My eyes swept over the tree one more time, enjoying the colors and lights, before I started walking a slow circuit around the entire display.
Time to go to work.
*
The next half hour passed uneventfully. An announcement was made that the store was closing for the night, and all the shoppers drifted toward the exits. The security guards escorted everyone outside, then locked the doors and left as well. Normally, a few guards would stay behind in the store, but the owners had decided to give them the night off because I was here. What did you need with guys with guns when there was a real, live superhero on the premises?
Actually, I’d probably take the guys with the guns myself. Guns almost always worked the way that they were supposed to, whereas superpowers had a tendency to go on the fritz.
Either way, it looked like I was in for a long, silent night locked in the store by myself, with only the twinkling lights of the toy tree brightening the scene. Still, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. My inner voice, the one I always listened to, was whispering to me. I just couldn’t quite figure out what it was saying—or what kind of trouble might appear before the night was through.
My inner voice was part of my powers as an empath, my ability to tune into the emotions and feelings of others and sense their thoughts and future actions. All my life, I’d had these little twinges, vibes, really, about things that were going to happen, sort of like knowing who was on the other end of a ringing phone before you ever picked it up.
According to Chief Newman, I’d always had a bit of a latent talent, but the radioactive goo—the freezeterium—that Malefica had dumped me into last year had cracked open that part of my brain and amplified the ability a hundred thousand times over. Now, not only could I sense other people’s emotions, but I could actually see the psychic energy that surrounded them—and tap into that power and use it any way I wanted.
As Karma Girl, I basically squinted at ubervillains until I saw the colorful waves of energy radiating from their bodies. Then I could mentally reach out and grab that energy and use the villains’ own powers against them. That’s how I’d defeated Malefica, along with Frost and Scorpion, the other members of the Terrible Triad. Maybe my power wasn’t quite as photogenic and impressive as Fiera’s fists continually bursting into flames, but it worked for me—
A faint tap-tap-tapping sound snapped me out of my thoughts.
My breath caught in my throat, and my heart leaped up into my chest. What the hell was that? I glanced at the tree, wondering if perhaps one of the toys had come loose, hit the floor, and was rolling around.
But there was nothing there. No toys, no clothes, nothing on the floor except the presents sitting in their sacks ready to be handed out in the morning.
The tap-tap-tapping came again—low, slow, and steady—and I knew I wasn’t alone.
I immediately reached for my empathic ability and scanned the area near the toy tree, turning in a slow circle and looking for the waves of psychic energy that would tell me someone was near—and exactly where he was.
But I didn’t see any waves—no blacks, no reds, no blues, no greens. There was simply too much stuff in the department store for me to easily zoom in on the mystery person’s location.
So I decided to go about things the old-fashioned way. I closed my eyes and listened—really listened—to the tapping, trying to determine exactly where the sound was coming from. Then, I opened my eyes, slid into the shadows cast out by the racks of clothes, and headed in that direction.
I crept through the clothes, careful not to brush them as I passed. Up ahead, the tap-tap-tapping grew louder, and I spotted a figure weaving through the glass makeup counters. I picked up my pace, moving at an angle and getting ahead of the figure. I stopped beside the last makeup counter and slid behind an oversized, smiling cardboard cutout of Swifte, Bigtime’s speediest and most flamboyant superhero. Apparently, Swifte had come out with his own cologne just in time for the holidays—Eau de Swifte.
The cardboard cutout had been spritzed with the cologne, which smelled fresh, like pine needles mixed with a faint citrus note. It made my nose twitch, but it was far more restrained than what I’d expected, given Swifte’s boisterous, showboat nature and rampant love of publicity. I shook my head, held back a sneeze, and focused.
My plan was simple. As soon as the mystery figure walked by my hiding spot, I’d sucker-punch whoever it was, grab her psychic energy, and use it against her. When I had the ubervillain secure, I’d fish my cell phone out of my boot and call the cops to come haul the evildoer off to jail.
