I’m not sure who he’s talking to, so I ignore him and keep talking to Kat. “Do you want to come over and test out the new bedding?”
“What, you’re not even going to wash it first? And you should come over here, since I can’t really leave, what with it being Christmas and all. And don’t tell me you’d rather stay home alone, because that’s just sad. And I know it’s not true.”
“Damien.” Gordon stands in front of me, trying to get my attention. “I said get off the phone and let’s go.”
That’s not actually what he said. “Hold on,” I tell Kat. To Gordon, I say, “What?”
“We’re leaving. You need to get your shoes on.” He grabs my new Heroesworth sweatshirt and tosses it at me, like I’m Alex or something and incapable of getting my own coat, which I don’t even need because I’m not going anywhere.
“You’re leaving. I’m not.” They’re going to Gordon’s parents’ house. My supposed grandparents who made a point of inviting everyone except me.
“We’re all going. I don’t care what they said.” A muscle in his jaw twitches. “You’re my son. You’re part of this family, whether they like it or not.”
This from the man who could barely tell them I existed a few months ago. But today he’s decided I have to be part of the family. “Yeah, I don’t think so. I have plans.” And if I wanted to spend Christmas where I’m not wanted, I would have gone over to Mom’s house.
“You’re canceling them.” He actually grabs my phone out of my hands, says, “He’ll call you tomorrow,” and turns it off. Off! Seriously!
“What the hell?!”
“You can have this back in the morning, when it’s not a holiday.” He’s using his gruff “I’m your father and I know everything” voice. Which, naturally, I really, really hate.
“So you gave Amelia a phone, but now you’re taking mine?” So unfair.
“If you’d put it away when I told you to, you wouldn’t have lost it.” He says that like it’s a fact, some simple truth that’s obvious to everyone. “You need to start understanding that there are consequences to your actions.”
There’s an edge to his voice, so I know he’s not just talking about today. He’s still hung up on what I did during my final. Great. So we’re back to that again. “Uh, yeah. Have you thought about the consequences of yours?”
“It’s Christmas. You’re not missing Christmas dinner with the family. And... they need to know that when they invite us over, it’s all of us or none of us.”
He sounds pretty serious about that. So much so that I wonder if maybe he really does understand how awful this might be. “So, if they refuse to even let me through the door?”
“Then we all get back in the car and go home.” He puts a hand on my shoulder and sighs, like he’s worried that might be a real possibility. “Now go get your shoes on. It’s time you met your grandparents.”
Chapter 7
GORDON’S PARENTS LIVE IN a white two-story house with a nice garden out front—or at least what looks like it would be a nice garden, if it wasn’t covered in snow—and a fenced-in backyard. It looks so generic and clean and non-threatening that it belongs in a magazine. One that advertises great American living. The perfect place to raise your 2.3 kids and the family dog.
Actually, Gordon and Helen sort of had 2.3 kids before I showed up. Maybe that’s why they always act like I’m going to go dig up the neighbors’ yard if they don’t keep tabs on me.
Or, you know, that I’m going to zap some poor, unsuspecting superhero who’s pretending to be a criminal.
Gordon’s mom answers the door. She has a big smile on her face for a split second, and then she notices me and her mouth goes all tight and disapproving. She doesn’t say anything. She just acts like I’m not there, greeting everyone else by name and not acknowledging me.
Blood-wise, this woman is just as much a part of my genetics as my other grandma, the one I’ve known my whole life, and that’s just weird. Like, this woman who hates me so much for existing makes up a fourth of my genes. And her husband, who I’m assuming hates me just as much, if not more, makes up another fourth.
But she lets us in the door, which is more than I expected. And more than Gordon expected, too, apparently, because once we’re inside he gives me this relieved look.
We’re not the only guests at this family gathering. Not that I’m a guest so much as an uninvited crasher. But it’s not just us—Gordon has two brothers, one older and one younger, and they’re both here. Them and their wives and their combined total of five children.
