The overpowering mix of scents made my allergies flare up like firecrackers. I sneezed violently a couple of times and had to fish around in my purse for some tissues, which I sneezed into several more times. I finished with the tissues, looked up, and realized that I was standing next to a cardboard figure of Swifte, designed to display his latest cologne for men, Eau de Swifte. My heart squeezed, and I forced myself to push the cart on past his smiling face.
I stalked through the aisles until I finally found what—or rather who—I was looking for.
Sabrina St. John stood behind one of the Glo-Glo makeup counters, taking inventory of the items inside and marking them off on a clipboard sitting on the glass in front of her. She was dressed in a pale blue pantsuit, and her short, cropped blond hair gleamed underneath the store’s lights. She looked up at the steady squeak-squeak-squeak of my shopping cart, and her face creased into a wary, thoughtful frown at the sight of me. I wondered if she had as hard a time remembering who knew what about whose secret identity as I did.
“Hi, Piper,” Sabrina said in a guarded tone. “How are you?”
“Not good. Frost has kidnapped Swifte, and we need you to come with us.” I gestured at myself and Lulu.
Rascal barked, chiding me for forgetting him.
Sabrina’s blue eyes narrowed. “Frost has Swifte? Are you sure?”
“I was there. I’m sure. Now, come on. We still have another stop to make before we go over to the ice cream factory.”
Lulu looked at me in surprise. I hadn’t told her that was where we were ultimately headed.
Sabrina’s frown deepened. “And why would I go with you to an ice cream factory?”
I sighed. “Because that’s where Frost’s secret lair is. Because you’re really Wynter, and because you’re one of the few heroes who aren’t out helping with that pileup on the interstate right now. That’s why.”
Sabrina blinked and blinked for several seconds, the wheels turning in her mind as she debated whether or not to deny it. Finally, she sighed. “And exactly how did you figure out my secret identity?”
I shrugged. “I saw you change into your costume in one of the dressing rooms a few months ago.”
“Snowballs!” she cursed. “I knew somebody saw me that day. I knew it! I just never thought it was you.” Her eyes cut to Lulu. “Who’s your friend?”
Lulu bowed. “Lulu Lo, at your superhero service.”
Sabrina studied Lulu a moment, then her gaze dropped to the piles of merchandise in my shopping cart. “And what is all of that?”
“Supplies,” I said. “If you’re going to hunt an ubervillain who’s amassed a bunch of superpowers, you really should be prepared, don’t you think?”
“With sunglasses? And a bullhorn?” She frowned and stared at Lulu, who shrugged as if to say, I don’t know what the crazy chick is up to either.
“Trust me. You will thank me for those sunglasses before this is all over with. Now are you in or not?”
Sabrina looked at me, then Lulu, then back at me. Rascal let out a small, hopeful bark. Sabrina stared at him too, along with all the odd items in my cart.
Her lips slowly curved up into a smile. “I’m always ready to kick a little ubervillain ass,” she said. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Sabrina grabbed her purse while I paid for all the items in my cart, and we all met back at the front of the store. Even though I had almost a dozen bags, Sabrina just kept looping them on her arm one after another.
“Um, isn’t all that a little heavy?” Lulu asked.
Sabrina held up her arm and made a classic flexing motion with her bicep. “Superstrength, remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” Lulu said. “I forgot that you have all the same powers that Fiera does. Except for, you know, the fire.”
Sabrina sniffed. “Please. Ice is so much better than fire. Far less destructive. At least when I take out a villain, I don’t have to worry about setting every single thing in the immediate vicinity on fire. Did you see that four-alarm blaze Fiera started right outside the hospital last week?” She shook her head. “And she calls herself a superhero.”
Lulu and I exchanged a look, and Lulu rolled her eyes. Yeah, me too. Sometimes, I thought that the heroes had more rivalries with each other than they did with their arch-nemesis villains.
The three of us, along with Rascal, went outside and hailed a cab. Lulu told the cabbie to take us back to Paradise Park, where her van was parked. We got there and piled inside her vehicle.
