“Do you know why you’re here today?”

Lewis and Simone were sitting in the schoolhouse, across from Mrs. Reid. Usually, she seemed stressed and obnoxious, but today she just seemed tired. That worried the Terrowin parents. After all, there could be only one reason she was this way.

“Janus and Lila,” Lewis said as he sat back. Outside, the sky was dark and the wind whipped around. Lightning flashed across the sky as the storm that had been raging from early in the morning pressed on.

Mrs. Reid took a deep, deep breath, and exhaled. “We didn’t have recess today, so we suggested an indoor activity. It was such a simple idea, but…it went so horribly wrong.”

—

[Earlier that day]

Sheets of rain slammed into the poor schoolhouse, sending a roaring sound throughout the building. They were lucky that the renovations had gone well, and that the building could hold up against these violent summer storms. Learning was important, and even a single missed day could effect a child for decades to come. At least, that was what Mrs. Reid thought.

There was at least one thing she was correct in assuming, though, and that was children needed to play in order to learn. Recess wasn’t an option, she she had a small class gathering to see what they would do in it’s stead.

“Board games!” Everett said as he raised his hand.

“Personal study,” Lucas replied. “Though…that might just be for us older kids.”

Mrs. Reid seemed quite okay with that. The older children didn’t need to get physical to expend their energy. “That’s quite fine. Lucas and Ezili, you can lead the rest to the library if you so choose.”

Alshaya huffed, “Board games are boring. Lila wins at them all anyway…”

“There are more kids than just Lila,” Mrs. Reid replied. “What about you, Pearl?”

The bratty girl gave a smug look. “I think we should play without the Terrowin kids. Nobody likes them anyway.”

“What did you say!?” Alshaya exclaimed, standing up. “I outta-”

“Calm down!” Mrs. Reid replied. “Do I need to bring your parents in, missy?”

Alshaya grumbled. “No…” She didn’t want to deal with the repercussions again. “As long as that ugly Pearl keeps her mouth shut about my brothers and sisters.”

This was the first year that the Terrowin twins were at the school. They were constantly a problem for Mrs. Reid only because of how smart they were. Simone sat back in the seat and she had her hands to her head as she tried to get rid of what would become a pain of a headache.

“Don’t be ups–” Mrs. Reid oddly was trying to comfort them but Simone put her hand up.

“I’m not upset. The children are fine,” She looked to Lewis. “I can feel that every single one of them are fine. Which means they are playing a game.”

Mrs. Reid tilted her head at them, “I’m aware these two are two out of four of your biological children… Is there anything that we should know about them?”

“We submitted all the paperwork on it,” Simone said dryly. “Their magic is strong and they are strong-headed. There was one thing until recently that we didn’t disclose because it posed a risk for all of us but…” She winced as she heard a shriek of terror. “…” She sighed heavily. “Janus and Lila are very special exceptions to children. This goes beyond what parents tend to say. Think of our knowledge like a well… and that Janus and Lila can pull from it. They’ve been able to do it since they were born. It was very recently we had to cut them off… If we were still connected we could find them with no problem. However, they are developed well past that of the average five-year-old… They are probably dumbing themselves down to stay in with kids their age.” Simone explained.

“How is that possible?”

“Anything is possible when magic is involved. That’s how they were born after all. I’m pretty sure they won’t hurt any of them. Despite the screams… The twins are probably just playing with them… However, Pearl is the one I’m worried about. They don’t like her and they haven’t since Shaya would come home vocally complaining about her. She didn’t say anything recently… Did she?” Mrs. Reid could tell that Simone was being utterly serious and that terrified her.

“She said that no one would play with the Terrowins because they weren’t liked,” Mrs. Reid sat back. “Is Pearl in danger?”

“I doubt it. If they wanted to hurt her she would have been hurt already.” Simone felt relieved but… She looked at Lewis… “We should call Xeik. He could find them…”

–

[earlier]

“You should,” Lila smirked.

