Macon gestured for Ridley to sit down. “I would appreciate it if you could be respectful of the minor… issues we all seem to be having.”
“Whatever.” Ridley dismissed Macon with a wave of her hot-pink nails. “Let’s get this party started.” She hitched up the strap of whatever it was she had on. Even by Ridley’s standards, she wasn’t wearing much.
“Aren’t you cold?” Aunt Del whispered.
“It’s vintage,” Ridley snapped.
“From what? The Moulin Rouge?” Liv stood in the doorway, her arms full of books.
Ridley flicked Liv’s braid as she stepped past Liv to the nearest open seat. “As a matter of fact, Pippi—”
“Please.” Macon silenced both of them with a look. “I’m impressed with the theatrics, Ridley. A bit less so with the costume. Now, if you’d take a seat.” Macon sighed. “Olivia, thank you for joining us.”
Ridley squeezed into the chair that had appeared next to Link, ignoring him as attentively as possible. He winked. “Don’t know what kinda store Moo Landrews is, but if they get one at the mall in Summerville, I’m gettin’ your birthday present there.” Ridley kept her eyes fixed in front of her, pretending not to notice him noticing her.
Macon began. “Olivia, did you feel the tremors?”
I kept my eyes trained on Macon’s face. But I heard Liv sit down and toss what I imagined was her red notebook onto the table and begin winding the gears on her selenometer. I knew all of her sounds, the way I knew Link’s or Amma’s or Lena’s.
“If you don’t mind, Sir Macon.” Liv pushed a stack of books and papers across the table toward him. “With that last one, I wanted to make sure I had the exact measurements.”
“Go on, Olivia.” Lena tensed when Macon said Liv’s name. I could feel it, coming in waves at me from her direction.
Liv kept talking, oblivious. “Basically, it’s getting worse. If the numbers are accurate, there’s a singular energy attracted to this house.” Great. All I needed was for Liv to start talking about attraction.
“Interesting.” Macon nodded. “So it is growing stronger, as we suspected?”
The “we” must have gotten to Lena.
I’m so tired of her.
“Liv?” Crap. I accidentally said her name out loud. What was wrong with me? I couldn’t even keep Kelting and talking straight. Lena stared at me, stunned.
“Yes, Ethan?” Liv was waiting for me to ask her a question.
The whole table turned in my direction. I had to come up with something. What were we talking about?
Attraction.
“I was wondering…”
“Yes?” Liv looked at me expectantly. I was glad Reece wasn’t in the room, even if her powers were out of whack. A Sybil would see what I was feeling.
And I didn’t need a selenometer to prove it or measure it for me. Even though we would never be anything more than friends, Liv and I would always mean something to each other.
My stomach contracted. This time, it wasn’t killer bees. More like Vexes gnawing on my internal organs.
“Vexes,” I said out of nowhere. Everyone was still staring at me.
Liv nodded patiently, waiting for me to say something that made sense. “Yes. There has been a great deal more than the usual amount of activity lately.”
“No. I mean, what if we’re assuming something’s trying to get into Ravenwood because of everything Abraham has been throwing at us?”
Marian looked at me blankly. “My library was nearly burned to the ground. Your aunts’ house was destroyed. It’s a fairly safe assumption, wouldn’t you say?”
Everyone in the room looked at me like I was an idiot, but I kept going. “What if we’re wrong? What if someone is doing this from the inside?”
Liv lifted an eyebrow.
Ridley threw up her hands. “That’s the stupidest—”
“It’s brilliant, actually,” Liv said.
“Of course you think so, Mary Poppins.” Ridley rolled her eyes.
“I do. And unless you have more convincing math, you’ll have to shut up and listen to me for once.” Liv turned to Macon. “Ethan could be right. There’s an anomaly in the numbers I haven’t been able to explain. But if I were to flip everything, it makes perfect sense.”
“Why would someone be doing this from the inside?” Lena asked.
I kept my eyes focused on the red notebook on the table—the rows of numbers, the things that were safe and known.
“The question isn’t why.” Macon’s voice sounded strange. “It’s who.”
Lena glanced at Ridley. We were thinking the same thing.
Ridley jumped out of her chair. “You think it’s me? I’m always the one who gets blamed for everything that goes wrong around here!”
“Ridley, calm down,” Macon said. “No one—”
But she cut him off. “Did you ever consider that the numbers on Little Miss Perfect’s crappy watch could be wrong? No, that would be impossible, because she has all of you eating out of her hand!”
Lena smiled.
It’s not funny, L.
I’m not laughing.
Macon raised his hand. “Enough. It’s quite possible something isn’t trying to get into Ravenwood at all. It may already be here.”