Karma Girl Part 16

"Dinner is at six sharp. Everyone will be there. We need to talk about what our next move should be. I'll come back up and get you then. In the meantime, make yourself comfortable. Try to relax."

My eyes drifted to the bed. I'd like to relax in that, all right, with Sam next to me. Or on top of me. Or under me. I wasn't picky. I pushed the wicked thought out of my mind.

"Thanks."

Sam winked at me, walked across the room, and closed the door.

I sank down onto the plush bed. A silly little grin turned up the corners of my mouth. He'd winked at me! Sam Sloane had winked at me! Then, reality intruded, as it so often did. My grin faded away. What was wrong with me?

Mooning over Sam would get me nothing but trouble, and I didn't need my karma to get any worse.

And, of course, there was the fact that I'd made the superhero-dating mistake before with Matt, although technically I hadn't known he was a superhero. Still, all the long hours, mysterious disappearances, and strange injuries had been difficult to put up with, to say the least. And then there was the betrayal of Matt cheating on me with Karen, my best friend and the local ubervillain. I had no desire to repeat that.

No desire whatsoever.

Well . . .

Maybe just a little . . .

A teeny, tiny bit of desire . . .

KarmaGirl.

I growled. Maybe Frost had given me some kind of bizarre love potion in addition to the tranquilizer.

Maybe that explained my odd attraction to Sam and my fascination with his brilliant eyes. I snorted.

Yeah right.

More than likely I was feeling the so-called superhero swoon effect. It was a well-known fact that after someone was saved by a superhero, she usually developed a mad, mad crush on her savior. The victim bought the hero chocolates, flowers, and other trinkets and made a pest of herself until the superhero oh-so-gently told her they could never be together. It was a well-doc.u.mented phenomenon. Countless journal articles had been written about it, often by bitter female researchers who had been under the effects of the superhero swoon once upon a time.

Except, in my case, I'd actually slept with said superhero before he'd saved me. And no matter how I tried to deny it, I wanted to again. And again. And again. I groaned and flopped back on the bed. There was no way things could ever work out between Sam and me, no matter how super the s.e.x had been.

There were just too many things between us, namely the ghost of a dead man and a malicious ubervillain who wanted our heads on a silver platter. Malefica was out there somewhere plotting her revenge, trying to get me back in her sights. I couldn't bear it if something happened to Sam because of me. But what could I do to stop it?

I mulled over the predicament, pushing possible options around in my mind like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I sat up and squared my shoulders. I would go to dinner tonight and be nice and polite to everyone, even Fiona Fine. Then, I would pack up my things and leave Sam Sloane and the rest of the Fearless Five alone.

Forever.

It was the only chance I had to keep Sam and the others safe from Malefica's wrath.

And the only way I could keep my shattered heart from taking another pummeling at the hands of a superhero.

KarmaGirl.

15.

After spending fifteen minutes chastising myself and vowing never to look at Sam Sloane ever again, I stripped off my hospital clothes and took the longest bath in the history of mankind. Well, one of the longest.

Like the rest of the suite, the bathroom had everything a girl could want. Bath beads, exotic body oils, even scented soap-on-a-rope. I threw a couple of different scents into the swimming-pool-sized tub and filled it to the brim with the hottest water I could stand. I plunged into the bubbles and scrubbed myself down.

When I finished, I wrapped myself in a fluffy white bath towel and unstopped the tub. I watched the soapy water swirl down the drain. If only my troubles could disappear so easily.

Sam knocked on the door at exactly six. The superhero had shed his skin-tight leather suit for a perfectly fitted tuxedo. The black coat and white shirt only enhanced his dark good looks. My heart fluttered.

Sam's silver eyes flicked over my body. I looked down at my ensemble, a less-than-glamorous combo of faded jeans, worn-out sneakers, and a T-shirt that read LOVE JUST WEIGHS A WOMAN DOWN. A pink anvil covered with hearts crushed a woman to death on the front of the shirt. I cringed, aware once again of the enormous socioeconomic gap between us. I looked like a bag lady next to Sam.

"I didn't realize we were dressing up for dinner. If you give me a few minutes, I can change-"

"No, no. You look fine. It doesn't matter. I should have told you. It's something we do around here.

