The Betrayal of Renegade X (Renegade X, Book 3)

by Chelsea M. Campbell

She hurries out of the room. I follow her, not even pausing to avoid the especially creaky floorboards, which I think is pretty brave of me. Though then Kat practically runs down the stairs, and I hesitate at the landing, which is kind of the opposite of brave.

  Crap.

  I take a deep breath and keep going, because there’s no way I’m letting my stupid fear of heights stop me from going after her. I take the steps a lot slower than she did, though pretty quickly for me, even if my stomach drops when one of the wobbly boards actually slides a little beneath me. My heart races as I hurry down the rest of the stairs, telling myself not to think about it.

  Kat’s already out the front door when I get to the bottom. Alex actually turns away from the TV to watch the drama, and Helen’s not-so-subtly giving me this sympathetic-but-accusing look, like she thinks I must have done something to cause Kat to flee the house.

  Which maybe I did, but I didn’t mean to.

  Thankfully, Amelia doesn’t come stomping out of her room to gawk. Which probably just means I was wrong about her being home and not that she, like, respects my privacy or anything.

  Kat was in such a hurry to get out of here, she left her striped pink and black scarf draped across the back of the couch. I grab it as I run past and out the door. I hope Kat didn’t drive here—she has her license—because there’s no way I can catch up to her if she did.

  The old-but-not-so-old-it’s-unreliable car her parents got her for her birthday is in the driveway. She’s sitting in the driver’s seat, not going anywhere.

  I open the passenger door and get in. “You forgot your scarf.”

  “Thanks.” She lets out a long breath. Her gaze flicks over to me. “I thought I’d have more time, before you got here. Because... you know. The stairs.”

  “I made record time. Though step number twenty-two almost slid out beneath me.”

  “It did not.”

  “It did. I nearly died.”

  A grin slides across her mouth real quick, then disappears again. “I’m sorry I freaked out. But that really hurt. I mean, you need her, Damien? You’re supposed to need me.”

  “I do need you.”

  “Not just in the bedroom, I mean.”

  I roll my eyes at her. “Kat, seriously. The bedroom stuff was furthest from my mind.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I need you for lots of reasons.”

  “Just not that one.” She takes a pair of gloves out of her pocket and puts them on. “The two of us were supposed to work together. Me and you. We were supposed to go to Vilmore and be partners in crime.”

  “Are you mad I didn’t go to Vilmore?” After I saved the school last semester, they offered me admission and a full-ride scholarship. I could have practically lived with Kat in the dorms and made our dream of working together come true, but I turned it down. It was the right decision, but that doesn’t mean I don’t realize what I gave up.

  Kat shakes her head. “It would have been cool if you went there, but I get why you couldn’t. I’m okay with that. I just... It hurts to see you living our dream with somebody else. I know we have to work with different people at school, but you were trying to set up a whole future with her.”

  “She’s my sidekick.”

  “I’m so tired of hearing that. And the fact that you didn’t even think of me, when you were thinking about your future...” She presses her hands to her face.

  I put my arm around her and draw her closer to me. “Kat, of course I think about you being in my future. But until I can offer a competitive salary, along with a top-notch health and dental plan, I think you can do better. I mean, Sarah’s right—it’s not exactly a paying job.”

  Kat drops her hands. “You won’t be alone after graduation, Damien. You know that, right?”

  “Everyone’s going to join the League. Except you and Sarah. But you’re going to have some awesome villain job when you get out of school—I know you will—and Sarah’s going to college for some reason. And even if nobody goes anywhere, they’ll still be going somewhere, you know? And then there’s me.”

  There’s a knock on my window, startling both of us. Sarah’s standing there, shivering a little in the cold.

  I push the button to open the automatic window. “Hey, Sarah. Sorry I took off.”

  Kat rolls her eyes, like it’s ridiculous of me to be apologizing.

  “It’s okay,” Sarah says. “But it’s starting to snow, so I should get going and walk Heraldo. It takes forever to get him into his dog booties, but he loves chomping at snowflakes.”

  “Okay. Do you need a ride?”

  Kat glares at me.

