Super Villain Academy 2: Polar Opposites (18 page)

Suddenly, pain exploded through Jeff’s head. He screamed and pressed it between his hands. He tipped back and forth as if the ground shook from an earthquake.

“Polar, wake up!” Set grabbed Jeff’s arm and shook him.

Jeff slowly came out of the dream, but didn’t lose the stabbing pain in his head. He was tipped at an awkward angle in his seat, pitched forward against his seatbelt. He became aware that he really was holding his head in his hands, and slowly dropped them.

“What was that all about?” Set asked. “I don’t think my car can survive you.”

“What are you talking about?” Jeff mumbled. Set had pulled off the highway; the front tire of the car rested over the shoulder, tipping the car at a precarious angle. Jeff pushed himself against the back of his seat and rubbed his face. Pain still jabbed in his head like an obnoxious child was poking at his brain with the pointy end of a compass.

“The doors might blow off if you have to sneeze,” Set said. He backed the car up onto the roadbed and then accelerated onto the empty highway.

“Mystic isn’t with Oci,” Jeff said, before he had a chance to think about the logic of saying it aloud.

“What?” Set asked.

“Um,” Jeff ran his fingers through his hair. It had only been a dream. Why would he even share the information? It had just been a dream. “Mystic isn’t with Oci.”

Jeff rolled his eyes at the same time that Set scoffed.

“Are you a psych?” Set asked, clearly aware of the fact that Jeff hadn’t ever shown any psychic abilities.

“No, of course not.” He wanted to dismiss the idea that his dream had been true, but instead he said, “It’s just that Mystic and I do have a connection.”

Set raised his eyebrows. He looked almost hopeful. About what, Jeff didn’t know. Suddenly Jeff was embarrassed about his admission.

“She…” He swallowed audibly. “She built my defenses. She’s been in my head.”

The mustang drifted to the side of the road and came to a stop on the shoulder again. Set closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly turned to look at Jeff. “You didn’t feel this was important to mention before? Like, say, when we first started trying to find Oceanus?”

Jeff felt like a complete idiot. He actually hadn’t thought about it before. “You think it’s important?”

“I don’t know!” Thunder rumbled outside the car. “But it’s probably more relevant than cell phone records.”

Jeff let his head fall back against the seatback. “Dude, I didn’t think it would be important. I’m sorry, already. Can we just keep driving?”

Set mumbled something at the same time the tires spun, kicking a fan of dirt and rocks behind the departing car.

“What?”

“Fool’s errand,” Set spit out. “We’re on a fool’s errand if Mystic isn’t even with Oceanus.”

“Wait, you believe me then? It was just a dream.”
Wasn’t it?
Jeff thought to himself.

“It doesn’t matter; we’re almost there anyway.” Set clamped his mouth closed, appearing to bite back more words. His jaw clenched, but he stared at the road in front of him running parallel to a brightening skyline.

Within half an hour, Jeff started seeing billboards advertising casinos. Within an hour, Mom and Pop restaurants, fast food joints and gas stations dotted the roadside. Set stopped to fill up the gas tank, and Jeff tossed several twenty-dollar bills at him.

“It’s still too early to go to the hospital,” Set said, sliding back into the driver’s seat after filling the tank.

“Hospital? Why are we going to the hospital?” Jeff asked.

Set shot a disgusted look at him. “To interview the crazy people.”

Jeff blinked. “Oh, that hospital.”

“Why don’t we get some breakfast? I’d like to sit on something that isn’t this seat for a while.”

“I can’t wait to stretch my legs,” Jeff said. As if to prove a point, he raised a knee and pointed and flexed his foot before repeating with the other side.

They sat in their booth long after they were finished eating, both either staring stonily into the distance or texting. Set pulled up a GPS application on his phone and looked up directions to the mental hospital. The waitress, who looked like she might have been a card dealer at one of the casinos about fifteen years ago, had given up flirting with them and just kept their water and coffee cups full.

“How are we going to talk to these people? How are we even going to know who to talk to?” Jeff asked.

“That’s why I brought you,” Set said.

“What does that mean?”

Set never looked away from the text he was typing. “All that gross charm of yours has to be good for something, right?”

