Evelyn was texting Derek, standing by the window. Walt would be home soon. She wanted to be out of the house before he returned, but she also wanted to stay. Lydia wasn’t much of a calming influence on her husband, and Evelyn somehow knew this would end up with Nick and Walt having a screaming match. She told Walt she was having a movie night with friends, and he answered by reminding her of her eleven o’clock curfew. With Nick not coming, she didn’t actually have to tell the truth.

Clarissa and Grizzizzik were waiting with her. The rogue was busy sharpening a tooth in his hand.

“Is that from the hell hound?” Evelyn asked.

“Yep,” Grizzizzik said.

She blinked, watching. “I thought you were robbed of everything.”

“Apparently, a bag of teeth and skin weren’t exactly worth it to these thieves. I learned how to make weapons from animal parts for that reason,” Grizzizzik said.

Evelyn wrinkled her nose, even though she tried not to. “You still have the skin, too?”

“Yeah.” He grabbed the bag from behind his back, opening it. “It’s right—”

She lifted a hand. “I don’t want to actually see it. I believe you.”

Grizzizzik didn’t seem bothered that it made her uncomfortable. He just shrugged and kept sharpening the tooth against a stone.

Derek pulled in with his minivan, and Evelyn waved. “Alright, let’s go. Bye Nick!”

There was no answer, and she left through the front door. Nick was going to be in a sour mood for a while after this. In a day or two, she’d let him use her laptop to look for places to rent. That usually brought him out of his moods.

Evelyn climbed in the passenger seat as Clarissa and Grizzizzik got in through the sliding door. Milo was already there.

“Is Rafael going to be there?” Evelyn tried to sound hopeful that a long-lost friend was going to be there, instead of trying to mentally prepare herself.

“Alejandra told him. He should be there,” Derek said.

Evelyn checked her phone to give her something to do. “Oh, great!”

“Yeah.” Derek checked the rearview mirror to make sure everyone was buckled before heading out.

Evelyn was trying to make small talk, but she felt an urge to chew on her fingernails. This was going to be fine. They needed to do this. Whatever was happening, they needed to make sure their town was safe from Torraq and Akshi. Rafael needed to be there.

Alejandra welcomed them, giving Evelyn a hug. They rarely hung out at the Walker house for CCNC sessions, but now it was a bit more of a necessity.

“Ezekiel!” Clarissa said.

Ezekiel glanced up from his book, his face brightening as he saw her. “Hello, Princess!”

They hugged tightly, and Evelyn saw Rafael peeking out of his room. She busied herself with looking at her phone again, her heart hammering. Whenever she saw him, she could always smell the heavy alcohol in his breath. It was ridiculous, because Rafael wasn’t drunk right now. Her mind was playing tricks on her again.

Clarissa and Ezekiel took two long minutes catching up, both of them smiling wide at each other. It was only after they finished that Ezekiel glanced over, seeing Milo.

“And hello to you, too!” Ezekiel said, patting Milo’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I know you missed her more than me.” Milo’s arms were folded, but he still had a smile on his face.

“Speaking of people, where is that Grizzly Bear?” Ezekiel asked in a segue that made no sense.

“Please don’t call me that either. I can barely stand the princess saying it,” Grizzizzik said.

“There he is!” Ezekiel said, hugging Grizzizzik. The fact that Grizzizzik did not hug back but also didn’t stop him spoke much about their friendship.

Evelyn, despite the awkward pounding in her heart, smiled at the sweet reunion of the CCNC team.

Nick and Grizzizzik already told Evelyn the story. Nick had to make sure Grizzizzik told the truth, and he filled in details when necessary. Evelyn did her best to fill that role now. Once the party had said their hellos, Evelyn listened as Grizzizzik recounted what happened. Grizzizzik didn’t linger on too many details, like how he was badly beaten and practically left for dead. Or that he couldn’t even sneak out of the house successfully before stumbling into some bandits. He was going to ignore the part where all his stuff was stolen, too, but Evelyn figured that was important for other people to know. Especially how his rapier was in the hands of thieves as proof for Akshi that his son was alive and here in this realm.

