[Sig – 13 years]

"Total victory!" I exclaim as I bounce and start doing a little dance in my seat. "Oh yeah, I did it! I won! I'm the Bastion you can't breach! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Ain't no monsters gettin' through me! Un-uh un-uh un-uh!"

"Duty of Loyalty?" A voice startles me from behind, nearly making me fall out of my seat as I turn to face the speaker.

"Aaah! Attacker! Run away!" I exclaim as I hurriedly but carefully pull off my headset and tackle him.

"This isn't running!" Carter laughs before wrestling me into a headlock.

"Hey! You're like, a billion times stronger! That's unfair!"

"You started it!" He snickers. "Yield to the king or it's to the pillory for you!"

"Pillory?" I ask. "Isn't it the stocks?"

"Those are for the feet," he says. "Pillory's the one for the head and hands."

"Oh, okay!" I say. "I'll never yield to-wait. Why are you here? Didn't you return home a couple of days ago?"

"Yeah," he releases me and I sit up. "But I wanted to meet the guy with the hoverboard, so I asked Dad to bring me back down here! Mom's coming back from her trip this evening, anyway, so he'd be coming back over later to pick her up. Tate's here, too. He's in the bathroom, though. You were super engrossed in your match and he couldn't hold it anymore even though you were at the end. Did you… solo everything?"

"Rest of my party was bunch of scrubs and died," I say. "So yeah, I had to take out all of the enemy soldiers and the invading monsters all on my own."

"That's really good," he says. "I mean, I haven't played it, but I've seen a little gameplay of it from European streamers. Can't really speak English, but it looks hard."

"I'm a god-tier gamer!" I thump my chest.

"Sure," he says. "So can we meet him? You said you're friends, right?"

This might not be a good idea. Xander can be really shy about some things.

"Um… maybe?" I ask. "I'd have to ask him, and he'll probably say no."

"Got some secret contract or something on it?" Carter asks.

"Nah," I say. "He built it, but he's also super shy about stuff he makes. I think. At least, he seems that way. You saw the puzzle sphere."

"Wait!" He says. "It's the same friend who made that?"

"Yeah," I nod. "He apparently tinkers with magitech as a hobby and I guess he just… went and made a hoverboard? He said it's so he can stay with us when we're on our bikes. Guess he felt bad that we'd walk our bikes instead of ride. He's super considerate like that, and lemme send him a text to see."

[Sig]: Hey! My friends from the ranches came back out today! They wanna know if they can try your hoverboard! I promise they're super cool dudes and just wanna check it out!

He's typing almost immediately after I hit SEND, then there's a pause, then he's typing again.

[Xander]: I don't feel comfortable with that.

The app says he's still typing, though, so I wait to see what else he says.

[Xander]: But I made a second one I was going to give to Greyson. They can ride that one instead if Mr. Trey says it's okay.

[Xander]: Where at?

[Xander]: Using the ikrozmin rune definitely fixed the wobbles.

[Xander]: Did I bother you guys last night? I know I didn't do sleepover very good. And I asked lots of questions, too.

That last bit must be what he was originally typing, though the bit about the rune makes me giggle. He was solving problems in his sleep.

[Sig]: No! It was fun having you over! We had to remind ourselves you didn't really play games so wouldn't know that stuff, but we didn't care we had to explain! You should ask your dad about playing those games with us next time so you can give it a try if you want!

[Sig]: Oh! Also! Is this the dog you mentioned? The one constantly getting adopted and returned?

I send him a picture of Turtle and me from when we were playing this morning. Mr. Fuller left with his son and dog after lunch and that's when I came in here to play games.

[Xander]: That looks like Turtle. Are you at the store right now? Or the grassy part next to it? That's not store-floor tile so did he have to go poo?

[Sig]: I took that this morning from Aunt Rachel's backyard! Remember Mr. Fuller? Hunter's dad? He adopted him! I bet they're gonna keep him! Mr. Fuller seems like a cool dude!

[Xander]: Maybe.

