The Rivalry of Renegade X

by Chelsea M. Campbell

  “But I didn’t.”

  “Doesn’t matter. If the judges knew all the stuff you’ve made over the last year and a half… Well, you’d probably be in jail, but you would have won, hands down, no question.” And maybe not just for the junior competition. “And the only reason I think my mom can get this thing working in such a short amount of time is because she already knows what should go in it. She worked on the other version, and she already has the chemical compound made up.”

  Sarah’s eyebrows come together as she considers that. “Other Damien didn’t want us working with her.”

  “He doesn’t know her. Whatever she’s like in his world… my mom’s not evil. Tell them, Kat. Tell them your future mother-in-law isn’t going to try and sabotage us.”

  Kat’s eyes go wide. “Damien, that’s…” She puts a hand to her forehead. “She’s definitely not evil.”

  “See? There you go.”

  “But she’s done some pretty terrible stuff over the years.”

  “She’s a mad scientist. That’s her job.”

  “I meant to you. I wasn’t even talking about all that stuff.” Kat takes a deep breath. “She’s not as bad as it sounds like she is in Other Damien’s dimension, but I don’t know if you should trust her, either.”

  “Fine. I’m not asking you guys to trust her. I’m asking you to trust me.”

  “You want us to trust you?” Riley asks. “After everything you did?”

  “After all the problems I fixed, you mean? Again, you’re welcome.”

  He sighs and scrubs his face with his hands. “You betrayed me, X. And then you betrayed all of us. It doesn’t matter if you think you were right or not. You still went behind our backs. And now you’re asking us to trust you?”

  “He was right, though,” Zach says. “Your job was stupid. You should have come to the water park with us.”

  “Zach. That’s not what this is about.”

  “He also got the device working.”

  “Because he betrayed us!”

  “But he’s not betraying you now,” Zach says, his eyes flicking over to me. “And I don’t see how else we’re going to get the portal device working so we can go save Other Damien.”

  “That’s right, Perkins,” I say. “So what’s it going to be? You can either hold a grudge against me or you can save your new BFF. Your choice.”

  Chapter 24

  MOM’S NOT HAPPY ABOUT me pounding on her door so late. I mean, it’s not even that late—only midnight—and I know she wasn’t in bed yet. Actually, she looks pissed for about two seconds, and then she looks worried, and then after I tell her I’m okay, she goes back to being mad again.

  “I just put Xavier to bed!” She gestures toward my—I mean his—room.

  I make a face. “He looks like he’s twelve. You shouldn’t still be putting him to bed.”

  “Well, I have to be certain the hypnosis system is in place, to make sure my little angelkins is still learning.”

  Ugh. “Mom, that’s—” I stop myself. “I don’t have time to tell you everything that’s wrong with that. I’m okay, but Other Damien isn’t. He got kidnapped and taken back to his world, and he’s in serious danger, and we have to save him. Like, now.”

  She scoffs and rolls her eyes at me. “Not this again.”

  “We tried to use the portal device I had you fix to send him home, but it only worked for a second, and then the portal disappeared. But I guess it was enough to send out a beacon, because then Other Xavier showed up—”

  “Who?” She blinks at me.

  “Other Xavier. He’s Other Damien’s half brother. You—the other version of you, I mean—had him the year after you had me, so he’s sixteen. But, like, actually sixteen. No special formulas or hypnosis crap involved.”

  “Mm-hmm.” She’s scowling and looking down her nose at me, her arms folded.

  “It’s true. And you and him are, like, this really scary evil duo. And he showed up at our house and accused Other Damien of stealing something from him, then kidnapped him and dragged him off back to their dimension. Except I have the thing he was looking for, not Other Damien, and even if he did have it… I think Other Xavier would probably kill him anyway. So—”

  “Damien.” Her teeth are clenched.

