Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12) (19 page)

"Because the media is coming," Nico says. "Doris?" he adds, offering a hand. Doris hesitates, looking down at Century.

"Are you just throwing him to the norms?" she asks, motioning to the southerner.

"Century can take care of himself," Nico says.

“Then why alert the media?” she asks.

"Because I don’t want Century to finish it just yet. Herold threatened my kids, he put my healers at risk, and Mother messed with both my students and my newest family member," he adds, his expression cold. “That line about revenge being best served cold is a cliché for a reason.” He touches his watch as Doris touches his forearm and they teleport away.

"Senator Herold! Senator Herold, is there a reason you're in this strange place?"

"Century! Are you having a secret meeting w—wait, wasn't he here just a second ago?"

"I don't know… it's dark, so maybe you were seeing things?"

"I could have SWORN it was 10:05… but my watch is reading 10:10…"

"Mine too!"

"Senator Herold! Can you tell us what's really happening here?"

***

*The Tour Bus*

“I don’t like this,” Freddy says, sitting on the bunk over the table. He’s been saying that since Justin left, so everyone just ignores him. “We should do something,” he goes on. This one’s new, so Malina leans back in her chair so she can look up at him.

“Like what?” she asks.

“I don’t know. Maybe go after him?”

“I didn’t know you guys liked Justin so much,” Emily says, staring at her phone without blinking. She seems to be expecting a call.

“He’s… well, we didn’t like him at first, but we’ve gotten fond of him,” Freddy mutters. “Kind of like with Ward.”

“Ward’s our brother! You HAVE to like him,” Malina scolds him.

“You might, but Ward can be a pain in the neck,” Freddy says.

She snorts and goes back to looking out the window. It’s getting dark. She jerks slightly and brings up her com, looking at the time. Okay, maybe it’s supposed to be getting dark now—

A crack of thunder rumbles through the air. A chill runs down her spine and she jerks at the window, pulling it down. The others watch her blankly as she sticks her head out and holds out a hand.

A raindrop falls into her palm.

She slams the window closed. “We’ve got a problem,” she tells the others as the rain starts to pour.

***

"We'll make your watch later," Nico says as we appear in the Arctic Circle again. "For now, we'll have Liz and the gang head back to the school and meet them there. Call Liz," he says. For a moment I think he's talking to me, but a screen lights up with an image of Firefly.

"We've got a problem, Nico," she says. There's a strange whooshing sound coming from the speakers. "Somehow we're being attacked by a tidal wave."

"It's not a tidal wave," Malina says. "I could control a tidal wave. It's that weird woman!"

"Weird woman?" Nico asks.

"She's made of water—she called me 'my child' and she might be my mom, I don't know, but I can't control her, whatever she is!" Malina says, sounding close to crying. "I can barely keep her out of the tour bus!"

"We're coming," I say. "We'll get you out of there."

Nico looks at me, raising one eyebrow in a silent comment. I feel heat creep up the back of my neck in reply. "Nico out," he says rather than disagree. "Off to play hero again, huh?" he asks me as he taps on his phone.

"We're going the same place they'll be going, this just makes it a shorter trip?" I offer sheepishly. He drops a hand on my back, patting me twice before teleporting us both into the tour bus.

"Water conducts electricity," Liz says, standing in the middle of the bus. I realize a bit belatedly that we're turning in wild circles as the water lifts us off the ground. "So I tried shocking her, but I think all that did was make her angrier—and if she IS Malina's mom, we don't want to kill her!"

"We need to calm her down," Nico says, looking around. "Malina, you need to talk to her."

"She won't listen!" Malina says. "She starts making too much noise for us to be heard whenever someone tries to talk to her! I can’t get her to shut up and listen!"

"But I can. Now plug your ears," I say, stepping forward. In comparison to Mother, a water woman seems like a vacation, I think dryly. I open the tour bus door, ignoring everyone’s protests, and let out my sharpest scream. The water shudders, twisting wildly. For a moment I even see the woman's face—she's in pain. "Malina wants to talk to you!" I tell her. "SO CALM DOWN ALREADY!" I bellow.

