Wish Apon A Star

Annabelle - Betting is a Responsible Activity

Leo and Nicole arrived late afternoon on a Saturday, several hours earlier than expected. As soon as I saw them pull up outside, I slid down the banisters to the main floor; something I'd gotten pretty good at in the last few weeks. James hated it, but no one had asked for his opinion.

"So," Leo said, as soon as James and I met him at the door. "I leave you for what–two weeks? And you decide to buy an inn."

"We also kicked a bunch of people out of it," I added helpfully. "As in, everyone James didn't like. And Leila, because no one wants Leila around, anyway."

Leo closed his eyes, and I figured he was probably trying to restrain himself from killing us. Which was fair. "Okay," he said, "Great. Just great. Please tell me you at least let them go nicely, and possibly with compensation. This inn was full of criminals–I don't want a bunch of them after us."

"It's fine," I said. "Some of them even left willingly once they heard James or I would be in charge. Which is a little insulting, honestly, but whatever. The other people we just paid off. Not a whole lot, but enough. Also, we cut the rent in half for those staying here. James wanted to double it, but those are our friends, so that would be a little too mean. We're still making money, though, and we've got lots left over. We don't even really need the money we're making from the inn, but it's good, anyway."

"See?" James said. "We sort of did you a favour. In a way. While spending a bunch of our money. But still."

"Right." He shook his head at us, and I was tempted to tease him about being our dad again, and then decided it was probably best to shut up for a little while, so he could process the latest thing we'd done. "You said you'd made some sort of deal with Leila, and that you had information. What was it?"

"Information about what?" Nicole asked, and it was only then I realized we hadn't told her anything. "Leo told me you had made some sort of deal with Leila, and that you had some sort of job for me, but I don't know anything else. What are you guys doing?"

James and I exchange guilty looks, even though I don't know exactly why. It's not like we were doing anything wrong, exactly. We never lied to her–not really. We just didn't exactly tell her the whole truth. Really, we told her nothing, which would have irritated me beyond belief. I didn't like to be left in the dark, ever. Nicole would act like she didn't care one way or the other, most likely, and it would be hard to tell if she really did. If she didn't want us digging around, that was another problem.

"We didn't lie to you," James said, and I stomped on his foot.

"James. That is not how you begin this."

Her eyes darted back and forth between us. "Okay, what's going on?"

"We've kind of been looking for your dad. Without you knowing. The deal with Leila was so we could get a picture, but it's probably fake or old. Also, Leila's definitely working for someone, but we don't know who." I say it all in one breath, like that would make it better. As if, sure, I can dig around in your past without you knowing, possibly finding out things you might not want me to know, but, hey, if I say it really fast it's not as bad as when I put it like that.

Nicole just stared at us for a minute, like she was trying to decide what to say. "You shouldn't," she finally said. "I don't know what you've found or where you've been, but I don't think you understand what you're messing with. If you keep going, he's going to find out." She took a shaky breath. "And he's going to kill you. Or try to."

"We'll be fine." James shrugged. "And you said he tried to get the jewels; something's up, and I doubt it's good. If no one else knows except for us, and we don't do anything, he's going to basically be able to do whatever he wants. Do you want that, Nicole?"

"Stop," Leo said. "Just stop, James. That's not fair." He took Nicole's hand. "Show us what you've found. We can worry about the rest of it later."

They followed us to a table, and James pulled the picture out of his pocket. "There," he said, and pointed to the man ducking into the building. "Is that him?"

Nicole leaned closer, before she nodded, shakily. "Yeah."

"It's near Koyia," I said. "I recognize the street–it's mostly office buildings there. I haven't been in a long time, but my dad used to go there for business. The sign on the door–" I pointed "--is too blurry for us to read, but he's going through a back entrance. One that's probably for employee's."

"And you want her to go," Leo said.

"Not for very long," I said. "Just to see if she can find anything in there. Papers, or anything at all, really. It could take, like, half an hour, maybe. In and out. Nobody would even realise she was there at all."

"I'll do it."

"Nicole–" Leo started.

"Leo." They stared at each other for a moment, having a brief, silent argument. She turned back to us. "I'll do it."

Leo stopped trying to argue with her, just shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "Do you have to go alone?"

"Yes." She lifted her chin. "Otherwise, we'll be more likely to be caught. He already would recognize you, and if Leila's working for someone who knows what you're after, he probably has an idea of who James and Annabelle are as well. I'll go alone."

Leo looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped. "Okay," James said, "it's near the outer gates of Koyia, so it's a little ways away from here. When do you want to leave?"

"We'll go fast if we just ride," I said. "Without any carriage, I mean. If we leave tomorrow, we can probably be there by the next day. Maybe two days, depending."

"Fine by me," Nicole said. Leo reluctantly nodded.

"It's settled then," I said. "We'll leave early tomorrow morning."

"SO bossy," James muttered, "and you can't even ever wake up on time."

"I can! I bet I'll be up before you tomorrow."

"Fine. Ten julits for it?"

"It has to be an hour we'd actually get up–not one a.m. or anything–and you have to actually be up. Ready and everything," I said.

"You're on."

We shook on it. 

Word Count: 1,139

Just could not make 1,500 this time :')