by Kara West
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 LATE AGAIN!
CHAPTER 2 SAVING TIME
CHAPTER 3 DONE IN A FLASH!
CHAPTER 4 A NEW DIRECTION
CHAPTER 5 MY EGG-CELLENT NEW POWER
CHAPTER 6 BOWLING TIME!
CHAPTER 7 THE MISSION
CHAPTER 8 THE SEARCH
CHAPTER 9 THE HANDS OF TIME
CHAPTER 10 IN DUE TIME
‘MIA MAYHEM VS. THE MIGHTY ROBOT’ TEASER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
CHAPTER 1
LATE AGAIN!
“Mia Macarooney, why are you late again?” asked Mrs. Cruz.
That was a very good question.
I was standing in her office as she wrote me another tardy slip. She was the principal of Normal Elementary School.
“Mia, this is the fourth time this week,” she continued.
“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll try to make sure it won’t happen again,” I replied.
Mrs. Cruz paused, waiting for me to say more.
But I couldn’t make any hard promises.
Because every morning this week, weird things have happened to make me late. And I couldn’t tell her why.
Why not, you ask?
Well, because . . . I’ve been using my superpowers!
Yeah, you heard me right.
My name is Mia, and I. Am. A. Superhero!
Right now, during regular school, I’m Mia Macarooney.
But when the school bell rings, I go by MIA MAYHEM.
I’m still really new at being super—that’s why I go to the Program for In Training Superheroes, aka the PITS! The PITS is a top secret superhero-training academy. And thanks to the things I’ve learned, I’ve been able to save the day before school even starts!
On Monday, I flew up into a tree to help a squirrel who was afraid of heights.
On Tuesday, I helped an old lady cross a busy street.
Then on Wednesday, there was a bridge that got stuck in the up position.
And then this morning, my cat, Chaos, ran after the garbage truck!
So, yeah, in short, this week has been total mayhem.
I wish I could tell Mrs. Cruz the truth, but I need to protect my secret identity. There are only four people who know: my parents (who are also superheroes), Eddie (my best friend), and Dr. Sue Perb (the headmistress of the PITS).
That’s why all I could do was apologize.
“Sorry again, Mrs. Cruz,” I said, looking down at the floor.
“I know you are, Mia,” Mrs. Cruz said. “But four tardies in one week means you’ll have to make up your morning class after school today.”
That was going to mess up my entire day!
Being a superhero and a regular kid took a lot of balance—I had a tight schedule to keep.
And if there is one thing I’ve learned so far, it’s that being a good superhero depends on being in the right place at the right time.
But today, trying to do the right thing for others is bad news for me . . . because it looks like I’m going to be stuck in that makeup session, whether I like it or not.
CHAPTER 2
SAVING TIME
There are a lot of problems with getting to school late, and this one is the worst: When you walk into class, everyone turns and looks at you!
I tried to sneak in as quietly as I could, but all eyes were on me as I walked by. When I got to my desk, I swung my backpack off my shoulder. As soon as I did, I knew I was in trouble.
Being really strong is awesome. But controlling my strength is still tricky. I’ve broken my desk many times. And I was about to do it again.
But then something weird happened.
Somehow, without doing it on purpose, I went into slow motion.
Like for real!
I caught my backpack in time so that it wouldn’t land so hard.
Then, before I knew it, time went back to normal speed!
I looked over at Eddie to see if he’d noticed. But he just waved as usual and didn’t seem weirded out at all.
So I shrugged it off and hoped it was just a one-time glitch.
Luckily, the rest of the day went by smoothly. That is until we decided to play dodgeball at recess. It’s my favorite game, and now that I have superspeed, I never get hit! That’s not the only reason I like it, but it is a nice perk.
In the last five minutes of the game, Eddie and I were the only two people left on our team. I was on guard, ready to jump in either direction, when a kid threw a ball directly at Eddie!
I knew there was no way he was going to avoid it.
So I took a dive to my left to save him. And as I reached my arm out, the entire room froze.
Oh yeah. Before I go on, you should know that I have a habit of freezing my best friend. I’ve seen that shocked look on his face before. The thing is, this is the first time I’ve frozen a large group of people. So I’m not totally sure this trick will work.
I grabbed the ball, and time instantly started back up again.
Thank goodness.
In moments like these, I was really glad I was a superhero. So obviously, I had to do more time slowdowns after that. In the cafeteria, I saved a lunch lady from spilling a whole tray of food.
Then, back in class, I saved a kid from tripping over a chair. And I even made sure that our class gerbil, Lester, wouldn’t eat his food too fast and get a stomachache!
Now, I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly sure how I was doing it all. Controlling time wasn’t a power I had learned at the PITS yet. It just came naturally.
