Saraphina

Ch. 11 Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Xander;
Saphira pointed out random things in her house. "Oh my God!" she said, looking at a painting of three babies and a little boy. "X would you go get Phina! She would want to see this!" Shifter said, beyond happy.

I was happy for them. They were finally home, and their brother was probably alive. I smiled as I walked upstairs. They were nicely made; they didn't make a sound as I walked up.

I got to Saraphina's door when I heard her and Rocky talking. I'm not usually the ease dropping type, but a stab of anger had me listening to their conversation while watching through the old key hole.

"Rocky," she said. "You know what this means to me. You're my best friend. I'm not ditching you, but if Brandon doesn't come to the base with us, chances are I won't either."

Rocky hung his head low. "In that case," he said, placing a hand on one cheek and kissing the other. "I'm going to miss you, a lot." I felt my blood boil as they closed their eyes and leaned forward. Oh Hell no.

I stomped like I was running. "Yo Phina!" I yelled throwing open the door. "They told me to tell you to get your ass down there. They found something they thought you'd want to see." "Alright," she said like she wasn't about to kiss Rocky. Unfased, and uncaring that I interrupted. Rocky didn't looked unfased though. I pretended like I didn't just do something shitty.

As we walked downstairs, he wouldn't look at me, or Phina. "Hey are you okay?" I asked quietly. "No!" he said. "I just made a huge mistake dude! God kill me!" he whispered.

I was going to pretend I didn't watch the whole thing and ask what happened when there was a series of screams. The three of us dashed downstairs. There was a man hugging a crying Shifter and Saphira. "Oh my God!" the man yelled as he saw Saraphina. "Is that you Alex?" he asked. She ran and tackled him. "Brandon! You're alive! I can't believe it! Is it really you?" Phina was crying too.

"Oh my God, I was starting to think you three were dead too. I've been looking sense I heard about the fire! I can't believe you three are alive. It's a miracle." I watched them. Something wasn't right. Why wasn't he emotional? I looked at Calli. He had a confused face. That wasn't good. Rocky just looked sad.

"Uhh," he said. "Who are they?" he asked. "They are friends," Shifter said. "I'm Calli. We call the ginger over there X, and that gentle giant is Rocky," said Calli with his normal spunk.

Brandon looked at us, then his younger siblings. "Are they... like us?" he asked. "Yeah," said Phina. "Calli's kinda a phycic. Rocky can do earth stuff and is super strong. X has hightened senses, advanced reflexes, that sort of thing."

He smiled. "That's cool. It's late out. I just had to outrun a gang of drainers," he said. "Whoa!" Phina said. "Really?" asked Saphira. "How?" asked Shifter. He told a slightly believable story. It wasn't nearly as epic as the Theme park disaster, but whatever.

"Hey, you guys are welcome to stay if you want to. Drainers are bad in this area at night. You boys should really stay," we all looked skeptically at him. "Pepper won't mind. We talk all the time," he said. The triplets looked horrified. "What?" he said. "Did she not tell you?" he asked. "No!" they yelled. "She let us think you were dead! She knew?" Phina exclaimed. "What he demanded. "I thought she sent you! That bitch!"

"Uhh, I don't know," said Calli. "Come on Calli," said Shifter. "Slumber party," he laughed. "I insist," said Brandon. "Okay," Calli said, reluctantly. I smiled at their happy faces. They deserved this, to be happy. Brandon started telling stories while we ate a verity of junk food. If I've learned anything about Brandon, he knew how to tell a story.

"Alice, Alan, Alex, y'all want me to make tea?" he asked. "Yes!" Saphira, assumably Alice. "Hell yeah!" said Shifter, assumably Allan. "If you want to," said Alex, Saraphina. Their birth names are so normal. Nothing was odd about them. They looked like a normal family, but I could see the draining marks on Allen. Could smell the smoke, and I still hand the broken arm from the fight. We aren't normal.