Once his initial story was done, Clarissa added their discoveries. The sad realization that the thieves might go looking for Akshi and tell them where Grizzizzik lived. And, in turn, where Evelyn, Clarissa, and Nick lived too.

“Well shit,” Derek mumbled.

Evelyn should have felt scared. She’d heard the stories, obviously. After playing the game for years, Akshi was almost as well known as Torraq. Where Torraq used icy brute force against his enemies, Akshi liked to play with his.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Alright, so… what’s the plan?” Alejandra asked.

“We track the thieves down. Figure out if they communicated with Akshi. We go from there,” Grizzizzik said.

“Is there some sort of protection spell you can put on their house?” Hraktar asked Milo and Ezekiel.

They both frowned in concentration. Ezekiel shrugged. “I can use disguise self, but at this level, that’s all I can do.”

“We need some sort of magic item to make that big of a protection,” Milo said.

Grizzizzik pushed himself off from leaning against the table. “We don’t need magic, we need information. I’ve told the story. Now we’ve got to track down the thieves.”

“And then do what exactly?” Ezekiel asked.

Grizzizzik shrugged. “Get the information we need.”

The cleric gave him another look. “How?”

The rogue moved his jaw around. “I kind of liked these few weeks you weren’t in the group.”

“I didn’t,” Hraktar mumbled.

Grizzizzik ignored Hraktar. “We’ve already wasted way too much time already. We find the thieves, then we can figure out how to interrogate them later.”

Ezekiel walked over to Grizzizzik. “You’re right. And with the added danger to the people of this realm, we must make sure they’re stopped.”

“Wait, wait,” Rafael said, taking a few steps closer. “We can’t just… go wandering around Elmwood. People are going to ask questions.”

“How small of a town do you think this is?” Derek asked.

“Just ask my brother,” Evelyn mumbled.

“We won’t attack anyone,” Ezekiel said before giving a meaningful look at Grizzizzik. “If the other young man, Nick, could still control Grizzizzik’s actions while he was away, then we can all do the same.”

“Nick is not controlling my actions,” Grizzizzik said.

Derek pointed his finger, nodding. “It’s true. Nick was just able to roll the dice from where he was at school. Which means we can all stay here while they go exploring. No one can see them.”

“I told my dad I was watching a movie at a friend’s house,” Evelyn said.

Derek nodded. “That sounds great. We’ll do that while you five go exploring.”

Grizzizzik didn’t need another word of encouragement. He was already out the door. Clarissa gave Ezekiel a side long look before the two of them followed.

“Come on, big guy,” Milo said, giving Hraktar’s shoulder a whack.

“Yeah.” Hraktar tried to give Milo the same whack on the shoulder, but it was clear the mana fusor was far more hurt by Hraktar’s gesture. The fighter winced. “Uh… sorry.”

“Nope. You’re good. You’re good.”

Hraktar nodded before heading out the door. Milo rolled his shoulder as he followed them.

The door closed, and there was a moment of silence. Evelyn scraped her fingernail under the other in an attempt to clean them. It gave her something to do, so she didn’t have to look at Rafael.

He was already heading for his room. “Well, I have a ton of homework, but I wish you all the best.”

“Wish us the best? Ezekiel is your character too, you know,” Alejandra said.

Rafael was already down the hall. “And I’ll roll if I get the prompt to. I don’t have to be in the same room.”

The door closed, leaving the three of them. Derek checked his watch. “So, mystery? Horror? Scifi fantasy? What are we feeling tonight?”

“Not horror,” both Alejandra and Evelyn said.

It didn’t matter what movie they chose. Evelyn knew no one would concentrate on it too much. She could already feel the tension radiating from Derek. He wanted to be out there with Milo, but there was nothing anyone could do. They just had to wait and see. Which was a lot harder than Evelyn wanted to admit, but at least Rafael wasn’t there.

