Karma Kitty Goes to Comic Con

By Mari Mancusi

Comic book creator Hailey Hills has no idea what she's in for when she arrives at New York City's Comic Con for the first time. But when a pair of magical boots manages to turn her into a real life Karma Kitty--the superhero of her own design--she suddenly finds herself battling ninjas, pirates, and the guy who got away.

Chapter One

“Whoa. Have you ever seen so many people in one place that wasn't Disney World in your entire life?” Hailey Hills asked, stepping through the hallowed doors of the Javits Center, home of this year's New York Comic Con. She scanned the room, her eyes taking in the myriad of colors, lights and sounds. To her left, Captain America stuffed foam muscles into his latex shirt. An Elvis Stormtrooper crooned to a bevy of bikini clad Princess Leias on an elevated stage. And Captain Kirk challenged Captain Picard to a World of Warcraft duel over at the Blizzard booth down the aisle.

Comic Con. Geek heaven. She was finally here.

Her artist, Thomas Carol, shook his bleach blond head. “No way, Jose,” he said, his voice filled with appropriate awe. “This place is more colorful than a parade in P-Town. I can't believe we're actually here.” He turned to her, his eyes sparkling (and not just from the glitter he'd applied in the cab.) “Squee!” he cried, grabbing Hailey's hands in his and jumping up and down.

“Squee, indeed.” Hailey said with a laugh. This was the day she'd been waiting for her entire career. She shuffled her heavy bag to sit better on her shoulder. “Come on, let's find our booth and get situated for our signing.”

Thomas consulted his map. “According to this, we're in 2134.” He looked up at the numbered banners flying high above them. “Which is approximately the other side of the universe,” he added. “We'd better start hoofing it.”

They weaved their way through the crowd, trying to stay focused on their destination and not be sucked into the exciting displays flanking their path. After all, they weren't here as spectators. They'd been asked by their publisher, Straylight Comics, to do a signing of the latest issue of Karma Kitty. Straylight was a smaller publisher and only asked a few of its authors and artists to sign each year, so it was a huge honor for Hailey and Thomas and their little comic book that could, to be amongst the chosen ones. And they planned to make the most of the opportunity.

“I wonder if Collin's here,” Hailey mused, half to herself, as she ducked under a fierce lightsaber duel between Luke Skywalker and a somewhat pot bellied Vader, who'd obviously taken Yoda's “Size matters not” mantra to heart when hitting the old Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine for a few brews.

Thomas rolled his glittery eyes. “Girlfriend, please do not tell me you're planning to spend the best weekend of your life moaning over Mr. Hollywood. I simply will not be able to take it and will be forced to commit hari kari with some savage sword stolen off a hunky Conan cosplayer. And you know how I hate having to borrow my suicide weapons.”

“I'm not!” she protested, feeling her face heat. “Please. I couldn't care less if he's here or not. Honestly. I was just making casual conversation to pass the time during our million mile march to Straylight's booth. If you like, I could go back to chatting mindlessly about the weather. Would that topic be approved by the thought police?”

They pushed past a seven foot cave man robot. “You're at Comic Con!” Thomas cried. “The best you can come up with is ex boyfriend extrapolating or whether it's going to rain tonight? That is sad, Hailey. Truly sad.”

She sighed. Thomas had a point. She should be overjoyed to finally be here. It was an opportunity of a lifetime and one she'd waited years for. A chance to promote her beloved Karma Kitty, meet fans face to face, and get her serious geek on with likeminded folk.

And yet, despite all of this, all she'd been able to do for the last few weeks was create wild scenarios in her head about running into Collin Robinson and what she'd say to him if she did.

Collin Robinson. College boyfriend and former love of her life.

They met in Film 101. Him, a straight-laced corn-fed Midwesterner. She, a hippie dippie artist from San Fran. And yet they hit it off right away when they both burst out laughing during the final scene of Citizen Kane as they realized Rosebud (SPOILER ALERT!) was just some stupid sled. He asked her out for coffee, she said yes, and the rest was history.

A year later they'd started sketching out ideas for the original Karma Kitty. Hailey would write the stories of the superhero cat and Collin would draw the pictures. She found him to be an amazing artist--totally self-taught--and really helped her vision come to life. They spent hours working on the first issue, staying up late every night and ordering pizza as they drew and wrote. Hailey couldn't remember a time before or since that she'd been so happy. It seemed, up until their wedding day, that everything would have a happily ever after.

Until two things happened.

The first was Karma Kitty's rejection. The second, well, we'll get to that in a minute.

Collin and Hailey had finished the first issue of their comic book and had been sending it out to publishers. Problem is, while every publisher under the sun seemed to praise Hailey's writing and storylines, they always, in the next breath, criticized Collin's art.

Hailey never understood why. To her, Collin's Karma Kitty was beautiful--exactly how the character should look. But for some reason, his style was not going over well with the publishers. And let's just say their rejections were not going over so well with Collin. He started becoming more and more discouraged by the whole thing and though he put on a brave front, Hailey could tell he felt like he was bringing her down. Finally, one day he told her he was done drawing and ready to get a real job. She needed to find herself a new artist. She tearfully begged him to reconsider--Karma Kitty was nothing without him--but he'd made up his mind. He signed over his rights to the comic to her and never drew again. Not even a doodle. Which was really sad, because he had loved it so much and was really, really good, no matter what those stupid publishers thought.

But Hailey hired a new artist and they were still in love and still going to get married.

Until the Hailey Curse kicked back in.

You see, while at first glance, Hailey Hills seemed your typical normal free spirit twenty-something, the more time you spent with her (and Collin spent quite a bit, seeing as they were in love and all) the more you started to realize there was something odd about her experiences.

Weird things happened to Hailey. Really weird things. You know that “friend of a friend” they always mention in urban legends? Well, that was Hailey.

Sometimes she'd see dead people. Other times animals would talk to her. She'd once spotted a blind albino alligator down a NYC drain. The cactus she'd brought back from Mexico really had been filled with spiders. And on the same trip, she'd adopted a big rat she'd thought was a dog. (He ran away from home, sadly.) She'd even once found a piece of chocolate that looked just like the Virgin Mary. (Problem was, before she could alert the media and become rich beyond her wildest dreams, the hot sun melted it into a more Jabba the Hut-like shape--which, oddly enough, still ended up fetching $14.95 on eBay.)

The problem was, these things only seemed to happen when she was by herself. And when she tried to explain them to people later, she often had a hard time getting anyone to believe her. In fact, no one, except maybe her mother, bought any of it at all. And since Hailey's mother was currently whittling away the remainder of her life in a locked psychiatric ward after one day waking up in a bathtub with a stolen kidney and a note suggesting not to move and call 911, she honestly didn't make the best character reference.

Some would dismiss Hailey as crazy, others called her a flake, while still others would decide she was flat out lying in order to make excuses for her aforementioned flaky behavior. That was Collin's deal, anyway. Mostly because every time something weird happened, it ended up interrupting something he'd have planned for them. And when she'd show up, hours late, blaming the ghost who'd begged her to help him avenge his death, Collin just assumed she couldn't admit she'd forgotten, got tied up, or just simply hadn't wanted to go to event in question in the first place. And no convincing on her part would get him to change his mind.

In a way, Hailey didn't blame the guy. If the weird things didn't always happen to her, she probably wouldn't believe in them either. For example, She'd never forget the time Collin's dog, Skippy the Schnauzer, informed her there was buried treasure in Central Park. Excited, she'd dragged Collin to the location in question to help her dig. Which would have been fine, had it not been Superbowl Sunday--the Superbowl Sunday when the Patriots eeked out a win over Collin's beloved Rams in one of the biggest upsets of all time. Collin accused her of being jealous of his sports addiction. Worse, the only treasure they found after digging in the supposed spot, was an old can of hash. (Though to Skippy's credit, to him this might very well have been the Holy Grail.)

So for Collin's sake, she tried to reverse the curse. When Elvis called out to her from the Frozen Foods section of Stop and Shop, she pretended she didn't hear him. (Even though she'd been sorely tempted to suggest the Lean Cuisine over the triple pepperoni pizza he'd tossed into his cart.) And when Big Foot attempted to kidnap her on her trek through the Appalachian Mountains, she'd had her Taser ready.

But on her wedding day, she'd been distracted, and naturally let her guard down. So when the kitty cat meowed that it was stuck in a tree, she'd walked out of the house to rescue it. An obvious trap, of course, and soon she found herself spinning away from Earth in a flying saucer, minutes before the ceremony. She was greeted by cat--like aliens and informed she'd been chosen to star in their new reality show, Who Wants to Live with an Earthling? When she got back to Earth three weeks later $52,000,000 Catonian dollars richer, (not that you could buy much with Catonian dollars, save kitty litter and catnip) Collin had been nowhere to be found.

After some intense Googling, she learned he'd moved to LA by himself--just as they'd once planned to do together. She dialed him up and tried to explain the whole alien reality show thingie, but as you might guess, she didn't get much past the initial abduction part before he cut her off. He told her if she didn't want to marry him, she should have just told him so, instead of making him stand up there at the altar like a loser, while his friends and family shot him pitying glances from the groom's side of the church. (And let's just say her vegan eating, goat milking, harvest co-op shopping family whooping it up after they realized Hailey must have come to her senses and damned the misogynistic tradition that Collin had intended to trap her in didn't go over that well either. Nor did PETA member in good standing Uncle Earnest's Free the Doves campaign or AA member in very poor standing Aunt Edna's Free the Vodka one.)

He loved her, he said. But he just couldn't take it anymore. He needed someone reliable. Someone who was there for him. Not stuck on Mars.

She tried to argue that they had been light years and light years from Mars, but he was in no mood to listen. Finally, she gave up, realizing it was a lost cause. And maybe it was for the best anyway. How could she agree to spend the rest of her life with a man who refused to believe her?

That was five years ago and though she'd forced herself to go on a string of disastrous first dates, she'd never met anyone who could live up to Collin. She thought about him all the time and Googled him on a daily (okay, sometimes hourly) basis. Their breakup certainly hadn't hurt him career-wise. In no time at all he'd become one of Hollywood's top producers--with a special knack for developing movies based on comic books. Everyone and their fan boy brother was in love with him, if one believed livejournal blogs. They linked him to movie stars and waxed poetic about his life of red wine and red carpets.

It should have been her life. He should have been her guy. If only that stupid alien abduction reality show hadn't happened at the worst possible times. If she ever ran into Executive Producer Fluffy McGee again, she'd have some words, for sure. (Bad Kitty, came to mind, for one. The others would be unprintable in the more polite publications.)

“Hey let's go throw on our costumes,” Thomas suggested, nodding towards the bathroom sign at the back of the convention hall. She'd hired Thomas after Collin quit and he ended up working out quite well. (Though Hailey would always be partial to Collin's sketches.) Karma Kitty sold to Straylight soon afterwards and they'd been working on the comic ever since.

Hailey nodded, pushing thoughts of Collin to the back of her mind. “Good idea.”

Wanting to make a good impression on their publisher and impress their fans, she and Thomas had created their own custom costumes, based on characters from Karma Kitty. Hailey, of course, was dressing as Karma Kitty herself, with a short plaid skirt, white button down shirt, school girl tie, and glittery thigh highs. She had clip on cat ears and tail to complete the outfit.

After much protest, Thomas had agreed to go as Big Kitty, the evil cat pimp. He'd original wanted to play Fifi, the frisky flirty sidekick, but Hailey had ultimately vetoed the idea, saying she didn't think even Comic Con was ready for a six foot, three hundred pound bikini and fishnet clad drag queen walking around. (Though now that she was actually here, she realized that perhaps Thomas may not have even gotten a second glance. Still, at least her own eyes wouldn't have to bleed, which was always a plus.)

She entered the bathroom stall and started peeling off her street clothes, replacing each item with its kitty wear counterpart. Once outfitted, she pinned the ears to her head and the tail to her skirt. Then she reached into her beg for the piece de resistance--the boots.

They were golden colored, lacing up to just below her knees, exactly the type of shoes her feline heroine wore when fighting crime. Of course, the real Karma Kitty could effortlessly kick ass wearing five inch platform soles. Hailey would be lucky if she could walk them to booth 2134 without breaking an ankle.

Still, she thought, as she pulled the first boot out of its box, they were absolutely perfect. She'd so have to thank her Aunt Dottie for the web link. Usually overbearing matchmaking Aunt Dottie never forwarded anything to Hailey except Match.com and eHarmony profiles. Then, out of the blue, one day, she'd sent Hailey a link to a website called Hiheelia.com, suggesting she peruse the footwear ASAP. The site was actually pretty odd--not surprising, considering it came referred by Aunt Dottie--and had a lot of mumbo jumbo about the power of shoes. In fact, Hailey had been about to close out the site altogether, when suddenly she spotted THE boots. It was almost uncanny how exactly they looked like Karma Kitty's. As if the site had read her mind and produced the footwear from her imagination.

Which, once upon a time, wouldn't have seemed too unusual to Hailey. But she'd turned over a new leaf and had abandoned the weirdness, she decided to just deem it a coincidence.

She sat down on the toilet and slid on boot #1, praying it'd fit. The pair had arrived by airmail yesterday--some weird foreign postage stamped on the box--and she hadn't had a chance to try them on yet.

But lucky for her, the boot slipped onto her foot as if it were a glass slipper and she Cinderella incarnate. She reached down and slid on the other boot--also a perfect fit.

She stood up, ready to go show Thomas her outfit, when a sudden dizziness came over her. She had to brace herself against the bathroom stall walls, so as not to fall and hit her head on the toilet. A tingle tickled her stomach, flushing her skin and prickling at her fingers and toes. She felt panic rise to her throat as her heart picked up its pace and butterflies in her stomach trampled the remains of the Starbucks' cheese Danish she'd consumed back at the airport.

She sat down again, closing her eyes and sucking in a breath, trying to regain her composure.

“Hello? Hailey? Are you in here?” She could hear Thomas enter the ladies' room, unconcerned, as always, about the gender requirement. He banged on the stall door. “You do realize that I'm the queen, right? Therefore I should be the one that spends way too much time getting ready, not you.”

“One second,” she cried, exhaling the breath. She unzipped her boots and kicked them off her feet. No way was she going to walk to the booth in those when she was feeling faint. She'd put them back on when she got there. Then, she unlocked the door and swung it open.

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked, squinting at her. She giggled. It was hard to take him seriously in his purple faux fur pimp daddy suit. “You look weird.”

“Hello, pot, I'm kettle,” she quipped, already feeling a bit better. She grabbed the boots off the floor and slid on her flip flops.

“Seriously, Hail, you look really pale.”

“Yeah, I felt really weird there for a moment,” she admitted. “Like dizzy and faint.”

“Maybe you're dying,” Thomas said helpfully.

She rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”

“Or more likely, maybe you're nervous about seeing Collin,” he added, with a sly wink.

She groaned, realizing that made a lot of sense. Stupid Collin. Stupid, stupid Collin. It was so not fair that he retained the power to make her weak in the knees (literally) after so many years. With his deep, soulful chocolate eyes and hair so black, it was almost blue. She could picture him now--dressed to the nines, his full mouth quirked into one of his amused smiles, shaking his head at one of her antics. He used to tell her no one made him laugh like she did.

She sighed. Wonder who was making him laugh now?

“You're probably right,” she said, grabbing all her bags and following Thomas out of the bathroom. “I'm just stressed. But I'm fine.”

“You're more than fine, sister. You're fab,” Thomas proclaimed, putting an arm around her shoulder. She smiled. Thank goodness for good friends.

“We're both fab,” she agreed. “Uber fab, in fact. Now let's go sell us some comic books.”

Chapter Two

“Welcome!” exclaimed the hook-nosed woman with gold rimmed glasses who stood behind Booth 2134. She held out her Olive Oyl length arms in greeting. “I'm so glad you were able to come by.”

Hailey glanced over at Thomas, who shrugged in response. Of course they “were able to come by”--they had a signing in less than an hour! And who was this woman, anyway? With her graying hair pulled back into a severe bun and her suit jacket buttoned up to her neck, she looked like she belonged in a banker's banquet rather than a comic book convention. Was she was den mother, perhaps, hired by Straylight to keep the booth seats warm while the editors got their geek on around the Comic Con floor?

“Thanks,” Hailey said, hesitantly. “Is this where--”

“Yes! Of course. You're at the right place. Your home for all things Karma Kitty. It's so great to see fans here. Real fans! The signing will begin in...” She glanced at her watch. “...less than an hour. You're welcome to stay. The artists aren't here yet, but they're expected soon.”

Thomas burst out laughing. Hailey shook her head, realizing the mistake. “Oh,” she said. “We're not fans.”

The woman raised a skeptical eyebrow, eyeing their attire. “I see,” she said, losing a level of perkiness.

“No, you don't understand. We're the artists,” Hailey clarified. “I'm Hailey Hills and this is Thomas Carol. The masterminds behind Karma Kitty.”

“You're...” Mrs. Hannah started, trailing off as she stared at them as if in disbelief. “You're...Oh my. Well, I'm so sorry for the mistake. I didn't recognize you in those...those...” She scrunched up her face with obvious distaste. “Those costumes,” she finished, spitting out the word costume as if it were poison she was desperately trying to expel. She sniffed, then stuck out a hand. “I'm Martha Hannah, the publisher. You can call me Mrs. Hannah.”

Hailey took the cold, bony paw, trying not to let her mouth drop open in shock. This was their publisher? Where were the black rimmed glasses wearing geeks who'd skip lunch to check their World of Warcraft auctions? Or at least throw down a few rounds of Magic: The Gathering. Mrs. Hannah looked as if she'd prefer a compelling game of bridge at the local country club.

Don't judge someone on their appearance, she scolded herself. Mrs. Hannah, despite her outfit, could be a huge fan and advocate of the comic book world. And she did publish and distribute Karma Kitty. So obviously she had good taste.

“So what do you think of the costumes?” Thomas asked, pumping Mrs. Hannah's hand eagerly. “Pretty bad ass, huh? I made mine myself. I'm Big Kitty.”

“Indeed you are,” Mrs. Hannah said, yanking her hand away and brushing it against her gray flannel suit.

