Guitar Hero (Cape High Series Book 12) (9 page)

"Can you believe that THE Justin actually came to our school?" I hear one girl ask excitedly.

"Are we sure it was him?"

"Of course it was him! You saw the video of his last concert, right? Divine Justice fought off Maximum while he sang—and she's the one that came and talked, right? Plus, he sounded EXACTLY like him. I almost got a lock of his hair."

"I'm surprised that stupid fan club of his didn't kidnap him," another girl says, watching the field with a bored expression. "That Kirsten girl is like, super obsessed with him, right?"

"Did you hear that she actually claimed to be a super once?" the first girl says, hooting with laughter. "Yeah, right, like a fat chick could have any other power than speed-eating."

"There are NO fat super heroes," the second one agrees, turning to grin at her. "Can you imagine Firefly chunky? It's disturbing."

"Exactly!"

"Excuse me," I say, walking closer. "Can you tell me where I can find this Kirsten girl?" I ask.

They both look at me, their faces showing a hint of disgust. "Who DRESSED you, your mother?" the first one demands.

"Kirsten," I repeat, "where is she?"

"Who knows? Who cares?" the ask, shrugging. "She's probably at home on her computer blogging about Justin falling in love with her at first sight or something."

"Did you know she and her friends do actual FANFICTION about crap like that?" the other asked, laughing. "I looked them up once—they share an account."

"Justinloversforever?" the other asks. "I saw that! It's so pathetic!"

"It's almost as pathetic as their little club meetings."

"We should crash one, and pretend we're as pathetic as they are."

"Excuse me," Emily says, moving closer. "Do you know where those meetings take place?"

"Who ARE you?" they finally demand, looking at her closely. "You don't go here, do you? I mean, one of you we could ignore, but an entire group of losers?"

"We would definitely notice something like that."

I step next to Emily, pulling my glasses down and looking them straight in the eye. "See, this is why we really wanted to finish that talk earlier today," I say, staring them each in the eye for a moment.

"Ju—Ju—" one stammers.

"Now where does the Justin Lovers meeting take place?" I ask.

"In—in the park down the street," the second says, pointing a bit limply.

"Next time you think someone looks like a loser, or like they're dressed by their mother, maybe you should find out more before looking down on them," Malina says, pulling up her sunglasses (they're shaped like hearts) and looking the girls in the eyes.

"Wait, aren't you the one that does the water dance?"

Malina gives them her trademark impish grin before we turn and walk away.

The sky goes dark and we can't help but glance up as a low hanging cloud slowly floats over us. "Think it'll rain?" Emily asks as we walk.

"No… it shouldn't," Malina says, staring at it for a long moment. She chews on her bottom lip, fidgeting for a second before saying, "Ignore it, it'll go away soon."

We head to the park.

***

"You're invading my territory," Max says as he looks up. The glint of sun off of a familiar surfboard tells him exactly who it is. "Don't you have a debut planned for today?"

"Yeah, I got a guy down in South. I just wanted to talk to you, first," Jack says, dropping down from his surfboard and onto the building Max is sitting on. He'd flown over a few states for this, but neither of them seem to care about that. "Are you watching your next debut?" he asks.

"Yeah, Pinky over there snuck out of school and came here," Max says, motioning to the park below. "I'm not sure why, but it's interesting enough. Where's your team?"

"Prepping for the debut. Mom has them running around making sure everyone is set up for any destruction that happens. We've got a problem." The abrupt change of conversation makes Max look over blankly. "Shadowman is back."

"That's pretty typical for our line of work—"

"No, there's more to it than that," Jack says under his breath, looking over at Max's team, who are hanging out a few feet away playing on their phones. "Shadowman's not… himself. I ain't sure how to explain it, other than I caught him watching my group the other day. It freaked Brandon out, he wouldn't stop being invisible no matter what I said. For us he's an annoyance, but for the zoo kids—"

"He's the guy that kidnapped them," Max says, realizing what the problem is. "Did he seem to be looking for something specific?" he asks.

"I don't know," Jack admits. "It was strange, really. He just sat there, watching us as we did a debut. I had Ward and Brandon on crowd duty, right? It was going fine until Brandon saw him in the audience and started freaking out."

"What happened then? Did he attack?" Max asks.

"He didn't do anything. And he didn't say anything—in fact, he didn't even seem to recognize me or the guys. There was this… glazed look in his eyes." He stops as a group walks into the park, looking like complete nerds. "I knew they were here, but not HERE here!" he says, grinning widely again. "OYE!" he bellows, jumping to his feet and stepping onto his board.

