Page 36 of A Lesson in Deceit
“It’s called Pokemon, Mom. We had a very long discussion about it where you pretended to listen for the sake of my happiness,” Ike offered, walking through the backdoor. He looked over at his sister expectantly.
Corrin rocked back and forth on her feet. “Okay, well we have to go.” She gripped my forearm. Before she could drag me away, her mom stepped towards me.
“Can I?” She pointed to my necklace.
“S-sure,” I hesitated, but felt no reason to be alarmed.
Her mom gently picked up the ruby gem, carefully not to tug on the chain and ran her thumb over it. “Beautiful craftsmanship.”
I let myself smile a little. “It was a gift from my mom.” I let my eyes look around a little more, noticing the crystals that decorated the house. It wasn’t an excessive amount, but it was more than I’d ever seen. They all had different shapes and sizes, some were hanging up, while others adorned tables.
“That’s…interesting. Your mother has quite the eye.” Her smile was warm when she let the gem fall back against my chest.
“Ugh mom, lets not weird her out, okay,” Corrin scolded, throwing her brother a menacing look when he cleared his throat as if to tell her to hurry up.
Her mom threw a look to her dad. “I do not weird people out.”
He scrunched up his face in thought. “Only sometimes.”
Corrin pulled me away from them, throwing a lackluster wave over her shoulder. “Oh, um, it was nice to meet you both.” I was able to shout before I was led out the back door and into a shed that was much bigger on the inside than on the outside.
I looked around at the scientific contraptions I was seeing. There were handcrafted mortar and pestles but also shiny, glass beakers and test tubes. She had been right when she’d claimed potion chemistry. I saw my tiny glass shard sitting on a piece of weighing paper and then realized Ike was in the room.
Corrin followed my eyes and flinched a little. “Okay, don’t be mad.”
“Corrin…. why would I be mad?”
“So, Ike doesn’t like to knock or make himself known when he enters my space.” She threw him a look of annoyance. “I was working and he saw what I was doing, so he asked about it and he likes to blab to our parents when I’m lying, therefore I was forced to tell the truth. You do not want to see my mom when she’s angry, all the crystals in the house go nuts.” She took a deep breath when she was finished.
I slowly pressed my lips together, running my hands down my braids and tugging at the ends. “You told him?”
Ike hummed. “Yes, but what she knows isn’t a lot, so really it’s almost like I know nothing at all.”
“As much as I hate to say this, you’ll want him in on it. Ike is like the best researcher. Future corporate analyst over here, who also happens to be the guy who used his magic to form random metal into armor when he used to LARP at age twelve.” Shestuck her tongue out at him and he blew out an annoyed breath, looking back at me.
“What exactly did she tell you?” I asked, more concerned with that fact more than anything else.
Ike pulled out a chair and sat down. “She told me your dad was the guy that died over the summer, that you don’t think it was an accident and neither does she, and you found this glass piece with magic on it and hope that it will lead you to something that will avenge your dad’s death.”
My mouth dropped open, my eyes flicking over to Corrin who was smiling at me with her lips pressed together. “Oh yeah, she didn’t tell youanythingat all.” I made sure the sarcasm was loud and obnoxious.
Corrin sighed, “I’m sorry, Riley. I do promise you can trust me, well, you can now trustus. I should have asked you before I got him involved, but on the upside, he did help me figure out what I asked you over for.” She didn’t make a move to get closer to me, letting me have my space.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, mulling over my thoughts. I jumped a little when Jax rubbed his body against my ankles. I bent down to pet him, missing my own furry companion. I used my index finger to scratch underneath his chin and his little eyes clearly told me to forgive his mom.
I straightened and walked over to her. “Fine, all is forgiven for now. You’re on friend probation.”
Corrin clapped. “I’ll take it!”
“Now what’s going on? What did you find out?”
Corrin pulled out her stool from underneath the table, taking tweezers and plucking the glass piece up. “I had already told you that there was magical residue on this and what I found confirmed it, but it’s not just one piece of magic.”
“One piece of magic?”
Ike came up behind us. “She means it’s not just one magical skill. The residue has remnants of telekinesis, but the person that used it isn’t simply telekinetic.”
Corrin put the glass piece back on the weighing paper, swiveling on her stool. Her brown eyes were wide with intrigue. “I will tell you I tried to pull some of the other powers out. There is a method where I drop the glass into a concoction that I created. It would be kind of like water and oil, instantly separating so that I could get a better look, but….”
