child whose mum was a god of death and whose dad was a god of life, and you can sort of understand the logic… even if it sucks.
Mum messes with her shirt and starts fixing her hair, looking more flustered by the moment. Where the hell is dad to calm her down? Somehow, my awesome dad can just look at mum and, almost magically, she relaxes. He’s human though, so it’s not really magic. It’s just his special way about things.
“How are you going to explain the talking goat then, mum?” I ask, glancing at the five family photos behind her of us all, with Michael the goat in each one of them. You have to understand that my mother is a highly competitive woman. That’s one of the reasons she’s so eager to see Hugo married off; it will give her bragging rights amongst both humans and other supernaturals. If she has the chance to one-up someone, even in the most petty of situations, you can be damn well sure she’ll take it. Unfortunately, though, that leads to some… interesting conflicts, especially when dealing with equally-competitive people. Michael is the result of a series of escalating incidents involving our human next-door neighbor. They had begun unofficially competing with each other over who had the fancier garden from the moment they moved in. Mum, who had magic on her side, was able to grow a flower garden that got bigger and bigger every day. The neighbour eventually upped his game and got a water fountain built in, complete with a light show. Needless to say, mum couldn’t let that go, and being what we are, she used her powers to sense that our neighbour was, and still is, terrified of goats. Therefore, naturally, I went outside one day to see a shaggy gray goat munching on the grass of our lawn. Just to twist the knife, Mum named him Michael, after the next door neighbour. Only issue? It’s a bloody cursed goat. This is what we get for shopping at the magical markets instead of just going to a human farm; it talks, tells jokes, and likes to mess with our neighbour - even more than mum does, something I hadn’t even thought possible. I have to admit, though, it’s pretty funny to see the human running into his house from his garden ever time Michael whispers things through the hole in the fence. Sooner or later he’s going to have a psychotic break, and as much as I feel bad for the guy, I just can’t help it; schadenfreude is just in my nature.
“Michael is eating the vegetables I got him today at the end of the garden,” Mom replies, waving a hand. “I’ve told him to behave himself, so it shouldn’t be an issue. I’m going to finish getting dinner ready, and in the meantime, I want the two of you to go and shower. You both smell of pond, car oil and god knows what else.”
“Got it,” I say, wanting to quickly get out of here before mum asks me. I’ve managed to skirt giving her a real explanation for our current state, and I definitely don’t want to have to go into the details. The last thing I want is for her to know that it wasn’t an accident, that in reality, I messed up another job, and Pey had to save me. Again.
5
The shower was a blessing, and as I scrub the horrid smell off of my body, I warn myself to try to keep the surliness to a Although, I think, as I shampoo my hair a second time just to be on the safe side, I guess that will depend on how much of an airhead this girl turns out ot be. I know it’s not very charitable of me to be thinking this way, but I’ve had a hell of a day, and the last thing I want is to have to fake pleasantry with the kind of girl who would have bullied me back in high school.
After finishing towel drying my hair, because applying any kind of heat to my frizzy hair would be madness, I return to my room and open my wardrobe. Choosing a green top that says "I have hidden secrets" and a pair of skinny jeans, I pull them on and reach down to the three layers of shoes at the bottom of the wardrobe.
"You are all so pretty," I whisper, running a hand over my collection