Chapter 5: Fishing for Dinos

Four more dinosaurs materialized out of the darkness before Derek had a chance to process the reality of the first one. They reminded Derek of the little scavenger dinos in Jurassic Park, the book, not the movie, but they were much bigger than he remembered. The dinosaur-like creatures stood at waist height and were the deep green of dank, dense forests. Their heads were primarily one long snout that was mostly mouth populated by lots of sharp, needle-like teeth and topped by yellow eyes with a slit down the middle, kind of like a goat's. Saliva dripped from their mouths with the same color and consistency as honey. Their arms were short and stubby, which might have looked funnier if they didn't end in razor-sharp claws. The creatures stood on two muscular legs, perfect for leaping and chasing after prey. The image was complete with long, rigid tails that pointed straight back, reminiscent of some breeds of hunting dog.

They fanned out in a semicircle around Derek, Reid, and Harmony, hemming the group in with Angel’s Perch to their backs. Harmony pulled out her tiny butterfly knife she carried for self-defense and brandished it like she thought she could casually knife-fight some dinosaurs like they were your run-of-the-mill sexual predators. Unbelievably, Reid pulled out a small canister of hair spray and started smoothing out his helmet-like head of hair. Despite the bizarre behavior, he didn't seem nearly as surprised as he should be, but Derek dismissed the weird reaction to nerves.

Derek knew he needed to do something. He had his Angler powers, but suddenly, being able to cast a fishing pole better than everyone else didn't feel all that useful. For a brief moment, Derek considered No Sudden Moves, the passive ability that let him fade from view if he stood still, but he wasn’t willing to take the chance. According to the ability's description, things with enhanced perception could spot him anyway. He held his phone out in front of him stupidly like it could ward off the dinosaurs, and then he remembered one skill he hadn't used yet because it hadn’t seemed relevant.

"Identify!" Derek shouted.

He watched the MythMaker app as a bookshelf poofed onto the screen, and Dirk Dawn plucked a book from the shelf and started to read.

Seekers (Level 1)

Remnants of a lost age. Once known by another name, various civilizations have since domesticated Seekers, most notably the amberkin. The usage of Seekers has fallen out of favor over the years. Seekers are pack hunters used to track elusive prey. They are known to pick up and hold a scent for days at a time. Seekers are relatively harmless trackers and make superb household pets unless exposed to amber-rich foods.

Judging by their feral appearance and literal saliva dripping from their mouths, Derek was willing to bet these Seekers weren't the relatively harmless variety.

"Drat it all," Reid said before pocketing something that gleamed brightly.

The heads of all the Seekers swiveled to look at the hapless businessman. It was hard to read any emotion in their reptilian eyes, but if Derek had to guess, they looked even hungrier than before. Derek reached back and retrieved his Wooden Rod. He'd briefly considered using the shift in attention to grab Harmony and abandon Reid to his fate. The guy may have been a pompous jerk, but no one deserves to get eaten by dinos unless they're in a movie. And, Derek didn’t think Harmony would’ve left the young Wilco behind.

All five of the Seekers had gone deathly still, eyes fixed on Reid. He took a hesitant step backward. That was all it took. Derek saw the Seeker nearest Reid tense its muscular legs and leap through the air. The other dinos blurred into motion. Derek needed to act. He was too slow to stop the first one, so he cocked back his Wooden Rod, aimed at the second Seeker, and yelled, "Improved Cast!"

While the hook and line sailed through the air, Reid dodged faster than Derek would've thought Reid capable as the Seeker flew over Reid's shoulder and off the ledge of Angel's Perch. The second Seeker prepared for its leap, but Derek's hook, aided by Improved Cast, looped around the dino's ankle. At that moment, Derek pulled, yanking the Seeker out of the air and onto its back. Fatigue washed over him, but Derek didn't have time for it. While he tried to haul the Seeker away with leaden arms, Harmony leaped on top of the incapacitated dino and tried to stab it, but her small knife skittered off the Seeker's scales.

Meanwhile, Reid was rummaging around in the pockets of his suit. He seemed to find what he was looking for because he shouted, "Ah Ha!" before emptying the contents of his pocket into the air—a cloud of glittering gold coins. Seekers 3-5 pounced on the shimmering flecks of gold as they scattered throughout the clearing. Did he just throw money at a problem, and it worked?

