Spliced

As Indi trailed off into a pause the others recognised the tone of voice. The one that suggested Indi had some bold idea for an adventure, the sort of adventures that ended in trouble. Cat narrowed her eyes. Wolf started to chuckle. Amanda gave her a questioning look. Kass, knowing where Indi was going with this did her best to look impassive and innocent and quietly sipped the last little bit of her tea, which had long since gone cold.

“I just thought we could all use a distraction and bit of a break, maybe after a bit of research or before, I mean if there’s time. Breaks are good for coming up with ideas. There’s a project Kass is working on that she could use some help with and it’s actually kind of cool.”

Cat eyed Kass who was doing her best to avoid looking at anyone.

Indi continued. “So I was thinking, only really Wolf and I have time to spend on researching the necromancy stuff during the week but maybe if we help Kass out with this she would have some more time to help with the research for Lily and she is pretty good with research.”

“Spit it out Indi,” Amanda replied.

“There’s a haunted house with a missing will in it and I was thinking we could help find it,” Indi blurted out and then gave them a pleading excited look.

Kass felt more eyes turn her way which she also avoided looking at. Instead she looked to Indi and opened her mouth to try to tell her that it wasn’t necessary for everyone to help out.

Before she could get a word out however, Indi continued. “Think of it this way. We help you find the will and then for maybe a day or two next week you can say you’re looking for it and help us out instead. You’ve got access to that special library right?”

“I don’t know, I don’t think work would let me spend that long looking for it.”

“What are they going to do if you don’t find it?” Indi asked.

Kass shook her head “I don’t know. Probably a long litigation process that I really don’t want to be involved in. She’s got a lot of family, some who want to sell it, some who want the land, and some who say it’s a heritage that should be protected, and they’re all starting to get their own lawyers.”

“I thought you did criminal stuff?” Amanda asked.

Kass rolled her eyes and gave a sigh. “Yeah so did I. I expect I might be busy with other stuff next week. It might just end up getting benched.”

“Stuff you want to do?” Indi asked seeing an opportunity.

Kass hesitated.

“So finding the will makes it way easier right, saves time in the long run? Does your company have to cover litigation stuff?”

“We are required to perform certain duties if we wish to practice here,” Kass replied.

“What special library?” Cat asked, jumping back to Indi’s earlier statement.

“THE Library,” Indi explained without explaining anything.

“Actually that could be useful,” Wolf piped in.

“What special library?” Cat asked again.

Amanda shook her head and shrugged.

Wolf explained. “It’s, well it’s a special library.” He frowned realising he was doing about as good a job as Indi. He shook he head as if to clear it. “It’s literally called The Library, with a capital L. It’s kind of like a guild. You have to apply for membership and you have to pay a fee, quite a substantial fee but it gives you access to a lot very rare texts. That’s their mission in life, to document absolutely everything.”

“And you think the texts would be useful?” Cat asked.

“Oh yeah,” Wolf replied.

“Can’t Kass just give us access?” Amanda asked Wolf.

Wolf shook his head. “No one’s allowed access except those who are members.”

“So why don’t we just break in?” Cat suggested.

Amanda shot her a look.

Wolf shook his head. “This isn’t one of those places you can just break into.” At the glean in Cat’s eyes he added, “That’s not a challenge. They’ve got more security than a lot of banks. They’re considered one of the most secure places in the world.”

“Not to mention robbing a library feels a little wrong,” Falco added.

Cat rolled her eyes.

“How did you know I was a member?” Kass asked Indi curiously.

“I um,” Indi looked a little guilty. “My brother’s one and I er, might have been messing about in their computer systems one time and noticed your name come up.”

“I thought you said they were secure?” Cat gave Wolf a look.

“They are now,” Indi replied with a sheepish self-congratulating look.

“Are you a member?” Amanda asked.

Indi shook her head. “They didn’t want me.”

“They’re quite elite.” Kass added, “Not that, I just mean... they’re very picky.” she stared down into her tea again.

“How’d you get into their computer systems?” Amanda asked Indi curiously. She was the only other one in the group that had any knowledge of computer systems. “Through the net?”

