was alive in any way, as if it had anything with which to look at her…
…but it was looking at her, and she wasn’t sure what to make of its expression.
She flipped it idly open to the back section, where the status listings were. Turning a few pages brought her to Kit’s listing, which she scanned with brief, weary interest. Then she paged along to her own.
CALLAHAN, Juanita L. 243 E. Clinton Avenue Hempstead, NY 11575 (516) 555-6786 power rating: 6.76 +/- .5 assignment status: optional
Nita stared at that for a long moment, never having seen anything like it on her listing before.
“ Optional”?
Since when am I “ optional”?!
She sat there looking at the listing for a few seconds longer. Jeez, she thought, I sounded more like Dairine just then than me …
It was still a strange listing. And the longer she looked at it, the less she liked it.
But that brought her to her next order of business for the morning. Reluctantly, Nita got up and went across the hall to Dairine’s room. “Dari…,” she said, knocking on the door and knowing what was going to come next.
“ Ngggg, ” said a voice from inside.
“Get up.”
“In a minute.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Dari. Say it in the Speech.”
“ Ngggg. ”
Nita grimaced. Dairine was twisty and shifty in all kinds of ways, but even now, even angry and upset with life as she was, she would not dare say anything in the Speech that wasn’t true. “Dair iiiiiiiiine …”
A pause. “Must you be so disgustingly responsible at this hour of the morning?”
“Yes,” Nita said, unimpressed by either the volume or the sentiment. “Get up, Dair. I have things to do besides deal with you all morning.”
“Then go do them, and give them my regards.”
“Not a chance. Get up.”
“No.”
And so it went for another fifteen minutes or so. Nita’s temper started fraying. I might have seen the day break, she thought, but I’m still going to be late for Millman, thanks to Dairine. Again.
I’ve had about enough of this!
Nita held out her hand for her manual, which obligingly picked itself up off her desk and came cruising along into the hall. She plucked it out of the air and began paging through it. Okay, today’s the day, she thought. Today I actually use that spell instead of just thinking about it. But I have to add something fast. Nita spent a moment wondering under which category she would find the addition she was contemplating for the wizardry she had in mind. Well, it’s a teleport, but now it’s complex rather than strictly inanimate … “Dairine,” Nita said. “This is just another cheap attempt not to go to school.”
“It’s not an attempt.”
“Uh-huh.” We’ll see about that. Okay, here we go. The shape of the wizardry’s a little weird now, but if I constrain the feeder end of the spell like this—and this— Yeah. Quick and dirty, but it’ll do the job. “You really ought to think about the consequences of your actions,” Nita said, “especially insofar as they affect what Dad’s gonna have to say to you when school calls him at work to find out where you are.”
“Nita, that’s my problem, not yours, so why don’t you just butt out for a change instead of trying to run everybody’s life. You’re no replacement for Mom, no matter what you may think you’re doing, and—”
A tirade, Nita thought, already halfway through the spell. Good. She paused just long enough to admit to herself that the remark about their mom did, indeed, really hurt, and then went on with the spell. Dairine was meanwhile still in full flow. “…when you come to your senses again, some time in the next decade if we’re lucky, you may discover that— OW! ”
From inside Dairine’s bedroom came a loud thump, the sound of a body hitting the floor—or, more accurately, parts of a body hitting the floor, and parts of it coming down hard on some of the many and varied things that Dairine routinely shoved underneath her bed.
…but it was looking at her, and she wasn’t sure what to make of its expression.
She flipped it idly open to the back section, where the status listings were. Turning a few pages brought her to Kit’s listing, which she scanned with brief, weary interest. Then she paged along to her own.
CALLAHAN, Juanita L. 243 E. Clinton Avenue Hempstead, NY 11575 (516) 555-6786 power rating: 6.76 +/- .5 assignment status: optional
Nita stared at that for a long moment, never having seen anything like it on her listing before.
“ Optional”?
Since when am I “ optional”?!
She sat there looking at the listing for a few seconds longer. Jeez, she thought, I sounded more like Dairine just then than me …
It was still a strange listing. And the longer she looked at it, the less she liked it.
But that brought her to her next order of business for the morning. Reluctantly, Nita got up and went across the hall to Dairine’s room. “Dari…,” she said, knocking on the door and knowing what was going to come next.
“ Ngggg, ” said a voice from inside.
“Get up.”
“In a minute.”
“Don’t make me laugh, Dari. Say it in the Speech.”
“ Ngggg. ”
Nita grimaced. Dairine was twisty and shifty in all kinds of ways, but even now, even angry and upset with life as she was, she would not dare say anything in the Speech that wasn’t true. “Dair iiiiiiiiine …”
A pause. “Must you be so disgustingly responsible at this hour of the morning?”
“Yes,” Nita said, unimpressed by either the volume or the sentiment. “Get up, Dair. I have things to do besides deal with you all morning.”
“Then go do them, and give them my regards.”
“Not a chance. Get up.”
“No.”
And so it went for another fifteen minutes or so. Nita’s temper started fraying. I might have seen the day break, she thought, but I’m still going to be late for Millman, thanks to Dairine. Again.
I’ve had about enough of this!
Nita held out her hand for her manual, which obligingly picked itself up off her desk and came cruising along into the hall. She plucked it out of the air and began paging through it. Okay, today’s the day, she thought. Today I actually use that spell instead of just thinking about it. But I have to add something fast. Nita spent a moment wondering under which category she would find the addition she was contemplating for the wizardry she had in mind. Well, it’s a teleport, but now it’s complex rather than strictly inanimate … “Dairine,” Nita said. “This is just another cheap attempt not to go to school.”
“It’s not an attempt.”
“Uh-huh.” We’ll see about that. Okay, here we go. The shape of the wizardry’s a little weird now, but if I constrain the feeder end of the spell like this—and this— Yeah. Quick and dirty, but it’ll do the job. “You really ought to think about the consequences of your actions,” Nita said, “especially insofar as they affect what Dad’s gonna have to say to you when school calls him at work to find out where you are.”
“Nita, that’s my problem, not yours, so why don’t you just butt out for a change instead of trying to run everybody’s life. You’re no replacement for Mom, no matter what you may think you’re doing, and—”
A tirade, Nita thought, already halfway through the spell. Good. She paused just long enough to admit to herself that the remark about their mom did, indeed, really hurt, and then went on with the spell. Dairine was meanwhile still in full flow. “…when you come to your senses again, some time in the next decade if we’re lucky, you may discover that— OW! ”
From inside Dairine’s bedroom came a loud thump, the sound of a body hitting the floor—or, more accurately, parts of a body hitting the floor, and parts of it coming down hard on some of the many and varied things that Dairine routinely shoved underneath her bed.
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