I read a book once where a character mentioned that when you are in love everything is different. The sun shines brighter, the birds chirp more, the flowers smell better, and so on. I remember laughing at what he was saying. I laughed so hard my stomach felt like it was being twisted. Little did I know he was telling the truth.

When I woke up this morning everything felt different. The bird's tune is sweeter, the sun is shining brighter.

I leaned out the window, looking out at the garden. A constant smile plastered on my face at the thought of seeing Ava. But first I have to go through training.

Hiding my smile and happiness I went to the bathroom and had a quick shower. Today I decided to not wear my normal all black clothing, instead, I put on brown pants and a green shirt.

" Green looks nice on you master." Halin squawked.

" Thanks, Halin." I smiled.

" Wow, a smile I thought you were incapable master."

" Enough, let's get going we don't want to be late."

Once again I hid my smile with the mask of a stone-cold emotionless person.

" You're going to be late." My mam growled.

" Maybe I'll be early," I smirked.

" Leave." She commanded pointing her bony finger to the door.

Taking a bite out of the apple I picked from the fruit bowl I turned on my heels and ran out of the house.

As I reached Hawthorn I was basically biting my tongue to stop myself from smiling.

As always people scattered as I neared them but this time I wasn't paying much attention to them. My eyes were wandering around the scared faces looking for the one girl who would be happy to see me. Looking for my Ava.

But as I reached the edge of the village I didn't need to force myself not to smile. Not seeing Ava dampened my mood. But remembering that I'll see her tonight made my smile return.

When I reached the temple I was shocked to see Naomi sitting in the meadow. She, like the rest of the coven, doesn't normally sit in the meadow. The meadow is a symbol of beauty and light. The witches prefer the temple which is a symbol of darkness and evil. Even the nicest of the witches would take the darkness over the light.

I stayed under the covers of the trees and watched her. She was holding a small object, it looked like a necklace. And just like me, she was smiling.

" What are we doing here master?" Halin squawked.

Halin made her nearly jump out of her skin. She shoved the necklace back into her pocket and stood up. She turned around shocked when she saw me walking towards her. Her smile had faded and fear was in its place.

Why was she afraid of me seeing her sitting here?

Why was she afraid of me seeing her happy?

And why was she afraid of me seeing the necklace?

" What are you doing over there?" She asked.

" I was observing a witch in her unnatural habitat. They are surprising things witches. Sometimes they do the unexpected."

" They are indeed surprising things." She chuckled.

" How was your day off?" I asked.

" Since when are you interested?"

" I'm not, what I'm doing right now is what mortals refer to as small talk. But I'm not surprised you don't know that. After all only people who don't live under rocks would know about small talk." I smirked.

" I know about small talk asshole."

" Wow, you witches really are unexpected creatures," I laughed, "But seriously how was your day off?"

" Pretty good, especially since Cleo and I have today off as well."

" What?" I growled.

" Well, my mam along with Peggy and Lizzie are in a meeting. Nathan is not which means you have still have your assassin classes." She smirked, dramatically crossing her arms over her chest.

" Great." I hissed.

" Anyway, I'm gonna go catch up on some sleep. Enjoy your fighting."

She sarcastically waved goodbye as she turned around and skipped back into the temple.

" Fuck." I swore under my breath as I started making my way to Nathan's class. Or as I'll be calling it for the next I don't know how many hours- hell.

" Again." Nathan commanded.

My sweat-stained shirt clung to my skin for dear life.

For the past, three and a half hours I have been nothing but pure torture. Since Nathan has four hours with me he has decided to make the most of every second. The first hour was stretches and all sorts of warmups. The next was fighting. We did many spars, Nathan won all of them but each time I lasted longer than the last. For the last half n hour, he has been showing me more acrobatic moves. So far I've perfected the flying sidekick and the cartwheel kick.

I am now trying to do a summersault kick.

Like the last two moves, I've been failing the first few times but Nathan is very certain I will get it by the end of the lesson.

" Do you need a water break?" He asked.

" Yes." I wheezed.

" Coldwater is in the container." He pointed to a white container in the corner of the room.

I ran to the container and poured myself a glass. I moaned in pleasure as the cold liquid hit my throat, reenergizing me.

" I think we've had more than enough training today. Lesson dismissed now go home, have a shower, and sleep." Nathan chuckled.

" Thanks, clearly I need it." I laughed.

" Well yeah, and I have a date I need to get ready for." Nathan smiled as he left the room.

Nathan's smile and mention of his date made me remember my upcoming date causing my smile to return. However, the pungent smell of my sweat radiating from my shirt made my smile disappear.

" Master."

" Yes."

