by Strand, Kai
“Is that you?” Jeff asked. “Trying to get past my defenses?”
Love Bug scowled. “Are you just trying to make a fool of me or something?”
“You don’t need my help for that.” He flashed his most charming grin at her and returned to Oceanus. “Yep, it worked.”
Oceanus shook her head. “I don’t get it. Why would Mystic want to do that for you?”
“Maybe she’s nice?” Jeff said.
“S.V.’s aren’t nice. Certainly not to other S.V.’s. We are like each others’ competition,” Oceanus said. She stared across the room at Mystic. Based on his dreamy expression, Mystic appeared to be suaving Source big time. Oceanus curled her lip. “Ugh.”
“You were nice to me. My first day when you put me out,” Jeff reminded her.
“I wasn’t being nice to you.” Red blossomed on her cheeks, making Jeff’s grin crook. “I was defending our school from your lack of control. Anyway, I don’t trust her.”
“What? You…”
An alarm blasted, startling the occupants of the room into silence. The double doors burst open, slamming against the walls with an alarming crack. A swarm of people, clad in black from head to toe, poured through the door. Blue flames erupted from those on the outer edge of the group. The flames weren’t directed at the kids in the room, but acted more like a battering ram to clear the way.
“Blue flame?” Oceanus whispered.
Jeff stepped between her and the melee. He saw a panicked look on Source’s face and wished the intruders didn’t separate them. Jeff knew Source’s lack of skill left him vulnerable.
Oceanus stepped around Jeff. “What do you think you’re doing?”
With her eyes sparking, Oceanus didn’t look as helpless as Jeff would like to think she was. Regardless, the need to protect her was strong and he again stepped in front of her. Hoping to distract her, he said, “Uh…you’re more experienced than me and you can help me fight if we need to. Stay back.”
Oceanus glared at him.
“Uh…for now.” He nodded to give his feeble statement strength.
“But I want to see.” Oceanus stepped sideways. “I’ve never seen blue fire before, Polar. What is it?”
“I don’t know, but it looks like they have more tricks up their sleeve.”
The tight knot advanced militarily to the center of the room. Then they unfurled like a flower bud, revealing a deadly stamen. A small woman, with ebony skin and violet eyes, stood in the center, seeming seven feet tall with the importance she emanated.
She spoke in a smoky, low voice to a ferret-like kid. “¿Dónde está, el?”
The ferret pointed and she raised her long nailed hands above her head. Nets, conjured from thin air, shot up and sailed across the room landing over her surprised target.
“No!” Jeff yelled. He lunged forward, his hands instantly aflame, but when he tried to shoot his fire it balled back on him, burning his own hands. He blew ice onto his hands to squelch the burn. Seeing the frost gave him a thought. “Oci, water!”
He pointed to the floor and indicated that he wanted it to snake across the room.
Oceanus pulled water from the overhead sprinklers and dropped it onto the floor. Jeff drew a deep, deep breath and breathed across the surface of the water. It iced over, immediately sending half the blue flame people to the floor. Jeff blew again, refreezing the water over their hands and trapping them.
“It won’t last forever, let’s move.” He grabbed Oceanus’ arm and they ran. They were halfway across the room when roots burst through the floor and wrapped around their ankles. They sprawled face first on the floor. Another kid fell, knee first, onto Jeff’s back, knocking the wind out of him. Jeff squirmed around until he sat up and grew a small controlled fire in his palm. He showered sparks onto the roots that had snaked up around his calves. The roots shrank away from the fire, loosening their hold and Jeff tore free of their viney grip. He did the same for Oceanus and they scrambled to their feet again.
The intruders hefted their squirming captive toward the door.
Jeff anchored his feet firmly on the ground and gathered all the gravity he could feel around him. As quickly as he could, he bound the feet of those carrying the hostage.
“See if water will work on that blue fire, Oci. Before they get to us.”
Oceanus swung around and saw four of the blue flames approaching. She pulled water from the drinking fountains and doused the flames. But instead of putting it out it seemed to increase it. “No good. I think it’s feeding on it!”
