The Rouge Omega Caster

Chapter 2: Breakfast

Cadence’s POV

"They should be arriving any moment," Grandma said, urging me to put the final touches on the dining room table. We had decided to switch from the kitchen to the dining room, as it had a larger table and more open space. It was a wise choice, I thought to myself. My aunt Josephine and her kids, Cairo, Liam, and Reese, were coming over. Normally, her husband, Uncle Malcolm, would go too, but he was away on business.

Right on cue, As I set down a giant plate of chocolate chip pancakes, there was a knock on the front door, accompanied by a shout, "Let us in!" I immediately recognized Cairo's voice, followed by Liam's hungry plea. My grandmother chuckled at their impatience while I rolled my eyes. "I'll go let them in," I said exasperatedly.

But before I could even move, Cairo teleported right in front of me, causing me to collide with him face-first. It felt like running into a brick wall, and I clutched my nose in pain before shouting, "What the hell?!” Cairo and Liam were two years older, 6 ft 3 in., and built like linebackers, which was bad news for anyone who thought to block their way. Cairo Winced and apologized, “Sorry about that, Cuzzo, but you were taking too long.” He explained as he went to unlock the door, Letting the rest of the family in. As I made sure my nose wasn't broken, my aunt came in and delivered a smack to the back of Cairo’s head. “Ow! Mom, what was that for?” he complained

Aunt Josephine scolds, “I've already told you countless times to stop teleporting into people’s houses, damn it! Even your grandparents. My goodness!” she huffs before turning in my direction. “You ok, C.D.?”

“Yes, ma’am, I’ll be okay,” I reply, my nose still throbbing, but honestly, nothing to worry about. “ Yeah, see, Mom, no big deal,” Liam said, coming to Cairo’s defense. “ Plus, you ask me he wouldn’t get hurt so often if he wasn’t built like a girl-” his sentence was cut short by The fiery glare his mother shot him. Chuckling nervously, he motions his head to Cairo to join him in the dining room, and they quickly walk off.

Turning back to me, she said, “Here, let me,” lifting her index finger, she spoke something in ancient Celtic and touched my nose. Instantly, I feel a calm and soothing sensation starting at the bridge of my nose and spreading its way out. “Better?” she asked. And I closed my eyes contentedly, “Much better. Thanks”

My aunt had the abilities of a healer. They are hard to come across since most of them are contracted and, in the worst-case scenario, threatened to join a coven. Lucky for us, she was born into ours, and fortunate for the Twins, she was their mother. They often would get hurt by how rough they were during training, causing Aunt Josephine endless headaches.

Reese's voice comes from behind me, exclaiming, "Whoa, we're not even at breakfast yet, and we've already got a close call!" Her slender arm wraps around my shoulder, instantly brightening my mood. Reese, Aunt Josephine's youngest and only daughter, is my closest companion. We're the same age, although she's a few months older. She had a slim yet shapely figure, matching my height, with a buzzed head dyed honey blond. In terms of facial features, she resembled her father more, with prominent cheekbones and large, mischievous brown eyes. Her lips were full and pouty, and her slightly pointed nose gave her an adorable elf-like appearance. While I tend to be reserved and calm, Reese's lively and spirited nature complements mine perfectly.

“And on such an important day, too,” she says under her breath for me to hear alone, and I freeze. s**t, was that today? With that damn dream souring my mood, I had completely forgotten about the thing Reese and I had planned—the question. As if reading my mind, she gave me a look of disbelief.

“Cadence, you moun sòt, I can't believe you. We’ve been planning this for weeks!”she said calling me an i***t in our native language. And I couldn't agree with her more at that moment.“Planning what?” Aunt Josephine asked, eyeing us suspiciously

“Nothing,” Reese and I said in unison and smiled at her. Not believing us but also not wanting to prolong the breakfast, she walks into the dining room, leaving me and Reese in the foyer. The arm initially wrapped around my shoulder and now smacked me on the mine. “I know I deserve that. I’m sorry,” I muttered, rubbing the spot she hit. “You damn straight. Oh well, I guess not technically, she smirked, winking at me.” but you know what I mean.”

