Supergirl (14 page)

"All right, Nigel" She was getting just a wee bit fed up with being so
NICE
to Nigel. "What do you
say
? Are you with me? Which side are you on? Can I count on you?"

"I . . . say . . ." This was it, the throw of the cards, the clash of the dice, now or never. He could retreat or go boldly forward. Be a math teacher forever for a gaggle of rich, smartass girls, or be a King sitting beside his Queen. Was there anything to think about? No, a thousand times no. But why tell Selena that right away? Who knew when next he'd have her hanging on his every word? As he thought, his fingers worked automatically at the nutshell. It opened, and the spider fell out.

At the precise moment the spider fell out of the nutshell in Selena's kitchen, Ethan, lying on the beach in the same spot and same position he'd occupied since being bonked on the head by the coconut, opened his eyes.

"Well, hello!" Supergirl said. "So you decided to come back to Planet Earth again."

Ethan looked at her. Planet Earth? Who was she? Where was he? What was he doing on a beach? He got to his feet. What was the matter with him, that he felt sort of, well—weak. It was a word Ethan didn't like to use in connection with himself. He put his hand to his head—where had that bump come from? Then he looked at the girl in the funny costume. "Hello," he said cautiously. "Who're you?"

"Kara." Supergirl noticed that his eyes were, somehow,
clearer
than they'd been before. And there was a new expression on his face—he looked tenser, older, really. And suspicious. He was staring at her as if he'd never seen her.

"Kara," he repeated. "Why are you wearing those clothes, Kara?"

"Because they're mine."

"Who are you?"

"Kara," she said patiently, as if
he
were the flaky one.

"No, I don't mean your name. I mean, who are you?"

"I'm a friend."

Great.
I am a friend
. Why not, I am a space cadet? He walked down the beach a few steps, then turned back. He was in flaky company, but it was the only company present. "Look, ah, Kara, would you mind telling me what's going on? I'm having a hard time remembering why we came here—did I come here with you?"

"Yes, you did."

"Well . . . why? Beach party or something? I was on my way to a job— " Funny, he couldn't remember much of anything about it. He was pretty sure he'd gotten there—yes, he remembered parking the truck. The truck. Where was the truck? "Where's my truck?" he said. "We came here for the beach party in my truck, didn't we?" He glanced down at his wristwatch, then shook it. Blasted thing was always going out of whack. It had the wrong date, the wrong time—

"You were hit by a coconut," the girl said.

Great sense of humor. Or simply crazy. Sure, he was hit by a coconut on a beach in Midvale. "Where's the rest of the party, Kara?"

"It's just us, Ethan."

He glanced meaningfully at her outfit. "Costume party for two?"

"This is no costume, Ethan. These are my clothes"

"Okay. That's okay. If you say so."

"I do more than say so, Ethan. I know so"

There was something in her manner, something in the quietly authoritative way she said this, that made Ethan believe her. But it was absurd. He recognized that costume. Superman—of course! That was where he'd seen that red cape and that blue shirt with the broad red S

across it. What was she doing wearing Superman's dothes? Uh-oh, Ethan, this one is a loonie. Better be careful with her. But it was hard to believe. Except for the clothes, she looked normal—better than normal, actually, and much prettier than Superman.

"Ethan—" She touched his arm, which he liked. "I'm glad you're okay. I have to go now, I have important business. I promise to come back later, as soon as I've taken care of my business at the amusement park—"

"The amusement park," Ethan repeated. Something clicked in his mind. So much was blank. He seemed to have lost hours, maybe days, but—hadn't there been a girl named Linda? Linda . . . Linda . . . Linda
Lee
, that was it. All at once, he remembered sitting with her in the carnival Waltzer, and then . . . and then . . . He frowned. Something bad had happened . . . but what? Why couldn't he remember? This was so frustrating! Where was Linda Lee? And why did he think it was so important to find her?

"I have to find Linda," he said. "I think . . . I think she needs me."

The girl named Kara smiled. Sweet smile. "Don't worry about Linda," she said. "Really. She's all right. She can take care of herself."

"No, how do you know that?" Ethan fretted. "You're a friend of hers, too?" Kara nodded. "Well, if you're a friend of hers and a friend of mine, then you know that I'm not putting you on. She's in some kind of danger. Don't ask me what it is. Trust me. Just get me to her if you can."

