Vicious Minds (Children of Vice #4)(8)

As I watched her family go into the house, Wyatt and Dona were already cutting their cake. So I crossed the grass, walking back into the house myself.

“Allen,” I waved to one of the guards as he brought the gifts in.

“What can I do for you, little man?” he grinned, putting the stuff down.

I frowned. I really hated that name. “My name is Ethan. And can you go over there and tell Mr. and Mrs. Affini my parents want them to wait for their goodie bags before they leave?”

“What?” He looked over my head at them as they were getting their things back from the butler.

“Your parents said that?”

“Yes, go tell them and get them the stuff…please.” I didn’t want Dad to give me another lecture for being rude.

“Okay.” He glanced back out at the courtyard, nodding to tell the other guards to pause. I waited as he walked over to them.

The moment he told them, the taller girls, the mouse’s sisters, started to beg. The whole family had brown hair, however her dad’s was lighter brown than her mom’s. Her sisters had that light brown hair, and the mouse and her mom had dark brown. They all looked so boring and plain in their clothes, as if they were background people in movies. Just there, sometimes spoken to or about, but once they were gone you forgot they were ever there.

Mr. Affini nodded and all of them waited. While they did, the mouse started to do what she did outside, just looking around. Her eyes were different from everyone else in her family. They were grey instead of brown. Finally, she looked to me and I waved for her to come over.

She gave me a confused look, her eyebrows coming together. When she looked over her shoulder, I wondered why in the world I wanted to ask her anything. I should just wait and ask my mom but that would take too long, and she might not answer.

She pointed to herself.

‘Yes,’ I mouthed, nodding my head at her. She moved to ask her mom and I just turned to walk away. Never mind, she was hopeless.

“Mommy, I still need to use the bathroom,” I heard her complain and stopped in my tracks.

“Hold it.”

“I can’t—”

“The bathroom is down the hall and to the left,” I spoke, walking forward.

“Thank you, Ethan.” Her mom smiled at me then tapped her on the back. “Hurry up, Calliope.”

She frowned and looked around. “There are two halls? This place is so big; how do you not get lost?”

“Calliope! —”

“I’ll show you,” I said.

“Avena, go with her your sister,” her dad said to one of her sisters, who just frowned, crossing her arms.

“I don’t need to go—”

He gave her a look and she kept quiet.

“I’ll come too,” the other sister said.

Great. This was dumb. Why did I do this?

“Ethan, these are our two other daughters: Avena, a year older than you, then there is Bellarose, she’s the same age as you,” their mom said.

“Hello, I’m Ethan. You can follow me,” I offered, turning and walking toward the hall. I walked quickly so I could get away from them all. When I made the left turn, I pointed to the door. “There it is.”

“Hurry up, Calli,” Avena huffed. She had birthmarks, like small back dots on her face. There was one over her lip and under her lip and then another right under her right eye.

“Avena, look they have sparklers,” Calliope gasped, pointing out the window.

“Your parents are so cool, Ethan.” Her other sister, Bellarose, who had cut her hair short right under her chin, gasped before running to the window. “Avena, look, they are giving out the bags. Why do we have to go?”

“Dad said he had to go somewhere tonight,” the oldest one explained before knocking Calliope on the head. “Hurry up and go.”

“I’m going!” she yelled and stepped back. She looked at her sisters as they practically pressed their faces against the windows before glaring at me wide-eyed, waving for me to follow her into the bathroom.

I did.

She shut the door and locked it fast, turning back to me but again her eyes darted all around.

“Woah, this is just your bathroom?”

“Yes, and I don’t think I should be in here with you—”

“This is the only place we can talk though. You called me over,” she interrupted before putting her ear to the door. “Don’t worry about Avena and Rosie, they forget me fast, I’ll just tell them you left while they were watching.”

“Don’t you need to use the bathroom? You told your mom you still… wait, is that why you were away from your parents before?”

She was quiet for a quick second, staring at me before shaking her head. “No. Yes. But I lied.”

“What?”

“No, I didn’t need to use the bathroom. Yes, I told my mom I needed go, but I lied. I really just wanted to see your house.”

Oh, she was answering my questions before.

“Is that why you called me?” She frowned and then crossed her arms. “I thought you wanted to say sorry for calling me a mouse.”

She heard that?

“Why would I say sorry? You were acting like a mouse, hiding behind your parents.”

“I wasn’t hiding.”