The Persistence of Renegade X

by Chelsea M. Campbell

  He swallows. “I don’t know about this. What if I get caught?”

  “What’s Amelia going to do, teleport you to death? This is hardly the most dangerous mission we’ve been on.”

  He huffs at that. “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t see how else we’re going to get home.” I open the door a little and peek inside. The backstage area is a long room with tables around the edges, where everyone has their stuff piled up. There are people in spandex outfits mulling around all over—some of them getting in last-minute practice on their routines, some looking nervous, and some just lounging, like they’re either not worried about their performance or already got it over with. “I don’t see Amelia. Or Melissa and Hil. They must be on stage right now. This is your chance.”

  He makes a face, like he really doesn’t want to do this. Then he takes a deep breath and says, “Okay. I’ll… I’ll go.”

  You’d think I was sending him to his death with how nervous he looks. “You know what Amelia’s purse looks like?”

  “The denim one with the pink fur on the edges?”

  “Yep, that’s the one.” It’s pretty hard to miss. “You’ll be out of there in no time.”

  He sighs. “You owe me for this.”

  “Yeah,” I tell him as he turns invisible, “a ride home. I thought I made that clear.”

  He pushes the door farther open and slips inside the room. We all crowd into the doorway as much as we can without being totally obvious and peer inside.

  And watch as there’s an almost immediate collision. A couple of girls in matching dance outfits take off toward the stage, running into Riley in the process. A couple chairs screech across the floor, and the two girls look confused, but also like they’re in too much of a hurry to worry about what just happened.

  I wince. And Sarah thinks I’m the one who needs the drills?

  Riley pushes past a few more chairs—either that or the chairs all move on their own, but I’m guessing it’s him—and then he starts very carefully, and very slowly, I might add, picking through people’s bags, looking for Amelia’s.

  Thankfully, everyone else in the room is either too preoccupied with the show or too busy talking to their friends to notice someone invisible going through their stuff.

  “There it is,” Kat whispers, right as a denim bag with fake pink fur along the edges drags itself loose from one of the piles.

  Riley digs through it, checking the main part, then all the pockets, then the main part again, getting more and more frantic.

  An uneasy feeling creeps over me, because it’s not like Amelia’s keys are hard to miss. They have a pair of pink fuzzy dice hanging off of them. Maybe she didn’t bring them. Maybe she left them at home, because it’s not like she can’t just conjure them up whenever she needs them.

  Then Sarah gasps. I glance over and see Amelia and her friends come in from the stage entrance.

  And despite what I told Riley about this not being a big deal, I kind of hold my breath and my heart may or may not stop beating. Either way, this is bad, and Riley doesn’t seem to have noticed them, because he’s still rifling through Amelia’s bag.

  But it’s pretty obvious that Amelia’s noticed him.

  “Busted,” Alex whispers.

  Me and Kat exchange a worried look, and Jess reaches out and pokes me in the nose, and then I glance back over at Riley.

  Get out of there, Perkins.

  I consider texting him a warning, but it’s already way too late. Amelia marches over to him and grabs his arm, even though he’s invisible.

  Riley cries out in terror, because I guess he had no idea she was coming, and turns visible again. He gapes at Amelia, then glances over at me.

  “Crap.” I duck back behind the door.

  I mean, I’m pretty sure Amelia already looked over and noticed me—plus, she knows Riley well enough to know he’d never be doing something like this on his own—but I can at least hope, right?

  I’m considering making a run for it when I hear angry footsteps coming closer, and then Amelia flings the door open and glares at me. For, like, two seconds, and then she’s staring in horror at the whole gaggle of people I’ve got with me. She folds her arms. “Oh, my God. What do you think you’re doing?! And what is he doing here?” She gestures to Xavier.

  Alex gasps, sounding betrayed. “You knew about him?!”

  Amelia ignores that question, too busy giving me this really smug look. “You are so dead. Mom and Dad are going to kill you.”

