Free Rippler by Cindy

your trip to Yosemite.”
    Will hurled a rock far into the dark night. “Geez, Mick, when are you going to stop treating me like a kid?”
    She put her head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees.
    Will sighed heavily and looked at his sister. “Aw, crap. I’m sorry. I know you’d do anything to keep me safe.”
    “Not lie to you, idiot.”
    “Yeah. Okay. I said sorry.”
    Mickie shambled to one of her garden beds and began pulling weeds, something I’d seen Sylvia do when she was stressed.
    “Maybe there really was a gas leak, but it wasn’t intentional,” said Will.
    “Not intentional?” Mick hurled a large weed past the cabin. “You know that’s bullsh—”
    Her expletive was drowned by my yelp of pain as my eyes closed too late, trapping dirt missiles between my eyeballs and eyelids.
    Will was at my side immediately, herding me towards the kitchen. I heard Mickie
    shuffling in behind us, heard her open the refrigerator.
    “Milk works better,” she said.
    The water Will guided over my eyes had already removed the dirt, but not the scratchy feeling. Mickie moved her brother, held my head in one hand, and slowly poured milk over my eyes. The relief was amazing.
    “Thanks.” I sneezed as milk ran up my nose.
    “A towel, here, Will?” Mickie’s voice had a defeated edge.
    “Where’d you learn that? About milk?” I asked.
    “Raising this idiot,” Mick mumbled, passing me a towel.
    I dabbed at milk, tears, mud, and a bit of leftover mascara draining from my eyes.
    Glamorous.
    “Didn’t see you there hiding in the dark,” said Mickie.
    I couldn’t tell if her remark was an apology or an accusation.

    “’S’okay,” I mumbled beneath the towel.
    “What did you hear out there?” Will asked me.
    Mickie muttered, “Oh, here we go,” and collapsed on an ancient papasan chair, cradling her head in her hands.
    “Something about dead people who studied Helmann’s,” I replied.
    “It’s past your curfew,” Will said. “Did you ripple to come over here?”
    I nodded, a proud smile spreading across my face. I wanted to whisper to Will how
    amazing it was, gliding through the night like a shadow, but seeing his sister, I wiped the grin off my face.
    Will turned to Mickie. “There’s one option you haven’t considered, yet.”
    She looked up at him wearily, across a row of boxes filled with books and kitchen pots.
    “Killing you myself so I don’t have to worry about someone else beating me to it?”
    Will laughed.
    His sister scowled.
    “Mick, you’ve finally met someone who can ripple,” Will said. “Besides me, obviously.
    Just think about how much more there is to learn here. Not to mention, your objectivity would be a million percent if you didn’t have to rely on me for all your info on rippling.”
    “There’s no such thing as a million percent. I swear I’m homeschooling you next year.”
    Mickie growled and I realized what she reminded me of: a mama bear with a cub. She would do whatever it took to keep Will safe.
    “Aren’t you curious?” Will asked. “Knowledge is power, man.”
    Mickie looked from me to her brother, frustration and desire mixing equally on her face.
    “Yeah, well who taught you that?”
    She wanted to know more about me.
    “I’d be honored to be part of your research,” I said.
    “I’ll sleep on it,” Mickie said. She rose and walked down a short hall and kicked open what had to be her bedroom door.
    “Her door sticks bad,” Will muttered.
    Will insisted on walking me home. The jeep would have drawn attention to the fact I was breaking curfew, and he wasn’t having me go by myself, which I told him was nice but a bit pointless. I could’ve just rippled again and kept perfectly safe.
    He shrugged and smiled. “Maybe I like your company better than my sister’s at the
    moment.”
    My heart squeezed. “I was afraid you’d be packing up,” I whispered. “I came over to check.”
    “We were packing. Well, my sister was,” he said.