“Be very careful,” Janus tilted his head.

“What you say about our family,” They finally said it together.

“You know what Momma said about hurting others,” Lynette was quick on the draw as she looked at the twins.

“Who said anything about hurting them?” Lila tilted her head. “After all… We want to play a game.” With that, the twins were suddenly gone and all the kids but the Terrowins were screaming bloody murder.

“Where did they go?!” Pearl was upset as she stood up.

“The game we chose is hide and seek.” Lila was standing on Pearl’s desk not even a few inches from her face. Again the girl screamed and this time she fell back.

“The rules are simple~” Janus was sitting on the opposite side of his sister.

“Don’t get caught. If you get caught you get our penalty… Ready…”

“Hide,” Lila’s face had a sadistic grin as all the candles but a few blew out and the schoolhouse became dark. Screams filled the halls as slowly one by one the children were caught.

“Why are you both worried?” Pearl looked at Everett and Alshaya who were reading by candlelight.

“Because they were told not to hurt you so they won’t. They don’t like being grounded,” Alshaya said dryly.

“The more you react to them the worse they are going to get,” Everett let out a sigh as he filled through a cookbook.

“You two aren’t playing by the rules,” Lila and Janus spoke together as they appeared not even a few feet from them holding hands. “Penalty.” Alshaya and Everett looked up at them before they found themselves kicking and screaming into the shadows.

Pearl shrieked and ran out of the room and down the corridor. “Do you think we’re going too far?” Janus looked at his sister.

“Mommy said not to hurt the other kids~ Our siblings aren’t included,” Lila gave a smirk.

“True,” Janus sighed. “It’s almost nap time. Let’s hurry this up.” They disappeared again.

The darkness spread across the schoolhouse in an instant, and terror filled the hearts of the kids as they ran.

There had always been something off about the Terrowin kids, but the twins Janus and Lila had been in a league of their own. They were always quiet and unnerving. They seemed to always have the right answers, yet they rarely seemed interested in any of the topics at hand. There were times that the kids swore up and down that they vanished, but whenever Mrs. Reid went to look for them, they were merely around the corner.

When the twins offered to play games, Lila was always two steps ahead of the kids, outwitting them at every turn. Janus never seemed interested in doing anything but sleeping, yet even with his eyes closed he seemed aware of what was happening around them. The twins, in all cases, were freaks to everyone.

Neither of the twins seemed to care about this, but today…well, today they were bored. And the game had been set.

The first few were easy. They were frozen in terror. Janus stepped in front of them, an evil grin across his face. “Well, well…it seems like you don’t want to play. What a shame…” He snapped his fingers, and one of them was dragged off into the darkness. Lila’s giggling could be heard, and the second child started to run.

“Oh? You want to play now?” Janus asked as he moved to intercept, stepping in front of him. “Poor boy…you’ve already been caught…” The darkness seemed to pulse around the boy, and his terrified scream was cut short as shadows enveloped him.

“Lila…what was that song?” he asked as his sister appeared next to him. “The one that Momma used to sing…” He smirked. “I think it would be fun to hum that…”

“I agree,” Lila replied with her own sadistic grin.

The two took each other’s hands, and started to hum a friendly tune that echoed through the school halls.

Mrs. Reid had been struggling to find her way when the rooms went dark, and finally she managed to light a candle. The classroom was empty, and the twins and children were nowhere to be found.

—

Lewis sighed, and stood up. “I’ll be back in a few minutes…just…try not to panic, please.” He walked out of the room, and as the door shut there was another scream. Another child had been caught. Mrs. Reid seemed very nervous at the scream, but Simone half-heartedly smiled.

“They’re fine…I promise.”

Seconds passed achingly slow, and finally Lewis walked in, with a tired looking Xeik walking in after.

“Okay…so, tell me again? Janus and Lila are what now?”

