Secret Super (Book 1)

10. Just a Sidekick

"I want a new sidekick."

Kara blurted out the words as she opened the door. She accidentally used to much force and the door slammed open, banging against the wall.

"You don't have to make a dramatic entrance every time you walk in here," Harrison said, looking up from his screen with his lips twitching in a slight smile. There were dark circles under his eyes and tangled vines twisted around his jacket, knotting in his hair. His copper skin gleamed with sweat.

"Guess I'm just used to it." Kara walked over and stood in front of his desk, crossing her arms. She frowned. "You look terrible. What happened?"

"Always so tactful," Harrison sighed. "What happened is paperwork, nothing you need to worry about." He gestured for her to sit down at the desk. "What was that about a sidekick?"

Kara slid into the chair across from him, propping her feet up on the desk. "Jace is driving me crazy!" she said. "I don't know how much longer I can take this."

For the past few days since she'd gotten back from her mission with Zadia, the Academy had kept assigning her to classes and training sessions with Jace. Jace, for some reason, had taken the opportunity to try to press the superhero-handbooks onto Kara and lecture her about protocol. If Kara heard one more rule about how to cause the least amount of destruction possible during a mission, she was going to spontaneously combust.

Harrison pushed her feet off the desk. "Have you even tried to get to know her?" he said, raising his eyebrows.

"I can't," Kara said. "She's unbearable. Why can't I choose a different sidekick?"

Harrison pushed his hair out of his face, looking Kara in the eye seriously. "The Council chose Jace as your sidekick for a reason, you know."

"The delicious irony of a superhero who can create barriers that has a sidekick who can break them?" Kara suggested.

"No!" Harrison paused. "Well, perhaps. I don't know the Council members' thought processes." His gaze grew sharp, the leaves tangled into his hair rustling. "Nevertheless, Jace is going to be your sidekick whether you like it or not, so I suggest you take the time to get to know and understand her."

Kara didn't think she'd ever understand Jace. "So in other words, I'm stuck with her?" she said.

Harrison nodded, drumming his fingers on his desk. "That's right. Now, you have a security patrol mission with her today, so I expect-"

He was cut off short by the beeping of his comm device. He looked down at the message and cursed, the vines worming up his arms and tightening around his worn leathery jacket.

"Harrison? What's going on?"

Harrison licked his lips, giving Kara a thin, strained smile. "Oh, the usual. I'm being swamped with work . . . Now, if you please . . . I have a lot to do."

Kara narrowed her eyes. "I'm serious, what's going on?"

"There's been a break-in somewhere or other. Like I said, too much paperwork. Please." He waved her out the door, already looking down at the work on his desk.

* * * * *

"This is stupid." Kara stifled a yawn, swinging her legs from the top of the glass case. "Couldn't they have found someone who's not a super to patrol their museum?"

"I don't think you're supposed to sit on those," Jace said, glancing back at Kara. Jace was standing still and straight against the wall, her eyes scanning around the room.

Kara didn't know why she was doing that, because she wouldn't be able to see anything even if she tried. The museum was enveloped in cold, inky darkness, every small sound seeming to echo around the marble and glass and empty space.