Part 17 (1/2)
”Stop that!”
Henry gave me a small grin. ”Unfortunately, having your mind read comes with the territory around here.”
I eyed one of the empty soup tureens. I wondered if putting it on my head would block my thoughts from Chief Newman. Or maybe I could make myself a hat out of aluminum foil. That was good for keeping the aliens away. At least, that's what all the crazy homeless people at Paradise Park claimed.
Chief Newman chuckled. ”I imagine that would look rather funny, Carmen.”
I gave him a sour look. He chuckled again.
”Even though Fiona has decided to leave, we still need to discuss our next move,” Sam reminded us.
The mood darkened.
”First things first.” Sam turned to me. ”You've got to stay here at Sublime, where you'll be safe.”
”Until when?”
”Until we figure out a way to stop Malefica for good.”
”How long might that be?”
”I have no idea.”
”I can't stay here forever. What about my job? My apartment? My overdue library books? I have a life, you know.” I clapped a hand to my head and groaned. ”I bet they've already fired me. I haven't been to work in almost a week.”
”Actually, I took care of that,” Chief Newman said. ”You've been given a brief sabbatical from the newspaper, and your rent's been paid up through the end of the year.”
”How did you manage that? I've already used up all my vacation days for the entire year.” I'd blown through them after Travis Teague's suicide. There was something about driving a man to take his own life that made you want to never be seen again.
The chief laced his fingers together. ”I merely called up some of the editors and told them what a valuable employee you were, what a hard worker. They were more than happy to give you the time off.”
”What he means is that he hypnotized them into doing what he wanted,” Henry added. ”It's one of his more useful powers.”
”You hypnotized my bosses?”
”I prefer the term suggestive encouragement.” The chief 's blue eyes twinkled.
KarmaGirl.
”Oh. That doesn't matter. I still can't stay here.” Panic strained my voice. ”I just can't.”
I didn't belong here among all the glitz and glamour, and I didn't belong within twenty feet of any superheroes. I certainly didn't need to be in such close proximity to Sam Sloane for any length of time.
Given my intense attraction to him, eventually I'd do something stupid, like lock him in my room and beg him to make love to me again. My heart had already been broken once. I couldn't risk it a second time, especially not with my bad karma with men and superheroes. And everything else for that matter.
”You can stay here, and you will,” Sam snapped.
His authoritative tone grated on my nerves. If there was one thing I hated, it was when another person tried to tell me what to do. No matter how s.e.xy the person might be. ”It's my life, and I want to get back to it as soon as I can. I'll do what I want to.”
”And if you want to keep it, you'll stay right here where it's safe, where we can protect you.”
My blue eyes narrowed. Sam glared at me, his silver gaze s.h.i.+mmering with emotion.
”Why don't we just take it one day at a time and see what develops?” Chief Newman suggested.
”There's no need to make a hasty decision now we might regret later.”
I drummed my fingers on the table. Besides my unwanted, relentless attraction to Sam, my other major problem was Malefica. If I left the safety of Sublime and went back to Bigtime, she'd track me down faster than a Southern bloodhound treeing racc.o.o.ns. I'd felt Malefica's rage, her absolute hatred of me, at the park. I had dared to stand up to the ubervillain, and Malefica hadn't liked it. Not one little bit.
I shuddered to think what would happen if she got her inch-long nails into me. How could I deal with this threat? Despite my reprieve from work, I couldn't spend the rest of my life hiding from the Terrible Triad. There had to be a way out of this mess. I turned the problem round and round in my mind.
Besides her superpowers, Malefica's only real advantage was her anonymity. That, however, was something I could change. And it would drastically level the playing field.
”Did you guys bring all my stuff from my apartment?”
”Yes. We shoved everything into those cardboard boxes in your suite,” Sam replied.
”All of it? Even the papers I had on the coffee table?”
”Yes, why do you ask?”
”Because if my notes are here, I can get back to work.”
”On what?”
”Uncovering Malefica's real ident.i.ty.”
The three superheroes exchanged worried glances. I stood and paced back and forth beside the table.
”Don't worry. I'm not going to expose you or dig up your deepest, darkest secrets, but we need to uncover Malefica's ident.i.ty. If I do that, I can serve her up to you, just the way she wanted to give me to Frost. You guys can ambush her, and she'll never know what hit her. Once she's safely locked away for the remainder of her natural life, I can get back to mine, and you guys can go back to saving Bigtime on a weekly basis. Everyone wins. It's the same game plan I had in the beginning, the same one I told Striker about. Except now, I have all your ident.i.ties. That should make Malefica much easier to unmask.”
”Do you think you can really do that?” Henry said. ”Uncover her ident.i.ty? I've been trying for years.”
I shrugged. ”I've done it before. It's really not difficult. You superheroes and ubervillains aren't nearly as clever as you think you are.”
The three men stared at me.
”Well, you're not,” I said in a defensive tone. ”Anyone with half a brain and a little bit of time can KarmaGirl.
figure out who most of you are. C'mon. What sort of lame-a.s.s disguise is a pair of gla.s.ses and skin-tight spandex anyway?”
KarmaGirl.
16.
I started Operation Unmask the next morning. By nine o'clock, I'd dressed, put on my usual war paint, and was ready to face the day and my superhero hosts. I opened the door to my room and stuck my head outside. An empty hallway greeted me.