Gilded Apples

Chapter 6

I'm not grounded, but I certainly can't go. I can't tell Nadia and Celine why I couldn't go though. I suppose I could lie and say I got grounded, but that would also require coming up with a reason why I was grounded. I end up going with the easiest lie I can think of: the dinner party. Nona was coming for the day and some guests would be coming early. Family obligations, blah, blah, blah.

Nadia and Celine aren't happy about it, but they don't doubt my miserable charade. The lie is easier to sell than I expected. Then again, they weren't my family.

Of all the dinner parties and events I had to attend during the year, this one was by far my least favorite. It's purely charity business and not even a fun event. It was just a dinner party for the highest donors and organizers of the charities. The Farleys hosted, of course, because they ran and founded the charities. The boys could find excuses not to be present thanks to their jobs, but I didn't get that luxury. I had to attend.

I only half listen to the conversations around me. I'm not particularly interested in joining in. It's mostly politics anyway. So far, the only saving grace of this dinner is that Allura was seated next to me. I don't know how many side glances we'd shared so far and our silent conversations were making the other conversations bearable.

I was a bit surprised to realize I wasn't the only under twenty member of the dinner party, but since I had purposely slipped downstairs late, I had missed introductions. Not that it mattered, he was seated too far away for us to chat. Yet I had caught him staring at me a couple times. I had asked Allura about him learning that his dad was a personal lawyer for a few of the different bigshots in the charities as well as the lawyer for one of the charities and a personal friend of the governor, who was also attending this dinner party. He was only here because he happened to be on break from school. I can't help but feel there's something almost familiar about him.

"And they assured me it's perfectly safe," the governor's wife blabbers on, "But it honestly just looks like you could just walk by and grab it." She waves her hand, "Something about sensors."

"It'd actually be rather difficult to just grab," Harv suddenly speaks. His hands come up making a circle parallel to the table. "The entire pedestal it's on is actually a finely calibrated weight sensor." One hand goes flat while the other becomes a fist resting on it. "Once the scales are zeroed, they place the object on it. The brilliant thing about this scale is that it's so finely calibrated, it can detect minuscule changes in weight, even dust settling, but it is calibrated to ignore that. The reason it works is because the sensor can detect shifting changes in weight." He slowly wobbles his fist in his palm. "So, you can't do a sliding switch out. You have to replace the weight as you perfectly lift the object off the scale. It's even hardwired into its own system, separate from the main security system, and its system is designed to trigger the alarm if it's tampered with or if it loses connection to the main system."

"Perfectly safe," Snider reiterates the words of the governor's wife.

"Not necessarily," Harv says calmly, looking over at Snider. "While it is designed to recognize a loss in connection, you can trick it with what is essentially a feedback loop." Each hand has a pointed finger. The right finger touches the left before slowly moving away. "It sends out this signal which the main system," the left finger moves back toward the right, "Is supposed to bounce back. With the right equipment, one could highjack the signal." The left moves away again but this time curves back toward Harv then back along the same path. "With the signal highjacked one could take control of the system entirely or just grab the object."

A thick silence settles over the dinner guests. Dom stares intently down into his glass as if perhaps the wine could drown him. Dad calmly watches Harv who is staring almost blankly at an expectant Snider.

Harv suddenly blinks, looking over at the governor's wife, charming smile back in place. "Hypothetically, of course."

"And that would be why our dear Harvey works as a consultant for the police when setting up security, isn't that right, Dominic?" Mom quickly follows, giving Dom a pointed look.

Dom looks up, smiling brightly, lifting his glass to Harv. "He hasn't failed us yet."

Laughs echo around the table as Allura turns her head to give me a look. I roll my eyes in response. Somehow, this was unexpected but unsurprising. Just another incident to chalk up to the eccentricities of the Farleys.

Soon enough, dinner is over and the party is moved to the lounge for more talking and drinks. I don't actually want to talk. I just needed to stick around for another hour or so before I could excuse myself. So, I stick the edges of the room, floating about engaging in senseless chatter and answering the same questions over and over, finally settling down on one of the benches close enough to the guests so it can't be claimed I'm avoiding them, but far enough away that I can't be dragged into the conversations. I also have a perfect view of the clock.

"It's Eira, right?"

I turn my head at the question. The lawyer's son is standing by the bench. He stands casually, seemingly perfectly at ease. His dark hair is carefully brushed back, dark eyes bright, even in the dimmer lighting. I can't help but notice his dimples as he smiles down me. Up close, that odd familiar feeling comes up again. I suppose it was possible we had met before at one of these events, but it would have been years ago or I'm sure I'd remember him.

I bob my head in acknowledgment. "Yeah. I'm afraid I never got your name though."

"You missed the introductions," he says easily as he sits beside me. I can't help the slight frown that comes at his statement of the obvious. Yet before I can say anything he offers me a hand. "Chase. . . Princeton," he adds his last name after a moment.

I can't help but feel like he's studying me. I'm not sure why though. I still reach out, taking his hand for a moment.

Princeton. I wasn't familiar with that name and yet. . . I felt like I knew that name. "Have you. . . Have we met before?"

After a second, he shakes his head. "I doubt it. I don't really come with my dad to these things. It'd actually be weird if we had considering the only other Eira I knew went missing when we were kids. . ." he trails off, and we're left just sitting there, staring at each other.

It suddenly clicked for me.

I can remember running around the house with a little boy who had dark hair and a dimpled smile. He had come over a lot because our daddies were friends. I knew Daddy's friend wasn't called Mr. Prince but I had called him that for as long as I could remember.

That's why him and his name were familiar.

"Yeah, ah, that. . . that would be weird." Such a horrible recovery. Why had I asked him if we had asked before? How was I supposed to recover from this? Any normal person would just change the subject at this point, right?

"Eira," I nearly jump off the bench at the hand on my shoulder. I look up to find Snider standing over me. "Don't you have a study session tomorrow morning?"

You know, sometimes it wasn't so bad having brothers that could read you like a book. I quickly rise from the bench.

"Oh my gosh. I completely forgot." I look down at Chase. "It was nice chatting with you, but I have to get up early tomorrow," I tell him as I round the bench. Snider calmly smiles as my eyes find him. "Thank you," I whisper to him gratefully as I slip by.