[Xander – 12 years]

"Yes, Xander?" Mr. Thompson asks when I approach him and the other adults.

Most of the other kids have either left or are playing right now and I didn't want to interrupt those still here from their fun. Only S.G., Connor, Sam, and Isaac are still here, with the others all leaving within an hour of finishing lunch. They stuck around and played for a bit so it's not like they left right after lunch finished, except for Travis who said he wanted to get home after he ate.

The adults were talking when I walked up to them, but it doesn't seem like I'm in trouble for wanting to say something while they were talking.

That's good.

"Is there some way to let the others know I'm leaving without interrupting their game?" I ask. "It's almost two now and there's stuff I want to do. I know I could just text them but I don't know if they'd see it until it's clear I'm gone…"

"They won't mind you interrupting them to let them know," he tells me.

That doesn't make sense because who's okay with getting interrupted? But he suggests I try so I walk over to where the others are playing with a red disc that they're throwing around. I wanted to rest a bit after the last game so I didn't join in for the disc even though it was fun to play last weekend.

"You wanna join?" S.G. asks.

"Not right now," I tell him. "But you'll probably be done by the time I return."

"Return?" He asks as everyone walks over to me. "You're leaving again?"

"Yeah," I nod. "There's other stuff I want to do today. So bye, everyone."

"What is it?" S.G. asks. "Is it something we can all do?"

The next couple of things are, but I don't want them to come with me. I like them all and like hanging out with them, but I don't want to make them upset at not getting to do the stuff they want to do, and I know they were talking about maybe going swimming at one of the nearby ponds after this. Even if I honestly tell them I don't mind sitting out, they try to pick something I want to do and I don't want to make them feel like they have to.

No matter what I say, they'll probably get upset with me unless I tell them they can come, but that would make me upset since I don't want them to. This is something I like to do alone.

"It is," I tell him. "But I like to do it alone."

"Oh," he says. "Okay! We'll let you know when we're leaving the park, in case you finish and want to come here!"

They don't seem mad, but they could be hiding it. They'll probably stop inviting me to hang out now that I've told them there's something I want to do without them.

"Bye," I say, then they wish me a good rest of the day or tell me goodbye, and I leave.

I walk to the pet store to pet the dogs up for adoption there today and when Turtle is let out last, he's feeling very sad. Apparently, a family took him in yesterday morning and returned him last night because he was too hyper for them.

After I've pet all of the dogs here, I head to the Wolf's Dragon.

"Hello, Emily," I greet her when I approach the counter.

As usual for Saturdays at this time, there's only that couple of boys sitting at one of the tables in here. If I didn't want to do something else today, I'd probably eat in here as well now that I know I'm allowed to.

"Good afternoon, Xander," Emily says. "Will this be for here or to go?"

"To go, please," I answer.

"Eating it outside?" She asks.

"No," I answer. "But I want to do something else right now so I'll eat it during that, if Mr. Trey allows me to."

"Okay," she says. "And what would you like?"

"May I please have a slice of the red-white-and-blue cheesecake?" I ask. "To go, please."

"That'll be $5," she tells me. "You can pay once I bring it up."

"Okay," I say.

Emily heads to the back and after a few minutes, returns with one of the to-go boxes for the cheesecake and a to-go cup.

"That's a slice of our red-white-and-blue cheesecake," Emily tells me. "Which is $5, and a berry-peach milkshake, on the house."

"I have to drink it on a house?"

I'd probably get into a lot of trouble if I tried, even if I asked.

"No!" She laughs a little. Oh, no! I did something wrong! "It means it's complimentary, that we're covering the cost of it."

"Oh…"

I really am stupid. S.G. and the others probably would've known what she meant without needing it explained.

"Um… here's the $5," I hand her the money, and she rings me up, then puts the cheesecake in a bag with some napkins and a fork, then hands that, the cup, and my receipt to me. "Have a good day, Emily."

"You as well, Xander," she smiles. "I hope whatever you're planning on goes well!"

