“Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!” said a voice.
We turned to see a boy in pajama bottoms and a blue cape advancing toward us, toothbrush in hand. Cat-a-bats!
I was just deciding whether we should run or hex him when he walked right up to Ileana.
“This hall is for boy heroes!” he said, looking the princess up and down. “Are you new?”
“Uh, yes,” Ileana said. “I was looking for breakfast and um, took a wrong turn.”
The boy smiled his gleaming white, superhero smile and said in a dashing voice, “Not to worry, fair maiden! I can save you!”
“Well, I don’t really need—”
“Allow me!” the boy scooped up Ileana, and before we could stop him, he was flying down the hallway with her, knocking over heroes left and right. In a few seconds, they’d rounded a corner and were gone. I stood with my mouth hanging open.
“Uh, now what?” Wolf whispered beside me.
We were being jostled and shoved as kids made their way to the bathrooms.
“I’m not sure,” I said, wondering if I should go after Ileana first or find the crystal ball and my dad.
“Rune,” Jez said from inside my cloak, “if we don’t go after Deven soon, we might lose the crystal.”
“How are you doing that?” a familiar voice asked.
I recognized it as Aero-boy, the hero who’d been in the bathroom with Deven Do-Good. I turned to see a kid in a yellow-and-purple costume.
“Doing what?” I asked. I noticed his feet weren’t touching the ground and recalled that his superpower was levitation.
“How are you making that squeaky voice come out of your cape?”
“Uh … it’s, um, my superpower,” I said.
“It is?” asked Aero-boy.
“Yes, I have the power to, um …”
“To create talking animals using his mind!” Wolf said helpfully from beneath his cowl.
Aero-boy looked at Wolf skeptically, then back to me. “I don’t believe you.”
Jezebel fluttered out from my cape and landed on my shoulder. “Now do you believe it?” she asked.
Aero-boy’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He floated back a few steps, dropped to the ground, then took off running.
“Great job, guys. Way to blend in,” I said.
I made up my mind that going after the crystal had to take priority. Ileana was smart. She could take care of herself. I hoped.
Jezebel whispered directions to me from inside my cape as we made our way through a maze of hallways, past flying kids, strong kids, superspeedy kids, and one kid who could shoot fire out of his nostrils.
“There!” Jez said, pointing to a doorway. “I saw Deven go through there. After that, I came back to find you.”
We slipped through the doorway and found ourselves in a long corridor. At the end was a single door with a plaque on it. I could hear muffled voices. We made our way stealthily down the hallway to the plaque. It said: “Doctor Do-Good.” This must be the school Master’s office. Motioning for Jez and Wolf to stay quiet, I peered through the keyhole.
“Why are you doing this?” a man said. Although he wasn’t wearing his hero costume or mask from his photo in the newsparchment, I recognized Doctor Do-Good. He cowered away from someone, raising his hands as if to ward off an attack.
I couldn’t see them, but I could hear Omnibrain and Vortex as they laughed.
“I’m not going to reveal all my plans to you, Father,” said Deven Do-Good. “What do you take me for? An amateur villain?”
The boys laughed again.
“But I’m your father, Deven,” said Doctor Do-Good.
“Does a father send his son on an impossible Quest? Does a father banish his son from his own school?”
Welcome to my world, I thought.
“You’re not my father!” Deven shouted.
“But you asked to be sent on that Quest! I said you weren’t ready yet. You insisted!” said the doctor.
Then Deven’s hands came into my field of vision. He took the lid off a canister and several small things began crawling out.
“No! No!” Doctor Do-Good shouted, backing up to the far corner.
Deven suddenly stepped where I could see him. He reached out toward his father, his hands still crawling with some kind of creatures, and Doctor Do-Good fainted.
The boys laughed again. Deven picked up Doctor Do-Good, and I realized he was coming straight toward the door. Cat-a-bats! I scanned the long, empty hallway behind me. There was nowhere to hide. We’d have to try to make it to the door at the other end.
