They waved out the remaining flames and ice shards. A cloud of thick air hovered just overhead. “I figured we should stop before that got any bigger,” Mark said. “Don’t want to attract attention.”
It was a bit of a gamble doing this in their street clothes. No Supervillain outfits meant no protection, either from their powers or hiding their true identities. “That’s smart,” Joan said. “Otherwise, someone would report it on SuperWatch, and you’d have to text Zee again to tell them?—”
“Oh my god, you’re the worst.”
“Though maybe you want Race to come running down here so you can?—”
“The literal, actual worst.”
Joan cackled and took off in a sprint, calling over her shoulder, “I’ll text my bestie Darlene so we can have a party.”
“I hate you,” Mark shouted.
“Love you too, buddy.”
CHAPTER3
The Saturday morning farmers market hummed with a pleasantly chill vibe. Sadie stifled a yawn behind her hand as Joan chatted about winter squash with a vendor. The market was smaller and less crowded than in the summer and fall, but still had good seasonal selections.
Across the blocked-off-from-traffic street, Mark geeked out over freshly ground specialty spices while Perry hid behind his sunglasses despite the overcast sky. Not that he blended in all that much in his tailored charcoal-gray overcoat and stylish chestnut-brown wingtip shoes. And, y’know, Perry was a good-looking guy. Grumpy and oblivious to anyone who flirted with him, but that was part of his charm.
Sadie returned her focus to the acorn squash conversation. Joanie was so cute and content in her element. She got such a kick out of thinking up new recipes, and Sadie got a kick out of Joan’s childlike grin and enthusiasm. It’d be nice when the weather warmed up to get back to their balcony garden.
A familiar figure dressed all in black hustled by with overflowing bags of kale: Wren grabbing essential ingredients for Powered by Plants.
“Did you run out already?” Sadie said.
“We’re doing kale chips today,” Wren said, her Scottish lilt coloring her words.
“I love your kale chips. I’ll be over in a minute.”
“If you see my wife, tell her no more scented candles.”
Sadie giggled as Wren rushed toward where her food truck was parked outside the market entrance. Ah, morning people. They got the market crowd. Hot and Cold got the night owls out and about on Saturdays.
Joan looked up from a curvy butternut squash. “Was that Wren?”
“Yeah. She said to keep an eye out for her wife buying another scented candle.”
“That woman is obsessed.”
“You’re lucky making candles isn’t one of my hobbies.”
“We don’t have room for another one of your hobbies,” Joan laughed, though she probably wasn’t joking.
Living together was amazing—wonderfully amazing. For the most part. Joan was a lot more particular than one would think for someone who’d lived her entire adult life as a free-wheeling Supervillain. She got this little pinch of annoyance between her eyebrows when Sadie forgot to put her dirty laundry in the hamper or left one of her craft projects sitting out for a few days.
She was trying to be more tidy, so Joan had to cut her some slack. It wasn’t like Joan didn’t leave scorch marks on the kitchen sink or shower tile whenever she drowned out a particularly strong fireball. Those were hard to scrub off.
And she definitely didn’t complain whenever a craft project involved something for Hot and Cold. That was… Okay, that was a little irritating.
At least she was sleeping better since talking to Mark the other night. He’d told Sadie, “It’s all good,” which hopefully meant fewer nightmares.
Sadie’s phone buzzed in her back pocket. The vendor’s phone chimed. Beeps and bleeps came from all around her. Only one app went off with simultaneous alerts like that.
SuperWatch.
The woman next to Sadie studied her screen. “There’s Villain activity going on at Century Plaza.”