While the remaining Seekers fought over money, Derek's dino-buddy had regained its feet, but it wasn't interested in gold. Derek's hook had somehow pierced the webbing between its clawed toes. The Seeker didn’t seem thrilled. Derek angled himself away from the cliff face as slowly as possible so as not to cause it to pounce. He started to inch backward into the forest, leading it away from Harmony and Reid.

His plan might have worked, but he’d never know. A branch buried in snow cracked at a misstep from Derek, and suddenly, the Seeker was in the air. Derek reacted. As the flurry of deadly scale, muscle, and fangs flew at him, Derek threw his Wooden Rod to the side and plucked some fishing line from the air before the pole even had a chance to hit the ground. The Seeker's powerful jaws bit down, but not on Derek. Its jaws had closed on the fishing line, pulled taut, and then made unbreakable by Derek’s Line of Steel, but that didn't stop the creature’s forward momentum. The fishing line acted like a clothesline. While the Seeker's head remained in place, its body flew forward and up. Somehow, Derek could feel the scales of its rigid tail rasp across his forearm before it fell hard.

If Derek had been thinking clearly, he would have pulled out his Iron Fillet Knife, but instead, he stood there breathlessly with the fishing line still held tense between his hands. Derek stupidly watched the dinosaur thrash in the snow and return to its feet. He recognized its facial expression now: rage. Derek felt a laugh bubble from his throat. It was just so funny. Steve had always said that Derek had a gift for getting under people’s skin. I guess that includes dinosaurs.

The Seeker was too close for a big leap, so it hopped toward Derek in a way that reminded Derek of a baby bird. While it advanced, Derek spooled out as much loose fishing line as possible. His operating plan was to get the creature tangled up in as much unbreakable fishing line as possible to hinder it. As it turned out, Derek's plan didn't matter much. Something sharp and golden emerged from the Seeker’s chest.

The dinosaur collapsed, revealing a diminutive, hooded figure with glowing eyes. Teetch. The amberkin grinned evilly, looking like a misfit Jack o' Lantern. The little guy held a luminescent golden spike that dripped drops of bright red blood that hissed as they hit the snow. Derek looked at it again. Teetch wasn’t holding the spike. Teetch’s hand was the spike. Where Teetch's wrist ended, the glowing weapon began, starting cylindrical and tapering off to a wicked point. The appendage seemed to glow brighter than the rest of the amberkin's body as if he'd somehow diverted all the golden light in his veins to that one spot in his body.

"Well, are you just going to stand there like an idiocile?" Teetch asked, "We've got work to do."

As the amberkin turned to the remaining Seekers, the spike turned back into his hand, still dripping with blood. MythMaker made a new noise, like trumpets announcing the arrival of royalty. Derek couldn't resist. The notification read, "Temporary Ally, Teetch the Heretic, has joined the Party."

Derek whispered, "Identify," to try and learn more, but the app gave him frustratingly little information.

???

Warning: Unable to Identify creatures or persons of higher level.

I'm the Hero of Prophecy. Why is he at a higher level than me? Derek thought as the amberkin reshaped his hand into something resembling a miniature glowing reaper’s scythe. I guess the higher level makes sense.

Reid and Harmony managed to take down one of the Seekers during Derek's scuffle. One of the dinosaurs still snuffed through the snow on top of a snowed-over picnic bench, looking for the coins Reid had thrown, and the other dinosaur was eyeing Reid angrily. The young business executive stood on the edge of Angel's Perch without a single hair out of place. He hardly looked like the same gangly guy who had stumbled out of the trees not even half an hour before. Meanwhile, Harmony drew in ragged breaths, drops of red the color of the blood dripping from her butterfly mingled with her dusting of freckles.