I leave the restaurant and once I reach the parking lot, I put the bag, receipt, and drink into my backpack. The enchantment I placed on it prevents stuff from falling over or spilling within the bag, so I don't have to worry about things getting messed up in there with the drink.

Just as I pull my backpack on, my phone starts ringing with the tone I set for Mr. Trey.

Stupid fucking me. Of course he'd call me after I asked him what I did. He's probably mad at me and now I need to return to his house. It was a stupid idea.

"H-hello?"

"Xander," Mr. Trey says. "Question: why did you want to buy knee and elbow pads and a helmet, then go to Greyson's workshop? I can't imagine they'd be useful against explosions and I know you don't want to learn how to ride a bike."

He's just asking me this to make me relax before telling me I'm in trouble. It's better to be honest about my reasons now and get into trouble for it than to get into trouble for not being honest and get a big beating for hiding stuff.

"Because S.G. and Connor and Sam and Isaac ride their bikes to lots of places," I say. "And while S.G. just walked his bike to the park once he got donuts, which he said is normal for them, he'll ride it other places. But if I'm going with them, they can't ride their bikes and stay with me that easily, they have to walk them. And that'd probably make them unhappy and not want to hang out. So I was thinking… if I made a hoverboard, I could go with them and not have to ride a bike."

Mr. Trey is quiet for a few moments, probably as he decides on how to tell me how stupid my idea is, just like me.

"Aren't you scared of hoverboards?"

That's what he asks? That's not what I was expecting at all, but I guess it's his way of trying to call me stupid nicely.

"N-I'm not."

Whew. Almost said "no" as the answer, and that would've beenbad. I'm lucky he hasn't punished me for the past times, but there will come a time when he's done letting it happen. Just telling him he's wrong is already bad enough.

"They aren't much different from a skateboard, are they?" He asks.

"They are, though," I say.

"They are?"

Oh. Maybe he's testing me?

"Yeah," I answer. Should I explain? This is probably a time I should explain my answer. "Skateboards are a thin piece of wood or something with wheels. A hoverboard hovers and floats. There's no contact with the ground. And real hoverboards don't exist yet as something you can buy at a normal store while a lot of normal stores that sell sports stuff have skateboards so that's another difference. I don't know where you could buy one at, but they probably cost a lot. Hoverboards, I mean, not skateboards. Greyson should have all of the stuff at his workshop I need to make it, and Grandpa Adrian's dropped off materials I can use. He even put a note on them saying they're for me to use for whatever I want. That made Greyson jealous, since he has restrictions on what he's allowed to make."

Mr. Trey laughs a little.

"Okay," he says. "You can go to the store and get the pads and helmet. Dinner will be at six tonight, be home with enough time to get cleaned up before then, okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"See you then, Xander," he says.

"Bye, Mr. Trey," I say.

He hangs up, then I pocket my phone and walk to the nearest store with the stuff I want. I buy pads and a helmet that are black and green, then put them into my backpack after I leave.

With there being not very long between now and when I need to be back at Mr. Trey's house, I teleport to the workshop and enter. Greyson doesn't appear to be here despite it being a Saturday so I guess he's got stuff with his family.

In my tinkering zone, I pull off my backpack and eat my cheesecake and drink my milkshake as I get to work.

The first step is doing some research in Greyson's database to find out the different types of runes I can use to create the hover/float part of the board. That part's really important since it's what will make the hoverboard safer than skateboards. Wheels can pop up or break, like what happened to me earlier this year. I don't ever want to get back on another skateboard.

For a hoverboard, there are no wheels. Its hover power will be via magic so the only real maintenance it should need is making sure the enchantment hasn't begun to wear out. If I put in one of my mana batteries, I won't have to worry about it running out of fuel during travel, either.

Both force magic and gravity magic seem like good options for the hover effect, but I'm pretty sure I can get an actual proper hover magic itself. Filter the database by any enchanting runes which can be used to make something hover or can work with others to make a hover effect, then look for commonalities and try to build my own using those if none are suitable. That's what Greyson says to do when I want to try and figure out a rune on my own. Add in float, flight, and levitation runes as well as they can create similar effects.

