by R. J. Ross
“Tell her what?” I ask as I start digging through my clothes. I really need to do laundry.
“That you like her?” he says.
“Let it die, Ace. I’ll get over it as soon as I’m back on the road with millions of girls throwing themselves at me,” I tell him, shucking my clothes and pulling on my trunks. “You’re the one that’s never going to get a girlfriend.” I head out as he splutters, joining the others as they rush out to get to the pool. Trent stands there next to a gigantic pool, looking quite satisfied with himself. It’s concrete, and bigger than I thought it would be. To my surprise, Malina is standing next to him. The look of excitement on her face is bright enough to blind me.
“So she finally came out, huh?” Vinny says as he steps up beside me.
“Came out?”
“About her powers.” I watch in stunned silence as the tiny female steps out onto the water, walking to the middle as if she were standing on ice. She raises her arms, starting to dance happily. Water splashes and floats around her as she twists and turns. It’s like the water is dancing with her--it’s got to be the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. “Pretty, huh? Don’t let that fool you,” Vinny goes on, his hands in his pockets, “you can cut through steel with water if you know what you’re doing. She got closer to breaking out of the zoo more times than I ever did.”
“But she’s so--so--” I say, feeling like an idiot, “cute,” I finally say.
“She’s a little person,” Vinny says bluntly. “Aubrey says she’ll probably only grow to three foot five. If that’s the only reason why you’re calling her ‘cute’ I suggest you keep that thought to yourself.” He walks away, leaving me a bit stunned. How big of a jerk HAD I come off as at first?
I head to the pool side, dropping down on the concrete and just watching Malina. I see Morgan from the corner of my eye, but I don’t turn to look at her. It’s only when Ace drops down next to me that I look up. He’s got a thoughtful look on his face as he watches the girl, and suddenly the water she’s playing with changes colors. Pinks, blues and purples flash over her head, dancing at her finger tips.
“PARTY!!” Carla bellows from behind me. I don’t even have time to blink before she’s jumping over our heads and cannon-balling into the pool. For a second I worry that it will offend Malina--and then she bursts into giggles, diving in to wrestle with Carla.
“Is it true?” Ace asks.
“What, that you’ll never get a girlfriend?”
“No, that you’re planning on going back on the road,” Ace says, looking at me.
“Sure I am,” I say. “Just like her,” I say, motioning to the pool, “I need to do what I was made to do, Ace. I need to be on that stage, singing, making people happy. And I need to do it soon, or people will forget who I am.” I take a deep breath, saying what I’ve been hiding for over a week. “My agent called me. He talked to Mastermental--he’s trying to set up a summer tour.”
“Oh. That sounds cool.”
“I would have jumped at it not more than a month ago,” I say, leaning back on my hands and looking at the sky. “Now... I don’t know. It seems sort of lonely.”
“What’s Nico say?” Trent asks, stepping into my view. I abruptly realize that everyone’s looking at me. “Is he going to let you go?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “He hasn’t brought it up yet.” I look at the pool again, “but it’d be just a month or so, right? I’ll be back when it’s over.”
“Says the guy who was in such a hurry to leave and never look back,” Morgan says, grinning at me. “I’m happy for you,” she says. “We all are, right guys?” she asks them.
“Who’s going to sing during our barbecue parties?” Carla asks, pouting.
“We’ll make Max--he comes with a mic,” Ace tells her.
“But can he sing?” she asks.
“Probably not, but it’ll be entertaining seeing him try!”
“We’ll miss you,” Carla says, looking at me, “a LOT--especially if Max can’t sing,” she adds a bit too bluntly. I can’t help the laugh that escapes me.
“Yeah,” I say. “I’ll miss you guys, too,” I admit, looking from one to the next. “But hey, maybe while I’m out there I’ll find more of us.” I look at Morgan, but all I see is excitement in her eyes at the thought. I doubt she’ll miss me at all.
My heart breaks a little as she confirms what I’d thought all along. It’s one-sided, and it always will be.
Maybe a month away will be good, after all.