Teetch advanced on the Seeker, preoccupied with the coins in the snow, while Derek prepared to reel in the Seeke,r poised to jump on Reid. This time, Derek tried to angle his cast for the Seeker's mouth because it might be easier for a hook to take hold. As Derek started to shout Improved Cast, he noticed the Seeker that had previously jumped off Angel's Perch was now clambering back over the cliff's rim, trying to get at Reid from behind. Derek broke into a run and shouted out the ability. He hoped Improved Cast would make up for his compromised casting form. As the familiar energy crackled through Derek, he felt the instinctual knowledge instilled by the ability guide him through the proper motions to pull off a running cast. He prayed he remembered the item description of the Iron Fillet Knife correctly. The hook sailed through the air, with Derek following close behind, pounding through the snow. Derek urged his fatigue-drained limbs forward. The exhaustion from his second Improved Cast settled over him like a weighted blanket. He'd been aiming for the Seeker's eye, but the running start had thrown off his aim enough for the hook to snag in the dinosaur's cheek instead.

A tiny piece of metal shouldn’t have bothered the creature as much as it did, but animal fury stole over its features the second the hook caught. It angrily thrashed its way onto the landing with its eyes fixed on Derek as he slowly lurched toward the Seeker. At some point during his mad dash, Derek had pulled the Iron Fillet Knife from its sheath. The Seeker leaped through the air to meet him. Derek couldn't stop his forward momentum, so he tried to use it, sliding underneath the Seeker like a baseball player at home plate. He didn't know how, but he kept the knife pointed in the Seeker's general direction. When the creature sailed over Derek's head, the Iron Fillet Knife pierced its belly and slid through the dinosaur like a stick of butter. The Seeker's own inertia carried it through the knife, slitting open the Seeker from stem to stern, even as its claws slid across Derek's arm, parting his coat and skin like tissue paper. The dinosaur plopped to the ground with a sickening, wet thud. It didn't get back up.

MythMaker isn't messing around when it says a hooked catch gives me a bonus. Thank you, Iron Fillet Knife.

After that, the shock set in. Derek lay on the ground trembling, looking at the blood on his knife and the blood dripping from his arm at a steady rate, speckling the snow. He hated how red, how real it looked. It never looked that real in games or felt that warm. Something revolted in Derek's stomach, and he started retching out his tuna melt quesadilla and moving it onto the snow. Derek watched it steam, the taste of bile lingering in his mouth. He didn't know how long he lay there next to the half-digested remains of his dinner, but at some point, Derek realized he didn’t hear the sounds of fighting anymore.

Derek pushed himself to his feet with an embarrassing amount of effort. Using two Improved Casts had drained him more than he'd thought. With the adrenaline of the moment gone, it felt like cement filled his limbs, but the night wasn't over. When he finally got to his feet, he found that the rest of the Seekers had been dealt with, and Derek was the only member of the group to get injured. His arm stung where the Seeker's tail had scraped against the same forearm Teetch had burned the night before. Derek's other arm was numb where the Seeker had sliced it open. At first, he was worried about losing too much blood, but when he looked closer, the wound didn't look particularly deep, and it had already stopped bleeding. It will probably leave a wicked scar, though.

MythMaker was playing the trumpets again. He quickly glanced at his phone, and he saw several notifications.

Bump In The Night: Quest Completed! Claim your reward

Level Up! Angler Level 2.

1 Unassigned Stat Point Available!

Level-Up Rewards Available!

Reid, Harmony, and Teetch were watching Derek, but only Harmony looked concerned. Derek offered the group a weak smile but couldn't think of anything snarky to say that wasn’t at his own expense. Reid broke the silence, "I suggest we retire for the evening. I don't relish the thought of run-ins with any more wolves. Shall we, Harmony?"

When Reid said wolves, Harmony looked confused, but Teetch picked up where Reid left off: "An excellent idea, Human. The scent of blood might attract more… wolves to the area."

Wolves? Those weren't wolves.

Harmony started to nod to herself. "That kid's right," Harmony said, gesturing toward Teetch, "Wolves are pack hunters, and we can't be sure there aren't more lurking around. Let's get out of here."

Reid and Harmony walked away from Angel's Perch, leaving the bodies of the Seekers behind. At the treeline, Harmony turned around to look at Derek. "You coming?" she asked.

Teetch fielded the question, "I'll ensure he gets home safe; you go ahead, Miss. Take care of yourself." He said with respect and concern that Derek wouldn’t have thought the amberkin was capable.

Harmony nodded, accepting the Teetch’s words with a faraway look. Something like clarity shone briefly in her eyes. "One last thing," she said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Derek's blood relative. You've never seen me before because I'm from a different Realm," Teetch answered with an attempt at an innocent smile.

