The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the two-story home. Soft giggles followed as a young woman's voice sounded from somewhere on the first floor.
At the final number of the countdown, the game was officially on, all those found would be deemed the loser and the last in hiding would be crowned the champion. Or, that was how Malachai Parker understood the game his siblings were partaking in.
He, himself was sat on the fireplace, the cool stone seeping into his jeans and eliciting a chill. His twin sister, Josette was the seeker and with seven younger children to find, she'd be at it all night.
"You could help find them, you know?"
The sudden voice of Indigo Drabek startled Malachai. His blue-gray eyes flickered from the fire he was attempting to light to peer into sea green eyes. Her lips were curved downward as her arms were folded against her chest.
"I also don't think you're going to start a fire by glaring at it."
Malachai scoffed and turned from her. "What are you doing here, Indigo? I thought the all of the Drabek's had to attend the formal."
Indigo blanched. Her hands curled into fists as she fought the urge to shatter anything near them. He was correct, as he annoyingly often was.
As the eldest of her family she was supposed to be the leading dance partner to the eldest and future coven leader; him. However, as fate tended to be cruel Malachai and Indigo never liked one another from the time he dropped her on her head at only a year old.
When it was revealed that he was, to the coven's standards, an abomination, everyone was ordered to never touch him. If they did or if he touched anyone, he and that person would be punished.
The entire night was rendered pointless but to the young adult's horror and annoyance, it would still take place.
"I'm here to help you twins babysit the gaggle." Indigo replied, crouching down and peering at the firewood waiting to be made of use.
"Incendia." Fire came to life, shrouding the wood and sending the room into a warmth only the wood could offer.
"I could've done that." Malachai snapped, his head jerking to the side to glare at her.
When he realized how close she was, how dangerously easy it would be to reach out and touch her, he blanched.
"Of course, you could Kai." Indigo muttered, ignoring his wide-eyed stare as she addressed him by his preferred name. It was simpler to say or shout in anger than his full name.
Standing, Indigo peered through him, debating. Her parents were enraged, threatening to lock her up for the next fifty years if she didn't put on that stupid silver gown and join them.
It was wrong, in her opinion, what the coven was doing. Forcing her to suddenly wait around for the youngest of the Parker children to grow up and get married.
The idea of marrying Kai was bad enough but it was tolerable; he was only two years older than her. The idea of going behind his back and marrying his four year old brother in the next fifteen something years was horrible.
Indigo felt pity creep into her chest as her gaze found his.
She was closest to his twin sister, Josette, and all of his younger siblings. She and Kai never much spent time together, even before he was deemed an abomination.
Perhaps that was why she spoke with him in short moments. She made it a point to let him know that he wasn't what the whispers believed him to be. Though as they got older it never dawned on her that he didn't care.
Her pity was too great by that point. So maybe that was why, without much thought, she reached forward and intertwined their fingers.
Kai felt his eyes widen. The glow of golden light appeared as soon as they had made contact and yet Indigo seemed to not mind.
Her sea green eyes were wide in awe, her lips slightly parted as she watched him take her magic without even willing it.
That was a small price, he always told himself. He wasn't allowed to touch anyone and as a result was unable to control his abilities.
This only added to the fear, disgust and hatred everyone outside his siblings felt toward him. His veins seemed to ignite, from magic or the feel of someone else touching him, he didn't know.
"Indi?" Joey Parker, a ten year old and closer to Kai than his other brother's, called.
He appeared, already dressed for bed as he seemed to have lost the game. He came to a stop, his eyes focused solely on Indi as he realized his big brother was still there.
"Kai!" Joey cheered, lifting his arms in the air with a wide grin.
"Is the game already over or did you get tired of the others cheating."
Indigo, now called Indi, gently unwound her fingers from Kai. She offered the little boy a bright smile. Her head pounded and she felt drained, her body seemed to tremble and she wondered just how much magic Kai had taken.
Joey nodded with a pout. "Jackson kicked me out of my hiding spot and Liv and Luke are too good at hiding." Joey climbed onto her lap and leaned his head against her chest.
"Kai, can you tell me a story?" His blue gaze returned to his brother, still oblivious to the sudden shift in Kai.
"Oh no." Indi was quick to stand with Joey wrapping around her to keep from falling. "You want to hear a scary story and there is no way I'm letting that happen."
She shook her head and started forward, though with the loss of a portion of her magic and the weight of Joey, she stumbled and fell backward. Rather than landing on the floor, she landed on Kai just as the majority of the siblings chose that moment to enter.
"Indi's touching Kai!" Jackson screamed, his thirteen year old voice cracked as he tugged at Josette's sleeve.
"Get away from him!" Liv and Luke cried as they clung to one another.
"Will you all stop screaming?" Kai huffed, holding up his arms above his head and watched in disgust as they all relaxed.
"I'm not touching Indi. Jo take them to bed already."
"Kai's right, you guys can't keep panicking at nothing." Indi spoke up, letting Joey stand first before she also stood. "Now come on, we've still got to find Mari and Rosie."
Indi gestured for them to go back to the unfinished game. Thankfully, their thoughts returned to trying to find their sisters and they all headed off in different directions. J
oey, who had been determined to go to bed, was once more interested in the game and chased after Liv and Luke, the other set of twins in the Parker household.
"You guys really should get better at lying." Josette replied, winking playfully at her best friend.
"And have them tell mom and dad and then get my ass kicked or locked in the cellar?" Kai spoke darkly. "Yeah, let's pretend it was a lie."
He watched as his twin's eyes darted to her house shoes. With a shake of his head he turned back to the fire.