I'm really not sure if that's right, but within twenty minutes, I've managed to figure out three separate runes that are just "hover". The next step is using a plain wooden board to enchant with each to figure out how good they are, then realizing I need to add in additional functions so that it does more than hover.

This might take longer than I expected, but I do have plenty of mana built up even with my minor magic use recently. I start using my modified version of Greyson's quicken tempo spell, the one which accelerates my own time but not my aging. To ensure my work isn't affected, I include the board and my tools as I work.

Once the first proper test version is ready, I put on my pads and helmet and begin a cautious trip. The board wobbles a lot but I'm able to go from one end of the workshop to the other as long as I go slowly. Two more trips with the speed increased each time, and I learn the limit of the current form.

Any faster than about five feet per second and the hoverboard starts to flip. At least I didn't break any bones this time and the pain goes away pretty fast. It still hurt a lot, though.

Get up and try again.

That's what I do. I make some modifications to the test board and test it again over and over until I can go pretty fast. Some magics to prevent the rider from falling off are added in and tested as well. The wobbling is a result of me making the sensory aspect for the enchantment's directional control, but I don't think I can solve that with just an enchantment adjustment.

Not easily. This is going to be magitech so it doesn't really matter. I already know how to smooth it out for magitech since I needed something similar for my puzzle spheres to stop them from vibrating when the pieces adjust.

The important thing is that I managed to figure out the float/hover enchantment and tune it somewhat. Now I can get to work on making an actual hoverboard. I need a general layout for it, so I get to work on sketching that.

There's the primary enchantment, the balancer which will make trips smoother instead of wobbly, the mana battery, it should have a sensor to keep it from bumping into things, and there should be security enchantments to make sure it doesn't get stolen.

Now that this is all sketched out, I get to work on using the machines here to make the alloys and pieces I need for it. I have to use my quicken tempo spell on those as well but I have plenty of mana to spare.

It's probably a good thing Greyson asked me if I could make my version of mana batteries for them so that they can have internal power sources.

By the time I finish, the board is about four feet in length and mostly rectangular. There are thicker pieces made of a different alloy on the ends and sides, covering the primary board itself, though the surface itself is also mostly flush with it as the center of the primary board is thicker to make up for the added height and depth from the edge and end pieces. I added in some grooves on the caps just because it looks cooler than being plain, and I put in a light enchantment on the bottom of the board.

That one was a little bit tricky, but I made it so that it turns on if the light around the board is under a certain level, excluding underneath the board. The bikes that S.G. and the others have all have lights on their fronts and backs, and I think that's both to help them see at night but also so that others can see them.

There are also lights on the front and back of the board, but it doesn't look like it. Those will also turn on if the light level around them is too low. Since the lights are from a mixture of enchantments and the alloy used on the caps, I didn't have to worry about the looks of the lights when designing the board. The same goes for the ones underneath.

I'd probably get laughed at if the lights looked stupid on the board so I made sure they look cool. At least, they do to me and based on the images I looked up of hoverboards in games and shows and cartoons. Glowing lines rather than just the entire thing glowing seems to be the normal way to do it.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I avoided looking up real hoverboards so that I don't accidentally steal from them.

Once I finish testing the board and gradually increasing my speed as I ride it around the outside of the workshop, I turn off my quicken tempo spell and clean up my supplies. The board will definitely need more work later to make it more efficient and adjust its sensors and other things, but it's suitable for now.

Since I used my quicken tempo spell, it only took me around two hours to build the board so I have plenty of time to ride it to the house for its first test run outside of the workshop. Starting and stopping on the way to the house is just as smooth and easy as it was at the workshop and I kind of want to put on some speed because this is fun.

But I don't want to get pulled over for breaking any hoverboard-related speed laws. I should've looked those up, but I don't think I'm breaking any at my current speed since bikes go about as fast as I am. The way the wind feels around me as I soar over the sidewalks, the way the world passes by… this is probably almost what it's like to fly.

Grandpa Adrian probably knows what that's like, since he's a dragon.

Wait. No. Stop. Don't do a flip!

