Free Supergirl by Norma Fox Mazer Page A

scholarly footnotes to the love potion. "1. In Kasmania, where potion was well known in the middle ages, reportedly wore off in one day. Klemper . 2. Studies indicate effective potion lasts no more than six hours. Kooper. 3. Many reports from Kresmieg, all unverified, that potion loses effect at sunrise. Karmichael ."
    Rats. Ethan would be all, all, all hers—but not for very long. Bumm-er! She should have picked a better recipe. Oh, well, live and learn. For now, she would just have to make hay while the moon shone. Grabbing Ethan under the arms, she dragged him toward her bedroom.
    "Selena!" an unwelcome voice cried from the hall. "Selena! It's me, Nigel. Tell your little buddy to let me in. I'm not going away until I talk to you."
    Nigel, at this delicate moment! Selena dropped Ethan with a thunk.
    "Well, what is it?" she said, issuing forth regally.
    "I'm here to talk seriously to you. I have a proposal to make . . . an offer you can't resist."
    Wanna bet? Selena thought. She gave Nigel, in his chrome-plated jumpsuit, one long look and said, "Talk then, but make it brisk, I've got more interesting things to do than listen to you."
    Nigel cleared his throat importantly. "It's about that whatchamacallit we found at our picnic.
    "Not we, Nigel. I."
    "I've been giving this matter a lot of thought, Selena, and I'm convinced the whatchamacallit won't do its best for you until"—Nigel lowered his voice and raised his eyebrows— "you internalize your power." That ought to impress Selena. As he well knew, the surest way to her wicked little heart was to help her along with her power plans. Fine with him. She could be President of the World, as long as he was her Vice-president. "Some Mosaic Invocations are indicated here," he went on masterfully.
    "Some what?" Bianca said. "Talk English, Professor.'' She looked at Selena, who shrugged her ignorance.
    "Soooo," Nigel said with a significant glance from Bianca to Selena. "Sooo, you don't know. No good acting like amateurs, when you do something on a big scale, call on the experts. This is big-league stuff. You need me, Selena."
    "Where have I heard that before? Nigel," Selena said in measured tones, "nobody knows a hustle better than I do. Good-bye, it's been a real displeasure seeing you." She slammed the door in his face.
    "Some people," Bianca said. "Like, you know."
    Selena pushed past her, intent on getting to Ethan before he woke up. She didn't fancy his seeing Bianca first. She rushed into the living room, where she'd left him lying senseless on the floor. He was gone.
    In the few moments while Selena was fending off Nigel at the front door, Ethan had awakened from his drugged sleep. Disoriented, his mind foggy, he stumbled through the house from room to room, finally finding a way out of the Ghost Train into the deserted carnival grounds. Outside, despite the fresh air, he still couldn't focus his mind. He felt ill, couldn't remember where he was or why he'd come to this place. Slipping and sliding, clutching his poor head, he staggered down an embankment.
    Selena was in a rage. Damn that Nigel. If not for him, she'd still have Ethan. And now, whoever Ethan saw first, he'd love with all his heart. It could be a dog. It could be a chicken. It could be a cockroach , and he'd still love it, love it so much he wouldn't give her, the ravishing Selena, a second glance. "Where is he?" she screamed. "Ethan! I want you BACK! " She ran to her bedroom for the Coffer of Shadow and the whatchamacallit. Let it do her one good turn, at least!
    Speeding away from the Ghost Train in his car, Nigel, too, was upset. His disappointment at Selena's curt dismissal cut deep into his soul. Who said men weren't as sensitive and feeling as women? While Selena rampaged through the Ghost Train, mourning the loss of Ethan in her own special way, Nigel was also suffering in his own special way. He ran three red lights and four stop signs, grazed a blind flower vendor, but, unfortunately, missed running