Reynie
Reynie was, like the others, more than upset about this new development. Not only did it seem a bit of an overreaction on Mr. Benedict's part, he was also faced with separation from Sophie.
Being an appropriately cautious and reasonable person, he understood that safety measures were necessary, but this? This was frustrating. Naturally, he turned to Sticky and Kate for support, but Kate was still acting abnormal. When he explained that he really liked Sophie and didn't know what he was supposed to do with himself now, a fleeting emotion crossed her face that he had never seen before. She departed abruptly, leaving him confused and apprehensive about the upcoming days – or weeks. Nobody knew how long it might take for the adults to gain intelligence on the situation to their satisfaction.
Luckily for the children, news came quickly. Rhonda donned her old disguise and, with Milligan for back up, was able to meet McCracken's daughter and tease some information out of her.
"Mackenzie," she announced, triumphantly striding into the sitting room. Constance glanced up from the 2000 piece puzzle she and Sticky had been working on.
"What?" asked Reynie blankly. He'd taken to journaling in the past year, and now that he had such copious amounts of free time he was almost constantly writing.
"Mackenzie McCracken is her name," Milligan clarified, coming up behind Rhonda and hanging his jacket and hat up. "She's fifteen years old and seems… well, not nice. Something was definitely off. But she seems innocent enough." He shrugged.
Kate, who had been listening at the doorway, bounded in enthusiastically. "So does this mean we can leave now?" she asked brightly.
"I'm afraid not," said Rhonda ruefully. "Our nagging suspicion is that she is on the look-out for her father, which would explain why she appeared to be spying on Reynie and Sophie."
Kate flinched at the name. Reynie noticed this and said nothing, though his mind began to start whirling again. Focusing on the conversation, however, he concurred, "That would make sense. When we made eye contact she looked away guiltily, like somebody caught doing something bad that they didn't want to do." He frowned. "She's hesitant, isn't she?"
"Guarded, to say the least," said Milligan. "We're careful not to jump to conclusions, of course, so don't start making up wild stories in your head. Mr. Benedict and Miss Perumal are working together on trying to gain details from the prison around McCracken's time there, and if he is still in custody – he's supposed to be, you see. Unfortunately, they're a very private institution and just reaching them has been difficult enough."
Number Two appeared just as Rhonda began to say something, bearing the news that they were wanted in the study. Casting a rather pitying look at the kids, she retreated.
Kate slumped down on the couch next to Reynie, picking moodily at the stuffing that had begun to come out. "What do you think that means?" she grumbled. "We'll be stuck in here for ages."
"I don't know," said Sticky, his brow knotted up.
"They know more than they said," Constance piped up nonchalantly.
The other three looked at her.
"What do you mean?" asked Kate.
"Wasn't it obvious? I mean, the way Milligan was shuffling his feet slightly, and Rhonda's tone of voice? It was clear as day that they have information they think we can't handle, or maybe they're unsure of it and don't want to make us form wrong ideas, or they just don't trust us, or something."
Kate and Reynie exchanged a look. This wasn't unusual; Constance tended to forget that others didn't have her talents, and assumed that they too sensed the things she did with ease. It was always a delicate task to get her to explain further; if she realized that they weren't as omniscient as she was, the result was usually an upset and bewilderment they didn't wished to avoid.
"I guess I noticed something," said Kate, nudging Reynie.
"Me too," he said.
"Yeah," said Constance distractedly, placing five more puzzle pieces.
Sticky wisely decided to stay out of this – smooth subtlety was not his forte.
Reynie cleared his throat, looking to Kate for guidance. She nodded encouragingly and he continued, "But, I mean… how can we be sure? How do we know, for certain, that they were hiding something from us?"
"Oh, you know," replied Constance vaguely.
Kate suppressed a vexed sigh. "I think we just wanted to check the facts with you, honestly," she said. "Since you're the best with these kinds of things, and we're amateurs, really, we were just wondering what your take on it was."
Constance paid attention at last. "Well, when Number Two came into the room I kind of… read her, a little, because she was looking at us funny. She's scared because Mr. Benedict suspects that McCracken has escaped from jail and is paying an accomplice to pretend to be him, and this matches up with what Milligan and Rhonda are hiding. I don't know what it is exactly, but I think that Rhonda probably found out something about Mackenzie's family during their conversation." Her eyes widened. "I don't even… I don't even know how I know all of that," she said breathlessly.
Sticky was gaping at her. Reynie didn't quite know what to say; to point out that her skills had improved far beyond normal human perceptions was not a prudent move. He automatically looked to Kate, who smiled at him and, shaking her hair back into a ponytail, said breezily, "Yeah, that's just about what we figured."
Reassured, Constance shrugged and returned to her activities. Sticky joined in, understanding that it was best to act as though none of these revelations were important to him, but all of their brains were racing.
It was true that Mr. Benedict's education of Constance was unknown to the others. They'd never felt the need to pry, too wrapped up in their own school experiences to think much of it. And because of the much lessened number of secret missions and harrowing journeys that they dove into, they'd rather forgotten that Constance was known not only to read thoughts, but also hypnotize. And these abilities were only beginning to evolve.
Reynie bent over his journal now, writing feverishly of the newest developments and wondering what might be to come.
I wonder what Sophie's up to, he wrote. It's such a shame that we can't see each other anymore, but I have an inkling that forthcoming events might compensate for my – and the Society's – current inactivity. If what Constance revealed is true, then I wouldn't put it past us, or at least Kate, to fabricate a plan which puts us in the thick of it. I will, of course, participate if this should occur – I won't let her take all the glory herself! He glanced over at her; she was reading the Humor section of the newspaper and laughing loudly every so often. With a small, private smile, he concluded, I think that whatever rift formed between the two of us is gone, at least for now. I could not be more grateful. Kate is, and always will be, one of my closest friends. Putting his journal down and shaking out his cramped hand, Reynie gave a satisfied sigh.
Only time would tell what the next few days might entail, he figured, and there was no use hypothesizing and worrying himself over as yet nonexistent battles to be fought. And so he obligingly listened and read the comics over Kate's shoulder as she recounted her favorite jokes, guffawing all the while.
In this chapter, I tried to capture the moments in the original books that made me ship Kaynie: the way that she and Reynie always joined together as a team, the way he would always rely on her, particularly to deal with Constance, etc.
So I have two questions: one, I've kind of dropped the ball in regards to Sticky/Cleo's relationship. Do you want to hear more about it? I'm thinking that since I've transitioned out of that setting, I can keep making references to it but I will probably abstain from focusing on it. Let me know what you think.
And two, this is completely random, and please don't take this in a stalkerish way, but I'm just curious – how old are you guys? I find it interesting because the books are targeted at a younger age group, yet I'm in high school and am zealously writing a fanfic about it. So if you're comfortable (again, NOT A STALKER) let me know in the review section! No judgment here, I promise.
Sorry for the awkwardly long author's note. As usual, I hope you liked this chapter and can't wait to read your reviews!