Malina
I can’t believe I did that. I actually did my stupid dance where people could SEE me--well, at least I held it in until we had our own pool. It would have been beyond embarrassing to do it in front of hundreds of norms. But it’s been SO LONG since I had a decent amount of water at hand! Even now I’m fighting the urge to do silly water sculptures or tease Carla with--
Before I realize it, a gigantic dragon made of water rises up, lurking behind my best friend, his mouth opening. A drop of water falls from his tongue onto her head. She turns from the boys next to the pool, staring up at the dragon with gigantic gold eyes--
I choke for a second before laughing my head off as the dragon “eats” her. To my surprise, though, I’m not the only one laughing. Well, Carla’s not laughing, she’s too busy spluttering. The rest of the group is, though! Even Ace is roaring with laughter.
“MALINA!!” Carla yells before jumping me, dragging me underwater with her. I giggle, creating a tiny whirlpool to drag her away and then shoving her up into the air. I hear her shout, “I’M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!” before she jumps off of the spout of water into the pool.
I lay back, floating on the surface and staring happily at the sky--until Ace’s face appears right above me. I can’t help but yelp in shock, almost drowning (which is REALLY hard for a water manipulator, okay?) “Hey,” he says, grinning.
“What? I shouldn’t have used a dragon, sorry--” I say, hating just how tiny my voice sounds right now.
“No way, that was awesome,” he says. He’s crouching on one of those invisible disks, right above my pool. “I want to recruit you.”
“You will not!” Morgan yells from the poolside.
“Hey now, that’s up to her,” Ace yells back. “C’mon, Malina, join the dark side with me,” he says, turning those hypnotizing eyes on me. I can literally see the silver moving through the black.
“I’ll join!” Carla says, jumping on me.
“You can’t,” Vinny says, carrying out a tray of lemonade with Jimmi trailing behind him with a stack of cups. “You’ve already promised to be on my team.”
“Oh, right. Sorry Ace,” Carla says.
“It’s okay, Carla, I’ll be okay,” Ace says, grinning at her before turning back to me.
“I think she should come with me,” Justin says, to my shock.
“Wh--what?” I say, knowing I’m blushing bright red. Why are boys fighting over me right now? This does NOT happen to me! I find myself looking from Ace to Justin and back, trying to figure out if they’ve got sunstroke or something. Maybe it fried their brains! “I--I wasn’t really planning on going super,” I admit, looking down at the water. “I thought I’d just get a job and--and maybe go into helping with child services? Too many kids get lost in the system.”
The entire party turns to stare at me--even Emily, who showed up when I wasn’t watching, but it’s Ace that speaks first. “Do you really think you can’t help kids by going super?” he asks me curiously.
“I guess--I mean, saving them from burning buildings or something, but--”
“Not like that,” Trent says, making me look over. “You can do a LOT more than just that. You’re in the perfect place to become the champion of kids everywhere. Supers get more attention than politicians in a lot of ways. But you’d probably do better on our side than his,” he adds, jumping into the pool and swimming over.
I’m feeling rather hunted right now, I think as Justin jumps into the pool as well. “
I agree with Trent,” he says, lounging in the water. “If we can get you into the public eye we can bring up your causes in front of them.”
“ENOUGH!” Emily bellows, jumping into the pool and climbing up Trent like a monkey climbing a tree. “Can’t you tell you’re overwhelming her?” she demands. “Malina needs to be treated delicately!” Then she jumps off Trent’s shoulders and tackles me into the water.
“How was that delicately?” I hear Ace ask as Emily and I play fight under the water. She’s grinning at me, and I realize she did it completely on purpose. I give her a thankful grin, heading back for the surface, away from the guys. I rise up, stepping off the water onto the concrete. Vinny holds out a glass of lemonade without a word.
“Thank you,” I say, giving him a smile as I head for a chair. The three boys are wrestling in the pool, giving me time to think. Emily drops down on the chair to my left, Morgan drops down to my right. “You can,” Emily says, looking at me with a smile.
“Can what?”
“Do anything you put your mind to--you would make an amazing super hero,” she adds, “but I bet you’d make an awesome children’s service worker, as well. You’ve got a very gentle... atmosphere,” she says, shrugging as if the word is the only one she can think of.