I let out a breath and flexed my gloved fingers a few times before curling them into a tight fist. I didn’t have superstrength like Fiera did, but I’d been working out, and I could throw a punch when necessary. Besides, the element of surprise was the key thing here. You could take almost anyone down—superhero and ubervillain alike—as long as you had that.
The tap-tap-tapping grew louder. I frowned, and my inner voice chattered at me again, but not in warning this time. No, for some reason, that sound seemed…familiar to me now.
But I didn’t have time to figure out where I’d heard it before, because a shadow appeared on the floor, creeping closer and closer to me as the mystery figure neared my location. I sucked in a breath, drew back my fist, and got ready to strike—
A second later, a woman stepped into view—one I recognized.
High-end, Fiona Fine jeans and a red pullover made by Bella Bulluci covered her slender body. She also sported colorful streaks in her black, spiky hair. Normally, the streaks were blue, but she’d dyed them red back during Thanksgiving in honor of the holiday season.
I was so shocked by her appearance that I just stood there, mouth open and fist hovering in mid-air.
She must have sensed me hiding there, waiting to punch her, because she glanced over at me, cursed, and stumbled back in surprise. Her feet got tangled up in her cane, which slipped out of her hand, and she barely managed to grab one of the makeup counters and catch herself before she hit the floor. The backpack that she’d had looped over one shoulder fell off and went sliding across the floor, along with her cane.
I stepped out from behind the perfumed Swifte cutout and stared at the woman in front of me. Why was she here? More importantly, how had she gotten into the store past all the security?
Lulu Lo looked up and gave me a sheepish grin. “Hi there, Sister Carmen.”
Chapter Three
“Lulu?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
Lulu grinned, her dark eyes gleaming in her face. “Why, backing you up, Sister Carmen. Henry told me you were on toy duty tonight, so I thought I’d come by and keep you company.”
I just stared at her, my mouth still open. Some superhero I was—I’d almost punched one of my best friends.
Because she was a computer whiz, hacker, and all-around information trader, Lulu knew everyone who was anyone in Bigtime—especially when it came to things that weren’t exactly on the up-and-up. She used to slip me information about Bigtime’s heroes, villains, and various criminals in exchange for my writing newspaper articles on Yee-Haw!, a therapeutic riding center that she helped fund.
These days, Lulu was one of the people who knew that I was really Karma Girl. She also knew the identities of the other members of the Fearless Five, because she was engaged to Henry. Lulu might not have a superpower, but she’d helped us with her tech skills more than once when we were chasing down the latest, greatest ubervillain.
“Um, a little help here, please?” Lulu asked, struggling to pull herself up onto her feet.
I snapped out of my daze. “Sure. Let me.”
I put my arm under Lulu’s shoulder and helped her stand. Then, I bent over and picked up the cane she’d dropped and handed it to her.
“Thanks,” Lulu said. “I’ll be glad when I can get around without using this thing. Although I can’t complain too much. I’m doing better now than I was this time last year.”
/> Lulu had once been caught in a battle between the Fearless Five and the Terrible Triad, and she’d been paralyzed as a result and forced to use a wheelchair. Then, earlier this year, Lulu had been in the middle of another battle. Only this time, she’d been struck by a massive energy ball, thanks to an ubervillain named Siren. Lulu’s heart had stopped, and she’d almost died, but the electricity had actually done some good in the end because it had kick-started all of the dead nerves in Lulu’s spine.
Since then, Lulu had been undergoing physical therapy with the goal of walking on her own—and she was slowly getting there. I was happy for my friend and all that she’d accomplished. In her own way, Lulu was tougher than any hero or villain.
I offered to help Lulu, but she insisted on walking over to the toy tree by herself. Still, I picked up the backpack she’d dropped and carried it, despite her protests that she could get it herself.
We stood there in front of the tree, staring at all of the toys, lights, presents, and ribbons, and Lulu let out a low whistle.
