Elemental Thief

Chapter 23

The sound of a gunshot pierced through Ridley's dream, and she jerked awake, her heart racing and her body sweating. She sat upright, looking toward the window where dull morning light seeped through the curtains. She waited for several heart-pounding seconds, but no sound came from outside her window.

The gunshot must have been part of her dream.

She lay back down, staring at the ceiling. The fact that she was still alive this morning and that no one had attempted breaking in during the night was a good sign. If yesterday's shooter really was after her, he or she would know where Ridley lived, right? They would have come during the night to finish the job. Archer had said it was far more likely someone had been trying to shoot him, and he was probably right. Ridley was sure he had way more enemies than she did.

Her mind traveled back over the previous day's revelations: Magic isn't deadly. There's a secret underground community of people who still use it. And how was it possible that this community had remained a secret for so long? Surely there must have been people who'd heard of it and gone down there pretending to want to be part of it when their actual agenda was to expose it. And was there really some major government cover-up going on to hide the fact that the magic out there wasn't as dangerous as everyone thought? The idea seemed ridiculous. Maybe Archer and Christa had both been lying.

Something hard dug into Ridley's shoulder as she rolled onto her side. She sat up again and found the old commscreen she'd contacted Ezra with last night. She tapped the screen, but there was no reply from him. To be honest, she hadn't really expected one.

She slid the old device onto her desk and picked up the one that had been well and truly drenched in a small tsunami of canal water the day before. Life had not returned to it during the night, and Ridley suspected it would never switch on again. Good thing tomorrow was the start of a new school year. The scholarship administrator at Wallace Academy would have a brand new laptop and commscreen ready for Ridley, just to make sure she didn't fall behind the other students in the technology department. For today, her commpad would have to suffice.

Leaning over a little further, she tugged the top drawer of her desk open. Her hand fished around inside until it located her commpad. She pulled it out, unlocked the screen, and sat back against her propped-up pillows. After opening the app displaying all her social feeds, she located Meera's name in the private messages section and dictated, "Last day of holidays. What do you want to do?"

Meera's reply came less than a minute later: I don't mind. Whatever. I'll be happy as long as I'm with you and Shen.

Ridley grinned as she raised the device closer to her face. "As long as you're with Shen, I'm guessing."

Meera's reply was almost instant that time: Well ... maybe ;-) ;-) ;-)

Ridley couldn't help laughing at that. "I would pretend I'm offended," she said to the commpad, "but I'm not. I'll have to find an excuse to leave you guys alone for a bit."

I don't know if I'm ready for that! Then another message: Talk later. Just helping Mom with breakfast now. But we must do something fun later. Reading can definitely wait!

As Ridley returned the commpad to her desk, Christa's words returned unbidden to the front of her mind: Do you ever play? Do you ever experiment, have fun?

"Nope," Ridley said out loud. She'd made her decision the night before. Magic helped her to steal things, but that was it. She wouldn't do anything with it other than what was necessary. At some point in the future, she wouldn't need to use it at all.

She leaned across the bed and pulled her curtain open. Her heart jolted at the sight of something stuck to the outside of the window. It was a note, facing inward so she could see the sloppy letters: