Conspiracies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,68
from outside. They’ll use the train and that Oakhurst private airstrip, the bigwigs’ll live in California, the code-monkeys’ll come from Oakhurst or outside, they’ll put housing up out on the Oakhurst land and the money’s going to dry up as soon as the construction’s over. Don’t care, ’cause by then, I’ll be gone.” His brother Tom nodded in agreement.
“Yeah.” The girl—Juliette?—piped up. “Like my gramma says it was like back in the day when it was a mansion. She never saw anything of Crazy Tyniger or the people he brought to it. ’Cause, like, rich dudes don’t mix with the po’ folks unless there’s something they want out of ’em.” The girl shot Muirin a sly look, as if she expected the dig to hurt. Muirin didn’t even notice. “Gramma says it was almost better when that biker gang took the place over in the Seventies, ’cause at least they came into town and bought beer and groceries.”
Biker gang? That’s new …
Of course—if it had been in the Seventies, it would have been after Tyniger was dead and the estate was tied up. Spirit filed that away for further investigation later.
“That’s why so many kids run off,” the last townie said. He looked like the girl; they both were brown-haired and had the same square face and deep-set eyes. “There’s, like, nothing for us in Radial. Best thing you can do is hitch a ride out and disappear. No matter how bad it gets out there, at least it ain’t Radial.”
So kids are vanishing out of Radial, too! No wonder the Radial cops don’t care. They’ve gotten into the habit of deciding a kid that disappears is a kid who ran away, and that’s the end. Spirit was willing to bet just about anything that those missing kids hadn’t “run off,” they’d been taken by the Hunt.
She was going to ask Adam some questions herself, but that was when Mr. Krandal came back with the other two teachers.
Adam and Juliette became very interested in their phones, and Tom’s head vanished back over the seat. Mr. Krandal crooked his finger at Muirin. “Come with me, young lady,” he said, frowning. “We have some things to discuss.”
Muirin got up and followed them back into the other car.
“What do you think they’re going to do with her?” Spirit whispered to Burke.
He shook his head.
They were back about fifteen minutes later, and Spirit relaxed a little. Muirin looked exactly like someone who had gotten away with murder, even though she had her eyes cast down penitently and had her mouth in a very slight frown. Spirit could tell, though, that she figured she had won this one, just by her eyes.
Her eyes were very smug indeed.
Mr. Krandal pointed at the seat she’d been in, and she hesitated. “Can I please have a breakfast box, Mr. Krandal?” she asked quietly. “I didn’t eat before I left.”
“Get one, get back here and sit down. And study those extra assignments,” Krandal growled, and went back up to the front of the car and took his own seat.
Adam glanced back at them. Muirin winked. Adam grinned and gave her a thumbs-up. She got a breakfast box and busied herself with it.
Spirit went back to the video player and cued up the mislabeled segment.
By the time it was finished, she wasn’t sleepy anymore, so after a glance back at Muirin, who was studiously watching her own videos, she plunged into her lessons. Might as well get them over with. Mr. Krandal interrupted her when she’d finished the second by advising them all to get lunch. The Radial kids groaned at the sight of the healthy sandwiches, broccoli and dip, and fruit. She ate hers with both eyes on the screen, and figured out why there were only three lessons here.…
Nothing about magic, of course. They would have known there would be people from Radial on the train, so whatever was on there had to be perfectly ordinary.
She finished the last lesson as the train slowed again; a glance out the window showed that there was light out there now, and they were pulling into suburbs.
Great. A million questions I want answered, things stalking us, and now … I go spend a day looking at artsy horse statues.…
* * *
The museum was just as boring as Spirit had feared. The horse statues were very artsy. The docent waxed eloquent about the deep meanings embodied by the horse statues. Spirit took notes. Loch took notes. Most of the rest of the