Secret Spark

Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

The clock on the wall behind Sadie had inched all of nine minutes since the last time she’d checked. It was official. This was the slowest Sunday in recorded history. Possibly because she’d spent the past however-many hours in misery before forcing herself to get up and shower and go to work.

Her sweet Joanie Maloney wasn’t so sweet. Sadie had gone for the bad girl again. Only this time, a whole new level of bad. Supervillain bad.

She sighed deeply and crumpled against the pastry case. Even their music today reflected her mood—maudlin folksy songs about heartache.

It all made complete sense, and yet didn’t. So many of the stories Joan had told her fit the bill for Spark: destroyed parts of her hometown, couldn’t hold a real job (what with all the melting), her found work family, problems with the Supers…

But someone who broke into banks and stole things wouldn’t be giddy about making plans for a food truck, right? A food truck , of all things. A food truck named—hello!—Hot and Cold.

And she wouldn’t be so invested in Sadie’s dreams. Sure, Joan could throw some money at a café, but it really seemed like she wanted to be a part of it. That she genuinely believed in Sadie.

And Sadie really had felt safe with Joan. Taken care of. She’d been startled by seeing fire in Joan’s eyes, but who wouldn’t be if they weren’t expecting it?

You got to know the real me. You know the real me.

Yes and no. She knew Joan, but there was a whole unfamiliar side of her. Sadie had spent a large chunk of yesterday watching videos of Spark. The body shape, the lips, the eyes … They were all Joan. Even bits and pieces of things she’d yelled at the Supers had been in Joan’s husky voice.

And then it’d been videos of Catch. Shorter, slightly curvier Catch. With a curt way of speaking about justice. Joan never talked like that.

Then Sadie had rested against her apartment door, half hoping to hear activity from Joan’s place. Not that she could hear much over her own sobbing and hiccups and heavy moans coming from the depths of her soul.

Still, she had to begrudgingly admit she maybe possibly should have watched Catch videos with a more critical eye after meeting Joan. It was so obvious now they were not one and the same. She’d made a huge assumption—which Joan absolutely should’ve corrected—going from My new neighbor has nice eyes to She’s a Superhero in sixty seconds flat.

And of course Joan would say negative things about the Supers. Of course she’d claim they never helped citizens after battles.

Though Lunk had crashed through Vector City Coffee only to make a halfhearted apology and run off. Joan had never wavered from insisting she’d been the one who paid for the repairs.

Okay, so maybe the Supers had been a bit more destructive than… But that didn’t mean they… And it didn’t mean the Villains were better than…

Her eyes clouded over with fresh tears. She straightened and drew in a deep breath. Work would distract her.

Amit came from the back carrying plastic sleeves of paper cups. He took one look at her and said, “You know I don’t like to pry.”

“Ha.”

“You’ve been out of it all day. Everything okay?”

His concern pressed the tears closer to release. “I screwed up again,” Sadie said.

“Uh-oh.” Amit set the cups on the counter.

“Joan.”

“What about Joan?”

“She…” Sadie cleared her throat and waved at her eyes. “She wasn’t who I thought she was.”

“What did she do?”

“She lied to me about her job.”

Amit raised an eyebrow. “And…?”

“And what?”

“There’s usually more.”

“Her job’s a really big part of who she is,” Sadie said. “She led me to think she did something else.”

“Ah. That sucks.”

He went quiet after that. Amit never went quiet. “What?” Sadie said.

“Nothing,” he said. “I kinda thought she might be different.”

“Nope. A big liar, like the rest of them.”

“It’s just…”

Sadie crossed her arms. “Don’t tell me you want to defend her.”

“No,” Amit said. “I knew she was hiding something. It just seemed like she had a good reason.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s a government job, isn’t it? Some top-secret thing?”

Wooo, how to answer that? “Top-secret, yes.”

“Something she couldn’t tell you due to security or clearance?”

“Well, maybe safety, but that?—”

“I could be way off base.” Amit ripped at the plastic covering one of the stacks of cups. “She does give off a military vibe. Watchful and wary. Doesn’t trust a lot of people.”

