We pull up to a closed gate with an intercom box next to it. Mr. Emerson rolls down his window and presses a button on the touch screen.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Emerson," a male voice says from the speaker on the intercom box.

"Hey Lance, open the gate?" Mr. Emerson says.

"Of course, sir. Have a great day." The gates slowly open, and Mr. Emerson drives the car through, onto a concrete driveway. He steers the car around one of those half circle driveways and stops.

"Here we are," he says, smiling back at us. I force a smile back, but it probably looks like a grimace.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Emerson," another male says and takes the keys from Mr. Emerson. Okay, where in the hell am I? "Well, hello. You must be Miss Annie and Mr. Austin," the same guy says, opening the door for us.

"Um, yes. And you are?" He smiles and helps me out of the car.

"Phillip, ma'am," he says. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Call me Annie."

He nods and moves over to the trunk.

"Shall I have Keith move these bags to their new rooms?" Phillip asks Mr. Emerson.

"No, thank you. We can do that," Mr. Emerson says. Phillip nods, then takes the suitcases out of the trunk. He places them onto the driveway and gets into the driver's seat to the Camaro. I watch him drive away, wondering who exactly I'm living with.

"Come on inside, Annie, Austin. I'll introduce you to the boys," Mrs. Emerson says. She places a hand around my shoulders and walks with me into the giant house in front of me. Actually, it's more like a mansion. Not even kidding.

"The boys?" Austin questions, and I look over at him.

"They apparently have seven boys." His eyes widen.

"Holy shit," he says, looking up at the house.

"You guys live here?" I finally croak out. She laughs, like I was joking, and leads us into the living room.

"Boys, get down here!" she says into an intercom system on a wall in the living room. You'd need something like that in a house as big as this. My goodness. I hear a bunch of mumbles from throughout the house, then heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

"What's up mom?" one of the boys says. He has brown hair and brown eyes. But he doesn't look really young, so I think that's Ryder. Maybe.

"Boys, this is Annie and Austin Cassidy," Mrs. Emerson says. "Remember how I told you they would be moving in with us?" All of their eyes snap over to us, like they just now noticed we were here.

"Damn," one of them mutters, staring at me. A guy with dirty blonde hair and blue green eyes. So that is.. Um.. Bradley?

"Welcome, Annie, Austin," another one says and steps towards me. He puts his hand out and I shake it hesitantly, Austin shakes his hand as well. "I'm Tyler."

"Nice to meet you," I mumble, feeling a bit claustrophobic.

"Could one of you please show Annie and Austin to their rooms?" Mrs. Emerson asks, smiling at her children.

"Of course," Tyler says with a smile. "Come along." He starts to walk out of the room. I adjust my duffel bag on my shoulder, and we follow after him, not willing to get lost in this maze of a house.

We walk into the foyer and over to a large staircase. How in the hell did I not see that when I walked inside? The stairs are set in the middle of the room, and at the top of the steps, the hallway splits into four directions.

"Look up," Tyler says. We do as he says and look up to see that two of the hallways loop around the foyer into a balcony. Holy shit. "Those doors right there above the main entrance, lead out to an outdoor balcony, and there are stairs that lead up to the roof."

"This house is amazing," Austin comments. Tyler nods and smiles.

"This is just the beginning. We haven't even made it to the second or third floor yet," he says. There's a third floor?

"There's a third floor?" Austin voices my thoughts.

"What floor is our rooms on?" I ask as we start to walk up the staircase.

"All of the bedrooms are on the second floor. The third floor is for the game room, movie room, the gym, the music room, the art room, and the trophy room," he explains. We stop at the landing and he turns down the second hallway on the right.

"Whose rooms are the ones around the balcony?"

"Carter's, Ryder's, Nick's, and mine," he says, stopping at the very last door on the right.

"Cause you're all the oldest?" He nods and pushes the door open to my new room.