The hoverboard dips back down and returns to its normal gliding as my heart races. That was… almost a big mistake. I'm probably having too much fun if I'm attempting to do a flip. Whether or not my board can even do one isn't something I tested and I don't think it can, but doing a flip might also scare me.

While that's not too high, it's still a quick movement in the air.

Something I do decide to add in for extra fun is a little spin when I stop, my board tilting up just a little as I go. I almost fall off the first few times, until I figure out the right angle to do the spin-stop at. It's entirely unnecessary and purely because I like the way I feel when I do them.

Then I remember that I made sure it has protections against the rider falling off and am more willing to try it out. It still scares me a little, but it's way more fun to do since I know I won't fall.

Eventually, I reach the gate to Mr. Trey's property, and it feels far too soon for how much fun I'm having.

"Hello, Xander," the security guard greets me from his gatehouse. "What's that you're on?"

"Hello, Simon," I greet him. "It's a hoverboard. I didn't know where to buy one, and that'd probably be really expensive, so I built my own. It kind of wobbles a little on the turns if I go as fast as a bike, so I'll need to fix that."

"That's pretty neat," he tells me. "I'm opening the gate now. Have a good rest of your day, Xander."

"Have a good rest of your day," I tell him back, then head through the opening gate.

When I reach the steps up to the front door, I dismount from my hoverboard and put that into my backpack, then pull off my arm and knee pads and my helmet and put those into my backpack as well before entering the house.

Mr. Trey is easy to find as he's on the back deck, working on getting ready to start grilling. Ms. Katie has today off and I think Mr. Trey doesn't know much when it comes to cooking outside of grilling.

"I'm back," I let him know after stepping to a spot where he can see me.

"Welcome home," he says. "How did your attempt at making a hoverboard go?"

"I used a modified version of Greyson's temporal acceleration spell to give me extra time," I tell him. "It doesn't make the caster age faster, so it's safe to use. Even though only around two hours passed, it was around forty hours of technical time thanks to the spell. I got a lot of work done. The board needs some more work to tune it better, but I think it's pretty good. I'm not sure how it compares to a professionally-made hoverboard, but it worked fine when I was riding it."

Mr. Trey is quiet for a few moments, and that makes me really scared. Did I do something wrong? He told me it was okay for me to make it, didn't he?

"That's good to hear," he says after a few very long moments, then starts putting burger patties on the grill. "So it works?"

"It does," I nod. "I rode it back here and other than wobbles when I turned, it was mostly smooth and the height remained consistent and I was able to control the speed almost exactly as I wanted. It was really fun, too, and I almost tried to do a flip on the way back, except then I remembered that I'm scared of heights and doing a flip might scare me."

While I don't want to tell Mr. Trey I'm scared of heights, this feels like a good way to do so. I'm not sure if I can tell him about the second floor scaring me like Landon told me to.

"Being on the board isn't too high?" Mr. Trey asks.

"No," I shake my head. "It's lower than the bed and that's not too high."

"Oh," he says. "After you asked me about hoverboards, I was looking up information on-wait. You're scared of heights?"

I can't tell if that's angry or confused. It's probably angry because why would he be confused?

"Yeah."

"I noticed you always hesitate at the stairs," he tells me. "But just assumed it was a quirk of yours. Does being on the second floor scare you?"

"Yeah," I answer.

"How come you didn't say anything?"

"Because I didn't want to get beaten."

"And why would you get beaten?"

"Because that's the room you assigned me and telling an adult I don't want the room they assigned me is Very Bad," I answer. "And you spent lots of money on renovating it so that it'd be how I wanted it and that money would be wasted if you moved my room. Wasting an adult's money is also Very Bad."

"Xander," he says. "Please look me in the eyes. Thank you. I will never beat you. You won't get into trouble for being afraid. When I took you in, I agreed to help you with your fears and make accommodations as needed. I also agreed to be your dad, and being your dad mans that if I have half a dozen or more bedrooms that won't scare you and which aren't in use, I'll let you move into one of them. They're just sitting there, Xander. There's no reason you can't change rooms."

