Shadow Boy (19 page)

“Got it, Nico,” Rocco says, hanging up.

Nico looks to Star Born, and then glances at Mastermental. “And her?” he says, as if abruptly realizing that he’s not in charge in this matter.

“Your father will not be happy,” Mastermental says as he looks over the fallen guards. “But I believe we can… come to some sort of arrangement.”

“Mimic will go underground for a bit, it’s a big part of his nature,” Nico decides. “It’s Deathblow and the others that are the real problem.”

“Agreed,” Mastermental says. “But I am sure that we can take care of this problem quickly.”

“I hope so,” Nico says.

"If the you from the future built the Cape Cells, why didn't he plan for Herold?" Ken asks curiously, moving closer. "You, future or not, tend to plan for these sort of things, right?"

"Do you really think everything's stayed the same as the future me's past?" Nico asks. "Time is fluid--and we've made changes. Mom wasn't alive in his time, remember? Ace, according to Justin, was never trained as a super villain, and it goes on. Just because Herold went rogue for us doesn't mean he did for them. Or maybe in that timeline Dad stepped in and stopped Herold and Mother before all of this ever happened. Without Mom calming him down, I can see that happening all too easily. Or maybe I didn't screw up the way I did. There are a million explanations and none of them really matter. This is what's happening here and now."

"That future that we were given hints about is only one possible future," Mastermental agrees. "We shouldn't just assume that everything will turn out the way it... did, I suppose you could say. Basically, America's Son, when you're supers, the future is
never
set in stone." He looks grimly at the rubble all around them.

Bonus Chapters:

Walk Like a Healer

I pull Aubrey through another shadow, wondering how I got dragged into this. Well, sure, she can’t fly, and I CAN find the healers faster than her boyfriend can—oh, never mind, I think with a sigh. The hospital is bustling with people, and nobody even seems to blink at the sight of us wearing masks. I look around blankly for a moment. “I’m sort of surprised,” I admit.

“By what?”

“That he’s still here.” I turn, pointing as I feel the large healer Shadowman had once kidnapped. He’s walking down the hall surrounded by pretty nurses, with several files in his hands.

“Ladies, you know I’m only starting—” the healer says, blushing slightly behind his beard.

“We know—and we’re extremely proud of you, Michael!” one of them says. “We just want you to check in on a few of our harder cases.”

“But I’m just supposed to be, like, sweeping the floor,” he says, only to catch sight of me. “YOU!” he says, pointing at me. “This is all your fault!”

I raise an eyebrow. “That you’re surrounded by beautiful women?” I ask. "My heart bleeds for you, man."

“That my parents kicked me out of the house!” he says. “I had to get a job—I’m only able to continue my studies because the hospital offered me a scholarship—and that’s only if I study to be a doctor!”

“He needs the title,” one of the nurses admits.

“I’m so proud of you!” Aubrey says, much to Michael’s surprise. He blinks as she pulls him into a hug.

“Um, thanks?” he offers. “Who are you?”

“This is Aubrey,” I say as she pulls back with a brilliant smile. “She’s the strongest healer I know, and I’m a pretty good judge on that.”

“I was worried when I heard that Shadowman had caught you, but you’re doing great,” Aubrey says, excitedly. “Is there anything the Hall can do for you? Do you need a place to stay?”

She’s younger than he is, but she’s acting like a mother, I notice with amusement.

“You aren’t planning on taking him—” one of the nurses starts out.

“Oh, no, not if he’s happy,” Aubrey says. “I’m so excited to see that so many of the healers have chosen to stay in the hospitals. Let me give you this,” she says, digging through her pockets and pulling out a phone. “I’ve got one for each of the healers out in the field,” she says, holding it out to him.

“A phone?” he asks. “Thanks, but money is kinda tight—”

“No need to worry about money. This is a—”

I cover her mouth with a hand. “Just take the phone, man,” I say with a slight smile. “If there’s any problem, you’ll find contacts on there that can help.”

“Um, thanks,” he says, turning it over and looking at the glowing caduceus symbol on the back.

“On to the next one,” I say, tugging Aubrey away.

“Bye, Michael!” she says, waving at him before following me. “Next is that boy you told me about,” she decides. “I want to talk him into coming to Cape High.”

“I’ll warn you—I think he’s scared of me,” I say as we head through the Shadowlands.

“I’m sure he’ll get used to it,” Aubrey says as we step through a shadow and onto a lawn—one that’s loaded down with the Press, I think, stunned. Marigold is standing in front of the house, looking extremely defensive.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as much as I appreciate your admiration—” she says, her voice carrying even though she doesn’t have a mic, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I don’t know who leaked this address to the press, but trust me, I will be cleaning it up—you!” she says, pointing at me. “We need to talk, boy.”