"They're undercover, you moron!" Max snaps even as Jack races away. “Wait, why ARE they here?” he asks himself.

"Hey, you dorks!" Jack says, flying over to the group and completely ignoring Max. "Just what do you think you're doing here?" he demands. "I'm claiming this park for myself!"

"What?" Emily asks, looking over to a group of girls before looking at him. "You idiot, you're ruining our cover," she hisses before going on, "This is a public place! What would your mother say if she knew you were terrorizing a playground?"

"My mom would say you asked for it by looking like such dorks," Jack says shamelessly. "Especially you," he goes on, heading straight for Justin. "Did you dress in the dark or something?"

"When was the last time you brushed your teeth, man?" Justin asks. "Your breath REEKS."

The group of teens to the right are starting to freak out by now, and Max can hear at least one of them trying to explain what's happening over the phone. The others are recording it. "I brush twice a day—you're probably smelling your own B.O.," Jack mutters. "What does a little nerd think he can do to me, anyway?"

"Hey! Stop being a bully," Malina says, stepping in front of Justin and placing her hands on her hips. "What would your GIRLFRIEND say if she knew you were acting this way?" she demands in a threatening tone.

"Wait, Cold Steel has a girlfriend?" one of the teenage girls asks, sounding shocked.

"Are you threatening me, little girl?" Jack demands, stepping off the board and crouching down in front of Malina with a glower. She stares him straight in the eye, her hands on her hips.

"I am," she says. "I'll write your stupid school and tell them you're bullying harmless people!" Her voice lowers, "And I'll call up Aubrey and tell her you blew our cover, mister. Don't try and play big and bad—I've seen all those love letters you've sent," she adds, poking him in the chest.

Freddy chokes, looking away as his shoulders start shaking. The three behind Max start laughing their heads off silently, as well. Even Justin is grinning evilly.

"For someone so cute, you're seriously mean," Jack complains, rubbing his chest dramatically. "And for your information, I wasn't talking to you—I was talking to nerd boy, there," he says, looking at Justin. Before Justin can reply, though, someone starts yelling.

"Hey!" one of the girls in the park says, heading for us. She's got chin-length pink hair, I think a bit blankly. She's also built just like a—I glance up in the direction Jack had come from, realizing abruptly that he hadn't been alone. Max sits on the roof of the restrooms, lounging lazily as if watching a show. He even has the gall to wave cheekily at me. "Who do you think you are, picking on poor innocent people?"

She's a super. NOT the healer super we were looking for—she's a normal super. Think she's Max's debut? It would explain why he's here, but since when has Max been explainable? "What do we do?" I hear Freddy whisper.

"I got this," Emily says silently. "Jack, I'm bringing in Divine Justice—prepare to run, would you?"

"But I got stuff to tell you," Jack says just as silently. The pink haired girl is looking back and forth between us and him, her pale blue eyes widening as she makes the connection.

"Call us on the system, moron," I tell him as a poof comes from the roof of the restroom, and Ditto practically lands in Max's lap. I see Max jump and dive for cover as Ditto, in full Divine Justice gear, strikes a dramatic pose.

"Cold Steel!" she yells in an equally dramatic tone. "Who do you think you are, picking on innocent people?"

"She stole my line," the pink haired girl complains lowly.

"She's debuted, you haven’t," Jack tells her with a shrug before turning to face off against Ditto. "Well, crap," he says loud enough to be heard. "Who let you out on the streets, DJ?" I abruptly remember that they would obviously know each other in character—she's dating his brother both on and off-stage.

"I let myself out!" she declares. "And you're not welcome here, so either leave now or I take you down. Do you know how pathetic you'll look, taken down by your brother's girlfriend?" she taunts, grinning evilly. "Think of the dinner conversations we could have."

Jack's face is perfect, I think as I pull out my phone and snap a picture. He looks completely dumbfounded. "You wouldn't!" he says.

"Oh I would, I would," Ditto says. Repeat appears behind him, tapping him on the shoulder with a little grin. He jumps slightly, jerking away from her, especially when she holds up a phone. "I've got your Daddy on speed dial, you know."

"You fight dirty, little girl," he declares. "This isn't me running away, though! I got bigger fish to fry," he adds defiantly as he steps onto his surfboard and takes to the air. "I'm taking over South Territory, next."

"You'll be sent running back home with your tail between your legs," Ditto says sharply. "Get out of here and I won't tell your mother you lied about her."

Jack races off, leaving the rest of us trying not to laugh. Repeat disappears and Ditto runs, leaving us to pretend to be norms. It must be nice to have built in alibis, I decide as I look at Emily. She's scolding Malina.

