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Emma, by no means, thought she’d end up getting married in her thirties.
Emma, by no means, thought she’d end up getting married to a man with eight adopted sons.
And Emma, by no means, was excited at the prospect of dragging those eight adopted boys, along with her own adopted son, to Costco on a Saturday.
“I fell in love with the devil,” she murmured.
“Well, yes, that is my nickname.”
Beside her, in the driver seat of their renovated RV, AKA the “9 Prince Bus”, Sariel smirked. Thanks to the exhaustion, it was impossible to even fake a smile. Instead, she stared him down with a flat look. “And you’re the king of hell."
At that, his smile fell. “Frankly, my dear, you may be as lovely and divine as Persephone, but the duties that come with being Hades leave much to be desired.”
Equal parts amused and exhausted, she huffed a laugh. She’d give him props for his flirting, but it didn’t make this lovely little excursion any easier to face.
When they pulled into the parking lot, Emma took a deep breath before turning around to face the circus in the back. “Everyone out!”
“Luke’s asleep again,” Leon called out.
Sariel sighed. “That’s what he gets for staying up all night. Although I won’t complain if it means one less of you to deal with," he quietly tacked on. "Alright. Rio, Jin, go grab carts. We’ll put him in.”
“Got it!” Rio leaped out of the bus, happy to escape for five seconds. To be fair, he was the outcast, having gone from living alone with Emma to being one of nine boys.
Tailing behind, Jin was the second off the bus. “Got it.”
“Why did I have to come again?” Chevalier muttered as he watched the others slide out of the bus.
Emma answered, “Because if you didn’t, Clavis would have wanted to stay at home, too.”
“And the fire department specifically asked us not to do that again,” Sariel finished.
“It’s more fun with you, big brother!” Clavis chirped, giving Chevalier a far-too-happy grin.
Which was met by a wholly unamused glare from Chevalier.
With a chuckle, Clavis hopped out of the van, leaving Chevalier to follow.
The clacking of worn cart wheels against rough asphalt grew louder as Rio came running back with a cart. Upon the sight, Sariel asked Leon to help him get Luke out of the car. Seven years old and he was already huge. At this rate, he was going to outgrow Jin.
“Can I push the cart?” Clavis asked.
“Absolutely not,” Sariel answered, assisting Leon in putting Luke in the cart basket for now. He’d wake up soon, no doubt. He always did, but then he’d want to go meandering around the store, and he was just too young and, frankly, unresponsive to let go like the others.
Clavis let out a long whine, right in Chevalier’s ear. Chevalier sighed heavily, his patience quickly waning.
Emma reached out to pat Chevalier’s shoulder. “Don’t kill your brother, please,” she quietly asked.
“No promises.”
Behind them, ignorant to their conversation, Yves was glaring daggers at Clavis. “That’s what you get for running over a baker the last time.”
“Hey, hey, hey,” Clavis countered, turning around and wagging a finger defensively. “He got in my way. It was his fault for not paying attention. I was aiming for the cookie cart.”
“I’d wanted a cookie, too.”
Emma looked down to see the quiet twins standing on each side of her. She patted Licht’s head. “I know; I’m sorry.”
“I had, too!” Nokto piped up from her other side, not wanting to be left out of getting attention.
“I’m sure you did,” Sariel spoke, sneaking up behind them to ruffle Nokto’s hair.
“That the list?” Emma asked, noticing the paper in his hand.
With a nod, he handed her the list they’d created together, one organized by aisle so as to move through the store as quickly as possible. After five years of doing this, they knew what to expect from this trip and knew it could go one of two ways: painful or excruciating. And so, they did everything in their power to prevent it from being the latter.
Although, even with all the pre-planning in the world, that wasn’t always in their control.
As she took the list, she pulled a pen out of a pocket in her skirt—a purse was out of the question; she needed both hands and all personal effects attached to her at all times during these trips—that she used to mark off the list as they went. While she gave the list one last look over, Sariel let out a sharp whistle.
On cue, all the boys gave him their full attention.
“Everyone’s phone is on and loud, correct?” he asked.
“Yes,” came the chorus, though Rio, Yves, and Leon double-checked to make sure.