"Town," Derek corrected, "He's my little cousin from out of town. On my dad's side."

Derek didn't have family on his dad's side, and if he did, they wouldn’t be in Golden Lake on a Monday night in January.

Harmony’s brow furrowed in confusion for a brief moment as if she were trying to figure out a complicated math problem, but eventually, her features smoothed out, and her eyes regained their faraway look. Reid gently grabbed her arm and guided her into the woods. Before he left, he made meaningful eye contact with Derek and gave him a nod of recognition and respect. Derek returned the nod, but it didn't change anything between them. He'd stop the rich jerk from taking Golden Lake out from under him, and no one who talked and acted like that guy would ever be good enough for Harmony. Derek was far from done with Reid, even if he did help save them. Derek had to admit the business heir had handled himself well. Too well.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"That one's going to be a troublem," Teetch said, "He's Awakened."

Derek turned to the amberkin. The golden light pumping through Teetch’s veins earlier that morning had dimmed to a color closer to a jaundiced yellow. His robes looked even more disheveled, if that was even possible. Teetch seemed as tired as Derek felt, and Derek didn’t feel like he could stand much longer. He swept some snow off a picnic table and sunk into it, ignoring the wet coolness.

"That guy?" Derek finally asked, "How did that happen? And what does that even mean? Awakened."

"It doesn't happen by accident. Humans can become Awakened in a multiriety of ways, but each requires vast amounts of Mana."

"It happened to me by accident," Derek replied, "And I still don't know what it means, except for the vague idea that I can see magical junk now like amberkin and flesh-eating dinosaurs."

Teetch grimaced at Derek's explanation of the phenomenon. Still, the amberkin didn't correct him, “That explanation would suffice for an amberling just Shaped, but it goes much deeper." Teetch said, as he started walking towards the first Seeker’s steaming corpse, "Humans and Mana are fundamentally incongruitable, so when beings of The Realms reveal themselves, Humans cannot reconcile their existence. The two beings are like oil and water. They slide past one another. They can exist in the same container for a time, but they don't mix. Ever. Unless a Human becomes Awakened."

"How does that happen? Besides becoming the Hero of Prophecy?" Derek asked, already thinking of Awakening Harmony. He needed someone to share in this new world; she seemed the only option.

"Before today, I would have said they don't, not anymore," Teetch replied. Then he stuck his hands deep into the body of the Seeker Derek filleted. The light pulses under Teetch’s skin seemed to increase in frequency.

"There have to be other ways!" Derek said, ignoring Teetch's macabre activities.

"There are, but they don't bear mentioning because they may as well be impossible. We possess no more Scrolls of Hero of Prophecy, and none of the other Ten Great Spells deal with Awakening. A group of powerful Mana-wielders could set up an Idealogram, but that would require astronomical amounts of one Ideal even to be possible. A god could Awaken a Human, but all the gods have passed from the Realms never to return."

"So what you're saying is, if I wanted to Awaken Harmony, it would be tough even for someone like me, the Hero of Prophecy?" Derek asked.

Teetch yanked his arms out of the second Seeker corpse and pointed a clawed finger at Derek, "Do not imagine such a thing, Derek Dunn. A death by Seekers would be a kinder fate than what would happen should you try."

"Harmony seemed to handle what happened earlier pretty well," Derek said, "Shouldn't a little exposure to magical dinos and an amberkin make it a little easier? Like her brain can get acclimated or something?"

"There is no growing accustomed to Mana. Awakening changes a being down to its very essence and rewrites it. No Human can initiate the process on their own and survive the ordeal. Too much exposure to Mana or beings from The Realms will strain a Human's brain slightly, but Humans are resilient overall. They're adept at ignoring the Mystical to an extent, but only if their brain has a plausible explanation to compensate. The more plausible the explanation, the more likely a Human won't experience any malverse effects." Teetch replied, trundling over to the third Seeker corpse.

"Is that why you’re my cousin now, and wolves attacked us?" Derek asked, “But that explanation didn’t even make sense." Is that why no one has seen that city in the lake?

"Kindaala’s Mercy, boy, it doesn't need to make any blinding sense. That's the beauty of it. You just have to give Humans something to latch onto, and their brains will do the rest. It's a survival instinct."

