The Betrayal of Renegade X (Renegade X, Book 3) (6 page)

“The Thief King was deathly allergic to peanuts. Everyone knows that.”

He kind of gapes at me for a second. “You sure?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s common knowledge.” At least it is for villains. I assumed it was for everyone, but maybe not.

He holds his hands out, palm up. “I mixed it up, then. It was a long time ago. Maybe it was sprinkles instead.” He laughs at that, like that makes the story even funnier. Like he’s going to tell it like that from now on.

So much for the honest truth.

Now that I ruined the mood, their mom gets up to start clearing the plates. Curtis puts a hand on her lower back, which suddenly seems really intimate and over the line, except she doesn’t even flinch. Like it’s normal for him to put his hands on her. Ugh. “Let me do that, Win,” he says.

Zach cringes and Riley looks away. I raise my eyebrows at him, but he pretends he doesn’t notice.

“No, I’ve got it,” their mom says, not noticing how weirded out her kids are by what just happened. And me. Don’t forget me.

Curtis gets up and follows her off into the kitchen anyway.

As soon as they’re out of sight, I turn to Riley and say, “So, that guy’s doing your mom, huh?”

He makes a face. “
No.
I mean, they... They’ve been on a couple dates, I guess. That’s all.”

“That we know about,” Zach says. “She only just told us they were together last week. She wouldn’t have said anything if it wasn’t for sure. Which means they were already going out
before
that.”

“He’s got a point,” I tell Riley.

“And she never dates,” Zach adds. “It’s only been three years.”

“Three and a half,” Riley corrects him, without looking up from an imaginary spot on the table he’s staring at. “But... she wasn’t going to stay single forever.” He sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself than anyone else. “And he’s always looked out for us, ever since Dad died. It makes sense, kind of.”

“But he’s
not
our dad. It’s weird. And gross. And he’d better not be... you know. With her.” Zach’s face turns a little red and he clears his throat.

“He’s a liar,” I say, taking a drink from my water glass. “His story doesn’t make sense.”

Riley spreads his hands out on the table. “It’s just a story.”

“A fake one. When did he say it happened? Five years ago? Because the Thief King relocated to South America a year or so before that.”

“So? Maybe he got the date wrong. And... he
likes
telling us stories about our dad. I figure he ran out of true ones a long time ago.”

“So you don’t care that he’s a liar? Or that he’s—”

“He’s
not
doing my mom!”

He practically shouts that at me, right as his mom and Curtis come back in with a tray of brownies and a carton of ice cream.

There’s a moment of really awkward silence. Zach squeezes his eyes shut, opening one eye slowly to survey the fallout. Riley hunches his shoulders and doesn’t look at anyone.

Finally Curtis chuckles to himself a little and sets the ice cream on the table. Their mom follows suit with the brownies, as if everyone’s silently agreeing to pretend it didn’t happen. Except for Riley, who glares at me and mouths,
Thanks a lot.

As if it’s my fault he’s so easily agitated.

“So, Riley,” Curtis says as he takes his seat across the table, “tell me about what happened during your final. I hear there was some trouble?” His eyes go right to me as he says that part.

“Oh, leave the boys alone, Curtis.” Their mom swats his arm. “It was one mistake. I seem to remember you making more than your fair share when you were their age.”

“I didn’t have a League scholarship on the line.”

Riley swallows, looking guilty, as if what happened was in any way his fault.

“You know your mom can’t afford for you to go to Heroesworth on her own. And you know why you have that scholarship. Don’t dishonor him by losing it.”

Yeah, no pressure. I don’t know what scholarship he’s talking about, but I can’t help glaring at him. “Riley didn’t do anything wrong. It was my fault. He just happened to be there.”

“And by ‘just happening to be there’ and not stopping you, he broke a League rule. Heroes can’t just let people go around hurting others. And he has a
League
scholarship to think about, and they don’t look too favorably on that kind of thing. A hero needs to be aware of what company he keeps. His father would have never gone into battle with someone he couldn’t trust. With a...” He trails off, apparently deciding it would be too rude to say
half villain
at the dinner table.

Zach sits up straighter, like maybe he’s going to tell him where he can shove it, or maybe launch himself across the table in an attack.

