The sound of siblings screeching from the floor below awoke Rae. The sun slipping through the blinds of the window above his night stand wrapped across his cheeks, as he reluctantly opened his eyes. Rae was not fond of the morning, at least before he had his coffee. He had a penchant for both insomnia and difficulty falling asleep, as well as trouble waking and focusing early in the morning. Rae rolled on his side to begin his ceremonial procedure for eventually leaving the warmth of his bed. As he slowly came too, and the hair fell from the front of his face, his eyes began to focus across the room to Jamie's bed.

"Empty?" Rae thought, in his groggy state.

He was alone in the room and it took a moment for him to realize he had likely slept much longer than he intended. If Jamie was already awake, then he had not "Risen Early", as he had promised Fulbrik yesterday evening.

"Oh shit... how long did I sleep in?" He immediately sat up looking at his alarm on his phone, which he must have turned off in his early morning haze. He raised his eyebrow in annoyance. "I really have to start putting this across the room so I have get up to turn it off..."

Luckily, the time was only 7:30 AM, which made sense to Rae as he could still hear his siblings in the distance. The younger kids were likely now preparing for their return to elementary school, as their school year started back a day before his.

"Not too late, surely they stayed put," Rae thought to himself nervously. He imagined the possible grumpy look of doom a certain hungry Prince might have on his face.

He shot out of bed, and immediately began to change from his pajamas. He scrambled to slam on his jeans, tie his sneakers, and dawn his favorite hoodie. The garment was golden brown with large pockets on the front side and an over-sized hood, which was the perfect length to hang over Rae's face and obscure his unwanted ears. He had several others but this one was special to him. It was as a gift from Abi for his 16th birthday, and it had become somewhat of a security blanket for him during periods of high stress.

Rae practically tripped over himself as he ran down the stairs. "Please don't let them be seen..." Rae thought, as he mulled over the possibility of having to explain hiding two strange Alien boys in Jamie's fortress of solitude.

After all, he had just patched things with his kid brother the night before by teaching Jamie to play a new song on his guitar. Rae loved music, he wasn't very good at it, but he knew how to play a few tunes. And as with many things that Rae loved, so too did Jamie. So, this had been an inconspicuous method to prevent the kid from wanting to go to the shed the night prior. As well, it had been a good opportunity for Rae to apologize to Jamie, for catching him with the Tranqs, and doing it without having to address his transgression directly.

Elva had already left for work, as usual. She ran her own small business as an electrician in partnership with several other local professionals. It was very good money for a single woman, but their family was still on the lower side of the working class, since she had opted to take in eight foster children. As a result of their family structure, it was usually up to Rae and Elissa to take care of the younger children when she wasn't there.

"HELLO?!" Elissa snapped at Rae, with an annoyed look and frazzled hair. She was extremely irritated at her eldest brother for getting to sleep in, and leaving her to wrangle these kids by herself. "It's ok..." she said smugly, with a look of impending revenge in her eyes. "Don't you worry, I'll collect your debt from you later." She flashed a grin at Rae thinking about the best way to extract a favor from him.

"See ya later bro!" yelled Jamie. The red-headed kid held a cereal bar in his mouth, and he waved running past Rae to be the first out the door.

Elissa had just finished prepping the kids for their first day back to school. The youngest two siblings, Michael and Shelly, were 6 and 7 years old respectively, and they were constantly messing with each other.

The three middle children Brent, Carly, and Angela were 8, 9, and 10 years old. They were not nearly as timid as Michael, nor as rambunctious as Shelly, nor as energetic as Jamie, nor as social as Elissa; but, they each had their own unique traits and place in their family.

Rae often jokingly referred to his five youngest siblings as the "brat series" because their ages ranged in sequential order. Or sometimes just "brats", though this was a term of endearment and not an insult. He also sometimes thought of a kind of game where each of his siblings would represent the emotions of a single person.

For Michael he picked Shyness.

For Shelly he picked Obstinance.

For Brent he picked Happiness.

For Carly he picked Thoughtfulness.

For Angela he picked Pride.

For Jamie he picked Exuberance.

For Elissa he picked Composure.

But for himself... for himself —he had always picked Sadness.

Elissa grabbed her bag off the counter, and pushed all the rest of her younger siblings out the door.

"Shelly stop punching him!" She barked, as she removed her little sister from the sneak attack the little girl had launched on Michael. "I don't care what he—" Her voice trailed off as they got out of earshot from Rae.

Rae quickly looked around him to make sure all the kids had gone with Elissa. Then he glanced out the screen of the back door towards the shed. "No movement..." he thought. "Wait, what the—?"

Rae pressed up against the back door to get a closer look, and saw a bobbing mass of jet-black hair sticking up through the small rectangular window, beneath the slanted roof of the shed. He watched as it quickly disappeared out of view, and then reappeared, repeating several times in quick succession.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Rae said aloud, his eyebrows furling. His ears twitched in agitation at how easily the Aliens in his shed could have just exposed themselves. "They are so going to get caught. I haven't even had my coffee yet! It's too early for me to deal with bullshit!"

Rae opened the screen door, and hurried out into the back yard to prevent a potential disaster.