“But why would--um--they--” I ask, motioning to the roughhousing teens in the pool.
“Well...” Emily stares at them, looking extremely serious. “I’m guessing that Justin wants to drag you on the road and let you do some sort of show at his concerts. Ace probably thinks a female super villain with water abilities would be awesome, and Trent--well, that ones the most obvious of them all,” she says. “He wants you to help the world. He’s a Liberty boy, you know?”
“Is it something to do with--with me being short?” I ask.
“I’m not that much taller than you are, you know,” she says drolly. “I bet it had to do with your water dance. Ace and Justin watched you even when Morgan came out in a bikini. That says a LOT you know?”
“It’s just a stupid dance,” I say, feeling a blush creep over my cheeks. “I did it when I first realized I had powers--and it was so much fun that I couldn’t stop myself from doing it again today.”
It’s getting shady. Is it just me? I look up at the sky, seeing a strangely low floating cloud cross over the sun. Huh.
“I’ll pay you.”
Justin’s comment jerks me back into focus and I stare at him blankly. He’s standing in front of me, a towel over his shoulders. “For what?” I ask.
“For being my opening show. We could make it HUGE. We’ll bring in pools and strobe lights, whatever you think you need. All you would have to do is dance!” There’s such an excited look on his face that I can’t help but feel a little enthusiastic as well. “It’ll be awesome! Come on, Malina, just for a month try being famous.” He crouches down in front of my chair, looking me straight in the eyes. “I’ll give you ten minutes every show just to tell people about--whatever it is you feel like telling them, I don’t care. You can tell them you plan on taking over the world, if you want.”
“I don’t want to take over the world,” I protest, fighting the urge to laugh. “But--I’ll think about it, okay?”
“Promise?”
“Yeah, I promise,” I say, feeling a hint of dread trying to sneak in. An entire month away from the others--it sounds like a huge amount of time. He’s holding out his pinkie now, in a childish manner.
“Pinkie swear,” he demands. “Don’t tell me you guys don’t do it, still.”
I hook pinkies with him. “I swear I’ll think about going on the road with you,” I say.
Ward
I’m still feeling a little weirded out. No, not by the pool--I’m not even at the pool, although I can hear them. It’s just all of a sudden after school yesterday Nico came up to me and handed me a DVD. He didn’t say a word, just left it with me and walked away.
It’s a copy of the Mega movie. I didn’t go to the Mega Movie premier, I didn’t feel like sitting in a movie theater for hours on end watching a movie about the sort of stuff I’ll have to do for a living. So I’ve never seen it, right? But now I have the television to myself, and I thought I’d take advantage. I’m not sure I should have. I curl up my legs in front of me, hugging them like a little kid as I watch the man on the screen grow taller and taller until he’s towering over a building.
Why would Nico give me a boot-legged movie of a man that has abilities like mine? Is it because he plans on making him my mentor? That makes sense. I mean, Vinny’s got Flame as his mentor because they’ve got similar powers. Of course, they’re related, too--no. Not going to go down that path, I think as I turn off the TV and get to my feet. Morgan won’t mind me using her computer, right? All I want to do is look up my future mentor.
I head for her room, feeling a bit guilty for not asking permission, and sit down at her desk. I move the mouse, waking it up, and smile slightly at the pictures that make up her wallpaper. There’s at least one of everyone in our group. They’re all ridiculous. I click on her internet and type “Mega” slowly in the url bar, waiting to see what it brings up.
There are pictures after pictures of him with various norm women. It looks like he dates around a lot. There’s his movie poster, with the actor playing him doing a ridiculous pose. There’s nothing personal, though, I think. Not even a date of birth or what city he lives in. People just assume that the Central Hall supers live in Missouri, but they don’t have to--not when they can fly, right?
I scroll through a few more pages of links and pictures before closing the browser. This doesn’t answer anything. I don’t even know what I’m looking for, really! I should just call Nico and ask him. I close the browser and get up, leaving Morgan’s room and heading for my own, my phone in hand.