“And I'm Karma Kitty,” Hailey added, enthusiasm extinguishing at a rapid rate. This was so not how she'd envisioned this meeting at all. She'd expected to walk up to the booth to a spattering of “Oohs” and “Aahs” -- maybe even a little clapping--for their creative attire. Instead, Mrs. Hannah looked like she wanted to send them to the principal's office.

“I see.” Mrs. Hannah pursed her thin lips, then glanced at her watch. “Well, you're scheduled to sign in less than an hour, so I suggest you start getting changed.”

Hailey and Thomas exchanged puzzled glances. “Changed?” Hailey inquired.

“Into your normal clothes,” Mrs. Hannah said slowly, as if speaking to dim-witted children. “What you're going to wear for the signing.”

“But we're going to wear--”

“That?” She gave them a horrified once-over. “Certainly not.”

“But...but we're dressed like our characters.”

“Yes, I see. That is quite obvious. But we simply can't allow you to represent our company dressed like you are. This kind of thing just won't fly here at Comic Con.”

An amputee with a machine gun for a leg picked that moment to limp by, followed by a trio of Batmen--60s TV series, Tim Burton, and Dark Knight varieties.

“How can you say that?” Hailey demanded. “Look around you. Half the people here are in costume.”

Mrs. Hannah shrugged. "They're fans. It's fine for fans to dress up. But as artists--you should be above this sort of thing. I've spent fifty years trying to legitimize comic books to an industry who considers them nothing but child's play. The last thing I need is a couple of my artists to foil years of hard work with a single fashion faux pas.

Hailey's heart sank. All that hard work creating her costume--for nothing. All the money she'd spent on her amazing shoes--wasted.

“Come on, lady,” Thomas whined. “We're just having a little fun. We're not going to bring down the whole comic book industry just by a little dress-up.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But I own Straylight Comics and if you want to sign at my booth, which I paid for, you will do so in respectable attire.”

“Yeah? Well I say you can take your respectable attire and shove it--”

“Okay, okay!” Hailey interrupted Thomas before he said something he'd regret. After all, this was their publisher. The person who signed the checks and distributed their work. Even if they didn't agree with her--even if they thought she was insane--they had little choice but to respect her wishes. After all, she'd paid for them to come to Comic Con in the first place. “We'll just hit the bathroom and be back in a few.”

Mrs. Hannah nodded, looking smug. Hailey noticed Thomas opening his mouth again, so she grabbed him by his purple velour sleeve and dragged him away.

“Come on Big Kitty,” she quipped. “Retract the claws, please, please.”

Thomas grunted, but allowed her to drag him away. “So unfair,” he grumbled, once out of earshot. “How'd we pick such a lame-ass publisher, anyway? Legitimizing comic books, my ass. Comic books aren't meant to be legitimate. They're books with freaking pictures! We're not publishing Shakespeare people!”

“Hush!” Hailey scolded. “People here will kick your ass for saying shit like that.”

“They can try!”

“Oh grow up, Thomas,” she said, feeling rather old all of a sudden. “Mrs. Hannah means well. She wants people to take the books more seriously. So we can get wider distribution in bigger bookstores. Get the mainstream audience to pay attention. It makes sense in many ways.”

“She wants us to sell out, in other words,” Thomas interjected.

“You can call that, but will you really complain when the big paychecks start rolling in?”

“Please. What about Hiro Kim? He's the best selling comic artist in the world--Hollywood's been begging him to sell his movie rights to his pirate series for years. And he's said time and time again he'll never, ever do it.” Thomas held out his hands. “You think he's busy collecting welfare because he takes a moral high ground?”

Hailey sighed. “It's not like I don't see your point. I'm just saying there are different ways to look at it. Anyway, it's not like I'm not as disappointed as you are. You know how long I spent on this outfit?”

“Well, maybe we can wear them after the signing,” Thomas suggested. “We can be our own fan girls.”

Hailey smiled. “Exactly. And then we can...” She trailed off, her voice getting stuck in her throat as her fell on the one person she'd been searching for/trying to avoid.

Collin.

He wasn't exactly hard to miss. Standing tall on a raised platform in the middle of what had to be the biggest booth at Comic Con. Darken Pictures, the film company he worked for. He was lecturing a gathered crowd of scantily clad elf girls while a swirling animated screen lit up the stage behind him.

“Hailey? You okay? You're suddenly white as a...Ohhh!” Thomas followed her glance and put two and two together. “It's the Hollywood Hunk, eh?”

Hailey bit her lower lip, her traitorous body trying to step forward and retreat all at the same time. Her legs were mud and her eyes refused to look away, drinking in the tall, lanky figure on stage. His fitted Darken Pictures tee nicely showcased his pecs and trim stomach while his black jeans hugged his narrow waist and thighs. She remembered all too well running her hands up and down that body, sans clothes, once upon a time, exploring the hard planes of muscle beneath. She remembered the pleasure she felt from touching him. From him touching her back.

She shook her head. That time was past. And while he was still unbearably sexy on the outside, he was also probably still as pig headed on the inside as well. And sure, sexy was good for a romp in the sack or two, but when it came to committing to a person for the rest of your life, Hailey wanted more than that. She wanted a guy who would believe her. No matter what.

“So you gonna go say hi?” Thomas asked, nudging her in the arm and yanking her back to the present.

“No way,” she said. “Absolutely no way.” She turned to leave, finally getting her Jell-o like legs under some sort of control. “We'd better get to the bathroom, quickly, so we can change in time for the signing.”

“Too late, kitty kat,” Thomas replied, his voice ripe with amusement. “You've been spotted.”

She glanced back and cringed as she realized she was indeed the target of Collin's steady, piercing gaze. He caught her eyes in his and, as if by some kind of magic cosmic ray, refused to let go.

“Hailey!” she heard him cry. “Hailey Hills!”

“I'll meet you at the signing, lover girl.” Thomas chuckled, before ducking out of sight.

~~~

Collin couldn't believe it. Absolutely couldn't believe it. Hailey Hills. His Hailey Hills was standing there in the middle of Comic Con, not ten feet away from him. Forgetting he was in the middle of a Q&A, he leapt off the stage, pushing past all the annoying bimbos who had been asking moments before whether or not he thought Paris Hilton would make a good Cat Woman. He could hear his assistant call after him, her voice high with distress, but he ignored her. Hailey Hills was now nine feet from his grasp and he wasn't going to let her get away.

“Hailey!” he cried again, pushing through the crowd. She stared at him dully, as if with little recognition. She did remember him, didn't she? They were only engaged to be married once, after all...

He caught up to her and stopped, panting from his effort. He took her in, raking his gaze from her flip-flopped feet, up her shapely legs--sheathed in glittery lycra--to her micro-mini and school girl button-down shirt. She was carrying ridiculously high golden boots and wore little cat ears on her head.

His body tightened in response as his eyes involuntarily returned to the inch of bare skin located at the spot where the thigh highs ended and her skirt began. God she looked good. Way too good. It was all he could do to stop himself from pinning her against a post and lifting her skirt to see if she'd started wearing panties or still went commando. He imagined himself running his hands up her creamy white thighs, higher and higher until he reached...

He shook his head. This was not the time or place for this kind of thing. Still, it'd been an awful long time since he'd felt this way about a woman and part of him was relived to feel his sex drive kick back into gear. It'd been a while, for sure.

“Hi Collin,” Hailey said breezily, as if it wasn't the oddest thing in the world to run into him in the middle of Comic Con. “What's up?”

He stared at her, his usually quick mind--the one that got him big Hollywood deals on a daily basis--locking up like a steel drum and refusing him the ability to form a complete sentence. “You...” he stammered, raking a hand through his hair. “You...are you dressed as a cat?”

If there had been awards given out at Comic Con for saying lame things, he would have won the grand prize for sure. Of course she was dressed up like a cat. She was Karma Kitty--their creation. Collin had been following her successes on her blog for the last five years. She'd come a long way from the crazy hippie dippie girl he'd fallen in love with back at school. She was a successful comic book writer with a cult following that would likely only get bigger as time went on.

“I'm supposed to be Karma Kitty,” she said, her cheeks coloring as she glanced down at her feet. She still had the light dusting of freckles powdering her nose. Collin remembered his favorite lazy Sunday morning activity--curling up in bed with her, kissing each and every one.

“Yeah, right, of course,” he said, struggling to redeem himself. "I've been reading it. It's really great.

Her sexy, black rimmed eyes widened at this. “You've been reading the comics?”

Now it was his turn to blush. The last thing he wanted was for her to know how hung up he'd been...how hung up he still was...on her. The girl had ditched him at the altar. Humiliated him in front of his family and friends. He remembered standing up there, wearing his ridiculous penguin suit. Waiting and waiting and waiting. Hearing the guests on the bride's side snicker. His mother sob. How long had he actually stood up there before he realized she wasn't going to show up?

Anger replaced lust in his gut. “So,” he said. “Get abducted by any aliens lately?”

Her face darkened. He'd struck a nerve. Well, good. She deserved to feel guilty after what she had done. Making up some stupid excuse as to why she hadn't shown up on that day. If she hadn't felt she was ready for marriage, if she wasn't sure about moving to LA--she could have just told him. He'd have understood. But no, she'd all runaway brided him, making him worry for weeks before she finally showed up out of the nowhere, expecting him to just believe her crazy tale and forgive her.

Her face fell and felt himself soften. He hadn't chased after her to yell at her, after all. And he was happy to see her, even under the circumstances. It'd been too long. “Sorry,” he amended. “I didn't mean...”

“No, it's okay,” she said, recovering quickly. She threw him a big Hailey grin. “But no aliens. No voices. No...well, no weirdness at all. I've shut it all out of my life. Turned over a new leaf. All that.”

“That's great,” he said, an inane hope rising inside of him. Stupid. He shoved it back down. No need to get all schoolboy over her again. Waste all those years of therapy. They were two separate people who lived two separate lives on two separate coasts. They'd shared something once, but it was long over. Heck, he barely knew her anymore and it was best to keep it that way. “I'm glad you're doing so well,” he added, stiffly.

“You too!” she replied with her typical bouncy enthusiasm. “You're so famous now. It's awesome. Hell, you even have groupies.” She pointed behind him and he groaned to realize the bimbos in his audience must have followed him over. They stood, huddled a few feet away, giggling and whispering furiously. One held up her camera phone to take a picture. He could almost see the PerezHilton.com mention now. Darken Producer cuddles up to Karma Kitty. Meow!

Oh well, maybe it would be free press for Hailey's comic. He'd be okay with that. She deserved to do well. She'd obviously worked so hard.

He turned back to Hailey, rolling his eyes for emphasis. “Oh yeah,” he said, allowing his voice to drip with sarcasm. Didn't want her to think he bought into all the Hollywood hype. “I'm a real kingpin.”

She giggled, then shuffled her feet, looking up at him with those big bedroom eyes of hers. The ones that would never fail to make him weak in the knees. God, this was awkward. If only he could get her somewhere alone. To talk, that was. Nothing else. Well, maybe nothing else. Have to see how the talk went, first. Would she agree to meet him later? Or would she turn him down flat? Could he take the rejection if she did?

Collin squeezed his hands into fists and summoned up all the courage inside of him, Just ask her, he willed himself. It's not a big deal. Be a man for chrissakes.

She spoke before he could. “So, uh, I've got to go...get changed,” she said, blushing a bit. “I have a signing in a few minutes over at my publisher's booth. We're giving away two hundred copies of Karma Kitty volume one and then selling the newer issues.” Her face brightened as she started talking about her work.

“Cool.” He felt his insides warm at her enthusiasm. Despite all they'd been through, he wanted nothing more than for her to succeed. Hell, how many issues of Karma Kitty had he ordered on Amazon.com over the years in an effort to lower her sales ranking? Hundreds, he'd guess. Of course, those copies were put to good use--he'd bring them over to the pediatric cancer ward of his local hospital. The kids' faces lit up each time he arrived with a new volume. They were Hailey's biggest fans. If only he could tell her about them without sounding like a pathetic loser who'd been unable to let go when she ditched him.

His eyes involuntarily fell back to her outfit. “Um, why are you changing though? You look very Karma Kitty'esque now.”

She laughed. “I know, right? But my publisher totally vetoed the costume. She said it wasn't professional.”

Professional wasn't the word he'd use either. Delicious, maybe. Sinful, perhaps. Lust inspiring, for sure. He swallowed hard as his brain launched into a full-on instant replay of one of the many nights they'd spent together, wrapped in a delightful tangle of naked limbs. Light sweat sparkling off her freckled skin as she moaned for him--even begged for him. Running his hands over every inch of her, touching, tasting, making her tingle. Then making her scream.

Maybe it would be better for her to change. After all, he didn't really relish the idea of other men coming over to ogle her.

Yes, he decided. She should change for the signing. Then wear the outfit again tonight.

Just for him.

So he could rip it off her.

Get a grip, Collin. She's never going to end up at your hotel room if you can't even get up the courage to ask her to dinner.

“Would you like to go out to dinner?” he blurted out, necessity being the mother of getting over yourself.

Her eyes widened, giving him another jolt in the groin. God, those eyes of hers. Pale blue, framed by the longest lashes. He remembered her softly brushing those lashes against his cheek over and over again. Butterfly kisses, she'd call them, giggling. More lazy Sunday memories.

“Um,” she said. “Um.”

Something inside of him died. “Never mind,” he said quickly, seeking out a shred of dignity. “You're busy, I'm sure. It was just a...never mind.”

“I'd love to,” she blurted out, looking almost as surprised at her answer as he was.

“Great,” he said, allowing himself to smile. He realized he was shaking. “Meet me at Blue Fin at eight?”

“Perfect. See you there.” She flashed him a grin and gave a small wave before turning and sashaying down the aisle, her kitty tail lazily swinging back and forth as she walked.

He groaned, glancing at his watch. Nine hours. Nine hours before he could see her again.

He gave her one last glance. If, that was, she didn't get sidetracked by the Loch Ness Monster or something.

~~~

Hailey raced to the bathroom, dodging superheroes, robots, and Klingons while trying not to trip on her flip flops. She was going to be so late for the signing! Still, the massive amounts of adrenalin currently thrumming through her veins made it nearly impossible to be regretful about the fact.

Collin had asked her to dinner. She was going to dinner with Collin. She and he would sit down at a table and order food and drinks. And they'd talk They'd have to talk! And when they did she could swear that her life was normal now. No St. Peter shaped cheese Danishes. No alien abductions. Nothing to stop them rekindling the old flame.

And oh that flame! She was still feeling a bit moist just thinking about his piercing gaze on her. The way his eyes roved her body, as if she were a tasty dessert and he'd been eating nothing but salad for years. He wanted her. She was sure of it. Maybe they'd even end up hooking up after dinner.

She shook her head. Hooking up was all well and good but she needed to be thinking bigger picture here. This was her chance to convince him she'd changed. That she was now a completely normal girl with a completely normal life.

