My Three Cousins

Chapter Twenty

Once we got back to the house Ruth began pouring over the books and I sat on my bed fighting the urge to text Lennox.  Joan and Helen hovered nearby, we all wanted to be helpful, but we knew it was best if Ruth did the reading.  I had been told if she was the one to read everything and truly knew it then her power would work better.  There was also the simple fact that she read much faster than the rest of us.  

She had finished all three books she purchased by dinner the next day, and after dinner she locked herself in her bedroom with no explanation.  A few times I had seen her carrying tools in and out of the room, always looking as though she had been crying.  Based on the tools I guessed she was giving herself a more practical education on electricity, but the crying didn't make sense to me.  I wanted to ask Joan and Helen what they thought was going on but even that seemed like a betrayal of Ruth's trust.  I had already learned once that the sisters were not as united as I previously believed, and I didn't need another demonstration.

It was Fitz who finally said something on the third day, "is creep two acting like extra weird?"  He asked this without looking up from his phone screen.  By this point in the summer his Gameboy had been taken away by mom, so he had secretly downloaded apps on his phone.

"I don't know," I said, trying to pretend like this line of conversation didn't interest me.

"Dude are you blind?"  He asked, pausing the game on his phone, "she's been squirreling away tools like some kind of pack rat and I heard her sobbing in her room last night."

"Sobbing?"  I asked, but then I worried that I was revealing too much interest, so I tried to brush it off.  "I didn't hear anything, were you listening at her door?  Now you're kind of being the creep."

"No," he seemed suspicious of me, "so you're telling me two weeks ago you think they're secretly using magic powers against us, then we find a tunnel under the house, you leave to go into that tunnel and then just drop it.  Now you hang out with them all the time, come to bed late, and don't notice a thing about them?  Yeah, that's normal behavior."  He turned back on his game, clearly upset at me.

I felt a little guilty, like I had betrayed his trust somehow, but I also wanted to protect him.  My curiosity had pulled me into danger I wasn't sure I was ready for, and I didn't want to force Fitz down the same path.  "We were just wrong Fitz, the tunnel led to a basement with the electric panel and water heater and stuff.  I was just reading too much fantasy."  I tried to make myself sound disappointed about this development so it would be more believable.

At first, I thought he wasn't going to respond to me but after a few seconds he said, "the water heater is on the back porch so is the breaker panel." 

I understood enough to know both that Fitz knew I was lying to him and that he was mad at me for it, so I just went silent.  I wanted to leave the bedroom but worried that would make it seem like I was going off to meet with our cousins, so I stayed put.  We sat in awkward silence with only the steady beeping of the game he refused to silence interrupting the tension.

After what seemed like a suitable amount of time I got up from the bed and started to leave the room.  "Good luck," he said rudely, and I turned to face him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Trust them all you want, but they're going to pick each other over you every time."

I turned and walked out slamming the door as I went.  I knew what he said was true, but I also knew he didn't understand that it wasn't me versus them anymore, they needed me now and I had always sort of needed them.  Plus, I was afraid for Fitz's safety if we didn't succeed and that made this whole plan too important to back out of.

I went downstairs and had a cup of tea.  My mom was putting the last of the dinner dishes away and heading up to bed.  "Everyone's in weird moods lately, aren't they?"  She said, clearly prying.  "I feel like I haven't seen anyone for two days." 

"I guess," I said with a shrug.  

She could see she wasn't getting anywhere, "it must just be the July heat getting to everyone.  Put that cup in the dishwasher when you're done with it.  I'm going to bed."

"Ok, love you.  Goodnight."

"Love you," she said, and she walked off toward her bedroom.

She was only gone a moment before Helen appeared at my side.  "Ruth's ready, she thinks she has a plan."

I immediately jumped up, leaving my tea on the island.  "Are we going to the room?"  I asked.

"No," Helen said, "she wants us to meet her out back by the pond.  I think she wants to walk us through everything."

It was too warm to need a coat, so I slipped on my shoes and followed Helen outside.  I could see the silhouette of Joan and Ruth out by the water's edge.  "I can't wait for this all to be over," I said.

Helen looked at me sadly.  "I'll miss you when you go home."

"I mean I'll miss you guys too, but I'll feel better knowing you're safer." 

Helen stopped walking and looked at me, "we won't really be safer, Addison.  Joan and Ruth want you to think that, so you won't worry about us when you leave.  Once we get rid of him there will be someone else will come after us.  They won't know who you are, so you'll be fine."

"But what about you guys?"

"We're stuck doing this same thing forever."  She started walking again and we were within earshot of Joan and Ruth before I had a chance to respond.