Sign of Life / MIW Adoption

.sixty-two.

Kaden tapped his thumb on my arm as Ryan switched the tv to the game he and Chris had been playing yesterday, "Did you like the movie?"

I moved my head upwards to look at Kaden, a smile on my face, "Mhm."

Kaden's mouth broke out into a grin, making his eyes seem to shine, "I knew you'd like it."

"Please don't lock me in a fire." I said, trying to keep my voice at a whisper. Dying in a fire like Mrs. Lovett would be completely terrifying and I was now afraid of being locked with a fire. Kaden chuckled, "I will only lock my enemies in a furnace. You are not my enemy, so you are safe."

I nodded before raising my voice above a whisper, "Will you teach me the Pokemon now?"

Kaden's face softened and his grin seemed to get bigger, "Of course I will teach you Pokemon!"

Carter turned around to look at me from the floor, giving me a smirk that made him look the same age as Toby and Kaden, "You know, I introduced the boys to Pokemon when they were little."

"Mostly because Dad was trying to punish you for turning a human without permission by making you tutor and babysit Ian and Toby. You forced them to watch the show." Justin snapped at his older brother. Carter rolled his eyes at his brother's words but gave me a warm smile, "They did not complain about watching it, they loved it. What do you know about Pokemon so far? Do you have a favorite Pokemon yet?"

I bit my bottom lip, unsure if the little that I knew would be enough to convince Carter that I liked Pokemon. Carter chuckled, his green eyes glancing towards Chris, "Sorry, I know you are not used to talking much. You do not have to answer if you don't want to."

"On her save in my game, she likes her Pawmi, Sprigatito, and her Azurill the most." Toby answered for me. I was glad Toby gave Carter an answer since I didn't remember the Pokemon names, I only remembered what I had named them. Kaden leaned his head against mine, "Don't forget that whenever you want to start the save on mine, I'll read you through everything."

Carter's face scrunched up, "Can you not read? Grayson was supposed to have already have you—"

"CARTER!" Justin barked with a venom that startled me enough to make me jump as Carter rolled his eyes and closed his mouth. "That is a sensitive topic and I would rather you not bring him or that place up around Melody."

Carter sighed loudly and when I blinked, Carter was no longer in front of me on the floor. AJ grunted in annoyance and my eyes moved to him automatically. Carter was sitting on the arm of the couch, both of his hands wrapped around AJ's arm, and his green eyes focused on me. AJ's eyes clouded over at the same time that Carter's eyes clouded over. I had to admit that they both looked creepy. Justin groaned, "You can't hijack AJ's powers like that, Carter. What the fuck are you even doing?"

Carter didn't reply to his younger brother. He didn't even act like he heard him speak. I couldn't tear my eyes away from Carter's for what felt like minutes and my eyes were starting to burn. The bright green color suddenly came back to Carter's eyes and he gave a huge smirk, "There. You now have the ability to read."

"Wait, what?!" Justin snapped, moving his head in my direction, "What did you just do?"

Carter chuckled before answering, "Grayson was supposed to have transplanted reading, writing, literature, and mathematics in to Melody's brain when she turned thirteen. I assume he thought she would start arguing back the same way Julian did and decided to give Melody her knowledge at a later age. I still don't understand why he kept you in the nursery, or even why he didn't let Evan know you were not a pet."

I just stared at Carter. Did he think this was funny? There was no way that I knew how to read now. I took in a deep breath and turned to Kaden before burying my face against his neck and wrapping my arms tightly around his chest. Kaden tightened his arms around me then leaned his head against mine. I just wanted to be invisible. Kaden held me to him tightly and I was comforted almost immediately, feeling a wave of warmth wash over me.