Of course, the ones who checked were the ones she wasn’t as worried about. Rio would be with them the whole time, as he always was. Likely because it was the one reprieve from his step-brothers he had. Yves was loud but non-destructive. He was bound to go meandering around the bakery section before stalking the bakers in the back behind the counter. Though, Emma could do without the bakers calling him their “monthly little stalker,” it wasn’t too bad when compared to some of the boys. Then Leon…
Well, Leon could go either way after getting chased out of the food court a year back, laughing all the way.
“Alright.” Sariel heaved a breath, double-checking everything and slipping the bag of clipped coupons into his pocket. “Let’s go.”
And so, the almost dozen marched towards the store.
Please, let this be a decent trip. Emma thought.
Not that it would do any good, but it never hurt to hope it wouldn’t be total hell.
Once past the entrance, Chevalier disappeared almost instantly. He was another one Emma didn’t worry about. Worst he’d do is upset some kid who wanted to try out the chair he sat on in the gardening section.
“I want food,” Leon announced, already causing the dread to well up in Emma’s stomach and likely Sariel’s, too. “Orders, orders?”
“Whatever,” Jin commented with a grin, pulling out a couple of dollar bills to hand over. “Extra for the kid. Don’t count on him being asleep long.”
With a grin, Leon took the bills. “Cool. Anyone else?”
“Hot dog; you know what I like on it,” Rio said, handing over a couple bills as well.
“Yup, I do,” Leon said. “Yves, want churros?”
Yves huffed, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the mere mention of the offending food item. Emma had lost track of how many times he’d commented on them being gummy and artificially sweet. That kid had a palette for sweets that could only be rivaled by French pâtissier.
“Don’t get kicked out of the food court again,” Sariel warned before a chuckling Leon slipped away.
“That was one time!” he hollered before disappearing.
“One time too many,” Emma corrected.
“Are we sure I can’t push the cart, Jin?” Clavis asked, siding up next to his oldest brother.
Jin gave him a firm glare.
Which Clavis returned with a pout.
“Do not make me get a leash for you, Clavis,” Sariel warned.
“You told me I graduated from that when I was twelve.”
“That’s not something to be proud of,” Licht quietly commented, a sniggering Nokto at his side.
With a clap of her hands, Emma called everyone’s attention. “Alright. Shall we weave through the aisles then come up the center?”
“Please,” Sariel agreed. “I want to get this over with.”
“It’s loud.”
Emma looked down at Licht, who had been standing right at her side the last three aisles. “I know. I’m sorry—Clavis, don’t touch the cart.”
Clavis frowned, upset his opportunity to steal Rio’s cart had been interrupted. Rio had only had his back turned for a second to grab the paper towels from the stack, but it had been one second too many.
Dumping the paper products in the cart, Rio simply smiled at Clavis. “Nah, it’s okay. He can push my cart.”
“Rio,” Emma growled, watching the unspoken threat. For all his sweetness, Rio had… a secret side to him that could set the other boys on edge. Once, soon after the two households had combined, Clavis had made the mistake of not taking Rio’s threat seriously, only to be tackled by Rio in the middle of the store. It had been embarrassing, to say the least, to be a bystander in a mortal combat match between two pre-teen boys in the middle of Costco. Sariel ultimately had to rip the screaming boys off each other.
And Jin, unhelpful big brother he was, had the whole thing videotaped on his phone. Four years later, he still would not let either of them live it down.
“No, really. He can. Why not?” Rio pushed, looking at Clavis with that worrying smile.
After a moment of silent debate, Clavis touched the cart handle.
Only for Sariel to grab the front of the cart firmly enough to rattle both it and the boys.
“Because,” he growled out in warning, staring down both the boys. “It is wholly impolite to throw fisticuffs in the middle of Costco. That is ‘why not’. Now, shall we continue?”
“Free samples,” Nokto murmured, looking longingly at the station across the way.
“You may go,” Sariel commented. “Take Licht with you.”
“Licht!”
With a sigh, the older twin acquiesced. “Okay.”
“Stay together,” Emma warned. “Keep your phones on.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Licht said before following his slightly more reckless brother towards the sample stand.
That just left Clavis, Rio, and Jin, with Luke still sleeping in Jin’s cart. Yves had disappeared two aisles ago after Sariel’s dire warning to Clavis and Rio so he could go watch the bakers make cakes. No surprise there.
