Even though she was home, Summer was especially careful when she called Ashton. She couldn’t help but feel paranoid that someone was constantly listening in. It was an odd feeling to be fine with someone like Ned eavesdropping but cautious around bodyguards meant to protect them.

  “I can’t explain everything on the phone,” Summer told him, “Just in case, you know. Can we meet in person?”

  “When?” Ashton asked.

  “Tonight might be difficult,” Summer admitted, “Just in case, do you know any private places without listening ears? Not Maskz. He probably knows everything already.”

  Probably? More like definitely. Ever since she had dragged him into this with that text, Ned had made it clear that Summer was serving as his own personal entertainment. At least it kept him from doing other things, and she was only going to be talking about things he already knew anyway.

  “Yes, actually,” he replied, “I doubt anyone else would be using it after SI fell apart.”

  A place left abandoned after SI collapsed? “Really? That sounds kind of cool. Just tell me whatever time works for you tomorrow and I can work around it.”

  After that, the two quickly pinned down a time to discuss, and since Ashton was the only one who knew where they were going he arranged to pick Summer up. With everything arranged, Summer reluctantly ended the call. It felt like it had been a while since they had talked, and even though she knew she would be seeing him the next morning she still felt a sense of loss.

  When she thought of how Ashton had called her first, it brought a smile to her face. He must have really missed her. Summer must have still been blushing when she stepped out of her room because her mother commented on it immediately.

  “You look a lot better,” she noted, “Did you just get off the phone with Ashton? Planning a date?”

  “A date?!” Summer exclaimed before thinking of it again. Her cheeks grew even hotter as she realized she had arranged to meet him in private and he would even be picking her up. “I guess you could say it is a date. Actually, I made plans to go out with Ashton tomorrow morning?”

  Mrs. Aster smirked. “Let me know if you need any help getting ready,” she prompted, “Are you going out to eat or should I pack you a lunch?”

  Summer hadn’t even thought about it. Considering this place was one of SI’s old haunts, she doubted they would be eating there. “A packed lunch is a good idea. I wonder what kind of food would be good.”

  That was how Summer started making lunches for the next day with her mother before they even had dinner. Kayla joined halfway through and made a lunch for herself even though she would be staying home. Mr. Aster came home in the middle of all this and felt a bit left out, so they ended up making a packed lunch for everyone. Since Summer didn’t know exactly where they were going, she had gone with something that was easy to eat and not very messy.

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  Perhaps it was because the guards were out of sight and out of mind, Summer was finally able to relax. Everything was going to be just fine. She would explain the whole situation to Ashton tomorrow and he would know what to do. Even if he just agreed with the plan she and Kayla had already come up with it would be reassuring. Then they could eat lunch together and actually have that date her parents thought she was having.

  The next morning somehow came both incredibly quickly and excruciatingly slow. The closer it got to the agreed time, the longer each second seemed to take before the little hand on the analog clock ticked over. Every time a car passed by Summer found herself looking out the window, and the smallest of noises began to sound like footsteps.

  Ashton arrived a few minutes before their agreed time, wearing his usual business casual clothes. She was glad he was dressed normally. Summer wasn’t sure what she would do if he showed up in a suit or even workout clothes. He did look a bit tired, but Ashton always looked tired. She would have to take some time to make sure he relaxed.

  “I made lunches for us since I don’t know how long this is going to take,” Summer told him, eagerly holding out the small cooler she had been holding in her lap for the past ten minutes.

  “Oh, that’s probably a good idea,” Ashton agreed, “Thanks. Should we get going, then?”

  The drive to their destination was silent. Now that Summer thought of it, talking in the car was probably good enough. Then again, talking about shocking subjects while someone was driving was a bad idea, and it would waste all the effort Ashton put into choosing their location. Other than the serious topic they had met up to discuss, Summer wasn’t sure what to talk about.

  It didn’t take too long to get to their location. In a shopping center wedged between a donut shop and a shoe store was an arcade with a cartoonish cat mascot that had one of those unnervingly wide smiles.None of these places looked like it would have anything to do with SI, but Ashton got out of the car and confidently walked towards them.

  “Are you sure this is the right place?” Summer asked, watching him unlock the door to the arcade with a key. It was pretty obvious that it was the place since he had a key to unlock it and everything, but it was hard to believe SI had funded such a cringy arcade.

  “Definitely,” Ashton confirmed, “Every villain had to train here at least once a week.”

  “Train?” Summer asked, looking around for some kind of hidden entrance or training equipment. What was inside looked like a normal arcade. Well, aside from all of the mascot suits lined up along the wall.

  There were seven of them, each one a different animal. Front and center was a patchwork cat that matched the mascot on the arcade’s logo. Then there was a purple bunny, a blue bear, a spotted dog, a pink hamster, a green frog, and an orange octopus. The octopus costume looked nearly impossible to move around in with all the extra limbs.

  “Yeah,” Ashton confirmed, staring at the cat that was front and center, “Since villains were fake, we needed to know how to fight someone without hurting them. The best way to train for that kind of situation is to face it over and over. SI’s solution was to lock us in a building with a bunch of children on a sugar high while we wore the mascot costumes.”

  “Oh,” Summer replied, feeling a bit awkward. She hated how that actually sounded like a plausible training method. Especially since she would be the overly energetic child attacking a mascot in this situation.

  Ashton led her to a seating area next to a snack bar complete with soda machine. There was no food left but Summer saw signs for cotton candy, cookies, gummy bears, and many other sugar filled snacks. When SI wanted to do something it seemed they didn’t hold back. That was probably how they got away with fooling everyone for so long.

  “This place has no power, so none of the technology should work. No one had any idea we were going to come here so there wouldn’t have been a chance to set something up in advance. I even locked the door behind us,” Ashton listed off, “Are you ready to explain now?”