The door of the Chinese buffet opened, and Liam Mason ushered his daughter (the one who wasn’t lost in space, anyway) inside. “Come on, kiddo,” he urged the girl while gesturing. “Let’s see how many egg rolls we can stuff ourselves with before we burst, huh?” That bit was added with a wink, before the man moved to the nearby cashier to pay for their upcoming meal.
Scout, meanwhile, silently watched her father from just inside the doorway. He had been acting strangely all day long, as if he really wanted to say something but couldn’t stop beating around the bush about it. He was overly interested in everything she said. Not that he was really ever not interested if she spoke, but now it seemed a little odd. And this trip to eat out in the regular world seemed like it was totally planned, despite the fact that he was clearly trying to act as if it was actually an impulsive, out-of-the-blue idea. Something was definitely going on here.
Once their meal was paid for, the two made their way back through the half-full restaurant, heading a for a rear table. Liam took a seat in a booth before smiling at her. “Hey,” he started, “this is fun, right? We’ll have to bring Sands here as soon as…” He trailed off before giving a slightly forced smile. “… as soon as they get back.” That time, his tone was slightly brittle.
During the years that she had spent in almost complete silence, her sister doing the talking for her, Scout had come to realize that people would often say more than they meant to if you just didn’t talk at all. People were uncomfortable with silence, so they tried to fill it up. With that in mind, the girl simply sat there and looked at her father without outwardly responding at all.
Sure enough, it only took a few seconds of silence on her part before her dad started speaking again. “I know you’re worried about Sands, but it’s going to be okay. We’ll get her back, and then… And then we won’t let anything like this happen again. I promise. We’ll fix this.”
And just like that, Scout knew more than her father clearly wanted her to right then. She knew that this trip had something to do with Sands being missing, and she also knew that her father wasn’t working alone with it. He had said we, as in ‘we won’t let anything like it happen’ and ‘we would fix this.’ He had obviously planned this lunch with someone else. But who, exactly?
To give herself time to think about that, the girl stood up and nodded to her father before moving to pick up a plate and fill it with the food. As she made her way through the line, Scout pondered those questions. Who was her father working with, and why had they brought her out here to get lunch? Was it to get her away from Gaia? That sounded about right. If her father wanted to press her about something, doing so away from the island was probably the best way to do it.
Those thoughts and more worked their way through her mind while she loaded her plate, making her way back to the table where her father was already waiting. His own plate was only about half-full, as if he too had been distracted by other thoughts beyond simply his own hunger. He also seemed to be lost in thought, looking off into the distance with a slight frown.
When Scout took her seat and put the plate in front of herself, the man seemed to snap out of it, almost jumping a little before catching himself. “Oh, hey, kid.” With a grin that was a little too put-on, he reached out with his fork to take a bite off her plate. “Mmm. See, that’s why I should always send you out first. You find the best stuff. I didn’t even see this, where was it?”
The two of them sat like that, eating lunch for about five more minutes before a voice spoke up from nearby. “Liam Mason?”
Turning slightly, Scout blinked at the man who stood there. Ruthers. Gabriel Ruthers. The former-Headmaster turned Committee Counselor raised an eyebrow at them. “Now this is a surprise,” he announced, holding a plate of food in one hand. “I know I said you should bring your daughter out here sometime, but I didn’t expect you to do it so soon.” He gave a wink then. “You didn’t actually take that suggestion as an order, did you?”
Coughing, Scout’s father shook his head. “Of course not,” he replied before gesturing to the girl across from him. “Just thought the kid looked hungry, and this was better than cooking. What’re you doing out here? There’s not a problem, is there?” The last bit was added with a glance around, as though he was worried that Ruthers’ arrival heralded some kind of attack.
“No, no.” Waving that off, the older man simply chuckled. “Believe it or not, even Committee members have to eat too. Sometimes, anyway.” He glanced around before continuing. “I like this place. That’s why I told you about it. Believe me, if there was a problem, I never would have let you bring your daughter here.” To Scout, the man extended his hand. “Hey,” he greeted. “I know you’re worried about your sister. But I promise, we are doing everything we can to find her.”
“And the others,” Scout added for him, her voice so quiet it was barely audible. She met the man’s gaze, neither blinking nor looking away as he stared down at her.
“Of course,” Ruthers agreed easily with a slight nod. “We’re working on tracking down everyone. Whoever took Sandoval and the others, our people will find them.”
“I’m sure they will.” Liam took his daughter’s hand briefly, squeezing it before gesturing. “Why don’t you join us, sir? Maybe you can tell Scout a little bit about how the search is going, just to make her feel a little better about it. You know, if you don’t have other lunch companions that we’d be stealing you away from?”
