A Grave Problem

31. Progress Report

"So how's it going?" Summer asked as Mia sat down for history class. Mia could tell from her tone that it wasn't a social question.

"We're doing fine." Mia replied noncommittally.

"Fine?" Summer asked, and the skepticism was obvious. "I heard crying when I was out last night."

"Sometimes people - regular people - cry. Even at night."

"Is that the best you can do?"

Mia didn't say anything else. She was already helping against her will and spending much more time on this problem than she really thought was fair; Summer should be grateful. Mia had a lot of things going on lately, and to be honest, Summer's little banshee problem was pretty low on the list. She was working on it, sure. But it wasn't exactly a top priority. Mia understood why Summer might be annoyed, but she couldn't help but wonder why Summer wasn't doing anything about it, if she was so concerned. Still, Mia wisely decided not to say any of this to Summer. But when she didn't answer, Summer's eyes became cold.

"I don't like your attitude. I don't think you're really trying." There was more than a hint of threat in Summer's words.

"It's difficult to catch someone when they disappear as soon as they see you." Mia retorted.

"Yeah, they can be shy. They don't really like us - they probably don't like you either."

"And why wouldn't they like us? What did we do?" Mia had a pretty good idea why a banshee wouldn't like Summer; she didn't even bother to ask.

"It's not that you did anything." Summer told her. "You probably just remind them too much of us. You are trying to catch them, after all."

"So what does that mean? That they'll just disappear as soon as anyone gets near them? This doesn't even sound possible - why would you send us out to do something if it can't be done?"

"I didn't say it couldn't be done, did I? But if it were easy, we'd have already done it ourselves." Summer snapped. "It's taken you three an awfully long time to do this."

"It's hard. You just said so yourself." Mia pointed out. She was really getting tired of this.

"I did. But you've had months, and it doesn't seem like you're actually getting anywhere. I think we'll give you until the end of the year. After that, we'll have to start making other plans."

Mia didn't like the way Summer had emphasized "other plans," but she tried not to let it bother her. If they had until the end of the school year, there was plenty of time. It was only December, and Mia was sure they'd be able to figure something out. Even if their plan for this weekend failed, they'd still have five more months once they got back from winter break. But when Mia told Summer how they'd have it done in plenty of time, Summer just laughed.

"I didn't mean the end of the school year." she said. "I meant the end of the year. As in, three weeks from now."

Mia's eyes widened. It looked like whatever plan they had for this weekend had better work.

"What happens if we don't do it?" Mia said it as a challenge, trying to hide the fact that she really needed the answer. Summer just shrugged.

"We'll just have to see. I can tell you this though - you won't like it."

Mia swallowed. She clenched her jaw but didn't say anything. What could she say? She could bluff all she wanted, but when it came down to it, Mia knew that Summer would be able to do almost anything she felt like.

Summer got up to go sit in her usual seat and have a quiet conversation with Heather. Mia didn't bother to listen to it much, but pieces kept drifting over to her. Suddenly, both girls got real quiet. The lack of noise coming from their direction caught Mia's attention; something was going on. She listened carefully and heard Heather mutter something.