Conspiracies - Mercedes Lackey [78]
“Whoa, Spirit, give it a rest,” Loch interrupted. “We don’t have to worry now. The cavalry’s here.”
“The—what?” she managed, staring at him. “Are you nuts? After what Ms. Holland said to you, and then she just gets replaced? Doesn’t that seem the least little bit fishy to you?”
Loch shrugged. “And Ms. Holland could have been the insider, trying to peel me and Burke off from the herd and Rider’s crew figured her out. Or she could have just quietly snapped, and what she told me and Burke was just part of her delusion, and they sent her away. Don’t read too much into this. Anyway, the point is, there are adults here now who actually believe that the war came to us. Adults, not kids, and they’ve got a lot of real-world power, just for a start.”
Muirin nodded sagely. “Mark Rider is worth billions. I’ll bet an imported Belgian truffle that as soon as she gets wind of this, Step is going to turn up here to cruise his younger brother. Enough money can buy us just about anything, including an army of security guards if we need them. And have you seen their auras? If they glowed any more you’d have to put a dimmer switch on them. That means magic power, baby, and lots of it.”
“So, Mr. Rider was right, even if he did have to grandstand about it,” Loch continued. “We can relax and let them take over. We can go right back to just worrying about school stuff. And it’s about time.”
She tried not to splutter. “And doesn’t it seem awful convenient that they turn up within days of those Shadow Knights? Shadow Knights wearing Oakhurst rings? Hello! Anybody?”
Muirin sneered just the littlest bit. “Shadow Knights? Where did you get that from, some bad fantasy novel?”
“Come on, Murr-cat,” Burke said. “Keep your claws for people who deserve to get scratched.”
Loch shook his head. “Of course they turned up within days, Spirit. Doctor A. said he’d called them. You’re confusing cause and effect. The attack was the cause, having them turn up was the effect. And so what if the bad guys were wearing rings? Heck, they could have stolen them, made them, or just used an illusion to throw us off and put us at each others’ throats.”
“But!” Spirit began, and Addie made a lip-zipping motion.
“Relax. You’ve been keyed up for so long you’re probably having an adrenaline crash,” Muirin said shrewdly. “I bet it’s got to hurt, not being the boss anymore, too. Let it go. You don’t have to be in charge now, and it’s not going to hurt you to give the boss-hat to someone with real experience.”
“But I wasn’t—but I didn’t—” Spirit stammered, taken aback.
Muirin just raised a knowing eyebrow at her. I know you enjoyed bossing us around, and being the Special One who saw there was danger before anyone else did, but you can’t be the Special One forever. That was what that look said. She flushed.
Suddenly she didn’t have any taste for Monopoly.
The others weren’t paying that much attention to the set anyway. Burke and Loch were quickly deep in a discussion of whether or not Burke would make a better game designer, developer, or programmer. “After all, it’s not like I’ve got a pile of money waiting for me when I turn eighteen,” Burke said with a shrug. “And with any luck, Doctor A. and the Riders will clear this war out before we graduate. So I’ll need a job, you know? Might as well be something I like.”
Muirin laughed. “Maybe I actually can scrape Step off onto Teddy Rider; when she’s stalking her prey she always forgets I even exist.”
They all seemed to have forgotten everything they’d learned; Spirit could hardly believe it. Didn’t they want to find out what was really going on? Didn’t they want to know who the insider was, instead of just guessing? And what about the “other” Oakhurst, the one where people who didn’t have magic went? Because, supposedly, they were all Legacies, right? And she knew darn good and well that her parents hadn’t had the least little bit of magic. If they had, life would have been a lot different.