Super Villain Academy 2: Polar Opposites (13 page)

“Yeah,” Tall Cop said.

“It was so weird. It was like suddenly I couldn’t move. Well, not my feet, at least. It was like they were stuck to the ground. Then I noticed that everyone seemed stuck, too. It really freaked me out. I think I yelled or something. Shortly after that, we all were able to break free.” Jeff ran his hand through his hair and knit his brow. “I just ran out of there. Whatever forces you guys used to disperse the crowd, it worked.”

“Yeah,” Short Cop leaned forward. “I bet it was S.W.A.T. They have all the fun toys.”

Tall Cop blinked at his partner and then at Jeff and Frank.

Jeff knew the cop had finally lost his original train of thought. One more nudge. “It would be so cool to be S.W.A.T. I want to be a police officer.”

Tall Cop puffed out his broad chest and Jeff knew he had him. “Are your grades good?”

“Kind of.” Jeff looked apologetic.

“Get those grades up, and stay out of trouble.” Tall Cop stood, and his partner followed. “Two of the most important things.”

They shook hands and left as if they’d been there to recruit Jeff for the squad instead of interrogating him.

“Good job, son!” Frank clapped Jeff on the back. “The bruise was a great touch!”

Jeff looked at the inside of his arm where he’d pinched until the bruise had blossomed. Already, only the slightest remnants of yellow and green were still visible.

“And the power you were resonating was off the charts. I had to keep fortifying my defenses so I didn’t get swept into it.”

“Thanks for your help, Dad. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Sure you could,” Frank said. He chewed on his pinky finger as he walked into the kitchen. “Sure you could.”

Jeff followed him. Mother stood at the counter, stirring a pitcher of orange juice.

“Birthday present, huh? You really think ahead,” she said.

Jeff crooked a smile and kissed Mother on the cheek. “Actually, wouldn’t it be late from your last birthday?”

“Could be, but that was before the balancing, so I’m assuming my new and improved son will actually buy me a birthday present this year.”

Jeff chuckled, but his stomach clenched. There was nothing new or improved about him since the balancing. Why hadn’t anyone noticed that? If nothing else, he felt like his villainy side was experiencing a re-emergence.

Sandra walked into the kitchen and straight to the pantry. “I didn’t think they were ever going to leave.” She pulled out the cereal and moved to the cupboard to get a bowl.

“Thanks for covering, Frank.” Sarah always had difficulty telling a lie; even though Jeff had witnessed Mother spin a few white lies recently, he knew covering for her son during a riot would be far outside her comfort zone.

“Not a problem, love.” Frank eyed Jeff warily. “I only kept them cool until Polar came down. He took it from there. Completely charmed them.”

Frank studied his son so intently that he missed the glower Sarah gave him.

“Son, are your abilities still growing?”

“Sure. That’s normal, isn’t it?” Jeff shoved half a croissant in his mouth. “I haven’t even known I’m a super for all that long.”

Frank squinted. His arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the counter.

Jeff glanced at Sandra, who reclined in the doorframe of the open pantry, scooping cereal from her bowl. “Your abilities are still growing, right?”

Sandra stopped her spoon halfway to her mouth, milk dripped back into the bowl. She shook her head. “No, they’re not. I discover something new now and again, but the ones I know about stay the same.”

Jeff’s eyebrows shot up, and he swung back toward his dad. “You mean it’s not normal?”

Frank glanced at Sarah and frowned. “No, it isn’t. Have they ever stopped? Like maybe they stopped increasing after the balancing, but started again after the incident with Oceanus?”

Jeff looked at Mother, whose brow was knit with worry. She still held the wooden spoon she’d been stirring the orange juice with and it dripped onto the floor in front of her. Jeff gnawed the inside of his cheek. “Um, no. They’ve never stopped.”

Frank flashed a smile that he probably intended to calm the anxiety in the room, but his family stared back at him anxiously. “I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s just part of his unusual polar abilities thing.”

“I wonder if Source would know,” Sandra mumbled. The look on her face didn’t indicate she expected Source to know anything.

Jeff jumped on it as a possibility regardless. “Yeah, I bet he’ll be able to figure it out.”

Chapter 22

Super Villain
lyrics blared in the kitchen.

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

Jeff blushed and walked out of the kitchen as he answered his phone, “Lo.”