  I lick my lips, taking my time to answer and trying to hide the fact that I know she’s right and that this is probably my last night on Earth. “I had to go pick up Xavier. It was an emergency.”

  She raises her eyebrows. “And you just thought you’d bring everyone with you?”

  The door opens behind her, and Riley very guiltily slinks into the hallway with us. “Sorry, X,” he mouths at me from behind Amelia’s back.

  “And where did they come from?” Amelia asks, gesturing toward Riley and Sarah. “And why are they in costume?”

  “They’re doing a dance routine,” I tell her. “We’re here to support them.”

  Her mouth starts to fall open, and then she catches herself and scowls at me. “Yeah, right.”

  “They had a different emergency.” I give Sarah a look.

  She rolls her eyes at me, like I’m being ridiculous and should just let it go.

  “I’ve been putting out fires all night,” I tell Amelia. “But the important thing is, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Uh-huh,” she says, obviously not buying it.

  “I brought Alex and Jess with me because it wouldn’t have been responsible to leave them at home.”

  “Even with Kat?”

  “Kat’s afraid of your mom. We couldn’t risk it.”

  I feel Kat cringe beside me. “I’m not… I’m not afraid. Not exactly.”

  I tilt my head toward Xavier. “And neither of us wanted to be stuck alone with him.”

  “What?!” Xavier shrieks. “Yes, you did! Everybody likes me the best!”

  Amelia’s still looking at me all smug, like she’s got me right where she wants me. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re here. Or why Riley was going through my purse.”

  Riley winces. “I was just looking for your keys.”

  Amelia glances over at him, then at me. “What happened to your keys?”

  “I lost them.”

  “What? How?”

  “I dropped them. At the coffee shop where we picked up Riley and Sarah. But when we went back in to get them, they were gone, so—”

  “A coffee shop?” Alex says, screwing up his face. “I thought you lost them when that bad guy was chasing us.”

  Amelia’s eyes go wide.

  Damn it. I grit my teeth and glance down at Alex. “There wasn’t any bad guy chasing us.”

  “Then why did you zap him? And if that wasn’t a bad guy, does that mean those heroes were shooting at us?!”

  “Oh, my God, Alex! Just…” I sigh, since this is obviously a losing battle. “Never mind.”

  Amelia looks less shocked now and more just really full of herself. Like, even more so than before. “Wow. Mom and Dad are going to actually kill you.”

  “Hey, that’s your favorite half brother you’re talking about. You don’t have to sound so happy.”

  “You’re not going to be able to leave the house for the whole summer. And Kat’s not going to be allowed over.”

  “That means she can’t come over and watch movies with you, either.”

  Amelia’s face falls a little at that, but she quickly recovers, her joy of imagining me in that much trouble winning out over her momentary disappointment. “You probably won’t be able to have any friends over. The entire summer. Maybe for the whole year.”

  Ugh. “Gordon and Helen don’t have to know about any of this. Just get me the keys.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Becau
se.” I swallow. “I’ll owe you. Anything you want.”

  Her eyes light up for a second as she considers it, but then she shakes her head. “Not good enough.”

  “Seriously? Fine. I didn’t want to have to do this, but if you don’t help me, I’ll have no choice but to post the pictures I took of you at your end-of-school party last week.”

  Her voice is skeptical, but cautious. “So? I already posted tons of pictures of it.”

  “Well, I should say the pictures I took after the party. When you fell asleep on the couch and smeared your makeup and drooled all over yourself. With chip crumbs clearly visible on your sleeve.”

  Her mouth drops open and her nostrils flare. “I only fell asleep for, like, a minute!”

  “Yeah, one gloriously unflattering minute.”

  She lets out a little squeak of indignation, and I think for a second that I’ve got her, that she’s going to give in. But then she says, “Go ahead and post them. Nobody follows you anyway. You have it set on private.”

  “Your friends do. And Zach definitely does. You wouldn’t want him to look at those pictures and think he dodged a bullet. Or worse, that you’re not doing nearly so well without him as you say you are.”

