Free Just Cause Universe 2: The Archmage by Ian Thomas Healy Page B

leaned back. “I was like you once, Miss Sally—young and in love. I even have a little power of my own.”
    “Yeah?” Sally perked up, interested.
    “Oh, it ain’t nothing so fabulous as yours.” Hazel held up a finger, concentrated, and an ice cube leaped out of Sally’s glass and skated across the table. “Not much good for anything, ‘cept if I drop my pencil.”
    “It’s still a parahuman power,” said Sally. “More than most people will ever have. Didn’t you ever try to do anything with it?”
    “Lord, no. This is my life, hon. I never wanted more than what I have, and I’m perfectly happy with what I do have. I’m a waitress, and damn good at it. And at the end of the day when I go home, I know I’ve been the best waitress I can be. I can’t even imagine myself as some kind of superhero like you, hon . Can you imagine me trying to squeeze these hips into a Spandex suit?”
    Sally laughed, but then stopped for fear of offending Hazel, but the waitress smiled and chuckled at herself in a good-natured way.
    She looked at her empty cup and her good cheer dissipated. “Well, I should get going. I’ve been gone for a long time and they’re going to wonder what happened to me. What do I owe you for the chocolate?”
    “On the house, hon.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Ain’t no thing.”
    “Okay. Thank you very much, Hazel.” Sally stood up and limped toward the door.
    “You’d better not be leaving here on foot, young lady.” Hazel took on the stern air of an authoritative mother.
    Sally looked down at her filthy, bare feet and blushed. “I… I guess I kind of am.” She looked out at the highway. “I’m not even sure where I am.”
    Hazel picked up her phone. “I’m calling you a ride back into town, honey. Don’t you worry none, we all get lost from time to time. Sometimes we have to find our own path, but other times someone will be there to show us the way.”
     

Chapter Five
     
    “Heav’n has no rage like love to hatred turn’d
    Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorn’d.”
    -Line from The Mourning Bride by William Congreve, 1697
     
    May, 2004
    Denver, Colorado
    Just Cause Headquarters
     
    “I don’t care! We’re through!”  
    Sally’s intention to keep a cool head with Jason had lasted almost two minutes into their conversation, but then her temper flared like a spark in dry brush. She’d cornered him in the rec room and stood before him like David confronting Goliath.
    “Look, I said it was an accident,” Jason growled.
    “Oh, right . She just happened to fall into your lap.”
    “I told her I wasn’t interested!”
    “Was that before or after I walked in on the two of you? How far would it have gone, Jason?”
    “I was pushing her away!”
    “ How far would it have gone? ” Sally screamed at him.
    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was dangerous for him to lose his temper with his strength because things might get broken. Like walls or people. “Not that far,” he said at last.
    “Did you sleep with her?”
    “No!”
    “But you did before, right?”
    “What has that got to do with anything? I didn’t this time!”
    A new voice interrupted them. “Sally, Jason… what the hell is going on?” They turned to see Juice filling the doorway, with a thunderous expression darkening his face.
    “Nothing,” growled Sally through clenched teeth. “I was just leaving.” She tried to push past the team leader, but he wouldn’t let her.
    “Not so fast. I could hear the two of you all the way down in the cafeteria. I won’t have this kind of behavior on this team.” Juice folded his arms.
    Sally caught a glimpse of someone in the hallway behind him, who looked in with interest and a sardonic smile on her face. Shannon .
    White-hot rage exploded through Sally as she slipped into fast-perceptions. Before Juice or anyone could move, she ducked past him and into the hall. Her fingers closed around Shannon’s blouse and she shoved the taller girl up