Steel Life (Cape High Series Book 25), page 5
“You… well, that doesn’t matter,” Sparky says. “My coming back had nothing to do with you, Superior. Liz… I… don’t let them do this,” she says, turning to her daughter. “I’ll leave as soon as the wedding is over, I promise, but… I need to see that I’ve done at least one good thing in my life.” She’s shaking, slightly, and there are tears in her eyes that are threatening to fall. Liz stares, thinking of all the things she doesn’t want this woman to know, that Tatiana is alive, that Summer is pregnant, that—
“It’s your call, Liz,” Nico says. “Well, yours and Taurus’s, since this wedding is for both of you. But honestly, after going through it myself, it’s usually more about the bride.”
“Liz,” Taurus says, his hand reaching for hers again, “he’s right. This is your day. What is it that you want to do?”
“How can you be so forgiving to her?” Liz asks Nico. “You’re the one that tossed her out! You’re the one who—” she sees the slightly rueful smile on his face. She has to stop at that, because she knows he’s fighting the urge to toss this woman as far away as possible.
“I am,” he says, “because you were too young to make that decision for yourself. Hell, looking back, I might have been, as well.”
“Do you regret it?” she asks.
“I regret that you had no one after I did what I did,” he says.
Liz stares at him, and then looks at Sparky. “She can go to the wedding,” she says, “but until then she has to stay in a room—no television wall, no access to the drones, either, got it? And as soon as the wedding is over, you’re gone,” she tells Sparky.
“No television?” Sparky asks.
“No electric outlets, either,” Liz says, coldly.
“We don’t have any, to begin with,” Superior says.
“You built an entire resort without electricity?” Taurus asks.
“Who needs it when you have a son like Nico?” Superior says. “I know what room to put her in. Sparky, come.” He heads off, just expecting Sparky to follow.
Sparky stands there, looking at Liz, instead. “Liz… you really are the thing I’m most proud of,” she says softly before she leaves.
Liz shudders for a moment, fighting the urge to cry and scream at the same time. Before she can choose, she’s wrapped in a massive group hug, with even Skye racing over from her surfing to join in.
“The past is not the present, Liz,” Nico says, quietly. “Don’t ever forget that.”
She nods, giving into the tears that were threatening for all of a second before pulling away and sniffing the air. “Is that… roasted pig?” she asks, sniffing the air.
“Vinny’s throwing a luau!” Skye says, grinning from ear to ear. “I need to change into my grass skirt and coconut bikini!”
“You actually have one?” Liz asks her.
“You’ve got one, too!” Skye says, grabbing her hand and hauling her out of the group. “I brought enough for EVERYONE! It was a batch order!”
“Everyone…” Nico repeats. “Ah, I think I hear someone calling me from the other side of the island now—”
“I added light bulbs to yours, Nico! You’re gonna love it!” Skye says.
Nico makes a break for it, racing away so quickly that the trees he passes bend slightly.
“AFTER HIM!” Skye shouts before racing off, as well. The rest of the group look at each other, until Jack lets out a whistle and his board comes flying.
“I’m not gonna miss this,” he says, hopping on and giving chase.
CHAPTER FOUR
Sparky stays silent as Superior leads her down a hall to one of the rooms far away from the rest of the group. He opens the door, motioning her in, and she looks at him for a long moment. “So… zombie?” she asks.
“No,” he says.
“Resurrection from the dead?”
“Not exactly,” he says.
“Creepy clone,” she offers.
“Go to bed, Sparky. Someone will bring you food in a bit, if we remember,” he says.
She shrugs, heading into the room, only to stop. “WAIT!” she says, “You’re the one from the so-called alternate dimension!” she accuses him.
“You always did make for a good diversion, Sparky,” he says callously before closing the door. She watches, not surprised to see the door disappear, changing into a wall, save for a slot just large enough to get a plate of food through.
