Coyote's Howl (Cape High Series Book 17), page 8
“Hey, Krispy!” Jack yells. “Come clean this up!”
The “woof” makes the room vibrate slightly, and is followed by a loud crash. Sandra watches in shock as a dog the size of a horse barrels into the kitchen—straight into her chair. For a moment he starts looking for fallen candies, until he realizes that she’s there. Then he sits down next to her, staring at her with his stub of a tail wagging.
“And he was being so good today,” Jeanie says with a sigh.
“Nah, we had him locked up in my room,” Jack says. “It looks like I’ll have to replace the door again.”
“Your own fault,” Trent points out, around a mouthful of gingerbread. “You’re the one that called him.”
“Hey, I wasn’t done frosting that yet!” Sandra says, seeing it. The dog puts his massive paws on her lap from the side, pressing a face that only a mother giant could love to her cheek. He licks her with a tongue as big as a normal person’s hand. “I wasn’t the one that was frosted,” she says to him, once she’s recovered from the shock.
“Oh good, he likes you!” Jeanie says.
“He likes everyone,” Trent says. “What’s good is that he hasn’t toppled her over, yet.”
“What IS he?” Sandra asks, pushing the dog away, only to get licked again.
“Mutant Rottweiler,” everyone replies.
“He’s a very good boy—as long as you keep a few chew toys around,” Jeanie says.
“We had to custom order the blocks that they cut into Himalayan dog chews,” Jack says. “We get them by the dozens.”
“His breath stinks,” Sandra says, hesitant to shove the dog off of her, even if he IS a mutant. “Why did you name him Krispy?”
The two guys look at each other and an awkward silence fills the air before Jeanie says, “Because these two got a bit distracted when a girl brought Krispy Kreme donuts to school one day. Their girlfriends weren’t very happy at all, were they, boys?”
Sandra blinks at the sweet tone that Jeanie’s using to rat them out, and then looks at Jack and Trent, who look extremely guilty. “Well… they were really good donuts,” Jack says after a second, only to get a pointed look from Jeanie. Trent bursts out laughing.
“You two are idiots,” Sandra says, bluntly. She almost yelps as Krispy tries to fully climb onto her lap. “Your dog is an even bigger idiot,” she complains, except it’s ruined because she’s laughing. “Krispy, you dork, you’re too big to be a lap dog!”
“Save the food!” Trent says. Everything edible on the table is moved quickly by the boys.
Sandra looks at him. “So you’ll save the food and not me?” she demands.
“We don’t mind if YOU get a little slobber on you—but if slobber gets on the gingerbread men, Mom’ll toss them,” Jack says. “Just shove him off—you won’t hurt him. He’s a tank, too.”
“How are you going to bring in a baby with a dog like that?” Sandra demands without thinking. “He’s too big for a little kid!” Everyone in the room looks at her.
“Who said anything about a baby?” Jeanie asks.
“You—they said you were planning on adopting?” Sandra says, suddenly wondering what she just got herself into.
“Oh, honey, we aren’t planning on adopting a baby!” Jeanie says. “Of course it would be a blessing to have a baby, but that isn’t in the cards at the moment.”
“Then what ARE you planning on adopting?” Sandra asks, wondering why even Jack is grinning at her like she’s the butt end of a joke.
“A tank,” Jack says, “one that has no trouble with our dog sitting on her lap.”
Krispy licks her face, as if to emphasize their point.
***
“So,” Ken says after a long moment of listening to the people in the other room, “who ARE you when your powers are gone, Lance?”
He just had to ask that, didn’t he? I was starting to relax, listening to talks of dogs and candy, even after telling Ken everything. But now that he’s asked, I realize that I can’t rely on him for an answer. I was really hoping I could. I look down, staring at my hands. “I… I don’t know,” I admit. “That’s the whole problem.”
“Do you think you’re less valuable without your powers?” Ken asks.
