You're probably wondering why we're trying to be so quiet. Well there's a reason. A really BIG reason. He's standing over there—no—to your right—no, THROUGH the fence. Yes, on the other side of the big, nasty looking security fence that is literally shaking because of electric jolts. Yes, him. He's pretty scary looking, right? He's got to be six five, and he's got the face of a serial murderer. It's all sharp and needing shaved. And that whole skin tight prison body suit thing—it's really not fashionable at all, I admit. What? Why's he got a streak of white in his hair? Well, see, that's why we're here. He's a super villain. So why is an innocent little freshman like me and her annoying twin brother sneaking peeks at him through a prison fence? Well... He's our father. At least, that's what we think.

"I'm a tank," I admit, shrugging my shoulders. "No super cool powers like gravity or anything, just good old fashioned power. Or at least I will be," I add. "Dad says I'm still pretty breakable." "Maybe for him," Max drawls. "You're probably the one they'll send after me when we're older, aren't you?" "Really hard to crush a tank," I agree. Then I look at him, knowing that we both realize I'm the most vulnerable I'm going to be right now. He probably could beat me, and I think we both realize it. "I wonder if they've thought of that already," Max says. "I'm surprised we don't have adults panicking over me knowing you." "Are you going to kill me?" I ask.

“You are Cub,” Nico repeats. “If they really have a problem with it when your brother’s older, just beat your brother. You can do it easily enough. If you truly want your family’s name and title, take it,” he says, turning to look me in the eyes. “Show them just how much you deserve it.” “But I'm female,” I say. “Who cares?” he asks, going back to his shadow searching. “You worked hard for that title. You were acceptable as an heir before your brother was born, right? Well if you exceed as much as I know you will, you’ll be acceptable even after it. But none of this bowing down, none of this letting people take what you want or force what they want on you. You're a super villain, you do what you want.”

"You're awake?" I find myself looking at the most dangerous looking mother—er, man—I've ever seen. I know that face. I know that voice even better. It's Technico, Zoe's dad. "Good. We need that bed. Get up, you should be able to, now." "Water," I rasp out. A woman in a black nurse's outfit moves forward, slipping a straw into my mouth. I take a drink, almost choke, and drink some more. It feels good being able to swallow easily. When she pulls away the straw I start to sit up. She looks panicked. "You shouldn't be—" "He's fine," Technico says. "He's in better shape than most. Aubrey's got skills I never thought I'd see in someone her age." I feel a little light headed, really, but I'm sitting up. I hold my hand up, staring at the thin metal lines that swirl over my flesh. "I thought I was fine," I say.

"You're going to wind up in the cells and Aubrey will be heartbroken and everyone that actually likes you will be left behind! It's not like prison, Jack, it's not like you can go in and visit them or even get letters from them, or—or anything! I haven't seen or heard from my dad in six years, Jack. I can't visit him, and now everyone knows that I'm related to a—an out of control cape! They'll start watching me, they'll start wondering if I'm going to turn out like him, and if I am, they'll take me away." "Zoe and Sunny are kids of a guy that was in the cells," he says. "What?" I ask. "Nico," he says, "he was in the cells for, what... some fifteen years? They told you that, didn't they?" It's supposed to reassure me, right? But it's Nico we're talking about. I snort, shaking my head. "Nico... Nico isn't my dad," I say, turning away from him. "Then who is your dad?" he asks. "Mimic," I tell him. "My dad is Mimic." I hear him take a step back, hear him suck in a short breath. "Oh," he says. Yeah. Oh.

"Yes, Dad, I slammed his fist in a locker for no reason," I drawl. "For crying out loud, I'm not stupid! I haven't done anything that might inconvenience you and Mom while you're ripping up the family. God forbid I actually step out of line—" "Ace, I swear—" Dad starts out, taking a step forward. Banshee's hand lands lightly on his shoulder. It looks like a gentle touch, but I see Dad strain against it for a second and realize he's not moving. "Ace, tell me the truth. Your mother's going to show up sooner or later, I'm sure, and she's going to blame this on me, regardless," he grits out. "He broke his own hand," I mutter, crossing my arms over my chest, "punching me in the face." Dad stares at me blankly before turning on Matt. "You PUNCHED my son in the face?" he demands. "It—it's starting to change color," Matt almost whimpers, looking at the hand in question. "How can I play football with a broken hand?"