I gave her a giant eye roll. Ever since I Had told her that I was attracted to men, she has always been supportive, but whenever she got the chance, she would add a joke or two to our conversations. Grandma knows, too, after a very awkward conversation about a magazine she found under my bed. The only ones who didn’t know were Grandpa, Uncle Malcolm, and the twins—the twins more so because I didn’t want to give them more ammo for their teasing. Them calling me princess already was enough.

Putting that aside, I faced her and asked, “ Maybe we should put this off for a little longer?” furrowing my brows, I tugged on a piece of string that came loose from my cardigan.

“Uh, no, we are not pushing it back. We’ve already put it off too long, and the new school year will start in 2 and a half weeks. We need to ask now, or it’ll be too late.” She said, fixing me with a stare; that said, there was no way of me getting out of it.

“Now or never,” I sighed, and she nodded, and then together, we both made our way to the dining room.

At the dining table, Grandpa remained seated at the head, with Grandma on his right and Aunt Josephine on his left. The twins sat across from Grandma, so Reese and I took the remaining seats across from Aunt Josephine. After a few minutes of the twins demolishing the chocolate chip pancakes and the conversation turned to family plans and recent events, Reese gave me a subtle nod, signaling that it was time to speak up. Taking a deep breath, I mustered up the courage to address Grandpa. "Um, Grandpa?" I stuttered, then cleared my throat. "We have a question we wanted to ask," I said, my confidence wavering as I spoke.

“Cadence, sweetheart, it’s OK. Say what you need to”, Grandma said, reassuringly smiling, seeing how nervous I looked. Reese also put her hand on top of mine under the table and whispered, “You got this.”

That gave me the extra confidence I needed. I turned to look at Grandpa again. “Grandpa Reese and I would like to try to go to Hillcrest High this school year,” I finished. With that, silverware clinked to the plates, and all eyes were on me. “What?” he said incredulously, “Hillcrest High? What brought this on?”

I turned slightly to Reese silently, begging her to take over. She stole her shoulders and looked at Grandpa. “We get that casters have a way of doing things, and one of those things is homeschooling. We learned a lot, even to control our powers, but what homeschooling doesn’t have is a high school experience like public school would. Like prom and club activities. And I’m sorry, but I refuse to go to a prom with nothing but family members attending.” She said, scrunching her nose at the thought. She continues, “And it wouldn’t be forever. We only have one year of homeschooling left. We would just be finishing out the school year there.”

Grandpa sits, absorbing this information, his hands clasped in front of him on the table. A minute passes, and then he speaks. “ Reese. Cadence. You have received an adequate education that Hillcrest High couldn't provide, even with the school’s budget. You're practically at college-level courses already, so truly, it's beyond me that you are willing to set yourself back in your studies to have an experience at some sub-par high school. You both know why we don’t go to public schools. It’s enough that you guys are still young and learning how to control your powers. It's another thing to send you to a place where those salte mutts, filthy mutts, roam freely.” Grandpa ends a dangerous edge to his voice.

“Your grandpa’s right.”Aunt Josephine adds softly, looking down at her plate. “Hillcrest High is close to the Moon Hall Wolfpack. A lot of werewolf shifters are known to attend there, it is far too dangerous for you two to go. Since the Moonlightwar 25 years ago, there has been high tension between castors and werewolf shifters. Yes, there have been rules set in place to ensure we don't have an incident similar, but it's still very rocky. It's just best to steer clear of them entirely.”

“ We both know I can take care of myself.” I started, “I may not be physically strong, but I have an abundance of magic to make up for it. More so than my peers. I am top of my class when it comes to magical defense. If anything happens, I can handle it..” I say, not wanting to back down or give up on my goal. The High school experience for me was just an excuse; I had a completely different reason as to why I wanted to go. A reason I hadn't even told Reese yet. “Please, Grandpa, if you could just-”

“Cadence! I have already told you how I feel on the matter, but if you need a clear answer, here it is: No, you and Reese shall not attend. Is that understood?” Grandpa says in his stern, authoritative voice that makes Reese and I cringe. He’s never really used it with me, and I feel hurt. “Crystal,” I snap back at him. Abruptly, I scooted my chair back and exited the dining room without being excused, leaving my food untouched. I heard Reese and Grandma call out to me and their chairs scraping against the floor as I headed for the back door, but I didn’t stop. As I left, I could hear Liam saying to Cairo, “Well, at least for once, we didn’t ruin the family breakfast.”