Fire Hazard: Cape High Book Eight (Cape High Series 8) (19 page)

“Yeah, Vinny,” Lance says, grinning evilly.  “What about you and your thing for Noelle?” he teases.

I wince.  “Did you have to bring that up?” I demand irritably.

“Who’s Noelle?” Jimmi asks me.

“No one important,” I mutter, feeling heat creep up the back of my neck.  Jimmi is glaring at me.  “What?”

“You are such a hypocrite,” she says, pointing a well manicured finger at me.  “You go on and on about my bad choices in boyfriends and now you’re hiding a girlfriend--”

“Nah, not a girlfriend, just a crush,” Lance says.  “She went back to her own time.  But part of the time she wasn’t even really her, she was actually Morgan’s dad.  You had a crush on a GUY, man!” he hoots, laughing his head off.  “An OLD GUY!” he says, falling out of his hammock he’s laughing so hard.

“Lance, dude, shut up already!” I yell.  Jimmi’s just staring at me, her lips pulled up in a wicked little smile that I definitely don’t think I like.

“An old guy, huh?” she asks evilly.

“He had the ability to take people’s forms and abilities,” I mutter.  “I’m not the only one that fell for it!  That one blonde chick fell for him when he was pretending to be Ace, right?”

“Yeah, but we don’t care about her,” Morgan says callously.

“Are you still sore over how she tried to play Ace?” I ask, grabbing onto the new subject with both hands.  I sometimes get the feeling that Morgan--

“Ace is vulnerable and she was trying to use that just to get into the Central Hall!” Morgan says.

“Ace.  Vulnerable,” I say, staring at her.

“Ace is Dragon, right?” Jimmi asks me.  When I nod, she turns to stare at Morgan in the same way I am

“He might have been vulnerable then,” Justin says, sitting up from where he’d been laying quietly on the ground.  “He isn’t now.  You don’t have to go all mother hen about it anymore.”

“Mother hen?” she repeats.  “You should feel just as protective, you’re his best friend!”

“No, I should feel MORE protective,” Justin says, watching her with a strange expression.  There’s a strange little love triangle going on there, in case you haven’t noticed.  It’s just Morgan who’s too oblivious to figure it out.

“Hey, what would you do if someone tried to use Justin like that?” I ask her, knowing I’m being mean.  She starts to laugh.

“Yeah, right!  Like that could happen--he’s a playboy, he can take care of himself,” she says, waving Justin off completely.  Ouch, she shot him down even harder than I expected.  I can’t help but glance at him sympathetically.  He has a dry expression on his face--looks like he expected it, too.

“Does it get awkward?” Jimmi asks.

“What get awkward?” I ask.

“Everyone knowing who likes who and all the other secrets,” she says, “with the super hearing and whatever.”

“Yeah, but we’re sort of used to it,” Morgan says.  “We’ve got a lot more privacy than we used to.”  She hesitates for a moment, looking over at me.  “Speaking of which,” she says, which means she’s about to change the subject, “it’s been pretty much said that they’re going to give you a team, Vin.  Have you picked who’s on it yet?”

“You wanna be on it?” I ask her.

“I can’t, I have to keep a low profile for what I want to do,” she says.  “But--” she looks over at Lance.

“I want to,” Lance says a bit shyly.  “I might be useful in a team setting, right?”

“I want to, too,” Jimmi says.  “I want to be there if they send you in for forest fires and all that--like Dad is for Uncle Flint.  I can--I can help.”  I stare at her as it all finally clicks in my head.  I must be stupid, I think, my mouth dropping open, I was so afraid to hope that I stopped thinking, on top of it.  What’s worse is that people have been practically yelling it at me for over a week, and I STILL didn’t clue in.

I need her
.  I’m not talking girlfriend or anything (yet, maybe), but if I had a partner with her abilities...  “I don’t want to make it like I’m using you, though,” I say quietly, “you know, to keep what happened to my mom from happening to me--”

“But I could.  Dad keeps it from happening to Uncle Flint.  They do prescribed burns together, and help all the nearby forests at least once a year.  I... I want to,” she says with a shrug.

“I could help get the animals out, first!” Lance says, getting excited. 

Carla, who’s swinging from a tire swing she’d talked Taurus into adding, looks up with a grin.  “I’m in!”

“Then... well... when you guys are ready for your debuts, we’ll talk to Double M about it,” I say, giving in too easily.