She glanced at her watch. Funny, she'd once been so excited about being at Comic Con. Now, she couldn't wait for it to end and dinner to begin.

~~~

Their signing went extremely well. Lots of fans came out from the word-work, gushing about how much they loved the comics. A lot of newbies showed up, too-eager to be introduced into Karma Kitty's world. Some fans had dressed up, too, though none of their outfits were as cool as the ones Hailey and Thomas had stuffed under their chairs. If only they'd been allowed to wear them!

They signed until their hands ached. Then they signed some more. By the end of the two hours, Hailey was sure she'd developed a severe case of carpal tunnel. But she was happy. The hand pain was worth it.

“You both were great. Thank you for doing the signing,” Mrs. Hannah said when it was over, extending her hand to each of them and looking genuinely pleased. Evidently she had gotten over the costume thing when the cash register started heating up.

Thomas hadn't, of course, and brought it up again as soon as they were out of earshot of the Straylight booth. From the annoyed look on his face, Hailey realized she should be grateful he waited that long.

“Such a waste,” he griped. “I can't believe we write for those wankers.”

“I know,” she consoled. “It sucks. But we have to remember, they're the ones who send the checks. So while we're on their time, there's not much we can do.” Still, it was uber disappointing. Seeing so many of her fans show up in Karma Kitty knock-offs and feeling like a total poser wearing ratty jeans and a t-shirt to sign their comic books. At least if she'd known they'd be forced to change she could have brought something halfway cool to wear.

The convention hall was beginning to empty out, with everyone running off to this party or that. The movie folks gathering at scene'y restaurants while the true geeks headed back to their hotel rooms to drool over their new limited edition collectible action figures. Hailey glanced at her watch. She had an hour and a half before she had to meet up with Collin at the restaurant. She turned to Thomas, quirking her lips up in a grin.

“Let's go change into them now,” she suggested. “We can wander around and check out all the booths.”

“But no one will see us,” Thomas whined. “Everyone's leaving.”

“Exactly. Then we won't be shaming our publisher with our unprofessional behavior. And, as a bonus, we can check out all the exhibits without having to deal with any crowds.”

Thomas pondered this. “Well,” he said, not sounding entirely overjoyed. “I guess it's better than nothing.”

“Just for a half hour,” she added. “Then I've got to go meet with...someone.”

“Someone? Someone?” Thomas asked, immediately glomming on to this choice nugget, forgetting he was supposed to be sulking. “Has Miss Karma Kitty been holding out on Pimp Cat Daddy?” He wagged a scolding finger at her. “Could she be actually planning to hook up with Mr. Hollywood himself?”

Hailey felt her face burn. “Well, maybe,” she said, looking down at her feet. “I was going to tell you before, but we were all busy with the signing and stuff.”

“Ooh you are a bad kitty. Bad, bad kitty.”

She giggled. “Would you want it any other way?”

“Oh of course not. But word to the wise, darling? Do not go getting your heart broken on me, okay? You need to promise you'll keep things casual.”

“Yes, Dad.”

“Don't you 'yes, dad' me. You know I'm right. You two broke up for a reason, after all. Not that I know this reason, mind you, since you are such a terrible friend and never broke down and told me--even after that time I bought you ten vodka martinis trying to get you to spill.”

“Hang on, that was open bar!”

“Well, whatever. Point is, there is a reason you two are not together now and you need to go into this remembering that.”

“I will,” Hailey said, realizing he had a point. “Though things are different now.” After all, she'd closed herself off to the weirdness that used to dominate her life. She was a normal girl now. One who lived a normal life. And she never saw anything that wasn't--

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a fully clad ninja darting down an aisle.

She shook her head. This was Comic Con. There were bound to be ninjas and pirates and other such oddities wandering the convention hall. Just fans dressed in costumes, not anything weird she needed to concern herself with. She was normal. Life was normal. And there was going to be no weirdness to mess up her and Collin's impending reconciliation.

“Time's a wasting,” she said to Thomas. “Let's get changed.”

They headed into the adjoining men and women's bathrooms and she pulled her costume out of the shopping bag. Hopefully this time she'd be okay to walk around in the boots. After all, they really made the outfit and were hella expensive. She wanted to get at least a little use of them. So after donning skirt, shirt and thigh-highs, she pulled the first boot onto her foot and zipped it over her calf.

A bolt of lightning struck her square in the face.

Okay, it wasn't literally a bolt of lightning, but it sure felt like one. Slamming into her full force and shoving her backward. Nausea swum into her stomach and her arms and legs tingled with electricity.

She sucked in a breath, trying to regain her composure. What was wrong? Was she having a panic attack? Was she that stressed about meeting Collin tonight?

Wanting to get out of the stall as quickly as possible--before she passed out or something equally embarrassing--she grabbed the second boot, slipped it on and zipped it up.

As quickly as the dizzy, sick feeling came, it faded, replaced by the most thrilling sense of euphoria, hitting her like a tidal wave. As she pushed open the stall door she felt all powerful. Triumphant. Ready to take on the world.

Um, weird.

She stuffed her old clothes into the bag and headed out of the ladies room. She found Thomas already out there, wearing his purple velour tracksuit. The convention hall was almost completely empty now, save for a few janitor types making the rounds.

“Whoa,” Thomas said, giving her the once-over. “You didn't tell me you were going to do that. Way to go all out, girl. I feel totally inferior in this piece of crap.”

She cocked her head in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

He gestured to her head. “Duh. The ears thing. And your tail. How'd you do that?”

She stared at him, racking her brain to figure out what on earth he was talking about. “You mean my headband?” She reached up to pat her head. Recoiled as she touched what felt like real fur. What the hell was going on here?

She shoved open the bathroom door and ran inside to check herself out in the mirror. A moment later she was staring at her reflection in disbelief.

Somehow, some way, she had turned into Karma Kitty. Like, for real.

The ears that had once been a headband were now growing out of her skull, replacing her normal everyday human ears, which seemed to have somehow disappeared. And the tail she distinctly remembered pinning to her skirt was now literally growing out of her butt.

She groaned. So much for the no weirdness thing. And just in time for dinner with Collin, too. How was she going to explain this one? Would he believe her about the alien thing if she showed up to dinner as a humanoid cat? More likely he'd run screaming in the other direction and never talk to her again.

Of all times for this to happen, this had to be the worst. Five years of avoiding weirdness and then slamming headfirst into it right before her rendezvous with her ex. She walked back out onto the convention hall, her feet feeling like lead. Thomas was checking out the Superman booth.

“You know,” he said, not bothering to look back at her. “Superman was really pretty hot. But I mean, Lois Lane? Come on. Total beard, if you ask me. No way that chick ever got a glimpse of what he was packing in those tights of his.”

“Um, Thomas?”

“Now Batman, on the other hand, I'd say he was edging out of the closet. Always hanging with his boy toy Robin. Though, of course, they must have had some kind of arrangement, right? Maybe what happens in the batcave stays in the batcave?”

“Thomas! Listen to me!” she demanded. “Something's happened! I've turned into Karma Kitty!”

“Uh, yea, that was the idea, right?” Thomas said, still distracted by the man of steel.

She balled her hands into fists. “No, I mean, I'm really her,” she said, trying to explain. Wishing he'd just turn around and give her his full attention. “I put on the costume and the...” She looked down at her golden feet. “...and the boots,” she added. “And now I've changed.”

Thomas sighed loudly and turned away from the exhibit. He put his hands on his hips and threw her an exasperated look. It was one she was very accustomed to. One she used to see more often than not on Collin's face when she'd try to explain why she was late for whatever she was late for.

“I know it sounds crazy,” she said. “But it's true.”

“Yeah? Prove it.”

“Prove it?”

“Sure. Show me some tricks,” Thomas instructed. “If you're really Karma Kitty you should have Karma Kitty powers, right?”

Would she? She wasn't sure of anything at this point. “Um, maybe?”

“Great.” Thomas was obviously enjoying this. “So go ahead. Do a backflip.”

“Thomas, you know I can barely touch my toes. There's no way I can do a back flip.”

Thomas shrugged. “Well, there you have it then. You haven't magically changed into your comic book character,” he comforted. “Because everyone knows Karma Kitty can easily do back flips.”

Hailey narrowed her eyes at him. Fine. If he was going to be like that...She drew in a breath. Here went nothing. She launched herself backwards, bracing herself for a boatload of pain.

Instead she flew effortlessly backwards. In fact, not only did she achieve a before-now-impossible backflip she managed five of them. In a row. Last one with no hands.

“Oh my god,” she cried, righting herself. “I just...Wow!”

Now she had Thomas's full attention. “Okay, not bad,” he said.

“Not bad? If this were the Olympics I'd have beat out the gold medal girl.”

Thomas shook his head. “Un, no. You'd have lost way too many points of form.” He pointed up to a neighboring booth's scaffolding. “Climb up there,” he said. “And jump.”

“Um, hello? Karma Kitty can't fly.”

“Maybe not. But she certainly lands on her feet.”

“Next time you're going to suggest killing me to see if I have nine lives,” she grumbled as she made her way over to the platform.

“Hey, you're the one claiming to be your comic character,” he said, holding up his hands.

“I'm not insured for this kind of thing,” she muttered as she climbed up the King Kong display. Soon she and Faye Raye were hanging on for dear life. “Ready?”

“Go, go, Karma Kitty, go!” Thomas cheered.

She took in a breath, then leapt, landing on her feet moments later.

“How is this happening?” she wailed after Thomas finished wooting for her. The weirdness was obviously back with a vengeance. Just as she'd finally settled down to normalcy. Just as she'd finally had a chance to win the love of her life back.

“You got me.” Thomas shrugged. “When did it all start? And how come it didn't happen last time you put on the outfit?”

She puzzled it all for a second or two, then the light-bulb went off over her head. “The boots!” she cried.

“The boots?”

“I wasn't wearing them before. Remember? And the second I put them on, I started to feel weird. That has to be it.”

“Why would the boots give you the power to become Karma Kitty?”

“I have no idea. But it's got to be them.” She reached down to upzip them and kick them off. “I got them off this weird website, hiheelia.com. It promised me inner power. I thought it meant some bullshit chi or something.”

Sure enough, the second the boots left her feet, she felt the power draining out of her. She reached up and patted her head. Ears were once again clip-on. And thankfully her tail was once again safety pinned to her skirt.

“Okay, do a backflip now,” Thomas suggested.

She threw herself backwards, but only succeeded in landing on her back, sprawled out on the floor.

“You're serious?” he asked. “You're not playing around?”

She stared down at the boots. “No,” she said. “There's something about these boots.”

Thomas's face lit up like a kid on Christmas. “Ooh, ooh! I want to try!”

She shook her head. “No way. They're not your size. And besides, they're mine.” Now that she knew she could avoid the weirdness just by yanking off the shoes she felt a little bit better about things. At least she wouldn't have to explain cat ears and a tail to Collin.

Thomas, on the other hand, looked sulky. “No fair you got magic boots and I'm stuck with a purple velour tracksuit.”

Hailey ignored him, slipping the boots back on to her feet and feeling the power surge through her once again. “So amazing,” she murmured. “So cool.”

Thomas opened his mouth, probably to spew forth more jealousy, but before he got any words out a thirty-something Asian guy zoomed up to them, running as fast as his legs could carry him. He saw them a split second too late and tripped over Hailey while trying to brake fast. He went flying into the Mr. Toast booth, sending stuffed bacon and eggs everywhere.

“Arrr!” he cried, scrambling to his feet. It was then that Hailey realized he was dressed as a pirate.

“Are you okay?” she asked, standing up herself. “You should really look where--”

His white face and frightened eyes cut short her rebuke. She looked down the aisle in the direction he'd come from. “What are you running from?” she asked. “Is someone chasing you?”

The man jabbered at her in a language she didn't understand, repeatedly gesturing behind him. She saw nothing at first, then, to her surprise, spotted a group of five ninjas heading towards them at full speed.

“Uh,” Thomas said, squinting at the approaching wall-o'armed Japanese dudes. “Are you they after you, man? 'Cause to tell you the truth, we're not really interested in some weird role playing crap.”

He blathered at them in Japanese once again. The ninjas were getting closer. They were also brandishing swords and they didn't look fake. The man dove behind Hailey, trying to hide himself.

Hailey gulped as she watched the approaching army. “I think I'm going to have to fight them,” she said, reaching down to grab the boots and slide them on.

“What?” Thomas cried. “Are you insane?”

“No. But I'm Karma Kitty,” she said slowly, not sure herself where the swelling courage inside of her was coming from. She zipped up the second boot. “And, strangely enough, I feel compelled to save the day.”

“Oh my god.” Thomas shook his head in disbelief. “This is so fucked up.”

Chapter Three

Hailey braced herself for the oncoming fighters, bending her knees, holding out her hands. Her boots pulsed gold, as if excited about the oncoming assault. Just like Karma Kitty's would. It was bizarre. It was unreal. It was impossible. But bizarre, unreal and impossible was something Hailey was used to.

The first ninja let out a chilling cry and dove toward her, launching into a kick aimed at her stomach. Just before contact, she swiped at him with her arm, blocking the kick and effortlessly sending him twirling into the air and into a cardboard Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Whoo hoo! Score one for Karma Kitty! Who knew she was so strong?

The second ninja stepped forward, jabbing at her throat with a well-placed fist. She leapt back, dodging his blow by launching into a half-back-handspring. Once her hands hit the ground, instead of completing the move, she shot herself forward again, slamming her heels into his clavicle. He collapsed and she tumbled on top of him, then rolled off and readied herself for the next guy.

This guy, seeing how easily this random chick incapacitated his friends, decided to draw his katana from the sheath tied to his side. The blade flashed under the florescent lights as he waved it in front of his face and grinned menacingly at her. She grinned back, then dropped to the ground and swept her foot out and around, tripping him where he stood. He went flying into the first guy, knocking a stack of comic books on his head. Hailey slammed her heel into his stomach and he bellowed in pain.

Last guy. He stood at a distance, then reached into his hand and pulled out a Shuriken--a Japanese throwing star. He flipped it like a Frisbee and sent it spinning in her direction. She leapt into the air--very Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon--and the star ended up only skimming the heel of her boot before lodging itself in Superman's plastic chest, just below the S.

Hailey fluttered back to the ground and started after the guy. But he and his buddies had evidently had enough of Karma Kitty. They took off down the aisle, as fast as their ninja legs would carry them.

“Phew,” Hailey said, brushing off her skirt. “That was close.” She turned back to her friend and the Asian guy. They were both staring at her--mouths open, eyes wide, expressions, freaked out beyond belief. She suddenly felt self-conscious. “Uh, you can stop looking at me any time now.”

“Oh. My. God.” Thomas marveled. “I've never seen anything like that in my entire life. They all came at you at once.”

“No they didn't. They came one after another. Just like in those dumb kung fu movies.”

“Maybe to you, Neo, but we mere mortals just watched you take on five guys at one time. You had them all down in five seconds flat.”

“Wow. It sure didn't feel like that.” She rubbed her forehead. “I hope I didn't hurt them too badly.”

“Dude, they're bad guys, remember? You should have killed them.”

“Um, yeah, except there's that whole pesky lifetime in jail/maybe the death penalty thing to consider,” she reminded him. “It's not like we're in a real life comic book here.”

“It certainly feels like it, though.” He looked down at her shoes. “I so need to get a pair of those in my size fed-exed to me for tomorrow. What was that website again?”

The pirate Asian guy cleared his throat. In the excitement, Hailey had forgotten about him. He bowed to her, a deep respectful bow from his waist, then retreated down the aisle, almost as fast as the ninjas had, but in the other direction.

“I wonder why they were after him,” Hailey mused as she watched him go. “Some kind 'ninjas are way cooler than pirates' game?”

“Pirates are way cooler than ninjas, FYI,” Thomas corrected. “But no, I doubt it. Those guys looked really serious. And Hiro looked really scared.”

“Hiro?”

“And you call yourself a comic book writer?” Thomas scolded. “Did you really not recognize Hiro Kim, Japan's premier manga artists? We were talking about him earlier, remember? He does that pirate comic called Shadow Booty Clan.”

“That guy wrote Shadow Booty Clan?” Hailey cried. “That's like the most bestselling comic of all time.”

“Duh. The latest issue even hit the New York Times bestseller list. Which, of course, is unheard of for a comic book.”

“So why would he have a boatload of ninjas chasing Hiro Kim down in the middle of Comic Con?”

“Beats me.”

Hailey suddenly remembered the shuriken the ninja had chucked at her. She walked over to Superman and yanked it out of his stomach. She realized it wasn't a real throwing star at all, but a toy one, made of black plastic. On the back it said BOOTH 4294, MeyioSeraph Agency.

“Weird,” she mused, turning the star around in her hand. “We should just check this out. Maybe it's a clue.”

“Um, hello? You're trying to solve the Case of the Weirdo Ninja Fight now? How about figuring out why you've suddenly morphed into your comic book cat first?”

“We've already solved the cat thing.”

“By attributing them to magic shoes? Oh yeah, you're a regular Nancy Drew.”

“Veronica Mars, actually. So what do you say we go check out the booth?” She glanced at her watch. “Oh wait. Shit. I'm totally late to go meet Collin.”

“Just tell Mr. Hollywood you got stuck battling a herd of ninjas. I'm sure he'll understand.”

Hailey cringed. “No. That's the problem. He won't. In fact, that's exactly the type of thing he just won't understand. The kind of thing I wanted to avoid trying to explain to him ever again. After all, he still hasn't gotten over my alien abduction.”

“What a close minded fool.” Thomas fanned himself.

Hailey gritted her teeth. “I'm serious,” she said. She looked at her watch again. “Crap! I have to get changed. I can't go looking like Karma Kitty.” She kicked off her boots and ran to the bathroom, quickly discarding the costume for street clothes. Her muscles ached and her brain felt like mush. Being a superhero evidently took a lot out of a girl.

She exited the bathroom, bags in hand.

“Wow, that was faster than Superman in a phone booth,” Thomas observed. “Though not half as sexy.” He ran a hand down the Man of Steel's plastic bicep for emphasis.

“Um, yea. So, I'll catch you later. And don't you dare put on the shoes,” Hailey said, calling over her shoulder as she dashed down the aisle.

“Wow. If they looked up selfish friend in the dictionary, they'd find a big fat picture of you.”

“I hope they photographed my good side.”

~~~

It took her a good forty-five minutes to hail a cab outside of Comic Con. By the time she got to the restaurant, she was over an hour late. As her cab pulled up to a red light, she saw Collin, across the intersection, exit the restaurant, hail a cab, and get in.

No! This could not be happening! “Follow that cab!” she cried, in desperation, waving a finger at the vehicle. If only she'd remembered to get his cell phone number when she had the chance.

“What do you think this is, a fuckin' movie?” the Queens born driver asked, taking a precious moment from his very important cell phone convo to address her. “I ain't running a red light for you, baby.”

“Please!” she begged, watching as Collin's cab pulled out into the street.

A man banged on the cab window. “Are you getting out or not?” the driver demanded. “I ain't got all night, you know. Some of us have to make a living.”

Hailey sighed and reluctantly left the cab. She walked into the restaurant and up to the maitre de. He informed her that Collin had been waiting for an hour and finally just left. Sorry, no message. The man gave her a disapproving look.

It's was the ninjas' fault! She wanted to shout at him, but she knew it would do no good.

If only she could find Collin. Explain what had happened.

Explain? A voice inside of her jeered. Explain what? That you turned into your comic book character and fought a platoon of ninjas with your bare hands to save a pirate manga artist from certain death?

Okay, maybe not that. But she could give him some kind of excuse. A rational one. Like, she had been held up at her signing. Or her publisher had scheduled a last minute meeting she just couldn't miss. Something, anything to convince him that she hadn't meant to stand him up.

So you'd lie to him? The inner voice jeered. Is that really the right foot to resume the relationship off of?

It wasn't, of course. In fact, it was pretty close to the reasons they broke up to begin with. But still, what could she do?

She hailed a new cab and instructed him to drop her off at the Comfort Inn in Hell's Kitchen that she and Thomas were staying at. When she arrived, she went straight to his room. He answered the door in bunny footed pajamas. She was just grateful it wasn't vintage women's lingerie like the last time. After all that had happened, she didn't think she could take a 300 pound Vivian Westwood tonight.

“Didn't make it, huh?” he asked sympathetically, ushering her inside the tiny room and closing the door behind them. “Poor dear.”

She flopped on the second bed, a lump forming in her throat. She tried to tell herself that she shouldn't be so disappointed, but she couldn't help it. Seeing Collin again, after all these years, had really made her realize how much she missed having him in her life. And to blow a possible second chance like that? Stupid. Truly stupid. She should have skipped the costumes. Thomas would have understood. And then she'd have gotten to the restaurant early--met him at the door. They would have wined, dined, talked, maybe even danced. Made up for lost time.

But no. She'd screwed it all up. She wouldn't be surprised if he never wanted to talk to her again.

“I saw him get into a taxi as I was pulling in,” she told Thomas. “He'd waited an hour according to the restaurant guy.” She groaned. “He must think I'm a total bitch.”

“Well, duh. I think that and you've never even stood me up.”

She threw a pillow at him. “You're not helping.”

“Sorry, sweetie. It really sucks, I know.” Thomas said, looking at her with pitying eyes. “You were really looking forward to it, weren't you?”

“More than I wanted to admit,” she said with a sigh. “I really love him still. Seeing him today brought back so many memories.”

“Can you call him? Explain what happened?”