"Trust
me
," Kara said. "Will you trust me, Ethan?"

Ethan considered that for a moment, then nodded. That was his first surprise—he did trust her. Then something else surprising happened. He heard himself say, "I love Linda Lee." He hadn't even known he was going to say it. He was alarmed by himself. You, Ethan, lover boy of the Western world, declaring your love for a woman, and
meaning it?

Not that he hadn't ever said those words, or variants of them, before. Sure he had. He'd often told women he loved them, but as far as he knew, neither he nor the women had ever taken him seriously. Yet this time it was different. He wasn't saying it to score points.

Frightening. To really love someone, someone besides himself—heavy-duty! And then he said it again. "I love her"

Kara nodded, as if she understood and was—disappointed. For a moment, he was sort of sorry that it wasn't good manners to love more than one woman with all your heart. Because if he didn't love Linda Lee . . . but he did, he did.

"Ethan, good-bye," Kara said, "I have to go now."

"Well, let's go together. I want to find Linda Lee." He started jogging down the road. He would have sworn he had a head start on Kara, but suddenly she was ahead of him, blocking his way. Then he understood. She had flown over him and dropped down in front of him. He thought this very calmly, like this:
Oh, yes. Now I understand. She flew over me and got in front of me
. Then he did a mental double take.
She
FLEW
over me? She
FLEW
?

"Kara," he said, not wanting to sound off-the-wall himself, "I think I just saw you fly." He waited.

"Uh-huh," she said.

"Well," he said, "does that mean,
Yes, I saw you fly?
"

"Look, Ethan, relax. Everything's all right. You wait here, and I'll go back to the carnival and settle a few things. Okay?"

"Not okay," he said, raising his voice to remind himself he was the Man in this situation. "Answer the question. Did I, or did I not, see you fly?"

She sighed. "You saw me fly."

"Oh, wow," Ethan said, much more quietly.

"You fly, do you? Like Superman."

"He's my cousin."

"Oh, wow." Expressive phrase. Worked better than anything else he could think of at the moment.

"But, look, Ethan, please keep it a secret. Will you do that for me?" Kara asked.

"Sure. Oh, wow," he said, again. "Do you do the whole Superman number? Leap tall buildings at a single bound? Iook through things with your X-ray Vision. Bend steel bars?"

"Right . . . right . . . right . . ."

"That is terrific," Ethan said. "Fan-tastic!" He was blown over. What a girl! All that power and sensational-looking into the bargain. And here he was, alone on this beach with her. Alone with Supergirl. He leaned toward her . . . then he remembered. Linda. He drew back. Yes, Linda. He loved Linda.

In the Ghost Train, Selena's patience, always on short ration, was rapidly running out. "Are we in business, or not?" she demanded of Nigel. Awww-right, awready! She'd fooled around enough with this moony math teacher, this weary excuse for a warlock. "Are you going to bring me the gardener, or do I have to go looking for another partner?"

"You wouldn't do that, Selena"

"Don't push me, Nigel. I am capable of a
GREAT
deal, many things that would surprise you."

"I never doubted it, my sweetness." He was thoroughly enjoying the repartee, and it didn't escape him, either, that the last time he'd called Selena "my sweetness," she had smacked him down.

"Maybe you can't do what Selena wants," Bianca suggested.

Oh, the sly puss! Nigel drew himself up to his full height so he could look her in the eye. "Believe me, Bianca, I can do whatever is called for."

"Glad to hear it, sweetie" Bianca blew a friendly puff of smoke into his face.

"However," he went on, "I need to have the little mystery whatchamacallit in my hands while I work"

"Forget it." Selena put herself between him and the Coffer of Shadow.

"Well . . ." Nigel said sorrowfully, "if that's the way you want it, my sweetness. So sorry, but no whatchamacallit . . . no gardener. Might as well toddle on." He walked toward the door . . . slowly . . . waiting for her to call him back. Left . . . right . . . left . . . right . . . He bent down and tied his shoelaces. He was gambling that, right now, he had all the cards. And if he didn't? Egg on his face and good-bye to his beloved Selena. He didn't like that idea. Life would be mucho dullo without Selena. He palmed his keys out of his pocket and dropped them at the front door. He bent down in slow motion. This was it . . . If she didn't call him back . . .