“Damn,” she said. “I never had a Christmas tree like that when I was younger. Makes me wish I was a kid again.”
I grinned. “Me too.”
I grabbed a couple of chairs from a nearby lawn furniture display and dragged them over to the tree so we could sit there in comfort. Lulu unzipped her backpack and pulled out a solidium thermos and two cups. She unscrewed the top of the thermos, and the rich smell of hot chocolate filled the air.
“Hot chocolate?” she asked. “I even brought those mini marshmallows shaped like the F5 insignia you like so much.”
My grin widened. “You’d better believe it.”
Lulu fixed us both a cup of the steaming hot chocolate, which she’d generously laced with a delicious raspberry syrup. I held the cup in my hands, just letting the warm, sweet aroma fill my lungs. We sat there in companionable silence for several minutes, sipping our sugary treat and enjoying the way the gleaming lights cast out a kaleidoscope of colors and star-shaped shadows everywhere.
“So you want to tell me how you got past the store’s security system?” I finally asked. “Because apparently, it’s not as foolproof as it’s supposed to be.”
Lulu shrugged. “It was easy. All I had to do was hack into the store’s security network and tell the system to unlock one of the side doors. Nothing to it.”
I raised my eyebrows and looked at her.
Lulu sighed. “But I was a good girl. I made sure the door was locked and shut behind me, and I reset the security network while I was at it. I think that’s enough to get me on Santa’s nice list this year. Besides, we don’t want any ubervillains crashing our holiday party and making off with the tree, now do we?”
“No, we don’t,” I said.
Once again, my little voice murmured in the back of my mind, and I didn’t know why. Everything was still and quiet, and there hadn’t been so much as a whisper of trouble so far, except for Lulu sneaking inside the store and scaring me half to death.
So why did I feel like we weren’t alone? And that the worst was yet to come?
We sat there sipping our hot chocolate and talking for a while, but eventually, Lulu got up and started wandering around the first floor, saying she wanted to see what was left on the racks for the after-Christmas sale. I got to my feet as well. It was almost midnight now, which meant it was time for me to do a walk-through of the store.
I headed to the front of the building and made sure the revolving doors were secure and the bars and shutters were in their proper places over the plate-glass windows. Then, I went around to all the various exits on the first floor and did the same thing. Everything was locked up tight, but my inner voice kept whispering to me, warning of danger…danger…danger...
I walked back to the windows at the front of the store and stood there, peering out through the bars, but all was calm, all was quiet. The entire city had shut down for Christmas, and not even a taxi could be seen driving down the street. A light snow had started to fall, coating the street lamps and sidewalks in a powdery coat of crystalline holiday cheer.
Still, my inner voice kept right on murmuring.
I shook my head and turned away from the door, ready to head back to the toy tree—and that’s when I first heard the smash-smash-smash.
Uh-oh.
*
I froze, wondering what the noise was and where it had come from.
Smash-smash-smash!
It took me a few seconds, but I realized the sound was someone very determinedly breaking the glass on one of the building’s side doors. I stood there, waiting for the store’s alarms to start blaring—but nothing happened.
No alarms, no sirens, no flashing red lights—nothing.
Whoever was forcing his way inside must have disabled the security system just as Lulu had earlier. Now, no alarms would be tripped, and nothing would alert the police or the Fearless Five that someone was breaking into the department store.
Which meant it was up to me to stop them—and for Karma Girl to come to the rescue.
I hurried toward the toy tree as fast as I could, running through racks of clothes and then past the makeup counters. I got back to that same cardboard cutout of Swifte, stopped there, and slowly peered around the side of the superhero’s grinning face.
A man stood in front of the Christmas tree, staring at all the toys just as I’d done, but instead of wonder, an expression of disgust curled up his lips. He wore a pale green costume, with matching boots, gloves, and a utility belt. A long, flowing, white cape swirled around his rather thin, bony body. His mask also was white, with a faint, sparkling sheen. A symbol shimmered in dark green sequins in the middle of his chest. I squinted, trying to make out what it was in the glow from the tree’s lights.