Gordon’s brothers—my uncles—look a lot like Gordon. Their kids look... Okay, not like me, but kind of. On my mom’s side of the family, everyone has red hair and I stick out like a sore thumb. But here, almost everyone has dark hair, like Gordon’s and Alex’s and kind of like mine. There are other similarities, too, like how their faces look and something about their noses. I look like I belong here, even though I don’t.
My new family members don’t look pleased to see me, either. They look like they’re just as weirded out by our similarities as I am.
One of Gordon’s brothers comes up to him as the rest of the family starts to mingle. Amelia talks to a couple of the older cousins—two boys who look around fourteen or fifteen and who may or may not be brothers—and Alex and a younger boy cousin instantly become engrossed in some handheld video game. There are two girls, a couple years younger than them, playing with a wooden train set by themselves. Jess clings to Helen’s leg while Helen catches up with her sister-in-laws and admires the fake Christmas tree.
I just sort of stand next to Gordon because I don’t know what else to do. If I had my phone, then at least I could text everyone I know about how stupid this is. Or get online and check Facebook or something, instead of standing around like some loser who has nothing to do and doesn’t know anybody.
Gordon’s brother seems kind of worried about me being here—though not worried enough to put down his glass of eggnog—and gives Gordon a questioning look.
“Damien,” Gordon says, putting a hand on my shoulder and steering me closer to him. “This is my older brother Ted. Your, um, uncle.”
Uncle Ted makes a sour face, like he can’t believe Gordon just tried to introduce us instead of explaining why he brought me. “Can I talk to you?” he asks him, indicating they should talk somewhere more private, where I won’t be able to hear.
As if I don’t know they’re talking about me and about how Gordon should have left me behind.
I make my way over to the fireplace, where Amelia’s talking to her cousins. Our cousins, I mean, except that I’ve never met them. They wrinkle their noses in disgust and take a step back as I come over, as if they’re going to catch villainy from me.
I look them in the eyes, sizing them up and not backing down. The one on the right is a few inches taller than his brother or cousin or whoever, and he has the same green eyes as me and Gordon. They’re also both wearing Christmas sweaters with pictures of snowmen in bright red scarves, so I’m going to guess they’re brothers. That, or their moms both just happen to hate them.
“This is Damien, my brother,” Amelia tells them, rolling her eyes to show them how little she appreciates this fact. To me, she says, “Have you met Nolan and Devon?” As if there’s any possibility that I could have met them before now. And she obviously didn’t think they knew who I was, either.
Nolan and Devon are watching me kind of warily, like they think I’m completely unstable and might suddenly attack them. At the family Christmas party. In front of everyone.
As if I wouldn’t have the patience to wait until there were no witnesses.
“I want my phone,” I tell Amelia.
She scoffs, really playing it up for them. “I don’t have it. This is my phone.” She hugs her new phone, which of course she’s been clutching this whole time.
“Uh, yeah, I know.” Even if I didn’t already know that it wasn’t my phone, it’s sparkly pink and ha
s the letter A on it, formed out of silver bling stickers. “Gordon has mine.”
“And let me guess. You want me to get it for you? Dad will know it was me, and then he’ll take my phone, too.”
“No, he won’t. If he even notices it’s gone, I’ll tell him I stole it.”
“Yeah, right. I’m not risking getting in trouble for you.”
“Come on. You know he’ll never believe you did it.”
This should be the point where she starts asking what’s in it for her. But she’s too busy showing off to her cousins to act like she’d ever consider it. “You’re as bad as Alex,” she tells me, giving them a look like, Brothers. What can you do?
Both of them still seem kind of nervous, like they don’t want to get too close to me.
“Don’t worry,” I tell them. “It doesn’t matter if you stand right next to me or across the room. I can zap you just as easily.”
The shorter one, Devon, stands there with his mouth hanging open.