[Xander]: Mr. Trey wants to know where at for the hoverboard.

"Xander says you can't ride his hoverboard," I tell Carter.

"Aww," he looks massively disappointed.

"But you can ride the other one he built," I snicker. "He wants to know where to go."

"How about Nine Springs?" Carter bounces a little in his excitement.

"What about Nine Springs?" Tate asks as he exits the bathroom.

"Lots of space there!" Carter answers as I give Tate a fist-bump. "Xander said we can ride one of his hoverboards. He's apparently got two, and S.G. says he made them, not that he was given them. We can test them out at the park there!"

I let Xander know, then pull on socks and sneakers and grab my things. We head upstairs to where Aunt Rachel and Mr. Martins are talking. Whoa. The last time I saw them together was last year so I didn't really notice it then, but now that Carter's growing in puberty, he's starting to look a lot like his dad.

"Can we go to the park in Nine Springs?" Carter asks his dad. "That'll give us plenty of space. Xander said I can use one!"

"Sure," Mr. Martins says, then looks at Aunt Rachel. "Will you come with us?"

"Xander's dad's probably going to be there," I tell her before she can have a chance to refuse. "Since he doesn't know these guys, he'll probably want to meet them and figure out if they're good or not. And you know he'll want to make sure Xander's safe, too."

Meaning he'll probably have his own security present but hidden, just in case.

"Alright," she says. "But-"

"Can I ride with them?" I ask. "Pleasepleaseplease?"

Aunt Rachel doesn't look comfortable with it, but she agrees.

"Yes!" I cheer.

"Make sure to have a helmet!" She says. "And do you have elbow and knee pads?"

"All in my backpack!" I tell her. "Except the helmet, lemme grab that!"

I grab my helmet, then we all leave. Tate, Carter, and I ride in the bed of the truck and talk as we go, while Aunt Rachel drives her own car. Xander texts during the trip to ask about which park and once I remember that Nine Springs had several of them and let him know, he lets me know he'll be there soon.

When we arrive, Xander and his dad are there, with Xander riding back and forth on his hoverboard while wearing his helmet, pads, and even some gloves that might be just in case. There's another hoverboard floating about half a foot off the ground near Mr. Caldwell.

"And when you want to stop," Xander is saying as the truck parks. "You just stop like this. Oh, I didn't describe it again. Okay, let me try again."

"They're here," Mr. Caldwell says.

"Yeah, I saw," Xander says. "But I wanted to still practice."

"Hi, Xander!" I say, and Xander looks over.

"Hi-" he starts to respond, but his gaze switches to Carter. "Whoa, he's cute."

We all stare at him as he gives us small nods. Then his face turns to horror.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" He asks in a panic. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say it out loud it was just a thought I had and-"

"Hey!" Carter gives him a big grin. "No worries, man! You're pretty cute, too! S.G. says you built the hoverboards?"

"Yeah," Xander nods, his cheeks pink in a happy way now. "Um… I go by Xander. He probably told you my name, but I wanted to let you know I go by Xander, just in case."

"He did!" Carter nods as Xander steps off of his hoverboard, which continues hovering in place. "I'm Carter, and this is Tate! I do streaming and post videos of me goofing around, doing freerunning, playing with magic, and some other stuff! Basically, lots of stuff I find fun! And when I saw the article showing the hoverboarding, I asked S.G. if he knew anything about it because it looks like crazy fun!

"So I know S.G. didn't ask you when he texted you," Carter says. "But would it be alright if I posted a video of me learning to ride it? If you say 'no', then I won't do a video. It's kind of crazy tech and you probably don't want any proper videos up yet."

"I don't mind," Xander says. "Mr. Trey already said it's okay. Um. Please hold on."

Xander goes to his backpack and opens it up, then pulls out some stuff.

"These are chest cameras," he says. "Mr. Trey suggested I bring them. You strap them to your chest and can record stuff or even stream live. He had me make an account for streaming the other day 'cause of the AR set, just in case I wanted to, and said when we were getting ready to come out here that it might not be a bad idea to bring the cameras. I don't know when he bought them or why, but they aren't needed for the AR set because those can record on their own already, but I'm not telling him that."

