Disclaimer: I do not ow Smallville
Chapter 10
00 shimmer 00
Once again after school Clark dragged me to the Beanery to discuss the most recent attack of weird, in this case a student was assaulted by an invisible assailant.
"So you didn't see anything?" Chloe asked.
"When I got there, Ty was already on the floor." Clark said grabbing his coffe and heading back to our table.
"What about the voice he heard?" asked Chloe.
"Are you thinking the locker room's haunted?"
"That would be highly unlikely," I said thoughtfully, considering the possibility.
"Not unless the meteor freaks conjure up ghosts of departed jockstraps," scoffed Chloe, "which I seriously doubt."
"Thank you," Clark said the waitress who cleared the table we were going to sit at. "Well, it's nice to see you still have your standards."
"Even if the meteor rocks could ampliphy astral projection, it still shouldn't be enough for only their consciousness to interact with the physical world," I mused, causing Chloe to raise an eyebrow at me. "I'm agreeing with you!" I said defensively.
"I don't have time right now," I hear Whitney say, and all conversation was halted in favor of shamelessly eavesdropping on Whitney and Lana fight.
"Look, if you don't want to help me with this blood drive, then just say so." Lana said, shaking her clipboard as her hands emphasized her words.
"That's not it."
"That doesn't look pretty," Chloe said dryly, not looking away from the golden couple.
"Then what is it?" Lana demanded.
Whitney's arms were crossed, and I noted that this entire conversation he had been on the defensive, "I really don't wanna talk about this now, okay?"
"No, it's not okay. You have been avoiding me for a week. Every time I ask you what's wrong, you push me away." Whitney blatantly avoided eye contant, looking everywhere but Lana, "I'm worried about you."
"Don't be." Whitney said, finally looking at her, "I just need some space."
Lana sighed, her posture defeated, "If that's what you want, fine. But if you can't even confide in me, I don't even know why we're going out in the first place." Conversation over Lana walked away, and right toward us.
"Oh, quick, pretend we weren't watching," Chloe said, quickly turning around and taking a sip of her coffee.
"So, do we think the attacker was actually invisible?" I asked, only to have my question go unanswered by Lana's arrival.
"Hey, Lana, how's it going?" Clark asked.
"Not great, but thanks for the curtosy clueless."
"Would it cheer you up if we offered to volunteer a pint tomorrow?" asked Chloe.
The red cross hosted an annual blood drive at Smallville High each year, and as freshman this was our first year that we were obligated to attend. This raised problems for the both of us, Clark who would be asked to donate but couldn't, and me who could donate but would never be aloowed to because as far as far as my family knew, my DNA wasn't human.
I didn't have a problem saying no, but as Lana was running this years blood drive Clark was much more hesitant to give a flat negative.
"Let's find out. How about 9:45? That's open." Lana said, making a mark on her green clipboard.
"Cool."
"There, better already. Clark, Clara, what time can we schedule you?" Lana said turning to us. "We didn't pick a time for either of you yet, when can I put you down?"
"Don't bother," I said, "I have a issues with needles, and if you try to stick me with one, I might turn violent," I finished smiling, enjoying the look of shock on Lana's face, and the way she passed off my words as hyperbolic.
Clark nudged me under the table with his foot, as close to a kick as he could go without breaking my leg, and turned to Lana. "I'm not sure when I could donate. Can I get back to you?"
Lana looked at him, nonplussed, "Sure, not a problem."
"Well, I mean, I figure I could help out." Clark quickly recovered, "Sign people up, pass out cookies."
I watched Chloe roll her eyes, but refrained from commenting.
"That's be great. Thanks," Lana said, once again smling.
"Bye," Chloe said as Lana waved and walked away. "Okay, nice recovery. But am I to assume that your offer to help isn't completely without an ulterior motive?"
I stayed silent, uncomfortable with any talk of Clark's love interest after I learned that both Chloe and Lana liked him.
Clark shrugged, "I'm just being a good friend."
"Okay," Chloe said taking a sip of her coffee.
Rather than analyse the implications of what just happened, I chose to focus on the invisible person who snuck into the boy's locker room to beat the living daylights out of a jock.
It was much less confusing.
0000
"Clark, what's this?" asked mom.
I looked up from my homework to see mom fingering a booklet that was laying on top of one of Clark's textbooks.
"Blood drive at school, Clark said nonchalantly. "Lana's running it."
