Freedom & Chrome || Book 1 ENGLISH

Happy Birthday, V!

The time with his parents definitely did Kaden good. He was able to take a deep breath and think, think a lot. The last few months with V and their changed togetherness slowly made him realize that he had been acting absolutely stupid. He missed being close to his buddy, missed hearing him laugh even now, and he could punch himself for it. I sound like a wimp. It's not like you brought this mess on yourself. If you'd just open your mouth, he sighed deeply and rolled his eyes. Whatever V had wanted to say just before he'd stormed out of the trailer, he would dare. He prayed that the week hadn't changed anything between V and Siria, and if it had.... well then what? Then he would have blown it himself.

"Kaden, honey, don't you have to go soon?" his mother's voice sounded behind him. He had taken heart and told them everything that was on his mind. And not just because he had been running around like a fury all day in his parents' backyard, grumbling to himself.

"Yes, I'll be leaving in a minute," he replied, tucking the small box he had closed with a bow just moments before into the depths of his backpack and stood up. He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, shouted get well to his father who was running around somewhere in the house, and shortly after sat down in his car to drive back to his clan. It would be close, but he should be back in time.

x x x

Something seemed different from a distance as they made their way back to the clan. V squinted his eyes to better see the camp in the twilight. Dozens of colorful lights shone on the tents and caravans, shining as brightly as the stars in the night sky. He eased his car out in front of the clan and got out, confused. V's blue eyes wandered when he couldn't spot anyone. Except for Bandit, who first barked, then approached his owner with a rattling tail wag. V patted him on the head and smiled briefly proudly down at his robot. The sensors and system seemed to be working fine.

Still, not a single human soul was to be seen, not even the guards outside the camp. "Are they all gone?" He asked his father, grabbing one of the boxes from the trunk to carry it to the van.

"Naaah, not really," Tyler shrugged briefly, just barely managing to stifle a telltale smile as he too grabbed a bag from V's trunk and closed the lid. V looked around the entire way to the van, but really couldn't spot anyone. The clearing was never this empty, after all.

He had barely been able to put the box in the van when he winced, startled. "Happy Birthday, V!!!" His clan members all came jumping out of their hiding places at the same time and cheered together, clapping and whistling congratulations to the birthday boy.

"Oh," V laughed in surprise, taking a moment to really realize what was going on. That's right, today was his 18th birthday and he had completely forgotten it himself. "Thank you," he laughed with his cheeks a little flushed and greeted by many members of his clan. He definitely hadn't expected that.

His mother suddenly emerged from the throng and pulled V into a long hug, gently rocking herself and V left and right. "Happy birthday, sweetheart," she said so softly that only V could hear, and then hugged him even tighter.

"Thanks, Mom," he mumbled into the hug and felt her press a kiss to his forehead. Just like when he was a kid.

Siria's head peeked out from the crowd, followed closely by Mitch's, reaching for V's hand to pull him along. "Whoa, slow down," V chuckled, but continued to let her lead him. Honestly, he was a little surprised to see Mitch and Siria among all the others. After their attempt to leave the clan, absolute chaos had broken out. Her parents had been completely beside themselves and when they couldn't reach Siria or Mitch, they had gone in search of the two of them. Man, the telling off the two had had to endure could have tied in with Ash's anger at the time. Siria stood very small in front of her parents, pawing with her foot over the sand, while Mitch defiantly crossed his arms in front of his chest. After that, V only got to see them when they returned tired from their daily chores. However, he was burning to know what was suddenly going on between Siria and Mitch, he had rarely seen the two of them talking to each other and then suddenly they disappeared together? That seemed to get interesting. Though, he never got the chance to ask them because of their punishment. Rex had taken over the supervision of the two and amusedly shooed V away every time he tried to talk to them. Such a spoilsport.