ETHAN

"What?"

"You heard me the first time, Ethanius," Father said as he wrote down on his datapad. "You, Jestirian, and Urtovan will be going up to the campgrounds Jozten owns for a few days. I want you to also take Keren. Your mother and Chalen will be nearby. You leave today."

"Why?"

A question better left unasked, but it hung in the air with the tangle of cigar smoke. Ethan steeled his lungs when Father lifted himself out of his seat and rounded his desk to face him.

"Because you will do what you're told," he said, cold, direct. "You will go to those campgrounds, and stay there until I call all of you back. You want to help me out? You will learn to do as I say, when I say it, without question." He raised his fingers, and Ethan bit on his tongue when Father prodded him in the chest. "This is what it means, Ethanius. If you start asking questions, someone is going to listen to them. Am I understood?" His hand dropped back to his side to open up another cigar.

Ethan frowned. "Yes, Father."

"Good. Go get packed."

He left Father's office behind. Irritation pricked his knuckles open as he slammed his door wide and headed into his room to throw his traveling bag onto his bag. He shoved whatever clothes which found themselves in the unfortunate position. He cast a glance at his doorway when Keren peeked around the other side. "Kellzoro?"

Ethan sucked in his cheeks when he tossed another bundle of clothes into his bag and resisted the urge to release the growing scream of agitation when Keren stepped into his last safe-haven. "What is it, Keren?" he questioned while he grabbed some books off his small shelves. He rifled through his murder mysteries, picking the ones which always stumped him as Keren came closer. "Unless you're just going to stare at me."

"Momma told me we were going to campgrounds?"

"Yes." Ethan set his hand on his wallunit, watching his little brother. "For a few days."

"Why?"

Why?

"What makes you think I know?" he mumbled and zipped his traveling bag. "You need to go get packed. You're riding with me, Urto, and Jesti. I'll have to pick them up once we're done here." He scoffed, gazing out the window where the Eteran city of Roxton never touched the heavens and mingled along the clouds.

Keren bounced on his heels. "It's been so long since we went to the camp grounds?"

Energy crinkled in his ears as he pressed deeper into the pressure building between them. "Yeah."

"Will we have fun?"

He dug his fingers into his bag and eyed Keren, who frowned. "Depends on what you view as fun." He tossed his traveling bag onto the ground at his feet. And I don't think 'fun' is why we're being sent up there.

Keren pressed his fingers together and scrunched his cheeks. "Lots of things could be fun... It's not school."

Ethan blinked at the odd wording, and eyed Keren. "You're having problems at school?"

His eyes widened in quick alarm, and he dropped his head to the ground to scuffle his feet against his good carpet. "No. I'm not. I'm doing fine." He raised his head. "Are... Are you not wanting to go to the campgrounds? I thought you wanted to skip school."

Ethan clicked his tongue and left his travelling bag behind to head to Keren, who pressed his hands closer to himself with an expression of cracked stone, where the greens darted from side to side. He reached forward, and Keren huffed when Ethan pressed his fingers into his cheeks.

"You are a bad liar, Sellzora," he pointed out while Keren squirmed and gave light kicks into his shins and tried to choke his forearm. "What is going on?"

"Nothing!" Keren complained and pushed him.

"Right." Ethan folded his arms. "Try again."

Keren parroted him. "Nothing," he said, quieter. "Momma was worried."

Ethan resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he grabbed his bag. "I know."

"Do you know why?"

Ethan ignored the question. "Go get packed. I'm leaving as soon as I'm done here, and if you're not ready, you're going to those campgrounds without a change of clothes or your ships." He grinned when Keren pursed his lips. "I'm counting down now, you better get ready."

Keren frowned. "I... I had a new model I wanted to try and build."

"Okay? Still counting."

Keren rugged the bridge of his fingers. "I just wanted... help on it."

"We can't right now." Ethan hauled his bag out into the corridor of silence, and Keren followed his every step. "I thought you would've had it finished by now. You had all those other models finished."

"Well, I..." Keren fumbled on his words while Ethan pushed him into his room, where his own bag remained scattered with objects he never bothered to put inside them. "I wanted to do this one with you."

Ethan considered Keren, who shuffled on his feet. "We'll do it when we're unpacked at the cottages," he said, and Keren beamed and rushed over to his effects. He left his younger brother to his scattered attempts at preparing himself as he left his room and headed downstairs, where the quiet swallowed thoughts.

He tossed his bag to the front of the door with a satisfied huff, trying to ignore the tangle of cigars in the air. His chest burned with each strike for perfection. Flowers bloomed on the edges of their driveway, a colorful facade to what laid beneath the garden the roots supped on. He pressed his fingers into his cheek to bite his thoughts, but turned back at softer, uncertain footsteps.

"Ethanius."

Ethan blinked at Mother when she left the darkness, ragged and weary. "Mother," he said, hands locked against his chest as she approached him. "We're on our way out."

"Everything is packed?" she questioned.

"Yes. Keren is getting ready."

"I am ready!" Keren's voice boomed through the tight atmosphere. Ethan grinned at his younger brother and tugged his ringing ear with a sneer. Keren stopped, and a glow settled on his cheeks. "I said that very loud, didn't I?"

Mother smiled, genuine and bright, something he rarely remembered in the deepest recesses of his own memory. "Never let anything stifle you, Keren," she said and leaned forward to hug him. "We'll be meeting you both up there later in the day, possibly tomorrow." Her gaze drifted on him, and Ethan held himself tall when she returned her attention to him while Keren dropped his bag on his, and he bit down on a scoff as Keren ran out the door.

"I understand, Mother." He went to leave, but held himself in place when Mother held onto him.