Quickly, I stuffed Jez back into my cape and shoved Wolf down the corridor. We tumbled back into the main hallway just as I heard Do-Good’s office door opening behind us.
“Go!” I said to Wolf, and we ran toward an alcove that held a suit of armor.
We hid and watched as Deven and his friends emerged. One of the boys—probably Omnibrain, judging from his ginormous head—came out first. His white lab coat costume swirled as he turned left, then right, checking to make sure the hall was empty. He signaled the others.
Deven came out next, carrying his unconscious father over his shoulder. He was followed by a dark-skinned boy with spiked hair and a gleaming silver costume, complete with a blue cape.
“Here, Vortex,” Deven said, handing his father to the masked hero along with a set of keys, “lock him up.”
Instead of holding Doctor Do-Good, Vortex summoned a wind that swirled around the unconscious doctor, suspending him inside his own personal cyclone.
“And take this, too,” Deven said, handing Omni-brain the canister.
When he turned, I could see that what I’d taken for a big head was actually the hero’s exposed brain, encased in a glass bubble. I still couldn’t see what was inside the canister, but I knew it must be powerful to subdue a superhero like Doctor Do-Good.
“I’ll meet you guys after breakfast,” Deven said, pulling out my dad’s crystal. “First I need to make sure this is safe.”
The boys went one way, and Deven went another. We followed Deven.
Wolf, Jezebel, and I moved cautiously behind Deven, keeping to the alcoves, hiding behind curtains, until finally he stopped in the boys’ corridor and entered one of the rooms.
“Now what?” Wolf asked.
“What’s happening? I can’t see anything in here,” said Jezebel. “And by the way, have you ever heard of deodorant, Rune?”
“Hush,” I said, poking her bat-head back under the cape.
“Should we follow him?” asked Wolf.
I wasn’t sure if going into a room alone with a superhero was a good idea. I mean, sure, there were three of us and just one of him, but he had superpowers. What did we have? Fur and wings and—according to Miss Smartyfangs—stinky armpits. Not really a match for a superhero.
I was saved from deciding, though, because Deven emerged from his room just a few seconds later. We ducked back into the alcove we were hiding in. When his footsteps grew faint, I ventured a quick look down the hallway. Deven was rounding the far corner, then he was gone.
“C’mon!” I said.
Jez fluttered out of my cape, and Wolf lumbered behind as we entered Deven’s room. It was freakishly clean. The single bed was tucked tightly with the pillow perfectly fluffed and centered. There were no socks on the floor, no balls of paper or candy wrappers. Against one wall, boots were lined up in perfect pairs. We started rifling through Do-Good’s things in search of the crystal ball.
Wolf pulled out the dresser drawers where Deven’s capes were all folded neatly. I yanked open the closet door to find duplicates of his red-and-blue hero costume all ironed and hung in a row.
“This guy is creepy,” Jezebel said as she popped back into a girl and kneeled to peer under Do-Good’s bed. “There’s nothing under here. Not a dust bunny or anything!”
“Nothing here, either,” I said, ripping through the closet and throwing the costumes on the floor. “Wolf? Find
it yet?”
Wolf shook his head.
“Could he still have it with him?” asked Jezebel.
I thought she must be right. Then I noticed a faint red glow coming from a crack in the floor. I knelt down and began pushing and pulling at the boards. There was a small click and the board popped up.
“You found it!” Jezebel said as I retrieved the crystal.
“Can we get out of here now?” Wolf asked, eyeing the door nervously.
We dashed out the door back into the hallway and right into a kid. We all fell in a pile, but I managed to keep a hold on the crystal ball.
“Hey!” the kid said, sitting up. I recognized his spiky hair and silver costume, and my stomach turned to slug slime. It was Vortex. “What were you doing in there?”
Up close, I could see his costume had fake abs on the front and a circular symbol with a cyclone drawn on it.
Then Vortex saw the crystal ball in my arms and his eyes widened.
Jezebel popped back into a bat and flew into my cape. Wolf scrambled to his feet. Vortex was untangling himself from his own cape when we heard a shout from the far end of the hallway. Turning, I saw Omnibrain and Deven.