"Xander?" Mr. Caldwell snorts. "You weren't whispering."

Xander's face turns bright red as he gets the "I'm so stupid" look he gets sometimes.

"And I bought them before I picked you up from the sleepover this morning," Mr. Caldwell tells him. "Specifically because of the hoverboard. That way you can record your trips, though they also work for streaming in case you wanted to do that."

"Can he stream?" Carter asks. "You have to be thirteen and S.G. told me on the way here that he's twelve."

"I'll be thirteen next month," Xander says. "And you can if you're younger if you have verification from your parent or legal guardian that they're managing the account, comments, posts, and so on. Mr. Trey said he'll take care of that stuff for me right now so I don't have to worry about it. I wasn't really sure about why he wanted me to make the account for the AR stuff, but he explained it's so that I can show off the stuff to others."

"What's AR?" I ask.

"Augmented reality, I think," Carter says. "Is that it?"

"Yeah," Xander nods. "I'm making an AR game. It's as zombie shooter, but it's not ready yet."

"Ooh! Good luck!" Carter tells him. "I've heard AR tech isn't really there for high-quality gaming yet. You can do low-level gaming with it but nothing too smooth and seamless. Tried looking into it for some of my videos, but it was meh so I never posted them."

Xander looks uncomfortable for some reason.

"So if I don't want you posting a video of the hoverboards," he looks Carter in the eyes. "You really won't?"

"Yeah!" Carter says. "I'd love to make an episode of me riding them, but won't if you don't want me to! Dad says it's always good to respect others' wishes for their property!"

"Okay," Xander says. "Mr. Trey said it's fine to post videos or stream. He even suggested maybe I try and stream it and see what others think, but I'm not really sure. These cameras can stream directly, too. We just gotta set up the streams. I don't know how to do that."

"Oh, cool!" Carter says. "Can I stream, too? Including you showing me how to use them?"

"Okay," Xander looks extremely uncomfortable and he's breathing a little quickly. Should I say something? "Can you show me how to set up the streaming stuff?"

"Sure!" Carter says. "We just need a phone or computer with the streaming app on it! I've got my phone."

Xander pulls a laptop out of his backpack, and Carter walks him through how to set up a stream. They then strap a camera to their chests and Tate takes the phone from Carter and gets ready to start the stream while Carter asks Xander a few questions in quiet, then they stand beside each other and look at the phone. Mr. Caldwell his holding up a phone as well, so I'm guessing they're starting the streams with their phones, then will switch to the cameras on their chests once they're ready to go for rides.

"Ready, Xander?"

"No, but I'm not sure I'll ever be ready so it's probably best to just start."

Tate and Carter both laugh a little, and Tate gives Carter the go-ahead.

"Hey, everybody!" Carter says. "Carter here, back in the same place as my last video! Some of you might recognize this cool guy right beside me! His name's Xander, and there was an article last night about him riding a hoverboard around Dragon Falls! Well, it turns out that he built it, and he's got two of them! So I asked if I could give riding it a try and here we are! He seems pretty chill and cool and he's got his own channel he's streaming on right now, XTK9! Go on and check him out if you want, it's his first stream! Xander, wanna greet your viewers?"

"Hi," Xander says. "I go by Xander and I built my hoverboard so that I don't have to learn how to ride a bike to hang out with my friends-" the fact that he's openly admitting that on camera makes me giggle. "-and Carter asked me if I could let him give one a try. He's not riding mine, though. I have a second one I built earlier and he'll be riding on that instead. And they're a lot safer than skateboards because they don't have wheels which can fall off."

Xander nods with a very serious expression on his face after he says that part and I have to try really hard not to laugh again.

"Okay!" Carter chuckles a little. "So we're gonna get started now! How do you get on them?"

