• Autumn lay sprawled across the raggedy black sofa, a browning maple leaf tangled in his burnt orange hair as his snores echoed across the large living room and into connecting rooms across the seemingly endless house. Autumn managed to always get comfortable, no matter what position he lay in. Today, for instance, was a strange spread eagle look with one of his legs up over the arm of the old couch while his other somehow managed to get on the coffee table that sat close to the couch itself. One of his caramel arms sat against the back of the couch, barely visible between the cushions while the other was on the floor, his torso slumping toward the hardwood while his head was barely scraping it. Autumn snorted in his slumber, his eyes half opened before he tried to adjust himself, which landed him on the floor with a somewhat loud ‘Thump!’ and, as if not caring at all, he fell back to sleep.
    “For goodness sakes, Autumn!” Spring managed to make a last minute graceful jump over her brothers sprawled limbs and the coffee table which hand managed to slide a few inches from its original position next to the couch. “I get it, you’re tired, but do you have to be tired here and now?” She rolled her green eyes and made her way to a rather loud room in the corner of the living room.
    The door swung open as Spring arrived at it, a younger girl managed to balance a pile of papers as Spring once again managed to dodge another collision. She huffed before closing the door behind her, mumbling under her breath.
    “Autumn, we gotta talk,” the girl placed the stack of papers on the table, standing up straight and shaking out her wrist. She pushed up her glasses up to her crystal blue eyes. “I know you’re worked out, but to be honest, you can’t be lazy with your weather forums.”
    Autumn managed to open one burnt orange eye, though his eyelids felt like an elephant was sitting on them. He sat up as if someone had raised him from the dead. “Winter,” He groaned, rubbing his head and taking the maple leaf out of his hair. He stared at it confused for a moment before tossing it aside. “What did I do now?”
    Winter sighed, taking out a brush and sitting behind her older brother. She pointed to the forums before she started the task of de-leafing his hair. “I don’t know, Autumn,” she said lightly. “Something about it being five thousand degrees next week in Atlanta sounds a little wrong to me.”
    “Oh, Winter please!” Autumn groaned loudly as the brush went over a knot in his hair. “You know what I mean! And I sent my forums to you so you can fix ‘em if I messed up.” He rested his head on her knee as she picked an acorn from his hair. She silently made a note to herself never to ask how anything got in his messy mound he called hair. “Besides, not everyone’s as ahead of the crowd like you are.”
    Summer strode in from the kitchen, wearing his signature Hawaiian swimming trunks. He sat across from the two on the couch, grabbing the remote and flicking up the volume on the large screen television. “I think we all need to stay ahead of the crowd, Autumn,” he said, taking a deep breath and leaning back. He winked at Winter, smirking as he turned his attention back to the television. “Winter here has a lot of wiggle room when it comes to what her weather.”
    “But work,” Autumn yawned, his eyes closing again, “makes me sleepy.”
    Summer chuckled and tilted his head back, taking a breath before shouting “Spring! Come here! Dad’s about to come on!”
    Spring poked her head out of the loud room, looking somewhat frustrated. “You don’t have to yell,” she said, walking over and sitting down lightly on the love seat across from her siblings. Her long hair splayed out across the arm of the chair. She took a deep breath, looking over at her brothers and sister. “Are we sure about this?” She asked quietly.
    “What?” Summer and Autumn asked in unison. Winter looked up with a blank stare.
    “This,” Spring motioned to the television. The news was screening what would be one of the most important UN meetings in the history of the world. Secrets would be brought to light that no one in the world would expect. “This whole situation. I mean, are we ready for this? Are we really ready?”
    Summer looked at her, then at Autumn. “We agreed we were years ago,” he said loud enough for them to hear. “ We can’t go back now. Dad’s already there. This feed is live, live to the entire world. As soon as he’s done, it’s over.” He closed his eyes, smirking a little. “We’ll be free.”
    “Free,” Autumn echoed, half sleep again.
    “Yeah,” Summer smiled.
    “Shhh!” Winter hushed them, motioning to the television with the brush.
    Their father was on center stage with the UN, their mother by his side, though looking quiet calm while the rest of the UN looked panicked. The writing at the bottom of the screen stated that their father, a mysterious man, and their mother just appeared in the meeting hall. Their father would be, at that moment, trying to gain the representatives attention back from the fact that they just witnessed magic.
    “Life’s gonna be a lot easier with the humans knowing,” Summer said.
    Winter twitched. She looked up for a second as a strange heavy feeling overcame her. The words scrolling on the screen revealed their very secret lives and then some. After a few roaring their father got to speak again. This time no one spoke over him. Whatever he was saying was holding the world by the throat and staring it in the eyes.
    At the bottom of the screen words seemed to zoom by within milliseconds. Their dad was working his magic, literally. The screen flashed with things appearing and disappearing, none of which were cheap Vegas trips.
    ‘I don’t like this,’ Winter thought, closing her eyes. She tilted her head back. Autumns head lay on her knee, his hair still a curly mess, but a little straighter. ‘No one asked me if I was ready. But then again, why would they? I wasn’t even the Oracle of Winter til two years ago.’
    “There we go,” Summer said loud enough for Autumn to jump, wide awake. He and Winter stared at him, then turned their attention to the screen. The conference was over. Winter wondered how long she was out and how long it took her father to convince humanity that magical beings and Oracles actually exist. The meeting was on break for lunch, which was the part of the plan where they needed to work.
    The UN was coming to visit them, the four Oracles of Seasons, and they needed to make a good impression, lest they wanted to end up on the wrong side of humanity.