Forest Secrets
Chapter VII
I do not own Ghost Hunt, only the plot and OC people
Mai watched as Alex went between her chemistry lab and her magic one. The older girl hardly said anything that Mai could understand. Alex seemed intent on mumbling in Latin.
Kavi stayed perched on one of the beams between the two labs. Sora had retaken her place atop Mai's head. All three of them wondered what Alex was doing as she never slowed down enough for them to get any hints.
"If you don't slow down," Kavi finally spoke, "you'll never be able to do anything."
Alex stopped and shot a glare at her owl spirit. "I'm stuck on how to remove the spirits, never mind how to purify them. The creatures I can deal with, I already have that mostly figured out." She growled, irritated. "However, I can't do anything about the creatures until the souls are taken care of."
Kavi sighed, which was odd as she didn't even really need to breathe. "Go play with the horses, maybe that will help." Alex opened her mouth to retort but Kavi interrupted her. "Take Mai with you. Use the tunnel so no one sees you."
"Fine," Alex closed her eyes. "Mai, do you want to come with me?"
"I told Naru I wouldn't leave the house," Mai told her, unwilling to break her promise.
Alex grinned. "That's why we take the tunnel. Technically, that's not leaving the house. It connects from here to the barn and back, no where else. It's perfectly safe and I use it during storms."
Mai thought about it. She had said that she wouldn't leave, but nothing that specific. "Alright, but shouldn't we tell the others?"
Alex shook her head. "No, if we run into trouble they'll know."
Alex led her thru a rock tunnel that went down and then up. They exited thru the ground in the tack room. Now Mai knew why the floor was clear in here. When the door was closed, you couldn't see where it was.
"How will we get back?" Mai asked, not seeing any way to open the door on this side.
"Press the third panel from the left on the shelf." Alex told her.
Mai did, jumping a bit in surprise at the grinding sound of gears as the door popped open. She blinked at it. This was cool. Somehow, she'd always expected her first secret passage way (not counting the Urado case) to be a terrifying experience.
"I know, Gran enjoyed showing it to me the first time I visited her. I've restored the barn and house since then, but I made sure to keep this. It was a good way to hide from my sisters. They never found it." Alex explained.
"How did it come to be here?" Mai asked, helping Alex gather up brushes and whatnot for grooming the three horses.
"How much do you know about American History?" Alex asked, watching as Mai began grooming Leo. Her tawny brown gelding was a very picky horse when it came to who tended him. He would usually bite, step on, spit on, or some combination of three on anyone other then Alex. Instead, he had taken to Mai almost instantly without even attempting to intimidate the younger girl.
"Not much," Mai admitted. "Mostly World War Two, but I don't remember much."
Alex nodded. She had expected that. "Well, the tunnel is part of the Underground Railroad." She grinned at Mai. "I've books in the office about it. I like history, but not enough to where I'd teach it beyond what relates to the current reading material I'm using in my classroom."
Mai sighed. "Naru is going to make fun of me if he catches me reading anything like that. Especially since technically we're working a case at the moment."
Alex nodded. "Who hired you guys anyway? Isn't this a bit far for a case?"
Mai shrugged. "I'm not sure who's paying us for this case. I know your sisters contacted Hikari-san about you missing and then she contacted us. Then Naru loads us on a plane and here we are."
Alex shook her head. "Tama was always concerned about me. I met her during one of my chemistry classes. She saw I was having trouble, being one of the youngest ones there, and took me under her wing." Alex shrugged. "She's one reason I speak Japanese so well, not to mention being able to read and write it passably well. It doesn't surprise me that she went to ghost hunters to find me." She laughed. "She could have just called, but she probably realized that I wouldn't answer the phone."
"Why wouldn't you have answered the phone?" Mai asked, finishing with Leo. Alex had already moved on to brushing Hero. Her sister was noticeably calmer.
"Avoiding my family," Alex explained. "I'm both independently wealthy from my own work and investments as well as an allowance from my adoptive father's company now run by my oldest sister, who, if she could, would cut me off. My grandmother left me this property and most of everything she owned with the instructions to do with it as I saw fit."
"Why do they hate you so much? Hikari-san wasn't happy with them when she spoke to us about them." Mai had always seen adoption as an act of love, giving a child a home and a family. In a way, she had kind of adopted the SPR members as family members. Except Naru of course.
"I'm far more intelligent then they are." Alex said blandly. "I was only adopted to insure the youngest daughter had a permanent playmate and someone to boss around and compete with. Unfortunately, that plan backfired. I succeeded almost without trying while the others were far more interested in being spoiled. I spent most of my time in the kitchen, knowing exactly why I had been adopted and hating every minute of it."
"Is that why you moved in with your grandmother?" Mai didn't like the harshness that had entered Alex's voice.
"Yes," she shook her head. "Gran was a dragon when she wanted to be. What she wanted always got done. She taught me a lot and loved me, gave me everything I needed and, I admit, she spoiled me at times." Alex smiled. "She would have adored you. She always said that I'd find my family member when I least expected it, and she was right."
Mai blushed. She would have liked to meet Alex's grandmother, never having had one of her own.
"Come on," Alex finished filling the feeding and water troughs. "Let's go get our own lunch."
Naru found them in the kitchen. Mai was smiling again, this time not trying to hid any darker emotions. Both of the young women had obviously been in the barn. He glared at Mai.
"I thought you weren't going to leave the house."
Mai jumped when he spoke. "I was never outside Naru," she replied, trying to return his glare and knowing that she was failing at it. "And I never said anything about not leaving the house, just that I wasn't leaving."
"She has a point," Alex broke in, "we were never outside and we're not telling how we got to the barn and back." She winked at Mai, "family secret."
Mai giggled. Alex had a lot of guts, standing up to Naru. Meanwhile, Naru was glaring at Alex.
"Mai, tea," he left the kitchen.
"I'll turn him into a cat yet," he heard Alex tell Mai, who giggled again.
"He'd bite you if you did," Mai commented.
Naru smirked. While the house was well lit for the most part, the place he stood in was dark. The perfect cover for someone who wanted to listen to what went on in the kitchen but not be seen.
"It wouldn't be the first time I was bitten by a cat." Alex replied. "Go take the king of narcissism his tea. I need to get back to work."
Naru quickly returned to the office. It wouldn't due to have himself caught. He had his own research to do.
