’s better to hit properly the first time than to lose all your arrows and not hit once.” The government oppression had been worked out easily, once the people in charge realized they couldn’t bribe him or his mother, but all it had done was reveal a bigger problem. The people of this planet are starving, not just because of the over taxation, but because the planet has a vermin problem. Somehow an alien life form had wound up on the planet and bred like wild. It quickly started eating all of the vegetation that the people survived off of.

  “Can I shoot?” the small woman asks. “My arm is starting to s
hake.”

  “Okay, shoot,” he says. He watches as the arrow goes flying, hitting the creature eating the potato-like vegetable. It lets out a squeal and the potato falls to the ground. “Nice shot,” he compliments her. “Bring in the cleaners,” he calls over to the other small beings standing to the side. “Remember to be careful, it might not be completely dead.”

  “You’re doing a wonderful job, Trent,” his mother says, making him look over. “Keep those swords ready, boys, if it moves, I want you to stab it. Contain and cremate, remember?”

  “Yes, Star Spangled!” the cleaners say as they warily circle the green creature.

  “I never thought that a sentient plant could be this dangerous,” Jeanie says as the watch the cleaners work. “At least we haven’t run into any of the big ones since that first one.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Trent says. “I’ve got holes in my uniform from that jerk. Mom, we could just go in and clean up—”

  “You know that we can’t do that,” Jeanie says. “This is something they need to learn to deal with on their own. If we just clean up what we can, they’ll be in the exact same position they were in before we got here. I just wish…”

  “We haven’t found any supers among them, yet, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any,” Trent says. “I think we should ask Cosmic to talk to his friends. Maybe they could have one assigned to the planet. Or maybe we should ask Summer to come here, after all.”

  “I think, once the people of this planet learn how to deal with the grass eaters, we could ask her to come and help with the cultivation of edible plants, instead,” Jeanie says.

  “But couldn’t she just go in and kill—”

  “Again, that would cause them to be reliant on us. We can’t do that, Trent. If she comes in, I would just have her do what she does for the farmers of our planet. She would boost the growth of things that they’ve already planted.”

  “I know,” he says. “It’s just… so frustrating.”

  “I know, Trent. Boys, it’s still moving! Stab it again,” she calls to the cleaners, heading forward to give them a hand. “The rest of you, go back to your hunting!”

  “Yes, Star Spangled!” they call out, racing off to find another grass eater. For a moment, Trent stands there, his frustration almost overcoming him. He understands that these people need to learn to take care of their own problems. He understands that they CAN take care of their own problems, as well. They’re learning quickly. But it doesn’t keep him from wanting to solve all the problems before he leaves.

  He brings up his arm, tapping on his comm-bracelet. A hologram recording of Emily, Ditto and Repeat appears in miniature. “Hey, Trent! Hey, Trent! We beat up Maximum!” Emily says excitedly. “You should have seen it! He even tried to drag Carla into it, but we got the drop on him!”

  “We LOOOOOOVVVEEEE youuuuu!” Ditto says, blowing kisses at him.

  “But I love you most!” Repeat says.

  “No, you don’t! I do!” Emily says, elbowing her doppelganger. “I really miss you, Trent. I mean, it’s a lot of fun being the star of the Central Branch, and all, but it’s not nearly as much fun doing anything else. And Carla’s down in South Branch, so it’s even more boring here than usual.”

  “But we know you’ve got a job to do,” Ditto says. “So do your best, and don’t go falling for any of those alien girls, got it?”

  “He’s already got us, he won’t fall for an alien!” Repeat admonishes her.

  “Yeah, having a girlfriend that turns into three whenever she wants is probably every guy’s dream, right?” Ditto says.

  “No it isn’t,” Emily says. “He had to ask for a raise just because you two eat so much whenever we go out for food.”

  “Oh, no, maybe he WILL fall for someone else,” Repeat says, worriedly. “You’d better not! If you do, we’ll hunt you down!”

  “How did this conversation turn out this way?” Emily demands. “Trent, we love you, and we’re waiting… a bit impatiently for you to get back.” The hologram stops and he stares at the air for a moment before hitting record.

  “Hey, Emily,” he says. “First of all, I’m not going to fall for some alien girl. Who would, when they’ve got someone as amazing as you? And secondly… I miss you, too. I wish all three of you were here.”

  “KID LIBERTY! COME QUICK! WE HAVE FOUND ANOTHER LARGE GRASS EATER!” one of the small beings that live there shouts.

  “I’ve got to go, but… I love you, too.” He stops recording and takes to the air, heading in the direction of the screaming.

  ***

  There are books flying all around us. They keep grabbing onto Ariel and Skye, only to get thrown off. A bigger book has Doris in its maw, and keeps opening and shutting as if it’s trying to eat her. Ruckus is fighting with Ariel, and I, for the very first time, am up against Skye. I would be squealing with excitement, if she wasn’t acting funny. She keeps glancing at the wall, as if she’s WAITING for it to pop open. I race forward, tackling her. “HA!” I say, sitting on top of her, “I’ve caught you!”

