All that week, Sydney tried unsuccessfully to tag along with me to feed the cats. Usually we just met up at the bus stop, but on Friday, she had to be at school early, so I had to meet the bus all by myself near Mr. Left's house. Mom didn't like it, but we couldn't do anything about it. I got to the Left mansion and knocked on the door, but nobody answered. I didn't have a key or anything, so I checked all the windows on the back of the house.

Nothing. I had to go to the front door. I lifted the knocker and let it clunk against the paneled wood. Footsteps responded to my knock, almost as soon as the knocker fell. The door opened and a young man with light skin and dark hair gestured me inside. He looked down at me. "Hello?" His eyes were so green. "You must be the Kelly girl." He closed the door behind us. "I apologize that I didn’t hear you at the back; I am expecting someone any moment now." He looked to be a bit younger than my parents, but not as young as Stenway.

He pointed to a hallway curving around right and towards the back of the house. "I trust that you can find your way? Thank you, so much, Ms. Kelly." Then for the first time, he smiled. "You are very appreciated around here." He walked back to the door and picked up a book, leaning against the wall.

I looked at him over my shoulder as I went down the hall. He had on a neat grey suit and jacket, and black rimmed glasses. I went down the hall and into the kitchen, to feed the cats. I ripped off a sheet of Ms. Higley's brown grocery paper and made a note about his eyes. That was the first point for Chris and his boys. Mr. Left had very strange eyes. I had never met him before, to be able to observe that. I needed to check in my reference book later to see about clairvoyants and eyes.

I caught up with Chris and the boys, like I had promised, at the park. Sydney went back to the drugstore, to wait for Stenway to come back. If you ask me, she wasn’t really committing to her “stick to Tyler at all costs” plan, but since it was working out better for me, I didn’t bring it up.

“Where’s knee socks? I thought we told you to bring her with!” Clive grinned at me, showing all his teeth.

“She's waiting for Stenway at the drugstore.”

The fellows thought this was hilarious. “I’m sure we can find a way to use this new obsession.” Peach grinned at me. “By the way, how did she enjoy her book yesterday?”

I waved him away. "I saw Mr. Left today."

All the fellows froze.

"You saw whom?" Dennis’s eyes widened and he poked Peach, who was already pulling out the little notebook.

"I said, I saw Mr. Left today."

Chris Blue nodded. "Tell us exactly what happened." I told them the whole story, little as there was, how Mr. Left had answered the front door and knew who I was, how he was waiting for someone to arrive, and especially about his eyes.

Peach was sold in an instant. "He's a Super. The eyes, the way he immediately knew who you were, his valet also known as his sidekick..."

Clive rolled his eyes at Peach. "If he was clairvoyant, wouldn't he of known that it was her at the door and not whoever he was waiting for?"

"Well, maybe not. I doubt it’s an exact science." Peach frowned at Clive.

"Knock it off." Chris punched Clive. "We know nothing either way, although I do think it's important that he was waiting for someone instead of having his butler do it. We need to get closer. T.J.?"

"What am I supposed to do? You can't all just come feed cats with me. This takes time." Research takes a really long time: Dad always tells me that when he gets back late from the hospital.

"Right. We'll assign roles. Like the StarKiller incident, boys. Men and T.J., we are officially under investigation." I raised my hand. Chris Blue waved it away. “Starkiller is need-to-know only.”

Dennis sighed. "Running an investigation, you mean. 'Under investigation' means that we are being investigated."

"Right." Chris kept right on going. "Donny? You live closest to Mr. Left of all of us, right?" Donny nodded yes. "Well, you need to start walking T.J. home after school."

"I need to..." Donny looked at me. Somebody snickered.

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"Why?" Chris's idea made no sense to me.

"So he can get close to the house without anyone getting suspicious." Chris folded his arms and frowned at me. "Am I moving slow enough for you?"

"But he can't just... what will Mom and Dad... and Sydney..."

But the next day, they made Donny ride the bus to my house (I didn't let him sit with me...) and come inside. Sydney was there, so I told her that Donny and I were working on a project. I don't think she believed me.

"Why are you home so early anyway, Syd?”

“No reason.” Sydney tossed her hair.

I looked at Donny to roll my eyes, but he was too busy watching Sydney pull a cookie out of the jar. “Wow, Sydney, those cookies look absolutely amazing. Did you make them yourself?”

