I woke up and stretched. It was complete bullocks that we had to get up this early. The door to my room was thrown open. Ruth and Anthony ran into the bedroom. My older sister confidently jumped into the bed to shake me. While, my older brother managed to follow after her like a clumsy shadow.
“Hurry and get up. Mother made a complete breakfast this time.”
I rolled away from the two to hide the smile on my face.
“Mother can’t cook. How is that encouraging?”
Ruth leaned over me to hold my nose closed so I’d have to sit up for some air.
“Because she didn’t actually cook it.”
Anthony nodded his head from the other side of me. If I was facing him I would be sure to see his hair swinging up and down with the rest of his face but slowly lagging behind. “She just stood there and pointed at the others to do it.” Ruth started to shake me harder.
“Still, mother actually told them to make us a full meal. There has to be something going on.”
I sat up and pretended to sigh. Our mother was the head of the London Institute. Standing and pointing orders wasn’t impressive. Neither was the sound my stomach made in the morning. My siblings pushing me out of the bed as they laughed.
“Come on. Come on.”
…
My bare feet slowly trudged into the kitchen. Mother was already sitting at the head of the table. Father was sitting besides her tickling Miriam. Her frizzy red and blonde hair streaking the air with bright colors. Behind them was our ‘staff’. Being trainees or low ranked was a sucky life. Mother looked up from her breakfast plate.
“I see you are finally awake.”
I collapsed across from Miriam. In front of me was a surprisingly large and delicious looking plate of food. I turned around to glance briefly at Ella. This was definitely her handiwork. Anthony quietly sat next to me. Our sister Ruth sat at the other end of the table. Father laughing.
“Not wearing shoes again, I see.”
Anthony shook his head.
“It’s a miracle your feet never get cold.”
Ruth leaned forward to dig into her plate. She always scarfed food down like a wolf.
“I’m sure she doesn’t notice it.”
Miriam nodded her head happily.
“Evey is a proper dunce.”
I ignored my family. The fact we had to get up before the sun rose in the sky was a crime. Even sitting here with a full plate was just a different sort of criminal act. Celia walked forward to hand Mother a tablet.
“Today’s report.”
Mother nodded her head and dismissed her. My eyes following Anthony’s. The way he looked at her was like an attached puppy dog. My older brother was such a dunce.
“Angelika?”
I watched mother turn to father. In his hands was the traditional cup of tea. Unlike mother who traditionally had a cup of coffee.
“Hm?”
We all watched father lean towards mother. Where mother looked soft but was not. Father was very soft and warm. A childlike smile on his face as he leaned down so he could be looking up at her. He was too mushy in the morning.
“You can go over those later. You are keeping everyone standing behind you longer then they need to be, Love.”
Mother put her tablet down.
“Elliot.”
An even bigger and brighter smile appeared on his face. It was a normal scene of watching father kiss mother on the forehead. Ruth threw her table knife at him. There was no chance of it hitting him.
“Ruthie, we agreed not to be so violent with our tableware unless it was an emergency.”
Mother simply shook her head no.
“No, we agreed they cannot play with their tableware if they could not hit what they wanted to hit.”
I looked over to Anthony. He wasn’t even eating anymore. His eyes were solely glued onto Celia’s face. Miriam happily eating her breakfast unlike the rest of us. Breakfast was her favorite meal of the day. Miriam seemed to need a lot of calories in the morning to be able to function the rest of the day.
“Miriam?”
My little sister looked up from her plate to me. She really had the most amazingly warm hazel eyes. They looked so brown but those bits of greens just made her seem so joyful and calm.
“Can you pass the butter?”
Miriam pushed it from where she was sitting forward towards me. I had to lean over the table to reach it. A fact mother did not miss.
“Evelyn.”
After grabbing the butter I quickly leaned back towards my own seat. Anthony coughing and changing the subject. He loved to think that he solved the problems.
“What are we doing today?”
We all turned to look at mother. She simply put her cup of coffee down. I have no idea how she was that graceful.
“Ruth and Anthony you are going to Alicante today.”
We all looked at her shocked. My brother stammering.
“But, but… You said we couldn’t leave this early because no one was at the estate yet.”
Ruth nodded her head.
“And you would never leave us alone. That would be too much fun.”
Father chuckled and messed up my brother’s hair.
“You are going to stay with your cousins.”
All four of us children saying at the same time,
“Which cousins?”
Father leaned back into his chair.
“The Highsmiths. You will be staying with your cousin Gregor and Anja.”
Anthony shook his head no.
“Absolutely, not! Gregor is a bloody meat head!”
Ruth nodded her head.
“And Anja walks around thinking she is some sort of dolly. At thirteen!”
Their father just sighed.
“You two need to be nicer to your cousins.”
He took a breath for a moment.
“At least to their faces. Alright?”
My two siblings quietly nodded their heads. Ruth had a very annoyed expression while Anthony a very worried one. Miriam on the other hand looked at father very curious.
“What about us?”
My mother pointed to Ella.
“You will be studying with Ella, Miriam.”
My sister pushed her fist into the air.
“Alright!”
Father turned to me with a coy expression.
“And you Evey will be here, training with your mother and I.”
I couldn’t hep but whine.
“That’s completely unfair!”
Ruth stuck her tongue out at me.
“Hah, Evey has to train with mother and father.”
I threw my knife at Ruth. She dodged it while laughing.
“You have to throw better than that.”
I bit my tongue and forced a smile.
“I’ll get better when you catch up on rune training.”
Ruth went to lean forward but found herself hitting their father’s arm.
“No fighting at the breakfast table.”
I smirked at her as she leaned back into her chair. Father turning to me next. His butter knife pointing at my face.
“And you. You heard your mother. No throwing knives unless you can hit your target.”
Mother turned around to look at those lined up behind the breakfast table. She really did run this place very strictly.
“Celia, you and Matthew will join us.”
The two looked completely shocked. Mother didn’t even flinch.
“A Trueblood and a possible Ascendant both need to properly train as well.”
They both looked very excited. Too bad neither of them knew what it was like to be in one of those ‘training’ classes. I turned away. All the little mundane orphans and staff looked at them enviously. Sure, training could be fun. However, it wasn’t all fun. All the fun things were for other children. Mother turned to me.
“I’m sure Evey will be a wonderful mentor to you two.”
I unconsciously shuddered. Why did the gentlest most feminine looking one in the family also be the scariest one. I bet she even made the Fae Folk shudder.
“I’ll try.”
Father leaned forward to pat my head.
“That’s my Little Evey.”
I looked up to see Anthony staring at me bitterly. Sorry, brother… You’ll have more fun though. You get to play with family and then go to the Academy. I have a whole other year enduring their hellish training. I poured some of the coffee into my tea. Ignoring everyone’s looks was hard but enjoying caffeine was easy.
Hard-Headed Woman – Elvis Presley