"What happens when they have nothing to latch onto?" Derek asked.

The amberkin stopped his grisly procession and turned to look Derek in the eyes. Derek would've sworn Teetch looked brighter than earlier, as if he'd regained some of his glow. He shrugged his shoulders. "I've never seen it happen myself, but Vaasla taught that it was a fatecome worse than death. She had no love for Humans, but even she thought they deserved better than Manoptosis."

"So you're saying I should be careful about using my Angler abilities and MythMaker around the Unawakened?" Derek asked.

"It's likely Hero of Prophecy has manifested itself in a way to protect other Humans innately. Your handheld device and that pole are common enough Human items that shouldn't trigger dissonance." Teetch punctuated that last statement by plunging his tiny, sharp hands into the skull of a fourth Seeker. It sounded like someone cracking eggs.

"Can you stop that? It's bad enough we had to kill these things. Do you really have to play around with their insides? You've already ruined eggs for me."

"This is the most merciful end for them," Teetch said, punctuating his statement by rummaging his hand around in the dinosaur's brain pan. “They're Amber Mad."

"Do me a favor: If you ever feel a little merciful toward me, keep walking."

"There's little chance of that," Teetch said, stopping his macabre activity to glare at Derek with his uncanny golden eyes. “Humans are outside the cycle. These Seekers, however, have had something unconscionable done to them. All because of me."

"Someone did this to them?” Derek asked, “And that same someone sent the Seekers after you?"

"Of course, someone did this to them!" Teetch said, "Seekers are only supposed to be half this size, and they're certainly not supposed to attack people, Humans or Amberkin. It's an abomerration. There’s no low the Wheel wouldn’t stoop to."

A frantic edge had entered Teetch's voice that Derek hadn’t heard before. He’d heard lots of disdain and impatience, but this was closer to hopelessness. Derek could feel himself almost pitying the surly little amberkin.

Derek urged some life into his weary limbs and dragged himself to Teetch's side at the body of the fifth Seeker. He put his hand on Teetch's back while the amberkin did his grisly business on the last dinosaur. Derek tried to ignore how much Teetch's body felt like a water bed filled with hot chicken noodle soup.

His body is less solid than a normal person's. Is this how he changed his hand into a weapon?

"I know what it feels like to have your own people turn on you," Derek said.

"Gah!" Teetch shouted, moving beyond the reach of Derek's consoling hand, "I must cut a wretched figure indeed to garner sympathy from a Human. Forget I said anything. Give me some time to think!"

Teetch scrabbled over to the edge of Angel's Perch and sat in the snow. The snow melted around the amberkin as he stared over the lake, making grumbling noises. At some point, deeper cloud cover overtook the sky, removing any chance of the city in the lake’s reappearance. Derek wondered how much Teetch knew about the city. Half a dozen questions formed and died before any could leave his lips, and instead, Derek sat down next to the amberkin and said, "The city’s beautiful, isn't it?"

"Must you be the center of every… Wait! That's it!" Teetch said, "You're the center… I mean, If you insist on inserting yourself in the middle of my affairs, I’ll allow you to assist me.”

"Assist you with what?" Derek asked, “And I haven’t inserted myself into anything. All I ever wanted to do was ice fishing, and then you gave me special powers.”

“Don’t remind me,” Teetch said, “The Giild, Othiamphuus. I must return, and you must accompany me. I've got a plan."

"The city in the lake?" Derek asked, gesturing toward the water, "That's where you're from?"

"Othiamphuus is no mere city; it is a Giild of the amberkin, the last and most glorious of its kind. Will you join me or not?"

The last thing Derek wanted to do was go anywhere with the bossy amberkin, but he found himself saying, "If it means I get to go to the city, I'm in," Derek said, standing up, “What are we waiting for?”

"You think we can just stroll into Othiamphuus because we wish it so?" Teetch asked. "No, it's beyond our reach at the moment. Let's retire to your hovel. You look like you can barely stay on your feet. I'll need you at whatever you call your best even to have a chance of getting into that once-great Giild."

Φ

The walk back to Derek's house passed by in a blur of Teetch explaining why they couldn't go back to Teetch’s city that night and the constant ringing of Derek's phone because he kept ignoring his mom's calls. He couldn’t handle his mom's scolding and Teetch's lectures simultaneously; he lacked mental capacity. Derek got the gist of the amberkin's rambling pretty quickly, but at some point, the amberkin had gotten it into his bald, glowing head that Derek was an idiot.

