Free SuperZero by Jane De Suza Page A

hair appeared, dancing around me while he shouted angrily, ‘Don’t be an idiot, SuperZero. A vampire! He could suck out all your blood. You heard the doc. You could bleed to death.’
    ‘Then perhaps I will be of some good,’ I said sadly. ‘So far I have only caused everyone pain.’
    (Now, in case you’re wondering if I had knocked my head and was talking rubbish, let me confess, these are lines out of that soppy TV serial that my Mom watches. When the guy said it, all the women in the serial burst out crying and hugged him.)
    I announced with much bravado, ‘I will give my blood for my people. And you can’t stop me.’ (A line from a movie that Gra watched recently.)
    ‘Are you sure, SuperZero? This is so brave of you!’ Head 1 said, looking doubtfully at me.
    ‘3-2-1, and the whistle goes!’ (Okay, so this is a line from my Dad’s basketball match.)
    Then everyone clapped, and I was backslapped a lot,some of which hurt (when TRex slapped my back, I went stumbling across the room).
    Anyway, it was all set up. Vamp Iyer was made to go brush his fangs (he had just had chocolate milk . . . what if I got infected?) and my arm was strapped down to a bed.
    Vamp Iyer was brought back to the room, and the nurse examined his teeth and nodded, and then . . . and then . . . woooozyy here . . . I can only remember this in a haze . . . so the nurse brought Vamp Iyer’s head closer to me—closer—closer—to my arm—till he looked like one big huge full moon on a full moon night—closer—closer—and he opened his mouth so I saw his huge, HUGE fangs come closer—closer—and felt the prick of something in my arm—and OW!
    And that’s all I’m afraid I remember.

21. Jump into the jaws of danger (only when they’re closed)
    ‘Wake up, SuperZero!’ I heard a low growl, and there, up in my face, was Masterror. Why was he looming like the Angel of Death above my face? I glanced around in a panic, and realized I was lying on a hospital bed, wearing a pink-striped hospital robe, and across me lay Vamp Iyer.
    ‘You fainted,’ hissed Masterror, ‘but that’s only to be expected from you. At the threat of a slight bite!’
    ‘And Vamp Iyer?’
    ‘He fainted too. At the very first sight of blood, that tiny prick of blood from your arm. Some vampire! Huh! They just don’t make superheroes the way they used to!’
    I closed my eyes and wished he would just go away and leave me alone. But of course, being un-super and an un-hero, nothing happened. There he was, glaring at me, hovering over me like a faulty parachute in a bad dream.
    ‘You should really go away and leave everyone alone,’ said Masterror. Strange, I should have said, I was thinking the same about you.
    Masterror continued in a whisper, ‘The Superhero School has never been so badly tarnished before. Our reputation is going down the drain, our headmistress is almost headless, and the students will never learn to be superheroes now because they are too busy fighting each other and not villians. And it’s all because of, let’s see now, who is it all because of?’
    I got the picture. I might not have super sight, but I saw the big picture all right.
    ‘Me,’ I said in a small whisper. ‘It’s my fault.’
    Masterror’s eyes gleamed. ‘Correct, boy, and here I was thinking you’d never learn. You got it!’
    I felt sick and it wasn’t just because of the blood loss. I felt small and stupid and like a complete loser. It was true: before I happened, the Superhero School was the toast of the town. Everyone was so proud of it and of those fantastic kids. They were the hope of the future, until I started jumping into birthday cakes and flooding buildings.
    Time to face the truth.
    Masterror leaned even closer till I could see the glimmer in his eyeballs. ‘And you know what’s worse? The evil guys around, who have been lying low, because they’re afraid of our superheroes? Well, they all think we’re a big joke now. I have very trustworthy