Kiri snorted, “You’re not okay. If I kept running, when I came back I’d probably find you melted down into a puddle. Why’d you push it so hard?”
He made a helpless little wave, “‘mbarrassed.”
“Is this some kind of macho, ‘not gonna get beaten by a girl’ kind of crap?”
He nodded, producing a weak grin, “Full. Of. crap.” After a moment, “Sorry.”
She gave him an affectionate little shove, “You should be.” As she walked along beside him, she wondered at herself. I should be pissed about this kind of ridiculous macho posturing. Why do I think it’s cute? Just because he’s related to me?
After a bit, Adam was standing up straight and he’d started walking like his legs weren’t just about to collapse. He said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wreck your run. I can make it the rest of the way back on my own.”
Kiri sized him up and decided he’d probably be okay. “Okay, I’ll come back this same way so if you do disintegrate I’ll find the dust.” She eyed him a moment longer, bothered by the fact that she kind of wanted to keep walking back with him. With a little shake of her head, she said, “Just keep walking. Don’t do anything stupid like sitting down or, conversely, deciding to run the rest of the way back.”
He nodded, and she turned back to her trail.
When she came back, Kiri found Adam walking in little circles on the trail—just short of where it came back into view of the house. She slowed, “What’s going on?”
He gave her an embarrassed look, “When I told Lindl I was going out for a run with you… Um he might’ve told me you were going to destroy me.”
“Uh-huh, and you didn’t take his advice because…?”
“Um, I might be stupid?”
She nodded matter-of-factly, “Agreed.”
“Could I… could I run up to the house with you? Try to fake Lindl into thinking I’d kept up with you?”
Kiri laughed, “Keep up your manly posturing?”
“Just for a microsecond. I promise I’ll confess what an idiot I am. I just want to see the look in his eyes when we get back at the same time.”
He looked so hangdog Kiri found it kind of sweet. She shrugged, “I don’t care. We can pretend you did great if you want. No need for a confession. Hell, I’ll complain to him about how I couldn’t keep up with you if you want.”
Adam laughed, “Oh no. There’s no way he’d believe that. I just want him to have a moment of doubt.”
He turned and started jogging the rest of the way to the house. Kiri said, “If you want to fool him, we’ve got to run to the house, not slog along like you’re doing. I don’t jog.”
“Oh, okay. You set the pace.”
When they got up the stairs and Adam turned into Lindl’s room, Kiri listened for a moment. Adam said, “You were right, she can really run.”
Lindl said, “You kept up?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Yeah… about that. If you’ll look out this window, you’ll notice it looks out over the trail. I could see you hanging out there waiting for her to get back.”
A peal of laughter came from Adam, “You were right. She kicked my ass so hard it probably ruined her shoe.”
Kiri could hear them laughing as she turned for the shower. She thought she should have been irritated by the way Adam wanted to pretend he could run with her, but she found something adorable about it. Especially the way he’d immediately confessed, then laughed so hard about it.
***
xxx
Lindl was out on the porch, noodling on his guitar. He’d been having trouble playing serious guitar because his mind kept running off the rails. A lot of his distraction had to do with the death of his father. Some came from wondering about whether he should go to college or not. Despite Uncle Morgan talking about it a couple of times, it wasn’t clear to him whether there was enough money for him to go to college or not. Morgan said there would be, but Lindl had the impression that Morgan was promising to send them to college himself if Daryn hadn’t left enough.
Plenty of successful musicians didn’t go to colleges or music schools. Usually they were successful as performing musicians, not as music teachers, but Lindl didn’t want to teach anyway. He certainly would never consider going into debt to get a music education. If the adults were correct about how little money he was going to make, he sure didn’t want to start out in debt. With Morgan out of work it seemed crazy for him to be promising to send Lindl and Kiri to college. Kiri really did need to go to college to have a shot at her dreams. And, Uncle Morgan was on the hook for Adam’s college too. So, if there was enough money between what their dad had left and whatever help Morgan could come up with to send someone to college, Kiri was the one who should go.