Nolan glares at me. “If you even think about it, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” If he has his power yet, I’m guessing it’s flying, like Gordon and almost everyone else in his family. Or at least all the boys, which unfortunately includes me. I just happen to have two powers, on account of my mixed parentage. Nolan, who’s 100% hero, does not. And even if it turns out he has some other, more violent power, I still think I can take him.
Amelia laughs nervously. “He’s not going to zap anyone. He was just kidding. Right, Damien?”
Nolan doesn’t break eye contact with me, but he gets this look on his face, like he thinks she’s deluding herself and has no idea how evil I am. “You’ve already zapped one superhero. What’s to say you wouldn’t do it again?”
“Uncle Gordon shouldn’t have brought you here,” Devon adds, even though his brother is the one who’s bravely getting in my face about it. “We all saw what you did on the news. There’s no way you’re really related to us.”
“I know, I can’t believe it, either,” I tell them. “Seems kind of weird that I’m related to such prejudiced douchebags.”
Nolan’s nostrils flare. His hands are fists. He looks like he’s this close to punching me in the face.
“Go ahead,” I tell him. “Hit me. On Christmas. At your grandparents’ house.”
“I’m not starting anything,” he says. “I’m—”
He doesn’t get a chance to finish—he’s too startled by the glass of eggnog Amelia just poured down his back. “Oops,” she says, standing there holding her now empty glass. A glass she didn’t have a couple seconds ago, so she must have used her power to get it. I wonder whose glass it was and kind of hope it was Ted’s.
Nolan’s snowman sweater is wet and dripping. He turns toward her, gaping, like he can’t believe she would betray him like that. Him, her all-hero cousin she’s known her whole life, as opposed to me, her half-villain half brother she hasn’t even known for a whole year.
Amelia swallows, her face going pale, like she’s a little worried about what she just did. “It was an accident,” she lies.
Helen and the other two moms come over to see what’s going on. One of them, a brunette also wearing a Christmas sweater—though this one has Santa on it instead of a snowman—purses her lips and tells Nolan he’d better go get cleaned up.
“What happened?” Helen asks. She eyes both me and Amelia suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Amelia says, staring at her shoes. “I just tripped is all. Sorry, Nolan.”
“Yeah, right.” He glares at her before storming off to try and get the eggnog out of his clothes.
“Come on, honey,” their mom says to Devon. “Why don’t you, um...” She hesitates, trying to think of a polite excuse for him to not be anywhere near me. “Why don’t you go see if you can help Grandma in the kitchen?”
Devon looks torn between whining about having to help and being grateful for an excuse to get away from us. In the end, he looks put out about it, but hurries off to the kitchen without any real protest.
Their mom watches me and Amelia carefully, as if she’s not convinced that it really was Amelia and not me who “spilled” the eggnog. Even though Amelia’s still holding the empty glass.
“It was just an accident,” Helen says.
Nolan and Devon’s mom makes a hmph noise. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the kids, but I don’t know if bringing that boy was such a good idea. I can’t believe you let Gordon talk you into it.”
She won’t say that in front of her already prejudiced kids, but she’ll say it in front of me and Amelia?
Helen scowls and looks like she’s about to tell her where she can shove it, but she doesn’t get the chance because Gordon comes storming out of the hallway, where he went to go talk to his brother. His face is kind of red and he looks really pissed. He comes over to us, and I hope it’s to say that we’re going home, but it’s not. Instead he tells Helen, “Do you have any idea what Ted just said to me? He actually had the nerve to—” He suddenly notices that I’m standing right there and that maybe he shouldn’t repeat whatever awful things Ted said about me. “Damien. Why don’t you go check on Alex. You, too, Amelia.”
“I can see Alex from here,” I tell him. “He’s still playing video games. He’s fine.”
Gordon sighs and starts to lead Helen off, so they can talk alone, when his mom comes in from the kitchen. His brother Ted and an older man I’ve never seen before—who must be his dad—follow her over to us.