Riley’s eyes go wide. His voice takes on a defensive edge. “I trust Damien.”

Curtis raises his eyebrows and tilts his head, like
Are you sure about that?
“As I understand it, none of the
heroes
in your group shot anyone. You were there with him, meaning it was your responsibility to stop him. He put you in a situation you shouldn’t have been in, and now the League’s putting you on probation for your scholarship. Your father and I never would have done that to each other.” He gestures at me and Riley with his fork. “There’s more to trust than knowing he won’t shoot you while your back is turned.”

“I resent that,” I mutter. “I would so shoot him to his face.”

Curtis ignores me. “You have to know he’s looking out for you. That he’s not going to do anything crazy and take you down with him.”

“They’re
sixteen
,” Riley’s mom says. “They’re kids, not adults in the League. They’re allowed to mess up sometimes.”

“I trust Damien,” Riley repeats. “He didn’t mean to get me in trouble.”

“Doesn’t matter—it still happened.” Curtis turns to me and says, “I don’t mean to offend you, son, but you put our Riley here in a difficult position. How can he fight villains in the field if he’s got to worry about the one on his team?”

I keep my fists clenched under the table as electricity surges in my palms.
Must. Not. Zap. Douchebag.
I open my mouth to speak, but then Zach beats me to it.

He gets to his feet and leans forward, pressing his palms into the table. “Damien’s our friend and you don’t even know him, so just shut up! You’re not our dad and you never will be, so stop acting like it!” He turns and runs off to his room in a fit of drama, slamming the door behind him.

He may have picked that up from Amelia.

“Zach!” their mom shouts. She gets up to go after him.

Curtis shakes his head at me, like this is all my doing.

And I think maybe Mom’s right. Maybe I do always have to cause a scene.

“The other heroes on our team might not have zapped anybody,” I tell Curtis, “but they didn’t go after the bad guy, either. Two of them wouldn’t even come in the building to save those kids. And I might be a half villain”—and I might even be trouble—“but at least I’m not a coward.”

And at least I know that, no matter what, I’ve always got Riley’s back.

“W
ELL,” SARAH SAYS, ADJUSTING her glasses and pushing them farther up the bridge of her nose, “Curtis has a point—you
did
put Riley in a difficult position.”

I can’t believe her. “
Sarah
. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am on your side.” She pauses to peer into the store window at
Masquerade
, the upscale cape shop in the mall. It’s literally a store that sells only capes. The one in the window is red velvet with white fur trim and is on a manikin dressed like Santa. I don’t even want to know who would be lame enough to buy that. The store, like the rest of the mall, is decked out for Christmas with evergreen garlands, wreathes, and giant Christmas trees overloaded with ornaments. Sarah looks like she’s thinking about going in, but then thankfully changes her mind and keeps walking. “But that doesn’t make what Curtis said not true. Riley was supposed to stop you. In theory. That means he broke a League rule.”

As if Riley would ever do that. At least, not on purpose. “Even if he could have stopped me”—which I’m pretty sure he couldn’t—“there wasn’t time. It’s a stupid rule.”

“But he was still
supposed
to stop you. Whether he wanted to or not.”

“Okay, but I didn’t know that.” I stuff my hands in the front pocket of my sweatshirt.

“You broke the League rules, Damien. And you almost killed a superhero.”

She should talk. She’s the one who’s always urging me to shoot first and ask questions later. Or at least she was, before she went crazy this fall and almost blew up a whole generation of supervillains. “I thought he was a murderer. And I didn’t almost kill him. Geez.”

“What if he’d had a weak heart?”

“A kidnapper with a weak heart? That would be his fault for choosing such a hazardous profession. And I thought you of all people would understand why I did it.”

“I do understand, and that’s why I know you shouldn’t have done it.” She stops in front of a bookstore that sells mostly movies and games, pausing just long enough for us to get jostled by some overly aggressive shoppers before deciding to go inside. One of them glances back at us, obviously recognizing me, but he keeps moving. Sarah chews her lip. “Maybe you should join my rehabilitation program.”

She means the self-imposed one she made for herself after the incident at Vilmore. “Wow,
could I
? I didn’t realize you were accepting new members.”