"I have brought a super child," Tatiana announces. "I do not know where she comes from, but she is one of us. Until we can return her to her parents, I will be taking care of her." "Wait, wait, wait," Blackjack says, getting up from where he was lounging on a couch. "You can't just bring in some random super! Kid or not, we need to know what she's after, right?" Yes, he's Blackjack, he looks exactly as he does in my time. Heroes don't age like normal people, they just stay the same for who knows how long. Well, outwardly, at least. "Are you out to destroy all of civilization, kitten?" Tatia asks me in a bland tone. "Um, no?" I offer. "Good enough for me!" she says cheerfully.

"I'm not suited for solo missions," I say over the com. "Sure you are," I hear Morgan say, "you can handle anything." "He can," I hear most of the zoo kids agree. "Man, remember the time he caught the kitchen on fire? He didn't even break a sweat!" "Which time?" Morgan asks, laughing. "Relax, Vinny, you can do this with your eyes closed. You'll be back home with us before you know it, I promise." Why do they have so much faith in me? I look in the bathroom mirror, seeing a punk with glowing earrings looking back at me. I’m surprised Jack didn’t convince me to pierce more than just my ears, honestly. He’s way too happy with a piercing needle for my tastes. “There’s one thing Century didn’t mention,” I say almost silently. “I’m here to prove that Cape High is actually teaching the students enough to send the South Branch kids to it.” “Interesting,” Nico says. “Well it doesn’t matter to me, I only took this job because it’s part of my probation. If there are less kids involved there’s less work for me.” I choke, shocked, and then burst into laughter at that reply. “Aw, man, that’s good to know,” I admit. “I was feeling a bit of pressure there.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Jack asks. Yep, I was right. The entire school followed him here. “I don’t know,” Trent admits, picking me up, “but I don’t think we should do this in the girl’s bathroom. C’mon, let’s go outside. Some sunshine will cheer you up, right?” he asks me. I would reply, but I’m too busy trying to sniffle up my snot. Yes, it’s that gross. And I’m showing it to my seriously good looking, perfect boyfriend. I will never live this down. Trent sits down on the steps, cuddling me. “Is this about Skystep?” he asks quietly. I jerk, so shocked that the tears stop. I stare at him for a long moment before looking down. I can’t come up with anything. “Ditto disappeared in the middle of Rocco’s story, so we were pretty sure something was going on—then we heard you yelling,” he says. “You’ve been looking pale since someone said Skystep’s name, don’t lie.” “Ye—yeah,” I say, still looking at my lap. “What happened with Skystep, Em?” he asks, patting my hair. “She... she killed my parents.”

“We’re here.” The words jerk me awake—okay, I’m lying. It’s not so much the words as the ice cold marbles that are rolling down my shirt. Either way, I’m awake. I jump to my feet, doing a stupid dance to get the marbles out of my shirt. Max merely records me with his phone and I realize belatedly that Panther’s holding the marble bag. “That was cold,” I complain as the last marble drops to the floor and rolls away. “Your father told me how hard it was to wake you up,” he says simply. “We don’t have time to coddle you this trip, so get used to it. Everyone up, we’re here.” “It’s the middle of the night,” Jack says, looking out the window, “and we’re surrounded by trees. Shouldn’t we just pull down the bunks?” “Who said you could use the bunks?” Pan asks. “You’re going to provide your own sleeping places. Now out,” he says, pointing to the door. To my surprise, he pulls Cubby out of his chair and hands him over to me. “Him, too,” he says. “But—that’s—” “I hand him to the one that’s most capable in this setting, it’s not child abuse. It’s incentive—if my boy catches a cold, I’m going to be extremely irritated.” “Sir yes sir,” I offer stupidly.

“Max, is there a reason you’re breaking into your dad’s information?” I hear Nico yell from the floor above us. “Yes!” “Okay.” I stare blankly at him—I would stare at Nico, but he’s a floor above, so Max gets all of my stares right now. “You two are insane,” I say, when he doesn’t seem to notice. “Oh, I do this all the time at home,” Max says shamelessly. “So this is what I have—first off, whoever sent the email has to be one of the ones that know about the hidden HTV website. I checked the IP against all the hero and villain IP’s in the area, it isn't one of them. She—or he, possibly—is going through a private network, which means it’s probably from her home. There’s a small chance it’s from someone with powers.” “Why do you think that?” I ask. “Because of the letter,” he says. “You still haven’t read it?” I skim the letter, my eyes tripping over and stalling on one line, “I need to meet her, I have to meet her. I feel so alone.” “If she wants to meet me so badly, why didn’t she give us a name?” I ask as I finish the letter.