Indi shook her head. “They are actually really secure. They have an entire database backup of the internet but it’s not connected to the internet directly so no technopath can get in. The building is completely enclosed, no cell signals, no wires most of the time. The walls are layered with who knows what. Everything’s funneled though a teleport type system. I’m not even sure how it works. They regularly update their database but it’s done in a series of steps with checks and balances in between.”

“Then how did you get in?” Amanda asked.

Indi smiled. “The age old trick, I gave Sly a usb with some code on it and said I wanted some data on something. They don’t mind if you copy some of the data from their database and bring it out you see, as long as it’s of a certain type, not the really dangerous stuff or rare stuff. Public archived stuff is fine. They have history records and stuff too, maybe even about that house. Anyway he didn’t know what else I’d put on the usb and yeah, I got in a bit of trouble, and him too. He was pretty mad, and they’ve since spruced their system up so it won’t happen again.”

“Why were looking into their database?” Kass asked

“I wanted to know what their selection process was. You know I even helped them fix a few holes in their security and they still wouldn’t let me become a member.”

“I can’t imagine why.” Falco teased.

“You did kinda break it in the first place,” Amanda added.

“If it hadn’t been me it would have been someone else,” Indi replied. “And who knows what sort of damage they might have done. I was just doing it for personal knowledge, which is what their whole organisation’s supposed to be about.” Indi rolled her eyes.

“Someone’s a little bitter,” Cat purred.

“I think there’s something about honor and not stealing information there too,” Wolf added.

“You ever try become a member?” Amanda asked Wolf.

Wolf shook his head. “They turned me down. It’s super expensive anyway.” He tried to brush it off but there was a slight disappointment in his expression that he just couldn’t hide.

“So,” Amanda turned to Kass. “You could have a look for something useful if we help with the house?”

“I mean I’d have a look anyway, it’s just..”

“You’re really busy,” Indi finished.

Kass nodded.

“And Indi’s really interested in a haunted house, no surprises there,” Cat quipped.

“We can help with whatever research you need to do to find that family and the will. That could buy you a day or two right? We’re just trading,” Indi pointed out.

“Yeah I suppose,” Kass replied.

“And I could ask my brother. He’s back in town. He could help you with your search at the library. Plus I have a few online contacts I can ask about the family.”

“We might have some old book’s on Little Rock’s history,” Amanda added. “I’m busy most of tomorrow morning but I could probably help out later with looking for the will, Sirius too. He’s here until Wednesday.”

“I was thinking of looking more into the necromancy detection tomorrow,” Wolf replied.

Indi nodded. “Yeah, well we could do that first for most of the day and then after we could go explore the house, once our brains are too tired to think. It’ll be like exercise. There’s nothing like a haunted house to revitilise you.”

“You want to go snooping through a haunted house in the evening?” Cat asked.

“Well, no I was thinking more like 4pm, it’ll still be light then.”

“Assuming it’s not raining,” Cat grumbled.

“It’ll be dry inside the house,” Amanda replied.

“As long as it doesn’t leak,” Falco chuckled.

Amanda shook her head. “Alright that’s enough for me, I’m off to bed. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

Once Amanda had gone Wolf stood up and stretched. “I’m off too, what time will I see you tomorrow Indi?”

Cat snorted. “It’s Indi so probably midday.”

“I can do 10am, that’s not unreasonable,” Indi replied indignantly.

Wolf chuckled. “See you tomorrow.”

As Wolf disappeared out the door Cat asked Falco who was nearest the door “Is it still raining?”

“Looks like it’s stopped,” he replied.

“Good.” Cat got to her feet and grabbed her coats. She didn’t put them on but instead held them inside out so she didn’t get any water from their outside on her. Before she left she turned back to Indi. “I can probably cut out early tomorrow so let me know when you’re going house exploring.”

Indi nodded and Cat left.

Falco closed the door behind her. “I’ve got some things to get ready for Monday, I’ll leave you girls to it.” He headed off down the hall.

Indi turned to Kass once he was gone.

“Is that alright? I didn’t mean to take over your work project really, I just thought if there were more people helping...”

“It’s fine Indi.”