Frowning, Jeff studied Set. He hadn’t even thought about why Set had brought him. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that Set didn’t need to bring him. Yet, now that he thought about it, he really hadn’t been a required element of this trip. He hadn’t helped with the driving. Set seems to have unlimited access to Daddy’s money. “You know, girls usually go for you, dude.”

“I know.” Set spared a glance at Jeff. Looking back down to his phone he said, “Guys don’t.”

“Wait, what?” Jeff exclaimed, slamming his hands down on the table and leaning forward. Restaurant patrons turned to observe his outburst. He scowled at a few and they looked away quickly. “No way. No way am I doing anything like what I think you’re thinking.”

“You will.” Set shrugged. “It may not be needed.”

Looking at his watch, Set said, “We can probably get going now.”

Jeff watched him grab the check on the way to the register. The smirk on his face made Jeff’s blood boil. Closing his eyes, he drew a deep breath until he felt his ice creep through his lungs. He didn’t bother to expel any; he just needed it to cool his internal inferno. With a growl, he pushed out of the booth and followed Set to the car.

Chapter 31

“This looks like a normal hospital to me,” Jeff said when they pulled into the parking lot.

“It is. They usually treat mental health as an outpatient, but had to create a separate ward after they had a sudden influx of psychotic patients.”

“I hate hospitals.”

“How cliché,” Set said. Suddenly, he beamed his most engaging smile as he approached the front desk. A hunched old lady, buffing her nails until they gleamed, was almost hidden behind the tall counter. “We are looking for the temporary psychiatric ward, please.”

The lady’s eyes bugged out when they rested on Set. Jeff shuddered when the lady licked her lips like Set was dessert. Finally she croaked, “Whatcha looking for, handsome?”

Set softened the expression in his eyes, and Jeff almost scoffed out loud. Secretly, he was envious of how natural Set’s charisma was. Jeff supposed his charm was natural too, but where Set acted like the male lead in a ballet, Jeff was like the prize bull in a rodeo.

“The psychiatric ward, please,” Set purred.

The lady swiped drool out of the corner of her mouth. “Oh, we don’t got one of those, honeybun.”

Set’s eyes crinkled at the use of the pet name, and Jeff had to turn away from the saccharine display.

“It’s temporary. Hasn’t been here long,” Set persisted.

“Henrietta!” The lady yelled, startling Jeff into looking at her. “This living Adonis seems to think we’ve got ourselves a new psych ward. What’s he talking about?”

Henrietta stepped out from behind a row of file cabinets, and Jeff was suddenly very interested in the conversation. He rested an elbow on the front desk, leaned casually against it, and crooked a half grin toward the willowy young woman.

Henrietta’s gaze swept between Set and Jeff.

“Which is the living Adonis, Myrtle?” she asked with a sparkle in her eye that Jeff liked a lot. She appraised Jeff the longest and spoke to him. “The ward isn’t accepting visitors right now.”

Jeff turned to lean both elbows on the desk. “But my uncle was recently admitted. I was out of town when…” he blinked and feigned embarrassment, “…
it
happened. My uncle’s been like a dad to me, since my dad died in action.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeff saw Set look at him, but refused to break eye contact with Henrietta. He briefly considered attempting the crinkle-eyed expression Set had just given Myrtle, but decided it was best not to risk simply looking constipated.

“I just need five minutes. Just to give him a hug and tell him I believe in him.”

Henrietta captured her lower lip under her teeth while she considered him. When her eyes misted over with a dreamy expression. He knew he had her. “Okay, five minutes.” She picked up a phone, pressed a few numbers and put it to her ear. “What’s you uncle’s name?”

Crap.

“Little,” Set said.

When Henrietta frowned at Set, Jeff stuffed his deionizer into the front pocket of his jeans and pulsed out some extra charm. When Set slid close enough for their shoulders to touch, Jeff slammed a mental guillotine down on his charm to cut it off. Luckily, it had already worked on Henrietta.

“I’m sending a couple young men back to the ward. They are here to visit with the patient named Little.” Henrietta stared at Jeff with a moony expression while she curled the phone cord around her finger. “They only need five minutes. It’s really important.”

Set suddenly growled and shifted away from Jeff. Myrtle had pushed her plump body as close to the desk as possible and was compulsively smoothing her wiry hair. Jeff had to suck on the inside of his cheeks to keep from laughing out loud.

