To Guest- I'm presuming you're the same guest 'cos your death threats were eerily similar. You can try and find me and, for whatever reason it is that you do, bring it. I've smacked somebody in the face because they were threatening to throw a chair at my friends and I will quite happily stand my ground :P
To Kromx- I'm working on it! :D
To Bookworm19980115- Read Guest's death threats. Somebody shaking sense into me- ha! Bring it on! And you got all excited thinking I was going to be nice- I'm not a nice person :D
I think that was everything… I feel like I'm forgetting something…
Oh! Names for Joy and Nico's baby! IT'S A BOY. THERE IS ONE. NO MORE FLIPPING TWINS. Or triplets or quadruplets or whatever comes after those- YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!
Max was woken, quite rudely at half past midnight, by panicked and pained yelling.
It took him a few seconds to get over the delirium of sleep, but then he realised it was Alvie. He was up and out in a nanosecond, stumbling and crashing along the landing and into his brother's room.
Alvie was sat up on his bed, his knees to his chest and his fingers curled in his hair. His whole being was ridiculed with tension.
"Alvie!" Max called, darting forward and wrapping his brother in his arms. Alvie clung to him, trembling chronically. His yells had quietened into hysterical pleads- he was asking Max to 'make it stop', but Max had no idea what was going on. "Bad dream." Max mumbled. "Bad dream, I've got you." Footsteps behind him caught his attention and he looked awkwardly over his shoulder. His parents were framed in the doorway, bewildered and concerned. "Bad dream." Max repeated for their benefit.
"Very bad dream…" Annabeth grumbled, moving towards her sons with soft steps. "Alvie, what happened?" Annabeth curled her fingers under Alvie's chin and made him look at her. Thankfully, there was no blood, just pure and wild hysterical panic.
"Where's Tobias?" He choked.
"At his place, probably. Why?" Alvie hid his face in Max's shoulder again and didn't answer.
They found out later on.
Alvie wasn't sure where he had been or how or why, but he was in a mostly dark room, lit only by the spotlight concentrated on him and his older brothers. All three of them were kneeling, in age order, wrists manacled and chained to a loop tightly bolted to the stone floor. There was something heavy and sharp on his head and bruises on his brothers'.
Max was fighting the chains while Tobias contemplated them as he would a book- annoyed and confused.
Footsteps echoed sharply against the concrete ground, getting closer and closer until a huge, mountainous and muscular silhouette loomed over them.
"Morning." Erik tried for a smile, but looked constipated instead.
"Morning?" Tobias asked. "Do you have food?"
"Silence!" Erik snapped, clouting Tobias about the head. "You," He pointed at Tobias with a sausage finger, "And you," He directed his attention to Max, "Aren't allowed to talk."
"Why?"
"If you talk, I'll kill the other one. Got it?" They nodded, Tobias pressing his lips together to resist giving a sarcastic comeback.
Erik turned to Alvie, placing a meaty hand on his head. "And you, I want to know all about this psychic thing you've got going on. Or I'll kill them." He drew an eighteen inch dagger from his sleeve and aimed the talon sharp point at Max, the closest.
Alvie saw Tobias shaking his head, his eyes wide and hard in warning. Don't say anything. Max gave a slight shake of his head as well, his expression practically identical to Tobias's.
Their captor gave Alvie's hair a sharp tug, enticing a stifled grunt of pain from Alvie. "Well?" He demanded impatiently. "Talk."
"Wh-?" Alvie's voice failed him. He was a nervous wreck while his brothers appeared calm. Angry, but calm. Why couldn't he be like them?
"How can you do what you do?"
"I… it…" He trailed off again. Erik let him go and stomped towards Tobias, jabbing the knife at his throat and pressing the tip there. Panic surged through Alvie, unhelpfully. "Apollo…" He managed.
"Keep talking." Erik snarled, twisting the point deeper into Tobias's throat and drawing a bead of blood.
