The rest of the week was filled with exams and finals. Pepper didn’t have a moment to spare, for every waking minute was taken up by either school or work. His grades weren’t terrible, but he had never been known a stellar student. The only thing that motivated him was the thought of having to do another year in high school should he fail.

That alone caused him to devote every free ounce of brain power to completing the bare minimum of his assignments. KT was nice enough to hire Brent that same week, and he started his orientation training on Friday. At first Brent was upset that they wouldn’t be spending a lot of time together at work due to Pepper working at Rhino’s. But he quickly got over it when KT reminded Brent that he wouldn’t have had a job if Pepper hadn’t done what he had for him.

By the time Saturday arrived, Pepper was already exhausted and ready for another weekend. He was grateful to still have a Big D Energy in his backpack from the club match and popped the can open. The first few sips ran down his throat as he staggered down the hallway. His shoulders bumped along the walls until he arrived in the dining room.

His dad was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. “Good morning, superstar.”

Pepper replied with a moan and a huff.

“You just got out of bed and you have already fizzled out. Lame.”

Pepper arched an eyebrow at his dad. “Ha … ha.” He took another sip of the energy drink. The weight that had been pressing on his eyelids slowly began to fade away. The soreness and fatigue in his eyes soon followed. “Is this what being an adult is? Because … if it is … life sucks,” he muttered.

His dad laughed. “Just wait until you start paying bills. Then you really feel how badly we’re screwed in life.”

“When exactly does that begin again?” Pepper asked.

“The moment you pack your bag and head out the door. At least, by my rules. If your mom had had her way, you would have been paying rent the moment you started working at Rocket Burger. So … aren’t you happy I vetoed her Parental Tax Plan?” his dad asked with a wink.

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

His dad took a sip of his coffee and smacked his lips with a loud exhale. “And that is why, dear boy, the term taxation is theft is so important to understand.”

“Pretty sure Mom would have just spent it on wine anyways,” he muttered. The moment his statement left his tongue, he noticed how his words turned into a dagger. His father swallowed and leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t mean—”

A raised hand stopped him. “I know you didn’t, Pepper. Let’s just … let’s just leave it and move on.”

“Got it,” he replied. There was an instant regret, and his weariness was now quickly replaced with shame over what he had openly said. But at least he had held firm in speaking what he felt. Pepper attempted to shift the conversation and make up for the grim position he had placed them both in. “You working today?”

“Unfortunately.” His dad raised his eyebrows, widened his eyes, and showcased a fake smile. He took another sip of coffee and asked, “So, what’s new in the World of Golems?”

Pepper sighed. “Golem League.”

“Whatever …”

“I’m not too sure. I’ve been too busy with schoolwork to look at the message boards. We should be coming up to the final matches of the year soon. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to watch them at Rhino’s. That and I need to write my submission letter by the end of the week.”

“Submission letter? What exactly are you submitting for?”

Pepper tilted the energy drink can from side to side. “It’s no big deal, I suppose. I don’t know …” He paused, but when he gazed up at his dad, he saw a curious expression that encouraged him to continue. “There’s this opportunity to travel to GolemCon. It’s the official annual convention for the Golem League.”

“Okay, well, how does that tie in to you?”

“Apparently my school was gifted with a way for a student to get an all-expenses-paid trip to it. You have to submit a letter detailing why you should be chosen to attend. I know Brent was really wanting to write me one, and I’ve been struggling to figure out what to put down.”

“Brent is writing you one? I thought that kid could barely spell his name.” The two chuckled and Pepper nodded in agreement. “So is this something where your mom and I could write a letter and submit it to help you?”

Pepper felt embarrassed. The thought of his dad writing him a letter the feeling worse by the second. He was afraid of his parents’ involvement and didn’t want to feel like he was being given a handout—the same type of handout that Tamin had received from his dad. There was a serious look on his face while his spirit stood firm in the desire to accomplish his goals on his own.

“Pep?”

“I suppose.” He shrugged.

“Okay, well, shoot me the details and I’ll draft something up when I get home later tonight.” His dad quickly shifted his attention. “Well, good morning, Princess.” A large smile beamed on his face.

Pepper turned around to see Meg. She had clearly just woken up and was staggering down the hallway in the same way he had. The only difference was that she was still wearing her bright pink princess outfit. Her crown was slightly tilted to one side, and he chuckled.

Meg walked over and stood next to him. Pepper already knew what was expected, and he reached down and picked her up. She snuggled into his arms and muttered, “Panda Cakes.”