She trusted me.

“She made an effort to talk to me,” he added. “I could tell she was trying to win me over.”

“You like her because she was nice to you?”

Amit hesitated, then gave her a look bordering on sad. “You seemed happy together. Like you got each other. I’ve never seen someone dig on you as much as you dug on them.”

Sadie sighed again, heart pulsing grief with every beat.

“Her friends were nice.”

“You talked about gaming for a solid half hour with them,” Sadie pointed out.

“Yeah, so I can confirm they were nice. And you hung out with them. Joan let you meet her?—”

“No,” she stated. “She lied to me. End of story.”

“Okay. You’re right. Lying is bad.”

His subtext hung thick in the air. Unless she had a good reason.

Sadie slumped against the counter and dug her chipped red nails into the other plastic sleeve of cups. Objectively, she understood why Joan hadn’t told her she was Spark. And even why she’d let Sadie keep thinking she was Catch. But it still hurt. Even if Joan had simply told her she wasn’t Catch, that would’ve been okay. It wasn’t like Sadie expected a Super to reveal their identity. But leading her on was just unfair.

Her intuition had been trying to tell her to question Joan. For once, that nagging voice had been spot on.

Joan tried to tell you.

A hot flush climbed up the back of her neck. Joan had been trying to tell her something over the past few days. And Sadie being Sadie, she’d plowed right over her.

The plowing always got her in trouble.

Settling the stack of cups next to the espresso machine, she said, “So you really think Joan’s lie was justifiable?”

“I’m not saying that,” Amit said. “I’m just sorry it didn’t work out. You were cute together.”

“You never say anything is cute.”

“Which should tell you how cute you were.”

Sadie kicked at a lower cabinet with the toe of her sneaker. Damn it, they were cute together. Their relaxing mornings and walks to work holding hands had been perfect. Could they still have those? Could she have a sustainable, honest relationship with Joan?

You still think of her as Joan. Not Catch. Not Spark.

Ugh.

“Can I take my break?” Sadie said. “I need some fresh air.”

“Sure.” Amit nodded at the mostly empty coffeehouse. “We’re not swamped.”

She ambled to the supply room in the back, checking her phone. Not that Joan would—or should—call or text. But still…

Once out of the alley, she breathed in the warm afternoon air. It sucked not being able to talk to her friends and family about everything. They’d only give her the usual “Again?” Plus, it wasn’t like she could tell them the whole story. “I assumed my new neighbor was a Superhero, but no, she’s actually Spark.”

She should’ve known Joan was too good to be true. She just didn’t want to believe Joan wasn’t who she’d made her out to be.

A small group of people congregated around the convenience store on the corner. One of the walls was missing a big chunk. As a tall man stepped to the side, Flight and Lunk became visible in front of a pile of bricks and broken glass.

Flight’s red cape fluttered in the breeze. “If you go on the SuperWatch app, you can file a claim for reimbursement,” he said to the Middle Eastern man and woman beside him.

A short young white guy in a suit held up his tablet for Flight to read something. He looked familiar. Wait—he’d ran past her recently when she was walking home from work.

“Mr. Flight,” the young guy said. “We have the meet-and-greet with the garden club in thirty minutes.”

The woman storeowner gestured at the rubble. “What are we going to do about this?”

Lunk scooped up armfuls of bricks. “I can put these back.”

He set them in the hole in the building, piling the debris atop a busted produce shelf. Apples and oranges rolled and squished out onto the sidewalk.

Flight motioned to the young guy. “Ward can take your information. We do want to assure you we successfully thwarted the robbery.”

The repairs would probably cost more than what would’ve been taken from the cash register, since most people paid by credit card.

Lunk took a step toward Ward. He must be a sidekick. “Is there going to be food at the plant thing?”

“Finger sandwiches and such,” Ward said.

“But I’m really hungry.”

“You did tell them no dairy, right?” Flight said to the sidekick.

Ward’s mouth hung open. “Uhh…” He consulted his tablet.

“You know I can’t have dairy. Now we’ll have to eat before we go, just in case.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I’m pretty sure I told them, but…”

Flight turned to the storeowners. “Could we get two sandwiches? Turkey or roast beef. No cheese .”