Besides, he thought, I really want to give performing a shot. Find out if I’ve got what it takes. I probably need some kind of business education, but maybe I can just study the business of music on-line. I could even take some courses.
Decision made, he relaxed back on the bench. For a moment he thought he’d be able to focus on his playing, but then he got distracted by the fact that Adam had been in Kiri’s room when he’d come downstairs. It’d looked like he was just in there having a casual conversation, but Lindl had been feeling a little uncomfortable about how friendly Adam had been with Lindl’s sister.
The door opened and Adam stepped out on the porch. “What’cha playin’?,” he asked, looking over at Lindl.
“Just noodlin’,” Lindl said as Adam walked over and sat across the porch from him.
“That’s the name of the song?” Adam asked.
“No, it’s what musicians call it when they’re just screwing around rather than seriously playing.”
Adam gave him an admiring look, “That’s some seriously good screwing around. You oughta record it and put it up for sale.”
“Thanks,” Lindl said. He’d learned not to try to explain to people how hard it’d be to sell something disorganized like what he’d just been playing. Lindl tried to get a little more serious about what he was playing but quickly realized he’d gone right back to noodling again. With a sigh, he started playing gently so it’d be easy to talk over the guitar. “What were you and Kiri talking about?”
“I don’t know, this and that.” Adam looked out across the valley, “She’s really easy to talk to, you know?”
Uncomfortably, Lindl said, “No, I don’t know. Most people find her hard to talk to.”
Adam turned concerned eyes on Lindl, “Hey, you upset?”
Lindl shrugged, “You guys seem awfully friendly.”
Adam stared at him for a moment, then he said, “Oh… Are you thinking we’re too friendly?”
Lindl looked down at the floor, “For cousins? Yeah, maybe.”
Adam cleared his throat. Sounding uncomfortable, he said, “I’m adopted.”
Disbelievingly, Lindl’s eyes shot up to Adam’s. Adam looked completely serious. Perhaps a little embarrassed. “You are?”
Adam nodded.
“Does she know?”
Adam shrugged, “I might have mentioned it a little while ago. I’m not sure she was listening.”
“So you’re…?”
Adam nodded, “I’m… I’m crazy about her. I hope you’re not the kind of protective big brother who’s going to beat the crap out of me?”
Lindl sat, staring at Adam and sorting through his feelings. He really liked his cousin. But he had been getting kind of uncomfortable with the way Adam looked at Kiri. Now? Now it’s okay, he realized. He grinned at Adam, “I’m not going to beat the crap out of you. But she might. You should be aware… she’s already broken a lot of hearts.”
Adam’s eyes widened, “She’s fifteen. How many boyfriends has she had?”
Lindl snorted, “None. Whole bunch of wannabes though. Some down in flames. Others with stakes driven through the heart. She puts up with no crap.” He shook his head sorrowfully, “If you want to have any chance, somehow you’ve got to keep h
er from finding out just how lame you actually are.”
Adam snorted, “Damn, she already knows I can’t run. How am I going to impress her?”
“I might’ve gooned you a little there. She’s won a couple of marathons.” Lindl shrugged, “In fact, both of the marathons she’s entered. Most elite women marathoners are in their thirties, so if she can win them at fifteen… that’s kinda crazy.”
Adam gave him a wide-eyed look, “And you didn’t warn me?! Don’t you care about your cousin at all?”
Lindl grinned, “I do like seeing him get slapped down.”
Monday noon
They were eating sandwiches for lunch. Lindl had finished his first and started his second. His T-shirt had Jimi Hendrix playing a flaming guitar. Kiri had on black jeans, a black tank top and a matching set of bright pink earrings and necklace. The stones looked like pink turquoise to Morgan, though he knew they must be something else. For a few moments he wondered whether growing up without a mother had led to her odd style choices. He decided her choices might be different, but he liked her look. I sure don’t know enough about style to advise her to wear something different.
