Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7) (24 page)

“No you don’t!” Aubrey and Zoe both say, grabbing me and Ditto before we can do anything.  “We’re in public--on television, Em,” Zoe whispers in my ear.  “Behave yourself.”

“Even you have to agree that she looks nothing like a Liberty girl should!” the blonde says, only to blink as Trent turns and looks at her, forgetting entirely about his “three biggest enemies” gossiping mere feet away.

“Excuse me,” he says mildly, walking towards her.  “If a hero was judged merely on looks this entire world would have been destroyed years ago.  And regardless of what you think, the one that chose Divine Justice as my partner was me.  Now, I’d like to thank you for taking the time to come out and see a movie about a hero I consider family, and hope that you enjoy it.  But as far as being a love interest in the movie, I’m afraid that won’t be working out.  D.J., Ditto, come on, Mega would be heartbroken if we were late to his movie.”

We grab his arms and head inside, right past the bad boy trio as if they weren’t even there.  I love my boyfriend SO much right now.

When everyone was loading into their various modes of transportation, I was sitting on the edge of the road, waiting for my ride to pick me up.  Yes, I still can’t drive.  I’m almost sixteen, but that’s not old enough.  Besides, even if I’m going with my girlfriend’s family to the movie, her family still consists of one of the biggest names in super villains.  So that sort of makes it cool, right?

Er, not that Panther approves of me fully just yet.  I think he’s just waiting for me to either get taller or to turn into a super villain or something.  Oh well--I’ve grown a bit, at least!  I hit five seven the other day!  Mom says I’m going to just shoot up overnight sometime soon and be as tall as Dad, but she might just be saying that because it’s such a sore point for me. 

The black car that Zoe and Dad made pulls to a halt in front of me and I head for the driver’s window.  “Thanks for this, Mr. Panther,” I say with a wide smile before slipping into the seat behind him.  I blink, though, at the sight of Adanna sitting in the middle and her little brother, Cubby, strapped into a high tech booster seat next to her.

“You’re um… bringing your son to a theater filled with super heroes and villains?” I ask after a second of trying to figure it out.

“Cubby’s old enough to sit through a movie,” Amara--Adanna’s super beautiful mom says, looking back at me with a smile.  “He’s secretly a Mega fan.”

“You’re kidding me,” I say, looking over Adanna and staring blankly at the little boy who has a Mega toy in his hand.  “Not someone like Firefly?  How about Taurus?  Taurus is awesome!”

“How about a proper super villain, instead?” Pan says dryly. 

“Now you know he has plenty of Panther posters on his wall, too,” Amara says.  “But it’s good for him to enjoy both sides with how he’ll be expected to work in the future.”

“Regardless,” Pan says, “Sunny’s right--there are much better heroes to choose from.  Has he even looked at the Falconess toy I got him?” he asks his wife.  The image of Pan going into a toy store and picking out a Falconess toy--”Or how about the Banshee blanket I got him?  I would be perfectly happy if he liked one of those.”

“You know he never sees Banshee on the television except for the old videos you show him,” Adanna says, rolling her eyes before reaching over and straightening my tie.  “You look nice,” she says.

Oh, wait--I should have done that first, shouldn’t I?  I look at her--then stare.  “Adanna?” I ask her after a second.

“Yes?”

“Well… um, aren’t you supposed to wear a skirt for this?  I mean--you look great, obviously, you ALWAYS look great, but--” I say, trying and failing to sound smooth.  But she’s wearing a pants suit!  After seeing even Emily in a skirt I’d been positive she would go all out and everyone would see my girlfriend and realize just how amazing she is--not just looks, of course, but her looks DEFINITELY deserve showing off!

“It’s in case we get a bit of resistance going in,” Pan says.  “She says she wants to make it look good.”  He sounds as disappointed as I am, I’m happy to note.

“I don’t look good in skirts,” Adanna says, pouting as she looks away from me.  Okay, what, exactly, do I say to that?  I don’t know what’s going through her mind half the time, okay?  And obviously I can’t just tell her that she’s the prettiest girl in the entire world, much less the school, or something.  I’m way too conscious of the fact that her parents are right in front of us.

