The girl swallowed hard. Now that the hero was standing in front of them he was a lot scarier than she’d bargained for. When he scowled, the scars on his face framed his eyes. Eyes that were the same amber color as her father’s. It was this similarity that pushed her to plow ahead with her plan. The hero’s foot tapped impatiently but her brother's hands clung to her shoulders, encouraging her. She could do this. Clenching her fist she met the hero’s eyes, refusing to flinch. She was witch eyed too. He didn’t scare her.

“Sir, my name is Serena. These are my brothers, Eli and Whit.” Heads bobbed with their names.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

She waited, staring at the giant man expectantly. When he didn’t say anything, but merely waved his hand at her to continue she cleared her throat. Slightly miffed at his rudeness she prompted

“What’s your name?”

None of the children expected his reaction. They leaned back in unison as the hero’s eyes bulged, his mouth dropping in shock. The only sound in the room was a fly buzzing near the window. The hero reared his head back.

“How did you manage to summon me without even knowing my blessed name?!” He demanded, his harsh voice causing Whit to cower behind her. Eli side stepped his sister, a broom handle appearing in his hands. Serena stepped on his foot, snatching the back of his collar.

“Don’t make him mad!” she hissed at her brother. Eli thrust his chin out mulishly. “He scared Whit,” He protested, leveling his broom handle at the man. Serena tightened her grip on his shirt.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it,” she argued, keeping an eye on the adult still standing in the circle.

“Stop it Eli, we need him to like us.”

Eli glowered at the man for a moment, before stepping back behind his sister, broom handle at the ready. The hero watched this entire exchange, the corner of his lip twitching. He inclined his head slightly towards Eli, causing the boy to puff up. Serena sighed, shoulders slumped, relieved the hero didn’t seem offended by Eli’s reaction. She held up the book for the hero to see.

“Your picture is in here. I just described you to the ritual.”

The hero stared in horror before shaking his head, clutching his temples with one hand. “You’re telling me,”he started slowly “ that you summoned me with nothing more than a sugar oval (it’s a circle! Eli protested) and a picture? (Don’t forget the candles, Whit chimed in) His eyes gleamed from between his fingers.

Serena was nonplussed.

“Yea? So?”

“How frightening,” the hero murmured. The siblings traded looks of confusion. What was so scary about summoning a hero? The hero’s next question brought them back to attention.

“You never answered my question? What’s going on?”

“You never answered my question,” Serena countered, arching an eyebrow.

“What’s your name?” She held his glare with one of her own. On either side of her the boys joined in the staring contest, doing their best to intimidate the man who insulted their circle. Their eyes began to water.

The hero’s lip twitched a bit more. Sensing weakness, Serena widened her eyes, ignoring the burn. The hero seemed to realize that this was not a battle he was going to win for he rolled his eyes skyward, eliciting a cheer from the boys.

“Dartmouth,” he revealed, when the cheers faded. “Dartmouth the Indomitable.”

“What does indomitable mean?” Eli whispered.

Whit shrugged. Serena ignored her brothers, instead scowling as she wracked her brain.

“I’ve never heard of you,” she declared with a huff, crossing her arms. This offended her greatly as she considered herself an expert on the ancient heroes. Every single book about heroes in their parents library had her fingerprints on them. Dartmouth the Indomitable wasn’t mentioned in any of them.

“Of Course You Haven’t!” Dartmouth exploded, exasperated. “The whole point of erasing my name from history was so you wouldn’t hear of me!’

He moved his hands from left to right as if moving a box.

“If you don’t know my name, you can’t summon me.” His arms spread wide in exasperation. “It was supposed to be as simple as that.”

Eli laughed, stalling any further ranting on Dartmouth’s part.

“Well that didn’t work,” the boy sniggered, leading Whit to burst into laughter. Dartmouth’s withering glare was wasted on them. Serena swatted both brothers on the head.

“Shut up!”

Both boys slapped hands over their mouths, muffling the snickers if nothing else. Serena pushed her glasses further up her face, refocusing.

“Why didn’t you want to be summoned?” She asked, curious.

Dartmouth folded his arms and glared. Grouchily he replied,

“I’m retired.”

“I thought only old people retired!” Eli burst out.

“He is old,” Whit answered. “See? He has a beard.”

Serena shot them a glare promising pain if they said anything else.(why did she ask for their help again?) Both boys mimed zipping their lips shut. Squaring her shoulders she faced the hero again.

“Sorry about that,” she apologized to the hero. Clearing her throat Serena plastered on her best sales woman smile (the one that failed to sell a single box of cookies.) Here goes nothing.

“So Mr. Dartmouth sir, here’s the thing. We need you to pretend to be our family to keep us out of foster care.” There, she said it.

On either side of her, the boys copied her grin. Terror shined in all three pairs of eyes.