Davion stood up as one of the boys asked, "Are you free tomorrow?"


    "I have to ask my parents," Davion said. "See ya."


    There was a chorus of farewells and waves as Davion walked away. Their conversation bounced around in his head, but he soon shoved them aside with the red cape fluttering around him. Once he entered the store, he quickly hunted down the groceries and found an open register. He pulled out the money from his pocket and silently paid. After packing up his groceries, he took a moment to check the time. His eyes widened at the sight of numerous missed calls.


    Huh? How did I miss Mom and Dad calling me? Did I accidentally put my phone on silent?


    Without missing a beat, he immediately called his mom back.


    In an instant, his mother''s loud voice rang in his ear. "Davion, where are you?"


    He grimaced as he asked, "I just bought everything. Is something wrong?"


    "It''s been over an hour. I told you to be back within an hour."


    Startled, he checked the time on his phone.


    She was right. It was now a bit over an hour since he left the house. Davion hadn''t even noticed how much time had passed. It hadn''t seemed long since he had only stopped to chat with his friends, and the store wasn''t far from where they lived.


    "Sorry, Mom," he said as he picked up the pace. "I''m coming home now."


    "No need. Your father is already on the way to pick you up. Wait for him," his mother said before she ended the call.


    At the mention of his father, Davion winced.


    With his father coming to pick him up, he had no choice except to wait for the man to roll up to the curb. While it meant he didn''t have to walk home, he was definitely going to get chewed out once his dad got there. Davion only hoped that his sister wasn''t coming too. After all, he was still wearing her red cape, and she wasn''t going to let it slide. Unfortunately, luck wasn''t on his side.


    As he saw the car coming up to the curb where he was rocking back and forth, he noticed that there was someone in the backseat.


    It was hard to see from a distance, and he could easily be wrong about there being someone else in the car with his father, but he had a feeling his sister had hitched a ride.


    When the car stopped in front of him, he could see his sister sitting in the backseat with her arms crossed, glaring at him.


    Oh boy. She''s mad.


    Seeing no point in avoiding the inevitable, he opened the backseat door.


    Davion was greeted with his twin sister shoving herself into his personal space as she demanded, "Why are you wearing my red cape? Give it back."


    Without giving him a chance to respond, she grabbed the front of the cape as if to rip it off of him. He choked on the feeling of the cape tightening around his throat and fell forward from the force. The grocery bag swung back and forth in his hands.


    "Let go," Davion managed to force out as he pushed against his sister.


    "Not until you give me back my red cape," she snapped.


    "This isn''t the time to be fighting. Everyone is waiting for us back home," their father called out from the front.


    Neither of them took notice and struggled against each other.


    Narrowing his eyes, their father turned around and snapped, "Stop. Now."


    This time they listened to his words and looked back at him. Upon seeing the fierce look on their father''s face, the siblings quickly scrambled into their seats and shut the door. Once everything was settled, their father faced the road and drove back towards their house.


    His twin sister didn''t waste this opportunity to hiss, "Give me back my cape."


    "I''ll give it back to you later," Davion hissed back.


    "No, I want it back now."


    "Alright, alright."


    He grumbled as he removed the cape and handed it over to her. She wordlessly snatched it away from him and inspected it carefully, looking for any signs of damage.


    "Seriously," he muttered.


    She just shot him a glare before continuing to thoroughly check the cape. Once she was satisfied with what she saw, she nodded and placed it in her lap. Then she turned her attention back to Davion.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "You''re lucky that you didn''t rip it," she said with a huff.


    "We''re the same size," he pointed out. "How would I rip it?"


    "I don''t know. Maybe it got caught on some branches or something."


    "Well, you now have your cape back."


    Rather than give him a response, his twin sister resolutely turned her head away. Davion simply rolled his eyes at her tantrum and looked toward the back of their father''s head.


    His father had been silent the entire time.


    Not wanting to change that, Davion kept silent and fiddled with his phone instead. Realizing that he had indeed turned off the sound on his phone, he raised the volume. Suddenly, loud barking filled the car, startling everyone. Davion jerked back, nearly dropping his phone, while his sister snapped her head in his direction. Their father, on the other hand, slammed on the brakes.


    Fortunately, he hadn''t been going very fast, so it didn''t do any serious damage.


    "What was that?" their father barked as he whirled around. "Who did that?"


    Davion wilted only to draw his father''s ire. The muscles in his father''s jaw twitched as he gave them a once-over.


    Then his father said, "Do not do that. Do you want us to get into an accident? Keep it down, or I''m confiscating it."


    Dad''s definitely in a bad mood. Things must have gone really badly with our relatives.


    He turned the sound back off. Fortunately, the rest of the trip remained uneventful as the car continued down the road.