"Clark, you know you can't donate," said Dad.
"I know, dad."
Dad turned to me but I cut him off befre he could start, "I told Lana I have issues with needles, she's not going to ask me again."
"What am I supposed to tell her?" Clark asked when we all looked at him.
"That you have a problem with needles, which you technically do," said mom chickling, setting down the plate for dinner.
I remembered the first time they had tried to give Clark a shot, he bent the needle.
"Great. Not only do I lie, but I look like a wuss," Clark complained.
"Clark," dad sighed, moving to squat down next to Clark's chair, "I can't even believe I'm actially gonna say this, but I guess you can't always be honest with people. It's one of the prices you pay for your abilities."
I was momentarily confused by my parents advocating against their morals, but than I realized in this instance it fell under 'protection of children' so an exception was excusable, it also made me feel better about the actions I took against Det. Phelan.
"That's why I volunteered."
"I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that Lana is running it," mom said sarcastically.
"Whitney dropped out."
"So you thought you'd move in," finished mom accusingly.
Clark faltered before regaining confidence, "If he doesn't see how great she is, then he doesn't deserve her."
I rolled my eyes, annoyed with how much Clark just worshiped Lana, and marked down another response.
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After dinner Clark and I went to deliver Lex a batch of tulips, but when we tracked him down to the weapons room he was doing something I had done many time but I had never thought I'd see the ever poised millionare do; searching the couch cusions.
We walked up behind him, and I was surprised by his situational awareness when he turned around to face us, even though our walk had been near silent.
"Looking for something?" Clark asked.
"My watch," Lex said, getting up off his knees. "Tulips look great."
"Yeah, you cleaned us out," Clark said looking at the pretty white flowers, and setting them down on the table. "Mom said if you want some more, you have to call Holland."
Lex picked up one and smelt it, "Their Victoria's favorite."
Suddenly the tupils were pushed onto the ground, causing us to jump in shock.
"Lex, please tell me you didn't do that," I said, thrumming in excitement.
"What was that?" Lex asked, which I took to mean he didn't.
We didn't have an answer for him, so instead we got down and started putting the tulips back.
"You and Victoria must be getting pretty close," Clark commented, and I suddenly felt like smacking him.
Surprised at the urge, I pushed it down, instead focusing on putting Victoria in the same category as Lana, as a person one of my friend/brother cared about that I didn't like but I still had to be nice to.
"You seem surprised," Lex commented, looking at Clark.
"She just doesn't seem like you type," said Clark, looking down.
I looked at Clark in confusion, "How would you know that? We haven't seen them interact, the only time we did see her was at the museum reception, and they weren't so much talking as undressing each other with their eyes," I stoped, and turned to Lex, realizing I might have broken some social rule, "No offence."
"None taken," Lex said, amused, "please, continue."
I turned back to Clark, "Besides, what do we know about Lex's type? This is the only girl he's been with since he came to Smallville, and before that all we know about his life is that he had a wild youth with expensive legal troubles."
"Clark told you that?" Lex asked curiously.
"No, I was eavesdropping," then I realized what I had admitted to I backtracked, looking back and forth at the two of them, "It seemed like a personal conversation, and I didn't want to ruin any potential bonding with my slightly inappropriate comments."
"So you do know that you can be inappropriate," Clark said, looking at me.
I looked at him reproachfully, "Knowing and doing something about it are two very different things, just because I'm aware I can ruin a mood, doesn't mean I'm going to change, sometimes the mood need to be ruined."
"Very true, Clara," Lex said happily, obviously enjoying my scolding of Clark, moving next to us to help with the tulips. "Relationships aren't always about love, Clark."
"Oh, so your sex friends?" I blurted, and then sighed at Clark's scandalized look, "What they're obviously sleeping together, and they have no intention of falling in love." I turned to Lex, "You are being safe, aren't you?"
Lex shifted, slightly uncomfortable, before choosing to ignore my question, "Sometimes relationships are about mutual goals. Not every girl is Lana Lang."
"Sorry, it's none of my business, really," Clark said, getting up.
"It's okay. I admire your standards," Lex said, brushing the dirt off his hands. "Don't lose that."
I decided to join Lex when he restarted his search for his missing watch.
"I've decided to fight for Lana," said Clark.
Lex looked up from under neath the chair, "Good for you." I scanned the area around the fireplace, choosing to ignore the turn in the conversation. "Why the new attitude?"
