These Boots Were Made for Stomping (25 page)

“What?” Thomas cried suddenly, the mischievous smirk fading from his face. “Are you sure?”

Something was wrong. Hailey held out her hands and mouthed, “What?” Thomas waved her off.

“Well, yes, I guess you would be sure. But it’s just . . . well, sudden. I’m so sorry for your loss. No, no, I won’t bother
you again. Yes, I’ll put it in the article. No problem.” He pressed END and set the phone down on the table. He met Hailey’s
eyes, his own dead serious for the first time in forever.

“What is it?” Hailey demanded. “You’re scaring me.”

“Hiro’s dead.”

“What?” she cried. “He can’t be dead. We saw him this morning onstage.”

“That was this morning. According to his sister he spent the afternoon performing ritualized hara-kiri in his hotel room.
The maid found him, bleeding all over the rug, just an hour ago.”

“Oh my God,” Hailey cried, hardly able to digest the news. “Why would he do that? After signing the deal? Do you think he
was ashamed of selling out or something? Like, he regretted his decision and couldn’t face his fans?” It seemed like a leap,
but it was too much to be completely unrelated.

Thomas looked grim. “Or maybe it only
looked
like suicide.”

“Oh my God.” Hailey swallowed hard.

“Something’s going on here. Something big. And all of it points to this weird ninja agency, MeyioSeraph.”

“Did you Google them?”

“Yes, but all I got was message boards for some dorky
World of Warcraft
guild. There’s no information on where this agency is based or who’s involved or who their other clients are. Nothing. Just
a ‘coming soon’ sign and one of those damn throwing stars as a logo.”

“You really think they had something to do with Hiro’s death?”

“I don’t see any other possibility. We know Hiro didn’t want to sell his movie rights. We saw him being chased by MeyioSeraph
ninjas, then the next day he signs the deal, they clear out of Comic Con, and he winds up dead.”

Hailey swallowed hard. It did seem to add up. “So, what now?” she asked.

“I’ll do some research. In the meantime, you should go back to Collin and find out whatever he knows about the company itself.
He must have addresses and stuff, if they’ve done a deal. And maybe go back to where the booth was. Maybe someone else saw
them yesterday besides that clueless Goth girl. Not that ninjas stand out much here. Which I guess is what makes them the
perfect weapon.”

“Right. Okay.” Hailey nodded, glad to have something physical to do. Especially when that something in question gave her an
excuse to go see Collin again. “And we’ll meet back here in an hour?”

“Make it two hours,” Thomas said, checking his watch. “That’s when our signing starts. We’ll meet over at the Straylight booth.”
He turned back to his computer, then looked up again. “And Hailey?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful,” he said. “In fact, maybe you should put on the boots. You know, just in case.”

“Okay. No problem. Good luck to you, too.”

Hailey headed back into the convention hall and made her way straight to the Darken Pictures booth. Unfortunately, Collin
was nowhere to be found. A few wandering employees said they were pretty sure he’d gone to a business lunch of some sort and
wouldn’t be back for at least an hour. She berated herself once again for not getting his cell phone number when she had the
chance.

Nor was anyone with tons of information hanging out near the booth formerly housing MeyioSeraph. So Hailey wandered the floor,
killing time before her signing, halfheartedly checking out the various booths. It should have been fun, but her thoughts
were too tormented to allow her joy. Was Hiro Kim really murdered after being forced to give away his movie rights? And if
he was, what could she do to make sure the ninja agents didn’t strike again?

When it came time for the signing, she made her way over to the Straylight booth. Thomas hadn’t arrived yet, so she chatted
awhile with Mrs. Hannah about the future of
Karma Kitty
. Mrs. Hannah told her sales had been very good and they were looking forward to a long-term relationship, which made Hailey
feel proud. No matter how messed up the rest of her life was, at least she had her comic.

The clock struck three, time for the signing, and Thomas still hadn’t shown up. Worried, she called his cell, but voice mail
picked up after one ring.

“Mrs. Hannah,” she called over to her boss. “I’m concerned about Thomas. He’s not here yet.”

The publisher frowned, looking down at her watch. “Artists,” she mumbled under her breath, before looking over at Hailey.
“Well, you’ll just have to sign without him.”