“Okay, fine.” Sydney beamed, handing Donny a cookie. “Stenway’s coming to take me downtown.”

"Stenway?" I stared at her. Donny choked.

"Now, now." Sydney filled a glass with water and handed it to Donny. "Take smaller bites, Donny.”

"Are you going to be home before Mom and Dad get back?”

“You know they have to stay late, most nights. I’ll be back to make dinner; I just need a few things from the supermarket, and I couldn’t find bus fare. If you need anything, you know where to find Mom and Dad. Just make sure that it’s important; you know how they hate to be interrupted…”

“Thanks, sis. Come on, Donny, let’s go work on our project."

"Outside?" Sydney looked at us.

"Yes. We have to, uh, collect leaves. For science."

"I see. Well, take an umbrella, you two. Looks like there's a nice little storm working up."

I pulled Donny out the door and down the road. “So much for sticking right by my side no matter what, huh?”

Donny looked at me strangely. "What's the rush? I was going to get her to give me another cookie."

"You can get one once we’re done- she won't be there to tell you no. Let's just get this over with." I didn't want Sydney to say anything else about what Mom and Dad did. I didn’t yet want to have to tell Donny or the other fellows about how Dad was working on a research project at the hospital for Mr. Left. I mean, he said he'd only met Mr. Left once or twice, and technically they were just in the branch that Mr. Left oversaw, but I still wasn’t ready to talk about it.

Donny and I walked for a while without talking. Finally, we saw the mansion up in the distance, the tall tower sticking out above the trees. I didn't think we were supposed to be obvious, so we didn't even take the back path up to the house. We walked around the front on the opposite side of the road, and Donny stopped. He just stood there, looking at the house.

"What are you doing?"

Donny stared up at the tower. "Looking for anything in the architecture that looks out of place, or over the top. Something that could point to a hidden lair."

"Most lairs are underground. If you're looking for a workshop or melding room, you could see it above ground, maybe even a laboratory. Have you been looking at the grounds and bushes at all?”

Donny sighed and shook his head. We had to go past the house to get back home, and Donny even made me take him along a trail in the woods behind the house. We didn't find anything.

"Nothing outside of the house. Waste of time I guess." He pulled out a little notebook and started writing. "Whenever you go inside, be on the lookout for anything out of place, or oddly arranged. A statue in the middle of the floor, a bookcase off by itself, a bell-pull but no bell, that kind of thing." He tucked the notebook back into a pocket and gave a sad little wave. "See you tomorrow."

I walked back home, just quiet. He left without even getting that second cookie. That’s how bummed he was. And I kind of was, too. For a long time, I’d really wanted to have a Super in our town, but now it was a little… strange. I get why Mom always said secrets were no fun; it’s hard to know what’s real.

When I got back home, Sydney was in the kitchen, ready to talk all about her trip downtown. "He had the nicest eyes, and he always held the door for me..." I tried to sneak away, but Sydney pulled me back. "T.J., how was your date?"

“I told you, it was a school project.” I rolled my eyes. "Yours is so much more interesting.” I made my voice a little bit higher and girlier. “Tell me more about Stenway." Anything to get the attention off me and my projects. Also if I wasn’t the one talking, I could just zone out.

Sydney kept talking about her “date,” but I was trying not to listen. Most boys (even if they're older ones) are kind of thoughtless. Chris Blue and the fellows were okay, because we all liked supers and they at least thought seriously about that, but outside of comic books and supers, they didn't know much.

"… one of the cats went missing for three days! They found him in one of the downstairs fireplaces, all covered with soot and cobwebs. Stenway does such a lovely cat impression."

I mean, Stenway seemed okay. What even is a cat impression? Babies can make good meow noises, and no one gets excited about that. I just wished Syd wouldn't get so worked up about him.

"But what about your afternoon? How was Donny?"

"Fine, I think." I kicked at one of the peeling linoleum tiles. Sydney didn't even notice. She jumped right back into her own story, stopping only to send me up to do homework, then picking up the phone and calling a friend.

I went back upstairs, to my hideout under the bed. I described the outside of Mr. Left's house in my blue notebook, making sure that I emphasized how extremely normal it was. Normal for a four story mansion with a tower, I mean. Dennis would describe it as nearly symmetrical. Nothing out of the ordinary.