Genesis's POV

"An amusement park?" Thorn said a smile clear in his voice. "Your big surprise was an amusement park?"

"Damn right." I grinned. "Happiest place on earth."

I shifted my focus to the so-called 'birthday boy' and I laughed when I saw his face. Alex's jaw was practically on the ground and his eyes were glazed over with disbelief.Mason ruffled his hair but still he did not move so I swooped in and lifted him into my arms, resting him on my hip.

I prodded him in his side, once then twice before he finally registered me and when he did the largest grin I had ever seen on anyone formed on his face. He flung his arms around me and squeezed me so tight I feared he'd suffocates me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

I kissed his forehead when he released me after dragging in a gulpful of air. I then placed the child back on the ground and he began bouncing on his toes, looking around excitedly. He looked like he was being jangled by invisible strings from above, only his puppeteer was drunk. It was like he was a bottle of soda that had been shaken up and the second the lid was loosened ever the slightest he would burst.

The only thing I could make out beneath his moving hair was a smile that could light up any day, no matter how dark. Isn't that the gift that children brought? To show us a spark of pureness in the hope that ours is still able to shine back at them?

Alex's words ran into one another when he spoke, "This is going to be great. We have to go on everything and do everything and see-"

"Everything, yes we get it." Thorn chuckled.

"Come on Mason let's look around!" Alex grabbed Mason's hand and dragged him into the ground, Prince closely on their heels. I smiled as I watched them direct their way through the crowd of people.

There was something so intoxicating about an excited child. How they bounced, they pounced, they squealed and they ran. As their grins got wider everyone about them started to smile too - even the curmudgeons who loved to complain. That's how Alex was today as if he was bursting with liquid sunshine from within.

"Hey?" Thorn said and I turned to him with a raised brow. The tenderness I saw in his eyes shook me to my very core.

I swallowed thickly. "Yeah?"

Thorn shoved his hands in the pockets of his oversized hoodie and looked at his feet. His dark hair fell into his eyes and I couldn't help but notice that when he peeked up at me through his hair he looked incredibly young and sweet. Sometimes I made the mistake of forgetting that in the end, we were all just teenagers.

It was an easy mistake to make especially after everything that had happened recently, and even before that. Both of us were raised into a broken world full of liars and cheats and killers and neither one of us had any control over that but we were created out of spite.

Still, we were just kids and even we needed a little fun amongst all heartbreak and bloodshed.

"Thank you. For this. It's been a while since I've seen him like that, you know? Actually, it's been a while since he's got to be a normal child so this means a lot to him...and me so uh-thank you."

I waved my hand dismissively. "Don't thank me. I flaked on you guys in the first place it's the least I could-"

"Don't. Don't do that." Thorn said, catching my hand and laying out fingers together I stared down out our interlaced fingers and tried to ignore the feeling of how nice it was.

"Don't do what?"

"Blame yourself or dismiss this gesture so easily, in fact, don't dismiss any of your good-natured gestures so easily. Like what you did for Jake and Axel."

"I-"

"No. This is the best thing you could have done for my little brother and you didn't have to do that. Nor did you have to set up the guys. You're allowed to be nice Gen. It isn't a crime." Thorn bit down on his bottom lip. "If anything I should be worried why you're being so nice. Are you sick or something? Did you get abducted by aliens?"

I shoved him when he pressed a hand to my forehead feigning concern. We laughed and it felt good considering only hours ago I was a broken mess on my best friends graves.

My chest tightened slightly but instead of ignoring the feeling I acknowledged it was there and tried to sedate that need to go somewhere and hide for a while. "Come on let's go find that little rascal." Still holding his hand I dragged him into the crowd before turning to face him as I walked backward and asked, "You do like rollercoasters right?"

The answer was no. Thorn hated rollercoasters and although he tried to cover it up and be brave he screamed on every single one we went on and those were the smallest one out of the lot. Alex couldn't go on the biggest ones due to his height but the ones he could go on he laughed and yelled with delight through all the ups and downs and curves. He did a lot better than his brother who almost cried when I tried to make him go on The Big One, as it was called.

It's track went up steeply to a high point of two-hundred and fifty feet and then dropped precipitously into a hair-raising dive, the speed from which took the sparsely loaded cars around three full loops before coming to a halt.

Thorn had put his foot down at that. I didn't force him knowing that he'd already put himself through hell so instead I left him with Alex playing the Ring Toss while Mason and I went on the rollercoaster. Well, we went on it three times before we figured we should probably get back to the Kingston brothers.

Mason was grinning and had an arm around my shoulder when we approached Thorn and Alex who were munching on some cotton candy. There were three huge teddies sat on a picnic bench beside Alex, one was a tiger, the second a monkey and the third a pink dragon. Then beside Thorn, there was a cute little teddy bear with a red ribbon around its neck and a tiny violin and bow sewn onto either hand or paw I guessed.

"So not only do you scream like a girl on roller coasters but you suck at carnival games too?" I laughed dropping into the seat beside thorn. Mason seated himself next to Alex who offered him some of his cotton candy, Mason took it joyously.

Thorn glared at me but there was still a huge smile on his face as he said, "I do not scream like a girl."