"You shouldn't speak to a super villain like that," she says, waving a finger in Malina's face. "They're dangerous! You could have been hurt!"

"Yeah, right," Freddy scoffs under his breath. I look over at him and he grins at me. "We've got Jack figured out," he says simply.

"But he was being a bully!" Malina says. "You have to stand up to bullies, otherwise they just get worse!"

"Yes, he was being a bully, but he's also a super villain with power over metal—which we happen to be surrounded by," Emily says, looking around at the playground toys. "That could have gotten ugly. Who knew Divine Justice could run him off so easily?"

"She's dating his brother, right?" I say, willingly going along. Payback for that last prank he pulled on me at school—I had one of my rings glued to the little toilet flush lever for half an hour. Sure, I took it off! But it's still petty embarrassing when guys look at you funny every time they come out of the restroom. "He's probably afraid she'll get him grounded."

"Who are you?" the pink haired girl says silently, looking from one to the next.

"We're just looking for a girl named Kirsten," I say. "We heard she's a Justin fan? I'm a HUGE Justin fan, myself."

"His biggest fan, even," Freddy says with an innocent look. I elbow him as quickly and non-noticeably as possible. Too bad he grunts in reply.

She hesitates, looking back at the cowering group of teens behind her before nodding. "We can't do this here, you've drawn too much attention to yourselves."

"We just wanted to talk about joining the fan club," Malina says, earning a raised eyebrow from pink girl. "I've seen Cold Steel on TV a lot—he doesn't think things through, right? He probably was just flying past and saw Ju--Jesse’s ugly shirt,” she says, “and decided to come down and be a bully.”

"Probably," Freddy says.

"I think he does think once in a while... probably," I have to admit—I've been in the middle of a prank war with the guy since—oh crap, I think abruptly looking around. "Be right back," I say, running for the restroom. I hear Max on the roof as I enter a stall and reach down to check.

"What happened, get the runs?" Max asks from above.

"He pulled the zipper trick again," I mutter, checking ALL of my zippers. This pair has zippers for the pockets, too. "On ALL of my zippers."

"Next time get plastic zippers, moron."

"Shuddup, I kept this pair for the trip thinking he'd never see them!" I stop, looking at the toilet. "I gotta pee," I complain. I didn't have to until now, darn it! Max is laughing his head off above my head, and I hear the rest of his team start to snicker. "Why did you come here, anyway?" I ask.

"No, see, I have a reason to come here—you guys are the ones that have no reason," Max says. "Why are you here?"

"We're looking for our healer target, we think it might be a girl named Kirsten."

"Ahhh, is she part of the fan club group?"

"Probably," I say.

"Aren't you lucky, then? We'll be inviting her to join our school. You'll get one of your rabid fans in class every single day," Max drawls.

My eyes widen and a spurt of terror races through my veins. "Oh, crap," I mutter, racing out the door and for the others. They're standing away from the group with the pink haired girl and a shorter, stockier girl with purple hair. They all look up at me and I realize I'm running too fast. I pull to a stop, kicking up dirt. "Hey, guys, I just realized we have to leave," I say almost too quickly. "Time to go, gotta be on the road and everything," I add, wrapping an arm around Malina's shoulders and tugging her along. "We've got a schedule to keep."

"But we haven't gotten the chance to—" Malina says as I haul her along. She's not moving fast enough, so I lean down and wrap an arm around her waist, picking her up.

"Max just made a very, VERY good point," I whisper to her.

"What's that?" she whispers back.

"I don't want a rabid fan girl in school."

She glares at me, jumping out of my hold and hauling me to a stop by grabbing my pants. "You're the one being a bully, now," she tells me, putting her hands on her hips. "We can't abandon her because YOU feel uncomfortable!" she tells me, poking me in the chest—well, the stomach. She has to reach up to do that.

"But Malina," I say, feeling desperate, "you don't understand just how awkward that could get—"

"Justin Eric Gregory," she hisses, standing on her toes. When that doesn’t work, she grabs my shirt and tugs until I get on my knees for her, "would you listen to yourself?"

I've never seen her look this bossy before. I can't help but feel a bit of wonder that one of the shyest zoo kids is now facing me down in public. She is… really adorable when she's angry. I doubt she'd like to hear that, so I keep it to myself. Instead I clasp my hands in a dramatic motion. "Please, Malina?" I beg. "She's got a built-in bodyguard already, right? Max is about to do her pal's debut tomorrow. She doesn't need to go to our school—"

Malina just stares at me for a moment as I let my words trickle to a stop. She takes a step forward, since we're on eye level now, and places her hands on my shoulders. "It'll be okay," she tells me, leaning up and kissing me on the forehead. "Don't worry, we'll keep you safe from the rabid fan girl," she promises, pulling back and giving me a teasing grin.