This is the part where I introduce myself. My name is Justin Gregory, better known as just Justin. I am seventeen years old, and I was a famous teen idol for a while before I lost control of my powers in the middle of a concert. That got me landed in a school for teenage supers, called Cape High. I was moved into a dorm full of kids that were previously stuck in glass rooms like displays for anywhere from a few months to a year. They have issues. I’ve spent the last, what, half a year? Living with them. It took me nearly that long to become reluctantly accepted by half of them—Freddy is one of the ones still on the fence. At least Ward isn’t on my team, Ward HATES me. Now that bit is pretty common knowledge in the Cape High crowd. It’s the rest of my story that I’ve been keeping to myself. See, I’m from the Sonic Family Line, which is from the West Branch. My mother died when I was five—she was a norm. My father died when I was twelve, his name was Sonic Scream. I’m a super orphan, tossed into a foster family for all of a year before I skipped out on my foster mother and became a professional singer. I haven’t spoken to her since. The problem with that? Her name is Negatia, and she’s the West Branch Hall Leader. We’re heading west right now.

Book 13 of the Cape High Series is a 2-in-1, featuring Windy Girl and Superior Girl. WINDY GIRL I AM a freak. Not in a good way, and not just among the norms, either. I’m just as big a freak among the supers, a useless cape. A D-Class, like my sister told me. There is nowhere I fit in. I’m not going to fit in at this stupid school, either. I don’t even know why I’m here at this stupid tour to begin with—I’ll be flunked out of super school within a week. “Now, if you will follow me,” Nico says, jerking me back to the present, “I’m going to tell you about the other half of our training.” “And what would that be?” Aunt Barbara asks. “The super villain training. Now that we have three of the larger names in teenage villains on the streets, we’ve gotten a bit of a reputation for it,” Nico answers with an evil grin as he leads us past an archery field. “Listen closely, Jennifer, because I think you’ll fit in perfectly there.” The entire group turns to look at me in shock, but they’re not nearly as shocked as I am. “What?” I ask finally. “I’m thinking of making you a super villain,” he says. —————————— SUPERIOR GIRL “Um, I’m Zoe Rosenthorn-Masters,” I say, looking from them to Century. I hold out a hand, which he takes, engulfing it in a hand that’s as big, if not slightly bigger than Grandpa’s. “This is Kaden,” I add, looking over at the final member of our team. “We’d like to thank you for letting us do this mission—” “Your father didn’t tell you everything, did he?” Century asks. “What?” I ask blankly. “He offered your services in return for letting you three do whatever you wanted,” he tells me. “You see, we’ve got the basics of our own special high school started, but we need the technology to run it—and according to Nico, he won’t let us call it Cape High South unless it’s up to his standards.” “A sister school?” I ask. “You’re building a sister school?”

“So Shadowman's not in the Cape Cells… me and him, we didn’t exactly get along well that last conversation,” I admit. “You can find him,” Technico says. “Skye can find him as long as he’s not roaming the shadows, but you can find him, regardless.” “Can you?” “I can find his phone—but the moment I do, he’s usually switching to another one. Your dad is paranoid, for good reason.” “So you want me to focus on Shadowman, while you take out Herold?” “That about sums it up,” he agrees. It’s dangerous—but not as dangerous as a lot of the stuff I’ve done in the past. “If I find him, how am I going to stop him? He’s a lot older than I am, and he’s more powerful, right?” “He is,” Nico says. “And there’s a good chance he’s got a technopath behind him, just like you do. We just need to take that into account—” “But—” I jerk, since I wasn’t the one that said that. There, standing in the hall, is Carla, her hand over her mouth. “You should be in bed,” I say automatically. “You’ve got classes in the morning.” “Classes don’t matter!” she says, stepping into the room. “You’re just planning on running off on your own to find Shadowman, right? You could get caught—or killed!” “He won’t kill me, I’m his son."

