Super: Underground: Book 2 in the Super: Series (22 page)

On one of the evenings Lily appeared downstairs, Lex happened to be the only one in the main room, with Riss sitting not far away at the kitchen table with her laptop. Lily collapsed more than sat on the other end of the sofa that Lex had been curled up on, reading a novel.

“Are you all right?” Lex asked.

“As well as can be expected.” After a moment, Lily gave a faint grin as she looked at Lex. “It’s going well, in case you were wondering.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask about your son,” Lex said, hoping she hadn’t overstepped a boundary. “I know it’s probably hard for him to be separated from you for so long. Is he staying with relatives?”

At Lex’s words, Lily looked down at her hands. “Yes. I did explain that I’d be back in a week, but I don’t think kids like to have their parents gone for so long at that age. As far as where he’s staying, he’s with his father’s parents.”

Lex felt her eyebrows rise, since Lily had never spoken of him before. She felt curious and wanted to ask more, but finally decided that it was Lily’s story to tell. “Ah,” she eventually settled on saying, which seemed to make Lily laugh.

“I can feel your curiosity all the way over here,” Lily said. “I didn’t know it when we started dating, but he was like us. He didn’t survive the labs, though.”

“I’m so sorry,” Lex replied, her hand halfway over her mouth.

“It was years ago, now.” Lily had closed her eyes and relaxed back on the couch, and it took a minute for Lex to realize that Lily had fallen asleep. After half-carrying the doctor upstairs, Lex retreated to her own bed.

Due to the lack of information, no one felt quite sure what to expect on the evening that Lily left. Serena had appeared as promised, but before they both disappeared, Casey had asked Lily what, if anything, they still needed to do, or if there were any instructions Kate should follow.

Lily sighed and yawned behind her hand before speaking. “Well,” she began, “I did talk to Kate about this, but she was pretty wiped out, so she might not remember it all. Make sure she eats well over the next week or so, at least. I noticed that her appetite wasn’t all that great even though she was expending a lot of energy, so if you could encourage her, maybe make things she likes to eat, that would be great. She’s still got something she’s working on, so if someone could check in on her a couple of times a day to make sure she’s fine and has everything she needs, that would be good, too. She should be fine now, but…well, I’ll let her explain the rest to you,” Lily said as she moved closer to Serena. “Thanks for all your hospitality,” she concluded.

Lex and Casey both shook their heads. “No, thank you for coming out,” Casey said. “I know it wasn’t easy.”

Serena and Lily both waved just before they disappeared.

The next morning, Lex worked out for a while, fitfully, before giving up. After she made a tray full of breakfast, she negotiated the stairs. She held her breath for a moment in front of Kate’s door, then gently knocked, figuring she would go back down if Kate didn’t answer. To her relief, she heard a tired voice telling her to come in, so Lex opened the door and pushed it wide enough to admit her and the tray.

Kate sat up in the bed but still looked tired, blinking and yawning. She smiled at Lex, though, and slid over to make room for the tray.

“Hey, you brought food!” Kate said with enthusiasm.

“Yeah, and Lily said we should remind you that you need to eat. So, I made one of your favorites: oatmeal!”

Kate laughed. “Yeah, weird that it would be. Thanks for making it.”

“Just put in a lot of nuts and raisins so that you can keep your strength up.” Lex hesitated for a moment as she watched her friend, looking at the eye patch she still wore. Finally, she shook her head and spoke. “So, how’s it going?”

Looking at Lex for a moment, Kate tilted her head to the side and shrugged. “Well, it’s not done healing, but it’s a damn sight better than before. Lily says that I’m out of danger as far as my body going crazy, but she also told me that I’m going to have to work on it for another week or so before it’ll probably be completely healed.”

“That’s great that you’ve come this far!” Lex said enthusiastically, through bites of her own breakfast.

“You’re right, I just…well, I just want to be able to go downstairs and show everyone I’m better, though, you know?” Kate said, giving Lex an intense look.

Lex nodded in response. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,” she said with a little laugh. Kate looked a bit sheepish, but Lex just shrugged. “So, can I tell Victor he can come up after we finish eating? I know he’s been worrying about you.”

“Sure, but I’ve got to get cracking after that,” Kate said with a grin.