  “I mean,” I add, “I can get Helen to take you home.”

  “It’s okay,” Sarah says. “I’m going to walk.” She leans forward, peering into the car at Kat. “It was good seeing you again. And Damien doesn’t really need me. I’m sure he wouldn’t have said it if he knew you could hear him.”

  “Sarah!”

  Sarah gives me a thumbs up before ducking her head back out the window, like she thinks what she said was actually helpful or something. Then she heads off in the direction of her house, pausing once to turn and wave good-bye at us.

  “Kat, listen, I—”

  “I should go, too,” Kat says, cutting me off. “I can’t drive in the snow.”

  “I’ll go with you. We can hang out at your place, or walk back over here.”

  “I think I should just get home.” She stares blankly out the windshield while she says it, not looking at me. “By myself. Sorry, Damien.”

  “But...” She came home this weekend to see me. Me, her favorite person in the whole world. And now after only, like, ten minutes together, she’s leaving.

  I stare at her for a while, not quite believing that this is happening. Then I get out of the car.

  Chapter 14

  GRANDPA’S PARTY IS WAY classy. It’s black tie and is at a really nice, villain-owned hotel. There’s no sign outside the door to advertise it or arrows pointing where to go or anything. It’s all really secret and cool. The invitation has instructions to go up to the guy at the front desk and say, “Golden,” which is the name of the room the party’s in. I’m pretty sure the guy recognizes me when I come up to him, because he gets that shocked look in his eyes, but he doesn’t say anything. He just asks for my invitation, shines a special light on it to reveal a seal of authenticity, and then says, “Right this way,” as he leads me down the hallway toward the party.

  He never once mentions my name, even though I’m pretty sure he knows it, and he never says anything about the Truth. And if he’s secretly taking pictures of me to post on the internet later, he’s doing it awfully discreetly. Grandpa’s really kept this whole thing under wraps. I’m surprised it wasn’t an elaborate costume party with required face masks like in the movies.

  The ballroom is full of people, all wearing tuxes and fancy dresses. I’m scanning the crowd, looking for Grandpa, or at least for someone I recognize, when I catch a glimpse of bright red hair. She’s not wearing a wedding dress this time, but Mom still stands out in a crowd. I quickly turn around, so maybe she won’t see me, but it’s already too late.

  “Oh, Damien, there you are!” Mom says as she hurries over to me, dragging Xavier by the hand. “Your grandfather said you’d be here.”

  “Let go!” Xavier whines, trying to pull his hand away so he can get to me. “You’re not allowed to hold onto me unless I say so!”

  “I think maybe Grandpa needs a hearing aid, because I told him I couldn’t make it.” It’s really annoying that he didn’t believe me. And that he was right. “And he wasn’t even going to tell you about it, so what are you doing here?” Even if he did tell her about it, there’s no way he’d let her bring Xavier.

  “Is that any way to greet your mother? Honestly. I’m his daughter. Of course he told me about it.”

  I raise my eyebrows, giving her a skeptical look. She’s got on a green dress I’ve seen her wear a million times that
also has a dark stain across one boob, her stockings have a huge run going up the side, and Xavier isn’t even in a suit, just a black T-shirt and some blue pants that come up a little short. And he’s only wearing one sock.

  “All right. Your grandmother told me. She said she couldn’t babysit tonight and also that she couldn’t be bothered to think of a fake excuse. Hmph.”

  “So you brought him here?”

  “And speaking of babysitting...” She tugs on Xavier’s arm, yanking him forward. “Taylor had to visit one of his aunts in the hospital—it’s an emergency—and your grandfather’s busy, and your grandmother refuses, so—”

  “No. No way. I’m not—”

  She shoves Xavier’s hand into mine before I can make a run for it. “I’ll just be a minute! I haven’t been to the bathroom in over four hours.”

  “Mom, wait! You can’t—” But she’s already disappeared into the crowd, like she couldn’t get away fast enough. Or maybe she really does have to go to the bathroom that bad.

