A True Hero Read online

  Nicole tore her eyes away from Margaret to look out of the window. “If he called, I could have gotten a ride home with Justin. I’ve done it before.”

  “I wanted to pick you up.” Margaret gave her a brief smile, not daring to take her eyes off the road for too long. “We can spend the afternoon together, just us girls.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Nicole shifted in her seat. The thought of spending time alone with Margaret squirmed within her, making it impossible to sit still. Strange . . . spending time with Margaret didn’t used to be so awkward. Five summers ago when Nicole had spent her vacation participating in the Alferdale Museum’s Geological Experience Camp, she had been entranced by Margaret—one of the camp’s directors, and a minerology physicist. Nicole hadn’t even known what one was until she looked it up: a scientist who studied the energies innate in power crystals and gems. Margaret was beautiful and successful and so smart! She knew everything about minerals, gems, and power crystals. It had blown Nicole’s mind. She joined the Camp every summer since and even stopped by the Museum on the off chance she could see Margaret and maybe talk to her a little—if Nicole could scrounge up the nerve. Being in Margaret’s proximity and knowing that someone who had such “nerdy” passions like geology could be so successful had empowered Nicole’s self-esteem. It had been fabulous having someone so spectacular to look up to from afar.

  Until her father met Margaret.

  Everything changed. Especially after they had gotten engaged. Being so close to Margaret made Nicole feel like hiding—running for cover—and she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was like the sun. From 93 million miles away it warmed the earth and enabled life, but any closer and it would scorch everything in sight.

  “Were those your friends?” Margaret’s question cut through Nicole’s thoughts.

  “Yeah.”

  “I know Justin, but that girl . . .”

  “Her name’s Stephanie.”

  “Stephanie . . .” Margaret tapped the wheel a moment. “Isn’t she the cool girl you’ve been wanting to talk to?”

  Nicole slid down in her seat. Hearing Margaret say it out loud made Nicole sound so . . . clingy. “That’s her.”

  “So you worked up the nerve to talk to her? I’m so proud of you!”

  Nicole’s cheeks burned. Did Margaret have to remind her of how much of a needy joke Nicole was?

  “You’re taking the bulls by the horns, as it were.” Margaret patted Nicole’s hand. “Well done.”

  “Thanks.” Nicole wished she had the nerve to turn the radio on to get Margaret to stop talking, but she didn’t have the guts to touch anything in Margaret’s car. And what would happen if a song came on they both knew? Margaret would sing in her most likely amazing voice and drown out Nicole’s frog voice. It would be more humiliation on top of everything else. No, Nicole would have to bear through it. Which was fine since Margaret had lapsed into silence.

  Nicole let out a tense breath. Finally, a moment to process . . . to breathe. If only the silence would last.

  “So, Nikki,” Margaret said. “Are you excited about your vacation?”

  Nicole bit her lips together. So much for the silence lasting. “Yeah.” Despite the tense atmosphere, a smile crept to Nicole’s face. Two weeks alone with her dad and possibly her friend.

  “I can see you’re excited.” Margaret gave a knowing smile. “You can’t hide it, so don’t even try.”

  “I’m not trying to.” Nicole gripped her courage and tried her hardest to crawl out from the tent of anxiety being with Margaret smothered her with. “I look forward to my vacation with Dad every year.”

  “I’m looking forward to it too.” Margaret’s mouth spread in a wide grin. “John’s so excited about it, it’s made me excited. Usually I can’t stand road trips.”

  Margaret’s statement slammed the brakes on Nicole’s entire life. “You’re coming too?”

  “I’ve got some work in Quenton around the time you’ll be up there so John and I decided it would be a good idea for me to tag along. It’ll be sort of a pre-family vacation.”

  All of Nicole’s excitement crashed into a brick wall. “Oh. Great. You’re coming.” She slid down in her chair.

  Margaret glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “Is that okay?”

  “Even if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t matter,” Nicole crossed her arms. “You two already decided.”

  “It matters to me.” Margaret glanced at her with a slightly pained expression. “I don’t want to intrude.”

