Karma Girl Part 33

I sank down into my chair. "I can't believe this is happening to me. To me, of all people." I laughed.

"How ironic. How pathetically ironic. But I suppose that's karma for you."

"So what exactly do you see?" Fiona asked.

I told the others about the waves of energy around them.

"I'm red? Hmmm. I always thought I'd be more of a cool, silver color," Fiona said. "Or maybe blue to match my eyes."

I shot Chief Newman a look. He shrugged.

"So do you think you can do something?" Fiona asked.

"Like what?"

Fiona threw her arms out. "I don't know. Something, anything. You can still see the waves. See if you can still use them."

I stared at Fiona and reached for the waves of red-hot energy. A fiery power poured into my body, and I fluttered my fingers. The candles on the cake flared back to life even though I'd blown them out long ago.

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l," Fiona said. "That's just like what you did at the factory."

"Unfortunately," I muttered. "Why couldn't it just go away? Do you think it might in a few more days?"

The chief shook his head. "Probably not. If it's lasted this long, then it's more than likely permanent."

I groaned and buried my head in my hands.

"Being an empath is nothing to be worried about or scared of, my dear." The chief put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I frowned. "An empath? What are you talking about?"

"Your power. You're an empath. When you first came here, I thought you might have some latent ability. You kept mentioning how you knew certain things would happen right before they did. You called it instinct. It's really empathy, the ability to tune into the emotions and feelings of others and sense their thoughts and future actions. It's a rare gift. In your case, you seem to be able not only to sense other people's feelings but to actually see the psychic energy that surrounds them. In the Triad's case, you tapped into their powers and used them to your advantage."

"But I don't want to be an empath," I wailed.

The chief chuckled. "I'm afraid you don't have a choice."

I put my head down into my arms. "Fantastic," I muttered. "Just fantastic."

Soon after, I claimed I had a headache and wanted to go to bed. I left the others, including Sam, in the dining room and made my way up to my suite. I shut the door, flopped down onto the bed, and stared at the plush carpet.

I couldn't quite wrap my head around everything that had happened in the past week or so. I'd gone from getting Sam kidnapped, to finding out Malefica's real ident.i.ty, to getting the rest of the Fearless Five captured, to being dumped in a vat of radioactive waste, to somehow saving everyone. Oh yes, and now I had powers.

Superpowers.

I rubbed my aching temples. I didn't want powers of any kind, much less superpowers. But it seemed as though I was stuck with them. Whether I liked it or not.

The question now was what the h.e.l.l was I going to do with them?

KarmaGirl.

The next morning, I went out into the garden. I wandered among the flowers and tried not to think about the green energy rippling out of them. Flowers, plants, trees. Even the gra.s.s underfoot radiated waves of energy. All the untapped power pulsed and flowed around me, just begging me to reach out and latch on to it. I refused to give in to the temptation. I did my best to pretend like everything was normal, that my vision wasn't awash in s.h.i.+mmering, colorful waves. If I didn't specifically look for them, I could almost ignore the energy waves. Almost.

I frowned. My inner voice chirped. Someone was watching me. I stared at a bush up ahead-a bush with sapphire blue waves radiating out of it.

"I know you're there. Come out, Sam."

He pushed some branches aside and stepped forward. "How did you know-"

I pointed to my eyes. "I've got super-vision now, remember?"

"Yes, well, that's something I wanted to talk to you about." He peered at me, his eyes full of concern.

"How are you doing?"

I shrugged. "As well as can be expected, I suppose. After all, it's not every day you learn you've developed superpowers. So far, I've only hyperventilated once."

Sam smiled. "That's good. Superheroes really shouldn't hyperventilate. Especially those in the Fearless Five."

I froze. "What?"

Sam took a breath. "We want you to become the newest member of the Fearless Five."

My mouth dropped open. "You want me to what?"

"Join the Fearless Five," Sam repeated.

I shook my head. I felt like I had water in my ears. "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that one more time?"

Sam took my hands. "Join us. Be part of the team. Like you were when you went up against the Triad."

I flashed back to the factory, Something Malefica said echoed in my mind, and I stared up into his silvery eyes. "Was Malefica right? When she said you cared about me?"

Sam stared deep into my eyes. "Yes, she was. I've come to care a great deal about you, Carmen, despite my best intentions to stay away, to let you go back to your old life once the Triad was defeated. The question is, how do you feel about me?"

"I care about you too."

Suddenly, we were kissing. Sam plundered my mouth with his demanding tongue. I pulled him tighter to me and ran my hands up and down his muscled back. Everything felt just as good as it had before.

Better, actually. But my inner voice chattered, and I couldn't stop the nagging thought running through my head. I pulled back and broke off the pa.s.sionate kiss.

"What do you really want, Sam? Me or my new powers?"

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I have to know. You want me to join the Fearless Five in one breath, and in the next, you're telling me how much you care about me. What do you really want?"

"I-I want both," he admitted. "I care about you, Carmen. I do. But I also think you'd make a great addition to the team. We would be the Fearless Five again."

My heart sank down to my ankles and bled out my shoes. Sam didn't want me. He didn't want Carmen Cole- he just wanted the superhero he thought I could be. "I see."

"So what do you say?" Sam asked. His hands settled on my waist, and his silver eyes glowed with hope and excitement.

KarmaGirl.

It broke my heart.

I closed my eyes, drinking in his musky scent, savoring the feel of his warm hands on my body. For the last time. I stared at him, memorizing every line, every curve of his handsome face. Then, I stepped back.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I just-I can't," I said.

I turned and ran away.

KarmaGirl.

31.