“Valuable?” I repeat. “I mean… as a cape, I’d be useless,” I say. “Well, not completely useless—I think I’d keep one form, if Coyote wasn’t lying. That’d make me, what, just another shifter, which isn’t that bad, I guess. I mean, Taurus and Pan are really famous—”
“Don’t focus on the cape part, for a moment, Lance. How would YOU feel about yourself?”
“I’d feel… like a huge part of me was… gone,” I say quietly. “I lost my small animal forms and I already feel like I’m only half me.”
“Is your ability you?” Ken asks. “Do you think that if I couldn’t lift a tank, I would be someone else?”
“No, of course you wouldn’t be,” I say. I mean, sure, it’s cool that he’s an amazing tank, but Ken is way more than just what he can do.
“Then who are you, Lance?” he asks, gently.
I stare at his desk for a long moment, trying to put my thoughts together. “I’m… Lance Howell,” I say slowly. “I’m the son of Kimi Howell, a fourteen year old kid that’s had… well, a pretty rough time, really, but it isn’t that bad, now. I can—could, I guess, turn into any living animal on the planet, as well as a few bugs. I can’t, anymore, but it was pretty awesome when I could.”
“And?” he prompts.
“And I like animals. Not just being them, either, I like all of the animals on the planet. They each have something amazing about them, whether it’s an ability they have or how they look, or sound, or whatever. I would like to help them. I also like video games and comic books and funny movies,” I list, grinning slightly. “I have friends that love me, and people that worry about me. And…” I look at him, “I’m worth dying for, right? You’re always telling us that we’re worth that, because Jesus did it.”
“You’re right,” he says.
“It’s not even because I’m a super, either—so even if I lost all of my forms, He still would have done it,” I say. Learning that God loves me was actually a really huge help in getting me out of my room. I used to think that He hated me, you know? Because I was tossed into that stupid zoo. But Ken just kept explaining that God hadn’t done that to me—the Collector had. He’d explained that even though God does have all this power, people still have free will. That means they can choose to do evil things, like the Collector did. Ken says that’s when God needs his children to step up and do what they can to fight it, like how the Hall saved us. Like how I plan to do when I graduate.
“He still would have done it,” Ken agrees with a smile.
“But this still sucks,” I have to say. “I mean, I figure it isn’t God that’s taking all of my powers from me, it’s supposed to be some sort of ‘transition’ thing that just happens, but I don’t have to sit back and go, ‘Oh, okay, I’m fine with losing everything,’ do I?”
“Of course not,” he says. “I’m certain that between you and the Hall, we’ll figure something out, but until we do… is there anything you think you should be doing?”
My mind rushes as I force myself to focus on what I CAN do, instead of what I can’t. I don’t want to forget what I’ve lost. I need to make some sort of reminder. I also want to find my mother. I can’t do that on my own, but I know who can help me. I have a lot of work to do, I realize. “Ken, can I head back to the school campus now? I think I know what I should be doing.”
“Of course,” he says. “Sandra’s probably waiting for you.”
I hesitate, not really wanting to take her away right now. It’s obvious that she’d fit in with this family so much better than she would with us. Within minutes they had her laughing, right? I haven’t heard her laugh… ever, actually. “Yeah,” I say, not wanting to waste the time arguing. Maybe I can sneak out without Sandra noticing.
I head out of his office, going for the front door instead of looking into the kitchen. I hear them laughing, which is—
“Where are you going?” Sandra asks from behind me.
I turn, looking at her with an inward sigh. She’s got a dog the size of a horse standing behind her with his head on her shoulder. “I thought you’d want to finish frosting the gingerbread men,” I offer.
“They can do it without me. Are you going to go find your mom?”
“I’m going back to the campus, first,” I say quietly. “I’m going to ask Rocco if he’ll help me try, again.”
“What happens if you have another break down?”
“I’ll just have to deal with it if that happens. If Badmoon doesn’t like me, he probably doesn’t like my mother, either. I’m not going to let anything happen to her. I just… I just hope it’s not too late.”
