NOT ALLOWED

CHAPTER FOUR: JEEP CROSSINGS

ATHENA found herself staring at the horrific image of her mother in her hands, wide-eyed and covered in dried blood, Machi stared back at her as if she was prying into her soul.

She shut the folder and looked up at her father once more, she wished she could scream at him, just scream and scream until her throat was torn raw.

"Now, Irene and I have matters to discuss back at the office, I expect that when I return everything will be as it was left, understood?" all three children somberly nodded their heads in response, none of them wanted to be in the horrid household, and yet, there they were.

And it didn't seem that they would be leaving anytime soon.

"Not a scratch on them." Irene warned gently turning her gaze to Mitch, "from either of you." she added quietly stalking out ahead of Stan, the old man waited until the director was out of earshot to turn to the younger man, "Rapp I'll have your fucking head if something happens to her, you hear me son?" the man narrowed his eyes as he stared back at Stan, he knew better than to play with fire.

Yes, sir." he spoke waiting till Stan had turned around to follow out after Irene to let out an annoyed sigh, "so..." Aidan began crossing his arms over his chest, "I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna head off to the grocery store." Athena let her mouth drop open and she furrowed her brows, "hey! Nuh-uh, if you're going so am I." she protested raising her hands to rest on her hips.

Apollo let out a sigh glaring at the both of them as he took a step forward, "none of us are going, did you not just hear Dad? We, all three of us, are targets, meaning someone wants to kill us." the brother and sister exchanged a look, "so?" Aidan countered offering his brother an annoyed look, "so you'd rather go out and get killed for groceries rather than be safe at home?" he questioned.

Aidan and Athena exchanged another look before returning their gaze to Apollo, "yup!" they chimed both already gliding past their bodyguards to head for the rooms that had once been theirs in previous years, before he could reach the hallway- Athena having already begun down the hall- Aidan stopped to turn and look at his brother, "this isn't our home, this isn't her home either."

Apollo stood among the two bodyguards in silence watching as his brother turned away and continued down the hall, "do we stop them or-?" Pietro began jabbing a finger in the direction of the hall, Mitch didn't bother to respond and instead settled himself on the couch to the left of him.

"I should've told Irene to go screw herself." he sighed bringing his hand to rest over his closed eyes, Apollo scoffed silently glaring down at the slightly older man, Mitch gently lifted his hand casting a half-assed glare in the boy's direction, "you got something you wanna say priss piss?"

The boy let his mouth drop open and his eyes widen at the remark, never, not a single time in his life, had he ever been called something like that, and the worst part was, that as soon as he went to state his comeback, all that came out was a hushed stutter.

"Thought Hurleys kids would be better than this." he added closing his eyes once again, "but no, I get a prep school dropout, a band kid that can't pick a name, and a girl that acts just like her old man."

"Yeah, well, we're not exactly excited to get you either." Mitch opened his eyes scooting up against the couch just slightly as Athena glared back at him from her spot in the hall, "and by the way, Aidan's in orchestra, there's a difference."

The man rolled his eyes and let his lids fall over them once again, this job was going to be more of a migraine than the last.

"AIDAN!" she called gently turning to look over her shoulder, if he didn't hurry up she would leave him, "I'm coming!" he called back quickly racing out of his room with a bright smile on his face, "as much as I hate to say it..." he spoke between short pants, "maybe Dad does..." he paused, "have a heart." Athena raised a brow half tempted to ask what he meant by that.

"He kept Teacup alive all this time." he added watching as his sister's face lit up, "teacup. As in turtle teacup?" the boy nodded his head almost as if he didn't believe it either, "I know, I didn't expect it either."

Athena let her smile remain on her lips, maybe the situation wasn't extremely terrible, but she'd still refrained from entering her room, she didn't want to see all the memories again, see the images of her mother flicker past her eyes and dissolve to nothing.

"Where are the keys?" Apollo questioned as he separated from the small group and made his way towards the kitchen where he proceeded to search through the drawers, a loud series of honks resonated from outside of the house and Athena jabbed her finger towards the front door, "that's where." she smiled quickly jogging past her brothers to head outside.

Mitch, Pietro, and her brothers rushed out behind her to try and figure out what was going on, it seemed Pietro was the only neutral one about the entire thing.

As Athena slipped out past the sliding door, she carefully rushed down the steps to the destroyed lawn below where her friends had parked her jeep and excitedly begun to climb out, "AVA!" Amber squealed her face brightening with delight as her friend rushed into her arms almost knocking her to the ground.

Grace chuckled carefully resting her hands on her hips, "wowwwww." she began pretending to be disappointed as the two girls separated, "no love for me?" Athena's smile widened and she quickly wrapped her arms around her friend snuggling her head into the crook of her neck, "I'm happy you guys are here." she muttered allowing herself to close her eyes for a brief moment.