Both he and his dad chuckled. Pepper softly corrected her. “You mean pancakes.”

“That’s what I says.” She leaned her head back and warned Pepper with a serious, defensive look on her face.

“You know what … you did say that. Let’s get you some breakfast.” Pepper gave her a slight jiggle and took another sip of his drink.

His dad looked down at his holodex and quickly began to shift in his seat. “Crap … time for me to get going. Thanks for taking care of Meg. If Mom isn’t up before you leave for work, please wake her up and let her know, okay?”

He sighed but nodded. “Got it.”

Trent leaned over, gave Meg a kiss, and then took Pepper by surprise by leaning in and kissing him on the cheek.

“Oh god! Gross, Dad. What the—!”

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“Language!” his dad scolded and headed out the door.

Pepper held on to the tiny princess while he navigated the kitchen cupboards. A quick glance out the window and he noticed his dad conversing with his neighbor, Ryan. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw Ryan standing there in flip-flops with what appeared to be swim trunks in the design of the Canadian flag, a denim vest, and a giant straw hat.

The entire ordeal was finished by Ryan handing Trent a can of Big D Energy. The two smiled and parted ways after a few seconds. Pepper thought nothing else of the encounter, for Princess Meg was soon correcting his culinary performance of cooking her breakfast.

He spent the rest of the morning with Meg. The tiny princess was quite demanding of his time and attention. That part didn’t bother him, though. He knew his goals and dreams would eventually take him far away from her. It was roughly an hour later that his holodex warned him he needed to leave for work.

Pepper slowly inched his parents’ bedroom door open and stepped inside. He walked over and gently nudged his mom awake. She resisted to the point that Pepper had to aggressively jolt her more than he had thought would be necessary. A moan finally came from her, and she mumbled, “What is it, Travis?”

She rolled her head to the side and started to blink. “Travis, why are …” Then she recognized who was standing over her. She stopped, wiped her face with her hand, and looked over at the clock on the nightstand.

“I’m leaving for work. Dad is already gone. Meg is watching a show in the living room.”

“Okay. Has Megan had her breakfast?”

“Yeah.”

“What time will you be home?”

Pepper hated the question. He bit the inside of his cheek and told himself to be polite. “I’m supposed to get off around 8 p.m.”

“Okay. I’ll have leftovers in the fridge waiting for you.” He turned to leave and had just made it to the bedroom door when he heard his mom say, “I’m sorry, Pepper.”

He was confused and not sure what exactly she was apologizing for. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m sorry Travis isn’t still here for you. He loved being your older brother. I know he would have loved to have watched you compete in your golem stuff.”

Pepper glanced over to the hallway, at the framed photo of his older brother there in line with everyone else in the family. Travis’s photo was not how he remembered him, though—a serious look on his face as he stood proud in his military uniform. Pepper remembered more of the playful, crazy, and chaotic Travis—the older brother who played pranks, did epic stunts, and somehow didn’t burn the house down in the process.

“I’ll see you later, Mom,” Pepper replied. He walked out and plastered a kiss on the royal princess before heading out the back door. He anticipated running into his unique neighbor, but to his surprise Ryan was nowhere to be seen when he retrieved his bike.

The ride to work was uneventful. Pepper could feel his nerves were on edge, but he tried his best to calm himself by taking deep breaths. The store was unlocked, and he walked inside to see it was just him and Rhino.

“Good morning, Pep.”

“Hey, Rhino.”

The owner’s large smile calmed him. “Right on time—a good start.” Rhino waved for him to follow along. “All right, grand tour. I’m pretty sure you already know the layout of the store. But just in case, here are all our electronic components and tools.”

Pepper followed along and watched as his new boss guided him through the store. Rhino spoke with his hands, and the whole grand tour seemed a bit over the top. But he didn’t mind.

“Here we have power cores, these next two aisles are all our professional runes, then we have consignments and indie cards.”

Pepper had rarely ever gone down the indie card isle and took a gander at what was available. The vast majority of the products could not be used in the Golem League. The fact was that every rune card utilized in the League had to be from a certified manufacturer. The only exception to that rule was in club matches. But even then, many clubs had incorporated their own localized ruling to eliminate them from use.

The one area these cards did come into play was the unsanctioned matches. The underground tournaments had a huge market for indie cards. One could purchase them at a far greater discount than from the certified manufacturers. Pepper glanced over the cards but didn’t spend much time focusing on them as Rhino continued the tour.

