"TWENTY-THREE"
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"So you just casually made friends with werewolves?" Alessio questioned me for the fourth time since we started hanging streamers.
"Yes. It's not THAT crazy. They're just people." I rolled my eyes at his obliviousness, reaching up to tape the streamer he was holding on the wall.
"But they turn into giant animals Luce! How is that normal?!"
"Lex, I don't know if you've noticed, but our entire lives aren't exactly normal. For god's sake I can move things with my brain, run faster than the fastest athlete could ever dream to and lift more than a professional bodybuilder. Wolves aren't THAT out of the ordinary."
"Stop chit chatting and hang streamers." Guisy yelled at us from her spot across the room where she and Michele were hanging streamers twice as fast as us.
"Why are we doing this anyways? Sakura's just turning one. It's not like she'll remember anyways." Alessio grumbled.
"She will only turn one once Alex, stop complaining and do your share of the work." Guisy glared at him.
"Okay mom..."
"Oh no." Michele laughed as Giusy stopped what she was doing, ran over and pushed Alessio off of his ladder.
"Hey what the hell." He groaned from the ground.
"Don't."
"Sorry..." He grumbled standing up and rubbing his butt even though he probably barely felt the tumble. I continued cutting pieces of tape and taping them to the edge of the coffee table so I just had to grab a piece instead of ripping it off every time. Giusy and Michele finished and left to go do other preparations. Alessio and I continued to labor away at with the other half of the room.
"I can't believe tomorrow is January twenty-third. My baby is growing so fast." Aki practically cried as she walked into the living room holding her little daughter.
"I know the feeling." Elizabeth laughed from outside where she and Charlotte were perched on some chairs reading in the sun. "My son already feels like an adult."
"That's cause he practically is. Give him like one more year and he'll probably look older than me." I grumbled to myself.
"It's okay Luce, some people dream of being able to look sixteen or seventeen for the rest of their lives." Alessio taunted as he finished up a roll of red streamers before reaching for another.
"Heeeeeeey I can get away with saying I'm twenty-two, don't be rude." I laughed, smacking his slightly with my roll of tape.
"And yet, whenever you go to the bar with me you instantly get carded." Elizabeth pipped up from outside.
"Are you sure she's human? She seems to hear everything we say." I laughed, practically whispering to Lex.
"I truly question it sometimes. We'll know for sure soon. Nico is planning on changing her before her thirty-second birthday. If her body starts spaziming involuntarily then it's safe to assume she's not human." Alessio chuckled to himself, making me roll my eyes. Alessio is always dramatic. He calls me princess, but he is definitely the princess of the family. Spending time with him reminds me of Emmett interacting with his family. They have the same humor. It was a little scary how similar they were.
"Can we just finish? This is taking us waaaaay too long." I complained as I glanced over at the portion of the room we had left. We were tasked with hanging streamers around the tv and mantle. We had successfully done that and now we were moving towards the giant bookshelf stashed away in the corner of the room. Everyone had gone back to their rooms until we were to meet up for dinner to celebrate our niece. Alessio and I were left alone bickering and joking around, basically wasting time. Neither of us really had anything better to do. Most of the couples were with their significant other and those who weren't were doing work or school work.
"So tell me... Edward really wasn't there when you went to visit?" Alessio asked for maybe the third time since I got back from Alaska. He was very worried about Edward. No matter whether or not we knew who Edward was directly related to, Alessio deemed him a part of his family and Alessio protects his family. It was worrying him to know that the kid was off somewhere stressing and wallowing by himself.
"Yeah, he's off somewhere. No one really knows where apparently. I worry about him, but I think this is him mourning his relationship."
"He should be with people who care about him, not off by himself. It's not healthy." Alessio muttered.
"I know Lex, but there isn't too much we can do about it sadly. Unless he reaches out to us, we have no way to get in contact with him..." I sighed as we moved to finish the last roll of streamers.
"Well look at us go. We are practically professional party decorators." Alessio chuckled, trying to ease the tension. It worked.
"I think we should start a business. We'll crush it." I laughed along, moving to sit on the couch. Alessio joined me. We sat in silence for a fair amount of time, just thinking and enjoying the quiet.
"Has Myra talked to you?" Alessio suddenly broke the silence.
"I mean she spoke with me this morning. What would she be talking to me about?" I questioned confused. Myra and Teuvo kept disappearing every few days into their house where they would do who knows what. It was very out of the ordinary, normally they would be a big part of the happenings inside the house.
