Page 131 of Wherever You Are

There was a whole goodbye party when she left the store, and I learned enough Korean to tell her that she’ll always know more than me and she’s really cool.

She smiled and said shit back in Korean that she knew I wouldn’t understand. We laughed, and I hate that I’m remembering all of this—Jesus, I swear every time I walk into Superheroes & Scones, I’m thrown back into these bittersweet, feel-good memories.

The new manager says, “She’s in the storage room.”

I pop the tab of a Lightning Bolt! energy drink and shove inside. Boxes of merch and comics line the space. Familiarity surrounding me, and I’m honestly trying not to face-plant on Memory Lane.

I find Lily and her two kids pretty easily.

BaggyStar Warstee on and phone close to her ear, Lily looks like she snuck back here for a quiet moment. Which I’m about to interrupt.

Awesome. Looks like I still have Grand Slam worthy timing.

I shut the door with my foot, not bailing.

“Lo,” she says into the phone, face flushed, “you didn’t tell Garrison, did you?”

“Tell me what?” I stand by an old comic stand in need of serious dusting.Remember when you dusted the clearance merch with Willow?

Like yesterday.

Near a life-sized Magneto cutout, Maximoff Hale leaps off a cardboard box and races towards me. “Uncle Garrison!”

The corner of my mouth lifts. Moffy acts like I’m the coolest thing in the room, and we’re surrounded by crates of action figures.

The five-year-old rolls up to me, and we do a secret handshake that ends with a fist-bump.

“Never mind,” Lily tells me, then listens to her phone call.

“Did you see Luna?” Moffy smiles and points out his one-year-old sister, hiding in a cardboard box. She giggles, glittering eyes peeking out at me.

“Whoa, she’s getting smaller and you’re getting taller.”

“I am?” His smile mushrooms.

I pretend to measure his height with my free hand. “Definitely a centimeter taller than when I last saw you.” Which was this morning. I still live with the Hale family.

“You think I’ll be as tall as you, Uncle Garrison?” His voice sounds like he’s five, but he sometimes acts older, like he’s already leveled-up to a preteen in a 90s cult classic movie starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

“Way taller.” I’m not that short, but his dad is six-two.

“Cool,” Maximoff says and stares off in thought.

Lily hangs up her phone, so I walk closer, and Moffy matches my pace. Before she asks why I’m here, I tell her, “I need your help on something.”

Lily tickles her daughter in the box, and Luna tugs her mom’s finger with another giggle. “What can I do?”

I sip my energy drink and gesture to a few cardboard boxes labeledThe Fourth Degree.I’m guessing each contain comics slipped in protective plastic. Here, back stock is usually just obscure issues that don’t sell or extras to replenish ones that fly off the shelves. I explain, “I need every comic that has Sorin-X. There are too many issues and spin-offs now. Honestly, I don’t have time to go through all of them.”

I always thought Vic Whistler would continue to be the most popular superhero inThe Fourth Degreeuniverse. Somehow, Sorin-X surpassed the hero that launched the franchise.

It still blows my mind.

I wait for Lily to askwhyI’m requesting this shit. She doesn’t yet. Instead, Lily picks herself off the floor and glances at her son. “Moffy, there’s a little Luna in a box—”

“I got her, Mommy.” Maximoff goes to the box and plays with his sister, like babysitting is the equivalent of a trip to Disney.

Weird.