  Guilt lanced Nicole’s middle. This was the woman her father was going to marry, and he only proposed after Nicole assured him it was alright.

  “It’s fine.” Nicole forced herself to sit up in her chair. “Really.”

  “Thanks.” Margaret said in an unconvinced tone. She pulled into a parallel parking space in front of a meter. A stone building with columns out front and banners hanging above the doors loomed above them.

  Nicole glanced at the building stretching five stories above them. “What are we doing at the Museum?”

  “I’ve got a meeting in about half-an-hour.” Margaret got out of the car. Nicole followed suit. “I know you love the geology wing so I thought we could spend some time there. Plus . . .” Smirking, Margaret slipped something into Nicole’s hands.

  It was a brochure for a Museum exhibit.

  “The Tifuld Sapphire?” Nicole furrowed her eyes as she studied the pamphlet. “Wasn’t the exhibit cancelled?”

  “It was. Last minute. We had everything set up before they decided to move the gem to a more secure location.” Margaret pressed her lips together. “Never mind I’ve been studying the thing here for years without any issues. A more advanced lab, indeed. You just don’t want the insurance liability of having such a gem targeted by Villains. It’s not my fault you didn’t want to put in a more appropriate security system. What else do you think all the grant funding was for?”

  Nicole watched her in silence. She had found Margaret tended to mutter to herself when upset.

  “Anyway.” Margaret shook her head. “I know how disappointed you were the exhibit was cancelled, but I can let you in to take a peek before the curators pack everything up.” She winked at Nicole.

  “Really?” A smile exploded on Nicole’s face. She darted to the Museum’s entrance. “Let’s go.”

  “Not so fast.” Margaret trotted after her on high-heeled shoes. “I’m a thinker not an athlete.”

  “No reason you can’t be both,” Nicole blurted and instantly regretted it. What if Margaret took it as an insult? Or thought she was being rude?

  If Margaret was bothered by her statement, she didn’t show it. She merely shrugged and said, “Not my style,” before walking in the door.

  Nicole cracked a smile and followed after her. Why couldn’t all their interactions be so fun and effortless? Nicole shoved the thought to the back of her mind and rushed into the Museum.

  CHAPTER 3

  THE ORANGE, BRILLIANT cut gem rested on a black display pillow and shed shards of light on the area surrounding it—including into Nicole’s dazzled eyes.

  “There it is. The Tifuld Sapphire.” Margaret leaned in close to the display beside Nicole. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  “Gorgeous.” Nicole narrowed her eyes as she took in the sapphire. It didn’t bother her that it was orange rather than blue. As an avid, amateur gemologist, she knew sapphires could come in all shades except red. In general, red sapphires were called rubies. “This case is energy shielded, right?” She tapped the case.

  “Correct.” Margaret furrowed her brows. “How did you know?”

  “It was in the brochure.” Nicole turned her attention back to the display.

  “Was it?” Margaret opened the brochure. “Oh, yes. There it is. We use this special glass on all our cases, especially for the power crystals we have on display.”

  “This isn’t a real sapphire, is it?” Nicole stood straight to examine the gem from the top.

 
“According to the refractometer it is.” Margaret kept her eyes glued to the brochure.

  “Then it should be giving off some sort of energy signature,” Nicole muttered. “I don’t see anything. Only orange light.”

  “Energy signature?” Margaret lifted her eyes from the brochure. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean . . . uh . . .” Nicole hissed in a breath. She hadn’t mean to say it out loud. “I’ve . . . been doing a lot of research. It doesn’t radiate energy like other objects do. It only emits orange light . . . that’s it, all the time. Everything else is absorbed. Real sapphires don’t act that way.”

  “Has this information been disclosed to the public?” Margaret furrowed her brows. “Wish they had told me about it.”

  Nicole waited. There Margaret went talking to herself again.