“I don't have his cell number. And I have no clue what hotel he's staying at.” She rolled over onto her side and flipped through one of their comics. “Too bad Karma Kitty didn't have some kind of Super Smell. Then I could just throw on the boots and sniff him out.”

Thomas laughed. “If only you knew you'd need it when you created her. We could have drawn it in. It'd actually be a pretty funny superpower. Would have made perfect sense, too, since all of Karma Kitty powers have to do with cat things. And we all know how good Fifi is at sniffing out the catnip. ”

Sudden inspiration smacked Hailey across the face and she jerked up in bed. “That's it!” she cried, hope surging through her. “That's totally it!”

Thomas gave her a blank look. “Er, what's it?”

“Drawing it in,” she replied. “When I put on the boots, I have all the powers of Karma Kitty, right? And we control what those powers are through the artwork. What if you sketched up a few scenes where Karma Kitty is gifted with the power of Super Smell? That she can sniff out...bad guys or something. Then I'd put on the boots and sniff out Collin. Figure out where he's staying and go apologize.”

“That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say. Maybe the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say. And I've heard a lot of stupid things in my life. Like the time George Michael claimed he was--”

“Yeah, well, before tonight you would have said me putting on magic boots, becoming Karma Kitty, and fighting a flock of ninjas was the stupidest thing you ever heard.”

“Touché.” Thomas considered. “But still...”

“Fine. I'll draw it myself then. You'll see.” She grabbed Thomas's sketch book from off his bed and uncapped a pen.

She was no artist, but she did her best, sketching her comic cat sniffing the air. She then slipped on her boots and took her own whiff. Nothing but the same old slightly dirty laundry smell the room had when she first entered. She sighed and kicked them off again.

“Oh well,” she said. “I guess it was a dumb idea.”

Thomas peered over her shoulder at her drawing. He scowled. “Oh my god,” he exclaimed. “Of course that's not going to work. It doesn't even remotely resemble Karma Kitty. No offense.” He huffed with annoyance. “Fine. Give me the pen.”

She handed it over.

“For the record, I still think this is ridiculous,” Thomas muttered as he took the sketchbook from her. “But if it's going to work, it's only going to work when drawn by a genuine Karma Kitty artist like me.”

Or Collin, she thought, wondering if he had taken up drawing again after they had parted ways. It was such a shame when he gave up over those stupid rejections. To give up something he was so good at. Something he loved.

Hailey looked over Thomas's shoulder, watching, until he yelled at her for invading his space. So she retreated to the other bed and flipped on the television. But she couldn't concentrate on the show. She was too impatient to see if this crazy thing would actually work.

“It doesn't have to be perfect,” she reminded him, after what seemed to be an inordinate amount of time to be working on a single sketch. He, of course, shot her a dirty look that told her that it most certainly did. Artists!

She lay back down on the bed and tried to be patient. Tried to focus on what she was going to tell Collin once she found him. Some kind of easy excuse. Something believable that didn't involve pirates or ninjas or her turning into a cat woman. Would he forgive her? Would he be interested in rekindling the relationship? Maybe they'd end up getting married this time. Start a family, even.

Hang on, Hailey. First things first.

“Okay, I'm done,” Thomas announced, breaking her out of her white picket fence dreams.

She practically dove to the other bed. “Let me see.”

He held up the sketchbook out of her reach. “No way, Jose. This piece of garbage is going into the trash the second you're done tracking down Mr. Hollywood. I can't afford to have it end up on DeviantArt or something. My fans would never forgive me.”

“Fine, fine. As long as it works” She rummaged into the costume bag at the foot of the bed and grabbed the boots. “I guess I don't need the rest of the costume,” she decided, yanking on the footwear. “Don't want to freak him out with cat ears and tail. Though maybe I'll wear the skirt. He was totally eyeing it earlier.”

She zipped up the boots again and once again that nauseous, tingly feeling came over her, followed by an overwhelming sense of power.

And...she sniffed...cigarette smoke?

“Thomas Mark Carol, you've been smoking!” she exclaimed, shooting him an accusing look. “You told me you quit.”

Thomas scowled and opened his mouth to give some lame excuse, then his eyes widened as he realized what was happening. “It worked!” he cried, jumping off the bed and clapping his hands together in glee. “Oh my god! You have Super Smell!”

Her eyes widened as she realize he was absolutely right. She could smell the burger and fries the guy was eating in the next room. The stench of urine on the sidewalks outside. The cheesy J-Lo perfume off the desk clerk downstairs. She could smell each and everything with a crystal clarity that was both enticing...and disgusting.

Thomas was back to his sketchbook, drawing furiously. A moment later he looked up. “Okay,” he said, breathless with excitement. “Now shoot hundred dollar bills from your fingers.”

She stared at him. “You're kidding right?”

“Hey, the Super Smell thing worked. Figured it was worth a try.”

“Fine.” She held out her fingers and concentrated. Sadly, not a single penny drizzled out.

Thomas scowled. “Boo.”

“Makes sense though,” she said, lowering her hands. “Karma Kitty has the same powers as a cat, but exaggerated, right? It's not like she can fly or shoot lasers or anything.”

“True. Brutally disappointing, but true.”

“Anyway, Super Smell works. And that's what matters.”

“To you maybe. I would have found the money producing super claws I designed far more useful.”

She rolled her eyes at him and then sniffed again, closing her eyes and concentrating on visualizing Collin. His delicious scent--Jil Sander with a mixture of aftershave--that she used to love breathing in. The smells bombarded her, fast and furious, and at first it was hard to catalog them individually.

Then she caught a whiff of something. Something distinctly Collin like-somewhere to the northeast. “Well, I guess the best thing to do is jump in a cab and stick my nose out the window,” she determined. “After all, midtown Manhattan isn't that big, right?”

Thomas shot her a doubtful look.

She sighed. If only Comic Con had been held in rural Maine. Would have made it a lot easier. “Well, here I go anyway,” she said, rising to her feet. “Wish me luck!”

“Meh, you don't need luck,” Thomas said, giving her a thumb's up.. “You're Karma Kitty!”

She threw him a grin, exiting the room, praying he was right.

Chapter Four

The Comfort Inn's elevator was broken, but Hailey didn't care. She skipped down the steps, practically dancing for joy. This was too cool. Too, too cool. If only she'd had superpowers back in the day when she and Collin had been together. Maybe she could have kicked some alien abductor ass and made it to the church on time. They'd be married right now. Living happily ever after.

She pushed open the front lobby door and stepped out onto West 46th street. No use dwelling on what might have been. It was time to make the present what it should be.

The nose out the cab window thing turned out to be a lot easier than she thought it'd be and the cab driver didn't even seem that taken aback by his sniffy, indecisive passenger. Guess you got a lot weirder than that as a NYC hack and as long as the meter ran and she didn't, it was all good for him.

Not fifteen minutes later, she asked him to stop in front of The Rock Hotel, right outside of Times Square. Collin's scent was strong here and she was positive this had to be the place. She paid and exited the cab, stuffed sack of Chinese take-out in hand. (The smell had been irresistible to her newly sensitized nose and they had missed dinner, after all.)

Walking straight over to the front desk, Hailey asked for Collin's room number. But the snotty clerk informed her that “due to privacy concerns” he couldn't give out that information to some random girl off the street. After much pleading, he did agree to ring Collin's room, but no one answered. He suggested she come back later.

Hailey knew Collin was in the building. She could smell him clearly now. He was probably just ignoring his calls or in the bathroom or something. So she headed over to the elevator, determined to sniff him out. The doors slid open a moment later, revealing a stiff, uniformed man inside. She stepped into the elevator and the man politely inquired as to what floor she'd like to go to.

“Huh?” she asked, taken aback.

“Which floor?” the man repeated, louder, as if she were foreign and thus more likely to comprehend the English language when it was spoken three decibels higher.

“Oh.” This must be one of those old fashioned hotels that retained a useless elevator operator. Figured. She gave a sniff, trying to ignore the overwhelming Old Spice the guy had evidently doused his body with before coming to work. “Hm.”

It wasn't that she couldn't smell Collin. In fact, his scent was nearly overpowering. But all she could tell from her vantage point in the elevator that it was somewhere, well, up. She glanced at the numbers. Ugh-fifty-eight floors.

“Floor Twenty-three?” she suggested, deciding to go for something near the middle. Maybe once she was there she'd get a better sense of whether he was higher or lower. The operator pressed the button and the elevator chimed as the doors slid shut.

They were off.

She sniffed again, closing her eyes to concentrate on the direction of Collin's scent. Sure enough, as they rose, the smell grew stronger and stronger. Then, somewhere around the fifteenth floor, it started fading again. She glanced over at the yawning elevator operator, wondering what she should do.

The elevator dinged, announcing its arrival at Floor 23. The doors slid open.

“Er,” she stammered, as the man looked at her expectantly. “I think I meant floor...um...thirteen? Yeah. Definitely floor thirteen. Sorry about that.”

The guy threw a bland smile in her direction, but something in his eyes made her realize that perhaps he was not entirely pleased by this misstep.

“What?” she asked.

“Madame, this hotel has no thirteenth floor,” he explained. “Hotels rarely do. It's said to be unlucky.”

She restrained from smacking her forehead in a “duh” moment. “Sorry,” she said. “I meant the fourteenth floor. Silly me.” Maybe she should get out and walk up and down the stairs...

The operator nodded stiffly and pressed the button labeled fourteen. Once again the doors slid shut and the elevator began its descent. She watched the LCD display above the door drop in digits, sniffing each time it did, until...

“Sixteen!” she cried triumphantly. “He's on floor sixteen.”

The hotel employee glowered at her. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open to the fourteenth floor, as had been directed. He made no move to push the sixteenth button.

“Sixteen,” she repeated, annoyed that this chump was now getting in the way of her meeting up with Collin. Why did they even have a guy operating the elevator to begin with? Surely most guests could figure out how to press the buttons themselves...

The man smiled again, this time giving off a distinct, “I hate my life” look. She resisted the urge of suggesting he hit Monster.com on the way home to look for a real job.

“Perhaps Madame would like to go down to concierge and check her room number with the staff?”

Perhaps he'd like her to shove a Karma Kitty boot up his ass? “Nah, that's okay. I'm sure now. Sixteen. Definitely sixteen.”

“Very well.” He pressed number sixteen and away they went. A moment later, the doors slid open. “Where to now?” asked the operator , not expecting for a moment that she had indeed reached her final destination.

“Nowhere. This is it.” She breathed in deeply, taking in Collin's delicious scent. Musky, dark, heavenly. “Thanks man. Sorry about that.”

“Not a problem.”

Yeah, right. Feeling bad, she grabbed a few crumbled bills from her pocket and shoved them into his hand before exiting the elevator. He took them without a thank you. Then she headed down the hall to complete her Collin finding quest, sniffing each and every room as she passed.

At Room 1623 she paused. Another sniff told her this was it. Collin's room. When she lifted her hand to bang against the door, she realized it was shaking.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” she murmured and knocked.

“Just a minute!”

Panic slammed into her with the force of a ten ton truck at the sound of Collin's voice, mixed with his heady scent. In addition to Jil Sander, he now smelled like honeysuckle and Jasmine. Which could only mean--

The door swung open, revealing Collin, half naked, clad only in a towel, slung low across his narrow hips. Dripping wet, obviously just out of the shower from the smell of it, beads of water clinging to chest hair.

She swallowed hard, doing all she could not to pass out with desire. Wow. Just...wow. She'd forgotten what an amazing body her former boyfriend had. All hard planes of muscle, encased in a smooth, olive toned skin. No middle aged spread for him; he had a perfect six pack. And just enough five o'clock shadow dusting his chiseled face to make him look dangerous.

He was perfection. And suddenly Hailey felt rather lame.

“Um, hi!” she exclaimed, holding up the bag of take-out. “Hungry?”

If Collin had opened his door and found Bigfoot standing there, grinning from ear to furry ear, he couldn't have been more surprised.  Hailey Hills, hovering at his hotel room door, arms full of Chinese food. His brain told him he should slam the door shut in her face, locking her out of his life forever. After all, he'd just wasted a damn hour in a very fine restaurant, waiting for her to show up for an elegant dinner for two. He'd dressed up. He'd bought roses. He'd ordered a bottle of their finest champagne. And she was a no show. Again. Just like on their wedding day. And he'd had to endure the pitying stares all over again from the other patrons and waiters and maitre de. Yes, I got stood up. I am that chump.

And now, here she was, plastic sack of Dim Sum and Noodles in hand, probably armed with a wild tale on why she couldn't make it to the restaurant on time, expecting that once again he would see fit to forgive her flakiness and lies.

Yes, his brain was right. He should shut the door in her face. But, of course, he didn't. The dumplings smelled good. She smelled even better. He was human, after all.

Sighing, he widened the door to allow her entrance. “Come in.”

“Thanks!” she cried, sounding too eager, too cheerful. She was obviously nervous. As she entered the room, Thomas realized the suite was a mess. Underwear strewn on the floor, work papers everywhere. He walked over to the sofa to clear off a space. “Sorry about dinner,” she said, as he set his suitcase on the floor. “I got...held up.”

He turned to look at her, bracing himself for what would come next. The infamous Hailey Hills excuse. What would she come up with this time? He grabbed his jeans and headed for the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. “By aliens?” he asked through the door. “Bigfoot? The evil Loch Ness monster?” A bit cruel, but it couldn't have been unexpected.

“Try my evil publisher.”

He opened the door, surprised. “Publisher?” he asked, peaking out at her. That certainly wasn't the answer he had been expecting.

Hailey nodded, slumping onto the couch. She was still wearing that crazy short plaid skirt she had on earlier and the gap of skin between it and her thigh highs was making him crazy all over again.

“Yeah,” she said, staring at the coffee table, as if the copy of Variety held the answers to life, the universe, and everything. “She had a bunch of questions about my next issue and would not let me get away, no matter how I pleaded. I, um, actually pulled into the restaurant just as you were leaving. Tried the old 'follow that cab' trick, but the driver wasn't having it. Cabbies! I feel so stupid I didn't get your cell phone number when we made plans. Then I could have at least let you know what was going on.”

Collin let out a breath, relieved and delighted at her story. A real excuse. She had a real, legitimate, couldn't be helped excuse. No crazy, made-up conspiracy theory. No Marilyn Monroe ghosts or demon hunters. Just a good old fashion reason why a girl couldn't make it on time to a dinner with a guy she liked.

“Anyway, I rushed here as fast I could to apologize,” she continued, putting her boots up on the coffee table and revealing more leg in the process. God, she was hot. How had he let her get away? “I'm so sorry for leaving you hanging. Especially since we all know I have a kind of...history...with that sort of thing.” She blushed. “But I've changed. I'm a new person now. And the weird things that used to happen to me? Well, I ignore them now.”

He joined her on the couch, daring to reach over and pat her thigh high clad knee with his hand. “It's okay,” he said. “Things happen.”

Hailey squirmed with delight under Collin's casual touch, wondering if he was half as turned on as she. The electricity cracked and sparkled as he lingered half a second too long for an innocent pat. His fingers trailed, nails lightly scraping her thigh high tops.

Things happen, he'd said. In other words, he totally forgave her for standing him up. She was so right to come here. Thank you Karma Kitty. Thank you magic boots.

Maybe they'd make up tonight. Maybe they'd make out, too. Maybe even...

Her brain chose that inopportune moment to give her a reality check. Collin only believed her because she out and out lied to him. Gave him a “reasonable” excuse. What kind of start to a reconciliation was that? Lying to get someone to believe you. Not a very good one.

Still, what was she supposed to do? Tell him the truth? That the magic boots she'd bought online had morphed her into her comic book character, giving her the magical powers she needed to save a pirate comic book artist from a roving band of ninjas, set on his demise? Just like the alien thing on their wedding day, he'd find it unbelievable. Sure, she could kind of prove it--do some gymnastic tricks in his hotel room or something--but then she'd come off even weirder than ever. And the last thing she wanted was for Collin to think she was weirder than he already thought.

If he really loved you, he'd love you--weirdness and all, the inner voice nagged. And he'd believe you, no matter what.

She pushed the thought out of her brain. So she'd told one little eensy weensy lie. People told each other lies all the time. No, that dress doesn't make you look fat. I think bald is beautiful. No big deal.

“So how have you been?” she asked in her brightest voice, digging into the bag of take-out and pulling out the aluminum containers. “What's LA like? Where do you live? Do you like your job?”

He held up his hands, laughing. “Whoa. One question at a time,” he said, his beautiful eyes dancing in amusement. “LA is fine. Smoggy, just like they say. I live in Santa Monica, a couple blocks from the pier. Really nice place, but a hell of a commute to Studio City everyday. And my job's okay. It pays the bills.”

“But your job sounds so glamorous.”

“It sounds that way, yeah. But it's a lot of work. A lot of meetings and asking for money. A producer isn't on the set everyday, doing the actual filming. That would probably be a lot more fun.”

Hailey pulled off the cardboard top of the noodles, allowing a puff of steam to escape. “Do you ever...draw anymore?” she asked.

He stared down at his chopsticks. “Not really,” he said with a small shrug. “Not since, well, you know.”

She did. She remembered the “you know” like it was yesterday. The day they'd gotten their fiftieth rejection. The one that said something along the lines of “We love the concept and the storyline--come back to us once you get a better artist.” The one written by Straylight Comics.

He told her right then and there he was giving up art forever. She begged him to reconsider--said Karma Kitty was nothing without him--but he just shook his head. He was keeping her down, he told her. She could be great. She just had to let go of the dead weight. AKA him.

That had been the beginning of the end for them, she realized, looking back. Collin started applying for Hollywood jobs and she had found Thomas to take over Karma Kitty. They were still planning to get married in a few months, but the joy had been sucked out of the relationship. The hope, plans, and dreams they shared had evaporated. And a few weeks before the wedding, when Hailey got her acceptance from Straylight for two volumes of Karma Kitty, she found it nearly impossible to face Collin with the news. She felt guilty for her own success as it was just another dig at his failure.

He didn't say too much when she finally told him. Congratulations, he was happy for her, etc. But the pain clouding his eyes made it impossible for her to completely rejoice in her good fortune.