I’m a disgrace to the Falconess name. Yeah, that’s where this story starts. A pretty pathetic place to start, don’t you think? Well, it’s not as bad as it sounds. At least it’s pretty here. “Welcome to the family island,” Mom says, pushing me towards the towering jungle past the beach we’re standing on. “No Internet, no television, no indoor plumbing. This is where you’ll be training until Mom deems you worthy of going back. I just wish—” Mom lets out a sigh, looking at me with a sad little smile. “I wish things had gone differently,” she finishes, pulling me into a hug. “Be good Keliah, and try not to die. You have your phone if anything too bad happens.” “Wait, what?” I say, shocked. She steps back and summons her wings, taking to the air. “Mom? MOM!” I yell as she flies away, leaving me just standing there on a beach. “I don’t want to die!” She’s gone. I know she heard me, she’s just ignoring me. I’ve been abandoned on Grandma’s island, and Grandma is nowhere to be seen. All I see is a little island covered with trees and animals.

"You're graduating," Dad says. I'm standing in front of his desk, trying to look as righteously indignant as possible, but he hasn't even looked up from his computer. In fact, I haven't even said anything yet—I just stormed in. "I don't want to graduate!" I say. "Max, we don't have time for you to keep playing at school like you are," Dad says. "You've gotten past the telepathic wall problem you had, you're a full-fledged, fully realized super, now. Yes, you need a bit more practice with your telepathy, but that's something that I can help you with, if you would give me about an hour. You need to be—" "I need to be in the school!" I burst out, knowing I'm being childish and not caring. "I need to be with my friends—with my girlfriend! I can't just—" "I need you to focus, Max," Dad says, his voice far too calm for my comfort. This is supposed to be an argument, right? So why does it feel so one-sided? "Once you graduate from Cape High, I will be turning over several aspects of the Hall to you. I cannot rightfully do that to a person who has so much homework to do." "What?" "I'm going to make you my second-in-command."

I head out the door with Rocco following me. “So what’s it about?” I ask as we head across the campus and up the steps leading out of the canyon. He’s silent for a moment, and I wonder if he’s going to drop some deep, dark secret on me. Am I ready for deep, dark secrets yet? “I can’t find Badmoon,” he says once we reach the exit. “What?” I say. “The wolf shifter that escaped from the Cape Cells, I thought I’d sit back for a month and let my old man do it, but he hasn’t found him, either. Don’t get me wrong, I pick up on his powers—but only briefly. I can’t predict where he’ll be next—and I’m almost positive that his energy changes whenever he shifts.” “So why come to me?” I ask. “Why not Adanna?” “I know you better than Adanna,” he says. “And… well, I know Adanna’s family line.” There’s a long moment of silence as I let that sink in. “Wait, you think I’M related to this Badmoon guy?” I ask finally. “Well… I—” “I’m NOT related to him,” I say quickly. “But—you don’t know who your family is, right? I mean, most of the school—” “I know where I come from,” I say as I step out of the force field that surrounds the school. “I can turn into a wolf, but I’m not a wolf shifter. I didn’t get my abilities from my dad, either. I got it from my mother… and from my granddad, and his dad, and his dad before him,” as much as I hate to admit that relation. “I’m pretty sure my father was a norm, too. Is this Badmoon guy a blonde?” I demand. “No,” he says. “Then he’s not my dad.” I’m offended. I shouldn’t be, I know. I mean, the cape world is pretty small. There’s always a chance that there’s a relationship somewhere in the past. I just don’t like him assuming I’m something less than…