  “He took the portal device, the one that you fixed, but I have Sarah’s prototype. Our Sarah’s, I mean.” I hold it out to her. “I need you to figure out how to make it work. And not to heat up coffee or anything, but to actually make a portal to another dimension.”

  “Even if I had any reason to believe you, which I don’t, what makes you think I can just whip up something that opens interdimensional portals?” She shakes her head at me, like this is the last thing she needs right now.

  “You saw the inner workings of the device yesterday. This one should be pretty close. All you have to do is make it match that one. It needs the compound you made—you know, that green stuff—and…” Actually, I have no idea what it needs. “Just make them match.”

  She sighs. “This is ridiculous. I don’t—”

  “I’ll babysit Xavier.” I cringe.

  She looks up, her whole posture suddenly changing, and I know I have her attention. “Every night for a week, and I’ll take a look at it.”

  “Done.”

  She gestures to the coffee table. “Just set it there. I’ll get to it tomorrow.”

  “It has to be tonight.”

  She clucks her tongue. “If you think I’m going to stay up all night working on some make-believe device—”

  “Two weeks. I’ll watch him every night for two freaking weeks.” Ughhhhh.

  She hesitates. “Two weeks, non-consecutive. I decide what nights you’ll watch him. And no getting out of it, even if you have plans.”

  I swallow. “Fine.”

  “And you have to throw in a three-day weekend. So me and Taylor can go on a romantic getaway.”

  “Three whole days? With him? Are you insane?!”

  “Three days, Damien, or you don’t get your little toy fixed until tomorrow. You know I always charge extra for rush jobs.”

  I tap my fingers against the edge of Mom’s lab table, trying not to freak out while she opens up the device. “So, you can make it work, right?”

  She grits her teeth. “You asking me that every five seconds isn’t helping. Neither is that annoying tapping.”

  I pull my hands away from the table and start kicking my leg against the stool I’m sitting on instead.

  Mom makes a little growling noise in the back of her throat and gives me a warning look.

  I put my elbows on the table and rest my chin in my hands and try to keep still. I told everyone this would work, but if it doesn’t… Other Damien’s probably screwed. Assuming Xavier hasn’t murdered him already.

  Mom’s eyes widen as she removes the guts of the device and spreads them out in front of her. “And you said the same person made both of these?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “It’s… different from the device I worked on yesterday.”

  Great. I suck in a breath. “But you can make it work?”

  She ignores that question and clucks her tongue. “There’s hardly even a power source in this. Not like the other one.” She gestures to a glowing blue cylinder on her lab table. “If it really was supposed to open up interdimensional portals, that would explain why it had such a powerful generator.”

  “What?!” I look over at the blue thing, then at her. “Mom, are you saying that that came from the device?!”

  She shrugs. “It was way too much power for a machine that was only supposed to heat coffee. You kids didn’t need to be playing with something like that. I thought I’d make better use out of it.”

  “We’re not playing! And I can’t believe you.” Which is a lie, because I can totally believe this. I run a hand through my hair and let out a deep breath. “You really were the reason it didn’t work.”

  “Excuse me? I’m the only reason
that device did anything at all. And I rigged in several lesser power sources to make up for it. I thought it would be more than enough, but that’s also when I thought it was just for heating coffee.” She tilts her head and looks down her nose at me. “Someone didn’t tell me it was supposed to make portals to other worlds.”

  “Yes, I did! That’s exactly what I told you!”

  “And then you changed your story.” She sniffs, sounding really put out. “I never know what to believe with you.”

  “You’re the one that—” I clench my fists and swallow back the rest of that argument. “Are you saying you believe me now?”

  She pauses, then says, “I believe this does more than heat up coffee.”

  I press my palms to my face. “I told everyone you wouldn’t do something like this.”

  “And I told everyone no son of mine would ever go on that man’s TV show and make a mockery of everything I’ve ever stood for, but I guess we don’t always get what we want.”

  I swallow. “You watched it?”

  “It was more than a five-second cameo. And don’t you dare say it was your evil twin.”

