A week later…

Taylor watched Kait from across the counter as she made her breakfast. He never thought he had much finesse when it came to making cereal, but Kait made him look like a master.

She accidentally slammed her bowl on the counter, then looked at him with an expression that begged for forgiveness.

He averted his eyes in response.

She poured in the cereal, clumsily spilling some of it on the counter in the process. When she pulled the milk from the fridge, she gave the bottle a disapproving look but shrugged. She tried to open it but couldn’t seem to unscrew the lid, putting more and more effort into the task.

“Lefty loosey, righty tighty,” Taylor said suddenly.

“What?”

“You need to turn it left to get the cap off.”

Kait sent him a mystified look. “Left? What’s that supposed to mean? Do I…” She attempted to pull the lid off by tugging it to the left, to no avail.

“I mean counter-clockwise.”

“Counter-clockwise?”

“Like the opposite of the way a clock moves.”

She flicked her gaze between the digital stove clock and his face. “What does one of those have to do with a lid?”

Taylor shook his head with an exasperated smile. “Just…gimmie the bottle.”

She handed him the jug of milk, and he unscrewed it with a flick of his fingers before handing it back. Kait sighed. “Now I just feel…dumb. I’m getting used to that, though!”

She poured the milk as carefully as she could, making sure not to spill any.

For a moment, her hand hovered above the bowl.

I forgot the spoon…

Embarrassed, she began shuffling through the kitchen’s drawers, searching for the silverware. Finally, she opened the oven. She quickly closed it, and her arms drooped in defeat as she turned to Taylor with a pleading look.

He pointed. “The long drawer to your right.”

After finding a spoon, she sat back down. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Kait ate her food in silence before eventually saying, “Thanks for putting up with me. I know I’m a hassle.”

“No, that’s fine. You’re a whole lot better than my sister. She’d just suffer in silence. And now…”

“Yeah, what happened between you two?”

He shook his head. “We had a fight before you got here. That’s not the problem, though. Recently…” He looked around, making sure nobody was listening in. “One of her friends died. It was pretty traumatic for her.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. But it’s just…she can’t just stay in her room forever. Her friends are asking me if she’s alright, and…I don’t like seeing her like this.” He shook his head in frustration. “Anyway, I just want to help her in any way I can, but she’s too stubborn to accept any help, from me or anyone else, you know?”

“Veiara was just like that. I wonder if…” Kait sighed, then shrugged with a strained expression. “Never mind.”

“Oh? Who’s that?”

“No one.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re someone.”

She rolled her eyes. “They’re dead.”

“O-oh, right. So why are you up so early?” Taylor asked, quickly changing the subject.

Kait stared at him with a sour expression, but it quickly melted as she took another bite. “The person paying for me to live at your house suggested that I clean theirs for…um, ‘money.'”

“That’s nice.” Taylor narrowed his eyes in confusion. “But why aren’t you just living there?”

“I didn’t want to.”

Quickly gulping down his remaining cereal, Taylor looked at the clock. “Oh, I need to go to school.” He stood from his chair and walked toward the front door.

“Oh, wait! I just need to know how I find…” Kait took a piece of paper from her pocket. “378 Tuskstrait Avenue.”

He slipped his shoes on. “Sorry, but could you ask Hailey? If not her, you can try Mom, but she’s asleep.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Hailey’s asleep too, isn’t she?” Kait started after him.

“I’m sure you’ll have a hell of a time convincing her to help, but I only have a few minutes to catch the bus.” He slung a backpack over his shoulder, ready to dart out the door.

“No doubt I will…” she grumbled.

“I’ll make it up to you later, but for now, I gotta dash.”

Left alone, Kait didn’t have much of a choice beyond opening Hailey’s door and waking her up.

“Sorry, but can you help me, Hailey?” she said as the girl grumpily turned her head.

“With what?”

“I need help finding an address.”

“Ask Taylor, I’m asleep.”

“He’s at school.”

“Ask Mom.”

“She’s also asleep.”

“Ugh…give me a moment. I’ll get up.”

Kait waited outside her room, but after waiting for some time without hearing any movement from Hailey’s room, she opened the door again to see Hailey peacefully sleeping once more.

“Hailey! I need your help.” She shook the girl awake again.

She seemed barely able to hold her eyelids open. “I’ll be up, I’ll be up, okay? Just give me a moment.”

The witch tried to wait patiently outside, leaning against the door’s frame as she listened for Hailey’s movement. After a minute, Kait rolled her eyes. She quickly walked downstairs, snatched a lighter, and held it up as she stepped into Hailey’s room again.

