The Dark Ice Chronicles - The Magi

Chapter 10 - Sometimes The Shadow Wins

“I’d like to see you boys try this,” Michelle grumbles. “It’s a pain, table manners. Something you’re lucky to not need.” She proceeds to take a huge bite of her burrito the way Rachel did, but somehow makes much less mess.

“Why the hell would you need to show good table manners in front of us stupid smelly boys?” I ask.

“Blame it on my upbringing,” Michelle says. “Livin’ with rich parents kinda does that to a girl. My mom’s always sayin’ I might as well have been a boy, with all my interests the way they are.”

“Like Fire arrows?”

“Yeah. Among other things.” Michelle frowns deeply. “What I don’t understand is why my parents insist that I act like a princess. I swear, next thing you know, they’re gonna try arrangin’ marriages to three different guys, none of whom I’d even like.”

“That would really suck,” Harris says. “You really think they’d do that?”

“Who the hell knows?”

Rachel plays with her burrito a bit. “At least your parents would try to help you get a guy. I wanted to get a boyfriend this year, ‘cause Adele and I agreed we’d both have one before we left junior high, but Galadriel wouldn’t let me.”

“Who’s Galadriel?” I ask.

“My foster mother,” Rachel says sadly. “Who’s away on business right now, like she usually is when I might actually need her. That is, if she’s tellin’ the truth.”

I chew on a bit of steak, processing what Rachel has just said. “If she’s always leavin’ you alone, then how come you can’t get a boyfriend? I mean, it’s not like she’s gonna be there to find out, right?”

“That’s the thing,” Rachel says. “She did. It was like, she wasn’t supposed to come back till the day before Halloween, so I brought a boy home with me on the 28th, and the next day she came back and reamed me a new one. I think she’s got hidden cameras in the house or something.” She sighs and puts down her burrito. “Heck, if she knew I was here right now, she’d throw a fit. She doesn’t want me leaving the house unless I’m with Evan and Adele.”

“Do the words ‘psychotic controlling bitch’ mean anything to you?” I ask Harris.

He nods sagely. “Yup. What about the name ‘Norma Bates?’”

“Oh come on,” Michelle says. “I’m sure this Gadreel lady’s not that bad.”

“I blame her for my weirdness,” Rachel says, not even bothering to correct Michelle’s mangling of her foster mother’s name. “If I’d been put with a more motherly mother - like Aunt Irene, say - I probably wouldn’t have the social difficulties I do. Or the personality problems. A typical little girl I’m not.”

As if to emphasize that point, she tears another huge chunk off her burrito, again forcing us to take a bunch of napkins to her section of the table.

“How often do you get to get out of the house, then?” Harris asks after handing Rachel an extra napkin to take care of her face.

“Not much,” she says. “Last time I was out of the house more than one day in a row was, I dunno, Adele’s eleventh birthday? Uncle Aidan and Aunt Irene took me to dinner with Adele and Evan that Friday, and then the next day we went to the movies with some of Adele’s friends, saw Wreck-It Ralph.”

“That’s cool,” I say. “Good movie. It’s my little brother’s favorite.”

“I need to meet your little brother, then,” Rachel says, chuckling slightly.