Coyote's Howl (Cape High Series Book 17), page 13
“Do you still think I’ll become like him?” I ask.
“You will not,” he says. “You’ve proven that by choosing the coyote as your final form.”
“I didn’t choose, though,” I say. “I just—I just begged him not to leave.”
“And he chose to stay. That is the sign that you chose him,” he says simply. “I am… guilty of something I swore that I would never do when I was younger. I apologize.”
“I—” I stop as I hear a twig snap behind me.
“Leave, now,” Coyote says silently. The urgency in his voice has me running away, even though I know I’m not really there. I race away from the snapped twig, only turning back when I’m certain I’m not too close. Badmoon steps out of the woods. He’s carrying two things that send a chill down my spine. One is a simple black suitcase. The other is a very familiar light bulb gun.
“Coyote—” I start out. He pretends not to hear me.
“Where have you been?” he asks Badmoon. “What is it that you have there?”
“I’ve been wandering the earth, just like usual,” Badmoon says. “I tried, little brother. I really did try.”
“Try what?” Coyote asks even as Badmoon lifts the gun, aiming it at him.
“I tried to go along with your blithe attitude, but I can’t, anymore. I will not allow the boy to become the next Coyote,” he snarls, his eyes glowing, his front teeth elongating. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but he grows even hairier as he speaks. “I will not let our family line be tarnished by a MUTT!”
Coyote shifts, realizing the danger, but it’s too late. He’s halfway into his bear form when the light hits him and he loses it, falling to the ground. He ages in front of my very eyes, his black hair turning white, his face growing gaunt and frail. Suddenly I wonder exactly how old he really is. “What magic is this?” he demands.
“Not magic at all,” Badmoon says. “It’s technology. Ironically, I’m almost positive that it was created by one of my old… ‘friends’ from the Cape Cells. But I don’t think it’ll last,” he says, opening the suitcase, “so I picked you up some jewelry, as well. This way you’ll stay out of the way while I take care of something you should have done ten years ago.”
“Why?” Coyote asks, his voice creaky and tired.
“Because if I can’t be the Coyote, neither can he,” Badmoon says, rage showing on his face. “I will NEVER let him live to see the full power of the Coyote.”
“You would kill him? An innocent child?”
“No one is innocent, little brother. You should know that by now.” He turns, and I see him realize that I’m there. His eyes narrow and he starts for me. My heart starts pounding, even though I don’t think he can do anything to me right now. “You think I can’t sense you?” he asks.
I wake up.
***
Taurus snorts as he wakes up abruptly, staring blankly into bright blue eyes. “Morning time!” Cubby announces, just loud enough to make the Minotaur shifter wince. The little boy is sitting on his chest, and he is… lying on a couch, Taurus realizes as he looks around. He doesn’t remember lying down, he thinks as the little boy climbs down, running off to do whatever little boys do at this time of the morning. Taurus looks at his com-bracelet, checking the time.
“Five A.M.,” Pan tells him, not bothering to look over from the beakers in his hands. “Kimi is still sleeping on the perch next to your couch. I’m surprised you slept so deeply—I had a few mishaps.”
Taurus sniffs the air, only to groan and pinch his nose a second later. “You couldn’t get rid of the smell?” he asks.
“I will, once I get the time. This is very delicate work,” Pan says, slowly letting a drip of one liquid fall into another. They both stare as the mixed liquid starts to bubble, rising out of the beaker and leaking over the side with yet another pungent smell. Even Kimi wakes up, letting out a hoarse cry before flapping her wings as if to try and wave the smell away.
‘What on earth are you doing?’ she asks. ‘It smells terrible!’
“Yes, but I think I might have had a breakthrough,” Pan says, staring at the beaker. “I need to run a few more tests, but… dare I say, eureka?”
