Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) (99 page)

Tavish
crept
from
the
cubbyhole
under
the
stairs
and
had
the
decency
to
look
chastened.
“I
was
studying!”

“Your
assignment?”
She
knew
better.
Tavish
was
obsessed
with
punch
card
computers
and
was
probably
reading
about
th
em
instead
of
the
Green
Mountain
Boys.

“Well…”

“That’s
what
I
thought.
Where’s
Ellie?”

“Probably
upstairs
working
on
your—book
list.”

Whatever
it
was,
it
wasn’t
going
to
be
a
book
list
and
they
both
knew
it.
She
pointed
to
the
basement
and
marched
up
the
stairs
in
pursuit
of
her
missing
scholars.
Ellie
seemed
to
be
stuffing
something
under
her
bed
as
Aggie
entered
the
room,
but
Aggie
focused
on
the
infraction
at
hand.
“You’re
sup
posed
to
be
at
the
table
at
your
desk
and
identifying
prepositional
phrases.”

“That’s
so
boring!
You
just
look
for
an
of
or
a
with
and
strike
through
the
words
tha
t
follow
it.
”

“I
don’t
care
if
it’s
boring,
go
do
it.
And
if
you
think
of
and
with
are
the
only
two
prepositions,
I
see
a
very
red
workbook
in
your
future.
Where’s
Vannie?”

“I
don’t
know.”

Vannie
wasn’t
in
her
room,
but
Laird
was
in
his.
“Downstairs,
buddy.
We’re
not
done
correcting
your
work.”

“Just
mark
it
all
wrong.”

“Go,
and
furthermore,
we’re
going
to
have
a
talk
after
school.”

“Whatever.”

It
took
three
attempts
at
silently
counting
to
three
before
Aggie
trusted
herself
to
respond.
“I’m
going
to
try
that
again
and
this
time
you’re
going
to
respond
like
the
Laird
I
know
and
love
instead
of
this
impostor
in
his
room.”
She
waited
for
him
to
meet
her
gaze
and
added,
“Now
go
and
we
will
have
that
talk
after
school.”

She
saw
resistance
in
him.
It
was
only
a
matter
of
seconds
before
he
came
back
with
some
kind
of
snarky
comment,
but
thankfully,
he
yielded
and
nodded.
“Ok.”

It
wasn’t
the
response
he
once
would
have
given,
but
she
considered
it
a
concession
to
the
illusion
of
respect
anyway.
“I’ll
be
down
in
a
minute.
I
need
to
find
Vannie
and
Kenzie.”

“Try
the
basement
for
Kenzie.
She’s
probably
down
with
Cari
and
Lorna.
Where’s
Ian?”

For
a
split
second,
it
felt
like
she
had
her
“son”
back,
but
then
he
closed
himself
off
again
as
she
said,
“He’s
napping.
Couldn’t
keep
his
eyes
open.”

“Convenient.”

“What?”

“I
said,”
Laird
repeated
as
he
dragged
himself
from
the
bed,
“that
it’s
convenient
of
Ian
to
sleep
while
we’re
doing
school.”

She
found
Vannie
lost
in
a
book
in
the
library.
“Is
your
work
done?”
The
girl
pretended
not
to
hear,
or
so
it
seemed
to
Aggie.
She
stepped
closer
and
removed
the
book
from
Vannie’s
hand.
“Did
you
hear
me?”