King Of Bad [Super Villian Academy Book 1] (14 page)

“Thanks,
Oci
,” Jeff said. He turned toward the wall and examined his
hand. “How am I supposed to turn this stuff off?”

“The opposite
way you turned it on. Disperse the magnesium again,” Oceanus said.

Feeling
unreasonably tired, Jeff struggled to remember how he’d gathered it in the
first place. Then he methodically stepped backward through the process and
sighed with relief when the blue flame winked out.

“Don’t stop
until you’ve dispersed the magnesium,” Oceanus warned.

Jeff whined. He
had been about to stop, but he recognized the wisdom in the warning and he
painstakingly continued to reverse the process to the very beginning. When he
did finish his muscles felt renewed. His brain, on the other hand, felt fuzzy
and he was uncharacteristically tired.

“Hate to flame
and run, but I need to go lay down.” Jeff ran a hand through his hair.

Mystic
chuckled.
“Residual static.”

Oceanus laughed
too.

“What?” Jeff
asked. The girls said nothing; they only turned and walked in separate
directions. Jeff discovered what they’d been laughing at when he got back to
his room and saw in the mirror that his static-charged hair stood straight up.
Jeff yawned at his reflection.

“What are you
smiling at?” Jeff said to Pucker who floated right up next to the glass. She
swam in a quick circle then stared at Jeff again.

“Great, even
you’re laughing at me. Is there no loyalty around here?”

Chapter 18

Jeff practiced
with the blue flame as often as he could. He quickly mastered igniting and
extinguishing it. Controlling it took longer. His original fire moved via its
oxygen and heat, but the blue fire moved through static electricity, which
proved much more difficult to isolate. Remembering their astounding control of
the substance, Jeff gained a new respect for the fire-wielding intruders.

The better Jeff
became at using the blue fire, the more frustrated he was about the lack of
efforts on the academy’s part to find and rescue Source.

“They never
intend to find him, do they?” Jeff asked Mystic at lunch one day.

“I don’t know.”
Mystic shoved the limp broccoli around on her plate. “But I doubt it.”

“I’ve got to do
something then.” Jeff’s own lunch sat untouched in front of him.

Mystic snorted.

“What?” Jeff
asked.

“Come on,
seriously. What do you think you can do?” Mystic swigged down her sports drink.

“I could kick
some serious kidnapper ass if I just knew where they were,” Jeff said.

Mystic snorted
again.

“What!”

“Polar, you’re
not exactly S.V. of the year. Not even Set could storm in and take an academy
on his own.”

Jeff’s mouth
hung open.

Mystic
shrugged.

“Set! Set? What
about Sand Storm or the Mummy Maker? Why Set?”

Mystic laughed.
“You’re jealous.”

“No, I’m not
jealous. I just don’t understand why everyone thinks Set
is
S.V. of the
year as you so eloquently put it.” Jeff huffed and dropped his chin into his
palm.

“How long have
you been at the academy, Polar?”

Jeff scowled.

“Set has
control of almost every substance out there in one or more ways. That is like
unheard of. Plus he can control multiple substances at the same time.
Very, very difficult.
There is no one in this academy that
could best him in a fight.”

“So why didn’t
the intruders take him instead of Source?”

“They weren’t
interested in arrogant, puffed up over-achievers,” Mystic said.

“What do you
know about what they were interested in?” Jeff asked.

“Nothing, why?”

Jeff squinted
at Mystic. “It sounded like you know more.”

Mystic shook
her head and shrugged.

Oceanus
suddenly leaned over Jeff’s shoulder and whispered in his ear, “Meet me in the
library after dinner. Alone.”

Jeff nodded
slightly, while trying to mask the thrill that passed through him when he felt
her lips so close to his ear and her warm breath on his neck.

Oceanus walked
off.

“Secret messages?”
Mystic asked. “You’d better watch
yourself, Polar. Set still thinks he has a claim on that girl.”

