Page 106 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

"You're ridiculous," I wheezed at her. "But thank you for the offer to pardon my nonexistent imaginary future Daddy for the crime of murder. I appreciate it more than you know."

"You're so very welcome," Ari said, standing to grant me an exaggerated curtsy.

I shook my head. "Thank you for making me laugh, too. I needed that today. But now, let's get serious. C'mon, tell me about the adventures of Arianna and Grayson. I'm running out of time and I need a funny story to get me through the week.”

Arianna shook her head. "Maren, I am serious. I'm going to find you a Daddy. It's my new mission in life."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "You need a hobby," I teased.

“I just told you, I have one!”

“I mean a different hobby!” I laughed again. "And good luck with that. Again, there aren't any good men around here, and Daddies don't grow on trees."

The expression on Arianna’s face was odd, one I had never seen before and couldn’t place. Her brows knitted in concentration, and her lips pursed into a frown. Her eyes even glazed a little as she stared both at me and through me, gazing into some distant corner of my soul with the hint of a smirk on her face.

I knew that smirk. It was her, ‘I’m going to get in so much trouble, bwa-ha-ha-ha’ look.

Suddenly, she jumped up, grabbed my hand and all but pulled me off my chair as she ran with me from the room, from the castle entirely, and all the way across the manicured grounds.

“What the hell,” I sputtered, completely confused. “Ari! What are you doing? Where are we going?”

When she finally answered me, we had stopped outside a small cozy looking garden shack on the outskirts of the castle grounds. I had never noticed it before. It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale with its cobblestone roof and vines of ivy growing up the sides. There was a bright yellow door with no doorknob, and windows covered with French shutters that had seen better days.

“What is this place?” I mused aloud, unable to keep the wonder and awe from my voice.

“A remnant of the past,” Ari answered with a hard lilt in her voice that I didn't recognize. “It’s Grayson’s gardening shed now, but once upon a time, it was the Sea Witch’s secret lair. She kept her magic books and various spells here, some of them at least. I never saw it until she was gone. I think she may have had it bewitched with some sort of invisibility spell or something.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say.

I had, of course, heard of the evil Sea Witch and her spells, one of which had brainwashed an entire village. I had even been one of the brainwashed ones, but I had no memory of it. I had not known Arianna back then and had only known of Grayson because once a week my stepmother sent me to purchase fish from him. Just like then, I still didn’t get out much.

“So, why are we here?” my voice dropped to a low whisper. I knew that Arianna had discovered her own magical abilities, but it wasn’t something we talked about much, unless it had to do with whatever she had most recently gotten in trouble for. Her magic often got her into trouble. She wasn’t actually that good at it. To be honest, I didn’t think she wanted to be. She had too much fun, letting how bad she was get her into trouble.

“I have to show you something!” Arianna pulled me into the cottage, closing the door behind her. “But it's a secret and you can’t tell anyone, okay? Not a soul! Promise?”

My red flag radar was going off like crazy, but I figured the worst that could happen was Ari would get her butt busted and I would have a good laugh. I felt like a school child, getting to have the sort of crazy secret shenanigans I had never gotten to have when I was younger. “Okay, okay I promise! What is it?”

Ari ran to a workbench, and opened a narrow drawer, retrieving a small wooden box. I heard her mutter a few words, and then she waved her hand over the box before turning to me, with her arms outstretched in offering.

“Here, open it.” She shoved it into my hands, practically squealing with excitement.

My heart pounding with anticipation, I slowly lifted the lid. “Whoa!” I gasped as a beam of green light appeared. “What is it?”

“It’s a seed. I want you to take it home and plant it.”

“What kind of seed?” It was literally glowing. It didn’t look like any seed I had ever seen.

“Oh, that’s so not important,” Ari answered mysteriously, brushing me off.

I leveled her with a death glare. “I’m not planting some mysterious glowing seed unless you tell me what it is.”

Ari looked hesitant and uncertain, as if she was choosing her words carefully. When she was finally ready to speak, I didn’t know what to expect. It certainly wasn’t what came out of her mouth.

“It's a love seed. I told you. My plan is to find you a Daddy, even if I have to conjure him up myself.”

I stared at her. She couldn’t be serious. It was a joke, right? It had to be. “Get real,” I scoffed.

Arianna burst out laughing. “It’s not a love seed, but that isn’t the worst idea. I might work on that next.”

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