Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12)

by R. J. Ross

  "I have to go back," I tell Nico.

  "Will he have another freak out like he did earlier?" Nico asks the group. "Because it could do some serious damage to the norms—that's the last thing we want to happen."

  "He shouldn't," Aubrey says, hesitantly.

  "I'm not done learning lip-reading," Skye tells her, turning the television on mute.

  "Then I'm taking him back. We'll take him to Double M after the concert," Nico says, walking around the table and placing a hand on my shoulder. He glances at the watch he's wearing and we teleport before I can say anything.

  My head is still killing me, but I ignore it as we appear in the tour bus. For a second everyone stares at us—and then half them throw themselves at me in a group hug. "You're alive," I hear one of my bandmates say with a hint of wonder. “I thought for sure you’d be dead by now.”

  "Yeah, but…" I frown, feeling confused. "Nothing really happened, right?"

  "You were kidnapped by Shadowman!" Malina says. "That's not 'nothing happening' that's how we—"

  I feel guilt rip through me as she looks close to tears. Awkwardly I reach out and pat her on the shoulder. "I'm fine—Aubrey said I healed up already."

  "Healed?" they all ask, including the bus driver.

  "Um, yeah," I say. "I'm not sure what from, but it doesn't matter—are we ready for the concert?"

  "Yeah, Nathan came and set everything up—we're supposed to be doing the sound check now," Lonny says.

  "Then what are we standing around here for? Let's get to work."

  "But we have no idea what happened to you!" Malina says.

  "We'll figure it out AFTER we do the concert," I say. "The show must go on, right? Come on, everyone, to your places!" Reluctantly they head out of the tour bus, heading for the platform that was prepared for us. These outdoor concerts aren't a normal thing, I know, but I'm becoming extremely fond of them. It feels safer, considering my abilities. Like if I lose control, I can at least scream at the sky and not get an echo.

  There is no opening band, so we set up and start our sound check, watching as people slowly trickle into the parking lot. Behind us is yet another beautiful, yet slightly Gothic looking building. I think it's a Catholic church this time—and I'm pretty sure this one still houses a church group. I can hear the steady hum of electricity inside. Nico must have rented it.

  To my surprise, there are a lot more males in the audience than I'm used to. It's not that I'm anti-guy fans or anything, it's just that I tend to have way more female fans than males. I see them crane their heads, watching the black suits bring out the barrels of water with a lot more interest than they're giving me.

  Oh, well that explains it. They're not here for me, they're here for the super show. I try not to let that get to me—I mean, seriously, I'd come to see Malina do her water show, too, right?

  It still sort of chafes, not going to lie.

  ***

  "So," Max says casually, lounging in the air over the large empty parking lot several miles from Justin’s concert, "where is she?"

  "Well, you see—" the man says, hesitating visibly, "we were going to have her here—"

  "It's that stupid concert," the woman says. "She slipped away before we realized it to go to—"

  "The Justin concert?" Max offers.

  "We are SO sorry," the woman says. "Please don't tell Negatia—we'll go get her now—"

  "No, it's fine," Max says, straightening up with a little grin. "I'll be happy to go get her, myself," he declares, looking over to his team. "Rocco, do you think you can get us to the concert?"

  "Yeah, maybe," Rocco says. The black and silver really works for him, Max notes cheerfully. The fact that the couple literally jerk as they only now notice him proves it. Rocco absolutely has to go villain. That's Max's big goal for this trip—well that and the healers, of course. But mostly Rocco going villain, he admits to himself.

  "Thanks," Max says as he drops to the ground.

  "Those teammates of yours—they won't be interfering, will they?" the man asks. "I was told you were going to throw the fight—"

  "I am, and they won't," Max says as Rocco opens a large gaping tear in reality. "Man that place stinks," Max complains as the smell of the Shadowlands wafts past.

  "Don't worry, he's extremely professional," Summer says. "Aren't you, Max?"

  "Absolutely," Max says, giving her a brilliant smile.

  "And you are?" The wife asks Summer.

  "The adult supervision," Summer says, smiling slightly. A breeze tugs at her brilliant red hair.

