Super: Underground: Book 2 in the Super: Series (11 page)

“I did get a lot of recommendations from people from some of the other bands about what recording gear they like,” Lex said, gesturing with the pad of paper she’d scribbled some quick notes on. “A lot of them are doing recording on their computers, apparently.”

“I don’t know if we should go that way,” Riss said with a little frown. “The thing about computers is that they’re really meant for being multi-purpose machines, and recording programs and music files are really memory and processor intensive. Unless we want to get a really powerful machine just for recording, maybe we should look at some of the recording equipment out there that’s specifically designed for recording music. It’s not like we have to skimp because we’re short on cash.”

Their discussion went on for a while, mostly between bands playing since they gravitated back towards the stage for the music, and they ultimately decided to do research the following morning and then look at recording gear in the afternoon.

They finally got back home very early that morning, and Lex felt so sleepy that she had trouble carrying her equipment back inside. Casey seemed to sense that, because she shooed Lex away when she tried to pick her amp up.

“This isn’t very heavy for me, but you look tired. Don’t overdo it; we’ve already had a big day,” Casey said, turning towards Lex as they headed back inside.

Lex sighed but looked up at Casey with a smile. “OK, Mom.”

Casey laughed in response. “If you were my kid, I’d have raised you with more manners.”

Lex laughed too, then half-turned to her friend. “Thanks.”

Chapter 25: Preparations

The next morning, Lex woke later than she usually did, but when she went downstairs, she saw Lou in the kitchen eating breakfast. Lex prepared herself something to eat and then sat beside him.

“So how do you think it went yesterday?” she asked him.

Lou paused for a moment and appeared to think about it, then fixed Lex with a look before he spoke.

“It went a lot better than most bands for the first gig out. There was something different about it, though.”

“What?” Lex asked with a frown of confusion.

“The crowd really liked all the songs you sang on. I’ve heard a lot of good singers, but I never felt anything like when you were singing yesterday.” After a pause, Lou added, “Have you figured out everything your voice can do yet?”

Lex glanced into the frankly curious gaze Lou shot at her and bit her lip. “I’m still figuring it out, really.”

He nodded then and fell silent for a moment while he took another sip of coffee. “Well,” he said finally, “with the reception we got, I don’t know if we’ll be able to escape attention while we’re on the road. We may end up with way more than we counted on.”

Shrugging, Lex replied, “I don’t know about that. It seems like a lot of people don’t care too much about music.”

“Maybe not where we come from,” Lou said in a considering tone, “but they might be more interested out here.”

Lex bit her lip again. “Do you think I should stop singing? Or maybe we should change plans?”

Lou shook his head. “No, just wanted to tell you I don’t think we’ll be as invisible as you hoped when we perform.”

They were both silent for several seconds, then Lex noticed Lou looking in her direction again. “Have you been working with what Riss gave you from Lily? She said she’d pass it along to you, but Casey and I didn’t hear any more about it.”

Lex felt uncomfortable but replied, “I’ve been trying to work through some of the stuff in it, but I can’t tell if anything’s happening.”

“Why don’t you practice with someone else?” Lou asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Lex shook her head, feeling the rising unease in her stomach. “I…” she trailed off for a moment as she tried to find the right words. “I hate telling people what to do. Plus, I worry that I’d say the wrong thing and something terrible would happen.”

Lex stared down at the bowl of granola she now felt unlikely to finish. Her tea had gotten cold, but she didn’t think she could drink it anyway because her stomach continued to roil. She looked up when she heard Lou sigh, and met his eyes.

“You figured out how to use your voice in a potentially deadly situation, but you handled everything so that we all got out of there safely and you didn’t even hurt anyone.”

She looked over at Lou a moment, a curious expression on her face. “So, what’s all this about?” she asked, as it dawned on her that she and Lou had never had a conversation quite like this before.

Lou returned her glance and started to laugh. “Casey asked me to talk to you. She’s been worried that you haven’t been working on your new skills or trying to find out your limits. She kept saying that it would be better for you to figure out what you can do so that you can practice and hopefully improve in order to use your new talents later. Do you remember how it took you a couple of tries to say what you wanted to when you and Casey came for me?”

