Damien

The building groaned as the heavy garage door began to open. Dax rolled in on his motorcycle with Natasha sitting behind him. He hopped off with a ridiculous grin as he began to walk over to me. I hopped down from the table that I’d been sitting on, and we began our handshake while Natasha was brushing her hair for a moment.

“Hey, baby brother,” she said, giving me a fist bump. “What went wrong while I wasn’t here?”

“Nice to know how much you trust me,” I say sarcastically. Natasha raises and eyebrow. I continue with the breakdown of things that had gone on without her.

“Little Jane was able to stay invisible for almost a full minute.” My chest swelled with pride. After many affirmations and trials, she’d been able to keep it up much longer today.

Natasha smirked. “You always did have a soft spot for her.”

I hold my hands up defensively. “No soft spots here, sis.” Dax makes a little noise and Natasha sharply towards to him and stares.

“I just wanted to know if we were going inside.” He shifts on the balls of his feet nervously. “Are we?”

Natasha smiles sweetly at him and punches his arm with a chuckle before running inside. Dax turns determined and charges after her. Loud squeals from Natasha erupt.

I walk inside and Natasha is making faces at Dax while hiding behind a pillar. I stand and watch them for a moment, transfixed by my sister’s sudden joy. She rarely lets her guard down like this. Hopefully, after whatever danger occurs in her visions gets solved, she’ll be like that again. Free. Happy.

She used to braid flowers into her dark hair and roll down the small hill behind our house. We’d blare the music loud, dance, and dance. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized she was blocking out our parents’ noise. Even then, she wasn’t truly having fun. She was just placating.

“Natasha!” I call out. No answer. “Natasha Abigail Greene, get over here!”

Natasha jogged up to me, panting heavily until she dropped herself on the floor. “What?”

“When are we getting them?”

Her eyes suddenly went cold. “Tomorow.”

I frown at her. That wasn’t the original plan. “What do you mean? I wasn’t supposed to g—”

Natasha stands up and steps close to me. I’m taller than her, but she’s still as intimidating as a bear. “Tomorow,” she said with finality. I nodded and walked away.