  Amelia gasps, her eyes narrowing at me. But then she pouts and says, “Whatever. I don’t care.”

  She sure sounds like she does. I give it a second, trying to wait her out, but she doesn’t budge. I blink at her. “You’re really not going to help me?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  I raise my eyebrows at her. “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’ll help, but only if you admit I’m the best babysitter.”

  I go silent. All my insides clench up.

  And Amelia just stands there, a demonic smirk lighting up her face as she waits for my response.

  “I…” I clear my throat. Tension hangs in the air, and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. We’re all tired, and I’m pretty sure everyone just wants to go home, including me. But…

  “What’s wrong?” Amelia asks with fake sympathy. “Obviously I am the best babysitter, since you couldn’t even handle watching them for a couple of hours without needing my help.”

  Erg. I don’t need her help. I just have no idea what I’m going to do if I don’t get it. And I bet she wouldn’t be nearly so smug if she’d had to deal with what we’ve been through tonight. Though, she also probably would have stayed at the house instead of carting Alex and Jess all over town with her, but still.

  “Well?”

  “You…” The words stick in my throat. I clench my fists. “You’re…”

  She grins, looking way too happy about this, enjoying every moment of my defeat.

  But I can’t do it. “You’re not a better babysitter than me, and I don’t need your help!”

  “That’s— What?” She glares at me.

  “You heard me.”

  She sniffs. “Fine, if that’s what you want. Even if it’s a huge mistake. The recital’s almost over, and we’re going to be on our way home soon, and then Mom and Dad are going to know you screwed up. Have fun explaining it to them.”

  “You’re not going to tell them?”

  She scoffs. “Are you kidding? You’ll be in way more trouble when they come home to an empty house and see just how wrong they were to put their trust in you. And then you won’t even need to admit I’m the best babysitter, because it’ll be obvious to everyone.”

  Chapter 7

  WE TRUDGE BACK TO the car. I mean, we’re still in a hurry, because we’re running out of time, but there’s also this general feeling of defeat and lack of morale. Even though I totally made the right decision, not giving in to Amelia, because I can only imagine how full of herself she’d be for, like, the rest of our lives if I let her win. Plus, I’m clearly the better babysitter, and lying about it to get what I want would serve no one.

  Except maybe we’d actually have the keys right now and be able to start the car. And maybe enduring Amelia’s self-righteousness forever would be better than being confined to the house for the entire summer. But it doesn’t matter, because I made my decision, and it’s too late to take it back now even if I wanted to.

  “So,” Kat says as we all stare at the car, “what now?”

  “You unlock it, we all pile in, and Riley turns invisible and pushes us home. No one will ever know.”

  Riley rolls his eyes at me.

  “Maybe…” Sarah takes a deep breath. “Maybe I can hot wire it.”

  We all turn to stare at her. Well, all of us except Jess, who’s half asleep—with her arms locked around my neck in a choking death grip, of course—and Xavier, who maybe doesn’t know what that means. Alex obviously does, though, judging by the way his eyes light up in awe.

  Riley gapes at her. “When have you ever hot wired a car?”

  She shrugs. “I haven’t, not yet, but I like to be prepared.”

  I don’t really know what all hot wiring entails, but I’m pretty sure it involves cutting wires and stuff. Which would probably be noticeable. And need fixing. Which hopefully Sarah could do, and even if Gordon and Helen found out about it, it’s not like they’d know it was from tonight.

  But still, this is Sarah we’re talking about. “Are you sure you can do this?” And by that, of course, I mean can she do this without breaking anything or, more importantly, blowing anything up?

  “Well… I’m pretty sure I can. I watched a YouTube video.”

  “When?” Riley asks.

  “Last year, when I got my license.”

  “Right,” I mutter, “so, not exactly fresh in your mind.” But it’s not like we have a lot of options. “Fine, whatever, just go for it.”

  “Really?” Kat says, raising an eyebrow.