"Malina?" the question echoes from all around us, and a chill runs down my back. "Malina… talk?"

"That's right, now put us down and let her talk," I say, lowering my voice. The bus drops and I hear my bandmates scream. Crap, I forgot they were in here. We drop with a thump and the water swirls for a moment before a woman appears.

"Malina… talk," she says, reaching forward.

"I said talk, not touch," I say, stepping between the two. "You're okay with that, right?" I ask over my shoulder. Malina nods, slowly.

"Are you—are you my mother?" she asks the water woman.

"I'm—" the water woman says. "So… alone…" She seems to be having trouble controlling her form. "Mimic… left me," she whispers sadly. "Nobody left."

I can practically hear Malina's heart break. She pushes past me, staring up at the water woman with huge eyes—and holds out her arms.

"Should we be allowing this?" Liz asks quietly behind me.

"I don't know," Nico says. "But really, how do you stop water? If Malina can't control her through force, maybe she can control her in a different way."

My eyes are glued to the water woman wrapping liquid arms around Malina. This is terrifying. I mean, Malina CAN'T control her—who's to keep her from hurting her? I almost take a step forward, reaching out to stop this. I don't like it—

"I'm sorry you're lonely," Malina says, "but I have to go back to my school. Some bad people are out looking for my friend, and we can't be out in public."

"Take me… with you…" the woman says.

Malina looks over at Nico. "Can I keep her? If she behaves?"

There's a gun in Nico's hand. I'm not sure when he made it, or even how, but he casually aims it at the water swirling around Malina. "Nico, don't—" Malina says, realizing what he has as well. It's too late. He shoots the water and it turns solid. A beautiful naked woman with pale white skin appears in front of us, falling to the floor. Emily grabs one of the sheets off the nearest bunk and throws it over her quickly.

Nico walks over, crouching down in front of the dazed looking woman. "You want family, right?" he asks almost gently. She shoots him a terrified look and scoots back, but he doesn't move. "Malina wants family, too," he says, his voice quiet. "I know about your moment with Mimic. I'm not sure what your history is with him, but he's not here any longer."

Tears start falling down the woman's cheeks and she nods.

"There's a very dangerous woman that's trying to hunt down kids a lot like Malina," Nico says. "You won't let her come after Malina, will you?"

"Never," the woman says, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Are you willing to join Cape High?" Nico asks.

"Nico, we have no idea—" Liz starts out.

"I'll protect Malina—please—please don't chain me," she whispers pleadingly.

"Never," Nico says. "I will NEVER chain anyone—I spent too long in chains, myself. But I can make it so you can stay solid when you want to," he says. "Do you want that?"

"Yes," she whispers, tears streaming down her face. She shifts into water again, losing her solidity. "Please."

"Well, then, looks like we have a new swimming instructor," Nico says. To everyone's surprise, Malina throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around his legs.

"Thank you," she says in a muffled tone.

He reaches down, his hand resting on her head. "This one is partially your responsibility, kiddo," he tells her. "Keep her from going wild, won't you?"

"I—you trust me with that?" Malina asks.

"Do you think you can do it? She keeps coming to you."

"I—I'll do my best!" Malina says. She looks at the watery form standing in the room. "Can we get her a bracelet?" she asks.

"I'll give her mine," Liz says. "Form a wrist water-lady," she says, waiting impatiently until a hand reaches towards her. She slips a pretty little bracelet over the hand and the woman appears again. "She looks closer to your size, Falconess, think you can loan her some clothes?" she says as Emily dashes forward with the sheet again.

"Can we go home now?" I hear my bandmates ask from the back.

"Yeah, I'm on it," Nico says, heading for the wheel. The tour bus jerks and I hear a swishing sound from outside. I race to the window, looking out in surprise as two wings shoot out from the side. "Let's go home," he says as the bus races down the street and takes to the air.

"I think I'm going to be sick," I hear Lonny say from the back, "again."

