“No shit?” I asked, forgetting to watch my language. Way I figured it, these Supralines types were goody-goods, not the type to embrace vulgarity like us rogues.

  Laurel didn’t seem to mind. “Heard of Goros? He’s one of those up-and-coming supervillains. Straight-tracked to the top, some say.”

  “And he went to Rocadium?” I couldn’t believe it. “If so, why aren’t they held accountable? Shut down?”

  “Too powerful. Their Headmaster is this super who’s totally connected with the Citadel and elsewhere. He throws someone under a bus when a student goes rogue, blames it on a teacher and kicks them out, but… yeah, it’s bad.”

  “The Citadel should cut him off,” I said, totally losing faith in the group of supers responsible for keeping order in the galaxy.

  “They’re a bit busy,” Ice countered with a scoff. “Taking out pirates and fighting to maintain order against the present supervillains. No time to work on counteracting possible future ones.”

  I was about to argue, when Laurel nodded and said, “Plus, like I said—connected. I think he’s able to pull strings and make them believe something other than the truth over there.”

  “Or maybe you’re misinformed,” Ice said, glaring.

  Laurel pursed her lips. “Maybe.”

  “And the Headmistress of Supralines?” I asked, changing the subject but also out of curiosity. “What have you heard about her?”

  “New,” Laurel replied, and that was it. A strange look came over her and she turned away, watching as our pod made its approach. Whatever that was about, I imagined I’d learn later—best not to push, if I wanted to make a friend here.

  Landing at the school boundary and then stepping out to see it towering over us hit me in a way that the distant view of the school hadn’t. Now it was real. We’d succeeded in hacking in, according to Ice. Although, now that I thought about it, her abilities didn’t inspire the most confidence in me. Still, I was here and had to believe it was going to work. I’d come too damn far for it not to.

  We followed Laurel toward the entrance, where several of the older students were directing new students.

  “Right this way,” a girl said from our right, head buried in a holo screen that floated from her chest. She motioned to us and the other girls nearby, then glanced up and smiled. She had short hair cropped up to her ears, dark skin, and wore a pink outfit like the others, and when she saw me she grinned. “Your hair will match the uniform.”

  “Oh, so uniforms for each class?” I asked, feeling like an idiot the moment the words had left my lips.

  She grinned again and nodded, leading us through the doors. “I’m Lima, and I’ll be your go to if you have any questions in the first days of class. Having been here for a year already, and as a grad of the junior program, I know my way around.”

  I shared an excited look with Ice, who glared in return, reminding me that she wasn’t as into it all as I was. For me this was about finding my sister, of course, but it was so much in addition to that.

  “What was it like?” I asked.

  “The junior school?” Lima glanced up in thought, then shrugged. “I guess it was pretty great. You could quiz me on any super at the Citadel and I’d be able to tell you what they can do and how it works. Tier One supers? I got you covered.”

  “And they helped you with your own powers?” Ice asked, seemingly playing the part more than actually caring.

  “Oh, sure. There’s this one professor here who came and helped out in the junior program sometimes, and honestly, if I can study under her I’ll be peeing a little every time class starts, she’s so amazing.”

  “Amazing… how?” I asked, trying to ignore the image of this girl peeing her pants.

  “Oh, right—she helps you unlock powers, kind of level up, in a way. They don’t want the junior school students getting ahead of themselves, so mostly focused on theory and whatnot, but…” Lima paused, glanced around to be sure she wasn’t being watched, and then she pulled me aside and into an alcove with a statue of a super standing tall. “Ready?”

  “For…?”

  She licked her lips, so that I saw her tongue was more of a snake tongue, forked and flicking out, before her lower body became that of a snake, tail wrapping around my legs. As her eyes started to change too, she leaned in close and I felt myself drawn to her. Like with Laurel, I imagined taking this woman, pulling her close, letting her hands grope me.

  I pulled back as Ice cleared her throat, and instantly Lima was back to her old self, blushing. “Sorry, I haven’t learned how to completely control it yet. That’s another area this school is known for—not just teaching how to truly be powerful, but to control that power.”

  That moment when I’d been drawn to her was disturbing. She’d been part snake, after all. As she started walking, I couldn’t help but notice the curves of her hips and the way her ass stood out in that suit.

  Shit. Something about this place was making me horny as hell. And the thing was that I didn’t really get horny, at least I hadn’t up to now. I’d always been too busy trying to survive to have time to really think about it, honestly. Of course, there had been the curious moments after hearing my sister’s stories, but I’d always imagined the real moment for me would be when some man seduced me. I’d imagined the moment when I pulled out his rock-hard cock, and what I’d do with it (answer—I had no idea). But all of this? It was new, exciting in a different way.

  “The fuck is wrong with you?” Ice whispered in my ear.

  I glanced over. Shrugged.

  “Don’t play stupid,” Ice said. “You were totally about to be pulled in by that snake act.”

  “She wouldn’t be the first,” Lima said, overhearing us. She laughed, as if it wasn’t a big deal, and then motioned us to a stairway on our left.