Lex nodded, looking sheepish. Lou shrugged. “No need to look like that. I think Casey was just worried about you and wanted to let you know that we’re all willing to help.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep working with the manual, and when I come to places where they want me to practice, I’ll try to let you guys know.” Lex still felt uneasy but thought that if her friends trusted her enough to want to help, maybe she’d try it and see how it went.

Later that day, after they’d had some time to research recording equipment and discuss what they’d seen, they went and picked out some gear. For a couple thousand dollars they were able to get everything they needed, including a dual deck recorder that recorded to hard drives, a multitrack mixer, a mastering machine, an effects unit, and a CD duplicator and printer. While they were at the music store they also bought a number of books on recording techniques, which all four of them read and discussed over the following weeks.

Lex well remembered beginning the recording process. She and her friends learned by trial and error what worked for recording the instruments, and it became clear early on that they needed to record Lex’s voice pieces separately. After dealing with too much outside noise in the first few recordings, they set up a broom closet off the kitchen to be an isolation booth with just enough room for Lex to stand and record the sung tracks.

They’d been getting ready to record the voice track on the third piece they’d recorded one morning. Warming up in front of the keyboard, Lex pressed the keys for the beginning and end of the scale exercises she sang. She cleared her throat after one run, thinking about her dry throat. She found it difficult to keep hydrated in the desert air, especially when singing, so she promised herself that she’d stop for a drink of water once she finished her exercise scales. As her throat dried out further, Lex found it difficult to keep her mind on the music and found herself racing for the end of the warm-up, the idea of water looming large in her thoughts. As she neared the end of the exercise, Lex thought she heard the slightest burr in her voice, as if another vocal cord had started vibrating, but put it out of her mind, the idea of water seeming much more important.

Lex looked in the direction of the kitchen once she’d finished singing. Casey, Lou, and Riss had all clustered by the sink, each of them drinking a glass of water. Lex just stopped for a moment, looking at them, and swallowed nervously.

Finally, she said, “I’m sorry,” in a barely audible voice. Lex felt her stomach crawl with embarrassment.
How could I do this to my friends?
Not that she felt sure about
what
she’d done, but it did seem to be too much of a coincidence.

It shocked her to realize they weren’t angry. Lou just nodded and turned to Casey. “I told you there was something about her voice at the show,” he said. Casey nodded back at him in return.

Riss grinned as she finished her glass of water. “I hoped you’d been working with Lily’s manual.”

“I’m really sorry,” Lex repeated, still having trouble taking them at face value. “I didn’t mean to tell you what to do. I’m not even really sure what I did.”

Casey moved to where Lex stood by her keyboard, now carrying a glass of water for her. “I think you should practice. It’s better to know how to use what you can do so that you can do something almost automatically if a problem comes up. That and you’ll have fewer accidents if you know what you’re doing.”

Riss and Lou nodded their agreement with this, and then Riss spoke up. “I think you should try again, to see if you can do it while meaning to. Try something else this time, other than being thirsty.”

Lex felt nervous, but the other three seemed into the idea, so after drinking a few sips of water, she went back to the keyboard and sang some more scales. She snuck a look at her three friends after a moment, only to see them watching her intently. Lex swallowed hard and tried to concentrate. As she sang the next set of scales, Lex tried to think of a time when she hadn’t eaten for a long time and had eventually felt she would starve. She held the memory in her mind until she could feel it, and then something seemed to slide into place and Lex looked up as she felt that little burr start up in her voice again.

Casey held a hand to her stomach, and Lou gazed at her, an eyebrow raised. Riss stared straight at Lex as if trying to see into the other woman’s mind. Lex stopped singing as she reached the end of the scale and waited.

Casey said, “If you were trying to make us all hungry, it sure worked for me. How about some lunch a little early?”

