The Magic Misfits - Neil Patrick Harris Page 0,21

the time she opened her eyes in the morning, there was a heaviness in her stomach. After her exercises, bath, and then breakfast, she realized that the heaviness was guilt. As Ms. Parkly rang the doorbell, Ridley didn’t know how she would face her teacher after being so horrible to her the previous evening. But then, Ms. Parkly tripped while coming into the foyer, as usual, smiling at Ridley and rolling her eyes. When they sat in the sunroom and opened the books Ms. Parkly had brought, it was as though Ridley’s outburst the previous night had never happened. What was strange, however, was that the weight in Ridley’s stomach was only growing heavier.

The lessons that day were about the history of locomotives in the United States and the decimation of the American buffalo. Ms. Parkly had Ridley read essays about the Dust Bowl and then write one about FDR’s federal tree-planting program. They finished in the afternoon with a long talk about the practicality of algebra.

Ms. Parkly went on her way after the contractors arrived to replace the broken window in the living room.

It was then that Ridley’s belly brick became almost unbearable, because that was also the time she knew she needed to sneak to the supply shed behind the town hall and see if the other Misfits showed up.

Stopping near the front door at a little after three o’clock, Ridley listened for the sound of her mother typing in the office upstairs. Clack-clackity-clack.

Yup, writing away as she always is and will be for hours, Ridley thought as she slipped outside and moved quietly along the creaky ramp that twisted down from the front porch to the sidewalk.

The sky was overcast, and the lack of sunshine made Ridley wonder if she’d worn a warm enough jacket. But pushing the wheels of her chair got her blood pumping, and soon her cheeks were flushed. Groups of kids were walking home from their various schools and bus stops, and briefly, Ridley wondered if she might be better off having actual classmates, not being so dependent on the Misfits as her only friends.

She checked around corners of houses and through the windshields of parked cars to make sure no one was watching or following her. A few blocks farther brought her into the village proper. She crossed Main Street and the town green, trying to not look at the spot where Vernon’s Magic Shop had once stood, but she couldn’t help it. The emptiness of the plot made the weight in her stomach seem to twist, and she winced.

The town hall was straight ahead. She veered around the front steps and made her way down the long drive toward the parking lot. The supply shed sat at the rear of the lot against a tall wooden fence. Unsure if any of her friends were inside, Ridley took a quick breath.

Carter and Leila’s public school should have let out twenty minutes prior—Theo’s private academy about ten. Olly and Izzy attended classes with a tutor for the resort-employee families up at the Grand Oak. It would take them some time to hike down the hill.

Ridley continued across the wide lot, steering clear of the few cars parked there. She felt exposed until she reached the rear of the rusting tin structure.

A moment later, from the other side of the shed, footsteps scuffed across the parking lot. Ridley tensed, hovering her finger over the switch that would throw her chair into automatic reverse. There was a scratching sound overhead as something scratched against the shed’s roof. Looking up, Ridley saw a little pink beak, black eyes, and a white feathered head peer over the edge at her. Then came another. And another. Theo’s doves! He must have taken them for a walk… or a flight, rather.

The sound of footsteps stopped at the corner of the shack, and Theo peered around at her. “Oh, thank goodness,” he said. “How are you?” Ridley released a shaky sigh, which was all the answer he needed. “Me too. I could not concentrate all day. My mind kept flipping back to Kalagan. And Carter’s uncle. And the brick.”

“I keep thinking of the mesmerized people.” Ridley shuddered. “And the shovel that woman used to attack my project at the fair.”

Now came the sound of rapid footfalls. Someone was running toward them. Soon Carter and Leila dashed around the corner of the shed.

“Hey, hey!” said Leila. “Sorry for the holdup.”

“We took the long way,” said Carter. “Stuck to the shadows.”

A moment