Steampunk Time: Cape High Book Seven (Cape High Series 7) (25 page)

“Have you been teasing Ace too much?” I ask Jack, putting my hands on my hips.

“Of course they have,” Zoe says, crossing her arms over her chest, the rose dangling from her fingers.

“We just did him some favors!” Max protests.

“Ripping off all my fans,” Ace drawls, his irritation showing on his face, “sending me a professional makeup kit--I’m sure they were both in on that one.  There’s like fifty shades of eye shadow in that thing.  You’d think guys with girlfriends would be giving those gifts TO their girlfriends, don’t you?” he asks.

“Now he’s ratting us out to the girls,” Jack says to Max.  “That’s low.”

“After weeks of this, of course I’m going to play dirty,” Ace says.   I look at the rose I’m still holding, silently admitting that Jack has never given me a rose before.  To my surprise, Jack grabs the rose from me, crushing it.  It disappears and I glare at him.

“That was my rose, Jack,” I say quietly.

“Here,” he mutters, digging in his pocket and pulling out a large metal ball bearing.  It starts to twist, shifting form.  The entire group turns, watching in wonder as the ball bearing slowly settles into the form of a rose.  “This is your rose,” he says, blushing slightly as people start taking photos.  I can’t help the smile that crosses my face.  He frowns, and then digs into his pocket again, pulling out another metal ball.  It shifts into a hoop, which he hooks the rose to before hanging it around my neck.  I hug him.

“Leave the girlfriends out of this, man,” Jack says to Ace.

“Quit teasing him over wearing makeup,” I say, pulling away and giving him a dark look.  “I’ve got several pictures of you wearing it, too, you know.”

“That’s different!  That’s--your sister using me as an art project,” he mutters.

“I can show you,” Max says to Ace, pulling out his phone.

“Can you send me copies?” Ace asks as I grab Jack, trying to keep him from lunging.

“Jack, can we go inside?  If we stay out here too long I’m worried Liz will ditch Taurus and come out looking for us,” I say, tugging on his arm.  He looks at me and I can practically see him fighting himself.  Finally he lets out a sigh.

“Mega would kill me if I missed the first part, wouldn’t he?” he asks with a sigh.  I hug his arm, leaning my head against his shoulder.

“He would,” I agree.  It amuses me just how comfortable he’s grown with the idea of Mega being his uncle.  At first they hadn’t known how to deal with one another at all, but enough family barbecues had fixed that.  Don’t get me wrong, I know he thinks Mega’s a bit too big-headed, but so does Trent.  Just don’t tell Mega that.  “You’re a good nephew,” I tell him silently.

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, leading me inside.  Except it’s not over, I realize as I glance over my shoulder.  Zoe has grabbed both Max and Ace and is dragging them inside.

“You two need to remember that we’re in public,” she tells them.  That they’re just letting her pull them around by the arms proves something I’ve been thinking for a while.  The older Zoe gets the more intimidating she grows.  I’m actually a little worried that she might go super hero.  If she does, I can imagine just how beaten Jack would be.  My poor Jack.

“You hungry?” Jack asks as we step inside.  The refreshment counter is crowded, with most of his family right at the front.  It’s amazing how much the Liberty family eats.  “I was thinking nachos… and popcorn, maybe a hotdog--”

I laugh.  “Nachos sound good,” I say as he heads for the line.  I let my arm drop when his does, twining my fingers through his.  “Jack?” I ask.

“Yeah?”

“When you have a movie made about you… are they going to reveal what I am?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” he admits.  “Do you want them to?”

“I don’t know,” I say, looking down.  If the entire world finds out I’m a healer, people will start doing stupid things to get my help.  “I want to help everyone, but I don’t think I can,” I admit quietly, leaning into him.  “I wish there were more healers.”

“Maybe there are,” he says.

“What?” I ask.

“Well… you don’t exactly stand out,” he says slowly.  “I mean--you’re--you know--” he stammers.  “You don’t look like them,” he says finally, motioning to the crowd of tall, toned, and downright intimidating people in front of us.  They look like warriors.  Me?  I’m chubby, I think, looking down at myself with a scowl.  Not fat, exactly, but definitely curvy--I blink as he touches my chin. 

