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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As I entered the kitchen through the backdoor a few minutes later, my siblings' conversation immediately fell silent. Since our parents' deaths, I'd managed to spend more time around them. Uncle Ben felt I had enough control that I didn't have to keep my distance as much, but because of our parents' years of forced separation, I had no relationship with them at all. That sibling bond was missing. I had always seen them as my family, but the same could not be said for them. To them, I was an outsider, and they never even tried to hide it.
Julian, who was fifteen, didn't mistreat me perse. He chose to just ignore my presence entirely. It wasn't that he didn't like me. He just didn't know me, and he didn't seem to have any desire to change that. River was a different story, however. She was sixteen and seemed to see me as the bane of her existence.
Although I was lonely, I refused to beg for a relationship with my own siblings. I had put forth an effort to be there for them, but all attempts had fallen flat. So, I eventually chose to quit trying and let the pieces fall where they may.
That's why when I noticed their silence as soon as I entered the room, I grabbed a drink from the fridge and turned to leave, but I was stopped short by Uncle Ben's low, rough voice.
"You need to hurry up and get ready, Ari."
I spun on my heel to face him, where he stood pulling a frying pan out of the cabinet. He was making yet another attempt at being domestic that would no doubt fail like all the others had before. The poor man had gone from the life of a self-proclaimed bachelor who had owned the local bar in town to raising three teenagers overnight, and he was clearly floundering.
"Get ready for what?" I asked, completely lost.
What he said next shocked me to my core.
"School," he said with a big grin, looking like he expected me to burst with excitement, but I was distracted by the anxious flip my stomach was doing.
He must have seen the fear in my eyes because he dropped the spatula he was holding and turned to face me.
"You'll be fine. You've got this. Lucien and I discussed it, and we think it'll be good for you. We understand why your parents did things the way they did, but things are different now. We think you need this distraction," he said gently, staring into my eyes with confidence.
"You've got to be kidding me!" River screeched from her seat at the table, causing both of us to wince when the high-pitched, disbelieving tone pierced our eardrums. "We're already struggling to fit in at a new high school. We've been here for months, and I've still not managed to make any decent friends. The last thing we need is for everyone to realize we have a freak of nature for a sister."
I tried my best to shake off my aggravation, sucking in a deep breath through my gritted teeth. Uncle Ben's hand landed on my shoulder, in what he meant as a comforting gesture, but it only served to wind me up even more. My muscles tensed uncomfortably, and he shot me an apologetic look, dropping his hand back to his side. He knew of my aversion to touch, but I understood why he slipped sometimes.