However, what was a surprise was Clavis was still with them. Behaving, somewhat. Besides Emma having to remove the little trinkets or small boxes of whatnot that Clavis attempted to hide in the cart, he was walking along quietly. Too quietly. The last time he’d been this un-destructive was when Chevalier locked him in a gardening shed display.
Which meant he was plotting something. There was no way in hell Clavis would just calmly walk through this trip.
But at the same point, Emma did not want to jinx it. And from the looks Sariel had snuck her, he didn’t either.
“We made it halfway through our list,” Emma commented, tapping the paper list with her pen.
Sariel quirked an eyebrow at her. “Really?”
He didn’t have to clarify why he was surprised. They were halfway done with no emergency as of yet, nor had there been any obnoxious items thrown into the cart, like a shelving unit or television. The loud speaker had also not gone off informing of an incident or asking for a parent to come collect a boy from the front where the manager was yelling at him.
“I see food!” Jin called out, alerting the two adults to Leon’s presence.
“Nice!” Rio piped up.
“Dog for you, Rio,” Leon said, handing over the square paper bowl containing a loaded hot dog to Rio. In his other hand were two pieces of pizza, and napkins bulged from one of his jean pockets.
“It just came out of the oven,” Leon said, handing one of the plates over to Jin.
“Nice.” Jin happily took the plate and immediately took a bite.
“Food?” a groggy Luke asked, rubbing his eyes and looking at the plates. He’d only just woken up a moment ago, and if he was going to spend the rest of the trip a little tired or otherwise occupied with pizza, then Emma would count it a massive success.
“Yup,” Leon said, handing over the last plate. “And this one’s for you.”
“Sorry, no honey buns this time,” Jin said, taking the offered napkins from Leon.
“Awww.” Yet, he took the pizza without complaint.
“Manners, Luke,” Sariel gently scolded.
“Thank you.”
Jin ruffled his hair. “No prob, Kid. When you’re finished, we need you out of the cart.”
“I can walk and eat,” he said.
“Last time, you dropped that on your shirt,” Jin corrected, handing two of the napkins to Luke. “So, no. You finish, then you can be let out of the cart.”
Although he sighed, Luke didn’t make any more of a fuss as he bit into his pizza.
“I saw the twins making sample rounds,” Leon said. “I know where Chev is, and Yves is likely stalking the bakers again. Clavis make himself scarce?”
In unison, Emma and Sariel looked up from their list. Doing a quick headcount, Emma realized Clavis, in the three seconds she’d had her back turned, had disappeared.
“Well, shit,” Sariel murmured. “So much for hoping he’d behave himself.”
“There’s a good chance he went to bug Chevalier,” Leon commented. “Want me to go check?”
Skeptically, Sariel paused. “Sure… if you’re feeling particularly inclined.”
“Yup, sure am!”
But before Leon could scamper off, Sariel caught him by the collar. “What’d you do?”
Leon chuckled, carefully removing Sariel’s hand from his shirt one finger at a time. “Nothing, nothing. Just… had to get out of there before they realized I broke the soda machine.”
And with that, he disappeared.
Emma felt a headache coming on. No Clavis, and Leon food court damage. This was turning into… well, a regular Costco run.
“I’m going to assume it was on the verge of breaking and that Leon was the final straw,” Sariel commented.
Emma sighed, turning back to Rio and Jin, who were downing their food with the speed of your average teenage boy. That is to say, they were halfway done.
“Boys, you can slow down,” Emma spoke. She then turned to Sariel. “I’ll push this cart if you get the other. Give the boys a minute to finish their food.”
“Sorry,” Rio said, looking a little sheepish.
“Rio, just enjoy the food. You don’t have to wolf it down. It’s fine.”
That got him to slow his chewing. But with his mouth full, all he could do was give her a thumbs up in response.
“Chevalier, you seen Clavis?”
Chevalier spared Leon a glance before returning to his book. “I’m not his babysitter.”
“Welp… that’s not good.”
Turning a page, Chevalier just shrugged.
“I’d ask where you think he went, but I doubt you’d have an answer.”
“He hasn’t been here. I’d have known.”
“True. You have a weird Clavis radar.”
“If I didn’t, my life would be hell.”
Leon couldn’t even come up with a response to that. Instead, he just nodded in agreement as he walked to the next section.
“Are your parents around?” the lady handing out samples of frozen dumplings asked.
Nokto shook his head, but Licht nodded.