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

[Xander – 12 years]

I probably fucked up greeting the viewers. They're not going to be mine as I'm too stupid to have them, but Carter's chat probably doesn't like me. I don't know what I did wrong, I just know that I probably did do something wrong.

And on the channel of someone liked by the fake fairies even more than S.G., Russel, and Luke combined.

I don't want to screw things up more, so I go straight to explaining how to ride the hoverboards. First, I move the second one nearer to mine, then I look at Carter.

"To get on the hoverboard," I say. "You just step up like this," I step up onto it. "It doesn't wobble as you do, allowing you to get on easily."

"Okay!" Carter cautiously steps around to the other side of the other hoverboard, then steps up onto it. "Whoa! It really isn't wobbling at all! I feel like I'm wobbling, though."

So it's not just a me thing, feeling as if wobbling when I'm not.

"I feel the same way after stepping onto it," I tell him, then step off. "But I get used to it after the first few minutes, so you probably will as well. Maybe even faster."

"I do a lot of freerunning, so maybe!" Carter tells me. "What made you pick their hover height?"

"I did 7" over the ground for the bottom," I step back onto mine. "Because that's one of the standards for stairs, so I figured it was better. But if testing shows it should be higher or lower, I'll adjust that."

"Okay!" Carter says. "And how do you get them to move? I'm trying to avoid moving around right now in case it makes it go."

"That one's currently set to just hover," I tell him. "So you can shift around and stuff without making it glide. You'll have to change that first, and you can do it by saying 'activate glide mode' while focusing on it. To turn it off, you can just say 'stop' while intending it for the board. That's faster, so it's easier if you need to do an emergency stop for whatever reason. The commands won't work unless it's the person who's riding them saying them and it's intended for the board they're on. That ensures other people can't just turn them on and off."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

They also don't need the commands, but I felt it was a good idea to put them in just in case I make mistakes.

"It can read my mind?" Carter gives me a look that I think is surprise.

"No," I shake my head. "It can tell if something is directed at it and whether or not it's the person that's on it directing the comment. No mind-reading involved. I wasn't sure if that'd be legal or not so I did something different."

"Oh, cool!" He seems to think that. "How does it do that, though, if it's not mind magic?"

"Um…" I try to think of how to explain this. This wasn't covered as a possible question. "It's more of… it can hear voices fine. And… have you ever felt like someone is talking to you but they aren't even looking at you and you aren't looking at them?"

"Yeah!" He answers. "Doesn't everyone?"

"So it works on that concept," I say. "Just as people can often tell if someone is talking to them, it can do the same. You aren't reading their mind, you're just receiving their intent. That's hard to explain, but the board does the same thing. It has a setup in it to be able to detect when things are directed at it. It's a type of sensor similar to the one that lets it know if more physical things are directed at it."

"To make sure it doesn't get messed up if something like a ball bounces into the path?"

Not exactly what the sensor was for, but it'd definitely work for that.

"Yeah."

"Cool!" He says. "So once it's on, how do you control it?"

"With your feet," I answer, but Mr. Trey and I were working on me explaining this before, so I know that's not the only answer I need to give. "You can bend your knees like this if it's more comfortable. I find it more comfortable to ride it this way, but you can also ride while standing straight.

"To start moving forward once it's on," I tell him. "You turn the foot that's on that side of the board in that direction, so if you want to go forward on your right side, it's your right foot, and left foot for forward on the left side."

I'm facing him with my right side feeling like "forward" to me, so I turn my right foot away from my body and my board starts moving forward. When I turn my foot back so it's lined up with my left foot, the board stops. I turn my left foot to face away from my body, and the board goes forward in that direction. There's no "backwards" for this movement type, since back would be the other directional way.

I forget the name name for it, but that's also forward. It's a two-forward-no-back hoverboard, and I'm not sure how to explain that properly so I skip trying and hope Carter doesn't ask.

"You stop by making your feet parallel to each other again," I tell Carter when I stop in front of him. "And if you want more speed, lean in that direction a little. More lean means more speed."

