“Too bad indeed. However, about those skunk vials and loot you helped yourself to from my safe . . .” Seth moved to join his sister, who immediately took to looking somewhat wary, although she masked that a moment later when she lifted her chin.
“What about it?” she asked.
“Have you considered that it might be tricky to use those bills you stole from my safe since they now reek of skunk?”
Norma Jean waved that aside. “I’m not an idiot, Seth. I didn’t put the money Iborrowedfrom you into my reticle. That’s a robbery just waiting to happen. I sewed it into my drawers instead as any sensible person would do.”
“A rather ingenious place to stash money, even if you shouldn’t haveborrowedmy money or skunk deterrent in the first place.”
Norma Jean crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you, or did you not, when you were speaking about a personal safety device, tell me that it was mine?”
It wasn’t exactly unexpected when Seth’s eyes went a little distant before he frowned. “I did tell you that.”
“Then it stands to reason that I didn’t even need to borrow the skunk devices since they already belonged to me.”
“I wasn’t intending to give you over forty vials of it.”
“But you never clarified that with me.”
“Perhaps not, but IknowI never told you that you could help yourself to any money that’s stashed in my safe.”
Norma Jean was smiling a second later. “You once told me, when I was ten and was crying because I’d run out of pin money but needed a new pair of ice skates because Velma was hosting a skating party on the lake, that there was no need for me to cry because you’d always spot me money whenever needed, so . . .”
“The cost of a pair of ice skates is far different from helping yourself to all the money I had in my safe.”
“True, but you did say you’d spot me money whenever needed, and I definitely needed money to fund this venture.” She gave Seth’s shoulder a pat. “I have every intention of giving you most of it back, though.”
“You’ll giveallof it back, just like you’ll promise to never help yourself to any of my inventions again from this point forward.” Seth shook his head. “Know, though, that I’m perfectly aware that I’m somewhat to blame for the skunk debacle since, clearly, even considering giving students a skunk deterrent was a grave error on my part as that particular safety device obviously needs to be reserved for young ladies who possess a certain level of maturity.”
“I just used them to free Miranda. How much more mature would you want me to be?”
“Mature enough to realize that disrupting an entire afternoon of classes, as well as rendering numerous students ill and coercing your friends into aiding you—that aid getting them suspended—was an irresponsible thing for you to do.”
Norma Jean’s brows slammed together as she shot a look of pure outrage Annaliese’s way. “My friends got suspended?”
Annaliese inclined her head. “Of course they did, because, again, what they agreed to do for you disrupted classes, and I can’t tell you how many students literally lost their lunches because of the smell.”
The outrage faded from Norma Jean’s eyes. “I didn’t think about anyone growing ill.”
“I’m sure you didn’t, but that’s what happened, so now you, along with your friends, have to accept the consequences.”
Norma Jean was glaring at Seth a second later, evidently having nothing of worth to say to Annaliese. “You’ve ruined everything by tracking me down.”
“And I’m not sorry about that, but . . .” Seth frowned. “You didn’t actually think that I would lounge around, twiddling my thumbs and simply wait in Chicago for you to return, did you?”
“I didn’t think you’d even notice I was gone,” Norma Jean shot back.
“I was at the academy not long after the skunking happened and realized rather quickly that you were nowhere to be found.”
Norma Jean’s lips thinned. “You told me you weren’t going to be at the academy that day because you had a meeting with someone.”
“No. I told you I couldn’t pick you up from classes. I was at the academy before lunch.”
“To check up on me?”
“Not at all. I’d gone there to enjoy a luncheon with Annaliese, and one where we’d been planning to discuss bugs, something that had to be postponed due to your shenanigans.”
Annaliese couldn’t refuse a wince when Norma Jean immediately leveled a glare on her brother, muttered something that sounded like “unbelievable,” then turned on her heel and stalked away from everyone without another word.