Kiri looked up, “I ordered something from Amazon. Haven’t we gotten any packages?”
Morgan blinked, “We got one while you were in detention. I thought it must have been something your dad ordered before…” Morgan cleared his throat. “It was Mace. Did you order that?”
She nodded, “Friday night. I kept thinking that if I’d had some pepper spray I could have gotten loose from that…” her jaw worked a little, “that guy.”
“Oh,” Morgan said. “I’ve got it up in my room. I can get it for you after we finish eating.” She nodded and picked up her sandwich. He cleared his throat. When the three teenagers looked at him, he said, “We need to figure some things out. Are you guys up to talking about…” he shrugged, “our future?”
All three nodded, though he thought Kiri’s response looked a little hesitant.
“Okay, first thing’s school.” He looked at Lindl and Kiri, “Memorial Day weekend’s about done, do you guys think you’re going to feel up to going back to school tomorrow?”
They both looked thoughtful, but, after a brief hesitation, they nodded yes.
“How do you normally get to school. Bus? Drive?”
Lindl said, “Usually I drive. We could take the bus if there’s some reason to?”
“And Kiri rides with you?”
They nodded.
“Okay,” Morgan said. “Do you think you can get yourselves to school tomorrow morning? I’d like to drive Adam back home so he can go to school too. He’s going to stay with a friend the last eight days of school so I can stay with you guys.”
“We can stay by ourselves,” Kiri said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not right after such a traumatic event. Especially with the possibility that the police might come back and hassle you. Even if they just came by to ask questions, my absence might lead to some concern from the authorities.” He shrugged, “Besides, I don’t have a place to live down there, so it’d save us all some money if I lived here. Adam says he’ll be happy to come back up here once school’s out.”
Kiri looked at him, “You don’t want to stay with your mom?”
Adam gave an abrupt shake of his head, “No way.”
Focusing on Adam, Morgan said, “I’m figuring we’ll leave at four in the morning so we can make it there in time for you to get to school a little after eight.”
“School doesn’t start until 8:45!”
Morgan snorted, “Okay, we’ll leave at 4:30.”
“I don’t have to go to first period.”
Morgan grinned at him, “I need to get that loan from Roger and deposit it in the bank. I should establish a credit card and a checking account. I’d also like to talk to the guy that manages my retirement funds. I need to start withdrawing from those so I’m not completely dependent on Roger. If I have to sign something in person for that to happen, it’d be great to get it done while I’m down there.”
Adam shrugged, obviously not following the point of Morgan’s digression.
Morgan lifted an eyebrow, “I’d like to do all that and get back up here to Asheville around the time Kiri and Lindl get home.” Morgan looked at Lindl, “Will you be able to take Kiri to her class at the college?”
Lindl glanced at Kiri who answered, “My dual enrollment class’s over for the summer.”
“Okay, that solves that.” He drew a breath, “Next, I’d like to talk a little about long-term plans. Not that anything has to be decided today, but so all three of you can start thinking about the possibilities.”
They nodded uncertainly at him.
“We need to decide where to live. I presume that would either be Asheville or Chapel Hill, but I suppose we could all move somewhere else as well. Since I’m out of work, I’m not particularly bound down to any location.” He looked at Kiri and Lindl, noticing that Kiri looked worried. He didn’t address that yet, “I’ve got somewhat of a handle on your dad’s finances now. As you know, most of his income came from royalties on various inventions. The royalties have been dropping off for several years. I think this’s because sales on the products his patents covered are dropping off and he hasn’t sold any new patents for a while. The previous patents haven’t expired yet, but some of them are going to expire in the next few years. Your dad also has some stock market investments that produce some dividends. Right now, income’s just about covering your expenses, but as the royalty income continues dropping, keeping up with the expenses is going to be a problem. If we had to, we could sell some of your dad’s investments, but I’d like to preserve those so you guys could inherit them.” He shrugged, “Nonetheless, we might need to sell them to pay college tuition if you decide to go someplace expensive.”