Simone stood up and looked at Xeik, “The first thing they decided to do was this… After all, we can no longer watch what they're doing at all times… They seem too bored…” She frowned a bit up at Xeik. “They…”

The shrieks started up again, “Are playing hide and seek with the kids… The kids are unwilling… Also, it appears as if the twins have turned this into a haunted house of sorts. They are using their magic to torment them.”

“Mama!” Fiori yelled as she tried to get into the doorway of the room.

“Fiori!” Lewis and Simone yelled together.

“Help!” A shadow reached up around her and yanked her back. Simone ran to grab her but it was too late.

“That’s against the rules,” Lila and Janus’s voice rang out. “Penalty.”

“See?” Simone waved her arms. “That was teleportation magic…” She looked up at Xeik, “Can you tell where they are taking them?”

Lewis rolled his eyes as Fiori was dragged off. The twins were being overdramatic. If they could only put that kind of effort into anything productive, the world could have been a much better place. Instead…

I can’t help but be a little proud of them for their creativity, Lewis thought to Simone.

Xeik walked around the room, looking at the walls in a weird way. Mrs. Reid started to say something, but was sushed by Lewis, which got a glare from the teacher. Still, the Divine Mender walked around more, and smirked.

“Did you check the basement?” he asked, looking to the teacher.

“I checked every room in this building,” she replied haughtily. “But as I recall, there are no basements. There was one in the old schoolhouse before it was renovated, but the new design got rid of the entire stairwell.”

Xeik smirked, “Well…there’s a massive amount of life in the basement. My best guess is that all of the captured kids are there.” He looked at Lewis. “Can I go now? I was in the middle of a nap with Mia and Myrri….”

“Sure, since we know where they are now,” Simone waved her hand.

“That doesn’t solve how we’re going to get there,” Mrs. Reid tapped her foot.

“Now that I know the general direction creating a portal to it is easy,” Simone answered lightly. Grabbing Lewis and Mrs. Reid she portaled them into a room full of laughter and light. The kids were having the time of their lives.

Matter of fact… “Is that the rug that went missing?” Simone narrowed her eyes on the floor.

“Yeah… That is the rug that went missing…”

“Is that the end tables from the family room that we were told were broken beyond repair?” Simone turned her eyes elsewhere.

“…Yup…”

“Mama!” Alshaya was crying from a pole on the ceiling with her brother not that far from her. “Help us!”

“How did you two get up there?” Simone didn’t seem too concerned.

“Penalty,” the twins answered as they dropped the last of the kids into the room. There were fresh cookies and tea.

“Are you stealing my tea?” Simone made a face. “And Glyn’s cookies?”

“No, we asked for the cookies. The tea we made ourselves,” Lila answered.

Simone crossed her arms as Lewis felt the anger gauge filling. There were so many other things that had gone missing or they were told they were broken.

The twins had made something quite unique out of the derelict basement. What had once been a place for storage had turned into something of a fun house, with toys, chairs, and tables laid out as if a part had been planned. When it came to Janus and Lila, it was likely that the party was indeed planned out.

It was hard not to be impressed with the thought and effort that had gone into it, but Lewis could feel the anger rising in Simone’s heart. It was understandable. He was pretty pissed about it too, but the reality was that it was something that he would have done in his past had he been given the opportunity to do it. Instead, he had to play the parent, and at least pretend to not be amused at the whole thing.

Which, with Simone’s rage feeding in through the resonance, wasn’t quite too difficult.

“What exactly do we have here?” Lewis asked, crossing his arms to look intimidating. His own questions as interrupted by Simone’s, and the twins answered about the cookies and the tea.

“So…you planned all of this…why?”

Janus shrugged. “The kids didn’t like us. So…we came up with an idea to make them like us.”

“By scaring the shit out of them?” Lewis asked.

Janus grinned. “Can’t give it away for free, now can we?”

“We were bored. It sucks having to pretend to be dumb all day,” Lila shrugged her arms.