"But you spent so much money on renovating the one you already assigned me."

Protesting an adult is also Very Bad, but I want to make sure he knows I don't want to waste his money.

"And stop obsessing over my money getting spent on you," he tells me. "We already talked about this, Xander. I have more than enough and you're my son now. I can foster a dozen kids and spend a little bit less on each, or I can adopt one and spoil him. If you want to move to a bedroom on the first floor, we can move you to a bedroom on the first floor and get it renovated to match your current one. Do you want to move to a bedroom on the first floor?"

The answer is "yes", but if I say that, the money he spent on the bedroom he's currently assigned me will be wasted. I know he's saying he won't get mad and he's okay with that happening and he's being honest about that, but what if his feelings when it happens are different?

Telling him I'm scared of heights was a bad idea.

"It's just a stupid fear," I tell him. "And-and-and… um… it's already been more than a month. And I mostly feel fine once I'm in bed and surrounded by all of the stuffed animals. Mostly fine yeah. Only sort-of scared the floor's going to break and I'm going to fall through. And-and-and um… it's just a stupid fear. Like drowning. And loud noises. Maybe if I sleep up there enough, I'll stop being scared. Like with going in the pool, sort of. Only I don't sleep in the pool, I mean just being in the pool."

Mr. Trey stares at me for several very long moments. He's definitely mad at me for protesting him and telling him it's okay not to move my assigned room. That was a bad idea. There are no good options here at all.

"Okay," he says. "If it gets to be too much for you and you change your mind, let me know. Okay?"

That's not anger.

"Okay."

"Back to the hoverboards," he says. "I looked them up after you asked me about making one. There aren't any on the market."

"They can't be bought?"

"Right now," he says. "All that there are for hoverboards are attempts at making prototypes. They're all either very inefficient or don't travel very long, whether made from scientech or magitech."

"So I invented something new?"

"If it's functional and isn't capable of only short trips," he says. "Then yes."

"It took me ten minutes to get here while mostly going about as fast as a bike would," I tell him. "And I could do spin stops, turns, stops and starts, and control the speed. Since it's magitech, Greyson would say that once you know it does something, there shouldn't be a reason it'll suddenly just stop unless it's a time where magic decides to do something different."

If it's something which doesn't change functions/actions throughout the process, then the moment you know its function works consistently for a minute, it's good to go. Stopping, starting, slowing, speeding up… those are all a part of the same function for my hoverboard. Since I managed a ten-minute trip, I know that works.

Though maybe I should have tested it with the lights turning on and off, in case that interferes? I don't think it will, though.

"Decides to do something different?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "Magic doesn't always work consistently. People mostly know how to get magic to do what we want, which is why casting spells and performing enchantments works. But sometimes, magic just acts differently. A mage could cast a fireball the exact same way a million times and one of those times, they might make a puppy appear instead."

"Something other than you not understanding metaphors makes me think that's not a metaphor."

I think that's him asking what I mean by a puppy appearing instead of a fireball.

"Greyson once conjured a puppy when trying to summon a fireball," I tell him. "It wasn't him teleporting it, either. I was observing with my magesight when it happened. The puppy didn't exist, and then it did! And that's not a fireball at all, but it was Greyson's fireball spell he cast. Magic just went 'sorry, but you're getting a puppy this time' for some reason."

Personally, I think magic is just going through a rebel phase, but I'd probably get told I'm stupid for thinking that so I don't say it.

"I see," Mr. Trey says. "So barring magic deciding to do something different, the hoverboard should work consistently now that you've done a test flight and seen it works?"

"It would even if I didn't do the test flights," I haven't been beaten yet for protesting or refusing to answer the way he was probably wanting in this conversation, so I'm probably safe to correct him. "I just now know it should, since it runs for several minutes without a problem. But I haven't tested it at a higher speed so I don't know if things are okay there. The enchantment which prevents someone from falling off might not be strong enough. I was thinking of asking Greyson to test that, since he's a lot more sturdy than I am."

Mr. Trey laughs for some reason.

