Bumps In The Road / Paul Lahote

Bumps In The Road -Paul Imprint Story-

Chapter 1

"Welcome to Washington. We hope you enjoy your stay."

A grunt left my lips as I pushed my way through people to leave the plane as fast as I could. I had just left my home—technically, I'd consider it being banished out of my own damn country by my mother—and was scheduled to spend the next couple of months with family friends on the other side of the planet, apparently because I have completely lost control. I beg to differ; my actions were all justified.

Emily Young, a friend of my mother, had picked me up from the airport with a welcoming smile set on her lips. I hadn't seen Emily in a long time, probably not since I was a young girl who still believed everything my parents told. She was still as pretty as I remember her being, despite the three staggered scars that ran from her hairline to her jaw on the right side of her face. I certainly didn't remember those. I tried to avoid looking at them as much as I could, so not to make her uncomfortable. When I took a peek into her emotions I was glad to feel excitement, but also understood the nerves she felt. I think she was wondering what exactly she signed up for.

When my father told me the story of our family origins he spoke with pride and passion, as he should considering my father's family consisted of a long line of strong witches. His family had been what some may refer to as "pure blood breeding", if you wanted to be somewhat technical, and by pure blood I'm referring to female witches and male witches creating offspring. My father had fallen in love with my mother and married her within a year, their love being described as a whirlwind of bliss. Then they had my older brother and I, consequently creating half-witches, but he promised us that it didn't make us any less powerful. He made sure we had the best training and guidance from when we were little, introducing varies of combat arts to us. When our powers blossomed, he helped us develop them, until his very last day.

My power is empathic psychic, which meant I could feel what others feel. It begun as a curse, rather than a gift, but once I learnt how to harness the ability, life became much easier again. Along with special abilities our line is also gifted with heightened senses and reflexes, healing at a faster pace and run faster than the average human. I've always considered my heightened senses to be significant, but in retrospect I never had any other supernatural species to compare them with. We were warned that witches weren't the only supernatural kind to walk with humans, but not many other species had exposed themselves to us.

"How's your mum, Kira? I haven't seen her in a little while" Emily asked, breaking the silence that had settled between us quickly. I think it was the nerves.

"She's fine. Working hard, as always" I responded with a shrug and continued to look out of my window. I'd seen some of the national parks at home, but driving along a road paved (almost) right in the forest baffled me. It was stunning, almost movie-like. The green forage outlined the asphalt and the treetops soared above us.

"That sounds like her," Emily politely laughed, "I saw Aunt Willow the other week and she asked about your mother too. I had mentioned to her that you were staying with us for a little while."

"Yeah, it's been ages since I've seen her" I muttered, slouching in my seat slightly. Emily nodded in response, not progressing the conversation. The flight had been long, so long that I technically lost a day in my travels and naturally I had a bratty child sitting behind me in the flight. Stupid families travelling to Disneyland, I assumed, because the Gold Coast just wasn't good enough I suppose. They had made the flight feel twice as long.