Elemental Thief

Chapter 10

Ridley woke the next morning and lay in sleepy bliss for about three seconds before reality and its disappointments crashed down on her. She remembered that one of her best friends was in jail. She remembered hiding behind the Madsons' poolhouse the night before until she could use her magic without feeling ill. She remembered replaying the commscreen recording when she got home, only to find that she could barely hear anything Archer and Lawrence had said over the sound of the music. She'd then downloaded the recording from the listening device, and though she could hear some of the words, most of the conversation wasn't clear enough to make sense.

She opened her eyes and stared at the damp stains and peeling paint on her ceiling, acknowledging once again that she had nothing that could help Shen, and that she'd come away from the Madsons' with more questions than answers. At least she'd raided the toy box beneath her bed—the toy box that contained all the cash that hadn't yet found its way to a worthy cause—and put everything into an envelope for the Lins. She'd crept into their kitchen late last night and left it by the kettle, in the same place she'd left an envelope years ago when Shen was sick. If all else failed and she couldn't find a way to prove her friend's innocence, the Lins could at least afford a good lawyer to defend him.

A quiet buzzing sound alerted her to a notification on her commscreen. She rolled onto her side and reached for it on the edge of her desk. The two messages at the top of the screen were from Meera, but just below them sat one from Derek, sent late last night.

Derek: Great, see you at Elise's then!

Ridley draped one arm across her eyes and groaned. She'd forgotten about Elise's party, just like she'd forgotten she'd asked Derek if they could meet there to talk. She shifted her arm enough to see Meera's message.

Meera: I'm thinking of not going tonight. I don't think I can have fun while Shen's stuck in jail.

Meera: And you never called me back yesterday. What's going on? What were you doing?

Ridley pushed herself up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She tucked her long white hair behind her ear and stared at her commscreen for a while, wondering what to say to Meera. Wondering what to do about Shen. She opened a news app on her commscreen and scrolled idly through it, stopping when she reached the story about the murdered man in her alley. A photo accompanied the story. A still image from the supposed 'footage' that proved Shen had been at the scene along with Archer Davenport and the unidentified victim.

"Hang on," Ridley whispered. Yesterday she'd assumed there was no hidden surveillance footage to begin with. No news channel had shown it, and Ridley believed it was all a big lie. But the grainy photo she was currently looking at included the stranger in his maroon coat with his hat in one hand, Archer wearing the same clothes he'd had on yesterday, and Shen. Not wearing the raincoat she'd seen him in yesterday. Which meant part of the footage was genuine and Shen had somehow been pasted in. And if part of it was genuine, then the original version—without Shen pasted into it—must exist somewhere.

Her heart raced as an idea began to take shape. She tapped the small photo of Meera's face, selected the voice call option, and brought her commscreen to her ear. "Ridley!" Meera said, answering after two rings. "Finally. What happened yesterday? Where'd you go?"

"I think we should go to the party tonight," Ridley said, ignoring Meera's questions. "There's someone I need to speak to. Someone who might be able to help Shen."

* * *

That evening, Ridley entered Aura Tower in a far more orthodox manner than she had several nights before: by stopping at the reception desk with Meera to check her name off Elise's guest list, and then waiting in front of one of the elevators. What made the experience so surreal though, was having Dad beside her.