  Xavier’s hand feels small and sticky in mine. I glance down at him. Not only is he not in black tie, like he was at the wedding, but his hair is wild and sticking out all over. He stares in the direction Mom went, his lower lip sticking out.

  “She’s coming back,” I say, more to myself than to him.

  “I know. Let go of me. I’m not a baby.”

  I drop his hand, which seems to surprise him. I make a face and wipe my palm on my thigh.

  “Hey! You’re... you’re not supposed to let go.”

  “And you’re not supposed to exist, but we don’t always get what we want.”

  “I could get lost! Or stolen. And then Mommy will hate you.”

  “Or she’ll realize she’s better off and that I did her a favor.” I shrug. Plus, as far as her hating me goes, I think that ship has sailed.

  Xavier gapes at me, unable to comprehend how little I care about what happens to him.

  “If you don’t want to get lost or stolen, I suggest you go find Grandma.” I walk off into the crowd, looking for Grandpa. He’s the one who invited me to this thing, and even though he’s going to gloat about how he knew I’d show up, I still want him to know I’m here.

  “Wait!” Xavier’s footsteps follow me.

  I don’t even look back at him. “Her hair’s pink right now. She shouldn’t be hard to find.” And just because she said she wouldn’t watch him doesn’t mean she’ll abandon him in a crowded room. Not like I’m doing.

  Grandpa’s standing near a piano—a piano that someone is actually playing—holding a martini and talking to a couple of his friends. He spots me right away and motions for me to join the group.

  He smiles at me, sounding more proud than gloating. “You made it.”

  Xavier comes up beside me and tries to make me hold his hand again, but I make a fist and don’t let him.

  “This is my grandson, Damien,” Grandpa says, introducing me to his friends.

  They nod and say hello, taking turns shaking hands with me. “We’ve heard a lot about you,” one of them says.

  “Who hasn’t?”

  “Actually,” Grandpa tells his friends, “if you’ll excuse me, I need to have a few words with my grandson.” He puts his arm around my shoulders, so it’s clear he means me and not Xavier. Not that there was any confusion.

  The other guys say they’ll catch up with him later and wander off to find their wives.

  Grandpa elbows me in the ribs. “How do you like the party? Pretty fancy, huh?”

  “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? Because if you’re going to say I told you so because I showed up—”

  “I’m not. I’m glad you’re here.”

  “Oh.”

  “Stop it,” Xavier screeches, still trying to shove his hand into mine. “Stop trying to lose me!”

  Me and Grandpa both make disgusted faces at him. I consider making my hand spark, because that would at least get him to stop touching me, even if it probably wouldn’t do anything to shut him up. But, thoughtful and amazing half brother that I am, I decide to warn him first. Even if I really, really don’t want to. “If you don’t stop that, I’m going to zap you.”

  He scrunches up his face, angry and red, sucking in a breath like he has a lot to say about that.

  I hold up my hand and make electricity flow across my skin.

  “You can’t do that to me,” he says, though he doesn’t sound that confident about it. He glances up at Grandpa, like he’s checking to see if he’s going to step in and tell me I’m out of line.

  He’s not.

  I glare at Xavier until he scowls and shoves his hands in his pockets.

  Grandpa smiles at me. “I want to talk to you about your future.”

  “Look, just because I showed up, it doesn’t mean—”

  “It doesn’t mean you’re joining the Truth. I know.” He sighs. “But you’re here. You made the effort to come to this shindig. Tell me why.”

  I raise my eyebrows at him. “Uh, you invited me.”

  “Don’t be smart about it. And don’t look at me like you think I’m going senile. You’re not here just because I invited you. I’d like to hear your reasons.”

  “It’s not going to change anything.”

  “We’ll see. And speak up.”

  “I just... You said you were sticking up for villain rights, and that I could make a...” A difference. But I catch myself before admitting that’s something I care about. I don’t want him thinking I actually do want to join, even if I kind of do. “I support villain rights. Obviously.”

  “Why?”

  “Geez, Grandpa. You know why.”

  “Humor me. It’s my party, my organization. I want to know.”