  We’d gone through a long hallway with an arched roof and marble columns, tall statues of other superheroes on each side. Paintings and stained glass displayed what I assumed were famous super battles, and a line of portraits at the front of the room must’ve been the ex- headmasters and headmistresses.

  After seeing Laurel to her room, we went halfway down the next hall. Lima stood there, then turned before saying, “For the record, I’m purely into guys. That, and fooling around here, is strictly forbidden—sets up too many complications, the headmistress says. So, don’t worry—I was just showing off some powers before.”

  “Yeah, okay,” I replied, feeling even more embarrassed if that was possible.

  She must’ve sensed it, because she glanced back and said, “Aw, that’s sweet. You really wanted me, huh?” She gestured up the stairs that we’d come to. “You first, so I know you’re not staring at my ass the whole time.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You said it yourself, just your powers.”

  As I went, she watched my skirt and frowned. “We’re going to have to get you two into your uniforms ASAP. This whole getup… not going to cut it.”

  I looked back at her. The pink clothes hugging her body left little to the imagination. Worse than the amount of cleavage I knew would be exposed—a fact that didn’t make sense considering our circumstances, but whatever—was the fact that there’d be no hiding my tail once I changed over.

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Lima said, opening a closet with plenty of outfits of various sizes. “Grab three each for yourselves, make sure they fit, as they’ll be yours for the rest of the year, at least. This is your room here. When you’re done dressing, feel free to relax. After everyone’s settled, we’ll have a group tour to show you the place, and then a little get-together ceremony tonight—nothing formal, but a bit of a tradition. And then classes start tomorrow!”

  She gave us another smile, a lingering look my way, and then was off.

  “Shit,” I said as soon as she’d left, looking through the outfits. “You’d think they never have supers with tails in here.”

  “I didn’t know I could’ve gone to fucking Rocadium,” was Ice’s response.

  “Should’ve researched all this a bit more, considering you were the one getting us in.”

  “Quiet,” she replied, then went to the window, glaring out. “I’m not going to fit in with these uptight twats.”

  “You think?” I laughed. “Guess we’ll have to see how good an actress you are.”

  “Or maybe I teach them how you’re supposed to behave in the real world, to survive.”

  I pursed my lips, knowing I’d have to find a way to control her, but not sure I wanted that job. For the moment I went back to the closet, finding a few outfits I liked, and then returned to our room, closing the door before slipping out of my clothes and trying the first on.

  “That tail’s legit, huh?” Ice said, watching me dress.

  “You thought I wore it for fun?” I snapped. It wasn’t a topic I enjoyed discussing.

  She shrugged, looking at my ears, too—once again exposed. “How’re you going to get around now? I mean, they’re going to give you shit.”

  “Why?”

  “Are you serious?” She laughed. “Charm, this isn’t the butt crack of nowhere, this is one of the most respected superhero academies out there, if not the most. These princesses come from the richest families in our galaxy. Fuck, some of them might even be actual princesses.”

  “You know that shit died off a long time ago,” I countered. “But… okay. What do you advise?”

  She shook her head as if it were hopeless. “Try to stay out of the spotlight, but otherwise own it. Someone confronts you, say you’re part of that program that brought Laurel here.”

  I nodded, agreeing that could make sense.

  Finally squeezing into the uniform, I turned, adjusting my breasts so they weren’t popping out, and held out my hands.

  “How do I look?”

  Ice looked me over and grinned. “If I had a cock, I’d fuck you.”

  “What?”

  She laughed. “Just saying, girl, you’re looking hot as fuck.”

  “Thanks?”

  “It’s a compliment—you’re looking good.” Ice eyed the outfits, groaned, then slipped out of her clothes, reminding me again that she was going commando. As she stepped over to pick out her uniform, completely nude, I was glad to see that my apparent horniness wasn’t making me the slightest bit curious about her. Maybe it had been the powers of the other two, after all.

  Good. It would make this tour easier, along with the idea of running into either Laurel or Lima. What really mattered wasn’t all that anyway, it was the fact that this was Supralines, and I was in.

  8

  Watching Ice walk in that pink uniform was almost worth putting up with her attitude. Not because it was hot, although objectively I supposed it probably was. More so because I knew it was killing her to have to look so feminine. Back home, she would never be caught dead in pink.

  “Shut up,” Ice said, glancing back at me.

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You will, and I don’t wanna hear it.”

  I shrugged, stifling a laugh, and picked up the pace, brushing past her in the hall. As much as I loved looking at everything as we went, I was eager to get to the tour. Then again, when I came to a trophy case with several trophies, a blue ball, and pictures of champions and coaches, I had to stop.

  “Don’t tell me you’re a fan of that shit,” Ice said, followed by a groan. “Please don’t. Please.”

  Super Ball, as simple as the name was, had always been a favorite of mine. It was adapted from some old fictionalized sport on Earth that had been kind of adapted so people could play it for real when thrusters and exo suits had gotten big, long after that mysterious Syndicate Event war had left much of the world in need of rebuilding. That had resulted in the golden age of recovery, where Earthers looked to fiction for ways to inspire and create.

