Fire Hazard: Cape High Book Eight (Cape High Series 8) (16 page)

***

*Missouri*

The look on Ken’s face is a mixture of hesitation and determination.  He keeps glancing over at me as if he wants to say something, but Nico has already taken over.  “Okay, kids, this is a trial period only--Tony here is going to be working as the school janitor.  That means you should treat him with respect, since if you make a mess he’s the one that has to clean it up--and if he doesn’t clean it up, you’re the one that has to--”

“Does this include the broken walls in the training area?” Jack asks.

“No, those are still yours, Jack.  If you learned to actually go OVER the things, we’d be having a different conversation,” Nico drawls.  “Tony is--” he hesitates, looking over at me.

“He’s my dad,” I say reluctantly.  Almost everyone in the area, both the adults and the kids, turns to look at me in shock.  “Yeah, my dad’s a norm.  Don’t make that big of a deal of it, okay?”

“But--” Carla says, still stuck on “confused” according to her expression.  She looks at the rest of the group, then leans up, cupping her hands around her mouth to whisper in my ear, “shouldn’t you go say hello to him?  When did you last see him?”

I’m pretty sure half of the group heard her even with the hand-cupping thing, because I see them looking at me with the same expression.  I blink, though, as a heavy hand lands on my shoulder.  I can’t help but glance up at Flint as he moves to my side.

“Everyone has their own circumstances, right?” he asks the group, looking at each of them in turn.  They shrug and nod a bit slowly.  I look over at Dad, who I expect to be staring at me, but--

He’s staring at Flint, instead, his face pale white.

***

“Is there a problem?” Ken asks, making Tony look over at him.  “You don’t look very well.”

“It’s fine,” Tony lies through his teeth.  He looks back at the man standing next to his son, wondering if that’s a sign from God that he should just go back to prison.  Memories of the past are rushing through his mind, one in particular.

When they’d been dating, Pamela had tended to disappear for days on end, not calling, not answering his calls, not writing, nothing, only to show up as if nothing had happened.  Whenever he’d asked what was happening, she would blow him off saying she went to visit her brother for a bit.  She’d never introduced him to her brother, but one day he’d caught sight of her at a local restaurant, standing with a tall redhead man that looked a lot like her.

He’d stared at the man, the tall, lean looking male that matched her like a set of dolls.  A cold ball had developed in his gut as he realized that he’d been right about his girlfriend.  There was no way she was normal.  It was proved when he followed along behind them, watching as the man argued with Pamela for a long moment--and his hair caught on fire.  Neither of them seemed to even notice the sudden flames.  It was only when he heard the man shout that Tony stopped staring at the fire. “You’re wasting your LIFE, Pamela!  On a norm!  I talked with Century, he’s willing to take you back if you apologize--”

“I’m not going back,” Pamela said, “get used to the idea, Flint. I’ve found a normal life and I’m going to live it.”

“You’re so much more than normal, Pam,” Flint had said urgently.  “You’ll get bored, you’ll start hating the guy you think you love--”

“Go home, Flint.  Go find a perfect little super girl and settle down, and stop sticking your nose in my life!” Pamela said.

“Fine,” Flint said coldly.  “But this is it.  I’m not bailing you out anymore, little sister.”  Then he walked away, saying, “Until you come crawling back to the game, you and I have nothing to do with one another.  It’s for the best.”

He’d taken off, leaving Pamela leaning against the wall of the nearest building, crying.  Tony had just stood there, hidden in the shadows as he tried to figure out what he’d just seen.

He moves before realizing, crossing the field and grabbing the hand on Vinny’s shoulder, shoving it off.  “You disowned his mother,” he grits out, staring the taller man in the face, “you have no right to the son.”  The shocked look on both Flint’s and Vinny’s faces is ignored as he grabs his son’s arm and pulls him away from the man.

“What?” Vinny and Flint ask blankly.

“You won’t get anywhere NEAR my son,” Tony says, not answering that question as he steps between the two, “not until you apologize to my dead wife.”

