Chapter 9

The truck rolled through the gates with Percy letting them out. A glance at Ana showed she was comfortable in the passenger seat. The mere ninety minutes of sleep she'd been able to grab had done her a world of good. Combined with the excitement of trying to see her cousins again after so long, it was like she'd been given a totally new lease of life. And her face had completely lit up when Chloe had shown her the flyer.

It had taken a lot of internal deliberation, but Chloe had decided not to tell Ana about the girl who'd given it to her. Instead, she'd told her she'd found it in the hospital. She didn't know how Ana would react to security potentially being compromised and didn't know if she'd be up to listening to reason in her current state. But the unknown girl had literally saved her life. No way in hell was she a bad person. If she ended up doing any harm, it certainly wouldn't be intentional on her part.

With Ana giving directions, the truck eventually pulled up at the house. It was further out than Chloe had been expecting. Bigger, too. It wasn't a full-blown mansion, but certainly big enough. It was the sort of place that looked from the outside like it would be impossible to get lost in but very fun to pretend. It was the sort of place she and Max had always loved being in as kids and she envied any kids who were growing up in there. Including the two they were about to meet.

As they jumped out and made their way over, Chloe could see that Ana's heart was in her mouth. She was shaking in fear and was visibly sweating. Deciding enough was enough, Chloe stopped and turned the older woman around to face her.

"Okay... Best and worst scenarios when we knock on that door. Go."

"Best case- the one looking after the twins is one of the few people who aren't after my blood or a babysitter who doesn't know me." Ana replied. "They may not let me see them but at least I'll live."

"You'll live anyway." Chloe told her. "You're a fucking Warsinger! Just blast them with your voice!"

"I'm not about to do that to family!" Ana protested. "Especially not when there are kids in the house! Also, I'll take the whole 'Warsinger' thing over being called a Dragonborn and being nicknamed Dovahkiin, but please don't say that crap too loud."

"And that's entirely fair enough." Chloe shrugged, admitting that she really hadn't considered Ana's position on all this properly before jumping in. Maybe that was something she should look at working on... "Anyway- worst case scenario. Go."

"They didn't believe you about Tacoma and someone's waiting on the other side of that door with a knife or a gun." Ana shrugged. "If that happens, I'll buy you the time to get to the truck. I want you to run, okay? Promise me! It's me they're after and-" She was cut off as the door opened. The man standing in the doorway didn't exactly look happy to see Ana, but he hadn't come out shooting either.

"Connor. We not see you for while." As much as Chloe wanted to cringe at the man's broken English and heavy accent, she was also struck dumb by what he'd said. It took her a second to work out who 'Connor' actually was.

"Yeah. Weird, that." Ana shrugged as she made her way over. "And my name's Ana now." With that, she turned to Chloe and beckoned her over. "Chloe, this is Mr Phan. He's alright. He married into the family. Even he thinks that my aunt and her family are way too extreme. And he's said that to her on a regular basis." With that, she turned to him. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind us taking the twins out for a few hours? It's a charity event. The band are new so entry will be cheap. And kids get in free." With that, she gestured for Chloe to show him the flyer. She held it out but he pushed it away without even looking at it. Chloe's heart began to sink until he started talking again.

"I don't care about the cost. Your family stop you from seeing them for five year. You good person. There not enough of them in the world." With that, he reached into his pocket and drew a wallet out before handing some money over. "Forty dollar. That should cover entry for you two. Get drinks if they have them. You send the girls back with the change." With that, he passed over another twenty. "For the collection bucket." Once Ana had the money, he turned and shouted down the hall. "Sophie! Katie! Ra khoi day!" It took a second, but then Chloe heard the sound of running feet. Two young girls, clearly identical twins, appeared in the doorway next to their dad and looked up at him expectantly.

"Moi chuyen on chu?" one of them asked. At that point, their dad switched back to English so that everyone could be included in the conversation.

"Girls, your cousin here. You remember?" He gestured to Ana and they turned to face her. Looking at them, Chloe remembered what Ana had said about them living in a little bubble of their own. In that moment, she saw what she meant. It was like they were both privy to their own internal conversation, shared on a frequency only they were tuned into. And as she watched the recognition begin to emerge in their eyes, it seemed that they were essentially feeding off one another and each helping the other work it out.

"We remember." The twin who'd spoken was also the one who'd taken the lead when their dad had called them. Chloe guessed she was the older one.

"You look different now." The other twin observed.

"You look great now." The first one continued. "You look happy." At that, Ana looked ready to burst into tears. She leaned down and they both raced over and threw their arms around her.