"Well, you scream incredibly high pitched."

Shrugging his shoulders, Thorn pulled off some more cotton candy and shoved it in his mouth. "I don't even know what you're talking about. I didn't even scream."

I raised a brow. "Oh yeah? So what did you do then?"

"That was me merely trying not to have a heart attack while maintaining a little dignity."

The table fell silent as Mason, Alex and I all eyed Thorn our faces contorted with disbelief.

Thorn sighed heavily. "I didn't succeed did I?"

"Nope." We all chorused before breaking out into laughter.

He pouted but said nothing else about the subject instead he decided to change it completely. "I won you a teddy. I named him Bearthoven. Please love and respect him. He deserves the world."

I barked out another laugh but took the bear nonetheless holding it up in front of my face. The bear's beady little eyes met mine. Rolling my eyes I hugged him to my chest a Thorn grinned. "I will protect him with my life thank you." I pressed a kiss to his cheek and both Alex and Mason made a gagging sound.

In return, Thorn and I stuck our tongues out at them.

"Didn't win me anything huh? Does no one love me?" Mason teased, folding his arms across the top of the bench.

"I do!" Alex said and then thrust a stick at me which once had pink fluffy candy on it but was deprived of it. I took the stick and threw it in the trash behind me. When I turned back Alex was lifting the huge tiger teddy across his lap and passed it to Mason who took it eagerly. "I won you the tiger 'cause I know it's your favorite animal. Jake gets the monkey because Thorn says they both have good stamina, I don't really know what that means and Axel gets the Dragon because even though he's really dangerous and scary he's also really cool."

I smiled as my chest warmed with a certain delight I hadn't felt in a long time. Alex's glee was contagious.

"So it's only you who didn't get anything? We know who he loves more than don't we?" I jibed, nudging Thorn in the ribs lightly.

"Oh no, I gave him something." A devious grin spread on Alex's mouth when Thorn narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"What did you give him?" I asked, resting my chin in my palm while I clutch Bearthoven with my other arm.

Thorn pointed a finger at Alex who was still smiling uncontrollably. "Don't you dare."

"Aww come on, you gotta tell us now." Mason prompted one arm around his stuffed tiger. His other shoved in the pocket of his bomber jacket.

With his hand, he made the death threat motion which did nothing but make the seven-year-old giggle. I swear even the birds shut up to hear his beautiful laughter emerging and filling the air with gorgeous sounds coming from deep in his chest, composing what was becoming my favorite melody.

"Don't break the bro code bro," Thorn said dead serious.

"The bro code seriously?"

"Yes it is a very serious matter and if he breaks it, he gets ejected from the brotherhood." I could do nothing but laugh at Thorns serious eyes and the stern set of his mouth.

"Ejected?" Mason asked, inquiring about his strange choice of words.

Thorn nodded then lifted both his hands and made a throwing motion. "He'll be yeeted far, far away."

Mason and I could no longer hold our sincere expressions and burst out laughing. We were loud enough to earn some strange glances from other members of the public here to enjoy the amusement park but we were too busy losing our shit to notice.

We laughed until we were breathless and Alex was grinning and Thorn was trying his hardest to suppress a smile. "I'm deadly serious. In the brotherhood, it's either yeet or be yeeted."

"You're insane."

Thorn blew me a kiss.

Once again Axel in Mason made gagging sounds which Thorn and I simply ignored. "Some Romeo and Juliet romance going over here." Mason paused. "Well you know if Juliet was a murderous assassin with an uncontrollable urge for death and to read books and if Romeo wasn't a pretty boy."

Thorn looked at me. "I don't know which one of us should be more insulted."

I looked down at Bearthoven and pulled at the ribbon his neck, smiling. "I'm gonna go with you considering that Mason didn't say anything about me that wasn't true."

"Okay then." He looked at mason. "Fudge you."

Mason winked at him.

"Anyway comparing any relationship to Romeo and Juliet to express how in love you are is kind of like using Hamlet to demonstrate how close and normal your family life is." Thorn, Mason, and Alex looked at me as though they had no idea what I was talking about.

I threw my hands in the air. "See this is why we can't be friends. I need cultured people in my life."

"I'm half Spanish." Mason pointed out.

"And I take a french class."

I rolled my eyes. "Talking about Europe does not make you cultured."

"Oh, it totally does." Thorn laughed throwing an arm around his shoulder. With a wink, he fell into conversation with his little brother and Mason and I watched them with a smile on my face.

Today had been a good day and I knew that I wasn't the only one thinking that. Even Jake and Axel should have a sweet date tonight, that is if Axel doesn't decide to slaughter his ginger crush instead which could happen considering Jakes need to express a bunch of random pointless facts and Axel's no-shit tolerance.

Still, I was happy to be here today especially when thinks had been a little more than stressful and complicated.

Here I was comfortable and happy but I knew soon I'd have to get back to my plan. Caspian Adler needed to be taken down for good and that would happen when Caspian least expected it.

For now, however, all that could wait. For the first time in a long time I got to be a normal teenager hanging out with her friends and I was going to make sure I enjoyed every second of it because you never know which minute will be your last.