by R. J. Ross
“Who was that?” Negatia asks.
“Ace, no,” Nico says, snorting. “Just no.”
“Ace?” Negatia repeats.
“Dragon.”
“Oh.”
***
Days have passed. Justin walks alongside Nico, his hands clenched in his pockets as he walks down the hall of laser walled cells. “Here,” Nico says, stopping in front of one cell. There’s a man inside, laid out on a hospital bed, unconscious. “The hearing to get his powers stripped was today. I invited you today to see the event take place—you can be a witness on behalf of your father.”
Justin nods. “He’s not going to sit up, or recover between now and then, is he?”
“Not with what I’ve put in there,” Nico says, nodding to a small machine in the corner. “I still hate Herold with a passion, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t make an excellent power blocker machine.”
Justin nods, only to jerk slightly as the man inside speaks. “Is that Sonic Scream’s boy?”
“You don’t deserve an answer to that, D.B.” Nico says coldly.
“It is,” Deathblow says with a hint of relish. “Sonic Scream’s little mini-me. How nice of you to come see me, boy.”
“I’ve come to see you finished for good,” Justin says.
“Ha, like they’d do that,” Deathblow says. “They’re pushovers, boy. They don’t kill. They CAN’T kill. It’s bad for their image. They want the whole world thinking that they’re somehow better than they are. That they’re the heroes that will always do the right thing. It’s all bull,” he says. “They’re as corrupt as everyone else. They just hide it behind a mask.”
“You’re a murderer, Deathblow. Very few people are as corrupt as you are,” Justin says. “And I never said they’d kill you—but they should.”
“Then what will they do to me, little Scream? Toss me back into a box? I’ll just be waiting, like I have been for all these years, for the chance to come and kill you. The sins of the fathers, and all that. Your daddy got me tossed in—I enjoyed finishing him off, and I’m going to enjoy finishing you off, as well,” Deathblow says almost whimsically. “I have all the time in the world. I don’t age, you know? I just sit here, dreaming of when I’ll get to kill you.”
“They won’t kill you, but they will take your powers,” Justin says, shaking slightly with rage. “I’m going to watch them do it, too.”
“Wait, what?” Deathblow says, sounding startled. “What do you mean—”
“You’ll find out very soon,” Nico says. He places a hand on Justin’s shoulder, gently pushing him away from the cell.
“What do you mean, take my powers?” Deathblow yells after them. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”
He screams half an hour later as they do just that. Justin watches every second of it.
***
*Los Angeles, California*
Phoebe Woods walks into the upper class hotel, getting a nod from the guard and several people discreetly watching her as she goes. She’s beautiful—almost unnaturally beautiful, but that’s expected of a famous actress. She’s best known for the “Terror” movies, but she’s been in the horror flicks for years, under several different names and pounds and pounds of makeup. Only recently has she become famous enough to be known on sight.
She heads for the elevator, waiting impatiently as it heads to the very top floor. She hasn’t slept in weeks. She’s got an early morning ahead of her, on top of it all. The door slides open and she slides off her heels, walking down the fancy hall barefoot—and pulling to a stop at the sight of a street-bum sitting right in front of her door.
“I’m going to call the police,” she says, pulling out her phone. “I don’t appreciate stalkers.”
“Really? Trusting in the norms to protect you?” the man asks, looking up at her. “I thought I raised you better than that.”
“Da—Daddy?” she says, her voice changing in an instant. “DADDY!” she says, throwing herself into his arms. “How did you get out?”
“Hi, precious,” Massteria says, hugging her back. “Miss me?”
***
*Bonus Chapters*
Important Details
So here I am, back at school, and, to my shock, facing off with Jennifer, all over again. “Okay, just a little more mascara, Elidee,” she says as Elidee works on my makeup. “Freddy, how’s the light?” she asks, looking at the green-haired punk holding his phone.
“Looks good,” he says. “And so do you,” he adds, grinning.
Jennifer rolls her eyes. “Whatever, flirt,” she says. “Okay, just answer however you feel, Keliah, we’re only showing this to the school, right? So I’m going to start out with some simple questions and we’ll get more in-depth from there.”
“Um—” I say, only to get a dirty look from Elidee.
“Shush,” she says. “I’m working on my masterpiece.”
I stare at her blankly, only to almost get poked in the eye by a mascara brush. I try not to blink. My eyes are threatening to water by the time she’s done. She glares at me again when a tear trickles out. “Don’t you DARE ruin your makeup,” she says sharply.
“My eyes are dried out,” I say.
“Pansy,” she accuses me. “Woman up, girl, you look beautiful! Beauty is pain, pain is beauty.”
“Now!” Jennifer says. “Let’s get this interview started—oh, Olivia, did you get the mic?”