Carter gives it a try, wobbling a little on his own, without the board wobbling.

"Wh-whoa!" He exclaims. "I feel like I'm going to fall off!"

"A helmet and pads are recommended," I tell him. "But the boards have magics that keep you from falling off. I know they work at slower speeds, but I'm not sure about higher ones."

"I'm tough as golems!" Carter thumps his chest. S.G. does that a lot when he's showing off, so that's probably a normal thing for strong boys our age. "A fall like this can't hurt me! And I know how to magically-enhance my resilience to harm, too. That helps."

"Oh."

Greyson tried teaching me that spell before. Maybe now that my mana isn't all tied up, I could try again? But that's not for here or now. Teaching Carter how to ride a hoverboard properly is important both because I don't want to get into trouble for screwing it up but also because he's streaming it and I don't want his fans to get mad at him for showing someone like me in his streams or videos.

Also because the not-real fairies like him a lot. Well, and because he's way cuter than even Russell is. There's also that if I make him look bad, he might get mad at S.G. for introducing us and that might make S.G. not want to hang out anymore.

So I want to make sure I do this right.

"To turn," I say. "Slide your feet. You won't actually slide your feet – the board's magics will keep that from happening – but it'll let the board know which way to turn. You can lean forward or backwards, too. I like to do fancy turns and stops, that's really fun. If you lean forward to you but not the board – or just put more pressure on it with the front of your feet – it'll make the board lean that way. Same if you lean backwards to you or put more weight on the backs of your feet. Like this."

I demonstrate with my hoverboard, first leaning forward, then leaning back, then I show him how to steady himself after. Then, I show him my fancy turns and stops, where I lean forward a little if I'm turning in the direction of my front of lean back a little if I'm turning in the direction of my back. That includes the way I bring the board up facing away from me in a small spin when I stop, too.

"What happens if you lean too far forward?" Carter asks as he leans forward. "Whoa! Oh, that's so cool!"

The hoverboard prevented him from being able to angle it too much. He tries it backwards and discovers the same thing, then rights himself. The board doesn't just prevent him from turning it too much, it also keeps him "centered" on it. I think that's the best term but it's probably not quite accurate. He won't slide forward or anything, as if the hoverboard is the ground, rather than the ground being the ground.

It's similar to gravity, but I don't think it's gravity.

This kind of stuff would probably be easier for Greyson to explain than it is for me. I'm pretty sure I can't explain it properly. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like Carter actually cares about that.

"Okay!" He says. "I'm gonna try going again!"

Carter wobbles a little as he adjusts to not having to worry about balance, though he does make several "whoa" and similar noises. I ride alongside him as he goes and he picks up speed, quickly starting to do turns and tilts and even does a few spins and flips.

It doesn't take him long to get more comfortable and go even faster, letting out several loud calls for some reason. When he realizes I'm pretty far behind him, he stops where he is and waits for me to catch up.

"This is pretty cool!" He tells me. "So it won't let us lean too far, but it will let us do flips if we do the lean to the sides?"

"Yeah," I nod. "But only if you're trying for a flip. I did make sure that it can tell the intent for those."

That seemed to be a thing people with skateboards did based on the videos I watched of them earlier. Mr. Trey suggested I watch them to learn some of the movements people make on those, since hoverboards are similar to them in some ways.

"It's pretty cool!" Carter tells me. "You're really good at riding it. Have you been practicing a lot?"

"No," I shake my head. "But the hoverboard was designed to be easy to use. I just have to remind myself that I won't fall, then remind myself again, then again. Then I can ride it without too much worry, and that seems to make it easier. And when I'm actually gliding… it feels kind of like what I think it might be for dragons to fly, too, just in a glide over the ground. So that makes it pretty fun."

"You like dragons?" Carter asks.

"Yeah," I nod.

"Can you do magic?" He asks. "Can you breathe fire, too? Then you could really pretend to be a dragon, gliding around on your hoverboard and breathing fire!"

"I don't want to pretend I'm a dragon," I tell him. "Since I'm not one. But I can breathe fire."

