Damned

Chapter Ten

The next morning, I had a lot of explaining to do. Apparently, everyone had noticed my absence. Of course, they were worried, which meant for the first time I was grounded. I pleaded and begged, but my mom wasn't budging.

One week.

Except, it wasn't normal grounding. My mom just wanted one week of me telling her everywhere I went. It didn't sound that bad, but it was brutal. I was used to doing things on my own time. I rarely checked in with Gran or her, which was the problem. They reminded me that I was only sixteen and that the world was a dangerous place.

They didn't realize how well I knew that.

"I am going to the bathroom, mom!" I called as I headed up the stairs. My plan was to drive my mom crazy with my constant updates that she would drop this whole "grounded" thing.

"Keep it up, Cornelia, keep it up." Her tone scared me, so I dropped it. I didn't want her to actually ground me. I had places to go. There was a Coven meeting tonight and I did not want to miss it. It was probably the only time I would look forward to a meeting. Ivelyn had more information on all things Lycan related.

I was trying to keep an open mind. Ivelyn had been right about my pessimistic way of thinking about things that were new. I needed to keep an open mind about change. It was like she said, "not all news is a tragedy." I was convinced it had everything to do with my aversion to things magic-related. It wasn't my fault, I was raised a human.

Magic was a burden, not the blessing that Ivelyn saw it as.

"Hey, Mom, I'm heading to the lake. A couple of us are meeting there to hang out." It felt weird, checking in with her. She was sitting on her bed, surrounded by paperwork. It was for the custody battle Chad had forced her into.

"Okay, be back by ten o'clock." I opened my mouth to protest, but then I saw how stressed she was. I wasn't going to push her. I didn't want to stress her out anymore. I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, that no matter what a judge said Dara and I weren't leaving Salem.

"Okie dokes," I told her with a smile. I turned to leave, but she called my name.

"Take Dara with you, she could use some fresh air." Again, I didn't fight her on it. I gave her a thumbs up and ran up the stairs to get Dara. She was studying in her room.

"Wanna take a study break?" I asked, leaning on her door frame. She wore a black jumper with a white t-shirt underneath. Her hair was fading back to her dirty blonde shade. She was starting to look like she used to.

"Uh, sure?" I didn't blame her hesitation.

"There's a Coven Meeting and--

"Corn, I can't. I really don't wanna join a Coven -- it's too soon." My stomach clenched into knots. I think I have an ulcer from the past couple of months.

"I know and I totally respect that. I told mom I was heading out and she--

"Nuff said, but I'm bringing my books." She stood up, clutching her textbooks to her chest. I held up my hands, defensive.

"That's totally cool with me." She rolled her eyes but followed me downstairs. I was in a great mood, a rarity lately. It was another clear day, but I still grabbed my hoodie. We decided to walk to the lake. It wasn't very far and we had time before it officially started. I didn't plan on staying very long, so it was also a nice excuse to leave early.

Dara and I chatted along the walk. It was mostly me trying to quiz her on her History test she had Monday. She studied nonstop. I needed to, but I kept finding more and more reasons not to study. There was always something going on that stopped me from picking up a textbook. My classes were okay, but my grades had dropped a little. I had straight B's instead of A's. To me, it didn't matter, but I knew my mom cared about it.