  The biggest in that resurgence had been from a book many had loved since the late twentieth century, if my history was right—from a book called Harry Potter. That’s right, this Super Ball sport had been adapted from something they called Quidditch, only our version was set up so that all sorts of supers could play.

  It accounted for flying, speed, telepathy, mind control, and even projectile tempest powers, to a degree. No need to get into the specifics, but what made it fun and unique every time was that each team was allowed a wild card player, or a player whose powers could be outside the box. The main rule was that you couldn’t seriously hurt other players, and especially not kill them, though there were always healing supers and defensive supers nearby during games, in case things got out of control.

  The coolest game I’d ever heard of had involved one team bringing a storm caller, so that it had been incredibly intense, while the other had brought an illusionist. Having watched footage of that game over and over, I can vouch for the fact that it was chaos. The storm caller had brought lightning, swirling clouds, bursts of rain and even earthquakes. But that was nothing compared to the images of dragons, bursts of exploding volcanoes, and all manner of insanities the illusionist threw into the game. The opposing team had thought they could outsmart him and simply charge through everything, assuming they were illusions—but they must have forgotten that there were other players on the team, players with their own powers and fists.

  Was I a fan? I laughed, staring into my reflection alongside the image of Carly Eddlewood, AKA “Basher,” the best team captain ever.

  A moment later I realized the only reflection there was me, and a glance around confirmed that I was all alone.

  “Wait up,” I called after Ice, jogging down the hall to find the tour.

  I was almost to the end of the hall when three second year girls walked past from the connecting hall. They stopped and stared, nudging each other.

  “Hey,” I said, not even thinking about the fact that my bushy tail and ears were visible.

  “It talks!” the tall girl at the front of the group said. “This place gets better and better every year. To think, talking animals.”

  Now she’d insulted me. I was a super, dammit—one with mutations to look like an animal in ways, but a super the same as her. Better, in my opinion, since I didn’t go around insulting others I didn’t know.

  Still, I kept on, eyes forward.

  Until one of them grabbed my tail, at which point I spun and knocked the bitch out. I stood there with my fist aching, the redhead on the ground, the other two staring at me with worry and anger.

  “Don’t fucking touch me,” I said, not sure if they were about to attack or run away crying. Either way, I knew I needed to get out of here. This was going to draw too much unwanted attention. Taking a deep breath, I held up my hands and said, “Listen, this is my first day. Not trying to cause trouble.”

  “Not… trying…?” The tall girl looked at her friend on the ground, now groaning and starting to move again. “Listen, cat-bitch—”

  I laughed. “Cat? You think I look like a cat? With these ears and tail? At least get the insult right, princess.”

  Without waiting for a response that I knew would simply set me over the edge, I turned and walked out of there, hoping they’d stay to take care of their friend instead of following me. One of these days, I was going to have to do something about my temper.

  The hallway led to a set of stairs that descended into a great hall, where crowds of ladies were gathered in their various colored outfits. Pink, blue, green, and more. It was everything I’d ever dreamed of, with sparkling chandeliers made up of superpower-enhanced crystals that hung from the ceiling, stained glass like I’d seen upon arriving but more magnificent here and intertwined with carved marble. And on the walls were flowing tapestries that represented the different classes. Pink with its symbol of the lotus flower of strength and courage for my class, blue with the symbol of water for devotion and mutability, green with the symbol of the elder tree for their focus on purity and strong roots. It went on around the room, but I had to keep moving, as I heard the three girls coming from behind.

  Others glanced at me and my tail as I entered, making me think coming here at all was a very bad idea.

  Only, then I noticed a pair of turquoise eyes staring at me, that same cute smile… Laurel was approaching from her room, earning her share of annoyed glares. I could see why, if being different was a bad thing. Her hat was gone, and now I could see long, pointy ears along with what looked like hair sticking up. As she drew closer, it became clear that wasn’t hair, but more like two antennae or something, with the rounded ends glowing slightly.

  “It seems we have more in common,” Laurel stated.

  She was doing a wonderful job of ignoring the others as they said things like, “Freaks,” “They don’t belong here,” and the like.

  “I… I didn’t know,” I managed, absentmindedly letting my tail wrap around in front so that I could hold it like a pet. As her eyes widened I remembered myself and let the tail go behind me, hiding it as best I could. There was nothing I could do about the ears though, but standing next to her, I felt less out of place.

  “I had a hunch,” she admitted, nodding at the tail. She leaned in, lowering her voice and glancing around at the others. “Part of my powers is being able to tell such things. That girl over there has an extra set of molars, that one with the ponytail has a fake leg, and… yes, that one has a penis. Or used to.”

  I put ahand to my mouth, shocked. “Really?”

  Laurel shrugged. “Not always information I want to use, but yes.”

  “I thought Supralines was only for females?”

  “Where’ve you been raised?” Laurel chuckled. “Even where I lived, if a person identifies as a woman, that’s what she is.”

  It was a concept that had actually never occurred to me, and one that I certainly had never had to deal with. I scratched behind my right ear, quickly stopping when more faces turned my way to watch.

  “They’re accepting of that, but not ears that look different?” I asked.