Lex nodded, finding the situation surreal, and then looked at the other two. Lou nodded as if something had been confirmed for him. “I told you that I really felt something there when you were singing. I think you can show the audience what you’re feeling as you sing. I bet that’ll get lots of people interested in our live shows.”

Looking over at Riss, Lex watched her friend, hoping that she wasn’t angry. “I could feel it in my mind somewhere,” Riss said as she met Lex’s eyes, “but it wasn’t overpowering or anything.”

Relieved, Lex smiled in return. During lunch, the group decided that Lex should work with Riss for about an hour a day to try to perfect the new things she could do with her voice. Part of Lex didn’t agree, but she didn’t feel she could argue her way out of it.

“I think Riss would be the best choice because she seemed to be able to resist what you did better than Lou or I,” Casey explained. “If you could get her to do what you asked, you’d be doing well.”

The next afternoon, standing just feet apart in the far part of the warehouse, the part they’d been converting into a gym, Lex felt her stomach threatening to rebel. She looked Riss in the eye, then looked at the floor.

“Riss, we don’t have to–”

Riss sighed, then cut into what Lex was saying. “Lex, we’re going to do this. What’s the problem?”

Lex looked at one wall, at some of the equipment they’d begun to set up, and finally looked Riss in the eye. “It’s just not right. I don’t want to tell people what to do. I can’t–” She broke off and started studying the floor again.

“Lex,” Riss said, her voice firm. “I already told you that this is my choice. You’re not doing something that I haven’t agreed to. And I have to tell you, the thing you did where we all got thirsty, it didn’t seem like a command to do anything. It was more like a suggestion in the back of my mind that sounded reasonable, so I did it. I still haven’t heard you use the voice Casey told me about. I’m curious; I’d like to hear it.”

Lex could feel her posture crumpling inward. “I don’t know…”

“Look, Lex,” Riss continued, tilting her head to look Lex in the eye, “I can see you’re not comfortable, but that’s all the more reason to figure out what you can do. For me, you know that I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do with computers. But I don’t spend all my time breaking into other people’s computers and stealing or ruining what’s there. It does mean that I know what I can do in case of emergency, though. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

“I guess so,” Lex agreed, then sighed. “Are you really sure you want to hear the thing Casey told you about?”

Riss laughed lightly. “Yeah, I want to see what it’s like.”

“OK,” said Lex, backing off a couple yards. “Start walking towards me.”

Riss began moving, and Lex cleared her throat, then worked to remember how the voice had felt as she’d said something. After a couple of false tries, Lex finally felt that odd contraction and the command to stop boomed out into the big room as Riss stood a few steps away.

Riss froze in place, but Lex could see her friend’s muscles bunched up, as if still trying to walk forwards even while held in place. Lex cleared her throat again and gave the command to set her friend free, which came easily.

Riss just stared at Lex for a few seconds once she’d walked forward a clumsy step after being freed. Then she shook her head and gave the ghost of a smile. “That’s a hell of a skill to have,” she said, shaking her head. “That felt truly weird.”

“I’m really, really sorry,” Lex replied, squeezing her hands together and feeling embarrassed.

“Hey, I asked to see what you could do,” Riss replied, bringing her head around so that she could meet Lex’s gaze. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve just got to work on it so you can do it right the first time, every time. It would come in handy in a dangerous situation,” Riss mused, then barked out a little laugh. “I’m really glad that you’re on our side.”

“Well, thanks,” Lex said, smiling wryly. “Do you want me to work on the other voice first?”

Riss nodded, giving a small smile in return.

For the next hour, Lex tried sending different simple messages to Riss as she sang, eventually trying to accomplish the same thing while speaking. Afterward, Lex and Riss agreed to meet every day for at least an hour to help Lex master what she could do.

“Don’t hold back on me, OK?” Riss said as she fixed Lex with a serious look. “I want to work on this too. I figure it can help me become more mentally resistant if I realize what’s going on and can work to break it,”

“All right, I won’t,” Lex said with a small smile and a sigh, letting the rest of her arguments against the idea go.