  “He’s not evil. And I’m not going to say that because that one was actually me.” I mean, I only did it to keep him from doing it, but still.

  “I didn’t care for it. I marked it thumbs down. I know that probably hurts, but you hurt my feelings by going on that show in the first place. And that outfit…” She makes a disgusted face. “Once you sided with him and started living with heroes, I knew it was only a matter of time before we completely lost you, but I never thought it would happen like this.”

  “Mom.” I roll my eyes at her.

  “Or so quickly. I should have known when everyone started calling you Son of Flash. You should have been Son of Mayhem.”

  “Okay, for the record? I don’t want to be either of those. And even if you really had lost me—which I’m not saying you have—don’t you think it would be at least partially your fault?”

  She clears her throat, a guilty look spreading across her face. Or at least I think that’s what I see, just for a second, before it’s replaced with outrage. “You’ll never know all the sacrifices I’ve made for you over the years. If I’d known this was how you’d repay me, maybe I wouldn’t have.”

  I flinch a little at that. I know she’s just saying it to hurt me, but it still hits home. “I thought I could trust you. I thought I didn’t have to worry about you sabotaging me. But I was wrong.”

  She looks over at the glowing blue generator and gives a dismissive snort. “You’re lucky I took it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have anything nearly powerful enough to put into this one.”

  “If you hadn’t taken it, we wouldn’t need to make this one work in the first place!” And Other Damien would be safely home right now. Except Xavier would have still been looking for that crystal thingy, so he might still have kidnapped him, and Other Damien might still have been in serious trouble, except without us coming to help. So maybe it’s better that the device didn’t work—maybe—but there’s no way I’d ever tell her that.

  “You’re sure it’ll work this time?” Riley asks. He and Sarah are sitting on her bed, which is still unmade, since everyone just woke up.

  I’m sitting in Sarah’s computer chair, facing them, and Kat’s leaning against the edge of the desk.

  Zach’s still asleep on the couch in the living room.

  I yawn and rub my eyes. I fell asleep for a few hours at Mom’s house, so I didn’t even see everything she did to the device. Not that I’d really know if she was doing it right even if I was watching. “I’m as sure as I’ll ever be.”

  “That’s not a good answer.”

  “It doesn’t matter. It’s all we’ve got, and I’m going.” Mom assured me she made it match the previous device, or at least as best as she could remember. And the blue glowing thing wasn’t on her lab table when she woke me up.

  “What if,” Kat says, “it only works once? What if we can’t get back?”

  It’s a good question—one I’ve been trying really hard not to think about. Even if Mom’s loyalty is questionable, I know she’d never do that to me. But she also doesn’t believe the device really makes interdimensional portals, and even if she did, she’s just guessing at how to make it work.

  “Other Sarah will fix it,” Sarah says. “Assuming it doesn’t just kill us.”

  Riley frowns. His eyes dart toward the living room, then at me. “Zach stays here.”

  “Agreed.” He’s going to be pissed about that when we get back. If we get back. A cold feeling spreads through my stomach at the thought. “This might not work. It might be too late to save Other Damien. And if the device breaks or something goes wrong… Maybe Other Sarah will be able to fix it, if she’ll even help us, but we can’t count on that. Going through an interdimensional portal is a risk—one not covered by this superhero group’s insurance.”

  Sarah adjusts her glasses. “We don’t have insurance.”

  “Exactly. Which means it definitely doesn’t cover accidental death or injury due to interdimensional travel. Or restarting our lives if we get stuck there.”

  “You’re not getting stuck there without me,” Kat says.

  “Or me,” Sarah adds.

  I look over at Riley.

  “Or me,” he adds quietly, a little too late.

  “Perkins—”

  “I was just thinking about what would happen if we never came back. Just like how my dad never came back. I don’t know if I can do that to my mom. Or to Zach.”