Mr. Trey told me I shouldn't tell people the reason why I learned how to breathe fire whenever I mention I mention I know the spell, so I do my best to resist the urge.

"Can I see?" Carter asks. "It's gotta be pretty cool! My family raises flaremane horses and while they can't breathe fire, I love watching the flames on their manes and tails sometimes!"

Flaremane horses sound strange.

"Um… sure," I say. "Let me look away from you."

Since I'm doing this for his fans, I should make sure it's the most impressive fire breath I can manage. That should make sure his fans don't get upset with him for asking someone to do something that's boring or lame. I inhale deeply as I form the spell, then I begin casting the flame breath spell as I aim it away from people and objects.

When the flames form, they stream out in a jet stretching over two hundred feet in length, billowing out to the sides a little as well. I maintain the spell for a full minute, then cancel it and look at Carter who's just staring at where the flames had been flowing.

Then he looks at me.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" He jumps a little, and that causes him to fall when his feet slip as they land back on the hoveboard.

I quickly move forward to catch him so he doesn't hit his face. He steps backwards up onto the board once he's regained his balance.

"Sorry," I tell him. "Sorry! I didn't-you-it's just-"

"No worries!" He grins at me. "I jumped in excitement, that's not something you'd think about for a hoverboard! It must've just registered that I was trying to get off, is all! Totally my fault! That was so cool, though! The fire breath! I've never seen one so big before!"

"I-I meant for touching you," I say. "Without permission or asking."

"What?" He looks confused. "When you caught me so I wouldn't land on my face? Why would I be mad about that? You were trying to help me not get hurt! I mean, it wasn't really needed, but it's not like you'd know that for sure! I'd try to catch you if that happened to you, too!"

Oh. I guess he's like most people and is fine getting touched, but it's weird he's okay with it being a stranger. I won't say that, though.

"I can do a water breath!" He adds. "My family has an affinity for water magics; using it helps us with the horses so we use it a lot. And recently, I learned how to make it into an ice breath! Wanna see?"

How does it compare to my spell for it?

"Sure," I nod.

Carter lets out a breath of ice and frosty mist that extends out about ten feet from his mouth. He only holds it for about ten seconds before he stops, then he gives me a grin.

"So?" He asks. "Impressive, right?"

It's nowhere near the size of the one I can do, but I'm pretty sure most kids our age can't make a frost breath at all. I think that means it's impressive.

"Yeah," I nod. "How come you make the magic go fwh-fwh instead of bwoo-bwoo, though?"

"Huh?" He gives me a confused look.

"The ice magics," I say. "Wouldn't it be more effective to make the part that actually creates the ice and frosty mist go bwoo-bwoo instead of fwh-fwh? You're wasting mana and it's harder to control with fwh-fwh. I'm probably bad at explaining this…"

"You can't be good at everything!" He laughs. "You made some epic boards, Xander! Wanna see who can ride them the coolest?"

"I don't like competitions," I shake my head. "And how would that get compared?"

"We ask chat!" Carter tells me. "We can set up polls in them! So we can ride the boards for a minute or so and when we're done, open polls to see who chat votes the best! And it's just for fun – there's no reward or anything!"

"Can you do polls to see which of your flips and turns they like the best?" I ask.

"Definitely!" He answers. "Dad! I'm gonna do some flips and turns and spins! Once I'm done, can you poll chat to see which they like the best? I'll do five!"

We're over five hundred feet away from the adults and S.G. and Tate.

"Your dad can hear you from here?" I ask. "You weren't yelling."

"He can hear me from the stream," Carter tells me.

"He can?"

"Yeah!" Carter nods. "He's watching it, too. I think. Dad! Dump water on Tate if you've got sound on!"

We can see Mr. Martins summon water over Tate and drop it on the boy as he tries to escape. It looks like Tate is laughing, though, so I think he doesn't mind.

I'm glad that wasn't me. I would get very mad if someone did that to me.

"Okay!" Carter says. "I'm gonna start now… and go!"

