Reader Believes

Chapter 38

            Rika tapped the end of her pencil against the notebook, her legs curled underneath her. She could hear Connor in the kitchen, the clang of metal against metal rising above the general noises of his cooking as he made dinner. Alone in the family room, she reread what she’d written so far, her list safely hidden inside last semester’s English notebook. Being friends with Myra and knowing how good hackers could be, she wasn’t trusting anything to a computer.

Ahisu: Leader

Damek: Tactics and Non-Magic Combat

-Tracy

-Dima

-Oscar

Elthia: Healing and Supplies

Hugh: Magical Combat

-Aubrey: Metal

-Randy: Summoner

-Dustin: Solid

-Molly: Ice

Me: Intelligence and Miscellaneous

-Noriko: Plant

-Vincent: Glass

-Anabelle: Sight

-Gavin: Illusion

-Lawrence: Sound

            She nodded. They might number less than twenty, but their group was finally taking shape. Especially since they’d made the divisions and assigned the recruits to each. Rika hummed a little at the thought of being in charge of her own magic section. Still, she had a long way to go to get things really moving and even now, had a lot to do.

            Rika pursed her lips as she thought again of the problem of the Office’s building they’d found. Ahisu had made it clear that none of them were to go near there, not until they’d found some way pass all the alarms. And he’d told her that she was only allowed to disable the alarms if that wouldn’t alert anyone. She sighed, wishing she had people who wouldn’t set off alarms because of their magic, and who could just hang around or walk in without worrying about being seen.

            Muffled words that Rika suspected were curses, could be heard from the kitchen, followed by the faint, acrid scent of something burning. “Everything alright?” she called.

            Connor replied, “It’s fine. I just spilled spaghetti sauce onto the element. And-” his voice broke off with a yelp. Rika jumped to her feet, but heard, “It’s alright, it’s alright. The plant just surprised me again. I didn’t know it could move the paper towel.”

            “You really need to come up with a name for him. Calling him ‘the plant’ all the time isn’t really nice.”

            Her brother’s head poked out of the doorway, his eyebrows up. “When you have random plants and animals talking to you and moving around you when they shouldn’t, then you can talk to me about what I call them. You might be all for magic and this insanity, but I’m not. I was perfectly happy being somewhat normal.” His head disappeared and a moment later, she could hear the sound of rushing water.

            Rika blinked, an idea bursting into existence in her mind. She grinned and padded over to the kitchen doorway. Connor had his back to her, wetting down one of the paper towels. The smell of tomato and garlic were heavy in the air, the sound of boiling water mixed with the stream flowing from the faucet, and the rush of the kitchen fan. “You know,” she said, leaning her back against the doorway.

            Connor jerked and turned to look at her, shoulder relaxing almost immediately when he saw her. “What’s up Riks?”

            “Well, I was thinking, since you’re pretty much involved just living here, that you might be able to help us out. We could really use your skills.”

            He frowned for a moment before his eyes narrowed. “No. Absolutely not. I’m not getting involved in your insanity. Bad enough you have that demon and his master living here, and then you have those meetings out in the family room, but getting me involved? No. It’s not happening. One of us has to keep their sanity.”

            Rika pouted. “It’s not that bad. We’re trying to make a difference. Don’t you want to live in a world where being able to talk to plants and animals isn’t weird? You said yourself you liked being normal. If we get magic out in the open, you’d go back to being just that.”

            Connor rolled his eyes as he turned around and gave the red sauce on the stove a quick stir. “Nice try, but no.”

            “We really need your help! You’re the only one who can possibly get any bit of information from the building. And you could work with me, so that the only things you did were things you wanted to. You don’t even have to come to meetings or anything, just help out from time to time with my jobs.”

            He looked at her over his shoulder. “And what jobs do you have?”

            Rika grinned. “I’m in charge of Intelligence and whatever else needs to be covered. Right now I’m just gathering information. Nothing really hard, just we have to be careful so the Office doesn’t find out what we’re doing.”

            “Isn’t that job dangerous?”

            “No. Damek and Hugh are the ones in charge of combat, and Ahisu’s the leader, so they’re bigger targets. I’m just finding stuff out. Besides, it’s not like I can’t fight. I’m probably the best in my division at it.”

            Connor glowered. “I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all. People are going to figure out what you’re doing and attack you, and you’re going to be the only one actually fighting, so you’ll be in the most danger.”

            “My group doesn’t work like that, and anyway, there are a lot of people who can fight under Damek and Hugh. And besides, who would go after the people who deal with information when the fighters are nearby?”

            Her brother harrumphed as he balanced his spoon on top of the empty tomato sauce can on the counter. “You’re taking this whole thing too lightly. This is serious business, where people could get hurt or killed. It’s not a game, Riks. The stakes are way too high and I’m worried about you.”

            She rubbed an arm, eyes on her feet. “I know. But this is important. And I know it’s not a game. Believe me, I’ve nearly died once and I don’t want to do it again. I just want to make a difference. Won’t you help me with that?”

            Connor looked at her, then sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll help you out every so often. God knows this way I can at least keep an eye on you.”

            Laughing, Rika threw herself at him and squeezed. “Thank you!” she cried, grinning up at him. “You won’t regret it.”

            He ruffled her hair and sighed again. “I already do.”