"I decided to take the advice of a friend."
Les smiled, taking another look under the chair.
"Don't you have another watch?" Clark asked, and I looked up.
"I've got hundreds," Lex said, standing up, "This one's special. My mother gave it to me right before she died." I stood up and walked over to Clark, anticipating a story.
Clark looked around, using his x-ray vision to search for the watch. "I don't see it."
"What are you, part bloodhound?" asked Lex.
I laughed, "Don't be ridiculous Lex, he doesn't have the ears. But he is very good at finding needles in haystacks."
"How about I go check the library?" asked Clark.
When Clark was gone Lex spoke, "What's up with you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Normally, when the subject of Clark and Lana come up, you're all for it. Five minutes ago you didn't say a word, needless to say it was unusual," Lex looked at me and I was uncomfortable with his concern. "What's wrong?"
"There has been a complication on Clark's romance situation," Legestured for me to elaborate. "Okay, you already know that Clark likes Lana who is dating Whitney. What you don't know is that Lana who is dating someone else and Chloe who is firmly in the friend-zone both like Clark."
"So, who do want dating your brother?"
"Neither!" I shouted throwing my hands up, "I like Chloe, but Clark will never look at her that way, so she's ging to end up broken hearted and Lana…" I trailed off, unwilling to continue.
"And Lana…?" Les trailed off.
I put my head in my hands, and mumbled out the words I had never said out loud, "I don't like Lana.
"If you don't like Lana, then why are you nice to her?" Lex asked, confused.
I sighed, "If you have a friend, and they like someone a whole lot, but you can't stand the person they like, you keep your mouth shut, because it's not worth damaging your friendship."
"But your Clark's sister, that's gotta mean more than just a friend."
"Clark is my friend, and all my friends are Clark's friends, so if I pick up a fuss he'll stop dragging me around, and because everyone loves Lana Lang, they'll take his side! And then where would I be? I'll tell you, I'd be sitting alone, watching old reruns and eating too much ice cream." I sighed, collapsing on the chair, peeking at Lex's expression that looked slightly spooked, "Aren't you glad that you're out of high school?"
I never heard his answer as we were interrupted by an incessant banging coming from upstairs. We got up and followed the noise out of the room and down the hall. We ran into Clark and Victoria at the bottom of the stairs, which we ran up. When we got to the top we were stopped short by a sight not usually seen out of a bad horror movie.
The door to the room was banging open and shut, over and over again, but never opening enough for us to see inside. Not that it would help, as a while a blinding light was pouring out of the cracks around the door, making it hard to look directly at.
"Did someone order a séance?" I asked sarcastically.
"What's going on?" asked Victoria.
Lex put a hand in front of her, "Wait here." He said, walking forward cautiously, with Clark following him, and me following Clark, creating a nice little train.
When Lex reached the door, he grabbed the handle, and both the light and the banging stopped. When Lex opened the door he was thrown back into Clark's arm, and I was shoved into the railing but an invisible force.
When I recovered I followed Lex and Clark into the room, nearly sneezing on the down feathers that were still floating in the air. When Lex flipped the switch a black light went on, illuminating the words written all over the walls. The walls were graffitied in words but the message was preety clear.
Leave.
"This wouldn't happen to be Victoria's room?" I asked quietly, and by the look on Lex's face I was guessing that yes it was.
Lex walked out into the middle of the room, staring at the mess around him, before turning his gaze back on us.
Chloe was going to love this.
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"Doesn't leave much room for interpretation," Chloe said as she pinned the picture of the word 'leave' written on Victoria's bedroom on the Wall of Weird.
"It was pretty weird," Clark said, still eyeing the picture. "I mean, the door was shaking. When we got close, it blew open. Lex said he felt something brush past him."
"And that same thing pushed me into the railing," I said, looking at Chloe.
"Maybe the Scottish castle came complete with a poltergeist," suggested Chloe.
"Well, the police say it's vandals. They don't know many ghosts who write in spray paint and own a black light."
I shook my head, "I think that a person did this, but they were invisible."
Clark groaned, "Seriously Clara, invisible people?"
"What? It's Smallville!"
Chloe and Clark exchanged a look.
"So how's the blood drive?" Chloe asked, and I suddenly became intensly focused on my English assignment.
"Actually, Lana and I are getting together tonight," Clark bragged.