He glides a bit before doing two spins, two turns, and one flip. Then he dances a little with his upper body as he returns to beside me.

"That was so fun!" He says. "Okay, chat! Put your votes in! Which did you think was the coolest? First spin, second spin, first turn, second turn, or the flip? Get them in now before the poll ends!"

Carter does some more tricks, braving fancier ones than I would've even though he's still wobbling. I've already checked with my magesight and it's not the hoverboard's fault, he's just still a little unsteady because he feels like he should be wobbling, I think.

"Hey!" Carter exclaims after a minute of that. "Can Tate and S.G. give it a try, too? If they want?"

I don't mind S.G. trying, but letting Carter try already pushed me to the edge of my comfort zone. I only agreed because S.G. said he's a good person and I don't think S.G. would lie, but I also don't think I can handle two people I don't know giving them a try. Saying "no" to even one of his friends now that I've let the other try will probably make S.G. not want to hang out with me anymore and I like hanging out with him.

"Um… let's go ask them…"

"Okay!" Carter says.

We glide back to the others and Carter asks Tate and S.G. if they want to give it a try.

"No," Tate's lying when he says that. "It looks fun, but I want to keep my feet firmly on the ground."

A complete lie. Why is he lying about wanting to ride a hoverboard? I'm happy he's turning it down, but really confused about why. I want to ask, but that might make them mad at me and then S.G. won't want to hang out with me again.

"Sure!" S.G. looks at me. "Can I?"

"Yeah," I nod.

Carter steps off of the one he's on, and S.G. steps up onto it. Then he asks me to explain how to ride it again so I do, and we ride around for a bit. He's not as good as Carter at it but he still adjusts pretty fast. He also doesn't wobble at all after the first minute, which is really cool.

When we ride back to the others once he's done, I look at Mr. Trey.

"Do you want to try?"

"No," Mr. Trey answers, and he's being honest. "That looks a little too dangerous for me."

He doesn't want me riding it?

"But you boys look like you're having fun," he says. "You look like you're enjoying yourself when you ride it."

"I am," I nod. "It feels like what I think it's like for a dragon to glide."

"You said," he chuckles.

"Hey, Xander!" Carter says, and I look over to him. "How fast can the boards go?"

"Um…" I try to think. "So I looked online for how fast people ride bikes and adjusted its maximum speed on that. Based on what I saw, teens usually ride at a little less than ten miles per hour, but it's possible to go faster, so I put the limit at fifteen instead. I haven't tested the faster side of that yet but it should be fine. I'm not sturdy enough for that, so I was going to wait until Greyson returned in a couple of weeks and ask him."

"Who's Greyson?" Carter asks.

"One of my second-cousins," I answer. "His body's very tough, and I'm pretty sure he's used to me test things out over the last few years, so it's only fair for him to test this for me. And based on his reaction to the early stages of my AR game, he'd probably just want to ride it for fun. Maybe get mad at the lower speed, too…"

And then try to change the limiter, but I made sure I didn't just obfuscate it so no one can criticize how bad the work is, I extra-obfuscated it to make sure Greyson can't read the enchantment matrices and adjust them to boost their speed.

"I'm pretty tough, too!" Carter tells me. "Have a lot of mana thanks to growing up on a magic beast ranch, so my body's pretty tough as well. Mind if I push it to the limit? Or maybe not, that might break the boards and I don't think I can afford to pay for it if I do…"

"The boards can handle high impacts," I say. "But they also have magics to keep them from crashing into other objects, and their parts are made of really durable things and stabilized so that impacts won't jostle them or anything. So crashes aren't a problem."

"Oh! That's cool!" He exclaims. "So it's okay for me to try, then?"

"Yeah," I nod. "But, um… you might get hurt."

"Nah!" He says. "I've been hit by a car before and only had some minor bumps and bruises! My body really is pretty tough!"

I have way more mana but my body isn't tough. Maybe it's just another sign of me being broken? I should ask Grandpa Adrian next time I talk to him. He came over earlier after I texted him, so I don't want to ask him another question too soon after in case it bothers him.

