Chapter 23 - Spy Games

That evening, the media report on the earthquake and collapse.

No further tremors occur that night.

---

The Hunters regroup in the morning at Shake-a-licious, mid-morning. They have a booth to themselves and are choosing shakes from a laminated menu.

Beverly has been tinkering with her tools late into the previous night and looks a little tired.

Alana couldn't shake off her little brother Benny, today. HE is currently making loud sucking noises drinking strawberry shake from a straw. Ripper is also with them.

Logan stopped at Eddard's before coming here, and Mr Zhao applied some more needles to treat his bumps and bruises.

Bev is sipping on her own milkshake--vanilla.

"Can you, like, not do that," she says to Benny, referring to the sounds he's making. "You're going to make me ralph."

She turns back to Al. "So, the news said the pier is closed, so it should be pretty easy to get there without anyone bothering me." She makes a loud sucking noise as she drinks from her straw. "What's the play?"

"We should go down to the pier and pretend like we heard rumors that Solomon would be there," Al suggests. She slaps Benny's head for his annoying sucking. "Then we stage a fight, Johnny and I pretend to leave and you keep searching and when you find them, convince them to let you join."

She nods at herself for her good plan and then begins sucking her own strawberry milkshake as loudly as she can.

I don't think Chet will buy the plan. Johnny felt he had to speak up. He's not gonna care about us when he has Solomon. I mean, he's kinda neglected Hock and the others once 'Solly' got the Fulcrum. He pushed the mostly empty plate of fries aside to make room, Chet, I think, is like most bullies. He feels small so he acts big, he feels powerless so he's attracted to power. I don't think he's gonna care about us since 'Solly' already beat us. Reconsidering,he took one last fry from the ketchup streaked plate, Besides, Hock said something else that I've been thinking about all last night. He said that Solomon was afraid of what we did that night. The ritual that was supposed to destroy the Fulcrum...if it hadn't got interrupted so quickly.. He looked to the others, I wonder if we could make the octagon bigger, like WAY bigger, and and catch him in it?

"I like it... how big we're talking? A block?? The whole town???" he says widening his eyes at Johnny's idea.

"The whole town!"

"Chet wanting power is why he will believe it; I'll be his new goon. Sure, we don't have to stage a fight--I'll just tell him I'm switchin' sides. And then when you're ready with your big octagon trap I can feed them information to bring them to the trap!"

A group of older kids gets in the parlour, joking noisily between them. Bev glances at them and recognizes them as his brother's football teammates. Sure enough, Brian is with them too, and he spots her.

he steps closer. He is tall and athletic, as you'd expect one of the promising junior high school football stars to be. "Hey, li' sis! Causin' trouble as usual? And who are these?" he eyes the group, double taking at Johnny's uneven 'haircut' "Whoa, man!! What's that? You had a fight with your barber?!?!"

His friends laugh loudly at the joke, high-fiving him in a complex team sequence of gestures.

Al pushes up from her chair, facing the older boy. Hearing someone make fun of Johnny's hair always pushes her buttons.
"Leave Johnny alone!" she tells him as she tries to stare him down despite her lack of height or muscle.

Bev glares at the implication that she's causing trouble, slinks down in her seat when Brian makes his 'joke', then is shocked awake by Al's exclamation.

"Brian! He just... I don't know, what's it to you what his hair looks like...? I mean, it looks fine, right?"

She's torn between backing up Al and getting approval from her brother. "What'you want," she asks him.

Johnny looked up to the older boy, No. I just took on Chet and his friends. We all did. Chet got in a couple of good licks and cut my hair before I broke his nose. he'd forgotten that Bev wasn't with them then. My hair will grow back out, Chet's nose won't grow anything but crooked. You know Chet? He's about your age...

Bev points around the table, "Al, Logan, Johnny, Benny."

Collar tags jingle under the table. "And Ripper."

"This is Brian," she says of her brother. "We're related; or so they tell claim." Bev jests--she loves Brian more than anything but is embarrassed showing her feelings.

Bev answers his question from before. "We're not making trouble, just...talking, for now," she says, a look familiar only to Brain plays on her face.

"You're Bev's brother?" Al asks. She considers the boy for a moment, but decides he seems alright. He said something nice to Johnny after all, once he had explained his haircut.

She then turns to Bev. "Want to trade?" she asks, nodding towards Benny.

Bev rolls her eyes at Brian's comment, but pride swells in her chest.

As Brian stands to leave, Bev says to Al, "You say that now, but trust me you would not want to trade."

Bev gets up too, and follows her brother, stopping him with a tug on shirt. She lowers her voice. "Did you talk to coach Capmen; are you going to the LSU camp next month," she asks, trying to sound ambivalent, but her guts are in knots.

She knows if he goes, he's one step closer to his scholarship dreams, and one step closer to leaving...

As Bev leaves the table, Al turns to Logan. "So unfair. Bev has Brian and you have Anna and I'm stuck with Benny." She looks at Johnny. "Do you have any cool siblings you've kept secret from us?"