According to Leo, his father had enemies. My only enemies were my brothers, and they weren’t smart enough to orchestrate my downfall with the Oversight Committee.
Leo got out of the car and shoved his hands into his pockets. “You want to go in first? I’ll wait a few minutes.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the tea and chips.”
“I’ll owe you way more than tea if you can find a way to help my father.”
I just nodded and walked to the front door. I really, really hoped they had iced tea in the other realm. With lemon. And preferably crushed ice. I could make do with cubes. What if there wasn’t any ice at all? No. That would be hell.
I didn’t see any sign of Ian or Sean in the foyer so I walked into the kitchen. I was glad they weren’t in there. They wouldn’t know I hadn’t stepped right out of the pantry like usual.
I yelled up the stairs, “Sean? You here?”
His face peeped through the railing upstairs. “Are you still mad?”
“Of course I’m mad, but I’m not going to hurt you. Did you do your homework? And did you have your snack?”
Sean came pounding down the stairs. “I’m almost done with the homework.”
I eyed the chocolate smeared on his face and the front of his Falcon’s sweatshirt. “And you had what? A bag of chocolate chip cookies for a snack?”
“Wow,” he said. “You’re almost as good as Mom.”
“I saw them in the pantry yesterday.” I should have grabbed some when I had the chance. “And don’t forget to get started on your book reports.”
Sean frowned. “You’re evil.”
I held up my thumb an inch from my forefinger. “Just a little bit,” I said. “Don’t get too comfortable, Sean. I’m still negotiating for some input into your list.”
“Whatever, Stinky,” he said trying to sound bored, but ruining it by breaking into a run up the stairs.
“Don’t come out of your room until Mom and Dad get home!” I yelled after him.
Then I turned back toward the garage. As soon as Ian started practice, I was hitting my mother’s office. I didn’t have a lot of time, and this was my best chance not to get caught.
I didn’t want to give myself time to think about what I was doing. As I keyed in the combination to the office door, I rationalized. The senior staffer information wasn’t top secret. There wasn’t any reason for Leo not to have it. I’d bet you could walk right into the Genie Communications Headquarters and copy the names off of the wall by the elevator. The doorknob turned, and I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. Right, Jen. Then why didn’t Leo just try that instead of coming to you?
Big-time doubts hit me all at once, but I was already in Mom’s office. I’d violated her trust. Why not get the information I needed? I’d have all night to think about whether I should give it to Leo. If I didn’t give it to him, I hadn’t really done anything wrong.
The pink-clad genie on Mom’s screensaver winked at me. Even though I knew the program did that, I still felt like she was telling me she wasn’t buying my excuses. “You shut up,” I muttered.
I went to “My Computer” and pulled up the hard drive. Mom had a file on the Directorate.
“Bingo,” I said, because it seemed appropriate.
I opened the file to find only the names and the general information I already knew. No photographs, and no addresses.
I closed out that file and opened the file marked department heads. Here I hit pay dirt with a mailing list. Pay dirt? I was starting to think in cheesy detective slang. I had almost eighty names and addresses. The senior staffers.
After sending the list to the printer, I tried to find more detailed profiles on each of them. When the printer stopped, I’d come up with nothing, but I was getting panicked and wanted to get the heck out of there.
I grabbed the sheets. Closed all the files, and slipped out of my mother’s office. A sudden burst of noise from the garage nearly gave me a coronary. After being in the soundproofed room, the racket from Ian’s band was thunderous.
My heart pounded as I glanced around. I couldn’t possibly have gotten away with sneaking into my mother’s office.
I ran up to my room and stashed the list under my pillow. Then I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and hit the stairs a second time. If I wasn’t playing the drums when Mom and Dad came in, they’d know something was wrong.
A racing heart and a guilty conscience didn’t facilitate conforming to the beat. I sounded like a novice drummer. I would have been mortified if anyone could hear me.
I couldn’t concentrate on what I was doing. I kept thinking about Leo, and the list I’d printed, and my mother, and the criminal act I’d just committed.
Pounding on the drums didn’t chase those thoughts away. And suddenly, I knew what I’d missed in the conversation earlier. Leo had never learned to play drums. He’d just used magic to be as good as the average high school drummer. But how? Why hadn’t he gotten caught?
Sean popped up in front of me and sent my heart racing again.
I stopped playing and snapped, “I hate it when you do that!”
“I was just checking on you,” he said with a wince. “I thought you maybe were having a seizure or something.”
“Are you saying I’m playing like crap?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
I hefted the drumstick in my hand, but I didn’t have the energy to pound him. He was just telling the truth. “I’m having an off day,” I admitted.
Sean wrinkled his nose like something smelled bad. “I’ll say.”
I groaned. “I give up. Let’s go start on the salad. Maybe you can earn a few brownie points.” Thursday night was always pizza night, but Mom insisted we eat some salad with it.
“I wouldn’t need them if it weren’t for you.”
“Don’t even get me started,” I said, shoving him lightly toward the stairs.
He barely budged so he must be getting stronger. The last thing I needed was two brothers who could out-wrestle me.
“Move it, Cretin.”
Sitting at the table with Mom and Dad, I couldn’t enjoy the pizza. I may as well have eaten just the salad.
“Jen,” Mom said, startling me. “Why are you so quiet tonight?”
Because I broke into your office and downloaded secret information that I’m about to hand over to a male genie who will most likely end up getting me banished to the other realm? No. How about playing dumb? I shrugged.
Dad came to my rescue. “I guess she doesn’t have a lot to say if she isn’t speaking to either of her brothers.”
“Exactly,” I said with too much enthusiasm.
“She’s talking to me,” Sean said around a mouthful of pizza.
“Tough break, kid,” Ian grumbled.
“Ian,” my dad said in his warning voice.
“I’m not the only one on duty this weekend, am I? I have a ton of homework.”
Mom shook her head. “There are three genies on this weekend. You should be okay.”
“What time are you practicing Saturday, Ian?” I asked. I really didn’t want Leo running into my mother.
Ian was chewing and didn’t bother to answer.
“We told him four o’clock,” Mom said. “Dad and I are taking Sean and a friend to a movie. You’re welcome to come along.”
Mom and Dad always tried to clear out of the house for the practices on Saturdays. I think it’s because Ian’s obnoxious friends usually came as soon as they woke up and then never left.
“I might be going over to Alex’s for a while.” I was totally lying, but if Leo was going to check out the people on the list, I wanted to be part of it.
“Just be sure you get your chores finished,” Mom said.
She’d designed this ridiculously elaborate chart for our chores. It took up half the kitchen wall. “How could I forget,” I said. I cut off another bite of pizza with my fork.
I looked up to see Sean stuffing a whole piece into his mouth. Boys ar
e so gross.
The image of Leo’s warm blue eyes found its way into my mind. Okay, maybe just brothers are gross.
Ian belched, earning a sharp look from my mother. She usually gave them each a warning burp. For some reason, they seemed totally incapable of controlling their bodily functions.
Dad finished off his slice of pizza and leaned back in his chair. “That was exceptional,” he said happily.
Mom grinned and winked at me. Dad said that every Thursday night. I’d overheard him begging my mother to up pizza nights to twice a week. Mom and I both suspected he had pizza for lunch half the time.
I took another bite of pizza and tried to keep my mind off my perfidy.
As Ian grabbed for the last slice of pizza, Sean whined, “No way, Ian. That’s my piece.”
Another Thursday tradition. They’d spend the next few minutes fighting over who had eaten more.
“May I be excused?” I asked Mom.
She nodded, and then turned her attention to the squabbling boys.