From beneath her fortress of cushions, Hailey muttered, “I’ll be up soon…just give me a moment.”

Kait raised the lighter, flicking it to life. She spoke with a strange enthusiasm, jumping in place as she said, “Yeah, I’m sure you’ll be up in no time.”

“Thanks for having some faith in me.”

Kait smiled. “Now get up, you lazy kid!” Suddenly, the fire leaped from the lighter and landed on Hailey, seeming to seep into her before dissipating.

Hailey opened her eyes, slowly blinking at Kait with an indignant, tired expression. She then threw her cushions off herself, suddenly energized. “Who are you calling a kid?! You’re barely four years older than me!” She then lunged from the bed toward Kait.

Hailey tried to push Kait down, her hands pressing against her shoulders, but the witch hardly budged; she was far stronger than the coddled teen. Hailey blinked as she landed, confused. Kait, whose enthusiasm had suddenly left her, grabbed the younger girl, then chucked her back onto her bed.

She clicked her tongue as she looked over her. “Are you up yet?”

Hailey began laughing, choking out words between laughs. “Y-yeah, I am, for-for some reason.” She sat up, still chuckling. “So, what did you need again?”

“I need help finding an address.”

“You can just look it up on the internet. Oh, do you know how to use that?”

“I’m not sure. Don’t I need a ‘phone’ or something? Not to mention I’m not exactly literate in Terainian.”

“Right. Just give me a moment to find mine…” Hailey struggled to find her phone in the cluttered room but eventually remembered it was in one of her jeans pockets. “Here it is…can you tell me the address?”

Kait unpocketed the piece of paper clumsily, causing her loose-fitting jeans to slip a little. She readjusted them. “I really need to buy some of my own clothes. It’s 378 Tuskstrait Avenue.”

Hailey tapped her phone a few times, then turned it toward Kait. “This the place?”

Kait squinted. “What am I looking at?”

“A map of our neighborhood.”

“Oh, so that line is the path I need to take to get there?” Kait pointed to an orange line on the map.

“Yeah. I’ll walk you there since it isn’t that long a walk. Besides, I don’t think I could go back to sleep. Just give me some time to get dressed.”

Kait cleaned her cereal mess while she waited. As she finished, Hailey walked down the stairs in a heavy coat and jeans. The spell was starting to lose its effect, but she would probably stay energized for a while. “Are you ready?”

Kait strapped on her backpack. “Yeah.”

Hailey looked Kait down, noticing she wasn’t very warmly dressed. “So…you are aware its twenty degrees out, right?” Terainia grew frigid near the winter since they lived so far north.

“What do triangles have to do with anything?”

Hailey rolled her eyes. “I mean, it’s cold. You know that, right?”

“Yep, I know.”

Hailey opened the front door, revealing gently falling snow. Cold air blasted through, so she quickly closed it. “Let’s get you a jacket.”

“Oh, I can just cast a spell to stay warm.”

Hailey shook her head. “If I’m going to walk outside, I can’t be seen walking around with a T-shirted hypother-maniac. You’re going to wear a jacket or coat whether you like it or not.” She walked back upstairs.

“But those things feel so weird. What are they even made out of?” Kait rubbed her arms as if she were cold.

“Fine, I’ll just give you one of my ugly sweaters.”

“Ugly? I mean, I’m not picky, but you could at least give me something that looks nice.”

Hailey let out an exasperated sigh. “No…It’s like, a joke…it’s not actually ugly, it’s just…whatever, you’ll see.” She lazily threw something out of her bedroom and down the stairs. The sweater seemed handmade with crochet and was striped with blue and pink zig-zags.

Kait picked it up off the stairs. “Oh, this looks cute!”

Hailey shrugged as she walked back to ground level. “My grandma made it a few years ago. She’s not making any more, so don’t rip it.”

Kait dropped her backpack and threw the sweater over her head. She hugged herself, soaking in the texture. “How does it look?” she asked excitedly.

“Fine.”

Hailey gripped the freezing doorknob, shaking a little.

Kait waited for Hailey to open the door, but she didn’t. Her eyes narrowed in concern as time passed. “Are you alright, Hailey?”

“Yeah…” She didn’t move her hand.

“Are you sure?” Kait apprehensively asked. Why is she hesitating? She opened it just a second ago…

“Yeah, sure…just a moment.” Hailey walked up the stairs and came back down with sunglasses hiding her eyes. “Let’s go.”