Page 16 of A Lesson in Obedience
Loud music blasted from the van while Jade sat in the driver’s seat singing along to the lyrics with the windows down.
“It’s the middle of the fucking night. Common courtesy,” Ike scolded, reaching into the drivers’ side and turning the volume down.
Jade took her dark loose curls and tied them into a bun on her head. “You’re no fun.” She gasped and clapped her hands. “Ah!Un perro!He sits up front.”
Mateo looked over at us, snickering. “Told you.”
Mateo had givenCorrin nearly a million kisses before they left with Jade, who told Corrin to put her number in my phone when I got it back. I sat on the floor of Corrin’s bedroom watching Beau and Jax have a face off on either side of the room. Jax initially was highly uninterested in Beau, but my overly friendly boy wanted into the cat’s personal space more than anything. After being swatted nearly three times in the face, he’d retreated to the other side of the room, pouting.
I picked at the dog hair on my leggings, trying to get my thoughts together. Corrin healed the wounds on my arms, but the phantom pain of the heat that had been pressed into them by Chancellor Fowler still gave me trouble. Corrin’s door opened slowly, revealing my roommate and her mom. Corrin had this strained smile on her face as if she’d just gotten scolded, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
“Do you need anything, Riley?” Her mom asked, her voice soft and polite.
I shook my head. “Everyone keeps asking me if I’m alright, if I’m fine or if I need anything and honestly…I can’t answer that right now.”
Her mom ran a finger over her eyebrow piercing and sighed. “Iunderstand, but I would like to call your mother and tell her you’re staying the night.”
“Right. Yeah. That’s probably a good idea.” I didn’t look at her, but I continued to stare at Corrin’s dresser in front of me. My back was settled against the foot of her bed and I was comfortable exactly where I was.
“Okay, good. Uh…Riley...” Corrin’s mom started, the sound of her walking over to me causing me to blink and turn my head towards her. She knelt down, giving me a perfect view of her flawless face. Her dark skin didn’t have a blemish in sight, and she had given some of that physical perfection to her daughter. “Corrin only told me a little bit about what happened.”
I flicked my eyes over her shoulder at her daughter. Corrin gave me a small smile, fiddling with her headband.
Her mom grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her. “Don’t be mad at her. She fought hard to fumble around the truth, but I can be quite scary when I want.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Corrin mumbled.
Her mom pulled her hand from my chin. “It must be scary to come into your witch powers so suddenly. I knew that necklace meant something strongly for you, but I just couldn’t put my finger on what it was. I also don’t know if it would have been my place to tell you.” She gave me an apologetic expression.
I sucked in a deep breath. “It’s okay. Thank you for letting me stay here. I just…it’s been a day.” That sounded like a less than impressive way to explain what my life had become.
“You’re a fellow witch. Our door is always open.” She patted my knee, giving it a squeeze. “We can talk more in the morning, but for now get some rest. In the morning we’ll see where you’re at and discuss some things then, alright?”
I gave her a forced smile and then proceeded to give her my mom’s phone number. I heard flapping wings and then running. Ike busted into the room, almost knocking over his sister. Ted, his bird familiar,perched himself right on the top of Corrin’s dresser. Beau wagged his tail, jumping up and clawing at the air to get to him. Jax successfully jumped onto the piece of furniture prepared to swat the bird down.
“Ike! Get Ted out of here!” Corrin stomped her foot, pushing her brother forward.
“Ted, let’s go!” Ike patted his shoulder, staring the bird down.
Ted squawked at him and then flew over, perching perfectly on Ike’s shoulder.
“Next time, I should let Jax just eat him,” Corrin threatened, giving her brother a stiff smile.
“Next time I should let him shit on your bed,” Ike spat back as he walked out of the room.
“Enough. Go to bed, both of you.” Their mom rubbed one of her temples. “You too.” She nodded at me before kissing Corrin on the forehead and leaving.
Corrin let out a loud sigh before collapsing next to me. “Are we sitting in silence? Because I can do that. I know that sounds impossible coming from me, but I promise I can zip my lips with the best of them.”
I peeked over at her, looking at the sincere way she was looking back at me. “It’s my legacy, or so he says.”
“What is? Who said?”
“Celica.”
Her eyes nearly came out of their sockets. “Wait,myCelica coven?”
“Mmhmm.”