" You stink."

" Thanks, bud." I shook my head.

" You're welcome."

And like that my smile and a bit of laughter came back.

Waiting for my mam to fall asleep is like waiting for a sloth to move. I've been watching her, through Halin, for over an hour now. She can't seem to put her necromancy book down and go to bed. And I was getting anxious. I needed to go to Ava.

I'm sure she's waiting for me. She's probably sitting by her window looking out into the trees and wondering where I am.

Does she think I'm not coming?

Does she think I changed my mind?

How long is she willing to wait for me?

Finally, my mam packed the book away and started heading up to her room.

Thankfully It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Once she was in a deep slumber I deactivated the spell from Halin and snuck out of the house.

I used the same route as last time and just like last time it worked like a charm. I was out of the house and near the cave before I knew it.

Transforming myself into a bird I flew down to Hawthorn. When I reached Ava's window I was sad to see she was in her bed, lightly sleeping. As I began to tap on her window she jumped up and turned to face me.

A smile formed on her lips almost as if she knew it's me. Or she just likes little finches. She climbed out of her bed, her white nightgown hugged the floor as she walked towards the window. She opened the window and I flew in.

She looked back at me confused. But when I changed back into my human form the smile returned and bigger than ever.

She ran to me. When she reached me I wrapped my arms around her waist and pressed my lips to hers. She unzipped my jacket and tossed it to the floor. The action seemed to turn me on more and I kissed her harder. Her fingers mattered into my hair, messaging my scalp as she moaned.

" You need to keep quiet. We don't want your dad to hear us." I whispered between kisses.

" Sorry." She apologized.

" Do you want to keep going?" I asked, a part of me was hoping she would say yes.

" As much as I want to. I just remembered that I'm making out with a man who I know little about." She smiled, biting her lip.

" Good point." I smiled.

Over the next hour, we layed on her bed and talked about random things. Our favourite colour, our favourite animal, our family's and many other things.

" So let me get this straight you have all four powers that witches possess and we are mates?" She asked, scrunching her eyebrows together.

" Yes."

" That's insane, but also cool." She smiled.

" That's the witch world for you, babe."

" Wow, we're already to nicknames."

" Well in all fairness we were heavily making out earlier," I smirked.

" Touche." She smiled.

" What's that song you keep singing?" I asked.

" Oh, um... Hallelujah. It's a song my mom used to sing for me before she... died." She sniffled, a small tear rolling down her cheek.

" Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. And I'm sorry I made you tell me."

" No, it's fine. Even though I don't talk about my mom much, I love every second where I do."

" I bet she was amazing." I smiled taking her hand in mine.

" She was."

After spending over three hours with Ava I sadly had to leave. Giving her one last kiss I transformed back into a bird and flew away.

If birds could smile I would have smiled the whole flight home. When I got back to my room I was shocked to see my mam standing by my bedroom door.

I transformed back and sat down in my desk chair.

" Where were you?" She hissed.

" Out." I shrugged.

" Out where, and don't give me any attitude when you answer!" She yelled.

" I wasn't anywhere specific I was just flying around!" I yelled back.

" You're lying!" She yelled.

" No, I'm not. Now get out of my room, I need some sleep."

" This isn't over." She hissed storming out of my room slamming the door behind her. 

* Greg's POV*

As I sharpened my axe I listened to Ava singing in her room. Her voice soothes me. And hearing her sings Hallelujah makes me think back to my wife.

Twelve years ago she died from cancer. I sat back and watched as her body was ravaged by that sickness. I watched as her hair fell out, I watched as she vomited every day. I watched as she got weaker and weaker. The only thing that made her suffering less was singing that song.

When Ava started singing it a few years ago I burst into tears. She asked me if I wanted her to stop singing. I told her not to. Now she sings it every day. And every time she does it makes me feel better.

The singing stopped and she came running downstairs. Ava always is wearing a long dress, today however she is wearing a bright blue dress.

" Morning dad." She chirped kissing my cheek.

" Morning sweetie. Did you sleep alright?"

" More than alright. I have to go Ms Weberly needs me at the bakery early."

" Have a good day."

" You too, oh and I finished stitching up your shirt it's on my table."

" Thank you, love you."

" Love you too!" She called as she ran out.

I placed my axe down against the sofa and headed up to her room.

Just like she said my shirt was on her table. I picked it up and as I was about to leave when I noticed something unusual.

Laying by the bottom of her is a black jacket, a man's jacket. I picked up the jacket and examined it.

My heart broke at the sight of the jacket. My daughter, my innocent, and God-fearing daughter is sleeping around.

I will not let my daughter damn her soul any further. I have to fix this and fast.