“So, you're saying magic is real and everything I have ever known has been a lie?” questioned a confused and bewildered Alex.

“I wouldn't say everything. More like there is a part of the world that isn't that well known.” I tried to answer, not having that good of an idea on the specifics myself. 

We were in Brad’s kitchen. It was a simple design, a dark gray marble island cut the room in half. The oven, fridge, microwave with about a dozen different cupboards and shelves lined the walls on one side. On the other side, held a locked glass bookcase with several of his father’s favorite bottles of alcohol. A small wooden table and set of four chairs that were positioned by a window overlooking the backyard which had a small gate connecting to the woods where me, Brad and the others used to explore as kids. Tulip, Alex and I were sitting at the island. They took occasional sips of water, while asking the occasional question that Brad or I would answer to the best of our abilities. 

“Wait, so why did you want to take your fake dog out for a walk?” Alex said. 

“I wanted to see if I could find any other magic out there, since no one else can see Hachiko’s glow. Also at the time, I thought I was still dreaming. And that's when I found Tyrone, Antonio and Guams.” 

“Ok, do you think the cops, your old friends or anyone else could've spotted us?" Tulip asked in a concerned tone. 

“No.” I somewhat confidently boasted. 

“That's the whole reason we chose that place, so there would be no security cameras. We were hidden enough by the trees and bushes to be able to see and record the action but not be spotted. Plus, anyone who could have seen us, would be too busy looking at the fight to pay attention to us.” Brad explained. 

“Ok, that's good.” Tulip said sounding reassured. “Do you think there is any way to stop them?” Me and Brad looked at each other to see what the other thought, A mutual understanding washed over us, that I would speak first. 

“I mean probably, they are still only human after all. Antonio getting shot, proves they can be taken down. It's just insanely risky since it took four armed cops, two of which are now probably dead because of me.” I explained in a melancholy tone.

“Wait isn't it both of your faults since it was brads idea in the first place?” Questioned Alex.

“An idea that he was only able to act on because I supplied him the necessary information.”

“Look Ink, it is not your fault. I mean you had no way of knowing that they would react that way.” Brad tried to reassure me, which I could tell he didn't believe. 

“I literally had more information on what they could do and how they would react than everyone else combined.” I explained not buying into Brad's words for a moment. “Which is why I'm going to try to stop them. I can't let any more innocent people get hurt.” 

“I'm going to help you. My dad is a cop, and I don't want him to get hurt in your crossfire. Plus, Guams lives a couple houses away from me. I don't think I'll be able to sleep at night knowing someone like him lives just across the street.” Tulip declared, conviction in her voice. 

“This is personal. They already threatened my mother, that isn’t something I let go!” Brad exclaimed with an anger I was not used to. 

“Then let's take the fight to them. I know you guys used to hang out at Guams’ house a lot. They've been going there again recently. If we go back to my house, we can get some better weapons then a dog. No offense.” Tulip explained determination in her voice. 

“None take, ok then let's bring the fight to them and finish this.” We stood up and started to head out of the kitchen. 

“Don't you dare!” We turned to look at Alex who was still sitting down with an exasperated expression across her face. “First off, none of you are that strong. Second, if they see us coming, we're all dead. Third, we don't have any real idea of what they're capable of.” 

“Well, we know they have elem–”

“Yeah, we know they have elemental powers, but we don't know their full extent. We don't know if there's some kind of trigger mechanism to get them to activate. What the book has to do with all of this and like a dozen other things. Look, I agree they need to be stopped but going headfirst into the bullpen isn't a good idea. Here's my plan, first we create a group chat so we can communicate easier and so we can easily see everyone's videos. Then we all go home and watch the videos to see what we can learn.” She commanded in a much snappier and bossy tone than in the park. “Ink, you said your mom found your book in your basement, right? Then check to see if you can find anything else we can use against them. We need to find out as much information about how magic works, what their schedules are, where they meet up and probably a half dozen other things.”

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“Ok well, where am I gonna go bring the magical stuff exactly because I'm not keeping it in my home?” I said, knowing it would be bad if mom found out even the smallest fraction of this.

“We can bring it to my place since I have a small workshop there and my mom won't bug us.” Alex offered. 

