Dance of Magic - The Books of Beginning [1]

2. Chocolate and Concern

Michael said, "I can share sandwiches. I'm not sure about Emma the food thief here though."

Emma just held out a plate to Robert, who had finished hanging his coat and took it gratefully. He sat in an armchair, being asked a million questions by Michael, mostly about his uncle's scientific research. Emma just listened with an amused smirk on her face. No doubt she'd be teasing Michael for 'being such a geek' later.

Kate, meanwhile went to go make Robert some hot cocoa and get some for herself too. She was going to need it, she could tell.

................

Hours later, the sandwiches had been all eaten, the cocoa downed, and Richard and Clare still hadn't returned. Neither had Robert's uncle Wayne. All the children were getting quite worried as night settled in.

"It's almost nine," Michael fretted, "they should be back by now."

"Maybe it's this weather," Robert suggested. 

The three Wibberlys exchanged looks. For their worried parents to be this late, that meant trouble of some sort. And while they hoped it meant small trouble, like car trouble, they doubted it. In their family, it was never just car trouble.

"Probably not," Emma sighed, "this is bad weather but it ain't that bad."

"Could we call them?" Michael wondered.

Kate shook her head, "they haven't gotten signed up for a phone plan yet. We can't call."

"And my uncle doesn't carry a cell phone," Robert interjected, "he hates technology, so his office probably doesn't have anywhere I could call either."

"So then what do we do?" Emma questioned.

"We wait," Kate said, "And we go to sleep like everything's normal and we hope they get home soon."

Michael and Emma nodded, but they both were still visibly concerned. Kate was too. Something about all of this just felt wrong. But she couldn't talk about magic and monsters with Robert here and she didn't want to panic Michael and Emma even further.

...............

By the time Kate got the children up the stairs and safe in their beds, her parents were still not home, and she was really afraid. A feeling of dread had settled in her stomach, a feeling that told her something had gone very wrong. Part of her wanted to wake up her siblings and go find their parents. Another part of her instinctively wanted to flee somewhere safer. But neither of those options were doable with no way to travel anywhere and the gross weather. They would have to stay and wait.

Kate returned to the living room to check on Robert and see if he would be heading home or if he wasn't comfortable staying in his own house alone. If that was the case, Kate would offer their couch to him out of kindnesses, though it would be reluctantly. Sometimes having to be a good person was very exhausting and rather annoying.

"Hey Robert," she called softly, "it's getting late. You heading home or what?"

Robert looked worried, "I actually- I'm a little nervous. I know I'll probably be just fine there, it's just the dark, and the house creaks a lot."

Kate sighed. For s moment she thought about asking him to leave. But no, that would be unnecessarily cruel. He was afraid of being alone in the dark - a common fear, though she knew that the dark itself was harmless. Kate herself was not afraid, knowing there were far worse monsters in the world, and having fought the worst of them. Still, she had sympathy for others fears. Plus her parents would want her to be kind and neighborly towards Robert.

"If you want, you can camp out on our couch for the night. My parents won't mind at all," Kate forced the words out.

The boy breathed a sigh of relief, "thank you so much. I - thank you Kate. You're so kind."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He was looking at her with a shy smile and a goofy expression, eyes shining. He was so innocent and joyful. And while she was sympathetic to his little crush, she found it a bit ridiculous. He didn't know her, the real her, all she had seen and been through, all she had fought. 

Eventually, Kate decided to just ignore it and said, "I'll get you some blankets."

...............

Finally, Robert was snoozing on the couch, Michael and Emma were asleep, and only Kate was still awake, having retired to her own room almost an hour ago. It was nearing midnight and the familiar sound of the car pulling into the driveway had still not been heard.

Kate knew her parents were not returning tonight. And she knew this was no ordinary delay. If it was they would have found a way to call and inform their children. But nevertheless, Kate continued to watch at her window, hoping for the headlights to beam down the street. 

She wasn't sure why she wasn't just trying to sleep. Perhaps it was because she knew it would be a waste of time, between the concern and dread, and the nightmares. Her fear was at its peak. She was terrified of losing her parents again. As crazy as they drove her, they were good people trying their best, and they were her family.

But more important then her parents were Michael and Emma. With the adults gone, it fell to her to protect them, like it always did. If someone had put their parents in danger, that meant the children were in danger too. And Kate would never let harm come to her siblings. They were the most important people in the world to her - well, living people anyways.

Finally, Kate sighed and returned to her bed, planning to read to try and calm her nerves. She reached for a book from the shelf, and heard the soft buzzing of her alarm clock telling her it was midnight.

Then a piercing scream from downstairs came tearing through the house.

A/N: I firmly believe that Emma Wibberly steals food (mostly from Michael because it annoys him) and no one can change my mind about that.

Well anyways, hope you all enjoyed the chapter! It's got a lot of suspense building up and next chapter the action starts!