Morgan paused, allowing them time to interject or ask questions, but they didn’t say anything. I’ve hit them with the bad news, now for some good news, he thought. “One thing that’d help a lot would be selling this property.” Morgan noticed Lindl glancing at Kiri. She was putting down her sandwich, eyes wide. He plowed ahead so they’d understand it wasn’t just a whim on his part. “The mortgage payments on the property are $4,862 a month which means the mortgage is about a million dollars. Since banks typically want a down payment of about twenty percent, that would suggest that Daryn paid about $1.2 million for it. The house certainly isn’t worth that. I assume that the price was so high because there must be quite a bit of land, going all the way back up to the mine. I can’t believe the mine itself has much value…”
Morgan slowed to a halt at the stricken look on Kiri’s face. She said, “We can’t sell the mine!”
“Okay,” Morgan said equanimously, “but you’re going to need to tell me why.”
Kiri’s lips pressed together in a thin line, “Dad had a project up there. He’s been working on it for years.”
“Where is it?” When she didn’t say anything, Morgan shrugged. “Lindl, Adam, and I walked through a lot of the mine on Saturday and didn’t find anything but tunnels and rails. Admittedly, we didn’t get through the whole thing, only some of the tunnels off to the right side of it. Should we have been turning left?”
“No,” Kiri said, looking stubborn. She didn’t elaborate further.
“Does it have something to do with those three rooms that are visible on the security cameras? Are they up in the mine somewhere?”
Kiri continued focusing what wasn’t quite a glare on Morgan. Lips pressed together, she didn’t look like she planned to say anything.
Ever.
Then Lindl said, “Come on Kiri. Just yesterday you were telling me how much you liked Uncle Morgan. You said you could tell he had our best interests at heart. Why aren’t you—”
“Because,” she interrupted, “this was the best thing Dad ever came up with! Something that’d put his name on everyone’s lips. I don’t want someone else taking credit for it.”
>
Quietly, Morgan said, “I’m not after any credit. I’d be proud to have my brother’s name on everyone’s lips.”
Sounding sympathetic, Lindl said, “You’re going to need Uncle Morgan’s help developing it.”
She blinked and looked at Lindl, then at Morgan, then back at Lindl, “Why? He’s a software guy. He doesn’t know physics.”
Patiently, Lindl said, “It’s gonna cost money. Just keeping the mine’s costing a lot of money. Figuring out how Dad finally got it to work, getting a patent, working out who to sell it to. All that’s going to cost money.” He paused for a moment, then pushed on, “You don’t think Uncle Morgan’s going to finance all that without understanding what it is, do you?”
Stubbornly, she said, “He’d be spending the money Dad left for us.”
Lindl quirked a smile, “Money that Dad put him in charge of. Money he’s supposed to take care of until we’re of age. Not money he’s supposed to let us blow on some project he doesn’t even know about.”
Kiri rolled her eyes. “Okay!” she said, the word exploding out of her like a sigh. “He’d been working on transmutation. That block of metal you’ve been so interested in suggests he got it working.”
Absurdly glad that Lindl had taken his side, Morgan said, “Great.” He looked pointedly at Kiri’s plate. “Eat first, then you can tell us what you know about how it works.” He picked up his own sandwich and lifted it towards his mouth, stopping with it nearly there as his brain caught up with what she’d said, Holy shit! Transmutation? Isn’t that when you change lead into gold?
Adam tilted his head curiously and asked, “What kind of mutation?”
Kiri stared uncomprehendingly at him for a moment, then blinked with enlightenment. She snorted, “One that trans people use to change their gender.”
Adam narrowed an eye at her for a moment. He glanced at the grinning Lindl, then said, “You’re making fun of your retarded cousin, aren’t you?”
Her eyes twinkled as she said, “‘Retarded’ is an offensive term. Only a retarded cousin would say something like that.”
The Transmuter's Daughter Page 18
