The Distort Arc: Cape High Books 1-4 (Cape High Series Omnibus) (21 page)

"We'll talk about that when you're older," Dad says.  I shrug and turn back into my room, only to stop at the sight of Emily sitting on my bed, her knees drawn up to her chest.  "Can you fly already?" I ask abruptly.  The only way she could have gotten in was through the window--oh.  "You're the doppelganger, huh?" I say, heading to try and stick more things into the closet.

"Emily's putting her things in her room," the doppelganger says.

"But she sent you here, huh?  What for, to tell me to leave her alone again?"

"She knows I'm summoned," she says.  "But she didn't consciously send me here.  When you promised--did you mean it?" she asks, looking at me imploringly.

"Yeah I meant it," I say, giving up on the closet and shoving things under the bed.  I look up at her as I'm shoving the last bit under.  "So wait, what do you mean consciously?"

She shrugs.  "Sometimes I can say the things she wants to, but won't," she says.  I get to my feet then blink as I realize someone's standing at my doorway.  "Emily," the doppelganger says.

"What are you doing in here?" Emily demands, coming into my room and grabbing her doppelganger, "Get out."

"Hey, hey, don't fight with yourself," I say--trust me, I realize how strange it sounds.  "You're fine.  I'm done unpacking anyway."  I drop down on the head of the bed, motioning for Emily to sit down as well.  Is it weird that there's two girls that are actually the same girl sitting on my bed?

Er... I think I shouldn't think too deeply on that fact.

"Why are you so comfortable with this?" Emily demands as she sits down on the foot of the bed.  The doppelganger scoots back so her back is against the wall and she can see both of us.

"With girls on my bed?  Yeah, I probably shouldn't be," I say.  "But as long as we keep the door open I figure we won't get in trouble, right?"

Emily and the doppelganger stare at me.  "What exactly are you thinking?" they both ask in the same dark tone.

"Hey, nothing bad!" I say, holding up my hands.  "It's just ah... rules.  Hey... why's the doppelganger out, anyway?"

"We need to practice," they say.  "Your mom said she's going to teach us to work together for girl power lessons."  Then Emily gives her doppelganger a dirty look.  “Although you didn’t need to show up in his room,” she complains.

"Tag team fighting?" I say, ignoring the hints of in-fighting.  "Yeah, makes sense."

"And we're here to tell you that if you suddenly turn into a jerk we're going to beat you up," the doppelganger adds, looking fierce.  "We aren't going to run again.  We're not afraid of you!"

I try not to laugh, but looking serious as I nod is quite a strain.  "Makes sense," I agree.

“And don’t laugh, because we’re serious,” Emily says, looking downright... nope, that might be her scary face, but it’s pretty cute, really.  In fact I can’t help but want to see her try to beat me.  It'd be fun.

Actually... this is sort of dangerous, huh?  No, not just the sitting on the bed--both Mom and Dad are no doubt listening to every word we say, much less anything else, but her looking so fierce as she tells me that she and her doppelganger will beat me up--it’s making me sort of like her.  Probably not smart, I know.  I mean, for one, she's under my protection, for another she's got a lot of stuff she needs to work through, stuff that's more important to deal with than prospective boyfriend girlfriend stuff, and for a third... well, I already told her she was supposed to be like a little sister, right?  I'm definitely not seeing that, even with the red and blue hair (our family tends to wear a lot of red, white and blue, okay?)

But... despite all that stuff?  I'm pretty sure I’m starting to like her.  Crap, and here I was planning on giving Sunny a chance.  Sorry, Sunny.

Really, really sorry. 

I don’t think I’m going to play fair for this.

***

"My question is," Ken says that night, well after the kids stopped talking and went to their own rooms, "why did Principal Matkins have an unidentified, undeclared super in the school to begin with?"

