"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING CONNECTICUT! It's a beautiful Saturday morning and the time is 9:26 A.M. and it's sunny, sunny, sun-" I slammed my hand down on the snooze button. It was way to early for me to wake up. I have to be at Scott's at 12... I think I can sleep for another 30 minutes.
"Cassandra?" My father walked into my room and sat at the foot of my bed with his hand resting on my leg.
"I don't wanna wake up yet." I whined, hoping that he would just leave and let me sleep. He laughed and shook my leg gently before standing up.
"Alright, but if you don't wanna miss breakfast, I suggest you hop on out of bed." I immediately sat upright remembering that I hadn't eaten last night.
"What's Mom making?"
"Oh, she's not cooking today. I am." With that he winked and left the room. I hopped out of bed and started to get dressed when my stomach growled and I decided to eat first. I walked downstairs and was engulfed with the smell of syrup and bacon. I took my place at the table next to Brianna who was being abnormally quiet. I shrugged it off and waited for my food to be brought to me.
"It smells delicious in here!" My mother walked in from the den smiling and kissing father on the cheek as she made her way to the table, "How did you sleep, Cassie?"
"Oh, don't get me started! I'm so tired that it feels like I'm having one of those... what's the word?"
"Out of body experience?" Brianna finally spoke. She was so quiet this morning. Did it have anything to do with last night?
"Yea, one of those things." I eyed her carefully as she played with her napkin. She's always been pale; we used to think she was albino till she was about three and started growing these beautiful, thick, long chestnut curls. Her forest green eyes darted back and forth as she traced the patterns of the napkin before finally setting it down next to her glass. Her dark curls licked at her face as she looked up to mother to mutter something in agreement. Her hair against her pale complexion made her look other worldly. Then again, everyone in my family is a-
"Ok, everyone, dig in!" My father had passed around the plates without my noticing. Had I really been that out of it?
I took a deep breath and could smell everything he had put in the dish: paprika in the pancakes along with blueberries, honey on the biscuits, and maple syrup on the sausage, and, of course, the overwhelming smell of bacon. He looked so pleased when we started to eat without saying a word. Things continued like that till Brianna stood up; she hadn't touched her food at all. Father looked down at her plate and then up at her with a twitch of disappointment. She bowed her head in respect and dismissed herself from the table. I exchanged glances with my parents and nodded in silent agreement. I placed my napkin down and went up the stairs to find Brianna in her room writing in her journal.
"Brianna? Sweetie, are you ok?" I gently rested my hand on her shoulder and she immediately covered her journal with her arm.
"What do you want? What is it?" She didn't look up at me and her voice didn't shake but I knew she had been crying.
"Sis, we have to talk. I know what happened the other night was pretty dramatic and I understand it must be rough for you but-"
"NO, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED AND YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! GET OUT," she cut me off and with one hand sent me flying into the wall. I dropped to my knees and groaned at the overwhelming pain in my stomach, "Quit pretending like you know everything, Cassandra Elaine Faratheen, not only have you just awakened but you've always been weak. You can't even shift correctly and you're trying to tell ME that you understand!"
"You have no right to call me by my full name, Brianna Linnette Faratheen! I may not be able to shift just yet but you and I both know that I'm better than you in magick and you DON'T want to test me." I got to my feet and stared directly in those breathtaking green eyes. I didn't know what was going on but she was acting strange. She took a step towards me and growled as if she were going to change. Was she really about to fight me? In that moment my father burst through the door and pulled my sister into his arms shouting commands to my mother who was in the hallway.
"Cassandra, go downstairs and let us handle Brianna." He spoke calmly but sternly.
I stormed out of the room and downstairs to the den. I ploped down on the couch only to realize that it was a quarter till noon and I bolted back up the stairs and into my bedroom. I threw on the clothes I had set out that morning and ran a comb through my thick, curly, amber hair before throwing it into a ponytail and grabbing my cell. I wasn't going to bail on Scott simply because my sister had a meltdown. Checking to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything I went back downstairs and out on the porch to wait for Mr. Kane.
"Afternoon, Miss Cassie!" Mr. Kane walked up and pulled me into a warm, familiar hug and ruffled my hair.
"Hey there, Mr. Kane. Would you like to come in for a bit before we head out? I just have to check with my parents about something." I smiled and held the door open for him to walk in.
"So your dad came back early, huh?" He glanced around the living room before sitting down on the recliner.
"Yea, they flew him out here early this morning. Would you like to talk to him?" He grunted a reply and I left to go find my parents.
There was no one in Brianna's room and everything seemed to be, as I liked to call it, "loudly-quiet". I walked down the hallway past my parents room but there was no one there, either. Confused I started to make my way back down the stairs when I heard Mr. Kane and my parents talking.
"Ah, hello there, Mr. Johnson. How have you been doing?" My father politely shook hands with my best friend's dad while giving him one of his dazzling smiles.
"Aw, don't be so formal, Braeden. We've known each other for how long? Eleven years?"
"Oh, I don't keep up with time, Kane." He flashed my mother a smile and she simply shook her head. Mr. Kane noticed and turned to greet my mother as well who had been drying a glass. How could they be acting like this was a normal day? Where was Brianna?
"Corvina! How have you been? Diana told me to tell you hello if I got the chance. She said something about a meeting..." I ignored their chatter and proceeded to go outside and hop in the truck to wait for Scott's dad. Why did my family have to be so... weird? Sure, to any average person we looked like the epitome of an American family. Successful father and a perfect mother with two well-rounded children who always made straight A's. Ok, so we're a step above the typical American family but still, they didn't see what was going on behind the curtains. Life would be so much better if the world knew what we really were... right?
