I roll my eyes. “Everyone knows that.”

  “You know what Speed heard?” Stretch continues. Speed? He runs so fast he hears nothing. “The girl? Volcano? She’s dangerous, and I don’t mean because she’s gonna blow up. Your dad told the Elites that she can kill all of us.”

  I roll my eyes again. “Yeah, man. Hence the...” Now I move my hands in an explosion.

  “No, dude. I mean, like, when we get close to her, she kills us.”

  “Yeah, that’s what my dad told me. Looks like my non-powers finally come to good use.” Really, I’m not that calm—kinda pissing myself on the inside—but the guys don’t need to know that.

  Stretch reaches for the bag of popcorn from the corner of the room. It’s probably a week old. He pops a few in his mouth. “Man, Kale. You seriously okay with this?”

  “Mission’s a mission.”

  He and X exchange glances, but don’t say a word. They probably think I can’t do it.

  “I’m done talking about this,” I say. “Let’s go play a game or something.”

  ***

  It’s the night before I leave for my assignment. Dad’s got all these rules I need to follow. I pay attention to some and tune others out. I’ve got to dye my hair from blonde to brown, cut it short to look different. When we go on missions, we wear masks to keep our identities hidden. Even me. But Dad’s paranoid, so he’s changing my entire look. I know I’m going to look lame. I don’t do brown hair. At least I don’t have to wear contact lenses to change my eyes. I like them blue.

  He told me that public school is nothing like the school we have here, where we all train to become better heroes. Sure we learn the other important things like math and science, but that’s always boring. I love watching everyone screw up with their abilities. One time, this guy accidentally paralyzed another guy. And X almost got choked to death when Air accused him of using his power to see through her clothes.

  I turn into Mom’s room and pull a chair up to her bed. I don’t come here a lot. I mean, I try to visit at least once a week, but that doesn’t really happen. I’m usually here when I’ve got something on my mind. Like now. I take her warm hand and hold it between both of mine. “I don’t know if you’d be proud of me,” I say. “I’m accepting my task and everything, but I hate it. It sucks, Mom. I know I always waited for this day, but I never actually thought...I mean, I never thought I’d do it by myself. Dad says Premonition and some others are going to help me, and I’ve been talking some with Dr. Evans, but I still feel alone. What if I can’t do it? What if Earth blows up?”

  “We all have faith in you, Kale,” I imagine Mom saying. “You’re going to succeed and be a hero, like you’ve always wanted.” I picture her kissing my cheeks and forehead, like she did every night as she tucked me into bed when I was a kid. Each night, she promised I’d wake up with my power. And when I didn’t, she told me my special day hadn’t arrived yet. Looks like it never will. I guess I should be glad I’m normal. If not for me, who’d Dad send to save the world? He doesn’t trust non-League members.

  I really hope I succeed.

  After I’m done sitting with Mom, I go to Dad’s office. He told me he wanted a word with me before I go to bed.

  Once I enter, Dad raises his head and motions for me to sit down. Lightning is seated there, too.

  “Kale, this is very important and I need you to listen carefully.” Dad has an intense and serious expression on his face, so does Lightning. Actually, Lightning looks like he wants to spank me. Or shout orders at me like a drill sergeant. With his red buzz cut, he can pass for one. Maybe he doesn’t like me, either, but has to deal with me because of Dad.

  “There are many villains who will want to get their hands on Lindsay,” Dad says. “Whether to attempt to kill her, study her, extract DNA to create their own bombs, whatever they wish. She is not safe and neither will you be.”

  What the hell? “So mission’s over?” I don’t get it. I haven’t even started.

  Dad shakes his head. “No. You will go forth as planned, but you’ll need to be watched closely. I’ve assigned several League members to keep a close eye on you and Lindsay. They will follow you inconspicuously and make sure no villains pursue you.”

  “You mean they’re gonna babysit me?”

  “Yes. I will also assign two members to act as husband and wife and move into the apartment next door to Lindsay to watch over her when she’s home.”

