Burning

Chapter TWENTY-FIVE

Henry's nose was nearly touching the flyer.

"I think you are reading too much into it." Gabby chewed in the inside of her cheek and raised her eyebrows at Chris. He shushed her. This was normal behavior for Henry and if it made him feel better to break down every little dot and speck of smeared printer ink he wasn't about to stop him. The historian had called them down to his classroom every day this last week but today would be the last day. Chris appreciated how worried he was about them but it was starting to make him more worried about himself.

"Do you see this? Do you think it's a number?" Henry asked Chris. He watched Gabby put her face in her hands.

"I think its just a smudge." Chris pulled the sheet towards him. He happened to bump Gabby while doing so and for some reason she jumped away. He frowned. She's been doing that recently.

Henry only shook his head. "They shouldn't be allowing children to do this."

Chris tried not to bristle at the thought of being called a child. He was nearly 18 after all.

"The flyer said 'youth group'. Its not exactly like Scott can go without looking suspicious."

"They should wait for another situation."

"Henry, Sheira said it's been years since you even got wind of a meeting. We literally are just gathering enough information so you... 'adults' can find the next one. In and out. We just need a second invite and then I can have a some kind of explosive di-"

Chris wrinkled his nose.

Gabby squinted. "-stomach emergency."

He stared at her outright now. "Are you ok?" Since when did she care if she grossed him out?

Henry sighed. "I've done my best to talk you out of it I suppose." Flipped the flyer over. "I still think you should talk to Mariah about it.

"The flyer? She's looked at it before."

"Not closely enough. She's got a better eye than me."

Chris doubted anyone had a better eye but took it anyway. Gabby slapped her pants clean and started to salute Henry, remembered last second and swiped down to her mouth, nearly jabbing herself in the eye in the process.

"I think you get weirder by the day." Chris informed his now red-faced friend.

-----

Henry's anxiety around the mission was starting to get to him. After all, they still hadn't worked out Mariah motives for bringing Gabby here. The fact that she, Scott and Henry all seemed to have different expectations of who should be handling this was not reassuring. Gabby either didn't know them well enough to be concerned or she was hiding her anxiety well. He bet it was the latter.

She cleared her throat before the turned the corner to her room. "Do you think confronting her directly is the best idea?"

"No. But- I mean, I feel like we have to wiggle around it."

"Stop doing that with your arm."

"Wiiigggle, Chris."

Chris pinched the bridge of his nose. Gabby continued to keep doing that with her arm. "You said the messages to Mariah from this 'L' seemed nice but Mariah was scared you would touch them."

"Correct."

"And Scott wants The Lily to take care of the meeting tomorrow."

"Correct. So what are you saying."

"I... I don't know. That's why we need to talk to her. Before the final debriefing tonight. Let's go through it again." Chris grabbed her arm and gently, but firmly made her relax it at her side.