Family Essence - Deviant - Pt. 02

Mom just stares at me for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Of course. Why else were you kids all on the ground, fighting to protect me, when you could've just drove away."

There's a noticeable hiss as most of us let out our breath. But the news of her jeep's destruction doesn't slow mom down. She's already gathered her notes and is at the door when she looks back at us.

Sawyer groans as she pulls me forward. "We're gonna have to walk home, aren't we? Soi annoyed."

"Unless you've figured out how to fly," mom says, neither acknowledging Sawyer's pun nor hesitating as she leads us through the service building. "How much did beating that monster help your growth?"

I blink, realizing I didn't even think to check that. When I open my status, I'm shocked to find that my Body and mind are both at 12%. But the real shock is my spirit at 100%. When I focus on it, I get the sensation that I need to raise my other two attributes to increase to the next tier. Except... none of that came from the monster. My growth comes from my sisters. So what...

"It was pretty good. We got... holy shit, where did the rest of this come from?" Sawyer sputters, drawing everyone except mom to a stop.

Bethany hums as she stares at her own status, her eyes drifting to me. "I think it's obvious."

The rest of the girls also turn to me, but whatever understanding Bethany came to doesn't seem to occur to them. Or me. Not until she says, "Darren is officially our husband. At least according to the System. Still owes us our weddings."

"Hmm," Madison says while I'm considering how much effort it'll take to set up four separate weddings. That'd be crazy enough back on earth. But my sisters are worth at least that much. Then Madison takes the hand not held firmly by Sawyer, draping it over her shoulder. Yep, four weddings will definitely be worth it. "It was certainly good for my spirit, knowing he's ours."

Kaylie gives me a grin that's nothing like the way she was smiling this morning. "You know, I'm okay with a fourth. It's awesome it's us. And it's a lot better than that tenth." At the last, she blows a raspberry at me. It takes me a second to realize she's talking about my teasing of her yesterday.

"Mom's right, being able to get stronger just by loving our brother is busted," Sawyer says, copying Madison as she pulls my arm around her waist before grabbing my ass with her free hand. "Kinda bull that I had to share my day and we didn't even get to play any APEX, but I guess that's life."

"You kids coming?" mom calls from the next room, reminding us of the trek ahead. I pull Sawyer into my side, nuzzling her head as we join mom.

We pause just inside the front door to collect the cooler, which has the essence core Kaylie harvested from the GS-Raptor. The second Madison and I lift the cooler between us, a prompt appears on the screen.

"Convert one 'Essence Core - Solar - Bronze Grade' to 2000 control points?"

"Huh, it's bronze?" I ask, while swiping the prompt to the negative. "That seems good."

"I think so," Bethany agrees. "I really want to absorb it. I bet a solar essence would work great with my light essence. And it feels good, you know?"

"You should," I say as we carry the cooler out into an empty parking lot.

"I mean, I didn't want to assume," Bethany starts, only for Madison to hold up a hand, causing us to all fall behind mom again.

Madison lowers the cooler, glancing at the rest of us. "We agree that Bethany should use it, right? Especially after reading how cores can increase our attributes when we bond them?"

"Wait, I missed that," I say, drawing her attention to me.

Sawyer elbows me lightly. "That's what you get for trying to help mom get the zone boundaries accurate. Watching her work messes with the head. And yeah, Bethany should tots use it."

"Mhmm, the core feels... wrong to me. Like it would twist my magic if I used it," Kaylie says as mom approaches us. And I nod my head. It feels just as wrong to me.

As we set the cooler down, Bethany explains everything to mom. But even with our encouragement, Bethany still seems hesitant. "It... I just... after mom's jeep. And Darren."

At that, I reach forward, covering her lips with my hand. The cheeky minx licks my fingers but remains quiet as I say, "It'll help you get stronger. And then we don't have to carry this cooler all the way home."

The second point is when Bethany starts nodding. I draw my hand away, and she flips the cooler open. Packed next to our dinner is a golden spiral, shining as brightly as the GS-Raptor had been when we first spotted it. Bethany reaches in, pulling out the essence before closing the lid. Then she licks her lips, before closing her eyes and tracing her other hand along the curve of the spiral. As we watch, the spiral breaks into small motes of light, which float up Bethany's arm before slipping in through her nose. A minute later and the entire spiral is gone and I'm fighting off the urge to scratch at my nose in sympathy.