I don't reply for a second, still feeling the tiny kiss on my forehead. What—no, forget it, I tell myself sharply, shaking it off. She's just being motherly. All of the zoo girls, especially, have a mothering instinct. I think it was all the time fighting to keep each other from breaking. I'm just a bit vulnerable to that sort of stuff—I realized it during my crush on Morgan. "But you wouldn't have to if she wasn't in the school," I have to point out.

"We can go now," Emily says, jerking us out of our chat. We both look up. It's only Emily and Freddy.

"Where's—"

"We did our job," Freddy says with a shrug. "We gave her your mom's card and the card from school. She said she'd check in with the Hall soon. That's all we were supposed to do, right? So time to go. You've got a show tomorrow, right?"

"Uh… yeah, I do," I say, standing.

"So," Freddy says casually as we start to walk away, "when did you two start flirting?"

Malina almost trips over herself. The look of shock on her face would be funny, if I weren't feeling a bit shocked, myself. "We aren't flirting!" Malina bursts out. "You're crazy, Freddy—Justin's like another brother!"

Ouch. My ego just took another serious hit right there. I almost don’t notice how Malina suddenly stops, staring up at a cloud in the sky with a frown on her face. “Malina?” I ask.

“It’s nothing,” she says, starting to walk again.

***

"I think," Rachel says slowly, looking at the two cards that Kirsten is holding, "that that guy in the nerdy glasses was Justin."

"You can't be sure about that—he was gone half of the time," Kirsten says. "There's no way THE Justin would wear that stupid of an outfit. They were even talking about making a clothing line based on his style!"

"But what if he doesn't want to be caught?" Rachel asks. "What if he's pretending to be a norm—we know the others were probably super! They had a whole whispered conversation with Cold Steel, right?"

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean it's Justin. There are other super teens out there."

"I still say it was him. We'll ask him tomorrow night after we kidnap him!"

"Good plan!"

***

"This was a lot of fun!" Skye says, dancing through the air as she and Tatia head back to the ice mountain. "There were so many shiny beads!" She's decked out with tons of bead necklaces and bracelets—none of which she made herself. Well she HAD made something, of course, but it wasn't very pretty. "I especially liked the part where that little guy came into the shop and looked at you before fainting!"

"But that is not meant to happen, kitten," Tatia says dryly.

"That's what made it so fun!" Skye says.

"And you got very bored during the computer class," Tatia points out.

"Well, yeah, but there was a really interesting class one floor down!"

"Yes, and you sitting there with your head in the ground did make for some very interesting conversation!" Tatia agrees. "Is there anything else you would like to do?" she asks. Her new "daughter" is very eccentric, she's decided, but she is quite entertaining!

"Well, I know I should check on Doris's training—it should be really interesting! But I haven't talked to Emily in days," Skye says, frowning as she pulls to a stop. "I don't want her to get lonely!"

"But she is on a mission right now," Tatia says.

"But it's not like she's in the mountains or anything!"

"Well, to be truthful, I think she is," Tatia says. "She is visiting the West Branch. I have never met this Negatia woman, but I have flown over her territory—it is a beautiful place. Very rocky."

"She—she's in the mountains?" Skye says, the color leaving her face. "The mountain-mountains? With the snow on top? And—and the avalanches and the—"

"She will be fine, kitten," Tatia says, taking her hands. "My son has built the tour bus she is riding in—there is nothing that will hurt them."

"That—that's what—" A tear trickles down Skye's cheek and she takes a shuddering breath. "That's what her parents said—that—that they'd be fine," she says, starting to sob. "And they WEREN'T!"

"Breathe, kitten, we are not dealing with the same situation—this is Emily we are speaking of," Tatia says, starting to get worried. "She can teleport the group out if things do not go well."

"I don't—I can't risk it," Skye says, going insubstantial and slipping out of Tatia's grasp. "I have to save my niece!" she declares, racing away.

On the one hand, Tatia thinks, she has the urge to chase after the girl to make sure she doesn't get in trouble. On the other, she's still supposed to be dead. Her son will definitely yell at her for flying around, especially when it's across the country.

She lets out a sigh, shaking her head. "She is so impetuous," she says. "But she will be fine—it is not as if she is flying into danger!" She's just going off to check on Emily, who's perfectly fine.