“We could use some more volunteers at the retirement home,” she says, leading me over to a wall of DVDs and not catching my sarcasm. “Though it would make more sense for you to work at one for superheroes instead of villains.”

“Yeah, I’m not doing that. I don’t need rehabilitation, and neither do you.”

“Maybe not anymore. Oh!” Her eyes light up, and she reaches out and grabs a boxed set of DVDs off the wall. “This would be perfect for Riley.”

It’s a documentary. On the history of Golden City.

Right.

“Uh, Sarah...”

“We saw part of it on TV, but we couldn’t watch the whole thing because we were going to the movies, and I know he was really disappointed about not getting to see the rest.”

“Sure, but... You can’t get him that.”

She scrunches up her face. “But it’s in my price range.”

“Get him something cheaper. The more you save on him, the more you can spend on me.”

“I already got your present. And you know how he loves historical documentaries. Even the boring ones.”

Especially
the boring ones. “You think it’s boring?”

“It’s really slow. And pretentious. That’s the only reason it won any awards.”

“You know, on second thought, you’re right. It
is
perfect for him.” And even more perfect will be rubbing it in his face that he was wrong and I was right.

Sarah grins and heads over toward the line for the checkout stand, which is so long, it wraps partway around the store. “That’s two presents down. No, wait, three. I forgot I got Heraldo that giant rawhide bone. I was going to wait to give it to him until Christmas, but he found it in my closet and chewed the wrapping paper off already.” She hesitates, counting out the number of people she still needs to buy gifts for. “I only have four to go, unless... Do you think I should get Kat something?”

Do I think she should get something for my girlfriend who hates her guts and who actually refused to work with someone at school whose name was Sara-with-no-
h
because it was too much of a reminder? Yeah, I’m going to have to mull that over for a while.

“What did you get her?” Sarah asks.

A still from one of her favorite movies,
Vampire Aliens Attack
. It’s from the best part, when the vampire aliens face off against the werewolves trying to defend the earth. But I don’t tell Sarah that because I don’t need her getting any ideas. “Listen, Sarah. About Kat.”

“Her grandparents want her to call more. You should tell her that. I emailed her about it, but she didn’t respond.”

Kat’s grandparents happen to live at the supervillain retirement home Sarah volunteers at. Since finding that out, she’s made it her mission in life to become BFFs with them. Which has not improved the “Kat wants to kill her” situation. “I don’t know how you haven’t noticed this, but you and Kat? Not friends. Not even a little.”

“Not yet. She’s going to come around. Eventually. And a Christmas present from me might help that. As a sign of goodwill.”

“It won’t. Kat doesn’t want to be friends with you.” Kat’s never been crazy about Sarah, since Sarah and I went out for, like, two seconds while me and Kat weren’t together. And then Sarah broke into Kat’s dad’s company this fall—while she was messed up from the effects of her personality enhancer going wonky—on her mission to entrap villains, who she was sure were all criminals. Then there was Homecoming, where she actually shot Kat with a homemade shockwave gun and sent her to the ER. And there was the incident at Vilmore, where she almost destroyed a generation of villains and also tried to kill me, and I can’t say any of that went over well with my supervillain girlfriend. And even though I’ve told Kat that Sarah wasn’t herself when she did any of that, I can still see why Kat can’t just shrug it off and pretend it never happened. She doesn’t really know Sarah—not the
real
Sarah—and Sarah’s desperate attempts to make it up to her and become her bestest friend have only made it worse.

“But,” Sarah says, “that’s only because she thinks I hate supervillains, and I don’t.”

“That’s
a
reason. I wouldn’t say it’s the only one.”

“I’m really improving on my open-mindedness, so if something happens and I go crazy again, I won’t try to hurt any villains. Or you.”

“Sarah, that’s not going to happen.” The line moves forward, like, an inch. I check the time on my phone. “It was my fault, and I’ve got control of my lightning power now.”

The woman in front of us kind of glances over her shoulder when I say that. I see the moment of recognition in her eyes when she sees who I am, though she tries to hide it. She pretends she’s being super casual as she hurries to get out her phone and starts texting someone.