  Margaret shook her head. “You are correct, Nikki. Sapphires don’t do that. Even this one has a limit to how much energy it can absorb at once.” She gazed at the Sapphire, seeming to lose herself in it. “But why does it absorb energy at all? Answering this question is why I’ve been researching this sapphire. Among other things, we want to know how and why this gem has developed its properties. I have a few ideas about it.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I can’t say. It’s classified.”

  Nicole nodded. She understood. “Maybe it’s not a sapphire at all.”

  “It’s a sapphire.” Margaret tapped the pink stone Nicole wore around her neck. “Just as real as yours.”

  Nicole clutched the tiny gem hanging at the end of the silver chain she wore. It had been a gift from her mother . . . the last thing she had been given before her mother died. “This isn’t a sapphire. It’s a pink quartz.” She opened her hand and gazed at it. “My mom gave it to me when I was little. She . . .”

  “I know it’s not real, sweetie.” Margaret gave her a smile. “It was a joke.”

  Nicole paused. Didn’t Margaret hear her talking? Maybe not . . . sometimes when Nicole talked about her mom, her voice became so soft even her father didn’t hear some times.

  Either way, Margaret went on. “My colleagues and I have had debates on what type of stone the Tifuld Sapphire is, and we’ve come a consensus. It is indeed a sapphire.” She pushed her glasses onto her nose. “The refractometer confirms it.”

  “Well . . . what if refractometer’s wrong? Broken or something?”

  “I’ve tested it on many different machines.”

  “Then maybe the readings are wrong.” Nicole gazed at the Sapphire again. Deep inside she saw a glint or shimmer of something etched into the heart of the gem. “Or maybe what we thought were sapphires, aren’t.”

  “Nikki, we can’t throw out everything we know about science because it doesn’t line up with what we think should happen. If we did, we’d never get anywhere.”

  “But isn’t that exactly what science is? Always changing to fit the evidence?”

  “You’re right, Nikki. Still, it’s established that each type of gem has a separate spectral signature. What we need to do is figure out what we’re missing here.” Margaret teased the tip of her lip with her thumbnail. “We’re at the edge of discovery, I know it.”

  Nicole turned her eyes back to the Sapphire. They were at the edge of discovery, all right. If only Nicole could see the Sapphire outside of the case.

  A melodic jingle chimed from Margaret’s pocket. She slipped her phone from her pocket and glanced at it. “I have to go prepare for my meeting, sweetie. I shouldn’t be long—twenty minutes at most. Do you mind staying here while I’m gone?”

  “I’ll be fine.” Nicole surveyed all the rocks. “I’ll have a good look around at the displays.”

  “No one should bother you since it’s closed off to the public. If they do, let them know Dr. Farber says you can stay. I gave them your name so they should leave you be.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll be back soon.” Margaret headed to the door but paused at the threshold. She hesitated a moment, fingers tapping on the lintel before turning to Nicole. “I enjoy when we talk like this, Nikki. Our interactions don’t have to be awkward.”

  Nicole hesitated. “Yeah. Right.”

  Margaret smiled and left.

  “Except once you point out it’s awkward, it becomes awkward.” Nicole threw her head back with a groan. “Why am I like this?”

  Nicole let herself bathe in self-pity for a few moments before she pulled herself out of it. No use wallowing. She was alone in an exhibit of precious gems and stones—her dream come true. Plus, she had unprecedented access to the Tifuld Sapphire. “I wonder if I can figure out what makes this thing tick through the glass.” She narrowed her eyes to focus on the gem.

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

  When Nicole pulled it out, a bluish light flashed in her face—ID scan. Oh, no. She knew what was coming next. Sure enough, the ASH logo spun on her screen. Glancing around to make double-sure she was alone, Nicole tapped the logo. “What’s up, Bee?”

  “Good afternoon, Nicole.” A pleasant, if childish voice, with a computerized undertone greeted her. An image of a girl in a bee costume appeared on the screen. This was B-TX, the AI for ASH’s main computer. The program doled out assignments and passed messages from one Hero to another. Its appearance could be customized to suit the tastes of the user. Both the bee costume and the voice had been Nicole’s doing, though she had been aiming for a slightly older sounding voice. “Incoming message from Starlight.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Working . . . accessing . . . playing message . . .”