Lulu slid behind the wheel. “Now where to?”
I rattled off an address.
Her dark eyes widened, and the blue streaks in her hair seemed to spike up with shock. “How do you know about him?”
I shrugged. “I just know things. Besides, he lives across the street from Abby, my best friend, remember?”
“He’s not going to like this. Another person knowing who he is and what he makes in his basement.”
“I don’t care if he likes it, as long as he helps us.”
Lulu shook her head. “It’s your funeral, Piper.”
She drove her van over to Abby’s street and stopped in front of the brownstone. Lulu, Sabrina, and I went up to the front door, with Rascal trotting along beside me. I rang the buzzer, and a security camera mounted over the entrance swiveled around to focus on me.
“The word is—” Lulu started, as though she were going to say some kind of password.
“I don’t care what the word is,” I growled, staring up at the camera. “Frost has kidnapped Swifte. So you know why I’m here and what I want. So open the door. Please.”
Several seconds passed. Worry filled my stomach like a lead weight, and I held my breath, wondering if he’d really agree to help me, since I was more or less a complete stranger and the furthest thing from a superhero. But the door finally buzzed open. I stepped forward and opened it before he could change his mind, and we walked inside.
I’d never been inside Jasper’s brownstone before, but what I could see of it from the entryway looked surprisingly nice and normal, with spacious rooms filled with lots of bookcases. Jasper stood a few feet inside the door, wearing his glasses and another pair of gray coveralls, his arms crossed over his chest.
He looked at me a moment, then Sabrina, before fixing his violet gaze on Lulu. “Do I even have to ask how much of the city you’re going to destroy this time?”
Lulu grinned and went over to him, and the two of them did a complicated handshake. “Aw, c’mon, Jasper. You know you love to help a girl out. Or rather, help us blow stuff up.”
“First, Carmen. Then Fiera and Bella. And now this.” He sighed and shook his head. “Sometimes, I think you and your friends are going to be the death of me, Lulu. Or at least get me a one-way ticket to the state pen.”
She held up her hands. “Hey, this wasn’t my idea. It was all Piper’s. She’s the one who already knew all about your sideline business, and she needs your help. Tell him, Piper.”
I explained how Frost had kidnapped Swifte, that most of the other superheroes were busy with the interstate pileup, and that the three of us were the only ones who had a chance of rescuing Kyle before Frost sucked out his blood and powers and murdered him.
When I finished, Jasper nodded. “Okay, okay. Swifte has helped me in the past, and any friend of Lulu’s is a friend of mine.” He paused and narrowed his eyes. “As long as you have enough cash for this sort of thing.”
I opened my purse, dug through my wallet, and handed him a credit card. “I have something even better. A Fiona Fine Fashions corporate account. Just put it all on that.”
Lulu let out a low whistle. “And what will Fiona say when she gets the bill?”
I shrugged. “She’ll probably just set something on fire. You know how she is. But I’ll soften her up with lunch from Quicke’s. And doughnuts from Bryn’s Bakery. And food from pretty much every other restaurant in the greater Bigtime area. Times two.”
“And you know how she i
s too,” Lulu warned. “Better make that times three.”
I considered it. “Yeah, you’re right. Times three it is.”
* * *
Jasper led us down to his basement workshop and pulled out several solidium cases, all of which were lined with black foam and contained a variety of explosives, some of which were even shaped like pineapples. Weird.
“Do you have anything smaller?” I asked. “Like, just for blowing locks?”
He blinked. “You mean you don’t want to level some building on top of Frost’s head and bury him once and for all?”
I shrugged. “I want to rescue Swifte. I don’t care what happens to Frost after that.”
That wasn’t entirely true, since the ubervillain had used me to murder innocent people. Rage still boiled in my heart when I thought about that, but I forced myself to smother that emotion with cold reason. This was a rescue, not a suicide mission, and I didn’t want to blow up myself or the others in the process of saving Swifte. Kyle would never forgive me if I got myself killed, especially when we were finally trying to set things right between us again.
