War isn't over • LM / SS

Chapter 21 - a lamb to the slaughter

"can you see right through me?
they see right through me.
they see right through me.
i see right through me."

word count: 4.6k

Phoenix Fract raised a brow in amusement, leaning against the doorframe into the kitchen, watching as her father lost a battle with a blender, fruit smoothie splattering all over the place. Despite the scene in front of her being hilarious, she rushed forward to unplug the machine, not wanting to spend the rest of her afternoon cleaning the walls. "Did you seriously not check to make sure the lid was on properly?"

Caleb stood back with his hands on his hips, shaking his head with a grimace. "In my defence, I was trying to be a lovely father! But yeah... didn't check," he ran a hand over his face with a chuckle. "How was school pumpkin?"

Phoenix dropped her schoolbag onto the countertop, groaning over-dramatically for emphasis. She pulled the fridge door open, grabbing the prepared bowl of fruit that her dad made precisely an hour before she came back so that she had something to eat. "Oh! I had history," she shrugged, the one subject she loved making the day easier to deal with.

Almost dropping the china bowl when a lightbulb shattered behind her, she pretended to search for the culprit, knowing damn well it was her own doing. It hadn't been on purpose! You know, when Theo and Max told her this spell would save her life, giving her powers in the process, they failed to mention how it would be hard to control her magic.

Since exploding last night when her two friends were fighting, twelve lightbulbs were no longer in use (she had even seen her dad looking up numbers of cheap electricians in their area). To top all of that off, Max's sister didn't seem too bothered about the fact she had a mini witch running around with no clue what she was doing, nor did she appear too inclined to help her learn control. "Did any of the jobs get back to you?" she steered the subject in a different direction, spooning a blueberry into her mouth.

Caleb ran a hand through his short hair, pushing up onto a countertop to sit down (both of them knowing he gave out to Phoenix for doing the same). "You're looking at Beacon Hills new librarian," he waved his hands in a very exaggerated Caleb fashion, Phoenix smiling at his dramatics. "It's only a part-time thing to make some money, y'know? I'll be working 'round your school hours so I'll be home before you go and when you come back. It's in the town centre, not the one in the school."

"That's good," Phoenix moved around the wooden kitchen stool, smiling happily when her cat, Cosmo, jumped onto her lap. Her dad acted like he didn't like the cat, that he was 'too cuddly', yet Cosmo slept at the end of Caleb's bed, so that spoke for itself. She ignored the background noise of pots and pans clashing together, her phone buzzing with a message from Max.

Max 💙
hey, we're coming to collect you, we're looking for another chimera to save the sheriff. we'll meet u at the corner round ur street, b ready in 5?

Phoenix placed Cosmo gently on the ground, quickly shooting a thumbs up in reply to his message. It was a good thing she had a revision-only weekend, which meant no homework, otherwise, her answer wouldn't have been the same. Theo had lied about some of the things they were doing, yet she trusted them, and at least hoped there were good intentions somewhere in there.

She was pretty sure Max was the human definition of an angel; when they were with the dread doctors, he had risked his life for her without a second thought. He had risked his life for someone he barely knew. No matter how much people screwed him over, she had never heard him say a bad word about anyone. "Dad?" she questioned, voice high-pitched in a way that gave it away she was looking for something.