Nina stared at her son through narrowed eyes. There was something different about him this morning. He was walking stiffly again, as though he had been injured in the middle of the night.

“I didn’t think you had been injured in your fight with Jace last night,” She passed him his breakfast while prodding his side with her free hand. “You’re walking like an old man this morning.”

“Gee thanks, mom, just what I want to hear first thing in the morning.” He ducked away from her finger and hurried over to the table. “I’m just stiff, is all. I think it’s a combination of everything that happened yesterday. The fight, forming my core.” He shrugged. “It was a lot for my body to go through in a short amount of time.”

Nina narrowed her eyes, feeling as though what he was saying was only part of the story.

“Where’s dad, anyway?” Nate asked, looking for any excuse to move the conversation on from him and his body.

“He left to meet with Jace’s parents at the Chrighton estate a few minutes ago. You just missed him.”

“Oh? What did they have to say?” He shoveled a heavily syruped forkful of pancake into his mouth.

She shrugged. “Nothing over the phone, but I’m assuming they’ll have lots to say once he gets there. There isn’t a single person from the three families involved that is happy with them.” She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck tiredly. “And yet, I understand it wasn’t their fault it’s Jace’s. Which is partly why this is so infuriating! I want someone to be held accountable, but he has run off, and his parents are an easy target. I just don’t know what sort of people they are.”

Nate thought back to the few brief minutes he had interacted with them before. “They like and want power as anyone in their position does, but they also seemed fairly reasonable. That’s all I can really say. I only spent a couple of minutes with them. It wouldn’t exactly be hard to hide psychopathic tendencies for that long.”

His mother bit her lower lip in consternation. “You’re right, hiding the darker side of oneself isn’t exactly hard for such a short amount of time.” She growled and turned away from him. “I just want…” Her hands balled into tight fists as she fought for control. “An explanation, revenge, something, I don’t know.”

“I understand, mom, trust me I do, but what are the odds that Jace is going to be caught? Besides, he’s old enough to make his own decisions at this point. I can’t say as to how their possibly dubious parenting skills may have influenced him, but in the end, what he did is on him.”

“That’s true if they didn’t encourage him in any way.” She stressed the ‘if’ as someone knocked on the front door, cutting their conversation short. “Don’t think we’re done talking about any of this either. Your father and I had a nice long discussion about everything after you went to bed last night.”

Nina opened the front door to find a stressed-looking Lindsay and Angie standing on their doorstep.

“Were you planning on going to school today, after the day you had yesterday?” She asked the two girls dubiously.

“We needed to get out of the house. Our parents were driving us crazy with their hovering and constant questions and worrying. We appreciate the worry, but the questions were becoming annoying.” Angelica informed her politely, not bothering to hide the truth.

“That sounds delightful.” Nate winked at his mother and kissed her cheek as he joined the two girls at the door. He had already run upstairs and retrieved his school bag and held it in his hand.

She held back the words of recrimination and let him leave. Nina and Niall were of the belief that family matters should stay out of sight of the public. It was rare that they would truly lose control of themselves, though the night before had truly pushed them to their limits.

“Fine, enjoy your Friday. Tonight, when you get back, we have a lot of preparation to do.” She continued when she saw his confused look. “You have a core now, which means you need to begin your weekly patrols outside of the city. I’ll get the equipment we don’t have spares for today while you are at school. The issue is going to be what weapons you use. Ideally, you would always carry three.

“One for close range, one for mid-range, and then another for long-range. The third weapon generally isn’t needed as you will be in a party and don’t need to fill every position. However, short- and mid-range weapons are still needed. The problem is you, and your…” She trailed off, her eyes flicking to the girls behind him. She knew who he really was, but Angie and Lindsay didn’t, and there was no reason they ever would.

“I understand, because of how much I’ve forgotten. Well, I enjoyed practicing with the kukris the other day. I suppose that will work for the short range. As for mid-range?” He shrugged. “Sorry, I have no idea about that one.”

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“I’ll figure something out. Now go along. I’ll see you in a few hours.” She gave them all a slightly strained smile and then closed the door in their faces.

“I don’t think your mom is handling everything that happened last night as well as she would like us to believe,” Lindsay whispered as they walked to the car.

He looked back at the house sadly and then climbed into the car with them. “I know. Everything that has happened lately has just been pushing them. It’s been one big event after another and the largest two revolved around me, their son. They’d have to be utterly cold-hearted to feel nothing after all that and trust me, my parents are anything but.”

“I understand. My parents made me sleep with them last night, and I hadn’t been attacked a few months ago like you,” Angie said softly.

Lindsay mock gagged and then let her shoulders drop. “Mine were close to doing that, but thankfully my older brothers and sisters got in the way.”