Bethany beams a wide smile at us, then she says in little more than a whisper, "I think I'm gonna need someone to-"

The rest of her words are lost as she slumps forward. I'm already there to catch her, my ability alerting me to the sudden wave of exhaustion just before she slumps. As I hold her, I look at the rest of my family with a small frown. "Looks like we're gonna be carrying her instead."

...Chapter 10, Returning Home...

Working under the waning light of the setting sun, with some magical weaving from Kaylie and grumbling from Sawyer, we repurpose one of the mats into a sort of harness that lets me strap Bethany to my back. Then we empty our dinner from the cooler into more packs made from the rest of the mat then start hiking home. Mom keeps a steady pace; one we've all had to endure on our weekend geology trips. It's a little harder to keep up while carrying Bethany, but not as much as I expected. It helps that our hike is mostly along the road.

When we pass the remains of the front of the jeep, mom diverts, telling us to wait for her. I watch as she reaches the jeep, her run turning into a slow shuffle. Laying her hand on the overturned hood, she lowers her head. For almost a minute, she remains like that. Then she shakes her head, moving out of sight. When she reappears, she has one of her sturdy green duffel bags stuffed over her shoulder. Based on how bulked out it is, she must have taken anything that could possibly be useful.

Then we're off again. It takes an hour just to make it to the highway, and by then the sun has almost disappeared and we've eaten the food we brought for dinner. I'm grateful for the light of the blue constellations as we shuffle over the overpass. It transforms the old concrete bridge into something wondrous.

We're three quarters of the way across when mom holds up a hand, pointing. I shuffle closer to the edge, peering over, my sisters close behind. On the edge of the highway below us is a pile of gravel, but nothing else of note. I almost look back to mom before remembering two things. There wasn't any construction on this road. And the highway zone's boss was called a Gravel Raptor swarm.

We stare at it for a moment, and I'm sure mom is going to wave us on, but instead she points at Madison. When Madison arches an eyebrow, mom lays her hand out flat, holding it over her other hand. Then she slams it down, stopping just before making contact. Then she points at Madison, before pointing at the gravel pile again.

Madison squints, looking over the edge. Then she looks at Kaylie and Sawyer, motioning them closer to her. I watch as the three of them stare at the pile of gravel raptors. Then Madison makes a gesture with both hands and a pair of magma hands emerge from next to the swarm-pile. Before the swarm-pile even has a chance to shift, the hands come crashing down. The noise of the impact feels as though it's shattered the night, the sudden boom followed by hissing and burbling that suddenly makes everything feel real. And the smell of burning asphalt. I glance over the edge. The pile has been almost completely destroyed.

There are a few smaller chunks of gravel, that form into raptor's the size of my leg. And then Kaylie's vines and Sawyer's bolts of water strike, ripping and blasting apart the few raptors Madison missed.

And as suddenly as it began, it's over, a notification appearing that informs us that we've claimed a second zone. The "Danger Zone" now belongs to our party, The 4Ds.

Madison turns to mom, a frown on her face. "How did you know it would work so well?"

"I didn't. I was expecting that to be our opening move, and I'd have to help. But you did amazing," mom says, stepping forward to wrap Madison in a hug.

"Mom," Madison objects while blushing but returns the hug.

"We should get going," mom says, looking over the edge. "I don't see a core."

"I think it melted," Kaylie says with a shrug. "They weren't very strong anyway."

With that, we turn and continue walking. I can't help but smile at Maddie's display of strength. She's been instrumental in all our fights so far. Who would've thought molten rock would be so useful? Still, I can feel that her overwhelming smackdown took a lot out of her.

Not as bad as Bethany, who's still sleeping on my back, but enough that she's not going to be doing anything like that again for at least an hour.

Luckily, the next hour passes without us seeing anything except a few normal raptors. Raptors mom snipes at such a distance we hardly have time to see them before they collapse.

By the time we make it back to our home street, we've had a few annoying jump scares, but no one's been touched, never mind hurt. I haven't needed to do any healing, and I'm quite grateful. No matter how good I get at healing, I'd rather my sisters not get hurt in the first place. Bethany woke up at least half an hour ago, but she's been pretending to still be asleep while groping my chest. The little minx.