“I did, but I think he’s going to find out I borrowed it, soon,” Olivia says, racing towards us with Jack’s silver studded mic in her hand. “If he gets mad, I’m telling him it was all your fault.”
“Of course you are,” Jennifer says. “Now, places, people! We’re going to have our second full-length interview on the website after this, we need to make it look good!”
Elidee and Olivia sit down to the side, grinning at each other before looking at me expectantly. Jennifer drops down in the chair next to mine, bringing the mic to her mouth. “Hey, everybody! Blackbird here with the interview you’ve all been dying for,” she says. “We’ve got the next Falconess with us! Keliah just announced recently that she will don the family mantle. Can you tell us what changed your mind?” she asks me.
“Well,” I say, looking past her to where Mom, Grandma and Grandpa are watching us with little smiles. “It turns out that the Falconess has always been a bit of a bad girl—I think it’d be awesome to play both sides whenever I want.”
“Really? That does sound pretty awesome,” Jennifer says. “So how about you tell us all about what happened to you during your suspension? I know we saw some of it, but how did it start?”
“Mom dropped me off on an island in the middle of nowhere,” I start out, “and it just happened to be the island that Grandpa had turned into a secret base before he was tossed into the Cape Cells. It was also the place Grandpa went to when he escaped the Cape Cells.”
“Oh, wow—did you know he was your grandpa?”
“Not when I first ran into him,” I say. “He’s sort of terrifying when you don’t know him. But he turned out to be… really amazing.” I grin at Grandpa, who grins back at me.
“Tell us everything,” Jennifer says eagerly. “We want to know!”
“Hey! Who took my mic?” I hear Jack bellow from a distance.
“Maybe we should just stick to the important details,” Jennifer corrects herself.
My Maxy
Things have calmed down—Grandma and Grandpa both moved into an apartment, they’re next door neighbors. I came to visit them, so I’m not sure why I’m up in Nico’s apartment now. One minute I was hanging out with Grandpa, and then Nico invited him upstairs to see his work room, and I got dragged up with him. And now I’m sitting in the front room, feeling extremely awkward as Max walks in from the kitchen with a bottle of pop in his hand. “Zoe, you’re going to miss the movie!” he calls to the room Grandpa disappeared into.
“I’ve already seen it!” Zoe calls back. Max drops down on the other end of the couch I’m sitti
ng on, looking at me thoughtfully. This is seriously awkward. I’ve hardly ever talked to Max—even if we are in the same class. But it’s just him and me in the room—
“Don’t worry, fledgling,” he says, grabbing the channel changer, “I won’t rip your head off.”
“I wasn’t worried,” I snap.
“Sure you weren’t,” he says, flipping through the channels. He’s about to change it again when someone on the screen goes, “Am I dating Maximum?”
He stops flipping channels. That is definitely NOT Zoe on the screen, I think, taking in the beautiful woman being interviewed. “Well, that’s my personal life, you know?” she goes on. “If there IS something between me and a very cute, sweet guy like Maxy—I mean, Maximum, I think it’s my right to keep it to myself.”
“Who’s that?” I ask.
“I have no freaking idea,” he says, looking stunned. “I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
“You heard it here, ladies and gentlemen, Phoebe Woods calls THE Maximum ‘Maxy.’ Tell me, Phoebe, do you think he’s going soft?”
“I prefer to think of it as… seeing the light,” she says, looking into the camera. “I think we’ll see more of Maximum’s good side in the future. I’m looking forward to it.”
I look at Max, wondering what he’s thinking. There’s a faint tick in his jaw and the channel changer cracks in his hand, crushing without him realizing it.
“What,” I hear Zoe say from behind us, “was that about?”
“I’ve never met her in my life,” Max says, turning so fast that I’m sure he gave himself whiplash. “I seriously haven’t—I would never cheat—”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Zoe says. “But who the heck does she think she is, calling you ‘Maxy’? That’s even more ridiculous than Maximum.”
“That’s your biggest problem?” Max asks blankly.
“The world is going to start calling you Maxy-pad, and it’s not yours?” she asks him.
He goes pale. “That chick has to die,” he declares after processing the idea. “I’m going to go arrange an accident, now,” he says, hopping to his feet and kissing Zoe on the cheek. “Text me?”
“Sure, but no killing,” Zoe says, waving him off.
“I know, I know!” he calls from a few stories below.
“Now, let’s find out who this ‘Phoebe Woods’ is,” Zoe declares, dropping down in the seat next to me and bringing up a hologram screen in front of us. “Trying to claim my boyfriend, she’s SERIOUSLY going to regret that move,” she says.
“You’re terrifying,” I say, admiringly.
“Why thank you,” she says with a grin.
Chopsticks
"Still think that cooking is a stupid hobby?" Vinny asks as I step in front of him with my tray. I hesitate, wondering if I made a mistake by not bringing my own lunch to school, like I used to.
