Clark was so lucky—instead of just one older brother, he had three now, just like Pete! His parents said it was only for a little while, but it was still fun.

Lex had said that he and Dean weren't really getting along, and they'd been arguing a little at the breakfast table—Lex had even said a bad word. But they seemed to be doing better now. Clark snuck out of the barn for a minute to check on them. They were kind of far away, but he could see them throwing around hay. It looked like lots of fun. Clark had wanted to help with moving the hay bales, but Clark's dad was worried he might show off too much of his strength, and the other boys might find out about his secrets. His parents always worried about that.

Sam really seemed to like the animals, though. "What's his name?" Sam asked while petting one of the horses.

"It's a girl. Her name is Cinnamon."

"Cinnamon." Sam smiled.

"Here, give this to her." Clark handed him an apple. "Hold your hand flat."

"I know." Sam held out the apple, and he laughed when Cinnamon picked it up. "This is really cool. I've never stayed anywhere like this before."

"Where do you live?"

Sam shrugged. "Nowhere. We're on the road a lot because of my dad's work."

"What's your dad's job?"

"He's . . . a hunter."

Clark knew a few people who went hunting for fun. Most of them had other jobs, and they didn't move around much. "But why does he have to move around?"

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"It's kind of complicated." Sam shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down.

"But—"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"Oh." Clark traced a line in the dirt with his foot. "Well, my mom really likes having you here. Maybe if your dad brings you back to Kansas someday, you can come visit us again."

Sam smiled. "I'd like that, Clark. But I don't think he'll let us."

Clark sighed. He'd just have to enjoy the time with his new friends while they were around. "So, what do you want to do after we finish chores?"

"I dunno. Dean might make me do some training, since we didn't get to it this morning."

"Training?"

"Yeah. It's like exercise."

That didn't sound very fun. "My dad says farm chores are great exercise."

"Yeah, I know." Sam's hand moved back up to pet Cinnamon.

"So . . . maybe after your training, if you're not too tired, we could play basketball? Lex and I could play against you and Dean." That seemed fair—Dean was bigger than Lex and Sam was bigger than Clark, but Clark could use just a tiny bit of his strength and speed to make up for it.

"Maybe just you and me. Your brother and my brother, they don't really get along."

Clark breathed in to say that Lex wasn't actually his brother, but something stopped him. He really liked thinking of Lex as his brother. Lex was super smart and knew lots of things about books and science and space that Clark didn't know, because he went to a fancy school for really smart people. He had visited lots of cool places, and he had played video games Clark had never even heard of. Clark hadn't worked up the courage to ask his mom if he could shave his head, though. He was pretty sure she wouldn't like that.

Sam gave Cinnamon's neck one last pat and turned toward Clark. "Are we done feeding all the animals?"

"Yeah. Do you want a snack? My mom made some cookies the other day, I think she still has some left." They'd had a big breakfast, but that had been at six in the morning, and lunch wasn't for a couple more hours.

"Okay. Race you to the house?"

Clark nodded. He'd have to let Sam win, of course—he always had to let other kids win at competitions. "One, two, three, go!"

Clark hung a bit behind Sam, but Sam kept slowing down. He was really slow—was he that tired? Or . . . Clark smiled. Sam was letting him win, since Clark was younger. Clark picked up just a bit of speed and touched the front door of the house a full second before Sam did.

"You win!" Sam held up a hand for a high five, and Clark tapped it very lightly, the way his dad had taught him.