It was a perpetual wait until one o’clock, and Nick did his best to focus on his classes. He’d always been known as a loner, so it was easier to focus on taking notes and doing what he could. He got a text from Derek at around twelve, saying in their code that Evelyn didn’t get a roll. The closer it got to one, the more sweat lined his forehead.

Twenty minutes before one, while he was writing notes for practice problems in Señora Florez’s math class, time slowed down again. Nick’s heart spiked. He didn’t know which was worse. That it was happening, or that it was happening sooner than he expected.

Roll for sleight of hand.

Nick stared at the d20 in front of him before scanning Grizzizzik’s stats. None of his gear had been returned, and he had one HP point. Nick resigned himself to this fate and grabbed the die. In the small time when it left his hand to when it clattered on the invisible barrier, Nick was terrified it wouldn’t be enough.

It landed on a seven. The +3 was added, giving it a ten. Nick let out a wince as time resumed. He wasn’t even sure what was happening.

He took notes as best he could, knowing that this wasn’t over. Nick glanced at the clock. He had less than an hour and a half of school, then he was driving straight home. Thankfully, he didn’t have work today. He would have gone home anyway, even if he did have work.

Time slowed down again, though his heart rate never did, and he braced himself, hoping Grizzizzik wasn’t getting into another fight. The idiot only had one hit point.

Roll for persuasion.

Nick rolled and was surprised and scared to see it landed on another seven. The +4 pushed it to eleven, but he still felt unsettled.

Nick picked up his pencil again, bracing himself for something. He didn’t know if it helped, so it didn’t calm his heart rate in the slightest. The longer time ticked on without slowing down, the more Nick’s hand shook. He kept Grizzizzik’s hit points to the side of his vision. It stayed at one.

Rafael was in his same math class. Their assigned seats were alphabetical, so Rafael was on the other side of the class, having the last name Walker. Nick wondered if Rafael was getting any dice rolls. Had Derek asked Rafael? They all sort of acted like he was no longer a part of the group, even though Ezekiel’s presence was often missed.

Time came to a screeching halt. Nick glanced at the clock, frozen at 12:45.

Roll for insight.

Nick grabbed the d20, giving it a good shake before letting it drop. Sixteen. The best roll so far. With a +4, that gave him a dirty twenty.

“Use that how you will,” Nick mumbled.

Time resumed, and Nick focused on finishing the last of the practice problems. He should have been working on them while time stood still. That was actually a nice glitch to get homework done at a lightning pace.

Just as he thought of it, time slowed down once again.

Roll for intimidation. With advantage.

Nick sighed, using the paused time to give his face a good rub before doing a few more problems on the worksheet. The longer he went, the more he noticed time slowly beginning to unfreeze. Glad to know he wouldn’t be stuck here forever.

He grabbed the d20 and gave it a good roll. It landed on eleven, but he rolled again. Grizzizzik must have given one hell of a speech. This one landed on fourteen, and the +4 gave it a nice eighteen total.

Time resumed, and Nick finished up his worksheet when the bell rang. His last hour of school was before him. He walked through the halls, waiting for the next time freeze.

“Nick!” It was Derek. He turned around, trying to find his friend through the crowd. He moved to the side to keep from getting swept away in the river of students as Derek rushed up to him, out of breath. “Still no covert dice rolls from anyone. But I texted Tyler about it, to see if he had any ideas. He said to make sure Grizzizzik tells Princess Clarissa what happened, and then make sure it’s enough to prompt Evelyn to do an insight check. That is, of course, if you find him. The guy does like to lie a lot.” Nick nodded as Derek checked his watch. “He should be awake, right?”

“Yeah. He’s been awake for about twenty minutes.” Nick gave a quick rundown of what happened, and Derek’s eyes went wide.

“He’s got to be captured somewhere. Call me as soon as you get home. I’ll be in contact with Alejandra, too.”

Nick nodded again, the nerves causing him to shut down. An hour left of school. He wasn’t sure—

Time slowed down again. Nick’s eyes shot toward Derek’s, who was frozen. He looked at the surge of students, all frozen in time as green words filled his vision again.

Roll for dexterity.

Nick rolled, as he had no other choice. It landed on a seven, which Nick would have laughed at if he wasn’t so uncertain about what was happening. He watched the plus two bump it to nine before the number disappeared.

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Failed. Cannot roll for dexterity again until a short rest.

Time resumed, and Nick checked his watch. According to the handbook, a short rest was one hour, which meant when school was done, Grizzizzik would try again.

Whatever he was trying.

“Have you asked Rafael if he’s gotten rolls?” Nick asked.

“He’s in the same group message. I’ve gotten no reply. I’m assuming he would have told us if he did,” Derek said.

Nick nodded, the hall getting emptier. He needed to get to class. He had spent years building up his no-tardy record, and he couldn’t afford to get it docked now.

“Alright. I will call you after school. Tell Evelyn to be aware I might pick her up early from cheer if this goes south,” Nick said, already heading toward his next class.

“Yep. On it,” Derek said, pulling out his phone.

His last class was P.E., and he was more than happy to work out some adrenaline by doing the half-mile run. He was really glad he had something to eat at lunch.

P.E. wasn’t interrupted by any time stops, which he didn’t know how to feel about that. Perhaps Grizzizzik was safe, perhaps he wasn’t. He was getting changed back into his regular clothes before he was prompted again. He braced himself for whatever it was.

Roll for hit points.