Which… did not help the poor lady.
“This where you snuck off to?”
Licht turned around, seeing Leon walk up to them.
“Hey, Leon.” Nokto piped up. “Try these!”
“Ohh, those look good.”
Oh dear, the woman running the sample stand thought, forcing a smile as she handed out a sample dish, another unsupervised kid.
Leon took it with a smile. “Thanks. Hey, you seen Clavis?” he asked the twins.
Licht did not look amused. “You lost Clavis?”
Nokto, on the other hand, did. “You lost Clavis?”
“I’ll take that as a no.” Leon threw the sample dish away. “I’ll ask Yves. And if he doesn’t know, no one does.”
Licht frowned. “Nokto, It’s gonna get loud.”
Nokto pouted. He wasn’t Licht’s twin for nothing; he knew that was code for “I want to hide in the freezer section because it’s quiet there”.
“Aww,” Nokto pouted. “But it’s gonna get loud.”
“That’s not a good thing.”
Resigned, Nokto sighed. “Fine. Let’s go see Yves first. Maybe Clavis hasn’t wrecked the cookie cart yet.”
The mention of cookies was all Licht needed to brighten up like a sunrise. “Sariel will probably let us get some this time.”
Nokto was suddenly all smiles, too. “Okay.”
And with that, the three boys took off.
Leaving a very confused and moderately worried sample lady standing in their wake.
“Kid, how old are you again?”
“Twelve,” Yves answered the baker behind the counter.
“Come back in a few years, and we’ll have a job for you.”
“He’d love it.”
Yves jumped at the unexpected voice behind him. He whipped around to glower at Leon. “What are you doing here?”
“You seen Clavis?”
At the mention of that name, Yves inwardly shuddered. “Is he loose again?”
“Unfortunately.” Leon looked around at the bakers bustling about. “Hey, aren’t you the baker he ran over last time?”
At this, one of the men behind the counter scowled. “You know that kid?”
The bite in the man’s voice caused Leon and Yves both to duck in shame. “Sorry. He’s our brother.”
“Half-brother,” Yves corrected, his nose crinkled. “I already wish I wasn't related to him, so don’t say he’s my full brother.”
“Honestly, same,” Leon muttered in agreement.
“We won’t hold it against you,” the head baker spoke up, cutting off the other baker who looked ready to go on a rant. “I’ve met your dad. For as scary as he is, seems even he can’t control that kid.”
“Adopted dad,” Yves corrected once again. “Our real dad was worse.”
At that, the bakery went silent.
“Um…” A soft voice spoke up to break the silence. Yves looked to his other side, only to find the twins had appeared without him realizing it. “Are there any cookies?” Licht asked.
“Yeah, 'cause Clavis ran over the guy last time and we couldn’t get any,” Nokto added before spotting said guy in the back. “Sorry. He’s an ass.”
Leon dropped a warning fist on Nokto’s head. Not that that did anything but make the younger twin chuckle.
“He’s not allowed to drive the cart for that reason,” Licht added. “Sorry.”
The head baker hummed. “At least you kids have manners. Your half-brother is something else.”
“Tell us about it,” came the chorus from the boys.
“Anyway,” Yves spoke up. “The cookies? I saw you put some in the oven.”
“Uh.” The baker turned around towards the ovens. “Three minutes left, then five to cool.”
“We can wait,” Licht said, his eyes wide at the prospect of fresh cookies.
“Hey, there’s one more sample lady. Let’s go try it while we wait.”
Before Licht could answer, Nokto dragged Licht off and away.
“Welp,” Leon said, patting the bakery's order counter. “I’m gonna head back, too. I have to report to Sariel that Clavis is nowhere.”
Yves heaved a sigh. Couldn’t they have one nice day? “’Kay.”
Clavis was most certainly somewhere. He was looking for trouble that could be started.
The produce section was always a decent place to start, but it was also open to where he could easily be found. Henceforth, after quickly turning all the vegetable misters outwards for one section, he slipped away elsewhere.
Ducking and dodging around a worker restocking a large display of cheese puffs—oh, there was a sale on snack barrels; no wonder they were all being set out—Clavis slipped away.
Only to hear a scream behind him.
Well, that was quick.
He turned around to see the misters had gone off already. Problem was, one of them was broken because a steady stream came out of it instead of a fine mist, making a lovely little puddle on the floor. A puddle some older lady had slipped in that had landed her on her backside.
