Her Heroes

Chapter Sixteen

Thunder crashed and boomed making me jolt upright. Turning my head to the windows I saw that there was indeed a huge storm brewing outside. Wait, I'm inside... how'd I get inside? I looked down at my clothes and was relieved to see that they were the same ones as I wore yesterday. A sigh escaped my mouth and I got down from my bed. I needed to stop falling asleep like that. it wasn't safe for me to have my barriers down.

A strange smell was originating from somewhere in my room and I followed it to my floorboards; more specifically, the one I pulled away to hide the dove. Opening the cavern, I gagged at the smell as it protruded from the small space. I had to get rid of this bird, or at least mask the scent. If I didn't do it quickly, my brothers would find out I was hiding something.

Deciding on getting a candle, for the time being, I left my room to go and search for one. I hated having candles in my room, the idea of a fire being so close scared the daylights out of me. Instead, I opted to use small nightlights or air freshener, depending on the situation of course.

As I entered the kitchen I realized that the four of us were the only ones here. The guys all had huge bags under their eyes and multiple empty coffee cups and liquor glasses sat on the table. Frowning I moved to start cleaning them up, an old habit of mine.

"What are you doing?" I paused and turned back to face them, my hands full of the cups and mugs. He seemed to realize and sighed. "Just leave them here, we'll clean them up soon." I shook my head. I knew what would happen if I waited....

"Why not belle?" Armel and Valentin lifted their heads to look at me and I shrugged before walking to the kitchen to deposit the items. "Elle sait pourquoi."
(She knows why)

It was infuriating to not be able to communicate with them. I sat down in my seat and immediately a bowl of cereal was placed in front of me. Smiling gratefully at Annette I dug into my food, jumping every time the thunder sounded.

"Oui mon frère, cependant, nous ne pouvons rien y faire pour le moment. Nous devons d'abord savoir où ils se trouvent." You know, just a casual breakfast where your brothers are talking in another language about who knows what. This was just life now. I huffed and put my head on the table. I really needed an outlet but there was nothing I could do.
(Yes, my brother, however, there is nothing we can do about it at the moment. First, we need to find out where they are)

The boys all nodded and resumed typing on their computers when Armel's phone started ringing. They all looked up and made eye contact. He reached his hand down and answered the phone.
"Allô ?" They all stopped and looked up as Armel quickly ran from the room. Valentin and Matthieu sent me apologetic glances before racing after our brother.

I wasn't hungry anymore. Setting my head on the table, I closed my eyes and thought over what had been happening. Something wasn't adding up with my brothers. They were supposed to be back today and there was no sign of them, none.

"What's wrong mon chérie ?" I looked up as Annette pulled out a chair next to me. She smiled sadly at me and brushed the curls from my face. Tears swelled in my eyes at her motherly touch. This was something I missed. It was something I hadn't had in what felt like forever. Her face looked thinner than I remembered before. Nothing major, but enough that if you were paying attention, you could see it in the lines of her face, the edges that were sharper than before. We sat searching each other's eyes before she got up and took my hand in hers. "Sometimes, mon chérie, sometimes you just need to write down what's going on up there." She tapped her finger against her forehead and smiled before getting up and heading back to the kitchen.

Writing out my ideas, was a suggestion Valentin had for me too. No, my thoughts were too dangerous to be on paper like that. I couldn't hurt the people I had finally found, and my thoughts would definitely do that. I couldn't risk it.