So Jasper pulled out another case, which featured much smaller bombs that were shaped like cherries, complete with the stems. He said that these were new, weaker versions of some of his older bomb designs, showed me how to use them by pulling the stems out of the cherries, then made me repeat the steps back to him. Lulu and Sabrina watched as well. When he was satisfied that all three of us knew what we were doing with the explosives, Jasper closed the case, handed it over to me, and sent us on our way.
We went out to the van, and Sabrina climbed into the back. I don’t know exactly how she managed it, given all the computer equipment that Lulu had crammed into the vehicle, but Sabrina stripped off her clothes, pulled her Wynter costume and mask out of her oversize purse, and shimmied into them in less than a minute. Rascal barked, wondering at the change in her. She climbed back into her seat, and I turned around and stared at her costume.
“Ice-blue fifty-one?” I asked.
“Good eye,” Sabrina, Wynter, said. “How did you know?”
“Fiona gave me a very detailed lesson all about the various shades of ice-blue.” I shuddered. “I know more about that color than I ever, ever wanted to. But enough about that. We have a superhero to save and an ubervillain to take down.”
Lulu grinned. “I thought you’d never ask.”
She cranked the van’s engine and peeled away from the curb.
Chapter Ten
Thirty minutes later, Lulu pulled off the road and eased the van into a small wooded area. The sun was almost gone for the day, and darkness was creeping over everything. Through the trees, about two hundred feet ahead, lay what remained of the Snowdom Ice Cream Factory. Which was mostly a giant pile of rocky, ruined rubble.
Wynter peered through the windshield and frowned. “Are you sure this is where Frost is hiding out? It doesn’t look like much, Piper.”
“I’m sure.”
Wynter and Lulu exchanged a look.
“And how do you know this, exactly?” Lulu asked. “Not that we’re doubting you…except that we totally are right now.”
I glared at her, but she shrugged back at me.
“Last night, when I found Blue in the alley outside the fashion store, there was an ice cream truck parked at the curb. I didn’t think much of it at the time, especially since the truck was gone by the time the cops showed up. But I saw another ice cream truck by the fountains in the park today, almost as if someone had parked it there and was lurking inside, waiting for some superhero to walk by on their way over to that meet-and-greet event so he could kidnap them. When I woke up after Frost zapped me, that truck was gone. But it was the same truck I saw last night because it had the same exact lettering on the side. Care to guess what that lettering said?”
“Um, Snowdom Ice Cream Factory?” It wasn’t really a guess on Lulu’s part.
“Exactly.” I pointed out the windshield. “And I see that same truck parked right over there next to what’s left of the factory. Now why would there be a truck way out here if no one was around to drive it? And who else besides Frost would be driving it if this wasn’t where his supersecret lair was?”
“True,” Lulu agreed. “And who else would hole up in an abandoned ice cream factory that has been blown to bits other than a villain who’d been here before?”
“No one would even think to look for Frost way out here because the lair was already destroyed once before,” Wynter chimed in. “Or so everyone thought.”
Rascal barked his agreement as well. It made perfect sense—in a twisted, ubervillain sort of way.
“C’mon,” I said. “Let’s just hope we’re not too late to save Kyle.”
* * *
We got out of the van and sorted through all the supplies I’d bought. I handed Lulu one of the khaki mesh vests that I’d purchased at Oodles o’ Stuff.
Lulu took it from me and held it out at arm’s length, eyeing the vest with obvious disdain. She frowned. “Wait a second. Doesn’t Abby always wear one of these?”
“Yep. And I am never making fun of her for that ever again. Now put it on and grab the rest of your gear.”
Lulu grumbled some more, but she slipped on the vest and zipped it up. I did the same to mine. Wynter, of course, was in her costume and decided not to use a vest, although she did take the pair of sunglasses I gave her.