“You’re beautiful, but people don’t think you’re a cape,” he says, looking me in the eyes.  “Not unless we tell them.  I figure--well, actually, Nico figures it’s cuz that way you don’t get targeted.  So why can’t there be more girls and guys that look like norms but are actually healers in disguise?”

Why can’t there be?  My eyes widen in excitement.  “I want to meet her,” I say.  “We could work together--”

“Wait up, wait up,” he says.  “I didn’t say there WERE.  I’m just saying there could be.  That’s something we might haveta ask Morgan to go out and look into.”

“Why can’t I go look for her?” I ask.  Why I just assume it’s a female, I don’t know.  I suppose there could be male healers.  I just sort of hope it’s another girl.  “Summer is coming; they might let me go look for people--”

“You’re too important,” he says.  “Not just to me, either.  I’m not saying Morgan’s unimportant, or anything, but we need you here.  I need you here.”

I sort of nod and look back at the line rather than answering that.  Visions of another healer are dancing in my mind, visions of how much we could get done if there were even just one more.  The hospitals we could visit.  The people we could help.  “I hope there’s another,” I whisper.  He drapes an arm over my shoulders, tugging me into his side.

“Enough of that,” he says roughly.  “We need to talk about something way more important.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

“Keeping me awake through the movie.  Knowing Mega he’ll drill us for every detail to make sure we were paying attention.”

“How is that more important?” I ask him dryly.

“Because we can actually do something about it,” he says simply.  “We’ll worry about finding other healers when we get the chance, got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” I say, reaching up and touching the metal rose hanging around my neck.  “Why do you tease Ace so much?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Because he needs it,” he says.  “You haven’t noticed?” he asks, leaning down and whispering quietly. 

“Noticed what?”

“He’s starting to make friends, even if it’s only to help him get revenge.  He came with a carload of zoo kids.  Nobody in the apartment ‘cept you can even get most of them to talk.  Ace gets them to follow him on a car stealing gig.  After what Justin said, I figure it’s best for everyone if he’s not so... isolated, right?”

“I did see Morgan, then!” I say, getting excited.  “I want to go talk to her!  Oh, and Vinny!  That WAS Vinny!  I was so busy watching the three of you that they walked right past me!”

“Why don’t I get the snacks and you get us some seats next to them?” he says.  “I’ve been wanting to talk with Vinny for a while.”

“Why?” I ask, still holding his hand.

“Because I want his debut,” Jack says with a grin.  “Vinny would be a blast to fight with.”

“Okay, but you’ll have to ask him, yourself, got it?” I say before heading into the theater.

I’m sitting between Morgan and Lance with a gigantic tub of popcorn on my lap that I’m pretty sure Lance talked America’s Son out of before coming in.  It’s massive.  I mean, it’s actually touching both arms of the chair I’m in and I practically have to tilt my head just to see over the thing.  “How did I get stuck holding this?” I ask Lance.

“You were in the middle,” he says, taking a massive handful of the popcorn and shoving it into his mouth.  I groan, squirming a bit to see the screen--although, honestly it isn’t that hard.  We’re in the second row.  Right in front of us are the serious big-wigs of the business, including Mega himself.  He’s got a date, who’s turned towards me, talking to him.  She doesn’t look very comfortable in a mask.  Think she’s a norm?  The big shot Mega, a guy that has movies made about him, is dating a norm?  Probably because she’s pretty.

A huge man stops in front of me, leaning down and shaking hands with the guy sitting in front of Morgan.  “Mastermental,” he says in a country drawl.  “Proud of your boy, here, I see.”

Wait, what?  I hadn’t looked at the guy in front of Morgan, since he was there before we sat down, but it’s Mastermental?  The head of the Central Hall?  Well, I guess it makes sense he’d be sitting next to Mega for this.

“I am,” Mastermental says mildly.  “I have reason to be.  This is his first movie.  Take a seat.  I’m sure you’ll want to see it, as well.”

