Nick did his homework in his room because Walt was home, and he wasn’t interested in being in the same vicinity. It took an incredible amount of mental pressure to put everything to one side and do homework. He almost believed there wasn’t a snake humanoid and an elf druid practicing sword fighting in their backyard. Or how they were having a conversation about magic abilities that was definitely one sided.

In that way, he went on pretending he was some average kid planning for a future instead of planning for when he could get out of this hellhole.

If he could pretend all that away, perhaps he might one day pretend his best friend didn’t hurt his little sister. But he doubted they could ever get to that point.

“Nick.”

He turned to see Evelyn with her phone pressed against her shoulder, motioning him to come over. He dropped his pencil and got up, following her into her room as she tapped on her phone.

“Okay, Tyler. You’re on speaker phone. Just try to be quiet. My parents are in the other room.”

“Right. I’ll try,” Tyler said. Nick folded his arms. “Hey, Nick. Evelyn. I know it’s been a rough weekend. When I left you guys before, I said it would be easiest if we all took a few weekends off. Spend some time apart. And honestly, I think we can still do that. I just need to make you aware of a few things. Ezekiel’s got lycanthropy.”

Nick dug his fingers into his hair, taking a deep, steady breath, but it wasn’t working. “Godammit, Rafael.”

“It’s not Rafael’s fault. It’s the roll of the die.”

A flood of anger hit him all over again. “Rafael is ruining Ezekiel. He doesn’t know how to play him, and we’re all better off without him.”

“Nick, come on. Rafael is trying.”

“And failing. And bringing the rest of us down with him,” Nick said.

Evelyn glanced at the door, a finger to her lips. Nick didn’t mean to glare at her, but he did.

“I still believe everyone needs to spend some time apart, but I also strongly feel Ezekiel needs to get looked at by Calawit. She’s the most powerful sorceress alive, and if anyone had an answer, she would. I think it’s what we’re supposed to do.”

“How are we going to do that if we have to spend time apart?” Evelyn asked.

“Whoever wants to can go to Calawit’s tent. Ezekiel definitely needs to go, which means Rafael will go, too.” Tyler lowered his voice. “I will leave the rest up to you guys. This won’t be a battle. This will hopefully lead to Ezekiel getting cured before the first full moon.”

Nick rubbed his face, feeling so tired. “I’m not going.” He didn’t want to work with Rafael. He wanted to never see him again.

“That’s… a wise choice,” Tyler said.

“I won’t go, either,” Evelyn said.

“I completely understand. I’ll let the others know and let them figure this out with Calawit. Once they know what to do, I’ll call and report back. See you two later.”

Nick was already out of Evelyn’s room and back toward his own. Back toward homework. Once again, he bricked up the part of his mind radiating the most anger, and pretended he was a regular seventeen-year-old kid.

This was going to be impossible.

***

Alejandra was in the living room with Hraktar and Ezekiel. She was pacing, waiting for Rafael to come out of his room. Her brother was summoning the courage to tell Ezekiel.

Ezekiel was reading more of Sherlock Holmes on her phone, completely engrossed. Whenever Alejandra wasn’t using it, he was on it. The cleric was used to reading it while it was charging.

Rafael’s door opened, and he walked out. Mariana was gone to work, and it was getting closer to seven-thirty, when they were planning on leaving. Rafael walked to the kitchen and placed his ice pack in the freezer. He then walked in front of Ezekiel. The cleric finished the sentence he was reading before he looked up. “Hey!”

Rafael scratched the bottom of his chin. “We’re going to meet Calawit.”

“Oh, is that what we’re doing?” Ezekiel asked.

“Yes. And…” Rafael trailed off, looking at Alejandra. She had no idea what Rafael needed for support, but she wanted to give it. He dropped his hands. “And you’ve got… lycanthropy.”

Ezekiel nodded. “Yeah. I thought so.”

That was it. Ezekiel unplugged the phone and got up, handing it to Alejandra. Rafael frowned. “That’s… your big reaction?”

Ezekiel frowned. “What do you mean?”

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“You’re a cleric. At the full moon, you’re going to turn into a wererat. We’re about to ask Calawit if there is any chance to cure you before you become a creature so far from yourself that no one will recognize you. You could kill your friends in the wererat state,” Rafael said.

The cleric took this in with a small nod. “Yeah. I guess we better talk to Calawit.”

Rafael stared at him. “How are you so calm?”

“I know who my friends are. They will not fail me. We will find a cure,” Ezekiel said.

Rafael again stared at him. Alejandra looked at Hraktar, who had his arms folded. “And if we don’t find a cure?” Rafael couldn’t help but ask.

Ezekiel glanced at Hraktar, and the huge fighter nodded. “I will have your back. Or pin your wererat form if needed.”

“Thank you, my friend.”

It was odd. That was the only word Alejandra could think about. They had been so entrenched in the drama between Rafael and Nick, Rafael and Evelyn, that Alejandra was afraid to add yet another thing on their plate. But Ezekiel took this with an ease she was almost jealous of. Ezekiel wasn’t afraid. Wasn’t about to burst into tears and hyperventilate. He had lycanthropy, and they were about to figure out its cure. Ezekiel had a group of friends who would stick to his side no matter what happened.

What would that feel like?

Rafael looked as though he was about to say something when there was a knock on the front door. Alejandra frowned, walked over and opened it, surprised to see Derek and Milo standing there. Derek was checking his phone and glanced at her, smiling. “Oh, perfect. Glad I’m not too late.”

Alejandra blinked, staring at Nick’s only friend in the world, standing on the steps of their house. “You’re coming with us?”

