Nick scanned the barcode of a book and waited for it to load on his computer. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs from the main office.

“Oh, Nick, you’re still here?” Mr. Morgan asked.

Nick turned around, then glanced at his watch. He didn’t realize it was almost five-fifteen. He was used to leaving at eight, so leaving at five was a bit to get used to. “Oh, right. Sorry, sir.” He placed the book to one side and got up, stretching. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you, but I couldn’t find you at lunch.”

“Must have just missed each other,” he said as Nick logged off.

“I had a question. Morgan Estates? The apartment complex about half a mile from here? Do you own it?”

Mr. Morgan was rifling through his papers, then paused as he glanced up. “Morgan Estates?” He raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you hear about those apartments?”

“On the internet. While… searching for apartments in town.”

There was a pause. One where the silence seemed to reveal far more than he wanted. Mr. Morgan studied him, then went back to his papers. “My older brother owns them and rents them out. You… don’t want to rent there.”

“Oh?” Nick’s heart froze. “Why not?”

Again, Mr. Morgan’s eyes were on him. “It’s for people who’ve hit rock bottom. People who’ve done a few years in jail and are returning to society. People trying and failing and trying again to break their drug addiction. People experiencing nasty divorces that take everything from them and find themselves way over their heads as they try to rebuild their lives. It’s not for…” Mr. Morgan trailed off.

Nick rubbed his arm, doing his best to remain in control of his emotions. “Perhaps I don’t know what it’s like to spend time in jail. Or divorce. Or drugs. But I need to get out of my dad’s house.”

Mr. Morgan sighed. He went back to ruffling through his papers. “When’s your birthday again?”

“April tenth,” Nick said.

Mr. Morgan frowned. “That’s half a year away.”

“And if I had a plan for getting out of my house, it’d be easier to wait until then,” Nick said. “Is it dangerous there? Are police called every other week?”

Mr. Morgan studied him. “More like every other month.”

Nick nodded. “I understand your concern, sir, but the rent there is manageable. It’s what I could see myself affording once I come on full time in the summer.”

Mr. Morgan rubbed his chin. “You’re a great kid, Nick. And an incredible worker. You alone do all the work my team of four guys do together in a day. And I appreciate that. I hope it shows on your paycheck. But I want to make sure you won’t find yourself in a rut before you turn twenty. This job I’m giving you isn’t meant to be your forever job.”

Nick nodded. “I appreciate you looking out for me. But planning for the future is... I need time away from my father to figure out my life, and to do that, I need a place to stay.”

Mr. Morgan ran a hand down his chin, thinking. “What exactly does Walt do?”

The question froze Nick in his spot. He forgot this was Ike Morgan, Walt’s best friend in high school and college. They rarely spoke about Walt, but this could backfire on him.

“Nick?” Mr. Morgan prompted, a hint of concern in his eyes.

Nick shook his head, his throat closing. He hated these conversations, because it was a reminder Walt was doing the bare minimum required in a parent, according to the law. Nick was fed every day, had a room with a bed, a dresser, a desk. Had clothes hanging up in his closet. There wasn’t a physical bruise or cut on Nick’s entire body. The police couldn’t arrest Walt for taking away his phone. Or for not letting him have the internet or a laptop. Walt couldn’t be punished for isolating Nick from his friends. How could the law possibly touch that? He was in pain, though. Conversations like this felt like he was showing people the trickle of water that didn’t seem like it would hurt, but that constant trickle caused a deep wound that only got worse with every passing year.

“I’m… isolated. All the time.” The warmth behind his eyes threatened to form tears. He mustered every amount of self-control he had to keep a stoic face, repeating to himself that Mr. Morgan was Walt’s friend. “I can hardly go out. I have a small group of friends I see. We play a tabletop role playing game. Choice, Chance, and Consequence. He’s threatened to take that from me, too. And has, when… when I’ve made mistakes.” Nick shrugged, trying to downplay his pain even as his soul screamed for help. “I’m grounded until I’m eighteen. No smart phone, no laptop, nothing.” He pulled out his old flip phone from his pocket. “This is all I have, and he checks it every night to make sure I’m talking with people he approves of. I think he’s trying to protect me from making the same mistake when I was fourteen, but…”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“But it was three years ago,” Mr. Morgan whispered, horrified.

Nick’s stoic face slipped, and the warmth in his eyes felt more wet. Mr. Morgan, of all people, seemed to understand.

“Yeah.” His voice wavered enough to drop his stoic face all together, and with that, he partially turned his head so he wouldn’t have to see his boss. His dad’s friend. “Three goddamn years ago.”

Mr. Morgan kept his eyes on Nick, his eyebrows raised, his mouth struggling to stay closed. He then set his papers down and pulled out his phone. “I’ll text my brother. See if he has any openings. April is still six months away. Something might come up by then.”