As the others march up the driveway, my eyes drift to the stone pathway and I notice something's missing. "Did someone take our keystones?" I ask, not meaning to say it out loud. Mom is halfway up the path when she pauses, looking down at her feet.

"Who the heck would steal a bunch of rocks?" Kaylie asks, staring at the holes where our keystones used to be. "And they only took our keystones. The hell is that?"

Madison shakes her head. "They've been missing since the shift, I think. They weren't there when Mr Farlin killed the first raptor."

"Huh," mom says, shrugging as she marches up the steps to our front door. "Guess we'll have to find some new keystones. Who knows what sort of crazy rocks we'll be able to find in a world with magic."

Even though she's facing away from me as she unlocks the front door, I can hear the excitement in mom's voice. No surprise that she'd be excited at the idea of getting her hands on new rocks.

"Time for you to get down," I say to Bethany as my sisters take off their boots.

Bethany clutches me tighter, but otherwise continues pretending to be asleep. I roll my eyes and struggle to take off my root-laced boot, letting her play. Which turns out to be a bit of a mistake. I end up stumbling into the wall, smushing Bethany as the boot finally comes free and flies across the room nearly smacking Kaylie. Despite it missing, it still elicits a yelp from Kaylie as she jumps to the side.

"Sorry," I shout out before it's even landed.

Ignoring the wayward boot, Kaylie steps up to me, a dangerous grin on her face as her hand traces my chin before leaning in for a loud and wet kiss. Which earns a grunt from Bethany as Kaylie pushes her further against the wall.

While we were pressed against the wall, Kaylie must have removed the vines holding Bethany in place, because the moment I step forward, Bethany slips free with a bigger yelp than Kaylie made. Kaylie dashes out of the room laughing. Bethany moves to follow her, but I snag Bethany by the shoulder before she can track mud through the house. "Boots," I say, causing Bethany to grimace.

But then her grimace turns to a smirk as she turns and presses her lips against mine. Her tongue darts forward, prying my lips open as Bethany hops up to wrap her legs around me as I get lost in her wonderful cherry flavor. We remain like that for a few minutes before she finally releases me and takes off her boots. "How's about them boots?" She asks, still smirking at me.

"Those were good boots," I admit as I kick off my remaining boot. She giggles, shaking her butt at me as she walks out.

Following her out of the room, I'm caught in a side-hug by Sawyer who glares at Bethany.

Sawyer leads me to 'the big comfy chair that doesn't match anything' that we all used to fight over before mom got the new couch. Pushing me into the chair, she immediately gets on my lap snuggling against me. Then she reaches for the game console handing me a controller before realizing we don't have any power cause the house is in off-grid mode.

"What the actual-" Sawyer cuts herself off as she whips the controllers away in an orb of water. They land smoothly enough on the entertainment console, but Sawyer's already turned away from them, pushing her lips against me. It doesn't take her long to wipe out the taste of Bethany and Kaylie. Her kiss is surprisingly desperate as she pushes me into the chair, her hands wrapped around my head as her tongue wrestles with mine. We kiss like that for a few minutes before I have to pull away to breath. Panting, Sawyer gives me a smug smile. Except as I look at her, I realize it's not smug. She's trying to make it look smug, but the quivering of her lip and the very barely visible moisture in the corner of her eyes gives her away.

"Hey," I say, pulling her down so no one else can see her. I brush at her cheek, wiping the tears away. "What's wrong?"

Sawyer doesn't say anything, just leaning against my chest. We stay like that for a few minutes before mom calls for everyone to gather at the dining room table. I hear a soft sob from Sawyer as we move to stand, so I stop, leaning forward to kiss her tears away. Something I haven't done for years. It earns me a genuine smile and a small giggle. As relief fills me, Sawyer pulls me toward the table where everyone else is waiting. She's not subtle when we sit down, sitting on my lap despite the precarious nature of the wooden benches. But no one challenges us.

As mom draws out an updated map, questioning all of us on what we remember despite having written it down, Sawyer relaxes in my arms. Once mom's satisfied with her map, she says, "Okay. we have three hours until the timer runs out. We should be awake when that happens. I'll be coming to get you ten minutes before then. Try to relax. Just..."

She turns to look at Sawyer and I as she sighs, "Not too loud."

