“Guess what?” Destiny said as Nora walked over to the last table in the corner of the cafeteria and sat next to her.

“What? They finally took wheat buns off the breakfast menu?”

“No,” Destiny snorted in amusement.

“Darn,” Nora sighed.

“What I was going to say is that word around the street is Ross broke up with his girlfriend.”

“He did!? Crap, warn me, I look like this!” Nora hissed nervously fixing her hair.

Ross Atwood is as much of a people pleaser as his dad was at his age. His dad being Aron Atwood, one of the best magic users of all time. Ross took after his father, though he kept it a secret, and only his dad and his family knew it.

That didn’t stop Ross from using magic to his advantage. Making the high school junior the It guy of the school. He’s class president, a straight-A honor roll student, and the star quarterback to top it all off. Of course, no one knew he used magic to get those crowning achievements. If his dad knew what he had done, he would be in serious trouble for sure, but he didn’t so he continued to do it.

“If you want him to notice you, you have to talk to him!” Destiny shook Nora’s shoulders.

“He does notice me; he says hi to me every morning.” Nora defended.

Destiny raised an eyebrow, “I hardly think that qualifies.”

Nora sighed.

Destiny looked like the perfect mix of her dad Jaden and her mom Darci. She was more on the bigger side. Very curvy and well-rounded. She had light ebony skin and curly dark hair that she often just wore in two buns on either side of her head. She had on some blue jean capris, and a nice flowery blouse. Silver hope earrings on her ears and nice silver bangles on her wrist.

She was a lot like Darci in personality, being as her dad and mom were separated and no longer on speaking terms. Her mom had custody of her and she was only able to see her dad with supervised visits. The reasons why her parents split up was a mystery to her.

 Unfortunately, Darci’s decision to keep Destiny in the dark about the world of the supernatural was not one Jaden agreed with, and ultimately, they had to go their separate ways.  

“You should ask him to the upcoming spring formal.” Destiny said.

“What!? No way. I can’t ask him like this!” Nora hissed.

“Then ask him tomorrow.” Destiny shrugged.

“A guy like him would never like a girl like me.” Nora sighed and rested her head on the table.

“Not with that attitude. Come on, you’re twice as pretty as any of the girls in the school. He would be an idiot to say no to you.”

“Really?” Nora sat up and looked at Destiny with a vulnerable look.

“Really.” She smiled.

“You’re right. Today I’m going to go home and shower and straighten my hair. I’ll be so hot he’ll have no choice but to say yes.” Nora said with a fire in her eyes.

“That’s the spirit.” Destiny giggled as the bell rang.

The two girls got up and walked to class together.

When Rooney walked back into her house it was clear she had been crying in her car.

“Hey, what took so long?” Joan asked from the living room couch with her third cup of coffee.

“Joan…” Rooney plopped next to her.

“What’s up? You okay?” Joan set her cup down on the coffee table.

“No.” Rooney sobbed and set the donuts down before engulfing Joan in a tight hug, burying her head in her shoulder.

“Hey, it’s okay. What’s wrong Roo?”

“Nora hates me,” Rooney sobbed.

“She does not hate you.”

“She does! She told me so to my face!” Rooney pulled back to look Joan in the eyes.

“What happened?”

“I tried to talk to her, I tried to make nice, but… she told me she wants me to leave and never come back. That she likes you better when you’re not with me. She hates me, Joan.”

Joan sighed and pulled Rooney back into her arms.

“Shh, it’s okay. We’ll work it out.”

“No, she’s right, I should just go. I should just leave.”

“Stop it, you’re not going anywhere. Not on my watch.” Joan rubbed her back.

Rooney sobbed heavily into Joan, Joan just held her, running her fingers through Rooney’s soft ginger hair. Joan eyed their reflection through the large flat screen tv in front of them. They weren’t as young as they used to. Joan had lines on her face, hints of wrinkles to come. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. She wore her glasses and let them loosely hang on her nose.

Though she was older, she was still in great shape. She had to be for their line of work. She was very muscular, very fit-looking. She was 42 but only looked to be in her early 30’s. Still, though she didn’t look it, she could feel it. She couldn’t run as fast as she once did, she got winded more often, her bones would ache after a hard workout.

No, she wasn’t as young as she once was. But she liked that. With age came experience and wisdom. She knew so much now that she wishes she could have told her younger self, but that’s life. We learn lessons we should have learned a long time ago, and if we only knew then what we know now… Well it was no use dwelling on it too long. 

“Let’s retire,” Joan said.

Rooney quieted her sobs and pulled back to look at Joan.

“Nora… she needs us Roo. We are gone too much, too often. She only “hates” you because you keep coming in and out of her life. She’s not sure she can trust you not to hurt her again. We aren’t kids anymore Roo. We’re old now. We have to accept it. Maybe it’s time we pass down the mantel.”

“What do you mean?” Rooney wiped her tears.

“Well let’s do it, let’s start up a business, a real business. Hire younger people, people we can train to do what we do. That way we still get to help people but don’t have to put our own lives on hold to do it. We can hire a whole team. Take on a more background role. Be mentors to the new generation. That way we can be here for Nora. She needs us Roo. You and I both know that these next few years of her life are going to be the hardest. I don’t want to make it harder for her than it has to be. The days of us running off whenever we want are over. We have to move on. Nora only likes me more when you’re not here because I have no choice but to stay with her. I’m not going on missions all the time. Because I know if anything were to happen to me, she’d have no one. I won’t make her grow up like that. I lost my dad around her age; you grew up without your parents. Is that really something you want for Nora?”

“No,” Rooney said.

“Please, enough of this. Let’s start a business, hire a team, become mentors. Please just agree to this, I don’t want to argue.” Joan grabbed Rooney’s hands.

“Okay.” Rooney nodded.

“Really?”

“I don’t want our daughter to hate me for the rest of her life. If there is even a chance I can reverse the damage I’ve done to her, then I want it. I don’t… I don’t want to be the bad guy all her life.”

“You won’t be. I’ll talk to her. Promise.” Joan wiped Rooney’s stray tear.

“I do love her Joan, just like I love you. I just have a hard time expressing my feelings.”

“I know Roo, I know. Trust me I’ve known you long enough to know when you mean things and when you are just upset. Just a future note though, don’t threaten to leave in front of Nora. She can’t handle it. Not again.”

“I’m sorry.” Rooney whimpered.

“Hey, if I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t keep letting you back in my life. Just like I know if you didn’t still love me, you wouldn’t keep coming back.” Joan kissed her forehead.

Rooney pulled back before kissing Joan passionately. Joan relaxed into the kiss and pulled Rooney as close to her as possible. The two of them fell back on the couch, leaving the donuts forgotten on the coffee table.