“I came up short with that lead.”

Jeff frowned and held his phone in front of him to read the caller ID. It was Set. He jogged up the stairs to his room. “Nothing, huh?”

“Honestly, man, I don’t think we’re going to get very far on our own,” Set growled. His voice echoed as if he was in his desolate dining room, and there was a constant tapping of his fingers on a keyboard. It irked Jeff that Set had him on speakerphone. He rubbed his eyes, trying to let go of the ridiculous anger.

“What about the phone records? Anything?” Jeff asked.

“I’m researching the last few phone numbers from before the abduction now, but so far, nothing seems out of place,” Set said.

“What do you mean by researching?”

“I’m using reverse look-up online. You can key in the number and it will tell you who the phone number is registered to. So far, there are only two without a name. I’ll call those from a pay phone later.”

“Now what?” Jeff grumbled.

“I don’t know, man. I thought the phone record was going to be a hit,” Set said.

Jeff squinted at his fish, Pucker. Had Set just paid him a compliment? “Well, I’ll see if I can get any information from Mother.”

“You call your mom Mother?” Set droned.

Jeff slammed his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t in the mood to explain Mother’s pre-balancing cold as ice personality, or that he used to say it with extra emphasis on the M because her drill sergeant delivery of orders demanded a capital letter, or that he no long stressed the M because she was loads more relaxed now, but that he still couldn’t think of her as anything so chummy as Mom. “Long story.”

“Call if you come up with anything,” Set said. He sounded distracted, like his mind was on something and his mouth was forming words automatically.

“Yeah, let me know if any of those numbers leads to something, too,” Jeff said.

“Hmmm.”

The line went dead.

Jeff watched Pucker pluck at the scum at the top of the fishbowl. She closed her big fish lips around a bit of scum, then spit it back out and it floated slowly to rejoin the layer covering the top of the water. She did it again and again until Jeff finally pinched a few flakes of food out of a plastic container and dropped them onto the top of the scum. With the precision of a brain surgeon, Pucker snatched a flake and the scum under it into her mouth. She didn’t spit anything out, just swam over to the next flake and repeated the process until all four flakes were consumed. Then she swam in a swirl to the bottom of her bowl.

Jeff jogged down the stairs and found Mother stuffing her laptop into her briefcase. “Going to work?”

“Actually, I’m going out of town for a couple of days.” Sarah slid a pad of paper that looked mostly used with curled edges and coffee rings into another pocket of the briefcase.

“Oh?” Jeff’s heart sank. He wouldn’t have access to new information about the investigation while she was gone. “Who should I contact to find out about Oceanus?”

“I’ll check on it when I get back in town,” Sarah said, clearly distracted by the pile of papers she was thumbing through.

“What’s the current status?” Jeff asked.

“Nothing new.” She didn’t even look up.

An explosion of anger flashed through Jeff. “Look, I know you couldn’t care less if they ever find her, but the longer this goes on, the colder the trail gets. I’m a super! Why won’t you tell me?”

Sarah stopped mid-search and raised her eyes to meet her son’s gaze. Her schooled expression made his anger swirl and twist like a petulant child. “There is nothing to tell, Jeff. The trail was already cold. Oceanus disappeared completely.”

As fast as the fire raged through him, ice froze it over. Every ounce of Jeff’s insides felt freeze dried. “Nothing?”

Sarah shook her head.

She maintained eye contact, but the continued lack of emotion in her expression stoked Jeff’s fire again and his internal organs thawed.

“Jeff, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I think you should accept the fact that you may never see Oceanus again.”

“What?” His breath came out in rapid pants. He clenched his fists, willing the fire to stay inside. “You can’t mean that.”

Sarah’s gaze fell momentarily to the pile of papers, showing Jeff what was truly more important to her at the moment.

“Be reasonable, Jeff. No trail, no ransom.” Sarah opened her mouth as if to say more, but then shrugged and shook her head.

“They’re giving up. Two days of looking, and that’s it?” Jeff drove a fist through the wall.

“Jeffrey!” Mother leapt to her feet, finally relinquishing hold of the spot she’d searched to in her beloved stack of papers. She stood in a defensive position, feet shoulder width apart, fingers splayed.

“Gonna fight me, Mother? I guarantee you, I’d win.”