"At her place?"
"Yeah."
"That's very romantic," Chloe said with her eyebrows furrowed.
I winced and logged on the computer to start typing my essay.
"Just remember Clark, once you cross that line, you can't hide behind the cloak of friendship anymore." That was probably what Chloe was afraid of, admitting her feelings and losing Clark completely. "Proceed with caution."
I pulled on the headphones for my Walkman and got to work, unable to handle anymore relationship discussions.
0000
After a long night fixing rudimentary issues on computers I came to school and got pulled into another Lana talk with Clark, this one covering what had happened the night before while Clark was helping Lana with scheduling for the blood drive.
"'Have you seen the sunset from my loft?' You actually said that?" Pete asked, almost laughing.
"Yep."
"And I bet your stomach was in knots the whole time?"
"Yep."
"If I were you, I'd start scripting what I was going to say now."
"No, I think I'll play it by ear, fly by the seat of my pants," said Clark, rubbing his hands together.
"Clark, you're not the flying type," Pete said, and I almost snorted at the irony. "I'll make you some note," Pete offered, before walking off to his next class.
I noticed Whitney over by his locker and I tugged on Clark's sleve, pointing at Lana's boyfriend. I was mildly confused when the guidance councilor went up to him, so I focused on my hearing.
"Whitney, your mother called, and she filled me in," said the guidance councilor.
"She shouldn't have."
The woman hugged the folders she was carrying closer to her chest, still wearing that ever present smile, "Well, Whitney, she was just concerned." Whitney looked at her, but didn't speak, "Look, I'm not here to push. If you need anything, my office is just down the hall. Okay?"
"Okay," Whitney said, and the guidance councerler walked off.
Whitney closed his locker, but when he went to put his backpack over his shoulder it's contents went streaming out over the floor. I moved forward to help him pick up his stuff and I felt Clark move behind me. I handed Whitney some stray papers, but Clark stopped helping when he found a bag from Smallville pharmacy.
Whitney angrily snatched away the bag, glaring at Clark.
"Sorry," Clark muttered as Whitney got up and went past us without a word.
"You're welcome," I muttered, before turning to Clark, "See what the prescription is for."
Clark focused his eyes on Whitney's back pack.
"What's Amlodipine?"
0000
Later at the Beanery I showed Clark the page I had printed out on Amlodipine Besylate.
"It can be taken for high blood pressure and chest pain," I exsplained, "Now it's unlikely that teenage Fordman would need this, but Fordman sr. might."
Clark looked at me, "You thing Whitney's dad—"
"I'm not making any assumptions," I cut him off, "And neither should you. If you really want to know then you should ask him."
I may not like Whitney, but he and Clark were amicable, and I wasn't against Clark making new friends unless I thought they would deliberately hurt him. Beside the scarecrow incident, Whitney had been decent.
That didn't mean I had forgiven him, though.
"Hi, Clark. Clara." We looked up to see Amy, a girl from out year whose family worked on the Luthor estate.
"Hi, Amy," we replied in unison. "Is everything okay?" Clark asked.
Amy walked over to the other side of our table. "Yeah, just, you know, all the weirdness at the mansion."
"Have you had anymore incidents?" I asked, trying to keep the eagerness out of my voice, but judging from the look Clark shot me I hadn't suceeded.
"No, but everything was fine until Victoria got there," Amy said nonchalantly.
Was she blaming Victoria for trashing her own room?
"Oh, well, you're Lex's friend. What do you think of her?" Amy said, looking at Clark.
"I really don't know her that well."
I shrugged when Amy turned to me.
"Well, I think I figured out why she's sticking around," Amy said, scooting closer to us, "I saw her in Lex's bedroom going through his things."
"What were you doing in Lex's bedroom?" asked Clark, and I kept silent, recognizing a situation where my keeping silent could help retrieve information.
Amy blinked at the question, before recovering, "Helping my mom."
"And Victoria didn't see you?"
"No," said Amy quietly before leaning forward, "See, Lex is the only one who ever treated me like I was there."
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Later that night, despite my protestations, Clark went to Lex's to tell him his suspicions about Amy. I, of course, couldn't let him go alone or he was liable to get Amy's mom fired.
When we reached Lex in his study he was on his laptop, but shut it when he saw us. I was curious, but not suspicious, so I didn't ask.
"Clark, Clara, what brings you by so late?" Lex asked. "Doing a little ghost-hunting?"
