Alejandra turned off the clunker of a car. Her stomach was in knots, simply because Rafael wasn’t here with her. After conversing with him for an hour about his schedule last night, Rafael shrugged her away, telling her she could update him when she returned.

It wasn’t like he didn’t try. His Saturday was packed with things to do. And none of that involved meeting his old CCNC group. Even after he heard about the hell hound attack. He was relieved it hadn’t hurt her, but he also stated he simply couldn’t come.

Alejandra walked into the Mexican restaurant owned by José Florez, creatively called José’s. While Señora Florez taught high school, her husband owned a restaurant that was known for its unapologetic bright pink stucco exterior. Some people in town jokingly called it the Pepto Bismol restaurant, but the food was amazing. At least it was whenever Alejandra could eat here, which wasn’t often. Her family didn’t eat out much. But the packed breakfast crowd must mean something.

Hraktar eased himself inside, and Alejandra caught him looking at all the people ignoring him. It was a novel experience for him.

“Alejandra!”

She turned to see Tyler waving at her. She waved back and walked over to him. “Hey, Tyler.”

He gave her a hug. “How are you?”

“Good, good. Um, Rafael is extremely busy, so he couldn’t make it,” Alejandra said.

Tyler rubbed his chin. “Alright. I’ll text him after to check in on him. A Saturday shouldn’t be this busy for the kid. It can’t be healthy.” Tyler’s eyes wandered until they fell on Hraktar. The fighter was glancing around, not sure how he felt about people not reacting to his half-orc form. When he caught Tyler looking at him with a slight smile, he wasn’t sure how to react. “Hello, you,” Tyler said.

Hraktar looked confused, then glanced at Alejandra. She had tried explaining it to him, but trying to explain the game master felt like an impossible thing to get across. “Hello,” Hraktar said.

“Derek and Milo are in the back dining area. José is giving us a more private place, even if he doesn’t understand why,” Tyler said quietly, still smiling at Hraktar. “You two go get settled. I’ll wait for Nick and Evelyn.”

“Alright. Thank you,” Alejandra said, because she didn’t know what else to say.

Alejandra led Hraktar toward the back, where she remembered there was a covered patio for privacy. José was already there, both he and Derek chatting in fast Spanish. She understood a bit. Mostly jabs at Derek’s obvious Puerto Rican influences in his Spanish, as José was laughing at his words. Something about orange juice.

“Ah, Alejandra!” José said.

“Hola,” Alejandra said.

Using far slower Spanish, he asked her how she was doing. In her two years of Spanish, she could at least respond that she was doing fine. José beamed at her like she had defended a thesis in Spanish. “My wife is teaching you so well, no?” he asked in Spanish.

“She is the best teacher,” Alejandra said with hesitant Spanish.

Alejandra noticed Hraktar walking over to Milo, who was sitting at another table reading a textbook, from the looks of it. Milo beamed at Hraktar and stood up, hugging him tightly. Hraktar returned the hug.

“Come, my friend. What shall you have?” José asked, reverting to English.

It took a moment for Alejandra to realize he was talking to her. “Oh, nothing for me, thank you. I already ate.”

“Nonsense. You are young. You need nourishment.”

“I’m… I’m really full.” Even though she was certain José and Derek both knew how poor her family was, she didn’t enjoy mentioning it at all.

“It is on the house! And your brother. Rafael. Is he coming?” José asked.

“No, Señor. He’s busy with schoolwork and football practice.”

“Ah, the boy works too hard. I shall make you something to give to him. He cannot be working that hard and not have something to eat,” José said.

“No, it’s really unnecessary, Señor,” Alejandra said.

“Of course it’s necessary. Now I want you to sit here and tell your friend how to say orange juice the correct way. None of this jugo de china nonsense,” José said.

Derek shook his head, saying a string of words in Spanish that were far too quick. José responded just as fast, both of them smiling wide even though she was certain they were defending slang words in each other’s countries.

Nick, Evelyn, and Tyler walked in. Behind them were Clarissa and Grizzizzik, who looked as though they had a fight of their own and weren’t talking to each other.

“Alejandra!” Evelyn said, moving over to her.

“Oh, hey, Evelyn.”