“I didn’t want to say anything,” his mom says, in a voice that clearly indicates she’s been dying to say something, “but Ted’s right, Gordon. We didn’t invite that boy for a reason.”
“It’s Christmas,” Gordon says.
“Exactly.” This from his dad. “We all want to enjoy the holiday and have a nice family get-together.”
His mom shakes her head. “He’s already caused trouble and made a scene.”
“As I just told Ted,” Gordon says, giving his brother a dirty look, “he’s my son and he’s part of this family, whether you like it or not.”
“He threw eggnog at my son.” Ted says this like it’s the one unforgivable crime in the universe. Like he would have given me a fair chance if it wasn’t for this eggnog incident.
Amelia steps forward. “That was me. I threw the—I mean, spilled—that eggnog. It wasn’t Damien.”
Ted doesn’t even acknowledge that she just spoke, let alone what she said. “He threatened my boys.”
Gordon quickly glances over to me, then tries to hide it by staring down his family instead. “Damien’s a good kid.”
His mother gives a disdainful sniff. “You’re acting like we didn’t all see those news reports.”
“The boy’s a menace.” His dad shakes his head sadly, like it’s too bad. “It’s one thing for you to decide you don’t care about your own family’s safety and bring him to live with you. But it’s another to bring him here and—”
“Damien wouldn’t hurt anyone.” Gordon’s voice burns, and he sounds like he believes that more than anything. “What you saw on the news was a misunderstanding. He thought that man was a criminal. Damien only zapped him because he thought the lives of two kids were on the line. He knew he’d get in trouble for it, but my son is the kind of person who doesn’t think about the consequences for himself when innocent people are in trouble. You would know that if you’d spent any time with him at all, instead of judging him and acting like he doesn’t deserve to be here. And, Ted, it was just eggnog, for crying out loud!”
They all gape at him.
“He stays,” Gordon adds, and then turns away from them and storms off out the sliding glass door into the backyard.
Whoa. I hurry after him, sliding the door back open almost as soon as it shuts. There’s snow on the ground and I can see my breath and I don’t have my coat on.
Gordon whirls around, probably expecting that one of them’s come to argue with him some more. When he sees
it’s me, his face softens and he lets his shoulders relax. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Ted can be kind of a jerk.”
“So can his kids.”
“Did you really throw eggnog on him?”
“Amelia did. Because...” Well, I don’t have to tell him that me and Nolan were on the verge of a fistfight. “He didn’t like me very much.”
“Maybe we should have stayed home. We could have had a much quieter Christmas. But I wanted them to know that they don’t get to decide if you’re part of this family or not. I know that’s hard and probably not the Christmas you wanted, but—”
“No, it’s okay.” It was worth it, to hear him defend me like that. “And I really appreciate you admitting I did the right thing during my final. Especially, you know, to them.”
He blinks at me, like he can’t quite make sense of that. Then understanding flashes in his eyes and he shakes his head. “I was defending you.”
“Yeah, but it’s cool that you’ve come around. That you finally see my side of it.”
“No, I mean I was defending you and that’s all. I didn’t want them to only know the side of you they saw on the news. But what you did is still wrong.”
“What? But all that stuff you said, about that guy being a criminal and those kids’ lives being on the line—”
“I can see why you wanted to help them. But it’s still not okay that you used your power on someone. That you broke the rules.” He tilts his head a little, looking almost sorry for me that I don’t understand that. “Just because I didn’t want the rest of the family to know about our problems doesn’t mean we don’t still have them.”
Chapter 8
I TAKE MY TIME getting to third period the first day of the new semester. Third period is Advanced Heroism, which I have with Riley. We’re finally going to be working in pairs instead of groups, and we even get to choose our partners. I haven’t actually been to the class yet, but this is apparently common knowledge, plus the teacher, Mrs. Deeds, sent out a really cheerful email outlining the basics of the class and telling us how crazy excited she is to start working with all of us.
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