Darling | All16 | ✔

FOUR

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|KEVIN| 

Ahh... A nice, relaxing vacation. Nothing to do or worry about, and nothing but being lazy. Fun. I lean into the couch and force myself to pay attention to the ridiculous zombie movie that Nathan chose. Running a hand through my black curls, I try my best to relax.

I love vacation. So, so much.

Shouts erupt from the kitchen.

"You can't eat that!" North bellows. "You'll get cavities, then diabetes, and then you'll die! Do you want to die?!"

"Well, I'm not enjoying life right now without my chocolate, so maybe!" Luke yells back. "You know, doctors encourage you to eat two squares of chocolate per day!"

"Fact!" Sean inserts, yelling from a completely different room.

"Please!" North scoffs. "I know for a fact that you've eaten more than two bars of chocolate today alone!"

"Are you stalking me or something?!" Luke exclaims. "I'm flattered, but not interested!"

"Don't be disgusting, Luke!" North cries with clear disgust. "We're half brothers and I don't swing that way!"

"Oh, yeah?" Luke challenges, mischief entering his voice. "You and Silas are awfully close!"

"Don't involve me in this!" Silas rumbles.

"No closer than you and Gabe!" North hollers back indignantly.

Gabriel exclaims, "Oy! I'm not gay and you all know this!"

"Why are we all shouting?!" Kota yells, a somewhat unusual action for him, the quiet leader who is often called a nerd.

Yup. A nice relaxing vacation.

"Mr. Blackbourne!" Corey shrieks. "Control your young! I can't work on my coding with them shouting!"

"That's it!" Mr. B exclaims, in an excited manner, causing silence to crash down on us all.

"Are you okay?" Sean asks hesitantly.

The rest of us are still stunned silent. Mr. B rarely to never shows emotion. It just isn't normal for him to show emotion or be informal.

"Fine," Mr. B says, adjusting his tie and returning to normal. And by normal, I mean far too formal. "However, we have been assigned a new mission."

"Thank fuck!" Gabriel yells.

Truly, none of us are enjoying this "vacation." We are all used to being busy and working and action. Normal life is no longer our normal. We don't work well without the adrenaline, the action that our lives in the Academy bring. For the first few hours, the vacation was nice, but now we are all restless and antsy.

"What is the mission?" Axle asks, also eager.

"We are to escort a bird to safety and guard her while a separate team works to eliminate a threat to her safety," Owen announces.

"Who is it?" Brandon inquires, his brow furrowed.

"And why do they need us?" Wil continues.

"Her name is Sang Sorenson. The situation is confidential, but I can tell you that it is grave. The Academy also owes her father a favor."

"Sang Sorenson?" Victor echoes. "The name seems awfully familiar..."

"Oy! Hell no!" Gabriel shouts. "No way! Sang Sorenson, darling of the universe?"

And then the name clicks. None of us have really seen anything about her, but we have all heard things about her. The Academy keeps us too busy to keep up with the news, especially the celebrity gossip, but we still hear things about her in passing, she is so famous.

"Yes, that is who I am speaking of," Owen agrees.

"I'm not fucking dealing with a rich bitch who is gonna be worse than those snobs who hang around Victor!" Gabriel exclaims.

"Oh?" I question. "So you're saying you are going to refuse an assignment based off of an assumption?"

"Exac—Wait. No."

"When do we leave?" Silas asks, his deep and reverberating voice seeming to rumble.

"We leave immediately," Owen announces, rising and rebuttoning his suit jacket.

Together, we file out of Nathan's house where we were all gathered and head to the two white vans. As usual, North and Mr. Blackbourne each drive one.

As we begin to slow down, we pass by mile after mile of the lush and expansive garden. The grounds look well manicured and incredible. Everything is closed off by a large steel fence that is topped with iron spikes. I near the gate, the driveway finally beginning to end. Mr.Blackbourne pulls us up to the speaker at the gate. The cameras that I notice whir and point at us.

Leaning close through the open window, Mr. Blackbourne announces, "Blackbourne team here in both vans to see the Sorenson family."

A voice crackles out of the speaker saying, "Please display a piece of identification for the cameras."

Obligingly, Mr. Blackbourne displays an ID card and holds it up for a few seconds until the voice calls, "Alright, come on through then."

I sit back in my seat, glad that they at least have a bit of security. I twist the ring around my small finger. A year ago, it was on my ring finger. Although my brothers were interested in another girl, Kayli, I never was. However, I am confident that she is not as crazy as they believe. There was just something... Off about it all. The ring was a promise ring to an amazing girl before she died. A piece of me died with her, but I long to live. When I first learned that she died, I was devastated, of course, and heartbroken. With time and my brothers, I am slowly healing and getting better. I don't want to be hopeless anymore. 

I guess you could say that I am just searching for my hope now.

The breathtaking mansion quickly steals my attention from my solemn thoughts. It is an incredible house, modern and sleek. In my opinion, it is a bit too modern and expensive, but it is truly a work of art, that much is clear. We park the vans and I jump out of the van.

We are all in awe of the beautiful place, even Gabriel, although it is clear that he has a few improvements that he wishes were made. Luke's eyes are glazed over and I know that he is lost in another daydream. Even Mr. Blackbourne is impressed with the architecture and work that went into the home, but you wouldn't know if you weren't as close as we are.

Walking up the steps to the massive door, I knock on the door and wait, eager to meet this Sang Sorenson.