Villain School (10 page)

I thought for a moment. “I've got an idea. Wait here.”

Cautiously, I opened the nearest door. From inside I could hear the soft sounds of heroes sleeping. I slipped into the dark room and tiptoed past double bunk beds to the closet. As quietly as possible, I opened it and
pulled out the first things my hand came in contact with, then returned to my allies. We made our way back to the bathroom, pilfered clothes in hand.

“No way. I am not wearing that!” Wolf took a step back and held up his paws.

“C'mon, Wolf. It's perfect for you. We have to stay disguised.”

In my arms I held a bodysuit complete with a cape and oversized hood that would hide Wolf's big ears and long snout. Reluctantly, Wolf reached for the costume.

“Okay, which do you want?” I asked Ileana.

The outfits were for boys, but I thought Ileana could probably get away with any of them. One was blue and yellow and had wings drawn on the front. Another one was red and white and included a cape. The third was orange with a green belt. Ileana went for the wings, and I chose the cape.

“This feels so humiliating,” I said, examining myself in the mirror. The breastplate had fake ab muscles built in, and the flowing, colorful cape just felt … wrong. I tied the eye mask on to disguise myself in case we ran into Deven.

“I think you look dashing!” Ileana said, emerging from a nearby stall. I had to admit, even in a hideous superhero outfit, the princess was a knockout. She tied
a matching mask around her eyes and asked, “How do I look?”

“Like a freak, but that's how you usually look,” said Jezebel, who was fluttering in the doorway.

She eyed us skeptically, then Wolf emerged, suited up, hood and all. He was hunched over to hide his snout, but his tail was poking out the back of the costume. Much like his father, Wolf really wasn't very good at pulling off a disguise.

“Where's your cape?” I asked.

“Don't make me wear it, Rune. Please!”

“Don't be a puppy! You have to wear it. It'll cover your tail. I doubt that many superhero kids have tails,” I said, locating the red cape and fastening it around his neck.

“There. You look—”

“Like Red Riding Hood!” Jez said with a giggle. Wolf growled at her as she
popped
back into girl form.

“Here,” I said, handing Jezebel the remaining costume.

“No way!” she said, turning her nose up.

“C'mon, you might need it.”

“She's too prissy,” Ileana said.

“Am not!” said Jez.

“Are too!” said Ileana.

“Give me that!” Jezebel yanked the costume from
my hand and went into a stall to change. Ileana winked at me and smiled.

When Jez emerged, we stood in front of the mirrors, staring at our reflections with disgust.

“It's just a disguise!” I reminded everyone. We opened the grate we'd used to break into the bathroom and hid our clothes inside.

Then a bell rang, followed by the noise we'd been dreading: the sound of superheroes waking up.

We took our first cautious steps out of the bathroom, except for Jez, who had transformed back into a bat and was hiding in my cloak. Heroes tumbled out of every door, filling the hall with primary colors, face masks, and fake muscles—no way could kids our age have muscles that big. None of them gave us a second glance. I was beginning to think we could pull off this whole disguise thing, until …

“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?”