Taurus starts to grin.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I sit up with a jerk, breathing harshly as I try to get the image of Coyote falling out of my mind. That hadn’t been just a dream. I just witnessed my great uncle assaulting my grandfather, over me. He’s going to come after me, next. There’s no possible way that he’ll get to me, here. I mean, this place is set up to stop S-class supers from entering. I could just stay, and no one would blame me for it. Coyote refused to accept me when I was only four years old. I have no reason to go out and save him. Except I sort of do. I’m a hero. I’ve already decided that I would do whatever I could to stop evil from thriving—and I hate the very idea of kidnapping. Coyote might not be a kid, and it might be his brother doing it, but it still qualifies. He’s being held captive against his will, and he’s done nothing to deserve it.
I… I could go tell the Hall, right? But if I do that, he might get in trouble for aiding and abetting a criminal. So, okay, he did do something bad, but it isn’t bad enough to—to let Badmoon have his own way. Besides, the guy isn’t quite stable—there’s always the chance that he’ll lash out at Coyote if he can’t get to me. He already tried to kill my mom, right? She’s full-blooded Native American, and she’s not the next Coyote. So why was he going after her? Probably because she gave birth to me.
I let out a heavy sigh and look down at the couch I’m sitting on. Oddly enough, I went to sleep in coyote form and woke up in human. Usually I do the exact opposite. I shrug it off and look at Adanna, who woke up sometime when I wasn’t paying attention. She’s sitting on the couch next to mine and looking up at me. “What happened?” she asks.
“I need to go,” I say.
“Where?”
I hesitate. She’s likely to tell the adults and then I’ll never get to leave. But if I don’t have anyone with me… well, I don’t think I want to go alone with only one animal form. Sure, I’m going to have to get used to working that way, but my future job plans don’t include hunting down an escaped Cape Cells convict. “To the dorms,” I say, instead. “I mean, we’re sort of intruding here, aren’t we? I think I remember Liz picking us up and placing us on the couches when she came in, but they’ll probably want them soon, right?”
“I’m fine with you there,” I hear Liz say from her bedroom. Inwardly I groan, since she just cut off my excuse.
“But I’d like to be in my own bed,” I say, instead.
“Fine, fine,” Liz says, and I hear her getting out of bed. She comes out a second later wearing a Taurus shirt that hangs down to her knees. She looks down, and blushes a bit. “My usual PJ’s are in the wash,” she says defensively.
“We didn’t say anything,” Adanna says, although there’s a wicked little smile on her face. “Although I’m sure he would give us very good grades if he found out.”
“I could use a good gym grade,” I agree. “Besides, I thought you two were dating.”
“We’re—” she says, only to let out an irritated sound. “I’ll take you back to the dorm, then. Adanna, if you want, you can take my bed. But from the look on your face, you probably won’t.”
“I’m fine. I’m actually awake now. I think I’ll come with you to the dorm,” she says, looking at me pointedly. I give up, knowing that she’s got a very good idea of what I’m planning. “I haven’t seen Morgan or Carla for a while.”
“Carla’s spending the last of her vacation at home with her family,” I say. “Her dad’s home—he’s actually been honorably discharged, so they’re starting his training to be a black suit as soon as school is back in session.”
“That’s great,” Adanna says, although I hear a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“You like Carla?” I ask as Liz heads to the bedroom to get changed.
“She’s…” Adanna says, hesitantly, “I find it difficult to make friends. I mean, Zoe and Emily and Aubrey are my friends, but… I’m dating Zoe’s twin brother.”
“And you really believe that’s why they’re your friends?” Liz asks, stepping out of her room in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. “Honey, you could be married to her brother—and if Zoe didn’t like you, she’d still show it.”
“We’re going to wake people up if we keep talking,” I point out.
“Oh, half of the place is probably already awake,” Liz says. “Let’s go.”
We follow her out the door and down the stairs to the front part of the apartments. Just as we’re starting out the door, a tiny buzzer rings and we see Nico walking towards us. He stops as he sees us, and a strange expression crosses his face. “A bit early to be going out, don’t you think?”
“Lance wants his own bed,” Liz says. “It’s awfully early for you to be coming home. You haven’t started doing patrols, have you?”
“I was working at the Hall,” he says, his eyes falling on me again. “So… how are you feeling, Lance?” he asks.
“I’m a coyote shifter,” I say.
He frowns. “I see. So… the others are already gone?”