“Um…” I start out, instead, digging out a small plastic box from my pocket instead.  “Here,” I say, holding it out to her.  She looks at it blankly, taking it from me and opening it.  A tiny bud sits on a bed of vines connected to a simple lace cuff.  “Here, let me put it on--Mom said I should give you this,” I say as she lets me slide it over her hand.

“What is it?” she asks.  “It’s kind of… weird,” she adds.

“That’s because I have to do this,” I say, touching the tiny bud.  It blossoms, turning into a large, delicate white flower.  The vines sprout out, gently wrapping around her wrist.  “Mom chose this because your mom said you’d be wearing black and white,” I tell her.  “It’s a White Cymbidium Orchid and a bit of other stuff.  She also said to give you this, Ms. Amara,” I add, pulling out another small box and handing it up to her, “for your hair.”

She pulls out a hairpin with another small bud on it and slips it into her hair.  “These are so beautiful, Sunny, thank you,” she says as I reach forward and touch her pin to make it grow.  I look at Adanna, wondering what she’s thinking.  She’s staring at her flower, gently touching the petals.

“It’s pretty,” she says, smiling slightly.  “I don’t know if it suits me--”

“It does,” I say.  “I picked it out, myself.”

I see Pan looking at me in the rearview mirror.  “Well played, Sunny,” he says.  “Now I need to ask you a few questions before we get there.”

“About what?” I ask, digging in my pocket for the random seed.  I pull it out, holding it where Cubby can see, and let it grow.  Mom’s training has helped a lot, I think as a tiny tree grows out of the seed.  He stares in wonder, clapping happily as it gets taller.

“The super villains in your school.”

“What?” I ask, accidentally dropping the tree.  Adanna catches it, wrapping the roots in a napkin.

“Your father’s asked me for a favor--he wants me to take the boys in for a few weeks this summer, sort of like a Summer Camp course.  Do you just have the three?”

“Max, Jack and Ace?  Yeah,” I say.  “Unless one of the zoo kids plans on doing it, but they never talk with us, so I couldn’t tell you.”

“Interesting,” he says.  “For now we’ll assume it’s just the three.  Would you like to come, as well?” he asks.

“And learn to be a super villain?” I ask, thinking about it.

“Papa plans on teaching them the art of survival and hiding,” Adanna says.  “It’ll be harder for Jack, but considering what you want to be, I think it would suit you.”

“Are you coming?” I ask her.

“Of course not,” she says.  “This is stuff I learned when I was Cubby’s age.”  Ego hit.  Ouch.  She’s good at that.  I know she didn’t do it on purpose, though.  I mean, she’s telling the truth.  “Cubby will probably be joining you!” she says to prove that fact.

“How do the three get along?” Pan asks me.  “They seem to work well together.”

“Oh, they fight all the time,” I say.  “Ace doesn’t get in on it that often, but I heard they’re starting to irritate him as much as they irritate each other--Jack used to have a thing for Zoe, so Max had that against him.  Now that he’s dating Aubrey it’s more of a… giving each other a hard time.  But they don’t try and kill each other or anything, and I heard that Jack went with Ace to the hospital a few times.”

“And how do you get along with them?” Pan asks.

I grin at him in the mirror.  “I like to think I’m friends with Max and Jack--I haven’t talked with Ace that much, but what he does is awesome.  I think I wouldn’t mind going,” I decide.  “I like Cubby!”  Cubby gives me a huge grin.  “And learning survival would be smart--will we be camping?”

“Of course.”

“Well, you know, other than the plants trying to get in my bed, that is,” I add honestly.  “It’s getting Max and the others to camp out that might be a problem.  Max is a rich kid, far as I can tell.  I doubt he’s ever been camping in his life.”

We pull to a stop and I blink as Adanna pulls out a tiny mask and puts it on Cubby before pulling on her own.  “Mask, Sunny,” she orders.

“Oh, right,” I say, digging through my pockets and pulling out a green, leafy mask.  “Mom insisted,” I explain as I slip it on.  I get out of the car and reach in, offering to help Adanna get out.  She stares at the hand blankly for a moment before taking it and sliding out.  I give her a grin.  “Thanks,” I say as I bend my arm so she can slip hers through it.  Her dad’s already helping her mom out of the car, who lets go of his arm and gets Cubby out as Pan steps forward into the flashing lights.

