Page 63 of Surviving in Everton

“You coming, boy?” she hollers from down the hall and I rush to catch up.

* * *

I head homewith everything we need for the potion. Now we just have to wait for Hudson to get the spell and hope it’s easy enough to undo. When I get there, I find everyone gathered around the table, where West is setting his equipment up. He brought a lot more than the computer he had yesterday. There are monitors spanning the length of the long table and I’m starting to see what Ayden meant when he said the dude was a computer freak. Each monitor has a different camera connected to it. I can see every inch of the bar. I don’t know if everyone was planning on watching, but I’m not about to subject myself or my love to the shitshow that’s going to go down. We’re getting out of here.

“Alright! Why don’t we go do somethin’? Keep our minds off what’s goin’ to happen tonight? There’s nothin’ we can do here. Might as well get out and distract ourselves. West, you good to watch the cameras by yourself?” At his assertive nod I go on. “Good. We’re leavin’. Rowe go get Violet and Logan. We’re goin’ out to dinner,” I order.

She raises her brows at me and I narrow my eyes in return.

“Please,A Stor.”

She sighs, but thankfully, leaves the room.

“Where are we going?” Ayden asks with a tilt of his head.

“The Hive,” I declare.

“Alright! We haven’t been there in forever! Rowen and Violet are gonna love it!” Ayden cheers, then suddenly stops and scrunches up his whole face. “Why haven’t we taken them yet?”

“Been a little occupied, I suppose. But better late than never.” I shrug.

Rowe walks back in, kids in tow. “You coming, Quinn?”

“Oh, uh… Nah that’s okay. I’ll stay here with West. Y’all have fun.”

Rowe gives her a knowing smirk but doesn’t say anything, just gives her a hug and waves goodbye. “Call us if anything happens, please.” She worries her bottom lip, eyes pleading the two of them.

“Of course we will, Rowe. Go have fun. Try not to stress too much. There’s nothing you can do until Hudson gets home. You might as well let these three distract you,” Quinn encourages with a wink.

Rowe just rolls her eyes at her. “West?”

“What she said,” he grunts with his thumb pointing at Quinn.

Rowen eventually decides it will actually be okay if we leave for a little bit and nods once in acceptance. “Alright then, let’s go. Where are you taking me?”

“Oh, no. It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait until we get there.” I smirk and drag her out of the house. A giggling Violet following us to the car.

Rowe and the kids spend the drive guessing where we’re going. Each guess getting more and more ridiculous.

“The school?” Violet asks from the backseat.

“No! The cemetery!” Logan chimes in spookily.

“You’re both wrong. We’re going to the dentist! They only serve healthy foods like vegetables!” Rowe intones eerily.

“Y’all are a bunch of loons.” I shake my head with a grin.

We finally pull up, the twins parking next to us. Rowe gets out and looks up at the sign.

“The Hive? What’s that?”

“The Hive?!” Logan gasps. “Oh my god! It’s been so long since we came here! You’re gonna have so much fun, Vi!”

“What is it?” she asks him, smile stretched across her face.

“Only the best place ever! Come on, I’ll show you!”

“Ahh. Wait! You know the rules.” I grab him by the collar of his shirt before he goes off running across the parking lot to the door.

---