Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 4 - Comes the Hero - I

  "Working." Hailey went to the cupboard and got out a bowl and spoon, before setting them down next to Jessica. Without even glancing at her, Jessica filled up her bowl with milk and cereal, while Hailey went to get a glass.

  "That's it?"

  "I'm sure they—" Malcolm started.

  "Would you stop interrupting? I want to hear her answer."

  Malcolm threw up his hands in surrender and got up, walking out to the living room. He turned on the local news, retreating from the conversation entirely.

  Hailey sat down across from Beth and dug into her cereal. "We're doing our part. Trying to make sure no one gets found out. The usual." She was feeling a bit cranky and stubborn on such low sleep, plus she'd never really liked Beth Silverdale much anyway. Not after how they'd treated their daughter and practically driven her out of the house back in Rallsburg.

  "And that means you have to be out until the crack of dawn every night?"

  "Nah, we're definitely home before it starts getting light out. That's kind of the point."

  "What if you're seen? What if someone follows you back here to us?"

  Hailey shrugged. "We'd stop them."

  "You can't just—"

  "Beth, an ordinary human's no match for me or Jess. Not in a million years."

  "What about someone with a gun? Didn't Rachel kill that horrible man with just a plain old pistol?"

  "She had help."

  "And you're going to be up against who-knows-what!"

  Hailey shook her head. "It's not like we're going up against the army. Even if someone spotted us—and they won't, because Jess can make us totally invisible. Even he couldn't do that." Jessica looked up briefly at her name, saw Hailey looking away from her, and ignored them again. She got up and began to clean up after herself and her father's abandoned dishes.

  "I just think you're taking a lot of risks with my daughter's life here."

  Hailey frowned. "It's her choice to make. She's an adult, too."

  "Oh, come on!" Beth pointed at Jessica, who had joined her father on the couch to watch the news. "She can't understand a word of what she's watching, or anything we're saying! She probably thinks you're just going out and having fun every night, not risking everyone's lives! How can she be making an informed decision about the danger involved?"

  Hailey set down her spoon and glared at Beth. "She's informed. We went through all of this together for a whole year before you showed up. Don't you dare talk about her like you know anything about what she's been through. You kicked her out."

  "I—"

  "Dear, can I talk to you for a moment?" Malcolm said, standing up. Jessica looked between the three of them for a moment, confused, before she gave up and laid back down again. Beth looked annoyed, but she followed her husband outside and across the small backyard while Hailey finished her breakfast.

  Hailey surreptitiously waved her fingers under the table, creating a current of movement across the yard. It was a useful effect that Jessica had helped develop, back when she could still speak. Hailey could accelerate the movement of sound waves across a space by shifting around the air they flowed through, making them louder and easier to hear from far away. There was a side effect at first of loud sounds reaching deafening levels, but Hailey had managed to refine the spell over the months to only affect soundwaves at a certain amplitude. She could make quiet things move much further and reach her ears before they ran out of energy.