Although I didn't think Mrs. Barley was weird at first, I soon saw that she was. For one thing, she walked kinda funny and paused every once in a while to have a crying fit. It took much ushering to get her to Mr. Farrell's room before the bell would ring for class to be over.
When we finally arrived, I knocked on Mr. Farrell's door and several moments later he swung it open. His hair was all tossed and weird as ever. On many occasions when he was complaining about "cleaning up my appearance to make a better impression" I've had impulses to tell him to get a good haircut. Mr. Farrell saw Mrs. Barley and did double take. I raised my eyebrows at him. He stared at Mrs. Barley, cocked his head in admiration and slowly dropped his jaw and narrowed his eyes. Now, Mrs. Barley was attractive, but he looked completely lost in her beauty.
I stood on my tiptoes and snapped my fingers in front of his face. For the first time he looked down at me. "Hello? Mr. Farrell? I'm here for counseling."
He broke out of his daze, "Oh yes! Of course you are. Come in…" he giggled when Mrs. Barley walked into his office and looked at the pictures on the wall.
"Luther?" Mrs. Barley shot her head around at him and raised her eyebrows.
Mr. Farrell smiled, "You remember me?"
"Yes, of course," Mrs. Barley replied.
"After all these years?"
"How could I forget?" she smiled at him and even I could feel Mr. Farrell's heart melt. "Good to see you again."
Silence fell. Mrs. Barley was trying to ignore Mr. Farrell. I was trying to get Mr. Farrell's attention by sitting down and motioning over Mrs. Barley. Things were quiet for a few seconds. Then I couldn't take it. "Can we get on with this?"
Mr. Farrell snapped out of it and took a seat at his desk. "I think it's time we tell the poor girl. We need new recruits anyway. I'm sure she's got some kind of cool talent."
"Cool talent? What are you talking about?" I wondered aloud.
"Ashlyn, you aren't normal." Mrs. Barley said with a sympathetic sigh.
"I already knew that!" I said with a hint of hysteria. I was breaking down because it seemed like the two adults knew each other and knew something I didn't.
"One of your parents is a god." Mr. Farrell said, breaking the news.
