Rafael made sure everyone was comfortable. When Mariana came home, Rafael thought of some excuse for Tyler being there. She simply greeted him with a tired smile before heading to her bedroom to sleep. Everyone was quiet. Their characters didn’t need to be, since Mariana couldn’t hear them, but they were. Grizzizzik was on one couch, while Ezekiel and Clarissa were on the other. Hraktar leaned against the wall, watching Grizzizzik like a hawk. Tyler paced back and forth, his phone in his fist. Alejandra was doing homework, but it was clear her mind wasn’t in it. Rafael was supposed to be working out right now, but he couldn’t focus on that, either. Nick was in trouble with his dad. Rafael was antsy, wanting to go over to make sure everything was okay. Maybe his own experience tainted his feelings, but he was genuinely worried Nick would get a beating.

Tyler’s phone barely vibrated in his hand before he swiped it, putting it to his ear. “Hey, Evelyn. I’m here at Rafael and Alejandra’s place. Would you like me to put you on speakerphone?”

Tyler heard her response, and he stopped pacing. Rafael folded his arms over his chest, staring ahead. “Is he alright?” Tyler’s eyebrows furrowed. “Evelyn, hey, it’ll be okay.” He listened to her some more, and Rafael could hear her high-pitched panicking from here. “I promise. I promise it’ll be okay. Can you slip out of the house for a while? Make an excuse you’re meeting up with friends? We can all meet at Derek’s if you need.”

Alejandra and Rafael exchanged worried glances. Evelyn wasn’t one to panic. If anything, Evelyn held a lot in before collapsing under the weight. Judging by Tyler’s deepening worry, Rafael had a feeling Evelyn had just collapsed.

“The door?” Tyler’s voice grew in volume. He covered his mouth, glancing at Mariana’s room as he dropped his voice again. The incredulousness, however, didn’t drop. “Walt took Nick’s door?”

Rafael winced, then glanced at Grizzizzik, who watched Tyler with a forced, bored expression. His fangs had never returned to his mouth.

“Okay, okay, Evelyn? Listen to me. Listen. Do you need to get out of the house?” He listened to her reply, his face dropping. “This was Walt’s punishment. Okay? Nick’ll be fine for now. It’s you I’m worried about.”

Rafael closed his eyes and hung his head as he heard Tyler keep trying to calm Evelyn down. Evelyn was no doubt having a panic attack. He’d talked Alejandra out of plenty of panic attacks, and he knew what to do. But this was Evelyn. He had hurt her. If he talked to her, it might make it worse.

“I promise it’ll be okay,” Tyler said.

Rafael sighed, feeling defeated as he walked forward. Tyler was about three seconds away from telling Evelyn to calm down, and that would only make things worse. The only thing that was slightly better would be if Rafael talked to her, so he made his choice.

Rafael gestured toward Tyler, holding out his hand. Tyler was confused, but handed his phone over. Rafael pressed a few buttons and placed Evelyn on speakerphone.

“Hey, Evelyn. You’re on speakerphone. It’s Rafael,” he said.

“Rafael?” Evelyn’s voice was full of air. He could almost hear the sob she was letting out in gasps.

“Hey, are you sitting down?” Rafael asked.

“I… I…”

“Sit down, Evelyn. Right where you are.”

“I’m just… I don’t know if…”

“Tell me five things you can see,” Rafael said.

“What?”

“Tell me five things you can see. Look around where you are right now and tell me five things you can see.”

He kept his voice calm, coaching Evelyn through the grounding principles he’d gone through with Alejandra when they were little. Evelyn, at first, was panicked and confused, but to his surprise, she’d calmed down as she spoke about what was in her room. Her decorations on her bed, the feel of the fake leaves hanging around her room between her fingers, the smell of her lotions. All as her voice steadied and became calmer. Tyler had his hands clasped together, bouncing them against his lips as he listened, looking far more relieved as Evelyn got calmer.

Evelyn’s breathing was steadier after Rafael coached her through the techniques.

“He’s… Nick, he’s…” her voice was weaker, but not as panicked. “He said Grizzizzik wanted to level up, so they snuck out of the house and ended up battling a minotaur or something. When they split ways, the police caught Nick.”

