Inciting Investigations

Chapter 7

Birdy knew that it was probably stupid of her to have ever actually thought or believed any of that. Especially once she genuinely found out that he was dead, she still hadn’t wanted to accept it. Well, he wasn’t dead. She guessed that was just a cruel joke on her.

When Cyrus had first arrived back home, she had half expected someone to jump out from behind a wall or something and laugh at them, telling them that it was all a joke. They would reveal that the person that had been standing right in front of her was just someone they had found that looked insanely close to Cyrus or that it was really good prosthetic makeup. She would’ve then punched whoever had decided to play that little prank.

The other half of her thought, it had just been pure shock. She never thought that she would see him again for the past three years, the first one spent in complete and utter denial. So, having him just thrust back into her life and into her home, it had certainly been a lot to take in. She wasn’t even sure that she had processed it now after two whole years of him being back.

She was pulled out of her thoughts suddenly when she heard a familiar ‘ding’ come from downstairs.

She immediately sat up and ran downstairs to greet whoever had come this time. Magnus had already shown up five minutes before, but she didn’t care that much about him. She knew that Brynleigh would be arriving with Cyrus and Badger, but Julian would be coming later on.

Usually, it would just be her family and Brynleigh, but Cyrus had decided that they had to meet not just Julian but also Magnus and Badger. He really wanted all of them to get along with each other.

She ran down the stairs to see that Brynleigh and Badger had arrived with Cyrus, and Juli was standing beside them too. She smiled politely to the other guests but genuinely smiled when she looked towards her brother, and he pulled her into a quick hug before they had to head over to the dining room. She was also excited because her mother had made fajitas.

Fresh tortillas, homemade salsa, and hot meat, plus all the other ingredients, were laid out neatly. Her mom had really gone into the cooking tradition and family recipes that night. Birdy was always so happy when that happened. Her mom didn’t always have time to make such a big meal because of her job, so when she did, it was really special for everyone. That and the fact that Birdy just really loved all the family recipes that rarely were made.

Everyone sat down in their usual order with her dad at the head of the table, her mom sitting next to him on the left, Cyrus on his right, herself next to Cyrus, Holiday next to her mom, Badger next to her, and Brynleigh next to Holiday. Then, they just pulled out some extra chairs for the other guests. Juli and Magnus sat across from each other at the end of the table.

Her mother began setting down plates in front of everyone, making sure to be conscious of everyone’s allergies and preferences. Birdy would never understand how she remembered it all, but she somehow did. She also set down multiple extra plates with more veggies, meat, and everything else just in case anyone decided that they wanted to add more onto their tortilla. Birdy was sure that everyone loved it no matter what, or at least she did.

She graciously accepted the plate, kissing her mom on the cheek while muttering a quick ‘gracias por mucho’ under her breath. Then she leaned over her plate to messily eat her food with everyone else, laughing as Holiday detailed a funny story that one of her coworkers had covered about a baby goat breaking out of a farm and stealing from a supermarket. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Even Magnus was slightly smiling a bit, and it wasn’t even sadistic.

She noticed a little bit that Julian didn’t really seem quite as comfortable as everyone else did, but he opened up a little more over the course of the meal. He began to slyly crack sassy jokes and prod at people lightheartedly. He still mostly kept quiet and reserved, which really surprised her. Whenever she saw him with Cyrus or Badger, he wore his eccentric personality like a badge of honor, but right now, he was just hiding it within himself.

She had met the majority of all the other Rodriguezes at some point or another. Even if their one interaction with each other was completely brief and entirely in passing, she had still met them.

All of them had a strong personality like Julian, in some sense of the phrase's real meaning. Jorge was extremely tall and muscular, but he wasn’t tough or anything. He was really just a human teddy bear who happened to not ever need a ladder in the entirety of his life.

Maria was the mother of the whole family, and she was good at it. She was definitely nice and had a very motherly presence. She was a shorter woman with short black hair and kind brown eyes. She always wore a smile no matter what. She also always had some type of food either on the table or cooking at that very moment that she would offer you.

Vara was the second oldest in the family but probably the smartest. She was a scientist, but Birdy couldn’t remember which kind she was. She did know the woman had a lab coat, though. She was also dating a girl named Addy or something if she remembered correctly, but she usually didn’t, so she never really brought that up. But she seemed nice, if maybe a bit forgetful. But forgetful in a bit of a funny way, Birdy guessed she should say.

Cali was the third kid, and she was about Birdy’s age, though she looked way older, mostly because of the permanent dark circles under her eyes. Birdy knew that Cali was an ambitious woman and that she wanted to go into the military straight out of high school. The girl was definitely working hard for it, Birdy wasn’t sure how she managed everything with that much grace, and also a lot of concealer. It probably took a whole bottle a day to cover up the darkness under eyes, but Birdy thought she looked pretty with or without it.

Julian Rodriguez, or Juli as he was known to most other people, was the second youngest. Even though most people assumed he was the youngest in the family, he wasn’t. She was pretty sure he was two years younger than her, fourteen. He knew everything there possibly was to know about fashion, and he loved joking or teasing. She had had her suspicions in the past that he and Badger were an item. She had thought that for a whole year before knowing otherwise. But those had been denied in an embarrassing way for all three of them.

Sofi Rodriguez was the actual youngest in the family, but Birdy didn’t know that much about her. She mostly stayed in her room or out with friends. She knew that she was pretty close to Vara and her girlfriend and spent a lot of time around the two of them. Unfortunately, though, Birdy had only had a couple of extremely short conversations with the girl, so she couldn’t tell much about her. She seemed pretty cool, though.

Birdy shook out of her thoughts when she realized that everyone was setting down their silverware, which meant that it was game time. She smiled and hurriedly went into the kitchen to wash up some of the dishes before running back out into the living room. Well, it was more like a fast walk than she supposed. She still wanted to seem sane in front of the guests.

But she was stopped short when Cyrus stood in front of her before she could enter the living room and asked her, “Hey, can we talk alone for a little bit?”

She nodded and led him up to her bedroom. He had a troubled look on his face, and she wanted to ask what was wrong, but she knew that she had to wait until they were alone to find out. She shut the door behind them when she walked into the room and sat down on the bed beside her brother. She was about to ask him what he wanted to talk about, but he started first.

“So, I think you’re old enough to know this.”

(Certain Rodriguezes, namely Juli, will play a larger role in this book. Maybe some of the others, too

Hope you enjoyed! Bye!)