"Take care of yourselves on the way there," she whispered and held his cheeks. "I don't want you making pit stops until you're on the grounds."

We both know what's underneath the soil.

"I won't, Mother."

"Trust your instincts," she added as she brushed loose strands of his hair, and he pushed back the gentle warmth of innocence cracked. "Just be safe, Ethan."

"We will, Mother."

He expected her to let him go, but he frowned when she hugged him tighter with a slight shake to her arms. Ethan sighed and returned her reach for a broken connection. "You too, Mother," he added. "I'll get Keren on those grounds, safe and sound." Free of her embrace, he picked up both bags and nodded at her before leaving the house.

"Keren," he bit, a touch of lightness returning to his heart when his younger brother peeked out the window. "You should try carrying your own bags sometime." He whistled into his prismkey, and the trunk of his cobra popped open with the whistle. He threw both bags inside, locked the trunk, and glanced back at Mother, who stood at the window with heavy shadow plaguing her cheeks.

In the driver's seat, he slipped his prismkey into the slot while the cold air rushed over their shoulders. Keren bounced in what he loved to call the 'co-pilot's' seat, although it was a car. Ethan gave up that argument and sent another wave at Mother before tearing out of their driveway.

"Are we there yet?" Keren instantly asked.

Ethan curled his lips. "Have your fun, Keren, but remember, I'm driving." He glared at Keren when they came to a stop in traffic. "You have to deal with me as much as I have to deal with you."

Keren blinked. "But that still doesn't tell me if we're there yet—Ow!" He cringed from Ethan's pinch into his side, and he snapped his attention back on the road to reach Urto and Jesti's meeting points in turn.

Urtovan met him at the park, where he climbed into the back in silence, opening his datapad. Jesti, on the other hand, waited for him at his house. "Hey!" Jesti said with a wave to them after throwing his bags into the trunk. "What exit are we taking?"

"Northwards," Ethan said as all the doors closed. "I want to get there before nightfall."

"Sounds good." Jesti shuffled with a package, and Keren lunged forward when he held out a snack. Ethan sniffed when Jesti held out one to him, but he refused the offer, and Urto took it instead with a shrug of his shoulders. "You excited, Keren. I don't recall if you've ever left Roxton."

"I haven't."

"Oh, then this will be an experience," Jesti teased.

"That's one way of putting it," Urto grumbled in his seat while scrolling through his datapad.

Ethan scoffed and drove through the city and missed the clouds. Keren fiddled with the radio, and at one point, Urtovan put headphones on and set his knee against the back of Ethan's chair. Everything rolled along, quiet, safe, but his spine prickled as they rolled through the outskirts of the city to chase the setting sun, where the energy dwindled, with Keren clocking out the moment it disappeared over the horizon. Lights flickered to life to guide their way on the streets.

He tightened his grip on the wheel while the shadows loomed at the edge. It licked at his skin, but never brought its teeth against his neck. He checked on Keren once more, who slept soundly. Behind him, Jesti and Urto remained awake, alert, aware.

Out of the city, the sensation disappeared, and the other two relaxed.

"Nice to get out of the smog for a while," Jesti broke the intense silence.

"I heard Odaport's worse," Urtovan pointed out with a grin.

"For smog?"

"Yes, for smog." Urto stuck his tongue out. "Why, did you think I meant 'it's worse for the numerous back streets?'"

"I mean... it is, isn't it?" Jesti mused. "Odaport isn't exactly small."

"Shut up. You know what I meant."

Lights grew sparse along the outer roads while Ethan followed the directions to the cottages. He ignored Urto's and Jesti's quiet bickering. He changed the station on the radio from Keren's indecisiveness to gentle strings and piano keys. It rang through the air and pushed the biting claws out from his mind, but he never dropped his guard until the concrete turned into dirt and gravel underneath his wheels.

He drove through the security gate with ease, which closed behind him. No other cars sat in the parking lot while the main cottage sat beside the sparkled lake of moonlit dust. He turned off his car, and waited for Urto and Jesti to grab their things.

Mother's not here. I suppose tomorrow it is. He unbuckled himself and Keren when Urto and Jesti disappeared into the cottage. He rounded to Keren's side, and shook his shoulder.

"What?" he asked. "Are we there yet?"

"You have the endurance of a toddler, Keren," he said.

"I was up all night."

"Why?" Ethan frowned.

Keren slipped underneath his arm and stood in the dark with a yawn. "Arguing."

Of course. Ethan grabbed both their bags and nudged Keren forward with his knee. Keren shambled along as they joined the other two in the cottage.

"So... what are we going to do about sleeping arrangements?" Urto questioned after leaving one of the rooms. "Not enough beds for all four of us."

"I'm taking the pullout," Ethan said and dropped his bag beside it. "Keren, take the second bedroom."

Urto puffed out his cheeks, while Jesti blinked and Keren wandered into the free bedroom. "What about us?"

"Well, you can either tolerate each other for a couple days or sleep on the floor," Ethan said. "Or one sleeps in the bed and one sleeps on the floor. You can alternate even. Isn't sharing wonderful?" He grinned at his two school friends, refusing to back down.

"Cruel." Urto scoffed.

"Well, sadly, I don't... like people in my personal space," Ethan pointed out. "And Keren, as the youngest, needs undisturbed sleep. Unless you two wish to duke it out with me over it, I could always use an afternight warmup. Or you two could duke it out and let me watch. I need the laugh, but keep it quiet if you do it."

Urto scowled, then glared at Jesti. "You better not snore or thrash."

"Same to you."

Ethan grinned when the two hauled their bags into the other room. He pushed his foot into the couch's bed panel, where it stretched to reveal the mattress, which clicked into place with ease.

I got to enjoy the little things.