Henrietta hung up the phone. “I’ll take you back.”

“Actually,” Jeff said, sliding the deionizer out of his pocket. “We don’t want to interrupt you anymore than we already have. You can just point us in the right direction.”

With slumped shoulders and blinking back tears, Henrietta pointed down the hall and gave them instructions on how to find the ward.

“Thank you for all your help,” Jeff said.

Henrietta looked forlorn and Mrytle fanned herself with a brochure on geriatrics as Set and Jeff left.

“When are you going to learn to control your powers?” Set growled.

Jeff chuckled.

“There’s nothing funny about it.”

“Lighten up, dude,” Jeff said. “That was controlled.”

“You’re such an amateur.”

“Yet, that was exactly why you brought me.”

Set growled, and the fluorescent ceiling lights flickered.

They stopped at a window with a sign above it that read PSYCHOLOGICAL & COSMETIC—OUTPATIENT. A beast of a man sat on the other side of the closed window and Jeff hoped he wouldn’t have to charm him to get into the ward.

The man slid the window open. “You here for Little?”

The boys nodded in unison.

“He’s in room 115. Three doors down on the right.” The guy reached to close the window and then hesitated. “Oh, be sure to close the door when you’re in there.”

Jeff knocked lightly as he pushed the door to the room open. A middle-aged man with glasses and a receding hairline stood in his hospital gown and black socks, staring out the window. He glanced over his shoulder as the door swung open. Surprise arched his thin dark eyebrows over the lenses of his glasses.

Set closed the door behind him after he followed Jeff into the room.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

The patient’s seemingly normal mental state confused Jeff. He didn’t know what he had expected to find, but it was definitely something more than this man who looked bored out of his skull.

“Mr. Little?” Set asked.

“Yes.” The man only half turned toward the boys as if he didn’t actually care what they’d come for.

“We’d like to ask you a few questions about why you’re here,” Set said.

Jeff glanced at his companion. No introduction. No explanation. Just straight to the point. Would that work?

“And why would I tell you?” Little asked.

Guess not. A small smile touched Jeff’s lips and he glanced at Set. He was surprised to find Set glaring at him. Set nodded discreetly in Little’s direction. “Oh!”

Set rolled his eyes as Jeff slid the deionizer into his pocket and shrugged. Looking at a mildly interested Little, Jeff said. “We’re looking for someone, sir, and we think you’re situation bares a distinct resemblance to her… um… mode of operation.”

Little turned to face Jeff completely and stepped a little closer. “You have a very nice speaking voice.”

At first, Jeff was thrown off by the unexpected change in conversation, and then remembered putting the deon away for this purpose. He donned what he hoped was a charming smile. “Thank you, sir.”

“Call me Lou.”

Lou sidled closer, and Jeff looked down on a slightly oily comb over.

“Lou, was it a young woman that sent you here?” Jeff asked.

“Yes.” When Lou reached for Jeff’s hand Jeff sidestepped him and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I was just going to invite you to sit!”

“No, thank you.” Jeff said. He wandered to the bedside table and picked up a couple trinkets probably left by family. “Do you know the girl’s name? The one who sent you here?”

“Why are you interested in her?” Lou asked.

Jeff glanced at Lou as he sauntered past the window. He wished the man would just answer the question. Across the room, Set appeared equal parts attracted and entertained. “She might have a friend of ours.”

“Kelly. Her name was Kelly.”

Jeff slid the deon out again as he put some distance between him and Lou. “Maybe it isn’t our girl after all. Can you describe her?”

Lou blinked at Jeff awhile before his expression cleared. “Describe who?”

“Kelly,” Set said.

“Oh,” Lou looked around as if he hoped to find a picture to use as a guide. He settled on staring out the window again. “She was perfect, really. Impossibly tall, taller than me, with legs that never stopped. Smoothest skin I’ve ever touched; it was so soft that I could barely tell my fingers were running along it.”

Jeff grimaced picturing this accountant type, old enough to be her father, running his hands on Mystic.

“Color?” Set asked.

“Her skin?” Lou asked, surprise arching his eyebrows again. “White.”

“Hair?” Set asked.

“Blonde.”

Set cursed. Jeff slammed his fist against a wall.