Rise of The Lycan King

Chapter 3 - Karaoke?

"Where are we even?" Artemis asked. She copied the car in front of hers and made a right turn. They started to go down a road lined with houses that seemed straight out of a high-class real estate magazine.

Her dad was driving the car in front of hers and Mimi's parents were in the car in front of his. Whatever surprise her parents had for her, Mimi's parents, Reuben and Yuki Stewart, were also aware of it too.

"It says here that we are in Broadmoor." Mimi answered after consulting her phone's GPS. "Do you think they booked the Broadmoor Golf Club for a graduation after party?" Mimi asked, practically squealing with excitement.

Artemis snorted. "I can guarantee you that we are not going to a golf club. Hell would freeze over before anyone would get Roxana Vasile to willingly go to a golf or country club. She thinks everyone that has a membership in one of them is a snob." She explained. "I think they're pulling over."

"Well, this definitely isn't a golf club." Mimi muttered as she eyed the house that they stopped in front of. It wasn't as huge as the other houses in that neighborhood, but it was a grand house in its own right. Unlike the other houses that they had passed, this one had one floor.

Inadvertently, it was lower than the other houses, but it also seemed to take up more land by being slightly wider than the other houses. The front yard, an exact copy of the others in the neighborhood, was a patchwork of wildflowers and meticulously maintained hedges. A white picket fence framed the property, separating that house from the one beside it.

Artemis killed the engine just as her family trooped out of the car in front of hers. Without the sounds of the engine or the wind rustling in her ear, she was suddenly aware of the faint sounds that seemed to be coming from the direction of the house they were parked in front of. It appeared Mimi had been right about the surprise party part of it.

It wasn't even as if the people in the house were trying to be quiet. She couldn't pick up any of the conversations, but she could tell that there was a lot of loud talking and singing (karaoke?) going on inside. Not exactly inside the house, as it sounded a bit muffled, so it was probably coming from the back of the house.

Artemis had barely stepped out of the car when her father tossed a set of keys her way. Mimi peered over her shoulder and stared at the keys. "What is this?"

"Those are the keys to your new house." Yuki said, nodding toward the house they had stopped in front of. With how quickly the words spilled out of her mouth, it was obvious that it was killing her to hold a secret for that long.

Artemis blinked at the keys and then at the set of parents before her. "What?"

"Yeah. What?" Mimi repeated.

"The four of us." Yuki began, then threw an apologetic glance at Courtney whom she had forgotten to include in her calculations. "Sorry. The five of us are so proud of you two and how hard you worked while you were in school. We wanted to do something special for you, so we went and bought you a house. It's fully furnished and everything. Some of your stuff from your old apartment is here too. We made a down payment for all the bills for an entire year, but after that, you guys would have to handle the subsequent bill payments."

"Is this a joke? Are you guys joking?" Mimi asked in disbelief.

"This isn't a joke, Mimi. You don't have to accept it if you don't want it. It might be tough, but I reckon we'd be able to get a refund on this place." Reuben joked, his Southern accent bleeding out from every word.

"No! Oh, my god. Thank you guys so much." Mimi squealed as she enveloped her parents in a big hug. She detached herself from the hug and spun around to face Artemis, then linked their arms before she could express her gratitude to her own parents. "Come on. Let's go check out our new place." She declared and began pulling Artemis towards the picket fence.