***

What in the hell is going on right now?  I look from Dad to Flint and back again, confused.  “What, exactly, are you saying?” Flint asks in a quiet tone, one that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand.  I get the feeling that he’s started to figure something out.  “Are you telling me that--” he looks at me again.

“Pamela,” Dad says.  “We’ve never met, but I know what you did to her.  If you think I’m going to let you do whatever you feel like with her son, you’re mistaken, super or not.”

“Pamela,” Flint repeats quietly, “of course.”  He lets out a laugh, a rough, bitter laugh that makes me stare at him.  “This really is a little world, isn’t it?  I should have realized the boy was from the Pyrotechnique line--he’s too powerful to be a new line.”

He looks at me, a torn expression on his face.  I’m still reeling from the idea that Flint is my uncle--I never knew I had family on my mom’s side.  “How did she die?” Flint asks Dad abruptly.  “She should have outlived you twice over.”

“She...” Dad says, looking away.  “It’s none of your business,” he says abruptly.  “You disowned her.”

“I don’t think this is exactly the place to air all of your grievances,” Ken says, walking over and stepping into the area between the two men.  “I’m sure we can talk this out like adults, without bothering the children.”  He looks over at me and I see a hint of regret on his face.

“It has nothing to do with me,” I mutter, starting to walk away.  I don’t know how my mom died, Dad’s never told me--and that Flint’s my uncle doesn’t seem to matter since Dad’s right.  If he disowned his own sister, he’ll probably disown me, too.

“Vinny,” Flint says sharply, “it has everything to do with you.  You’re coming with us.”

I look at them again, letting out a heavy sigh as we head into the dorm building.  I’m not looking forward to this.  I look at Dad, wondering why I suddenly don’t feel so angry at him.  There’s a dark expression on his face as he looks at Flint, and I see his hands clenched at his sides.

Maybe he’s willing to fight Flint for me, like he is about Mom?  I never thought Dad would fight for anyone.  It might be that I underestimated him.

I follow silently as we head through the dorm to Banshee’s office.  Ken closes the door and turns to look at each of us in turn.  “First,” he says, turning to me, “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you before I did this.”

I look at Dad and shrug.  “Yeah, I coulda used a heads up,” I say a bit dryly, “but it’s done.”

“I knew you would say that,” Ken says with a slight smile and a shake of his head.  He turns to look at Flint, next, stepping forward with an offered hand.  “Nice to meet you, Flameblaster.  I’m America’s Son--you can call me Ken.  I’ve been following your career, it’s impressive.”

“Thank you,” Flint says, taking the hand that’s offered.  “I can say the same.”

“And Tony, welcome to your new home,” Ken goes on, turning to Dad with another held out hand.  Dad hesitates before shaking the offered hand.  “Now, why don’t we get straight to the point,” Ken goes on.  “I’m not sure exactly what’s going on between you both, but I’d like to hear the full story.”  He sits on the table, motioning to Flint.  “Let’s start with what you know, shall we?”

He exudes this peaceful aura or something, I think as I drop down in the chair in front of the desk.  The adults can either fight over the desk chair or stand, I decide, since they’ll be the ones doing all the talking and it’s their fault we’re in here in the first place.  I yawn, kicking one leg over one of the armrests and leaning back.

“I...” Flint starts out, looking at me for a moment.  “My parents had two children before they died in 1984.  The problem with our type...” he slows down, hesitating.  “Sometimes the fire control... backfires,” he admits.  “Mom and Dad went in to try and take out the flames in a forest fire.  Mom was an animal speaker--she usually could get the animals out safely. But the fire had gotten too large, and when Dad tried to control the entire thing--”

“It didn’t work,” Dad says.

“Yeah,” Flint admits.  “Since then I’ve been working with national parks and other areas that are at a high risk, but I can’t get all of them to cooperate.”