***

It was ridiculously late when Nick heard Evelyn walk through the door. True, it was eleven-thirty, but Nick would have been skinned alive if he was that late coming home on a school night. His parents were already in bed, totally confident Evelyn would come home. Nick cracked his door open as she walked down the hall with Clarissa and Grizzizzik following behind.

“How’d it go?” Nick asked as quietly as he dared.

She shrugged. “Nothing happened. Well, not nothing. All of us got a few investigation rolls in. Some were good, some not so good, but nothing came of it.”

“I only need four hours of sleep. Grizzizzik will take the first watch, then I will take the rest of the night,” Clarissa said.

Nick raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, thanks. That’s really kind.”

“It is necessary,” Clarissa said before walking into Evelyn’s room.

Grizzizzik stayed at the end of the hallway. He was quiet as he brought his hood up, slipping into the main room. Nick was prompted to make a perception check, which he did. He hoped eleven was good enough for his shift. Once time resumed, Nick glanced at Evelyn. “Did you get a perception check?”

“Yeah. Probably for Princess Clarissa’s future watch. Glad we could do this now instead of waking me up in four hours.”

Nick rubbed his chin. “So, nothing happened at the meeting?”

Evelyn shrugged. “I wish something had. I don’t like this uncertainty.”

“They can’t hurt us,” Nick said.

“I know.”

Nick again tried to see if Grizzizzik appeared at the end of the hallway, but there was nothing. He somehow knew he wouldn’t see his rogue until he wanted to be seen. He tried to take comfort in that.

“How was…” Evelyn trailed off, and Nick caught his little sister’s gaze again. She didn’t want to press it, but Nick could tell she was curious.

“I just let him scream at me,” Nick said.

Evelyn winced. “It’s not right, you know.”

“What else can I do? He won’t listen to me, and the worst thing I can do when he’s screaming is say anything that might hint he’s in the wrong.”

Evelyn shook her head, angry. “It’s still wrong, Nick. You don’t deserve that. You were going six over. So what? The police here are so bored. Ugh, Officer Hendricks peaked in high school. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Evie…” he wasn’t sure what he was going to say, but he didn’t want to work his sister up too much. Instead, he smiled. “Thanks.”

Evelyn let out a sigh. “Please don’t move too far away in April. I’m going to miss you.”

Nick was strangely touched by her moment of vulnerability. “I’ll miss you too. I mean, come December you’ll get your driver’s license. You can come visit me in April all you want.”

She nodded. “Alright. Sleep well, Nick.”

Nick straightened, heading into his room. “Yeah. You too.” He closed the door, seeing movement outside his window and knowing it was Grizzizzik. Despite everything, he felt a bit at ease as he drifted off to sleep.

***

Evelyn was glad the first football game of the season was a home game. Lydia was waiting for her in the parking lot and she was ready to get home and sleep. She absolutely loved cheer. Loved every aspect of the routines and the dances. It always made her sleep far more soundly than if she didn’t.

They had won, which was always a great feeling for the first game of the season. She was zipping up her bag when she heard Hazel’s name.

“I just can’t believe what Hazel suggested,” one girl said. It was Rebecka, one of the juniors. “I seriously thought she was possessed or something.”

“Right?” It was impossible to miss Jennifer’s voice, especially when someone else was speaking juicy gossip. She was always in the middle of it. “Like, I appreciate how much Hazel pushes us as a team, but I’m not playing some loser game.”

Evelyn winced, knowing exactly what they were talking about.

“Ugh, can you imagine if that ever got out? The cheerleading squad playing CCNC? It’s bad enough the nerds have socks with our names on it. Those losers don’t need more encouragement.”

Evelyn kept staring at her bag, trying not to feel hurt. She knew this was how it would go, but Hazel had filled her with such hope. Evelyn hated how she had to choose between cheer and CCNC. She wanted both. But the stupid hierarchy of high school deemed otherwise.

That was before she realized how much trouble CCNC might get her in.