I put a sign at the gate, “Buck’s Estate: Beware of Owner.”

Buck and I would rise with the sun and go to the beach for a swim. If I caught some fish, that would be our breakfast. Then, we would vary things. Sometimes, I would practice chopping wood with various implements. I soon had wooden targets set up everywhere. Sometimes, we went into the bush, exploring and sometimes hunting.

Don’t bother trying to throw knives like in the movies. It doesn’t work- not for me at least. The hand spears, though, worked OK. They're not as good as a spear gun, but I practised anyway. I might not have a spear gun or shot the only spear it held. I practised.

We would sometimes go hunting at night. Our main prey were possums. I still think it is funny they are super protected in Aussie and a major pest here. Spear guns are not the best for this as their range is only six to seven meters. One type I have managed up to ten meters. I will get more of those. The longer guns were more accurate than the pistol-type design. They were all only single shots, and I got good at fixing the spears.

Buck was getting better. I winged a possum with a spear, and it fell to the ground, but the spear fell out. Buck was onto it quickly, but the possum was also quick and darted for the tree, even though it only had three legs working. It got to the tree first, and Buck barked at it. No, he didn’t just bark at it. He did something else. The Possum froze and fell from the tree again, and this time, Buck was onto it and tearing at it. I moved in and killed it with poison, but Buck earned so much praise for that. He had learned to use his Essence to stun the possum. Maybe stun, maybe more. This is what I wanted to see. Now, I had an idea of what he could do, and I could work at it with him and practice.

I moved to skin the possum. I was getting better at it. This possum was going to be special though. This possum had the privilege of being turned into a training tool for Buck.

At night, I would wade through research documents. This was complicated by language. I only spoke English and a smattering of Maori. For every other language, I had to rely on the provided translation. Free online translators were useless because of the number of technical words that were used. Not every document has been translated yet. English documents were also being translated into other languages, but much more of the world was multi-lingual compared to us poor English speakers.

I also keep tabs on the socialites. I assume their social media accounts were being managed for them as there were regular posts that didn’t sound like them. Carla would never have said that without swearing. They weren’t just partying anymore; they were shopping and doing regular rich people's stuff. They were really playing into Soph's status as the daughter of an NZ-rich lister. They did have security wherever they went. Soph was the most popular. She had used dye on her fur, and each arm was a different colour for fashion. Oh, not fashion. It was to support the NZ SPCA, and Rich was dressed up as well, and the fact he was adopted from an animal shelter was played up. It was a whole different world.

They had their haters. They were called all sorts of things, starting with animals and getting worse. There were protests and petitions to lock them up to protect us humans. Carla's family had been hounded, and they had disowned her and retreated back to Samoa to escape.

Carla had her own fan group, which was mostly the young but less well-off demographic. Many Island teens painted fish scales on their skin and made comparisons with their traditional legends. She was Sina or Kupe reborn. They were likened to Taema and Tilafaiga and some others. Mostly, there is always a place for young people who rebel against tradition, and that fits Carla. One young girl had fish scales tattooed on her neck and shoulder. I say young, but she was a teenager. I am just old.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

January moved into February, and all the schools started up again. Buck could use his Skill three times in a short space of time and had become quite responsive. We started developing teamwork, and my skills improved.

Only one new anomaly was found, indicating to me that several went undiscovered. The world was a big place.

I did discover how to collect my poison. You do it the same way they collect snake venom, by getting the snake to inject through clingwrap or similar. I got some jars and clingwrap, and I soon had my Hypno nerve toxin stored in jars. I dated them as I wanted to test how long they could stay potent. Comparing it with snake venom, freezing it was the best way to store it. I was not going to bother freezing it as I produce it easily and I wanted to know how long it would stay potent on knives and spears at room temperature.

The first priority was still to help Carla change. I had been exchanging emails and video calls with her, and Amanda was readying a medical room for the first attempt. I could now use my essence to alter the potency of the venom quite easily, but not the penetrating power of the needle. Yet. The trick was water. I was sitting at the bottom of the ocean, trying to get my essence to copy the ebb and flow of the waves. That was easier than the control/absorb I had done before. I thought about the essence of the anomaly and how it flowed out like waves that got stronger the closer you got to it. This seemed to be the key to using the essence from this anomaly, making it flow in waves. Some waves are gentle, and some pound hard on the beach. Making waves was the key. When I used that with my skill, gentle waves produced a weaker poison and pounding as hard as I could, produced a more potent poison.

When I was sure, Buck and I jumped in the truck with some supplies and headed to the Hardcastle Shack. I needed to go over this with Carla and Soph, as this could make a big difference in how they work, especially Carla. I remember sending waves through the link to her that day when I woke her up, but it didn’t click until now. I think if we practice syncing the waves, it might be the key to a smoother transition. We need to test it.

I think Buck was also missing Soph and needed to reconnect. I also messaged Ata to see if she had any time off. If we could get Carla changed, she would not be holding back from a good round of sex. The last time we video-called, she mentioned she had a metal dildo made and was OK. I wonder who made that?

This time, I didn’t drive to the estate but parked in a nice, quiet suburban street a couple of blocks away and walked. If this is going to be regular, I might need to rent a garage or something. The media at the gate was mostly gone. Only a few die-hards were still there. I could probably bring the truck next time. This time, I wore a fluro worker jacket and carried a machete, spade, hat, and shades. I am here to do some nameless stuff in the garden. Actually, Buck will be doing the nameless stuff in the garden.

The gate security let me in, but the place was empty. Not empty, empty, there was someone cleaning the kitchen, and I heard a vacuum cleaner somewhere else in the house. I spied the pool cleaners out back.

The kitchen lady had no idea where anybody was. I rang the gate security. They left this morning at 9:30 a.m. and were expected to return around 4 p.m. Then, my phone binged a text accompanied by an urgent pulse.

Carla: “Head to town. Trouble”

Bob: “In Town. Where?”

I accompanied that with a pulse. The link didn’t give a direction, but you could get a sense of how far you were from each other.

Carla: “Fish Market. Guns.”

Bob: “Coming.”