  Sarah bites her lip. She slides her hand over his. “Superhero missions are always dangerous to some degree. If you don’t go… What if we do get stuck there? What if we never see each other again?”

  Riley swallows and doesn’t say anything.

  I take a deep breath. “We need you, Perkins. You’re part of this group for a reason. You’re my partner during the school year for a reason, too, and it’s not just because no one else at Heroesworth will even speak to me. Or because you keep me in check, because obviously you don’t. I mean, if you think that’s your job, you need to step it up.”

  He rolls his eyes. “X—”

  “I can’t make you go on this mission. I mean, I can, but I won’t. It has to be your choice.”

  He’s quiet for a second, and then he says, “Of course I’m going. You don’t have to ask that.”

  “Good, because who knows how many puppies might need saving over there? We need to be prepared.”

  “But maybe we should leave a note?”

  “Fine.” I get out my phone and, ignoring the dozen missed calls from Gordon, text Amelia. I read it out loud as I type so everyone knows what it says. “Going to the other dimension to save Other Damien. If we don’t come back, tell Riley’s mom she should have a new baby with Jeffrey to fill the gaping hole in her heart. There. Sounds good to me.”

  Riley glares at me. “X, do not send—”

  “Too late,” I say as I hit the button.

  Two seconds later, a response pops up that says, OMG, WHAT???

  “She says to have a nice time and that she hopes we don’t all get killed.” I hold up the portal device. “Now, who’s ready to test this thing?”

  Chapter 25

  WELL, THE DEVICE DEFINITELY works. Not only does it actually, you know, make a portal when we fire it—after taking a field trip over to Mom’s house, or at least down the street from her house—but the portal actually stays there, this big, swirling circle of light, until we go through it. Which, I have to admit, is scary as hell.

  I thought going through it would feel like something. Like it would be really cold or really hot or maybe painful, but it just feels like taking a step forward. And then the four of us are standing in the same street as before, only… not. Kat’s car is gone. So are the rosebushes that were in the yard right next to us. And the mailbox changed from light blue to bright red. There were some kids riding their bikes down the street, or at leas
t the sounds of them, but I don’t hear them now.

  The portal’s gone, too.

  Kat takes a look around at our new-ish surroundings, then holds out her hand to me. “Okay, portal device.”

  “We literally just got here.”

  “I’m not going to use it. I just don’t want you accidentally frying it.”

  “What?” I put a hand to my chest, pretending to be shocked. “Kat. How could you say such a thing? I am nothing but responsible with my lightning.”

  Sarah rolls her eyes at me and snatches the device out of my hand. “Kat’s right. One of us should hold onto it.”

  “Which one’s your Mom’s house?” Riley asks.

  I point to it partway down the street. It looks mostly the same, except the lawn is perfectly mowed and there are lots of flowers growing in the yard. And not, like, dandelions or anything, but flowers you actually plant on purpose. There’s even some purple ones growing across a trellis.

  “Whoa,” Kat says. “Did your mom marry a gardener in this dimension?”

  My heart sinks a little. Mom would never have a yard this nice. She’d rather be working in her lab. Plus, organization just isn’t her style. “We were just guessing that she’d even still live here.” And that this is where Xavier would have brought Other Damien. He could be throwing him off the top of the Banking and Finances building right now for all we know. Except that other me can fly, so that probably wouldn’t have the same effect on him as it would on me. But my point still stands—they could be anywhere. Especially if this isn’t even Mom’s house. Er, Other Marianna’s, I mean.

  But we didn’t come all this way not to at least check it out. We head over to it. There’s actually a little white picket fence around the yard with a gate and actual stepping stones that lead to the door. Definitely not the right place. I figure we’ll knock on the door, and when complete strangers answer, we’ll tell them we’re Interdimensional Scouts doing our annual cookie sales, except that we forgot to bring the cookies. Or maybe that I used to live here and that I was wondering if I could look around a little bit, for nostalgia’s sake.