It's huge! There's a queen-sized canopy bed in the middle of one wall. The frame is wood that's been painted white, and the curtains are white. There's a white comforter on the bed and white pillows at the top. The floors are a dark wood color and it has a white rug in the center. On the far wall is a balcony covered by white curtains, and next to the balcony doors is a white wood desk.

On the wall across from the bed, there's a big screen TV hung up on the wall, and two doors next to it. I'm guessing the bathroom and closet. Then, on the wall with the door, there's three large bookcases that go all the way up to the ceiling. The middle bookcase is full, but the other two are empty. And the walls are all light blue.

"Mom called us when you were sleeping on the plane and told us everything you liked," Tyler says with a smile.

"I was wondering how you knew." He chuckles and I notice he hasn't moved from the doorway.

"I'll be showing Austin his room, if you need anything. It's the door right across from yours. And mine is the first door along the balcony coming from the hallway," he explains. I nod and take a seat on my bed. He and Austin leave the room, shutting the door behind them. Then I notice my suitcases and boxes are set outside one of the two doors on the wall across from my bed. Time to unpack, I suppose.

I slide open the door, and gasp. It's a large walk-in closet. I mean, I'm constantly surprised by the things I find in this house. It has everything. I tug my suitcases into the empty closet and start to hang up the clothes inside.

"Annie?" a voice asks, followed by a soft knock on my door.

"Come in!" Mrs. Emerson steps into my room and looks around for a second, before she spots me in the closet.

"How do you like your room?" she asks, taking a shirt from my hands.

"It's amazing, thank you." She nods with a smile on her face and hangs the shirt up.

"Tomorrow, we are going shopping. We need to fill this closet up, honey," she says with a laugh.

"No, I could never ask you to do that for me." She shakes her head at me.

"I've been stuck with seven boys, not including my husband, let me have this," she says with a pout, making me laugh for the first time in a day.

"So, I'm going to be your dress up doll?" She chuckles and takes a pair of shoes out of my suitcase.

"Oh, you have good taste," she says. I look up to see her holding my leather ankle boots that have a peep toe and a three-inch heel.

"My mom got them for me for my sixteenth birthday." I almost choke on the word mom, and she notices. But she doesn't say anything.

"Do you know who designed these?" she asks, setting the shoes on the shoe rack on the far wall.

"No, why?" She smirks and walks back over to me.

"They're Golden Crown, by the one and only, Amy Emerson," she says and my head snaps towards her.

"No freaking way!" She laughs and nods. "Wow. Then, I love your clothing line. I just could never afford it."

"Oh, trust me, tomorrow you will have a closet full of my designs," she teases. "Well, I've got to go get some work done and check on Austin. I'll see you later, Annie."

"Okay, bye Mrs. Emerson." She stands up and looks at me.

"Please honey, call me Amy." And with that, she walks out of my room.

I finish hanging up my clothes, then tuck my suitcases in the back of the closet. Not even half of the closet is filled, but the way Mrs. Emerson talks, tomorrow it will be overflowing. I switch off the light to the closet and step out, shutting the door behind me.

I take a seat on my bed, and the tears start to fall. How could this have happened? Just yesterday we had our usual family night. Austin picked on me for thinking an actor in the movie was cute. My mom laughed at our innocent bickering. And my dad smiled at me when I tried to defend myself.

"Annie? I just wanted to-" a voice says and cuts themselves off. I quickly wipe my eyes and look up to see one of the boys staring at me in shock. "I'm so sorry. I should have knocked."

"No, no. It's okay." He slowly walks over to me, his hands stuffed in his pocket.

"Are you okay?" he asks, standing in front of me.

"Yeah, just you know, getting used to the big move." Lies. He nods and runs a hand through his blonde hair.

"Well, I was just coming to welcome you to the house. I was kind of in shock when I first met you," he says with a chuckle. "Anyways, I'm Carter."

"Nice to meet you. So far, I've only met you and Tyler."