  "Wait—aren't you Lady Rose?" the man asks in shock. "I thought you were dead."

  "It really IS a cliché, isn't it?" Summer says to the team as they step into the Shadowlands. The last thing the couple in the parking lot hears is the sound of laughter.

  "Do you think we made a mistake in choosing him?" the wife asks as the rift disappears and they're left behind.

  "No," the husband says slowly, "I'm sure he'll throw the fight properly—he's a Cape High student. I've heard good things about their super villains."

  "I hope you're right, but...”

  ***

  "I'm going to be disinherited," Rachel says as she and Kirsten take a single step in the long line of fans. "I'm going to be kicked out of the house and never be able to claim the family name, ever again—"

  "Would you quit with your whining already?" Kirsten demands. "We swore, two YEARS ago, that if Justin were to ever come here for a concert we would do anything—ANYTHING necessary to go, remember?" she demands, grabbing Rachel by the arms and forcing her to look into her eyes. "That means giving up things like debuts and family titles, got it?"

  "You don't have a family line, though, Kirsten—you don't understand how embarrassing the next family get-together will be. Great Grandma Jill will NEVER let me forget this. I'll be looked down on by all of my cousins—my LITTLE cousins—"

  "Do you want to give up? To go back and spend the afternoon in a fake fight against some guy you've never heard of?"

  "Everyone's heard of him," Rachel says.

  "I've never heard of him!" Kirsten says. Rachel stares at her for a long moment—long enough for the shorter girl to blush. "Well, okay, maybe I've heard of him once or twice," she says finally, "but he's not Justin! Whoa, this place is sort of creepy, isn't it?" she says, distracted by the Gothic, almost glowing building behind the stage. "Is it really smart having him sing here? There are a TON of windows in that building."

  "It's so romantic," Rachel says.

  "Romantic," Kirsten repeats dryly.

  "Like a vampire wedding scene. I should have worn something different," she goes on, looking down at the jeans and t-shirt covering her uniform. "Something flowing and dramatic—"

  "You look perfectly fine," Kirsten says. "And since you're going to be doing something big, you need to be able to move, right?" she adds as Rachel looks like she's about to protest.

  "That's true…" Rachel jerks, pulling her phone out of her pocket and staring at it for a moment before turning it off completely. "I'm going to be kicked out of the Hall, too," she says a bit mournfully.

  "This is worth it, though, right?" Kirsten prompts.

  "If it works."

  "It'll work," Kirsten swears as they finally get to where the tickets are being checked. She hands hers over, watching as they scan it, and then heads into the clearing. For a moment she's so focused on the milling fans and their various Justin t-shirts that she doesn't even notice the heavy cloud in the sky.

  "I hope it doesn't rain," Rachel says, looking up at it. "I brought a rain poncho just in case, but that'd be so embarrassing."

  "Yeah," Kirsten says, staring up at the cloud for a long moment. She wants to say something else, like mention the fact that she's definitely picking up on SOMETHING strange from the cloud, but…

  "Look, there he is!" Rachel says in excitement. "Oh, and there's the little water girl—she's so tiny! Isn't she adorable?"

  Kirst
en looks up at the cloud one last time before shrugging it off. Justin's concert is way more important!

  ***

  It's good, I decide as we launch into the next song. Nothing is wrong, that whole kidnapping thing is almost completely forgotten—

  I grab the mic as the music falls silent, and open my mouth. I'm supposed to say something important right now, right?

  "Help… me…"

  Wait, what? Did I just say that? I force a laugh, "Sorry, sorry, that's not what I meant to say—" I start out, only to feel the mic slip out of my hand. It thumps to the ground, squealing with feedback. "Help… me…" I whisper, falling to my knees and grabbing my head. "She's… in… my head," I hear myself say. The audience is starting to panic, and I feel someone pull me into a hug.

  "We need to take him back to Aubrey," I hear Malina say above me. It sounds like she's so far away, but I think she's the one holding me. "Someone call Nico!"