Was that—could it be—a spearmint leaf?
Weird. Even for Bigtime.
I quickly flipped through my mental dossier of all the male ubervillains in the city, alive, missing, and presumed dead. Captain Sushi, Frost, Scorpion…it was a pretty long list, and it took me several seconds to figure out who he was—the Mintilator.
That made things even weirder. The Mintilator was a germophobe more than anything else. Usually, he lurked outside of public restrooms and either berated or physically dragged folks back inside to make them wash their hands if they hadn’t already. Occasionally, he’d make them floss too. Which, really, weren’t bad things, especially compared to what the city’s other villains cooked up. Every once in a while, he’d hatch some elaborate plan to kill Halitosis Hal, because the superhero’s exceptionally bad breath went against all the minty goodness that the Mintilator stood for. But overall, the Mintilator was pretty low on the threat level list when it came to ubervillains. So what was he doing here tonight?
A movement across the aisle caught my eye, and I spotted Lulu waving at me. She must have heard the glass breaking because she’d hunkered down behind several female mannequins dressed in bright, colorful, shockingly skimpy negligees that I recognized as Fiona Fine originals.
The Mintilator was still busy staring up at the tree, so I took the opportunity to quickly cross the aisle and slide into the shadows next to Lulu.
“Is that the Mintilator?” Lulu whispered, peering around the mannequins. “I thought he was harmless, except for the whole forced hand-washing thing.”
“Apparently not,” I whispered back.
“I don’t even know what kind of power he has, do you?”
I shook my head. “No, but there’s one way to find out.”
I reached for my empathic ability and looked at the ubervillain, doing my best Clint Eastwood squint. Sure enough, pale green waves pulsed around his body. Everyone’s energy had a slightly different feel, but the sensation was always amplified when it came to heroes and villains. Usually, I could tell what kind of power someone had just from looking at their energy waves. The reddish ones around Fiona were always hot, given her fire-based power, while the ones around Sam were a cool, soothing, sapphire
blue, given his regenerative abilities.
To my surprise, the waves of energy pulsing around the Mintilator felt hot, rough, and caustic, like I’d suddenly scrubbed my skin raw with harsh lye soap.
“I think he has some sort of acid-based power,” I told Lulu. “That’s what it feels like to me. What he can do with it exactly, I don’t know, but he’s not using it to destroy the toy tree. Not on my watch. I can probably take him out myself, but you stay here out of sight. Just in case the Mintilator has some tricks up his sleeves.”
“Like what? Squirting you in the eye with some of that superstrength hand sanitizer he always carries on his utility belt?” Lulu asked.
She snickered a little at her own bad joke, but she nodded her head. Despite how harmless he appeared to be, the Mintilator still dressed up in a costume and tried to make life miserable for other people, which meant that he had a few screws loose somewhere.
Then again, here I was lurking in the shadows wearing silver spandex in a department store on Christmas Eve. Maybe the Mintilator wasn’t the only one with some loose screws.
I scanned the area, but I didn’t see anyone else on either side of the tree, and I didn’t sense any more energy waves indicating there was another ubervillain on the premises. It looked like the Mintilator was alone, so I stood up and walked toward him. Maybe I could talk him out of whatever crazy plan he’d hatched. Heh. That would definitely be a Christmas miracle. Really, it would probably be a waste of breath, but I had to try. Superhero etiquette and all that.
Sometimes, I thought it would be so much simpler being a villain—they never, ever had to play fair or take stupid chances like this. Plus, they almost always got to blow something up. Yeah, villains totally had more fun.
The Mintilator stiffened at the sound of my boots clacking on the floor, and he slowly turned around. I stopped about ten feet away from him, still holding tight to my empathic ability. If he tried to use his power on me, I was ready to reach for it myself and turn it back against him. Ubervillains could dish it out, but they could rarely take it.