Jeff felt light headed from having to split the gravity in so many directions. He imagined his feet were buried in the ground, giving him a deeper contact with the source, and his head cleared a bit.
“Can you smother it somehow?” Jeff yelled.
“No, I don’t have anything. And the others are getting free.”
Sure enough the blue flamers who’d been temporarily frozen were up and re-igniting their fire.
One of the intruders with the blue fire yelled, “¡Detenganlo!” and pointed toward Jeff.
Teachers had joined the fight. In the midst of pelting milk cartons, lightning strikes, and lashing ropes, Jeff was struck by one strange fact. His fellow students seemed to be fighting for the sake of fighting. No one appeared intent on retrieving the hostage. As a matter of fact, Jeff watched a kid blast one of the captors and turn away from the hostage.
Jeff roared. He had to get over there, but if he moved, he’d release the gravitational hold he had on the captors. Experimentally, he slid a foot forward without lifting it from the ground. He felt the hold weaken, but it didn’t break. Concentrating all his efforts on maintaining contol, Jeff slid his feet across the floor. The going was agonizingly slow. He felt some of the captors struggle against the gravity that locked them in place, hoping to break free. Someone’s psych ability nudged around his head looking for a way in. With all his efforts focused, he continued to slide across the room.
A blast of steam and heat hit Jeff, knocking him sideways. He slid a couple of feet across the ground and came to a rest in a heap. Dazed, he shook his head and sat up. Then he remembered what he’d been doing. He leapt to his feet and searched the room for the group of captors. Too late. The doors swung closed behind them. Source was gone.
Chapter 16
“What are you going to do to get Source back?” Jeff bellowed at Tubs.
Tubs scowled at Jeff and then returned his attention to the paperwork on his desk. “First we have to figure out who took him.”
Tubs didn’t even seem concerned. It was as if Source was being slotted in the “things to do” column of Tubs’ upcoming week.
“How do you plan to do that?” Jeff spit the phrase out and Tubs scowled again before wiping his paper off.
“Well, they left a pretty big calling card. No one has seen the blue fire before. If we can figure out which academy has developed it, we’ll know who took Source.” Tubs eyed Jeff. “Why do you care?”
Jeff blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
Tubs’ eyes narrowed. “I’d think the question is quite clear. Why do you care what happens to Source?”
Something in Tubs’ expression unsettled Jeff’s nerves. He stepped back from Tubs’ desk. Was Tubs doing a mind psych on him? Could he get past Jeff’s new defense? Jeff whispered, “Source is my friend. Why else would I care?”
Tubs’ lip curled like a growling Doberman’s. “Your friend.”
The disdain in Tubs’ voice made Jeff back all the way to the door. Maybe Tubs was unstable. Probably shouldn’t be working with kids. Jeff turned the knob on the door then stopped. “Why do you think it is another academy?”
“Because of the number of people who showed up.”
“Why do they want Source?” Jeff asked.
Tubs shrugged. “Think about it, kid. Why would anyone bother to snatch someone from an academy? They want his talent.”
Jeff’s stomach dropped as if he’d just gone over the top o
f the large hill on a roller coaster. Source would never be able to resist them. He’d help willingly. But would they return Source unharmed when they were done with him? Jeff highly doubted it.
Jeff let himself out of the room without any sort of reassurance from Tubs. No “We’ll keep you posted, kid,” or “You can join the extraction party when we’re ready to go get him.” He doubted they would even attempt to retrieve Source and suspected they just wanted to know more about the blue fire. He considered telling Tubs what Oceanus had discovered about it, but Tubs didn’t deserve to know.
It was late, so the halls were deserted and the lights dimmed. Jeff plodded back to his room. At least he had some abilities to fight back with, but Source never had developed any of his own. He’d been too busy helping everyone else develop theirs, mostly Jeff.
* * * *
Jeff sat alone at lunch the next day until Oceanus plopped her lunch tray down on the table next to him.
“That was crazy last night,” she said. She slid onto a chair and took a big gulp from her orange juice bottle.
