I was still mad at Mom's little surprise. And I knew that she knew that. She was hovering away from me. Farther than she had been the entire she had been here. She was being quiet too.

We were back in Dragon Tower, but my wrist hadn't stopped itching.

I was sitting in my usual space. Curled up with my back against wood and leaning sideways into the cool glass.

Mom was flitting around the bookshelves, scanning the spines for something or at least pretending too. It was hard to be sure since neither of us had said a word.

My ComMirror was opposite me leaning back against the wall.

We were expecting a call from Dad.

I couldn't see the look on Mom's face from where I was sitting. Just messy black hair and movements.

Only a couple of notes of 'Weird Science' played before I tapped the glass and Dad's face greeted me.

"That's not a good expression," he said.

Mom perked up at the sound of his voice and moved to lean over me so Dad could see her.

"Serafina's mad at me." At least she's being honest with him. The hint of remorse in her voice sounded genuine.

"Did you know she signed me up to compete in a contest of magic against my peers?" I asked him while trying to ignore Mom.

"Ah. That's what some of those papers were for." I didn't notice any shift in his expression that would indicate that he was surprised. I suppose I should have expected something like this.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"She doesn't have faith in me." I could hear Mom's pout.

"I have lots of faith. I just wish someone had told me there was a plan or what that plan was." Which she should have known would be my reaction.

Dad nodded once.

"It's going to be fine," Mom complained.

"Breathe Serafina," Dad reminded me.

I took a big deep deliberate breath.

"Lucinda, you know how Serafina feels about uncertainty," Dad's voice was as calm as ever. No hint of anger or frustration in him. It was soothing. This is why he was my favorite parent.

Mom sighed, "I told the others I was here to gather information, remember?"

I did. She had said she was in the learning phase of something.

"Serafina," Dad continued, "what are you worried about?"

"It doesn't matter what Mom has planned. We don't know what the curse might do," I tried to explain.

"I won't let anything happen to you," Mom complained.

"You think the curse cares about a plan?" It hadn't so far, and Mom's plans weren't perfect.

"You're not upset that Lucinda made a plan without telling you, it's that you don't know the consequences of the plan." Thank you, Dad.

"If I thought there was a risk of you getting hurt-" Mom tried to explain but she was missing the point.

"You don't know what the curse is going to do. What if it hurts someone else?" No one could know that or plan around it.

"And that's the problem, isn't it?" Dad pointed out. Still calm.

"We don't know what the curse is going to do if we apply that kind of pressure. Anything could happen." Literally anything, and probably nothing good.

Mom slowly breathed, "You're only signed up for the Creature Cage."

Great. Locking me in a box with something that was probably just as dangerous as the death spiders. This was going to be a disaster.

"At least other people won't be in the line of fire." I grumbled.

Literal fire, depending on bad this went.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"A little."

"Progress," Dad clapped twice slowly.

"It's probably not even that dangerous a creature, if that helps. I did it my first year and it was against a slime blob. It had these unblinking eyes but the smell was the most dangerous part. And the stains. Blue everywhere."

Dad, to his credit, did blink a bit at that. "From you or the slime?"

"The slime, I barely needed magic."

"So I might actually be fine." I was starting to calm down, and the itch in my wrist started to fade.

"See, it won't be so bad." I wasn't fully convinced of that, Mom.

"Perhaps start with that part next time," Dad pointed out.

Because all three of us knew there would be a next time. There was always a next time.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.