Tyler let out a hiss. Rafael glanced at the rogue, who had his arms crossed and stared ahead. The stories matched. Nick and Grizzizzik went and did some solo leveling. They split the party. Nick shouldn’t be doing this. Grizzizzik didn’t need any extra experience points. From what he understood, Grizzizzik had about the same points as everyone else.

“Evelyn? It’s Tyler again. If we’re serious about leveling up the group, we’ll have to do some fighting all this week. Do you want to come with us to the fight today? Or do you want to stay home?” Tyler asked.

“I want to stay home.” It didn’t sound like she had to even think about it. “Nick won’t have a phone all month, and I need to stay here. In case anything else happens that we’ll need to contact you all.”

“Okay.” Tyler kept rubbing the gray mark across his neck. Rafael wondered if it had a certain feeling. Was anything different, now that it had been a while since he got his gray marks?

“It’s also for Grizzizzik’s own safety. If I see that rogue’s smug face today, I might gorge his stupid little eyes out.”

Rafael glanced at Grizzizzik, who kept his arms folded. Clarissa, on the other hand, let out a snort of a laugh.

“Uh, you’re on speakerphone. Grizzizzik heard that,” Tyler said.

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“Good. Let him hear it.” Evelyn’s voice grew in volume. “So help me, Grizzizzik, if you try this stupid shit again, I will rip out your throat! I’ll tear off your appendages and beat your face with them before I stuff them up your—”

Rafael raised an eyebrow as Tyler quickly pressed a few buttons. “You’re now off speakerphone.”

Rafael glanced at Grizzizzik, who no longer had a forced bored expression. He was blinking multiple times as though coming to terms with being threatened by a sixteen-year-old. Clarissa was covering her face, trying and failing to hide her laughter. Grizzizzik shot her a glare.

Clarissa lowered her hand. “She’d actually do it, Grizzly Bear. And you better hope I’m around to stop her.”

“I wouldn’t stop her,” Hraktar said from the wall.

Grizzizzik rolled his eyes before he stood up. “I’m simply eager to get stronger. Akshi is planning something, and we must be prepared.”

Grizzizzik about left, but Tyler appeared in front of him, hand out. His glare was dangerous.

“Okay. I won’t call Nick, so we’re back to you being the soul communicator between everyone,” Tyler said into his phone. He heard Evelyn’s response, but he still kept his eyes on Grizzizzik.

Ezekiel reached out and held Clarissa’s hand and glanced at Grizzizzik. “There are better ways to get prepared without endangering our creators.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later,” Tyler said before hanging up. He glared at Grizzizzik. “You will never do this again. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Grizzizzik said in the most manipulative, slithery voice Rafael had ever heard.

Tyler’s fists clenched, and for one moment, Rafael thought Tyler was going to punch Grizzizzik in the face. Rafael straightened, just in case he needed to hold Tyler back. Instead, Tyler closed his eyes, breathing in slowly as he rolled his shoulders and stomped away.

“Ezekiel, Hraktar, watch this rogue. Set up a watch at night, every night. No one is to keep their eyes of this snake. I don’t trust him, and I do not want him near Nick. The second Grizzizzik disappears, I want to know about it.” Tyler glanced at Rafael and Alejandra. “If one of the characters alerts to you that Grizzizzik is gone, you call Evelyn. Immediately. She will find and warn Nick. I will let her know of this plan.”

“Um, Tyler,” Rafael started to say.

“I will double check with Evelyn, but I’m almost positive she’ll agree to getting a phone call from you. If it’s about keeping Nick safe, I doubt she’ll care who the call is from. Plan on this unless I tell you otherwise. I’ll check in with her later.”

Rafael nodded, glancing at Grizzizzik. The rogue still had his fangs out, his eyes far more narrowed as he studied Tyler. Tyler met the rogue’s gaze. “I’ll let Derek know, too. There’s something more to this. I can feel it.” Tyler raised a finger, pointing toward Grizzizzik. “Whatever power you think you have over Nick, we will find out, and we will break it. I know what I saw in Nick last night, and he would not do what you said he did without feeling threatened. You do not mess with one of my friends, Grizzizzik.”

Grizzizzik let out a breath, his nostrils flaring, but said nothing.

Tyler turned around and grabbed his jacket, stuffing his hands through the sleeves as he headed toward the door. “I’ll see everyone later at Derek’s.”