  Before I hear anyone reply, a dark wall rises up to surround us. Suddenly the world is quiet, save for the sound of Malina's heartbeat—it's fast. I can sense that we're moving, I just can't see anything. We're floating in this ball of darkness. "What—we—" Malina says. I force myself to focus, since the fear in her voice is so obvious.

  "Malina—it's—" I start out, reaching up and grabbing her hand weakly. It's so tiny compared to mine, I think.

  "Justin, I don't know anyone that can do this," she says, her hand gripping mine. "I think we're being kidnapped."

  "Again?"

  "No," she says, pulling away from me and standing up. She reaches to the belt of her uniform and pulls out a small vial, "not this time." I watch a bit blankly as she pulls a thin hose out of her sleeve and attaches a small nozzle to the tip before attaching the vial in her hand to the side. "They keep saying I could have cut through the glass," she tells me almost casually as the hose squirts water. "It's a lie—see, I didn't have one little thing necessary to do that."

  "But?" I say.

  "Thanks to Nico, I do now," she says, grinning at me. She aims the hose at the black wall that surrounds us and shoots. It rips apart like tissue paper. Mentally I note to NEVER make her mad. She turns off the water and pulls me to my feet. I feel better—not great, but better, at least I do until I notice a pink haired hero glowering at us angrily.

  "What do you think you're doing?" the girl demands. "You weren't supposed to be in there!" she says, pointing at Malina. "Who ARE you?"

  "Raindrop," Malina says, "and you have NO RIGHT to kidnap Justin!"

  "If I might," a voice says from overhead. We all turn and look up at Max, who's just staring at the girl, "YOU are the one that's not supposed to be here. I have a schedule, you know? And you’re kidnapping a few of my classmates, on top of messing it up! Sure, I'd let you keep Justin if you wanted, but nobody takes Raindrop!" he declares dramatically.

  I look at Malina, who looks away, her shoulders shaking with laughter. She covers it up quickly, but I definitely just saw that. "You are encroaching on MY part of this debut," Max goes on, coming down so he can look the girl in the eyes. "Running away in the first place was enough to give me reason to complain to Negatia—but kidnapping innocent teenagers on the very same day, well, that's enough to ruin all of your chances to get into the Hall, ever. Are you a moron?" he demands.

  "I'm—I love Justin! For him, I'll even go super villain!" she declares dramatically, but she looks rather pale and I can hear her heart pounding a mile a minute.

  "Really," Max says blandly.

  "Where are we?" I ask Malina. We're no longer at the concert, but we couldn't have gone that far, right? I look around, searching for some sign of where we are, or better yet, Max's team. "I have to get back to the concert."

  "You have to go back to Aubrey," Malina says, tapping on her com bracelet. It blinks a few times before the new healer girl appears as a hologram in front of us. She's got a few splatters of blood on her snow suit, which she's dabbing at with a towel.

  "Alyssa here, what's the problem," she says, "and do you think this is going to stain?"

  "Alyssa, this is Malina," Malina says, "There's something wrong with Justin, still. Do you know how to fix it?"

  "Aubrey suggested he talk to Mastermental," Alyssa says. "She says his brain has healed, but there could be unseen problems—what happened?"

  "I can help!" someone yells, making all of us jump. We turn, watching blankly as the purple haired girl from the Justin fan club rushes out of the shadows. "I'm a healer! No one believes me, but I swear I am—I even started floating the other day! I think I leveled up or something—"

  Alyssa's hologram turns, looking around. "Can someone aim their camera at her so I can get a look?" she demands. "I've memorized the faces of the outed healers—we watch it every night."

  "Oh, um, sure," Malina says, moving so the purple haired girl is in sight. "Is she one?"

  Alyssa frowns, striking an unconscious pose, "I guess," she says finally, not sounding very impressed. "Let her try, but call in Mastermental—that's what Aubrey says."

  I'm too occupied to reply. The broadly grinning purple haired girl is reaching for me with way too much enthusiasm. It gets worse when the pink haired girl grabs me from behind and goes, "I'll hold him for you, Kirsten."

  "Help?" I whimper, this time completely of my own free will.

  "No grabbing him unless it's absolutely necessary for healing him!" Malina declares bossily.