“You always were a jerk, Superior,” she replies once she’s certain he’s gone. She hates the woman she used to be. In fact, this entire situation is making her cringe, but… she looks around, seeing a window. He must have forgotten there was one, she thinks as she heads over. It’s open—but when she tries to open it more than that little crack, she can’t budge it. If she breaks it, they’ll toss her off the island for sure, and she’d felt the electricity that guards the island. It isn’t ALL electricity; there had been a lot of other aspects in play. Then again, she had expected that. Her boss had told her there would be.
Something tells her that if she changes into electricity, they’ll notice that, too.
She heads for her bags, digging through her things and pulling out a simple sheet of paper and pen. She jots down two words and folds it up, slipping it through the slot of the open window. A few seconds later a tiny monkey comes running to pick up the sheet and open it. It looks at the words for a long moment before letting out a little grunt and running away.
It’s a good thing that her boss is paying her so well, she thinks as she drops down on the bed. If he wasn’t, she would never be back here, not in a million years.
***
The luau has more people in grass skirts than Aubrey had ever imagined. She looks down at the one she’s wearing over her shorts and shakes her head with reluctant amusement. Of course there are, she thinks, supers are more comfortable wearing stupid clothing than the rest of the world combined, practically. Even Nico has the light bulb strip from his skirt draped over his shoulder—the skirt having disappeared somewhere along the way.
She has to laugh, though, at the sight of Mastermental wearing his skirt like a cape. He carries it well, she decides as he turns and gives her a knowing smile and raises his drink in her direction.
“Thank you, my dear,” he says. “I think so, as well.”
“Very stately,” she agrees, completely uncaring that her thoughts had been broad-casted. Emily has been picking up on her thoughts a lot, lately, as well, but more often than not her sister doesn’t notice she’d not said it aloud. She doesn’t seem to even realize that her telepathy has grown so much. She turns, intent on making sure they’re not out of punch. This party is important. Oh, sure, it’s a lot smaller than Nico and Summer’s wedding had been, but it still needs to be done right! Parts of the weekend are being broadcasted around the world—
“And here is Life Light!” Prisma says, catching Aubrey’s eye. “Life Light, the entire world already knows that you and Divine Justice are Firefly’s adopted daughters, so I’m sure they’re dying to know how you feel about this wedding,” she says, her brilliant smile showing that she already has a clue. This is meant to be a fluffy, feel-good interview. Aubrey is more than happy to give it to her.
“I’m just so glad we talked her into having a proper wedding, honestly,” Aubrey says with dry amusement. “She really wanted to just run off to Vegas and elope.”
“I heard about that! Any idea why?”
“Well, she wasn’t that happy with how many supers wound up in KC when Technico and Lady Rose got married,” Aubrey explains. “She really loves our city, so she dislikes making it crazier than it usually is. But I think we’ve come up with a good compromise, don’t you?”
“I have to say, I’ve been shipping Firefly and Taurus together for a while now,” Prisma says. “They’re absolutely adorable together. How about you, do you have someone that you’re involved with? We know that Divine Justice is dating Kid Liberty, after all.”
Aubrey looks at her, and then at the drone that’s filming this all. Should she? The entire world will find out that a healer is dating a villain… it’ll cause quite a shock. “I don’t really want to distract people from the wedding, you know,” she tells Prisma, “but yes, I do have a boyfriend.” She looks around, seeing Jack giving Panther’s sons a ride on the surfboard.
“Are we going to find out who the lucky guy is?” Prisma asks, knowingly. “For those that don’t already know, that is.”
“Sure,” Aubrey says. “Honey, can you come over for a second?”
Jack looks over, and the board comes down with him and the boys, who are climbing all over him. “What’s up, babe?” he asks.
“This is my boyfriend,” Aubrey says proudly, “Cold Steel.”
“Wait, are we being broadcasted right now?” Jack asks, absent-mindedly grabbing Cubby before he jumps off the board. “If so, I’m out of town right now, but I still expect that metal, people! I got a secret base to build!”
“Secret base!” Cubby yells, waving his arms in the air.