“But you’re losing—”
“Yeah, I am,” I say. “But you know what? That’s not nearly as important as my mother is.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” she says, pushing the dog’s head away. “You’re drooling on me, Krispy, it’s rude.”
The dog’s entire body shakes, since he doesn’t have much of a tail to do it for him. I wonder if I can turn into a dog like him. I should probably try before I lose my big animals, too. “Let’s go.”
“Okay,” I say. Honestly, part of me is stunned that she’s willingly going out in the real world for me. “So… does this mean you hate me less than our other siblings?” I ask as we head out the door.
“Sandra, come back whenever you feel like it, okay?” Jeanie calls out. “You, too, Lance!”
“Yeah, okay,” Sandra says.
“You better do it soon, or we’ll eat your gingerbread man,” Jack says.
“Don’t you dare put an inch of frosting on it!” Sandra says, turning back to glare at him.
“You eat what you get!” he says. “Lance, do you want me or Trent to come along?”
“I think I’ll be okay,” I say. “I’ve got Sandra, right?”
“Good point—she’s pretty scary.”
“That’s pretty rich, coming from a walking disco ball,” Sandra accuses him.
“I wasn’t talking about your looks,” he says. “The looks are awesome, it’s the right hook you gotta look out for.”
“Hah,” she says, but I see a tiny smile pulling at her lips as she turns away from him. “Don’t forget it, either.”
We head down the stairs and out of the apartments before I speak. “I think they like you.”
“They’re all crazy,” she says. “I thought it was just Ken, but it’s ALL of them. You should have seen the gingerbread men, Lance—they were practically taller than Malina!”
I choke, and then burst out laughing. “I should have looked,” I admit.
“She had gallon buckets of frosting,” she goes on. “And then there was that huge dog—you saw him! He’s big enough to ride like a horse! And he DROOLED. Not just ‘drool’ like a bulldog or something, we’re talking, like, ‘I need a bath now’ kind of drool. His breath was terrible, too. He smelled like dog food.”
“You liked him, didn’t you?” I say.
“He was SO AWESOME!” she exclaims, grinning from ear to ear. “Can you turn into something like that? I mean, I know you can do REGULAR dogs, but can you do mutant?”
“I have no idea,” I admit. “I might try it before I lose my big animal forms.” She flinches and I feel guilty for saying that, but it’s true, right? “I hate what’s happening,” I say quietly, “but if I can only shift into one thing for the rest of my life… will you still be my friend?”
“Do I look that superficial?” she asks me, glaring. “You could shift into a spider for the rest of your life and I’d still hate you the same.”
“Thank you for your equal opportunity hatred,” I say, trying not to laugh.
“I only dislike the pretty ones more,” she says, sticking her nose in the air as if that was something to be proud of. “You’re pretty, sure, but you’re a boy, so it’s not quite as bad.”
“I can’t believe you just called me ‘pretty,’” I complain. “Guys are good-looking, or handsome, not pretty!”
“You’re a pretty boy,” she repeats. “Maybe your shift will be a parrot—you could go around saying, ‘I’m a pretty boy! I’m a pretty boy!’”
I shift, since I still have my medium forms, landing on her shoulder and letting out a loud squawk right next to her ear. “I’m a pretty boy!” I say, since this form can actually talk. She almost falls over from laughing. Maybe, if I could choose, I would pick this form. If it can make her laugh, it’d be worth it, and I could fly. I spread my wings, taking to the air just because I can. It isn’t the most powerful, it wouldn’t be much use in a fight, either, but it’s still a beautiful creature. In fact, I could easily find something I love and appreciate about each of my forms.
Mourning will have to wait, I tell myself as I catch a wind current, floating on it. I need to work quickly. If I can find my mother before I lose my forms, I’ll have the capability to protect her, better.
“Hey, doofus!” Sandra calls up to me. “Weren’t we going in?”
Reluctantly I shift back into my human form, falling almost twenty feet down before landing lightly on my feet. “Let’s go,” I say.
“You could have just flown down, you know,” she says.