“You sure cause...”

Kass laughed. “Really,” she confirmed.

“You wanna watch a movie?” Indi asked.

Kass shook her head. “It’s late, I should get some sleep.”

Indi nodded.

Just as Kass was making for the door, it opened and Cat stuck her head back in.

“Where’s your car?” she demanded of Indi.

“What?” Indi asked, playing innocent.

“Your car. It’s not where it usually is. Where is it?”

“In the garage,” Indi replied honestly. Usually they kept one side of the garage empty so Falco had space to hang his punching bag and various other gym equipment that he didn’t have room for elsewhere. The other side of the garage housed their boat. When Indi had gotten back that afternoon, she cleared a whole bunch of stuff out of the way so she could get the car in. She hadn’t wanted to leave it in the street with it’s broken window. Until now, not even Falco had noticed.

“Why?” Cat demanded.

“Cat?” Kass voiced, inquiring about Cat’s line questions.

“Why’d you put it in the garage?” Cat pushed, knowing she was on to something and unable to think of a good reason for Indi to put the car away given how much she used it.

“I, I just...” Indi couldn’t think of a good lie that was also technically the truth. She was no good at lying and she hated it, so if it wasn’t technically the truth she knew she wasn’t getting away with it. “I just did,” she finished.

Cat narrowed her eyes. Any one else might have given up there. But not Cat. Cat knew where the stairs to the garage were and that was where she headed right now.

Indi deflated knowing the next line of questioning was going to be about the smashed window and why she hadn’t taken it to Cat to get fixed yet.

“What?” Kass gave a confused exclamation as she and Indi followed Cat down to the basement.

“Indi, what happened to your window?” Cat asked in a much sweeter voice. It was calmer and less demanding than before but it was a false sweetness that still hinted at possible change back to demanding if Indi didn’t answer honestly.

“Some losers in town threw some rocks at it,” Indi replied before she’d even had time to decide if that was a good response. Well it was technically the truth and it avoided talking about what had actually happened.

“What losers?”

Indi shrugged. “Just some randoms. I didn’t know them.”

“Why didn’t you bring it to me? I could have fixed it,” Cat asked with more genuine concern.

“I got distracted,” Indi offered, which was also technically the truth, even if she was the one who had distracted herself.

“Is it just the window?” Cat asked as she inspected the damage.

Indi nodded.

“Bring it by tomorrow. On your way to Wolf’s. I’ll drop you off and fix it up while you’re there, then pick you up after.”

Indi nodded again.

“Next time just bring it straight to me.”

Another nod.

Satisfied Cat made her way back up the stairs past Indi and Kass. She yelled, “Good night,” on her way out.

Once Cat was gone Kass turned to Indi and took a stab at a hunch she had. “What actually happened to your window?”

Indi sighed, too tired to lie anymore. She replied “Do you really want to know?”

“No, not if you don’t want to tell me,“ Kass replied fully ready for Indi to not tell her.

Indi sighed again. “Sly needed some blood so I went out to the blood bank.”

Before Indi could continue, Kass interrupted. “Wait, you were at the blood bank today? There were riots out there.”

Indi nodded and gave a shaky laugh. “I know.”

“That’s what happened to your window?”

Indi nodded.

“Are you alright?”

Indi shrugged. “I guess.”

“Does Sly know?” Kass asked.

“No, and I’m not going to tell him, he’d feel so guilty. Please don’t mention it to him if you meet up with him for research.” Indi replied. None of the group had met Indi’s brother before. “I’ll tell Falco later though.”

Kass agreed. “Is that why you wanted company this afternoon?” she asked.

Indi nodded then replied, “Thank you.”

Kass shrugged. “I’m sure if you’d said something the others would have come too.”

“Yeah, I just...”

“Didn’t want to talk about it?”

More nodding. “The haunted house was a pretty good distraction though. Way better than cookies.”

“Yeah, well I hope so.” Kass smiled.

“What could go wrong?” Indi grinned.

“With a house that multiple people seem have disappeared inside?” Kass asked, but her tone was light and teasing.

They both laughed, neither really believing that such a thing could pose any danger.