Villain School (17 page)

“Everyone ready?” I asked. Wolf, Jez, and Ileana all nodded.

Together with Invis-a-boy we edged into the cafeteria cave and immediately spread out. Ileana, Wolf, Invis-a-boy, and Jezebel melted into the crowd of superheroes while I made my way to the lunch table where Deven and his cronies were standing.

“It is a sad loss,” Deven was saying as I edged closer. “My father was a brave man. As he took his final breath, with his fallen foes piled at his feet, he said to me—Drexler!”

There was confused whispering from the heroes,
but Deven had spotted me. He pointed his finger and shouted.

“That's no hero! That's a villain! Get him!”

I looked left and right, where superheroes were closing in fast. Quickly, I pulled out the potion bottle, yanked the stopper, and raised it to my lips.

“Stop him! Don't let him drink that!” Deven shouted.

Before I could drink any of the potion, Omnibrain and Vortex had me in their clutches. Deven hopped down from the table. He came toward me, the crowd of heroes parting around him.

“So, you managed to escape, did you?” he asked. “And what's this, I wonder.”

Deven ripped the potion bottle from my hands as I struggled against Vortex and Omnibrain.

“ ‘Superstrength Potion'?” Deven asked, reading the label on the bottle. “Well, well, well, Drexler. Planning to be a hero, were you?”

“Don't insult me,” I said. “It's heroes like you that make me proud to be called villain!” I wasn't really sure what I meant by that, but it sounded good.

Then I spat in his face. It felt pretty awesome until he punched me in the stomach. I doubled over with a groan. Finally, I managed to get a breath.

“Is that all you got?” I asked, slowly standing up again.

His face clouded in anger as he wiped the spit off his face with his sleeve.

“Guess you need to be taught a lesson, Drexler,” said Deven. “Let's see how you like being punched after I drink this!”

He raised the potion bottle to his lips.

“No, don't!” I shouted, struggling even more against the iron grips of Omnibrain and Vortex.

With a wicked grin, Deven gulped down the contents of the potion bottle.

“I can feel something!” he said. Then his triumphant smile faltered. A look of dread passed over his face. Now it was my turn to smile.

“What—what's in this?” he croaked, clutching at his throat.

“Just a little hot cocoa,” I said. “Courtesy of Countess Jezebel Dracula.”

“No!” Deven whispered, falling to his knees. “Chocolate. Is. My. Weakness!”

Beside me, Omnibrain and Vortex had released their grips and were backing away in horror.

“Oops,” I said, squatting down to where Deven was writhing on the ground. “I told you not to drink it.”

A moment later, Deven had passed out.

“Now!” I shouted, and stood up.

Wolf, Jezebel, and Ileana all tore off their masks
and capes and attacked the heroes. When the other villain kids realized what was happening, they joined in the fight.

The villains were throwing hexes left and right, but we were no match against the heroes and their superpowers. It was obvious we were toast.

“Well,” said Wolf Junior as Omnibrain and Vortex bore down on us, “it was a good try, Rune. There's just one more thing I have to do before we lose.”

Wolf ran up to Omnibrain, who was gathering his mind power to crush us, and punched him in the nose. Wolf grinned over his shoulder at me, his dog tongue lolling, tail wagging. But his triumph was short-lived. With a blast of wind, Vortex slammed us both into the cave wall.

“You're going to regret that, dog!” Omnibrain said, clutching his nose, which was swelling almost as big as his massive cranium. He and Vortex stood over us, ready to strike, but suddenly Omnibrain fell backward. Vortex turned in confusion toward his fallen comrade, and he, too, was knocked off his feet.

“What's going on?” asked Omnibrain.

Then Vortex shot out a hand and grabbed hold of his unseen foe. There was a squeak of terror, and Invis-a-boy materialized.

“You!” shouted Vortex. “You'll pay for this!”

We were so caught up in the action that it took a second for us to realize the room had grown strangely quiet. The sounds of fighting students had died to silence.

“Stop!” said a voice just as Vortex prepared to attack Invis-a-boy.