I twitch, but before I can say anything, Aubrey is pushing her way through the crowd. “Hello, Marigold,” she says, holding out a hand. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” she declares.

“And you are?”

“Life Light.”

“Oh! You’re Firefly’s girl!” Marigold says, breaking into a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, as well. How can I help you?”

“I’ve come as the healer representative of Cape High, actually,” Aubrey says. “I’d like to invite our new friend to join us—under the East Hall Branch’s sponsorship, of course.”

Since she’s taking care of that, I head back into the shadows, heading through to a portal leading into the healer boy’s room. I look around the pitch black room. It’s pretty homey in here, if you ask me. “Hey, you here, man?” I ask.

“Go away,” he says from under the bed. I head over, peering under. “I said go away,” he says, glaring at me. Did I mention I’ve got excellent night vision?

“We’ve come to save you,” I say. “Let me guess, they caught you on video, too, huh?”

“I went viral,” he mumbles pathetically. “Everyone thought I was a fraud.”

“How many people said that?” I ask, getting on my stomach for this conversation.

“Five.”

“And how many saw the video?”

“Over a million?”

“Then those five are the minority,” I say. “Want to come to Cape High? We’ve got WAY bigger freaks than you—and we won’t say a word if you reach in and pull something out—well, only if it’s you, because it’d be terrifying if it was one of the other kids doing it.”

“But—”

“At any moment Aubrey’s going to want to meet you and you’ll get pulled along at her pace, I’m sure. So I’m going to invite you properly. My name’s Rocco Stiltz, I’m a shadow walker, a debuted super villain, and a student at Cape High,” I say, holding out a hand.

“Your eyes are glowing,” he says, staring at me.

“It’s a trick of the shadows,” I say, grinning at him. “We’ll take you to the most secure place in the world—you’ll be surrounded by people that are a lot like you. And they’ll probably want to be your friends.”

“Jonas,” he says finally, taking the hand.

“Nice to meet you again, Jonas. Now let’s go before Marigold remembers she hates my guts,” I say, tugging him into the shadows.

“What about that Aubrey lady?” he asks.

“Whoops,” I say even as my com-link flashes. “Hey, Aubrey!” I say, answering it.

“Where are you?” she demands.

“Coming right back, I swear.”

“I would hope so!”

***

Bad Luck Ladies

“ARIEL!” Skye yells, pointing at the pale skinned woman in a dramatic fashion. “You’re coming with us!” The entire cafeteria turns and stares at our little trio of abductors, and I feel the urge to groan. But I DID promise I would help Skye grab the water woman, so here I am. Doris, on the other hand, is just here to watch. She told us earlier that she didn’t really care if Ariel joined their team or not. Honestly, I think she’s looking forward to seeing Skye and me fail.

I have a bag hanging over my shoulder. It’s a pretty big one, but still—I’m not sure what Skye wants me to do with it. I THINK she wants me to throw it over Ariel, but that’s pretty risky when we’re surrounded by teachers, right?

“Skye,” Taurus says. “The girls and I wanted to know if you’d like to go mini-golfing this weekend.”

Skye looks over, completely forgetting the goal. “YES! I want to go mini-golfing! Can Rocco and Doris come, too?”

“Sure,” he says.

“Yay! Now, back to the important part!” Skye says, pointing at Ariel—or where Ariel used to be. “Where’d she go?” Skye says irritably, much to the amusement of everyone in the room. “Ariel?” she asks, sticking her head through a random table. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

“Can’t she just find her?” Doris asks me.

“That’s way too logical,” I say, grinning. It gets me a dark look from my aunt. “Here, I’ll find her for you,” I offer, handing Doris the bag and doing my ever-lengthening finding dance.

“Does he really have to do that?” I hear Trent ask Max as I flip in the air and strike a dramatic pose on the nearest table, pointing the way.

“Well, he and Skye ARE related,” Max says. Most of the room gamely starts clapping for me.

“She’s at the pool,” I tell Skye, earning groans from everyone.

“We could have guessed that!” Freddy calls from across the room.

“Off to the pool!” Skye says, striking a pose as well. “Doris, it’s posing time!” she says when Doris just walks toward the door. “You’re supposed to strike a dramatic pose and exclaim something important!”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re off to kidnap the sentient water,” Doris says, waving a hand, “AGAIN.” We head out, racing to the pool, only to see no one there. I sigh, dropping down on a chair.

“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.