Derek expected it to be more complicated, but it was a bit typical as far as magical cities were concerned. Apparently, moonlight powered the gate to Othiamphuus. Derek and Teetch could only access it on nights before, during, or after the full moon, so they would have to try next month. Also, something called Chaasmyth guarded the entrance to Othiamphuus, and it was the same something that Teetch said he'd saved Derek from the other day. If they wanted to enter the city, they’d need to slip past this Chaasmyth on a night with lots of moonlight. Teetch had taken nearly the entire thirty-minute walk back to Derek's house to explain this relatively simple concept. While Teetch belabored the point, Derek relished the idea of tackling his piscine adversary again with his newfound Angler abilities. He knew these were serious events, and the fate of Teetch’s world was probably at stake, but all Derek could think about was pitting himself against the lake again. He’d help the amberkin, but his rightful place was sitting at the end of the dock and angling until the sun went down.

When Teetch and Derek reached his house, he shushed the amberkin. The lights of the main house were off, and his mom had stopped calling him after the tenth missed call. Derek assumed she had given up and went to bed. The last thing he wanted to do was wake his parents up and get another lecture. Derek put an index finger to his lips, indicating for the amberkin to keep quiet, and then Derek pointed at the tiny home. The two of them crept through the yard and into Derek’s house.

Derek hit the light switch, and Teetch shrieked.

"What's wro-" Derek started to ask, but then he understood.

Derek's mom was sitting at the foot of his superhero comforter while his dad stood in the back corner of the room with his arms folded. Derek couldn't reconcile the man standing in the corner with the man he'd grown up with. It was like gravity weighed extra on Harold Dunn's shoulders, pushing him in on himself, making him shorter, less than. The frown lines and wrinkles in his eyes gained more ground each day, erasing the laughing giant that used to carry Derek around on his shoulders. Derek couldn't ever look for long.

"I know this looks bad, but I can explain," Derek said, avoiding eye contact.

"No need," Lisa said, "It's always the same with you. Let me guess. Lost track of time fishing again?"

"Actually, yeah," Derek said, realizing how he must look with all his new Angler gear. He shifted his weight and tried to put his arm behind his back where the Seeker had cut him. It had stopped bleeding shortly after the fight, but his arm was still a bloody mess. The last thing he needed was for his mom to see. He hadn't expected to run into his mom before a shower. "I lost track of time." Derek didn't add any unnecessary details. In a way, he wasn’t lying. He had lost track of time, and he'd been fishing. For dinosaurs.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself? Lisa said, her eyes boring into Derek's soul, "I'll give you one chance."

Derek didn't add anything. He still couldn’t look her in the eye. Parents always expected their kids to incriminate themselves by talking too much. But Derek had an advantage. The truth wasn't an option, even if he wanted it to be. According to Teetch, the truth would be Mana fry his mom’s brain.

The awkward silence dragged between Derek and his parents. He could hear the intake of breath a couple of times of his dad about to say something. When Derek thought Harold Dunn was finally going to talk to his son, instead, he brushed by Derek and left the tiny home. Derek couldn't tell, but it almost looked like his cheeks were glistening and his eyes a little red. If it had been anyone besides his dad, Derek would've thought he was crying. Before Derek could ask about his dad, MythMaker chimed in his pocket, announcing a new side quest with its customary sword leaving its sheath. Derek reached for his phone, and his mom cut in.

"Something killed Eustace Everly's chickens tonight and gave his hound a nasty parting gift. A couple of Tammy Burgeon's cats went missing, too. All near the lake," Lisa said. "We tried calling and calling you, but apparently, we didn’t have anything to worry about. You just lost track of time, right?"

An uncomfortable image of a dinosaur chewing on a fishing line with its breath hot on Derek's face flashed through his mind, "Yeah," Derek said lamely.

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?" Lisa asked. "Do you just not care at all anymore? I used to defend you when your father or other folks said you were on the road to nowhere, but it's getting harder, Wreck. I used to think I understood you, but I’m not so sure anymore."