"Don't burn the house down." Indi murmured, nudging him with the toe of her converse.
Jo had already retreated, the guilt over what she kept from her twin always rendered her unable to look at him for too long.
"Go away, Indi." Kai grumbled.
He was a siphoner, not a moron. Ignoring her continuous nudging his eyebrows creased in confusion. Catching her off guard, he reached outward, his hand clamping around her ankle and forcing her to balance on one foot.
"If you shove me, I swear to god, Kai." Indi growled, balance was not her forte. She was wobbling, even with his oddly strong and firm grip on her ankle.
"Let go or I'm setting you on fire."
"Why did you touch me?" Kai blinked.
No one touched him, not even his own twin who was supposed to always pick him. No one picked him. Not even little Joey, who always sought him out when he had a bad dream or wanted to an easier way to understand the magic teachings.
Indigo Drabek was different, they didn't like one another, despite being engaged from the time she was born. So why did she talk to him every now and again, why did she sit with him more than Jo, her best friend? Why touch him and let him touch her?
Kai supposed he'd never know as she used magic to release her ankle. It wasn't anything that hurt him, it just risked the fire going out. Once freed, Indi didn't spare another glance as she headed into the kitchen from best he could tell.
His hand formed into a tight fist, the flesh of his palm and fingers tingled from where, moments prior, he had felt the warmth of someone else.
Be it the magic filling his veins or the ghost of her warmth, he found he liked the confusing feeling.
Indi was fairly certain she'd left her jacket by the front door where she should have left her shoes. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she blew her bangs from her gaze. Running her fingers through her blonde hair, she stifled a loud yawn.
She'd just have to go outside without her jacket. The idea of the cool summer breeze brushing against the exposed flesh of her arms didn't bring joy to her. Indi hated being cold, even a slight chill and she'd be tugging on a long-sleeved shirt or her jacket.
As she opened the door, she caught sight of Kai's jacket, hanging on a special hook, separated from the others. Scoffing, she grabbed it and headed out, tugging it on and using magic to close the door.
The riveting game of hide and go seek was still going. Jackson and Joey had decided they wanted to prolong the game and after a brief meeting with the four year old's, all of the younger children were once more hiding.
Jo had groaned loudly, shouting this was the last round before begging Indi to look outside in the tree house for the still missing sisters.
If she they could locate Mari and Rosie, then maybe the others would quickly follow. This landed Indi venturing out and around back the large home.
"Come on, girls! Game's over!" Indi partially lied. She cupped her hands around her mouth once more. "Mari! Rosie!"
She fell silent, remaining still as she heard the swaying of the tall grass in the field, the chirping of crickets and nothing else. Her shoulders slumped.
"Treehouse." Kai's sudden voice startled Indi, sending her lunging forward and spinning as fire danced in her palms.
Her sea green eyes glowed and glimmered as her face was cast in shadow both from the firelight and the light of the silvery moon. Kai lifted his arm and pointed to the treehouse a few feet away.
"I could've killed you!" Indi snapped, the fire igniting, a key indicator to hit staying longer than Kai was comfortable with. "You should know better than to sneak up on a girl at night and in the dark!"
"It's not that dark and you couldn't hurt a fly." Kai rolled his eyes. "Just get them so they can go to bed."
"What's with you and sending them to bed?" Indi inquired, the fire vanishing and she unconsciously fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket.
"They have a bedtime, a time they missed two hours ago." Kai shrugged. "Besides, my show comes on and I can't watch it if their running around and shouting 'come find me.' You're wearing my jacket."
Indi feigned shock. "Am I? I had no clue." She made a show of unzipping it and looking at the sides. "Yeah, it's yours, who would have thought, certainly not I."
She zipped the jacket back up. From the gravel driveway, bouncing off and shining through the trees, was headlights. Indi's shoulders dropped as she heard Mari and Rosie quickly come out of hiding, running past them and shouting for their parents and how happy they were to see them.
"Looks like your leaving." Kai stated, turning and watching as his dad, Joshua Parker and Indi's dad, Ivan Drabek appeared at the side of the house.
It was clear, even with shadows shrouding them, both men were angered. Indi didn't reply, instead she muttered an incantation, making the jacket itself invisible. As her dad reached her, moving in a wide arc to avoid even breathing the same air as Kai, she groaned.
"Dad before you even start," Indi lifted her arm in defense as her dad grabbed her other arm and began dragging her toward the car.
"I was looking for Mari and Rosie. I didn't touch Kai, he didn't touch me. We didn't even speak." She went over the usual lies.
"Good." Ivan spoke gruffly as he nodded toward Joshua. "I'll see you at work tomorrow. Indigo said she kept the children away from that abomination."
Ivan chose to make the usual assumption as Joshua offered him and his daughter a thankful look before turning to glare at Kai.
"Thank you again, Indigo." Joshua spoke curtly as Ivan carted her off just as Bethany Parker was heading inside.
She offered a cheerful smile that made Indi's stomach churn. Her dad helped her into the back seat of his Cadillac. As she buckled, she tried to see what Joshua was doing to Kai, though it was pointless.
"Did you have fun with the Parker children?" Her mom, Scarlett, wondered as her dad climbed into the driver's seat and began backing out of the gravel driveway.
Indi rested her head against the glass and dug her hands into the pockets of the still invisible jacket.
"Yeah." She replied numbly.
To give the appearance of her simply being tired, she closed her eyes and tried to not think about the strange night she just had. Then again, every night or even day, was strange when it came to Parker household, the heads of her coven.