Super Girls (Cape High Book 13) (37 page)

“That’s putting it mildly.” They stop talking as Rochester keeps playing his guitar, and Century does paperwork. A voice comes over the loudspeaker, interrupting what was rapidly becoming a relaxed mood.

“Sir, we’re flying over the Arctic Circle now. Do you need a parachute?”

“No, we should be fine,” Century says, standing up and starting for the back.

“Wait, what do we need a parachute for?” Rochester asks as he automatically gets to his feet. “Century—”

“I just said we didn’t need one,” Century says, reaching over and grabbing the back of Rochester’s jacket once he gets close enough. “Just try not to look down,” he says as they head through a door and out the back.

Rochester doesn’t have enough breath to scream as they plummet towards the ground. Instead he grabs onto Century with everything he has, and tries not to look down. “Really, son, you’re a super hero,” Century says dryly as he lands. “I’m used to this from norms, but honestly!”

“I can’t fly!”

“Maybe you’ve never tried,” Century says, looking at him a bit thoughtfully. “With that fear of heights, I bet—”

“Century,” Superior says, heading for them. “What brings you to our humble abode?”

“Did you really just call a mountain a ‘humble abode’?” Rochester asks, letting go of Century with the distraction.

“As my wife constantly reminds me, it’s a SMALL mountain,” Superior drawls with a hint of amusement. “What do you want?”

“What did you REALLY do with Mother?” Century asks, giving up on the “Maybe he CAN fly” line of thought—for now.

“Didn’t you see?”

“I’m cynical. I want to see the body.”

Superior stares at them for a moment before sighing. “Fine, come with me,” he says, heading for the mountain. “This was Tatiana’s idea.” He leads them through a large room full of machine parts into a house made of ice. They hear metal clanking as they reach a massive kitchen full of the most technically advanced cooking supplies either of them have seen. Two women are inside, cooking. One is Tatiana, the other is—

“You turned her into a house slave?” Century asks. “Nice collar she’s sporting.”

“It’s the power stripping serum that Star Born came up with. I still hate that woman passionately, but she did come up with some interesting things,” Superior says.

Mother looks over at them, her face turning pale. “So this is the real plan?” she asks, going still. “You tell them I’m going to stay here and then bring in Century to finish me off?”

“Will this keep her?” Century asks Superior, ignoring her. “The traditional way includes lack of contact with others—in case she weasels her way out through smooth talking.”

“Oh, she will behave herself,” Tatiana says cheerfully. “She is wearing special collar, one that our granddaughter designed just for her!”

“Rochester?” Century says, motioning him forward.

“They know what I can do, Boss, but I’m on it,” Rochester says, walking over to Mother and taking her hand. His eyes glow for a moment before nodding. “They’ve got her trapped. Even put up a field around the mountain that’ll trigger the green stuff to release if she crosses it. Whether she dies from freezin’ or old age first is her biggest question. Either way it’s a nasty way t’go.”

“Then I’ll accept it,” Century says. “But you’ll have to explain it to the rest of the board.”

“Can you not tell them for a week?” Superior asks. “There’s something the three of us need to settle.”

“One week,” Century says, looking at them curiously. “If you haven’t settled it before then, I won’t cut you slack.”

“We’ll have it settled,” Superior says, holding out his hand. Rochester looks at the hand before taking it a bit hesitantly. He frowns slightly, looking closely at Superior.

“What ARE your powers?” he asks, finally.

“Atomic level manipulation,” Superior says blandly. Rochester jerks his hand back and looks at Century.

“I can’t read him,” he admits. “In fact, what I CAN read is probably him just messin’ with me,” he adds a bit dryly. “But he’s Superior. If y’can’t trust Superior, who can you trust?”

“I can think of a ton of them,” Century says dryly. “But for now, we’ll trust you both,” he says. “Don’t make me regret it.” He turns and holds out his hand to Tatiana. “A pleasure to see you again, Tatiana,” he says.