“Yeah,” I say. “They left me today—well, yesterday, really.” I look down and shrug. “I’m okay, other than that. Zoe says I leveled up in almost everything else.”
He brings out his phone and scans me, and I wait patiently as he stares at it, his expression turning more and more confused. “You have,” he says. “At the moment, your human form should actually be stronger than your animal. Shift for me, would you?”
I shift, standing there and waiting yet again as he scans me, this time looking away when the light gets too close to my eyes. He taps on the phone a few more times before looking at me. “Do you feel the same in this form as you did before you lost the others?” he asks.
I blink, having not thought of that. I turn, jumping up the stairs as far as I can—only to stop in surprise as I find myself almost running into the wall of the first level of apartments. I jump down the steps, landing lightly in front of him before shifting back. “I’m stronger than I used to be,” I say.
“A lot stronger, you’re definitely past the level of a normal coyote.”
“That’s good, right?” I say.
“Yeah, it is,” he says. “You used to only be as strong or as fast as the animal you turned into, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh. But it still doesn’t make up for the loss,” he says, pocketing his phone. To my surprise, he reaches out placing a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll get your forms back. Don’t worry about it.”
“But—” I say.
“Now go on back to the dorms, Liz needs to sleep and she won’t until she’s delivered you properly.”
“I’m fine,” Liz says, only to yawn.
“We’re going, now,” I say. “And Nico? I… I mean, I think maybe there’s a chance I might get them back.”
He looks at me. “You definitely will.”
I don’t think he believes it’ll be naturally.
***
I find myself surrounded as soon as I enter the dorms. They’re all silent, as if waiting for me to say the first word—or they are until Carla pushes her way through the group and wraps her arms around me. “Oh, Lance, you should have called me!” she says.
“You were on vacation,” I say, hugging her back, briefly. “I didn’t want to ruin your time with your family.”
“But you’re my family, too!” she says, quickly. “Is there something we can do? Can we make Bobby touch you and get your powers back? Or maybe if I run fast enough I can go back in time and change the future so it never happens—”
“NO TIME TRAVEL!” most of the school shouts before she can go on.
“Oh, right,” Carla says, blushing brightly. “But this is still a massive, over-sized, super dramatic tragedy of EPIC PROPORTIONS! We have to try EVERYTHING to get your powers back! Right?” she says, suddenly looking a bit shy.
“If…” I say slowly, wondering how to put this. “Okay… maybe if I put it this way… Badmoon is my great uncle,” I give them time to gasp, but nobody does. Nobody looks surprised at all. “That was supposed to be more dramatic than you’re making it,” I have to point out.
“It’s a small world, and supers live a really long time?” Morgan offers, almost sympathetically. “I mean, we’ve already had this sort of revelation… well… there was me, and I guess Zoe and Sunny count, even if we weren’t there for it, and then Keliah turned out to be Boom’s granddaughter—honestly, I’m more surprised that there are Cape Cell convicts that AREN’T related to one of us in some way or another, by now.” The entire school just turns and looks at her a bit dryly. “There are, aren’t there?”
“I don’t think anyone’s related to Star Born,” Freddy offers.
“Well, she’s a MADE super, so she hasn’t been around as long as the old guys,” Morgan says.
“That’s… true…”
“Who else was in there?” Malina asks.
“An octopus shape shifter,” Adanna says. “Dad was interested in her abilities, so I learned a lot about her.”
“Anyone related to an octopus lady?” Morgan asks the crowd. “Anyone at all?”
“Not that we know of, yet!” Kaden says, laughing.
“Well, anyway,” I say a bit dryly, “Badmoon is my great uncle. At one time I figure he had all the same forms as I just lost—and can you imagine what sort of damage he could do if he still did? Look, I don’t think I’d be a bad Coyote—”
“You’d be a WONDERFUL Coyote,” Carla says loyally, only to ruin it by going, “what’s a Coyote?”
