Charlotte tried for a couple hours to fall asleep, but as of yet, her brain was still in overdrive, and her muscles were aching to be used.
So, she did what any teenage girl with energy to burn and the knowledge that vampires existed: she snuck out of the house with the biggest paintbrush she had (as the closest thing she had to a stake).
The only times Charlotte remembered sneaking out was when she was wanted to go to Mako Island. She had never gone out to meet a boy, or do anything bad in the middle of the night. So, she had to admit, there was a little bit of a rush to sneaking out in the hopes of stopping something evil from hurting someone.
So, she set off into the night, preparing to do whatever she needed to do. And as Charlotte walked through the town, she thought about her mother, and the Slayer that Willow had told her about: Buffy Summers.
Buffy, Willow had told her, was the oldest living Slayer there had ever been. Because of their line of work, Slayers didn't have very long life expectancies, but Buffy, with the help of her friends, managed to survive well past the normal expiration date, but even she had experienced death, twice.
Charlotte stopped at a small park about ten minutes away from her house and sat on the swing, her head reeling from that realization. There was a possibility that she could die from this, maybe she'd be too slow, and the monster would get the better of her, and she would… just die. Charlotte's chest tightened; her mother would have no idea what happened, she would just get a call from the police about her daughter's dead body, and she would be all alone, with no answers as to what could've happened.
How could Charlotte have been so selfish to keep this away from the only family she had left?
She stood up off the swing, and walked slowly back to her house. Tomorrow, she and Willow would go to Mako, and then the witch would leave. Charlotte doubted she would ever see her again, she'd be going around the world trying to find other girls like herself. Maybe that school or whatever that she said Buffy had been talking about would come to be, hopefully.
But now the real question remained: How to go about telling her mother about being a Slayer? Most likely just to be honest, tell her straight forward. Would, 'Hey Mom, how was your day? Oh mine was fine, by the way I'm a vampire Slayer,' work?
No, that would be silly.
And it wasn't like Charlotte could bring her mother proof of what was going on. Maybe she could show her new strength? That was a possibility. Charlotte had to admit, it would be nice to finally be honest with her mother. She had never questioned Charlotte if she had been out late at night, her mother always trusted her, but Charlotte had just rewarded that trust with lies.
After a few more minutes, Charlotte found herself at home. She wanted to go to Mako, because it was the one place she ever remembered being truly peaceful, and peace was something that she wanted right now.
Quietly as she could, she went around the side and climbed the tree outside her window, carefully climbing back inside and flopping back onto her bed.
Tonight was a bust, Charlotte thought miserably. She rolled over and closed her eyes, trying to sleep.
When did life become so complicated? she wondered. Her mind went back to the night she first jumped into the moon pool, when she became a mermaid. She thought also of when she first discovered her powers, and controlling her powers, and couldn't help but smile fondly.
Tomorrow was going to be a rough day, but Charlotte was looking forward to seeing the moon pool again, and finally being honest with her mother.