Shades of Gray - By Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge Page 0,20
at Hal, she said, “Yes?”
“You have a call, from the Academy.”
Holly sighed, untangled herself from Hal’s arms. “I’ll come find you.”
“Do that.” He stroked her cheek, sending a shiver of anticipation down her back.
She squeezed his hand once, then followed Jamie to a phone bank. Sitting down at one of the stations, she tapped the screen. And bit back a groan when she saw the face of Dr. Aaron Moore appear.
“Angelica!” the doctor beamed. “I’m glad to have caught you.”
She inclined her head politely. “Doctor. What can I do for you?”
“I wanted once again to implore you to reconsider my offer.”
“Which offer would that be?” she said. “Oh, yes, that’s right. The offer to slice open my brain and putter around in there. Forgive me, but once again I have to say no thank you.”
“But Angelica, the tests wouldn’t hurt you. And they would help with my research immensely.”
Angelica smiled tightly and bit back her initial response, which was to tell him to go to hell. Dr. Moore, the head of Corp-Co’s R&D division, was constantly looking into what made the extrahumans tick. It was no secret that Corp’s Executive Committee fawned over him and gave him all the resources he requested—no matter how insulting or insane those requests might be. So all Squadron members, for example, had to put up with countless hours of so-called therapy, which involved being hooked up to various machines that supposedly monitored their heart rates, their emotional reactions, their brain waves. Angelica hated being attached to machines, and she hated the required therapy sessions. The notion that she might volunteer her time to Dr. Moore almost made her laugh. “Sorry,” she said. “Not interested.”
“I understand,” the doctor said amiably. “But once again, I have to press my claim that your own power is more Mental in nature than Light.”
“And once again, I have to tell you that’s absurd. I’m a Lighter, same as my mother, same as her father.”
“Angelica, if you would simply allow me to perform my tests, we would learn the truth about your power. That would be beneficial not only to you, but to all extrahumans in the service of the Squadron and Corp-Co.”
“I hope they pay you every time you mention Corp’s name,” she said. “And the answer is still no.”
“But Angelica—”
“No buts, Doctor. I won’t agree to you invading my mind.”
“But think of all the good it will do …”
“Good-bye, Doctor.” She tapped off the connection before he could say another word. Christo, the man was positively galling. He just wouldn’t quit.
She wondered how long it would be before Dr. Moore went straight to the Executive Committee to demand that Angelica submit to those alleged power tests.
Suddenly chilled, she rubbed her arms.
She was still frowning at the blank screen when she heard a commotion down the hall. Curious, she left the phone bank to see what was making such a stir, and was rewarded with a scene of the conquering heroes returning victorious: Luster grinning hugely, one arm wrapped possessively around Vixen’s waist—and didn’t that make Holly blink—and the two brothers in Shadow, Night and Blackout, shining darkly in stark contrast to Luster’s brilliance. Already, a crowd of other heroes and Runners had swarmed them.
“It was no contest,” Luster was saying. “Professor Neutron didn’t have a chance, not with Vixen here leading the charge.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Vixen said, blushing madly and looking flustered. “We all played our parts, were all necessary to the operation …”
“She’s being kind,” Luster said. “We were backup, nothing more. Vixen had it all under control.”
“He’s right,” Blackout said softly, and Holly smiled at him. She knew he had a small crush on her, and he was a nice guy. But he was also Hal’s opposite in every way: where Hal was tall and muscular, Blackout—George Greene—was smaller and slighter, more of a jockey’s build than a football player’s. Hal was confident and charming; George was quiet and brooding.
Yes, Blackout was nice. Sweet, even. But he was no Doctor Hypnotic.
“She did the right thing,” Night said, “calling for backup. But we weren’t needed. It was all Vixen.”
Holly called out, “Sounds like you’ve popped your cherry, Valerie!”
Vixen blushed even deeper, but Luster laughed richly. “She certainly has. About time that Team Alpha’s newest member stole the spotlight.”
That made Holly chuckle. Maybe now Valerie would finally unwind a little and not be so standoffish.
She was surprised to find herself excited about that possibility. She didn’t have any close female friends. And anytime she tried to get close to