“It's too bad,” she said now, finding her courage now that she no longer had anything to lose. “You were a great artist.”

“Not according to the comic industry.”

“What do they know?” she scoffed. Then she shrugged. “I just hate to see people give up on their dreams.”

He swallowed hard. “I've got new dreams now. And they're working out quite nicely.” He set down his chopsticks and reached over to her knee again, this time, caressing it, smoothing his hand over the nylon. “Dreams and fantasies,” he added, in a husky voice.

She sucked in a breath, trying desperately to control her racing heart. He was right. What good did it do to dredge up the past? He was happy as a movie executive and he had his hand on her thigh. This was a time when art should step aside for life.

“And what might those fantasies be?” she asked, closing her eyes and leaning forward to meet his lips with her own. She'd forgotten how good he tasted, the tang of sweet and sour sauce just adding to the kiss. His tongue darted out, licking her lips, coaxing her mouth open to him. She obliged and he delved in for deeper exploration, territories once chartered and long forgotten.

While his mouth went to work on hers, his hand restlessly explored her inner thigh, dragging along the bare skin, hitching up her skirt. She gasped at the myriad of sensations coursing through her body, longing for his touch.

“Oh god, I've missed this,” she murmured, reaching over to touch him back. It made her happy to realize how much he wanted her--as much, it seemed, as she wanted him. She straddled him, wrapping her legs around his as they continued to kiss. He groaned, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

“You have no idea,” he said, his voice hoarse and his breathing heavy.

But while Hailey's in-the-moment passionate part of her brain was ready and impatient to get the show on the road, a waving hand from the sensible part--way in the back recesses--kept staunchly reminded her that inserting one's diaphragm before engaging in hot and heavy action with one's ex-lover might be a decision she appreciated making sometime down the road.

So she kissed him once more on the mouth, then pressed a hand to his chest. His breaths came hot and heavy, his heart tripping a staccato beat. Yup, it was time.

“I'll be right back,” she said coyly, climbing off of him.

He stared at her dully--obviously his more passionate brain had taken over as well--then nodded. “Please be quick,” he said, reaching out to brush her backside as she turned.

She looked back at him with a grin. “Oh don't worry, I will be.” Prancing in the direction of the bathroom, she grabbed her purse off the floor. Thank goodness she had a habit of leaving random things in her handbag--like the diaphragm, in this case. It wasn't exactly like she had planned on getting lucky during the trip.

The bathroom was immediately adjacent to the hotel room door and as she approached, she heard a weird noise outside. Curious, she peeked through the peephole to see what it might be.

She jumped back immediately, horrified, at what she saw.

Oh god. It couldn't be.

She peeked out again.

But it was.

There was a ninja lurking in the hallway of her ex-boyfriend's hotel. A ninja that looked very much like the ones she had battled earlier that day.

No, no, no! she cried silently. How had they found her? Did the dim sum dude squeal? Or maybe he was one of their spies. Did ninjas even have spies?

Great. Now what was she going to do? Sure, she could probably take the guy in a fight, but then she'd have some 'splaining to do once again to Collin. About magic shoes and battling ninjas and--oh, he was going to be so pissed! And here she'd been doing so good with her perfectly rational excuse for her earlier tardiness.

“Is something wrong, sweetie?” Collin inquired from the couch.

“Um, no. Nothing. I'll be right there.” Squaring her shoulders, she determined to forget about the ninja and get back to the hot sex-with-the-ex portion of her evening. After all, how many chances did she get to win back the love of her life? She checked the door. Locked. There was no way the ninja was getting in anyway. He could hang out while she hooked up and she'd deal with him when she was done.

After doing her thing in the bathroom, she headed back to the couch, sinking down on Collin's lap once again. He groaned and grabbed her hair, pulling her head back so he could nibble at her neck-one of his favorite games. She gasped in pleasure at the sensation of his teeth, scraping against her sensitive skin. It felt so good. So, so good...

She stole a glance at the front door. Was the lock really secure? Could a mere hotel room door really stop a ninja? After all, these guys were used to karate chopping big hunks of wood or stone. And if they did, she and Collin would be caught in a compromising and very hard to fight position. Trapped and unable to get away.

Not to mention then she'd have to tell him the truth about why a ninja had karate chopped down his front door, which would be even worse.

“Hey! Are you thirsty?” she asked, leaping off Collin's lap and scrambling to her feet.

He stared at her as if she had two heads. “Am I...what?”

“Thirsty.”

He reached out for her hand. “Only for you, sweetness,” he purred.

Cute. But rather unhelpful, given the circumstances. “Well I'm dying of thirst. Totally parched.” The excuse sounded so lame coming from her lips. But what else was she going to say. “Hon, I'll be right back after I do battle with a ninja out in the hall.” It was excuses like that that made him break up with her in the first place.

“Um, you can check the mini-bar,” he said, looking lost. “I mean, if you're thirsty.”

Argh. Stupid minibar. “Actually, I think I need ice. I'll just run to the machine. Be right back. You um, want some peanut M&Ms or something while I'm by the vending machine?”

He straightened up on the couch and sighed. “I'm good,” he replied, looking more than a bit sour.

“Okay, cool.” I glanced over at the door nervously. Had anyone tried to break through yet? How many were on the other side? “I'll be right back, okay?”

“Sure. Whatever.”

He was pissed. Great. But there was no time to right things now. She'd have to do it after the ninja fight. Good thing she hadn't taken off her boots yet.

She pulled open the door and peered from left to right. Hm. No sign of the guy. She carefully crept into the hall, closing the door behind her. The thing about ninjas, she knew, was they could be very hard to spot. She took a few steps and sniffed, trying to locate them with her Super Smell. Suddenly, she got a distinctive whiff of an eel avocado roll, covered in soy sauce and topped with ginger.

Bingo.

She leapt around the corner, launching into full fighting stance. Sure enough, the ninja stood there, outside room 1412. He looked up, evidently surprised someone had been able to sneak up on him (Thank you, Karma Kitty Super Stealth.) and held his hands up in a defensive pose, letting loose a string of some Asian words Hailey had no way to translate.

She charged toward him, swinging out a foot to connect with his stomach. He dodged her easily and spun around, low, sweeping out a leg to trip her. Pain slammed through her ankle as his calf connected and she went sprawling through the air.

But luckily, as a rule, Karma Kitty always landed on her feet.

Hailey recovered and flipped forward, catching the ninja off guard. She jammed a fist low, connecting with his groin. He bellowed in pain, staggering backwards and she took her momentary advantage to grab a nearby vase off a hall table and whip it at his head. Flowers flew and water splashed, followed by the distinctive thud of ceramic against skull. Followed still further by the now unconscious ninja hitting floor.

Panting for breath, she poked him with her toe. Now that the rage of battle was fading she started to worry that maybe she'd hurt him too badly. She had no desire to go down for murder one, even if she could prove it was self defense. (Which would be pretty hard to do considering she made the first blow.)

But luckily for her, the ninja groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at her. She gave him a little wave, a little smile, then raised her not-so-little fists. The ninja scrambled to his feet and ran, as fast as his pajama'ed legs could carry him in the other direction.

Hailey let out a sigh of relief and lowered her hands. Mission accomplished and no serious injury done to the evil party. She could now go back to Collin's hotel room and continue where they left off with no more distractions.

“Where's your ice?” a fully dressed Collin asked as she entered the room. He was flipping through the channels with a remote, finally settling on some kind of soccer game. Haley's felt her face heat as she realized in the heat of the fight, she'd totally forgotten her original fake mission. Now she was returning, disheveled, iceless, and no explanation that would make any sense.

“Oh, well, I decided I wasn't all that thirsty after all,” she replied, knowing full well how lame she sounded. Her realistic excuses were getting worse than her weird ones. She decided to give it one more try. “Just thirsty for you, baby,” she added, dropping her voice to a husky tone.

Collin flipped the channel again, settling on a TBS showing of The Shining. He set the remote down on his lap without looking at her. Not a good sign.

“Oh, I love this movie,” she tried, plopping down close to him on the couch. He shuffled to the left, putting distance between them. Great. “Um, is something wrong?” As if she needed to ask.

Collin turned to look at her for the first time since she'd re-entered the room. His face was stone cold, but his eyes revealed his hurt. “Look, I'm sorry,” he said. “I didn't mean to...well, what I mean to say is...” He raked a hand through his hair, obviously frustrated. “You know,” he said, angrily, “if you didn't want to have sex, you could have just spoken up. You make it seem like I'm forcing you to do something you don't want.”

Hailey stared at him, eyes wide, mirroring her disbelief. Was that what he thought? That she was trying to avoid sleeping with him? God, there was nothing in the world she wanted to do more at that moment in time.

“Collin, no!” she cried. “It's not that at all.”

“Then what is it, Hailey? I'd really like to know.”

And she'd really like to tell him. She slumped into the couch cushions. But admitting the whole Karma Kitty fighting ninjas out in the hotel hallway just didn't seem like it was going to exactly fly. He wouldn't believe her. He'd think she was lying and making excuses again. Just like before.  Nothing had changed. Their relationship was still impossible.

She rose from the couch. “I've got to go,” she told him.

“Fine,” he replied, his voice devoid of emotion. He turned back to the TV.

Hailey took a step towards the door. “Okay, so, I'm leaving.”

“Later.” Obviously he wasn't interested in convincing her to stay. What a bastard. Thank god she hadn't slept with him. She gave him one more longing glance as she pulled open the hotel room door. He was still engrossed in the TV. Bastard. She wanted to slap him. But with her Karma Kitty powers, she'd probably leave too big a bruise.

You know, the kind she couldn't explain.

Chapter Five

“And then what?”

“Then I left,” Hailey concluded with a shrug, sawing at her waffle with strawberries and extra whipped cream the next day at breakfast. “Went back to my hotel room, raided the mini bar and passed out, surrounded by little empty bottles of booze.” She shoveled waffle into her mouth, a vain attempt to use fat and calories to soak up her inner pain.

“That's a very anticlimactic story,” Thomas pouted. He took a sip of the Starbucks latte he'd insisted on smuggling into the restaurant after one sip of the place's home brew the morning before. “I was hoping for fireworks. At least multiple orgasms.”

“If only that stupid ninja didn't show up,” she said, leaning back in her chair and letting out a sigh. “Why oh why do I get myself into these messes? I should have let Hiro Kim to face his enemies himself instead of getting involved. What possessed me to take on a gaggle of ninjas in the first place?”

Thomas reached over to pat her on the hand. “Well, I thought what you did was very brave.”

“Whoopdie do.” Hailey twirled her finger in the air. “Bravery, for the win and all that. Fat lot of good it'll do me. Hiro didn't even bother to thank me for putting my ass on the line. And let's face it; the guy could probably finance a small country. Shouldn't I, his kitty in shining pleather, now be entitled to a piece of that action?”

“Maybe he'll name a pirate character after you,” Thomas comforted. “Besides, I'm sure he was appreciative. He just doesn't speak the language.”

“Maybe...”

“Anyway, if you're done your self pity party, take a look at this.” Thomas pulled out a sheaf of paper from the middle of his Comic Con program. “Someone handed it to me on the way in. According to this, Darken Pictures is scheduled to make some major announcement at ten this morning. I'm betting it's a new comic movie they're working on. Aren't you dying to know what it is?”

“No.” Hailey sniffed. “Not in the least.”

“Oh liar, liar, pants on fire,” Thomas scolded. “You're just bitter 'cause Collin works at Darken. But come on! Don't you want to see which sad sack comic book artist they suckered into selling his soul to Hollywood this time around?”

She considered it. “Maybe a little. But we're standing way in the back. I so don't want Collin to think I'm stalking him or something.”

“Great.” Thomas glanced at his watch. “Nine thirty. We'd better head over to the convention hall if we don't want to miss it.”

They paid for their breakfast and headed to the Javits Center. .Once inside, they had to push through the already gathering crowd until they go to the outer limits of the flashy Darken Pictures booth. They needn't have worried about being spotted, Hailey realized, looking around. There were probably a thousand people, milling about, waiting for the big announcement.

The folks at Darken had set up a makeshift stage at the top of the booth and suddenly triumphant sounding music erupted from the gigantic speakers flanking each side. Hailey watched as none other than Collin himself stepped up to the podium. She noticed, to some small satisfaction, that her ex looked exhausted and his clothes were wrinkled. Maybe he couldn't sleep last night, feeling guilty over the way he'd treated her.

Collin cleared his throat and leaned into the microphone. “Thank you all for coming,” he said and Hailey's extremely disloyal heart panged at the sound of his voice. “We at Darken Pictures are really excited to bring you some very special news. A new partnership between comic book and motion picture.”

“See?” Thomas poked her in the side. “I told you.”

“Shhh.”

“As for this morning, we will be working with the one and only Hiro Kim to develop a very high budget blockbuster film based on his amazing pirate comic book series, Shadow Booty Clan.”

Hailey's mouth dropped open. She glanced over to Thomas, realizing he was wearing a very similar expression on his own face. Hiro Kim? The same Hiro Kim that swore time and time again he'd never sell out to Hollywood in a million years? The same Hiro Kim who Pixar once offered 30 million dollars for the rights to use his characters? He was selling out to Darken?

Something was rotten in Comic Con, that was for sure.

“What the hell?” Hailey hissed to Thomas as they watched the stage. A dazed looking Hiro approached the podium, bowing to Collin and then listlessly shaking his hand.  “What's going on here?”

Thomas shrugged, obviously as shocked as his partner. “I have no freaking idea,” he whispered back. “But I think Hiro's going to speak.”

“I happy to work with Darken,” Hiro said in faltering English. “They very good company. My comic in good...arms?...with them. Thank you.”

He bowed to the audience, who erupted in cheers. Many of them had been waiting for a Hiro Kim movie their entire lives. A few diehards in the back booed and yelled “Sell out!” but Hiro didn't seem to hear them. He just stared out into the crowd with dark, blank eyes. Finally, two security guards approached him and escorted him off the stage. Collin thanked everyone for coming by, urged them to check out the booth, then left the stage. The crowd dispersed, all abuzz with the news, many already updating their blogs with their PDAs.

“Unbelievable,” Thomas murmured, still staring up at the now vacant stage. “Hiro Kim would never sell his comic book to a Hollywood studio. Never, ever, ever.”

“Uh, hate to break it to you, dude, but he just did.” Hailey reminded him. “Guess everyone has their price.”

“Yes, but...” Thomas scratched his head. “Don't you think it's more than a bit odd that last night he was being chased by ninjas and now he's doing something he never ever in a million years was going to do?”

Hailey stared at him. She'd been so wrapped up in her own problems with Collin the thought hadn't occurred to her. “Oh my god, you're right!” she cried. “What if they found him again after? Maybe they work for Darken and threatened to kill him if he didn't sign away his rights.”

It sounded kind of crazy, but the way everything else had been going, that was just par for the course.

“Well, I doubt Darken Pictures employs ninjas,” Thomas mused. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Shuriken from the day before. He turned the plastic star in his hands. “But these guys do.” He looked up at Hailey. “Booth 4294. Let's go.”

They headed down the aisles, focused and on a mission, ignoring all the fun diversions they passed. There would be time for browsing later; right now they had a mystery to solve. Why the world's premier manga pirate artist would suddenly give away his film rights, one night after being chased by a gang of ninjas? Seemed a bit too much to be a coincidence. Hailey felt a bit like Nancy Drew as she fingered the clue in her hand. Of course, Nancy was more of a pacifist; never once, in her hundreds of adventures, had the redhead detective been forced to kick ninja ass.

“It should be right over here,” Thomas remarked as they turned the corner. “Booth 4294.”

Except there was no Booth 4294. Only an empty square of carpet where a booth might have once been, sandwiched between and a booth selling Pooka, the Goblin Cat stuffed animals and the Voodoo Babies stall.

“Who was here at this booth?” Hailey asked the girl manning the Pooka booth. She was dressed all in black and had multiple piercings in her ears, nose, eyebrows and mouth. (And who knows where else underneath her clothes!) Hailey's publisher would so not have approved,

“Um,” the girl pondered, tonguing her lip ring. “I think it was some agency.”

Hailey cocked her head. “Agency?”

“Yeah. You know, like people who represent artists. They were here yesterday.” She looked over to the booth and shrugged. “But when I got here this morning they were long gone.”

Thomas and Hailey exchanged glances. “Do you remember what they were called?” Hailey asked hopefully.

The pierced girl thought for a moment, then shook her braided head. “Sorry, I can't remember. I was totally swamped yesterday and didn't get to chat with my neighbors much. The only reason I know they were agents was 'cause that movie producer Collin Robinson came over a bunch of times yesterday to talk to them.” She fanned herself with her many ringed hand. “God, that guy is hot.”

“Oh yeah, he's steaming,” Hailey muttered. Steaming mad at her, that was. Why, oh why, did everything in her life have to circle back to Collin? And what the hell did he have to do with the ninja agents? “Thanks for your help.”

“Sure, no problem.” The girl smacked her gum. Hailey and Thomas turned to leave. “Oh, one other thing,” the girl said, calling them back. They turned around, expectant. The goth rummaged under her booth, then held out a shiny plastic object.

A Shuriken.

“I found this in the empty booth this morning,” she said, pressing the plastic throwing star in Hailey's hand. “Probably from one of their ninjas.”

Hailey did a double-take. “Ninjas?” Now they were getting somewhere. “Are you sure?”

The girl nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, didn't I mention it?” she asked. “Some of the guys behind the booth were dressed as ninjas. I figured they must be actors, hired for whatever promotion they were doing. They looked pretty cool, though. All serious like.”

“Ninjas? Are you sure they were ninjas?” Hailey's pulse kicked up a few notches as she examined the throwing star. It was identical to the one the ninja had aimed at her head the night before.

“There's really no mistaking ninjas, is there?”

“Right. Well, thanks. You've been very helpful.” Hailey and Thomas said their goodbyes and hurried off.

“This is getting weirder and weirder,” Hailey mused, tossing the throwing star in the air and catching it, as they rushed back to the Straylight booth. Their morning signing was in less than a half hour and they were going to have to cross almost the entire floor. “Why the hell would talent agents have ninjas at their booths?”

