Heart of Glass

Chapter 16

Beep beep beep

"Snooooooze," Ariel rolled over, trying to find the alarm clock that was attempting to drill into her skull. After fumbling around for a few seconds, she finally woke up enough to remember that she didn't own an alarm clock.

Opening her eyes, she gasped upon seeing a small glowing orb hovering above her bed. The noise appeared to be emitting from it, the orb flashing brighter with each 'beep'.

"Amelia!" She shouted. "Turn your bloody alarm off you sadistic witch!"

The noise cut off mid beep and sighing in relief, Ariel fell back onto her pillow. It glowed brighter, blinding her and Amelia's voice filtered through her bedroom.

"Mornin' sunshine! Sorry bout the alarm, but you said you wanted to tag along and I might have a lead. I'll pick ya up at nine. Now get your sorry butt outta bed and get dressed! We got witches to hunt!"

The globe disappeared with a pop and her room fell back into darkness. Groaning, she rolled over and buried her head into her pillow. It was true, she did want to go with Amelia if she found something, but after being up half the night talking to the Doc and thinking about what her future career choice might be, her bed held more appeal than an outing in Melbourne with a crazy witch.

Arguing with herself internally for a minute, she dragged her legs out of bed, grabbed some clothes and her heart before heading for the bathroom. She passed Paige in the hallway.

"Why were you shouting?" Paige asked, bleary eyed.

"A stupid glowing orb woke me up."

She opened her mouth to respond, but shook her head and returned to her bedroom. Ariel didn't blame her. Even she thought the sentence was too ridiculous to respond to.

After showering, she grabbed yoghurt from the fridge and turned on the television in the kitchen. The news showed something about floods in Queensland and she flicked through the channels, settling on a cartoon. She couldn't handle hearing about the flooding and people losing their homes. It weighed down on her soul and it was heavy enough with her own concerns.

Paige joined her after her own shower. She leaned on the counter beside her, watching the strange CGI cartoon. They watched in silence for a few minutes.

"Were cartoons always this bad?" Paige asked through a mouthful of apple.

"No, I don't think so," Ariel answered, finishing her yoghurt. "Everything's dumbed down now because parents coddle kids these days."

"These days?" Paige teased. "Geez Grandma."

"Shut up!"

They continued watching. Paige flicked the kettle on. "Do you remember when we used to be late for school every Friday when Sailor Moon was on?"

Ariel smiled. "Totally worth it. I'm still angry that they stopped English dubbing it before the show had even ended."

"I know right? I still remember you crying as we ran to school because we couldn't watch it anymore."

"I never cried!"

"Yes you did! I remember you tripping on a rock because you were blinded by your tears."

"I was only nine!" Ariel snapped. "You nearly passed out because you were sniveling about it and couldn't breathe trying to keep up with me."

"Was not!"

Ariel smiled and turned to look at Paige. Her sister was smiling back at her. Paige opened her mouth to say something and Ariel saw a thought cross her face before her mouth closed again.