There's no reason to change."

Superheroes who dressed up for dinner? Odd. I wouldn't think they would have time to do something so fancy, what with all the crime in Bigtime. I wondered what other strange, superhero behavior I was going to witness tonight.

"Are you ready?" Sam asked.

Ready to face the friends of a superhero I'd driven to commit suicide? Sure, no problem. I did that every day and twice on Sundays.

Or not.

A ball of nerves knotted up in my stomach, and I let out a long breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Don't worry. n.o.body blames you for Travis's death," he said in a gentle voice. "Everything will be fine."

I didn't believe him for an instant. They all blamed me, and I knew it.

I could feel it in my very soul.

Sam led me down various hallways and flights of stairs until we reached the dining room. I stepped over the threshold and stopped. A chandelier the size of a compact car hung over the table and bathed the room in a pure, white light. A table filled with delicate china, antique crystal, and lit candles crouched below. Impressionist paintings in silver frames adorned the walls, while gleaming suits of armor stood guard next to them. I felt small and insignificant and shabby in the enormous room, which could easily hold a couple hundred people. The others cl.u.s.tered around one end of the long, square table. They rose, and I realized they were just as dressed up as Sam was. Henry and the chief wore dark tuxedos, while Fiona sported a bright blue gown.

"Carmen, good to see you," Chief Sean Newman rumbled.

"Hi, Carmen." Henry gave me a shy wave.

Fiona remained silent. The other's woman anger and loathing for me radiated from her with the heat of a KarmaGirl.

thousand suns. Beads of sweat popped out on my face. If Fiona got any hotter, my hair would light up like a Christmas tree.

"Chief, Henry, Fiona."

I stared at the unmasked superheroes. They stared back. The knot in my stomach ballooned up to the size of a basketball. Tension blanketed the air like a heavy fog.

"I think we all know each other," Sam said. "Why don't we sit down and have dinner?"

He walked over to the table and pulled out a chair next to Henry. My knees shook, and I sank into it.

Fiona and Chief Newman faced me across the table, and Sam took his place at the head. Silver trays of cheeses, fruits, and vegetables filled the table, along with tureens of steaming soup, bowls of salads, and a turkey large enough to feed a third world country. A luscious-looking chocolate cheesecake perched at the far end.

"Dig in, dig in, don't be shy," Sam said. "There's plenty to go around."

The others picked up their silverware and pa.s.sed around the various platters and bowls. Once everyone had been served, we dug into our food. Silverware and cutlery clinked together, creating a pleasant-sounding symphony to accompany the meal.

I picked at my food. I had no appet.i.te for the fantastic spread, even though I hadn't eaten in several days.

The ball in my stomach spread up into my throat. I could barely breathe.

Fiona had no such problem. The fashion designer took three portions of everything and wolfed them down in record time. She was on her fourth helping of mashed potatoes and gravy before the others finished their first. It was fascinating, in a gluttonous sort of way. The gusto and speed with which the other woman ate transfixed me. Watching food disappear from Fiona's plate would make for excellent time-lapse photography.

"What are you staring at?" Fiona snapped.

"Nothing," I said. "It's just . . . how can you eat so much and stay so thin? What's your secret?"

"I have a high metabolism. I can eat whatever I want and never gain an ounce. I burn all the calories away. Literally." Her blue eyes flicked over me. "Unlike some people."

I sucked in my less-than-flat stomach. I wasn't fat, but I didn't have a supermodel's perfect, stick-thin figure. I never would without liposuction and some sort of serious eating disorder. Still, I put my fork down.

Once everyone had finished, Chief Newman picked up the chocolate cheesecake. "Would you like some, Carmen?"

I started to say no when a smirk flitted across Fiona's face.

"Yes, please. I'd love a piece."

Chief Newman pa.s.sed me the dessert. I helped myself to a piece of cheesecake and took a big bite. The chocolate melted in my mouth, and I polished off the rest of it.

Fiona Fine and her perfect figure be d.a.m.ned. Life was too short to count calories. Especially when I had a malevolent ubervillain to worry about.

The others dawdled over their cheesecake, and my curiosity crept up over my nervousness. The reporter in me yearned to ask questions. Just like always.

