Belle had done a good job of babysitting.
"Hey! I'm not a baby!" Paris protested.
Vienna punched his arm with substantial force. "OW!" He wailed, glaring daggers at her. She rolled her dark blue eyes at him and sauntered off up the stairs, "Don't be such a baby, Paris." she drawled and continued up to the second floor of the narrow but tall house.
Both Paris and Vienna used physical violence, this of course wasn't good. I'd asked them many times not to fight in the house, so they wrestled in the garden as an alternative. There really was no hope...
Maddie must have already gone to bed, being the recluse that she is. Rome clapped his brother on the shoulder and they both headed up to the big room they shared with the twins, across from Syd's on the first floor; Paris mumbling like no tomorrow, in french, as he went. The living room was empty and dark, like the kitchen and so was the basement, meaning that everyone else was upstairs somewhere.
Vienna and Rio's light was on as I passed their room, Rio was pulling on her pyjamas and Vienna was brushing her hair, "Night girls," I called and continued down the hall. There was a cool blue light leaking from the gap beneath Maddie's door. Knocking, I poked my head around the door.
"It's late, Mads."
In the glow emitted from her desk lamp, I could see she was sat on her bed, laptop open, fingers tapping away at the keyboard; encyclopedias open around her. She sighed, a few more taps and she closed the lid of her laptop. Looking at me she nodded. "I need all the sleep I can get if I'm going to have a science test tomorrow."
"Okay, goodnight." I was about to leave when I turned back, "And could you not rub it in everyone's face that you're capable of PhD level science? We all know you can, but its also quite rude."
"Oh, okay." she nodded and switched off her lamp.
"Night, Mads." I said softly and shut the door.
Belle was leaning on the bathroom doorframe as I reached the end of the third floor hall; she had a toothbrush poking out her mouth that looked like that of a rabid dog. She removed it and spat in the sink, "Well?"
"He wasn't there." I said softly and pushed open the door to my room. There was the sound of rushing water, Belle was probably rinsing her mouth quickly, the tap being turned too fast.
Pulling my jumper over my head, I felt my hair stand on end. I felt the goose flesh on my arms as the draught from the window hit the bare skin. "You okay, London?" Her voice was sensitive, like it had been when she was playing the piano, except that this time her sympathy was directed at me rather than her frustration.
"Yeah. I know how unreliable my visions can be. It could have been a completely different path that he chose." I sank onto my mattress, pulling my knees to my chest.
"You don't really believe that." she said, crossing the room to perch next to me.
I sighed. "Sorry, I forgot." I sniffled and rested my cheek against the denim of my jean clad knees.
She flicked her eyebrows up smugly at her talent. Belle could tell when you were lying, she also knew if there was a secret you were keeping. Be it big or small she knew; not what the secret itself was, but she knew it was there.
"So what is it? Why do you not think he was there?" She urged, bumping her shoulder with mine.
I sighed, "Now that I've had time to think about it, I think I must have just messed up the timings, maybe we were too late, maybe we were too early. It could happen tomorrow. Or next week. I don't know." I shrugged, turning my face away from her to rest my chin on my kneecaps.
"Anyway, Syd can look him up tomorrow and we can track him down. It's far too close to be a coincidence. I'm sure he's yours." She nudged my shoulder again.
"When did you get so wise, Belle?" I asked, meeting her gaze in the mirror on the dresser.
She dropped her eyes to her lap. "I guess I learnt that everyone has to grow up. We just got that kick a little earlier than most." she whispered and let her hair create a veil between her and the rest of the world. Belle was the toughest person I knew. Ever.
Sure Paris and Vienna practically rip out each others throats without blinking, daily, and okay, we've all learnt to cope with six volts flying through your system from Cairo. But I knew very well that the tears that mean the most, are the ones you never let anybody else see.
Putting my arm around her shoulder, I waited for her to blink them away. Belle would never sob, she'd never let one drop fall. "Why..." She began but stopped to clear her throat, "Why did she have to die?"
Belle didn't want an answer. She just wanted someone to ask the question to.
Mum had died of cancer four years ago.
Maddie didn't come out of her room for two days straight, then it was another month before she spoke a word to anyone.