"Maybe she was trying to get a job as a teacher?  Or at least claiming to.  I'm not sure," Jeanie says.  She curls in closer to her husband's side, resting her head on his shoulder.  "Frank said he's got a few extras working the late night shift to see if they catch sight of her... oh, honey, I... we could have lost him," she whispers.

"No.  Trent might not be fully grown yet, but the majority of supers would have a hard time taking him out," Ken says.  "He's getting tougher by the day, you know.  In fact I'm certain he would have held his ground long enough for help to come in."

"He did the right thing, though," Jeanie says.  "By running the norms weren't exposed to a cape fight.  I just... she was in our schools," she says, her hands fisting for a second.  "How many others has she found that way?"

"I don't know--the only thing I can think is that none of the identified children have been declared missing--"

"What about ones like Emily?" Jeanie asks.  "Ken, she was abused by her last family.  The daughters ganged up on her, and when she couldn't handle it any longer she left her doppelganger in her place and ran off on her own.  Had something happened to her, no one might have known about it until it was too late--she's not a tank like Trent, I doubt she knows how to protect herself--" she takes a shuddering breath and a tear escapes her.

"That poor baby," Ken says quietly.  "She's been opening up to you?" he asks.

"Yes, thankfully.  Liz and I are going to start teaching her and Zoe self-defense, by the way.  I really should tell Nico we're going to."

"I bet Liz already has."

"True.  Ken..." Jeanie says, hesitating for a second, "I think we should adopt Emily."

"I don't think Trent would appreciate that one bit."

"But--he seems fond of her!"

"That's why he wouldn't appreciate it," Ken says.  "Honey, Trent is a Liberty all the way to the souls of his feet, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do--he's so much like you."

"Well Liberty boys tend to like feisty females.  Ones that knock you out even though you're a tank and it's the middle of a battle," Ken drawls teasingly.  "Emily, even after all she's gone through, is showing signs of fight, and she's one of the few females with powers that are around his age.  I'm not promising anything will happen, of course, but it's too early to go 'here you go, Trent, your new little sister.'"

"I see... you’re right, of course.  But, you know, I just wish she had gone to the parents," Jeanie says, "instead of running away."

"Do you want to meet the parents?" Ken asks.  "There could be a very good reason she didn't feel confident in going to them."

"I know."  She just doesn't want to picture supers so blind, Jeanie admits silently.  "I don't know if I should meet them," she admits.  "I don't want to do something I can't take back."

"I know," Ken says.

"And I don't want those sisters coming to the new school," Jeanie says.  "Not after what they did to Emily."

"Unfortunately, they're super kids," Ken says.  "Unless some of the other branches decide to start up schools of their own, we're the only one available.  And the only reason Frank feels he can start the school now is because he has Nico."

"Why is that?" Jeanie asks.  "We could have put together something--"

"Nico is more than just the owner of the land Frank wants to use," Ken says.  "He has a family name, of course--he's a Superior, but unlike the rest of us, he wasn't trained by his father.  He created both Liz's and his own training program when he was thirteen years old.  Frank is betting that he'll be able to do it for all the kids.  Better programs than the ones we've passed down over the years."

"But in the hearing he was pushing the 'regulation' thing," Jeanie says, remembering watching Nico at his parole hearing quite vividly.  In fact, that was the very reason she was so open to Trent going to the new school.  A man that can clearly love a woman after sixteen years of being separated was not a super villain to the core.  When he had stood and shouted that Summer Rosenthorn was Lady Rose, “is Lady Rose” actually, she had known for sure.

"Oh, they will be.  Each will be trained by their teachers on how to act as a proper super, but they'll also be taught to be the best they can be.  Honestly I want to hear what Nico thinks Trent's training should be.  I might learn something from it."

"I wonder what he'll do with Emily," Jeanie says.  "She'll make an adorable daughter
-in-law, don't you think?"

"I think you're looking a bit too far in the future, honey."

"I should fix her hair!"

"You're not paying attention anymore, are you?"

