Chapter 45

Rikki, who had been munching away at her chicken, looked up and around the room. That was a sound made by a human. A muffled sneeze? Had one of the kids snuck away from school? That was highly unlikely. As she pondered this, she placed her half-eaten chicken down on the bench. With a frown, she began to investigate.

'Of all times,' Drew thought. He kicked himself mentally and buried his head in his knees trying to be obscure as possible. He could feel Rikki's eyes searching the room, a radar unblinking. Though he couldn't see he felt with cold certainty that she had taken in his large form huddled behind the doorframe.

"I can see you. Come on out." She ordered coaxingly. Drew didn't want to move and face the wrath of this pretty lady. He felt like a little boy again; he had seen how Rikki dealt with rebellious youth at her cafe. What was he thinking? Here he was, a young man cowering in the corner of a kitchen. He sighed and left his hiding place standing tall, trying not to look timid.

Rikki dropped the comforting front. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Drew." He replied in a small voice, cursing inwardly at how it portrayed his lack of courage.

"And what, may I ask, are you doing in my kitchen?"

"Exploring...why is this place off-limits to the public?"

"Its private property," Rikki replied in a 'duh' tone, "Would you like random strangers or 'explorers' such as yourself walking through your property?"

Drew shrugged in response; this was a good point. "You are the owner of Rikki's Cafe, why do you live over here?"

"Cos' I can." She retorted with an annoyed voice.

"What is this place?" Drew ventured, "Everything here is made of something weird...it's so surreal..."

"What's with all the questions? " Rikki demanded, interrupting.

"I'm curious," he replied, gaining confidence, "You must be hiding something here. What were you doing just before? That was not natural..." Drew collected his thoughts, "You just moved your hand and the chicken started cooking..."

"I don't know what you mean," Rikki replied quickly, "Why did you explore this side of the island anyway, there was heaps to explore on the public side. Did you not read all the signs? You realise you've put yourself in a lot of trouble."

"I was just so curious,' Drew tried to defend himself.

"We'll have to press charges unless..." she trailed off.

"Unless what?" Drew asked keenly. His parents would not be impressed, his dad in particular...even if it was just for trespassing.

"Unless you promise not to breathe a word of what you have seen or heard here,"

"Why?"

"We don't want more people coming and exploring these interesting works of architecture, do we? I for one do not want my home to be a place for tourists and reporters." Rikki said off the top of her head. She hoped it was believable. Drew was not convinced. He knew there was something she was hiding, that she did not want anyone to know about.

"How would monitor whether I told anyway?"

He received an icy glare in response. He really did not want to receive one of those again. He knew that if she found out she would hunt him down and...Well actually, he did not know what she could do. He would agree to keep quiet to be granted amnesty.

"Okay, I promise not to tell,"

"Good." Rikki said, not trusting him. "I warn you, if you are ever seen even on the border of the private property again, those charges will be incoming." She paused, "Let me walk you back to the public campsite." She suggested. Drew knew this was more of an order or command rather than a friendly suggestion.

After making sure Drew was back at his campsite, Rikki returned to the kitchen fuming. Adding to her anger, her chicken was cold when she returned and when she tried to warm it up with her powers, but because of her frustration, she burnt it to a crisp. She made a couple of rather charred sandwiches for herself and Zane. He had better not say anything. The heat she was creating was starting to melt the ice box; she sprinted to the beach and powered herself to the mainland.

She was not happy. She stormed into the cafe a frown on her face. Zane was just wiping down the countertop when Rikki grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him into the office. Zane hadn't seen his wife like this in quite a while; what had upset her? She was supposed to be in bed, resting.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Firstly, here's your damn lunch," she said shoving it at his chest, "and secondly, I found a young man exploring our kitchen." She waited for a response.

"Why would finding a young man in the kitchen get you all riled up?"

Rikki just stared at him in disbelief.

"What?"

"Zane not here! On the island!"

"Oh!" he realised joining in her concern. He also realised that it was getting uncomfortably warm in there. "Rikki, calm down, your heating up the room,"

"Am I? Sorry," she said taking deep breaths to calm herself down. As she did so the feeling of sickness washed back over her, a dizzy spell catching her off balance as she swayed to sit on the couch. Zane rushed over to sit by her taking her hand. "Rikki, you are not well,"

As much as she wanted to deny it, he was right. What had happened? She was usually way more in control of her power; it must be the sickness talking.

"So this guy, he ignored the signs?"

"Apparently,"

"Won't he tell?"

"I made him promise otherwise I'd track him down."

"That sounds like an empty threat..."

"You think I don't know that? What else was I supposed to do?"

"Hold him hostage?"

Rikki gave him a look. "Okay, okay, just a suggestion,"

"I know he'll probably tell, but we'll just have to deal with that when the time comes,"

A/N: Hi everyone, sorry it's been a while. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please continue to review :D

Thanks especially to Sparksfly3737, Zikki3, XxRaindr0pxX, Quillox, Guest, epic MAXIMUM RIDE, and Juliet Knighly for reviewing, it always means a lot to me :D