Tragic Magic [ON HIATUS]

Chapter Twenty-One

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Chapter 21

>>Leslie<<

My mom got home early that night, almost right after Liam got home from school. Liam and I were just hanging out in the dining room - he was working on some math worksheets and I was getting him a glass of juice - when Mom walked in the door.

"Hey-" I said, but then quickly stopped myself.

She looked awfully stressed out, and her cheeks were flushed. She gave Liam and I a quick glance and said, "Go to the park, or something; I need some time alone."

Mom then proceeded to mope down the hallway and lock herself in the bedroom. I gazed over at Liam in confusion.

Sylvie ran into the room, a very concerned look on her face. She needed to tell me something.

"Liam, go grab a bag to put your homework in. We can do the rest at the park." I ordered quickly. He nodded and rushed down the hallway. I directed my attention towards Sylvie.

"She might be getting fired," She explained, running a hand through her long hair. My eyes widened. "She was very worried about you today, and how sick you were. She kept knocking things over and messing up her work. Her manger told her to start acting like herself again, but then she went and accidentally spilt her coffee all over his shirt. He told her to go ahead home, and he's considering firing her."

Mom might be getting fired... Because she was worried about me? That was not fair at all, and I suddenly felt extremely guilty. If I wouldn't have taken that stupid serum, I never would have gotten the stupid black veins, I never would've had to fake sick, Mom wouldn't have been worried and she wouldn't be losing her job.

... But I also wouldn't be having a conversation with Sylvie right then, and I wouldn't be sharing sympathetic glances with Charles and Warren.

"It's not your fault," Charles assured me. "It's a mother's natural instinct to be worried about her children."

I shook my head. "But I am the child she was worried about."

Charles was about to say something else, but Liam rushed back out. He packed up his textbook, worksheets, pencils, erasers and pencil sharpener into the bag. "Which park are we going to?"

"Columbia Park?" I suggested. "We can bring a soccer ball and we can shots on each other if you get all the answers right."

Liam nodded and ran to go find his soccer ball. I smiled at how excited he was. We used to play soccer all the time when we were younger, but then I started getting lazy and stopped playing. I was glad to do it again.

Sylvie's shoulders sagged. "The park? I wish I could go."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why can't you?"

"We have to stay near our assigned human's at all times," Warren answered. "We can only be seventy-five feet away, at the most."

"Wow, that must suck." I replied. A thought then entered my head. "What happens if you go further than seventy-five feet?"

"You get frozen in place and stay like that until your human comes in range," Sylvie answered, folding her arms and rolling her eyes. "Extremely stupid, if you ask me."

Liam came back out holding his basketball, a huge grin on his face. "I'll try to do my homework as fast as a can!"

I snorted. "No, you're going to take your time and do the work properly."