Belle threw herself into music, she slept at the piano every night for a week.
Paris went on lock down, blocking out every thought anybody else had, not that anyone was really thinking that much.
Vienna struggled to conjure a flame, she had the best record for all of her school history, but even the teachers preferred it when she was setting fire to text books and blowing up magnesium.
The twins were quiet. That spoke a thousand volumes.
Syd worked overtime just so he didn't have to come home, so that for a period of time he could pretend everything was okay.
Rio cried. Her name finally made sense. Rio didn't ever cry. Not one tear. Even as an infant, she never shed a tear. But that week, she could have fuelled the Amazon for days.
I quit the job I had at a coffee shop in the city. I focused on my drawing, I completed some of my best pieces in that space of time. Someone from a gallery had seen one of the pieces when I was charcoaling something in the park; said I'd really captured the sadness and anger of the world and I'm pretty sure that work is still there. I happily handed it over, they gave me a lot of cash for them, but I really just couldn't stand to look at them. Once I'd finished grieving, I probably would have burned the lot.
Rome came the worst off. He felt that he'd failed his gift. He'd given her many more years than she should have had, but eventually... even he couldn't help her. He burned his hands on the oven at one point, but he didn't try to fix them. I had numbly held them under the tap, but Rome kept the scabs covering his palms and fingers, waiting for the fresh skin to grow. He could have healed them in less than an hour if he'd wanted.
Belle took a shaky breath and shook her hair back. Her lashes were damp. She'd never liked her eyelashes; they were orange like her hair when she was younger; they're stained black with years of daily mascara application.
Smiling a watery smile, she stood up and walked quickly from the room, muttering, "Night." on her way, and pulling the door closed.
After a night of tossing and turning, I trudged down the stairs at eleven to find Paris playing Grand Theft Auto in the living room.
"Paris!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms wide in exasperation.
He gave a noncommittal grunt.
"Why aren't you at school?" The way I'd said that sentence, made it sound like each word deserved a capital letter.
"Prof. Jones accused me of cheating in a test and so sent me home."
"Did he really send you home?"
"Well," he paused his game. "He sent me to the front desk, where I was supposed to report to Dr Smithe and receive an hour of counseling. But I honestly didn't want to talk to him, plus Vienna suspects him to be a pervert-"
"Since when do you listen to Vienna?"
"On this account, I believe she's telling the truth."
"And what's with all the big words?"
"Just expanding my vocabulary so I might have an inkling to what Madrid is waxing lyrical about during meal times."
I shrugged in agreement, curling up on the sofa. "So were you cheating?"
He scoffed, "London that's pathetic-"
"Did you?"
"The bloke was broadcasting on all frequencies, I couldn't not cheat the answers from his thoughts." he sighed dramatically and flopped onto the other end of the sofa.
"So you're saying this was his fault?"
He screwed his face up in consideration. "Yes and no."
I arched my eyebrows.
He sighed again. "If he had better control of his thoughts then it wouldn't be a problem; however if I hadn't been born into a family of such manipulative souls, then I wouldn't be abusing my powers in such a way."
I shook my head as I chuckled softly. "For that I apologise."
"So," he linked his fingers together. "What's going on with Benedict?"
I didn't even need to ask how Paris knew about that, he seemed to evade my shields as well as my sight. "Ugh." I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and blinked at him. "I don't know. Whatever it was, we missed him last night."
"And you haven't had anymore visions?"
"Well, I had this weird one about you, the twins and Vienna with sharp knives and a lot of fruit. Do I even want to know what that's about?"
"Probably not, seeing as that plan hasn't fully formed yet." he ruffled his blond hair. "But it's along the lines of Live FRUIT NINJA." he ruffled his blond hair again.
I checked my watch, "Okay, that probably fills your counseling session, go on, get back to school."
He looked at me, mouth wide open, eyes pleading. "Lonnie!"
"Paris, School, now."
"But-"
"Now."
"Ugh. Fine!" he snatched his bag from the floor and stormed out of the living room, I heard him stuff his feet into his loafers, I heard the front door creak openobnoxiously, I heard Paris say, "Hello."