Despite Evelyn being leagues ahead of her in popularity and moving in completely separate social circles, Evelyn still greeted her warmly in the halls like it hadn’t mattered to her. Alejandra was always touched when she did that.

José would not let Nick or Evelyn weasel their way out of ordering, either. They finally ordered and sat down in the more private area of the restaurant. The CCNC characters were greeting each other like old friends, too, though Clarissa looked around once she’d seen everyone. “Where’s Ezekiel?”

“Not coming. Um… Rafael is busy today,” Alejandra said.

“Pity. Our group never feels complete without him,” Clarissa said, who was most likely talking about Ezekiel instead of her brother. The only time Alejandra missed Rafael’s presence in their CCNC sessions was at the beginning, where she would have to make another excuse why her older brother skipped out again.

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José came out with their drinks. Alejandra didn’t order orange juice, but José still brought it out.

“Jugo de naranja,” José said with a particular flourish as he set the orange juice in front of Derek.

Derek simply sighed, getting his straw. “Gracias, Señor.”

Alejandra smirked as she was given her orange juice. Evelyn had her phone out, tapping on something. “Hey, my dad wants a picture with everyone in it.” Code for Walt needed to make sure Nick was telling the truth about a breakfast gathering before a CCNC session. Nick was already looking annoyed. “Señor Florez? Can you take a picture?”

“Of course!” He took the camera. “Everyone smile!”

Evelyn gave a peace sign and a wink. Nick rolled his eyes before giving his usual scowl. Everyone else just smiled.

“Gracias!” Evelyn said, taking her phone back from José.

“We should have taken a picture after. You would have been actually smiling,” José said, patting Nick on the shoulder.

“Yeah. Sure,” Nick mumbled as José returned to the kitchen.

“How are things between you and your father?” Tyler asked. Nick grumbled something incoherent before grabbing his apple juice in a death grip and sucking on the straw way too hard. “Alright. I’ll drop that subject,” Tyler said.

“So, what is this about?” Evelyn asked.

Derek drank his orange juice as he glanced around. Milo was talking to the CCNC characters about something, but hesitated as Derek made eye contact.

“It’s a bit of a story.”

Derek explained his conversation with Milo. About doing an insight check and rolling a nat twenty. Alejandra felt her stomach churn again as Derek whispered about how Milo believed their world was in danger. Their characters coming here couldn’t mean anything good. Derek talked about Tyler being a part of this somehow. Alejandra glanced at Tyler. He looked as though Derek had already talked to him about this, but a troubled look lingered on his face.

“What do you think, Tyler?” Nick asked.

Tyler just shook his head. “No idea. And I hate not having any idea. Game masters usually feel helpless, but not like this.” He looked at the table across from them. Hraktar wasn’t sitting either, keeping a steady eye on Grizzizzik. There was clear mistrust there. Clarissa and Milo were chatting about mana and Milo’s discoveries. He was discussing how he could create red and black mana.

“You’re all just kids,” Tyler said, his eye getting a far off look in them. “Why did this happen to you?”

“We’re kids?” Nick asked. “You can’t even legally drink yet.”

“And yet still technically the adult,” Evelyn said.

Tyler shuddered. “Old enough to be the adult in this situation. Young enough to laugh at anyone who dares consider me the adult in this situation.” He meant it as a joke, but he still sighed like there was a weight there. “Something happened when you used the AI system.” He shot Derek an annoyed look. “So I might not even be considered as the Game Master. I honestly don’t know what I could bring to the table. And even then, this is extremely dangerous. I don’t like the idea of a real life CCNC battles going on in Elmwood. Or anywhere, for that matter.”

“They still can’t touch anything,” Evelyn said.

“The hell hound stopped my car,” Alejandra said. “Somehow.”

Tyler went back to rubbing his chin. “Because a hell hound grows in power if he senses fear. No doubt seeing a hell hound at Elmwood High caused a heightened sense of fear in you, enabling it to use his magic enough to cancel out the technology.”

He said this so quickly that Alejandra almost didn’t understand the implication. When she did, she stared right at Tyler, wide eyed. “How do you know all that?”

He seemed to realize what he said and looked equally surprised.