“So… what’s the lecture going to be?” I say as I look around the Science room. There are long tables lined up and a desk in front. All of the tables are covered with machinery. “Going to tell me that I can’t skip school in the middle of the day?” “You skipped school for an entire year, I figure it’s too late to go into that,” Nico says, dropping down in the chair at the desk. “I just figured you’d want to talk about it.” “About what?” I ask. “Going to meet your mother,” he says. I go still, feeling completely off-guard by that. “What?” “You found out about her, so you should want to see her, right? I know I would. I did, in a way.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, starting for the door. “I barely saw my father while I was growing up. He was always away, out saving the world. I was around your age at the time when I decided to do it. I’d just thrown my stepmother out of the house—” “You did what?” I say, my jaw dropping. “She was trying to make Liz tougher than I am. Liz hadn’t even come into her powers at the time,” he says. “It was pretty much child abuse. I threw her out of the house, told her not to come back. She never did. It left me with a little girl to raise and an old man that was never there.” “So you went to find him,” I say, absently sitting down in one of the larger chairs in the room. “Yeah,” he says. “I couldn’t even fly at the time, so I ran all the way to Saint Louis, just to see him at one of his appearances. He didn’t even notice me in the crowd.” “Did you have an illusion watch on?” “I wore a hat.” “How big was the crowd?” I ask. It startles a laugh out of him. “It was massive,” he admits. “But I was a kid—I was HIS kid. I expected him to be able to pick me out of a crowd. I went home, feeling completely abandoned. It felt like his job was more important than his family ever would be. I wasn’t wrong, either. Even though Sparky was gone, we still barely saw him. He would come home only when he needed to sleep. Just like I am, now, he only had to sleep once every three or four days. He would head straight for his bed and sleep so deep that I felt like I was stuck guarding him, as well as Liz.” “So… with that sob story, you really expect me to go out and find her?” I say.

“Why did you come all the way up here, anyway?” I ask Ruckus. “You could have just called!” “No, I couldn’t,” she says. “This is something that needs to be done face to face.” “Oh, um, okay?” I say, confused. “I wanted to meet you, first. I never met Dolly before they teamed us up, you know? If I had, things would be different, now.” “Do you not like Dolly?” I ask. She goes quiet for a moment and I can practically see her thinking of the best way to put it. “If I had the CHOICE of partners… it wouldn’t be someone that wears six-inch-high wedges and has never thrown a punch in her life. All she does is play with toys,” she says, finally. “I mean, it’s gotten tolerable, sure, especially since her powers seem to keep Skye and Ariel distracted, but… it’s still a bit much.” “So you came to meet me?” “Century says you plan on being part of Fire Hazard’s team, but that would only be for forest fire season, right? I figure that gives you plenty of time to work with another team, as well.” I think about it, and then give her a little smile, “You probably wouldn’t want that, though.” “Why not?” “Because I think it would be AWESOME to play with toys for a job,” I say.

"I caught a glimpse of the pets, too,” I admit. “They look like real animals, even move like them. I sort of wanted one, myself.” “Your dad could make you one?” Adanna asks. “Well, I’m still grieving over my last pet.” “What last pet?” she stops and stares at me. “PLEASE tell me you’re not talking about the exploding mutant guinea pig.” “It was a heartbreaking time, okay!” I say as she starts to laugh. “I’d like to have a pet, but… well, I’m not sure I want one that’s smarter than I am.” She starts laughing even harder, so I give up and take her cookie. All of a sudden Cubby jerks, looking up excitedly. “It’s on!” he says, running past me for the house. “It’s on! It’s on!” Robo says, chasing after him. I look at Adanna, who groans and gets to her feet. “Come on, we’re watching them, remember?” “Petleaves! Everybody loves Petleaves!” plays from the wall as we walk into their front room. It’s some sort of commercial, I guess? I walk over, looking at the wall-sized television, wondering what’s so fascinating. On the screen are a group of kids about Cubby’s age, surrounding a very strange looking plant… “’Danna, Sunny, it’s on!” Cubby says, pointing at it. “I know, Cubby, but remember, Papa said no. The only creatures we buy off the Dark Shopping Network are the ones that need to be in our sanctuary, remember?” I feel a chill run down my spine, barely hearing the two as I stare at the screen. The plant on the commercial… it’s moving just like an animal.

“Vinny, don’t you dare,” I hiss at him. “Don’t worry,” Vinny says with a little grin. There’s a guy running towards us with a microphone, and Vinny takes it. “Yeah, I’m a gringo,” he says proudly. It startles the crowd and I hear several of them start to laugh. “And I admit, I’m a bit skinny, too. But I’m not ‘just anyone.’” He takes his hat off, having slipped his mask on, and hands the mic to Papa before lighting up. “Peligro de Incendio?” the fighter says, looking stunned. “Nuestra princesa is dating Peligro de Incendio!” he announces to the crowd. “Peli… pelican de what?” Vinny asks me. Unfortunately for him, Papa’s holding the mic close enough to pick it up. I can’t reply, though, because I’m too busy roaring with laughter. “Fire Hazard, mijo. It means Fire Hazard,” Papa says, sounding close to laughter, himself. “Oh,” he says. “Pel—pelican!” I gasp out, almost falling out of my chair. It was ABSOLUTELY worth coming today! “Everyone, give a round of applause to our newest super hero, Pelican de Incendio!” the luchador says, earning cheers and laughter from all around. “I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Vinny asks. Papa pats him on the back in a consolidating manner, but he looks way too close to laughter for it to work.