“Secret base! Secret base!” Robo joins in. “A LAIR OF EVIL!” Jack starts laughing at that.
“And who are you two?” Prisma asks, “Or do your parents not want us to know?”
“We can’t tell you,” Cubby says, grinning impishly at her, even though they’re both wearing masks and Pan’s colors.
“Cold Steel kidnapped us and dragged us off on his board,” Robo says. “I want to go higher!”
“I’m just that evil,” Jack agrees. “And you know why we can’t go higher, you little twerp.” Robo gives him a shameless grin.
“Boys! Dinner time!” Amara calls out. Both of the boys jump off the board and race off to get food, leaving Jack behind. Prisma looks like she’s going to laugh, but she manages to keep it in check.
“Well… you gotta admit, they’ve got a good reason to—I’ll just be goin’ now,” Jack says. “Don’t eat it all!” he yells after the boys. “I’m starving!”
“Well, I can see you two are a very interesting couple,” Prisma says to Aubrey.
“Thank you,” Aubrey says, barely refraining from shaking her head and groaning.
“Oh! There’s Technico!” Prisma says. “It’s been lovely talking to you, Life Light, but I really should get an interview with the brother of the bride, as well!”
“You absolutely should,” Aubrey agrees, seeing the look on Nico’s face and grinning a bit evilly. He hates being interviewed. That’s why all of his interviews are watched over and over again by both Central and South Cape High. They’re hysterical.
She looks at the sky, wondering if the entire night will be spent worrying about punch and food or if she’ll actually get that romantic date she’d been planning. She looks over at Jack, who’s waiting impatiently for a pig leg, and gives up on her fantasy as easily as that. She won’t see much of him until after the food is all gone.
She heads for a table, sitting down and looking out at the ocean. Liz’s mother is here. A part of her feels like something’s really wrong with just shoving the woman into a room until tomorrow, but another part of her has heard all about what happened to Liz when she was a child.
She looks up as Summer walks over and sits down next to her. “It’s beautiful here,” Summer says. “I think I’d love to come back for a family vacation, wouldn’t you?”
“I have so much work back home,” Aubrey says hesitantly. “Summer, they’ve taken to YouTube,” she admits. “People claiming that they need me to come here or there—”
Summer reaches over, taking her hand with a soft smile. “It seems that our secret isn’t a secret any longer,” she says. “But you knew that was coming, right?”
“I knew,” Aubrey says with a sigh. “I want to help them all, but I can’t. I don’t even know which ones are real, actually. I’ve been thinking of asking Nico to do background checks, but that’s so much—”
“I would be happy to assist you,” Mastermental says as he comes over. He shoves the grass skirt turned cape back and sits across from them. “I happen to have a very well paid group of computer professionals that have very little to do with their time thanks to a certain someone. We will also speak with our other healers—”
“I’m in!” Alyssa calls from across the party.
“I’ll go, as well,” Bobby says. “I’ve been working on my timing problem—but for some reason the women always grab me when I’m about to stop.” He frowns, clearly wondering why.
“A few years shaved off isn’t something a normal woman is going to pass up, Bobby,” Aubrey tells him as several people laugh. “Mastermental… if you could, I’d really appreciate it. I was thinking I could use that as my graduation gig, as well. Of course it’s not exactly the same as going viral, but…”
“I will make sure that it counts,” Mastermental says. “I do not wish for you to go more viral than you already have. I also do not see you or your friends stopping the process once you have graduated. It is within your hearts to help others.”
“That’s what it is to be a super, though, right?” Aubrey says.
“No, that is what it is to be a hero. There are several supers in this world that dislike having to serve the norms, or value the response of the norms more than the norms themselves.” He looks towards the resort with a troubled frown on his face, and then he glances over at Liz, who’s dancing with Emily.
“Mastermental, about Mom’s mother…” Aubrey says hesitantly.
“Yes,” he says, but it isn’t a question.
