Aurora
I have a pounding headache by the time I've managed to settle Posie. Everyone's been on edge with the house on 24 hour lockdown, Chelsea especially, so we've all been taking shifts to take care of her. When Enoch passed her to me, she was right as rain, but she started kicking up a fuss and it's taken hours to calm her. Now, with my dead arm and sweating my tits off, I'm scared to move in case it wakes her up again.
I end up having no choice. At first it's just shouting that I hear from downstairs and presume that it's two of the others getting into an argument. Granted, this house is huge, but with ten people and a baby stuck together as everyone is too afraid to leave the house, arguments have been so much more common. But then I hear the gunshots, and I know that no argument would ever get that dangerous.
This must be it. The Drakan Thieves have invaded the house and are going to kill us all. Everyone else could be dead by now.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Thinking fast, I rummage to make a small nest of pillows and duvet on my bed and cautiously place Posie in the middle, scared she might roll off the bed in my absence. Frightened tears gather in my eyes as I press a gentle kiss to Posie's forehead, before I run out of the room, locking the door behind me.
There aren't any gunshots now. Does that mean the job is done?
Am I the only one left?
My heart clenches tightly, a python wrapping around it and squeezing until I'm suffocating. Maybe I should run now. I should get Posie, find a way to slip past these guys, and start a life somewhere else. I could do it. I'd raise Posie as my own and tell her everything there is about the world she was born into. We'd be safe.
But then I hear the yells sound out again, and they sound familiar. Danielle and Blake and Chelsea.
Do we have the upper hand?
I rush down the stairs, not in anyway prepared to fight whatever could be at the bottom, but as I round the corner to go down the last step, my knees grow weak with shock. It's not the Drakan Thieves at all.
It's my brothers.
Sean and Tristan are on the ground, Zavier and Danielle pointing guns towards them and the others yelling at them to stay down. I'm so stunned that it takes a moment to get my body moving again, but when I do I'm practically stumbling down the stairs to blindly step in front of the guns, raising my hands.
There's a chorus of a confused "Aurora?" from my brothers on the floor and shocked "Aurora!" from the thieves, and I don't blame them. I barely know what's happening either.
"Aurora, get out of the way," Danielle orders, continuing to point the guns at my brothers.
"You don't need to do that," I say calmly, keeping my arms up though I know they'd never shoot with me in the crossfire. "They're--"
"Aurora, what are you doing?" Blake asks, stepping closer to me.
"They're my brothers," I say.
It's like a bomb has been diffused. Danielle lowers her gun and raises her hand to make Zavier do the same. Everyone sighs in relief, glancing around at each other and smiling, as if they realise that they had overreacted, and I turn around to help my brothers up from the floor. I hug Tristan first before hugging Sean, feeling their hearts beating wildly in their chests.
Danielle approaches us, having given the gun to someone else. "You two are Tristan and Sean?"
The two of them nod, and I already know they're internally drooling at the sight of her.
"I guess all I can say is sorry," she chuckles. "We're on high alert at the moment. You two knocking on the door had us all worried."
Tristan shrugs. "At least I can now say I've been held at gunpoint and survived." Only he could be in that kind of situation and make a joke out of it minutes later.
We all chuckle, before Sean rubs the back of his neck. "We're sorry for frightening you like that. Honestly, we had no idea what we would be walking into. We didn't even know that Aurora had landed herself in a mansion until we were walking up to it."
"How did you even find me?" I ask. I notice Chelsea mouth 'where's Posie?' towards me and I nod over to the stairs, hoping she gets the hint.
"We actually need to talk to you about... everything," Sean says. "Is that all right?" He's eyeing the rest of the group, as if he's scared they'll decide to turn their guns on them again.
I glance at Danielle, who nods. "That's fine." She faces me. "Do you want someone to go with you?"
"No, it's okay," I say. I look at both the twins before leading them through the house, taking them to the back garden. It should be the most private place, but I sneak a glance down at the lake, expecting to see yet another person watching us. There's no one there.
"This is where you've been living?" Sean asks, looking somewhat mad. "All this time you've been living in this huge ass house? And who even were those people? They barely look older than us, how do they afford this place?"
"And what was with the guns?" Tristan asks, still a little hysterical.
"I've told you before," I say. "They saved me. They brought me to this house when Delilah kicked me out. I get it, it's all pretty insane, but there are just some things that I can't tell you."
Sean sighs. "But we're your brothers, Aurora. We've always been on your side."
