Super Villain Academy 2: Polar Opposites (28 page)

Set shook his head to clear it and struggled against the invisible restraints.

An electric rope wrapped around Jeff’s chest, pinning his upper arms to his sides. Instead of limiting him, though, the electricity exhilarated him.

“Mother, really, you should know better than to attack a super before you know their powers,” Jeff drawled.

His body drank in the extra energy from her electric rope. It seemed to have an element of her magnesium in it, which fueled Jeff’s blue fire. He greedily sucked in as much of the electricity as he could before she was able to break the bind between them. He didn’t see her collapse to the floor. Instead, he concentrated his abundance of magnesium into one bright shot of blue fire that drove straight into Set, causing him to cry out in pain. Seeing Set’s agony was the most delicious thing Jeff had ever experienced.

“Set!” Oceanus called out. She struggled to break free of Don, who had his arms wrapped around her to keep her back. Concern and worry and fear for Set were evident in her expression.

Fueled by fury, fire stoked from all surfaces of Jeff’s body. He became a human torch, completely covered in flames. The crackle and energy made him feel alive and oh, so powerful. He saw Set through the haze of animate and angry red heat. Set appeared to be speaking, but Jeff couldn’t hear anything over the hum of hurt and hiss of flames. Maybe he was praying.

Jeff siphoned a large ball of heat from the flames. He shaped the invisible, roiling mass like clay and leered at Set, knowing no one would even know what hit the super. Jeff raised the heavy wad of heat over his head. Set peered up at the movement. His gaze searched the air between Jeff’s hands, looking for a weapon he didn’t know Jeff already possessed. The ball of siphoned heat and steam was so hot, it singed Jeff’s palms. He planted his feet shoulder-width apart and aimed.

All at once, he was doused with a waterfall of cold water. His gasp sucked a mouthful down his throat and he choked. A torrent continued to pour on him, extinguishing his outer flame and eventually cooling his inner fury. The water finally trickled to a stop, and Jeff looked up to see broken pipes, large and small, puncturing through the ceiling and twisted in his direction.

A new pain lanced his heart when he looked at Oceanus. “I can’t believe you did that.”

Still pinned in Don’s arms and panting from the effort it took to redirect so much water, she rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

Everybody in the room stared silently at Jeff, some clearly afraid to set him off again. Mother leaned on the table, looking weakened. The look of pity on her face was humiliating. The look of pride on his dad’s was frightening. Jeff didn’t want to be the pure evil his male lineage had been. Yet he’d been about to melt Set to the ground, just for stealing back the girl Jeff had stolen from him in the first place.

With warring emotions filling him, Jeff stalked toward the door.

“Polar, stay for dinner,” Mystic purred as he passed her.

He grabbed her around the neck and dragged her up against the wall. Even then, her expression was one of delight. “Do not talk to me ever again.”

She opened her mouth.

He squeezed tighter. “Understand?”

She smiled and nodded.

Letting her drop to the ground, he left the room.

Chapter 43

Jeff ignored the pleas from the other side of his door. First Sandra and Source, then Mother, begged for him to let them in so they could talk. Even Set asked to be allowed to explain, which was the reason the curtains hung scorched and ragged. Jeff ignored them all until they finally stopped knocking on his door. It was a long night. He considered sneaking out before sunrise and leaving everybody behind, but there really wasn’t anything to be gained by it. Instead, he decided he’d travel with the group and zap anyone who tried to talk to him.

The few times he dropped off to sleep, he dreamt of depths, of Oceanus drowning in their inkiness, of him drowning in them, even of Oceanus drowning him in them. Each time he woke up, he wanted to hold Señora Valdez’s head under his black depths for having mentioned them in the first place.

At last he heard the stirrings of people. Doors opened, voices murmured, footsteps tromped, the toilet flushed.

“Would you like to join us for breakfast?” Mother asked, after lightly wrapping on the door.

“No,” he barked.

Shuffling feet and banging doors faded away as the others went downstairs for their meal. Jeff took the opportunity to shower and get ready to leave. He’d just closed his bedroom door behind him when he heard Sandra’s laugh burst into the hallway. With a deep breath, Jeff stepped into the hall.

“Hey,” he said, as if nothing was wrong.

“Hi,” Sandra replied equally casually. She socked his arm as she passed. “We leaving soon?”

“As soon as we can,” Jeff said. He went into the living room to wait.

They gathered one or two at a time. Jeff winced when Don walked in, sporting a nasty burn mark on his forehead that Jeff hadn’t noticed before. He cocked an eyebrow when Sandra escorted Whisper into the room, cooing to her like she was an injured puppy.

“Your outburst last night almost blew her head open,” Source said.

