they found themselves in a grand foyer with a high ceiling and polished oak flooring. a large staircase led to the upper levels of the house, and several hallways led off in different directions. the children knew that their uncle was loaded, but they never expected his house to be massive.

ella, who was carrying camille, looked over at one of the portraits in the hall and stopped for a moment. there was her uncle reginald, of course. standing next to him were eight children. they were all wearing school uniforms with an umbrella embroidered on the chest. six of the children were wearing masks, as if they were superheroes.

the seventh child, was a little girl with long dark hair. she wasn't wearing a mask and she was carrying a violin. as for the eighth child, she was wearing a uniform, but her skirt had paint splatters.

"look." ella called out to her siblings. "dad painted this."

pogo saw the children looking at the portrait and smiled. "ah yes, that's a painting of your uncle and his adopted children. i believe your father was the one who painted it." the other children gathered around to look at the painting. "this looks kind of creepy," matthew said, looking at the children with the masks. "what's up with the masks?" "mother and father never mentioned we had cousins." fredrick realized.

pogo chuckled. "well, your uncle can be a bit... distant, and his children are more so."
he began escorting the children further into the house, leading them down one of the hallways. "i'm sure your uncle will explain everything, but let me just say that your cousins can be quite... unique."

the chimpanzee led the children to what looked like a training room. and there was their uncle reginald and the seven kids from the painting. this time, they were wearing green tracksuits with a white umbrella embroidered on the breast and they weren't wearing the superhero masks like in the painting. the dark haired girl was wearing the school uniform from the painting.

reginald stood in the middle of the room, looking as stern and imposing as ever. beside him, the seven children stood silently, watching the new arrivals with solemn expressions on their faces. "ah, children," reginald said, looking sternly at the new arrivals. "glad you could finally join us. come here, your cousins are eager to meet you."

ella nervously looked at all seven of her cousins (who she hadn't been revealed of their existence until now) and said: "how do you do?" camille bit at her teething ring as her sister attempted to greet their cousins. the seven cousins didn't answer right away. they just continued to stare at their cousins with solemn expressions on their faces, as if they had been told to keep their distance. reginald cleared his throat and gestured for the children to step forward. "come on, say hello to your cousins."

"odo yow?" priscilla said, she was being held by matthew. how do you do? finally, klaus broke the silence with a small, hesitant wave. "um...hey," he said quietly. "welcome to our weird family reunion." the other children nodded, their faces still solemn. reginald cleared his throat again, getting impatient. "children, mind your manners. say hello to your cousins and introduce yourselves." "we can introduce ourselves first if you like." ella said.

reginald nodded in agreement. "very well, you may introduce yourselves first." he motioned to the other children. "children, pay attention and be polite." "hi, i'm ella." ella introduced, gesturing at each of her siblings in turn. "these are my sisters, vivienne, camille, and priscilla. and that's matthew, holding priscilla. and my other brother fredrick."

the seven cousins looked at their ordinary cousins, silently assessing them. their expressions remained solemn as they regarded them, giving no hint as to what they were thinking. once ella finished, reginald nodded. "very good. now, you children," he gestured to the seven children, "introduce yourselves."

"hi, i'm ben."

"diego."

"i'm allison."

"luther."

"klaus."

"five."

"and i'm vanya."

priscilla gave all seven of her cousins a wave with a big smile on her little face. the seven children eyed the cheerful toddler, a bit taken aback by her optimism. none of them smiled back, except for diego, who softened and gave priscilla a nod. the other six continued to stare at the little girl, as if she were a test subject in a lab.

"this is going to be a long summer." vivienne moped. the children were in their room, unpacking their things. matthew grumbled. "understatement of the century." he was helping priscilla unpack her suitcase, most of which contained toys. "at least it can't get worse." fredrick said, looking up from his book. vivienne gave her brother an exaggerated sigh. "do you really want to tempt fate like that?"

"maybe we should make the most of our situation." ella said, sitting down on her bed. vivienne chuckled. "what, like get to know our mysterious cousins?" matthew finished unpacking priscilla's suitcase and shrugged. "i'm not going to sit around all day. and besides, it wouldn't hurt to try to get on their good side." vivienne rolled her eyes. "yeah, good luck with that. they didn't seem exactly friendly, did they?"

