Her Heroes

Chapter Twenty-Four

The car jostled as it hit a small divet in the road. My head was turned, leaning against the window. I would do anything to stay away from the prying eyes of everyone. 

We were in a van, but it wasn't a normal one. Why would it be? My brothers weren't normal people. 

Instead of the normal rows of seats, the car had seats along the walls, leaving an aisle in the middle that led to the rear doors. 

Nobody bothered to talk as I sulked in silence. I couldn't bear to look at the man across from me. He was one of the ones that I liked the most, not that I'd ever admit it to anyone. 

I could feel his eyes on me. "Nadia." My fingers began to tap and I pressed the side of my head further into the window, watching the earth fly past. "Alex, que dois-je faire, elle tape encore des doigts."
(Alex, what should I do, she's tapping her fingers again)

My brother slammed his hand against the wheel and pounded the pedal into the floor. My eyes squeezed shut. I was happy that nobody was on my right side, or else they would see the terror coating my face.

Lucie was sitting a couple of seats down from me, her body strapped in. She was still unconscious, her head laying on her chest. Five other men were in the back of the vehicle, along with me, the traitor, and Lucie. Alex and another man sat in the front seats, both as silent as the dead.

The four men that met with Gabriel and Hercule took up much of the room as they sat like statues. Each adorned a stoic expression and stared straight ahead. Everyone seemed oddly calm like they hadn't just knocked out a girl and forced another into a car against her will, not that I had much of a say in what I wanted anyways.

"Nadia, I know you're mad but we have our reasons." My head stayed glued to the window. If I didn't move, they would go back to being silent, right? Gabriel seemed to note my frustration and sighed. "We will be talking about this later, don't think we forgot about all of your other stunts." What other stunts were they - oh that one. 

In my terror of the last few days, I had completely forgotten that I had shot a man. I guess that I had been hoping my brothers would forget too.

***

The car pulled into the drive and the back door was yanked open. Four of the five men quickly got up and hustled out of the car; the fifth one took his time getting up before unbuckling Lucie and walking out of the car with her in his arms.

Eyeing the doorway, I tried to gauge how long it would take for them to catch me if I ran, that is before a shadow draped itself over my form.

"I would get rid of that thought now, Nadia." Gulping, I finally met the eyes of Gabriel. He seemed startled by my sudden attention yet masked it quickly and waited for me to unbuckle myself.

The buckles were easy to undo, sadly, and soon enough my brother, Gabriel, and I were all walking towards the house. Hearing a sound, I turned my head just in time to see the car getting driven off. 

Of course, my brothers wouldn't have to move the car themselves, why would they?

Thoughts consumed my mind and before I realized it, we were up the front steps and into the house. I had planned to never return here, but I knew they would hunt me down, I just didn't think they would harm others in the process. If I wasn't already a mute, this would've been the point that they would be getting the silent treatment for a long time.

Annette was waiting inside the door and turned on her heel, walking down a hall when she saw us. Gabriel followed her quickly and Alexandre nudged my shoulder to get me moving again.