  “Uh, because I’m a villain? And I live with heroes. I spend all day with them at school. And they don’t care about us having rights. You should see how they’ve rewritten the history books. They make it out like villains have never done anything worthwhile or contributed to society, like we’re all just here to get in their way and cause trouble. They give themselves all the glory. And they act like villains are diseased or something.”

  “And that bothers you. Enough for you to come here.”

  “Of course it bothers me! I mean, I don’t care what they think about me. The kids at school and stuff. But, yeah, the way heroes act like all villains are automatically evil and that they’re better than us? That pisses me off. A lot. And I knew things weren’t great for villains, like, before I went to live with heroes. But even my family, the people I know care about me and don’t hate me for supposedly being half evil, they still say and do letterist stuff all the time. My friends, too.” I shrug, like it’s no big deal. “But, Grandpa, I can’t join the Truth.”

  “I can join,” Xavier says in his most annoying nails-on-the-chalkboard voice. “You should have asked me instead.”

  I glare at him again. “Did I mention I’d zap you for talking?”

  He glares right back but doesn’t say anything.

  “Damien.” Grandpa puts a hand on my shoulder. “Listen to yourself. You live with heroes who supposedly care about you—”

  “They do.”

  “—and even they don’t treat you like an equal. What hope is there for the rest of us?”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “But you’re staying out of a group that supports villain rights because of them. That doesn’t sound like they’re really looking out for you.”

  “Grandpa—”

  He holds up a hand. “Hear me out. Your only reason why you can’t join—not even that you don’t want to, but that you can’t—is because your father’s a superhero. The man who wasn’t in your life for sixteen years, who didn’t raise you.”

  “He didn’t even know about me.”

  “Because he had random relations with my daughter, a complete stranger, and it never occurred to him that there might be consequences.” He cracks his knuckles. “He wanted to pretend it never happene
d and let your mother deal with the results all on her own. Some hero.”

  “I don’t think...” Okay, maybe he did want to pretend it never happened. But I know he would have been there if Mom had told him about me. “He’s around now, okay? And I don’t want to screw things up for him again.”

  Grandpa puts a hand to his temple, like I’m giving him a headache. “So instead you’re screwing up your life. And your future. He shouldn’t want that for you.”

  “He doesn’t.” My voice is quiet. I don’t know if it’s true or not. I can’t imagine Gordon wanting me to screw up my life, but he and Grandpa have totally different ideas of what that means. “I want villains to have rights, okay? But I can’t do this. I’m trying to be a hero and to not make trouble for once. You made this organization partially because of me, but I didn’t ask for that. So, I’m sorry, but I can’t be part of the Truth.”

  “Yeah,” Grandpa says, sighing and looking at me like I’m a huge disappointment. “That’s what I thought.”

  This is the first time we’ve had to have partners in Rescue Strategy fifth period. It’s the only other class me and Riley have together besides Advanced Heroism. The teacher says to pair up for the assignment today, and Riley looks over at me like he expects us to work together.

  And okay, yeah, we sit next to each other and are mostly on speaking terms. But that doesn’t mean I’m not still pissed he picked Mason over me.

  “Come on, X,” Riley says when I glance around the room, looking for someone else to be partners with, even though no one is even getting out of their chairs, just turning to the person next to them. “Don’t pretend we’re not working together.” He sounds really put out about it.

  “You shouldn’t make assumptions about who I’m working with. Just like I shouldn’t have assumed we were working together in Advanced Heroism. I mean, it’s not like we made plans or anything.”

  He rolls his eyes at me. “Will you get over it already? It’s not like I wanted to ditch you. Er, not that that’s what happened. I didn’t ditch you, and if we’d been working in teams of three—”

  “I get it,” I snap. “You don’t have to say it.” If we’d been working in teams of three, he would have included me. But when it was only two? He picked Mason. Who he hadn’t seen or talked to for years. So obviously we weren’t as good of friends as I thought we were. He can say it was because I zapped that superhero during our final and endangered his scholarship—and maybe it was partly because of that—but he was the one trying to convince me we should still work together. At least until Mason showed up. “Are you sure you can afford to do this assignment with me? I wouldn’t want you to risk your GPA.”