***

The rest of Sunday left Evelyn scared and confused, even as she tried not to be. She spent most of her time studying Tyler’s social media, though she didn’t realize how much she was looking at it. Nick had finished his chores well before lunch and crashed in his bed, sleeping soundly without a door.

When Nick woke up later that evening, they were rolling dice for the battle that she later learned was a cyclops trying to enter Elmwood with his four demon sheep. There were a lot of creatures now outside the town limits, making factions and attempting to conquer a town of humans that couldn’t see them. Or how they could conquer something they couldn’t even touch.

Their work was cut out for them. They’d have to lure these creatures away to kill them.

Evelyn tried to talk to Nick at dinner, but he closed himself off completely, giving vague, one-word answers. He was shutting her off, and it scared her more than she wanted to admit. When he finished dinner, he went back to his room with no door. Evelyn knew that if she wanted to, she could march right in there and confront him, but it wouldn’t work. Nick would close himself off even more. A painful reminder that he had no door and couldn’t shut out his little sister, who could be a pain in the butt.

So, despite her better judgement, Evelyn left him alone. Even with sleeping most of the day, Nick finished dinner and went back to bed. She feared her brother stumbled into a depressive state.

She was already there.

The battle finished. Evelyn got the report, and she had a feeling this was how it would go for the next month, as Clarissa received four hundred and fifty experience points.

The next morning at school, Nick disappeared into the crowd the moment he entered the doors. Evelyn tried to follow him, but he picked up the pace, shooting her a look. Evelyn slowed down, her brows furrowing. She thought she and Nick could go through anything, but why was Nick pulling away from her?

***

P.E. was finished. Nick spent most of it on the bleachers, staring at the bandages on his arms that made a perfectly reasonable excuse to not play basketball with everyone else. While everyone else played, he remembered his math textbook was still in his locker. He’d need it for homework tonight.

He was forgetting a lot of things today. He was falling into a funk, and he was painfully aware of it, even as the funk grabbed his self-awareness and assured him it would be okay. Okay, if he let the sharper feelings of betrayal numb him. Ignore the stares at his bandaged arms and the whispers from people who never bothered to get to know him.

Forget the horror at knowing he’d have to do something like this again this week. The horror of what might happen if he got caught like this again.

The bell rang, and Nick walked to his locker, feeling nothing. He opened it, grabbing his textbook when he saw someone approaching like they would a wild animal. Nick glanced over and saw it was Alejandra who made a point not to look at him.

“Hello,” she said.

Nick said nothing, emotions strangling the simple greeting he could have said. He zipped up his backpack when Alejandra held out a note. Nick frowned, trying to force the funk away. “What’s this?”

Alejandra cleared her throat. “Boundaries. For the winter ball. If… if you can even go.”

Nick stared at the paper, remembering the conversation they had on Saturday. Two days ago. How was it two days ago? It felt like months.

“Right.” He took the page and opened it, scanning the rules they agreed to, with the reminder that they were only doing this to stay together as a group and not for any romantic feelings. Nick folded up the paper and placed it on the shelf in his locker. Alejandra had her arms folded, glancing at the wall. Nick finished zipping his backpack and closed the locker.

“So… can you go?” Alejandra asked.

Nick shrugged. “Rafael hasn’t asked my dad. Might be smart to wait a few days.”

“Would have been smarter to not do what you did at all.” She said it in her quiet way. Almost passive aggressive, but then again, she was clear about what she hated.

Nick closed his eyes, forcing the funk to smother his anger back into a depressive numbness. “As hard as this is to imagine, Alejandra, this isn’t actually my fault.”

Alejandra shook her head. “When Grizzizzik suggested you leave to level up by yourself, you don’t follow him. Seriously, how hard is that to understand?”

“It’s hard, because that’s not what happened at all,” Nick said, feeling his injuries pull as he flexed his hands.

“Oh, really? Then what happened?” Alejandra asked.

Nick shook his head. “Like you’ll even understand.”

“And why won’t I understand?”

The anger took hold. It was dangerous, but he couldn’t leave her question unanswered, either. “Because my words change every time I talk to you. To Evelyn. To anyone, not just in our group. Grizzizzik has made a contract with Chaos to become a powerful enough warlock to get a sword to kill his father. But you’re not hearing this phrase, you’re hearing something else, and it frustrates the hell out of me that you can’t understand.”

Alejandra’s mouth dropped open, horrified. Nick barely had time to wonder what she heard when she slapped him.