Ariella's biggest desire in life has always been such a simple one. She wants to be 'normal.' Unfortunately, that one simple wish has never been within her grasp. Coming from a long line of witches is bad enough, but she's even more different than t...
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The next day, I returned from my morning run with a smile on my face, the giddiness from my date the night before causing me to be more upbeat than usual.
"Hey, guys," I called out cheerfully when I spotted Uncle Ben and Julian sitting at the kitchen table. My uncle grunted an unintelligible greeting in return, his mouth full of cereal, and I grinned, realizing he must have been serious about giving up cooking. It was just safer for everyone.
"Hey, what are you doing today?" Julian asked, looking up from his own cereal bowl.
My smile grew in response to his words. It looked like I was finally making some real progress with Julian. "Nothing. Why? You got any ideas?"
"Lies," Lucien exclaimed as he sauntered into the kitchen. "You do have plans."
He gave me a stern look while crossing his arms over his chest, trying to appear intimidating. My head fell back on my shoulders, and I stared at the ceiling like it held some answers as to how I could get out of this.
"It's Sunday. Can't I get the day off?" I asked with a sigh of annoyance, but he was shaking his head before I even finished speaking.
"Even the bible says it's the day of rest," I argued pleadingly.
Uncle Ben began coughing violently, choking on his cereal while milk literally dripped from his nose.
"I've heard a lot of your arguments through the years, but that has to be the best yet," he forced out with a chuckle when he was finally able to catch his breath.
Slightly proud of myself, I shrugged with a sheepish grin and looked back at Lucien smugly. "You can't argue with a religious excuse."
He rolled his eyes, unamused. "Actually, I can. You've never been religious before. You've never even stepped foot in a church. That excuse isn't going to work. You've only had two training sessions in four months. We can't slack off now that your ascent is only a few months away. This is important, AJ."
"I might have gone to church if I was allowed to leave the house," I argued, unwilling to give in. "No one knows what I might have done if I'd been given a chance."
"Yeah, well, you weren't, and we can't change that now," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Can I come? I'd like to see this hand-to-hand combat stuff," Julian interrupted, pushing his bowl away, no longer interested in eating.
Lucien and I looked at each other, both seeming to ask the other for permission. Before either of us could respond, my phone chimed with a text from Micah.
"You still looking for a job?"
I responded immediately, tuning out Lucien and Julian's discussion of his possibly accompanying us. "Yeah. Why?"