Chuckling a bit, Ruthers shook his head a bit ruefully. “No,” he replied, “I’m afraid I am on my own today. Or I was, before that invitation. If you’re sure this isn’t just a father-daughter date. I wouldn’t want to barge in on something like that. After all, a child’s relationship with their father is too important to waste.” That was added quietly, as the man glanced away with a slight frown.
“Nonsense,” Liam insisted while scooting over in the booth. “Have a seat, sir, we’d love to have you. I know you probably don’t get to take a break very often. You might as well enjoy it.”
Ruthers took the offered seat, and just like that, Scout had two men sitting across from her. Just as they had clearly planned. There was a moment where the two glanced at each other before starting to eat. After a few silent, thoughtful bites, the Committee Counselor tapped his fork against the plate briefly as he regarded the girl across from him. “Maybe I should start by asking what kind of questions you have about what has been happening. I’m sure you have plenty.”
Sure, Scout was sorely tempted to start, why don’t you start by telling me just how incredibly stupid you both think I am to actually believe that this was an accidental meeting?
Honestly, it was absolutely insulting. The fact that her father actually thought that she would believe this hadn’t been planned out, that they could actually have possibly run into one of the Committee members just by chance and have him join them for lunch was almost outrageous.
But she didn’t say that, of course. She had more control than that. Instead, the girl simply asked, “What do you know about where they are?” Belatedly, she added, “Or about who took them.”
Ruthers’ resulting wince looked completely honest, and she believed that he meant it. “I’m afraid that we don’t know very much about any of it,” he answered quietly, his gaze meeting hers. “We’d like to know a lot more, but… unfortunately, answers seem to be in very short supply. We do know that Eden’s Garden does not have them. The rest of the Committee and I have called in enough threats and favors that I firmly believe that they did not have anything to do with the disappearance of Sandoval or the others. It seems to be the work of some…” He paused briefly before continuing. “… some new force. One which, unfortunately, clearly knows a lot more about us than we know about them. That, or it may possibly be an old enemy working in new ways.”
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“An old enemy, sir?” Scout echoed, as though she didn’t already know exactly what he was talking about. Not for the first time, the girl was grateful for the watch that Gaia had given her that disrupted lie-detection powers (similar to Flick’s ring), and blocked most of the (already rare) mind-reading powers that were out there. Because of that, Scout wasn’t as afraid of this little ambush-meeting as she might have been otherwise. Not that she was comfortable with it, but still. The watch definitely helped.
For a moment, Ruthers kept staring at her. He took a long, slow pull from his drink before abruptly coughing as he shot it a brief, betrayed glance. Seeming to realize belatedly that it was just water, the man plucked a handkerchief from his pocket and laid it over the glass briefly. When he pulled it away, the water had turned to an amber color. Whiskey, Scout realized after remembering what Flick had said about her meeting with him before. The man had turned water into whiskey.
His drink suitably changed, Ruthers took another pull before smiling faintly with satisfaction. “Yes,” he finally answered, “it probably won’t surprise you to know that Crossroads tends to gather enemies who disagree with our methods or our intentions.” Pausing then, he set the glass down while meeting her gaze. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of anyone like that?”
Without batting an eye, Scout simply replied, “Who would want to stop Crossroads from saving people, sir? Those would be bad guys.”
Smiling broadly, the former headmaster nodded once. “Of course they would be. But we’re afraid that people with… let’s say too much stolen information about our school might have come out of the woodwork after laying low for a few years. If they’re the ones who abducted your sister and the others, we need to find out as soon as possible. Which means,” he added pointedly, “that you need to tell us if there’s anything important you might have been keeping to yourself.
“Now, I know,” Ruthers quickly continued, “being loyal to your team and your friends is a big deal. Believe me, I understand that. But so is loyalty to the cause, loyalty to Crossroads. I mean, if you knew that your sister was going to do something very dangerous, but she made you promise to keep it a secret, would you?”
They were clearly waiting for an answer, so Scout gave them one. “If I knew that Sands was in trouble,” she started slowly, “I would tell everything I knew to everyone that I trusted.”
“Of course you would,” Ruthers replied with an easy smile that looked at odds with his normal expression. He took another pull of his drink, finishing the rest of the whiskey inside before starting to continue. “I’m sure that if you–”
Whatever the man had been about to say then was interrupted, as a woman that Scout didn’t recognize moved up to the table. She leaned close, whispering something into Ruthers’ ear. Scout picked out the words ‘Chambers’ and ‘detected’ before the man lifted his hand, using some kind of power that prevented her from hearing anything else that was said.
After a few seconds of that, the man abruptly stood up, with a nod to the woman who had come to speak to him. He gave Scout and her father a brief look. “I… something has come up,” he informed them simply. “I’m afraid we’ll have to have a bit of a raincheck for lunch.”