My phone began to vibrate, pulling me out of my internal banter, and I realized that Scott had texted me, "Let me guess: Dad is tlking to ur 'rents. Lol, cnt wait 2 c u!" Scott's inability to use proper grammer and spelling while texting always annoyed me. He's always been very literate but the second he starts typing on a phone it's just gone. "It's official, I'm buying you a dictionary. Parents are talking to your dad but he should be out soon. Can't wait to see you, either!" I hit send and promptly shoved my phone back in my pocket as the car door opened and we were driving down the road before I could finish my thoughts.
Apart from the occasional small talk the ride was a quiet one. Scott's house wasn't far from mine; I could walk to it if I really wanted to. We lived in a small town right in the middle of Connecticut where everyone knew everyone and everything. The thought that this town was so small and yet no one knew who we truly are made me giggle. Mr. Kane gave me a funny look and I just smiled and continued looking out the window when a huge shadow moved over the car.
"Woah! Did you see that, Cass? Must have been a pretty large bird. Do you see anything?" I turned around to look out the back window but whatever passed over the car was gone by now. I turned back around and continued to stare out the window till we arrived at Scott's house.
I always loved coming to visit. His house was made of bricks with a huge white porch that had potted plants surrounding it, they had a creek in the back with a tireswing and a gazebo that we would eat lunch at.
I jumped out of the truck right as Scott came outside to greet me, "Cass! You made it!" He gave me a huge hug and then carefully eyed me up and down, "What's wrong? You look..."
"Tired?" I offered and he shook his head but didn't say anything else. Did I look upset?
"Hey, dad, we're gonna go set up for the barbeque tonight. Do you need anything in particular for it?"
"Nahh, you two go out and have fun. Diana and I will take care of everything else." His father dismissed us with a smile and left to help with the preparation.
We walked to Scott's room and I threw myself down on his bed. I always used to tease that one day I'd steal it from him and he'd never be able to get it back. I took a deep breath and let the familiar scent of his sheets fill me before rolling over to see him taking his shirt off, "WOAH, what are you doing?" I grabbed a pillow and immediately covered my face with it before he could go any further.
"Cass... we're going to the creek. I JUST told you that." He looked confused when I finally removed the pillow from my face and finally realized that he had on his bathing suit.
I blinked a few times before actually answering, "Oh... sorry, must have zoned out or something. Uh... I don't have anything with me." I looked kind of sheepish and started to twiddle my thumbs.
"Oh, it's alright. You can borrow one of Anna's swimsuits. Lord knows she has hundreds." He laughed before exiting the room.
I eyeballed myself in the mirror. I was in a lime green, polka-dotted bikini that revealed too much for my liking. I was pale and skinny and to top it all off, my chest was larger than his sister's. I looked good, I really did, I just never liked showing a lot of skin. Most of my clothes were kinda loose and I always wore a jacket. Scott's knock at the door interrupted my thoughts and made me jump, "You all done in there?" he called from the hallway.
"Scott," I swung the door open, "there is NO WAY in hell that I'm wearing this." His eyes widened as I gestured to the outfit and proceeded to roll my eyes when he took longer than necessary to see what I meant, "Get me a t-shirt to go over this and maybe some shorts, too."
"You look fine, Cass. It's only gonna be you, me and my parents. No one is gonna see you." I narrowed my eyes and he put his hands up in surrender then left to get me something to cover myself.
We made our way to the creek after I got my t-shirt on. We are about halfway there when he turned to me, "Race you there!" then he took off. I did the same and easily passed him and then jumped into the creek. When I surfaced he was standing at the edge staring at me.
"What?" I spun around to check if there was something behind me but saw nothing.
"Cassie..." he paused and wrinkled his eyebrows, "I've never seen anyone run as fast as that." He cocked his head to the side and continued to look at me.
"Oh, hm... I hadn't realized I was sprinting. Sorry, was anxious to get in the water!" I laughed, nervously and mentally shook myself. I completely forgot that I'm different than other people.
I was hit with a splash before I realized he had jumped in the water. He laughed and stuck his tongue out and splashed some more. I went underwater and reached for his legs, pulling him under. The creek was made by Scott's dad, so the ground was paved over. It was almost like a gigantic pool with clear blue water and artificial lilly's everywhere. When I hung out with Scott it was like nothing else in the world mattered. With him it was as if I weren't a..
"CASSIE! THINK FAST!" I turned only to be hit directly in the middle of my eyes with a volleyball and knocked underwater. I came up and rubbed at my eyes before shouting at him.
"SCOTT! You did that on purpose!" He was sitting on the edge laughing so hard that I could see the tears rolling down his cheeks as he tried to regain composure. I grabbed at the volleyball to try and throw it back at him but the ball went under with my hand and sprung back up, hitting me in the face. Scott was rolling on the ground now laughing even harder than he previously had been. I smirked and gently blew on the water, causing a huge wave to crash onto him and knock him in the water. Yea, I'm not supposed to use magick around people who don't know what I am but it's not like he was looking anyway.
I started laughing when his head popped up above the water and he glared at me. He shook his head and made his way back over to the side to get out, "I'm gonna go help them get set up, Cass! Towells are in the gazebo!"
"Alright! I'll see you in a minute!" I called after him as he walked back up to the house.
I felt it's presence before we made eye contact. Up in the tree that was hanging over the creek was a huge figure that was all too familiar. Realization hit when his bright red eyes bore into mine. I finally was able to really look at him and realize just how huge he really was. He didn't have a shirt on and was crouched down on the branch in front of me. His top lip curled up as he snarled and pointed a very long, very sharp claw directly at me and then howled before disappearing. I was so frozen in fear and so caught up in what I had just witnessed that I hadn't heard Scott trying to get my attention. I swam to the edge of the creek and hopped out, taking the towell from Scott and immediately started for the house. I had to call my dad. I had to tell him what just happened.