The Phobia of Renegade X Read online

  Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Books by Chelsea M.Campbell

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Special Thanks to the Following Citizens of Golden City

  About the Author

  The Phobia of Renegade X

  By Chelsea M. Campbell

  1st edition published by Golden City Publishing, 2017

  Copyright © 2017 Chelsea M. Campbell

  www.chelseamcampbell.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher and copyright owner.

  Books by Chelsea M. Campbell

  Renegade X

  The Rise of Renegade X

  The Trials of Renegade X

  The Haunting of Renegade X

  The Betrayal of Renegade X

  The Torment of Renegade X

  The Phobia of Renegade X

  Dragonbound

  Fire & Chasm

  Starlight

  Growing Up Dead

  Harper Madigan: Junior High Private Eye

  DEDICATION

  TO THE YOUTUBERS, MUSICIANS, COMEDIANS, HOSTS OF LATE-NIGHT TV, SITCOM WRITERS, NOVELISTS, AND MAKERS OF BBC RADIO DRAMAS WHOSE WORKS HAVE HELPED ME THROUGH THE HARD TIMES AND MADE THE GOOD TIMES EVEN BETTER.

  Chapter 1

  “RILEY GOT THE GO-AHEAD to stop wearing his walking cast,” Sarah says on the phone. “You know what that means.” She sounds way too excited about that.

  I lean against the kitchen counter. “Yeah, but I really don’t need to hear about your sex life.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” She hesitates. “Not that you can’t still have sex with a cast on.”

  “Wow, Sarah. What did I just say?”

  “I have to hear about your sex life all the time. And I didn’t mean that we… It’s none of your business.”

  And I’d like to keep it that way. “I won’t be able to use the elevator with him at school anymore, but other than that, I don’t see how this affects me.” Except that I do. Or, at least, I know how Sarah wants it to.

  “We’re going on superhero missions again, Damien. Or should I say Renegade? We’re going to have to come up with a code name for Riley. I’ve been thinking about it for months, but I haven’t found the right one yet. What do you think about the Invisible Tangent?”

  “Sarah, I don’t—”

  “I know, I know. His superpower probably shouldn’t be in his name—it’s too obvious.”

  “I just think—”

  “It should probably be something that goes with our names, though. So everyone knows we’re a team. But I guess it’s not something we have to come up with right now. And I haven’t even told Riley my ideas yet, so—”

  “Sarah. Will you let me finish?”

  “Renegade X, the Cosine Kid, and…?”

  I pace back and forth in front of the fridge, trying to figure out the best way to say this. “Riley might not want to go on a mission, like, the moment he gets his cast off.”

  There’s a pause, then, “Why? You mean, like, because he’s still doing physical therapy? Because his doctor said he’s progressing nicely and should be able to do normal activities again.”

  The TV’s on in the living room, set to the news. The rest of the family’s watching as the city takes down a few statues from the Heroes’ Walk in Golden City Park. They must have gotten to Helen’s—my stepmom’s—because someone turns the TV up. The news reporter calls it a “solemn day for heroism” and says that “this marks the end of an era.”

  I wince a little at that, because I may have had something to do with it. Maybe a lot to do with it.

  “Sarah… he had to have his leg screwed back together.”

  “I just told you, the doctor said everything looks good. He’s going to be fine.”

  “Yeah, but…” But the ceiling caved in on him, and he almost died, and she’s not the one who found him like that or who heard him screaming. Who still hears it. My heart races at the memory, and little zaps of lightning run up my back as I start to relive it. “It was kind of big, what happened. There were heroes shooting at him.” Because of me. Because he’s my friend, and they knew that. And if me and Amelia hadn’t found him, they would have come back and finished him off.

  “Don’t worry,” Sarah says. “I’m planning something light for this first mission. There won’t be anyone shooting at us. Well, maybe one person, but that’s it.”

  “I think we should wait.”

  “We’ve waited long enough. With me going on hiatus and then Riley breaking his leg, it’s been almost eight months since we went on patrols. And that was without Riley. This is the first time the three of us have gotten to work together.”

  “He might not be ready. So don’t be disappointed if—”

  “He might not be, or you might not be?”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “Riley’s the one who got hurt, and he’s fine.”

  I stay quiet, considering that. She’s right—compared to his injuries, I barely got scratched. But I don’t know if fine is the word I’d use to describe either of us.

  “You guys have had two and a half months to get ready while his leg healed,” Sarah goes on, “and you haven’t even gotten to do anything for school.” She means because both of us ended up having to do the paperwork-only alternative assignment. “It’ll be good to get back into fieldwork.”

  “I…” I want to believe that. I want to believe that so badly. “Yeah, you’re right, Sarah. Of course it will.”

  “And we won’t be doing fieldwork right this second.”

  “Okay. Good.”

  “Because it’s only Tuesday and our mission isn’t until Saturday evening.”

