Chapter 2
Robert
Robert took a deep breath, preparing himself for what would come next. Antoine was unlike his other children. Stubborn, rude, and unrelenting. He reminded him a lot of himself.
As he opened the front door to the cabin, he could hear his daughter Camille and his son, Daymond, going at it. His other son, Bernard, sat on the couch, watching in amusement as his two younger siblings wrestled.
“Let me go!” Daymond yelped, his head pressed forcefully into the carpet.
“Give me back my phone then!”
“You don’t need it anyway! There’s no cell reception.” He tried wiggling out from under her, but she wouldn’t budge.
She had her knee on his lower back and a boot pressed into his hand, seizing her prize possession and holding it high triumphantly.
“I don’t give a shit! Don’t ever take my stuff again! I don’t care if you think you are tough because you went to juvie.”
“For the last time, I didn’t go to juv–”
“That’s enough,” Robert’s booming voice broke through the stifling air. He knew his voice had power. A power they wouldn’t understand until tonight. He could feel his own words wrapping around each child. In turn, he could feel everything: their emotional states, heart rate, and even in his human form, their scents. He felt a small sense of pride. There was power in everything; their scents and voices are strong, not like him. Not yet. He also felt happy. All four of his children are finally together.
Camille immediately sprung off Daymond as if an invisible hand jerked her off of him. Bernard sat straighter on the couch, scooting over to make room for Camille. Daymond dusted himself off and sat on the other side of her.
“I leave you guys for an hour, and you’ve already messin’ up the cabin,” Robert mumbled, stepping further into the room. He tried to lower the dominance of his power. He didn’t want to hurt his kids.
With his feet, he began straightening out the carpet across the floor. He glanced at the three siblings, a sour face on Camille; Bernard avoided his eyes, and Daymond was picking at his hangnails.
Robert, clearing his voice, announced, “This is Antoine. He’s your eldest brother.”
He reaches out to Antoine for his shoulder, but the boy brushes him off and steps forward to get a better look at his younger siblings. Robert wants to use his dominance to choke him, but he chooses to ignore the disrespect.
“Hey,” Bernard was the first to speak, raising his hand in a small wave. Robert was surprised at that. He thought Camille would be the first to say hi. Bernard’s energy is low compared to his siblings. The most timid, Robert noticed, but carried enough power to rival all of them.
Camille tried to smile, but when she looked sideways to see Daymond not paying attention, she elbowed him, accompanying it with a frown.
“What?” Daymond asked as he rubbed his side.
When she pointed toward Antonie, he said, “Oh, my bad. Sup.”
Antoine didn’t say anything; instead, he just nodded in their direction before dropping his backpack on the ground and sitting at the dinner table a few feet from the couch. The younger siblings just stared at him, each one trying to display a smile in their own way. Bernard was small but natural; Camille’s was forceful, while Daymond barely even tried.
Robert’s brow began to sweat. This was much harder than he thought. No one was talking, which was unusual as the three kids on the couch were always up to something.
He cleared his throat and began again, “Antonie, meet your siblings, Bernard, Camille, and Daymond.”
Antoine didn’t say anything for a long moment before cracking his own smile and saying, “Are they triplets?”
Camille scoffed. “Definitely not.”
“No shit.” Antonie slumped further into his chair.
“Antoine, please,” Robert growled.
Antoine just chuckled and pulled out his cell phone, but upon further inspection, he came to a sour conclusion.
“There’s no service,” Camille confirmed.
Antonie rolled his eyes and shoved his cell phone into his pocket.
The silence was almost deafening, and with each second, Robert could hear each child’s heartbeat. As much as Antonie was acting as if he didn’t care about anything, his heart was beating the fastest. He thought it best for the kids got to know each other a bit without him being there.
“I’m going to set up a fire; you guys just hang out for a bit, okay?”
None of the children said anything, so he took that as a sign to leave.
Camille
This is a lot harder than I thought. She leaned closer to her little brother on the couch and whispered into his ear: “He seems like a jackass.”
Daymond snorted and whispered back, “That’s because he is.”
When she began laughing at that, Bernard tried to go in on the joke, but he was as lost as Antoine.
“What’s so funny?” Antoine glared at them, his eyes locking on Bernard.
“Oh, uh,” Bernard, fumbling over his words, could only manage to say, “I don’t know.”
“So why the hell are you laughing then?”
“Leave him alone,” Camille snapped, glaring at Antonie.
“I just don’t know what’s so funny.” Antonie ground his teeth.
“Can ya’ll chill.” Daymond groaned, rubbing his face to wipe away the oncoming headache.
Antonie rolled his eyes, relaxing back into the stiff chair. Camille tried repressing her glare. Her mother always told her that an ugly stare always came back with ugly outcomes.
Antonie looked up from the table and caught her. “Didn’t your mom ever teach you that staring is impolite?”
Again, she tried to relax her face, but every word that came out of his mouth was hostility. She had to try a different approach for her sake. Besides, that’s what Robert would want.
Camille cleared her throat and asked, “So… how was the drive up here?”
Antonie scoffed, throwing his head back in fits of laughter.
“Why the hell are you laughing?”
“Look, Callie–” Antonie started to say.
“My name is not Callie. It’s Camille, your sister.” She quipped between clenched teeth.
Antonie’s ears turned red at the word’ sister.’ “Barely.”
“Well, we four are all related whether you like it or not. And I think we should at least try to get to know each other, for Dad’s sake.”
“Jesus, you call him dad.” Antonie’s cynical smile had come back to play.
“Well… yeah. We– well, Daymond and I have known Dad for a while.”
Antonie’s smile had immediately dropped, replaced with a scowl; he began to shake his head and curse under his breath. Camille didn’t know what to do, so she leaned into Daymond, hoping his warmth would calm her nerves. Bernard patted her shoulder. It felt awkward and slightly unpleasant, but she shrugged off that feeling. At least Bernard is trying.
