Thea

We're sitting in the dining room, reprimanding Noah about his horrible table manners, as always. Aiden is starting to freak out about not being able to see his brothers. He told me that this is the longest he's ever spent without them. I assure Aiden they're with Julian, melting their brains with an endless stream of Return of the Zombie Aliens 2000 or whatever number they're at now. Noah informs me that number is seven and three quarters. Anna comes in the last of us, her eyes wide. She sits at our table, not bothering to get food before she whispers "Iris slept in my room last night."

"What?" I ask. Anna nods.

"She came and knocked on my door around one. I would have invited you all for a slumber party, but I didn't want to wake you." I see Aiden try to hide his smirk and glance out of the corner of my eye. I swat at him from under the table. He wasn't doing much sleeping last night. Then again, neither was I.

"Did she say why?"

"She didn't want to talk about it. But from what I gathered, it was something about the Preeminence." I glance over at the center table. Jonas sits at its head, like always, but a few of the seats closest to him are empty. The men who are there stay quiet. The girl Kaitlyn seems to like says something to Jonas, who snaps at her. She retreats back to her food. I shake my head, snapping out of the gossip.

"What do we want to do today," I ask, watching Aiden slice a piece of his pancake.

"I don't know, but I need a tan," Kaitlyn says, looking down at her hands. Noah swallows his food before speaking.

"There's a pool."

"We have a winner." I smile. "Now we just need to find some swimsuits."