“We can’t… we’ve always given people second chances, sometimes even third or fourth chances,” Aubrey says, unable to keep it to herself. “And I hate what she did in the past, but… but even Clay was given another chance—”
“Yes, if you consider sending him several galaxies away a ‘second chance,’” Mastermental says with a hint of amusement. “Truthfully I see it more as ‘unloading a problem child onto his own race.’ Unfortunately, I believe that Sparky is human, for the most part.”
“So she’s our problem child,” Summer says, sighing. “Aubrey, I understand where you’re coming from, honey, I truly do.”
“But?” Aubrey says, sensing that it’s there.
“But it does seem… suspicious… for her to show up over twenty years after the act of being tossed out, especially when it’s during such a big event,” she says gently. “This wedding will be broadcasted to every country, which makes it a perfect platform for someone’s personal agenda.” Aubrey nods, having to accept that fact when it’s Summer that says it. “If she had come earlier, or perhaps at a time when we weren’t doing something so important, I would be more than willing to offer her a hand of friendship,” Summer goes on softly, as if thinking of someone else. “The past should not be allowed to define the future.”
“You think of your father?” Mastermental asks softly.
“I… yes,” Summer admits. “Weddings always make me think of family. Perhaps that really is why Sparky is here.”
Aubrey looks around, suddenly realizing she hasn’t seen her Granddad Jake for a while. She blinks, though, as she sees him surrounded by the older female teachers from the school. He looks to be having a grand time, she thinks with a shake of her head. He’s flirting with Banshee, shamelessly. It makes her feel better, Aubrey decides, because at least someone is having fun without a care in the world.
“Alright,” Jack says, making Aubrey look up. He has a plate of food, which she’s not surprised to see, but she is surprised when he hands it to her and then lets out a whistle. His board comes flying as he scoops her up from the bench. “I’m gonna take Aubrey for a bit,” he tells Summer and Mastermental. “I can’t go regular surfin’, but I got somethin’ better, anyway,” he says as he steps onto the board.
“Jack—” Aubrey says, struggling for all of a second.
“What?”
“You forgot the pineapple,” she tells him.
“No I didn’t,” he says, grinning, “I just ate it before I got to your table.”
“You better not expect me to share,” she says, giving him a look as he takes to the air. “Don’t think I didn’t see you eating, already! Mastermental, Summer, we can finish the discussion later, okay?”
“Have fun!” Summer calls out, and then rubs her belly with a little smile. “Pineapple sounds divine now that you mention it, doesn’t it, baby?”
Aubrey laughs as Jack carries her away, leaning her head against his shoulder. “I thought for sure I wouldn’t see you for another hour,” she teases him as she starts eating. “Whenever there’s that much food, you know?”
“I ate an entire pig leg,” he brags. “Even I get full after that… and a couple of potatoes… and some vegetables and—”
She lets him list off everything he ate, wondering just how quickly he’d scarfed it down just to do this. “I was hoping we’d get to spend some time together,” she says. “It seems like it’s been forever since our last date.”
He pulls to a stop over the beach, sitting down with her still in his arms. The sun is setting, turning the sky a brilliant pink and purple mix. A few fluffy clouds dot the sky, just adding to the gorgeous moment.
“Yeah,” he says, with just a hint of guilt on his face. She knows him extremely well, she thinks as she stares at him, daring him to look her in the eyes. He doesn’t.
“What’s going on, Jack?” she demands.
“Well, ah… Max and the other guys… thought it might be a good idea to visit Liz’s ma tonight.”
“What for?” she asks.
“Max is gonna read her mind?” he offers. “But I wanted to at least see the sunset with you before we go doin’ all that crap. I’m no use even if I go, though, and they all know it.”
“And why are you no use?” she asks.
“I ain’t that good against electricity, for one, and I sure as heck ain’t good at readin’ minds,” he says honestly. She laughs, shaking her head because he’s right.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll be useful in some way,” she tells him as he gives her a wry look. She reaches up, patting his cheek, and he leans down for a kiss. Unfortunately, it almost topples her plate of food, and they both watch a bit mournfully as a piece of ham plops down into the sand.