“That’s what happened to Pamela,” Dad admits.  “There was a forest fire up north and it was spreading too fast--it reached some of the local homes.  Pamela insisted on going up and seeing if she could do something.  She wasn’t even in the Hall, but there aren’t that many fire types in the Hall, so she claimed that it was the least she could do--”

“I told her not to do things like that!” Flint snaps, slamming a fist down on the chair I’m sitting in.  I practically get thrown out of it.  “I cut her off from the family business for that exact reason--”

“You cut her off from the family because you’re a callous--” Dad starts out in an accusing tone.  Flint turns on him, his hair lighting on fire.

“You have NO IDEA what you’re talking about!” Flint roars.  I get to my feet, moving between him and Dad.  I know, on some level, that it doesn’t matter when America’s Son is sitting right there, but my Dad is a norm.  I never forget that fact, but Flint might have.

“Stop,” I say, looking him in the eyes and reaching up to place my hands on his shoulders.  “He’s a norm.  You could accidentally kill him.”

“The reason I disowned her is because she chose to live a normal life,” Flint says, taking a deep breath.  His hair stops burning.  “The relatives of capes are always in danger--they could be dragged into the hostage job at any moment.  It’s best for everyone that wants to live a normal life to cut ties with the ones still in the game.  Sure I wanted her to dump you and come back to the game--she was my partner.  Two fire types are better than one, more than two are even better.  One fire type alone, though, is likely to overreach their powers.”

“You say that now, but I heard what you told her.  You said she would get bored of the normal life, and until she did you would have nothing to do with her!” Dad says angrily.  “My son grew up without an uncle because of that--my wife died without a brother!  But you’re just trying to justify your past rather than apologizing to my SON!”

“It’s fine,” I say, earning looks of shock from all around.  “I didn’t have a dad for a while there, either.”  Dad winces at that, looking away.  “It seems to me,” I go on, since I’ve already started, “that nobody’s happy with this situation, so why don’t we do this?  Flint, go back south, go back to your Hall, forget about me.  It’s not like being an uncle really means much, right?  Dad, if you really want to stay as a janitor, fine.  But don’t expect me to play catch with you when you’ve got free time.  I don’t.  I’m about to become a working cape this weekend, which will definitely cut down on my cooking time,” I complain.

“I am NOT ditching you!” Flint says, turning on me, “you’re all I’ve got left.”  Then he stops, looking a bit embarrassed that he’d just said that out loud.  “I have no family.  I regret what I did to your mom.  I honestly believed that she would get tired of a norm life and come back within a few months, but she never did.  And now...” I see a hint of a gleam in his eyes as his shoulders slump.  “Now she’s gone.  It went so fast,” he adds quietly, looking at his hands.

“I don’t want to play catch,” Dad says quietly, making me glance over at him.  “I just... want to try and be there for you, Vinny,” he tells me.  “Not that there’s much I can do for a working cape, as you say.”

“Even when you’re a working cape, you still need a family,” Ken says gently.  “Isn’t that right, Vinny?”

I think of the zoo kids, my hands clenching at my sides as I bite back the usual retort about already having a family.  Carla’s reaction is still too fresh in my mind to make me think they’d back me up--at least not unless I explained everything.  I don’t feel like explaining anything.  “I guess,” I say, simply because they’re all looking at me expectantly.

“Regardless, he can’t live in the dorms anymore,” Flint says.  I jerk, looking at him in shock.

“What?” I ask.

“The flaming up while sleeping problem,” he reminds me.  “We’ll need a place away from the dorms--”

“I refuse,” Dad says.  “You’re not running off with my kid--”

“We can build a small place here,” Ken says.  “I don’t believe the zoo kids would deal well with taking Vinny away--he was only gone for a few days and they were already threatening to burn the place down themselves.”

“Is that level of reliance healthy?” Flint asks, glancing at me.

“He’s their cook as well as their friend,” Ken says.  “Honestly, I have to empathize with them, there.  A good cook is something worth fighting to get back.”

I look at him dryly, the corner of my lips pulling up slightly at that statement.  “This is why Jack and Trent are avoided at lunch time, you realize,” I have to point out.

“Why’s that?” Flint asks me curiously.

“They tend to eat off your plate if you’re not careful.”