“Ok, I live on Pine Boulevard, where do you live?” 

“Oh, that's where you live? Do you mind if I just drive and come with you? My place would be a bit of a walk from your place, like thirty minutes.” Alex explained. 

“Wow.” 

“Yeah, there's a reason I take the bus genius.”

“You know if you guys are going, then, why don't we all just hop in your car. We can head to Ink’s place, pick up the magic and then head to your place, Alex.” Tulip suggested. 

“Yeah, I mean that works for me. All we have to do then is call the school bus company to let them know we won't be there on the way back.” Brad pointed out.

“Ok then.” I said getting up. “I'm gonna try to lie to my mom about you guys coming over or any of this.” I said getting up. 

“Wait Ink, just tell your mom some friends are coming over and that you are going into the basement to get some things for a project you're doing after school.” Brad suggested. 

“Ok, yeah I can do that,” I said hesitantly. Alex and Tulip gave each other a puzzled look. Tulip looked, as if she wanted to say something. 

Seeing this, Brad responded. “Oh yeah, you guys don't know, Ink cannot lie to save his life. After years of testing and experimentation, we've discovered Ink can lie somewhat convincingly, only when he tells a half truth.” 

“Really?” Questioned Alex in disbelief.

“Yeah, have you ever seen that weird face he makes every once in a while? It looks like a mixture of constipation and a headache?”

“Yeah?” Tulip responded not seeing a connection between the two statements.

“That's because he was trying to lie about literally anything.”

“There's no way someone is that stupid.” Alex said in disbelief.

“No, it's true, Ink say you're blonde.”

“No.” I refused.

“Come on, please.” Tulip pleaded.

“Fine, I'm blonde.” The words were hard to get out of my mouth without significant effort causing me to make a face that unfortunately matched Brad's description. I don't know why I can't lie there's just something in my head that makes it so when I try to put the thought of lying together it just falls apart before I can get to out of my head.

“Pfft.” Tulip laughed to herself, with Alex following behind in a much louder laugh. 

“I hate you so much right now, Brad.” 

“I mean come on man. You have to admit it's pretty funny.” Brad said, trying to hold a laugh back himself. 

“This is why I never lie, so people never learn about this.” I said as I started to walk out of the kitchen and out of the house. 

“Ok dude, see you at school.” Brad called out, as I closed the door shutting off the cacophony of laughter behind me.

When I returned home, I was greeted by my mom. “Hey Ink, how was Brad?” 

“Oh, he was good. We were actually thinking about him and a couple other friends coming by to grab some stuff for a project after school tomorrow.” 

“Oh, that's great, what are their names?” 

“Alex and Tulip.” 

“Oh Tulip, is she your girlfriend?” 

“No mom, Tulip is not my girlfriend. She is just a girl, that is my friend. But that doesn't mean that she is my girlfriend.” I groaned, it was a common question throughout the years, even back in China. It's something she would say whenever I talked about any girl. “Well, I'm gonna go to my room for a bit. Oh yeah, can we call the bus people to let them know I don't need a ride back?” 

“How come?” 

“Alex is going to be driving us.” 

“Oh, that's nice of him.” 

“Sure is.” Not wanting to correct my mother on Alex's gender, knowing her knowing about two girls in my class was a lot worse than one. I headed up into my room to review the footage.

Looking at the video on my phone, I couldn’t see anything in a lot of detail because we chose to take the video at such a long distance to avoid being seen. But after a lot of rewatching I was able to see some pretty interesting things. It seems like when Antonio uses his water magic, the water comes straight out of his arms. It might be my imagination, but it looked like when he launched his water blades his arms got thinner. 

Guams seems to be only able to manipulate the rocks he touches. Based on what I saw yesterday and the video, Tyrone can only light his hair on fire which seems a bit weird they can't just command their magic like I could. 

“What am I supposed to do? These are powers coming out from literal myth and legend. How am I supposed to compete with this? Wait a minute, THAT'S IT!” I muttered to myself. “If we're fighting people with legendary powers then I need to create a legendary creature of my own. I started to research on my phone different creatures I could carve, eventually I settled on one with a Greek origin. “Okay I'll start to carve tomorrow!” I exclaimed as I phone away and began to get ready for bed.