“Run!” I shouted just as the air around us started to move with a rush of invisible wind.
“Come on!” I grabbed the front of Wolf’s costume and pulled him after me, running down the hall and around the corner.
“Where are we going?” Wolf asked as we dashed through a maze of hallways. At first I could hear Deven and the other boys shouting behind us, but then the sounds faded. We seemed to have lost them.
“We have to find Ileana, get my dad, and get out of here!” I said. I could hear new noises now, voices and laughter and the sound of silverware clinking on plates: the heroes’ cafeteria cave. “Follow me!”
I ran toward the sounds and burst through a set of double doors into a gleaming room filled with chattering, laughing superheroes all eating breakfast. Nobody even noticed us as we came in. I tucked the crystal ball under my cape. Beside me I sensed Wolf tensing up.
“Relax,” I muttered to him. “There’s no reason for anyone to suspect we’re not superheroes. Just act natural and look for Ileana.”
We didn’t have to look hard. A group of laughing boys had gathered around a table. Sitting on top, and looking totally relaxed and confident, was Ileana still in her hero costume and mask. She was telling the boys a story.
“And then he said, ‘As long as we get one thing straight. You’re not rescuing me, I’m kidnapping you!’ Aren’t villains ridiculous?”
The heroes all snorted and guffawed. I ran up to the princess, ready to grab her and dash, but we were interrupted by one of the boys.
“Hey! There he is!” he said, pointing at me and Wolf. I recognized the purple-and-yellow costume: Aero-boy. I took a step back as the other hero boys all turned to look at us. “That’s the one I was telling you about. Hey, show my friends how you can create talking animals with your mind.”
“Uh,” I said.
There was a tense moment of silence. I knew Jez couldn’t save me this time because the cafeteria was flooded with sunlight. Then Wolf ripped off his hood, revealing his furry ears and snout.
“Ta-da!” he said. All the boys gasped, and the entire lunch room went silent.
“See, Aquinator? I told you! Pay up!” said Aero-boy, holding his hand out to another hero with a dolphin on the front of his costume.
“Uh, Ileana,” I said, tapping her shoulder.
“It’s Power Princess, if you please,” she said.
“Okay. Power Princess, we need to go. Now.”
Just then a voice I’d been dreading came over the intercom. It was Deven.
“Attention, heroes! Our school has been infiltrated by villains! This is not a drill! They are posing as heroes and are dressed in costumes. Be on the lookout for a dark-haired boy with a glowing red weapon.”
I tucked the crystal ball farther beneath my cape.
“And also be on the lookout for a wolf boy and a girl who can turn into a bat.”
Jez squirmed under my cape, and beside me Wolf’s eyes grew wide.
“They may also be traveling with a blond girl known as Princess Ileana.”
“Hey,” Aquinator said, frowning at us. “What did you say your name was again?”
“Time to go,” I said, grabbing Ileana’s hand and running for the nearest exit.
Chapter Eleven
Crystal Clear
“I was wondering if you were ever going to come find me!” Ileana said as we raced down the hall. She was kind of ticked off.
“We had to go after the crystal before we lost it. Besides, judging by the group of drooling heroes around you, it looked like you had things under control.”
“You didn’t know that! For all you knew I could’ve been in some prison being tortured!”
“Can you two argue later?” asked Wolf. We’d just rounded a corner, and this hallway wasn’t completely empty. I motioned for everyone to slow down.
“Just act natural,” I whispered to Ileana and Wolf. Jez was still fluttering inside my cape.
Most of the heroes were in the cafeteria, but a few had finished eating and were roaming the halls, and now we also saw teachers emerging. With Wolf hidden once more inside his costume and Jezebel out of sight, I hoped we would look just like any other heroes and would escape notice until we found a place to hide and regroup. My hopes were dashed when a teacher stopped us.
“Did you hear the announcement?” she asked.