Her cart rolling, rolling, rolling…
Not that anyone noticed. The worker who had been setting up the cheese puff barrels had run over to assist the lady and turn the food misters back towards the food.
All while the cart picked up steam.
Huh, so the floor was unlevel here. Good to know.
And curved right there. Also good to know.
Or was that just the front wheel? Clavis stared at the moving cart but couldn’t quite tell. Those shopping carts… garbage, all of them. You could never count on them going straight.
Ask him how he knew.
Just as it curved around, trying to find a place to stop, the runaway cart demanded attention by taking out the cheese puff barrel tower.
And Clavis had the honor of watching his chaos come to fruition all too early as over seventy snack barrels came tumbling to the floor, some cracking open and sending toxic orange cheese-flavored balls rolling everywhere.
Well… he supposed that was a decent start.
“Found him,” Leon said.
Well, considering his report, it wasn’t that he’d found him, but it was impossible to miss the tumbling cheese puff tower.
“Oh, he’s long gone by now,” Sariel grumbled. “So I think it’s safer to say we know where he’s not.”
Emma sighed. “True. Unfortunately, very true.”
“You want me to see if I can catch him?” Leon asked.
“Or I could go?” Jin offered.
“If you—Luke, stay close,” Emma warned, catching Luke by the hand before he wandered off for the fourth time. “If you want to, you can, but I’m not holding out hope.”
“What even is hope when it comes to Clavis?” Sariel asked, dry smile on his face.
“Is there such a thing?” Rio answered.
“No, but we can hurry up and finish this trip, hoping we don’t give him any more time to cause more trouble,” Sariel said, looking down at his list. “We’ve got a third of the store left.”
“Alright.” Emma clapped her hands, looking over the carts once more. Only to spy two objects that shouldn’t be there.
Grabbing the bag of candy and liter of soda, she looked in between the two possible culprits. “Would you like to replace these?”
With a grin, Jin pulled out a few more bills. “I’ll pay.”
“Jin.”
“Please?”
With a sigh, Emma decided this wasn’t worth arguing over. “Ask Sariel.”
“Sariel!” Jin called out, taking the candy bag from Emma’s hand while flashing the bills in his other.
“And popcorn, too,” Leon added, pulling out his own wallet and holding it up.
Sariel glanced over, pausing in thought for a moment. “Fine. This once.”
“Sweet,” Jin said, dropping the candy back in the cart and handing the bills over to Emma. Though reluctant, she put the liter of soda back in the cart, taking the bills from Jin, who was currently getting a fist bump from Leon. Maybe they were planning a movie night in their room, AKA, the basement. Made sense to her.
And she’d allow any non-destructive activity that allowed her a moment’s peace.
Nokto’s smile couldn’t get any bigger. “Whatcha doin’ here, Clav?”
Clavis turned around with a grin. “Nothing,” he said.
“Doesn’t look like nothing.”
Which, was valid. Clavis was standing in front of the ice cream, the large freezer door swung wide open.
“Don’t ruin the ice cream,” Licht flatly warned. “They were really mad when you broke the door last time.”
“I’m not gonna do anything,” he said, letting go of the door and holding his hands up as though in surrender.
Only for them to hear a crack. And a crash.
And another. And another.
And another.
The trio watched as an entire shelf collapsed along the whole row of the freezer. Which took out the shelf below it.
And the shelf below that.
Licht just sighed as Nokto and Clavis were struggling and failing to withhold their sniggering.
“I’m leaving,” Licht said, quickly slinking away. Besides, the cookies were probably done by now. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”
Unfortunately, Clavis fell into step beside him, smile on his face as he strutted away. “Yeah, me neither.”
“Hey, Licht.” Nokto hopped up to his other side. “Wanna bet the cookies are ready?”
“Cookies?” Clavis asked.
“Don’t ruin it again!” Licht firmly warned, glaring at his older brother with blazing red eyes.
“Yeah, even I won’t be happy if you do,” Nokto chimed in, giving Clavis a glare from his other side.
This time, Clavis decided not to test his brothers. Instead, he made a cross over his heart. “I won’t; I promise. The baker is still mad at me anyway, and it’s not good to press him twice.”
