Sunny Daze (2 page)

“What’s taking so long, honey?” Mom asks, almost making me jump.

“Dad’s up to something,” I say, heading inside and up the stairs.  She’s right behind me, her expression darkening by the moment.  When we reach the top floor she swings the door open and places her hands on her hips--only to stop as she sees Dad and Aunt Liz fighting on the couch like little kids.

“This is what he was up to?” she asks me.  “Play fighting with Liz?”

“Hey, guys,” Nico calls over to us.  “Would you tell her that Mom finding out about her isn’t going to get her killed?”

“You want to call Grandma Tatia?” I ask, heading over to the couch and dropping down in the empty spot.  “Don’t we usually call her tomorrow?”

“This is a special call,” Dad says.

“One that’s going to get me killed,” Aunt Liz adds, grappling for the channel changer.  “And it’s not Tatiana he wants to call--it’s our dad.”  The room goes silent as we all consider the idea of calling Superior.

“I’m on Aunt Liz’s side,” I announce before heading for my room.  “There’s definitely no reason to call!”

“There is, unfortunately,” Dad says, “I just don’t want to.”

“Then tell him tomorrow,” I say, stopping and reluctantly heading for the bathroom first.  I need a shower, I’m covered in dirt.

“Where is Zoe?” Mom asks curiously.

“She and Max went out on a date,” Dad says.  “He’s taking her to the new car show at Union Station.”

“Is that smart?” Mom asks in a worried tone.

“Well so far they haven’t showed up on TV with a building burning behind them,” Dad says with a shrug, “and they’ve been gone an hour.  I figure that it’s fine.”

I step into the shower--yes, I closed the bathroom door and everything.  I can still hear them.  There’s got to be a way to turn the hearing thing down.  Maybe I’ll ask Adanna.  I think she’s got even better hearing than I do.  Oh well, I’m sort of curious about this, anyway.  No, not the Zoe date, I want to hear if they talk about Superior again.

We call my Grandma and Superior once a week on Sunday nights.  We all gather around the big screen and talk--mostly to Grandma.  Superior is usually standing in the background next to the shiny ice walls of their front room, watching silently.  I’ve never actually had a full conversation with the guy.  He’s kind of… off-putting.  Look, I don’t know if you know all the greats of the super world, or any of that, but Superior is the guy that started the Hall.  He’s the guy that stood above every single hero that ever came after him, and probably the ones that came before him, too.  That doesn’t change the fact that he’s a serious jerk. 

Grandma is a lot nicer, and she was once a member of the U.S.S.R.  Yeah, that says a lot, doesn’t it?  Well, sort of.  Grandma’s awesome.  She’s this huge S-class tank--she’s actually almost the same size as Superior, but with, you know, girly parts.  She loves the color pink, though, so she’s always running around in pink sweaters and wearing pink heart earrings.  I could see her going to a tea party without a second of hesitation--even one with little girls. Just picture this massive, muscular woman that’s over six feet tall sitting at a tiny table with her pinky finger up as she sips imaginary tea.  Got the picture?  Yep, that’s my grandma.

I get out of the shower and dry off, grabbing a pair of boxers from the counter.  I head into the front room again, expecting to head straight for bed.  Unfortunately Liz grabs me before I make it.  “Wait, what--” I start out.

“You’re going to make the call,” she tells me cheerfully, carrying me to the couch as if I weigh nothing.  To her I probably don’t.

“In my boxers?” I yelp as I get tossed onto the couch.  Before I can run the TV is on and I’m staring at Grandma Tatia--wearing only a pair of Mega boxers.  “Not cool,” I hiss at Liz, grabbing the blanket off of the back of the couch and covering myself.

“Sunny!  You are starting to develop muscles!” Grandma says cheerfully.  “I told your Grandfather that it was only a matter of time!”

I turn bright red, I know I do.  “Um, yeah, it’s all the training for school,” I say.  “I got a little taller, too!” I brag, because seriously, I was worried I’d be short my entire life.  “But Grandma, is Su--um, is Grandpa there?” I ask.

“Of course!” she says.  “Clifford!  Your grandson wishes to speak to you!” she bellows, stepping off screen.  I hear a whooshing sound and know he came flying.  From that loud of a noise, he was going pretty fast.

