Coyote's Howl (Cape High Series Book 17), page 24
The boy looks up, the first sign of excitement showing on his face.
“My son will NOT be a villain!” the woman says. “Come, Davis, we’re leaving. We’ll see if that offer for Princeton is still up for grabs.” She drags her son off by the arm, even as he looks over his shoulder, longingly.
“That was probably a very bad thing to do, you know,” Zoe says almost silently to Century.
“We’ll keep an eye on him. When he starts experimenting on things, we’ll step in,” he replies in the same tone. “Now! How many of you plan on going villain?” he asks aloud in a cheerful tone.
Whitney raises a hand.
“She does you proud,” she hears the white haired woman next to her grandmother say.
“Doesn’t she just? A chip off the old block,” Noni says with a smile.
“Anyone else? No? Well, then, Zoe, why don’t you explain why you’ll be the one doing the talking?” Century says, looking at her.
“Like I said earlier, my name is Zoe. I’m the daughter of Technico, and a technopath in my own right. Like one of you mentioned earlier, I played the part of Lady Tech in Maximum’s latest caper—before you ask, yes, we’re dating. And I would just like to say, you have an amazing teaching staff lined up for this school. I’m actually a little bit jealous. I’d like to learn from them, as well as my own teachers.”
The teachers grin, unashamedly. They’re supers, Whitney thinks, they don’t bother with false modesty. “So anyway, when Century invited my father and me to help set up a new school, I was interested. I’ve made it my lifetime goal to make sure that teen supers everywhere have a school to go where they can feel free to be themselves, no matter what form they might take.”
The mouse jumps off of Cold Steel’s shoulder, shifting mid-fall into a familiar face. “Hi,” Lance says, waving at them all with a grin. Half of the kids are too stunned to react, but Whitney starts to cheer.
“Nice timing!” she calls out.
“Thank you, it was too good of a setup to let go,” he replies. Then he stops and looks at one of the teachers that hasn’t spoken, yet. “Coyote.”
“Coyote,” the man says with a slight nod and an impossible to read expression. A smile crosses Lance’s face, but he moves to stand with the students that came from the other branch. Something tells her that was a huge thing, she just doesn’t know why. Before she can figure out how to ask Lance, she finds herself flanked by two people. She looks at Cold Steel, and then at Rocco, wondering why they were picking on her, all of a sudden.
“She’s cute,” Cold Steel says to Rocco.
“And a villain,” Rocco agrees. “She’s EXACTLY what we’ve been looking for!”
“Don’t even think about it! She’s going to be South Branch!” Hy-Bo yells over her shoulder at them.
“Thank you, darlin’,” Century says.
“We saw all the videos about Cheval after Lance told us about her! She’s INCREDIBLE! And I could go up against her granddaughter!” Hy-Bo says, making Whitney blush brightly.
“Come to the dark side, kid, we have cookies,” Cold Steel says to Whitney.
“And milk!” Rocco adds.
“I’m already going to the dark side,” Whitney has to point out.
“The CENTRAL dark side!” Cold Steel says.
“Guys,” Lance says, making them both look up. “Wait until she’s ready to graduate, would you?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cold Steel says.
“You actually listen to him?” she asks, feeling stunned.
“Lance?” he says. “Sure. He’s my little sister’s best friend.”
“She’s not your little sister, yet,” Lance says.
“YET,” Jack says, “‘yet’ is the important part.” Lance snorts.
“Please line up and I’ll get you all put into the system. And once we’re inside, I’ll show you how to use the techdesks!” Zoe calls, waving them forward with a smile. “Also, let me be the first to welcome you all to the Cape High family. I know you’ll love it as much as we do.”
Whitney can’t help the little answering smile that crosses her face. Maybe she will, she thinks.
Not Quite NPC
“Okay,” I say, opening Sandra’s door without bothering to knock. At least she didn’t lock it, I think as I look around. “You’ve been in here for two days, now—I told you I wouldn’t let you stay in here all… the…” I stop, staring at the wall she’s sitting in front of. “You’re playing video games.”