"Um… I… I get… uh…" Alvie tried to regain control of his breathing and eventually pulled his eyes from the blood trickling down Tobias's neck. "Um, visions. I get those."
"What kind of visions?"
"I… I don't know, it… depends."
"On what?"
"Wha… whatever's going on." Max shook his head again and Alvie fell silent.
This was not a good idea.
"Oh, so you think it's OK to stop talking? I don't." Erik spat, bringing his arm up. He bought his arm down- a blur of bronze, a splash of scarlet and then Tobias slumped sideways, blood pouring from the gaping wound in his throat in thick, grotesque jets.
Alvie woke up then, his mind on fire and the image of his brother's limp body burned into his retinas. Max had come in seconds later, followed shortly by their parents.
He rang Tobias later that day, at a reasonable hour, but up until then, he had been so fretful and so jumpy. Max stayed with him, even adding his own bits to the phone call.
"Hello?" Sophia's voice filled the room, on loud speaker.
"Hey, Sophia." Max smiled. "Is that stupid brother of ours there?"
"Yeah, hold on a sec… Jackson!"
"I didn't do it!" Alvie made a weird noise then- something between a choke, a sob and a laugh of relief. Max smiled lopsidedly at him- told you so.
"Max wants to talk to you."
"And Alvie." Max added.
"Oh, and Alvie."
"I'll talk to Alvie. Max is smelly."
"You can't smell him over the phone."
"Don't have to." Tobias's voice was closer now. "He smells so bad, I can smell him from here."
"Oh, stop being such a child."
"No. Hello?"
"You're OK." Alvie breathed, pent up frustration and worry streaming down his cheeks.
"Um… Max? Translation?"
"You just called me smelly."
"Well, I'm confused and hungry- apologies don't exist right now." Max rolled his eyes at his brother, smiling before filling him in with the latest dilemma.
Tobias was quiet for a while, an achievement, and Max could practically hear the cogs ticking over in his brother's mind.
Unfortunately, he was quiet for a bit too long and Alvie started looking worried again. "Tobias?"
"Still kicking." He said, a smile lightening his tone. The younger brother slowly relaxed. "Erik… that's the big fat idiot, right?"
"No, that's Jim. Erik's Brick-man."
"Oh! Oh, now that makes sense!" Tobias laughed. "Death by Brick-man sounds better than death by big fat idiot."
"You're upsetting Alvie."
"Oh gods, no! Sorry! I'll shut up."
"That upsets him too."
"What? Why? Ugh, there is no pleasing some people." Alvie gave a tired smile. "Is he even there? He's so flipping quiet… Alvie, don't make me come over and eat you."
"Eat me?"
"I knew that'd work." Tobias snickered. "I'll come over anyway. We've got some serious catching up to do. Um, I think we're on a… doughnut run, wasn't it?"
"No, cinema and popcorn."
"I thought it was ice-cream." Alvie mumbled.
"You're psychic- can't you magic it up?" Tobias asked. Alvie stayed quiet. "Is he there? He hasn't done his disappearing thing, has he?"
"His what?"
"Alvie turns invisible if you scare him."
"Huh?" Tobias explained the whole story, completely skipping the part about hiding behind his father when Alvie vanished. Alvie didn't.
While Max was in peals of laughter, Tobias was threatening to eat his little brother for real this time, Alvie, you won't escape. Sighing, Tobias put on a mock growly voice in an attempt to be scary. "I was trying not to tell him that! Damn you, Alvie, damn you!" Alvie stared at the phone. Through his laughter, Max saw the white twists in his brother's eyes and figured trouble was bound for Tobias. "Ow, ow, ow- what are you d- ow! Bloody phone!" There was a clatter as Tobias dropped the phone.
"Jackson!"
"Sorry! What the hell was that?"
"An energy pulse through the phone to your brain."
"Cell." Max added quickly. Tobias gave a very sarcastic, false laugh.