Nick felt nauseous as he grabbed the two d8’s. He gave an unsteady roll, listening to them clattering against each other. They landed, and Grizzizzik’s health bar filled up to nine.

The bell rang, and Nick charged out of P.E. He stuffed books from his locker into his bag before heading out of school.

He barely made it down the stairs when time once again froze.

Roll for dexterity.

Nick didn’t even know what number he should expect. The dice landed on an eleven. A plus two bumped it to thirteen.

Success.

Time resumed, and Nick monitored Grizzizzik’s stats. He remained at nine hit points. As he ran across the parking lot, he watched Grizzizzik’s clothes and cloak being returned to his inventory. Then the hell dagger, as Grizzizzik lovingly called it, appeared. Nothing else did. It must have hurt the rogue to lose those twenty-five gold coins.

Nick slid into the car, throwing his backpack to one side. He started the car and pulled out while buckling himself. He was feeling antsy, which wasn’t good. Time hadn’t stood still, but he saw a bag of miscellaneous teeth drop into his inventory. What was going on?

Nick focused too much on getting home. He was halfway there when flashing lights appeared behind him. His heart dropped into his stomach, the sweat on his forehead turned to ice. He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Shit.”

He had no other choice. He had to pull over. Nick was strangling the wheel as he eased the car to the side. He saw the officer get out of the car. “Goddammit.” If Nick didn’t swear, he would have whacked his head against the steering wheel. Of all the policemen to pull him over, it had to be Officer Hendricks. Then again, he always figured Officer Hendricks would follow him, waiting for him to make a mistake. He didn’t have proof, but it certainly seemed like it.

Nick was rubbing his nose with his hands, keeping every single curse word inside him. He heard the rapping at his window, and he rolled it down. He tried to give his best smile. “Hello, Officer.”

“Well, if it isn’t Nick Larsen,” Officer Hendricks said.

There was silence as Nick allowed Officer Hendricks his smile. Living in a small town sucked. Officer Hendricks was enjoying this a bit too much. Nick kept his hands on the steering wheel like he’d been taught, though his knuckles were white.

Officer Hendricks was smiling. “Do you know how fast you were going?”

“No, sir.” Nick already had a strike against him as far as the police were concerned. And if he came home with a ticket, Walt would treat it like he had gotten arrested.

“This is a residential area, Nick. Bunch of kids are out from school now. Playing in the streets. Twenty-five is the limit. You were going thirty-one.”

Nick said nothing, because he learned a long time ago it never mattered. More often than not, it made it worse. Pointing out that the kids were most likely indoors while it was a hundred degrees on a boiling August afternoon would annoy Officer Hendricks and make him more likely to give him a ticket.

“License and registration, please.”

Nick’s heart was pounding wildly as he forced his face to remain calm. “My license is in my pocket, and my registration is in the glove box,” Nick said because he had to. The police man already saw him as a threat. Nick was losing the feeling in his fingertips as he pulled out his wallet and got his license. He grabbed the registration next and handed them over, refusing to think about what would happen if he came home with a ticket.

“Thanks. I’ll be back.”

Nick resisted the urge to smile, because Evelyn often told him it looked more like he was giving a sarcastic smirk, and he didn’t need that right now.

Once Officer Hendricks returned to his car, he rested his head against the top of the steering wheel and groaned. He never needed something like this, but now was the worst timing. If he stretched his neck, he could see his house. He was not ready to come home with a speeding ticket. Grizzizzik needed to be found.

Officer Hendricks came back and Nick had straightened, rubbing his forehead, hoping there wasn’t an obvious red mark from the steering wheel.

“Look, kid, I’m going to be nice today.” Nick fought against the hope rushing into his system. “You’re lucky you weren’t caught in the school zone going this fast, or else I would have given you a ticket. I’m letting you go with a warning, but this is my last warning for you.” Like it hadn’t mattered that Nick’s record was squeaky clean for two and a half years. Like this one mistake was like he was one small step away from a life of crime.

Nick nodded, forcing his jaw to relax. “Thank you, sir. It won’t happen again.”

“For your sake, let’s hope so,” Officer Hendricks said, as though Nick was getting away with murder instead of going six over the speed limit.

Nick took back his license and registration, stuffing them where they needed to go. He glanced out of his rearview mirror, making sure Officer Hendricks was far enough away before he pulled back onto the road. It did not look good when his tires pealed against the gravel. Officer Hendricks shot him a deadly look, which was all he saw before focusing on how fast he was going. He was well below twenty-five.

“They’ll never respect us, so why bother respecting them?” That’s what Eddy, Anthony’s older brother, said when Nick first met him as an impressionable thirteen-year-old. “All this authority. They think they know so much. But it’s truly a pleasure to show them so many things they don’t know.”

Nick blinked, trying not to think about Eddy’s recent arrest for drug possession. Nick refused to follow the trial. He was pretty sure Eddy was now locked away. He hadn’t talked to him or Anthony in years when they moved to Scottsdale soon after the accident.

His focus was half on the road, half on his speed limit, as he rubbed the scar over his eyebrow. He could not get pulled over again. Not so soon, not ever.

Nick pulled into his driveway and got out of the car, punching in the code to the garage before rushing in. He flew up the few steps to the door before throwing it open, prepared for anything.

Except for Grizzizzik at the table, surrounded by a few of the smaller hell hound teeth. Branches were scattered around the table, and the rogue acted as though he’d been there the whole time.