Free Stealing Magic by Marianne Malone Page B

of his house, with its downstairs living room and upstairs sleeping loft. When they came back out, Lydia offered Dora some iced tea, and the two of them walked around the corner into Lydia’s studio.
    Jack plopped down at the kitchen table. “I can’t go back in my room. I’ve been in there too long.” A layer cake sat on a cake stand on the table. “Want some?”
    “Sure. I wish my mom baked as much as yours!” Ruthie said.
    Jack sliced two large wedges and placed them on plates.
    “I’ve had such a great time with Dora the past two days. You’ll really like her,” Ruthie said.
    “Really? Why?”
    Ruthie thought it should be obvious to Jack, but then of course he hardly knew Dora at all. As she let the chocolate frosting melt in her mouth she also realized she would have to tell him that she had revealed almost everything to Dora. Her throat tightened a bit.
    “Well, she’s really trustworthy.”
    “I thought she was just teaching you to draw,” he said, taking another bite.
    “Yeah, but we talk. And we have so much in common.”
    Jack looked skeptical. “What could you have incommon with her? I mean, she’s nice and all, but look at her!”
    Ruthie was a little insulted, but she had to admit that on the surface, she and Dora did seem very different. “Well, we both love the Thorne Rooms.”
    “Lots of people love them. And how do you know she’s trustworthy?”
    “I don’t know. It’s just … I can tell her stuff.”
    Jack shrugged. “Hey, come look at this.” He hopped out of his chair, and Ruthie followed him into the living room of his house. He opened the lid on his always running laptop and punched a few keys on it; a live overhead shot of the two of them looking at his computer appeared on the monitor.
    “How’d you do that?”
    Jack pointed to a camera smaller than a spool of thread that sat on top of the door frame. It didn’t look like a camera; in fact, it was only the lens and a small transmitter, he explained. “I rigged up my own personal security system. I was so bored this morning, and then I started thinking about that art thief. I already had all the junk I needed to do it.”
    “Cool!” Ruthie mugged for the camera.
    “It’s wireless. I could put it anywhere in the apartment—within a certain range, though.” He pushed a few more keys. “Now it’s recording to a disk.”
    “I’m impressed. Was it hard to do?”
    “Naw. My uncle sent me the camera and software formy last birthday, and I hadn’t gotten around to trying it. I just went online for some technical advice.”
    Jack was the only person she knew who could possibly figure out how to do this all by himself while home sick.
    “Let’s finish the cake. Being sick makes you hungry.” He closed the lid on his laptop.
    Back in the kitchen, Jack shoved another large bite of cake in his mouth. “Milk?” he asked, getting up again.
    Ruthie nodded.
    “Shoot!” he said, scanning the fridge. “We’re all out. I’m gonna tell my mom—she should let me out of the house to go get milk, since it’s just three blocks away.”
    Lydia granted permission, and as they walked to the grocery store, Ruthie felt the weight of guilt bearing down on her. She had to tell Jack what she had done this morning, but she wasn’t sure how to say it. She stared at the sidewalk.
    “I hate being sick; it’s great to be out of the house!” Jack rejoiced. When Ruthie didn’t respond, he commented, “You’re kinda quiet all of a sudden.”
    “I know,” she said tentatively. “Guess where Dora took me today?”
    “I give up. Where?”
    “The corridor.”
    “Anything happen?”
    “Sort of.” A skateboarder careened by, nearly running into Jack, and they both had to dodge.
    “Hey, watch out!” Jack called. Then he turned his attention back to Ruthie. “What do you mean, sort of?”
    “She saw the climbing strip.”
    “So?”
    “I told her.”
    Jack stopped in his tracks. “You told her
what
?”
    “About the