"Did you know it could do that?" Liz asks Falconess.

"Didn't have a clue," Falconess admits. "It could have saved us a lot of time, though. Next trip don't let me forget to ask for a blueprint."

***

It's all over the news—and just as importantly, it's all over the net, Herold thinks darkly as the screen in front of him flicks through a series of images. "What was Senator Herold doing there?" "Shady Shenanigans?" and, his favorite, he thinks sarcastically, "Senator Herold has Secret Rendezvous with Century!" Not that they even saw the time controlling hero for more than a second.

He had. Century has it out for his blood. He's not even sure why—the only South Branch related person in Mother's little scheme is a useless villain. If anything, Century should be thanking them for taking her off of his hands.

The screen flickers and he almost groans as his mom's face appears in front of him. "Why the long face, dear? Everything is going smashingly!"

"You might have blown my chances at presidency, Mom," he says. "You need to be more circumspect in your actions."

"Oh posh," she says. "Things are going just fine. And even better, Superior is alive!"

The screen goes blank, leaving him staring at it for a long, long moment.

"I had really hoped we were past this," he says with a sigh as he clicks the television back on.

Bonus Chapters:

Guitar Guitar

The trip back to school was quick, save for discussions with the nearest airports and that little episode with the fighter jets following us. Nico took care of that—although I think he now owes the Air Force a rather large favor in exchange. But we landed safe and sound in the parking lot of the apartment building, and now we're gathered in Nico's apartment, eating pizza. It's a pretty anti-climatic moment, considering everything that happened, but I don't care. Almost dying makes you hungry.

"Okay, okay," Skye says abruptly, making me look over at her blankly, "Even I know I'm not supposed to do this, but it has to be said!" she declares, turning with a dramatic move and pointing at me. "Why is this called Guitar Hero when the hero never even TOUCHED a guitar?" she demands, looking extremely irritated. "It's just not right!"

"Skye, you're breaking the fourth wall," Superior says.

"What fourth wall?" I ask blankly.

"It's an S-class thing, don't mention it," Nico says.

"I know I'm breaking it! But it's not right! All the other titles at least PRETENDED to make sense!" Skye says dramatically, jumping onto the couch and waving her arms over her head. "Like Hello Kitty? It made sense! And even Ditto Ditto! But where do they get off calling this Guitar Hero when he doesn't play a guitar?"

I stare at her blankly, until I realize the cheese on my pizza is starting to fall off. I shove the slice into my mouth, eating it as she just stands there, full-on-drama mode. The seconds tick by as I finish. I think they expect me to do something, huh? Even Doris is looking over at me.

"I can play a guitar," I say after wiping my mouth off with a napkin. "I can also play the bass guitar, the drums, the piano, the violin, and a few others," I go on, contemplating another slice. "I started learning instruments before I could walk. It's part of the family training."

"SO PLAY IT ALREADY!" Skye yells, pulling at her hair. "Otherwise this entire story will be over and the title will STILL not make sense!"

"Does it have to make sense?" I ask. "I mean, I don't even have a guitar on me, so it's sort of—" I blink as she gets in my face.

"You will play a guitar before this book is over," she tells me, poking me in the chest. "I'm going to go rob a pawn shop!" she declares, hopping into the air.

"Make sure it's a decent guitar if you're going to do that," Nico says, grabbing another slice. "No point in a bit of B&E if it isn't done properly."

Superior sighs and digs into the back of his uniform, pulling out a handful of bills. "Here, you can at least pretend to do it legally," he says, handing them to Skye.

"Thanks, Pop!" she says, hugging him before racing off with the money.

"Use the exit!" Nico yells after her.

"Should she be running around outside when Herold has it out for her?" I have to ask.

"Nah, these are the bonus chapters—nothing really dramatic happens here," Nico says, only to get a dry look from his father.

"Now you're breaking the fourth wall, too," Superior points out. "Treat it properly."