“So, how about I come by after dinner and see how you’re doing?” Lex asked after they’d finished eating, as she headed for the door.

Kate smiled. “You’d better. I’ll go crazy if I have to sit in my room all day and not see anyone else at all.”

Lex arrived every morning that week to have breakfast with Kate, sometimes joined by others. In the evenings they’d tell stories or just hang around awhile until they had to go to bed.

Near the end of the week, Lex came into Kate’s room one morning to find her friend still sleeping. She turned, meaning to leave again, when she heard a noise and looked over to find Kate waking up.

“Good morning,” Lex said to her with a smile. “I can come back later if you want some time to get together first.”

“No, don’t bother,” Kate said with a huge grin. “Come over here, I’ve got something to show you.”

Lex sat on the edge of the bed, trying not to clench her fists together too hard and show her friend how nervous she felt. She held her breath as she watched Kate gingerly take off her eye patch, then she sucked in a breath. Kate had an eyelid that worked, and Lex watched those short lashes flutter as her friend’s new eyelid opened.

Jaw falling open in surprise, Lex took a good look at what she recognized as Kate’s new eye. It looked perfect, like any other one she’d seen, and Lex felt so shocked and happy to see it after having seen the infected-looking empty socket that Kate used to have that tears come to her own eyes. After a moment to take all of that in, Lex’s gaze slid back to compare Kate’s two eyes. To her surprise, the new eye had a completely different color than the original. The eye color Kate had been born with, an attractive hazel, complimented her auburn hair. Lex’s jaw fell open again as she realized the new eye had come in a deep indigo, a gorgeous hue that she’d never seen in any other eye she’d encountered.

When she finally found her voice, Lex said, “You grew a new eye! And it looks…”

“I know, right?” Kate replied, laughing. “The color’s different!” After a glance down at her hands, Kate met Lex’s eye, her expression serious. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier. I thought about it, but…I didn’t want to give anyone false hope, in case Lily and I couldn’t manage it. She warned me it might not work, but somehow I guess we did it.”

“Your new eye is so beautiful!” Lex said, unable to stop a few tears from sliding down her cheeks. “I’m so happy for you. This is incredible; I can hardly believe it.”

She hugged her friend, and felt Kate’s strong arms hugging back. After a moment, Lex pulled back to look at Kate again.

“So, how does it feel? Does it work all right?” Lex asked, knowing by now that Kate appreciated straight questions.

“It feels fine,” Kate said with a nod, blinking her eyes. “As to how it works…well, I wasn’t getting anything at first, which was one of the reasons I put off showing anyone. Then, yesterday, I started to see light, and now I’m seeing light and shapes. I think I’ll work on it for one more day and then show everyone else tomorrow. I wanted to show you and Victor first, though.”

“Well, thanks for that,” Lex said, unable to wipe away the big smile on her face. “Do you want me to go get Victor?”

Kate gave her a big smile in response. “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

So when Kate came downstairs the following morning to sit at the table, and then removed her eye patch, Lex and Victor just smiled in response. Casey had her hand in front of her mouth for the next few minutes and apologized for not being able to stop staring. Lou gave a smile and asked Kate if she really hadn’t just been hiding that eye under the patch this whole time.

Kate’s new eye was still under discussion sometime later when Riss came downstairs. She just stood there for a moment when Kate turned fully to look at her, blinking as she stared at Kate’s face. Finally, Riss sat down at the table with her laptop, facing Kate. She broke into a smile before she spoke.

“Nice eye,” she said, still smiling as Kate laughed. “So, are we going to be able to get back to recording again?”

Chapter 30: Musical

As Kate had predicted, it didn’t take long before the group got back to their normal routine. The first few days had seen an explosion of creativity from the group, and they’d practiced and recorded a few more new songs and finally decided they had enough for the new CD.

Lex sat with the rest of the group while they mixed it down, Victor doing a lot of the mixing board and after effects work and the rest of the band pitching in to be sure everything sounded as they’d intended. At one point, while taking a break, Casey came out of the kitchen to sit by Lou. She looked excited as she started talking.