"No," Clark answered, and at my pleading look his exspression turned stern, "No." I pouted dejectedly, "I came here to talk to you about Victoria."
"I thought you wanted to talk to him about Amy?" I whispered to him.
Clark ignored me, looking around, "Where is she?"
"She's taking a bath. Why? Is there a problem?"
"Last night when I was here, I saw her…" Clark hesitated, and I wanted to slap him for doing so, "I really don't know how to say this."
"She was going through the files on my computer?" Lex asked.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"She was what?" I looked at them both before turning on Clark, "And why didn't you tell me?" Clark looked down, so I turned to Lex, "She was going through your files. Okay. But you knew, so does that mean everythings okay?"
Lex smiled at my dramatics, "Very little happens in this house without my knowledge," he said gesturing around him.
"You don't seem very upset by this," Clark observed.
Lex smiled in an almost-laugh, "We're playing chess, Clark. It's a game. Like I said, we've known each other a long time."
"But your winning, right?" I asked, looking at him suspiciously, and relaxing when he smiled.
"Well, you don't love her. She does behind you back. Why do you want to keep her around?" Clark asked, sitting down.
"It's complicated. Thanks for the heads up."
Clark shrugged, "That's what friends are for. I guess I shouldn't even bring up that Amy's got an obsession with you."
I reached out and slapped his shoulder, for the effect as it wouldn't actually hurt him.
"It's a teenage crush, nothing more," Lex said, looking amused.
"That's what I said!" I relaxed in a chair, no longer worried that Amy's mom was going to be fired, "Having a crush on an older man isn't uncommon, and at least with Lex there we don't have to worry she will be taken advantage of." Lex looked at me approvingly, and I smiled smugly at Clark.
"Hey, how goes your new Lana initiative?" Lex asked.
"We found something out about Whitney," Clark admitted. "I saw a prescription in his bag for Amlodopine. It's a—"
"Heart medication," Lex finished. I looked at him questioningly, and he elaborated, "My mother was on it before she had her surgery."
"Is that what…?" Clark asked before I could kick his leg.
I succeeded, and I was thankful for the steel toes in my boots, "Sorry, Lex."
"She was sick for a long time. The watch I lost, my mom gave it to me when she knew it was getting close." I leaned forward, having anticipated this story and excited to hear it. "She found a Napoleon franc from 1806 and had it made into the face."
"Why Napoleon?"
I wanted to swat Clark again for interrupting, but I was thankful for the promt to continue.
"You ever see the painting of Napoleon's Coronation by David?"
"Not in person," I answered.
"Napoleon's mother couldn't make it to his coronation. But when he commissioned it, Napoleon told David to paint her in as if she were there, right in the center. Even though she couldn't be there physically he brought her into his life through sheer force of will. There to share in his greatness."
"It's a good story," Clark said, sitting back in his seat.
"It's a good watch."
I smiled, Napoleon sounded like a good son, and Lex's mother sounds like a romantic, what with all the extremely sentimental gifts.
When we were walking out we heard a crash from upstairs, Clark being the hero that he was ran up the stairs toward it, and me being the tagalong I was, followed him.
When I caught up with him, it was in a bathroom, pulling an unconscious Victoria out of the tub. I reached down and grabbed the bathrobe on the floor, pulling it over Victoria to protect what was left of her modesty. Thankfully she coughed, so neither of us had to attempt CPR.
"Your gonna be okay," Clark told her, and then was thrown across the room and into a mirror.
I looked around, trying to spot an assailant, only to be hit myself, and pushed into a wall.
There was a cracking of glass and then the door to the room opened and closed, when I looked down at the glass I almost smiled, dispite the pain in my back.
There was blood on the glass.
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We took the shard with the blood to Chloe to get her opion.
"It's definitely blood." Clark determined, and I beamed, happy that my invisible foe theory had been validated.
"Doesn't exactly fit the Casper paradigm," said Chloe.
"But it does fit the invisible person theory," I sang.
Clark looked at me, slightly disturbed, "Can you stop getting so much enjoyment from this?"
"No."
Chloe took a closer look at the glass, "What's this green stuff?" She asked, bringing up a green substance on her fingers and sniffing it, "It smells like roses."
"Seriously?" I asked, moving closer so I could catch a wiff.
But when I got close the stuff on Chloe's fingers had disappeared, as well at the flesh it covered.