The color drained from our attackers' faces when they saw Doctor Do-Good making his way toward us through the crowd. The other heroes all looked confused, but they did not resume their attack. The villains looked like they were going to take the opportunity to strike, but I knew I couldn't let them. If we continued to attack his students, Doctor Do-Good might decide to annihilate us after all.

“Villains, stop!” I said, scrambling to my feet. To my total amazement, they actually listened to me, or maybe they were just too tired to put up a fight anymore.

“You've been tricked,” said Doctor Do-Good to all the heroes, “by my son, Deven Do-Good, and these two!” He pointed at Omnibrain and Vortex. “I was never kidnapped by villains. It was Deven who betrayed me. The villains rescued me.”

Then Omnibrain and Vortex noticed Aero-boy standing behind the doctor.

“You traitor!” said Vortex.

“I'm not the traitor,” said Aero-boy. “You are!”

“I told Deven he couldn't trust a spineless nobody like you, Aero!” said Omnibrain. “How did you even get into hero school?”

The purple-and-yellow-clad Aero-boy advanced on Omnibrain.

“Oooh! I'm so scared! What are you going to do, Aero? Levitate on me?”

But Aero-boy didn't slow down. He ran straight up to Omnibrain and punched his already swollen nose.

Omnibrain staggered backward with a look of shock on his face.

“Feels good, doesn't it?” said Wolf. Aero-boy rubbed his knuckles and smiled.

Vortex took one look at Omnibrain. The air began to swirl. I could tell they were going to run.

“Get the traitors!” said Doctor Do-Good.

The heroes all shouted and ran toward Vortex and Omnibrain. On the floor, Deven Do-Good was regaining consciousness.

“Father,” he said weakly. “Don't let the villains trick you again.”

“No, Deven. I won't be tricked again,” said Do-Good. Then he locked his son in yet another set of magical manacles. I was beginning to wonder where the heroes got their supply of those things. “You're
grounded, young man. A long stay in the tower would do you good.”

“But, Dad!” said Deven.

“No games. No friends. And no flying.”

“Awww!” Deven whined as his dad hoisted him up.

Jezebel and Ileana joined us. Wolf was already tearing off the hateful hero costume.

“If there's anything I can do to repay you—” said Do-Good.

“Actually,” I said, “there might be one more thing you could help us with. Can we borrow Invis-a-boy?”

We'd been running around the school for what seemed like a lifetime trying to find my dad and the queen and Morgana. There was no sign of them anywhere.

Invis-a-boy was with us. Doctor Do-Good had taken Deven and the other heroes back to their school, but he'd agreed to leave Invis-a-boy behind out of gratitude, to repay their debt, blah, blah—some noble nonsense like that. The point was, a superhero was helping us, and that's what mattered.

“Where could they be?” asked Jezebel.

“If only we still had the crystal ball,” I said.

“We might have something better,” said the princess. Flying down the hall toward us was Tabs.

“What? Hairballs?” I asked as my father's pet cat-a-bat landed in Ileana's arms.

The princess cooed and purred at the flying cat. Jezebel rolled her eyes.

“We seriously don't have time for this,” said Jez.

“Shh,” Ileana said. “She's telling me something.”

“Let me guess,” Jez said. “She could really go for a ball of yarn and some liver treats.”

“No, Countess. She said that Morgana has our parents trapped in a secret cavern just beyond the dragons' cave. Let's go.”

“Impressive, Princess!” said Invis-a-boy. Jezebel hissed at him, and he grew slightly see-through and said no more.

We took the shortcut behind the Great Clock, down to the Prophecy Cave. That was a bad idea because it reminded me and Ileana that we were possibly doomed to betray each other.

“What do these words mean?” asked Invis-a-boy as we reached the Prophecy door.

Ileana and I looked at each other.

“Nothing,” we said in unison.

I tugged at the door, but the old rusty hinges were making it almost impossible to open.

“Allow me,” said Invis-a-boy, who helped me pull the door open. The scrawny kid was stronger than he looked.

“Uh. Thanks,” I said. Most of the superheroes we'd met were stuck-up jerks, but Invis-a-boy wasn't so bad.

We made our way down into the dragons' cavern. Of course, it was empty. The dragons were still roaming around outside somewhere. Far above, I could see the gaping hole we'd made during our escape.