For only being ten, Licht and Nokto knew Clavis well enough to know Clavis wasn’t done causing trouble for the baker. Meaning, they better go get their cookies and run while they can.
They were almost done.
“Just the freezer section last,” Emma muttered. “Then we collect everyone and run.”
Sariel nodded his head tiredly. After all, they were not happy with the cheese puff incident and were going to have to yell at Clavis when they found him.
As they wove through the freezer section, Luke was unable to keep his hands to himself, opening and shutting the doors as he went, amused when they fogged up.
“Luke, stop that,” Sariel warned.
With a whine, Luke walked away from the door he held open. “Are we almost done?”
“Almost,” Emma promised, putting several boxes of frozen pizza rolls into the half-full cart Leon had offered to grab. With nine boys either close to or in their teenage years, they blew through food, and sometimes, it was easy to underestimate how much cart space they needed, particularly when they bought in bulk for a month like this.
“A few more rows, Buddy,” Jin encouraged. “Then we’ll be done.”
“… Fine.”
“You’ll live,” Leon teased. “Probably.”
“Ughhh,” Luke whined, deciding to ignore Sariel’s warning and open the next freezer door.
Only to scream when food came falling out on him.
“Luke!” Emma was the first on the scene, pulling him up off the floor, cartons of ice cream rolling off him.
“You okay, Sport?” Jin asked, brushing the little bits of ice off Luke's clothes.
Silently, Luke nodded.
“This is why I asked you not to do that,” Sariel calmly instructed, walking over to inspect what had happened.
Only after he heaved a sigh did Emma look up from inspecting Luke for injuries, only to notice the shelves were broken.
Sariel growled. “Clavis.”
“Seriously?” Rio muttered, beginning to help Jin shove the food back in the freezer. “How does he do this?”
“Rio, I know you’re the ‘newer brother’,” Jin started. “But even after fifteen years, I still haven’t worked out that answer.”
“Doubt any of us ever will,” Leon agreed, holding the cartons in place to prevent them from tumbling out again. “Chevalier might be the closest, but he ain’t talkin’.”
“Meaning we’ll never know,” Sariel said with a sigh, Luke clinging onto his hand. “And what a shame that is.”
“Clavis.”
“Chev!”
Reluctantly, Chevalier looked up from his book to see his smirking brother. “Why are you here?”
Clavis plopped down on the porch swing next to Chevalier. “Because. Can’t I sit and relax with my big brother?”
“No.”
“I’m not allowed to?” Clavis asked with a pout.
“Whether you are allowed to versus whether you’re going to are two different things,” Chevalier answered, turning back to his book.
“So I am allowed?” Clavis kicked back, rocking the swing a little too severely for Chevalier’s liking.
Chevalier planted his feet on the ground, forcing it to stop. “What did you do this time?”
“What do you mean?”
Chevalier glared at his brother. “You’re hiding. From what, is the question.”
“Aww, Chev. Do you want to know?”
“No; actually, I don’t. But Sariel and Emma will be asking me for an answer that, depending on what you tell me, I either will or won't have."
Clavis gave him a strong pout. “You’re gonna throw me under the bus like that?”
Chevalier’s sharp glare narrowed.
“Ouch.”
“Maybe if you didn’t make a mess of things, you wouldn’t end up in such hot water.”
“But what fun would that be?”
“When is getting into trouble fun?”
“But Sariel’s face gets so red! It’s really funny.”
Unable to stand this worthless conversation any longer, Chevalier turned back to his book.
Clavis pouted. “You’re no fun.”
Chevalier refused to answer.
“Well, I guess I’ll leave.”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Stupid? I never do.” And with that, he was gone.
And that, Chevalier thought as he turned a page, is what worries me.
“Excuse me. Are the cookies done, yet?”
Yves turned to see Licht and Nokto slide up to the counter. “They’re packing them up now.”
“Sweet,” Nokto said, excitedly drumming on the counter. Licht, for his part, just smiled like the sun.
“Here you go, kiddos,” the baker said, handing over a bag of cookies to them. “Your brother told me which ones you want.”
“Thank you.” Licht happily accepted the cookies before turning to Yves. “Thanks.”
Yves smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“Where do you think Sariel is?” Nokto asked.
“Text and ask,” Licht said.
“Done wandering around?” Yves asked.
“Well, we saw Clavis.”
That name had Yves’ hair on edge. “What'd he do?”