“Here we have an aisle dedicated to all the golem materials we can order in. The samples allow the customers to feel each type. We have clays, stones, woods, metals. Depending on how much the customer needs, we may have to outsource to another supplier, and that could change the timeframe of availability. But for the most part, we can get our hands on pretty much any amount within two weeks from the date of order.

“Here are all the command interfaces for gladiators to utilize with their golems. We have a few lower-end training simulators. Finally, the back aisle here is where our power tools and hand tools are. That way if someone is doing their own crafting work, they’ll be able to find every item they need here.”

Rhino then guided him around the counter and pointed out a clipboard. “Here’s our inventory list.”

“Doesn’t the computer tell us our stock? I mean, that’s the way Rocket Burger works.”

Rhino chuckled. “Yes, the point of sale does keep track of inventory. But this list is for us to physically count the items to make sure we are not victims of theft. I expect this inventory to be done every morning before you open the store and every evening once you close and lock the door. If anything is missing, write a note on the sticky pad and attach it to the inventory sheet.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Pepper replied.

Rhino led him into the back area. Pepper was quickly taken aback, as he had not realized how much room the store actually had. Large industrial shelves created long aisles with pallets full of supplies. A long table was off to the left and then a large workshop setup.

“What is that?” Pepper asked, motioning with his head.

“That’s the area where we do repairs on rune cards, power cores, anything and everything a customer wants us to try and fix. We actually do a lot of repairs on indie cards, but we’ll also rent out the space to anyone who wants to do their own repair work.”

“Really?”

Rhino nodded.

“Don’t you worry about theft from them?”

Rhino rolled his head back and forth. “Well, yeah, but … if someone is renting out the space, we’ll close off the warehouse and store portion.” Rhino walked over, and Pepper noticed the chain link fence that had blended into the metal shelving structure. He closed the gate and flicked the chain and padlock with his hand. “If someone comes in, we just close the gate and lock it up. There’s a small one-stall bathroom off to the right and the exterior access door where they can come in and out as they please.”

“I’m assuming there’s a way for people to sign up for time so they don’t share it with someone else.”

Rhino smiled and nodded. He began to open the gate again. “Yup. I’ll get you set up with admin access to the scheduling software. It’s pretty straightforward. Just make sure you close this gate before you leave every night. For now, just shoot me a message when you leave and I’ll remote activate the alarm system. Once I feel comfortable enough, I’ll give you your own code to activate and deactivate the system.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Just then, a chime sounded above them. “Looks like we have a customer.” Rhino turned and headed back to the store portion.

Pepper soon noticed a thin man standing by the counter, on which he’d placed a backpack. He had frazzled short dirty blond hair, brown eyes, and a tired expression. He wore a checkered shirt and blue jeans, but every inch seemed to be covered in dirt and oil stains. He also had a slight covering of soot. His voice took Pepper by surprise, as it was high pitched but warm and inviting with optimism. “Hey, Rhino.”

“Kyle. I wouldn’t have expected you to swing by this early.”

The thinner man moved his head back and forth. “Well, I had to run some other errands and figured I would start here and get your feedback on these rune cards I found. If you can give me a good price point on them, I could mentally plan out the rest of my errands.”

Rhino motioned to Pepper. “Kyle, meet the new guy. This is Pepper. He’s going to be working on the weekends.”

“Hey, Pepper. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Pepper replied. He couldn’t help but notice that Kyle looked at him in an odd and unique way. He felt like Kyle was a robot analyzing every feature of him. Thankfully the moment only lasted a few seconds before Kyle turned back to Rhino.

“So, looks like I have a controller and two rune things.” Kyle slid the backpack across the glass.

Rhino took hold of the bag and began to reach into it. “So, Pepper, you can expect to see a lot of Kyle. But I don’t really want you to appraise anything until I feel you’ve gotten a good handle on things. Kyle owns the junkyard down off Division and will bring in parts he finds when gladiators discard their golems.”

Pepper’s throat clenched shut and he struggled to breathe. He quickly nodded and crossed his arms in front of his chest. His right hand reached up and began to cover his mouth as he tried to hide from Kyle. Though he wasn’t sure if Kyle was the person who had arrived at the junkyard the other night when he had trespassed, he certainly didn’t want to be recognized in case he had been seen.

A new customer arrived and Pepper launched himself at his opportunity. “Hey, welcome to Rhino’s! Let me show you around.” He practically speed walked around the counter and navigated as far away from Kyle as possible.