  Nicole rolled her eyes. Besides some of the other alterations she had planned, Nicole would have to figure out how to get Bee to speak more normally—more like a human and less like a computer.

  “Hey, girl!” came Starlight’s voice, and her face appeared on the screen. She looked like she was traveling at top speed, her hair streaming out behind her. “Suit up! I need you to meet me at these coordinates in 10. See ya!”

  “End of message.” Bee reappeared on the screen.

  “I can’t do this now!” Nicole gripped her phone. “Margaret’s going to be back any moment!”

  “Shall I convey your misgivings in a message to Starlight?” Bee spoke in a flat monotone, another thing Nicole would have to change.

  “Yes. I can’t let Margaret know I’m a Hero.”

  “Working . . . processing . . . sending message . . . error: message not received. Starlight has blocked calls.”

  “Why?”

  “Unknown. Observation: Her previous message had been recorded twenty minutes prior and had been scheduled to be sent at this moment. Speculation: she is unavailable until your scheduled meeting.”

  “What am I supposed to do about Margaret, then?”

  “Observation: Dr. Farber has indicated her meeting will take twenty minutes. Observation: the coordinates Starlight provided is identical to your current location. Speculation: Margaret will be engaged in her meeting while you meet with Starlight.”

  “She wants to meet me here? What a coincidence.” Nicole glanced at the clock on her phone. “Ten minutes, huh? I’ll have to tell Starlight I can’t stay as soon as she arrives. Suit me up, Bee.”

  “Affirmative!” A gentle pink light washed over Nicole, and hard-light holographic technology displayed Refraction’s costume—an orange leotard with a stretchy pink and blue dress over top—over Nicole’s clothes. Pink boots and blue gloves completed her look. Unlike normal holograms, this costume was as hard and real as regular clothes and added an extra layer of protection like armor.

  “Great.” Nicole loved changing into her Hero outfit. It made her feel powerful. “Now all I have to do is wait.”

  Three minutes ticked by. Nicole paced from display to display, too keyed up to retain anything she saw, when a shiver rolled up her spine—a familiar energy signature. She smiled and turned her eyes to a vent on the ceiling. Judging by the energy signature she felt, Sta
rlight would be appearing in three . . . two . . . one . . .

  The vent slid aside and Starlight dropped to the ground. “Dusty.” She brushed her costume off and then turned around. “Refraction? You’re here already?”

  Nicole shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood. Is it so easy to get in through the vent? No wonder they want to move the Sapphire to another building.”

  “Easy? You mean with the lasers and constant camera monitoring? It was a nightmare to get in here unscathed and unseen.”

  “You could have come in through the front door.”

  Starlight shrugged. “Not my style.”

  Nicole gazed at Starlight gleaming in her blue and gold suit with the silver star-shaped buckle on her belt. Every time she saw Starlight, Nicole squealed a little. This woman—this amazing Heroine—had agreed to be her mentor, teaching her all about how to use her powers and how to interact with ASH. She was so lucky.

  “Starlight, I’m sorry, but I can’t be here now. Margaret’s in the building having a meeting. She’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  As Nicole’s mentor, Starlight knew all about Nicole’s secret identity and her home life. It was all a part of the mentoring process.

  “Calm it down, Starling. She won’t be back for a while. Her meeting’s with me.” Starlight winked at Nicole.

  Nicole grinned. She loved it when Starlight called her “Starling.”

  “Before I meet with her, I have to ask.” Starlight’s smile faded to a concerned frown. “How are things going between you and Margaret?”

  Nicole’s grin faded. “It’s fine.” She averted her eyes.

  “Ah, ah, ah. I can tell when you’re preoccupied with something.” Starlight poked Nicole’s cheek. “Come on, spill it.”

  Nicole heaved a sigh. The weight of her emotions hung heavy on her, but she could be honest with Starlight. She was probably the only one she could be honest with. “I must be the most selfish person in the world.”