All I knew was that secretly helping people was the best feeling ever!
By the end of the day, I was in such a good mood that nothing could bother me!
CHAPTER 3
DONE IN A FLASH!
Okay. Forget what I just said.
The after-school makeup session with Mrs. Cruz totally bothered me.
As soon as I walked into the classroom, I wished I could teleport to the PITS.
Why? Well, do you see that board? I have to do all those math problems! It’s going to take forever!
I groaned as I pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil.
As I stared at the blank page, that’s when I had the most incredible idea!
Now that I can control time, why not put it to good use?
If I paused this moment, then I could do all the work, hand it in, and still get to the PITS on time!
I reached out my hand, and like before, everything froze. Then I solved all the problems as quickly as I could. When I was done, I walked up to the front and tapped my principal on the shoulder to start the clock again.
“Here’s my work, Mrs. Cruz,” I said.
“What? We just started the class a minute ago!” she cried. Then I saw her eyes get really big as she took my paper and scanned it.
“Well, I guess I work fast,” I said with a shrug.
Mrs. Cruz looked at my paper and then back at me several times.
“Yes, I can’t argue with that,” she replied. “But I still have to review it before you can leave.”
Harrumph.
This was an unexpected speed bump in my awesome time-saving plan.
And I didn’t know a shortcut out of this one. So I sat there and waited while Mrs. Cruz checked my work.
It took forever.
Well, okay. It took only fifteen minutes. But still! That was fifteen minutes I could have spent in class at the PITS!
When the principal was finally done, she stamped “100%” at the top of the page.
“I still don’t see how you did it,” she said. “But great job!”
“Thanks, Mrs. Cruz!” I said, cramming the paper into my pocket as
I headed for the door.
“Oh, Mia!” she called after me. “Remember, don’t be late tomorrow!”
I nodded with a smile.
But the truth was that I had no idea what would happen in the morning.
For now, I was just worried about how I was going to sneak into my PITS class as quietly as possible.
CHAPTER 4
A NEW DIRECTION
Thank goodness I know how to use superspeed. It always helps when I’m running late. I arrived at the front of the PITS in record time.
First, I changed into my suit. Then I turned the DO NOT ENTER sign and scanned myself into the building.
The PITS looks like an empty warehouse from the outside.
The dangling sign keeps regular people from trying to enter.
But on the inside, it’s the coolest place ever! There are high-tech screens on every wall, and busy superheroes are running around all the time.
I sped through the main lobby, also known as the Compass, and I headed for the room where today’s lesson was being held.
I put my ear against the door and listened.
Oh no! I totally picked the wrong day to be late.
Dr. Sue Perb, the headmistress of the school, was teaching a special Save the Day lesson.
I didn’t want to walk into the room while she was talking.
So I reached my hand out in front of me. And just like that, all the movement in the hallway and inside the classroom stopped.
Then I quickly snuck in and stood next to my two friends Penn Powers and Allie Oomph.
When I tapped Allie on the shoulder, she unfroze. Perfecto! It worked again! I smiled at her like I’d been there all along.
“And so,” Dr. Perb continued, “that’s today’s exercise. Now let’s all break into groups.”
Oh no! That’s when I realized there was a big problem.
I may have managed to sneak into class, but I didn’t know what we were doing because I’d missed Dr. Perb’s instructions.
Starting this lesson without knowing what do to was definitely a recipe for disaster.
Then again, I didn’t want to ask Dr. Perb to repeat herself, and I couldn’t ask Allie or Penn either. I wanted to keep this new secret to myself. At least for now.
I knew that freezing the clock wouldn’t help this time.
Slowing down time wouldn’t do anything either.
But maybe . . . what if I could rewind time? If I could go backward, maybe I could get to class before Dr. Perb started talking!
First I froze everyone so they wouldn’t see what I was doing. If I wanted try it, it was now or never.
But this time nothing happened.
So I did it again.
And again.
But still nothing.
Sweat started dripping down my face, so I took a deep breath. Then I closed my eyes, stretched my hand out, and thought of the exact moment I wanted to rewind to.
When I opened my eyes, I couldn’t believe it.
I was back in my makeup session!
CHAPTER 5
MY EGG-CELLENT NEW POWER
For real! I’m exactly back where I started.
Mrs. Cruz was sitting at the front desk, exactly like before! I wanted to jump up and cheer. But that would have been weird. After all, who gets excited about redoing a makeup class?
And in any case, I had to stay focused if I was going to get back to the PITS earlier than before.
I held out my hand, and as expected, everything froze.
Then I took out the crumpled piece of paper in my pocket and copied in all the answers.
A second later, I was back at Mrs. Cruz’s desk.
