Adventures of a Fourth Grade Superhero

By Christopher Bailey

Something has given children all over the city new and amazing powers. Some decide to use their powers for good. Others for evil.

A new superteam must rise to battle the coming villains. A team with amazing powers, trained by a secret organization to protect the city. A team known as The Alpha Squad.

This is not their story.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Phase Publishing
• Release date: Sep 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781943048380

Book preview

Sub-Heroes

1

Adventures of a Fourth Grade

Superhero

By

Christopher Bailey

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Phase Publishing, LLC

Seattle

By Christopher Bailey

From Phase Publishing, LLC

Starjumper Legacy:

The Crystal Key

The Vanishing Sun

The Plague of Dawn

Without Chance

Whisper

Coming Soon:

Sub-Heroes: Rise of the Nightwatch

and

The Accidental Haunting of Ethan Blake

Text copyright © 2017 by Christopher Bailey

Cover art copyright © 2017 by Phase Publishing, LLC

Illustrations created under private contract with Phase Publishing, LLC

All rights reserved. Published by Phase Publishing, LLC. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

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Phase Publishing, LLC first ebook edition

September 2017

ISBN 978-1-943048-38-0

Library of Congress Control Number 2017952747

Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file.

Dedicated to all the kids who take a stand

against bullying.

You truly are heroes.

And for my own children.

May I someday become the hero that

you think I am.

CONTENTS

1 - The Beginning

2 - The Doctor

3 - The Tryouts

4 - The Game Room

5 - The Choosing

6 - The Secret Meeting

7 - The Alpha Squad

8 - The Training Room

9 - The Alphas Fall

10 - The Mission

11 - The Break-In

12 - The Mad Scientist

13 - The Supervillain

14 - The Heroes

1

The Beginning

Joel sat up quickly in bed. His dream had been bad. The scariest he’d ever had, in fact. For a long time, he just sat there shaking. It wasn’t cold, but he couldn’t stop.

The weird thing was, he couldn’t remember any of the dream. Just that it had scared him badly.

It was dark in his room. Heavy clouds covered the moon and stars, so almost no light shone inside. He didn’t have a nightlight anymore. He’d told his parents months ago that he was too old for one.

Right now, he didn’t feel too old for a nightlight.

Slowly, he shook the dream away from his thoughts. Something about the room felt strange. It felt too big. Too open.

He reached out a hand and almost cried out when his hand went right through where the wall should be.

Joel was getting more scared by the minute. He stood slowly, holding his hands up in front of him.

When he reached the place where the light switch by the door should be, he touched the wall. He felt a rush of relief. It was solid.

There was an odd whoosh sound, and he couldn’t feel the wall anymore. It was gone, as if it had never been there. With a gasp of surprise, he stumbled back, tripping over something on the floor.

His hands went out behind him as he fell back onto the bed. Another whoosh, and the bed was suddenly gone. He landed hard on the floor, and it jolted him all the way up to his teeth. This time he cried out loudly. A second later, he heard a voice.

Joel? It was his dad.

Papi? Joel called, his voice afraid.

A light clicked on. He could see his room. He could also see the hallway, where the light came from.

The wall that split his room from the hallway was gone. Not broken, not torn down, just gone. Like it had never been there.

Looking around, he could see his bed was gone too. Just gone. So was the wall beside his bed. He could see straight into the front yard.

What in the world? his dad asked as he came down the hall. Joel’s father looked at his son, shaken and afraid on the floor.

What’s happening, Papi?

I don’t know, Joel, his dad said. He sounded scared, too. Come here, he said.

No! Joel shouted in panic. Don’t touch me! He didn’t want his father disappearing, too. Everything he touched was vanishing. His dad stopped, looking worried.

Joel just tucked his legs up and put his arms around them. He couldn’t help it. He cried.

2

The Doctor

Joel sat with his dad in the waiting room. They had driven straight here from the house. Joel was very careful not to touch anything. He wouldn’t even get dressed, and still wore his pajamas. He didn’t care.

Joel had shown his dad what was happening. With a touch and a whoosh, the dresser had disappeared. A big pile of clothes was left on the floor.

His dad had been on the phone for hours after that. Joel didn’t know where his dad had found this place, but he didn’t like it. This was a doctor’s office, sort of. The room was cold and white, with no windows.

Only one desk was in the room, and only one short row of chairs. The lady behind the desk was skinny and looked mean. Her nose looked almost like a beak, and she wore her glasses sitting right on the end.

Joel was sure that if she looked down, the glasses would fall right off her head. That was probably why she had the chain from the ends around her neck.

Joel’s dad had told him this place had special kinds of doctors that might help. Joel wasn’t so sure. If the doctors looked at him the way the lady here did, they probably wouldn’t want to help at all.

He looked up at his dad, who smiled down at him. Joel knew that smile. His dad was trying to make him think he wasn’t worried. It didn’t work. Joel knew better.

Joel was worried, too. He wasn’t sure what was happening, and knew his dad didn’t know either. He was getting bored waiting, though.

He wished he could play a game on his tablet. His dad had said if he touched the tablet and it disappeared, he wasn’t getting a new one.

He couldn’t even pick up one of the magazines on the tiny table between the chairs. He’d tried and it had vanished, just like everything else he touched with his hands. Probably just as well. The magazine was almost thirty years old.

Joel? the lady at the desk called. Joel looked up at her. She was still scowling, he saw. He scowled back at her.

Yes? Joel’s dad asked.

The doctor is ready for you now.

Come on, his dad told him. He reached for Joel’s hand, but then flinched back. Joel pretended not to notice.

Hello! a new voice came from behind. Joel looked that way.

A man in a doctor’s coat stood at the door. Not the door leading further into the building, the door that came in from the street. Joel looked back to the lady at the