“Hey, everyone, I just got a call from Laura in L.A.. Victor, Kate, I know you didn’t meet them, but they’re members of a band out there, End of the Road. We met them when we toured last time. They and another band, Jacob’s Hammer, have been setting up tour dates for the next three months. Since it’s going to happen over the wintertime, they’re planning to stick to the south, mostly California. They called because they’d set it all up with a third band who pulled out at the last minute. Anyway, it’s supposed to start in three weeks, so I wanted to ask you guys if you think we could be ready for another tour by then. What do you think?”

Lex looked at Casey and smiled, then looked at Riss and Lou, who both seemed happy as well. Victor and Kate appeared to be having a conference by telepathy, so the rest waited until they’d finished.

“I really liked them, and I think the kind of music they played will fit well with what we do,” Lex finally said, looking at everyone in turn as she spoke. “But Kate should probably be the deciding factor,” she finished, glancing at her friend.

When she felt everyone’s eyes on her a moment later, Kate covered her face. “You guys!” she laughed, finally peeking out by widening her fingers. “I’m fine now. I was still kind of tired for the first week after, but I feel pretty much normal now. I haven’t met your friends yet, but if you like them, I’m sure it’ll be fine to go on tour with them. What do you think, Victor?”

He nodded in response. “I’m up for it. I have a few things I’ve been working on that might help during the tour, so maybe we can test them out before we go.”

Lex found herself nodding, wondering what he’d come up with.

“I’m in,” Riss said, nodding at Casey and then looking at Lou.

“Sounds good to me,” he replied, leaning to hold hands with Casey. “They seem like some good people, and three months on the road doesn’t sound too bad, as long as we aren’t too tightly booked. Did they send you a schedule?”

Casey shook her head. “No, she wanted me to ask everyone first to see if anyone was interested. I’ll give her a call back to let her know we’re in, and we can all look at the schedule together.”

Lou nodded and Lex could see Casey give her boyfriend’s hand a squeeze before she went to call the other band with the news.

Riss turned to the group of them, the tiny smile she sometimes wore on her face. “Do you want to finish mixing this one down and then take a break? I had an idea for the cover art, but I’ll need Kate’s help.”

Kate turned and nodded. “Sure. Let’s finish this song, then.”

The next few weeks were busy as they practiced and prepared for the upcoming tour. Victor had come up with a tiny amplifier with a lot of power that they could use in case they were playing at venues larger than they’d previously been used to, and as a result they ended up shopping for a couple of new speakers. A few days after she’d talked about it, Riss presented everyone with a sample of the cover art she’d created: a close photograph of Kate’s new eye. The color looked stunning, and the band members all agreed that’s what they should use.

One day, they decided they needed to spice up Kate’s wardrobe for the tour, so everyone went shopping. Lou and Lex got a bunch of new t-shirts, although Lou’s taste swung more towards rock-band tour shirts while Lex got a few more anime shirts as well as one with a skull with crossed cutlasses underneath.

“I figure I could match Casey’s,” she said with a smile as she modeled it.

Casey, Riss, and Victor all got a few new pairs of jeans; Casey favored the standard cut blue jeans (which she always seemed to have to buy in men’s sizes), but both Riss and Victor got a couple of pairs of skinny black jeans. When the both of them saw what the other had chosen, they shared one of the silent, secret smiles they’d sometimes give one another. It always made Lex grin that somehow they seemed to be alike enough that they didn’t have to talk to understand each other’s thoughts.

Kate bought a good number of things, since the few clothes that she owned looked old or worn down. The crowning piece seemed to be a leather top: not exactly a corset since it had elastic in the back, but it looked like one, although instead of ties in the front it zipped up with a heavy metal zipper. She laughed at the expression on Lex’s face when she emerged from the dressing room.

“What?” Kate asked with a laugh. “Maybe more people will come to see us play if I wear this,” she finished, still laughing.

Lex laughed in return. “Probably. You definitely have more guts than I do, though!”

As they broke the shopping spree to have a snack, Kate disappeared. “I just thought of something else I want to do while we’re out,” she said, smiling secretively. “I’ll be back. This shouldn’t take too long.”

Kate came back as the rest of the group finished eating and spun in a circle for everyone to see. “How does it look?” she asked, smiling as if she’d put a joke over on everyone.