"I'm Ana. That's Chloe." Ana stood up and gestured to Chloe as she spoke. "I was wondering if you two wanted to come with us and do something awesome." That got a cheer out of them and Chloe could have sworn she saw their dad crack a smile.

"Get your shoes on. You leave now." They didn't need telling twice. They ran to obey, practically pulling out the entire shoe rack and digging their own ones out. While they were doing that, their dad turned a stern gaze on Ana as he pulled a piece of paper from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. "Back by six. Call me if you running late. They have the school tomorrow. They get no sleep, they going anyway."

"Thank you so much." Ana was really struggling to hold her voice steady as she took the paper. Chloe moved over and took it from her, pocketing it as she turned Ana to face her.

"It's okay. Once we get to the place, we'll be able to relax somewhat. I hope."

"Sure." Ana nodded, composing herself after a moment. At that point, the girls returned looking ready to leave.

"Looking smart, girls!" Chloe grinned, hoping she sounded supportive at that moment. "You ready to go?" At their nod, she turned to leave. The twins walked out hand-in-hand and the one nearest to Ana took her by the hand too. Together, the four of them walked out to the truck as Mr Phan shut the door behind them.

With the twins each being quite small for their age, the normally three-seater pickup truck was just about able to hold the four of them, with the twins having to share a seatbelt. Luckily, the middle one went across the lap only. It was a stretch but they managed it. Once they were fixed in, Chloe and Ana hopped in on each side of them and Chloe started the truck. She didn't know why, but she felt she needed to wait until they were on the road to say anything.

"Can I make an observation here?" she asked. "Their dad... His name didn't sound Japanese."

"That's 'cause it isn't." Ana replied as she wound the window down and let the wind catch her hair. "He's from Vietnam. He loves to tell stories of the place, but his English isn't great. Because of that, I'm one of the few who ever took the time to listen. I found him interesting. I haven't seen him in ages, either."

"He certainly seemed to care for you." Chloe nodded. "He may not have understood, but I don't think he cares to, either. He just seems to care that you're a good person. And I guess that is all that matters at the end of the day." Ana was silent for a while. So were the twins. They'd gone silent, keeping hold of each others' hands and seemed to be focusing on communicating on whatever network they had between them. That was fine. Chloe was content to leave them to that.

"Chloe?" Ana's voice was soft as she pulled her head back in for a second. Looking over, Chloe could see tears threatening to spill over. "About what he called me at the door... Are you going to ask me about it?"

"So you want me to ask about it?" Chloe asked as she refocused on the road.

"Not really." Ana replied, sounding distant.

"There we are, then." Chloe shrugged. "That's my answer and your answer. I don't care where you or the others came from. You don't owe me an explanation or an apology for anything. I'm just happy you're here."

"Thank you." With that, Ana went back to the very serious business of letting the wind catch her hair again. Chloe decided to let her. She'd been through a lot over the last five years and even more so in the last few days. If this helped her feel relaxed, that was yet another thing that was totally fine.

They pulled up at the venue a good twenty minutes later. Chloe get out and helped the girls out after her while Ana made her own way around. Once they were all ready, they made their way inside. The instant the doors opened, they were all overwhelmed by the sea of noise and light in front of them. Adults were moving between stalls and talking among themselves while yet more of them sang along in front of the staging area. Off to the side, there was a play area set up for the kids. It was a pretty substantial one which was being put to liberal use. It took them a second to take in the room, but eventually they all picked their targets.

"Okay, you girls stick with us for now." Ana told the twins. "Chloe and I need to find the donation bucket so we want you where we can see you for now. Once we've all grabbed a drink, you two can go and play. Okay?"

"Okay." The other twin hadn't spoken much, but she did this time. Chloe assumed she was the younger one but she didn't know. Maybe it was time to fix that?

"Okay, I have to ask this for the sake of making things easier: which of you is the older one?"

"Sophie's the older one." Ana told her. "She's the quieter one with less people skills. Katie is the younger one and she's more outgoing." Oh! Okay. Chloe realised she was way off.

"Got it." In spite of herself, she couldn't help but hear a slightly guilty edge creeping into her voice. "Okay, well we need to find the donation bucket. It'll probably be by one of the stalls. If one of you spots it before us, you get some sweets each. Okay?" That made their faces light up. Straight away they were scanning the rows of stalls as Chloe turned and whispered to Ana. "I assume you know what they are and aren't allowed."

"They're both allergic to peppermints and Sophie is lactose intolerant." Ana replied effortlessly. "They both love the fizzy cola bottles, though. They're total suckers for those."

"Noted." Chloe grinned. With that, they set off. The stalls were a great turnout, with some selling a variety of clothes, some with toys on sale and others with refreshments in the form of drinks and sweets. But it was Katie who spotted the main stall at the end giving out information on the charity and what it did, complete with leaflets on one end and the donation bucket on the other.