"Uh, Clara?"
"I see it too, in that I don't see it or part of your fingers anymore." I said, taking Chloe's hand and sniffing the invisible finger pads.
"What happened?" asked Clark.
"I just touched it." Chloe said, staring at her fingers in shock. "Okay, I'm now officially weirded out. What is this?"
"I don't know, but if you rubbed that all over your body, you'd be—"
"Naked?" Chloe said, wipping off the liquid with a tissue., making her fingers entirely visible again.
"You'd be invisible."
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"Okay, so what's our next move? Should we call the police?" Chloe asked as we moved through the quad.
"And report an invisible person?" Clark asked. "We need a viable suspect."
I bit my lip in thought, "That stuff smelt like roses right? Well, there are some green roses on the Luthor property, near where Amy Palmer lives."
"Does she have a problem with Lex's British fling?" asked Chloe.
"Big time," answered Clark.
"Her parents are on the mansions house staff, right?"
I nodded at Chloe's question, while Clark led on the speculation, "Amy said she saw Victoria snooping in Lex's bedroom. She said Victoria didn't see her."
"No wonder." Chloe said, before stopping us, "Wait. Didn't Amy give blood?"
"3:45, Station B," recited Clark, and I smiled at him.
"Oh, you've got a freakishly good memory."
Clark shrugged, "Not as good as Clara's"
Chloe turned to me, "Weren't you saying something about the blood drive?" I asked before she could start us on a tangent.
"Okay, I'll get the blood type on the broken piece of glass and check it against Amy's."
"I'll assist."
"Call me later?"
"Top of my speed dial," Chloe chirped.
0000
Once Chloe had all the information she needed I left her, comfortable that she would be able to do the rest on her own, and also aware of the fact that she preferred it when I wasn't there when she made the big epiphany when researching, if only so that she was the one who got to tell Clark. I didn't have a problem with this, instead choosing to go with Clark to the Beanery.
When we arrived I was happily surprised to see Lex.
"Hey, how's Victoria?" asked Clark.
"She's resting up in Metropolis for a few days until I can get some answers," Lex said, setting down the papers in his hand.
"Well, we're thinking invisible attacker," I offered.
Lex nodded skeptically, like he wasn't sure if I was telling the truth or joking. When he looked at Clark for help interpreting, all Clark did was stare pensively at the floor.
"Everything okay?"
"You ever gotten information you wish you hadn't?" Clark asked.
"In my experience, there's no such thing as too much information," Lex said, smiling.
I eyed him thoughtfully, "We haven't been friends that long, you'll learn." I turned to Clark, "Did you mange to track down Whitney for a talk?"
"His father's sick."
I shut up, recognizing this as a talk I didn't want to be part of.
Lex swallowed a sip of his coffee, "That's too bad."
"I wanted to take me shot with Lana, but now—"
"You feel like you'd be taking advantage."
"What would you do?"
"Who, me? I'd go for it. See, but that's what I like about you, Clark. You wouldn't."
That was when Amy Palmer decided to make an appearance.
"Hi, Lex,"she said, smoothing down the sleeves covering over half of her hands.
"Amy, this is a surprise," said Lex curtiously.
"Oh, well, I just saw your car outside, so I thought I'd come in and say hi," Amy said nervously.
"Well, I appreciate the gesture," Lex said, but Clark was zeroing in on Amy's left hand.
"So, now that Miss Hardwick's gone, hopefully things will be back to normal."
"Victoria will be back in a few days," said Lex.
"What did you see?" I whispered to Clark.
"She's really not as bad as you think, Amy," said Lex.
Amy adopted a slightly deer in the headlight look before quickly making it with a besotted smiled, "Oh, I never thought that."
"You didn't?" I asked confused, "I got the impression you hated her guts."
Amy shot me a glare before turning an awkward smile on Lex, "Well, bye," she said, walking off.
Once she was gone I had an epiphany, one that probably would have come faster if I had actually been focusing on the inconsistency and not what Clark might have seen, "Oh, she was lying about liking Victoria."
I turned toward Clark, only to see him once again lost in thought.
"What is it?"
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"I don't know what to say, Mr. Luthor," said Amy's mom as she let us into her room. "Amy's been having trouble in school, but I can't imagine she'd try to hurt Miss Hardwick."
Privately, I agreed, Clark might have seen Lex's missing watch on her wrist, but she never struck me as the violent type.