The inside of the car was silent for a few seconds before Nate shook his head and took a deep breath. “Alright, let’s think about something else. Like what we are going to do about tomorrow, I assume your families have decided the parties you will be patrolling with?”

“They had-“ Lindsay dithered, “For next week. The group they chose isn’t ready for this week.”

“It’s the same with mine. I assume I’ll just get slotted into one of our family’s guard groups as a temporary arrangement.” Angie supplied after taking a drink from her water bottle.

“Hmm, do you think your parents would let you join my parent’s group for this weekend? We could all do it together if they did.” He made the offer, not truly expecting their parents to be willing to go along with it. His family was still mostly unknown to them. There was no guarantee that their little girls would be safe if they went with them.

“What’s with that look?” He asked them after they had been silently staring at him for a few moments.

“It’s nothing,” Lindsay muttered, turning to look out the window.

“You just caught us by surprise, is all,” Angie explained. “We had been thinking about asking if we could join your party for this weekend, then you go and offer like that. It just caught us both off-guard is all.”

“Well, I mean I can take it back if you want? I thought it’d be nice to do our first patrol together, is all.”

The two girls snorted softly and rolled their eyes. “Don’t worry, we’ll ask our parents after school and let you know. Have you decided what ‘Meditative Art’ you want yet?” Angie abruptly changed the topic as the school came into view.

Meditative Arts were the next step in creating a person’s meditation model. The art was what formed the core of their model after they had formed their well, core. It was imperative that the correct and matching one was chosen or it could slow down or even hamper your future cultivation speed.

“Not yet. I didn’t even think of looking for one after we got back last night. Besides, I’m still not sure what my element is. All I really know is that it’s dark colored. It could be shadow, void, space, whatever else might be dark like that…” He trailed off, suddenly remembering everything he had wanted to do inside the dungeon but had forgotten once he was inside.

“That is going to be an issue. Unfortunately, our school doesn’t have a method of testing what your element is. I’ve heard some of the larger cities do the ones near dimensional zones with the more humanoid-looking monsters. Apparently, they sometimes appear with strange, almost magical artifacts. There aren’t any of those close to us though.” Angie finished as the car slowed to a stop outside the school.

She missed the sudden gleam of interest in Nate’s eyes as the new driver opened the door for her. Lindsay, however, did not, even if she didn’t know what it meant.

To Nate, it meant that he had narrowed down his selection of targets for the next dungeon again. He had gotten lucky by getting the healing bracelet he now wore, but that had been the only time he had ever gotten an accessory like it in the current dungeon.

If he created the next dungeon around humanoid monsters that were known to possess artifacts, then wouldn’t his odds of getting another go up?

“Are you coming?” Lindsay asked curiously.

“Yeah, just had my mind go somewhere else for a second there. How am I supposed to figure out what my element is then? I know there is a neutral Meditative Art I can use as well, but I would really rather not go down that path if I can help it.”

“We’re at school. Why not ask the teachers? It’s not like we know everything just because we’re rich or something,” Lindsay snarked, poking his side.

He hip-checked her, sending her into jogging onto the grass lawn beside the sidewalk. “Rich you might be, but you also have all your memories. I don’t.” He stuck out his tongue at her and winked, letting her know it was all in good fun.

The last thing he wanted was for either of the two girls, the only people that he could even kind of call friends, to be unsure of themselves around him. People who didn’t know how to act around another person inevitably avoided that person. That wasn’t what he wanted at all.

She rolled her eyes and lightly pushed him towards the school doors.

“Come on, children, we’re in public.” Angie reminded them as they entered the building.

Despite her admonition, the halls of the school were almost completely empty. They had always arrived a few minutes before the other students, but rarely had it been this devoid of people.

Walking past the principal’s office, they peeked inside and waved to the secretary who was typing away at her computer.

“The principal wants to meet with you three before your classes begin for the day.” She called after them. “He heard you had formed your cores last night and would like to ensure you have everything you need.”

“How did he find out about that already?” Nate grumbled. “Which of our parents can’t keep their mouths shut?”

Lindsay winced and looked away from him. “It was probably mine. This seems like something they would do.”

Reluctantly, the three entered the office and sat down on the uncomfortable chairs. They didn’t have long to wait as the principal was welcoming them into his office barely a minute later.

This was only the second time Nathan had met the large man. The first time was when he originally transferred to the school.

The principal settled behind his desk and eyed them each for a few seconds before saying anything. “You have terrible luck, Mr. Holmes, but at least you managed to keep it to yourself and away from them.” He leaned forward and rested the large meaty paws he called hands on his desk. “Now, let’s discuss the Meditative Arts you three need and the changes to your classes.”