The door slammed and they were alone. Phoenix gave Miles an interrogative glance.
"So, what do we do now?"
"I was thinking we could go to the movies..." the dark-haired boy said.
Larry almost cheered, clapping his hands.
"… once I'm done with my work," he completed.
Once more, Larry's smile faded away, turning into a painful expression.
"I'm almost done. Just give me fifteen minutes…"
Miles went up to the table, where several books were piled up, along with a copybook.
Strangely enough, Phoenix noticed, those books didn't look like any kind of textbooks he himself owned. He moved closer to read what was written on the edge of one of them.
"The… penal code?"He stammered.
"Yes… Mr von Karma commanded me to read it and write down the things I can't understand."
Phoenix stroked his chin. Now that was definitely strange.
Of course, Miles had always wanted to study law. Phoenix would never forget the way his friend used to talk about defending the innocents, the way his eyes shone when he told them about his father. Still, according to Phoenix's standards, Miles still had plenty of time ahead to study for the bar exam…
He was about to voice his thoughts aloud when Franziska came into the drawing room, carrying a tray that looked much too big for her. Miles slapped his forehead.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you – of course, we're gonna have to take her…" he nodded toward the child. "… with us, so that the little snitch doesn't tell on us."
His remark earned him a murderous glare from the little girl, which he royally ignored.
"By the way, who is she?" Phoenix asked curiously.
"Who? Franziska?"
"Fran-zi-s-ka," Larry uttered laboriously.
"She's my little sister."
"Your sister?"
"Yes… I mean, my adopted sister. She's Mr von Karma's daughter. Logically, that makes her my adopted sister, right?"
"I guess so. Assuming that you yourself are his adopted son," Phoenix pondered.
"Hmm… anyway, it doesn't make any difference," Miles grinned. "She's easily as annoying as any biological sister could be."
"I can't understand a word of what she says. She never speaks English?"
"Franziska was born in Germany and lived there for about three years. However, she does speak English… occasionally."
Miles's face took on a thoughtful expression.
"Indeed… it's especially when she wants to show her father that she's smarter than me…" he suddenly sneered.
"Other than that, she prefers German," he concluded.
Miles sat at the table and Phoenix brought his attention back to Franziska. She had laid the giant tray on a coffee table and was now kneeling on some cushions in front of it. A closer look revealed that what Phoenix had first mistaken for an emblazoned tray was just a plank with handles… on which she had laid a puzzle. An almost completed thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.
Phoenix's eyes widened. Is this child some kind of prodigy?
In the mean time, Larry had come closer to the little girl and was looking at her with shining, almost wonder-filled eyes. Phoenix was incredulous.
"Awww, she's so cute."
The spiky-haired boy shrugged. It took Larry's crooked mind to think about describing Franziska von Karma that way.
Admittedly, the child looked like a doll – She had porcelain skin and long lashed eyes, not to mention her silky, powder blue hair, seemingly so soft to the touch it was begging to be ruffled.
Still, ''cute'' would definitely not have been the term he would have used to describe her. After all, from what he had seen, there was certainly nothing sweet in her manner of treating her adopted brother, nor anything kind about the way she had looked at them earlier.
He roused himself from his contemplation and turned to his best friend.
"Say, Miles. Could I have a little something to eat, please? I-"
The boy barely looked up from his book, waving the matter away distractedly.
"Help yourself… Second door to the right. The cookie jar is on the kitchen counter. And there is milk in the fridge."