“Can I get three?” Lunk flexed his bulging arm muscles. “I eat a lot.”

“And large diet colas. We would appreciate it.” Flight flashed a winning smile. “Thank you, citizens.”

The woman made a faint semblance of a smile. She muttered to the man as they entered the store. The man shrugged like What else can we do?

Two employees began picking up the fruit and throwing it away. What an unfortunate waste. Lunk signed an autograph and posed for a photo with a giggling middle-aged white lady.

Flight pulled Ward aside. “You can’t forget about the dairy. It destroys my stomach. That’s not something we want to happen while I’m in the air.”

“Yes, sir,” Ward said, typing on his tablet.

Sadie headed back to work. The whole situation sat badly in her gut, apparently like how dairy sat with Flight. The Supers were acting like gratitude was expected. That they should get free food and drinks as thanks for damaging the store. Lost product, lost business and repair costs, yet they had no problem asking for handouts.

Joan always paid for everything. It was the right thing to do. Why could a Villain see that but not the Supers?

Had she really been wearing blinders so tightly that she couldn’t see what others saw? Maybe Joan’s viewpoint had some merit.

Shoot. The most honorable person she’d been interested in was a benevolent Supervillain.

* * *

The past few days felt like one long, fuzzy workday. Sadie had stayed late Sunday, gone in early Monday, and was now walking to VCC on her day off to cover for Nyah for a few hours while she took her aunt to the doctor.

She squinted at the early afternoon sunlight cresting over the buildings. It was shaping up to be a hot day and she hadn’t been sleeping, so the grump level was high. Maybe when she got home, she could chill at the rooftop pool. She highly doubted Joan would… But then again…

Ugh, why had she chased someone who lived so close? She didn’t even want to get her mail anymore.

The start of a Vultures baseball game played on TV inside a sports bar. Joan was a loyal fan even though the team hadn’t had a decent season in years.

Ugghhhh. Joan was everywhere.

By habit, she checked her phone for any SuperWatch notifications. Dreaded seeing anything involving Spark. Or Ice or Breeze, for that matter. There had been a lot of talk about them doing art heists. Was that what Joan had been up to? What Greta had needed to talk about?

Was all of Joan’s very nice home décor stolen? If she ever did talk to Joan again, she’d ask if the artists had been properly compensated. Not paying creatives for their work was the real crime.

An incoming call from Mom popped up. Not todaaaayyyyyy.

“Hey Mom, I’m just about to work. Can I?—”

“Why are you working?” Mom said. “It’s your day off.”

“Just filling in for a little bit.”

“What’s wrong? You usually throw yourself into your job when you have a breakup.”

Leave it to her mother to remember that little factoid. “I’m just helping Nyah out,” Sadie said.

“I wish you’d spend less time at that deathtrap.”

She chose to let that go and pay attention to crossing the street.

“Well, anyway, your dad wanted me to call and tell you he heard they’re hiring at Allegria Insurance.”

“Mom,” Sadie snickered. “Allegria Tower is still under construction because it got damaged by Super activity. I’d be trading one deathtrap for another.”

Mom chose to let that go.

The skyscraper had been smashed into by Breeze, who was actually some guy named Perry who liked to have meetings. How was Sadie supposed to deal with knowing the people behind the masks?

“I know you don’t want a boring office job,” Mom said. “But I’m sure they have a marketing or advertising department. You could still be creative and have decent benefits.”

Sadie started to say she had benefits at VCC, but she was tired of deflecting and rationalizing every tiny thing. “I’ve been thinking about opening a café,” she said instead. “The one I’ve talked about for years. I think I’m actually going to do it.”

“You can have fun making your coffee drinks?—”

“Not be a barista, though I do love doing that. I want to run my own coffee shop. One of my neighbors encouraged me to go for it.”

“Who was that?” Mom asked warily.

“Just a new neighbor. Joan.” Saying her name made her chest tighten. “She was talking about opening a food truck, so we were tossing around ideas. She was the one I was having brunch with last week. She made the food, I made the drinks.”