"If it's the first real hoverboard," I say. "It's probably a good thing I put security enchantments on it so that it can't be stolen."

"Security enchantments?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Yeah."

There's silence between us for a few moments.

"What do you mean by 'security enchantments'?"

Is he testing my knowledge?

"Enchantments which protect it, sort of like security guards but as magic and enchantments instead of people."

"No-I-that's not," Mr. Trey takes a deep breath and lets it out. "I meant, what did you do as security enchantments."

That wasn't very clear at all.

"Oh," I say. "If someone other than me tries to touch it, it'll create a force field in front of their hand. It'll also pop up if they try to use something else to move or grab it. I did the same thing with my backpack when I enchanted it, because I don't want it to get stolen. Maybe I should change the enchantment so that it's not just 'anyone' but based on intent? S.G. tried to move my backpack to a different table earlier but couldn't."

If it's S.G. or Mr. Trey or Ms. Katie, I won't be too unhappy if they move my backpack if they need to for some reason.

"Why did he want to move your backpack?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Because they were moving tables and I was getting a smoothie," I answer. "I was stupid and didn't take it with me. At least it didn't get stolen."

"Okay," he says. "Why don't you go put your stuff away? Dinner should be ready in a little bit."

"Okay."

I go up to the bedroom and put my backpack away, then return downstairs and to the deck.

"Did you see Russell?" Mr. Trey asks.

Why does he want to know about Russell?

"He was at the park when I got there," I tell him. "He had been playing with S.G. and the others. There was a big group of kids, including Russell, Ethan and Macy who we played with last weekend, a pair of twins who just moved into the area, and one of Greyson's older brothers. Not his twin, the next-oldest after Cal. I didn't know they were brothers until it got mentioned. He does art, too, just like Russell, and they had a drawing competition to see who could draw the coolest apple scene."

"Apple scene?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "They had to draw an apple for it, but they had to come up with some sort of scene. Travis was the one voted on as the winner, it was a kraken throwing apples at people. I thought Russell's was cooler, it was an apple firing apples out of a cannon at a castle whose guards were bananas."

"That does sound pretty cool," Mr. Trey says. "Did you do anything with Russell?"

"Yeah," I answer. "We talked and exchanged phone numbers. And I offered him a puzzle sphere, since I gave one to all of my friends. Also Travis, but he got one of the ones I made on Tuesday because he's been curious about the puzzle sphere that Greyson's been using for awhile now. It's not the same one, but it's not as difficult."

"That was nice," Mr. Trey says.

"I try to be nice."

"I know," he smiles. "And it's time to start the fries. Can you put the basket in the fryer?"

He's letting me use the fryer? This is the first time I've been given permission to do so.

I very carefully put the basket with cut fries into the fryer. They're all sliced into mostly-rectangles and need to be watched so they don't burn. Also shaken a little partway through.

"Did you and Russell do anything else?" Mr. Trey asks as I watch the fries.

"We sat by each other at lunch," I confirm. "And when he went to leave, he offered me a fist bump. Mr. Thompson, Mr. Fuller, and Ms. Rachel brought stuff for lunch. Beef hot dogs, frozen burgers, chips, veggies, fruit, and drinks. There was a biiiiig thing for lemonade, too. I got to stir it!"

Mr. Trey asks me different questions about what I did at the park and it makes me really nervous, but he doesn't say I can't go again. It's really confusing why he wants to know all this, but I'm happy because I got to hang out with a bunch of people and have fun. We're halfway done with eating dinner by the time the strange interrogation ends.

"Mr. Trey?" I say once we've cleaned up the dinner stuff.

"Yes, Xander?"

"Sam posted in the chat awhile ago that they were going to his house and were going to do a sleepover," I say. "And that I could come if I wanted. They were also going to do dinner at his place, but you told me you wanted me home by six for dinner so I waited until now to say. Is it okay if I go to Sam's house for the sleepover?"

"Sure," he tells me. "Want me to drive you?"

Is that just him asking or is that him wanting to and faking giving me a choice?

"I don't mind being driven," I tell him. "I used a lot of mana earlier."

