Chapter 28 - Grounded

As I walked into the living room, i saw multiple people, including everyone in my family. Aroura was looking at me with a worried look while Zack was smirking smugly and his brother hid behind him. My parents of the other hand looked furious, especially my mother.

YEP! They know...

"Pandora Raven. My friends here are telling me that something happened when you were at the village, may I know what you were going to hide from me?" My mother said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

WAIT?! HOW THE F*CK DO YOU 'casually' STROLL ON A FUCKING VILLAGE< AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME!? Did I create that much of a crowd? No way right?

"MOM! COME HERE RIGHT NOW BEFORE I RIP YOUR HEAD OFF YOUR BODY!"

SH*T! SHE'S GOING TO COMMIT MURDER BECAUSE OF ME! That has to be an exaggeration or a figure of speech, but then why does she look so serious?!

All three of the adults I had spent my day with walked in. The two men looked confused but granny looked tensed while glaring at me then softening her glare when seeing the guests.

Well at least she knows I didn't betray her.

"Yes Ana, What do you find the need to call me for" Granny said in annoyance

"well you see, I wouldn't have needed to call you if three of my friends here vouched for your presence within a bar. According to their recollection of the memory, Pandora had done unspeakable things while you guys were at the bar" my father said while looking at the floor in disappointment

Unspeakable things? What bullsh*it did they spout while we were away? If he means drinking a few shots he really needs to work on his wording because that is the most misleading sentence I had learnt in a while.

As I looked around with confusion, the other three had the an exact replica of my face when i heard the news. We all furrowed out brows as we looked towards the guests wondering what kind of bullsh*t they were spouting.

"Uncle, I think your words are misleading. What my mother was saying was that she saw Pandora drinking inappropriately and partying with adults the same age as my mother here" Arg- Argon? Whatever her mother called her. The girl said all that while patting her mothers shoulder at the end of the sentence before continuing "Her words, not mine."

I looked at the girl who I had forgotten then name of with suspicions running through my mind. I'm not too big on trusting strangers so I didn't think much of her words.

"Is this true, Pandora?" Asked my mother slightly pouting.

"No?" I lied through my teeth while adding a hint of confusion within my voice hoping that it would sell my point

"then tell me, what were you doing when you went to the village?" My mom asked while narrowing her eyes.

"We went to a blacksmith granny knew. We saw uncle Throid and Alan there and they were apparently Granny's friends so we hang out with them before coming back. On the way I asked granny if I can go hunting with them and we found a big..." I used the wingspan of my arms to indicate how big I was speaking, "...bear which we hunter together". I said trying to sell the lie by simply adding to already known knowledge. If my mother went to the village, my hope is that she wouldn't ask around for too long and go to the blacksmith to check if we were there and leave. A farfetched dream, but a cant you let a man dream?

"Hey man, don't give me. Don't give me credit for your kill. You did amazing out there. We didn't even have to help you." said Throid while all three of us resisted the urge to either slap him into oblivion or to face palm.

"What do you mean "Your kill"? Did you not help her fight the bear?" My mom spoke in outrage. To her, I'm pretty sure she was though my grandma had risked my life on the first day I left the home 'independently'.

"We did miss, but we only acted as support. Rather, she dealt the final blow and most of the damage at that." Alan tried to reprimand his friend's mistake by reducing the damage that had been already dealt to a certain degree.

My mother sighed in relief while that women who's name begins with an L tried to speak up and expose our lie.

"NO! HOW DARE YOU LIE TO YOUR OWN MOTHER LIKE THAT?! I SAW YOU WITH MY OWN TWO EY-"

"Loud" I said unconsciously out loud rather than in my head. Everyone's eyes widened while mine narrowed as I looked at the pathetic women in front of me.

Well, if the cats out of the bag, and the cat being my rudeness towards this pathetic petty little shit with an ego bigger than my tutor's ass, I might as well go all out. I mean how petty can you be to go after a child? At least that girl over there decided not to say anything... oh well. All I have to do is keep my killing intent in check to not scare the living sh*t out of everyone in this room.

"H-how dare you speak to me, Laura Fleming, WITH THAT TONE OF VOICE?!"

Maybe you should check your own tone of voice before you start judging the tone of others? It's common sense dude! Maybe Aroura was right when she said 'what comes around goes around'. You will be treated the same way you treat others. Logic is flawed since I did nothing wrong to harm someone else or even speak to them inappropriately. One day I might just snipe her if she gets too noisy for my innocent ears.

"YOU, YOU PATHIC LITTLE CHILD WHO WILL PRBABLY NEVER GET MARRIED DARE SPEAK TO ME, A NOBLE, LIKE A NOISY CHILD?"