  “Great.” That’s, like, so much time. I don’t know what I was even worried about.

  My half sister Amelia storms into the kitchen. She glares at me as she shoves a popcorn packet into the microwave.

  “It’ll be fine,” Sarah says. “You’ll— Heraldo, no! Get down from there! Damien? I have to go—Heraldo gets antsy if he doesn’t get his walk on time, and we should have left fifteen minutes ago. And don’t worry—everything’s going to be great.”

  She hangs up.

  Amelia’s watching me, her nostrils flaring in and out. “I hope yo
u’re happy. Mom’s been in the Heroes’ Walk my whole life.”

  I slip my phone into my pocket, even though part of me kind of wants to pretend Sarah’s still on the line, so I can ignore what Amelia just said. “I didn’t want this to happen.”

  “But it’s your fault.”

  Not directly, but I was a spokesperson for the Truth, my grandpa’s villain organization, and I did help stand up for villain rights. To the point that now everyone’s questioning the League’s past deeds—or at least what’s left of the League, since it’s not exactly up to its former glory—and how they’ve treated villains.

  “It’s your fault,” Amelia says again, studying my face, “but you don’t care. You didn’t even watch the news with us.”

  “Why would I want to do that?” So they could all gawk at me and shake their heads, like I caused this on purpose? “I don’t get why you guys watched it.”

  “Mom earned that statue. And now they just took it away, like everything she did doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say. I can’t change what happened, and it’s not like I went down there and pushed her statue over myself or anything.”

  Her popcorn starts popping. It sounds like tiny explosions. “That’s not how they did it. They saved it, so they could put it in a museum.”

  I shrug. “Then it’s still around. I don’t see the problem.”

  She gapes at me. “Being in the Heroes’ Walk is a huge honor. Mom still deserves to be there!”

  “Why? Because she killed villains?!” I don’t mean to sound angry when I say that. It just slips out.

  “Only the really bad ones.”

  That was Helen’s job. She assassinated villains for the League. And yeah, some of them probably deserved it, but that doesn’t mean the League should have gotten to decide that.

  I clench my fists. “If a villain killed heroes—but, you know, only the ‘really bad ones’—you wouldn’t think taking down their statue was so tragic.”

  “Um, it’s called the Heroes’ Walk for a reason. Villains can’t have statues in it.”

  “That’s kind of my point.”

  “And there aren’t really bad heroes.”

  I stare at her. “Amelia, how can you say that? You were there, at that gala. You saw what those heroes did. You know what they did to Riley!”

  The popping in the microwave slows way down, but she doesn’t tell it to stop like you’re supposed to. Instead, she gives me this defiant look. “Those heroes were bad, but they weren’t really bad. They were just confused. And they weren’t anything like the villains my mom had to deal with.”

  “Deal with?!”

  She rolls her eyes, like I’m the one being unreasonable. “She risked her life to make the world a better place. That hasn’t changed, so her statue being in the Heroes’ Walk shouldn’t have changed, either.”

  “I never said it should have.”

  “But it’s, like, the most devastating thing that’s happened to our family, and you don’t even care.”

  I raise my eyebrows at her. I’m pretty sure me coming to live with them was more devastating. Or when the whole city hated Gordon because of me. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “Yes, it is!” Amelia shouts. She practically tears open the microwave door, almost hitting me with it, and snatches out her bag of popcorn.

  Someone clears their throat, and we both look up. Helen’s standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Her face is kind of blotchy and her eyes maybe look wet, but it’s hard to tell. “Everything okay in here?”

  I didn’t notice her come in, so I don’t know how long she’s been standing there. How much did she hear? Dread twists in my stomach, even though I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.

  Amelia takes a deep breath. “Everything’s fine. I was just getting the popcorn.”

  “We’re watching a movie,” Helen tells me. “If you want to—”

  “He doesn’t,” Amelia says, grabbing a giant bowl out of the cupboard. “He didn’t care about watching the news with us—he doesn’t care about watching a movie.”

  Helen gives me a questioning look, like she doesn’t believe that.

  But Amelia’s made it clear that I’m the last person she wants around right now. Helen must not have heard what I said about her, or she’d probably feel the same way. And for all I know, the rest of the family was offended by my absence, too.

  And even if they weren’t? They’re all upset about this statue thing, and I’m not. It’s my fault it happened, and it doesn’t even mean anything to me. Not like it does to them.

  I don’t belong here right now. I get that, even without Amelia glaring at me.

  And even though Helen can probably tell that I’m making this up, I force a smile and say, “Can’t—I already have plans. I’m going over to Riley’s.”

  Chapter 2

  I BRING MY STUFF to stay the night, even though it’s a Tuesday and I didn’t even tell Riley I was coming over. But I don’t need to.

