Thalia checked behind before reminding herself that she wouldn’t be able to see Colt even if he was there. Which he probably wasn’t. He’d gone from following her everywhere to disappearing for long stretches of time, making her worry about what he was doing. She knew he was gone because he hadn’t come when she’d called or even when she started baking. Though she had found herself a few cookies short the next morning so she was sure he was coming back to the house.
She wrinkled her nose a bit, still a little shocked at how quickly Colt had integrated himself into her life. She supposed he did have experience with it but…
She shook her head, and slowed her footsteps, the green and white house in front of her almost as familiar as her own. She stopped in front of the concrete steps that led to the front door long enough to take a deep breath and push all thoughts and worries about Colt from her mind. Ruth was an expert at winkling out her secrets and knowing her as she did, Thalia could well guess the reaction her friend would have to Colt. She didn’t think he’d care much for being interrogated and experimented upon.
Smoothing down her top as she took a last deep breath, she climbed the stairs and knocked on the glass outer door. She heard a muffled shout and a moment later the inner door opened, revealing a much shorter figure with red-brown hair.
Thalia smiled. “Hi Anna.”
“Hello Thalia,” Ruth’s sister replied.
Thundering footsteps from the staircase behind them cut off any other conversation they might have had. “I said I’d get it,” Ruth cried, glaring at her sister.
Anna returned the look. “You were slow and I thought Thalia might like to come in rather than be forced to stand outside.”
“You are such a brat.”
“I’m not the one getting mad because someone else opened the door for my friend.”
“That’s because you don’t have any friends, Jo.”
“My name isn’t Jo,” Anna snapped.
Ruth smirked. “It’s your name as much as Anna is, Joanna.”
Thalia let herself into the house, moving so she was between the sisters. She had enough experience with their fights to know when it was time to intervene. “Okay, that’s enough. Why don’t we all go to the kitchen and sit down instead of standing here?”
Identical sets of hazel eyes turned to look at her for a long moment before their owners relaxed. “You seriously need to come live with us. You’re the only one the brat really listens to,” Ruth said.
Anna snorted. “I have a similar opinion but with regards to this barbarian.”
“Well sorry for not being up to your genius standards,” Ruth said, putting her hands on Thalia’s shoulders and steering her towards the stairs. “We’ll go to my room so we don’t infect you.”
With Anna’s glare following them up, they climbed the stairs. Once they were settled in the clothes and book strewn room, Thalia sighed. “That wasn’t nice.”
“Neither is she. She’s a bloody menace. You only see her occasionally so you don’t know. Sure, she can act like an actual human being but other times we get the full-on alien Anna. ‘Today I’m going to speak like I’m from Victorian England. It’s not weird at all.’”
“She’s only thirteen. Cut her some slack.”
Ruth shook her head before dropping further into the wall of pillows that covered the headboard of her bed. “You mean she’s already thirteen. I mean, I know I’m don’t exactly fit into normal high school society but she’ll be eaten alive next year if she keeps this up. I’m hoping I can break her of being too out there. That and it annoys the hell out of me. You know what her newest project is?”
Holding back another sigh, Thalia replied “No. What is it?”
“She’s researching ghosts. Actual ghosts. Like she expects to find them hiding in the basement or something. She’s been setting up ways to tell if they’re there or not, despite how many times I’ve told her ghosts don’t exist. And while this is an improvement over last month’s investigation into whether any of the psychics in town were actually real, it’s still freaky. She’s an actual genius and yet she wastes her time looking into the most ridiculous things.”
“If that’s what she’s interested in, I don’t see that it’s a problem. She’s still in elementary school so it’s not a big deal,” she said, making a note to herself to talk to Anna about her research. She might be able to get a better idea about Colt that way.
“Yeah, but not for much longer. Anyway, let’s forget the brat. That’s not why I called you over here,” Ruth said, sitting straight up and grinning suddenly.
Feeling even more worried seeing that particular expression, Thalia gave in to the inevitable. “Why did you call me over?”
She reached under the small heap of pillows behind her and pulled out a simple black journal. The sight of it had Thalia holding back a wince, already knowing what kind of idea Ruth was going to tell her about. “As you know, my detentions for the rat are almost over. And we’re graduating soon so this will probably be our last hurrah and my last chance to get honest reactions out of our fellow students.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to release any more animals into the cafeteria. You know the rat almost got stepped on.”
Ruth waved a hand. “I’ve already done that and while it the footage we got was alright, it really wasn’t right for showing true, human emotion. I was in the bathtub the other day when it came to me. This will be our greatest video yet!”
As her friend outlined her plan, Thalia couldn’t help but think that for all that she complained about Anna’s researches, Ruth’s own plans sounded remarkably similar.