Contents
Title
Copyright
Books by Chelsea M. Campbell
Dedication
FREE BONUS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Author's Note
Newsletter
About the Author
The Persistence of Renegade X
By Chelsea M. Campbell
1st edition published by Golden City Publishing, 2019
Copyright © 2019 Chelsea M. Campbell
www.chelseamcampbell.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.
Cover art by Chloe Tisdale.
Renegade X
The Rise of Renegade X
The Trials of Renegade X
The Haunting of Renegade X
The Betrayal of Renegade X
The Torment of Renegade X
The Phobia of Renegade X
The Persistence of Renegade X
Dragonbound
Dragonbound
Honorbound
Fire & Chasm
Starlight
Growing Up Dead
Harper Madigan: Junior High Private Eye
DEDICATION
FOR CHLOE, WHO ALWAYS HAS THE BEST IDEAS.
FREE BONUS
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Chapter 1
ME AND KAT ARE making out on the couch downstairs at my house. It’s the first Saturday night of summer vacation—well, of both of our summer vacations, since technically Heroesworth got out last week—and my stupid make-up class doesn’t start until partway through next month. This is the first night that Kat’s officially back, as in, living at home again instead of at school, and I plan to take advantage of that as much as possible.
Hence the make-out session. Which I would have preferred to do in my room, for obvious reasons—like, say, the closed door and the potential to tear each other’s clothes off—but due to extenuating circumstances, we’re stuck downstairs. With an audience. Which, despite my efforts, is sort of killing the mood, or at least it is for Kat, who seems kind of nervous.
“Damien,” she whispers, her eyes darting back and forth, “maybe we shouldn’t—”
Gordon clears his throat behind us, startling Kat, who pulls away from me like we were just caught doing something we shouldn’t have been.
“Are you sure you want us to leave you alone?” Gordon asks.
Which is a stupid question if I’ve ever heard one. I turn and glare at him over my shoulder while gesturing at Kat and the couch in general. “What part of this situation makes you think I don’t want you to leave me alone?”
Helen joins Gordon in staring down at us and sighs, which is the last straw for Kat, who jumps up and escapes into the bathroom.
Amelia marches over, her hands on her hips, and huffs at me. “They mean because you’re supposed to be watching Alex and Jess, not making out with your girlfriend.” She folds her arms across her chest and glances up at Gordon and Helen. “See? I told you he couldn’t handle watching them.”
I raise an eyebrow at her. “What’s wrong, Amelia? Afraid I’ll be a better babysitter than you?”
She makes a hmph noise and doesn’t answer me, which is obviously code for yes.
There’s a moment of uncomfortable silence, where I’m pretty sure Gordon and Helen are exchanging one of their classic “what should we do about Damien?” looks, though I don’t dignify their apprehensiveness with a response, because for one thing, I’m not an idiot—I can handle watching Alex and Jess for a few hours—and for another, we already talked about this and everyone involved was cool with it. Well, except for Amelia, but that’s only because she knows Alex and Jess like me better than her and she’s afraid I’m gunning for her job as Gordon and Helen’s go-to babysitter. Which she really shouldn’t be, because it only pays two dollars an hour—one dollar for each kid—which is highway robbery, if you ask me, and definitely not enough for my services.
“Are you sure, Damien?” Gordon asks, a slight waver in his voice. “If you and Kat have, uh, plans, I could always stay home with Alex and Jess.”
Amelia’s eyes go wide and her nostrils flare. “Dad! No way! You’re coming to my recital—you promised. You have to be there. Both of you,” she adds, in case Helen was getting any ideas about volunteering instead.
“Whatever,” I tell them. “It’s fine.” Amelia’s been going on and on about this stupid dance recital for weeks, ever since she and her friends Melissa and Hil—a.k.a. Team Glitter—signed up for the class. They joined late and really had to practice in order to get their routine ready in time, and Amelia claims the only reason they were allowed to join late in the first place was because they were such good dancers already and that they practically didn’t even need the class. And even though we’ve all seen their routine, like, a million times by now, she insisted that Gordon and Helen both had to be there to watch her on stage, and I am not going to be the reason either one of them gets out of it. After all, they’re the ones who created her—they have to deal with the consequences.
Helen mutters something about grabbing her phone, and then she and Gordon disappear into their bedroom to finish getting ready.
Amelia’s still standing in front of me. “Babysitting is hard work, you know.”
I shrug. “Maybe it is for you.” What with her being so bossy all the time.
Alex comes in from the kitchen, holding up a plate with a sandwich on it. He marches right over to us, elbows Amelia out of the way, and then bows as he presents it to me. “For you.”
“Thanks,” I say, accepting the plate from him. “Did you remember the extra mayo I asked for?”
He nods.
“See?” I tell Amelia. “I have it all under control.”
Alex grins, his whole body practically buzzing with excitement. “You said after I made that for you that we could play the game. Can we, can we?!”