Why does this feel so urgent to me? Why am I balking at the idea of getting a mentor? It’s not like I didn’t see it coming. I might be one of the younger zoo kids, but I’m not the youngest. They’ll want to get me started soon, right? But... Mega seems way too busy with all his movies and girlfriends to train someone. There’s no way he’s going to want to be my mentor. I should tell Nico that.
I sit down on my bed, tapping on my phone and bringing up Nico’s number. I can’t help but squirm as I wait for the call to go through, almost forgetting to talk when he answers. “Hi. Um, it’s me, Ward,” I say, sounding like a moron. “Why did you give me that movie?” I hear myself ask. I almost slap my forehead for blurting it out like that.
“I thought you’d find it interesting,” he says. “Did you not?”
“He’s got an ego bigger than he can grow,” I mutter.
“He does, doesn’t he?” Nico says, laughing. “I want you to meet him--but you don’t have to, if you don’t want to. Look, I have to ask, Ward, do you know your father?”
I almost drop the phone. “I... I don’t know anyone,” I say quietly, staring at the wall so hard that I can almost see through it. Unfortunately, that’s not one of my powers. “I’m an orphan.”
“That’s what I thought,” he says. “Do you want to meet him?”
“You don’t--you don’t think he’s my dad, do you?”
“I’m not sure, actually. But there’s a good chance you’re related. I just haven’t scanned him to be sure how, yet. But just because you’re related doesn’t mean you have to like him, though. Trust me, I’m living proof of that.”
“Have you told him?” I ask. “You know, about me?”
“Not yet. Sooner or later you’re going to debut, though. He’s going to notice it for himself.”
I look out the window, watching the others play in the pool. “Tell him,” I say after a long moment. “If he wants to meet me, he can come here. If he doesn’t, well, maybe we’re both better off. It’s a little too late to have a dad, right? Or an uncle, or whatever he might be.”
“It’s never too late for that. If it were, I wouldn’t have my twins,” Nico says in a far-too-calm voice. “Then
again, I don’t have the massive ego that Mega does. But since you’ve made your call, I’ll go make mine. If you don’t hear anything from him this week, well, I’ll find you a different mentor.”
“Yeah,” I say, not expecting much, “sounds good.”
I hear him hang up and I pocket my phone, heading for my bedroom to get some swimming trunks. I pull to a stop when I hear Trent call out, “Hey, Uncle Rob, what’s up?”
“Hey, Trent! I’m looking for a kid named Ward,” I hear a familiar voice say. I go perfectly still, pretty certain that I know who he is.
“He’s in the house.”
The door opens and I can literally hear him walking through the house. I should say something, I think. I just didn’t expect him to show up this soon--or at all, really. The steps stop outside my door and a knock comes after a few moments. “Are you Ward?”
“Y--yeah,” I say, turning to look at the door. I can’t breathe. I’m trying to, but something’s keeping me from it as the door swings open. To my surprise, rather than a man in full red and gold uniform, it’s a plain looking guy in a pair of slacks and a dress shirt. He stares at me for a moment.
“Hi,” he says.
“Hi.”
“Can I sit down?” he asks, motioning to the chair in the corner. I nod, watching silently as he sits down and stares at me. “We’re being spied on,” he mentions, not looking at the door.
“Yeah, probably,” I say.
“My name is Robert,” he says. This has got to be the most awkward conversation ever.
“Ward,” I say, taking the hand he holds out. “Um... If this is about the whole family thing--”
“Technico says he can find out if you’re my son. I have no siblings, so if you’re not, you’ll probably be from another branch of the Gigantess line.”
“Gigantess?” I repeat, confused.
“Our line comes from one of the first female supers ever recorded,” he says, smiling slightly. “Regardless of how we’re related, you’re the first of my line that I’ve heard of. I’d like to know you better--much better,” he goes on, looking me in the eyes. “I’ll start your mentoring as soon as I can fit it into my schedule, and once you’re debuted we can line up all sorts of interviews! We’ll be famous! I’ll get you a complimenting uniform--possibly something in blue, what do you think? We can OWN this, Ward. We’ll be famous--well, I’ll be even more famous, of course. I need to call my PR man, he’s going to love this!”