  “But, Dad! How am I supposed to do things with her when I don’t have privacy? This blows!”

  They’ll be like the Secret Service or something. Am I like the president’s kid now? I don’t want Elite members following me around and reporting to Dad on everything I do. It’s an invasion of privacy.

  “Do you want villains to get hold of Lindsay?” Lightning asks.

  “No.”

  “This is the only option we have,” Dad says. “Tranquility will be close by—although not too close—in case Lindsay grows too emotional and needs be calmed down. A few others will be watching over you as well.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “This feels wrong.”

  Dad pats my shoulder. “I know it’ll be hard, but think of this as sacrificing a bit of your time and privacy for the greater good.”

  “Being part of this League requires you to fulfill your assignments without question,” Lightning says, an expression of authority in his eyes. Whatever, I’ll ignore him like I always do. Dad shoots him a look to relax.

  I guess it wouldn’t be a big deal. I mean, yeah I don’t want anyone watching me like a hawk, but Dad’s right. Villains probably want Lindsay. They don’t care about Earth.

  I shrug. “It’s ok, I guess.”

  He thumps my back. “Get ready for bed. You have a long day ahead of you.”

  Chapter Six

  Stretch knocks me on the head with his knuckles. He’s sitting all the way at the other end of the breakfast table. “You gonna eat that?” he yells.

  I look down at my plate of untouched waffles. I don’t get nervous—I’m no wuss. I’m not scared to go to a new school, a new place, a new world. We’re basically isolated here. But that’s cool. I’m ready for anything.

  Stretch nudges my arm. “Take it,” I tell him. He does, and slowly pulls his hand back.

  The table’s so noisy. There are about thirty adults and fifty kids living here, and we shove each other to get the food before it’s all gone. I can’t take it anymore. Getting to my feet, I search for Dad. He’s not here. Probably with Lightning and Premonition and others, going through last minute details. This guy Shifter, a metamorph, is going to pretend to be my history teacher to keep an eye on things at the school. The telepath in our League controlled the real teacher to go on an extended vacation with his family. Even though Lindsay could slowly suck Shifter’s life out, he’s determined to help in any way he can.

  The Elemental Triplets pass me on their way out. “Hey, girls,” I say. “Aren’t you gonna wish me luck? I am going to save the world, you know.”

  They turn around. Air snorts. “You’re still a loser.” She hurls a gust of wind at me, shoving me back a few feet. The other two laugh as all three head out. Man, what does it take to impress the girls in this house?

  Stretch and X come toward me, Stretch downing a glass of milk. He laughs. “Smooth, dude.”

  I shrug. “They dig me, but don’t know it yet.”

  “Right...” X says. “Gonna be okay?”

  Not sure. “No biggie.”

  X shakes his head. “That’s not what we heard,” Stretch says. “Heard Volcano Chick’s messed up, man. She’s got some serious issues.”

  I push my hands into my jeans pockets. “Yeah, nothing I can’t handle.”

  They exchange looks, but don’t say anything.

  “See you tonight, guys,” I say and make my way toward the door.

  “I heard public school’s worse than hell,” Stretch says, his head and neck following me while the rest of his body’s back there with X. “Some guys don’t make it out of there alive.”

  I laugh. He’s not scaring me. “Stretch, you’re an idiot.” I grab him by the ears, wind up his head, and watch it shoot back to his body. He flies to the floor. “Later,” I say over my shoulder and leave through the front door.

  Dad’s outside with Premonition, Lightning, Tranquility, Shifter, and some others. Seeing them makes me real nervous about villains. “Ready, son?” Dad asks.

  “Yup. Let’s do this.”

  Lightning stands over me. He’s not that much taller than me, but I don’t like the way he’s glaring. Like he wants Volcano Girl to bust me up. “Dude, you’re in my personal space.”

  “Make sure you don’t compromise this mission. One wrong move can set the girl off. Premonition’s visions are constantly changing. You do realize how vital this mission is, don’t you?”

  Geez. “Yeah.”