José returned with large plates. Alejandra was expecting a small plate of eggs or bacon, but he brought her the biggest breakfast burrito she’d ever seen. “Oh, wow. Thank you, Señor. Oh. I mean gracias.”

He gave her a wink. “Don’t leave without your bag to give to your brother. Okay?”

“Okay, Señor.”

Once he finished giving everyone their food, he again left, with Derek giving him some quip in Spanish. Alejandra stared at the burrito, now really doubting she could finish this all. She had specifically eaten a lot for breakfast so her stomach wouldn’t growl the entire time the others were eating. She had an entire conversation about how she was going to dodge Nick’s charity, but she came wholly unprepared for José to give her food.

Tyler had ordered two enormous platters. He added some beans and rice from his platter onto the bigger one and got up to place it at the table where the CCNC characters stood. “They’re breakfast quesadillas. You have your classic cheese, egg, and chorizo. I don’t remember if you’re vegan or vegetarian, Princess Clarissa, so I got a side of fruit, just in case.” Tyler grabbed two of the quesadillas, placing them in Hraktar’s hand. “You dig in, my good man. There is plenty for all.”

Hraktar looked at the two quesadillas in his hands. Milo took a quesadilla and nibbled it, surprised. “Delicious!”

“I knew you’d like them,” Tyler said.

Spurred on by Milo’s example, the other three did their best to follow suit. Tyler’s thoughtfulness strangely touched Alejandra. He watched them closely, frowning, as they ate. He eased next to Derek, looking a bit more antsy.

“Tyler?” Alejandra asked.

It took effort for Tyler to turn his head to look at her. Even when he did, she could tell most of his focus was on the characters. The look on his face was not encouraging. Tyler changed the subject to something else, and they ended up talking about their first week of school instead. Alejandra ate only half of her burrito before she knew she couldn’t finish. She listened to her friends talking, Rafael far from her mind.

They finished up, José getting everything in boxes and bags. Alejandra thanked him again when she received the bag for Rafael. It landed on top of her box with a hefty thump.

“That boy works too hard. Tell him he’s got to slow down,” José said.

“I can try. He stopped listening to me a while ago,” Alejandra said.

“Stubborn kid like that needs constant reminders that he doesn’t need to do everything before graduating high school.”

Tyler chatted a bit with José as everyone got organized. Hraktar walked over to Nick. “He’s not bothering you, is he?” the fighter said, motioning toward Grizzizzik.

Nick paused, then glanced at Grizzizzik. “No. He’s not.”

“That was a trick question. He bothers everyone. Which means he has been bothering you. A lot.”

Nick’s face relaxed as he tried to hide a smile. He had to look away. “Thanks for looking out for me, but… I’ll be fine.”

Hraktar studied Nick closely. “I’ll try to believe you. I’ll have a talk with Grizzizzik, anyway.”

“Um, hopefully not one where you interrogate him while you hang him upside down,” Alejandra said.

“Only if he needs some sense knocked into him, which is always,” Hraktar mumbled, again glancing at the rogue.

Nick smiled, meeting Alejandra’s gaze. She was already smiling. It was different seeing it played out when Nick and Alejandra were usually the ones doing the role play. Alejandra realized that so much of their role play might have been flirtatious, but seeing Hraktar giving Grizzizzik a look, and seeing Grizzizzik glaring back, she realized how little those two actually liked each other. Most of her interactions with Nick as Grizzizzik was talking about how much her character didn’t trust him. Or how he could break his face.

Tyler walked over, pulling his keys out of his pocket. “Alright. Um…” He was rubbing the back of his neck, looking at the CCNC characters. “This may be a slight inconvenience, but… Derek, could we borrow your parent’s minivan?”

“Uh, sure. I don’t think they’re using it,” Derek said.

Evelyn frowned. “It’s a Saturday and they’re not using their minivan?”

“We’ve… got two,” Derek said.

Alejandra couldn’t imagine two minivans, but Derek’s family was always on the richer side.

“Let’s all go to Derek’s house and drop off the food in their fridge. I think we need some fresh air.” Tyler trailed off, glancing again at the CCNC characters. “And somewhere we can talk more openly.” He shook his head. “Let’s go on a bit of a hike before it gets too hot.”