"I know we agreed not to say anything that will cause us to be sad but..." Ollie smiled. "I am really going to miss this.".
Annie smiled, she also could not help it. It was true, she would miss this too.
"I will miss this too, really, I will," Annie said.
Matt nodded, he felt the same. Maddie kept silent, she did not want them to turn on her once she said something.
"Anyway, moving on, I think we should focus on good things. Like telling more stories," Ollie smiled.
"Hold up, blondie, hold up," Maddie interrupted.
"What's the matter, Maddie?" Ollie asked.
"All this time, you've been asking us to tell stories, and at this point, you know more stories about us than we know about you," Maddie said.
Matt nodded, that was kind of true.
"That is true, so..." Ollie asked.
"So, how about for a change, you tell us a story about yourself. We basically know nothing about you other than you grew up without any friends, you are responsible and spend your days doing work and attending meetings at the High Council," Maddie said.
"You know, Maddie, instead of going too far in your explanation, you should have just asked him to tell us stories from his childhood," Annie shook her head.
"It's fine Annie, I don't mind. Although, I don't think I have interesting stories to tell like you guys do," Ollie said.
"That's fine dude, we don't have interesting stories to tell all the time," Matt said.
"Go on, blondie, tell us some stories about your childhood," Maddie insisted.
"Well, okay, let me start with an interesting fact.".
Annie and Matt smiled, waiting for him to speak while Maddie seemed impatient.
"I was not always blonde," he said.
"What do you mean?" Annie asked.
"I mean, I wasn't born blonde. Actually, when I was born, my hair was white.".
"Oh, really now?" Maddie asked surprised.
"Mhmm.".
"Why is that?" Annie asked.
"Well, the thing is, that is a half genetic mutation.".
"Half genetic mutation?" Maddie frowned.
"There is no such thing as a half genetic mutation," Annie looked confused.
"I know it sounds unbelievable, but it is," he replied. "In this case yes, because my hair colour gene was messed with. It caused me to be born with pure white hair. The thing is that half genetic mutation is not common, it only affects two percent of the witch population.".
"And most times, the children that it affects grow out of it by two years old, but I was five and my hair was still white. My Mother said that I looked like a tiny old man," Ollie laughed.
Annie laughed, she could not imagine Ollie with white hair, but when she squinted her eyes a bit, she could start to see it.
"Anyway, on my sixth birthday, I inherited my mother's golden locks, and I've been blonde since then. I guess I was just a late bloomer," he chuckled.
"Tell me about it, I know that feeling all too well," Annie said.
"Hmm, to think that you could not have been blonde, well, it does not matter, Blondie, if you weren't blonde, I would call you, Whitey," Maddie said.
Ollie did not look amused one bit. He did not know if Maddie's ability to come up with hate names was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Yeah, well anyway, I am glad to be blonde, it's better than sticking out like a sore thumb in a crowd.".
"I hate to break it to you dude, but you already stick out, but not like a sore thumb though, more like a bright sun," Matt said.
"Matt's right, you have the ability to light up a room, and that's really nice," Annie agreed.
"Thanks guys," Ollie smiled.
"So, wait, hey, let's clear this up," Maddie frowned. "Matt, Celeste has white hair, does that mean she has that half genetic mutation?".
"You're right, I forgot about that, she does have white hair," Matt laughed.
"I forgot Celeste has white hair as well. She does have that genetic mutation, the only difference in her case it isn't a half genetic mutation," Ollie said.
"Why is that?" Annie asked.
"Well, when someone with a half genetic mutation doesn't loose that genetic mutation by a certain age, either two or six years old, it means in their case it's a full genetic mutation that becomes a permanent part of their genes," Ollie said.
"Hmm, interesting," Annie said.
"It really is, when I was younger, I did not understand anything at all when my parents tried to explain it to me.".
"Wait, so this half genetic mutation, is it only in regards to hair?" Maddie asked.
"Not really, but in witches, it is more common in hair. Sometimes it affects nails, eye colour, height... and sometimes the effect is not physical, which means it is not noticeable," Ollie said.
"Considering that humans also have genetic mutations from what I know, is it possible that a genetic mutation could cause a witch to not develop their magic, or maybe even make their magic hard to use?" Matt asked.
"Now that you mention that, Matt, you are right. That can definitely happen. The genetic mutation can affect anything, but there is not enough research on this topic, the Council focuses more on magic instead of biology or science," Ollie said.
"Isn't that a bit backward?" Annie asked.
"I agree, it is a bit backward, but the Council insists on doing things the way they have been done from the beginning," Ollie replied.
Maddie scoffed, "Of course they do, when all of them are mostly old, no offense to Aunt Stella, or Uncle Capi... and even Professor Sapiens.".
"It's funny because the vampires know more about biology than the witches. I saw it firsthand. Their labs were so advanced," Annie said.
"I agree... but I don't blame them. They only use the methods that prove to have worked well for the past four hundred years," Ollie said. "That is why when I become king, I want to focus on improving the methods our Council use. After all, they are outdated, but not in a bad way, because they can be easily improved and that is the most important thing.".
"I know that you are going to be a good king, Ollie," Annie smiled.
"Thank you.".
"Hey, hey blondie, once again, you didn't tell us a story, you only mentioned a fact, so you're not getting away with this one, so go on, tell us a story," Maddie insisted.
"I was not trying to change the topic on purpose. Anyway, yes, so one time, when I was five, I was jumping on the bed," Ollie began.
Maddie gasped and laughed, "What?? You, blondie, a goody two-shoes? You were jumping on the bed?".
"Hey, it's normal, every child has jumped on their bed at least once in their lives," Ollie shrugged.
"I know, but you, I am sure it was against the rules to jump on the bed, but you still do it. So, you used to be a disobedient child!" Maddie exclaimed as if she had struck gold.
Ollie felt like rolling his eyes. Annie laughed, it was typical of Maddie to capitalize on something as small as this.
"Hey, I was never a disobedient child. I was jumping on the bed because my parents told me not to, as I could get hurt, but I did not believe them, so I did it anyway. It's normal to want to test if what your parents say are true," Ollie shrugged.
"Ollie's right, anyway Maddie, stop interrupting. Ollie, please continue telling us the story," Annie said.
"Yes, so as I was saying, I was jumping on the bed. Everything was fine, I was having fun, and then bam, I jumped too high and moved too clumsily that I was thrown off the bed and I hit myself against the wall.".
"Ouch, dude," Matt said.
"Yes, ouch indeed. It was so painful, I broke my right arm and also dislocated my shoulder," Ollie said.
"Wait a minute, just what sort of jumping were you jumping? How can you get such severe injuries just from jumping on the bed?!" Maddie asked shocked.
"I don't know, I was just jumping. My parents rushed into the room. They scolded ne first, of course, especially my mother, but after that, they used their magic to heal me," Ollie said.
"That was the first time I had ever seen them use such a powerful spell. In an instant all my bones were healed and I felt as good as new, of course I was punished for disobeying the rules, but from that day on, I never jumped on the bed again," Ollie chuckled.
"Yeah, I am sure you learnt your lesson dude," Matt laughed. Annie laughed and nodded.
"From that day on, I wanted to work on my magic so I could do powerful spells like they did," Ollie smiled.