Reagan's Readings

Chapter Nine

Knocking at the door startled me as I looked up from the pot I was stirring. My forehead crinkled in confusion. Declan and Oakley wouldn't bother walking up here if they needed me, they'd just send me a text oflr call.

"I'd do that too if I had your number," Yoshi's muffled voice said through the closed door.

Of. Course.

"Legend. Door, please."

Ledge bounced up from his spot in the living room and ran to the door, smiling widely at Yoshi as he entered.

"Hey, Legend," Yoshi said fondly, wrapping my brother up in a hug. "Where's Ven?"

Legend lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in to say, "In his room. He's in trouble because his teacher called Rae today."

And call she did. Imagine my surprise when Venice's teacher called me to say that Venice, the sweetest, most thoughtful kid on this side of the galaxy, had started to act up in class.

Yoshi snorted and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"This is not funny," I let him know seriously. "You're their friend, but I'm the one responsible for their actions and for raising them. And acting out is not okay."

Yoshi's face was considerate for a moment before he nodded.

"You're right. And I'm sorry. I know it has to be a bit tough raising two kids and having to be their sister and their disciplinarian."

Damn right it was.

"What'd he do anyways," he questioned, slipping off his coat and coming to lean on the counter space beside me.

"He decided he was going to practice in the middle of class and ignore the teacher when she asked him to focus. Multiple times."

Yoshi's face fell.

"So this is my fault. I'm sorry, Rae, I'll talk to him-"

"It's not your fault," I said cutting him off. "Venice needs to take responsibility for his actions. You're helping him and Legend out here, and he's taking advantage of your help and using it at inappropriate times. Venice needs to learn that there's a time and place for everything and he needs to start to decide when the right time for using his abilities is."

And that time is not in the middle of class.

"I'll talk to him anyways," he said quietly.

I eyed him thoughtfully and touched his arm lightly. "Thanks."

His face was colored with surprise, and then disappointment, when he looked down to the hand touching him and realized it was gloved.

"You'd assume that you wouldn't have to wear those here. I mean, surely you know the people that everything in here belonged to. It wouldn't be overwhelming to get reads on lives you're already familiar with."

My mind immediately blanked out and I turned back to stirring my food. I made a conscious effort to wrap up all the secrets in my mind that only belonged to me.

"What are you doing? Your mind is coming out fuzzy to me."

I just shook my head.

"What are you doing here, Yoshi?"

He shrugged. "I thought we could see how far Legend can take his token reading by using it on someone he's familiar with."

I raised my eyebrow in a clear question.

"Declan," he explained. "He has some of his books, right? I thought we could use them to dig deeper."

"I - I don't know, Yoshi. That's a bit invasive, isn't it?"