“You as well, Century!” she says cheerfully as they shake hands. “You are looking very good!”

“Not nearly as good as you are,” Century says, grinning wickedly.

“You can leave now,” Superior drawls.

“We should invite them to dinner, first! They have come very long way, Clifford,” Tatiana says. “You will enjoy this, boys, Marie is excellent cook!”

“She’s not going to poison us, is she?” Rochester asks Century silently.

“Oh, there is no poison that works on us—I do not know if the same is true for you, though,” Tatiana says, frowning thoughtfully as she looks at him.

“Time t’go!” Rochester says, heading for the door. “Pleasure seein’ you again, everyone! But we really must be leavin’. I left my kid with a complete stranger—who knows what he’s done to the poor guy?”

“Thank you for the invitation,” Century says. “But since he’s my first psychic type, there’s a bit of indulging I suppose I must do,” he adds dryly, heading for the door. He stops, turning to look at Mother. “You brainwashed someone very important to me, and I will not forget it. If, by chance, you get free of this, I won’t be nearly as forgiving as the Superior family.” And then he’s gone, leaving them standing there alone.

Superior waits until he’s certain they’re out of range and sits down at the table. “We’ll go see what happened to the planet, next.”

“Wh—what?” Marie asks, shocked.

“If it’s fixable, I’ll help you fix it—and then we’ll leave you there to rebuild,” he says calmly, “alone. If you come back to our planet, though, we will finish you. I get the feeling my son has several plans for how to do it without getting caught.”

“Clifford—” Tatiana starts out.

“I see,” Mother says, getting started on making the plates.

***

The trip had been astonishingly quick once they fixed the ship and made sure it wasn’t infected as Zoe had suspected. Superior hides his surprise about the fact, although he doesn’t hide his relief. “This thing is far too small for three people,” he says as the small ship hovers outside Lerrestia. He looks out the window, staring at the pitch black planet.

“How does it look?” Tatiana asks, peeking around him. “Oh.”

“Pretty dead,” Superior says bluntly. He brings up the info on the computer screen. “Toxic air, no signs of life. It looks like the planet is collapsing in on itself slowly. Once it’s fully collapsed we’re looking at the possibility of a black hole.” He looks back at Marie, seeing the devastated expression on her face. “It’s not worth fixing.”

“But—you haven’t even tried—”

“My range is a mile and a half,” Superior says, “it would take way too long to fix that amount of damage. And we can't be sure the infection isn't still lingering on the planet remains.”

Marie stares at the planet, her eyes gleaming with tears. “All those years,” she whispers. “All those years I felt guilty for—for everything—for being happy, when I should have been saving the planet—”

“It was past saving,” Superior says. “You didn’t waste anything—at least not the time you spent living a happy life. These last few months, on the other hand, you’ve screwed up a lot.” He looks at her. “We can drop you off on the nearest habitable planet, if you prefer. Or if you want to return to Earth, I suggest you plan out how to apologize to my youngest on the way home. Otherwise I’ll make you DREAM of going to the Cape Cells.”

“I understand,” Marie says, still looking a bit pale from the view. “She is a sweet little thing, isn’t she?”

“She is very sweet! A little eccentric, yes, but very sweet!” Tatiana agrees. “If you try to hurt her again, my friend, you will not have TIME to dream of Cape Cells,” she adds in a menacing tone.

“Or that,” Superior says dryly. “What’s your decision?”

Marie looks out the window again, her fingers coming up to touch the window. “I... I’ll go back.” There’s nothing for her, anywhere, she realizes numbly. But at least back on Earth she’ll get to see her son take over the free world.

***

I bring up the schematics for Cape High South, only to stop as a light flashes. I wave my hand, answering the call—only to blink at the sight of Isotonic on the line.

“Hello, Zoe, did I interrupt?” he asks.

“No, of course not,” I say, closing down the schematics and glancing over at the half-built computer behind me. “How can I help you, Isotonic?”