Liam, who looked surprised enough for Scout to actually believe that this wasn’t part of their plan, quickly asked, “Is everything alright?”
“Of course,” Ruthers replied, a little too quickly. He nodded back to the woman who had interrupted. “Just a little situation that needs to be attended to. Nothing for you to be concerned with. You know how these kind of things go. Never a moment’s rest for people in charge. Actually…” He paused, looking to Scout as though he was tempted to tell her something, before going with a simple, “there may be good news coming sooner than you think.”
With that, the Committee Counselor rapped the table twice with his knuckles before turning on his heel to walk away, leaving father and daughter sitting by themselves once more.
“That was… odd,” Liam muttered, a frown furrowing his brow. “I thought we were…” Pausing then as though realizing he’d almost said too much, the man gave a sharp shake of his head. “I thought we were having a nice lunch.”
Shaking that off, he looked to his daughter, pausing a little at the look on her face as she stared back at him. “Are you alright, baby?”
Chambers. Why had that woman said Flick’s name? And what was that about detecting something? Did something happen? What would have made Ruthers run off like that? It had to be something big. And it clearly involved Flick. But how? What had happened? What did the Committee find out?
Unlike some of her peers, she’d yet to actually try alcohol. But for just a moment, Scout almost wished that Counselor Ruthers had actually left some of his whiskey behind. Steeling herself inwardly, she met her father’s gaze before answering him with a simple, “I’m not a baby. And I’m not stupid.”
“Stupid?” Liam echoed, having the nerve to look surprised. “Of course you’re not–”
“Stop.” Meeting her father’s gaze, Scout shook her head once. “Just stop.” Her voice was flat, as emotionless as she could make it.
As her dad fell silent, the girl took a long, deep breath. This was hard. Probably the hardest thing she’d done. But she pressed on, raising her eyes from the table to meet his. “I’m not stupid,” she repeated before pressing on over her father’s open mouth, before he could interrupt again. The words came quickly, words that she had thought about and almost said for weeks now, but had always held back. Now, however, nothing could stop them. Being lied to like this, her own father helping to ambush her with Gabriel Ruthers in an attempt to either convince or trick her into betraying her friends… it brought everything out in a rush. For a girl who had spent so long not talking, the words flooded out in a tsunami.
“You love me. I know that. I know that you love me.” The statement tasted like ash in her mouth. But she pressed on. As much as it hurt, as awful as it felt, she pushed on. “But you don’t respect me. When… when you love someone, you trust them. You don’t manipulate them. You don’t lie to them. You don’t try to trick them into revealing secrets that they’re not ready to tell you yet. You don’t betray the people who trust you, just because you think you know better than they do. Part of… of loving someone, of trusting them, is giving them a chance. It’s accepting that they might know more than you do about something.”
That was straying very close to what was obviously things she shouldn’t know about (and which she was fairly certain that her father suspected she did know), but Scout avoided saying it out loud. As long as there was that certain level of deniability, her father wouldn’t risk openly asking what she knew. He wouldn’t take that plunge.
“You’re my dad. You’ve taken care of me since I was a baby. You were always there for me. Especially after Mom… after Mom was gone. You’re my daddy. You’ll always be my daddy. But you made a choice. You… keep making choices… that show that it… doesn’t matter how much you love someone. It doesn’t matter how much someone loves you. You will never… trust them the way that they need you to, the way that I need you to. You love and protect and take care of me. And I’ll always love you for that. Always. But you don’t trust me. You don’t believe in me. You lied to me. You tried to trick me with this stupid lunch, because you still think I’m a baby.
“You don’t love someone by controlling or tricking them, Dad. You love them by trusting them. Even when it’s hard. Even when it goes against what you think you know. You listen to them. You give them a chance. You love them by not by betraying them when they trust you. And not by… by ambushing them with someone like Counselor Ruthers. You tricked me. You lied to me. If you wanna know something, either ask me. Or ask yourself why you think I wouldn’t tell you the truth.”
“Scout, baby, I–”
“I’m not a baby,” she corrected once more before the man could continue. “I’m not a baby.”
Visibly shaking and unable to stop it or control herself any more than she already was, the girl pushed herself into a standing position. “I’m going to call Aunt Ginny to take me back to the school.”
Looking like he had been struck, Liam managed to shake his head faintly. “Ba–Scout, wait. Look, we can still have a nice lunch. It can be our day. Just you and me, I promise.”
“No.” Scout shook her head, swallowing the hard lump that had formed in her throat. “We can’t. I… I can’t. Dad… I’m sorry. I love you. You know that.” She reversed the statement that she had started this with. “You know that I love you. I’ll always love you. Always.
“But I don’t respect you.”
With that final statement, coming in a voice that cracked with each word, the girl turned on her heel. And then she walked away, blinding tears flooding her eyes as she left her father sitting there.
Alone.