  "Oh, it's absolutely necessary," the purple haired girl says. She reaches forward—and touches my forehead gently. It's almost shocking how quickly her expression turns serious. It IS shocking when the world around us starts to spin and an image appears around us. It's faded, and see-through, but as soon as I see it I know where I am.

  The beautiful woman with kaleidoscope eyes steps forward, reaching out with a ghostly hand, and I know what happened. "Her—she—" I start out, but my mouth slams shut on its own.

  "Hey, it's Mother!" I hear Skye say excitedly from behind me—she must be a hologram like Alyssa, but I don't look back to find out. "Oops, I wasn't supposed to mention her, huh?"

  ***

  "We've got their coordinates," Emily says over the com-link, "but we don't need them—it's pretty obvious where they are."

  "What do you mean?" Freddy asks. The audience is relatively calm, thankfully. He's positive they think this is some sort of super hero gimmick. In fact a few of the guys are yelling about speeding up the show. He ignores them, climbing higher up the side of the church. The higher he is, the more he can see, right? He turns, looking around.

  "See the cloud?" Emily asks from above him. "Malina's working."

  "Malina can't do that," Freddy says.

  "What?" Emily asks. The question is repeated by both their team and Max's. In fact, Freddy's positive he hears Malina herself ask it.

  "What do you mean, cloud?" Malina asks, proving him right.

  "Malina? Are you okay? How's Justin?" Falconess asks.

  "We're fine—but we found the healer girl and she's trying to fix what happened to Justin," Malina says. "I think she's a mix of a psychic and illusionist, or something—I'm not exactly sure. But what cloud?" she demands.

  "There's a massive dark cloud right over the building you're in," Freddy tells her, feeling a chill go down his spine. "It's getting bigger and darker with every moment—"

  The cloud starts to rain. It's only raining on that one building, he thinks in wonder. That's not possible. Malina's not able to call the rain—at least she never has before, and from the sound of it, she didn't even know the cloud was there.

  "I see," she says.

  "Malina? Is there something you're not telling us?" Falconess asks. “Is this about the cloud-shifting hero you asked me about earlier?”

  "Yes," Malina says, "but we're starting to flood in here, so we’ll discuss it later."

  "Can't you just kick it out?" Emily asks.

  "I'm trying."

  ***

  The water is rising, Mali
na thinks as she steps on top of it. The others are starting to get worried, and most of them turn to look at her. She holds out a hand, shoving it as if she were shoving the water out of the room. For a second it moves, flowing with her, and then it comes right back.

  "It's getting really hard to concentrate over here!" the healer yells as her illusion is wiped out.

  "Everyone out of the building!" Malina shouts. "There's something strange about this water!" She stops and stares as a massive hand composed of the strange water wraps around the pink haired girl and Justin, covering them completely. They're both going to drown, Malina thinks in horror. "LET GO OF THEM!" she bellows, racing over the top of the water and grabbing one of the liquid fingers. "Let them go! Now!"

  The hand lets go, dropping the pink haired girl and Justin. Malina scoops up Justin first, throwing him to Max. "Take him out of here!" A part of her feels guilty for picking him over the pink haired girl, but another tells her she would do the same a hundred times out of a hundred. Kidnappers really irritate her.

  "Are you doing this?" he asks.

  "Does it LOOK like I'm doing this?" she demands.

  "Ma—" the voice is gurgled and barely audible, but Malina goes still. "Lina," it finishes. The water comes up, swirling around her body. Malina fights the urge to shove it off of her, especially as a beautiful woman's face appears right in front of hers. "Malina," the woman whispers. A hand comes up, touching Malina's face. "My child."

  Unconsciously Malina stumbles back a few steps, falling onto her bottom on the floor. The flooding is gone, she realizes. It's all this woman. "Who—who are you?" Malina asks in a tiny voice.

  "You're so… beautiful," the water woman whispers, wrapping her arms around her and tugging her closer.

  "Let go of her," Malina hears Max say.

  "Never," the woman declares. To Malina's shock, the woman is literally peeled off of her by gravity. Max is floating in the air with Justin over his shoulder.