Chapter 32

The rest of the week was one of those weird situations where it seemed to fly by, not leaving enough time for me to do everything I needed before we left and drag on slowly as I counted the hours until we left.

Chef was okay with me taking the week off and I got Victor’s contact info so I could arrange to see where he worked out on the promise that I get a little sparring in with him while I was there. Chef never was the type to let a good opportunity go to waste. Mom had been a harder nut to crack, and it wasn’t until Friday that she finally gave me permission to go, although she’d ended up talking to Hanna’s Aunt first just to make sure. I’d already had the feeling we were going to go so I, or really mostly Hanna, had gotten everything set up for the gig on Thursday before she’d given permission, since that was the one part of the trip that required a bunch of moving parts.

We were taking Hanna’s car, since it was newer than mine and Kat wasn’t crazy about the idea of driving hers across the state if she didn’t have to. Besides, of the three of us, Hanna was the best driver. We left early Sunday afternoon and pulled into Hanna’s Aunt’s house just before dinner, which was good because we hadn’t stopped for food and I was starving. Even before the car pulled all the way to a stop Sam came shooting out of the front door, skidding to a stop next to the car.

“Hanna,” he almost yelled as soon as she was out of the car, launching himself at her and throwing his arms around her.

“Hey Sam,” she said, hugging him back with one hand and tousling his hair with the other.

I went to the back and popped the trunk to grab our bags. Mine was just a small duffle bag and Hanna hadn’t packed much heavier, but Kat had her large suitcase again, although at least it wasn’t as heavy as it was when she’d packed up from her dad’s house. I turned around, my hands full and almost tripped over Sam, who’d somehow appeared right behind me.

“Hey Charlie,” he said, grinning up at me.

We’d only met the one time, when Aaron, Harry and Paul had been trying to take the money Hanna’s mom had given him that morning for some outing they’d planned. He’d run inside almost as soon as I’d gotten them off him, which was nearly the entirety of our interaction besides a brief phone call when he’d invited me to come to his birthday party and the comic convention. Apparently that was enough for a nine-year-old to decide you were his friend.

“Hey, Sam. Excited for tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Did you know they were going to have Dean Hanley there? He’s supposed to do a panel about Force Twelve in Hall C, and I really want to go. I also got some birthday money already from mom, and it says he’s taking pictures after for twenty dollars a picture, so I’m going to go get one with him. Do you watch Force Twelve?”

He managed to say all of that in under five seconds, making the entire thing come out almost like a single string of sounds with no break. The words I got didn’t really help that much, since I recognized absolutely none of the names he mentioned. I guessed that Force Twelve was a TV show, but I didn’t watch much TV and it must have been targeted at a younger audience, because I’d never heard of it.

“I like Viola Souza,” Kat said, coming around the car.

“Really?” Sam said, looking at her and wrinkling his nose.

“Sam, this is our friend Katherine. Kat, this is Sam.”

“Hi, Sam,” Kat said sticking out her hand.

He looked at it for a second a little weirdly and then shook her hand.

“You don’t like Lady Magenta?” She asked as we all started making our way to the door.

“No way! She’s so boring. Death Dealer’s the best one. Why would anyone like Lady Magenta?”

The two of them then began a detailed conversation that I didn’t even follow a little bit.

“Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?” I asked, falling back to walk with Hanna.

“It’s his favorite show. He’s got posters on his wall and like five models of their ship in his room. He’s made me sit and watch a couple of episodes with him. It’s so cheesy. The big bad guys use these guns that look like they have suction cups on the end. But, he loves it, so I humor him. At least this time when he wants to talk about it, he’ll be able to pester Kat instead of me.”

Hanna’s Aunt Shirley met us just inside, coming out of the kitchen rubbing her hands on a towel.

“Good, you’re here. Sam’s been bouncing off the wall all day, he’s been so excited you’re here.”

“How are you, Aunt Shirley?” Hanna asked, hugging her.

“I’m good, I’m good. So you’re thinking you might stay in state after all?”

“Yeah. They have a program I like and I was kind of thinking it’d be nice to stay near my friend. Kat’s a year behind me and Charlie’s only a sophomore, so they won’t be able to follow me to college for a couple of years.”

“We’re following you to college now, are we?” I asked.

“Hey, I know you two couldn’t live without me,” She said, giving me a grin.

“Charlie, it’s so good to see you,” Hanna’s Aunt said, giving me a hug before I could put the bags down. “Jennifer said you’re doing really good. I hear you’re in a band now?”

I knew that she still thought fondly of me after I helped Sam out, but I didn’t know that Hanna’s mother had been giving her updates on me, since we barely knew each other.

“Uhh, yea. Well, the band’s kind of new. We just started getting it together. But I’ve been playing at the place where Hanna works on weekends for months. It’s been pretty fun.”

“I’m their manager,” Hanna said with pride.

We hadn’t actually discussed her actually managing us yet. We’d talked about a theoretical ‘one day,’ after she finished college but she’d framed everything else as just learning about the business. Not that I minded. I trusted Hanna and if she really did want to help keep things organized, I wasn’t going to say no.

“Really? I hadn’t heard that. It’s very exciting. I also heard you’re going to be playing that big festival this weekend?”

