Nick wrote a quick message to Evelyn on the card he bought. He refused to be sappy. This was a simple happy birthday message with a touch of humor. He slipped in the gift card he got from work before reaching into the bag and opening the container that held the small cupcake. He put this all in his backpack because he didn’t want Walt to ask about it. He wanted to surprise Evelyn and he knew it would taint it if Walt interrogated him about it, too.

“It wasn’t enough,” Grizzizzik said from the door.

Nick glanced over his shoulder. “What?”

“Insulting a police officer. It isn’t enough for this week.”

Nick focused again on the card. He’d tried not to think about Chaos all day, but he couldn’t avoid it forever. It was always in the back of his mind. How could he possibly forget? Even imagining those eyes made the air leave his body. “How’d you figure that out? Was Chaos watching me? Are you and he buddies now?”

“I’m understanding that Tyler kid. Thoughts and impressions that sort of feel like my own, but given information I shouldn’t know.” Grizzizzik rested his hands behind his head. “Insulting a police officer was chaotic, but not enough to please Chaos.”

Nick sighed, placing the card and the cupcake on his desk. “I… can’t do this, Grizzizzik. It’ll get worse. My reputation is already taking a hit.”

“I need that sword,” Grizzizzik said.

Nick didn’t want any part of this. But he still remembered, vivid as ever, the slight smile on Chaos’ face as he explained how he could do something chaotic for the week if Nick did nothing. Maybe he’d be able to negotiate the things Nick needed to do. Keep it all low key. Get some good chaos instead of bad ones.

After they cured Ezekiel of lycanthropy, and they would cure him of it, they could start grinding. Grizzizzik needed 14,000 experience points to reach level three warlock, and right now he had 2,885.

Nick shut his mind off, refusing to think about it. If he did, he would get overwhelmed with it all.

“Toilet paper someone’s house, whatever that means,” Grizzizzik said.

Nick didn’t answer. Instead, he turned around, giving Grizzizzik a soft glare that probably wasn’t as soft as he thought. Grizzizzik shrugged. “It’s the suggestion I’m getting.”

Nick rolled his eyes, his gaze back on the desk. “My dad will kill me. And where does that leave you? What happens to you if I die?”

“I doubt your dad’s killed anything in his life.”

“No.” Nick signed his name, giving it an angry flourish. “He’s more the slowly-suck-the-life-out-of-you type.”

Grizzizzik nodded. “I can see that.”

“This doesn’t bother you? At all? This should bother you!”

Grizzizzik shrugged, and Nick hated him for it. His insides were still churning at the thought of Chaos. He was forced into a corner with no way out. One he’d have to fight his way out of, but he was terrified of what it would cost.

“If not someone’s house, a park, then. That’d be fine, too.” Grizzizzik pointed over his shoulder. “Like the one by your house where we meet Chaos. That would work perfectly.”

Nick closed his eyes. He needed something to do. He grabbed the card and the cupcake and walked out of his room, moving toward Evelyn’s. After checking to make sure the gift card was still inside, he knocked on Evelyn’s door. Her soft footsteps moved toward the door before it cracked open. Half her make-up was off as she wiped her forehead, but she smiled at Nick.

“Hey!”

“Hey.” He held up the cupcake and the card. “Happy birthday!” Evelyn stared at his gift. Her eyes grew soft, then to Nick’s utter surprise, they were swimming in tears. “Uh….”

Evelyn wiped her eyes, taking the card and opening it. “You… got me a gift card?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He won it at work during one of their Christmas parties, but he would never use it, since it was for music. He had nothing to download the music onto. Or a way to look it up. Let alone the fact that Walt would confiscate anything electronic in his room. He wasn’t about to tell her that, though.

“And a cupcake?” Emotion strangled her voice, like Nick was the one who handed her a car key for her birthday.

“Uh, yeah.”

Evelyn set the card and the cupcake down on her nightstand before she threw her arms around him. Nick grunted from the impact before hugging her back. He had learned long ago not to associate any strange emotion to PMS. He’d done that when he was thirteen, once.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Never. Again.

But with this level of emotion over a cupcake and a twenty-five-dollar gift card, he couldn’t help but wonder if he needed to sneak her an extra bowl of ice cream.

Nick awkwardly patted her back.

“You didn’t need to!” Evelyn said.

“It’s your birthday.”

“You got me something, anyway? Using funds you were saving for your future? On me?” Evelyn’s voice was still pitched high.

“I mean, sixteen is pretty special.”

She was crying on his shoulder, and Nick did not understand this. At all. He did the only thing he could think of and kept patting her back awkwardly. “Sorry.” She wiped her tears. “Ugh! This day, right?”

Again, Nick was confused. “I guess so?”

Evelyn grabbed a tissue, dabbing her eyes. “First the car, then getting pulled over. At least I have my license now.” She threw away the tissue before clapping her hands. “Right! I wanted to ask you. Did anything strange happen last night?”

“Yes. Grizzizzik made a contract with Chaos and is in his service to get a sword to kill his father,” Nick said casually, leaning against the door.