"Niii-gel!"

He about-faced smartly. "Ready to deal?"

Selena gave him an evil look. "Yes, you crumb."

He bowed. "My sweetness."

"Can it," Selena said. All business now, she pried open the Coffer of Shadow. "Just remember, Nigel, this is mine." She put both hands on the Omegahedron. "Okay, now, let's get busy"

Nigel opened his briefcase slowly and ceremoniously. This was a Big Moment, one might even call it a Turning Point, in his career. He pushed aside a clutter of old homework papers and a few crumbling raisin-oatmeal cookies. "Ahh, here it is" Again, slowly, enjoying the effect on his audience, he took out the Burundiwand.

The Burundiwand: Nigel would be the first to admit it was a strange concoction, a contorted conformation of bleached bones, teeth, and horns. There was nothing intrinsically disgusting or horrifying about any particular bit of it (bones? teeth?), but in its entirety it was a thing of horror and roused the most awful terror in those who saw it, especially the uninitiated. Just the sight of it had caused six heart attacks, a twenty-three-car pileup, and two suicides.

"What
is
it?" Bianca said, sticking out her tongue.

Nigel looked fondly on the Burundiwand. He had spent years perfecting it. "Pure, unadulterated evil, my dear Bianca"

"I don't trust it. Selena, why don't you send him home with his nasty little thing?"

"Now you say it!"

"Come now." Nigel smiled paternally. "Among us, what could possibly go wrong?" He held out his hand toward Selena. "Shall we do it?"

Selena bit her lip. After all her coaxing of Nigel, she was having these little waves of—gosh, for a better word, call it intuition. Second thoughts. Lotsa questions. Did she really trust Nigel? How much? Not 100 percent, that was for sure. Five percent? Two percent? Anyway, she had this funny, funny feeling, sort of behind her ears, like she got when the weather was bad, like something was telling her, Watch out, Selena!

Reluctantly, she held out the Omegahedron. Nigel grabbed for it. Oh, no, he didn't! No way was he getting his sweaty paws on it, not without her own paws on the other side. "I'm not letting go, Nigel," she said, to make everything perfectly clear.

"Of course not, my sweetness," he purred. "Both of us holding this little mystery ball is absolutely perfect symbolism. I wouldn't have it any other way." He closed his eyes, muttered a spell, and brought the Burundiwand toward the Omegahedron. What happened next was something none of them could have predicted.

Later, Bianca said she thought lightning had struck them. Her teeth had become incredibly sensitive, just like going to the dentist when he drills down on a nerve . . . and then her eyes had gone white; she thought she was blind.

"My hands burned, it was like holding hot coals," Nigel said.

Selena thought both of them were exaggerating. Coupla babies looking for attention. "What I experienced," she told them, "was an intense, almost unbearable ringing in my ears." As far as she was concerned, that was all there was to it. That was what Nigel and Bianca had felt, too. And if they hadn't, they should have.

But they all agreed that the Burundiwand and the Omegahedron had begun vibrating so violently in Selena's and Nigel's hands that they could barely hold on. They were flung back and forth. The entire room quaked. "Cripes, stop it, you guys," Bianca said. But there was no pulling apart the Omegahedron and the Burundiwand. Not until the explosion of light that changed everything.

Supergirl was having trouble with Ethan. He insisted that he had to find Linda Lee, that he loved her, that he had to save her. All Supergirl wanted him to do was sit down and contemplate the water and think about things. He could think about anything he wanted—cars, grass, Linda Lee, even. It didn't matter to her, as long as he just settled down! She had business to attend to—why couldn't he understand that?

"Ethan," she said. "You keep saying you love Linda Lee, that's all very nice, but you don't even know her"

"Of course I do." He was remembering more and more. Bits and pieces of things were falling into place. She was the sweetest, dearest girl he'd ever met and, besides that, a dynamite kisser.

"No, Ethan, I mean
really
know her, who she is, what she is . . ."

"Either you know a person or you don't know a person," Ethan said. "I know Linda Lee. Believe me, I could pick her out in Times Square!"