***

"I'm sorry," Mark says, groveling in front of the woman.  "I can't find him.  The address I have is an empty house--I'll keep searching--"

"No," Star says.  "Don't bother.  That boy, even if you didn't notice him, is one of the bigger names' child.  I'm not sure which, but I have a few guesses.  I am not looking for children with a name behind them."  She drapes one long leg over the other, looking for all intents and purposes as if this is a social visit.  "You see, he knew me for what I am, now I'm having quite a bit of difficulty even staying near this area."

"I--I see--"

"No, I'm afraid you don't see, Matkins," she says.  Her eyes start to glow and Mark tugs on his collar, feeling the room get hotter.  "What you have done is jeopardize my entire business, and brought me to the attention of the heroes.  ME."  The room is starting to feel like a sauna and Mark desperately tugs his coat off, fumbling with his tie.  "I do not appreciate being put in this position, Matkins.  In all reality I should kill you, but that would be too quick."

Matkins takes a deep breath as the heat cools.  He's covered in sweat and his heart is pounding against his chest.  "I--I didn't--"

"You can come in now," Star says mildly.  The door opens and a man steps in.

"Tech--Technico?" Matkins gasps out only to scream as the world starts
to rip apart.

***

"Well," Frank says the next morning.  We're back in Nico's apartment, where I sit where I usually do--although, a bit surprisingly, Emily has decided to sit down just a few feet away from me.  Last time she was closer to where my Mom sat on the chairs brought in from the dining table.  "When my agents went to the school they were surprised to find a little... problem."

"What little problem?" Nico asks.

"The Principal was laid out on the floor, incoherent," Frank says bluntly.  "They brought me in, but I'm afraid his mind is quite a mess.  I did get a bit of information from him, though, but it doesn't make sense."

"Why's that?" Dad asks.

"Because his mind is telling me that the one who did it to him was Nico."

"What?" Nico demands.  "I don't--no I CAN'T mess with people's minds!  It's impossible, trust me, I would have done it had I been able to!"  We stare at him for that one and he has the grace to look sheepish.  "Not that badly, or anything, but if you've got a talent like that you should use it!" he says.

"I'll strike that from the records, shall I?" Frank says mildly.  "But the problem is we have no true leads--"

"We do," Zoe says, making me glance over at her.  "We have a lead.  It's just... not much of one."

"What's the lead?" Frank asks.

"There's a man out there--he's a super.  He looks exactly like my Dad, except where Dad's hair is black the man's hair is white, and where it's white, it's black.  I ran into him once."

"I remember that," my dad says.  "Nico, you were looking for him, right?"

"Yeah.  But I've found absolutely nothing on him.  It's like he doesn't even exist," Nico says darkly.

"Well, it seems he does," Frank says.  "Until we have more of a lead I suggest you all stay either here or at the school--"

"I should be looking for him!" Nico says sharply.  "If he is a Superior, I'm the one that needs to deal with him!"

"No.  We need you here more," Frank says.  "They're after the children, Nico.  You, the four of you," he looks to my Dad, Mom, Liz and back to Nico, "are our greatest defense."

"What about the kids we haven't brought here?" Mom asks.  "Who defends them?"

"Their families.  Those that don't have families, well, I'm working as fast as I can."  He looks at Emily.  "I'm afraid that today is the day the daughters of that family come, it was arranged by the head of the South Branch.  They're here for a quick tour of the school grounds, which, honestly, I feel it's time for all of you to have as well.  Especially since Liz and Jeanie have volunteered to teach a class once a week."

"They have?" Nico asks blankly.

"I sent you a ledger of teachers," Frank says.  "And an email yesterday.  You did read it, didn't you?"

"Unfortunately Zoe killed the laptop," Nico admits.  "Again.  But welcome to the staff, ladies, I hope you know more about grammar than I do."

"We're teaching girl power," Liz says from where she's raiding the fridge.