Chapter Text
Chapter 1
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Reynie Muldoon was an average looking 12-year-old boy. Admittedly, he had been through some rather extraordinary turns of events, but he always felt rather hesitant admitting that upfront.
Martina would tell him he was being dumb, but she wasn’t here right now, now was she. Here being the Wetherall’s family farm, where he had been invited to hang out with his friends from the whole ordeal of the Institute. Technically, Miss Perumal, his foster mother, had accepted the invitation for him, as Reynie had been a bit nervous to do so.
Secretly he was a bit annoyed at his new friends as well: that they accepted him so easily, like he would have fit into their little group from the beginning. While he could admire their spirit, he still thought it a bit foolish for Kate, Sticky, and Constance to trust him so easily. Of course, there had been tension at first, especially between him and Sticky, though that had devolved into a bantering sort of friendship. The adults, on the other hand, he could understand where they were coming from. They were adults, and they would just tell him as they always did, that he had been under unfairly enormous pressure, like adults so often did.
While they all initially met up quite a lot to sort out Milligan and Kate’s situation, as well as Constance and Reynie being fostered by Mr. Benedict and Miss Perumal respectively, that had tapered off eventually. Especially as the new school year had started (with Kate being the only who wasn’t homeschooled), the children took to writing letters to stay in touch. Still, the only one to consistently insult or tease him through letter was Constance, the resident poet.
Her last one had read:
Reynie Muldoon,
A boy full of dread
Too full of gloom,
And an awfully big head
Nonetheless, perhaps even for that reason, their friendship had flourished the most.
Anyways. Reynie was currently trying to find where Kate was located on the farm, as her other dad (at least so he thought?) Moocho had sent him out from the kitchen to look behind the barn.
Out of the tranquil quiet that surrounded the area, a wretched sound like a coughing cat came from inside the barn. Hopefully that wasn’t Kate! It was probably just some animal digesting its dinner.
It was Kate.
“Oh my goodness, are you all right?”
She held up a finger and then straightened up after a couple more hacking noises.
“Ugh, not again!”
“I suppose I’ll find it funny once I know what that was all about?”
“Reynie, is that you?”
“In the flesh,” Reynie opened his arms with a flourish.
Which, after a split second of hesitation, Kate took as an open invitation to tackle hug Reynie to the ground.
“Oh boy, am I excited to see you! And Sticky too! But you’re late, is everything all right?”
“Yes, our car broke down just a mile or so from your place, so Miss Perumal and her mother are with the mechanic right now, but I decided to walk the rest of the way.”
“Oh, that’s a relief! I wish you could have called, but you know how Milligan is.”
And Reynie did. Milligan was a good man, but understandably, a little paranoid due to the nature of his work. And, of course, due to being brainswept for a majority of Kate’s childhood.
“But what were you coughing about? Do I want to know what that’s about?”
“Ah, that? Well, I was trying to learn how to regurgitate like Harry Houdini did to pick locks for magic tricks, but as you can see, well…” She trailed off. At Reynie’s mildly horrified expression, she continued, “But I’ll be fine! Anyways, I don’t really want to talk about it.”
At this, Reynie laughed, and they moved onto other subjects. Namely, when Sticky would arrive, how Constance would be when they saw her again, what on earth Mr. Benedict’s surprise would be, and most importantly, what Moocho would make for lunch.
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They whiled away the rest of the morning doing chores for Moocho, catching up, and generally being carefree. One of the more interesting tidbits that crossed their conversational path was that Kate suspected that Milligan had a thing for Moocho. Whether or not it would be returned would remained to be seen, but their chatter remained serendipitous. As their talk took them near the main house, two vehicles and a cloud of dust approached.
“Is that Sticky? He’s earlier than he said!”
“And Miss Perumal and her mother!”
With that, Kate immediately ran to give Sticky a hug, with Reynie trudging close behind. Sticky looked like he’d been tackled, but he still had a faint amused smile on his face. Then he spotted Reynie.
“Ah, yes, if it isn’t Reynie Muldoon,” said Sticky, pulling a face.
“Only rivaled by you, Sticky,” said Reynie. It might have seemed off that Reynie was grinning like a clown, but on closer observation, one could see a smile hiding underneath Sticky’s grimace. And you see, Reynie said Sticky’s nickname with joy, for Sticky had been the slowest to warm up to Reynie after the events of the past year. They had a tendency to be passive aggressive with each other in the beginning, but that had mellowed out into lighter jabs and soon genuine affection. They were now both thick as thieves.
And Mr. and Mrs. Washington made their way out of the vehicles as well, with Miss Perumal and her mother following close behind.
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As they all ambled (or wheeled, in the case of Mrs. Washington) their way to the farmhouse for lunch, the thought of Mr. Benedict’s plan for their reunion came back to the forefront of the children’s minds. They hoped for adventure and excitement, in the way that they realized they had all missed, forgetting the danger that came with it. While thoughts of danger hadn’t even crossed their minds yet, it would find them one way or another, with all the tested loyalties that came with it.