Rainbow Rush (Cape High Series Book 19) Read online

  “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 can actually sit through watching one of your fights! Usually I get a little bored after about three minutes.”

  “Which works in my favor,” she says. “You can deal with the whole shrinking thing, and you can actually fight well enough to make it look like we’re really winning, instead of those three just getting distracted at the end.”

  “So… you want me to be the third Nemeses?” I say.

  “Exactly,” she says.

  “Well… I can’t leave Central yet. I’m still in school, you know?”

  “We have a Cape High South, though,” she tempts me, “I’m sure they wouldn’t complain if we brought you down—”

  “My family is here, too, and my little brothers and sisters might wind up having powers. I’ve got to be here for that!” I say, stopping her. “But I WOULD like to do a show or two… you know, until I graduate! Once I graduate, I would love to be a member of the Nemeses, even if only part time.”

  “Well… isn’t summer vacation coming up?”

  “Our school doesn’t HAVE summer vacation,” I say. “We go year-round, so we can graduate faster. Plus, a lot of us wind up doing our work out in the field, like when we were hunting down all the healers. Do you have any clue where we’re going?” I ask her, looking around.

  “I’ve never been in Kansas City before,” she says. “I figured I would follow you.”

  “You probably should have mentioned that, earlier,” I say. “But don’t worry! I can find us somewhere to eat!” My stomach growls so loudly that I think the people we’re walking past hear it. I try to ignore that fact as I pull out my phone. “Show me the nearest pizza place!”

  The screen lights up and I look at it thoughtfully for a second before pointing. “This way!” I say, starting forward only to have my wrist grabbed. “Hmm?”

  “We’re not in uniform right now, remember?” she says quietly, pointedly glancing over at the norms.

  “Oh, right,” I say.

  ***

  “Century,” Mastermental says, looking at the man on his computer monitor with a slight frown. “I don’t recall being asked for permission.”

  “Permission for what?” Century asks. He’s got his feet up on his desk and is flipping through a magazine. “I haven’t even decided that I want her for the photo shoot, yet.”

  “Photo shoot?” Double M repeats. “I’m not sure what you mean. I am talking about Ruckus entering my territory.”

  “Ruckus is up there?” Century asks, looking a bit startled. “Hmm, wonder why. Is she in uniform?”

  “No, not according to my reports.”

  “Then you’ve got nothing to complain about.”

  “She was seen waiting outside the Cape High campus for almost half an hour. Right now she’s speaking with Carla.”

  “I see…” Century says. “Well, that makes sense.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ruckus doesn’t like Dolly, much,” Century explains. “She winds up carrying the weight of the fight on her own, according to her. So far, the girls have made sure not to double-team her, but I think it’s starting to hurt her pride. She wants a third teammate.”

  “I see,” Mastermental says, relaxing visibly. “That does make sense. And since Carla is South Branch, as well as Central, she would be a very obvious choice to Ruckus. But why did she not go through you?”

  “You know how difficult it is to get a cape that’s powerful enough to go up against an S-class. It takes time, patience, and a lot of axle greasing. And while I’ve been putting in requests with a few branches, including yours, I’ve also been waiting to see what happens with Sandra,” Century says. “And then Marigold stole her debut, even though she’s not East Branch. I’m still a bit chapped over that fact.”

  “I am, as well,” Double M admits. “You have heard about her father, though?”

  “That she’s Reaper’s girl? I heard. It’s good to know that he’s willing to step up. But that doesn’t mean she’s going to stay Central. She could easily choose to come down here once she graduates.”

  “But Ruckus is unwilling to wait for either a branch transfer or Sandra to grow up, since she’s young,” Mastermental says. “She doesn’t see time as we do, I take it?”

  “She’s in her twenties,” Century agrees with a sigh. “I should have known that their personalities wouldn’t mesh well. Their powers do, but… well…”

  “Is there something I need to know?” Mastermental asks.

  “Well… You’ve probably heard that I got Dolly from the North Pole, right?”

  “How DID you get him to do that, Century? I have tried to recruit his elves and never made any headway. He expected me to trade one of my supers for it.”

  “I didn’t trade him that, per say,” Century says, looking a little irritated. “I… ah… made him a promise that I’m not particularly looking forward to.”

  “A promise?” Mastermental asks. “What sort of promise?”

  “The southern hemisphere,” Century mutters, “for the next… five years.”

  “You mean you’ll be acting as Santa for the southern hemisphere for five years?” Mastermental asks with a hint of surprise on his face.

  “He’ll be providing all the toys and the sleigh, but… yes. I’m taking it on good faith that you won’t let this get out to the public. I will deny it to my dying day. The official story is that she wanted to be in the limelight, and elves never get that chance.”

  “I will keep that knowledge to myself, then,” Mastermental says.

  “I might let the kids know, though,” Nico says over the computer speakers. “This is just too good,” he gloats.

  “Nico,” Mastermental says, “I recall having a conversation with you about eavesdropping before.”

  “Yeah, but you’re both my Hall leaders, so I figured it was only polite to inform you that I was, this time. Plus, you’re discussing Carla.”