“You don’t wanna know what he did,” Licht said, shaking his head. “But…”
Nokto looked up at the baker. “You guys have more freezer shelves, right?”
The baker’s brow furrowed, looking confused. “What do you mean?”
Yves sighed. So much for a nice trip.
They were finished. Now, they just had to wait in line at the checkout. Emma sent out a message to the five boys who weren’t around that they were almost done and just waiting in line.
Chevalier was kind enough to give her a thumbs up on the text. Yves responded that he’d be right over, and Nokto replied he and Licht were on their way.
Clavis, though, was silent.
It was not a surprise. Clavis didn’t always answer that message. But for some reason, Emma had a very bad feeling about today.
“Sariel.”
Emma looked up to see the twins had appeared, Licht holding a small bag of cookies. “Can we?”
“Pleeeeease!” Nokto added. “We didn’t get any last time.”
Emma looked over to Sariel, who somehow had the biggest soft spot for these boys. With a gentle expression, he took the cookie bag. “Okay.”
“Yes.” Licht’s smile nearly split his face in two while Nokto gave a fist pump.
… Okay, maybe they were just too cute and that’s why Sariel was weak for them.
Yves showed up shortly afterward, looking huffy. Which wasn’t a good sign.
“What happened?” Emma asked.
He glanced over at the twins, who seemed to shrink under his stare. “You want to tell them what you caught Clavis doing?”
Licht’s sunny smile was gone now, replaced with a raincloud Emma wanted to shoo away. Nokto was sniggering, but his head was bowed in preparation for chastisement.
In a flash, Sariel’s soft expression turned stormy. “What did he do?”
They were quiet for a moment before they quietly answered. “He broke the freezer.”
“The shelves,” Licht corrected.
“Yeah, those.”
Oh…
Emma sighed. “Yes, we know that.”
“Unfortunately,” Sariel muttered. “And he’s still loose in the store.”
“Want us to give one more look around?” Jin asked, Leon nodding beside him.
Emma pursed her lips as she inhaled a sharp breath. “Yeah, go. Rio, you got unloading the carts?”
“Yes, ma’am!” he chirped with a salute. “You can count on me.”
She knew she could. That boy could unload and reload the carts as well as any veteran employee here. And the fact he could do it alone was wildly impressive.
Knowing that would be under control, she turned back to Jin and Leon. “Go. Don’t come back with anything other than Clavis.”
They gave her sheepish looks. “We’ve been caught,” Leon said with a smirk.
“Bummer,” Jin agreed.
She narrowed her eyes. She knew these boys so well. “Understood?”
“Understood,” they acquiesced before heading out.
Geez, these boys were going to send her to an early grave.
Employees Only
That’s what the sign read.
Now, that sign had always kept Clavis out, but today, after finding the badge and vest of an employee just laying around, wouldn’t it be gentlemanly to return it?
Clavis liked to think so.
“Chevalier, we’re almost ready to leave.”
With a sigh, Chevalier shut his book. This one was halfway decent yet not decent enough to waste money on. Emma’s text had warned him he best skip ahead if he wanted to know how this book ended, and the last chapter had proved this book would not be worth investing any more time into.
“You haven’t seen Clavis, have you?”
Chevalier turned his attention toward his oldest brother. “Seen, yes, but I’m assuming you’re asking where he is now?”
Jin frowned. “And I’m guessing your answer is a no.”
“Correct.”
Despite the sigh, neither Jin nor Leon looked surprised.
“Sariel will have to call him,” Chevalier said, standing up from the swing. “You all know how this works by now.”
“Unfortunately,” Leon muttered.
With Chevalier leading the charge, they all headed up towards the checkout, making a detour so Chevalier could return the book.
Only, when he was there, he stepped on something crunchy.
Looking down, he saw he’d stepped on a bright orange… well, dust pile now.
“Ahh, they hadn’t cleaned up all the cheese puffs yet,” Leon grumbled.
Chevalier was almost tempted to ask. Almost. But one look at Jin’s grimace told him everything he needed to know.
Clavis had caused a scene again.
Placing the book back in the correct stack, at the bottom so the weight would press the book back into resting shape, Chevalier decided it was best to head straight up to the front.
Only a faint shout stopped him.
And Jin and Leon, too.