"Over there!" both girls called out in unison. Chloe noticed that Sophie, despite looking in completely the wrong direction, had instinctively pointed in the direction Katie was without even facing her. She'd known where it was because Katie had spotted it.

"Nice one!" she said, brushing it off. "Come on, Ana. Let's go." They headed in that direction, both the older girls being careful not to lose sight of the twins. At that point, Ana leaned in beside Chloe as they walked.

"They think they're being subtle. I know you've spotted it by now."

"I have." Chloe nodded. "What is it with your family and having magic powers?" At that, Ana barked out a harsh laugh that drew a few mixed stares.

"Trust me, I wish stuff like that was the weirdest thing about my family."

"Fair." Chloe realised she'd just touched a nerve and decided to back off. Ana brushed it off, making her way over and shoving the twenty dollar bill aggressively into the bucket before turning away and ignoring the profuse thanks of the woman sitting at the table. With her job accomplished, she took the twins and headed in the direction of the sweet stall.

Once they arrived, Chloe kept her word and ordered a bag of fizzy cola bottles for each of the twins. Ana paid with the money their dad had given her and then sent the girls off to play in the play area. They would be safe there while she and Chloe went to catch the music. And it was pretty good music at that. True to their name, The High Seas were singing pirate shanties. Some of the lyrics were different to how she remembered them from when she and Max were kids and used to sing them as part of their pirate fantasy, but she supposed that was for copyright reasons. That aside, it sounded amazing. Nowhere near as powerful as Ana's singing, but that was okay. These guys most likely couldn't literally kill someone with their voices.

"How soft the breeze through the island trees

Now the ice is far astern.

Them native maids,

Them tropic glades

Is awaiting our return.

Even now their big brown eyes look out,

Hoping some fine day to see

Our baggy sails

Running 'fore the gales

Rolling down to Old Maui!"

"Hey..." Chloe said, turning to Ana as everything else around them continued to be lost in the performance. "About what I said earlier... I'm sorry if I offended you."

"No, it's fine." Ana shrugged. "Really. It's not all of us, but some members of my family were always different. Sophie and Katie are connected in a way I can't make head or tail of. They think no one else notices, but we do. Everyone but their mother, that is. For me, my chest and throat have an abnormally large cavity that doubles as a resonance chamber. That doesn't explain all the stuff I can do, but it's responsible for a lot of the force behind by voice. But I don't want to think about my family tonight. I don't want to think about any of it. I just want to enjoy my time with my cousins and I want to have this be our night. Okay?"

"Got it." Chloe nodded, glancing around as the song ended and The High Seas switched to the next one. She could see Sophie and Katie in the play area at the back with the other kids. Now that more people had joined them, they'd decided to play hide-and-seek. Sophie was it and she'd turned away, covering her eyes and counting. But Katie was keeping tabs on everyone as they ran and hid and Chloe just knew she was broadcasting their locations to Sophie before running off and hiding at the last second.

"Those devious little shits!" Chloe looked over to see that Ana had spotted the same thing she had. Sure enough, Sophie ran around and found all the others in seconds, pretending to not be able to find Katie and giving her an easy win. "I mean, I know I abuse my power somewhat but that's just ridiculous!"

"Want to go have a word with them?" Chloe asked. "Give them a lesson in humility?"

"Nah, let's let them have their fun." Ana sighed. "I haven't seen them in years and I don't want to go cracking the whip on them the one time I get a night out with them. I seriously owe you for this, by the way."

"You don't owe me anything." Chloe reassured her. "When I crashed into you, you could have easily left me stranded. As it was, you took me in and gave me food and shelter. I still feel liked I'm the one who owes you for all the trouble I caused."

"You've earned us more money for a new car and facilities upgrades than most of us earn in a year." Ana told her. "And you did most of that on your first night. Then you saved my life, picked me up from the hospital and then reconnected me with long-lost family. Whatever debts you think you owe me, I'd say they're paid." Chloe was touched. The fact that Ana would be prepared to let her off the hook like that was more than she could ever remember anyone doing for her.

Just then, Sophie and Katie made their way back over to them. Behind them trailed a girl who seemed to want to run in the other direction. She had blonde hair and a Pikachu shirt on and Chloe guessed that this was probably one of those instances where she'd asked them how they were so good at hide-and-seek and they'd grabbed her and brought her to meet the family.

"Ana!" Katie called out as they got nearer. Even if the other girl had possessed the will to fight back, it would have been hopeless against two of them. "We made a friend!" With that, the twins shoved the girl forward for Ana to see. "This is Alison."