Jeff watched her graceful porcelain neck convulse as she swallowed. His fingers tingled with fire and he looked down at them with panic. Could she really make him lose control from desire? Pathetic. He shook his head.
“Oh, you didn’t think it was? Just another day in the life of an S.V.?”
“No, no, I was…um…thinking about something else, sorry. Yeah, last night was crazy. Thanks for your help trying to get Source back. I appreciate it.”
Oceanus stared at him. “Is that what you were doing?”
“Of course, what did you think?”
“I thought we were just fighting bad guys.” Oceanus shrugged.
“I noticed that was a common theme around the room last night. Why didn’t anyone else try to save Source?” Jeff ran his hand through his hair, but it fell back in front of his eyes.
Oceanus cocked her head and examined Jeff’s face. “Why would they?”
Jeff’s eyebrows shot upward. “Why? Are you serious?”
Oceanus laughed nervously. “I’m wondering the same about you.”
She sighed, scooted her chair sideways so that she was closer and then whispered, “Polar, people already talk about your manners. If they knew you were trying to save Source…”
Jeff was completely confused. He rubbed his tired eyes with his knuckles. “Why is it wrong of me to try to help my friend?”
Oceanus’ mouth dropped open. “Friend?”
A warning bell rang in Jeff’s head. “Friend” seemed to be a four-letter word around here. He leaned forward and whispered in Oceanus’ ear, “Aren’t we friends?”
She jumped away from him. “No!”
Jeff sat back in his chair and gawked. “Then what the hell are we?”
Mystic chose that moment to sit on Jeff’s other side. Her warm intoxicating voice soothed the situation. “What’s the trouble here?”
The look of panic on Oceanus’ face told Jeff he needed to keep the details out of it. “Oci and I were just having a disagreement.”
Jeff saw a small, pleased smile flit across Oceanus’ face at the nickname he’d used. Then he rounded on Mystic. “You! I have a bone to pick with you. If you hadn’t been suaving Source, he’d have been able to react to the intrusion faster. And why didn’t you protect him better?”
“She had her hands full. Didn’t you see?” Oceanus answered.
Jeff looked between Oceanus and Mystic.
Mystic nodded glumly. “Those bastards came after me immediately. I thought they’d come for me. It took four of them, shocking me, rooting me—I hate those roots—and finally melding me to drag me away. All they wanted was to get me away from Source, but I thought they were trying to take me.”
Oceanus looked around Jeff at Mystic. “Who do you think that chick was? The net girl?”
“Her name is Detainee. She’s got more than nets in those nails of hers,” Mystic said.
“Then you must know where they were from? Tubs said they needed to figure out what academy they came from.” Jeff grabbed her hand and rose from his chair. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Whoa, Lone Ranger. Detainee doesn’t go to academy. She’s freelance. Whoever those people were, they hired her for that job.”
Jeff dropped her hand and plopped back into his chair.
Oceanus scowled at Mystic. “How do you know so much about her?”
“She was involved in a coup near my old academy last year. It was the talk of school for days. It was some sort of scientific theft.” Mystic shrugged. “They took the scientist.”
Oceanus still appeared suspicious, but looked away. Then her back straightened and her shoulders stiffened.
“What are you doing?” Set snarled at Jeff though he spoke to Oceanus.
“I’m having lunch with Mystic and Polar. Want to join us?”
Jeff’s head whipped around and he glared at Oceanus though she looked at neither him nor Set.
“No, I don’t want to join him. Come with me,” Set said.
“No!”
Thunder rumbled overhead.
Jeff stood. “You heard her, Set. Time to go now.”
Lightning cracked.
Jeff covered up the wince he’d felt at the sharp snap of electricity next to his ear.
“Set,” he teased, “certainly you have better control than this.”
“Who says I’m losing control?” Set grinned. Thunder broke.
“Well, since you aren’t supposed to use your abilities against fellow students, it must be that you’re losing control. I’d think that would be an embarrassing thing to have to admit.” Jeff smiled pleasantly. Inside he fought to retain control of his fire. His fingertips itched and pulsed.