“What? We just started the class a minute ago!” she cried. Then I saw her eyes get really big just like last time.
“Well, I guess I work fast,” I repeated with a shrug.
“I can’t argue with that,” she said with a smile. “But I still have to review it before you can leave.”
Aha! I knew this was my chance! I couldn’t wait another fifteen minutes. Especially since I knew the answers were correct.
So I put Mrs. Cruz on pause.
Then I grabbed the stamp from her desk, marked the page, and put it back in her hand before unfreezing her.
This time she looked even more confused. But in the end, my plan worked!
I dashed over to the PITS and was outside my classroom a whole fifteen minutes earlier than last time.
I took a deep breath and quietly snuck in.
“Today you will be doing your first Save the Day exercise,” Dr. Perb began.
I grinned from ear to ear. I had come into class at the perfect time.
“You’ve all been learning how to use superpowers, but there’s more to being a good superhero,” Dr. Perb said. “It’s important to be aware of what’s going on around you. If you don’t, you may miss your one chance to help someone.”
Dr. Perb pointed to the tables set up in the center of the room.
“Today, your main mission is to complete these jigsaw puzzles!”
We looked at one another totally confused. That didn’t seem very super at all.
But then Dr. Perb pushed a button on her watch, and a loud sound started blaring through the room.
“Of course, there’s a catch. You will have to do the puzzle over this noise while also watching out for these eggs.”
Eggs? Did she just say “eggs”?
She pushed her watch a second time.
This time, a hole in the wall opened and a jumbo-size egg sailed across the room.
Dr. Perb flew up and caught it gently, right before it landed on a kid’s head.
When she landed, we all cheered.
Our mission today was to keep the eggs from hitting us while finishing our puzzle in less than ten minutes. So we quickly split into groups, and we started fitting pieces together.
That’s when out of nowhere, Penn flew into the air. Then he reached out to save me from getting hit with an egg!
I looked up and gave him a quick high five.
Phew! What a close call!
Right then, I saw something that Penn didn’t: Another kid was about to barrel right into him!
So without thinking, I froze time, flew up, and nudged the kid so that she’d fly just past Penn.
It worked! Over and over again.
So for the rest of class, I secretly saved other kids from crashing into one another.
I knew it wasn’t part of the lesson, but I couldn’t help it! For the first time since I’d found out I was a superhero, I felt in total control.
And it felt egg-cellent.
CHAPTER 6
BOWLING TIME!
With this new awesome power, it was easy to stay on top of my packed schedule. This was really good news because today was day two of our Save the Day training with Dr. Perb.
“You’ll be doing the same exercise as yesterday,” she said, “except for one difference: Instead of eggs, we’ll using bowling balls!”
She pushed a button on her watch.
A hole in the wall opened and a giant bowling ball came flying toward her! We watched in awe as she flew up and caught it.
“Keep your eyes open, everyone!” she warned. “You’ll need to focus on your puzzle while using your strength, balance, and flying skills all at once.”
As usual, Allie, Penn, and I were a team again today. Allie looked over at me with her game face on. She was wearing her awesome rocket blades. They were perfect for flying and getting from point A to point B in a flash.
I gave her a quick thumbs-up. Then in a blink of an eye, things got crazy.
But luckily, after yesterday, I felt like a pro.
In fact, I froze time even when I didn’t have to, just to practice my skills.
It was all going perfectly. Our puzzle was almost done, and we’d caught seven bowling balls among the three of us. My friends didn’t know it, but I’d saved them from a handful of close calls.
Right then, Allie
spotted a bowling ball and jetted up into the air. I froze time and flew up beside her, like I’d been doing all class.
But this time, something was wrong.
Allie was frozen, but the ball was still moving!
I quickly pushed her to the side. As soon as I touched her, the entire room unfroze.
And this time, I wasn’t fast enough.
The bowling ball hit her, and one of her rocket blades totally came off!
“Hey! Are you girls okay?” Dr. Perb called out as she flew up to us.
“Yeah, I’m okay. But Allie got hit!” I yelled out.
“Oh, it’s easy to put back on,” Allie said cheerfully. “See?”
Allie always had a good attitude. But I felt terrible. My friend almost got hurt because of me. And it was all my fault!
So for the rest of class, I stopped playing around.
Freezing time definitely had its perks, but it wasn’t worth putting my friends in any danger.
CHAPTER 7
THE MISSION
After class, Allie, Penn, and I headed to our lockers.
“I’m sorry about earlier, Allie,” I said.
“It’s . . . no—thing. It’s . . . no—thing,” she replied.
I looked at her totally confused.
Allie kept moving back and forth, like she was on repeat. And so was Penn.