  Zach answers the door. He’s Riley’s brother and a year younger than us. He’ll be starting at Heroesworth in the fall. He’s also Amelia’s boyfriend, thanks to my excellent matchmaking skills. Not that they have any idea I set them up, but still.

  He grins when he sees me, then motions for me to come in. “Riley doesn’t have to wear his cast anymore.”

  “So I heard.”

  Their mom pokes her head out of the kitchen. “Is that Damien? Has he had dinner?” Then, to me, “Have you had dinner?”

  Their house smells like spaghetti, and my stomach rumbles a little, even though technically I did have dinner. I just didn’t eat very much of it, what with everyone else at the table acting like someone was about to die—and maybe like I was the executioner—and me not wanting to be there any longer than I had to.

  “I’ll make you a plate,” she says, before I even have a chance to answer.

  I don’t argue with her.

  “I heard about your mom’s statue,” Zach says.

  “My stepmom, you mean.”

  “Amelia texted me the whole time. She said you didn’t watch it with them.”

  I shrug.

  “It wasn’t really your fault, though.” He glances back and forth, like he’s afraid Amelia might somehow be lurking nearby and hear him. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  I want to argue with him, because I’m pretty sure I did a lot of things wrong, but he looks so sincere about it, and… Honestly? It feels good to have someone on my side, even if I think he’s being naive. “Thanks, Zach.”

  Their mom brings out a plate of spaghetti for me, and we all sit down at the dining table, even though I’m the only one eating.

  “Zach, go tell your brother Damien’s here,” their mom says.

  Zach turns in his chair toward the hallway and shouts, “Riley, Damien’s here!”

  “I know!” Riley calls back. He joins us a few moments later. “Hey,” he says, acknowledging me as he sits down.

  I nod at his leg, which is indeed cast-free now. “Congrats,” I tell him while slurping spaghetti into my mouth.

  “Thanks. I still have a few more weeks of physical therapy, but the doctor said everything looks good and that my life can basically get back to normal.”

  Normal, right. Whatever that means.

  Their mom’s watching me, concern creasing her forehead. “Damien, how are you holding up?”

  For a second, I think she means because of what happened at the gala, back when Riley broke his leg and everything kind of fell apart. But then I realize she’s talking about Helen’s statue. Not that those topics aren’t unrelated. “It’s like Zach said, it wasn’t my fault.”

  “It must be tough right now, though. For your family.”

  I think about how red Helen’s face was earlier, how much it looked like she’d been crying, or like she’d been trying really hard not to. Amelia’s been pissed at me for a couple weeks now, ever since she found out this statu
e thing was happening. Gordon was quiet about it. In the days leading up to this, and tonight all through dinner, before the news was on, he was just quiet. He didn’t get mad at me. He didn’t blame me, like Amelia did. But he didn’t tell me it was alright, either. And as for Alex and Jess, well… Alex is nine and plenty old enough to understand what happened and to hate me for it, though I don’t think he does, and Jess is only three and could care less about the Heroes’ Walk, so at least there’s that.

  “Helen’s statue’s been in the Heroes’ Walk for eighteen years,” I say, “so, yeah, that’s been kind of tough for them.”

  “And for you?”

  I try and pick up the one last noodle on my plate, but it keeps slipping off my fork. “It was just a statue.”

  Riley frowns at that. “X, you know that’s not true.”

  “Okay, fine. It was a statue she got for killing villains.” Specifically for killing my girlfriend’s grandfather. I mean, he’s one of the villains who actually deserved it—even Kat’s family thinks he was bad news—but murdering my future grandfather-in-law still hits a little close to home. Especially since it’s made Helen more than a little prejudiced against Kat, though she’s come around and at least lets her in the house now. “She ‘took care of’ villains that the League decided needed to be put down, the city built her a freaking statue for it, and now that they’ve realized murdering villains isn’t something to be honored for, they took it down? Big deal. Except they didn’t even take it down, they just moved it, so everyone can still go to a museum and see what a shining example of heroism she is. And maybe it’s my fault that the city’s re-evaluating Helen’s past deeds, but it’s not my fault that she killed villains before I was even born.”

  Their mom blinks at me.

  Zach swallows.

  “See?” Riley says. “It’s not just a statue.”

  Their mom pats my hand as she gets up from the table and shoots me a warm-but-still-kind-of-concerned smile. “You make sure your dad knows you’re staying over, okay? Or if you want me to call him—”

  “No, it’s okay. I texted him on the way here.” When it was already too late for him to try and convince me to stay. Because I didn’t want to be convinced, and because I didn’t want to know for sure that he wouldn’t try. Maybe the family really is better off without me there tonight, reminding them of everything that’s gone wrong lately. And that might not be a secret or anything, but knowing that Gordon thinks so, too? That my own dad doesn’t even want me around right now? I don’t really want to think about it. So I texted him when I was well on my way here, saying I was spending the night at Riley’s and not to worry about me.