by R. J. Ross
“I don’t think she wants to be part of your Dangerous Ladies, Aunt Skye,” I say as Skye keeps searching. “Maybe you should give up.”
“But—but how will we take out Voltdrain if we don’t have a rain woman?” Skye asks dramatically. “Or how will we rain on Flame Blaster’s parade without her? Or how will we flood Century’s stupid horn-car without her?” Now she’s just being over dramatic, you know? “HOW WILL WE GET A FLOAT FOR MARDI GRAS??” she bellows, falling to her knees.
“I don’t know how to drive,” a little voice says from the pool. We all turn, seeing Ariel peeking over the edge. “So I couldn’t get a float, anyway.”
“Am I the only one wondering what a float has to do with super villains?” Doris asks after a long second.
“Rocco can drive it!” Skye declares.
“Still don’t have my license,” I had to say, only to get all three of them looking at me. “What, you, too, Doris?” I ask.
“Well, when I think about it, a float could be entertaining,” she says, shrugging.
“Okay, okay, if I get my license will you join these two in their dastardly evil villainess league?” I ask Ariel.
“How come our title keeps changing?” Ariel asks.
“I was thinking you could go with an acronym,” I explain. “D.E.V.L. sounds awesome, don’t you think? Like Dev-L.” Why yes, I have fallen right into Skye’s pace. I like this pace, it’s entertaining.
“I’d be leaving Malina, though,” Ariel says, hesitating.
“Oh, we’ll come up to visit lots!” Skye says. “All of my family is here! But if I don’t get back down home again, some chump is going to take my place as the most dangerous super villain around! But I don’t like D.E.V.L. it sounds to pitchfork-y. How about we become the…” she looks from one to the next, “Bad Luck Ladies?”
“My luck is lousy enough as it is—” Doris starts out.
“Like, it’s their bad luck they ran into us!” Skye explains.
“The B.L.L.?” I ask. “The bill?”
“It’s not supposed to be an acronym, silly!” Skye says. “Well, whatever we call ourselves, we are going to RULE the South Branch!”
“YEAH!” the other two cheer after a second of hesitation.
Looks like I’m going to have to learn to drive.
Posters
“I’VE GOT POSTERS!” The whirl of super-speed blowing past is shouting. I glance up from my video game (the first break time I’ve had for a while, okay?) and watch as Carla pulls to a stop in the middle of the room, a box of posters in her arms. “Hypersonic Rainbow posters! Century sent them up for me! I’ve already taken some to my little brothers and sisters and now you all get them! You can see my beautiful face every time you wake up!” she declares proudly.
“We already do,” Vinny yells from the kitchen.
“But not in uniform!” she says.
“They didn’t give you a uniform,” Lance points out from the other side of the couch I’m sitting on. “You kept changing your mind and finally Nico just said you’d wear your regular clothing and a mask.”
“I’m going to get a uniform!” she says. “When I finally decide what color I like best,” she finishes, much to our amusement. “It’s HARD, okay? I love all of the colors and picking just a couple of them is—it’s like being unfaithful!”
“Don’t worry about it, Carla, all of your clothes are super-grade frictionless,” I say, giving her a little grin. “That means they’re ALL your uniform, right?”
She blushes, but smiles back for a moment. “Now, who wants a poster?” she demands. “I only have a limited supply, so speak up or forever be poster-less!”
There’s a moment of silence, just long enough for her face to fall. I bet to her it seems like a lifetime, huh?
“I want one!” Morgan yells racing down the stairs. Carla starts grinning again.
“I want one, too!” Malina says, waving a hand wildly.
Freddy grabs one of the posters and unrolls it, staring at it blankly. “This belongs in a little girl’s bedroom,” he says finally, showing the room the extremely colorful, rainbow-studded, poster. “It’s like a rainbow threw up on it.”
“I happen to like it,” Malina says, glowering at him.
“Century and Mastermental say that my target audience is going to be young girls,” Carla says. “I’m supposed to represent the fact that girls make amazing heroes and that they can be awesome too!” She reaches for the poster Freddy’s holding, but he doesn’t let go.
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to keep it,” he says, rolling it back up. “I just said a rainbow threw up on it.”
“I bet Emily would want one!” Malina says. “Should I text her?”
“Yes!” Carla says.
If I don’t move fast, I’m not going to get one, am I? I stand, heading for the crowd surrounding her, only to get blocked as Emily poofs into the room—right in front of me.
“I want a poster!” Emily declares, grabbing one. “And I was thinking that since we’re both heroes now we could think about teaming up!”
“Oh my gosh that would be AWESOME!” Carla says.
“Where are the posters?” Trent asks from behind me as he walks into the room. “I’d like one, too.”
“Here you go!” Carla says, throwing one to him.
The box is almost empty, isn’t it? I head forward again, only to groan as Max makes his overly-dramatic entrance. “Did someone have posters?” he demands. Another rolled up poster goes flying over the group and Max grabs it.
“Oh, I’m out,” Carla says, looking in her box. “Sorry, guys!”
I have seriously lousy timing. I watch as the others head off, plotting out where they’re going to hang their posters.
“Rocco?” Carla asks. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’m just fine—actually, no,” I decide. “Go put your mask on.”
“What?”
“Put your mask on,” I say, pulling out my phone. “If I can’t get a poster, I can at least get a picture. This is a big day, right? I want a reminder of it.” She’s already got her mask on by the time I finish talking, and is posing in a ridiculous manner. “Perfect,” I say snapping a shot. “Thanks, Carla,” I add, walking away happily.
A picture’s better than a poster any day, right? “No rainbow throw-up on this one, after all!” I add.
“ROCCO!” she yells. A pillow hits the back of my head as I start to laugh.
A Note from the Author
Hey, everyone! R.J. here! First off, I'd love to send a shout-out to my Facebook and blog followers for helping me with Carla and Rocco's super names<3 Hypersonic Rainbow was a group effort, but Nightstep was suggested by Fred Bright! And yes, I know Hypersonic Rainbow is a ridiculous mouthful--I'm hoping she shortens it when she's older, if only because it takes so long to type.
And now for the news! The next book I'll be putting out will be The Advent Calendar from last Christmas. It was originally posted on my blog in December. For the most part it'll be fluffy stories about how the kids celebrate Christmas. I plan to add a few short stories about the adults before publishing it. After that we'll be returning to the official story line with book fifteen, tentatively starring Keliah.
I've also started a web serial story with Cheyanne Young (my book cover artist and a great YA superhero genre writer in her own right^^) It takes place in the year 3001 and follows the stories of two very different girls in the same world. We update twice a week, on Mondays for me and Thursdays for her. You can check it out at newcapestory.wordpress.com
And one last little thing. Thanks to your wonderful support, I am now officially a small company! That means I get all the cool things like Social Security and Medicare set up for the future^^ It's called Book Candy Publishing, and consists of... well, me. I don't know if I'll ever be confident enough to publish other authors (somehow I doubt it), but it's still pretty cool!
Now, what does this mean for you? The only change that you'll see
is the name and maybe a logo stuck in the books, and possibly a blog url change, so don't worry! I'll continue operating in the same manner as I have so far, and inform you when my blog's been moved!
~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 for teens into books about teenage superheroes. Find more about her books at www.CheyanneYoung.com or follow her on Twitter @NormalChey
