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With her nerves so high, Rachel was feeling like an electric witch again. She chewed her fingers as she waited for her friends to show up at her house, running up and down the stairs whenever a car drove past in case it was Cai or a dog bark in case Danny had Wolf or a knock on the door which could have been any of them but she thought she'd heard a few different knocks now and it was never them. Right up until the point that it was.
Cai arrived first, his hair a mad tangle as he pulled off his bike helmet. "Couldn't get the car," he said with a grin. "Dom's taking Roe to her specialist. Hey, do you know what the hardest part of learning to ride a bike is?"
Rachel shook her head, jittering.
"The pavement," Cai grinned. Rachel barked with laughter and almost hugged him - then remembered not to.
"So, y'alright?" Cai asked, following her into the kitchen for snacks. Rachel shrugged, pulling a carton of juice from the fridge.
"Too many exams," she said. "Not enough brain. Distracted."
"Yeah, same," Cai leaned against the sparkling bench in the kitchen, his eyes stunned from how bright and white everything was. Not a bit of clutter anywhere, not a single smudge of jam on the counter, not even any crumbs around the shiny, metallic toaster. "Is Zoe alright?" He asked, pulling his eyes away from the freak kitchen to look at Rachel. She was wearing a big blue and red sweater that was almost as long as her shorts, her bare legs so long and smooth and totally not distracted. "She seemed a bit... vicious on the phone this morning."
Rachel turned from foraging for crackers. "She's always like that."
"Nah... this was more. I got the feeling she didn't want to talk to me."
"She probably just needs a good promming," Rachel said cheerfully. There wasn't any junk food in the house, but Rachel had a plate of crackers and celery sticks and cream cheese. She'd discovered in the last year that she liked celery with cream cheese.
"Haha," Cai said uncertainly, and was saved from having to explain his complicated prom feelings to Rachel by a knock the door.
"Danny's knock!" Rachel cheered, and bounded toward the front door. Cai followed - he didn't like being in a kitchen this clean all by himself, it was a bit too much like a lab in a science fiction film.
Cai arrived first, his hair a mad tangle as he pulled off his bike helmet. "Couldn't get the car," he said with a grin. "Dom's taking Roe to her specialist. Hey, do you know what the hardest part of learning to ride a bike is?"
Rachel shook her head, jittering.
"The pavement," Cai grinned. Rachel barked with laughter and almost hugged him - then remembered not to.
"So, y'alright?" Cai asked, following her into the kitchen for snacks. Rachel shrugged, pulling a carton of juice from the fridge.
"Too many exams," she said. "Not enough brain. Distracted."
"Yeah, same," Cai leaned against the sparkling bench in the kitchen, his eyes stunned from how bright and white everything was. Not a bit of clutter anywhere, not a single smudge of jam on the counter, not even any crumbs around the shiny, metallic toaster. "Is Zoe alright?" He asked, pulling his eyes away from the freak kitchen to look at Rachel. She was wearing a big blue and red sweater that was almost as long as her shorts, her bare legs so long and smooth and totally not distracted. "She seemed a bit... vicious on the phone this morning."
Rachel turned from foraging for crackers. "She's always like that."
"Nah... this was more. I got the feeling she didn't want to talk to me."
"She probably just needs a good promming," Rachel said cheerfully. There wasn't any junk food in the house, but Rachel had a plate of crackers and celery sticks and cream cheese. She'd discovered in the last year that she liked celery with cream cheese.
"Haha," Cai said uncertainly, and was saved from having to explain his complicated prom feelings to Rachel by a knock the door.
"Danny's knock!" Rachel cheered, and bounded toward the front door. Cai followed - he didn't like being in a kitchen this clean all by himself, it was a bit too much like a lab in a science fiction film.
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Date: 2014-06-24 02:51 am (UTC)From:The first time she and Cai tried to have a vision together, he'd warned her that she, like Danny, might be sucked into the vision with him. But, he'd added, that might just be because they were brothers. It had been different with different people: Once after he'd had a vision with Nonnie, she'd described the feeling as a kind of 'emotional echo'. Once, when he'd had the vision of Faye and Rowe on the ship, that image had found its way into Faye's dreams.
There were no hard and fast rules - or, there probably were, but it was all so new. Magic's just science you don't understand yet, right?
Rachel, for her part, was left with a hollow feeling of loss, settling deep in her stomach. The memory had come back to her slowly – starting with the emotions, and the pictures following.
Some of Rachel's memories were like Tarot cards - face down, but there. Cai had reached into her mind and flipped this one over, and even if she did put if back, face down as it had been, she'd still know what this one was.
Yes, she remembered that day. The day she broke her arm and her mother lay in the next room, ignoring her. That was the day she gave up, the first day she thought about dying.
But that couldn’t be right – she’d thought about dying before her mother tried to kill her? That didn’t fit into Rachel’s timeline of events at all. In Rachel's timeline, the depression set in after the trip to the river. Not before it.
But it felt right. Lying on the floor, wanting to be dead. It felt true.
"This was a dumb idea," Rachel said, to no one in particular.