The huge man sits down, stretching out his legs in front of him.  “I’ve come to talk a bit of business, while I’m at it,” he admits quietly.

“You realize we’re surrounded by people with super hearing, don’t you?” Mastermental says mildly.

“I doubt it’s going to surprise them, or offer up any true opportunities to them,” the large man says.  He’s right, I’m not interested--I’m just trying to see around his massive head and shoulders.  Maybe I should talk to the others about moving back a few rows.  “We’ve got a small problem with... troublemakers.”

“Troublemakers?” Mastermental asks.

“They took out several small houses in a lesser populated area of Texas,” the man says.  “Ripped them apart with what looks like bare hands.  Then spray painted their gang name across the debris.  The Glowstick Gang.”

“Why those houses?” Mastermental asks.

“We don’t know,” the big man says.  “The houses were owned by families, for the most part.  They had teenage kids, dogs, a mortgage--norms living their daily lives.  We’re looking into the Facebook aspects right now, but there’s only one big problem--”  He hesitates, stretching his legs and getting lower in the chair.  Thanks to that I can see the screen again, I think as the lights dim.  “One of them--far as we can tell--is one of ours.”

“I see,” Mastermental says quietly.  “One of your active members?”

“One of their children.”

“And you come to me for?” Mastermental asks.

“You took one from me,” the large man says blandly.  “I had big hopes for that girl, but you swooped in and snatched her from my branch.  You owe me a favor for that.”

“You have a point.  I’ll bring it up to Technico,” Mastermental says, not exactly agreeing to anything.

“The ex super villain?  Do you really trust him?” the large man asks.

“With the life of my only son,” Mastermental says, “which is far more important to me than my own life.  Technico is the first one I would go to with a situation that involved our children--you might have noticed that, seeing as I gave them all over to him.  Including the one I took from you.”

“How is she doing?” the large man asks.

“She’s been adopted into a very loving little family,” Mastermental says.  “Even if you offered, I doubt she’d come back to your branch.”

It’s starting to get interesting, I think, only to blink as Morgan lets out a little yelp.  I look over, seeing Aubrey hugging her from behind.  “You came!” Aubrey says.  “Vinny!  Lance!  Did you really help Ace steal Max’s car?” she asks.

I hesitate before shrugging.  “Morgan and Ace are sort of friends, and Lance is a Mega fan, so we decided to hitch a ride with him,” I say.  “Carla wanted to come.”

“Then why didn’t she?”

“Because we pulled up the trailer on Youtube and she couldn’t even sit through that,” Morgan says with a little sigh, grabbing a handful of popcorn.  “Want some popcorn?” she offers.

“Oh, Jack is coming with snacks soon--he always gets way too much.  Of course he always eats it all, too, but I’ll wait, just in case.  Vinny, you do realize--”

“Realize what?” I ask, grabbing a handful for myself.  “Too much salt,” I complain, eating it anyways.

She hesitates, looking at me curiously for a long moment.  “Never mind,” she says.  “You’ll find out sooner or later.”  I look at her for a long moment and she gives me a little smile, reaching up and patting me on the shoulder.  “You’ll do just fine,” she assures me.

“Just fine at what?” I ask.  I give up when her boyfriend comes in with a tray practically overflowing with food.  He drops down next to her and I have to turn around completely if I want to see him--so I don’t.  Instead I look up at the commercials for upcoming movies, wondering why it feels like I should have skipped the movie after all.  We’d almost died a few times on the way here, after all.  Ace is an insane driver.  I bet Blackjack taught him.

I grab another handful of popcorn from the bucket and glance up as Ace slips in next to Lance, handing out drinks to everyone.  I look at him, raising an eyebrow.  “Are these real?” I ask.

“Yeah, but if you don’t like the flavor I can change it,” he says, taking a long drink of his pop.

“Who paid for it?” Morgan asks him.

“Max, of course, but with what should be my money,” Ace says, flashing a credit card between two fingers.  Jack starts laughing behind us, only to get every hero in the theater going, “Shhhh.”