"So, do you all live here at Sublime?" I asked.

"Not exactly," Sam replied. "We all have separate apartments and homes. However, everybody does have their own suite of rooms downstairs that they can crash in whenever we come back from a mission."

KarmaGirl.

"Downstairs? I thought we were on the bottom floor."

Sam made a gesture with his hand. "You know, downstairs ."

"Oh."

"I have a question for you, Carmen. How did you figure out our ident.i.ties?" Henry asked, his gla.s.ses gleaming in that dimlight. "We're all dying to know."

"Well, like I told Sam, he made a mistake. He talked to me at the benefit, and I wondered why. Sam Sloane would never talk to me. Then, Fiona came in and dragged him away from me because Chief Newman wanted to see him. I just had a feeling about the four of you. I saw you standing together, and everything just fit. Sam talking to me, the chief wanting to see him, Fiona pulling him away. Later that night, I went back home and started digging into your backgrounds. I found some more information that confirmed my hunch."

Fiona let out a snort. "You had a feeling? What are you, psychic now?"

"No," I said in a defensive tone. "I'm not psychic. I just get these feelings sometimes, little flashes in my head. I just know things. It's a gut instinct, I guess, an inner voice that whispers to me."

"Interesting," Chief Newman murmured. His blue eyes darkened. "Very interesting."

"And what about me?" Henry asked. "How did you figure me out? n.o.body knows what Hermit looks like or what powers he has."

I smiled. "You made a mistake too, with the list I asked you to compile of the fifty richest men and women in Bigtime. The Henry Harris I know would never leave two names off a list like that, and it certainly wouldn't be because there was a flaw in his computer program. When I realized the two names you had left off were Sam and Fiona, I knew you were Hermit."

Henry looked at Fiona. "I told you she'd figure that out."

Fiona sniffed. "Yes, well, I suppose anyone can count."

I glared at the other woman.

Sam cleared his throat before things got any more heated. "We all know why we're here. The question is what do we do now?"

"Actually, before we talk about that, I have something I want to say to all of you. Something I've wanted to say for a long time." I took a deep breath. This was the reason my stomach had been overtaken by a basketball. Still, it was something I had to do, something I needed to do, no matter how difficult it was. I swallowed. The ball blew up to gigantic proportions.

"I just wanted you all to know how sorry I am about Tornado, er, Travis's death. If I'd known how my article would have affected him, I never would have written it. Never. I hope you can accept my apology and my sympathy. I truly am very, very sorry for your loss."

Sam's eyes glittered. Henry stared at his fork. Chief Newman interlaced his fingers.

Fiona stood. Her blue eyes burned into me, and my own temperature rose in response. Sweat gathered and trickled down the small of my back. Fiona threw her napkin down. Sparks flew from her fingertips and smoked on the white tablecloth. She stalked away, her shoes leaving black scorch marks on the floor. She wrenched open the door, walked through, and slammed it shut.

The door had other ideas. Pulled on by Fiona's incredible strength, it kept going. The door exploded through the wall and zipped through the air. It skidded to a halt two rooms over.

Fiona never looked back.

Well, that certainly had not gone well. I was lucky Fiona hadn't reduced me to a pile of ash on the spot.

Or squeezed me until I popped like a piece of bubble wrap. I turned a wary eye to the others, wondering KarmaGirl.

what other superhero powers I was about to witness.

"You'll have to forgive my daughter," Chief Newman said. "Travis was special to her. His death has. .h.i.t her very hard."

My mouth dropped open. "Your daughter?" My research had never revealed any familial connections between any members of the Fearless Five. How could I have missed that? More importantly, how could such a kind, calm man like the chief have such a hot-tempered, obnoxious daughter like Fiona?

"Yes, Fiona's my daughter. It's something we keep to ourselves for our safety. She has her mother's temper."

Chief Newman reading my mind and answering my silent questions unnerved me. Had he sensed my nervousness and fear the whole evening? Was he peering into my thoughts even now? Did he know about Sam and me . . . ?

I immediately cut that thought off.

A ghost of a smile drifted across the chief 's face. "Yes, I did sense your nervousness, and yes, I am reading your mind, Carmen."