Adanna watches for a moment as we walk around the car.  “Is it safe letting people know about Cubby?” I ask.

“It’s fine,” she says.  “Your father put in a new security system at our place, remember?”

“Oh, right,” I say with a hint of amusement.

“And of all of us, he’s the only one that actually wants to see the movie,” she goes on as we walk down the red carpet.  Neither of us are debuted heroes, so there’s one or two shots taken before all the attention goes back to the three super villains--who Panther is heading straight for.  I can practically feel the anticipation in the crowd as Pan joins the group.  He drops one hand on Ace’s shoulder and another on Max’s, making them all look up.

“Shall we?” I ask her.

“Spy on the conversation?  Of course,” she says with a smile so brilliant we get several more photos shot of us.  I wonder if she even realizes why.  Then again, even if she wasn’t so beautiful I know I’d still have a serious crush on her.  Why?  For how she moves so casually over to the group, pausing to watch people arrive as we spy on the villains.  My girlfriend is amazing, have I mentioned that fact yet?

“Hello, boys,” Pan says.  “I was just talking about you.”

The look of worry mirrored on each of their faces makes me wish I had a camera, myself.  Instead I pull my smartphone out of my pocket and snap a few pictures for blackmail, later.  “It’s… an honor to be spoken about,” Max says, absently handing a set of keys to a guy in a suit.  “Don’t scratch her,” he adds.

“As my future--and I suppose present competition, it would be smartest to take care of you… properly,” Pan says, “which is why I’ll be looking forward to this summer.”  Then, as I’m trying not to die from laughter, he gives them a sharp little smile and turns, offering his arm to Amara.  “My dear, shall we go?” he asks.

“Certainly,” Amara says, shifting Cubby to one arm and slipping her free one through Pan’s.

“He’s going to kill us, isn’t he?” Jack says as the couple and child head inside.  “Sunny!” he says, grabbing me by the coat.  “What, exactly, is your girl’s dad up to?”

I grin at him.  “I dunno,” I say, lying through my teeth.  “But you know how super villains are.  This town isn’t THAT big, after all.”

“He has a point,” Adanna adds.  “Too much competition does not make for a good super villain set up.  It wasn’t so terrible, knowing you.  I’m sure you’ll be missed.”  She pats both Ace and Max on the shoulders before tugging me to the entrance.  “Come on, Sunny, we don’t want to miss the movie.”

“Definitely not,” I agree, grinning back at the three and waving.  That was great.

Dating a super villain isn’t an easy job.  I mean, I don’t mind, I suppose, Jack’s extremely happy with the work and I doubt he’s planning on stopping as he gets older, but it’s still a bit hard on me.  And I bet it’s hard on Zoe, too, I think as I look over at her.  She’s got a resigned expression on her face as she looks over at the three villains.

“Sometimes it feels like they’re dating each other, doesn’t it?” she asks as I move to her side.  I choke, and then start to laugh because every single one of the three just turned red.  I’m positive they heard her.  “What do you say, Aubrey?  Want to be my date for the night?  You’re looking quite stunning,” she teases, holding out an arm.

“I would love to,” I say, grinning back as I take her arm.  “You look beautiful, as well,” I add.  “I love that dress.  It’s the one you got when we all went shopping, right?”

“After all the dresses we tried on that day, you actually remember?” she asks.  “It is.  I thought Max would like it, he tends to like shiny things.”

“So does Jack!” I say.  “You don’t think it’s a super villain thing, do you?”  We start to walk past the boys, only to blink as Ace steps in front of the other two, grinning evilly.

“Ladies,” he says, flicking his fingers slightly and making two roses appear.  One is a brilliant pink, which he hands to Zoe, the other is a delicate peach color with pink tips, which he hands to me.

“Hey!” Jack protests.  “No hitting on my girl!”

“But Jack, you helped me look good for tonight, I might as well make use of it,” Ace says.  “Revenge for the makeup kit, man, deal with it,” he says, in an evil tone.

I’ve never known Ace to act like this.  Usually he’s withdrawn and you can find him zoning out on the side, but today something must have really irritated him, because he’s in full-on super villain mode.