Looks like my dreams of being in the background are completely shot, huh?

Well, I can still make sure I get all the movie channels.

Bonus Section:

Sous Chef

The sound of sizzling food comes from the kitchen and the entire dorm goes still for a second before looking at each other.  Vinny’s cooking dinner.  For a long moment the cape kids look at each other before Justin makes the first move.  He dashes for the kitchen, only to get tackled by Ace, who’s staying over for dinner.  The boys are jumped over by Morgan, who is promptly tackled by Carla.

The hall that leads to the kitchen is now so crowded that it’s about to burst.  “You don’t even LIVE here, man!” Justin says, struggling to get Ace off of him.  “You don’t get to help!”

“I stay over enough that I’ve got rights!” Ace says.

“Morgaaaan, I have to go to the bathroom!” Carla says, struggling to get free of Morgan’s grasp.  Somehow it went from her holding Morgan to the other way around.

“I’ve heard that one, one too many times, Carla,” the zoo kids leader says, holding on tight.  “I’m not about to let you help in the kitchen!  We just rebuilt Vinny’s old room, we don’t need anything else burnt down!”

“I didn’t burn the kitchen down.  I just charred it a little!” Carla protests.

“Ahem,” Blackjack says from behind them.  As a group they go still.  “What’s the big deal?” he asks.  “I’ve never seen you guys so intent on helping cook before.”

“Um, well--” Justin starts out.

“It’s this deal,” Ace says, rolling over and looking at his dad, “where whoever helps him cook gets to decide what’s for dessert.”

“They do, do they?” Blackjack says, looking thoughtful.  “I’ve wanted Rum Cake for weeks,” he declares before taking to the air.  The entire group jumps up as he starts going over their heads, grabbing onto him and trying to haul him back down.

“No way are we eating that!” Morgan says, holding on tightly.

“I’m getting Black Forest cake!” Ace says.

“I want cheesecake,” Carla says, dangling off the ground because she’s short, “with cherries!”

“I want ice cream sundaes!” Morgan says.  The sound of someone clearing their throat makes them all look over at the kitchen door.  Jimmi stands there, leaning against the doorframe with a little smile on her face and a whisk in her hand.

“We’re having churros and fried cinnamon ice cream,” she tells them before heading back inside.

The group drop to the floor.  “She’s good,” Blackjack says, shaking his head.

“What’s a churro?” Carla asks as they all walk away.

Welcoming Rocco

“Welcome to Cape High,” Nico says as he leads a tall teen to our little group.  He takes a moment to look at each of us, especially me, before going, “Have you guys just claimed Adanna’s place for your own?” he asks.

“Well she’s at home, right?” I say, swaying comfortably in my hammock.  “That means she’s not using it, and it’s just a waste of space if it isn’t being used, right?”  I look over at the teenager.  “You’re Rocco, right?” He’s got reddish braids and clothes that the Goodwill would burn. His skin is the color of coffee with milk in it.  Mixed, maybe?  Doesn’t matter.

“Yeah,” he says, walking over and holding out a hand.  “Who’re you?”

“Vinny,” I say, shaking the hand.  “I’m a fire mimic.”

“Shadow walker,” Rocco says, glancing over as Jimmi slides down into my hammock again.  “Rocco,” he says again, offering a hand to her.

“Jimmi,” she says, pushing my legs over the side.

“Still not sure this thing is built to hold two of us,” I tell her.

“The other ones are taken,” she says as she shakes Rocco’s hand.  “I drain power,” she adds, looking amused as he jerks his hand back quickly.  “Electric power--that sort of energy,” she adds with a grin.

“Vinny, you can show him the ropes, right?” Nico asks.  “I’ve got a date.”  He heads off before I can reply, leaving our little group staring blankly at Rocco--and Rocco staring back in the exact same way.

“Hey,” Lance says from the porch of one of the tree houses, “you’re pretty old just to be starting out, right?  Did you just come into your powers?”

“Huh?  Nah, no way,” Rocco says, laughing at the question.  “I’ve been shadow walking since I was thirteen--hey, is there somewhere I can sit?”  He hops up on one of the porches before we can reply, looking quite comfortable.  “But I gotta admit, I had no CLUE what I was doin’ at the time--I wound up breaking into Fort Knox.”

We all turn and stare at him, earning a wide grin in reply.  “First time I ever saw that many guns in my LIFE.  Or that much gold, for that matter,” he says, swinging his legs cheerfully.  “But the worst part is Marigold--she’s out for my head, still.”