“Is there a problem?” Superior asks, appearing on the screen.  I hesitate, glancing over my shoulder at Dad and Aunt Liz--both are staying out of sight, the chickens.

“Tell him,” Liz prompts.  Dad just stands there, frowning slightly.  I have no idea what he’s thinking.

“Well… um… Aunt Liz is here,” I say, totally ratting her out.  “She wants to know if you’ve told Grandma Tatia about her.”

“And who is Liz?” I hear Grandma ask in the background.  The look on Superior’s face is priceless--he looks as if he’s going to blow a gasket or something.  I don’t even know what a gasket it, but I’m definitely sure he can blow it if he wants to.  “Is there yet another secret you are keeping from me?” she demands, coming into view again.

“Well… honey…” he starts out.  “I know it doesn’t seem like long to you, but in my timeline--”

“Enough of the dancing around, Clifford!  Who is ‘Aunt Liz’?” Grandma demands, her tone getting sharp.

“She’s… ah… our daughter?” Superior asks in a very hesitant tone.

“Our?”

“Well, her mother’s no longer in the picture--”

“Who is this mother?”

“I think her name was um… Sparky, right?” I offer.  I probably shouldn’t have said that, I realize a second too late.  Superior is glowering at me as if he would reach through the screen if he could.

“YOU HAD A CHILD WITH SPARKY?” Grandma bellows.  “AND YOU DID NOT TELL ME??”  Superior disappears from the screen with the tiniest of grunts, and I hear a few crashing noises from off screen.

“Now, Honey--”

“You do not use the affectionate terms with me, you philanthropist--”

“It’s ‘philanderer’ Mom!” Dad calls out cheerfully.

“Yes!  You philanderer!” I hear Grandma yell, accompanied by another crash.  “I will meet this daughter!” she declares, appearing in front of the screen.  “It is not her fault that her mother and I did not see eye to eye,” she goes on, her tone calming down.  Superior appears behind her, glaring at the screen darkly.

“This was your idea, wasn’t it, son?” he asks.  “I refuse to believe my own grandson came up with it.”

“It absolutely was,” Dad admits, grinning shamelessly.  “Liz, come here,” he says, holding out a hand to his sister.  She hesitates, shaking her head and waving her hands, but gives in quickly enough when he motions her over.  “Mom, this is Liz,” he says, wrapping an arm over Aunt Liz’s shoulders.  “Liz, this is Mom.”

“Um, hi, Ms. Tatiana, ma’am,” Aunt Liz says, looking like a little girl.

“Oh, she is beautiful!” Grandma declares.  “I wish to meet you in person--I will go pack!”

“You can’t,” I hear Dad and Superior say at the exact same time.  “At least not how you’re planning, Mom,” Dad goes on.  “Look, I’ll arrange for you both to fly down, but if you fly yourself down you’re going to get a lot of attention.”

“You seem quite eager to get us back,” Superior says, his expression going sharp, “especially considering the fact you were the one that sent us up here.”

“Things have... come to light,” Dad admits, “and if I don’t tell you now, you’ll fly off the handle and I can’t have that.”

“What’s come to light?” Superior demands.

“Kunnins.”

“When?”

“Just the other day.  He’s working with a friend of ours.”

“Who?”

“Shadowman.”

***

Morning comes.  It finds us waiting for a plane to land--and me discussing something important with Dad and Mom.  “I don’t know if I should go,” I say again.  No, this isn’t the first time we’ve had this conversation.  “I mean, what if you need me?”

“Sunny,” Dad says, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking me in the eye, “I don’t like the man much, but do you really think that your granddad and I aren’t capable of dealing with one old man?”

Well, when he puts it like that... I sigh and look at the plane that’s about to land, trying to imagine how the norms are dealing with both Superior and Grandma flying with them.  I wish I could see it.  We head for the gate, and I shove my hands into my pockets as I move to Zoe’s side.  “So how’d your date go?” I ask her.

“He made me leave when we got to the newer models,” she admits, pouting.  “I just wanted to look under the hood!”

“Sure you did,” I say, reaching up and patting her on the shoulder.  “But at least he trusted you long enough to take you?  What did you do after that?” I ask.