  “Well, I… honestly have to appreciate being told,” Century says after thinking it through. “But only tell them if you can talk one or two of them into volunteering to help. I think I’ll see if I can get Rocco for the night, at least.”

  “Makes sense,” Nico says. “Now, go on. Tell us about Ruckus and Dolly.”

  Century makes a face before sighing. “Ruckus is the exact opposite of Dolly. Her childhood was rough. She grew up in New York City, in the Bronx. She never met her father, and her mother was… neglectful. When she was thirteen, and her powers started showing, she ran away from home.”

  “And she’s a hero, now?” Mastermental asks. “How did she turn her life around?”

  “She’s tough, and not just physically,” Century says. “She earned money by doing coin tricks on street corners, and bought a bus ticket for the furthest place she could afford. She wound up in my branch, hanging out near schools, until the system tried to bring her in. That was… roughly ten years ago, or so. When the system couldn’t handle her, they called me.”

  “And you did what?” Mastermental asks.

  “I put her in a foster home with a B-class couple that I know. They raised her, put her through school, and eventually she wound up here, working for my branch. But I suppose her past has never been forgotten.”

  “And then you paired her up with a girl that knows Santa is real, because she was raised with him living right there,” Nico says, dryly.

  “I suppose you could put it that way, yes.”

  “Does Ruckus still keep in touch with her foster family?” Mastermental asks.

  “She does. They still get
together on a regular basis,” Century says. “I might have messed up with Emily, but it worked out well with Ruckus. I was hoping that the good relationship would calm her down.”

  “It probably did, but it didn’t prepare her to deal with an airhead,” Nico says. The two Hall Leaders see his image appear in the corner of their screens. He’s got ice behind him, revealing that he’s calling from somewhere in the Arctic Circle. “Or, as much as I love my little sister and her girls, three and a half airheads.”

  “A half?” Mastermental repeats.

  “Half of the time Doris points out the problems with their plans.”

  “That is… very true,” Mastermental admits. “But I hardly think that makes her a part-time… airhead, as you say.”

  “The other half of the time she’s right in the middle of it,” Nico says with a grin. “Those three can be downright hysterical. It’s no wonder an ex-elf goes along with it so easily. But Ruckus seems to be more of the gritty, dark hero style.”

  “I’m afraid that Carla will just make the situation worse for her,” Century says. “It would be rude to say that she’s an airhead, of course, but Carla is…”

  “Always happy to play dolls?” Nico offers. “I can see why you were hoping for Sandra. She’d probably help balance things out for Ruckus. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to send her back and forth just yet. Her training has barely started. And I refuse to send her to the South Branch campus, for several reasons.”

  “So what should we do?” Century asks.

  “Let Carla go down for a short amount of time,” Mastermental says. “Place her in the new school. We’ll see how well things work out. We will, of course, need to get permission from you, Nico, and her parents, first.”

  “Permission granted. She’ll be perfectly safe going up against Skye,” Nico says. “I’ll go speak with her parents, now, if you want.”

  “I appreciate this,” Century says, sighing. “I really did think that things would be fine for a little bit longer. I suppose I should have paid more attention to the nuances.”

  “This is a very temporary solution, though. Do not think I will keep her family from coming down and collecting her in a few weeks,” Mastermental says.

  “Well, her father might be a black suit, but—”

  “That is not the family I am referring to,” Mastermental says. “The zoo children are extremely protective of her.”

  “Ah, true,” Century says. “Then I’ll take those two weeks.”

  “And then, perhaps, you should ask the person you should have asked in the first place,” Mastermental tells him.

  “What? Who?”

  “I believe Jimena is well on her way to S-class? Did you really think I would give you one of my S-class capes when you have one of your own that will do the job?”

  Century lets out a curse. “It’s too late, now, isn’t it? After Carla comes to play for the two weeks, I’ll ask Jimmi what she thinks.”

  “Tell me, Century, why did you not think of it?”

  “Well… Jimmi’s been having so much fun playing nanny to the school kids…” Century admits a bit sheepishly, “I haven’t seen her smile so much in years. I didn’t even think of giving her a job, on top of it.”

  “While I understand your familial doting, I think you should apologize for underestimating her. From what I have seen, she’s more than capable of dealing with whatever you throw at her, be it Skye, or taking over your Hall in the future.”

  “She is, isn’t she?” Century says proudly. “But I don’t recall telling you that she was in line for my Hall.”

  “You did not need to.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “So then she decided that we would make good roommates,” Ruckus says as I munch down on pizza, “simply because she doesn’t like living all alone in an apartment, and I just HAPPEN to have half a dozen empty bedrooms. What is she, five? It was bad enough that she moved into my house, but then she decided that we should have a house-warming party!”

  “But YOU said that your parents left you that massive farmhouse in the middle of nowhere,” I point out around my slice. “You even said it was a little lonely without them there!”

  “Well, they moved to an island!” she says. “That has nothing to do with this.”

  “Then you should just go find a husband and have five kids, and then she would have to move out!”

  “Five kids,” she repeats, staring at me. “That’s physically impossible, right?”