"I hope I'm wrong," said Clark, looking at Amy's desk.
I opened up Amy's closet, finding nothing but clothes, "It wouldn't be the first time."
I looked up to see Lex open a cabnet, and inside were multiple pictures Lex, as well as numerous newspaper clippings that had been cut out, creating what can only be described as a shrine.
"Looks like she's been collecting you," said Clark, moving on the other side of Lex to get a good look at the cabnet.
"Is that headline from the time Tara robbed a bank as you?" I asked pointing to the top half of a front page, that had been cut out of the paper so you could only see the picture of 'Lex' and the heading above it, making the title 'Lex Luthor Robs'.
Sloppy.
Lex reached forward, and pulled out something from behind a little pocket picture album. He held it up, it was a watch, with Napoleon franc as the face.
"My watch."
"We had no idea, Mr. Luthor," said Mrs. Palmer. "Please don't call the police.
Lex straightened and faced her, "I'm not interested in retribution or publicity, but Amy needs help." Lex said, gesturing to the shrine. "Counseling, medical treatment, whatever it takes, just send me the bill. Even so, I think it'd be best for everyone if you left the mansion tonight."
"Yes, of course," said Mrs. Palmer, before walking out.
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Clark left, but I stayed, with Victoria out of the house I was free to ambush Lex for a marathon, and after today, I think he needed it.
Unfortunatly, there would not be any fun time until the Palmers were packed up and gone. While Lex oversaw I ordered the things I needed for growing living metal with Lex's credit card as he hadn't had a chance to get around to it yet. And because it had taken him so long, I put a rush on them.
It wasn't much of a revenge on a man as rich as he was, but I felt satisfied.
Before the Palmer's left I decided to corner Lex about a question I had been wanting to ask since I saw the shrine in Amy's room.
"Do teenage girls with crushes normally build shrines? Or is that specific to stalkers and Asian grieving rituals?"
Lex turned to me, looking faintly exasperated. "Asian grieving rituals?"
I nodded, "They put up a stone and the deceased picture, and burn incence while they pray. It's a tradition that allows them to honor their ancestors without making the trek out to a graveyard. Anyway, is it normal for crushes?"
Lex walked past me and into the house, "What, you've never had a crush before?"
"Nope."
Lex stopped and turned to me, "How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
"And you've never had a crush?"
I shrugged, "Before you came along the only males I spend a signifigant amount of time with have been my brother, my father, and Pete, who I only tolerate because he's Clark's friend. I suppose that doesn't accont for the lack of celebrity crushes, but whatever." I wasn't going to tell him I had purposefully blocked my hormones; that would sound weird.
"No, that is not normal, at least I don't think it is," Lex finished pensively.
"You don't know?"
"I haven't spent much time looking for shrines of me in teenage girl's bedrooms."
"Fair enough."
I decided to join Lex outside for moral support for when the Palmers drove away.
As Amy passed she paused to look back at Lex, "I just wanted to feel close to you."
Lex didn't respond and Amy walked away, climbing inside their car.
Once the car was fully loaded, Mrs. Palmer came up to Lex. "Jeff is gonna pack everything else. My husband will be back in the morning to pick it up. Again, Mr. Luthor, I—"
"It's okay. It's okay," Lex said, cutting off her apology. "Drive safely."
Mrs. Palmer nodded and walked over to her car, and we watched in silence as it drove away.
Lex pulled out his phone and dialed a number, "Yes, I'd like to leave a message for Victoria Hardwick—"
Lex's message was interrupted by Lex's phone getting knocked out of his hand.
I bent over and picked it up, eyeing the air around us in suspicion.
"Who's there? Come out and show yourself," Lex ordered at the empty air. Only to be punched to the ground, I moved to help him, only to be knocked unconscious by what felt like a right hook.
0000
I woke up tied up on the floor next to the fireplace in the weapon's room. I looked around and noticed that Lex was tied up as well, over ten feet away from me in the center of the room.
I tasted blood in my mouth, and felt with my tounge that I had a split lip, when someone began to speak I kept still with my eyes closed, hoping he would think I was still unconscious.
"Don't you understand? She loved you. How could you send her away?" the disembodied male voice asked and I struggled to put a name to it.
"Who are you?" asked Lex groggily.
"Suddenly, you care. Master Lex with his castle, his plant, his exspensive cars, when did people ever matter to you?"