While there are many supers in the world living among the humans, making friends, fitting in, there are also those that just can’t deal with society. They aren’t evil, or violent, they’re just different. They don’t fit in. They will never feel comfortable on a crowded street, or surrounded by so much noise. These are Santa’s elves. Well, actually, that’s not quite true. There’s a group of elves that are perfectly fine wherever you stick them, but for this story, we’re focusing on the first type. Well, actually, we’re focusing on me. My name is Barrett, but everyone calls me Bear. I’m fifteen, and the second child of the latest generation of the Toy Box line. Yeah, that means Dollface is my big sister. You’re probably thinking that means I grew up in a dollhouse, right? Not really. I mean as I got older, once in a while, but the real impact it had on me was that up until I was seven, I thought it was perfectly normal for guys to have cartoon characters painted on their fingernails. I even remember several times where my mom would walk in on Dolly practicing makeup… on me. Thankfully, that stopped when puberty kicked in. I shot up taller than Dolly by the time I was thirteen, and she can’t run well in heels. But other than that, I think I’m pretty normal… nah, I’m just kidding. I’m not normal at all.

I’m supposed to be cleaning up a mess for the space cops called “Cosmics” in exchange for them cleaning up a problem for us. Back home we have a sentient planet named Clay floating around our planet. He’s caused a lot of trouble, recently, and not in a “Pay-per-view” sort of fashion like my brother does. Nico wants to launch him out into space, far, far away, but in order to do that we need the Cosmic group, who are the supers that oversee the protection of space. The Hall, who oversees all the supers in North America, did a lot of fast talking and card showing, and finally we came to a compromise. In exchange for this job, they’ll take care of making sure Clay doesn’t cause more havoc. So, here I am on a planet that’s being illegally mined by slaves. I’m here to break up the slave ring and find out just who’s behind this little venture. Well, sort of. I’m hoping Nico will do the stuff that needs brain-work. I don’t consider myself stupid, but I’ll be the first to say that I’m better at using my head as a battering ram.

“I was informed that you were planning on sending Morgan into the field, soon?” Mastermental says. Nico goes silent, and the group at the table looks at him. “I am,” he says, “but I was planning on sending her into a school that has hidden supers, not on a drug bust. She has a very specific goal in mind, you know.” “Yes, I am aware,” Mastermental says. “And if you really wish to ignore this—” “I didn’t say that,” Nico says, as Morgan jerks in silent protest. “But it’s not what she’s planning on going into.” “Yes, but she is the perfect person to infiltrate a track and field group, as well as see who else is affected. There is a possibility that it goes much higher than that, Lauren has fractured memories of even teachers acting strangely, as well,” Mastermental says. “But as much as I dislike stereotyping—” “I look like a normal, high school jock, right?” Morgan offers.

“Does Tatiana know she’s here?” Jack asks, finishing off his smoothie even as the cup Superior is holding crushes in his hold. “Yeah, I figured that was it,” he says. “It’s going to blow up in our faces,” Superior admits. “So… want to help me kidnap her and leave her on an island in the Pacific Ocean?” “Tatiana?” Jack asks. “Sparky. If we did that to Tatiana she’d never stop yelling at us,” Superior says. Jack bursts out laughing, only to put his cup on the bar and shrug when he’s done. “Sure, sounds like fun,” he says. “I’ll go find some rubber gloves.” “That’s my grandson-in-law,” Superior says with a brilliant smile. “And these two are the ones I REALLY wanted to introduce last, Grandpa,” Aubrey says, tugging her grandfather over to them with a severely irritated expression on her face, “but I have to do it now because they’re planning to do something stupid and need to be stopped.”

