Alpha Academy: Misfit's Rise

Chapter two: The Discussion

I hated silence, especially the silence that stretched between my mother and I right before we fought. I think she waited because she wanted to break my resolve before we started.

I didn't try to break the silence until we pulled out of the police station parking lot, as to not tempt her to put the car in park and start yelling at me. "So ... what did the police guy say?"

She didn't look away from the road as she said, "They'll have a team check for evidence of a gas leak as a cause for the explosion."

"Except, there wasn't a gas leak," I said.

She gritted her teeth. "I know, but it will buy us time."

I didn't ask for what; she wouldn't tell me anyway. "Did he say anything else?"

"They're still confused about why you weren't hurt. I managed to convince them that you are just very lucky."

"So ... when you say convinced him ..." I tried to phrase the question without using the "m" word, since that always made her angrier. "Do you mean you used your ..."

Her face killed my question. I didn't try to speak again.

With a sigh, I glanced out the car window. It was raining. It was drizzling when we'd left the police station, but now it was coming down in droves. I ran my hand along the edge of the window, feeling the cool droplets of condensation collect on my fingertips.

As we went from the posh nightlights of downtown Sandy Brooks to the abandoned field that separated it from Mapleton, my neighborhood, I removed my hand. Sandy Brooks was lucky its version of the slums was so far removed from the rest of the human town. Not that they had anything to do with it, nor did they have any idea that Mapleton, known to us as the Rustlands, was really a village for outcasts from the Realm, the underworld home of Magi.

The Magi said our "differences" tainted the land, but I think knowing why our town existed made it hard to care what it looked like. Soon my view was filled with tiny, oddly-shaped lots either covered in ugly brown grass, or weeds so high they hid the dull, crumbling house behind them.

I hardly looked up as we reached our faded, red-brick bungalow, but braced my hand against the door handle. She had only waited this long to talk because she didn't trust herself to scream at me and drive at the same time, but now there was nothing stopping her. As the car rolled to a stop, I shoved my door open and leapt out, slamming it behind me as I took off running to the house.

"Billie!" Her voice was almost drowned out in the down pour. I threw one hand over my head to shield my face from the rain while the other attempted to unlock my door with fumbling fingers. Slipping inside, I barely allowed myself to enjoy the feeling of dry warmth as I tossed my soaked jacket on the rustic couch and made a beeline for the stairs that led to my room. If I pretended to be too exhausted, maybe she'd let me sleep and talk to me in the morning, after she'd had a chance to cool down.

Mom stepped inside just as my foot reached the first step.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Going to sleep," I said, even though I was frozen on the steps. Man, I was weak. "I have school to—"

"Get," she said through gritted teeth, "down here. Now."

My feet seemed to move down the stairs automatically, like I was her robot.

She still didn't say anything, letting me wallow in that silence before the thunder broke, her eyes firmly fixed on the kitchen table to the left of me.

"What's the rule, Billie?" Her voice was almost inaudible.

I blinked. "What?"

"The rule," she repeated, still not looking at me. I didn't know why that bugged me, but it did. "What's the rule?"