Finally, the day ca to an end.
The cursed bell rang, and I was free.
I walked through the halls like a convict stepping out of prison, weaving through clusters of noisy students. Their whispers followed , as always.
"Isn't that the pale freak?"
"Look at those eyes…"
"Creepy."
I didn't even flinch anymore. Their voices were just background noise — gnats buzzing in the sumr heat. Irrelevant.
I had one destination: Rain's classroom on the first floor.
Her classmates spilled out into the hall, all chattering and laughing about things that didn't matter. To , they were shadows, faceless and forgettable. Rain was the only one in this entire building I could imagine becoming soone important. Not that I'd ever want her to. If the world was cruel enough to throw her into danger, I'd burn it all down before letting it touch her.
Lost in thought, I barely noticed the small body bumping into until I staggered a step back.
"Damn," I muttered, rubbing my side. "Does clumsiness run in the family? Dad once broke his arm bumping into a chair. Now you…"
I caught myself rambling and shook my head. Tangents. Always tangents.
"Hello, my favorite raining sister."
Rain, all four feet and sothing of her ten-year-old self, blinked up at with a pout. Her dark hair was tied in two ssy braids, and her schoolbag looked twice her size.
"Why did you bump into , big bro?" she demanded.
I sighed. "You bumped into ."
"No, you bumped into ."
This was our usual back-and-forth. Pointless. Endless. And sohow comforting.
I reached down and tugged her backpack off her shoulders. "Let's take this off your hands—"
The weight nearly pulled to the floor.
"What the hell? Did you fill this with bricks?"
Rain crossed her arms, unimpressed. "Books, big bro. It's called studying. You should try it soti."
I groaned, adjusting the monstrous thing on my shoulder. "I don't need to study. My genius brain absorbs knowledge directly from the air."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like it absorbed that door earlier?"
I stopped walking, glaring down at her. "You heard about that?"
"Alexander told ," she said smugly. "The whole school knows."
I muttered sothing under my breath that I probably shouldn't have said in front of a ten-year-old. Rain just laughed.
By the ti we got ho, the sun was dipping low, casting gold light across the quiet street. The front door swung open, and Mom was already there.
Her na was Elana, though I rarely used it. To , she was just Mom. And at that mont, she looked like a storm in human form.
Her eyes went wide when she saw the bandages across my face.
"My baby!" she cried, voice trembling.
Insert sound here.
"Mom—" I dodged left, barely avoiding the bear hug that would've cracked my ribs. "I'm fine, mommm—"
Too late. She snatched both and Rain, crushing us into her chest.
"My ribs! Mom, my ribs are cracking—!"
Finally, she released us, smiling like she hadn't just committed assault.
Before I could breathe, two missiles tackled to the floor.
My six-year-old twin brothers. Luca and Dante.
"Big brother's ho!" Luca shouted, climbing onto my back.
"Attack formation!" Dante yelled, locking my arm in a surprisingly effective hold.
"Why am I always the one getting abused?!" I groaned, struggling against their tiny but rciless limbs.
"Because you're big!" Dante said matter-of-factly.
"And because it's fun!" Luca added.
Mom laughed behind them, clearly enjoying the show. Rain just shook her head. "You deserve it, big bro."
"No loyalty in this family," I muttered, surrendering as the twins celebrated their victory with high-fives.
Later, as the chaos settled, we all gathered in the living room. Rain spread her notebooks across the table, and I found myself roped into helping her with biology howork.
"Red blood cells… transport oxygen," I said, scanning the page. "White blood cells kill bacteria."
Rain rolled her eyes. "I know that."
"Then why am I here?" I leaned back in my chair dramatically. "Clearly, you're already a genius."
"Clearly." She smirked.
I sighed, staring longingly at the kitchen, where the sll of Mom's cooking drifted out. Garlic, onions, sothing rich and savory simring in the pot. My stomach growled.
Dinner was a ritual in this house. We all sat together, bowls steaming, waiting for Dad to get ho.
When he finally walked through the door, the atmosphere shifted.
His na was Adrian. He worked for the governnt, though the details were always a mystery. Silent. Serious. He was a shadow that slipped in and out of our lives, but sohow his presence anchored us.
"Welco ho, honey," Mom said, sliding a bowl in front of him.
He nodded. "Evening."
That was Dad. A man of few words. I guess I inherited that silence from him. Not by blood, though.
None of us were related by blood.
Rain and I were adopted. The twins ca later. Sotis I wondered what that made exactly. From what I understood, my biological father was a deadbeat — Adrian's brother. Which technically made his nephew, not his son. My biological mother? I knew even less. All I had was the na she left with: Alucard.
Apparently, Mom had almost renad Seb. SEB. Can you imagine? As much as I hated sounding like the villain of so cheap novel, at least Alucard had weight. Seb was… Seb.
I shuddered.
"Alucard," Mom's voice snapped out of my thoughts. She gave a pointed look. "You're wasting good food."
I blinked at the spoon dripping soup back into my bowl.
Right. Dinner. Family. Normal life.
At least, for now.
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