  “Remember what I told you,” Dad says. “You are to befriend Lindsay and Lindsay only. Don’t wander to other girls or other distractions. You’re not in that school to have a good time. Is that clear?”

  I wave my hand. He told me this over and over. “Got it. Let’s go.”

  ***

  The school’s nothing like I expected. I mean, I’ve seen lots of them on TV and when we had to visit schools to speak to the kids about the dangers of violence and bullying and normal people stuff. But this place is huge! They’ve got the white walls and grayish-bluish lockers and water fountains across the floor. The kids stare as I walk into the building. This would be more intimidating if I were coming here as a real student. But since this is a job that will eventually end, I won’t let myself get too freaked out. Besides, with all the crazy kids and their crazy powers back home, high school kids should be a piece of cake.

  I recognize some undercover League members. Two are adults pretending to be students, one is a janitor, and another named Animal transfigured herself into a rat and is roaming around the halls. I hope no one kills her. They all have to be careful to keep their distance from Volcano Girl.

  Premonition, or shall I say “Dad” since he’s pretending to be my father, leads me to the principal’s office. He’s wearing a black wig to cover up his light brown hair. I probably should have watched more teen dramas because apparently walking to the principal’s office with your dad isn’t cool. The kids laugh at me like I’m Forest and have weird trees growing out of me. Or maybe I’m like Mermaid and have a tail instead of legs. I guess I won’t make the cool squad, but that doesn’t matter. I’m here to make a girl feel good about herself, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

  The principal, some gray-haired dude with this big-ass beer belly, gets to his feet with so much effort it’s like gravity might throw him down on that belly. Premonition looks kind of flustered—the guy doesn’t have great social skills, especially with the normal peeps. But thankfully the dude sits back down and motions for us to do the same.

  “I appreciate you taking my son in so far into the school year.”

  It takes all my effort not to spit out of my nose. Premonition sounds so hilarious and awkward talking about his “son.” The guy will be lucky if he ever finds a woman to marry him.

  The principal talks about school rules, gives me my schedule of classes, blah blah. Premonition elbows me to pay attention. I pretend to, nod, smile, ask some dumb questions. After he’s done, Premonition gets up and shakes the principal’s hand. Then I’m off to my first class—history. It’s the only class I have with Volcano Girl, because having more classes with her might arouse suspicion. Dad arranged that on purpose, along with assigning Shifter as the teacher. Maybe because Shifter used to teach history.

  Premonition says, “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. See ya later.”

  I push the classroom door open. The kids must have been doing quiet work because they all stare up at me like I crashed through the wall. Shifter looks at me. I know it’s him because of his sad eyes. He lost his wife and kid five years back. I don’t know how. No one does. He pretty much keeps to himself.

  “Class,” he says, “We have a new student. Your name, please?”

  I face the kids, scanning the rows. Where’s my assignment? “Billy,” I say. “Billy Jack.”

  Dad could have at least given me a cool name...

  “Welcome to ninth grade history. Why don’t you take a seat across Lindsay?” He points to the back of the room, raising an eyebrow. I slowly nod and make my way to the only empty desk in the room.

  “Yo,” I say to the girl near me. Her face is hidden by a red hoodie pulled over her head. That’s Lindsay?

  She doesn’t say anything. I plop down and slam my notebook on my desk. “I’m Billy.”

  She grunts. O-kay. I guess this is going to be harder than I thought.

  “Billy, we’re about to start the French Revolution. Can you give me a few examples of what led up to it?”

  Don’t do this to me, Shift. I don’t know anything about that stuff. I mean, we learned about it last week, but I didn’t pay much attention. I give him a face, but he shrugs it off.

  “I don’t know,” I mumble. “I went to a lame school where all we learned were the ABCs.”

  Some kids roll their eyes and snicker. A few girls giggle. Too bad Dad ordered me not to get distracted. There are so many cute girls at this school. Bummer.

  Shifter calls on another student to answer that question. I flip open my notebook and write down some things. Taxes, the Bourgeoisie. I peer over to my left, where Lindsay’s scribbling in her notebook.