"Well.... I'm not sure if I am supposed to tell you. It's her own business..." Alessio trailed off. It must have been something serious if he wasn't going to be a gossip.
"Okaaaay.... I'll go find her I guess...?" I stated, slightly confused by the whole situation. Alessio nodded in agreement, gesturing with his head to outside. I nodded and sped off to the house in the backyard and knocked lightly. It was quickly opened to show Teuvo's face.
"Luz, did you finally finish decorating?" Teuvo laughed, pocking fun at Alessio and I's lack of speedy decorating skills.
"Yes I did, and Alessio mentioned that I might want to talk with Myra briefly." I mentioned, getting straight to the point. I wanted to know what was going on. I don't like being in the dark. There was no reason for me to beat around the bush.
"Ooooh, she's in our room." Teuvo awkwardly said, moving out of my way. I was definitely left out of something. There was something going on and no one told me anything.
"Mimi, I'm coming in." I stated, opening the door to find her sitting in her big chair by the window.
"Hey Luz, what's up?" Myra smiled at me. Glancing away from the window that faced the woods.
"It seems like you have something you've been keeping from me." Her eyes grew wide at my words. She turned her full attention to be before she continued speaking.
"Sort of. I was just trying to find the right way to explain it to you...."
"Explain what?"
"Well.... Teuvo and I are planning on traveling the world for a while. I've never really seen where he was born and grew up and I really want to. Also.... I got offered a job in Brazil working with of the Vampires that live in the Amazon. It's not that I want to leave you all... it's just that Teuvo and I have been here with you all for almost three hundred years, I was the first mate that you all found. I consider you all to be my family, you're my sister Luz, but I need to keep doing things with my life. AND I really want this job, we are working to protect the rainforest. If I am going to live forever I at least want the world to continue to be beautiful. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier, I just needed to figure it out one hundred percent first and I didn't want you to think I was leaving and-"
"Myra, it's okay. I'm happy for you both. This sounds like something you both need to do with your lives." I smiled at her, cutting off her incessant rambling. Her expression went from one of stress to one of surprise.
"You're not sad? You're not disappointed in me?" She questioned coming closer to me.
"How could I be disappointed in your?! This is your life, not mine. You are going to work for something you're passionate about. How could I ever be disappointed in you. You're amazing, you're my sister for god's sake. I'll love you no matter what." I smiled giving her a tight hug.
"It's just that you always pick the family over everything. I just thought..... that maybe you would think I was rejecting you all... You let your mate leave so that you could stay with us all for goodness sake."
"My passion is to care for people. I raise kids who aren't my own all over the world. It is literally my job as the first bourn hybrid. I know nothing different. I care and stick with my family, but that doesn't mean it's what you have to do."
"You're sure?" She sighed softly.
"Of course I'm sure. You're about to go save the world. Don't you dare let me or any of us hold you back. Most of us will be here for eternity anyways so you can come back." I smiled at her as she finally pulled away.
"True, I can't get rid of you that easily, sadly." She giggled.
"Rude. Who would ever WANT to get rid of me?!" I laughed along with her. We sat there laughing for a minute or two until Teuvo peaked his head in.
"Well...?" He questioned, sounding a bit worried.
"You're fine ya wimp. You let her do all the heavy lifting, what the fuck dude? I thought I raised you with better manners than this." I made fun of him as he crept in.
"Actually my mother raised me. She didn't let you and Nacho mess me up like you do every hyrbid." He quipped back.
"Don't think that just because you're moving to the ends of the earth that you're going to get out of all your hybrid roles and the family reunions. There is no way we'll survive if you aren't there to help us control the twins." I scolded him. The corners of his lips turned up slightly as he came up to wrap me up in a hug.
"I wouldn't dream of it Luz." He mumbled into my hair.
"So when are you guys planning on leaving?" I asked pulling away to look at both of them. They shared a look full of excitement. This was something they really wanted to do. It would be sad not to have them around twenty-four seven, but they deserved to have whatever life they dreamed of, even if it didn't include all of us.
"Right after my birthday. Maybe the fifth?" Myra beamed at me.
"Sounds great! We can celebrate your four-hundredth birthday and then you guys can start your journey." I laughed pocking her arm, making her roll her eyes.
"I think you mean five-hundreth." Teuvo laughed along with me.
"The both of you can go to hell." She laughed shoving us both.