Evelyn’s face fell. “Well shoot. I’d hoped you knew something. Milo said I have traces of sleeping potion on me. Clarissa told him to stop studying me with that magnifying glass of his so I could go to bed. Something’s going on, because someone drugged me last night.” She shivered. “I don’t like that. At all.”

“It was Grizzizzik.” Nick rubbed his chin. “He wanted to make sure you were all asleep so he could make up a contract with Chaos in order to get a sword to kill his father.”

Evelyn sighed. “At least it narrows it down to someone from the Shrouded Domain. No one on earth knows how to make a sleeping potion. But I couldn’t grab the sleeping potion. None of this makes any sense.”

“It was Grizzizzik. He drugged you all. I’m assuming Chaos allowed you to get drugged so the two of them could sign this stupid contract. I’ve got to do chaotic things to help him get the sword. It’ll permanently kill his father. He’s pretty sure I have to TP someone’s house. Or the park. If I toilet paper the park by our house, Dad’ll instantly think it’s me.”

Evelyn rubbed her arm, looking as though she hadn’t heard him. Just like she did this morning when Nick told her repeatedly about last night. Or when on the ride to school he talked about what Grizzizzik had done while she was scrolling on social media, lost in her own thoughts. He said it to Derek, who used him as a momentary shield to hide from Emma before sprinting out the door. Said it to Rafael, who waved to him. Shouted it across the hall at Alejandra, while she gave him a disdainful look. His voice was getting hoarse at how much he talked today. No one listened to him. No one could. But he tried all the same.

“Ugh.” Evelyn shuddered. “Do… do you think anything happened to me? While I was under a sleeping potion?” The first trickle of fear entered her eyes.

Nick shook his head. “No. Nothing happened to you.”

“How can you be so sure?” Evelyn asked.

“Because Grizzizzik did it in order to talk to Chaos to get a sword to kill his father.”

Evelyn sighed. “I guess that makes sense.”

He doubted she understood what he said. She’d react differently if she heard his words. Nick tried to keep a brave face, but the door to his room opened and Grizzizzik was there. Evelyn rubbed her arms again, looking nervous.

“Evie, please.” A heaviness entered his chest. “Grizzizzik is telling me to TP the park. I don’t want to do it.” His voice was quiet, aware that Grizzizzik was the only one who could hear.

Evelyn dropped her hands. “You’re right.” Her face looked distracted as she pulled out her phone, scrolling. “I should text Tyler, see what he thinks.”

Nick closed his eyes, not sure how to take this. It unsettled him that no one could hear him. He went an entire day telling everyone what was happening. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep telling them and having them not hear. A reminder that he was alone. Stuck with this horrible deal. Grizzizzik isolating him.

“Grizzizzik has me in a corner and I can’t get out without a fight. I need your help,” Nick whispered.

Evelyn nodded, texting on her phone. “Alright. Good night, Nick.” She smiled at him. “Thank you for your present. It means a lot. You helped me feel better.”

She gave him one last hug before closing the door. Nick stood in the hallway, a dark feeling swirling in his chest. It was the numb feeling he got during the worst of the first year of his grounding, when few people trusted him. The dark feeling that promised he could survive through a day and not feel anything. Nick closed his eyes, steadying himself. He opened his eyes, keeping them downcast as he walked down the hall to his room. Grizzizzik followed.

“Why do you bother trying? You heard Chaos. I’m the only one who can tell anyone.”

Nick collapsed on his bed, head in his hands. “Because this isn’t right. You’re dragging me under with you. You never should have made that deal.”

Grizzizzik shrugged. “We’re getting that sword. It’s the only way to kill my father.”

“You are forcing my hand,” Nick said, glaring at Grizzizzik. “I don’t like it when people force my hand.”

“You know what will happen if we don’t do this,” Grizzizzik said.

Nick was breathing deeply, sick to his stomach. “We? You’re not doing anything.”

“It’s a week. Two tops,” Grizzizzik said.

“A week?” Annoyance trickled into his voice. “A week to get over ten thousand experience points? You’ve been here for three months, and you’ve managed two thousand eight hundred points!”

Grizzizzik’s lips disappeared as he thought. “We’ll… do more fighting. I’ll go solo if I have to.”

“No, you won’t,” Nick said. “You can’t go solo and get two levels ahead of everyone. That puts everyone at risk. Everyone else can’t be fighting level six creatures when they’re still at level four.”

Grizzizzik narrowed his eyes. “I’ll make it work.”

Nick shook his head, not feeling the same enthusiasm. This was all feeling overwhelming. “Just… there’s good chaos, right?”

Grizzizzik scrunched up his bump of a snake nose. “Good chaos?”

“Yeah. There’s got to be something chaotic that leans more on the side of good. It can’t all be vandalism and insulting police officers. There’s got to be… you know. Like Robin Hood.”

Grizzizzik blinked, confused. Right. His rogue had never heard of Robin Hood.

“He stole money from rich people to give to the poor,” Nick

His character blinked again. “So, you’d like to steal from a bank. Or Derek? I hear his parents are rich.”

Nick deflated, horror growing in his chest. “God, no.”

“Okay.” Grizzizzik shrugged. “So, we’ll keep doing it the way I want you to.”

Nick’s scarred eyebrow twitched.