“I’m calling to make an offer,” he says, leaning forward on his desk. “My daughter is in your school right now, but I don’t want to leave her there. We have enough problems in our family as it is. Plus, Hard Knocks’ boys will be growing into their powers in the next year or two, as well as a few others that I know of—and all the healers that we haven’t found yet.”

“So you want my father to set up Cape High North?” I say.

“I was thinking that you could,” he says. “I realize you’re only sixteen, but honestly, you strike me as a very responsible sixteen year old.”

“I work with my father,” I say firmly. “And I go through Mastermental, first, but,” I say before he can protest, “I’m willing to let you say you’ve asked my opinion,” I say with a little smile. “And I’m willing to listen to what you think you have to offer to our prestigious school.” I sit down on my stool, crossing my legs and preparing myself for an interesting offer. Before he can start, though, a light flashes and I wave my hand at another monitor.

“Negatia,” I say, honestly trying not to laugh. “How can I help you?”

“I’m calling to make an offer,” she says.

“Oh? What for?” I ask, making myself comfortable. This is going to be fun.

My name is Zoe Rosenthorn-Masters. I’m going to change the world—very, very soon.

Bonus Chapters:

Patience

“So how’s work going?” I ask Max, leaning into his side as our little group of four heads through the open mall. My eyes are following Carla, who keeps getting excited one moment, only to get shy the next when Rocco has to grab her hand to keep her from using her powers. I know that I should be the one doing it—but it’s way too entertaining to watch Rocco do it!

“We haven’t found any,” Max admits, his arm curved around my waist. “I’m not sure if we’re going to—it’s not the typical healer that jumps out to meet a villain, you know? Even though Ace went up north, he hasn’t found anyone, either.”

“And there’s always the chance that they’ve moved,” I admit. “Like Rochester and Cisco, they probably ran the moment they were outed.” I sigh, pulling away and grabbing his hand instead. “We need to get the stuff to throw Carla’s birthday party, too,” I tell him. “I’m thinking My Little Pony decorations. We need enough for the entire school—and a cake, right, Carla?”

“A HUGE cake!” Carla says, looking back at us, and when that’s not enough apparently, coming back to my side. “There should be cupcakes, too, that way I can take a few to Sandra’s room. And then I want to do karaoke! Do we have a karaoke machine?”

“No, but we can make one!” I say.

“Um—” she says, hesitating abruptly, “do you think we could, um, invite my family here? We can blindfold them and everything, or maybe we could use teleportation, you know, so they don’t know where the school is—but—”

“Or I could bring them,” Rocco offers. “But it stinks the way I go,” he admits.

“We can do the teleporting thing—they tend to complain a lot,” Carla says. Max laughs.

“I want to meet the siblings,” Max says. “Do you know if they have powers or not yet?”

“Nico STILL refuses to tell me!” Carla complains, looking at him. “I should at LEAST be able to warn Ma, right? Like, can you imagine how scary it is to have your kid here one second, gone the next?” she demands, her hands on her hips.

We stare at her. When that doesn’t work, Rocco says a bit blandly, “I think we can imagine it.”

“EXACTLY!” Carla says. “It’s terrifying!”

We keep staring at her pointedly, just waiting. When that doesn’t work, Max goes, “I know Trent knows EXACTLY how it feels.”

“Of course he does! Emily teleports!”

“Carla?” Rocco says, placing a hand on her shoulder. She yelps and moves so fast that she disappears, reappearing behind me. Max, the jerk, starts laughing his head off.

“You know, Carla and I are going to just go to the ladies’ room for a bit,” I say, feeling compassion. I’ve been there, okay? I know how she feels right now. I let go of Max’s hand and slip my arm around Carla’s, tugging her along. The further we go, the more embarrassed she looks, I notice. The moment she lets the door close behind us, she explodes in a rant so fast that I almost don’t catch it all. The general gist? She’s blowing her first date EVER, and Rocco doesn’t even seem to realize that it IS a date, so she’s not sure which is more embarrassing.

