Questioning Means Uncertainty

Chapter Ten

I fiddled with the device and tried making sense of Stacy's numbers. I had told her I thought it was better to wait for the guys but I was curious. I wanted to know how it worked. I read the realm names the device's screen displayed.

Gorrun Ini.

Brani Ferrous.

Ilaen Maira.

Yani For.

Kiln Mohrer.

Rubum Ignis.

I continued scrolling through the list. Many of these names had words I found familiar. Latin, Greek, Italian, many of these names had variations of words from languages. I paused on Kiln Mohrer and sighed. Should I tell the guys now? Should I wait for Stacy? She's probably still talking with mother about school. I don't really wanna hear about it so I'm not gonna focus on it. But what if they're done? Do I listen in? Even if I did, what if it's something personal now? I sighed and pulled out my phone, unlocking it and going to my contact list. I scrolled through to find James' contact to message him.

Hey James. I waited a bit for his response, he responded surprisingly fast.

Hey, what's up?

Stacy's done with the math and we think it's all ready to get set up. You think you can pretend to be Jason's brother so we can bring you in without any suspicion? A bit went by before he replied.

That's great! Hopefully it all works out. I don't mind playing as his brother but are you guys completely sure it's fine to do that in your house? If we all go in we'll be gone long enough to arouse suspicion.

He's right. If we do this in the house, with no alibi, they'll think we're missing or he kidnapped us.

You're right.. What should we do? An idea struck. Camping? I think our parents would be fine with us going camping if Josh is with us. I think they'd feel a little better about the situation if we had an adult with us too. But would they really be fine with Stacy going off with her friends this soon after she woke up? She's gone to school and gone out with everything fine so far as they know. They don't seem to have any suspicions about anything. Mother is a little too okay with everything for my comfort but it's better for our situation.

Sounds good. I can get a few things ready and take some time off from work saying I'm going to visit family or friends over break. I forget he's my teacher.

You work during break?

Yeah, though it's mostly just grading stuff. I can cram the rest of it today. When do you think we can go in? Shit. We still have to finish up a few things here and then still make it look like we're going camping.

I'll have to bring it up with Stacy, we haven't decided on much yet.

The door to my room opened and Stacy entered with mother close behind her. I quickly hid the device. They both wore grim, serious faces as if they just had an argument. I sat up straight on my bed and looked between them. They didn't make any eye contact. Stacy was doing this thing where she taps her fingers against herself when she's nervous or stressed. She held two small white cards in her other hand.

"What's wrong? You guys look like someone died." I asked. Stacy looked into my eyes in a way that let me know this was serious.

"I.." She drifted off. "She.. She knows."

I furrowed my brows. What? She knows what? Mother looked at me with a look that expressed a thousand words. Words I didn't understand and couldn't process.