She pressed her cold lips to the warm flesh of her underarm and waited. The shimmering geometric owl tattooed on her skin remained still on the underside of her wrist. She had half expected it to take flight for all the mystery surrounding the Owl King's infamous mark. But the tattoo remained as unhelpful as the wind whistling through the deathly-white birch trees surrounding her on all sides.
Ana sighed, a long puff of smoke giving a body to her disappointment. She turned back to face the direction of the log cabin, about to call out, when the snap of a twig broke the silence. The young women jumped a foot in the air and whirled around to face the noise.
The man leaning against the birchwood पेड़ clashed with the freshly fallen snow and crisp evening air. His frayed wool कोट fell past his knees, the sleeves past his palms. It added a burly layer over his three piece suit, the pants too short as to reveal his blue polka dot socks. He had let the stubble Ana remembered from the night in the alley become a dark ragged beard that thickened his jawline and molded perfectly into his unkempt brown hair.
"Owl-"
"I told आप that just Wil is fine."
Ana stepped back as the man twice her age came away from forlorn shadows and into her sliver of sunlight. His voice was soft and clear, not nearly as ragged as his appearance. It was the same soothing tone as his brothers', as if they had all learned it from their father's persuasive speeches growing up. Except on the eldest brother, it seemed like a भालू with the voice of an Adonis.
"Why did आप call me here? आप don't seem to be in any danger. Unless you're afraid of the dark?"
"I wanted to talk to you," Ana replied, instead of rising to his teasing. She turned and headed back toward the cabin. "I hope I didn't take आप away from anything important. It was the only time I could get आप all together.”
"Us all?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The scene within the warm walls of the केबिन made Ana stop short. She had expected the men she had left behind to be stretched out on the couches in front of the massive fireplace, feet up on the coffee table, sipping scotch like proper pompous European aristocrats.
Instead Cal was standing in blue jeans and a flannel on the dining room table, half swinging from the crystal chandelier.
"Found it," Marcus Antoni called. He emerged from the kitchen, his navy कोट leaving a trail of glitter as he half slid across the polished wooden floor in his dress-socks. There was a tiny raindrop shaped lightbulb delicately grasped between his fingertips. Then Marcus noticed the redhead out of the corner of his eye and froze: his arm lifting the crystal bulb toward the man balancing on his tippy toes with a hand grasping the chandelier and the other reaching for the bulb. They could have been Michelangelo's Adam and God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, if Adam had frosted tips and God was tumbling off the dining room table.
"CALLAGAHAN!" Ana screamed. A freezing breeze brushed the back of her neck, then Wil was there with his arms outstretched toward his younger brother, just before they both ended up in a sprawling heap on the floor. Marcus jumped at the deafening thud of the two grown men hitting the floor, and the small bulb shattered on the floor with a startling finality.
Ana looked from the brothers groaning on the floor to the one standing bewildered and empty handed. She sighed and headed for the kitchen. "I'll go get some ice."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Wil pressed a pack of फ्रोज़न peas to his chin and glanced across the सोफ़ा, सोफे to the curly-haired man leveling a dark-blue, ice cold stare. “Why are आप glaring at me, little brother?”
Marcus’ face turned red as his anger, but he looked away without a word. He crossed his arms where he sat on the arm of the couch, one long leg crossed over the other.
“Relax, Marcus,” Cal muttered from where he sat between them with his head tipped back on the couch, an ice back resting on his forehead. “It’s not like he pushed me off the table.”
“Well he didn’t catch आप either,” he grumbled.
“What’d आप want me to do, Marky Mark?” Wil snapped. “Use my ‘superpowers’ to freeze time? I got over to him as quickly as I could. It’s not my fault that Dad-Bod over here is so heavy.”
“What Dad-Bod—” Cal protested.
“Why not a time-slowing spell?” Marcus shouted unrelentingly, “You’re the strongest warlock in our family. आप could have been helpful if आप had actual experience in that area instead of just disappearing every time things get hard!”
“Okay, that’s it, I’m out,” Wil growled, standing from the couch.
“No, you’re not,” the brother beside him demanded with an iron that startled the others into silence. “Sit down, Wilhelm,” Cal continued with a calmer tone, giving the standing man’s कोट a harmlessly gentle tug. “We’re all on the same side here, our histories regardless.”
After one last moment of defiance, Wil fell onto the सोफ़ा, सोफे with a sigh. He stuck his tongue out at his attacker, who rolled his midnight blue eyes, but remained wordless, as if he had gotten out whatever frustration had led to his outburst.
A loud clap made all three startle out of the moment. The redhead द्वारा the fireplace was smiling with a गुलाबी in her cheeks put there द्वारा the roaring आग and her thick coat. “Well, I’m glad you’re all getting along. I’ll see आप around.”
“What? But आप just got here!” Marcus exclaimed, earning four raised eyebrows from the young men on the couch. His cheeks grew redder than Ana’s as he pressed his lips together sheepishly. Ana smiled as if untouched द्वारा the outburst’s obvious emotion. “I know, I’m sorry. But my work here is done. आप three have enough knowledge about your father to figure out how to dethrone him as General. You’re thoroughly equipped, आप just need to talk it out and figure out your plan. Once आप do, I’m happy to help आप execute it, if आप really need it, okay?”
The others nodded, Marcus joining last, as if she had really दिया them an option. “I’ll walk आप out,” Cal offered, getting up from the couch. He glanced back to make sure the other didn’t instantly turn on each other, but Wil had become distracted द्वारा the glittering bottles of golden and clear liquids behind the couch, while Marcus’ cheeks still burned red as he avoided watching the girl leave.
Ana turned back as she stepped into the dimming winter light. Cal shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned in the doorframe. “You sure आप have to leave me alone so quickly with these wild animals?”
Ana laughed and flicked the forest green scarf over her shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Cal. I doubt those two will get as loud as your 6-month-olds. You’ll be a good leader to them.”
“Wait, leader?”
“Goodnight, Callaghan,” she called as she turned around with a smile in her voice. In the अगला moment she disappeared as if she had never been there at all.
“Goodnight,” he replied quietly, then turned to head back inside where he could hear his brothers laughing quietly over glasses of Scotch. “Guys, good news, mom left me in charge!"