"The others will come around," he says and takes a seat on the spinning chair at my desk. "So, where are you from?"

"Indiana." He nods and spins around in the chair, making me laugh. "What are you doing?"

"Spinning, of course." He laughs and comes to a stop. "I was also sent to fetch you for dinner."

"Oh, okay."

"Need me to show you the way?" Carter asks, standing up. I nod and follow him out of the room. I think I'm going to need a map to get around this house. I'm going to end up lost in Narnia or something.

Austin is seated at the large dinner table when I get down there. I take a seat next to Carter and another one of the boys. Austin is making conversation with a couple of the boys, but I can't find it in me to make a sound. I silently push my food around my plate, not really having an appetite.

—

"Annie, Austin, can I talk to you for a moment?" Mrs. Emerson asks after we finish eating. We both nod and follow her out of the kitchen.

"What's up?" She gives us a sad smile, and I know we're about to talk about my parents.

"The funeral date is in one week. There will be a showing the day before. You guys can have me, Derek, or even one of the boys go with you, if you'd like," she says.

"It's back in Indiana, right?" Austin asks, and she nods. "Does anyone besides you and Derek know why we're here?"

"No, that's your story to tell, dear," she says. Thank goodness.

"Then, would it be okay if you went with us?" I ask, and she nods quickly.

"Absolutely! But don't you even worry about a thing until Saturday. That's when we will be leaving," she explains to us.

"Okay. Well, thank you for letting me know."

"Of course. Do you want me to show you the way to your rooms?"

"Yes, please. I think I'm going to go to bed." She nods and leads me towards the stairs. Austin decides to go back to hang out with the boys.

"That's understandable," she says with a sad smile. We reach the landing and Carter's head pops out of his room.

"Hey, mom?" he says then notices me. "Oh, hey Indiana." He smirks and steps out of the room.

"Hey, Carter."

He smiles at me and walks up to his mom. "Can the band come over and rehearse tomorrow?" he asks. She sighs, but nods. "Awesome. Thanks!"

"You're welcome. But keep them in the music room, not spread out through the house," she scolds. He raises his hands in defense, a smirk on his face,

"Got it. Night mom, night Indiana." I wave to him as he walks back to his room.

"Night, Amy. See you in the morning."

"Good night, Annie," she says and leaves me in front of my room. I step into my room only to see Austin, Tyler, and two other boys sitting in there. One of them I believe is Charlie, since he looks like he's about six.

"Um, hello?" Their heads snap in my direction.

"Hey sis." Austin grins.

"Hey, Annie!" Tyler says, jumping up from my bed.

"Hey..." I trail off, wondering why they're in here.

"Sorry for just randomly being in your room, but I thought I'd introduce you to some more of the family," he says with a smile.

"Oh, okay."

"Right. So, this is Ryder," he says pointing to someone who looks almost identical to him. "And this is Charlie." Ryder glances up at me, gives a small wave, then looks back at his phone.

"Hi Annie," Charlie says walking up to me. "Will you hold me?"

"Aw, well of course!" I lift him into my arms and smile at him.

"It's past your bedtime, little man," Ryder says, deciding to join in on what was going on. He takes Charlie from my arms and gives me a half grin. "Night, Annie."

"Night, Ryder." He walks out of my room without another word. I look at Tyler and raise an eyebrow. He just shrugs.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he says and walks to the door. "Night, Annie." He walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. I sigh and throw myself onto my bed next to Austin. We survived the first day living with the Emerson's. Now only, you know, a lot more.

"I'm going to go change and then to sleep. Let me know if you need anything." Austin gives me a hug and leaves my room.

I stand up and walk over to some of the boxes I didn't unpack from earlier and take my iHome out of a box. I set it up on one of the levels on the bookshelf and place my iPod in it. The iPod turns on, and I scroll through my songs. I finally land on something and return to my spot on my bed. The words flow through my room, and I fall asleep thinking of two days ago, when my family was whole.