He’s talking about the zombie-fighting game I borrowed from Riley and Zach. The one that’s pretty gory and definitely not recommended for nine-year-olds, or at least not while their parents are watching. “Ix-nay on the ame-gay,” I tell him through clenched teeth. I glance over my shoulder to make sure Gordon and Helen’s door is still closed. The last thing I need is them asking what kind of game it is.
Alex gets a really serious look on his face and nods again.
“And of course we can play it,” I tell him. Just as soon as Gordon, Helen, and Amelia the Narc are gone. “Unless you want to watch the movie first?”
“Uh!” Amelia whines. “You guys are watching a movie without me?” She bites her lip in a pout. “What movie is it?”
“You wouldn’t like it.”
“Why?” Her eyebrows come together. “What is it?”
I snap my fingers and motion for Jess—who’s currently chewing on the DVD case, or at least slobbering all over it—to bring it to me. She gets up from her spot on the floor and practically runs across the room to toss it at me. It hits me in the chest, and while her delivery methods could use some work, her speed and enthusiasm are top notch.
The bathroom door opens, and I quickly wipe the slobbery DVD case off on my shirt before Kat sees it—since she might not appreciate damage to her personal property—before showing i
t to Amelia.
Amelia gapes at me. “Revenge of the Zombie Werewolves V?! Are you crazy? Alex and Jess should definitely not be watching that.” She reaches for it, but I pull it out of her grasp. As far as I know, she’s never touched the DVD case before, which means she can’t use her power to teleport it out of my hand, either.
Kat comes and sits next to me on the couch. “They still haven’t left?” she whispers, glancing at the closed bedroom door. Kat’s not a huge fan of my parents, or at least not of my stepmom, Helen, who sort of killed her grandfather before we were even born and who’s still a little weird about Kat being over, even though she’s come a long way since the days of Kat not even being allowed in the house.
“No,” Amelia says. “And we’re going to be late!” She shouts that last part.
“Almost ready!” Helen calls back.
Amelia turns her attention to me. “You can’t let Alex and Jess watch that. They’re way too young.”
“Whatever. I watched these kinds of movies when I was a kid, and I turned out fine.” Well, mostly.
“Yeah, right,” Amelia says.
Kat snatches the movie from me and gives me a disapproving look, like she actually agrees with Amelia. Well, with the part about not showing it to kids, anyway—not the part about me not turning out fine. “We’re watching this one later.” She looks over at Amelia. “The one I brought to watch with Alex and Jess is an animated movie about a family of dolphins who lose their pet sea turtle and have to go on this epic journey to get him back. It makes you laugh and it makes you cry. But it’s definitely not scary.”
Alex exhales really loudly, like that’s the most boring movie he’s ever heard of. “You said I could watch the other one with you.”
“Well…” I did tell him that, though that was before Kat and Amelia were giving me horrified looks, like I’m the worst person on the planet for saying he could watch it. “Let’s compromise. You can watch it with us, but only after Jess goes to bed.” And Amelia says this is hard.
“Yes!” Alex holds out his fist, and I bump it with mine.
Amelia scoffs. “I’m telling Mom and Dad.”
“Tell them what? That I’m such an awesome babysitter that they won’t ever need to ask you again? Looks like you’re going to have a lot more free time to still not have a life.”
“No, I’m going to tell them that you’re going to let Alex watch a scary movie.”
I roll my eyes at her. “It’s not scary. It’s so ridiculous, it’s practically a comedy. But if you feel that strongly about it, go ahead and tell them. Then one of them will just have to stay home and miss your recital.”
Amelia gasps, since that’s obviously the last thing she wants.
The bedroom door opens, and Gordon and Helen emerge, ready to leave. Helen looks nervously at Kat, who tries to scrunch down into the couch and pretend she doesn’t notice.
I glance over at them. “Amelia wants to tell you something.”
“Tell us what?” Helen asks.
Amelia’s jaw clenches and her face twists up as she glares at me. “Nothing.”
That’s what I thought. I smile at her.
Helen glances back and forth between us. “Are you sure we should go? It’s Saturday night—maybe I should stay home. You and Kat could go out—”
“Mom!” Amelia screeches. “You’re coming to my recital! You promised!”
“I know, honey, but this is—”
“Seriously,” I tell her, “it’s fine. It’s one evening. And besides, me and Kat didn’t have any plans that involved leaving the house tonight, if you know what I mean.”
“Damien,” Kat says, gritting her teeth. She sinks down even further into the couch, her face turning pink.
“Plans that we’ll have plenty of time for after you guys get back. Plus, I’m counting on you to get good footage of Team Glitter’s stage debut, since I was, for some reason, not invited.” And I’ll need that footage to blackmail Amelia with later, since something embarrassing’s bound to happen, right? Then again, knowing Amelia, she’ll probably have it posted all over YouTube either way before she even gets home.
“I already told you,” Amelia says, “I only got two tickets, and there’s no way I’d use one of them on you.”
“Yeah, especially not after I saw my name in Hil’s notebook with a heart around it.”
“What?” Kat says.