"I--" I say, feeling myself blush. "You saw that, huh?"
"The entire super world did," he says, still just standing there with all of the food in front of him.
"Well... um... I guess it would be good to know how to cook out there," I say, trying to ignore everyone watching. "Especially when you have to live off the land or forty-year-old Twinkies. So, uh, sorry I called it stupid. I looked at those Twinkies--they were nasty looking," I make a face at the Twinkie memory, and to my surprise he lets out a laugh before placing a sandwich and a serving of fries on my plate.
"Keliah!" Elidee calls, waving at me. "Come sit with us!"
I hesitate for all of a second before almost running over to the "Fledgling" table, where Elidee, Olivia, and Cisco are already sitting. I greet them, not sure what to talk about.
"So!" Elidee says when an awkward moment lingers a second too long, "you can make a bow and arrow, and wings, right? So what ELSE can you make?"
"You mean with my powers?" I ask, my mouth full of barbecue beef sandwich. It's like the meat is melting in my mouth. Okay, the guy is a really good cook. Maybe I was wrong, and he should focus MORE on the cooking and less on the hero work.
"Yeah," Olivia says. "Have you come up with any other weapons?"
"Well, Mom can make a gigantic mallet, right?" I say. "She can also make a sword, and a gun, and a cannon, and a--"
"We want to know what you can do, not your mom," Cisco says.
"Well..." I look down, feeling my cheeks brighten with embarrassment. "There IS one other thing I've practiced a lot..." They stare at me expectantly. "It's not very impressive," I add in a quiet little voice.
"Show us!" Elidee says.
"Well, okay--but keep in mind that I'm going to learn new things as I get older, right? I've got a book full of designs planned and everything--"
"Just show us what you can do, not what you're going to do," Elidee says, rolling her eyes.
I let out a sigh and hold up a hand, forming my most practiced item. They stare at me. Cisco's mouth drops almost to the table. "See?" I say.
"Chopsticks," Olivia says finally. "All that awesome power and you make... chopsticks."
"We eat a lot of Chinese," I say defensively, "and I can never find a pair when I need them."
"You could at least make a fork," Cisco says. "Maybe a spoon, or a knife, too--"
"What, so she doesn't have to wash dishes?" Olivia asks. "Look at my amazing powers--I use it for cutlery!" she says. "We need to get you training on something more impressive," she declares.
"Like what?" I ask.
"Like an oven!" she says excitedly.
"No, no way am I friends with a little Miss Easy-Bake," Elidee declares. "What you need to learn to make is a deep fryer. We'll fry EVERYTHING. Have you ever had deep fried Twinkies?" she asks the others.
"How can you eat like that and have such great skin?" Olivia demands. "That's completely not fair! I still get pimples, even though everyone SWEARS I should stop any day, now."
"One, I am NEVER eating Twinkies again, and two, why are we focusing on kitchen appliances?" I ask. I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up, a bit blankly, at Vinny.
"Ignore them," he says. "If you're going to start specializing in kitchen appliances, you should start with the most important of all," he says seriously.
I stare at him. "And that would be?" I ask.
"The coffee machine."
"Ooh, that IS important," Elidee and Olivia say. "Make it a cappuccino machine!" Elidee exclaims.
I don't even LIKE coffee. I think that I'll keep that fact to myself, since they all look so happy.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce you to EXPRESSO GIRL!" Elidee says, standing and posing over me. Um... maybe I should tell them after all...
AFTER the entire school stops cheering.
~About the Author~
R.J. Ross has been writing since junior high, when she discovered that it could help her keep an A in English Class. She lives in Missouri, where she works as a secretary for the family business and spends all of her free time writing. If you would like to see more of her work, you can find several short stories at amazon.com/author/rjross!
Like her on Facebook for bonus material such as character profiles, unpublished information, and status updates at https://www.facebook.com/capehigh! Or check out her blog for free Cape High short stories at https://capehigh.wordpress.com or follow her on twitter @rjrosscapehigh
~~~~~~
~About the Cover Designer~
Cheyanne is a native Texan with a fear of cold weather and a coffee addiction that probably needs an intervention. She loves books, sarcasm, nail polish and paid holidays. She lives near the beach with her family, one spoiled rotten puppy and a cat that is plotting to take over the world, one scratched up welcome mat at a time. A recent day-job quitter, Cheyanne can be found furiously typing on her computer, probably complaining on Twitter about how she should be writing. When she’s not honing her procrastination skills, she’s writing books for teenagers. She is the author of several books for teens and recently turned her love of superheroes and writing fo
r teens into books about teenage superheroes. Find more about her books at www.CheyanneYoung.com or follow her on Twitter @NormalChey
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