Jeff felt guiltier than he thought he should. It wasn’t as if he attacked Whisper directly. He couldn’t help that she was always in his mind. His guilt grew again when Edmond limped into the room supported by Mother. He hissed at Source. “What happened to him?”

“He tried to siphon power from you when you first started to lose it. He got…” Source shook his head. “I don’t know. It was ugly. Whatever he took from you was too much for him or something. He bloated like a puffer fish and then collapsed. Didn’t come around for hours.”

Eventually they were all gathered except for Set and Oceanus. Jeff looked around and asked impatiently. “Does anyone know if they’re coming?”

“Are we invited?” Set was covered in fading bruises and burn marks.

Jeff couldn’t help but smile.

Oceanus and Mystic followed him into the room.

Ignoring Set, Jeff asked Mystic. “Do we have to worry about obstacles on the way out of here?”

“Just be sure to follow the same route you came in on, since those are tripped already. I’ll keep the hyenas in so the pronghorns don’t stampede.” She stepped forward. “Listen, Polar, can I talk to you? Privately?”

Every nerve ending stood on alert. Jeff considered her. Was she still a threat? He was so confused by the turn of events he couldn’t remember who was dangerous or why. “How about out in the hall?”

She nodded and looked around at the group. “It won’t take long.”

Jeff led her back toward the bedrooms, but didn’t feel comfortable stepping into one of them alone with Mystic. When she turned to face him, the full force of her suave hit him head on. He staggered against the wall.

She pressed up against him. “Don’t leave.”

“Geez, Mystic, tone it down already.”

Her lips lay a hot path from his ear down to his collarbone. Her hands roved down his chest, across his stomach, and up his back. The images she’d implanted in his mind when they first met, of their naked, entwined bodies, played like an X-rated movie.

“Last night, you were so bad,” Mystic growled throatily.

He pushed her away, but she kept pressing against him.

“You have nothing to go back for. Stay with me.” Her tongue teased his earlobe, stoking a reaction in body parts he didn’t want a reaction in.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed hard against her shoulders. “Stop!”

She flew against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway and snarled at him. “Even after I mopped up that stupid water girl, you’re telling me you still don’t want me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Polar. Surely you know her feelings didn’t go away just like that?”

“What did you do?”

“It’s called brainwashing. I turned her against you. Stubborn bitch was hard to turn.” Mystic stood and brushed invisible dust from her shorts.

“I knew it!” Jeff stepped toward the living room and then swung back toward Mystic. “But how did you get Set to go along with it?”

“That was pure bonus! I had no idea they were sneaking around behind your back, re-kindling their lost love.” Mystic’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Come on, Polar. Can’t you see? Even the universe is clearing the way for us.”

She stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his neck and, with her lips only centimeters from his, whispered. “Stay with me, Polar bear.”

“No!” Jeff pushed her backward.

“Why?” she spat. “Why don’t you want me?”

The bluntness of the question caught Jeff off guard. He shook his head. “I don’t know. I just don’t.” He watched her fume. “Why do you want me so badly?”

“Oh, Polar.” Mystic’s breathing was labored, and a manic desire clouded her eyes. “Mr. Opposites. I want you because when you’re good, you’re very, very good. But when you’re bad…”

Mystic didn’t finish, but her heavy breathing and wanton expression were enough to send ice through Jeff’s veins. “What do know about me?”

“Only what matters, Polar bear.” Mystic stepped forward again and traced a heart shape on Jeff’s chest with her finger. “What I want is inside of this. Right here.”

She tapped his chest over his heart.

“Mystic, you’ll never have my heart.”

“Fine!” Mystic spat. She shoved him against the wall and stepped backward down the hallway. “If I can’t have you. No one can.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jeff asked.

“Leave. Take your stupid band of merry men and get the hell out of here!” She pointed to the front door.

“Gladly.” Jeff stopped himself before muttering ‘freak.’ He stormed into the living room. “Let’s go.”

Tromping over to the front door, he paused and looked back into the hallway, but Mystic was gone. “I swear that girl belongs in a mental institution, heavily sedated.”

Sarah gave the empty hall a sad look. Frank shared an uncomfortable smile with his son. Sandra patted him on his shoulder.

Shaking his head, Jeff turned the handle of the front door. His mind just had time to register an odd click as he pulled the door open.

Whisper spun and knocked Sandra and Source to the ground before Jeff even formed words.

“Get down!”

Before he even finished the word “down,” the house exploded in a spectacular display.

The End

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

When her children were young and the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died, the end.” Now an award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for young adult and middle grade readers and short stories for younger children, Kai entertains children of all ages, and their adults. Visit Kai’s website,
www.kaistrand.com
, to browse her books, download companion materials or to find all her online haunts.

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