Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 1 Read Online Free Page B

sighed. "Until that time, I will direct
my agents amongst all the clans of the world to closely watch the
hidden populations of their territories."
    "All around the world,”
Morgan replied, breathing in the immensity of the
directive.
    The Sovereign snorted
and paced away. "Until you give me more, I have no choice. No
choice at all."
     

Chapter
Two
     
    "Rai! Wake up, Rai!"
The shrill voice of Aradia’s mother pierced her dreams so swiftly
and sharply that she jolted herself awake and shot
upright.
    After she realized
where she was and what was happening, Aradia groggily mumbled, “I
can’t wait to go to college.”
    “Rai! It’s the first
day of school! Wake up sweetie!”
    “In another state,” she
added. Only then would her mother, and especially her mother's
voice, be unable to disturb her slumber. Nevertheless, for now
Aradia was still in bed in her new home in Salem, Massachusetts. No
matter what her mother wanted, Aradia was inclined to say "to hell
with it all" and stay in bed all day.
    Just as Aradia was
curling up to go back to sleep, her mother knocked twice and,
without waiting, threw open her door. "Come now, Aradia, get up or
you're going to miss the bus!"
    "No. I am not," Aradia
grumbled.
    "What makes you say
that?" her mother asked with her hands on her hips, an eyebrow
raised, and the puppy bathrobe she wore every morning looking as
ridiculous as ever.
    "Because Dad said he’d
drive me," Aradia replied. She’d already pulled the covers over her
head, but Liza could sense her daughter was smirking.
    After a few moments of
contemplation on how she wanted to play her hand, Liza said, "Ah,
well then, I guess you’ll miss the big breakfast I made for you,
the Belgian waffles, cheddar cheese omelet, orange juice, and
homemade blueberry muffins. All that will just have to go to your
father now. I’m sure he won’t mind cleaning his plate, and the
whole table, while you get a few minutes more sleep."
    Aradia opened her eyes
and pulled the covers off her face. "You fight dirty. You know
that, don't you?"
    "I prefer to think of
it as just being a good mother," Liza replied with a lovely
smile.
    Aradia feigned a scowl.
Liza merely turned and slammed the door shut, knowing her daughter
would be up and about now.
    She was right. Aradia
swung out of bed and walked, no longer groggy, over to her dresser.
Her nerves had wiped any latent sleepiness out of her.
     
    There was one concern
on Aradia’s mind at the moment though and that was making a good
first impression at her new school.
    She had no decision to
make on what to wear; she’d chosen and laid out her clothes for the
day weeks earlier. She’d actually spent a good deal of time in the
interim just staring at the outfit. She wasn’t so much eager or
nervous, but rather was, if anything, trying to be thorough. Most
girls did not have to start their freshman year in a brand new
school in a brand new state that was thousands of miles away from
their old home in Arizona. She felt that there wasn’t much she
could control about her situation. Her clothes, though, she could
control. So she did.
    After dressing Aradia
turned to her chocolate brown vanity mirror and examined the girl
staring back. She was a waifish-yet-curvy, pale-skinned and
freckled, round-faced teenage girl. Her hair was long, wavy, and
shockingly red. Aradia alternated between thinking of it as fire
hydrant red and stoplight red. She loved her hair, in no small part
because of the way it made her green eyes pop all the more vividly.
Green eyes that her father swore that could see right through a
person’s soul.
    Aradia expected to be
pleased with the visage. Her anticipatory smile, however, melted
into horror when she saw the disgusting whitehead zit on her
chin.
    Her gut instinct was to
shriek and lock her bedroom door to prevent her parents from
dragging her to school with the evil blemish on her face. She could
skip the first few days and give her chin time to settle
down. Not much