“And why would those ninjas chase Hiro Kim after closing time?” Thomas added. “With plastic throwing stars, nonetheless.”

“And what does any of this have to do with Collin?”

Thomas stopped in his tracks. “Don't you see? It makes perfect sense. Yesterday, Hiro swears he hates everything Hollywood and never in a million years or for millions of dollars will he sell the rights to his pirate manga. The next day, after being chased by ninjas--belonging to a talent agent that a producer for Darken Pictures visited several times--he decides, out of the blue, to partner with said movie company. Coincidence? I think not.”

“But I rescued him! The ninjas didn't get him,” Hailey protested.

“Maybe they second a second round to grab him later. While you were busy attempting a real booty call, instead of the shadow type.”

Hailey nodded, enthusiastically. “Maybe Hiro's staying at the same hotel as Collin. Remember, I saw that ninja poking around there. I'd assumed he was looking for me to get revenge, but maybe he was sent to find Hiro.”

“Or maybe he was looking for Collin,” Thomas finished. “To tell him they'd coerced Hiro into making a deal.”

Hailey shuddered. “What do you think they do to people to get them to sign? Torture? Blackmail?”

“Something bad, for sure,” Thomas said. “Because there's no other way Hiro would have signed away his comics to  Darken Pictures.”

Hailey's stomach rolled with realization “That means Collin's in on this somehow,” she said, a sinking disappointment settling in her gut. And here she assumed he'd be one of the good guys.

Thomas put out a hand. “Hold on, don't jump to conclusions. Maybe Collin doesn't know the company's tactics. After all, heartbreaker though he may be, he doesn't exactly strike me as the type to blackmail and malign people, just to get them to sign movie deals.”

Hailey considered this. “No, I guess not. But we know he visited the ninja agents during the day. And then there was a ninja outside his hotel room that night. Seems fishy to me.”

“Well, I'm not saying he doesn't have dealings with him,” Thomas agreed. “But he's a producer. He probably deals with a ton of agents everyday. But maybe he doesn't know this particular agency's methods. Who knows, maybe they offered him Hiro's movie rights on a silver platter, without giving him any clue on how they planned to acquire those rights. Any Hollywood hottie with half a brain would jump at that offer, right? It's only the deal of the century, after all.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Hailey mused. “I mean, as much as any of this does.” She looked over at Thomas. “So what do we do now?”

“I guess we talk to Hiro. Though he doesn't speak much English. We'll need to find someone to interpret.”

“But Hiro's hanging out with the Darken people.”

Thomas nodded. “Exactly.” He looked at Hailey pointedly.

She shook her head. “Oh no. No, no, no. I am so not going to kiss up to Collin just to gain access to Hiro.”

Thomas stopped walking and turned to her. “You'd rather let some guy lose all his life's work than go ask a favor of your ex-boyfriend? The one, may I remind you, that you were so hot and heavy on just yesterday?”

Hailey sighed. “Well, I...” There was no argument Thomas was going to be okay with. She might as well give in and go. And to be fair, a certain part of her did realize, deep inside, that it would be a good excuse to talk to Collin again. “Fine,” she relented. “I'll go. But first we need to motor if we're going to have our signing on time.”

###

“Collin, my man, I don't know how you did it, but you indeed did it and for that I am utterly grateful.” Mr. Tubbs, Collin's boss and the Vice President of the studios, slapped him on the back so hard Collin almost fell over from the impact.

“Well, I'm happy you're happy,” he replied after regaining his balance. He threw his boss a big fake smile--the kind he'd become famous for. “I agree that Hiro's a great addition to next summer's blockbuster line-up.”

“A great addition? He's the freaking headliner!” Mr. Tubbs cried. “Every studio and their decrepit old grandmother have been trying to get this guy to sell his soul to the devil for years now. But the artiste--” Mr. Tubbs sneered at the word “--well, he was just too high and mighty and artsy for the likes of us. Goddamn comic book artists thinking they're freaking Michelangelo or some shit.”

“Hiro's a manga artist,” Collin corrected, knowing he should keep his mouth shut. “There is a difference.”

“He draws silly pictures for a living--pictures with speech bubbles over the character's heads, don't he?” Mr. Tubbs scoffed. “That makes him a comic book maker in my book.” He slapped Collin on the back again. “But you, Collin, my main man, you did it. You got that bastard to finally sign on the dotted line. We've got the next goddamn Pirates of the Caribbean franchise on our hands and it's all thanks to you.”

Collin wasn't sure how to respond. All day he'd been getting this type of congrats from all the bigwigs at Darken Pictures. The president of the company had even called him up to thank him personally for bringing Hiro to Darken. He was the man of the hour. The studio savoir. The one who'd won over the manga whiz kid after nearly a decade of wrangling.

So why couldn't he be happy about it?

Two reasons came to mind. One was the weird circumstances in which it had all gone down. What people like Mr. Tubbs didn't know was that Collin hadn't even approached Hiro with an offer. He'd been handed it on a plate by the guy's people--The MeiyoSeraph Agency--which Collin hadn't even heard of before today. They'd approached him out of the blue, told him they represented Hiro's movie rights, and asked him if he'd be interested in making a deal. At first Collin had laughed, thinking it was some kind of joke his coworkers had orchestrated. But as they continued to talk, he realized they were indeed serious. And they were willing and able to seal the deal.

Collin wrote up the contract then and there. Money was no object when it came to getting Hiro on the summer lineup. And now everyone was giving him huge kudos for the easiest deal of his life.

And then there was reason number two he couldn't be happy. Hailey.

He hadn't slept a wink last night, tossing and turning and thinking of their “almost” encounter and how it ended. He felt so horrible--obviously moving too fast and scaring her away. It was the last thing he wanted to do. But she'd looked so beautiful and she seemed really into it all--until that was she leapt up, ran for ice and came back fifteen minutes later with a sheepish look on her face.

Did she think he was some kind of monster? Someone who only wanted her for her body? How could he explain to her how much she meant to him? Heck, he would have been happy just to wrap her in his arms and cuddle her all night, keeping her warm and safe and protected. He'd only gone for more because she seemed to want it. She'd instigated most of it, for god's sake.

And then she'd gotten cold feet. Just like on her wedding day. At least this time she hadn't come up with some crazy alien abduction story to cover for it.

Just stay away from her, an inner voice lectured. She's nothing but trouble.

He squared his shoulders and firmed his resolve. He'd listen to that voice. He'd stop thinking about Hailey and start being happy about his huge success with Hiro. Today should be the best day of his life. And he wouldn't let her ruin it.

Mr. Tubbs punched him in the shoulder once more with feeling and told him he'd catch him later, walking off and leaving Collin alone in the booth. He wondered what he should do with his afternoon, now that all his work was done. More than anything he just wanted to go back to his hotel room and take a nap. With Hailey cuddled up beside him, preferably. But that wasn't going to happen. In fact, likely he wouldn't run into her for the remainder of the conference. And that was for the best.

“Hey Collin!”

Looked like “the best” wasn't in the stars. He turned to face her, masking his excitement with a stern look. No need to let her know how excited he was to see her again.

“Wasn't expecting to see you today,” he said in his coolest voice. What was she up to now? Was she here to apologize for the night before? Not that she needed to apologize for not wanting to have sex, of course. He understood, under the circumstances. But the lies. The excuses. The lack of respect she showed him once again. He'd be okay with an, “I'm sorry” for that.

She blushed, dropping her eyes to the ground. Probably embarrassed about her behavior. As well she should be, he reminded himself.

Against his better judgment, Collin's eyes took her in, giving her a thorough head to toe evaluation. She was dressed more conservatively then yesterday, in an adorable red schoolgirl smock with gray leggings and black Mary Jane platform shoes buckled onto her feet. He stifled a groan. The innocent outfit almost turned him on more than her much more sexy apparel of the day before and he felt his groin tighten in response--a part of him that didn't give two shits about apologies and remorse. Yes, while his head was tied up in knots and excuses, his cock was fired up and ready to go anytime the girl said the word.

But she won't say the word, he reminded himself. And if you let yourself fall, she'll only make a fool out of you again.

He realized he should say something. “Got another signing today?” he asked, trying to act cool, calm, and collected. As if the night before never happened. Maybe they could at least be friends. Or something.

“Just finished,” Hailey said. “Went well, actually. There were a ton of people there. We have another one this afternoon.”

An odd pride swelled inside of him. He didn't know why, exactly. Not like he'd done anything for her career but hold her back a few years. Still, it made him happy to hear the excitement in her voice as she talked about her comic. She'd followed her dreams and reached the stars. He couldn't help but admire her for that.

“Cool,” he said. “Maybe I'll stop by this afternoon.”

Hailey nodded, looking a little impatient. She'd obviously come here with something on her mind. “So, I heard about you guys signing Hiro,” she said. “That's incredible. How did you get him? From what I understood he said he'd never do a movie.”

He felt his face heat to a boiling point. Sure, he was okay with his coworkers thinking he was God's gift. But he couldn't play superhero to Hailey. She knew him too well.

“Can you keep a secret?” he asked. She nodded, her eyes widening with anticipation. He hated to disappoint her. “Well, honestly, it just sort of fell into my lap,” he admitted. “This talent agency called MeiyoSeraph just showed up at my booth and offered me his stuff. At first I didn't believe them. But they had all the paperwork; all I had to do was sign.” He shrugged. “Well, that and promise them ridiculous amounts of money, of course. I don't know how this agency got him to agree to do pictures, but whoever it was should get a huge bonus. The fifteen percent commission on a deal like that is more than some third world company's per capita.”

Hailey didn't look impressed. In fact, if Collin didn't know better, he'd say she looked concerned. “Did you actually meet up with Hiro?” she asked.

“Yes. This morning. He seemed sort of out of it, actually,” Collin said, remembering the strange meeting they'd have. He'd tried to put it off to the language barrier, but something in the back on his brain told him it was more than that. “He thanked me for buying his comic strip and said he was excited to see the film version.”

“Doesn't that strike you as odd?”

It was the question he'd been asking himself all day and she was the first person to come out and say it. “Yes,” he agreed. “Really odd. The whole thing. But who knows with these artist types?” The second the words left his mouth he regretted them. “Well, you know what I mean,” he stammered, blushing again under Hailey's gaze.

She waved the unintended insult off. “So where is he now?” she asked.

“I have no idea. Probably downing lots of expensive saki. Doesn't matter, really. We won't be dealing with him again. He signed away all his movie rights to us. If he's lucky, he'll get a ticket to the premiere, but that's about it. We'll get a screenwriter to work up a script and go from there.”

Hailey finally met his eyes. “I need to see him,” she said, her voice quiet and urgent.

“What?” He cocked his head. What was she getting at here? “Why the sudden interest in Hiro?” A pang of jealousy stabbed at his gut. What if she had a thing for the guy? But no, that was ridiculous. And besides, even if she did, it wasn't any of his business anymore. She'd made that clear with her quick exit last night.

“Um,” she stammered. “I can't explain. I just do.”

There was desperation in her voice that made him pause. Whatever this was about, she was serious. “Well, the agency's booth is 4294,” Collin said, pointing in the general direction. “You could try asking them.”

“I went already tried there. The booth is gone.”

Collin stared at her. “Why would the booth be gone?”

“I don't know, Collin,” she said tersely. Something was really bothering her and Collin couldn't figure out what. “All I know is it's not there. And I really need to find him. Do you have any idea where he could be? Maybe a contact number or something?”

Collin shook his head. “I have a contact at MeiyoSeraph,” he said, pulling out his Treo. He punched a few buttons then put the phone to his ear. “Hi, this is Collin Robinson,” he said after getting a “MeiyoSeraph, may I help you” on the other end. “I'm wondering if I could speak to Hiro.”

“Hiro is not taking any phone calls,” the woman stated in a flat voice.

“My studio just paid him twenty million dollars. Surely he'll take mine.”

“I'm sorry, Mr. Robinson. I'll pass the message along for you.”

Collin glanced over at Hailey, who was biting her fingernails. Something she only did when she was extremely nervous. He decided to try once more. “Just for a min--” he started, before the phone disconnected on him. “They hung up,” he informed her.

She dropped her hand. “This is not good,” she said. “Not good at all.”

“What are you so worried about? He's just probably off celebrating his new fortune” He studied her closer. “Is there something you're not telling me?” he asked. “I feel like I'm missing a vital piece of the puzzle here.”

Hailey sighed. Funny, that. She looked up into his earnest face, his concerned eyes, and wished she could just spill it all and tell him everything. About the ninjas, about the Karma Kitty fight, every single last ridiculous thing. But she couldn't bear to see the disbelief in his eyes, the disappointment that she was once again “making up her little stories” as she did when they were together. So as much as she would have liked having Collin's help in all of this, it was better, in the end, to just go at it alone.

“No,” she lied, trying to sound as blasé as possible. “I was just curious to meet him is all.”

She still got the frown, the disappointment. Even without the wild story, he still didn't believe her. Though why should he? She bit her lower lip. She wouldn't believe her at this point either. This sucked. “I've got to go,” she stammered, needing to get away before he saw the tears in forming at the corners of her eyes. “Thanks for your help.”

“Sure, um, anytime,” he said, giving her a helpless look. Then he added, “Are you okay, Hailey? I mean, you're not in any trouble are you? Cause if you were...” He trailed off and the concern in his eyes almost broke her right then and there as a hundred nights wrapped in his warm embrace came flooding back all at once, in a tidal wave of memories. The lump in her throat made her jaw quiver. If only...

She shook her head clear and used every ounce of her strength to walk away without looking back. It hurt, yes, but it was better in the long run. Better for both of them. She made the mistake of glancing back and saw he was still watching her. She gave him a half wave and then disappeared into the crowd, her heart breaking and rebreaking with every step.

Once a safe distance away, she punched up Thomas on her cell and instructed him to meet her over at Starbucks for a latte. Thomas, who would have agreed to meet Attila the Hun if Starbucks was involved, was already there and ordered by the time she made it through the crowd and to the coffee chain. She slipped into the chair across from him and he handed her a steaming paper cup.

“So what did Mr. Hollywood say?” he asked.

She related all she found out. About MeiyoSeraph Agents, Darken Pictures involvement, and the mysterious circumstances under which the deal had been struck.

Thomas sat silent for a moment, sipping his no-whip, sugar-free vanilla, skim latte, with a thoughtful slurp, then set down the beverage and reached into his bag and whipped out his laptop.

“When in doubt, Google,” he proclaimed.

She narrowed her eyes, doubting his strategy. “I hardly doubt Hiro's listed in whitepages.com. He lives in Japan, remember.”

But Thomas either didn't hear her (yeah right) or completely ignored her (much more likely) and carried on with his search. She leaned back, taking another sip of her drink, allowing him his SherlockHolmes.com moment. He was a good Internet researcher, actually. His big claim to fame was the time he met a guy at a gay bar who introduced himself as “Petey the Meaty.” The two had shared a quick locking of lips on the dance floor before the clock struck twelve and Cinderella Pete ditched the ball without so much as a glass platform boot--never mind a phone number. The next day, a rather obsessed Thomas came up with not only the digits, but also email, photos from his last drag show, his father's doctor's license, even his property records.

Which went to show you, it was never wise to piss off a professional Googler.

“Sister...” Thomas was muttering under his breath as he typed and scanned. “Karen Kim...Cleveland...Bingo!” He looked up with a wide grin. “I think I might have something.” He pulled out his iPhone and dialed a number. “Hello?” he greeted, a minute later. “Yes, this is Tom Law, USA Today reporter. I'm doing an article on your brother Hiro and he said I should give you a call.”

He gave a thumbs up to Hailey and she smiled in return. Her partner really missed his calling as an investigative reporter, for sure.

“What?” Thomas cried suddenly, the mischievous smirk fading from his face. “Are you sure?”

Something was wrong. Hailey held out her hands and mouthed “What?” Thomas waved her off.

“Well, yes, I guess you would be sure. But it's just...well, sudden. I'm so sorry for you loss. No, no, I won't bother you again. Yes, I'll put it in the article. No problem.” He pressed end and set the phone down on the table. He met Hailey's eyes, his own dead serious for the first time in forever.

“What is it?” Hailey demanded. “You're scaring me.”

“Hiro's dead.”

“What?” she cried. “He can't be dead. We saw him this morning on stage.”

“That was this morning. According to his sister he spent the afternoon performing ritualized hari kari in his hotel room. The maid found him, bleeding all over the rug, just an hour ago.”

“Oh my god,” Hailey cried, hardly able to digest the news. “Why would he do that? After signing the deal? Do you think he was ashamed of selling out or something? Like, he regretted his decision and couldn't face his fans?” It seemed like a leap, but it was too much to be completely unrelated.

Thomas looked grim. “Or maybe it only looked like suicide.”

“Oh my god.” Hailey swallowed hard.

“Something's going on here. Something big. And all of it points to this weird ninja agency MeiyoSeraph.”

“Did you Google them?”

“Yes. But all I got was message boards for some dorky World of Warcraft guild. There's no information on where this agency is based or who's involved or who their other clients are. Nothing.”

“You really think they had something to do with Hiro's death?”

“I don't see any other possibility. We know Hiro didn't want to sell his movie rights. We saw him being chased by MeiyoSeraph ninjas, then the next day he signs the deal, they clear out of Comic Con, and he winds up dead.”

Hailey swallowed hard. It did seem to add up. “So what now?” she asked.

“I'll do some research. In the meantime, you should go back to Collin and find out whatever he knows about the company itself. He must have addresses and stuff, if they've done a deal. And maybe go back to where the booth was. Maybe someone else saw them yesterday besides that clueless Goth girl. Not that ninjas stand out much here. Which I guess is what makes them the perfect weapon.”

“Right. Okay.” Hailey nodded, glad to have something tangible to do. Especially when the tangible something in question gave her an excuse to go see Collin again. “And we'll meet back here in an hour?”

“Make it two hours,” Thomas said, checking his watch. “That's when our signing starts. We'll meet over at the Straylight booth.” He turned back to his computer, then looked up again. “And Hailey?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful,” he said. “In fact, maybe you should put on the boots. You know, just in case.”

“Okay. No problem. Good luck to you, too.”

