Second Fiddle
Well, that wasn't supposed to happen.
Frazie's arm and fingers remained outstretched. The pine cone smoldered, smoke rising from the ashes. The embers died out, their brilliant orange dulling to a mundane gray. She could only watch as Norma stomped on them, digging in her heel and raising her head to meet Frazie's eyes.
"Really? You tried hitting me with a pine cone?" she asked, adjusting her glasses. "You didn't think I'd sense you? Someone with such pitiful control over her psychic presence shouldn't look surprised when her little trick didn't work out." She tapped the side of her head. "If you tried going invisible, which I doubt you can, then maybe, just maybe, you might have struck me."
Frazie narrowed her eyes. The insults stung, but they were nothing she couldn't handle. She gripped the thick bark of the tree branch she was perched on and flipped forward. She thrust her arms out and stuck the landing, Norma appearing unimpressed enough to check her fingernails.
"So, you're the one who gave my dad that bogus advice about firestarting," she accosted, gripping her hips.
Norma pressed her fingertips to her chest, mock surprise flashing across her expression. "Who, me?" She grinned and tilted her head. "Guilty as charged. He's a nice guy, I'll admit, but man, he won't be able to light up anything at that rate."
"Not that he'd want to," Frazie growled, stepping closer.
Norma arched an eyebrow. She held up her hand, her brows furrowing. A thin line creased her brow. But just as quickly as her confusion came, confidence smoothed it over. "Well, maybe you don't know your father. He was very, very receptive to my advice."
Clenching her fists, Frazie hunched her shoulders and towered over her. She slowly shook her head, the memory of seeing her father practicing his pyrokinesis with the snooty, arrogant girl like a bad bruise on her brain. The last thing she needed was someone like Norma encouraging her dad's psychic abilities. If he continued pursuing them, especially after returning with such a drastic change of heart, then the consequences at the hands of psychics were something Frazie didn't want to imagine.
"You listen to me, sister. Stay away from my dad. He doesn't need to hear anything from a fortune teller," Frazie hissed through her teeth.
Norma crossed her arms, her sneer challenging Frazie to continue. She tapped her shawl, chuckling as she said, "Oh, that's cute. Your internalized anti-psychic sentiments are showing."
Frazie slapped Norma's hand away, the other girl maintaining her grin. "You're asking for it!"
"I'm not asking for anything. You initiated this conversation to threaten me to stay away from your dad, which I will. I have nothing else to inform him." Norma stepped aside, and a large, scarlet levitation ball appeared under her feet. She rocked back and forth, snickering as Frazie snatched another pine cone off the ground. "This has been lovely, but I have mission critical assets to retrieve and a mole to find. I'm a very busy, important person in the Psychonauts, after all."
As Norma whirled around and took off down the path, Frazie tossed the pine cone between her hands. If she threw it now, then Norma would most likely make it combust in a pyrokinetic flare. She dragged her tongue against her cheek, anger stewing her stomach, and for a brief moment, she wished she could have expelled it like the PSI blasts her brother conjured.
But as Norma's form vanished down the short hill, a devious idea struck her. Her grin stretched into her cheeks, so excited that she dropped the pine cone. She cleared her throat, almost unable to suppress her chuckling as she exclaimed, "Oh, sure! I bet someone who mentors under that bigshot with the huge shoulder pads is so special!"
In a matter of seconds, Norma returned. The levitation ball vanished underneath her, and she landed soundlessly. She squared her shoulders, and slowly, she laced her fingers by her waist, her grin tighter than before. "I'll have you know," she said, her tone uneven, "that Agent Forsythe is the Second Head of the Psychonauts."
Frazie snorted. "Which makes you second fiddle?"
Norma's mouth slipped into a frown faster than Frazie blinked. She curled her fingers into her palms and pressed her knuckles on her hips, Frazie taking satisfaction in how she roped Norma into an argument. "Agent Forsythe is currently the acting Head, and I'm her pupil. She selected me for my abilities and accomplishments. Do you understand, circus girl?" she snapped, and she aimed her thumb at Frazie's chin, "Unlike your brother who got that senile Cruller to sign his merit badges all in one day, I worked hard for my position."
"Well, through the grapevine, I heard Pooter had to rescue all of the interns on your first mission." The secretary at the Psychoisolation chamber might have been annoying, but the gossip she provided was more than enough for Frazie to stick around and listen until she thought her ears would have fallen off. "Pretty embarrassing if you ask me! For a group of powerful psychics, you guys sucked so badly that a kid needed to save you!"
Norma's cheeks burned, and her gaze wavered. "Which - which he caused! He caused that incident, not us! It's his fault!"
Frazie shrugged and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Excuses, excuses," she said, sighing. "Looks like the great and powerful second fiddle isn't as tuned as she thought she was."
Norma's brows come together in a feverish glare, her pupils like pinpricks. She showed too many teeth in her smirk, and she forcefully shoved her glasses up against her face. "Well, let's just say he will be the one singing a different tune soon enough," she seethed, but she didn't elaborate. She whirled around and kicked up sand that hit Frazie's ankles. She marched down the hill, Frazie laughing at her backside. Stray fires ignited in mid-air before fizzling out, following Norma as she disappeared from Frazie's sight.
"Yeah, that's right! Walk away, fortune teller," Frazie jeered, wiggling her fingers at her backside, "and don't even think about touching Pooter! Only Dion and I get to hit him! Older sibling rights and all that jazz!"
Norma didn't dignify her with a response. The only sound she heard from the other girl was her receding footsteps on the dirt. Frazie giggled to herself and clenched her fists, delighted to have overcome someone like Norma. She might have been a powerful psychic, but nothing surpassed the natural wit of an acrobat.
But as the critters chirped and the distant roar of the waterfall echoed in the otherwise silent portion of the Questionable Area, Frazie wondered what Norma meant. She crossed her arms and gripped her elbows, dipping her chin to her chest. If Norma had anything planned involving Raz, then it made goosebumps prick along her skin. Bending over, she snatched a pine cone, tempted to run after Norma and convince her using her typical methods, but she threw it away, disrupting the nearby squirrels.
"It'll be fine," she said, centering herself with a deep breath. "We'll just convince Pooter to leave these freaks and be on our way. Nothing more, nothing less."
Frazie told herself the shiver racing down her spine was because of the wind and walked back in the direction of the caravan.