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    That changed once the car got close to the house, and Davion saw that several relatives were outside shouting. He and his twin sister shared a glance before looking back at where their relatives were in the middle of an argument. With the door closed and the windows rolled up, he couldn''t quite hear what they were talking about.


    "Were they fighting before you came to get me?" Davion asked.


    His sister shook her head. "No, they were just fine earlier. Everyone had been getting along."


    Then why is everyone shouting?


    Once the car was parked, everyone got out. The rest of the family didn''t seem to notice their arrival and continued to bicker amongst themselves. The trio wisely kept to the sidelines and watched.


    "I can''t believe you. Why are you blaming me?" one of his aunts said.


    "Weren''t you supposed to be watching them?" another aunt shot back.


    Davion and his sister shared another glance.


    Who were they talking about?"


    He had a bad feeling.


    "How was I supposed to know they would wander off?" the first aunt asked. "Besides, it wasn''t my responsibility. It''s not like they''re my kids."


    The second aunt snapped. "What did you say? How can you talk about your nieces and nephews like that?


    "It''s because they''re my nieces and nephews. Why is it my job to watch your kids? I didn''t sign up to be your babysitter."


    Their father seemed to have had enough and stormed over. "What''s going on here?"


    The crowd turned their attention to him, and one of the uncles said, "Some of the kids vanished on us. We don''t know where they are."


    "Are you certain they aren''t hiding somewhere or taking a nap?"


    "None of us have seen them anywhere," another uncle said.


    "How many kids are missing?"


    "Three of them," the first aunt said. "Maybe if someone had been properly watching them, this wouldn''t have happened."


    Noticing her pointed glare, the second aunt snapped, "I was busy helping out. What''s your excuse?"


    "Enough!" Their father''s shout silenced everyone. "This isn''t the time to be fighting. We have to find them. Does anyone have any clues on where they could have gone?


    Before anyone could speak, Davion''s mother stepped outside with a fierce look on her face.


    "Davion, you''re finally here," she said as she stormed towards him. "Get over here and give me the groceries. The food isn''t going to be ready because you took too long."


    Davion silently handed the bag over. She peeked into the bag and nodded when she was satisfied with what she saw. When she looked up, she finally noticed that something was off and frowned.


    "What''s going on? Why is everyone gathered here?" she asked.


    One of Davion''s cousins blurted out, "Some of the kids are missing, and we''re trying to find them."


    "Huh? Who''s missing?" After hearing the names of the kids that had vanished, she had an odd look on her face. "Didn''t they go out with your grandparents?"


    Everyone blinked.


    What?


    "They mentioned it to me earlier that they wanted to go out and have some fun outside. They promised to be back in time for lunch," she clarified.


    So that''s what happened. At least it wasn''t a kidnapping.


    Normally, his thoughts wouldn''t jump to kidnapping, but there had been an incident recently where a kid got abducted. There had been a notification and everything.


    "Why didn''t you say anything?" the second aunt demanded.


    Bewildered, his mother said, "I didn''t think it was a big deal. It''s not like the kids were wandering off on their own. They have two adults with them."


    No one could argue against that. If they did, it would be like saying they couldn''t trust Davion''s grandparents to babysit kids. If that happened, his grandparents might not offer to watch the kids again.


    After a long stretch of silence, Davion''s father coughed into his fist. "Anyway, we should all head inside. Standing around out here doesn''t look good."


    "But what about the others?" one of Davion''s cousins asked. "They still haven''t come back."


    Several people frowned.


    That was true. Davion''s grandparents had promised to return with the kids when it was time for lunch, but they were nowhere to be seen. He certainly hadn''t seen anyone when his father drove them back. It would be hard to miss an elderly couple and several hyperactive kids.


    "Maybe we should go look for them," the first uncle muttered.


    "Who? Everyone?" the first aunt asked.


    After some discussion, it was decided that most of the adults and older kids would go to look for them. The rest would be left behind in the house. Davion and his sister were part of the group that stayed behind along with their mother. His mother intended to finish cooking the lunch and wanted to rope some kids to help, which happened to include himself.


    Unable to deny his mother, he worked alongside her with several others. It was almost an hour later before everyone started trickling back in.


    Apparently, his grandparents had taken the three kids to the nearby park to play. It wasn''t anything new as they had done it before. The problem was that they hadn''t brought their phones with them, so they hadn''t been able to keep an eye on the time or call the rest of the family to let them know, which caused the entire mess to begin with.


    He tuned them out as he focused on eating his meal.


    It tastes good. As expected of Mom.


    As he was about to take another bite, he froze when he heard one of his cousins say, "We saw a big dog."


    It was a good thing he hadn''t taken a bite, or else he would have choked.


    However, the food fell off his fork and dropped back onto the plate as he looked toward his cousin, who continued on without noticing Davion''s reaction. "I mean really big. It was black and had yellow eyes. We were so scared. We thought it was going to bite us."