“But what if he’s . . .” What, Hailey? In danger? Being chased by ninjas? Did she want her publisher to think she was crazy,
too? After all, the woman was in complete control of the one thing in Hailey’s life that was going right. Was she going to
sabotage that as well?

Hailey shook her head, clearing it of all the doubts. Thomas was notoriously flighty and always late; he’d probably just met
some cute booth boy and was too busy flirting to realize it was time for their signing.

“Hi!” cried a skinny teen in pigtails and braces. “Can you sign my
Karma Kitty
comic?”

“Sure!” Hailey replied, greeting her with a big smile. She’d worry about Thomas later.

She signed and she signed and she signed and then she signed some more. This was a lot busier than the earlier signing—more
people had arrived at the convention. Not to mention she had a signing buddy to do half the work on the first round. Thomas
still hadn’t shown up and Hailey was getting more and more worried about him. She tried to tell herself she was being silly—he’d
probably met some hunky superhero encased in vinyl and lost track of time—but she couldn’t help thinking about the ninjas.
After all, Thomas didn’t have her magic shoes to help fend them off and let’s just say his gym habits were a bit dodgy.

“I’ll take five of each.”

Hailey looked up in surprise. Collin stood above her, looking down. He was the last one in line. She stifled a shiver. “Hey,”
she said, keeping her voice casual. “What are you doing here?”

He looked hurt. “I told you I’d stop by,” he reminded her. He grabbed a comic and handed it to her. “Of course I’ve already
read this,” he said. “But can I get an autographed copy?”

She could feel her face heat. “Oh, come on. Don’t be silly.” Why was he doing this? Making it so much harder not to love him.

“What? You autograph for complete strangers, but not me?”

“It’s just a dumb comic. You’re not going to get anything for it on eBay.”

His sparkling eyes turned serious. “Come on, Hails,” he scolded. “Don’t demean all your work here. You’ve done amazingly well
in such a short time.” He gestured over to two giggling girls reading the comic down at the far side of the table. “You’ve
got loyal fans, you’ve got multibook deals.” He met her eyes. “I’m really proud of you.”

Her heart panged at his words. If only things had turned out differently, she could have spent the rest of her life with this
man and never looked back. And yet, they might as well be strangers now. So unfair.

“It’s really noth—”

“Just take the damn compliment, Ms. Hills.”

She forced a grin. “Okay. Fine. I will. And thank you. It means a lot coming from you.”

He looked around the booth. “You’re living the dream, Hailey. The life I always imagined for myself.”

He looked so wistful, Hailey’s heart went out to him. It must be so hard to have had a dream and put everything you had into
making it come true—only to have it crumble and disintegrate before your very eyes. “I know your life hasn’t turned out the
way you hoped,” she said carefully. “But Collin, you’re doing amazingly well. I mean, I can’t tell you how impressed I am
by all you’ve done.”

He opened his mouth. She wagged a finger at him. “Take the compliment, Mr. Robinson,” she ordered.

He chuckled. “Touché.” He bowed low. “Well, then thank you, Ms. Hills. That’s very nice of you to say.”

“However,” Hailey added, “that doesn’t mean I agree with your choice to give up drawing. I mean, even if you don’t make it
your full-time career. It’s something you loved, and I’m a firm believer that no one should give up something they love.”
It was funny how easily the words came to her now that she knew they had no chance to be together.

Collin nodded meekly. “I know, I know,” he said. “You’re right. But I haven’t picked up a pencil in years. I doubt I’d even
remember what to do with it.”

“Well, let’s see then, shall we?” Hailey asked, after checking to see no one had appeared behind him. She produced a pencil
and a pad of paper and pushed them across the table. “I want you to draw Karma Kitty.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t—”

She pressed the pencil into his hand. “Oh, come on. You were the one who originally designed her, after all!”

“That is true . . .” Collin said. “Okay, fine, twist my arm.” He got down on his knees in front of the booth to start drawing.
His brow furrowed in concentration as he sketched each line. Hailey watched, pride swelling inside of her as, inch by inch,
her comic-book character came to life on the page. Collin really was an amazing artist. It was too bad he’d given up on his
dream so long ago. Those stupid publishers, rejecting him. They were all fools.

