Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 16 - Rebirth - VI

  "What do you mean you won't be there?" she asked.

  Quinn's face fell. "...My grandpa died. We're flying down to San Diego tonight and we'll be there for two weeks."

  "Oh..." Natalie's instincts were pulling her apart. On the one hand, she wanted to give him a hug and try to comfort him, but on the other... she couldn't. The damaged half of her won out, and she just sat there awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

  "Thanks."

  The rest of the group had left, with Mitch promising to fill Tyler in on the details. They all had things to do, leaving Quinn and Natalie alone in the library. Natalie sat there a little uncomfortable, not sure what to say. It wasn't like she were unfamiliar with death—in fact she was painfully familiar—but she'd never known the death of a family member. Just from the way he'd said it, they'd definitely been close.

  "I'm sure it'll go okay. Steven can handle adults. He's good at that," Quinn added.

  "Yeah."

  "Are you worried?"

  She shrugged, putting on bravado. "What do I got to be worried about? I can do magic."

  He grinned. "I don't think you can just magic your way out of the evil queen's office."

  "...Why do you guys call her that anyway? She seemed nice to me."

  Quinn frowned. "You know, I dunno. I always just heard stuff about her. And the way she looks, you know?"

  "Yeah, she looks evil. But she's actually been really cool to me."

  "Huh."

  "And look at me right?" Natalie struck a pose, like she were holding up a knife. "Do I look like some crazy gang member with magical superpowers to you?"

  "Not even a little."

  "Uh huh." She could tell she was cheering him up, even if it was just by distracting him a bit.

  He smiled. "You're really cool, Natalie."

  Hearing it aloud gave them both pause. Natalie's mouth opened a little, but she didn't say anything. She bit her lip, not sure how to respond. It sounded so nice to hear her name, since she never got to hear it anymore, and the way he said it made it sound like the most special name in the world... but he shouldn't even have known it.

  Quinn winced. "Sorry. I forgot."

  "...No, it's okay," she admitted, as much to herself as to Quinn. "I just... no one calls me that anymore. Not out loud."

  "I'll try to remember—"

  "I want you to."

  "Huh?"

  Her face got red. "When it's just us, I mean. I want you to call me Natalie. I miss my name."

  "Okay... Natalie."

  Her face got even more red. She felt like someone had lit a fire inside her cheeks—warm and embarrassing and pleasant all at once. "Just don't tell any of the gang."

  "And break our secret group pact of trust?" Quinn said with a grin. "I tell them everything."

  "No you don't," Natalie grinned. "You told me none of them know about how you secretly love all the super girly TV shows."

  His eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare."

  Natalie smirked. "If anything ever gets out, I'll tell. I know your dark secrets. You shouldn't have told me so much."

  "Oh, you don't know my dark secrets," he shot back.

  "And you definitely don't know mine."

  They both stared at each other, suddenly awkward again. The total silence of the library didn't help much, as the only sound filling the gap was a slight buzz of a lightbulb way above them.

  "...Did you bring the decks?" Natalie prompted. Anything to clear her mind of the images that had been flashing through her skull, of things she never wanted Quinn to know.

  "Huh?"

  "Conquest, dummy."

  "Oh." He reached into his backpack, where sure enough he'd brought the whole main set. "You still haven't played a game, have you?"

  "I've watched you guys plenty. I think I got this." In truth, Natalie had actually read up on the rules and even a few guides, sitting out in the forest on her phone. It seemed like it could be pretty fun, and she definitely could do with some more fun in her life. The most she got was spending time with Percy and the other animals she'd befriended in the forest around her house.

  Quinn set out the territory card stacks, then lined up the generals behind it. Natalie was already trying to get into the mindset of the game. Anything to distract her from the painful twinge on her face that kept reminding her of the weekend she'd made it through. I'm with my friend now. I'm here. Everything happened, and I survived. I'm going to make it through this, and I'm gonna have a good time here hanging out with Quinn.

  And I'm going to pick Linnethea and totally annihilate him.

  ...But what if he expects me to pick her and drafts stuff against her? He could pick zero forests or elflands and I'd lose a lot of options.

  I can beat him if I draft against that. I can go with an all-undead plan and then take out his farms with pestilence spells, since he won't have any elves to protect them. And I'll have forests but I won't care about it, 'cause I don't gotta feed my guys anyway.

  "Natalie?" he asked, and again it sent a tiny pleasant tingle through her ears.

  "Oh! Sorry." She hadn't noticed it was already set up. "Uhh, who picks first?" She knew there was an official way to pick, but she couldn't remember it.

  "Normally we just always let whoever lost the last game decide. How about you just choose? You wanna go first or second?"

  "...Second." She still wasn't sure if she even had a strategy, so she wanted to just see what he did and figure it out from there.

  "Okay." Quinn glanced across the line of sixteen territory cards carefully, then picked up one of the farms. Natalie grabbed two forests, and to her silent delight, Quinn picked up another farm.

  Bingo. Gotcha, Quinn.