“Shut up, Lance, I’m going to die if—I died,” she says, groaning and falling onto her back. The extra large phone in her hands drops beside her as she looks up at me. “You killed me.”
“You were trying the Nico game?” I say, “All by yourself?”
“Yeah, was I not supposed to?” she asks. I stare at the image on the screen, my jaw dropping slightly. She gets up, stretching. “What day is it?”
“Were you playing it ALL this time?” I demand.
“Mmm, I took a break to eat once in a while,” she says, yawning.
“You’re level ten,” I say.
“Yeah, I would have gotten further if you hadn’t KILLED me,” she says. “Did you bring food?” She heads for the bathroom before I can reply.
“It took me and both Liberty boys working together to get there,” I say, stunned. “How could you get so far alone?”
“Because she’s a rock,” Nico says from behind me. “She’s discovered her stealth and burrowing capacities.”
“You’re kidding,” I say, looking at him. “So you knew she could—”
“It was interesting,” he says with a grin. “She spent the first day not even getting close to me—she took down most of my established bases, first. You can’t electrocute her, so taking down an electrically run base or two is—”
“A couple of punches and a lot of sparks that sort of tickle,” Sandra says, coming out of the bathroom with a cup of water in her hand. “And since he’s Nico, he automatically started fixing things.” There’s a wicked little grin on her face. “Once I got him distracted and reached level seven, I went to train under the character most likely to take him down.”
“Who?” I ask.
“My dad,” Nico says, his grin turning to an irritated look.
“He’s a pretty interesting NPC,” Sandra says.
“That wasn’t an NPC,” Nico says. “You’ve been playing with my old man for the past seventeen hours.”
“I was acting as a mentor. She planned on finishing you off on her own,” we all hear Superior say from the speakers in the wall. “I like her. Send her up and your mother and I will take over her training.”
“We would find it most enjoyable!” Tatiana says cheerfully. The look of shock on Sandra’s face is what has my attention.
“The REAL Superior?” she says.
“The real Superior,” Superior agrees. “How would you like to be part of the family?”
“She’s already going to be a Liberty,” Nico says. “Besides, now that we’ve got her out of her room, I’m going to start her training, myself.”
“She should have been playing this game a lot sooner,” Superior says. “We could have beaten you by now.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nico says. I don’t recall adding you into the game.”
“You left it in your room, so I added myself and your mother,” Superior says. “There’s not much to do up here, you know. So I’ve built a few getaway islands in your game.”
“Only in the game?” Nico asks.
“First,” Superior says. “It was easier than building blueprints.”
“We have found a lovely little island nearby!” Tatiana says. “Yes, there are bears, but it is no worry!”
“Well, since you didn’t bring food, I’m going to go get some,” Sandra says to me.
“She just ignored the offer to be a Superior, didn’t she?” Superior says as we leave the room.
“Like I told you, she’s already going to be a Liberty,” Nico says.
Sandra shakes her head and heads for the cafeteria. “He wouldn’t keep offering if he knew I was so ugly,” she says to me. “All the Superiors are beautiful people.”
“You look exactly like your avatar,” I point out. “He already knows how you look.”
The room is completely silent, and everyone is staring at us in shock, but I don’t mention it as we head for the counter to order. “Huh? Where’s Jimmi?” I ask as Morgan greets us.
“She’s going to Cape High South,” she says. “She’s packing to leave, now.”
“But what about—” I say, looking to the kitchen part where Vinny is working.
“She always planned on going back when the new school was started,” Vinny says. “She’ll take over the cooking for them. She’s decent, so they won’t complain.”
“Yeah, but won’t you miss her?” I say.
“I’m going to graduate in a year, and she plans on working with me. You ask me, I should enjoy this time as much as I possibly can,” Vinny says, flipping a pancake with a twitch of his wrist. “She’s bossy.”
