Authors: Jennifer Estep

Nightingale (45 page)

A second later, images began to flicker on the film screen. I leaned back in my chair and watched the montage, which had been set to a medley of cheery holiday tunes.

The first image revealed a humongous pile of toys. Dolls, stuffed animals, trains, building blocks, basketballs, jump ropes, art supplies—every conceivable kind of toy flashed by on the screen. The next few showed volunteers putting the toys into boxes, wrapping them, and handing them out to kids. After that, there were shots of the kids tearing into the colorful paper, pulling out the toys, and playing with them. And finally, a little girl hugged a doll to her chest, a huge grin on her tiny face, before the screen went black and the music faded away.

“See? Isn’t it heartwarming?”

Henry beamed at me. The light from the monitors made his dark hair and mocha skin take on a faint silver tint, while his glasses gleamed on his face. The monitor’s glow also brought out the white polka dots in the red bow tie he wore over his green-plaid sweater vest. Just looking at him sitting amid all those keyboards, monitors, and wires, you’d probably peg Henry for the computer geek that he was—but you’d never guess that he was also Hermit, a technological whiz of a superhero.

“You want me to babysit a bunch of toys?” I asked again.

Maybe I was being dense, but usually, things were a little more life and death in the superhero business. And that’s what I was these days—a bona fide superhero. I even had a costume and everything.

By day, I was Carmen Cole, a society reporter for
The Exposé
, one of the biggest newspapers in Bigtime, New York. By night, I was Karma Girl, the newest member of the Fearless Five, the city’s most powerful and popular superhero team. The Fearless Five, along with the city’s other superheroes, spent their nights fighting crime and foiling the schemes of the many ubervillains that called Bigtime home.

My being a superhero was more than a little ironic, because not too long ago, I’d used my skills as an investigative reporter to expose the real identities of heroes and villains. But getting dropped into a vat of radioactive goo will change a girl’s perspective on a lot of things—and give her superpowers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Estep
is a
New York Times
bestselling author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.

Jennifer writes the
Elemental Assassin
urban fantasy series
for Pocket Books. The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy killing people and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals—Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.

Jennifer also writes the
Mythos Academy
young adult urban fantasy series
for Kensington. The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psychometry, or the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it. After a serious freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more.

Jennifer is also the author of the
Bigtime
paranormal romance series
. The books feature sexy superheroes, evil ubervillains, and smart, sassy gals looking for love.

For more information, visit Jennifer’s website at
http://www.jenniferestep.com/
. You can also follow her on
Facebook
,
Twitter
, and
Goodreads
.

Happy reading, everyone!

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