~~~~~~~~~Sage's POV~~~~~~~~~

"Let me get this straight: you're both half mortal half animal...... things. That needed a home, and you pretended to be normal forest animals so we'd let you stay?" The older sister, Iv, giving a brief review of what we had said.

I nodded. "Yep, that pretty much covers it."

She looked at Aiden. "And we're allowing this to happen?"

"Well, yeah, I don't see why not." Aiden answered, making Iv let out a sigh.

"Alright, I can handle this. I gotta go now, anyways." She said, grabbing her bag and walking to the door.

Aiden walked to the counter and grabbed his own bag. "I have to leave, as well, my shift starts in twenty minutes."

"Wait, you're leaving?" I asked a bit surprised.

They exchanged a glanced, as if it was the most bizarre question I could've asked. Aiden looked at me. "Yeah, I have work and Iv has classes."

"What about the little one?" added Noah, referring to Alyse who crossed her arms with a huff.

"I can take care of myself, you know. I can be home alone for a few hours. Besides, now I have you two, so I won't get bored!"

Aiden placed a kiss on his little sister's head. "We'll be back soon." With that, both him and his twin left the house.

"Alright then, I guess it's up to us to take care of this young child now-" I turned to see Noah now asleep on the couch.

... SON OF A B-

I let out a frustrated sigh when Alyse jumped onto my back, making me stumble forward. "Let's go to my room, I have tons of games up there!"

"Um, okay?" I said a bit awkwardly, and she jumped off and ran upstairs, I followed shortly behind.

When I walked inside, Alyse had already taken out a few board games. She gestured me to sit on the bed, so I did.

Around four hours had passed, and although I hate to admit, I actually had a lot of fun..! Alyse was a really cool person to be around, funny, confident, cheerful, silly.

Dammit, Sage, don't fall for it!!!

She let out a small gasp. "Oh, I have another game I haven't played in forever! It's in my closet, bottom left."

I nodded in understanding before walking over. Hopefully she wasn't planning to lock me in her closet. I searched around a bit, taking a small box. I grew curious, opening it, and my eyes widened at the sight.

There was a picture of three young kids, two boys and a girl. The younger boy and the girl were obviously Aiden and Iv, that much was easy to determine. What really startled me was the third boy. The red hair, the green eyes, even the scar over his right one!

My boss, Ryan Riverton, the one who sent us to kill this family, was in a photo, with the twins.

"Sage?" I heard Alyse say, startling me a little. I stood up, the picture still in my hand. I know it's none of my business, but I couldn't shake off the curiosity.

I turned to face her. "Your siblings were adorable when little." She tilted her head a little, walking over, her eyes slightly widening as they landed on the picture.

She let out a chuckle, however it had a sad tone to it. "Yeah, they were.."

"Who's the redhead...?"

She stayed silent for a while, and I noticed how she gripped her golden locket, deep in thought. Soon after, she sat on her bad once more, patting the place beside her and gesturing me to do the same as her.

Once I had say beside her, she looked at the picture. "... his name is Ryan, he was our neighbor, and close friend."

I felt my blood grow cold, out of all things...

"He was almost always at our house. I don't remember him much since by the time he left, I was still too young to know anything. But I know by siblings know a lot more about him, especially Aiden." She explained, her grip on her locket only tightening.

I tilted my head a little. "What's that?" I asked, nodding over to her locket.

She looked down at it. "Oh, my locket, it belonged to my mother." After a few seconds of starting at it, she unlocked it and opened it, a picture of the man and woman from the picture I found yesterday was inside.

"I'm guessing those are your parents...?" I asked, my chest feeling heavy.

She nodded, and I could tell she was holding back tears. "Yeah... Their names were Jonathan and Lilith, they were policemen."

Policemen, huh?

She looked at me with a sad smile, and the heavy feeling in my chest only grew.

"... what happened to them...?"

"... they were killed when I was only a few months old, I don't remember anything about them... The only things I know are from pictures, or things my siblings have told me... They won't tell me in much detail what happened, I can tell it still hurts them to talk about it..."

I was at a loss for words, I didn't know how to respond. I placed a hand over my heart which for some reason felt... pain... "I... I'm really sorry..."

She shook her head. "Don't be, you had nothing to do with it, it's not your fault."

I stayed silent, it hurt for some reason to know about this. She looked at me once more. "If you really want to know in detail, you should talk to Aiden, he knows much more about this than I ever will."

As if on cue, someone softly knocked on the door. "Come in!" said Alyse, her cheerful tone returning.

Aiden opened the door, greeting us with a warm smile. "Just wanted to let you guys know lunch is ready."

"Okay, we'll be down in a bit!" Alyse smiled.

Once Aiden left, Alyse and I cleaned up all the board games and placed them back in the closet. However, this feeling in my chest.. it just wouldn't go away.

Who exactly are these people, and why does Ryan want them gone..?

Thanks for reading!!! 'Till next time!!!

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