“Marigold?” Morgan asks, “from the East Branch?”

“Yep.  It was during her watch,” he says.  “Course it’s worse now,” he says thoughtfully.

“Why’s that?” Jimmi asks.

“Because I did it again just a few weeks ago.”

Lance is the first to laugh, leaving me to shake my head.  “Looks like we’re going to have a new villain, after all,” Morgan says.  “Hey, Vinny!  If you ask nicely, I bet he’ll let you have his debut!”

“Not a chance,” I declare.  “Rocco, that’s Morgan, she’s the leader of the dorms.”

He gets up, moving to where he can lean over her hammock.  I see them shaking as Morgan says, “I drain power, too.”

“Electricity?” he asks.

“Nope, yours.” 

The look on his face as he jerks his hand away has the entire group laughing.

Heart-to-Hearted Out

I’m a little confused at the moment, because for some reason the Rosenthorn twins have cornered me during our free outside period, and everyone else has abandoned me.  Being stared at from both directions by large green eyes and eager expressions is sort of unnerving.  “Um, yeah?” I ask when it doesn’t seem like they’re going to talk.

“We didn’t get to do the whole heart to heart thing,” Sunny declares.

“Yeah, and it’s MY boyfriend that came up with the idea,” Zoe says, looking at her twin, “I’m going to have to talk to him about leaving us out of the loop.”

“I’ll help!” Sunny says, grinning downright evilly.  “But first, we’re here to talk to you about important matters or something, right?” he says to me.  He reaches up, placing a hand on my arm and giving me a serious expression.  “Let it out, man, let it alllll out.”

“We’re here to be serious, Sunny,” Zoe says, giving her brother a dry look.  Then she looks at me.  “Do you need a hug?  Because we’d be happy to give you one.”

I choke, slightly, looking away from them as I try to figure out just what they’re thinking.  I’m almost positive that Zoe’s being serious, which makes it even funnier when she wraps her arms around me in the hug she threatened me with.  She pats me on the back, going, “It’s okay, Vinny, we’re here for you.”

I lose it.  I try and cover my mouth to keep the laughter contained, but somehow they misunderstand.  Sunny wraps his arms around me as well.  “Let it out, man, let it out!”

“It’s okay, we won’t tell anyone you cried,” Zoe says, patting me on the back more.  I burst out laughing, giving up on hiding it.  The twins pull back, looking at each other.  “This isn’t going how you said it would, Sunny,” Zoe tells her brother dryly. 

“It isn’t, is it?” Sunny says, frowning thoughtfully.  “Maybe we should try a different approach,” he decides, his expression getting downright devious.

“Wait a minute--no, seriously--” I say, backing up as quickly as I can with both hands up.  “I’m good, I swear I am!  I’ve had way too many heart-to-hearts!  I’m all heart-ed out.”  I take another step back, bumping into a wall.  I don’t remember there being a wall there--I turn, staring at the wall of dirt behind me.

“When did you learn that?” Zoe asks her brother curiously even as the wall starts to collapse--on me.  I jump back seconds before it collapses.

“I’m still working on it,” Sunny says with a shrug.

“Still, it’s pretty impressive,” Zoe says.  “But we’re not here to show off, we’re here to talk with Vinny about his whole nightmare problem.  I had an idea on how to help,” she says to me, pulling out a small metal half hoop and unfolding it.  “I thought if we looked into your dreams we could see about working through it!”

Somehow I don’t think this is a good idea.  “I ah--appreciate the concern,” I say, taking a step back, “but I think I’ve got it under control--”

“We’re going to have to put him to sleep for it to work, aren’t we?” Sunny asks.

“Well, it would be the fastest way--” Zoe says.

I light up, racing away as fast as I can.

***

“You owe me ten bucks,” Zoe says, holding out a hand to her brother.

“I could have sworn it would work,” Sunny says, digging his wallet out of his pocket and pulling out a ten.  “Maybe we should have gotten Dad to bring in the mind-reading hoop instead of you.”

“Oh, this isn’t the mind-reading hoop,” Zoe says, waving the hoop around.  “Dad locked that up the last time I tried to use it.  This is just an imitation.”

“Yeah?  What’s it do?”

“Mmm, I put it together, but I’ve got no idea--let me try it out on you!” she says, grinning wickedly.

Sunny races away as fast as he can, as well.