One month later I swirled the champagne around in my gla.s.s. Bubbles rose up in the golden liquid, then fizzed out.

Just like my life.

After leaving Sam in the garden, I'd spent a few more days at Sublime, recovering my strength and learning to control my newfound, unwanted power. The chief asked me to stay longer, but I'd packed up my things and moved back into my apartment. I couldn't face Sam, and I didn't want to learn about my power. I just wanted it to go away. I just wanted things to return to normal. I wanted to go back to the good ole days when people hated me for killing Tornado, and I was toiling away on the society beat.

I took a swig from the gla.s.s. In a way, things had returned to normal. I'd put everything back into place in my apartment, and the chief had hypnotized his officers and the editors at The Expose into forgetting about Morgana's frame-up of me. I'd even resumed my duties on the society beat, although I was keeping a low profile. The newspaper was in quite an uproar. Lulu had more than kept her word. A few hours after I went into the ice cream factory, the computer whiz had leaked Malefica's real ident.i.ty to the press, much to the chagrin of the editors at The Expose. Given the fact Morgana Madison hadn't been seen or heard from in over a month, the editors had been forced to run the story and admit their conquering hero was an ubervillain. One who was missing in action. I bought every copy of the newspaper I could get my hands on and pasted them up all over my apartment. I didn't know if Malefica was alive or not, but her cover as Morgana Madison had been completely blown. To my complete and utter delight.

Tonight, I was at the annual holiday ball hosted by the performing arts center. Another night, another society benefit, another gla.s.s of flat champagne. My eyes roamed the crowd. All the usual suspects were in attendance.

Except Sam Sloane.

The broken pieces of my heart twisted in my chest. Sam had been noticeably absent from the society scene lately. I hadn't seen him since I left Sublime, although he starred in my feverish dreams every night. There, he would come to me, kiss me, make pa.s.sionate love to me. All the while, Sam would whisper that he loved me for me-not for my new powers. Every morning, I woke up smooching my pillow and murmuring how much I loved him in return. My heart shattered all over again when I realized that it wasn't real. That Sam wasn't there beside me.

That he didn't love me.

I was torn between wanting to see Sam and glad I didn't have to face him. I certainly didn't want to see him with some skinny, perfect supermodel hanging on to his arm. And I didn't want to do something foolish, like throw myself at him and beg him to love me for me.

I stared into the crowd once more. This time, though, I concentrated. Waves of power s.h.i.+mmered to life, and the room erupted with color. Every person radiated his or her own unique shade. More often than not, the color, the feel of the waves corresponded to someone's personality. Blues often indicated a strong, take-charge soul, while greens were usually caring, compa.s.sionate people. Whites tended to be shy, retiring types, while reds, yellows, and oranges almost always surrounded loud, boisterous extroverts. In a way, it was almost like looking at someone's karma.

I quit concentrating. The waves vanished, and the colors faded. I sighed. Every so often I tested out my power, hoping it had deserted me. Hoping it had gone away. It hadn't, and it never would.

KarmaGirl.

I gave my empty gla.s.s to a pa.s.sing waiter. I'd already gotten quotes for my story. Time to leave. I turned and smacked into someone.

"Oh! Excuse me. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, Carmen," Fiona purred.

Fiona had been trying to corner me at every society benefit this week. So far I'd been able to avoid her. I could spot her heat signature a hundred feet away, but I'd been too depressed and distracted to watch out for her tonight.

"So, how are things?" Fiona asked, her blue eyes wide and curious. She was trying to look all sweet and innocent. She didn't fool me for a second.

"Fine. And you?"

"Well, I'm not so fine. Do you know why?"

I stared at Fiona's flamboyant dress. "Because you're wearing something that would make a peac.o.c.k blush?"

Fiona sniffed and smoothed down the sequined ruffles on her colorful gown. "I'm going to chalk that comment up to your lack of fas.h.i.+on expertise. No, I'm not fine because Sam is not fine. All he does is mope around the house. He's been a real sourpuss lately. It's getting on my last nerve. I'm the one with the bad att.i.tude, not him."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked in a guarded tone. I didn't know what Fiona was up to.

"Because I think you should give Sam a call. He misses you."

Sam missed me. For a moment, happiness flooded my body. Then, all my doubts and fears roared back to the surface. "I've got nothing to say to him."

Fiona arched one of her perfect blond eyebrows. "I'd say the two of you have lots to talk about. Didn't you see him when Malefica dropped you into that tub of radioactive goo? He was frantic. Sam really does care about you, Carmen, whether you believe it or not."

I glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on us and lowered my voice. "Listen to me.

I'm only going to say this once. I'm not a superhero. I never will be. And that's what Sam really wants.

He doesn't want me. He doesn't care about me. He just wants to add another member to the team."

"Oh come on," Fiona snapped. Her blond hair s.h.i.+mmered. "Wake up and smell the champagne, Carmen.

Sam wants you. He doesn't care about your powers at all. For some reason I can't fathom, he actually cares about you."

"Even if he did, and that's a very big if, we could never be together." A sour, bitter taste filled my mouth.

"Why the h.e.l.l not? You've been together plenty of times already."

"I'm not talking about s.e.x," I snapped. "I mean we couldn't ever have a real, lasting relations.h.i.+p.

There's too much bad karma between us."

"Like what?"

I threw up my hands. I'd only been talking to Fiona two minutes, and she had already exasperated me.

"I'm talking about the fact I used to expose superheroes for a living. I'm talking about the fact my relations.h.i.+ps with men, especially superheroes, never work out. I'm talking about the fact I almost got you all killed." I drew in a deep breath. "And then there's the biggie-Travis's death."