Set’s grin twisted into a grimace. The gathering storm dispersed and Jeff felt the last trace of electric static leave the air. His fire subsided with it.
Set growled down at Oceanus, spun on his heel and stalked away.
Oceanus turned on Jeff as he sat back down. “Will you lay off! I’ll take care of myself. I certainly wouldn’t help you if you pissed off Set enough that he attacked you.”
“But…” Jeff stammered.
Oceanus got up, grabbed her still full tray of lunch and marched away.
Jeff looked at Mystic, still ready to defend his actions though there was no reason to any longer. When he saw her pleased expression, he snapped his mouth shut and grumbled, “I hate this place sometimes.”
Chapter 17
“Mr. Tubs, sir.” Jeff stood in the doorway.
Tubs looked up and growled. “What?”
“Sir, any news about which academy attacked us? Any leads on which ability they’ve discovered?” Jeff saw Tubs’ expression relax a little. “Any more information on the blue fire, sir?”
Tubs winced and sucked in a shaky breath. “No breaking news about which academy, Polar. We did interview a number of students who’d been on the receiving end of the blue fire and they all described the same static sensation when they were hit by it. But we haven’t figured out the root source of the ‘fire’ for a lack of a better word.”
“Thank you, sir.” Jeff nodded and backed out the door.
As Jeff suspected, Tubs hadn’t bothered to share any information about Source. Jeff knew it fell to him to find Source and mount a rescue, but he didn’t know how to go about it. No one wanted to help since it wasn’t in their make up to care an iota for a fellow student. But they did enjoy a good fight so Jeff thought he might be able to entice some with that.
The biggest problem remained: that he knew very little about the world of super villains and it would be beyond difficult for him to figure out who took Source.
Later that evening Jeff went to the gym to experiment. The blue fire was some combination of electricity and oxygen. Maybe he could ignite it himself. Without Source it would be difficult figuring out where to find the origin within him, but he had to try.
He tried igniting from his feet,
stomach and shoulders. He nearly blew a hole in the back of his pants trying to ignite from his rear end. He tried igniting different elements in his hands, but it always ended up fire.
“Maybe someone with fire can’t do it,” Jeff mumbled, waving his hands through the air to cool them down again.
“Do what?”
Jeff swung around to find Oceanus leaning comfortably against the wall. Her left eye was bruised and her upper lip swollen.
“Oci, what happened to you?” Jeff stepped forward. Blowing cold air on his hand, he rested his chilled fingers on the bruise under her eye and the heel of his palm on the swelling of her lip.
“Hmmm, that feels good.” Oceanus closed her eyes and leaned into his hand.
Jeff had never felt a more satisfying weight before. Her simple act of trust and enjoyment felt so gratifying Jeff wanted to whoop out loud. Even swollen, her lips bellowed their need to be kissed by him.
With eyes still closed, Oceanus said, “Set and I had an argument.”
“He hit you!” Jeff felt fire tingle dangerously in his hands and took a deep breath to calm himself. Scorching Oceanus’ face would definitely ruin his day. However, the cold had melted from his hand and she opened her eyes and lifted her head.
“We hit each other actually,” Oceanus said. She squinted, stood on her tiptoes and looked deep in his eyes. “Why, you’re mad.”
“Of course I’m mad,” Jeff hissed. “You should never hit a girl.”
Oceanus frowned. “Um, you’re gonna have to drop the chivalry crap if you plan to be an S.V. when you grow up. First off, it is down right creepy and uncharacteristic. And what would you do in a battle? Wouldn’t you have hit Detainee with your fire if you’d been able to get to her?”
“What do you mean uncharacteristic?” Jeff asked.
“Polar, S.V.’s don’t care about anyone beyond themselves.”
“But I care about you,” Jeff said.
Oceanus chuckled. “Yeah, and you’re creepy.”
“Don’t you care about me? I don’t mean anything romantic, but…I mean, at least like a friend.”
Oceanus squirmed. Her gaze darted around the room as if she searched for an escape. Jeff held his ground, needing to hear her answer.