  “My mom had six,” I say. “But is she really pushy enough to force her way into your house?”

  She groans. “Okay, I MIGHT have mentioned renting out a room at the Hall, but I wasn’t talking to HER! I was trying to get some of the single black suits moving in. They actually LIKE cleaning!”

  I just look pointedly at her and down another slice of pizza. There are two empty pizza trays on the table next to ours, and I add the latest to the pile. “Does she not clean?” I ask.

  “She redecorates,” Ruckus says flatly. “She turned her room into a Christmas party.”

  I choke before starting to laugh. “I want to see it!” I say. “Does she have a special bed, or something?”

  “She had Santa bring down a REAL sleigh bed, all the way from the North Pole,” Ruckus says, sighing. “She hums Christmas songs when she’s cooking, and everything she makes tastes sweet—EVERYTHING. Even her hamburgers are sweet—”

  “And you have to eat them?” I ask.

  She stops, leaning back in her chair. “I’m a terrible cook,” she mutters. “So we decided that she would do the cooking, we’d split the cleaning, and I would take care of the field and any house repairs that come up. We’ve got fertile land, so I’m still raising all the crops that my foster parents did.”

  “So you learned to farm, but you didn’t learn to cook?” I ask. “That’s the exact opposite of most people, you know.”

  “What can I say? I prefer getting my hands dirty,” she says. “There’s something honest about working with the land.”

  “There are plenty of things honest about cooking, though… er, not that I can,” I admit a second later, remembering the last time I had tried. “Vinny grounds me whenever I try to.” I begin to fidget, starting to feel myself again now that I’m not starving. That means the table starts vibrating. “I want dessert! We should find a yogurt place! Or maybe a creamery!”

  “You just finished off two large pizzas,” she says.

  “Speedster, remember?” I say. “I burn up a lot of calories. Also, Max tried to drag me into his show today, and I’m not working, so I’m going to send all of these bills to him! Zoe, hey Zoe, can you send a bill to Max’s credit card for me?” I ask, holding my phone now, even though I’m actually on the school comm-link. It looks less crazy to talk to the comm-link over the phone in public.

  “Sure, just pay with your phone, I’ll have it billed to him,” she says.

  “Hey, at least WARN me before you set it up for her,” Max says. “Oh, whatever. Carla, would you get me one to go while you’re at it? I haven’t eaten tonight.”

  “Okay!” I say. “I’ll just go order his pizza, Ruck… um… what do I call you, anyway?”

  “It’s Breanna,” she says. “Most people just call me Bree.”

  “Okay, Bree,” I say, forcing myself to walk to the counter instead of run. I feel so adult right now! I mean, Bree is in her TWENTIES! We just went out to dinner and she talked to me like I was an adult, and I didn’t ONCE play any of the games that are right over there with the bright lights! I barely even touched the crayons! I step up to the counter, pulling out my phone and ordering the pizza to go. I think I could be a lot of help if I go down south and join the Nemeses for a little while. Maybe I can even get them to become friends! I mean, I think they’re an amazing pair, you know? They’re really becoming famous for a lot of reasons, and not just because they fight against THE Skystep. They’re beautiful, strong, and entertaining! And I LOVE the idea of playing in a doll house for
a gig!

  I’m getting so excited that people are looking at me strangely. Am I bouncing? I think I’m bouncing. I need to stop that, because I’m definitely going to blow my cover if I’m not careful…

  My phone rings and I pull it out, answering cheerfully. “Hi there!”

  “When you’re done getting my pizza, Nico says he wants you and Ruckus to swing by your house,” Max says.

  “Okay, where are you?” I ask.

  “On the roof down the street. I’ll change and meet you on the corner,” he says.

  “Got it.” I take the pizza that they hand me and pay for everything, adding a generous tip for our waitress. “Bree! We can go now!” I say, heading out the door. Ruckus stands and follows, looking a bit strange. Oh no, did I worry her? Did I do something wrong? I don’t THINK I’ve done anything wrong…

  “Over here,” I hear Max call. I turn, heading down the street.

  “Who is that?” Ruckus asks.

  “Max!” I say. “He paid for our dinner so I ordered him a pizza.”

  “Max,” she repeats. “You’re not talking about—”

  “Maximum,” Max says, holding out his hand to her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m here to go with you to Carla’s house, well, as soon as I finish my pizza, that is,” he says, opening the box and digging in. “I’m starving. Emily is actually harder to fight than Trent is, since she’s constantly attacking from three different directions.” He manages to say this all the while he’s inhaling the large pizza. He finishes and wipes his face with a napkin, dotting at his mouth in a manner that makes him look a lot like his dad. “You’re technically trespassing, Ruckus.”

  “I’m still in civvies. I’m perfectly capable of visiting a different branch as long as I don’t use my powers or draw attention to myself.”

  “True, but you went straight to one of our most secure areas, and are trying to scout one of our working capes in public,” he says, looking rather stern. I feel a hint of panic hit as I look from one to the other. The LAST thing I want is for them to get mad at each other! They’re both my friends!