Raised By Humans ✔

Prologue

Michael's POV

"Where are we going?" Gabriel asked, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

"We're just going on a trip." Dad soothed. "We'll be home before you know it."

I turned to Gabriel and frowned. His hands were trembling a little. He was scared. We were all a little scared. Except for Cassiel. He was too young to understand. That and he was asleep. Otherwise, he would have been wide awake, a bright smile on his face and babbling to himself happily.

Nathaniel jumped as thunder clapped in the sky. He had always been afraid of storms. Mama kept saying he would grow out of it. I didn't think he would. I reached out and held his hand, squeezing it gently. He looked up at me with his big green eyes and rested his head against my shoulder, flinching whenever bright flashes of lighting streamed across the sky.

I smiled at him as I felt cold fingers gently touch my other hand. I turned back to Gabriel and wrapped my arm around his shoulders. He leaned against me, his small body still trembling slightly. A soft noise sounded from the seat in front of me, Cassiel's face scrunched up as he stirred, softening as he drifted off again. Mama was afraid of Cassiel. Even more so when our little brother had been born. I didn't know why. Cassiel was barely a toddler.

"We're almost their boys." Mama smiled gently, as she turned to speak to us. "Not much further."

"I wanna go home." Nathaniel yawned as his eyes drifted shut.

Mama looked at Dad, tears in her pretty blue eyes. She was upset. I didn't like it when Mama was upset.

"I can't do this." She whispered. She didn't think we could hear.

"We have to," Dad argued quietly. "Sybella will never stop coming after them. This is the only way we can protect them."

"But they're our children, Tom." She cried softly. "They're still so young. They won't make it, especially not Cassiel."

"Tiberius promised that he would protect the boys at all costs." He replied, trying to soothe her. "He hasn't let us down so far."

Mama opened her mouth to reply but let out a scream instead. Dad swerved the car and lost control, sliding off the road. The car crashed into a tree and the car was silent for a few seconds. Dad turned back to us, wide-eyed. Raziel had started crying, whilst Cassiel sat upright in his car seat, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Nathaniel was close to tears and Gabriel was cradling his arm as he tried to hold back his sobs.

Mama turned to us slowly as she unbuckled her seat belt, climbing into the back of the van. She undid Raziel's car seat and scooped him up, holding him close as she moved to Gabriel, carefully checking his arm. Gabriel's side of the car had caved in, but I don't remember it hitting anything. I held Nathaniel close as Gabriel let the tears roll freely down his face, his arm was clearly broken.

"Where is she?" Mama asked Dad as she turned to me.

She gently grabbed my hand and placed Raziel on my lap, moving my arm to cradle him.

"I don't know," Dad replied, climbing out of the minivan. "Stay with the boys."

Mama nodded as she moved to undo Cassiel's seat belt and pick him up. She brought him to the back seat and pulled both Cassiel and Gabriel onto her lap. Gabriel's cries lessened as his arm began to heal slowly. His healing wasn't as fast as mine or Dad's but it would get better as he got older.

"Are you scared, Mama?" I questioned.

She looked at me, her blue eyes glassy. "I shouldn't be." She admitted, quietly. "I'm supposed to be strong. Brave."

"Why are you supposed to be brave?" Nathaniel hiccupped.

Mama let a few tears slide down her face, quickly wiping them away. "I'm not gonna lie to you boys, you're too smart for your own good and you've probably figured it out already, but some bad people are after us. And they aren't going to go away until the five of you disappear."

"Why?" Gabriel piped up. "What have we done?"

"Nothing, baby." She cooed, kissing the top of his head. "You boys haven't done anything wrong. Not to them or anyone else."

"So, what do they want?" Gabriel pushed, his arm forgotten.

"I'm not sure, sweetheart." She spoke softly, pulling him closer against her.

Gabriel couldn't tell that she was lying, but I could. She always called us sweetheart. She knew why they were after us. She just didn't want us to be afraid. I thought it was a little too late for that. We'd been scared ever since they had rushed us out of the house and into the van.

"Tom?" Mama called. "Thomas."

Mama quickly moved Gabriel off of her lap and placed Cassiel next to him, scrambling towards the minivan door.

"Stay here." She ordered. "Do not leave this van, do you understand me?"

We quickly nodded as she disappeared from view, slamming the door behind her. I looked down at the small bundle in my arms and held Raziel closer. Nathaniel's hand found mine again as Gabriel shuffled Cassiel closer to me, moving with him in an attempt to bring us all together in a tight huddle.

"They're coming back, right?" Nathaniel asked, burying his head in my shoulder.

"Of course they are," I promised. "Mama and Dad would never leave us."

"What if they do?"

I didn't have time to answer Nathaniel as Mama wrenched open the minivan door, quickly climbing inside and taking Raziel from me. She gently placed him in his car seat but rushed to clip him in. She spoke as she got the last clip in place and moved back towards us.

"Mikey, help Nathaniel put his seat belt back on and then fasten your own, make sure Gabriel's is fastened too." She demanded. "We're getting out of here."

She scooped up Cassiel and put him back in his own seat as Dad ripped his own door open, climbing inside. I hurried to buckle Nathaniel's seat belt and checked that Gabriel had done up his own as I fastened my own. Mama had only just taken her own seat when Dad threw the van in reverse, speeding as he pulled away from the tree we had hit. I glanced out of the window as Dad pulled onto the road and shivered at the chill that ran down my spine as a pair of familiar jade green eyes glared back at me.

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Hey, guys, gals and fridges!

Welcome to the first of many parts of Raised By Humans! The prologue is in Michael's POV but the rest of the book will mostly be in Cassiel's POV with some chapters being in Sage, Michael and even Fabian's POV! I really hope that you all enjoy the next chapter of Cassiel's story and stick around for the rest of them!

Thanks for wasting your time on me!

~Daxton🌈