This time Jeff
shrugged. Sometimes it was very difficult hanging out with two girls who
couldn’t stand each other. They constantly placed him between them, both
physically and emotionally. If Jeff were honest with himself, the only reason
he was friends with Mystic was because he was afraid not to be. She was
pleasant enough to be around, but something wasn’t right about her. No, that
wasn’t right. It wasn’t as if she were loony. Something wasn’t true or honest
about her. It might be Oceanus’ constant warnings that had convinced Jeff, but
he felt it too.
Even before Oceanus started harping on it.
Something about Mystic wasn’t on the up and up. But being a student in a super
villain academy meant that no one was on the up and up. So he couldn’t very
well hold that against Mystic, could he?

Later that
evening, Jeff slipped between world history and civil liberties. He hefted the
huge tome titled
Family Names: Their
Origins and Meanings
From
the Beginning of Time
off
the shelf. Already the two books on the adjoining shelf had been removed.

“’Bout time!
Why are you always late, Polar? You’d think
with those long legs, you’d be early.”

Jeff loved the
way the opening between the two books framed Oceanus’ face perfectly. He was
able to see just enough of her black hair to set off the porcelain skin. The
red book on the shelf accented Oceanus’ ruby lips which were only slightly too
thin when she grinned at him.

“I’m not late.
You never stated a time, just an event.”

She rolled her
eyes. Then her expression clouded. “There’s a new kid. He’s in my attacks
class.”

“
Oooo
, that’s interesting,” Jeff drawled. “I’m glad we are
secretly meeting about him. Is he cute?”

Oceanus sighed
then continued. “He moved here from Senegal.”

“Where’s that?”
Jeff asked.

“Africa.”

“Okay. So?”

“He recognized
Mystic,” Oceanus said conspiratorially.

Jeff frowned.
“Okay. So?”

Oceanus rolled
her eyes.
“From Senegal!”

“He saw her in
Senegal?”

“Yeah.”

Jeff shook his
head. “What, like in school?”

“No, he said he
saw her around a lot, but never knew anything about her.”

“I don’t get
it.”

“Neither do
I
. But it means that she’s not telling us the truth.”

“
Oci
, he probably has
her mixed up with someone else.”

Oceanus shook
her head.
“No way.
There is no else like that!”

“When?”

“She was there
about six months ago, he said.” Oceanus’ head snapped sideways. Her eyes grew
big and round.
“
Gotta
go.”

She shoved two
books back onto the shelf, blocking Jeff’s view of her. Jeff heard Set’s voice
asking Oceanus what she was doing.

He slipped the
thick book back onto the shelf and sighed as he walked away. If only he could
be free to just hang out with Oceanus without her ending up thrown through a
wall or having to ward off lightning strikes.

In the gym that
night Jeff, Oceanus and Mystic worked together practicing standard drills for
their perspective talents. Jeff let his defense down so Mystic could practice
psych moves on him. He figured it was the least he could do in return for the
defense she’d given him, but he hated drooling over her in front of Oceanus.
When they were done, Jeff practiced offensive fire moves and Oceanus practiced
defensive water moves.

An earsplitting
scream rent the air. Jeff and Oceanus whipped around at the same time. Mystic
shot forward and shielded the screaming girl with her own body. A pulse of
muscle jitter attack, the girl’s partner had thrown toward her, slammed into
Mystic. Her face contorted and she curled into a ball on the floor, whimpering.
The room hushed. Everybody stared at Mystic. Mystic looked around at her
slack-jawed audience and her face crumbled into disappointment. She got up
slowly, but her eyes remained downcast.

Tubs and
another teacher flanked Mystic, each gripping one of her arms. They led the
slumped-shouldered girl from the room. Just before she walked out the door she
looked over her shoulder at Jeff. Her face was a mask of fear, failure and
fret.

The door
clanged closed behind them and the room erupted in excited voices. Oceanus
turned to look at Jeff, her mouth hung agape.

“Uh, what just
happened?” Jeff asked.

Oceanus’ eyes
popped open wider. “You saw what she did!”

Jeff ran the
scene through his head, but couldn’t identify anything she’d done wrong. He
shook his head and shrugged.