"Jeff?" asked Lex, and I made the connection, Jeff Palmer, Amy Palmer's brother. "Where are you?"
"I'm surprised you even know my name." said Jeff, and the disconcerting feeling of not being able to see him was greatly lessened when I closed my eyes. "Did you forget the unspoken rule? Servants are supposed to be invisible." I opened my eyes when I heard Lex shift, to see that he had risen to his feet. "We tried to hide, fade into the wood work. My parents live with it, pretended it didn't matter, but Amy wanted more." I watched as Lex walked around the room, his eyes landing on mine, and I caught the determination in his eyes before he began scanning the room again, trying to spot Jeff. "And I'm through pretending!"
There was a thump and suddenly Lex was on the ground. "What have I ever done to you?" asked Lex, backing towards to wall.
"Not to me, to Amy. She loved you, and you threw her out like she was nothing."
"I thought she was attacking Victoria," said Lex, still scanning the room.
"That was me, I wanted to scare her, make her leave. I wanted everything back to the way it was for Amy, but you're not interested in love."
"That kind of love could get me arrested. She's a little young for me, Jeff."
"You ruined her life!" I nearly stopped breathing when a sword came off the wall it was displayed on, and pointed itself at Lex. "Our lives! I'm not gonna let you hurt her again!" The sword swung up in a giant arch, before flinging itself at Lex—
"Lex!" I screamed.
-and landed in the wall, inches from Lex's head.
"Lex! It's me. Open up!" I heard Clark shout.
"Clark!" I screamed.
The door opened, thankfully intact, at the very second Lex got to his knees and tried to move toward it, instead smashing his head into the wall, knocking him unconscious.
Clark saw Lex lying prone on the ground and tried to move toward him, only to be knocked back a step.
"Stay away from him, Kent," said Jeff's voice. "This is your fault too."
I rolled myself onto my bottom, testing the integrity of the duck tape on my wrist.
Clark looked around, before finnaly realizing to use his x-ray vision, "What happened?"
I rolled slightly forward, pushing myself to my feet, trying to maintain my balance as well as remain quiet.
"Chemistry, Kent. Some plants don't absorb light, they refract it. I found a weird green rose on the grounds, and I studied it. And then I used the oils to become what I've always been, to Lex, to the people at school, everyone." Clark blinked like he had dry eyes, which I took to mean he lost the sight, and slowly tried to walk over to Lex.
I edged along the wall over to Lex, taking time to ensure I was as quiet as possible.
Clark was hit in the face with a mace, that shattered on impact.
Seeing that Jeff was engaged I ran (wobbled) towards Lex, kneeling down next to him to get a look at his head.
Clark fell into the wall at the strike. "That's right. I've heard Luthor talk about you, like you're something special. Well, I'm special too." Clark suddenly stiffened, throwing his head back and bringing his hands to his throat. Jeff was choking him.
I watched, helpless as Clark struggled with Jeff.
Clark threw Jeff back into some scaffolding, knocking some open paint cans onto him.
I watched as Jeff was painted red and yellow, no longer invisible, but very unconscious.
0000
As we watched Jeff get loaded into the ambulance, Clark decided to speak.
"What do you think's gonna happen to Jeff?"
"A lot of serious therapy," groaned Lex. "The bigger question is how he made himself invisible."
"Oh, he did that by—" I faltered at the 'shut up' look Clark was sending me, "Um, uh, I don't quite trust you with that information, just yet."
Lex looked at me with the beginnings of anger, "You don't trust me?"
I thought about it before shaking my head, "There's something about telling you that makes my mind go to government contracts and invisible soldiers. Eventually our government would leak it and then that would just be hell. You can ask again later, when I'm positive that you won't use it for anyting untowardly."
Lex looked between the two of us, a slightly betrayed expression flashing across his face, "You will tell me." It was more of an order than a request but I nodded anyway.
"How did you know?"
"Jeff monolouged like a comic book villian."
Lex coughed, and I like to think it smothered a laugh, and his hand massaged his neck, "How's your head?" Clark asked.
"I'll be alright. Can't say the same about my father's antique collection."
"Sorry," shrugged Clark.
"Don't be. My mother always hated that room. 'War's in our nature,' she said. 'We don't need to put it on display.'"
"I think I would have liked your mother," I said sleepily, leaning heavily on Clark.