"it's not like we know anything about our cousins." fredrick said, sitting down on his bed. "they're all so quiet, and they wear those weird uniforms. it's like they don't know how to relax." "maybe it's just they never met us before." ella replied. "maybe uncle reginald never mentioned us to them." "i hope so." fredrick said, continuing to read his book. "otherwise, it might be a pretty boring summer. i mean, how interesting can they be if they don't smile?"

matthew started to play with priscilla. "maybe they're not into the whole family thing. didn't you see how uncle reginald treated them? it's like he's trying to make them into soldiers or something." vivienne nodded in agreement. "i noticed that too. they all look so serious, like they have a stick up their-" "vivienne!" ella interrupted, knowing where her younger sister's sentence was going.

the brunette rolled her eyes. "what? it's true. i mean, they act like they're some secret mission or something. it's like they don't know how to have fun." ella sighed, putting her chin in her hand. there was a moment of silence as the siblings took in their new surroundings. the room they had been given had four beds, one for each of them, as well as a crib for priscilla and camille and it was neatly furnished.

the room fell into a contemplative silence for a few moments. matthew tossed one of priscilla's toys onto the growing pile of stuff on the floor. "well, if they don't know how to have fun, then i'm not sure we can do much about it." fredrick sat up on his bed, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "hey, have any of you ever seen any of our cousins smile? like, genuinely smile and where is the eighth one?" "we only met them a few hours ago, freddie." ella said, putting her chin in her hands.

matthew scratched his head as he sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by priscilla's toys. "right, i guess i just expected them to be...i don't know, a little more animated? they all seemed so serious, especially that guy they called luther. he's like a walking muscle mountain." "and he's my age!" ella said. fredrick winced slightly when he heard this. "yikes. i wouldn't want to be on his bad side."

matthew chimed in, a smirk on his face. "yeah, he looked like he could bench-press a truck. i wouldn't be surprised if he could crack walnuts with his bare hands." vivienne chimed in, "i don't know, i think allison seems nice. at least she didn't look like she wanted to murder us the entire time." "but what about the others?" ella said. "in my opinion, i don't think we can trust diego, he has literal knives in his belt."

fredrick nodded in agreement. "yeah, diego definitely gives me the creeps. i mean, why does he need so many knives?"matthew added, "and don't even get me started on that vanya girl. she was just standing there like a statue the whole time. she didn't even look like she wanted to be there." vivienne, still sitting on her bed, crossed her arms. "well, they're all just a bunch of weirdos, if you ask me."

a couple doors down, the seven children the six siblings were talking about and judging, were literally doing the same thing. klaus was on his bed, looking up at the ceiling and kicking his legs into the air. diego sat on his bed, sharpening his knives. luther stood by his window, lost in thought. five lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. ben was quietly reading a book in a corner. allison was brushing her hair while vanya sat quietly in her bed, doing nothing, but she was glad she was included.

finally, klaus broke the silence. "so, what do we think of our long-lost cousins then?"

diego looked up from sharpening his knives. "well, they all seem pretty normal to me."

ben closed his book partially and looked up. "yeah, they're just like any other kids, i guess."

luther spoke next, not turning around from his spot at the window. "but it's weird that they've never been mentioned before. i mean, how come we've never met them?"

klaus shrugged and continued to kick the air. "naybe our dear old dad just didn't want us to know he had other family."

allison put her brush down. "i think there's something off about them. they seem so... ordinary. compared to us, i mean."

vanya spoke up in a quiet voice. "maybe they are ordinary. we've been trained to have powers... they haven't been."

diego finally stopped sharpening his knives. "so, they're normal kids with normal lives. and now they have to spend their summer vacation with us. how lucky for them."

five rolled over on his bed and gave a tired sigh. "i don't care one way or another. i have more important things to worry about than some random cousins."

klaus finally put his legs down. "oh come on, five, can't you lighten up for once? it might be fun to have them around. we never get visitors."

diego huffed. "yeah, and for good reason. we're not exactly the most welcoming bunch."

ben, who had been silently observing the conversation, spoke up. "i don't think it's fair to judge them. we've only just met them. maybe they'll surprise us."

allison raised an eyebrow. "or maybe they'll just get in our way."

luther folded his arms. "i agree with allison. we don't need any more distractions this summer. we're supposed to be getting ready for the final phase of our training."

"but what about the toddler and the baby?" vanya said quietly, referring to priscilla and camille.

klaus, who had finally sat down in a sitting position, chuckled. "yeah, what do we even do with a toddler? she'll just be a little nuisance running around."

diego nodded. "and babies are a pain to deal with. she'll just cry all the time."

allison chimed in. "at least the older ones aren't much older than us. i don't think they'll be too bad."

"isn't the eldest our age?" ben asked, referring to ella, who was fifteen.

diego thought for a moment. "yeah, I think you're right. the oldest one looks like she's fifteen, just like us."

five, who had been quiet for a while, finally spoke up. "yeah, the girl who said hi to us first. she seems pretty smart and composed. for our age, at least."

diego looked up from sharpening his knives. "smart and composed? that means she's probably a total buzzkill."

the author speaks:
☂️the brellies have arrived and they're judging they're cousins☂️