“Yeah. Well, character wise it makes sense. Milo and Ezekiel are best friends. Milo will absolutely take every opportunity to study Ezekiel at this point.” Derek glanced at the mana fusor as he moved through the door, heading for the cleric. Derek’s voice lowered. “You might need to watch that. I can’t promise Milo won’t go full mad scientist on Ezekiel.”

Alejandra felt a smile tug at her lips, one that made her realize how little she’d been smiling lately. “But… what about Nick?”

Derek returned to his phone, texting someone. “I doubt he’ll come. Or Evelyn.”

“No, I mean… what will Nick think if he knows you’re here?” Alejandra asked. “He’s made his point perfectly clear about how he feels about my brother. He’ll be super mad if he finds out you helped us.”

Derek finished texting, a slight smile on his face. “That’s a rather simplistic take.” He slipped his phone back in his pocket. “You let me worry about Nick. The guy knows CCNC is my life. I’ve done a lot of crazier things in the name of the game.” Derek’s eyes slid past her shoulders, and he nodded. “Hey, Rafael.”

Alejandra turned, seeing Rafael at the end of the hallway. “Hey.”

There was a beat of silence as Derek looked away. “What you did to Evelyn was pretty shitty.”

Rafael tenderly rubbed his side. “Yeah. Incredibly shitty.”

“And the fact you know that helps. I’ll be completely honest. I still need a bit of time to process what you did, but… well.” Derek shrugged. “Ezekiel and Milo are best friends. It’d be weird if I didn’t come.”

Rafael nodded, then looked away. “Thanks. For coming.”

Alejandra then noticed that Ezekiel was standing shirtless in the living room, with Milo leaning over with his magnifying glass. It was the first time she noticed the bite marks on the cleric’s shoulders. His skin was perfectly fine, except for the multiple black swirling marks where the teeth had punctured him. Some sort of swirling mass remained right under the surface of his skin. The mana fusor poked the mass on his shoulder. “I bet you anything that’s black mana.”

Ezekiel shrugged. “Well, whenever you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Milo kept moving his magnifying back and forth, then paused, glancing at Ezekiel with a slight frown. “From a book you read?”

“Obviously.”

Alejandra checked her phone. “Are we ready to go? We don’t want to get home too late. It is a school night.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Rafael said.

Derek pulled out keys from his pocket. “I brought the minivan.”

Ezekiel grabbed his shirt. “Then let’s go!” He slipped it on as he headed toward the door. “The game’s afoot!”

Alejandra smiled as Ezekiel passed them, heading for the van.

“Sherlock Holmes, huh?” Derek asked.

Alejandra shrugged. “They’re all free on the internet. There’s, like, fifty short stories and four novels.” They moved out of the way so Hraktar and Milo could follow Ezekiel outside. “I mean, now that he’s battling more often, he won’t burn through our pop culture quite as fast.”

“Eh, don’t be so sure,” Rafael muttered.

***

Rafael was anxious. It was hard to tell, because ever since the weekend, he was always anxious. As they walked into the tent, though, he was lightheaded with worry. At least this time, he knew why. Ezekiel’s situation concerned him. Tyler was confident Calawit would have something to tell them, but whether the news was good or bad was a different matter entirely.

Rafael walked into the tent, moving aside so Hraktar could walk in. He felt the dull thud as the six-and-a-half-foot fighter moved into the tent.

Milo walked inside. “Cal!”

“Milo? Is that you?” Rafael watched as the little shopkeeper jumped on the desk. The mana fusor grabbed Ezekiel and pulled him in the tent. She moved her spectacles closer to her nose. “Well hello! Where’s your other friends?”

“Not coming. For now,” Milo said.

“Ah. So, are you three going on an adventure? There’s been a few more rumblings here and there.”

“We came to help Ezekiel,” Hraktar said.

Calawit sniffed, studying Ezekiel closer. “There is something odd about you. I sense in you what I sense in that other boy. And the lizard.”

“Grizzizzik’s a snake,” Ezekiel said.

The sorcerer gave a wave of her wrist. “Eh.” Calawit moved closer to study Ezekiel. “What happened to you?”

“I got bitten by a wererat,” Ezekiel said.

Calawit’s face seemed to fall. “Oh. My deepest condolences.”

Rafael’s heart pounded, glancing at Calawit with a fear he didn’t expect to feel. “Isn’t there something you can do?”

Calawit turned, seeing Rafael there. She studied his face, curious. “Who are you?”

“Uh, Rafael Walker.”

Calawit continued to stare at him, her head slowly cocking to one side. “Rafael Walker. I see qualities of you in him.”

Rafael frowned, his eyes bouncing to Alejandra for a moment before returning to Calawit. “Sorry, who are you talking about?”

“You. You and Ezekiel. Both of you are the unexpected leaders of this little gang, aren’t you?” Calawit said.

He shook his head, because it was instinctual. “No. Not really. I mean, Ezekiel is, but I’m no leader. Tyler’s our leader. I’m more the…” He trailed off, because he wasn’t exactly sure what he was. He just knew he wasn’t anything like his character. It’s why he created the cleric the way he did. “Can you check on Ezekiel? We all need him. And not in a wererat form. That’s not who he is.”

Calawit’s grin faded as she straightened, but it was still there. “I am merely a humble shopkeeper. It seems like every other time you visit me, you require a new responsibility for me to take on. Shopkeeper. Tavernkeeper. Now healer.”

“Believe me, Cal, if there were other healers here, we would go to them. You seem to be the only person from Osvoroth who’s here,” Milo said.

Calawit sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”