Pandora's Box

Chapter two

"Now I need you two to rest because I doubt you'll be heading to bed early tonight. Okay?" Jane says as she takes the empty plates away from the twins slumped down at the kitchen island.
"Calm yourself. They'll sleep when they need to. They're old enough." James laughs as she scrubs the dried food bits off of the dishes.

"But they're still our babies." Jane whines. This comment leaves Lilli collapsing in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. The sound spreads around the house like sweet honey. It's difficult to believe that this dark haired girl as been the second mother to this group for most of their lives.

"Can we please have one day where we ignore the fact that we're the youngest here." Sol asks, his voice nearly drowned out by the sound of giggles which seems to be spreading as Sonii breaks out in titters. Sol's nose slightly flairs indicating he's getting a bit irritated.

"Anyway, we need to start heading out to prepare for tonight." Antonio encourages a change of conversation topic. His long hair is braided into a surfer's bun, pulling focus to his bright orange 'I'm the oldest' T-shirt.

"I got snacks!" A slight glimpse of grey hair reveals the girl at the top of the stairs letting everyone know her specialty. Juniper, the most rebellious of the three girls, scouts around the top floor for her phone, leaving the loud thumping sound of her feet to echo throughout the house.

"Someone tell me how on earth she heard that." Milo moves towards the rack of drying dishes and releases a gust of wind from his fingertips, immediately drying the dishes. From the distance, he looks identical to his blood brother, Antonio. It's his shorter hair and youthful features that sets him apart. He's three years younger than Toni and it shows.

"God knows what goes on in her head. I'll tag along because she has a tendency to disregard budgets." Lilli grabs her purse and moves towards the door, swinging her head to the music in her head. To any outsider she looks ready to compete in a musical showdown.

"Hold up! I'm coming too!" Kai says as he carelessly packs the last of the dishes in the cupboard. He moves rapidly, leaving behind the faint odor of his new ocean cologne that Sonii fussed about the previous night.

"I'm in charge of drinks." He winks before walking towards the door. His light green hair bobs up and down as he walks towards the door. Sol grins as it reminds him of Kai's reaction when he woke up to find Sol and Milo had dyed his hair bright green. It's already been a month and his hair is still slightly green. It reminds Sol of seaweed.

"I better not be smelling alcohol when you get back, young man ." Jane warns, trying to make her voice sound more threatening but failing as she manages to make it sound like a song. At least, it seems that Kai is barely listening as he already plugged in his old, black earphones and is jamming to music nobody has ever heard of.

The roaring sound of the engine gets softer as they move further down the driveway.
"So are you excited for tonight?" Sonii flips her head towards Jane and puts her elbows on the table as to say she's willing to listen to a lengthy story.

"Wait. Hold on. I'm going to take a nap before I have to hear this thesis." Sol already recognizes that Jane is going to give an entire speech and wants to escape. He drags his tired feet towards the stair and walks with heavy steps. It's obvious he's going to pass out the moment his head hits the pillow.

"I would be more excited if we were spending the night with you two but somebody had other ideas." She speaks loudly, making sure that James takes notice of her annoyance towards him. She rolls her eyes in James' direction.

"Hey, it's not my fault that the community wanted to have a gathering tonight." James calls back defensively as he walks towards the table to water his bonsai tree. He seems like a science professor with his messy black hair and bug-eye glasses.

"Now I have to spend the day finding a 'suitable' dress for tonight...I hate dressing up!" She groans after packing away the last of the biscuits and slumping down in a seat next to Sonii.
"Aww it's okay. They'll be plenty other days." Sonii speaks sweetly and holds onto Jane's arm like a baby as if to comfort her.

The sound of loud thumps makes its way down the stairs. It's owner: Antonio. Dressed as if he's going to work on a farm for a day. His younger brother, Milo only stares with his jaw dropped at his brother's odd choice of clothes. Milo looks as if he wants to hide under a sheet from embarrassment.

"What. The. Hell." Milo finally manages to say. His eyes are wide and overwhelmed with aghast as they scan Toni's garments.
"We're having a bonfire tonight so we need to chop wood and set it up genius." Antonio explains, sounding like a know-it-all, but it's obvious that this wasn't what Milo was referring to.
"Yeah we're chopping wood not sheering sheep." He adds in a Southern accent but fails at pulling it off.
"Just leave his fashion sense alone." Sonii struggles to say as she's breathless from giggling uncontrollably so early in the morning.

"Looks like we're heading out now. Toni, Milo, you two want us to drop you off by the bonfire spot?" Jane asks as she puts her bag over her arm and scans the kitchen for anything out of place. She completely ignores Toni's outfit, probably because she's put up with his outrageous ideas for longer than the rest of the household.

"Yes please!" Antonio exclaims and marches towards the car.
"Now seriously, go sleep Sonii. I canceled dance practice for a reason." Milo says and rustles Sonii's loose curls they way someone would do to a puppy.

"Oh please, you canceled so you could babysit your big brother as he chops wood." Sonii remarks. Her nose flairs the same way her brother did but she smiles instead of letting herself become upset.
"That too." He smiles and his dimples are finally visible. He moves in for their iconic fist bump.
"Who's delayed now?" Toni yells from outside. His Dominican accent is only ever evident when he yells, even if it's very slight.
Milo yells something in Spanish as he walks out.

Peace and quiet.
Sonii sits alone at the table and admires the flowers in front of her. One looks droopy. She moves her hand over the petals and slowly revives it. She smiles as it returns to full bloom. She's completely lost in her own world until her eyes catch a glimpse of a dark shadow on the wall.

She face is immediately alert. She observes it from a distance. A corridor to a passage that has not existed for as long as she's known. She walks closer, her curiosity controlling her every move. The passage is pitch black. She faces her palm upwards and summons a ball of twigs which she sets alight. Her unique ability to call on all the elements is of great use for her.

She moves into the darkness. The light allowing her to find her way. Old paintings and burnt out torches line the passage walls. The heavy sound of moving concrete frightens her and she drops her twigs. She is enveloped in darkness. She runs towards the point she entered but hits a wall. The entrance closed up and no matter what she tries: mundane or magic, she can't escape.

After a moment the room gets lighter. She notices a big window at the end of the passage. Since there's no other way out, she moves toward it in hope for the best.

She looks out the window at the stunning imagery. It depicts the night sky, overwhelmed with stars and nothing move. It's the brightness of the stars that are providing the little amount of light.

At the end, it looks like there's a room so she decides to go in. There's another window which reflects just enough light for her to see a large object in the center. It's covered in a white sheet. She moves towards it and runs her fingers over the soft fabric. Eventually she decides to grip onto it and pull off the sheet to see what it's covering.

Before the sheet is completely off to reveal what it hides, the room loses its light and she's left in the overwhelming darkness.

She wakes up gasping. Her eyes scan her surroundings and land on the large grandfather clock which tells her it's nearly five o'clock. She's still in her work clothes.
"Okay, I know I said get some rest but I think you better get dressed now." Milo suggests. He pops up next to the couch with a bag of chips in hand.

Sonii still adjusting her eyes to the light, she drags the feet towards the stairs. She dismisses her whole experience as a stupid dream. However she pauses when she's close to the stairs as her eyes catch a glimpse of a bundle of burnt out twigs on the kitchen table.

Her eyes widen and she quickly retreats to her bedroom with the hope of freshening up and thinking through what exactly happened.