He strode past her toward the front door. Suddenly, he was flying across the room and slammed against the wall. His head snapped sharply against the drywall before he crumpled in a heap to the floor.

“Don’t you ever underestimate me, son.” Sarah stood in the same place as before, but now several objects floated in a circle around her. Letter opener, scissors, stapler, tape dispenser and a thick glass paperweight swirled in the air.

Jeff squinted at her. “I forgot about the wind.” He rubbed his head as he unfolded from the floor and realized he didn’t have a clue what his mom’s abilities were. Not sure if he hurt more from the impact with the wall or from the thorough dressing down Mother had given him, he slammed out of the house.

Mother called from the doorway, “I want that ringtone changed before I get back.”

Chapter 23

Sandra rolled her eyes. “Mom’s got mad skills, bro. That’s part of why our family has always been so respected in the hero community.”

“I thought it was because of their philanthropic-ness.” Jeff flopped onto the armchair next to the loveseat that Source and Sandra snuggled on.

“Here you are, Polar,” a girl placed a steaming mug of coffee on the table next to him. Her cheeks were pink and her brown eyes glittered. “Would you like cream?

“I’ll drink it black like my heart, darling,” Jeff said. He turned toward Source, but the girl wasn’t finished yet.

“Maybe I can get you a muffin or a scone?” she said. She stepped close enough to press one leg against Jeff’s.

He eyed her, wondering if she was going to mount his leg like she would a horse. The sparkle in her eye seemed to be growing anxious. “I would have ordered one if I was hungry. Thanks though.”

She trailed her finger along his thigh. “How about something else? You hungry for something else?”

Jeff glanced at Sandra, hoping she would offer some sarcastic comeback to scare the girl off, but Sandra seemed to be enjoying his growing discomfort. When he looked back at the girl her eyes were filled with animal hunger. With her goldenrod hair, she looked like a lioness crouching to pounce.

“Uh, maybe we should get our drinks to go,” Source said.

“I’ll be right back,” the girl said, eager to be able to do something for Jeff.

“What the hell?” Jeff asked watching her scurry behind the counter.

“You’re pulsing out charm vibes right now.” Source eyed him from head to toe.

“No I’m not!” Jeff protested.

“Let me amend that,” Source started, but was interrupted.

“Polar,” a woman said. Her voice was somehow breathy and incredulous all at once.

Jeff swung around, annoyed to be interrupted, but grinned when he recognized the person speaking. “Pyro!” He pushed himself out of his chair to give her a hug, tipping his head away when he realized her face was nuzzled into his neck. When he pulled back, she clutched the front of his jacket in her fists and stood on tiptoe trying to pull him back toward her. He frowned at her.

He’d always been fond of Pyro. Since she had fire also, the school had sent her to recruit him to Super Villain Academy, even though she actually worked as a fundraiser. This behavior was new and creepy. She was Mother’s age.

“Wow, it’s been awhile,” Pyro whispered. She was considerably shorter than him, and she still held him in the awkward hunched position he’d used to hug her.

Source’s eyebrows were high on his forehead and he focused in on the death grip she had on Jeff’s jacket. He stood and opened his arms wide. “Pyro! Good to see you.”

She glanced over her shoulder at Source and reluctantly released Jeff to give Source a one armed hug. When she turned back, Jeff had already sat back down, and her expression collapsed into a pout. Then her gaze zeroed in on Sandra and she glared.

“Pyro, this is my sister, Sandra,” Jeff said.

“Sister? Oh, well, that’s good. I mean, good to meet you,” Pyro said, and offered a sort of wave as she sidled closer to Jeff, leaning against the arm of his chair.

“Doesn’t she have defenses against this?” Jeff asked Source, squishing up against the opposite arm of the chair. “This is getting really weird.”

“Our abilities do work on each other, but you’re right, this is…” Source was interrupted by the return of the girl who worked there.

She held three to-go cups and lids and her eyes burned with hatred as she glared at Pyro. “Excuse me, but I’m working here.”

Jeff raised an eyebrow as she crowded in on his other side to grab his coffee. She tossed two of the to-go cups at Sandra and Source before making a production out of transferring his coffee for him. She placed the large mug back onto the table and snapped the lid over the top of the heavy paper cup, flashing a victorious look at Pyro.