"Yes, I mean, no, Mom. I have nothing else to say," Derek lied, hating himself just a bit more, "I'm just trying to win the Jamboree. I don't see why it's such a big deal?"

His mom's eyebrows arched at that, "You don't see how it's a big deal? You don't see how your parents worrying if you're hurt or dead is a big deal? Something was out there killing tonight, and you can't bother to give the people who put food on your table or a roof over your head the courtesy of answering the phone they pay for!" his mom said. She took a deep breath to steady herself, saying, "I wish I'd known it wasn't a big deal before I’d gotten worried sick."

"Mom, that's not what I'm saying," Derek said, taking a step forward. He wanted to hug her but remembered he couldn't because of his arm. “It was just a rough night, alright? I didn't want to talk about it before, but Harmony was out with some out-of-towner who said he was going to buy the family store. He’s wrong, right?"

It was his mom's turn to look away, "We’re considering all our options."

"But you’re not actually going to sell the store, right?"

"Wouldn't it be nice not to be tied to Golden Lake?" his mom asked, "We could move closer to your brother or sister. You'd have the chance to reach your potential and not worry about the store weighing you down."

"I literally can't think of anything worse than that," Derek said, "And that includes an apocalypse." She probably thought he was being dramatic, but he meant it.

"I'm not saying that's what's going to happen, Wreck, but it is a possibility," Lisa said. Neither talked for a few seconds until his mom added, “Harmony was with someone? Another guy?" she asked, with a knowing smile.

"Mom!" Derek shouted, not liking how loud his voice sounded, "It's not like that between us!"

"I was just asking. You two do spend an awful lot of time together."

"She's my best friend! Of course, we spend a lot of time together," Derek said, unconsciously rubbing the spot on his face where Harmony punched him, "it's just… Harmony is incredible. There's not anyone else like her, so if she is going to find someone, I want it to be someone who recognizes that and deserves her, and that’s definitely not me."

"And this young man doesn't?" his mom asked.

Derek thought about how Reid's face lit up when he described how he'd met Harmony: "I don't know, Mom, but I don't like him. There's something… off about him."

"What if there's something off about everyone Harmony decides to date?" Lisa asked, smiling.

"Then she just can't ever date," Derek replied, matching her smile, “Problem solved.”

The two of them forgot they'd been arguing the moment before and just enjoyed each other’s company. Eventually, his mom looked toward his feet and asked, "Who's your new friend?"

Teetch! How could I have forgotten about Teetch? She knows he isn’t my cousin. They can't see me coming back home with some random kid.

"Mreow!"

Derek looked down to find the ugliest, vaguely catlike thing he'd seen. A four-legged creature walked toward his mom. It was like someone had bashed a Sphinx Cat with an ugly stick several hundred times and then fed it glowsticks to the point it started to glow. Teetch let out another "Mreow!" that sounded like a cat gargling barbed wire and jumped onto his bed, finding a pillow to curl up on and close his eyes.

Derek picked up on the queue, "This little guy? He’s just a cat I found by the docks. He seemed scared and wanted to come with me. Honestly, I felt sorry for the ugly little fella, so I let him. I'm not sure if I'll keep him, but I thought something this hideous could use some love."

Teetch’s golden eyes opened to slits, and he hissed at Derek.

Lisa Dunn laughed and looked at Cat-Teetch. Her eyes took on the same faraway look Harmony's had when they'd told her Teetch was Derek's cousin.

"I can probably rustle up some food for this little fella," Lisa said.

"He'll be fine, Mom," Derek said. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I'll do better."

"Your father was worried, too," Lisa whispered.

"If he was so worried, he can tell me himself."

His mom smiled, suddenly looking weary beyond words, "We love you, my son. Times may be changing, but that isn't going to. Don't you forget it."

"Can I get that in writing?" Derek asked, "I love you too, Mom. Dad, too, sometimes."

Lisa moved to the door, brushing Derek's shoulder as she passed. As she stood in the doorway, Derek said, "Mom, can I ask you something about Dad?"

"You bet, can't promise you'll like the answer, though."

"I was talking to Rod earlier… And he said that Dad spent a lot of time on the lake… He's just messing with me, right?"

"Hard to imagine, isn't it?" His mom said, "But Mr. Hockenson's right. Once upon a time, he and your father were quite the anglers."