Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7) (23 page)

“You aren’t doing her debut,” Liz says before I can manage.  “I was going to ask Pan--”

“I--” I say, unable to stop myself, “I was thinking of asking Ace.”

The entire limo goes perfectly still, turning to look at me.  Trent hesitates, and I can practically hear him thinking out his words before going, “Why Ace, exactly?”

I’m trying to think of a reply when the limo jerks, sending me flying into Trent’s arms.  The window between the driver and us rolls down.  “My apologies,” the driver says.  “Some lunatic in a flashy new car almost ran into us.”

“It’s fine, no damage done,” Ken says.

“Thank you, sir,” the driver says, rolling up the window again.  I feel a hint of red creeping up my neck as everyone looks at me.  I’m sitting on Trent’s lap, after all.  I slide off, fixing my skirt. Not that I haven’t climbed on him a million times before to try and beat him up, but I’m in a skirt!  Surrounded by family!  It’s just not done!

“Em?” Trent says.  “You haven’t answered the question.”

“Because… well… wouldn’t it be AWESOME?” I say, finally giving voice to what I’ve been thinking all along.  “We could do a whole dramatic scenario with him kidnapping me, but then Ditto saving me--or me saving Ditto, and there could be all sorts of traps and--and trap doors and slides!” I say, practically bouncing.  “It’d be awesome!”  I’ve said that already, but it bears repeating.

“Well… it’s an interesting theory,” Jack says after a long moment of everyone thinking.  We all look to him.  “But we’d have to do a bit of work before we can pull it off.  And y’know, Em, I don’t think you could beat Ace… unless he lets you,” he finishes, looking me straight in the eye.

“Jack!” Aubrey says, slapping him lightly on the arm with her tiny clutch purse.  “Don’t be so negative, she’s really intent on this, right?”

“No, he’s right,” I say.  “I can’t beat Ace by myself, but it still sounds like so much fun that I wouldn’t mind losing my first battle.  I mean, Jack would be fun, too, I guess--”

“Thanks for that,” Jack drawls.

“But I don’t feel like getting knocked around by a lot of steel,” I say with a shrug.  “Remember, I heal fast--that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.  I’d rather have something dramatic and mind bending than bone breaking.  And if anything, I SUPPOSE I can let Trent come in and save me at the end or something--but not until the end!” I warn him.  “I want to do as much as I can.”

“We’ll have to talk with Ace,” Ken says.  “If he doesn’t want to do it, we’ll have to find someone else, okay, Emily?”

“Okay.”

“Until you’re ready for your debut it doesn’t really matter,” Liz says, looking at the various things in the limo.  “You know, if Mega is paying for this maybe we should raid the fridge,” she decides, reaching for it.

“Liz,” Jeanie says in a gently warning tone.  “Leave the fridge alone.  You know alcohol doesn’t do anything to you, anyway.”

“Well, yeah, but it DOES do something to Mega and his fancy paycheck for letting the movie use his persona,” Liz says.  “I haven’t heard a peep about a movie based on me, you know.  Have you?” she asks Jeanie.

“Well…” Jeanie says slowly.

“You have!” Liz says, getting excited.  “What’s it about?  Who’s your director?”

“They want to do a family piece,” Trent says, draping an arm over the back of our seat, “with all four of us being featured.  It’s a Christian company, right, Dad?”

“Rumor has it that America’s Son just happens to be a preacher during his days off,” Ken says with a little smile.  “I’ve actually had several other offers--but they all wanted to go a darker route.  I’d rather not go that way.  Thankfully, once it got out about the boys, well, we gained a new market with the younger kids.”

“Trent’s really popular with little kids!” I say proudly.

“And Jack’s pretty big in the teenage market,” Ken agrees.  “They’re going to put together a movie about how Jack turns bad, and how we deal with it.  It promises to be pretty entertaining.”

“They want to redeem me at the end,” Jack adds with a shiny grin.  “They’ve got no CLUE that Dad’s the one that gave me the Mohawk.”

“Well we don’t want our little photo-op game out in the public,” Ken says.  “Nobody needs to know that Jack’s what he is.”