Hailey headed back into the convention hall and made her way straight to the Darken Pictures booth. Unfortunately, Collin was nowhere to be found. A few wandering employees said they were pretty sure he'd gone to a business lunch of some sort and wouldn't be back for at least an hour. She berated herself once again for not getting his cell number when she had the chance.

Nor was anyone with tons of information hanging out near the booth formerly housing Meiyo Seraph. So Hailey wandered the floor, killing time before her signing, half-heartedly checking out the various booths. It should have been fun, but her thoughts were too tormented to allow her joy. Was Hiro Kim really murdered after being forced to give away his comic book rights? And if he was, what could they do to make sure the ninja agents didn't strike again?

When it came time for the signing, she made her way over to the Straylight booth. Thomas hadn't arrived yet, so she chatted awhile with Mrs. Hannah about the future of Karma Kitty. Mrs. Hannah told her sales had been very good and they were looking forward to a long term relationship, which made Hailey feel proud. No matter how messed up the rest of her life was, at least she had her comic.

The clock struck three, time for the signing, and Thomas still hadn't shown up. Worried, she called his cell, but voicemail picked up after one ring.

“Mrs. Hannah,” she called over to her boss. “I'm concerned about Thomas. He's not here yet.”

The publisher frowned, looking down at her watch. “Artists,” she mumbled under her breath, before looking over at Hailey. “Well, you'll just have to sign without him.”

“But what if he's...” What, Hailey? In danger? Being chased by ninjas? Did she want her publisher to think she was crazy, too? After all, the woman was complete control of the one thing in Hailey's life that was going right. Was she going to sabotage that as well?

Hailey shook her head, clearing it of all the doubts. Thomas was notoriously flighty and always late; he probably just met some cute booth boy and was too busy flirting to realize it was time for their signing.

“Hi!” cried a skinny teen in pigtails and braces. “Can you sign my Karma Kitty comic?”