As a final touch, Lulu gave us each a set of earplugs from the stash of equipment in her van. Not only did the earplugs automatically adjust to let us hear what was happening around us, as well as block out loud, unexpected noises, but they also served as earwigs that let us communicate back and forth with each other.
“Nice,” Wynter purred, her sultry voice echoing in my ear. “If I had a partner in crime, I would totally get you to make us some of these.”
Lulu gave a little bow. “I am at your command, my lady.”
Wynter snickered.
“If you two are done talking about how awesome you both are, maybe we can try to find Kyle before Frost kills him?” I asked in a snide tone.
That sobered up the two of them, and me as well. The whole ride over here, my heart had been twisting and twisting in my chest, like a dishrag that I couldn’t wring all the fear and worry out of, no matter how hard I tried.
When we were all geared up, we left the van behind and slowly approached the rubble of the ice cream factory, heading toward the truck first. Wynter made Lulu and me hang back while she peered in the windows, then opened the side door.
“Empty,” she called out.
I clicked on my flashlight and shined it around the interior of the truck. No blood. Good. That was good. That meant Kyle was most likely still alive. That was my hope anyway, and hope was all that I had to hang on to right now.
I started to turn away when something shimmered underneath my flashlight beam. “Wait. There’s something in here.”
I leaned forward, snagged something soft from a rusty bolt that was sticking up out of the truck floor, and held it up in my flashlight beam. A bit of opalescent white cloth glimmered in my hand. I turned and showed it to Lulu and Wynter.
“This is from Swifte’s costume, which means that this is definitely Frost’s truck,” I said, slipping the cloth into one of the pockets on my vest. “They have to be around here somewhere. Let’s go.”
Wynter took the lead, and together, the three of us, plus Rascal, headed toward the rubble.
Carmen “Karma Girl” Cole had certainly done an impressive job of blowing the ice cream factory to smithereens. Oh, some of the exterior walls were still standing, but their tops were cut off, like blades of grass that had been whacked down as short as possible. The rest of the building had caved in on itself, and piles of rubble stretched out as far as I could see, with cracked support beams and jagged chunks of rebar sticking out of them like pins haphazardly poked into a cushion.
We moved slowly, picking our way through the debris, lo
oking for some sort of path or trail leading deeper into the rubble, but we didn’t find one. I didn’t even see so much as a footprint in the dust and snow that had settled in and around the ruins.
“So how exactly are we going to find Frost’s lab?” Lulu asked. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t have x-ray vision, and it’s one of the few things they don’t sell at Oodles o’ Stuff.”
“We don’t need x-ray vision because we have someone here who has a supersense of smell.” I looked down at Rascal. “Isn’t that right, boy?”
The puppy let out an enthusiastic bark and wagged his tail, whipping up sprays of snow.
Wynter stared down at the puppy. “He’s going to find Frost? Are you sure about that?”
“I’m sure. Rascal is a very smart, very special dog. Aren’t you, boy?”
Rascal let out another enthusiastic bark as if to say, You betcha! Wynter still looked skeptical, though.
I didn’t mention that Talon had already started training the puppy to be a search-and-rescue dog. That would require way too much explanation about how I knew Talon and how he was really Wesley Weston.
“And how is Rascal going to find the lab?” Lulu asked. “It’s not like Frost put up signs to it or anything.”
“Because Frost left something behind when he murdered Blue,” I said. “This.”
I reached into a pocket on my vest and fished out the scrap of ice-blue fabric I’d found in the alley last night. I just hoped there was enough of Frost’s scent still left on it for Rascal to track the villain.
I crouched down and held the torn fabric out to the puppy. Rascal realized what I wanted and snapped to attention. He leaned in, his black nose quivering as he sniffed and sniffed every single bit of the fabric.
When he was finished, Rascal sat back on his heels, as if he were thinking. Maybe he was. Then he turned, put his nose to the ground, and started sniffing along it. I let out his leash as far as it would go and followed him, with Wynter and Lulu trailing along behind me.
Fandemic Page 10