The sudden flush of my cheeks is almost matched by Sawyer's. And it's not just us. Everyone around the table other than mom is blushing. Deciding that discretion is the better part of incest, I nod vigorously while prompting Sawyer to stand. She practically charges up the stairs ahead of me, her hand clenched around mine. Then we enter her room, and she lets go of my hand as she collapses against the door. She looks up at me, her cheeks still flushed, and tears threatening to spill from her eyes again. I sit down next to her, stroking her back as I kiss the top of her head.

"Sorry, I'm a mess," Sawyer mumbles, leaning her head against my chest.

"You're a mess, huh? Soi what? At least you're a hot mess," I tease, squeezing her bum.

I'm not sure if it's the pun or the flirting, but I get a giggle out of her. But it doesn't last. She leans against me again, taking a deep breath before letting out a rattling sigh. "This... isn't how I pictured this going in any of my fantasies."

"Oh, thought about this a lot, have you?" I ask, stroking her soft brown hair, amazed at how well her braid's stayed in place.

"Not this exactly. But how nice it'd be if you were my boyfriend. Pretty much every day since I was fifteen," Sawyer admits, causing me to pause my petting. She mewls at me in a very un-Sawyer like voice as she whispers, "Don't stop."

Resuming my petting, I say, "That's... a long time."

She nods against my chest. "Six years, three months and two days."

"And oddly specific," I note, squinting down at her, wishing I could see her expression. "I... have no idea what happened that day."

Sawyer lets out a half-choke, half-laugh. "You wouldn't. It wasn't anything special. Just the day I realized I was head over heels in love with my big brother. We were just hanging out playing video games. But one of my friends from school, Ashley, you remember her?" I nod against her head as Sawyer continues, "She wouldn't shut up about how hot you were. And I'll be honest, I didn't see it. Like, at all."

"Oof, my poor shattered ego," I say, clutching at my chest to a soft laugh from Sawyer.

Leaning back, she looks up into my eyes. "It wasn't your looks I fell for. It was how you were always there for us. Like, actually there. Not just in the room, but playing games or helping us with our projects or whatever stupid thing we wanted to do."

Slowly, she lowers her head back against my chest as she continues, "Anyway, we were playing a game and your friend called. You put the game on pause and went out to the hall for privacy. I... uhm, I eavesdropped. He asked you to ditch me to go see a girl. One we all knew you had a crush on. I forget her name. And you said you couldn't do that, cause you had important plans. I heard you try to reschedule, but he said it wouldn't happen. And then you hung up and came back into the room and we just... played Minecraft together for the rest of the night."

"I remember that call. I never did end up going out with her," I say into Sawyer's hair.

"Yeah. It was weird, cause when you spent the whole evening with me and I realized that I was your plans for the evening? The important plans you couldn't cancel? Fuck, I spent the next month just watching you. And then, I realized I could see it. What made you so hot," Sawyer says, pulling away as she draws herself up to kiss my lips lightly. We kiss lightly for several long seconds before she pulls away. "You loved me. Us. I was the first to really realize how I felt about you, I think. And I had the most vivid dreams of you after that. Us being together. Just kissing. Kinda stole my heart."

"Wow," I mumble, stroking her back.

"And now, I finally get my turn with you, and it was supposed to be fun. Playing games, just like whenever you come home. Except this time, I was going to tease you with a shirt that only barely covered my ass. And we'd get all competitive, like we always do. And I'd steal your controller. And you'd tackle me to get it back. And then I'd kiss you and we'd spend hours just making out," by the end her voice is hitching, small sobs coming out. "And we'd... we'd be in love and have all night to just enjoy each other's company."

"And now we can't have any of that. And I have to hurry up and share you," Sawyer sobs. "I don't want our first time to be under a countdown. It's not fair... I... I don't even get the whole night."

"Hey," I say, kissing the top of her head. "It doesn't have to be tonight. We can wait until it's special. We can just lay together if that's all you want."

"No... I do want to... you know," her voice lowers to a whisper, "have sex."

She takes a deep breathe. "I just wanted it to be special."

"Well, we still have power, so we could still do the video games. I'm sure we could convince mom to turn it on for an hour. And I'd love to see you in that shirt," I say, tilting her head up to meet mine. "And I'll get my controller back, no matter how much you squirm."

She grins at that, then leans into my chest. "That sounds nice. But... this is nice too. Let's just stay like this for a while, okay?"