“A very good guy,” Aubrey declares, snuggling up against him.  Seriously, how does she do that?  It would be like hugging a robot or something, right?  I’ll never get the whole “dating Jack” thing, but as long as he treats her well I guess it doesn’t matter.

I’m getting distracted.  “Hey, if I’m wearing this, shouldn’t Ditto wear something sort of like it?  Like we could put the blue with white stars on the top and the white and red on the skirt, what do you think?” I ask them.  Ditto pops into existence, making me yelp since she’s sitting on my lap.  “Giddoff, you’re heavy!” I complain.

“You’re the one that wanted to dress me up,” she says, looking down at her formal uniform with a grin.  “I like it!  Does this mean I get to go to the movie premier, too?  I call left arm!”

“I really don’t know if we should reveal you just yet, Ditto,” Jeanie says after a moment of thought (just long enough for Ditto to squeeze in on the other side of Trent).  “I mean, then we’d have to tell everyone your powers--we can’t exactly let people think Trent is dating twins when we’re doing work with a Christian company, you know.”

“It’s better to have your abilities under wrap until your debut,” Trent says, patting Ditto on the head.  “You can wear this to the first movie after your debut, okay?” he offers.  She nods and disappears.  I feel a bit depressed when she comes back--simply because she was.

“It was a really cute outfit,” I complain.

“I know, I know.”  This time I’m the one being patted on the head.  I roll my eyes and reach up to take his hand off of my head. 

“She’ll wear something like that for our debut, too, right?” I ask Liz.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Liz says.

The car pulls to a stop and the door swings open.  Trent slides out after his parents, leaning down and offering me his hand.  Someone calls for him from behind, “Kid Liberty!”

I take the hand, sliding out and looking at Trent.  He’s looking blankly at a tall, beautiful blonde teenage girl heading straight for him with a huge smile.  “I’m so glad I could come today--I didn’t think I’d make it with my schedule!” she says, grabbing his left arm.

“Um… who are you?” Trent asks her blankly.

“I’m Layla Sanders--I’m going to be playing your love interest in the movie!  I thought tonight would be a perfect time to show up--” she stops, as if only just now realizing I’m standing here--
down here
.  Like half a foot shorter and a lot less curvy than she is.  “Oh.  You brought your little sister?” she asks.

I’m going to kill her.

“Emily?” Trent says silently, “calm.”

“I am NOT his little sister!” I say, grabbing his right arm tightly.  It’s just about then that I hear a photo being snapped and the lights threaten to blind me for a second.

I glance over as soon as I can see again and see the blonde trying to pull Trent away from me as hard as she can without seeming to be noticed.  It’s not working.  Trent looks hesitant, and I can almost see him trying to figure out what to do--until Liz hooks arms with me.

“Come on, kiddo, let’s introduce you to the press,” she says, completely ignoring how Layla’s eyes go huge at the sight of her.  “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to--Aubrey, come here, sweetie, you’re up, too,” she says, holding out a hand to my foster sister.  Aubrey lets go of Jack and rushes forward, grabbing Liz’s other arm.  “My foster daughters, Divine Justice and Life Light,” she says proudly.

“Divine Justice?  Which one is Divine Justice?  Is she one of the Liberty--”

Jeanie steps forward, smiling brilliantly as she places a hand on my shoulder.  “Divine will be Kid Liberty’s partner when she graduates from Cape High,” she says, as Trent comes forward.  He must have wriggled free of the blonde somehow.  Jeanie steps aside so he can stand next to me, his hand resting on my waist.

“She doesn’t look very divine,” I hear someone mutter in the back.

“My name,” I say boldly, stepping forward, “is in remembrance of my family.  I’m the last of the Divine Line from the South Branch.  They passed away trying to save people’s lives not very long ago.”

The tone of the audience changes, sympathy practically oozing over their curiosity.  They try to ask more questions, but Liz just takes over without a thought.  “I’m quite proud of my girls, who are growing into amazing capes.  I suggest you keep a close eye out for Divine’s debut, especially.”

“What about Life Light?” someone asks, turning the attention to Aubrey.  She flushes slightly.  “What powers do you have?” they ask her.