  “Hey,” I whisper. “I missed what he said. Can I borrow your notes?”

  Another grunt. She won’t even look up at me. This is great. Why can’t one of these other girls be Lindsay?

  “I’m assigning a project,” Shifter says. “You’re going to get into groups of two and choose any topic in global history to write a report on. I want something big and bold, not a flimsy five-thousand-word essay. Here is where your creativity kicks in. This project will count for half your grade. I’ll choose the partners tomorrow. Have a good day.”

  The bell rings and everyone’s out the door. Lindsay slowly gathers her things. I stand near her, watching. She still hasn’t taken that hood off.

  “I have algebra next,” I tell her. “Can you show me where Mrs. Roth’s class is? No one gave me a map or anything. I’ll get lost.” I laugh lamely.

  She finally pulls her hood down, and I see blonde, hay-ish hair, gray eyes glaring at me, and a face covered in red blotches. And I don’t mean regular zits. Hers are quadruple in size. What the—? I’ve never seen anything like it.

  She gives me a hard look and dashes out the door.

  Chapter Seven

  Okay, she’s not exactly pretty. Does that matter? I’m no jerk, so why should I care what she looks like? It’s only a mission. Just an assignment to save her and the world. I can handle anything.

  Lindsay’s sitting alone at one of the tables in the cafeteria. I stand with my tray. There’s only one thing on it. A bottle of water. Some of the kids back home told me not to eat the school’s lunch because it’ll make me sick. I’m starving, but I don’t want to take that chance.

  I walk over to Lindsay’s table. “Hey. Can I sit?”

  No response. She doesn’t even look up at me, just dumps fries into her mouth as she reads a book.

  “So...?”

  “No.”

  Should I sit down anyway? Would that be too rude? Before I even have a chance to move, my cell phone rings. It’s Dad. When Mr. Boss calls, you’ve got to answer. I dump my tray on the table, take my bottle, and rush out of the caf. “Hey, Dad.”

  “How’s everything going?”

  “Good.”

  “Have you found her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And?”

  I lean against the lockers, watching a guy and girl making out down the hallway. Man, I’ve hardly exchanged two words with most girls back home. I can’t even find out if I’d have any luck with normal girls because I gotta keep my focus on Lindsay. It sucks.

  “Kale?”

  Right, no distractions. “Lindsay pretty much told me to choke to death, Dad. She won’t even let me sit with her at lunch.”

  “Hmm. I spoke to Shifter earlier. He told me you caused a little bit of a ruckus in his class.”

  I snort. He calls my being a smartass a ruckus? Shifter doesn’t teach at our school in the Tower. He doesn’t know what goes down in the classrooms, and shouldn’t complain about me. “Oh well.”

  “Kale.” His voice gets serious. “This isn’t a joke. I want you on your best behavior. Don’t draw attention to yourself.”

  “Uh hu.”

  “Kale,” he warns.

  “Got it, Dad.” The bell rings. “I gotta go. My next class is about to start.”

  “All right. I’ll see you after school.”

  I hang up and look around. Everyone’s rushing to their classes. I have art with Miss Wilder. O-kay. How exactly am I supposed to find the place? Lindsay rushes past me, hood over her head, bag practically falling off her shoulder.

  “Hey,” I say, bouncing up to her. She runs faster. I try to keep up. “Wanna show me where the art room is?”

  She stops and glares at me with her sharp eyes. Then she points to the classroom right in front of us. In huge letters, it says ART on the door.

  “Oh.” I laugh. “That was easy.”

  She grunts and stalks off.

  Oh, man. This mission is impossible.

  ***

  My new “dad” is waiting for me in a car outside the school building. As soon as I climb in, he says, “Seatbelt.”

  Not that I get the point of wearing this thing when Premonition can see the future, because he’d know if we were to get into an accident. But I guess it’s not a great idea to rely on him with my life. He can’t see everything. I mean, the guy’d go psycho if he did.

  “How was school?” he asks and starts to drive.

  “Waste of time.”

 

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