I give up. I mean, if even I picked up on her crush, he’s got to be the most oblivious guy I know. “She asked him to come along,” Morgan leans forward to whisper in my ear, “but he refused to leave us ‘to starve.’”
I nod, since I can understand that. Century had asked me to go there, as well, but I refused. I can’t leave my family, not yet.
“Whatcha want, Sandra?” Vinny asks. “I’ll do a special order in celebration of not having to bring it to you.”
“Give me everything,” she says, glancing around. “What are you staring at?” she demands. Most of the cafeteria jump to their feet and rush over, cheering as they pile on top of her. “I wasn’t asking for that!” I hear her yell from the dog pile.
“You’re finally OUT!” Carla says, hugging her tightly, since she’d been the first one to get to her. “We’ve MISSED YOU!!”
“Huh,” is all Sandra says, but she doesn’t throw them off. “I was just playing a video game.”
“She got to level ten,” I brag.
“No way!” Carla says, looking excited. “How? Who helped you?”
“Well… I thought it was an NPC guy,” Sandra says as they get off of her, “turns out that Superior really IS Superior, though.”
“You got Superior to play with you?” Freddy asks, looking stunned. “How awesome is that?!”
“He’s kind of strange,” Sandra says. “He invited me to join the family after playing a stupid video game together. If he knew what I was like in real life, he’d probably take it back.”
“Wait, did nobody even explain the game to her?” Vinny asks, as we all stare at her blankly.
“It just popped up when I was messing with my phone,” Sandra says. “It looked fun, so I tried it.”
“Sandra—everything you can do in the game is something you should be able to do in real life,” Morgan says.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Sandra says.
“No, it’s based on the scans that Nico does—he should have a great idea of what you’re capable of.”
“Huh,” Sandra says, before heading for the door.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“To build a massive underground secret base,” Sandra says. “I had one built under a mountain in the game. It was awesome.”
“What?” I ask.
“These huge hands? They’re good for something,” she says almost smugly as she heads out the door. “I bet I can even find an underground pool!”
“Should we tell Nico?” Carla asks as we watch her leave.
“Sure,” I say, “you do it, though, I’m going to watch this! Hey, hey, Sandra! Can I help you dig the hole?”
“Then it wouldn’t be secret, stupid,” she yells over her shoulder.
“Aw, c’mon, I won’t tell a soul!”
“I’ll go tell Nico,” I hear Vinny say with a sigh. “If someone falls into a hole, we’ll know why.”
A Letter from the Author
Hi, everyone! I’d just like to say a few quick things before going back to work on the next book. This book sort of crept up on me, demanding to be written. It’s our very first Lance book. It caught me off guard, too—I was originally planning to write a Sandra book. Don’t worry, I’m planning to do her book next (and will, unless another book slaps me upside the head.)
This is a longer book, and I really enjoyed the length of it, so I plan on switching over to this for the foreseeable future. It’s not as long as Max’s, of course. I don’t think I could handle a fast turnaround with a full length book. As it is, I’ll be slowing down a little, but I like to believe it’ll be worth it. This length really allowed me to delve into things I would have just skimmed over, earlier. It also allowed me to do more cameos^^
And now, until our next episode, happy hero-ing, everyone!
~R.J.
~About the Author~
R.J. Ross has been writing since junior high, when she discovered that it could help her keep an A in English Class. She lives in Missouri, where she spends all of her time writing. If you would like to see more of her work, you can find several short stories at amazon.com/author/rjross!
Like her on Facebook for bonus material such as character profiles, unpublished information, and status updates at https://www.facebook.com/capehigh! Or check out her blog for free Cape High short stories at https://capehigh.wordpress.com or follow her on twitter @rjrosscapehigh
~~~~~~
~About the Cover Designer~
Artist, designer, programmer - you would think that by growing up near the Gulf Coast Leslie Zielinski would spend more time on the sandy beaches. No, she spends her time in front of a computer screen creating digital art and making it come to life.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
R.J. Ross, Coyote's Howl (Cape High Series Book 17)