It was like putting Joan’s name back in her mouth had opened the floodgates. Sadie mashed her lips together to stop the rush of words before her mother put two and two together.

“Does she have experience with such a thing?” Mom said.

“ I have tons of experience. I’m qualified.”

The thought stopped her in her tracks. “I’m really qualified for this,” Sadie murmured to herself.

“You have a college degree,” Mom said.

Why did her family keep mentioning some damn piece of paper Sadie’d received over a decade ago? She marched into the flow of sidewalk traffic. “Mom, I love you, but I need you to listen. I like what I do. I want to open a café. That’s my dream. And even if I don’t do that, I don’t want to work in a corporate environment. Especially not an insurance company.”

“I know, honey. It’s just…”

“I don’t have the greatest track record and haven’t given you many reasons to trust me. But this is who I am. I go into things with my heart on my sleeve.”

Like falling for a secret Supervillain.

Mom was quiet for several moments. “You’re a lot like your dad when we first met. He had those wild ideas about starting a greenhouse. Or no, it was a farming co-op. The greenhouse came later.”

“Dad likes gardening as a hobby. He’s told me he didn’t want the enjoyment he gets from it to be a source of stress. Like how I do little craft projects for fun.”

“I’m just saying he realized what he needed to do to support a family. Maybe when you meet the right person, you’ll change your mind.”

“Maybe I will,” Sadie said. Or maybe that person will encourage my dreams. Like Joan.

Somehow, her body was able to produce yet another wave of tears.

She turned down the alley leading to VCC. “I’m at work. Tell Dad I’m glad he didn’t give up his love of gardening. Maybe I’ll take the train out this weekend to see you.”

“We’d love that,” Mom said. “Other than going to Jazz on the Square with the Ditmeyers tonight, we’ve got nothing going on.”

Sadie said something about having a good time before they hung up. She couldn’t go into work all weepy again.

A SuperWatch notification appeared.

New Report: Trick is the mastermind behind the recent uptick in criminal activity. Hide and Volt are working alongside him. Multiple sources have reported Breeze, Ice and Spark deny being involved.

Her heart leapt into her throat. Was that because they were busy working on plans for Hot and Cold? Could they… Could Sadie…

Joan’s mournful expression filled her head. I wish I could be the good person you thought I was.

Dang it, Joan really had been fairly honest (minus the One Big Lie). She’d saved a dog’s life. She was a good person, and it stung to think she didn’t believe that about herself. The world had told her her entire life she was to be feared, that she was bad and not to be trusted. That would do a number on anyone.

“Oh, Joan,” she whispered.

This felt so different than all the other times she’d discovered someone had been using her. Because that was the difference—Joan never asked her for anything. Only offered and supported. For someone who could’ve easily manipulated Sadie, she’d done anything but.

If it weren’t for Joan, Sadie’s Café would seem far, far away. Though doing it without her might not be as fun. But it could be done. Joan had shown her that. Joan had shown her a lot of things were possible.

Joan Malone was pretty incredible and needed to know that.

Hope twirled in her chest as she pulled up their text chain. They had a lot to talk about and work through, but it was worth giving it a try. Giving Joan a try. No more holding back on questioning things. Joan needed to give her the whole truth.

A sudden, sharp urge to drop her phone overwhelmed her. She blinked to try to clear the thought, but it pulsed strong, steady, relentless. Her phone slipped from her fingers.

Another wave told her to empty her pockets. Then to turn around.

She moved as though being guided by an unseen force. A foul, acrid odor assaulted her nose. Someone grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth. Panic spiked through her.

She tried to yell and fight, but whoever it was held her tight. A woman in black and yellow stepped out from behind the dumpster and shot a bolt of lightning over Sadie’s head.

“Don’t even think about screaming,” she said.

Volt. And Sadie couldn’t see who was holding her. Hide.

Oh, no. Oh, shit. Was this because of?—

That wave of unbidden thought came again, instructing her to go with them. She walked out of the alley toward a black SUV. Everything inside her shouted to pull away and run, but she couldn’t. She was no longer in control.