“I’m a--”

“That, my friends, is a trade secret,” Liz says.  “Now, we’re going to miss my colleague’s movie if we keep chatting, so we’d better get going.”  Then she hauls us inside, leaving the cameras--and Trent--behind.  “That bleach blonde,” she say, snorting, “any chance to get a cape in a photo op.”

“You left him out there with her, you know,” I have to point out.

“Oh, that doesn’t matter.  We just totally stole her spotlight, regardless of what she does now,” Liz says cheerfully.  “You two want nachos?  How about a coke?”

“Firefly,” a familiar deep voice says from behind her.  “Did you just steal the girls from their dates?”  We all turn to see Taurus in formal uniform, looking a bit amused even with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I haven’t gotten to take my girls to the movies for weeks, you know,” Liz says.  I look at Aubrey, who grins back, and we both hug Liz tightly around the waist, trying our very best to haul her over to the big black man.  She moves with us, out of habit more than having to. 

“Taurus, we REALLY want to sit with our boyfriends,” Aubrey says.

“And keep them away from scheming blondes,” I add silently.  “So can you take this from us for the night?”

“This?” Liz demands.  “She just called me a ‘
this
’!”

“We love you, Liz,” I say, standing on tiptoe to kiss her on the cheek.  I hear a photo snapped, but I don’t care.  I let go as soon as I’ve kissed her and race back to the door--just in time to see the blonde hanging off of Trent’s arm as he stares up at Max and Zoe. 

“I thought they brought a car,” Aubrey says blankly.

I head outside, moving to Trent’s side--in front of the blonde.  “Norms need to get out of the way,” I tell her coldly.

“I really don’t know who decided you would be his partner, but there’s no possible way it was Kid Liberty!  You don’t have a chance with a guy--”

Okay, that’s IT, I think.  Ditto pops into existence beside me.  Trent groans.  “Really, D.J.?” he asks me.  “You had to bring out Ditto?”

“This blonde is going down!” Ditto snarls, only to get grabbed by Trent before she can attack.  The sound of Max laughing his head off is the only thing that keeps me from taking advantage of Trent having his arms full.

“Trust it to Kid Liberty to have a duplicator girlfriend!” he says as he lands, letting Zoe drop to her feet.

“Why--where--” the blonde says, looking from me to Ditto and back again.  “How are there TWO of you?”

“You’re supposed to listen to the super villain exposition,” Max says as he walks over, dropping a hand on my head.  “That’s how you get the plot, understand?  And who might you be, duplicator girl?” he asks me as I whack his arm away.

“I’m Divine Justice!” I announce boldly.

“D.J.” Trent adds.  “Ditto, would you calm down?”

“No norm talks down to me,” she growls.  “And you CAN’T be his love interest in the movie!” she taunts the blonde.  “Because now everyone knows Kid Liberty’s dating a redhead duplicator!  They’ll have to get twins,” she says, calming down and looking quite smug.

It’s just about this time the car pulls to a screeching halt in front of the red carpet, making us all turn and watch.

“My car!” Max yelps as the door swings open and Ace steps out, tossing the keys in the air and letting them disappear.  An entire carload of kids in masks come tumbling out behind him as a guy in a valet suit steps up.

“The keys?” he asks.

“Ask Maximum,” Ace says cheerfully.  “I made my own.”

“You stole my car!” Maximum bellows.

“Excuse me, who might you be--” the news lady from before asks Ace.  Ace’s face twists, his entire head turning into that of a dragon as he turns to her, showing off his teeth.  “Dragon!” she says excitedly.

“He totally took our limelight,” Jack says, stepping up next to Max.

“Are you surprised?  He stole my car!” Max says.

“I’ll fix any damage he caused, don’t worry,” Zoe says, patting Max on the shoulder.  Ace heads straight for him, his eyes gleaming unnaturally.

“That’s for the ‘Dragon Fanclub’ website with the seventy dollar membership.  Don’t think I don’t know who’s picking up the cash,” Ace tells him before looking at Jack.  “Next I’m getting even for the massive makeup kit.”

“But you’re already wearing the eyeliner!” Jack says shamelessly.  The cameras are almost blinding with all three of them together, especially when Trent’s just standing there in full uniform, watching them with a dark expression.  That is totally a fake dark expression, you know.  Trent’s good at acting.  Oh wait!  This is my chance to deal with the blonde!