  She looks at me blankly for all of a second before frowning. “I liked your pigtails,” she complains before phasing straight through me. She grabs onto my ponytail and tugs lightly. “Let’s fix it!”

  “This isn’t a time to do hair, Skystep! I’m here to capture you!” I say, shaking her off, or at least trying to.

  “But you look so cute with pigtails!” she says. “Doesn’t she, Ari—Raindance?”

  “Let’s fix Ruckus’s hair, too!” Ariel says, only to get hit by Ruckus. She turns into water, falling to the ground in a puddle, which takes form again, a second later. “Bad Ruckus,” she says, waving a finger in Ruckus’s face. She gets hit, again.

  “Quit puddling Raindance, you bully!” Skye says, leaving me to jump on Ruckus’s back. She covers her eyes with her hands, blinding her. “Okay, Raindance, it’s time for the one-two!”

  “Which one-two?” Ariel asks blankly. “Is it the one with the maracas?”

  “We don’t HAVE maracas, here,” Doris calls in a muffled voice from the voracious book.

  “But I like the one with the maracas,” Ariel says.

  “Do the punch one!” Skye says. “You remember, the one-two punch!”

  “That one’s boring,” Ariel complains.

  “I KNOW it’s boring—”

  I grab Skye around the waist and tug. “Get off of OUR partner!” I say, tugging hard. Doris finally escapes the book in a dramatic fashion, by ripping it apart, and stands, letting out a roar that makes me yelp and let go to put my fingers in my ears. I’m not the only one—Skye does the same, falling off of Ruckus’s back. “TOO LOUD!” she shouts.

  “I thought I told you to wear your earplugs!” Doris says.

  “CAN’T HEAR!” Skye bellows, still rolling around dramatically.

  “I wore mine,” Ariel says, shrugging as Doris looks over at her.

  “Oh, whatever. She’s useless, now,” Doris says. Ruckus and I both strike a fighter pose, ready for the two of them to attack, but all Doris does is walk over and grab Skye. “She’s going to be shouting for two days after this, even if she can hear,” she tells Ariel.

  “Of course she is.”

  “YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!” Skye shouts, proving that she can hear every word.

  “Just get us out of here,” Doris says as Ariel grabs her arm. The three of them go straight through the wall. I look over at Ruckus, and we rush forward, only to pop back into the real world as the dollhouse disappears.

  “Where are they?” Ruckus demands.

  “They got away,” Dolly says, covering her face with her hands. “They went straight up and through the ceiling. But… they didn’t steal anything.”

  “They didn’t?” Ruckus asks, looking at the man at the counter.

  “We didn’t have what they wanted in stock,” he admits, looking guilty. “Who IS Reaper, anyway?”

  I groan, hiding the urge to laugh. No matter what, this gig is a LO
T of fun!

  “Carla,” I hear Nico say over my earbud. “Meet us at the Hall, would you?” I nod, slightly, and we head out of the building to “chase after the bad guys.”

  ***

  “Okay!” Skye says, standing in front of the Cape High South ten minutes later. “Let me IN!” she yells at the invisible wall. “I’m going to get everything out of that little twerp!”

  “Skye,” Doris says. “Would you PLEASE tell us what happened that cut our show short, this time?”

  “Chooperic! Get us into their school!” Skye says to their chupacabra AI. She’d gone home to take a shower and grab him so she could bring him here. The AI looks at her, whining pathetically before letting out a huff and sniffing the ground. The three of them follow him until he stops and taps a small rock with his paw. It shoots up, revealing a panel, much like the one that’s in front of Cape High. Chooperic sits down, his eyes glowing and the small monitor on the panel starts blinking, before it abruptly stops and Zoe appears.

  “Bad Chooperic,” the teen says, shaking a finger at him. “You know better than to try and hack our systems.”

  Chooperic whines, and then rolls over, revealing his belly and waving his paws in the air. It doesn’t have any effect on Zoe. “Zoe! We need to talk to that David whatever boy! So let us in!” Skye says, placing her hands on her hips. “This is your aunt ordering it, you know!”

  “I realize that, Aunt Skye, but you’re still a super villain, and I’m not allowed to let adult super villains onto campus. But I can have them bring Davis out, if you would just give me a second…” She disappears from the screen and the three of them look at each other.

  “Why didn’t Nico do that?” Doris asks. “It’s usually him telling us we’re doing something stupid, right?”

  “We don’t do STUPID things, we do…” Ariel pauses, looking thoughtful, “ridiculous things!”

  “Same difference.”

  “No, if it was stupid, it would mean there was a chance of one or all of us getting hurt, right? Well, that’s REALLY hard to do, so we can’t do stupid!”