“Kahale! Tua! You attacked first!” they all hear Kaden shout from inside the security field. “Zoe! Let me out.” “But Kaden—” Zoe starts out. “I’m coming out, regardless,” he says. “Fine, you’re clear to exit,” she says, watching as the one that had jumped drops to the ground, looking stunned. “Kaden?” the stranger says as the large teen comes out of the school entrance, dancing on the footprints with impatience. “Kahale,” Kaden says as he comes to a stop. He stares at them for a while before letting out a sigh and asking, “Pehea ʻoe?” “What ‘Pehea ʻoe?’?” Kahale demands. “Where have you been all this time?” “Everyone thinks I’m dead, or something, right?” Kaden says. “We did!” Kahale says. “Can you, ah… keep it that way?” “You COWARD!” Tua roars, rushing forward to punch him. Kaden grabs the fist he’s about to throw, stopping him in his tracks. “Bruh,” Kaden says. “Why so mad?”

“Before you go, Malina,” Reaper says, “talk to me for a bit. You’re one of my little gem’s best friends. We should get to know each other.” I look at him, and then at Evie, who is squirming, trying to get out of my hold. “Okay, just for a bit,” I say as I put her down. She runs off to a box in the corner, which is filled to overflowing with gemstones and gold chains. “Evie, don’t—” “Oh, it’s fine,” he says. “Those are bait.” “Bait,” I repeat. He gives me a wide grin that would terrify me if I didn’t know him. “All the dames I love like shiny trinkets,” he says. “I have to restock it on a regular basis. The little one there doesn’t take it, she just likes to play dress up.” “She’d be perfectly happy with plastic jewelry, you know,” I point out. “This way she’ll know the real deal when she goes villain,” he says. “Since she’s teething on a diamond, she’ll never fall for cubic zirconium. A woman should grow up knowing what’s real, little sweetheart. It’s the same for everything, really.”

“Where’s Ma Skye?” I ask, shrugging off the shirt and looking at my back. “And how do I get my wings back? Or am I stuck in this form?” “You should be able to shift with some practice,” Doris says. “We’ll work on it—" “AFTER we do this!” Skye says, coming straight through the wall with a ratty looking notebook in her hands. On the cover is a picture of a neon colored tiger, and it’s covered in glitter. “A… neon glitter tiger?” I say, confused. “I don’t think I’ve got that form…” “Nooooo, this!” she says, flipping open the cover. The words “My Perfect Family Vacation” are drawn in bubble letters on the first page. They’re a lot smaller at the bottom, since she ran out of room with the word “Perfect.” She’s grinning like a loon and shoving it towards them. “We have to do this! It’s my ultimate, life-long, FOREVER DREAM!” she exclaims. I… okay, well, see, I’m positive that none of my new moms had a very good childhood. Doris summed it up once in a very calm manner, but… “You’ve never been on a family vacation?” I ask. “Wellll… I went into outer space to save Emily, once!” she says. “And I went to the super villain summer camp! But that’s not the same, right? This time I’ll be the PARENT! And I can look back and threaten to come back there, or turn the car around! That’ll be fun!” Doris takes the notebook, flipping to the next page. “Okay… yeah… really?” she says, reading over each of the lists. “I can understand the show in Vegas… but we’ve already had dinner with aliens before.” “But we haven’t hosted the dinner! There’s a difference!” Skye insists. “That’s because only Ursule can cook,” Ariel says, floating over to read over Doris’s shoulder. “Oh, I want to sail a pirate ship! Let’s do that one!” “We’re going to do ALL of them!” Skye says. “And we’re going to do it while driving around in a Winnebago!” I grab the notebook, flipping through it for a long moment while trying to figure out how to put it. I mean, sure, we CAN do a lot of this stuff… but it means unleashing the Deadly Darlin’s on the entire United States, doesn’t it?

