Page 16 of Box of Frogs
‘No,’ I said, without thinking. ‘I remember pop-culture stuff and how to drive and things like that. I just don’t rememberme.’ I shrugged. ‘I guess the old me didn’t watch your soap opera.’
‘Oh.’ Somewhat deflated, she leaned back.
‘So,’ I said, the very definition of earnest optimism, ‘I can’t work for you because I have to spend my time trying to find out who I am and why people are trying to hurt me.’ And what dust is. And why I have super powers. And who Rubus was. And Morganus. And where I could get some nux from. And… Gasbudlikins. It was never-ending.
Julie mulled this over for only the scantest of moments. ‘But that’s why this job is perfect. Most of your time will be your own. I’ll give you somewhere to stay –I’ve got some excellent guest quarters in my house. You can work for me occasionally but mostly work for yourself. And,’ she added with a triumphant flourish, ‘I can help you out more than you realise. A few years ago, Stacey, my character, was hit on the head by her son’s girlfriend’s fiancé and she got amnesia as a result. I know all about the condition.’ She rolled her eyes at my expression. ‘Don’t look at me like that. It might be a soap opera but we still do our research and try to make everything as realistic as possible. I can already tell you that, if your name is Madrona, we’re onto a winning start. I’ve never heard that name before so I’m sure a simple internet search will help us. And have you considered the police? They could put out an appeal. Someone might have reported you missing.’
‘I don’t want the police involved,’ I interjected hastily.
‘Is that because you’re a superhero?’
I blinked at her. ‘Pardon?’
‘Last night you said you were a superhero. I imagine that you’d want to stay under the radar if that’s true.’ She smiled as if amused. This was certainly a far more light-hearted Julie than the one who’d been under attack last night.
‘I’m not crazy,’ I said stiffly. ‘Besides, you can’t talk. You didn’t want to call the police last night and you have an even better reason to request their help than I do.’
Julie didn’t take offence. ‘I already explained about that.’
I met her eyes. Keen intelligence gazed back at me. I sighed and pushed my hair out of my eyes. ‘I’m not normal.’ I wasn’t quite sure why I was trying to talk myself out of this almost perfect job.
She laughed. ‘Darling, none of us are normal.’
‘What I mean is that I wasn’t kidding about the superhero thing. I do have weird powers. I don’t know where they came from or what they mean but,’ I shrugged, ‘I really do think I’m a superhero.’
To her credit, she didn’t get up from the table and run away screaming. ‘Tell me more.’
‘You saw what happened with the Taser,’ I said. ‘When your bad guy tried to use it on me.Nothinghappened. I felt a bit of a tickle and that was it.’
‘I thought it had just run out of juice or something.’
‘No. I was able to use it on him a moment or two later. There was nothing wrong with the gun.’ I looked down at the table. ‘I can also do things with time. Slow it down so I can gain the upper hand, I mean.’
She arched an eyebrow. ‘Really? What else?’
‘I don’t know. I told you, I’ve got amnesia. There might be lots of other things that I’m capable of. There might be nothing.’
Julie regarded me thoughtfully. ‘I still don’t see any reason why you can’t come and work for me. If you do have super powers, you’re the perfect bodyguard. And I can help you experiment to discover your potential. There might be more untapped magic inside you that you don’t know about.’
‘You’re taking this very calmly,’ I told her. ‘Don’t you think I’m nuts?’
Her answer was frank. ‘If it weren’t for you, goodness knows where I’d be right now. Chained to a radiator, if I was lucky.’ She reached out for my hand. ‘Mark was twice your size and came at a premium cost, and look what happened to him. You succeeded where he didn’t. It stands to reason that there’s far more to you than meets the eyes. Besides,’ she grinned disarmingly, ‘this sounds like it’s going to be a two-way street. We need each other.’
It seemed too good to be true. I’d effectively told her I thought I was Supergirl and she’d not blinked. Plus, she was offering me the perfect job, at the perfect time. ‘Tell me about that man,’ I said slowly. ‘The one who attacked you. You were obviously expecting something like that because you’d hired Mark to protect you.’
For the first time she looked uneasy. ‘A few … incidents have occurred.’
‘Such as?’ I pressed.
‘Nasty letters. Someone calling my home and breathing down the phone. That kind of thing. I didn’t think much of it to begin with – I get a lot of nutty fans. Then things escalated. You saw Mark checking the bottle of pills?’ I nodded. ‘I was poisoned,’ she told me flatly. ‘I almost died. Someone spiked a bottle of water that I took to the gym. We checked the CCTV camera but they were too smart to get caught that way. Then there were the body parts.’
I stared at her. ‘What?’
Julie shifted in her seat. ‘Not human. There was a cat’s leg, all bloody and bound up. Then a dog’s tail.’ Her mouth turned down. ‘They were shoved through my letterbox.’
‘Someone was sending you a message.’
‘Yes.’