“Making notes for your next date with Adanna?” she asks with a little grin.  “I don’t think she’ll find a car show nearly as interesting as I did.”

“I could... um... take her to the zoo?” I ask.

“She lives at one.”

“Oh, right.  Well it doesn’t matter, I’m heading off into the wilds with her dad and your boyfriend as soon as we get home,” I say reluctantly.  Actually I was really looking forward to this camping trip, you know?  It’s just the whole intrigue with Kunnins and the grandparents coming back--I really feel like I’m going to miss out on something big, as usual.  I know I’m not planning on becoming a super hero or anything, so I should just get used to being left out, but it still sucks.

“The SVSC?” she asks.  “Tell me how it goes, okay?  It sounds like a lot of fun!”

“SVSC?” I repeat.

“Super villain summer camp,” she explains.  “Max is completely stoked.  He had T-shirts made and everything!”  Adanna and I tormented Max for a week before he found out what was going on.  Shame, that, it’d been a lot of fun to torture him with Panther’s “plans.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I say, staring at her incredulously.

“This is Max we’re talking about,” Zoe says, looking at me with a dry expression.  “He offered to get me one in pink camo.”

“Did you get it?” I ask.

“Of course not!  I don’t look good in pink,” she says, shoving her hair over her shoulder.

“They’re here,” Dad says as a plane lands.  “Get ready, kids, we need to look like a normal, happy family.”

“We’re not one?” I ask.

“Sunny, every plant in the building has turned to face you and your mom,” Dad says dryly.  I glance around, blinking as I see he’s telling the truth.  “Thankfully not many people look at plants.”  He wraps an arm around Mom’s waist, looking just slightly tense as people start coming off of the plane.  It doesn’t take much searching to notice when my grandparents get off--they tower over more than half of the people, and are twice as broad through the shoulders as the ones as tall as they are.

“Zoe!  Sunny!” Grandma says, heading straight for us and hugging both of us at the same time.  It’s a bit hard to breathe for a second, but I ignore that fact.  She smells like candy.  I hug her back, as tight as I can, and she lets out a laugh.  “You have been working out!” she tells me.  “I almost felt that, kitten.”

“A little,” I say modestly, grinning up at her. 

“Now where is this Liz?” she asks us, turning as we point to Aunt Liz, who’s lingering far behind the rest of us.  “Well don’t just stand there, come here!” she calls over loudly.  Aunt Liz turns bright red, but heads over, pulling her baseball hat down a little lower.  I guess a white haired young woman does tend to stand out a bit, huh?  I watch curiously as Grandma heads straight for Liz and places massive hands on her shoulders.

“Hi,” Liz says.

“And what pow–“

“Mom, do you think we can discuss this in the van?” Dad asks, interrupting her quickly.  We had to borrow a van from the black suits to fit everyone in.  You can barely fit four people in the Firebird.

“Oh, of course, my love,” she says.  “But first we must get our luggage–I have brought presents!” she announces, heading for the luggage area.  I stand back and watch as she joins the throng searching for their bags, only to jump as a hand lands on my shoulder.  It’s not Dad’s–Dad’s been holding onto Mom this entire time.  I look up slowly, seeing Superior (I should probably practice calling him Grandpa,) standing next to me. 

“How have you been, Sunny?” he asks me in an almost silent tone.  Is it wrong to feel slightly worried right now? 

“Um... okay?” I offer, as if he’s going to tell me I’m wrong.

“How about your abilities?” he asks.  “You’re the first elementalist in the Superior line, you know.”

Ooooh.  So that’s why.  “I dunno,” I admit, frowning slightly.  “Dad did a test on me last night, said I’m still growing too fast to pinpoint where I’ll end up–that’s why Mom’s complaining because I keep falling asleep.”

“I see,” he says, a satisfied smile pulling at his lips.  “I look forward to it.”

“So do I?” I offer in that same questioning tone.  I dunno.  I mean, I don’t mind taking naps all the time, so it’s not that big of a deal–well, except when the earth starts reacting in the middle of my naps.  That’s kind of weird.  At least plants don’t try climbing up my pants as often–well, not if I’m awake.