Guilt rises up in my chest. "I know. And you know I've always appreciated that." I think carefully about my words. "But this world I've got caught up in, it's so important to me. These people I live with have become my best friends and I'm finally living an exhilarating life. Can't you guys be happy for me?"
"It's not that we're not happy for you," Tristan argues softly. He speaks more seriously than I've ever heard him speak before. "We're just worried about you, we said so before. We wanted to make sure you're safe but it's so difficult too."
"How did you even find me?" I ask. I fold my arms across my chest as a soft breeze circulates the garden.
"Mum and Dad have divorced," Sean tells me. My eyes widen in shock. "Dad finally stood up to her, and eventually she just... walked out. We don't know the whole story, but we do know that Dad hasn't seen her since. He sent her divorce papers and she signed them, and that was it. So, now that she's out of our lives, she has no control over us anymore. Dad, Tristan and I have been searching for you for days."
"You didn't make it easy for us," Tristan continues. "We've been working through the day and most of the night to find you. When we did, Dad argued that it would be better if the two of us came to you instead of him."
"And he wanted us to give you this." Sean takes out an envelope from his jacket and hands it to me. I hesitate but take it, handling it as if there's a bomb rattling around inside.
"Do you know what it says?" I ask, eyes flitting between both twins. They shake their heads.
"We did try and get it out of him, but it was no use," Tristan smirks. "He's being very mysterious."
I look down at the envelope in my hands but make no move to open it. Clearly it's only for my eyes, so I'll open it later, even if the curiosity is gnawing at my inside.
"Hey, what happened to you?" Sean asks, his bottle green eyes scanning my arms and face. "You have bruises everywhere."
Tristan's similar eyes widen. "Are those mother-fuckers in there hurting you?"
"What? No!" I defend, subconsciously glancing back at the house. "They would never. We just... we work out a lot and do a lot of training. You guys know I bruise like a peach." It's not a complete lie. Someone could flick me and it would look like I've been hit with a tire iron.
"Training for what?"
I realise I probably already said too much. I feel like I've been pricked with a needle every time I lie to my brothers but there's no way of going around it. I shrug my shoulders. "It's just what they do. They're all very... athletic." Understatement. "I'm fine, honestly. I'm safe."
They exchange a glance. If they were wearing the same clothes, it would be as if one of them is looking into a mirror. The silence stretching between us soon turns awkward.
"Do you two want something to eat or drink? You could meet the others... I guess." I feel awkward asking.
"Meet the guys who just pointed guns at us?" Tristan asks incredulously, before his face brightens. "Okay."
Half an hour later, I'm watching Tristan and Sean and the rest of the boys talk. Well, Colby was, until he walked over to Danielle, Chelsea, Maeve and I and didn't go back.
"Your brothers are nice," he says, stealing Maeve's Coke can and taking a sip. "And... hot."
"I agree," Chelsea says. I could already tell; she's been watching Tristan with a distant smile on her face since the twins came in.
"Eh, they're all right," Maeve shrugs, taking back her drink. "I think Aurora's hotter." I nudge her in the side with a small smile.
"It's funny, though," Colby says, glancing back at the lads. "I thought they'd look like the male versions of you."
"I unfortunately took after my mother," I tell him. "They look more like Dad than I ever did."
"Speaking of, have you looked at his letter yet?" Danielle asks.
I shake my head, glancing at it. I put it onto the counter-top when we came in, waiting for the right moment to look inside. I guess I should, but for some reason I'm scared of what Dad might have written.
It's around ten minutes later when I figure; fuck it. My Dad at least deserves me reading his letter and it might be something important. While the others are caught up in conversation, I slide the envelope off the surface and make my way out of the room, finding a small living room on the opposite end of the corridor for a bit of privacy.
I rip open the envelope and a single slip of paper falls out of it.
Aurora,
I remember the day that you were born as if it were yesterday. I remember holding you in my arms and just knowing with every inch of my being that you were going to grow up to be incredible. You were going to change the world and I would be there to tell you I told you so.
Losing you has been so difficult. Some days I feel like there's a huge hole in my chest as if you died and I'll never see you again. Sometimes it does feel that way. I don't want to make you sad or feel guilty, because I'm glad you finally found your escape, but I miss you so much. I want to see you again.
There's a place down town called Savannah's Restaurant. Assuming we do actually find you and you receive this letter, I'd love to meet you there next Monday. You don't have to come, it's entirely up to you, but I want to see you again. Even if it's the last time.
Dad x
P.s. don't tell the twins. They're being annoying.