“Polar,”
Oceanus whispered. She moved so close to him, her body was pressed against his.
“She saved the girl.”

Jeff waited.
When it became clear that Oceanus was going to say nothing more, he shrugged
again.

She scowled at
him. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

He had to lean
over to hear her. “No, I have no idea what just happened. She saved the girl
from her partner’s attack. So?”

“
Ssshhh
!”
Oceanus looked around.
“Polar, only the good guys save people.”

Jeff stared at
her. Again, he realized she was done talking, but he still didn’t understand.
“But you saved me that first day.”

Oceanus sighed.
“No, I saved the school. I didn’t give a rat’s ass what happened to you.”

“You were
serious when you told me that?” Jeff’s mouth hung open.

“Yes.” Oceanus
rolled her eyes. Her lip curled. Jeff wondered if she felt all right.

“What do you
mean by good guys?” Jeff asked.

“
Ssshh
!”
Oceanus shot a warning
look at him and scanned those around them to make sure no one listened. “You
are so ignorant. The good guys, the heroes…
Superman, Batman.
Those guys.”

“They’re real?”

Oceanus walked
away.

Jeff realized
too late he’d spoken loudly.

“I’m sorry.” He
shuffled after her, whispering apologies.

She stopped,
but made a dramatic production out of not looking at him. Anyone watching would
think she’d stopped against her better judgment and Jeff suspected that was actually
the case.

She mumbled
like a bad ventriloquist. “Did you seriously not know there were super heroes?”

Jeff shook his
head.

“What did you
think? Only bad guys got these awesome abilities?”

Jeff shook his
head faster.

Oceanus
scowled.

“I didn’t
think.” He tried the ventriloquist approach, but his lips moved. At least his
volume stayed low. “Mystic was one of them?”

Oceanus nodded.
“I told you not to trust her.”

Jeff sighed. He
still wasn’t sure what was so wrong about being a good guy, but he supposed in
a super villain academy, it was out of place.

“Why would she
be here?” Jeff asked.

“I don’t know.
But it wasn’t to learn how to be good at being bad.” Oceanus walked away.

“Oh.” Jeff
gnawed the inside of his cheek. He stood alone in the middle of the gym. Some
kids shot covert looks his way whereas others openly appraised him.
Guilt by association?
“Oh.”

Every eye in
the place watched him leave the room.

Chapter 19

For the next
week students sneered at him whenever he entered a classroom. Teachers suddenly
turned through the nearest doorway before Jeff passed them in the hallway. He
felt like a pariah. He was a pariah! The only people who spoke to him were his
interrogators.

His most
frequent interrogator was Tubs who seemed disappointed to learn that Jeff had a
defense against his psych attacks.

“How did you
meet Mystic?” Tubs asked again and again.

“She was in my
math
class.”

“Why did you
hang out with her?”

Jeff shrugged.
“She didn’t annoy me.”

Jeff was hypersensitive
to anything he said sounding like he was a nice guy. He couldn’t call her a
friend since S.V.’s didn’t really make friends. But he and Mystic didn’t have
any complimentary abilities so there was no good reason to explain why they
hung out. If he admitted that she’d given him defense, Tubs would wonder why he
hadn’t seen her “goodness” sooner. Maybe he should have, but he hadn’t known!
What else didn’t he know? He certainly didn’t want to find out from Tubs.

“Who does annoy
you?”

That was a new
question.
Probably safe.
“Love Bug.”

“Who else do
you hang out with?”

Hmmm. Less
safe. Shrug.

“I’ve seen you
with Oceanus. I find that odd. Fire and water don’t mix.”

“Offensively
and defensively they do. Plus, water and ice do,” Jeff said.

Tubs stopped
pacing and smirked. Jeff froze. What had he said wrong? He didn’t have to wait
long to find out.

“Awfully cooperative of you two.”

“I guess
,
if you consider me burning her and her dousing me
cooperative.” Jeff’s pulse raced. Could Tubs hear the flutter of his heart?