"Alright," he chuckles. "Go get packed for the sleepover and I'll take you."

----------------------------------------

[Luke – 13 years]

Scrolling through my feed, I find nothing too interesting right now. The world apparently decided to be boring for a day. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling… wait, hold on. I scroll back to what caught my attention.

That's Xander in the article preview.

Mysterious Boy Riding a Real Hoverboard in Dragon Falls?

That seems far-fetched and I bet Trey will be pretty pissed if he finds out someone snuck a picture of Xander and is using it for clickbait. I tap on the article to see what all is being said.

When I do, the picture from the preview is right there at the top. It's Xander in his usual sneakers, along with black athletic pants rather than jeans and a faded grey long-sleeved shirt. He's also wearing his backpack and has a look of concentration and worry as he rides a pretty cool-looking hoverboard.

There's no way he'd do that, he'd probably be far too scared of falling off. They even edited in pads and a helmet for him, too. Pretty sure he'd have to be in full-body padding to even give something like that a try.

I start reading the article to see what it's claiming.

There I was, driving down the street as I returned home from Saturday grocery shopping, and I saw the most unusual thing – on the sidewalk, an actual hoverboard! I don't know who the kid is and he looked kind of bored, but he was just cruising down the sidewalk on a hoverboard. No wheels at all!

So far, hoverboards are just theories, not truly functional. At a guess, I'd say he's one of the Lumaria Kings based on his hair, and he probably got advanced access to a new magitech they're releasing soon. I did hear that Adrian King has been in town several times recently, too, including yesterday.

Once I got ahead of the boy and his board, I stopped and took a video, you can see it below.

I click on the video and it's of Xander going down the sidewalk with his look of concentration and worry. How could they think that's boredom? It's so obvious it's not! He's also not a Lumaria King, he's been pretty insistent about that and he doesn't lie. If they did have something like that early-access, it wouldn't be Xander getting it.

I skim through the rest of the article, then read the comments. There aren't many since it's just a local blogger, and some people are calling it a hoax while others are claiming they saw him, too. Then there's one interesting commenter.

[NinjaOfMegaFluff]: What the heck? Why didn't he tell me about it? I want one!

[NinjaOfMegaFluff]: What the heck? I think he only made one! Not fair! I want one!

Those two messages are… pretty different from the rest of the ones here. Is that a Lumaria King being upset he didn't get early-access to what is probably a hoax?

I want to respond to the article, but I also want to let Xander know about it and the picture and video with him first. I shoot him a text.

[Luke]: Hey! Just saw an article saying you were riding a hoverboard around town.

As I type up a follow-up message, the indicator shows that Xander's typing so I wait for him to finish.

[Xander]: Someone made an article about it?

[Xander]: How did they know it was me?

That… makes it sound like Xander was riding a hoverboard, but I'm not sure if Xander knows that.

[Luke]: They didn't know it was YOU, they just made an article about a "mysterious boy" riding a hoverboard and they used a picture of you for it. I recognized you in it.

[Xander]: Oh.

There's quiet for a few very long seconds.

[Xander]: Mr. Trey says he agrees that it was a good thing I put a security enchantment on it.

Hold up.

[Luke]: Xander… did you MAKE a hoverboard?

[Xander]: Today. It's super fun!

[Luke]: Aren't you scared of hoverboards? And how did you make it? No one's succeeded yet.

[Xander]: I'm scared of skateboards. Those are different. They have wheels that can break and fall off while hoverboards don't.

[Xander]: With magitech.

Okay, I'll say that I asked for that last answer. I've gotten to know Xander well enough to know that that is how he'll respond to "how" on something. It'll be easier to ask him in-person than via text, and I really want to try out the hoverboard if it's real.

[Luke]: Can I come over and ride it?

[Xander]: Mr. Trey is taking me to a sleepover so we aren't at the house right now.

Of course he'll go to a sleepover with someone else but not me. Parker's still in a mood, too, so I can't have him over or go to his place for one. Dammit, dammit, dammit!

Why do I have to be too hyper to properly make friends? I want to hang out, too!