"I'm happy we are too, also, I had to use a bobby pin to break into your car since you gave me the wrong key." Athena pulled away from the girl and offered a smile, "I'll go to the dealership on Monday and grab you a new set, 'kay?" Grace nodded her head happy to know her friend trusted her with the responsibility of basically sharing a car.

"Who are they?" Amber questioned raising a finger to point at the two men approaching with Athena's brothers in tow behind them, "Dad's workers, ignore them." Mitch stopped a few feet away- Pietro stopping beside him- watching the three girls converse, "they need to leave." he stated.

Turning to look at him, Athena frowned, "we need to go grocery shopping, they brought my car, but if you insist..." Grace handed her the set of keys and watched as her friend strode around the front of the car to the driver's seat, "come on guys, apparently we have to leave."

Aidan let his expression fall and watched as his sister prepared to close her door, letting out a sigh she pursed her lips and met his gaze, "come on, Aidan." he brightly smiled at the invite and rushed past the two bodyguards towards the car, "hey!" Apollo began frowning at the sight before him, "you guys can't go, you have zero protection, and I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to leave the house."

Athena cracked her door open and glared out at her brother, "well then, Pietro or Mitch are welcome to tag along, if they don't then that's not my fault."

Pietro glanced from Apollo to the car, "I have to stay with him..."

"AWWW, COME ON COLLEGE BOY!" Amber called sticking her head out past the backseat window, walking forward, Mitch let a glare shadow over his features unhappy with the fact he'd let Irene persuade him to take the job, he wished he'd simply ignored her call, but he knew he didn't want to be stuck watching Apollo, so it seemed this was the better alternative.

Scooting to the side to make room for the man, Amber opened the backseat door and gently nudged Aidan- motioning for him to make space for their new occupant.

Mitch silently climbed in- slamming the car door behind him- and stared ahead into the rearview mirror where Athena seemed to be glaring back at him, "alright, let's get this show on the road." twisting the key in the ignition, the three girls smiled as the jeep revved to life and the A.C. began to sweep through the car.

"A.C. or windows down?" she questioned glancing to her passengers for confirmation, "windows!" Aidan chimed quickly pulling his seatbelt across his chest, "windows it is." she muttered quickly switching the A.C. off before she rolled the windows down and began to back out of the yard towards the worn dirt road.

"Are you even old enough to drive?" Mitch questioned from the back seat, he was met with glares from each of the girls, "yes, Mitch, I'm almost eighteen, do you need to see my form of identification or something?" he scowled back at her as she turned the car around and began down the road silence overtaking the atmosphere.

After a few moments, it seemed the silence had become unbearable to a few as Amber reached forward and began to rummage through the cubby hole near the cup holders obviously in search of something.

"FOUND IT!" she exclaimed quickly pulling her phone from her pocket before she slipped the plug she'd searched for into the outlet of her device, "don't play that sad stuff." Grace whined letting her lips fall into a frown, "I'm putting on Fergie, stop your complaining."

After a few moments, Amber leaned back in her seat her lips lifting into a smile as the first song began, "if you ain't got no money take yo' broke ass home!" Grace sang glancing back to check if Amber was following along, "If you ain't got no money take yo' broke ass home!"

"G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S, yeah G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S." Athena smiled as her brother sang the line having been unaware of the fact he knew the song, "your turn!" Grace chimed gently nudging her friend's shoulder, taking a right off of the dirt road Athena started on the next line, "we flying the first class..."

"Up in the sky!" Amber chimed a smile remaining on her face as they continued through the song and a few others before Athena stopped the car at a red light and glanced into the rearview mirror, "okay, karaoke time is up, someone find directions to the nearest grocery store." letting out an exaggerated sigh, Amber reclaimed her phone from the front of the car and began to google the directions while Aidan watched from over her shoulder.

"That one's closer." he stated carefully pointing at the phone, Amber shook her head, "no it's not, that one's half a mile farther." she retorted, "no, it's not, the map is wrong, we used to go there all the time, trust me, I would know." the girl shook her head once more, "Ava take a left at the next intersection."

Aidan narrowed his eyes frowning at the girl as he did so, "I swear, no one listens to me." he grumbled crossing his arms over his chest, Athena peeked into the rearview mirror trying her best to hide a smile, "you're starting to sound like Apollo." the boy's eyes shot open wider than she'd ever seen them and he pursed his lips in disgust, "please don't ever say that again."

Meanwhile, it seemed Mitch had completely forgotten about them as he aimlessly stared at the ceiling wishing Pietro had gone with them instead, staying with Apollo seemed far more peaceful than whatever the hell this was.

NOT ALLOWED

CHAPTER FOUR: JEEP CROSSINGS