Leon was the first to open his mouth, yet it took a few seconds for words to fall out. “You don’t think…”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Chevalier said.
“And Clavis certainly loves playing with it,” Jin finished.
As reluctant as Chevalier was—he was not Clavis’ keeper, for heaven’s sake, but on the other hand, Clavis was most likely to listen to him, and if he could get Clavis to behave for three seconds, he’d score points with Sariel, which in turn would allow him various luxuries—he decided to follow his two brothers towards where the shout happened.
But halfway there, there was a roar. Followed by people screaming.
Yes, that was definitely Clavis.
Picking up their pace, they ran toward the commotion. Only to see…
Well…
Chevalier’s lips pursed.
They should have left Clavis at home today.
There was screaming and chaos.
A worrying amount.
“What in the hell did that hellcat do?”
At his growled words, Emma turned to her husband. Ahhh, there was his devil smile. And contrary to what every fairytale would have you believe, it was not sexy. No, it was downright terrifying. She felt the ice drip down her spine, and she was certain the other boys felt it, too. The twins had ducked for cover, putting a cart between them and Sariel. White as a ghost, Yves had turned away, not daring to look at his guardian, and Luke was now hiding behind Emma.
Rio, for his part, was still assisting in bagging items, but Emma noted the way he had slowed his pace, fully alert to Sariel even though it was unlikely he’d heard Sariel’s mutter. Rio, along with all the boys, had developed a sixth sense in that way.
“He’s grounded for life, right?” Emma asked, daring to step into hell to break Sariel from his trance.
“Life?”
Oh, that wasn’t good. A new shiver of ice shot down her spine like lightning, and even she felt like ducking away.
“No.” Sariel sucked in a breath. “No, no, no. He’s grounded even after he dies.”
Everyone was outside, now. Jin, Leon, and Chevalier had brought back Clavis who, to his credit, had the decency to look properly ashamed about what he’d done.
But considering the fire department had pulled up after he’d lit a bag of flour on fire in the bakery, that look was not nearly enough to escape consequences.
Currently, Emma was back at the bus, watching as Rio and Jin loaded up the back while the rest of the boys sat calmly inside. Sariel and Clavis, however, were apologizing to the fire chief, with whom they were on a first-name basis.
Er, she supposed she should clarify that it was one of the fire chiefs they were on a first-name basis with. They were on a first-name basis with three fire different chiefs. And not for fun, community-based reasons. Which was maybe one of the most embarrassing things Emma had ever been faced with in her life.
Considering she felt the need to reach for an aspirin for the Clavis-induced headache, she couldn’t imagine what the poor firemen were thinking upon seeing their worst enemy. Emma would ask Yves to help her bake sweets again to help smooth things over later. The two tres leches cakes and pans of various enchiladas went over well last time.
“That’s it,” Rio chirped.
“Thanks, you two,” Emma called out as Rio and Jin took the carts back, Rio pushing the three stacked carts while Jin helped guide them from the side.
Sliding into the passenger seat and shutting the door maybe a bit too firmly, Emma heaved a sigh.
“Mom’s mad,” Luke whispered.
Someone shushed him, not that she knew who. Maybe Nokto; maybe Yves.
She felt someone pat her shoulder, only to see Leon giving her a sympathetic look when she turned to look. She patted the top of his hand in return.
“Maybe next time, we leave Clavis with the fire department,” Licht murmured.
That got Chevalier to snigger. “Police department would be safer.”
“One of these days, he’s gonna end up there,” Leon agreed.
When Rio and Jin returned, Clavis and Sariel happened to be right behind.
“What did the fire chief tell you this time?” Chevalier inquired as Clavis slid into the bus.
The boy looked far, far too happy considering the situation. “He wants to know if I want to meet the police chief next.”
“Called it,” Leon chuckled.
“How’d you even start the back on fire?” Jin asked, grabbing Clavis’ shoulder tightly before Clavis could take a seat.
Plopping down beside Jin, Clavis just chuckled. “It’s a long story.”
“And it’s a long car ride home!” Yves shouted. “So start talking!”
As commotion erupted from the back, Sariel leaned over toward Emma. “For heaven’s sake,” he whispered in her ear. “Please tell me you do not want children of your own.”
With a dark chuckle, she turned towards him, whispering in his ear in return, “We have every form of birth control under the sun, and if you want to make that permanent, be my guest.”