Nick’s shoulders relaxed, but he couldn’t look at Mr. Morgan. Something told him this could still be a trap. “Thank you, Mr. Morgan.” He grabbed his water bottle from the desk. “I understand I got this job because my dad and you were friends back in high school and college. But… please don’t tell him I’m looking for an apartment right now.” He tried to hide the desperation in his voice. “Especially into one owned by your family.”

Mr. Morgan shook his head. “I won’t. You have my word.”

“Thank you.” Nick walked through the back of the store until he got outside. He felt Mr. Morgan’s gaze on him the entire time.

***

Evelyn paced outside in the backyard. It was pleasantly warm. The first hint that summer was giving way to fall. Or at least in the way Arizona does it, where it was comfortably hot instead of uncomfortably so.

Clarissa still hadn’t returned. She must be visiting Ezekiel, because her druid wasn’t stupid enough to fight the saber-tooth tigers herself. That level of stupidity was reserved for Grizzizzik.

But her, however. She did feel stupid. She was trying to talk herself out of an idea that would not leave her alone since her character turned into a horse and gallop out of their house. Clarissa wouldn’t want Ezekiel to face this alone. Which meant…

Evelyn let out a sigh, then called Tyler. His phone number had been waiting for her to press it for about ten minutes now. This wouldn’t be an easy conversation, but it needed to happen.

“Evelyn?” Tyler asked.

“Princess Clarissa is a princess to the fullest. Which means she won’t ask me to do this, so understand I’m doing this because I want to. If something happened to Ezekiel out there and she couldn’t help, she would never forgive herself, and elves live for a long time.” Evelyn took a steadying breath. “I need to come with you on your road trip, even though she would never ask this of me. She has helped me so much, and I want to return the favor.”

There was a pause on the phone. “Oh.” He cleared his throat. “I mean, that absolutely makes sense for Princess Clarissa’s character, but are you sure you want to do this?”

Evelyn let out a sigh. She knew this question was coming. “I’m doing this for them. Not Rafael. And… this will also help me decide about the session at my house.” She placed a hand against the side of her face. “Is it even possible? Can I go on this road trip?”

“If you really want to come, Evie, I’ll do everything possible to make you safe. Derek wants to come, too.”

She closed her eyes, letting out a breath. “Okay. Yeah.” She used her free arm to give herself a hug.

“With you coming, it’ll be smarter to bring separate cars. You could ride with me the whole way, or if you want to ride with Derek, we can switch off. But we can do it in such a way that you will never have to see Rafael. I don’t know what that will look like in the actual battle of the saber-tooth tiger. That we might have to play by ear. But I promise you, you will be safe.”

Tyler was going to bend over backwards for her. He kept telling her this, and the calm certainty in his voice should have clued her in, but she was still surprised at how willing he was to help her. “Okay. Thank you, Tyler. Seriously, thank you. I… want to do this for Princess Clarissa.”

“Having Princess Clarissa and Milo there if a bad situation pops up could be useful. Let me think this through and get back to you how it’ll look, but I’m pretty confident that you won’t have to see him for most of the road trip. Do you feel comfortable about the possibility of seeing him during the battle?”

“I think so. As long as I don’t see him the whole way there. Or back.”

“Then I will make that happen.”

Evelyn nodded, then felt stupid all over again. This was a phone conversation. He couldn’t see her nod. “Thank you. I want to do this for her. She… has always meant a lot to me, and now even more so that she’s here.”

“I understand. I will do what I can. Plan on coming on the road trip.”

“Thank you.”

They hung up, and she let out a breath of relief. She had received a text while talking to Tyler, and her moment of relief froze up again. It was from Alejandra.

I want to send a message from Rafael, since he doesn’t feel comfortable texting you, but figured you wanted to know. Princess Clarissa is here at our house. She and Ezekiel have been talking about this plan to leave the bubble all day.

Her chest relaxed. She could almost tell how nervous Alejandra was with texting her.

Thanks for letting me know. I was getting worried when Princess Clarissa hadn’t returned.

She sent that off, wincing. Hopefully she didn’t sound too ridiculous sending that. She hadn’t seen Alejandra in a while, either.

Her phone vibrated, and she checked it.

Pretty sure Grizzizzik would be the one disappearing to do a solo adventure that would get him killed, not Princess Clarissa.

Evelyn smiled, posting a laughing emoji.

OMG, I was thinking the same thing!

Alejandra posted a laughing emoji back, and Evelyn smiled as she slipped her phone back in her pocket. She walked inside, and just to be certain, glanced in Nick’s room to see Grizzizzik hunched over, making arrows. At least he was here.

Her phone vibrated again with a text. It was from Tyler.

Forgot to ask about whether you feel comfortable enough for Derek to drive you. Think about it. We have time.

Evelyn felt herself fully relax. Going on the trip would be fine. She was going to be fine.