She was really skinny with sharp cheekbones and a pointy nose. Her pink costume had a bee on the front wearing a crown with “Queen Bee” written beneath it. She also wore a matching pink eye mask with glasses over the top, which looked kind of ridiculous, but I didn’t want to risk underestimating her. Who knew what superpower she might have?
“Yes ma’am,” Ileana said.
“Well, we’re checking everyone. Name and superpower, please,” said the pink woman.
“Uh,” I stammered.
“Power Princess,” Ileana said. “I can talk to flying animals.”
The pointy pink woman looked at Ileana skeptically over the top of her glasses.
“Really? I don’t recall seeing you in my classes,” she said.
“I’m new,” said Ileana.
“And you can talk to flying animals? Let’s see it, then.” The pink woman flashed a fake smile.
A strange humming noise began to rise in the air. The teacher closed her hand into a fist. When she opened it, a swarm of bumblebees materialized.
Wolf and I took a step back as the swarm grew bigger.
“They only obey me,” the woman said with a self-satisfied smirk that would not have looked out of place on a villain teacher.
I wondered if all heroes were so snotty, but as the swarm expanded the thought was driven from my mind. I worried that Ileana wouldn’t be able to demonstrate her “superpower” on the bees. I knew she could talk to birds and dragons and even cat-a-bats, but bees?
Ileana closed her eyes and began humming, then the hum morphed into a kind of buzzing. The bees continued to swirl in the air. They showed no signs of obeying Ileana.
“What’s the matter, Princess?” the pink woman taunted. “Can’t control my bees? You know what I think?” she asked as Ileana continued her buzzing sounds. “I think you’re those villains that everyone’s looking for, and you’re about to feel the sting of the Queen Bee!”
I moaned. Why did heroes always have to use corny lines like that? A thousand bee stings seemed painless compared to superheroes’ jokes. But then, the humming of the bees changed. The Queen Bee looked momentarily confused. Then Ileana opened her eyes and smiled wide.
“You know what I think?” Ileana asked. “I think you need to learn how to treat real royalty.”
Ileana raised her hands and like a giant plume of smoke the bees all flew together, obeying Ileana’s will. The swirling bees suddenly turned on their “q
ueen.” She backed against a wall and held up her hands defensively. “No,” she said. “Wait! I’m allergic to bee stings.”
“How ironic,” Wolf said from beside me.
“You better get running, then,” Ileana said. “I’ll give you a five-second head start.”
The Queen Bee glared at Ileana.
“I am a teacher, young lady!” she said.
Ileana smiled. “One. Two.”
The Queen Bee stopped glaring and fled.
“Five,” said Ileana, and the swarm of bees flew after their “queen.”
A few heroes had witnessed the spectacle, and I knew it was time to go.
“Nice job,” I said, “but we have to find somewhere to hide.”
We took off once more down the hallways. More and more kids were staring and whispering, and a few pointed. Our cover was blown, and any second one of the heroes would catch us. When we reached the boys’ corridor, I spotted the bathroom where we’d broken into the school.
“C’mon,” I said, opening the door. Ileana and Wolf followed me inside.
“Hey!” a little kid said, pointing at Ileana. “You can’t be in here! This is the boys’ bathroom!”
“Beat it, kid,” I said. Then I recognized him. It was Invis-a-boy, the young hero Deven had picked on earlier.
“Y-you are those villains, aren’t you?” he asked. He was growing kind of hazy and translucent along with his gray-and-white superhero costume. I was worried he’d go completely invisible, and then we’d have a problem. If he escaped, it wouldn’t be long before he told someone where we were. I had to think fast.
“Hey! You’re Invis-a-boy,” I said. His eyes widened in astonishment. Apparently he wasn’t used to being recognized. I started to form a plan. “Guys! Stay back! He’s a very powerful superhero!”
Ileana played along and backed up, but Wolf said, “What?”
I elbowed him. “Oh! Yeah. Right!” he said.
“Please don’t hurt us!” Ileana said.
“Y-you’ve heard of me?” he asked, standing up taller and becoming a little more solid.
Villain School Page 8