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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After a dull, uneventful Monday at school, I weaved my way through the hallways, dodging groups of students on my way to Lucien's classroom. I arrived to find the man I was looking for packing papers away in his messenger bag.
"Hey, shouldn't you be on your way to work?" He asked without even looking up. It always freaked me out a bit when he did that. Pushing aside my curiosity on how he always seemed to know it was me without looking, I dropped my backpack by the door and hopped up to sit on his desk. He was forced to stop what he was doing since I was now sitting on his papers. He glanced up at me with a hint of annoyance and arched a brow.
"Now that I have your attention, I want to talk about my training." Leaning a hip on the desk next to me, he waited patiently for me to continue. "How are we going to rearrange the schedule? I mean, working after school might cut into our evening workout time."
He nodded along, and his expression made it clear that the thought had already crossed his mind. "I know. Get your schedule first, and we'll figure it out. We might have to push it later into the evening or cut it a little shorter. We can't just cut it out completely, though. If nothing else, hopefully, it'll help with the sleeping problems. How's that been going since the training started back, by the way?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I avoided making eye contact. "Same pretty much. I still only get a couple hours a night."
"Same nightmare?" He asked in a tone that clearly conveyed his concern.
"Yeah, it's always the same one. I get to relive that night every single time I go to sleep," I said with a sigh, trying to block the images from resurfacing. That's why I never wanted to talk about it. It always brought the images back to the front of my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut in an unsuccessful attempt to hide the emotions I knew would be showing.
Lucien's arm slid around my shoulders, and I squeezed my eyes shut tighter while I leaned into his side.
"I'm sorry, AJ. I'm sorry that it happened. I'm sorry you had to see what you saw, and I'm sorry that I brought it up. I just wanted to check in on you."
"Can you tell me what you know? Not about me, but about that night. Why were they killed, and why did it seem like we were running when we came here? You and Uncle Ben know who did it, don't you?" I ask with a thirst for revenge suddenly filling me, and the lights to the classroom began to flicker ominously.
Lucien bravely squeezed me tighter to his side, ignoring the apparent danger.
"Deep breath. Think of something happy," he whispered against my hair.
I took a deep breath and pictured my parents' faces, but the image quickly shifted to their bodies the night they were killed. My magic started to thrum as if anticipating its impending freedom. My head throbbed with the effort it took to keep it contained.