There’s a presence. It wasn’t there a second ago. Instinctively I pull my expanding bo from my waist and turn, ready to attack. I tell myself that I’m overreacting, but that doesn’t stop me. A man steps out of the shadows, looking at me silently. I swallow, slowly lowering the bo and wondering if I should leave. I really, REALLY want to make a run for it. He’s the last person I expected to see. “Grandfather,” I say. “Adanna,” he says. It used to terrify me, when I was younger. His face is so much like my father’s that they could be twins, but his expression is as cold and as hard as flint. “I need to speak with—” “Father is busy right now,” I say as I hear someone running in our direction. I know exactly who it is without looking, and I can’t let Grandfather meet Sunny. He’ll probably hate Sunny as much as he hates Mama, and I will NOT let my boyfriend go through the problems that Mama did. Yes, I know it was unavoidable for her, since Papa was his heir, but I’m just the useless granddaughter. It has nothing to do with him. “Adanna!” I hear Sunny call out. I almost groan. “I will have him contact you,” I say before turning and racing away. I grab Sunny’s wrist on the way and drag him along behind me for a few steps. He’s so busy looking at Grandfather that he almost falls over with my pull. “Run, you dork,” I hiss out.

“So let’s recap,” Pop says. “We don’t need to recap,” I say, dryly. “No, you teach the classes. This is the point where you recap all the things that happened to get us stuck out here in space in my granddaughter’s ridiculously named spaceship, looking for an… Errestian.” “Lerrestian, Pop,” I say. “YOU are a Lerrestian, I’m half Lerrestian, and the guy we’re chasing through space is, apparently, a Lerrestian too.” “Who stole the spaceship I gave to Sunny,” Pop finishes up smugly. “Good job on the recap, I give you… oh, a six out of ten,” he says. “Of course you do. But I wasn’t TRYING to recap. If I was trying to recap, I’d be talking about how YOU almost killed the healer, Mary, way back in the past—a couple of different ways in a couple of different alternate timelines, which led HER to try and take out the Hall, and that led her to working with Walter Colleck and waking up the Lerrestian he had frozen in his Antarctic base,” I say. “And look, we’re getting straight to the convoluted part, are you happy now?”

“Fauna, let’s head out. I want you to turn on any cloaking you’ve got, got it? Last thing we need is for people to see healers coming in an alien spaceship.” ‘ Okay, Alyssa, ’ comes across the screen and a few signals come up before the ship rises into the air. A window opens up, showing Nico’s face. He looks mad for all of a second before he sees me and Andre. “Are you heading out for your rounds, then?” he asks. “Did you think I was going for a joy ride?” I ask, grinning evilly. When I was younger, my parents would have jumped to that assumption without a second’s hesitation. Nico, who’s only known me for a few years, relaxes at the sight of me behind the wheel of a spaceship . One that I’m almost positive has a cannon system that could destroy a planet (not that I’m going to mention that fact to anyone.) “You can, after work,” he says. “Just make sure he keeps his stealth mode and doesn’t eat any metal that we haven’t prepared." \*Bonus Cape High Christmas III

"This is an advent calendar," Nico says. "For the next twenty-five days, one of you will do something as a surprise for the school. Vinny, for obvious reasons, you get the big day." "What obvious reasons?" Vinny asks, looking up from his newest cookbook. "Wait, what's going on?" "You're cooking Christmas dinner," Lance says as everyone else starts laughing. "The rest of you, well, I just tossed you onto random days," Nico says, shrugging. "You can ask for help, as long as you keep it to two people or less, and pay them back in return. If you ask an adult, you can only have that one adult, and you owe them a favor of equal size. That means no asking me to make the entire school new computers—you can't afford to pay me back. Don't ask Zoe for that, either, because she will have you as an indentured slave until they're paid off." "I wouldn't—" Zoe protests. "Well, no more than a year, at most," she adds thoughtfully. Every single kid in the room silently swears not to ask at that statement. \*This book also contains shorts: Christmas Eve: Jack goes back to the start on Christmas Eve Christmas Diamonds: Nico goes hunting for diamonds Deadly Darlin's: Skye, Doris, and Ariel move (back) to Texas

Books 1-4 of the Cape High Series by R.J. Ross: Super Villain Dad America's Grandson Hello Kitty Don't Know Jack "So it's agreed—as part of your parole, you'll become principal of Cape High," Mastermental says. "No, it's not agreed," Nico snaps. He takes a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "It is not agreed, because none of the super parents will want their children taught by a super villain. Ask them! I'm sure they're all listening right now—heck, I'm betting this little interview is on Super TV right this instant." He looks to the flashing light he's finally noticed, knowing that he's being recorded. "For your kids' sakes, call right now and tell Double M that he's insane." This is how it starts, for us, the super kids, the cape brats, the students of Cape High.