“Why do you have to pretend to be dumb?” Simone was tapping her foot.

“Because it would make Momma sad if we became grown up too fast,” the twins spoke with sincerity as Simone’s face dropped a bit.

Her anger leveled off and she sighed a bit, “My babies are always looking out for me.” Simone looked around. “You shouldn’t have stolen from us.”

“We didn’t think you would approve,” Lila spoke up.

“Yeah…” Janus looked away shyly.

“You are right… We probably wouldn’t have… But wouldn’t it have been easier to invite the children to the island?”

“They were too scared of us… So we had to force them.” Lila and Janus acted together and looked at everyone.

“So… again… You did it by scaring the shit out of them?” Simone sighed a bit.

“There is a toll to pay!” Lila did a little dance.

“You two are so cool! We had no idea you had something like this!” One of the kids yelled at them.

“You should see our playroom!” Lila yelled in excitement. “Mommy and Daddy bring stuff back for us from all over the world! We even have a playground!” The other kids looked at them in awe.

“That no one will be allowed on for a while because you two are going to be grounded~,” Simone said coolly. “Lewis, I’ll cut you catch.” From her thigh flew two daggers cutting their two kids down. Lewis caught them with ease.

“Where’s Fiori?” Simone crossed her arms.

“In the closet…” Lila pointed.

“Is that Rez’s?” Simone was shocked.

“He said he didn’t need it anymore so we’re using it as a mud closet so people don’t get our rug dirty…”

Lila tilted her head, “We wanted to invite the people here when it rained. We don’t mind sharing. We just wanted people to respect our siblings.”

Janus and Lila seemed downtrodden a the fact that they were going to be grounded. Neither one of them had really expected to get away with this endeavor, but the act of getting into trouble was still disappointing. But, the bright side was already shining through. Most of the kids had already changed their opinions about the Terrowin children, but there seemed to be an issue.

As Lewis grabbed Fiori out of the closet (she clung to her father for a good few minutes before letting go), Mrs. Reid counted out the children, and her face paled.

“Where…where is Pearl?” She looked around, panicked as she tried to recount. Surely enough, the brat of a girl was still missing.

Lewis and Simone looked at the twins with a stern gaze.

“Oh her?” Lila asked innocently. “She kept whispering at how she was going to find the ultimate hiding spot. It was a stupid spot. So we just left her there.” She smirked. “Oh…but we did drag a few of the kids screaming past her. The look on her face was great…”

Janus grinned, “Bet she thinks she’s the only one alive still.”

“Were you ever going to get her?” Lewis asked.

“Probably not,” Lila replied. “She was never nice to Shaya…”

Simone looked at the two of the twins and sighed, “Where did you two get your deviousness from…?”

“You and Daddy…” Lila answered easily.

“That was a silly question,” Janus giggled.

“Is it true that you find almost all your kids?!” One of the kids finally spoke up to Simone and Lewis.

“Well… They find us most of the time. Everett was delivered to us in a basket, we found Shaya under a tree, Fiori was brought to us by a family friend, Lucas we saved from pirates, Ezili spit water out at Lucas when they were out for a walk, Rex found his biological father by accident and ended up with us…” She looked up at Lewis and smiled. “We’ve had quite the adventure finding our kids. Mira stowed away on the ship back to our island…” She recounted a few more child-friendly tales and the kids were in awe.

“And you just love them?!”

“We love all of them. We make time for them every day and if they want more time we make that time too. There’s a reason why we do business with our friend… So we can have time for the kids.”

“My dad… just shoves me on a nanny,” one of the little girls looked upset.

Simone sighed a bit and knelt by her, “Mine too… Which is why I said I would be different. You can be different too.” She booped the child’s nose.

Rubbing her neck Simone tilted her head, “We’ll pay to restore the stairwell… As well as supplying this room from now on for rainy days.”

Lila and Janus’s eyes were large, “REALLY YOU MEAN IT?”