“The higher up you are, the harder it is to land,” I say, pressing my hand to the panel.
“Yeah, which is why you should have flown down,” she says, following me through the security field.
“No, I meant as a large bird,” I say. “Lift-off is hard, and so is landing. I mean, I can do it, but why bother when dropping down is faster, and less likely to run me into the laser wall?”
“Good point,” she admits, looking behind us at where the wall should be. We can’t see it, but I can smell and hear it. “Our principal is crazy, too.”
“He’s overprotective,” I say. “At least we can leave whenever we want—with permission.”
“I never tried before,” she admits. “It was… nice, going out without people staring at me.” She looks down at her watch with a hint of wonder.
“I think you’re amazing, no matter what you look like, though,” I say. “If you really were like your illusion, I wouldn’t be dragging you around as a bodyguard.”
“So you like big, rocky muscle girls, huh?” she teases. “Don’t bother asking me out, I’m not looking for a pretty boy boyfriend.”
“You just broke my heart, here, you know?” I complain. “Come on, Sandra, give me a chance!”
She laughs as we start down the steps, and I abruptly realize that people are watching us from the bottom of the steps. They look stunned. I can almost hear them wondering why we’re laughing when I’m losing everything. I am, I think, but freaking out about it will make it harder to focus on what I really need to do. “Is Rocco here?” I ask the group.
“He’s in the rec room,” Morgan says. “Lance, how are you—”
“It’s not good,” I say, “but being depressed over it isn’t going to get anything accomplished. There are things that I CAN do, so I’m going to do them.” It’ll take a few minutes at most, I promise myself. I can afford a few minutes. I head past the group to the tree house behind the Science building. I walk right past the small houses to a small clearing nearby. There I crouch down, laying out rocks in rows, like tiny headstones. “Thank you, beetle, mouse, rat,” I whisper, calling out each of the forms I’ve lost. It takes longer than I thought—there were a lot of them. “I’ll miss you guys, even you, cockroach.”
I look up, seeing all of my zoo siblings bowing their heads. “It’s silly, I know,” I tell them, standing and wiping my hands off on my pants, “but they did a lot for me. I mean, they WERE me—or I was them, but… I don’t know,” I admit. “It would be… callous just to let the forms go without saying thank you.”
“It isn’t silly,” Morgan says, “it’s what you feel you need to do.”
I give her a little smile. “Now, I’m going to get Rocco and that gas mask I got from the South Branch. Sandra, how sensitive are you to smells? We might need to get one for you, too.”
“I’m good,” she says. “You’re the one with a nose like a bloodhound.”
“Sandra, are you sure—” Morgan says, turning to her.
“I’m his bodyguard,” Sandra says. “Do you think you could do it better than I could?”
“Absolutely not,” Morgan says. “I’m pretty sure none of us could.”
“Well, the Liberty brothers could,” Sandra says, looking a bit irritated by that fact, “but he already turned them down.”
“So… you’re okay, right, Lance?” I hear Brandon say. I look around, and then sniff the air. He’s invisible, but he fades into sight when I turn to him. “Because—”
“I’m not okay,” I say honestly. “But I can’t hide in a corner, expecting it to get better. I have to… I have to do what I can. I’m a hero, and even if I lose all of my powers completely, I’ll STILL be a hero. I’m not going to let evil do whatever it wants just because I’m going through a really bad time.”
To my surprise, they start cheering. I give them a sheepish little smile before bowing dramatically. “Thank you, thank you,” I say, making them laugh. “I do inspirational speeches every Tuesday and Thursday.” I blink as Morgan steps forward, wrapping her arms around me tightly.
“You can do it, little brother. You can do anything that you put your mind to, powers or not,” she says next to my ear. I nod. “But we’ll be here to mourn with you, got it?” She pulls back, looking me in the eyes. “What you’ve lost is terrible, and my heart is breaking for you.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly. “But we need to go. I want to… I want to find out if my mom is actually still alive, or not, and if she is, I want to save her.”