“That’s awesome,” she commented. “I love how you do her tail. I totally need to suggest that to Thomas.”

Collin didn’t look up, so immersed was he in the drawing. “Thanks,” he said. “Well, maybe if we do end up making that Karma
Kitty cartoon, the studio will let me work in the art department on my days off.”

Hailey started to laugh, then stopped, realizing the implications of what he had said. “Wait. What do you mean, Karma Kitty
cartoon?”

This time Collin did look up. “Don’t you know?” he asked, sounding puzzled. “Your partner Thomas approached us about it this
afternoon. He was going to sell the rights and have us create a cartoon series based on the characters. I think it’s a pretty
cool idea, actually—though of course I still need to run it by the top brass.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Hailey waved her hands. “Slow down. Thomas came to you and asked you to make a Karma Kitty cartoon?” That
didn’t make any sense at all. “I know nothing about any of this.”

“Well, not him personally. He had a Straylight rep and his agent come over.”

“We don’t have an agent, Collin. We do it all ourselves.”

He looked at her, confused. “It was the same agency that reps Hiro. I figured that’s why you were asking about them this morning.”

“Oh my God.” Hailey could feel the blood drain from her face. “This is not good.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

She drew in a breath, her mind racing. Should she tell him? He was going to think she was absolutely nuts. It might even ruin
their chance to get together. But at the same time, Thomas’s life might be at stake. And desperate times led to desperate
measures.

“Collin, I need to tell you something. It’s going to seem really crazy. Like, really, really crazy. But I need you to promise
to believe me.”

Collin’s face didn’t change, but she could imagine him thinking,
Here we go again
.

“I didn’t really have a meeting with my publisher last night.”

“So you lied.” Collin sounded angry. “What a shock.”

“Yes. But only cause I was sure you wouldn’t believe me if I told the truth.”

“You were kidnapped by a giant Yeti?”

“No.” She refused to acknowledge the sarcasm in his voice. “I was saving Hiro Kim from a pack of ninjas.”

“I see. And why, pray tell, did Hiro Kim need saving from these ninjas?”

“They work for the MeiyoSeraph Agency. And I have reason to believe that they are using violent tactics to get manga and comic
book creators to sell out to Hollywood.” She shrugged. “It’s simple, really. Kidnap Hiro Kim and torture him until he signs
away his movie rights to you guys. The agency pockets a huge fifteen percent. Then they kill the creator before he can squeal.”

“Kill the creator?”

“Well, they make it look like a suicide. Hiro committed hara-kiri in his hotel room this afternoon.”

Collin looked upset. “What? How do you know that?”

“Doesn’t matter. The point is, these are real bad guys. And now they’ve got Thomas. We have to save him!”

“Hold on a second.” Collin held up a hand. “Go back to the part where you were doing battle with them.”

Hailey sighed. She really, really, really did not want to tell him about the Karma Kitty thing. He barely believed her about
the ninjas, and that was totally plausible. Well, sort of.

“I’ll tell you, but you have to promise you won’t think I’m crazy,” she said.

“I don’t see how you’re going to top the ninja conspiracy theory. But somehow I think you’re about to try.”

She drew in a breath and then let it spill. “I’ve turned into Karma Kitty.”

He stared at her, silent as the grave.

“I know, I know, it sounds crazy. It IS crazy. But it’s true. I can prove it.”

“You can prove that you’ve turned into your comic-book character.”

“Yes. I have all her powers. Like . . . great flexibility and the ability to land on my feet. And I can kick some serious
butt. That’s how I took on the swarm of ninjas all by myself. Thomas said I was like Neo in
The Matrix
. It was pretty cool.” She grinned, remembering. “Anyway, it’s ’cause of these shoes. She reached under the table and held
up the boots. “I got them off the Internet at Hiheelia.com. When I put them on, I get Karma Kitty powers.”

“I see.”

Collin watched as Hailey slid her boots onto her feet, wondering why he was even there, still listening to this craziness.
This was exactly why the two of them had broken up in the first place. She’d sworn she’d changed—turned over a new leaf, lived
a normal life—but now, here she was again with the same old wild stories and unbelievable claims. He should just walk away
now, while he still had some self-respect left. E-mail her on Monday and gently suggest some heavy-duty psychiatric meds.