Isn't that what you are though? Your just reinforcing my claim with your extremely noisy attitude. One day I might actually have to snipe you to not have to clean all the filth that comes out of your mouth every time you open it. I finally understand the saying 'Your tongue is like venom'. At least venom had a purpose, it's to kill or hurt someone or something. All this b*tch is spouting is more akin to garbage than venom.

"Calm down Laura" said the other women who I also cannot remember the name of. "Pandora, do not lie to us. If your Granny is making you lie to us we will protect you! There is no need to lie to us and also no need to be rude."

ME?! RUDE?! No way, I could simply never. How could I have the guts to be rude to a 'Noble' as you guys call yourselves? I could never lie to you! How could you say that?! HAHAHHAHAHAHA.

As I was inwardly dying of laughter, a single small almost inaudible "Pfft" came out of my mouth while my chest and upper body jolted upwards. I could barely keep my smile back and apparently, in an extremely quite room, almost inaudible simply is not enough.

"ARE YOU LAUGHING?! HOW DARE YOU! DID YOUR PARENTS NOT TEACH YOU ANY MANNERS?!" said... Loora?

"My parents have taught me well miss, but I could barely keep in my laughter at how ironic the phrase, 'noisy child', was."

Granny and my dad smiled while Throid and the girl who didn't act witness started to laugh heartily. James, who had been red with anger this whole time, looked like he was about to burst like a balloon while his mother seemed to have already gotten to the bursting stage. She was so full with fury that she tried to attack me to no avail. The moment i realised her soul fire was bursting outwards, I got my right leg and fist ready to attack her will all my weight.

I now probably weighed as much as an average male and due to the surface are of my fist, my punches would pierce more than push. I was about to hit her with the full brunt of my fist when I saw my father, my grandma, that girl at the back and Aroura conjure spells with hand signs. The first trapped her legs in ice, the next put her hand in heavy rocks, the next made an air cushioning wall and the last which happened to be my fathers attacked using an ice sword to barely stop next to her neck.

Damn, you almost got your self killed women... How do you feel? How's the weather up there wherever your ego and pride lay? You know what they say, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

"Pandora... Go to your room, You're grounded for 7 days and can only come out whenever you have a lesson with your tutor" my mom said while looking at the floor

"what, why?" I asked while being flabbergasted by the sudden punishment.

"for being rude to our guests that's why. Now get to your room before I hit you hard enough to send you there myself!" My mother replied.

"..."

THE F*CK? I DID NOTHING WRONG SO FAR! Do you really care about your social standing that much? This one women, who tried to forcefully engage Aroura into her family, is worth me being grounded for? What the hell?! Calm down Atlas, you gotta think. There is no way she is going to keep me grounded when they leave so causing a commotion for no reason would only piss someone off. The best thing to do is to take the punishment with grace rather than a beating.

I walked towards my room casually without giving anyone except the girl at the back a second glance. I smiled at her before walking to my room again without saying a word.

Now I just have to wait a few hours until I hear the door close a few times and see them leaving from the window before going downstairs. Simple, easy to follow plan. Nothing can go wron-... I hope I didn't jinx it.

---

2 hours later

---

After practicing with controlling the elements to a certain extent without using a spell, I finally saw the two women, the girl and James leave my house at long last. I had heard their bickering for a while now but they finally left. I hope I was able to pull Granny out of this one safely with contained damage.

Throid and Alan had left a few minutes after I left to go to my room. This meant that they didn't have to deal with the bickering which is a plus in my books. Anyway, I think I should go downstairs now that the 4 of them are far away from our home.

As I started to walk down the stairs, I heard no noise, just silence.

What the hell? Did someone die? Why is everyone looking like that?

Everyone sat on their respective seats either holding their heads, their temples or the bridge of their nose clearly trying to contain a huge headache. The moment my mother saw me she froze for a whole second before asking me "why are you out of your room? Didn't I say you are grounded for a whole week, or do my words mean nothing to you?"

"Well I thought you told me t-" I tried to say before being cut off by a sharp "Get back to your room, NOW!"

I walked towards my room without saying anything or thinking about it much before she said "Now your grounded for 2 weeks. Don't talk to me until you get your manners back!". Her shouting at me started to make the twins chuckle at my dismay.

Damn kids. One day I'm going to 'Accidently' bash your head into a rock and 'Mistakenly' shoot an air sniper shot towards your head.

For the next 2 days Aroura would visit me upstairs for a few hours before having to leave. Apparently the women lectured my mother for 2 hours before settling down and leaving, making my mother feel so much shame that she decided to make my punishment real and double it at that.

For the rest of the time I would simply either spend time with Aroura and with my tutor in the mornings before working on the spells I already know at dusk before working on new spells when night falls.

I was working on the body enhancing spells, float and windy steps. While the former made my body light enough to negate gravity, the latter made me as fast as the wind. I would work on them through the night while trying to not make any noise.. While float was a spell I had no idea how to use, windy steps was something I could create with enough try and error.