“Sure!” Hailey replied, greeting her with a big smile. She'd worry about Thomas later.

~~~

She signed and she signed and she signed and then she signed some more. This was a lot busier than the earlier signing--more people had arrived to the convention. Not to mention she had a signing buddy to do half the work on the first round. Thomas still hadn't shown up and Hailey was getting more and more worried about him. She tried to tell herself she was being silly--he probably met some hunky superhero encased in vinyl and lost track of time--but she couldn't help thinking about the ninjas. After all, Thomas didn't have her magic shoes to help fend them off and let's just say his gym habits were a bit dodgy.

“I'll take five of each.”

Hailey looked up in surprise. Collin stood above her, looking down. She stifled a shiver. “Hey,” she said, keeping her voice casual. “What are you doing here?”

He looked hurt. “I told you I'd try to stop by,” he reminded her. He grabbed a comic and handed it to her. “Of course I've already read this,” he said. “But can I get an autographed copy?”

She could feel her face heat. “Oh, come on. Don't be silly.” Why was he doing this? Making it so much harder not to love him.

“What? You autograph for complete strangers, but not me?”

“It's just a dumb comic. You're not going to get anything for it on eBay.”

His sparking eyes turned serious. “Come on, Hails,” he scolded. “Don't demean all your work here. You've done amazingly well in such a short time.” He gestured over to two giggling girls, reading the comic down at the far side of the table. “You've got loyal fans, you've got multi-book deals.” He met her eyes. “I'm really proud of you.”

Her heart panged at his words. If only things had turned out differently. She could have spent the rest of her life with this man and never looked back. And yet, they might as well be strangers now. So unfair.

“It's really noth--”

“Just take the damn compliment, Ms. Hills.”

She forced a grin. “Okay. Fine. I will. And thank you. It means a lot coming from you.”

He looked around the booth. “You're living the dream, Hailey. The life I always imagined for myself.”

He looked so wistful, Hailey's heart went out to him. It must be so hard to have a dream and put everything you have into making it come true--only to have it crumble and disintegrate before your very eyes. “I know your life hasn't turned out the way you hoped,” she said carefully. "But Collin, you're doing amazingly well. I mean, I can't tell you how impressed I am by all you've done.'

He opened his mouth. She wagged a finger at him. “Take the compliment, Mr. Robinson,” she ordered.

He chuckled. “Touché.” He bowed low. “Well, then thank you, Ms. Hills. That's very nice of you to say.”

“However,” Hailey added. “That doesn't mean I agree with your choice to give up drawing. I mean, even if you don't make it your full time career. It's something you love and I'm a firm believer that no one should give up something they love.” It was funny how easily the words came to her now that she knew they had no chance to be together,

Collin nodded meekly. “I know, I know,” he said. “You're right. But I haven't picked up a pen in years. I doubt I'd even remember how.”

“Well let's see then, shall we?” Hailey asked, after checking to see there was no one behind him in line. She produced a pencil and a pad of paper and pushed them across the table. “I want you to draw Karma Kitty.”

“Oh, no, I couldn't--”

She pressed the pencil in his hand. “Oh come on. You were the one who originally designed her after all!”

“That is true...” Collin said. “Okay, fine, twist my arm.” He got down on his knees in front of the booth to start drawing. His brow furrowed in concentration as he sketched each line. Hailey watched, pride swelling inside of her, as inch by inch, her comic book character came to life on the page. Collin really was an amazing artist. It was too bad he'd given up on his dream so long ago. Those stupid publishers for rejecting him. They were all fools.

“That's awesome,” she commented. “I love how you do her tail. I totally need to suggest that to Thomas.”

Collin didn't look up, so immersed he was in the drawing. “Thanks,” he said. “Well, maybe if we do end up making that Karma Kitty cartoon, the studio will let me work in the art department on my days off.”

Hailey started to laugh, then stopped, realizing the implications of what he had said. “Wait. What do you mean, Karma Kitty cartoon?”

This time Collin did look up. “Don't you know?” he asked, sounding puzzled. “Your partner Thomas approached us about it this afternoon. He was going to sell the rights and have us create a cartoon series based on the characters I think it's a pretty cool idea, actually, though of course I still need to run it by the top brass.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Hailey waved her hands. “Slow down. Thomas came to you and asked you to make a Karma Kitty cartoon?” That didn't make any sense at all. “I know nothing about any of this.”

“Well, not him personally. He had his agent come over.”

“We don't have an agent, Collin. We do it all ourselves.”

He looked at her, confused. “It was the same agency that reps Hiro. I figured that's why you were asking about them this morning.”

“Oh my god.” Hailey could feel the blood drain from her face. “This is not good.”

“What? What's wrong?”

She drew in a breath, her mind racing. Should she tell him? He was going to think she was absolutely nuts. It may even ruin their chance to get together. But at the same time, Thomas's life might be at stake. And desperate times led to desperate measures.

“Collin, I need to tell you something. But it's going to seem really crazy. Like, really, really crazy. But I need you to promise to believe me.”

Collin's face didn't change, but she could imagine him thinking, here we go again.

“I didn't really have a meeting with my publisher last night.”

“So you lied.” Collin sounded angry. “What a shock.”

“Yes. But only cause I was sure you wouldn't believe me if I told the truth.”

“You were kidnapped by a giant Yeti?”

“No.” She refused to acknowledge the sarcasm in his voice. “I was saving Hiro Kim from a pack of ninjas.”

“I see. And why, pray tell, did Hiro Kim need saving from these ninjas?”

“They work for the MeiyoSeraph Agency. And I have reason to believe that they are using violent tactics to get comic book artists to sell out to Hollywood.” She shrugged. “It's simple, really. Kidnap Hiro Kim and torture him until he signs away his rights away to you guys. The agency pockets a huge fifteen percent. Then they kill the artist before he can squeal.”

“Kill the artist?”

“Well, they make it look like a suicide. Hiro committed hari kari in his hotel room this morning.”

Collin looked upset. “What? How do you know that?”

“Doesn't matter. The point is, these are real bad guys. And now they've got Thomas. We have to save him!”

“Hold on a second.” Collin held up a hand. “Go back to the part where you were doing battle with them.”

Hailey sighed. She really, really, really did not want to tell him about the Karma Kitty thing. He barely believed her about the ninjas and that was totally plausible.

“Well, I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't think I'm crazy,” she said.

“I don't see how you're going to top the ninja conspiracy theory. But somehow I think you're about to try.”

She drew in a breath and then let it spill. “I've turned into Karma Kitty.”

He stared at her, silent as the grave.

“I know, I know, it sounds crazy. It IS crazy. But it's true. I can prove it.”

“You can prove that you've turned into your comic book character.”

“Yes. I have all her powers. Like...great flexibility and the ability to land on my feet. And I can kick some serious butt. That's how I took on the swarm of ninjas all by myself. Thomas thought said I was like Neo in The Matrix. It was pretty cool.” She grinned, remembering. “Anyway, it's cause of these shoes. She reached under the table and held up the boots. ”I got them off the Internet at Highheelia.com. When I put them on, I get Karma Kitty powers."

“I see.”

Collin watched as she slid the boots over her feet, wondering why he was even there, still listening to this craziness. This was exactly why the two of them had broken up in the first place. She'd sworn she'd changed--turned over a new leaf, lived a normal life--but now, here she was again, with the same old wild stories and unbelievable claims. He should just walk away now, while he still had some self-respect left. Email her on Monday and gently suggest some heavy duty psychiatric meds.

“Okay,” she cried, coming out from around the table, all booted up. “Here goes.” She grabbed her foot with her hand and proceeded to wrap a leg around her head. “How about this?”

“What are you doing?” he asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding incredulous.

“Duh. I'm showing you my super powers.”

“Superpowers?” Collin shook his head. “You used to do that all the time when we had sex.”

She dropped her foot, looking totally bummed. Great. He didn't want to hurt her feelings. But what was he supposed to do? Applaud her Super Flex? He didn't want to encourage her and her wild stories. Especially not when her latest conspiracy theory had to do with the MeiyoSeraph Agency. The last thing he wanted to do was be associated with something that had the potential to screw up the Hiro Kim deal. He could get fired. Blacklisted from Hollywood forever.

“Okay, watch this!”  She waited for the aisle to clear, then proceeded to flip herself over her head. “Tada!” she cried, looking at him for approval.

He didn't know what to say.  “Congrats?”

“You don't believe me.” She looked exasperated. “Well,” she added, “I also have Super Smell. Thomas drew that power into the comic, just last night to help me find your hotel room.”

Collin didn't know whether to laugh or groan. “Wait a second. You're telling me you can just give yourself new powers by drawing them in?”

“Yup. So with Super Smell...” She sniffed the air. “I can determine you had pizza for lunch.”

“It doesn't take Super Smell to determine that. The chef must have used three cloves of garlic on every slice.”

“Fine. You give me a power then.” She shoved the pad of paper in his direction. “And then I'll demonstrate it and you'll see I'm telling the truth.”

“Why don't you do it yourself?”

She cringed. “We kinda determined that only an official Karma Kitty artist can draw in powers and have them work. My stick figures just weren't cutting it.”

“Of course they weren't.” He let out a deep sigh and flipped to a new page. “This is so stupid,” he muttered under his breath. “Okay, done.” He held up the paper.

“It's blank,” she said.

“Invisibility.” He reached out and touched her arm. “Which you don't have, I hate to tell you..”

“Right. Sorry, I should have told you.” Of course she had a tidy explanation for this, too. “There are limits to her powers. They're only enhancements of things a cat could do already. So for example, I can land on my feet or flip in the air. But things like flying and invisibility won't work. Nor will shooting dollar bills from my fingers. Trust me, Thomas tried.”

“How convenient.”

Hailey's face was bright red. “You know what? Forget it. I don't have to prove myself to you. If you don't believe me, then that's your problem. I've got to go rescue Thomas from the bevy of ninjas before they kill him.” She stomped her foot for emphasis, so hard he felt the floor tremble. Or maybe that was just his imagination. “Give me the address.”

“The address?”

“To MeiyoSeraph. I need to go rescue my partner.”

“No way. I'm not going to have you go charging in there and getting into trouble.”

“I'll be fine. I have superpowers, remember?”

Oh, he remembered all right. “Look, how about we call the police? Send them down to investigate,” he suggested, trying to appease her.

“No way. By the time they get down there, it may be too late. Now give me the address.”

“I'm sorry but I'm not going to do that. There's too much at stake.”

“Fine. I don't need it anyway. I'll Super Smell my way there--just like I got to your hotel room last night.”

Collin let out a frustrated breath. This was going too far. It had to end. Now. “Don't you ever get tired of playing these little games, Hailey?” he asked.

“Don't you ever get tired of being an unbelieving jerk?”

She was impossible. Simply impossible. So stubborn--once she got stuck in a lie, she'd lock onto it and never back down. The alien thing on the wedding day was one thing. But this took the cake. Super powers because of magical shoes?  Come on! Did she really think he just fell off the turnip truck?

She looked at him with her wide sad blue eyes. “You know, this is so not how I wanted our weekend to be,” she said. “I thought maybe we'd have another chance. And I really tried to act normal, just for you. But I'm not. And I'll never be. So you have a choice. You either accept that I'm cursed with weirdness and start believing what I say or walk away now and never look back.”

The quiver in her voice panged at his heart. This was it; he was going to lose her all over again. Suddenly, he wanted to do whatever it took, just to stop her from walking away. Even if that meant indulging the crazy, just for a bit. He loved her too much, he realized, to let her slip away again.

“Okay, fine,” he said, reaching into his pocket. “I have an address.” He read the card. “It's down by the meatpacking district. Some warehouse, by the looks of it. Why don't we go down and check it out?”

He felt safe doing this because, after all, he knew exactly what they'd find there at MeiyoSeraph headquarters. Nothing. An up and up agency, sans ninjas, just like the one he'd been dealing with all weekend. She'd be disappointed, but relieved, and Thomas would probably be back by the time they returned to the convention center.

Sure he'd probably get in trouble with his boss for ditching his afternoon meetings, but he was golden boy today for the Kim deal and they owed him. And if he didn't go, there was no telling what Hailey might do, charging in unchaperoned.

Her face brightened at his words, tears actually slipping from her cheeks. “So you believe me?” she asked. “You really do?”

He swallowed hard, not wanting to hurt her. “Sure,” he lied. “Now let's go."

Chapter Six

They had the cab driver pull over when they reached the address--an industrial building down by the docks. Not exactly the type of place a regular agency would hang its shingle, but maybe they were just getting started. Once they got their Hiro Kim payday, they'd be able to afford nicer digs, that was for sure.

“Okay, pull over here,” Collin instructed as they cruised in front of a warehouse. “I think this is it.”

The cab driver obliged, pressing the button to stop the meter. A receipt spit out. Hailey reached for her wallet, but Collin held out a hand to stop her. “I've got it,” he said.

'Maybe we should keep the cab here,“ she suggested. ”You know, in case we have to make a quick getaway."

“You mind hanging here for a few?” Collin asked the cabbie.

The cabbie shrugged and re-activated the meter, turning up the radio.

“Okay, guess that's a yes.”

“Now, Collin, I think it's best if you wait in the car,” she said, glancing over at the building. “After all, you don't have super powers.”

“No way. I'm coming in.” There was no way he was letting her run off on her own when she was in such a state.

“Okay, fine. But try not to get in the way. I don't want you to get hurt.” She popped out of the cab and started toward the warehouse. He had to sprint to catch up.

They walked into the building and into a well lit lobby that led into a reception area with cushy chairs and a receptionist behind a large desk, filing her red painted nails. Hailey stopped short, a confused look on her face. Obviously it wasn't the scene she was expecting. She glanced back at Collin,. He stepped forward.

“I'm sorry to barge in here like this,” he said, sidling up to the receptionist and giving her his best smile. The one that had won him so many movie contracts the last five years. “But I'm Collin from Darken Pictures and I'm interested in talking with your client, Thomas Carol.”

The secretary stifled a yawn. “No one by that name is in the building,” she assured Collin after glancing down a sign-in sheet.

“I know you guys have him!” Hailey interrupted, slamming a fist against the desk. “If you touch a hair on his head, I'll--I'll...I'll go Karma Kitty on all your ninjas!”

The secretary raised a perfectly arched eyebrow. “I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about,” she sniffed. “Ninjas? Dear, we are a talent agency.”

“Look,” Collin replied, trying to smooth things over. "Could we at least meet Mr. Redkin? He's the one who approached me about Thomas's television rights.

“Mr. Redkin's in a meeting.”

“Fine. We'll wait.”

“It's likely to be a long meeting.”

“Well, then it's a good thing you've got a nice magazines selection.”

“Mr. Robinson, I'm sure if you just left your phone number...”

Collin led Hailey by the arm and sat her down in one of the cushy chairs. “Could you get us some water?” he asked the receptionist.

The woman huffed, but rose from her seat to oblige them. Once she was out of earshot, Collin turned to Hailey. “What the hell do you think you're doing?” he demanded.

“They've got Thomas! They could be torturing him as we speak!”

“Hailey, I think you've been reading too many comic books. Look around you. This is a legitimate, respectable talent agency. No ninjas. No evil plans. Nothing.”

“I don't expect you to believe me. You never do.”

He sighed, exasperated. “That's because your ideas are always so far fetched!”

Hailey gritted her teeth as she grabbed a copy of the latest In Style Magazine, refusing to glance over at her doubting ex. Thomas was probably inside, right now, being brainwashed by the bad guys, and they had to sit in a waiting area for some guy in a meeting who wouldn't tell them the truth anyway.

The receptionist returned, handing Hailey and Collin bottles of water. Hailey strained her eyes to try to discover what was going on down the corridor the woman had come from. If only she did get that invisibility power. Then she could sneak back and see if Thomas was back there.

It was then that she remembered Super Smell. She sucked in a whiff through her nose, searching through the myriad of smells, for something that would signal Thomas.

A moment later, she had it.

“Toxic!” she cried triumphantly, turning to Collin. “No one but Thomas would wear that cheesy Britney Spears perfume. He's here. He's definitely here.”

Collin sighed. “Can you just wait, Hailey?”

But Hailey couldn't wait. Not when her friend's life was at stake. She bounced up from the couch, and pranced over to the receptionist. “Can I go to the bathroom?” she asked.

The woman gave Hailey a dirty look, but responded, “Down the hall, second door to the right.”

Hailey avoided Collin's questioning eyes and headed down the hall. When she got to the bathroom, she opened the door, then closed it again without going inside. Then she slunk down the corridor, sniffing occasionally, to find her friend. Thomas's smell grew stronger the further back she walked. Hopefully he was still okay and they hadn't tortured him too badly yet.

She weaved through empty cubicle after empty cubicle until she came to a dead end and a door. She sniffed. This was it! She realized. Thomas was behind that door, she was sure of it. Heart pounding, she wrapped her hand around the knob and tried to turn it. Locked. Damn. If only she had Karma Kitty lock picking skills drawn in.

She froze as she heard voices approaching.

“Beth says that movie producer is outside in the lobby. Better go see what he wants.”

“The nerve of the guy, coming here.”

“Right? He wasn't alone either. Had some chick with him. Beth said she was acting crazy and babbling about the ninjas.”

“Hang on a second. She knows about the ninjas? She could ruin everything!”

“Don't worry, it's not likely anyone's going to believe her.”

“What about the producer? Obviously she's told him.”

“Well, he can't pull out of the Hiro deal now. It's signed, sealed and delivered.”

“Thank god you pushed it through in time. Who knew the guy was going to commit hari kari when he came out of his hypnosis.”

“Supposedly the note said he was too shamed for selling out to Hollywood to live. Pathetic, huh? It's just a fucking comic book.”

“Artists!”

“And now we're going to have to cover up his death. After all, it's not going to look good for us once it's announced.”

“Right. First things first though. Why don't you go out to the reception area and talk to Mr. Robinson? I'll let loose the ninjas, just in case we need them.”

“As if that will do much good. The ninjas you hired have been nothing but trouble this whole Comic Con. They're not stealthy, they're not organized--hell, I even caught them throwing around those plastic shurikens we gave away at the booth because they had run out of real ones.”

“Annoying. I knew I never should have gone with BudgetNinjas.com.”

“Totally. But we should be fine. I've got at least twenty hanging out in the back room eating sushi. Even sucky ninjas can kick ass if there's enough of them.”

“And next year, I suggest we go for pirates instead. After all, everyone knows pirates are way cooler than ninjas.”

The voices faded. Hailey let out a breath and stepped out from behind the cubicle. What was she going to do?

Collin glanced at his watch. Hailey hadn't come back from the bathroom yet. She'd better not be poking around and get herself arrested for trespassing. And if she did, she'd better not mention his name to the cops.

A man stepped into the lobby. Collin recognized him as Mr. Redkin, the man they'd been waiting for. He rose to greet him, shaking hands.

Mr. Redkin glanced around the room, then turned to the receptionist. “Beth, I thought you said there was a girl with him.”

“Oh,” Collin said, before Beth could answer. “She went to the bathroom.”

Was that a flicker of worry crossing the man's face? Mr. Redkin turned to Beth again and gave her a slight nod. She nodded back and rose from her desk, heading to the back room. Great. Probably off to inform security. He was going to kill Hailey when this was all over.

“So is something wrong, Mr. Robinson?” asked Redkin, smiling a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Collin felt his face grow red. “No, no,” he assured him. “It's just...well, my friend who's in the bathroom...she's the other half of the Karma Kitty property. And I happened to mention the pending deal with her partner and she wanted more information.”

“I see. And what information is she interested in learning?”

Collin wondered what they'd say if he mentioned ninjas. Probably laugh him out of the office. Still, he remembered her earnest face. She seemed to really believe it. Maybe he should at least bring it up...

But before he could speak, a cry cut across the room. A cry he'd know anywhere.

Hailey. She was in trouble!

Collin dove toward the hall. Mr. Redkin jumped in front of his path, ready to stop him. But Collin was expecting this move and had his fist ready. He popped the agent in the nose and followed it with a left-handed slam to the stomach. The agent doubled over in pain. Collin pushed by him and dashed down the corridor. He could hear Redkin laughing behind him.

“Watch out for the ninjas, Mr. Robinson.”

Collin stopped short at his words. Ninjas Hailey had been right this whole time! How could he have refused to believe her?  He was a fool. An idiot. And now, because of his disbelief, she was in trouble. He had to save her!

He ran down the hall, heart slamming against his chest, praying over and over again that Hailey would be okay. He whipped around a corner and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the ninjas with his own two eyes.

There had to be twenty of them, filling up the narrow hallway. Armed with katanas and throwing stars and even nun-chucks. Were they all after Hailey? She didn't stand a chance against...

Suddenly a whirling dervish burst from the crowd, flying into the air like no normal human should be able to do without a trampoline. Hailey. She came down kicking, knocking two of the ninjas in the head. They flailed backwards, a domino effect in the narrow hallway, and managed to fell at least four of their buddies.

And Hailey wasn't done. Not by a long shot from the looks of it. She gave a loud cry and flipped backwards, then launched into a defensive stance. Collin shook his head, unable to believe his eyes. In addition to the ninjas, she'd obviously been telling the truth about her super powers as well.

She was Karma Kitty. No doubt about it.

He had been such a fool.

The ninjas lunged. There were so many of them. They fell on top of her, punching and kicking. She bravely fought them off, but even with her super powers, Collin realized she was fading fast. She didn't have the stamina to fight them all. If only she had some kind super energy boost that came with the package.

His next thought hit him like a ten ton truck. He could draw it! Just like Hailey told him she had Thomas draw Super Smell in order to help her locate his hotel room. He could give Hailey the power she needed with just a quick sketch...

Wait--what was he thinking? He should be calling the police. Or at least aiding her in the fight. Not that he'd be able to do much against a tribe of ninjas. But anything was more worthwhile then picking up a pen.

Then again, they did say it was sometimes mightier than a sword.

“Why won't you believe me?” Hailey's words echoed in his ears.

He squared his shoulders. Firmed his resolve. It was stupid. Impossible. Crazy. But he had to give it a try. She was telling the truth about the rest of it. Why not this, too?

He dove into a cubicle and grabbed a pad of paper, his hands trembling as he gripped the pencil. Besides the quick sketch earlier that day, it'd been a long time since he'd drawn Karma Kitty. Could he still make the character come alive on the page and provide Hailey the powers she needed? After all, she had told him only true Karma Kitty artists could make it happen.

He didn't have time to play the doubt-in-his-art-abilities game. He started sketching, giving Karma Kitty huge muscles, retractable claws and fangs, and a powerful club like tail. Then he drew a speech bubble of her saying how she'd had her blood reworked to give her ten times the strength and stamina she once had. Didn't know if that would work, but it was certainly worth a try.

He finished the drawing and signed his name. His breath came hard and heavy and his heart beat a million miles an hour. This better work. If it didn't, Hailey would be dead. But at least she would know that for once, he believed her.

Hailey battled for breath. The ninjas were on her. She couldn't hold them off anymore. She pawed and kicked, but there were too many and even with her powers they were too strong. She was going to die. It was all over. She thought of Collin and all the missed opportunities they'd had because of a stupid misunderstanding.

But just as she was about to give up the ghost, something happened. She suddenly felt energized, power ripping through her. Her teeth elongated, cutting into her lower lip. A tail burst from her butt, writhing with strength. Her fingernails elongated to sharp claws and muscles burst from her skinny arms.

Karma Kitty had just gotten a makeover! She glanced around. Was Thomas somehow drawing? What great timing!

She jumped to her feet, clawing at the ninjas. She whirled around, smacking them with her tail. As one lunged at her, she bit him on the arm, digging her fangs into his flesh. (Pretty gross, but desperate times!) He fell back, squealing in pain.

She bit, scratched, and tail swatted her way through the line. A few minutes later, there wasn't a single ninja standing.

She leaned forward, hands on her knees, sucking in a breath. She'd done it. She'd beat them all. Thanks to Super Karma Kitty. Thanks to...

Collin stepped into view, a pad of paper in his hands. He held it up and smiled weakly. “I uh, gave you an upgrade,” he said, sounding a bit sheepish. “I guess it worked?”

She stared at him, hardly believing her ears. Collin had given her the new powers? Collin had saved her life?

She ran to him, throwing herself in his arms, careful not to scratch him with her claws. He stumbled backwards. “Whoa!” he cried. “Take it easy on us mere mortals. I gave you a hell of a lot of strength there, kitty cat.”

“You berieved me!” she cried, covering his face with kisses. “You rearry berieved me.”

He nuzzled her back, avoiding her fangs, which she had trouble speaking around. “Yes,” he whispered. “And thank god I did. I'm so sorry, Hails. I've been such a fool. And um, you should retract those teeth now. You're getting ninja blood all over me.”

She giggled and complied. “Come on,” she said, realizing time for cuddling could come later. “We've got to rescue Thomas. I think he's behind a locked door down here. With my new strength I should be able to break it down.”

They ran to the back of the office and stopped at the door. With a well placed kick, Hailey bust it in. A moment later, Thomas stumbled out.

“I knew you'd save me, Karma Kitty!” he cried, giving her a big hug. “You wouldn't let those big bad ninjas take me out.”

“Actually it was Collin that saved both of us,” Hailey said, looking over at Collin, who was at this point blushing bright red. “He gave Karma Kitty a little upgrade.” She handed him the drawing.

“Dude, that rocks. I'm so jealous. You're a wicked talented artist.”

Collin's face got even redder. “Thanks,” he said. “It's been a while, but...”

“But you did it! And you saved us all. And now we can live happily ever after!” She stood on her tiptoes to kiss Collin on the mouth. His lips were hot and hungry and she couldn't wait to get him alone. This time without ninjas to interrupt them.

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Can we get out of the lair of danger before you two go all PDA on me, please, please?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Sorry.”

They headed out into the lobby where the secretary was helping Redkin to his feet. The two of them glared at the group.  “Where do you think you're going?” Redkin demanded.

“Home,” Hailey said. “And sorry, but Thomas won't be signing with your agency after all,” Hailey apologized. “We will however, be calling the police on your little operation.”

Redkin lunged at her, but Collin was ready for him, stepping in smoothly and clocking him upside the head with one decisive blow. Redkin bellowed as he went down for the count. The secretary took one look at them and turned tail.

“Nice one,” Hailey said with a grin, once she was gone. “And here I thought I was going to have to go Karma Kitty them.”

“Nah,” Collin said, grinning sheepishly. “I may not be able to take on a congregation of ninjas, but I can handle one measly executive.”

Hailey kissed him. “Very brave of you,” she whispered. “My hero.”

Collin kissed her back. “My heroine.”

“Oh god! Please get me to a cab!” Thomas moaned. "I'd rather face more ninjas than be witness to this disgusting public display of affection.'

They laughed and exited the office. The cab was still there, the driver half-asleep and the meter running. He didn't even give Cat Woman Hailey a second glance. Thomas grabbed the door. “Get in, lovebirds. I'll get the next one. Then you can suck face all you want and my eyes will be able to stop bleeding.” he instructed.

Hailey snorted. “Thanks. I think.”

“Oh and what was that shoe website again?” Thomas asked, almost too casually. “I need to buy myself a pair of magic slippers!”

“Hiheelia.com,” Hailey said as she got into the cab “But behave yourself, Big Kitty. After all, we've got a big deadline coming up and that takes precedence over saving the world.”

“Who said anything about saving the world?” Thomas scoffed. “I'm just looking for a tiny tomcat to call my own. Big Kitty needs love too, you know. Or at least a romp in the litter box.”

Hailey rolled her eyes. “I don't want to know. I really don't”

Collin slid into the cab behind Hailey and instructed the driver to take them to his hotel. Then he turned to Hailey. She was sliding off her boots and her Karma Kitty features were fading to her regular beautiful self. He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked over at him, her wide innocent eyes shining with love.

“You believed me,” she whispered, as if she couldn't believe it herself. “You really believed me.”

“Yes,” he said, holding out his arm so she could cuddle into his shoulder. “I believe you. About everything. Even that damn alien abduction. But there better not be a repeat of that. Because I want you to show up on our wedding day this time around.”

She smiled sleepily, wrapping an arm around his chest. She felt so good pressed against him. Vulnerable, sweet. Hard to believe it was the girl who'd just kicked the asses of a pack of ninjas.

“Don't worry,” she whispered. “I doubt there will be a second season of that reality show. It was really pretty dumb.”

He cocked his head. “Reality show?” he asked.

“Yeah. I tried to tell you. They abducted me for an alien reality show--Who Wants to Live with an Earthling.”

He stared down at her. “Who wants to--?” He swallowed hard. “Who wants to live with an earthling? Are you sure?”

She lifted her head. “Of course I'm sure. I spent a week in that spaceship.”

He started to laugh. “Oh my god,” he said. “That wasn't a spaceship! That was a soundstage. Some dumb ass reality thing that never made air because they didn't get the proper waivers from guests when they kidnapped them.”

Hailey stared at him. “You mean it wasn't really aliens?”

“Nope. Just a bunch of underpaid actors dressed as cats.”

“Oh my god. And to think all this time I thought...Wow!”

“And to think I didn't give you a chance to explain. Oh Hailey, I'm so sorry.” He cuddled closer to her. All that wasted time because of a stupid misunderstanding. He couldn't believe it.

She looked up at him. “But, um, if it really were aliens you'd still believe me, right? From now on, no matter what the weirdness, you'll accept without question that I'm telling the truth? Cause I'm pretty sure there's still a lot in my life that's unexplainable.”

“Hailey Hills, if you agree to be my wife, I will believe you even if you say you saw Jim Morrison buying a door at Home Depot.”

“Good. Because see that guy over there? I think that might be...”

The End

Other Digital Releases by Mari Mancusi

Tomorrow Land - Amazon

Imagine finding your first love, only to be ripped apart by the apocalypse. Peyton Anderson will never forget the day she was forced to make a choice--between her family--and Chris Parker, the boy she'd given her heart. And now, four years later, as she steps from the fallout shelter and into a dead and broken world, he's the only thing on her mind.

All Chris "Chase" Parker wanted was to take Peyton away and keep her safe from harm. But he waited for hours in the rain on judgment day and she never showed--breaking his heart without ever telling him why.

Now the two of them have been thrown together once again, reluctant chaperones of a group of orphan children in a post-apocalyptic world where the dead still walk...and feed. As they begin their pilgrimage to the last human outpost on Earth, can they find a way to let go of old hurts and find the love they lost--all the while attempting to save what's left of the human race?

Alternity - Amazon

Imagine waking up in a post-apocalyptic, nightmare world--and being told your whole life is but a dream. Skye Brown thought she was your typical college student--good grades, hot boyfriend, and an internship that pays her to play videogames. But then she started having the dreams.

In her dreams, there is no Earth. Only Terra, a bleak, underground wasteland where people live in squalor and oppression. In her dreams, there is no Skye--only Mariah, a rebel leader fighting against a vile, dystopian regime. And then there's Dawn, a handsome, but haunted solider who sees her as but an empty shell of the girl he once love--a betrayer he vows to hate forever, despite what she sees deep in his eyes.

Now, ripped between Dark Siders and club kids, the mundane and the mystic, Skye finds herself in a fight against time--to learn who she really is, where she belongs..and why. The shocking truth will have her questioning her own reality...and her heart.

Zombiewood Confidential – Amazon

For fans of Warm Bodies, Zombieland, and Shaun of the Dead!

Cosmetology school drop-out Scarlet Patterson needs a job—any job. So when her best friend and award winning monster makeup artist Derek Keyes scores her a gig on Romeo George’s new zombie flick “Isle of the Living Dead” she’s on the next boat to the remote desert island set, makeup brushes in hand.

The good news? The movie stars her longtime childhood crush—action star Mason Marks (of “Sparkly Vampires from Hell” fame). The bad? It also stars his current made-for-tabloids girlfriend—the trashy Cissy Max—who seems determined to make Scarlet’s life a living hell.

But that’s not the worst thing. Not by far. Because all those zombie extras stuck on the desert island alongside her? Turns out they don’t need any makeup to look the part. And they’re always hungry. Really, really hungry.

As the horror movie set is transformed into a nightmarish reality show—where everyone wants to be kicked off the island—it becomes up to Scarlett and Mason to star as real life action heroes and figure out a way to save the world. And maybe even the paparazzi.

Filled with action, humor, romance and, of course, plenty of braaaains.

Love at 11 – Amazon

When Maddy graduated from Columbia University, she was ready to change the world. She'd get a job at Newsline, meet a nice guy, and live happily ever after with a real designer handbag on her arm. Five years later, she's stuck producing puff pieces for the local News 9 San Diego--where "if it bleeds, it leads." She's still single, her family's falling apart, and so is her knock-off Kate Spade.

Even a promotion--complete with hot camera guy--can't seem to turn her luck around. After all, the promotion means working with the most narcissistic anchor on the planet and hot camera guy Jamie? Well, he'd be perfect...except for that pesky model/actress fiancee of his.

But just as Maddy's ready to give up on her dreams, a secret scoop from her favorite knock-off purse guy has her suddenly chasing a huge lead. And Jamie is right by her side--in all the right ways. Can she bag the bad guy in an exclusive expose, put her family back together again, and win Jamie's heart? Stay tuned...it's the story of a lifetime.

Skater Boy – Amazon

Dawn Miller is sick of being good. Her parents have scheduled her to within an inch of her life and her popular friends can only think of hooking up and shopping. She's ready for a serious boyfriend, and it's definitely not the obnoxious rich boy everyone wants her to date.

Then she meets Starr, the headmaster's rebellious daughter who refuses to play by the rules. The differences between them are night and day but Dawn is fascinated. Starr introduces her to a world she didn't even know existed: hip indy record stores, all night raves, and cute skateboarders who hang out underneath a parking deck downtown.

Skateboarders like the gorgeous Sean, who's sweet, smart, and curiously serious --everything Dawn's always wanted in a boyfriend. Soon she finds herself head over heels and doing the unthinkable, lying to her parents and friends. Deep down she knows her parents will never approve of this boy from the wrong side of town...and her secret life is finally catching up to her. Will Dawn be forced to choose between the girl she was and the girl she is meant to be? And if she chooses, will she lose her skater boy forever?

How to reach Mari Mancusi

Website: www.marimancusi.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bloodcovenvampires

Twitter: www.twitter.com/marimancusi

GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/21701.Mari_Mancusi