silence

thirty one

Athena

Khai:
Come to the car

I grab my bag from my locker and walk out to the parking lot. Phoenix, Khai, and Khai's friends are standing outside the black car talking.

I reach them and join the group.

"Go sit in the backseat. We're picking up the boys." Phoenix commands.

I take my spot in the middle back seat and a moment later the two boys get in as well. Without a word, Phoenix drives us to the airport. They tell me to wait in the car and get out to greet our cousins inside.

I stay seated in the car for all of two minutes before getting bored out of my mind and going to look for them. I climb out and walk through the entrance to the airport. There's people rushing about everywhere. I walk around aimlessly for another couple of minutes before spotting my brothers standing next to three guys - Kian, Declan and Julian.

I walk up to them and stand in the somewhat circle they've made.

"Athena?" Khai notices me.

"I told you to stay in the fucking car Athena. I expect you to listen to me." Phoenix scolds.

Kian, Declan and Julian look at me with large smiles. "Athena!!"

"It's been too long, squirt!" Kian uses his old nickname for me. He gives me a huge hug, lifting me from the ground.

"Hey hand her over, I haven't seen her since she was like ten!" Declan goes in for a hug next, doing the same thing.

Julian looks at me happily and hugs me last. "I missed you so much!"

"Hi! I missed you guys too!" I greet them. They're faces change into slight shock.

"You're accent-"
"It's English."
"You sound so weird," they all laugh.

"Right let's go. She shouldn't be out of the car. It's too dangerous." Phoenix glares at me before taking my hand and practically dragging me to the car.

We sit in our usually seats, this time with Kian on my left and Declan on my right. Julian sits in the very back.

We finally get home and happy greetings are made between my cousins and my other brothers as well.
We all sit down for dinner after they get settled in their rooms.

"So, what's new? Other than Athena's return," Kian asks as we dig into our meals.

"She's been a right nuisance. Doesn't like to follow rules apparently." Phoenix glares.

Atticus cuts him off. "But we're glad she's back. She knows about the business. We're training her up at the moment."

My cousin's eyes widen at this. "Training her up? She's sixteen Atticus!" Kian argues.

"Argue with the wall. He won't change his mind." Isaiah adds.

"What's she being trained for?" Declan asks, clearly not happy about it either.

"Almost everything. She has good aim in the shooting range, and she's a rough fighter too." Atticus admits.

I smile smugly as they look at me surprised.

"She going on any field work missions?" Julian asks curiously.

"Yeah, I was thinking you could help her out there. We need information from a source. Laurent convinced me to let her do the first half." Atticus explains. "It's coming up pretty soon. She's going on Friday."