“Just the first day. We’re one of the opening acts.”

“Still, that’s very exciting. Are the rest of your band members coming down to meet you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, you kids get settled while I finish dinner. Hanna, do you want to come help me?”

“Sure.”

“Mrs. Prewitt, where should I take these?” I asked.

“First of all, it’s Aunt Shirley for you too. And Sam will show you where to put them.”

“Uhh, okay,” I said.

“You’re upstairs,” Sam called over his shoulder, starting up the stairs with Kat, going back to their conversation. “I don’t know, the Veteran Assembly...”

Aunt Shirley had put Hanna and Kat in the guest room and I stayed on an air mattress in Sam’s room. Hanna hadn’t been kidding about all of the posters and models. This kid absolutely worshiped whatever show he and Kat had been bonding over. Thankfully, they finally let the conversation drop and the four of us played board games with Sam until he got too tired to stay up, which was probably good because we had an early day the next day.

Kat had demanded we get to the convention when it opened at nine and we were tired from traveling half the day, so we all called it a night shortly after Sam conked out.

I woke up to sounds from across the hallway the next morning around six-thirty and tiptoed across, peaking my head in. I found a grumpy looking Hanna still curled under the blankets glaring at Kat as she worked on a bunch of plastic and foam pieces she’d pulled out of her suitcase.

“It’s not even daylight yet,” I said to her back.

“She’s been up all night,” Hanna moaned. “I’m so tired.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I’d brought the stuff to recreate my Dark Taloness costume, although just using some foam I picked up before we left, but then Sam was talking about how all of Force Twelve would be there and I realized that might be easier. It’s still going to be kind of crap, because I have to live with whatever I can cut out of foam core and a repainted flat mask, but it’s the best I can do. When we come next year, I’ll be better prepared.”

“Next year?” I said, my brain still half asleep and fuzzy.

“Sam said they do this every year at spring break and we could come next year. I’ve only ever gotten to go to two cons, because dad wouldn’t let me go without supervision and he didn’t travel to anywhere cons were being held,” she said, more babbling than actually answering the question before stopping and looking up at me. “Can we go next year?”

“Kat, that’s a long way off. Let’s just deal with today and we’ll worry about next year later.”

“Sure,” She said, undeterred, going back to her costume.

I watched her for another second, amazed at how focused she was painting patterns across on the foam she’d cut out. Finally I shook my head and went back to bed, only to get woken up again what seemed like minutes later by loud voices.

Sam wasn’t in his bed when I got up this time, so I wasn’t surprised to find him standing next to Kat, the two of them talking at normal volume, which was pretty loud in Sam’s case. Hanna was still in bed, holding a pillow down hard over her head.

“Guys, yall might want to take that somewhere else before Hanna kills you both.”

“Ohh, sorry Hanna,” Kat said, finally noticing how annoyed she was.

The two of them barely slowed down their conversation as they collected Kat’s stuff and carried it all out of the room.

“Thank you,” Hanna said.

“I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to get up pretty soon if we’re going to get there early.”

“How about I just stay here?”

“You are not leaving me alone with the two of them,” I said. “He’s your cousin and this was your idea, after all.”

“I didn’t realize she was going to be worse than he is about this crap.”

“You knew she’s a nerd. Besides, Sam’s found a kindred spirit and Kat’s about as relaxed as I’ve ever seen her. They both seem pretty happy.”

“Yea. It’s great. Next time you stay in the room with her.”

After a couple of cups of coffee Hanna finally stopped threatening the pair with death.

The convention itself was ... unique. Kat and Sam were far from the only people dressed up. If anything, Hanna and I were the odd ones out. We got our passes, which were a lot more expensive than I thought they’d be, and then Kat and Sam, who’d apparently arranged an itinerary for us when I wasn’t looking, started dragging us from panel to panel, listening to people I only vaguely heard of talk about shows and movies I’d mostly never seen. While I did get to enjoy seeing how excited both Kat and Sam were for each one, I was bored to tears.

I probably would have enjoyed it more if I’d been more into reading or watching TV and movies, but I’d never done much. Reading I generally just didn’t enjoy, because my brain couldn’t seem to calm down enough to focus on it. Movies and TV I did enjoy, but we didn’t have money for movies growing up and there hadn’t been a TV in the RV, so I’d missed most of the pop culture growing up.

Sam had a great moment early on in the day. We were just coming out of a panel and headed towards another one when two kids not wearing costumes came running up, followed by an exasperated parent. He was a little ahead of us, like he had been most of the day, since he’d been so excited to get a good seat, so we were apparently enough steps behind that it wasn’t immediately obvious we were with him.

“So where are all these friends of yours, Sammy?” one of the kids asked.

“Yea. You said you were coming with high school kids. I knew you were lying.”

Kat surprised me with what happened next. I’d started to step up and come to Sam’s defense when she pushed me back with one hand and then moved in next to him, putting an arm behind his neck and resting her hand on his other shoulder. Since she was so much taller than he was, to me it looked like how a parent would put their arms around their child, but the two kids clearly thought it looked like something different, since both of their eyes went wide and their mouths opened in slight Os.