Frog Mage

7. Chapter One

Sitting across the kitchen table from her brother, Mallory tried to focus on the bowl of cereal in front of her. Every time she looked up and caught her brother’s gaze, she wanted to grin at the thought of how soon they’d be returning to Inadon. Since Norine sat at the table with them, that wasn’t a good idea. It’d probably lead to more questions than they’d faced yesterday. Or at least yesterday in this world.

Neither of them had dressed in their school uniforms yet, trying desperately to keep things as normal as possible. Brodie’s short, brown hair stuck up in all directions while her long brown hair, that was naturally streaked with copper highlights, fell in a tangled mess around her shoulders. It had taken a great deal of effort not to brush it before breakfast. Neither of them got ready for school any sooner than they had to. If they started changing the way they did things, it’d lead to questions they couldn’t answer. And didn’t want to answer since it’d lead to their mum taking the disc from them to prevent them from returning to Inadon.

Brodie added more cereal and milk to his bowl, both still sitting on the table from when he’d served himself before.

Norine frowned, her gaze focused on Brodie’s bowl. “Haven’t you already had enough? The amount you eat is ridiculous.”

“I’m still hungry.” Brodie shovelled more food in his mouth.

“At this rate, you’ll have to get a job to help pay the food bill with the amount you’ve been eating lately,” Norine warned.

Mallory tried not to laugh. A sound escaped, drawing her mum’s attention. Picking up her empty bowl, she rose from the table. “Don’t go looking at me. I’m not the one who eats almost constantly.” She put the bowl in the sink, rinsing it out. “He’s probably growing again. He always eats more before he grows.”

“That’s all I need.” Norine sighed. “Between the amount of food you eat and how fast you grow out of your clothes I probably spend half my wages on you. I’ve a good mind to send you to your father’s for the weekend so he can see for himself that I’m not exaggerating.”

“It’s not my fault,” Brodie muttered. “And I don’t want to go to Dad’s. There’s nothing to do there.”

Norine started to speak, breaking off when her phone rang in the lounge room where she’d left it, the tune signalling it was her partner. “I wonder why Alicia is ringing at this hour of the morning.” She stood up quickly, knocking over the milk bottle Brodie had left on the edge of the table. She reached for it as it headed towards the floor, not fast enough to catch it.

Brodie grabbed the bottle from mid air, barely glancing at it. Placing the bottle on the table, he returned to eating his breakfast.

Norine stared at him, the phone continuing to ring in the background. “How did you manage to catch that?”

Brodie shrugged, swallowing his mouthful. “Guess it was that point I put in dexterity.”

Mallory barely managed not to laugh. It was close though. “Probably the fear it’d break if it hit the floor and he’d have no milk for breakfast tomorrow. You know what he’s like about food.”

Norine frowned at Brodie, glancing in the direction of the lounge room when her phone stopped ringing. “Can’t we have a single conversation without one of you talking computer games?” She strode towards the lounge room, glancing over her shoulder. “Get ready for school. I need to ring Alicia back.”

Mallory waited until Norine was out of hearing, returning to the table. “Do you think it was from the dexterity point?” Normally it’d be her brother knocking things over, not catching them.

Brodie shrugged, continuing to eat.

“I wonder how putting points in constitution will effect us in this world,” Mallory said.

Finished his second bowl of cereal, Brodie took the bowl to the sink. “I wonder if the spells you’ve learned will have any kind of effect on you in this world.”

“I doubt it,” Mallory said. “There are probably no wands in this world to focus the magic.”

“I forgot about that.” Finished rinsing his bowl, Brodie turned off the tap.

Norine came back into the kitchen. “Alicia’s car has broken down. I need to give her a lift to work. She’ll never get a taxi at this hour.” She gestured towards the sink. “Make sure you do the dishes before you head to school.”

Mallory stared after her mum as she strode from the kitchen, heading for her bedroom. They could leave early this morning?

Brodie nudged her arm. “Did you hear that? We’ll be able to leave early.”

“Shh.” She glanced in the direction her mum had headed. “If she hears you, we won’t. And we won’t be able to leave too early. Mrs Torres will comment to Mum about it.” Mallory glanced at the table. “You wipe that down and put everything away. I’ll start the dishes.” Before she began the dishes, she sent Ryan a text to let him know they’d be able to leave a little early.

The kitchen was cleaned and they were dressed and ready for school at the same time as Norine walked out the door, warning them not to be late for the bus. Mallory, who’d plaited her hair back out of the way, grabbed hold of Brodie when he headed for the door. “Give her a chance to leave. She hasn’t even started the car yet.” She kept her voice low.

“I’m not stupid. I just want to check out the front window so I can see when she leaves.” Brodie pulled out of her grip.

“What do you think Mum would say if she saw you at the window?” Hearing the car start, and drive off, Mallory headed for the front door. “Now we can check.”

Brodie reached the door first, pulling it open and looking outside. “All clear. We can go.”

Mallory took out her mobile phone. “I’ll send Ryan a text to let him know she’s left.”

Once again, they met him at the corner of their street, not wanting to risk Mrs Torres from across the road telling tales to their mum. That old woman loved getting them in trouble. Or at least that’s the way Mallory saw it from past experience. Reaching the dull white van parked at the corner, she clambered in the front with Ryan while Brodie got in the back with Callum.

“I swear this van is looking worse today,” Brodie muttered as he slid the back door shut. “We need somewhere better to leave from so you can return this piece of crap to your mate.”

Mallory looked over to Ryan as she pulled the door shut. His long, dark hair was tied at the nape of his neck, his tall frame was filled out from hours at the gym and his shoulders were broad. “What’s my surprise?”

Ryan chuckled, his dark eyes filled with humour. “No hello or anything?” He leaned towards her. “Such as a kiss.”

Dropping her backpack on the floor at her feet, she pressed a hand against his chest, preventing him from coming closer. “I don’t think you deserve one after making me wait this long to find out. It took me ages to fall asleep last night wondering what the surprise is.” She wasn’t about to admit to him that part of the trouble had been the excitement of returning to Inadon today.

Ryan chuckled again, settling back in his seat. “You need to wait a little longer.” Ryan pulled out onto the road. “This is one of those kind of surprises where you have to see it.”

Mallory took her purple notebook and a pen out of her backpack. “You have got to be kidding. How much longer do I have to wait? Does Callum know?” She glanced at the curtain blocking her view of the rear section of the van.

“He didn’t tell me either.” Callum drew the curtain open. He had the same dark eyes and hair colour as his brother, but his hair was kept short and his tall frame was wiry. “Although I really can’t be annoyed since he bought me a coffee seedling yesterday.”

“Close the curtain. I’m trying to get dressed,” Brodie said.

“You haven’t got your gear out of your schoolbag yet.” Callum closed the curtain.

“There won’t be time to get dressed, you’ll have to wait.” Ryan glanced at Mallory. “And no, I’m still not going to tell you anything.”