"Ugh, headache now… Alvie, you're mean to me."
"I'm not. You just said you wanted to eat me."
"Well, I am hungry. Roasted brother sounds nice. Or deep-fried brother? Oh, the choices!"
"You're scaring him again."
"Oh, he's fine. We all know Dad'll eat him before me."
"What?" Tobias didn't reply for a couple of seconds.
"Sophia's glaring at me." He said quietly.
"Why?"
"She doesn't want a cannibal for a husband."
"Too late."
"Yeah, I eat babies."
"You have problems."
"I know. Ah! No! Knife down! Put the knife down! She's gonna kill me!" Tobias dropped the phone again. Half a minute later, Sophia was talking to them.
"If he's alive, I'll get him to ring you later."
"Getting rid of witnesses?"
"Yup." Sophia said proudly.
"Alvie's psychic. He will sue you for killing Tobias or whatever." Sophia gave a laugh- 'yeah right'.
"Bye, guys."
"Don't kill him." Alvie slotted in before Sophia hung up.
Max looked at Alvie, seeing that he was already chewing his lip. He still stared at the phone, as if he could see their sister-in-law killing their brother.
"He's OK." Max assured. "Well, from Erik anyway. I'm not so sure about Sophia…" Alvie stayed quiet. Max shifted closer and put his arm around his brother's shoulders. "Look, if that was a vision thing or whatever, we know about it and you've got it right this time-" Alvie winced and Max faltered. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. I mean… oh gods, I've really put my foot in it this time." He ran a hand tiresomely through his hair. "OK, OK, rephrase. We know it's Tobias for certain this time and we can avoid it. Anybody who wants to attack Tobias will have to go through me, Mom, Dad, Sophia, Lou, Leo, Elsie, Alokia, possibly Sage if Dad doesn't do his protective Daddy thing again, you and your trucks and the Little Twins- they're vicious."
"They are?"
"Have you never been attacked by them?"
"No."
"Well, they must like you then." Alvie just nodded.
Over the next few days, things didn't get better. Something was obviously plaguing Alvie, but he never said what. It was clear he wasn't sleeping- phone calls home from school told them he fell asleep in every lesson and was often found in the library at recesses, asleep with a book in his hands. Francis was forever waking him up and was actually debating purchasing a klaxon.
Crystal looked as exhausted as Alvie did, and just as miserable. Both of them were pale with dark shadows under their eyes. Her hair was in a simple, messy bun, lacking character.
Francis noticed that Crystal often made movements, as if she wanted to wake Alvie up herself, but she always caught herself, looking pained. He would reach over and prod Alvie awake and then make her smile by asking about her baby brother- he was due in two months, not even that. Crystal's eyes regained their previous cheeky light and it was the only way to get anything positive out of her.
It was going as normal as it did lately, Francis sat in the middle of a stoic Alvie and a miserable Crystal. It was a History lesson- something about Henry VIII and the English Reformation (boring)- and Francis was keeping Alvie and himself awake- he deserved a frigging medal.
Alvie coughed, disturbing the sleepy silence of the classroom. Outright, nobody paid any attention to a simple cough.
Nobody except Crystal.
She happened to glance at Alvie, that old worry for him back and then she was on her feet, crying his name.
Francis looked round too and fear stabbed at his heart when he saw his friend was choking up blood. Thick gobbets of warm scarlet splattered the desk, Alvie's front and they just didn't stop.
"Francis, get the nurse." Their teacher ordered. "Everyone stay seated!" Alvie gagged on the blood and more spewed forth. "Crystal, get some paper towels." Crystal bopped Francis on the head as she hurried pass and he regained his wits and darted from the room, sprinting to the nurse's office.
Crystal knew the paper towels were going to be useless, but she had to do something. Judging by how red he had gone, Alvie couldn't breathe.
:D
Oh, do we all know what I'm a celebrity, get me out of here! is?