The poor girl.

“But,” I have to point out, “if he doesn’t realize it, isn’t it better? Consider this practice for when you DO have your first date!” I say.

“But he doesn’t take me seriously at all!” she says, pouting. I can’t exactly argue that, honestly. I frown slightly, thinking about it for a moment.

“Let’s fix that,” I say, opening my purse and digging out a few things. My coloring and hers are exact opposites, but I tend to wear more neutral colors, so I pull out my makeup. I pick out the softest pink eye shadow, peach lip gloss and black mascara—none of which she actually needs, since she’s beautiful. But hey, a girl needs some war paint if she’s going to battle! Once I’m done with her makeup, I grab her hand and haul her out. “Max? We’re going clothing shopping,” I call over to him, dragging her to a Forever 21.

About twenty minutes later I pull her out of the store wearing a pair of clunky heeled boots and an adorable white babydoll dress.

“I’m not sure—” Carla says, tugging my hand. “Maybe this is the wrong dress—do you think it’s the right dress? I thought—”

“You look beautiful,” I tell her.

“Wow, you really did go clothing shopping,” Max says, making me look over. He and Rocco head for us, but it’s the strange look on Rocco’s face that makes me grin. “You look great, Carla!” Max says.

“At least you won’t be disappearing with those shoes on, right?” Rocco says finally.

I can literally hear Carla’s heart break. She turns and runs away, leaving both of them looking confused. “You’re a moron,” I tell Rocco bluntly before chasing after her at top speed.

He does have a point, though. Those heels are just enough to make it easy for me to catch up to her in a few seconds. She’s sitting on the edge of a waterfall, staring at her boots like she’s about to cry. I drop down next to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders. She sighs. “I give up,” she says. “Boys are stupid.” She leans into me, wrapping her arms around my waist.

“They are,” I agree. “At least Rocco was just then. But hey—you look gorgeous and you just turned fourteen—so there’s absolutely NO reason to let one stupid boy mess up your day.”

“Yeah! And I’ll just find a boyfriend WAY better than him!” she says, standing up. “Let’s go get something to eat!” she says. There’s still a hint of hurt in her eyes, but I don’t say anything about it as I get up.

***

“What just happened?” Rocco asks, long after the two girls disappear. “No, seriously, what just happened? I just said the truth!”

“You just screwed up royally,” Max says bluntly.

“All I said was that the shoes would keep her from running off—which obviously isn’t the case.”

“You really have to ask?” Max asks. “Because it’s pretty obvious that Carla has a crush on you.”

“She—she’s fourteen! Barely fourteen!”

“So?” Max asks.

“I’m almost eighteen—she’s way too young for me!”

“Now, sure,” Max agrees. “But think about it this way, my Dad’s well over a hundred years, but he has an eighteen year old son. Yours is around that, too, I think. In the long run,” he says very casually, “four years is a drop in the bucket. Which is why you, you moron, should keep your hands to yourself and that cute little girl happy with you--as well as her massive group of brothers and sisters. It’ll be no time at all before she grows up into the freaking BABE that she promises to be and four years difference isn't as big a deal. It’s called being patient. If you're going to be a super villain, it's one of the FIRST things you need to learn.”

“But—”

“No ‘buts,'" Max says as the two girls head for them at a walk. Every guy they pass turns and stares, not that either girl notices. “My girlfriend is right, by the way. You’re a moron,” he says silently. He holds out a hand to Zoe, who takes it with a smile.

“We want to go to lunch,” she says.

“Sounds good,” he says. “What do you want, Carla? Anything at all.”

“Pizza!” she says.

“New York deep dish?”

“Sure!”

“Rocco, get us to New York,” Max says.

He’d just been relegated to taxi, Rocco thinks irritably. And Carla won’t even look at him.

He really IS a moron.