“It’s my family title,” I explain. “But like I was saying, maybe it’s a good thing that not every person born with all of the forms gets to keep them. I mean, I’m not as powerful as a Liberty boy, or Sandra, or anything, but… well, it’s still a lot of power, I think. It’s also more dangerous in a way. With my old powers, I could sneak into places that tanks could never get without being noticed, or I could crush through walls that they could. I could go to the deepest part of the oceans, or the highest areas of the sky. I had no limits, in a lot of ways… and I’m only just realizing it, now. It shouldn’t be abused. The transition is a good thing.”
“But it isn’t for you,” Vinny says.
“Actually, it is,” I say. “When I talked with my grandfather he asked me what I would be if I lost all of my powers. Now I know,” I say, smiling a little. “I don’t dislike who I am with just one shift. I might be more limited, but I’m still capable. So you can stop trying to treat me like I’m broken, got it?” The looks of guilt on their faces tell me they know exactly what I’m talking about. “But you CAN feed me,” I say, rubbing my stomach. “I’m hungry.”
“I’m on it,” Vinny says, heading for the cafeteria. I look around the group, not seeing Sandra or Rocco. I bet Rocco is out helping Century look for Badmoon, and I feel myself tense. I need to go. I can’t go, though, not without someone helping me find him, and a teleportation watch. I…
“AUBREY!” Carla shouts, rushing through the building so fast that the furniture rattles. “I’ve missed you!” I look over, seeing her throw herself at Aubrey. “Is Lance going to be okay?”
“He… well, I hope so,” Aubrey says, looking up as I come closer. “I thought you were still on vacation, Carla. Did you come back early for some reason?”
“I missed everyone here!” Carla says. I look at her, my eyes narrowing slightly. Something sounds off about how she said that.
“Really?” I ask.
“Um… well…” she says, looking down for a moment. “My siblings were driving me CRAZY,” she announces. “They were here and there and they got into EVERYTHING. I mean, I KNEW they did, but I’d forgotten how annoying it was, since it’s been so long since I lived with them. And I spent all of my time chasing one or the other because they were getting into my super stuff—and Jasmine had an entire conversation with Voltdrain on my com-bracelet before I found her—” The entire group starts roaring with laughter at that, so she gives them her sternest look, her hands on her hips. “It’s NOT funny! I spent ten minutes trying to explain that I hadn’t suddenly started speaking in baby babble to him!”
“Did he really think it was you?” Jimmi asks, stepping into the room with a wide smile.
“No, but he made me THINK he thought it was me for those ten minutes!” Carla complains, making us all laugh harder. “Ten minutes is a very long time!” She glares at us for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. “So I made an excuse to my parents and came back here to find out that Lance was having all these problems. I should have been here!” she says, looking guilty. “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s fine,” I tell her. “I’m sorry that it was so tough living with your siblings.”
“I really don’t know how mom does it,” she says. “I’ve got super speed and they STILL ran me ragged.”
“You’re exaggerating, aren’t you?” Vinny says. “I can’t see you being run ragged… at all.”
“I had to actually sit down for an entire minute!” Carla explains. “And if they DO become speedsters, I don’t know what we’re going to do!”
“They’ll grow out of the ‘getting into everything’ phase by the time they grow into their powers, I’m sure,” Morgan says. “At least, I hope. Why don’t we all go get some breakfast, everyone? I’m hungry.”
We head for the cafeteria, getting in line. I notice that no one waits for me to get in front of them, although I see a few worried looks shot my way. Strangely enough, though, I don’t feel like my stomach is going to eat itself. Maybe with the loss of all my forms, my calorie needs have gone down. That’s actually pretty nice if it’s true! I reach the counter and say, “I can take Sandra’s food to her, if you want.”
“Sure,” Vinny says. “Give me a second and I’ll get hers, too.”
I wait, trying not to look impatient. I shouldn’t keep dragging Sandra into this. I’m still going to. This is the first time since we got here that she’s willingly come out of her room. I’m not going to let her just hide there, now. She’s spent far too long in a cage—even if this one is of her own making. Vinny hands me the trays and I head out of the cafeteria and to Sandra’s room. “Hey, Sandra? I brought your food,” I call through the door. “Can you open the door? I’ve got my hands full.”
