Echo caught her little brother by the belt-loop on his pants, "Declan, come on. Papa says we're going to Uncle Leo and Aunt Calypso's for a party."
"I don't wanna go!" Her brother tried to pull away, digging his feet into the carpet.
"Come on, Dec, we'll see our cousins, Patrick and Sammy, and you know Gareth will do one of his magic tricks!" Echo tried to catch the small boy's interest.
"But it's going to be loud and we'll be there for forever!"
Echo sighed, "Look, if you get too overwhelmed, I will tell Papa and Dad that I will take you home." She offered, mentally kicking herself for doing it. She barely got to see the friends who understood her life as it was. Now she was giving away more of her time?
Declan looked back at her, "Promise?"
"As surely as the sun rises in the east." She held her free hand out to him.
He sighed and took it, "I love you, Echo."
She smiled, "Love you too, now come on. Everyone else is ready."
"Even Dad?"
"Well, maybe not Dad. But he did just get home a little while ago." She led the way out, starting to hum with excitement. She grinned triumphantly at her Papa, "Look who agreed to come."
Her Papa smiled, "Thank you, Echo. Declan, do you think you could carry this dish?"
Declan nodded excitedly and held out his arms.
"Alright, don't drop it." Papa told him, still smiling, and rested the dish in Declan's arms.
Declan nodded gravely, then walked over by the front door, ready to go.
Echo sat next to her Papa, "Are we just waiting for Daddy?"
"And Ana, she had some sort of clothing emergency or something." Papa tucked a strand of her golden hair behind her ear, "You look nice."
She grinned, "Thanks, I'm really excited to see everyone. Aunt Hazel, Uncle Frank…"
"Me too, it's been a while. Almost a year. Normally I get out to visit more, but with the illustrating job I was working on…" He shrugged.
Echo liked having young parents. Sure, most of her friends parents were young, but her fathers weren't even in their forties yet. They still had energy and they still could play games and get rowdy with their kids. Sure, part of that was also because if they let their guard down and their muscles go, they could die, but still. She liked that they could still take care of her.
"Echo? I've repeated your name like eight times and you just heard me." Her papa was chuckling.
"Sorry, Papa, I was thinking about how lucky we are to have such young parents."
Her papa laughed, "Oh man, you are such an innocent suck-up."
She tilted her head, "Papa?"
He laughed more, "Will, tell me you're ready!"
"I will be when I can find my shoes!"
"Check my closet, I was vacuuming earlier."
"Papa, what do you mean sucking up?" Echo was a little concerned.
"Trying to butter me up." He tried to explain.
She shrugged.
"Trying to earn brownie points." He used a phrase her Aunt Cassie (why did she call all of these people her aunts and uncles?) would use.
"Oh, I'm not. I just, that's what I was thinking…" She frowned at her hands. "Papa, sometimes I feel hopelessly awkward and idiotic."
He looked a little concerned, "Why?"
Aurora snorted, "She just remembered the part where you said, 'innocent' before the sucking up bit that she got stuck on. Even I know what sucking up is."
Echo stuck her tongue out at her raven-haired sister.
Aurora stuck her tongue out in return, "ANA! Come on! You too, Dad!"
Papa ran a hand through his hair, "Indoor voice, Rory. You don't talk to either of us like that."
Rory nodded, "Yes, Papa." Then she hopped up and went marching off to the room she shared with Ana, "You look fine. I look fine, we all look fine. Now please get your narcissistic butt out of the bedroom so we can go!"
"Please tell me she's talking to Ana?" Papa looked about done, unable to decide how to react.
"Well, she passed me on her way to the bedroom and Ana's firing back some sort of retort, so I'm going to say that's a safe bet." Dad came out, looking like he had just showered.
Echo hopped up to get her hug, "We really should get going. Before Declan's arms get tired."
"I'm fine." Declan piped up.
Dad grinned at both of them.
Then they heard a shriek.
"Don't open the door!"
"Why? You're fully clothed!"
Echo groaned and dropped her head to her Dad's shoulder, "Every day. Why does this happen every day?"
Her Dad hugged her tightly, "Remember, you're the angel of the family. Please don't change that."
"I thought Papa was the angel?" Echo glanced between her fathers.
Her Dad grinned at her Papa, "He is, the angel of death. So, Angel, let's go discipline our troublemakers, shall we?"
"Don't call me that." Papa said through a grimace and gritted teeth.
"Better sit down, Dec. This could take a while." Echo said, sitting at the piano and starting to play. She had surpassed her Dad's ability when she was six, and had been taking lessons from someone else since. Normally she practiced while her Papa made dinner, but this worked. Might as well. She wasn't exactly going to the party.
Unless they let her go ahead with Declan, which was unlikely. They were a little overprotective. They always seemed to forget that they had been teaching her how to sword fight since she was seven and was first attacked by a monster. And she was pretty good with a bow, too.
But if the monsters didn't head right for the twins, then they headed for Declan.
Sometimes they would completely ignore her. But she always knew when Declan was in danger. She would get this wrenching feeling in her gut. And Declan was a little slow ever since the accident four years ago, after the accident that he had been in with their Dad. Her family didn't talk about it, but he had trouble in school, keeping up mentally. They had had to pull him out and Papa was teaching him there. Echo worried that her brother wouldn't be able to react fast enough to keep himself alive. She knew their fathers worried too, and her Dad definitely blamed himself.
The twins had no trouble with this. Well, Aurora had no trouble with it. She was something of a tom-boy, kind of liked the gruesome and scary stuff like their Papa did. Ana just needed to pay attention.
"Echo, we're ready to go."
She closed the lid over the keys, "Then let's go." She noticed that Ana looked a little flushed, and that Aurora had an angry glint in her eyes.
Her Papa looked ready to throttle someone.
Daddy kissed her cheek, "You get better every day, little Lark."
She smiled, "Thanks, Daddy."
They all headed outside, Declan leading the way when, excitedly insisting that he could lead them to the Valdez' house.
"Alright, we're off!" Dec marched down to the sidewalk.
Even the twins were giggling over his confident stride.
Then he stopped, he looked both ways that the sidewalk led, slowly looking confused. "Um…"
The twins stepped closer together, and Papa grabbed Dad's hand as it started to shake.
Echo quickly stepped forward, bending down next to him, "You right, we should be careful. You never know when the villains will attack! We must be careful if we're to get to the secret base!" She pointed toward the Valdez' house.
"Right!" He grinned.
"So, do we cross the river first, or push our way through the dense jungle?" she took the dish from him and handed it to her Dad.
"Over the river!" He took her hand, "We have to jump from stone to stone!"
"Alright, hold on tight!"
They 'hopped' from stone to stone, trying not to fall into the river, which was really the road.
Then, once their whole family had safely crossed the 'river', Declan and Echo led the way through the woods.
Declan cheered when they reached the Valdez' house, then hugged Echo.
Ana and Rory took him inside.
Echo turned to her fathers, "He's getting worse, isn't he?"
Dad looked heartbroken, guilty.
Papa just took her hand in his other, "He has an appointment on Monday."
She nodded.
"Thank you, for helping him." Papa pulled her closer so he could put an arm around her. "Now, we should go have some fun and some food."
"Yes, Papa."