  Riley gives me an equally skeptical look, though he doesn’t say anything, then glances nervously at Sarah.

  “Yeah, well, it’s not my favorite option, but we’re running out of time.” And it’s probably not the worst decision I’ve made tonight.

  Sarah squares her shoulders, a determined look on her face. “I won’t let you down, Renegade.”

  “I know you won’t, Cosine.” Though the rest of us should probably stand a safe distance away. Just in case.

  Kat clenches her jaw when we use our superhero names, then goes and shapeshifts her hand again to unlock the car.

  Sarah gets in the driver’s seat and gets out her phone, presumably to re-watch the how-to video.

  I motion for Alex and Xavier to move farther down the sidewalk, away from the car. Kat and Riley join us.

  “But I want to watch,” Alex whines.

  “And I don’t want to have to explain why you’re missing your face.” Or worse.

  Riley rolls his eyes at me. “It’s going to be fine.” Then, two seconds later, “Are you sure about this?”

  “Relax, Perkins. I’m… I’m sure Sarah knows what she’s doing.” Probably.

  From over at the car, Sarah goes, “Ohhh, that’s what that’s for,” which isn’t very reassuring.

  Beside me, Xavier starts jingling some change in his pocket. Over and over again, in a super annoying way that makes me want to kill him.

  I glare at him.

  He gives me this nasty, defiant look—almost as smug as Amelia—and keeps doing it.

  If I wasn’t already holding Jess, I think I might actually strangle him. Mom so owes me for this.

  And then I look down and see that it’s not change that he’s messing with. It’s a set of keys. And I know he knows I saw them, because the nasty smile on his face gets even bigger.

  I shove Jess at Kat as a sudden wave of electricity rushes through me. “What the hell?!” I scream at him, startling the others, who I’m guessing hadn’t noticed yet. “Give me those!”

  He jerks away from me, holding my keys to his chest. “I found them by the car when we were here earlier. They’re mine now!”

  “You’ve had them the whole time?!” Lightning crackles across
my skin.

  Kat, Riley, and Alex all take a step back, and even Xavier’s eyes go wide.

  “You knew we were looking for those! You knew we needed them to get home!”

  “If you wanted me to be nice to you, you shouldn’t have had another brother!”

  “It wasn’t up to me, and for the record, you’re the other brother! You’re the one that shouldn’t—” I stop myself from saying he shouldn’t exist.

  Riley and Kat both wince, probably guessing what I was about to say, but Xavier seems oblivious. Pissed at me, but not any more than he already was.

  I take a deep breath.

  “I finished the video!” Sarah shouts from the driver’s seat. “I think I get it!”

  “Mission abort, Sarah!” I snatch the keys from Xavier, zapping him a little in the process. “Do not hot wire the car!”

  “Owwww,” Xavier whines. “You’re supposed to be nice to me.”

  “That’s above my pay grade. Come on—everyone in the car. Kat, you’re going to have to shrink down. Sarah, you’ll have to hold Jess. We can put her car seat in the trunk. Perkins, you’re up front with me.”

  “What about me?” Alex asks. His eyes dart over to Xavier, and it’s not hard to guess that he’s dreading having to sit by him.

  “Sorry, Alex. You guys are in the back.”

  “Aw, man!”

  “Blame Perkins for being ten-feet tall.” And knowing how to reliably navigate using his cell phone.

  “I wish I was ten-feet tall,” Alex mutters as he climbs into the backseat.

  And of course, being the smallest, he has to sit in the middle. Which means he’s stuck sandwiched between Xavier and Sarah.

  Xavier makes a face at him, and Alex looks like he’s this close to actually hitting him. Which I can’t really blame him for.

  Kat takes a deep breath, tells Sarah, “Don’t kick me,” and then shapeshifts into a ferret and climbs onto the floor by Sarah’s feet.

  Me and Riley get in the front.

  “I’m six-two,” he says, “not ten.”

  “Same difference.” I put the key in the ignition. It turns, not even sticking this time, and the car roars to life.