A/N: Robert Muchamore does not use POVs, so I will not...unless requested.
Lindsey awoke to her brother screaming. She desperately needed the sleep, but the 11 year-old is a super light sleeper, so she forced herself out of bed.
"Drake! Shut up! I need my beauty sleep!" She tried looking for him, but he was nowhere.
"Calm down Drake. It's okay; daddy is gone, but it's not your fault," their mother said soothingly. Their dad had been in the Royal Air Force and had been trained at Cherub, but Penelope could not tell her kids that.
"Mum? What's happening to Drake?"
She sighed, "Nightmares."
"Again?"
"Yes. It's happening so frequently. Maybe I should send him to the counselors that I work with."
Just then, Drake murmured something.
Their mum's head jerked towards the frightened boy, "Drake? What was that?"
"He does it all the time mum. It's honestly no biggy." Although, sometimes Lindsey wished that she had a normal family.
"Linds, don't talk that way. Drake has been talking about duddy, who he rarely even saw. Maybe the doctors at Cherub could run some tests on him."
Lindsey had given up on looking for Cherub. When she asked about it, her mum told her that it was a boarding school for troubled kids, and when Lindsey looked it up on Google, the only thing that she had learned was the translation for 'angel' in Spanish.
"Duddy was a piwot."
Their mother nodded.
"Duddy deserved to wive."
Penelope nodded again. Her husband did deserve to live. His plane had been shot down and crashed in a training exercise.
"Linds, go get ready for school."
Lindsey nodded then went to put on her uniform. She combed her strawberry-blonde hair then put on eyeshadow. She sighed, then put her lunch in her bag then went off to school.
"Hey, Lindsey!"
Lindsey turned around to see her best friend, Meg run up to her.
"Oh, hey Megs. What's that in your hand?"
"I'm glad you asked. Invitations to my sleepover."
Meg handed her one.
"Sweet, Megs. Thanks. When is it?"
"Well, open it up."
Lindsey shrugged then opened up the invitation. "Tomorrow night at 5 pm. Please bring a sleeping bag, makeup, and movie."
Megs was so excited, "It would have gone out last week, but mum needed time to plan everything. We're gonna watch a movie, and play truth or dare. Oh, and we're also gonna do makeovers!"
"Cool. Who else is invited?"
"Well, you, Veronica, Tori, and Maddie. Oh, and Lulu, my godmother, who's great with girls our age."
Lindsey nodded, "Well, see you in class."
"Yeah. Good thing it's Friday."
"Mum? Mum, I'm home!" Lindsey looked around the house, but couldn't find her anywhere. Hm, she should be home, since she takes Fridays off, Lindsey thought to herself. "Wait a minute, is something burning?" She looked in the oven, but there was nothing in it. Then she saw her mom passed out. Drake was crying next to her. Lindsey rushed over.
"Fwames." Drake said.
Lindsey gasped, "Drake, listen to me. Pick up mum's leg. I'll take her arms. We need to drag her out."
Drake turned around.
"Drake get back here!"
He started running up the stairs toward his room.
"Oh, screw it." Lindsey said. She ran up to get him, coughing through the smoke of the fire. She picked him up along with his favorite toy.
"Drake, listen to me. Run outside and stay out there."
"Mum!" his eyes were watering.
"I know, Drake. I'll take care of it."
Drake nodded then ran outside.
"Mum? I'm gonna drag you outside. "
Her mum nodded. Lindsey got to the door when she felt her mum stop breathing.
"Mum!"
Her mother gulped. "Phone. I love you and Drake." Then her eyes closed. Lindsey started to cry, but realized that she would have to toughen up for Drake. She found her mum's phone in her pocket, then murmured thank you.She kissed her mum's cheek then ran to Drake.
"Drake! What happened in there?"
"Mum?"
"She's in a safe place now."
"Where's that?"
"Heaven."
Drake wrapped his arms around her legs. Lindsey reached down to hug him, but he ran. Towards a coming car.
"Drake!" she called.
The driver ran out. Her high heels made a clapping noise against the pavement of the road.
"I'm so so sorry! I have red cross training! I can help this boy!" She smoothed her pant suit down and started doing a form of CPR.
Lindsey held back tears and held Drake's hand.
"I'm so so sorry! I swear to god I didn't even see him!"
Lindsey replied stiffly, "It's fine."
"No it's not! I hit a kid with a car! How 'm I supposed to feel?!"
Lindsey shrugged. The woman hugged her.
"Now, where can I contact your parents?"
Lindsey pointed at her mom. "Fire. Our dad died four years ago."
"Oh my god! What can I do?"
"Can you call 999 for Drake?"
"Your little brother? Of course!"
Lindsey smiled at her generosity. She then dialed the 'in case of emergency' number on her mum's phone.
Dr. McAfferty smiled. His job of the hour was giving Lauren Adams a black shirt. He always enjoyed doing this.
"Thank you sir." she said shakily, even though she got the news a week ago in Australia. Then she left.
Mac settled back into his leather chair. He heard the phone ring, but he let the receptionist get it.
"Unicorn Tyre Repair. How can I help you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have the wrong number. You see my mum and brother are both passed out and so I just pressed the emergency number on my mum's phone. I mean it must be the boarding school Cherub, that mum's always talking about. You see, she works there and-"
"Calm down. I may be able to help."
Once Mac heard this, he decided to listen in on the conversation. I knew that Penelope should have lived on Cherub campus. Something was bound to happen to her! he thought to himself.
