Chapter 8: No More Heartbreak

"Let's go home," Charles said. "I'm exhausted." Robert and Sabrina jointly worked together in orbing the crew back to the farm. "Wasn't that fun, everybody?"

"Oh yeah, a blast," David said sarcastically. "Can't wait to do it again!"

"And we get to look forward to school tomorrow," Jordan said, unenthusiastically. They all let out a depressing groan. Going straight from demon fighting, to bed, and then to school, was a horrible thought. It left little sleep time and little free time.

"What time is it?" Annie asked.

"A little after ten," Sabrina said, glancing down at her watch.

"I better get some sleep then," she said, walking towards the stairs.

"Wait, Annie," Millie said. "I need to talk to you four." Annie walked back over and sat next to David. Millie sat down on their large armchair, while Charles and Jordan sat on the remaining spots left. Robert and Sabrina left the room, but they kept in earshot to hear what Millie was going to say.

"What is it, mom?" Jordan asked.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" David asked.

"Please, don't interrupt me. It's a rare thing to see me apologize, but I see it necessary for now. I'm sorry for running you guys and training you so hard. I should give you space. You don't need to be forced into witchcraft like I've been forcing you. So, unless it endangers you, I will not make you vanquish demons."

"We need to learn though," Charles said. "I never realized that before. The only way we'll be ready for when that demon does come to endanger us is if we are trained before hand. If we don't learn, we won't know how to stop them or what to do."

"Well, what do you want me to do? I don't want to overwork you. You need your schooling, and it should come first. I don't want to do anything that could jeopordize your futures."

"What about cutting down on the demon hunting a little?" Annie suggested. "We could still do it, just not all the time."

"Sure," Millie said. "And what about training?"

"Every other Saturday," David suggested. "Then we'll have at least a bit of free time every now and then."

"Sounds good to me," Millie said. "Now, off to bed. School's just around the corner."

"Night, Millie," Annie said, walking upstairs. The others gave their goodnights and followed Annie upstairs.

"Good job, Millie," Robert said.

"What?" Millie asked.

"Don't be so modest. You're great with these kids. You're going to turn them into very powerful witches."

"Believe me, Robert, they don't need me to do that."

Charles walked into his room to find Annie waiting for him on his bed. She smiled and stood up. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.

"What're you doing in here?" he asked.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," she said.

"What?" He suddenly became very fearful. He was dreading that she was breaking up with him. They had barely started going out, yet he was used to being dumped. He had never had a girlfriend for very long. He hadn't minded it any other time though. Annie was different. He really felt something for her. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"What? No! What gave you that idea?"

"Well, that's usually what girls do when they say: 'I wanted to talk to you about something.'"

"No, Charles, I'm not here to break up with you," Annie said. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Thank goodness," he said, a wave of relief rushing over him. "Ask away."

"Well, you know that mind link we had?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I was wondering if you felt the same thing that I had felt."

"What had you felt?"

"Love," she said. "I felt a powerful love coming from you. At first I thought I was imagining things, but I felt something great and beautiful."

"That's strange," he said. "I felt the same from you."

"So, I guess we've established something here."

"And what do we want to do with this 'establishment'?"

"I don't know," she said. "Let's see how it progresses. I don't want to rush into anything."

"I agree," Charles stated.

"Well, goodnight," she said, turning to walk out the door.

"Annie, wait," he said. She turned around and faced him.

"What?" He walked over to her and kissed her. He fought back his urge to run and hide and went for it. Surprisingly, she welcomed it and kissed him back.

"Promise me something, Charles," she said, once leaving the safety of his lips. "Don't hurt me."

"Why would I do that?" he asked her.

"You're a guy, that's what they do. It's happened to me too many times." Without giving him a chance to say anything in the defense of men everywhere, she exited his room, leaving him with a sweet tingle on his lips.