"I'd still like to know why the hell no one sent me an angel earlier on in life. I mean, my sister has made me her slave since I was old enough to understand what she was saying. She dropped her ring down the toilet once and literally made me try to get it... And then when I couldn't, she just shoved my head in the toilet." She said
The boys snickered but tried hard to contain their urge to laugh at the girl. "Sorry babe, we don't make the rules." Luke said with a slight smirk.
Cora immediately frowned. "Don't me call me babe... It makes me uncomfortable." She muttered and pulled her knees up to her chest. Luke and Michael exchanged odd looks. Usually everything that a kid disliked was in their file, all their life experiences, everything. There was no mention of 'babe' being something she didn't like.
"Why does it make you uncomfortable?" Luke asked bluntly. In his mind, there was no point in trying to be subtle. It was easier to get right to the point.
"Don't want to talk about it." Cora said quickly and then turned to Michael. "So, how long have you two been doing this whole angel thing?" She asked, immediately changing the subject. She didn't fail to notice the odd look Luke gave her.
"Well we've been working together for almost three hundred years." Michael said smiling widely. Cora was sure she must have misheard. He had said it as if three hundred years was such little time.
"What the hell? How old are you guys? Are you immortal?" She asked. Today was by far the most confusing day of her life and she still hadn't totally ruled out the possibility that the car had hit her and this was all some weird coma induced dream.
"It's complicated. Just go with it." Michael told her. Cora nodded with a sigh and glanced around the living room where they sat. She had a million and one questions and she didn't know where to begin... Or how long before they got fed up and went back to wherever they stayed. Suddenly, she wondered where exactly these two odd guys lived.
"So where are you guys staying? And how will I tell you when I need you? Do I just call your names or is there some sort of summoning spell or...?" She rambled on.
"You ask an awful lot of questions." Luke grumbled and leaned forward in his seat. "But we live here now. And don't worry about your parents, we've already laid down a spell so they think it's perfectly normal that we're here all the time. Most of the time we'll be with you but if we aren't, all you have to do is call out our names and we'll be here in a flash. Literally." Luke said looking quite bored.
She continued to berate them with a multitude of questions which only made her increasingly more confused. Somehow they'd made it to the topic of how they used their magic and the fact that they wielded it with their hands alone.
"So, you're telling me that you don't own wands?!" Cora was surprised although she wasn't quite sure why. She'd seen them do magic without wands and yet in her mind, she pictured them with wands.
"What kind of magical creatures are you? You don't even have wands." She said, shaking her head, slightly disappointed. If they had wands there was a chance she could 'borrow' one and do magic herself. So much for that idea.
"I don't know, Cora. We don't make the fucking rules." Luke said, He was very quickly becoming annoyed with her continual stream of questions. This was the last place he wanted to be, even if he had made nice he still wasn't happy. Michael wanted to smack the back of Luke's head for dropping the f- bomb.
"Shut up Luke, don't say those words." He said instead of slapping his friend. "Anyways, I don't know either. I guess it's because we just don't need them. Maybe we're like... witches? Wizards? The ones that get the power out of their fingers and stuff." Michael said shrugging.
"Witches and wizards are the same thing Michael. Witches are female and wizards are male... at least that's how it works in Harry Potter." She said with a hint of a smile.
Luke just shrugged at every word spoken to him and he wasn't acting very nice towards Cora or Michael. It was Evan, Luke missed him. He was a little devil child with the perfect touch of kindness. He didn't want any other assigned kid if it wasn't Evan.
"We just don't have fucking wands, kid. Get over it, would you?" Luke said loudly, clearly annoyed. Cora rolled her eyes and Michael frowned.
"Don't do that. Don't roll your eyes. it's rude." Michael said.
"Sorry, mom." She spat. Luke was getting on her nerves, and it wasn't like Michael was any better. She was so used to being alone that she didn't like people at all and didn't know how to act around them. Silence fell over the three of them as they just sat there, looking around the room and trying to avoid engaging in eye contact with each other.
"Everyone will be home soon." Cora finally said, warning them.
"Why do you look so nervous?" Luke's question surprised both Michael and Cora. Since when did he care about what anyone else was feeling. The truth was the thought of all of this somehow going wrong terrified her. Luke was obnoxious and frankly, an asshole. Still, anything beat being alone all the time and at least Michael seemed nice enough. She kind of didn't want them to have to leave for some reason.
"I'm not." She said but she was lying through her teeth and from the look Luke gave her, he could tell. He was definitely going to have to speak to Ashton about this. There was something missing from her file and he needed to know what it was and why it was being kept from them.
Cora's parents and sister showed up a little while later and walked into the house carrying a bunch of shopping bags. Of course Faye had managed to get out of school to go shopping. Cora quickly stood up, feeling weird about having two boys with her in the house. It looked suspicious, at least in her mind.
"I, umh, I made friends today!" She exclaimed suddenly, making Faye snort. She felt her muscles tensing under the gaze of her parents and older sister. She felt like disappearing. Maybe she would whisper her desire to Michael and disappear in front of her family.
"Right, like someone would actually want to be friends with you." Faye said laughing. Cora felt hurt by her words, just a little but as always, her parents didn't seem fazed by their older daughter's words, they kept smiling and looking between Luke, Michael and Cora.
Luke arched an eyebrow and wrapped an arm around Cora's waist, pulling her closer to him. He may be a dick, rude, and disrespectful,but even though Cora wasn't exactly his cup of tea, he had to protect her. "We are her friends. I'm Luke, that's Michael."
Faye was shocked, to say the least. Cora had always been the weird, friendless sister between the two of them and Faye was used to getting the attention. She was the one with the cute boys in the palm of her hand.
"Now that we're done with the introductions, we have some homework we have to get done." Cora said, moving out of Luke's grasp and quickly leading the two boys up to her room. They got to her room and she locked the door, leaning back against it.
"Your parents are..." Michael started, his mind focused on finding the correct word.
"The worst? Yeah I know." She said and then turned to Luke. "And next time you think about putting your hands on me... don't." She said. Luke didn't say anything because she looked truly angry at him and he had thought he was being nice. Now he REALLY needed to talk to Ashton.