"Okay, okay, we need to make sure she's safe," Nico says, standing up and posing in a ridiculous manner. "Come, boy wonder, off to follow my little sister!" he adds. When nothing happens, he shoots me a look. "I said, 'Come, boy wonder,'" he prompts.

"Wait, you mean me?" I ask, almost choking on the slice of pizza I grabbed during the posing.

"I can't exactly call Superior 'Boy Wonder' now can I?" Nico says logically, heading for the stairs. "How's your flying?"

"I've only done it once—and I was brainwashed at the time. I've got no idea how I did it," I say.

"Well, then, I guess you can be the ground guy," he says as we head out. We go through the entrance of the apartment and step into the night, making our way through the force field and into the parking lot. Nico looks around a bit curiously before taking to the sky. "She went this way," he says, flying off. I look around, feeling as if I'm being watched. I shrug it off and race after Nico, chasing through the night streets of Kansas City. Since when has "Guitar Hero" had anything to do with me, anyway? I haven't played that game in years!

I pull to a stop as I see Nico drop down in front of me. We're in front of a little pawn shop on Troost, where I see Skye on the rooftop—standing with Panther in full uniform.

"Now," I hear Pan say as I walk closer, "you know as well as I do that this isn't your territory. So why are you robbing one of my buildings?" he asks mildly.

"Because we need a guitar!" she declares. "I even have money to leave on the counter, see?"

"A guitar," Pan repeats.

"Because this is Guitar Hero! You can't call it Guitar Hero without the hero playing a guitar!" she says.

A light flashes overhead and I hear Nico groan as a booming voice comes from above. "Panther! Skystep! How dare you conspire when I'm around?" Mega demands, coming down in front of the light—where did he—holy mackerel, he actually brought in a helicopter so he could back-light himself! I can't help myself, I bring out my phone and snap a shot of the helicopter and the super. No WONDER Ward avoids the guy so much.

"Well, we would have preferred to do it when you weren't," Panther says dryly.

"I remember you!" Skye says. "You crashed a pool party!"

"Because YOU knocked me—" Mega starts out, only to stop just as quickly. "I am here to stop your evil plans!" he declares dramatically, and much louder.

"I was JUST GOING SHOPPING!" Skye bellows.

"She wants a guitar," Pan says blandly before pulling out a smoke bomb and disappearing as it explodes. He must have taken Skye with him, because there's no one there when the smoke blows over.

"Pan?" Nico says, touching his ear. "Where did you take my sister?"

"Sister?" I hear Pan ask.

"We've adopted her into the Superior line," Nico explains.

"I see. We're heading for another pawn shop," Pan says. "She insisted."

"Hi, Nico! Pan and I are going to find the guitar together!" I hear Skye call over the earbud.

"Okay, have fun," Nico says before hanging up. "Our job is done here."

"You're just going to dump her on Panther?" I ask, a bit shocked.

"Can you think of anyone better?"

"This isn't the end of it!" I hear Mega shout from overhead. I look up as he flies over us, chasing after Skye and Pan.

"With Mega trying to capitalize on them?" I ask Nico.

"Eh, either of them can take Mega down," he says, waving it off. "The pizza is getting cold."

I hesitate, looking in the direction they went before following Nico back to the apartments. I'm really tired, I think as a yawn escapes me. Maybe they won't mind me heading back to my dorm…

*Twenty minutes later*

"I have the guitar!" Skye declares dramatically, waving said guitar in the air as she comes through the door of Nico's apartment. "Where's Justin?" she demands. She looks around—even goes to the bathroom and slams the door open. "Justin! Time to play the guitar!"

"He went home," Nico says.

"What?"

"He had a long day, so he went to the dorms to sleep it off."

"But—but—guitar!" Skye says, her arm sagging and the guitar thumping on the ground.

"That's an electric guitar, Skye," Nico says. "Did you get him an amp, too?"

"An amp?"

"Yeah, an electric guitar doesn't work that well without one."

She looks at the guitar. She looks at them. "Um… Pop, can I have some more money?"

Superior pulls out his wallet.