“That was a different Damien,” Amelia mutters.
“It had little lightning bolts around it.” Pretty sure that means it was me. “And don’t worry—it’s probably just a phase. She’ll get over me. Years from now, in therapy.”
Amelia’s nostrils flare and her face turns red. “You’re not invited because you wouldn’t appreciate it. And don’t go through our stuff!” She stomps away from me and over to the front door.
Gordon and Helen are still hovering by the couch, reluctant to leave. They exchange another one of their looks, and then Gordon says, “Call us if anything happens. Anything at all. And there are numbers on the fridge if there’s an emergency. Unless you want one of us to—”
“Dad!” Amelia stamps her foot before he can offer to stay home again. “We’re going to be late! Everyone else is probably already there, and I cannot miss this!”
“Seriously,” I tell him. “I’ve got this. You guys go have… Well, not fun, because it’s a dance recital, but don’t worry. Everything’s going to be perfectly fine.”
Chapter 2
“AND THEN,” KAT TELLS me, while we’re sitting on the couch later, “Tristan and his new girlfriend, Cyn, got—”
“Sin? That’s actually her name?”
“Well, Cynthia, but she goes by Cyn.” Kat rolls her eyes. Then she pauses her story to mash all the buttons on her controller as a horde of zombies comes after her and Alex.
“To your left!” Alex cries out.
“Got it,” Kat says, not even blinking. Her character on the screen whirls around, cutting off a zombie’s head with her ax in one smooth motion.
Alex turns to Kat, a hand over his heart, sounding completely sincere when he says, “That was close.”
He wasn’t super crazy at first about me handing Kat the second controller instead of playing myself, but it only seemed fair, since neither of them have played before, and me, Riley, and Zach have, like, way too many hours in this game to even count. Except that the game still counts for us and it’s, like, over a hundred or something. But still, he and Kat make a pretty good team.
“Then what happened?” Alex asks her. He grabs another Jolly Rancher from the giant bag in his lap, unwraps it, and pops it in his mouth. They’re leftover from the end-of-school party Amelia had last weekend. She made Gordon go back to the store, like, five times to get more, since she refused to serve any that weren’t red and yellow—a.k.a. Heroesworth colors—and that meant she needed, like, ten bags of them just to fill one stupid bowl for her guests. Alex doesn’t seem picky about what colors he eats, and his lips and tongue are turning a mottled purple.
“Well,” Kat says, looking slightly surprised that Alex is interested, “Tristan and Cyn got in this huge screaming match during the party, and she ended up locking herself in Jordan’s room and wouldn’t come out.”
Jess emerges from the bathroom, where she went to get “supplies,” whatever that means, and returns to her spot next to me on the couch. She’s got a comb in her hand, which she jabs into my shoulder. “You’re going to be beautiful.”
“Too late,” I tell her.
She jabs me again, then wobbles a little as she stands on the couch cushion and scrapes the comb across my skull.
“Ow.”
“Gently,” Kat tells her, not taking her eyes from the screen.
“I am,” Jess says.
I instinctively put my hand up to block her from combing me again. “But maybe do it even more gently than that.”
Jess makes a hmph sound, like I’m being unreasonable, and pushes my hand away. But she does make
a conscious effort to, like, not make me bleed when she runs the comb through my hair again.
“And then Jordan was pissed, because he can’t stand her, and then while all of us were trying to get her to come out so Jordan could have his room back, Tristan and Liv started making out on the floor behind the couch.”
Alex makes a disgusted face, which is the right reaction, even though he doesn’t know them.
“Seriously?” I ask Kat, raising my eyebrows. “Liv—ow”—I wince as Jess’s comb almost pierces the top of my ear—“Liv took him back?”
Kat shrugs. “Not officially. She’s pretending like she doesn’t care, since he told her he didn’t want to be ‘tied down for the summer.’ Which I guess is what his fight with Cyn was all about, anyway. But Liv’s already texted me and Tasha, like, three times today, asking if she made a mistake.”
“It’s Tristan, so, duh? Ow. Jess.” She’s purposely twisting the comb, so that it gets stuck and pulls on my hair so hard, my eyes start to water.
“You need to be beautiful,” she says, a stern look on her face.
“Any more beautiful and I might end up with a bald spot. Maybe you should move on to Kat. Kat needs help.”
“Hey!” Kat says, turning to glare at me.
“Kat,” Jess says, frowning very seriously as she assesses her. Then she nods and steps on my leg to to get to her.
Right as a zombie jumps out of a closet in the game and Alex screams bloody murder and throws his controller.
Both the jump scare and him screaming about it startle all of us, and Jess loses her footing, falling to her butt on the couch. She lands kind of hard, though it’s still, like, the couch cushion, so I know she’s not hurt, but she immediately bursts into tears anyway. And starts screaming her own version of bloody murder.
Kat pauses the game as I try to get Jess to calm down. “It’s okay,” I tell her. Except, I kind of have to talk really loudly to be heard above her wailing. “Everything’s fine!”
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