“So, where's this secret cavern?” asked Jezebel.

Ileana and Tabs exchanged another round of purring and cooing.

“This way,” said the princess.

We followed her to the far end of the cave and a dead end.

“Well, this is what happens when you get directions from a cat,” said Wolf.

“It's a
secret
cavern,” said Ileana. “The entrance is hidden.”

She purred to Tabs once more, then ran her hand along the rough cave wall, pressing on a section of stone that looked no different from the rest. When she touched it, I heard the rumble of machinery. Cracks appeared, and an entire section of the cave swung open like a door.

“How many secret passages
are
there in this school?” asked Wolf as we walked cautiously through the doorway. Ileana purred to the cat-a-bat.

“Tabs says there are at least eight more we don't know about,” said the princess.

“Know-it-all,” Wolf muttered to Tabs, sticking his doggy tongue out at her.

I found a torch on the wall, and decided to let Jezebel light it since I wasn't so good with spells involving fire. We walked down a long corridor at the end of which was a door. Even from where we were standing, I could hear muffled voices. I motioned for everyone to be quiet as we approached. In the glow of the torchlight, I saw a keyhole in the door and, handing the torch to Wolf, I bent down to peer inside.

“Well,” said Morgana. “I haven't heard any explosions in a while. Perhaps the fighting is finally over. I wonder which side won. Not that it matters. Either way, I'll be in control again soon.”

Morgana held up her hand. Her fingernails curled around my dad's crystal ball.

Through the keyhole, I could see Master Dreadthorn and Queen Catalina bound and hanging high in the air over a deep hole. They'd been tied together so that if Queen Cat picked the lock, the tension on the chains would release, causing them both to fall into the pit.

“You won't get away with this, Morgana,” said the queen. “No matter who wins, you'll still be everyone's enemy.”

“Not true,” Morgana said. “If the villains win, you two will never be found. I will still be the Mistress of this school.”

“And if the heroes win?” asked the queen.

“If the heroes win, I'll deliver two villain prisoners to them. They'll welcome me with open arms,” said Morgana. “Then I'll graciously offer to rebuild this school for justice, honor, blah, blah, blah. I'll secretly create my own villain army right under their superhero noses. And when the time is right, I'll attack the hero school and gain even more power! Mistress Morgana's School for Superior Supervillains!”

Ugh, monologues. It was hard to believe Morgana had become such a powerful villainess when she was always blabbing her plans to everyone. I'd heard enough. I was backing away from the keyhole when Morgana said something that brought me back.

“So now the prophecy will finally be fulfilled.”

Ileana and I exchanged frowns. What was Morgana talking about? I put my eye to the keyhole once more as we all gathered closer to listen.

“
In this place, inside these halls, a terrible betrayal falls
… Remember, Veldin?” asked Morgana. “After all these years, I've finally done it.”

At this point, we were all gathered around the door with our ears pressed to it like suction cups. Of course, Jezebel chose that moment to sneeze. She staggered backward and stepped on Wolf's tail. Wolf howled, jerked his tail away, and tripped over Ileana. The
princess went sprawling and landed on me. The whole fiasco ended with my face smashing into the door handle and all four of us villain kids tumbling into the secret room.

We were too surprised to put up much of a fight. If it had just been Morgana, we might have gotten the upper hand, but her two burly headsmen had been flanking the door. Before we could even think of a spell, Morgana's thugs had us chained back to back in a corner. Except for Princess Ileana. I guess Morgana caught on to her hairpin trick, because the princess was chained to the wall on the other side of the cave, far away from the rest of us. I didn't see Invis-a-boy anywhere. I know. Funny.

Maybe he'd escaped. Or maybe he'd decided villains weren't worth the trouble and gone back to his own school. Either way, this was pretty much the saddest rescue attempt in history. Morgana prowled around us like a cat and gloated. Across the room, my parents still dangled over the hole, which was some kind of old well. The cover for it was lying to one side.

“As I was saying, Veldin, before we were so rudely interrupted by your offspring, the prophecy is finally fulfilled. I've betrayed you, taken your power over the little villain minds, and now you will yield to me. I win.”