"Um…" I look at his dad.

"Carter can wrestle bulls to the ground and suffer no injuries," Mr. Martins tells me. "So it's safe enough if fifteen miles an hour is the top speed it can go."

"Okay," I guess it's fine then. "You can try, Carter. Just… please be careful?"

"No worries about that!" He thumps his chest. "Ain't nothing gonna hurt me! Chat, I'm gonna see what its top speed is like!" He steps back up onto the other hoverboard. "Ready? Three! Two! One! GOOOOO!"

As he yells that last word, he glides forward, quickly picking up speed. Soon, he's out of sight, but he soon returns while letting out happy shouts.

"That was so cool!" He exclaims. "Thanks for letting me ride this, Xander!"

"You're welcome."

I feel all light and fluffy inside, and I think it's because he enjoyed it. That means I can make more than just puzzle spheres which people like playing with. S.G. definitely seemed like he was having fun, too.

"Did you want to give it a try?" I ask Tate again.

"No," he shakes his head, but he's still lying. "Want to keep my feet firmly on the ground."

Why is he lying about what he wants to do?

"Okay…"

"It does look fun, though," he adds. "It's so cool that you were able to build them."

"I know you have to have lights on your bike at night," Carter says. "Is there a way to fix lights onto them for that, for night riding? It might not be safe otherwise."

"It has lights already," I tell him. "You just can't see them unless they're on. It's magitech lights with a mixture of the material and enchantments. I can turn them on if you want to see, though."

"Can I?" Carter asks.

"Okay," I tap with my fingers, and the lights on the sides, front, back, and bottom of my hoverboard turn on. "There we go."

"That's so cool!" Carter exclaims. "You made them white so they're like car lights, right? Oh, but can you do turn signals? I know bikes are supposed to have those, too."

"Yeah," I tap with my fingers again, and the left turn single turns on. I turn it off, then turn on the right turn signal, then turn on the brakes for a few moments before turning them off. "That's all of them."

"That's really neat!" Carter tells me. "Can you change the light colors?"

"Um… I only did the white for most and red for brakes since that's what car and bike lights are," I say. "I don't know if having them change colors would be legal… once laws regarding hoverbike usage are out. But they'll probably be under the same or similar rules as bikes. That's what Mr. Trey and my grandpa told me earlier."

That's why I changed the lights to white with red for the brakes.

"Not for riding at night," he says. "Or in low light. But like, if it's a little bit dim and lights aren't needed yet, or during the day, you could do colored lights just for an added cool look! And you could maybe have colored lights to go with the illumination and brake lights for night, too! Them being on the bottom of the board instead of the front wouldn't mess with that!"

"Oh."

That… was something I didn't think about. Maybe that would look cool.

"Also," he says. "How were you changing the lights? Does mind magic work for connecting to it, too? Or can they be set to read your intentions and shift?"

"It's the gloves," I hold my hands up. "They were just regular skater gloves, I think, but I modified them with a little bit of magitech. It's super small so you can't see it that well, but there's a little bit of a shimmer on them if the light hits it right and isn't too bright. If you move your fingers in the right way while wearing them and while on a board, and you have the intent to turn on the lights, they'll read that intent and transmit it to the board, turning on the right lights. I wanted to incorporate actual mind magics into it for easier use, but my grandpa said I shouldn't."

That was why Grandpa Adrian came over earlier – because I'd sent him a text asking if it was okay to do that. Mr. Trey wasn't sure and I figured my grandpa would know. He said that while it's technically not illegal, it might make people uncomfortable and it's a better idea to not for early demonstrations of the hoverboards.

"That's still really cool," Carter tells me. "So does that mean you can make the board move using the gloves, too?"

"Yeah," I nod. "You have to move your fingers right while wanting to. And these ones are the only ones and they're paired to my hoverboard, so they won't work for that one."

I did that specifically so that I don't have to share my gloves with someone else.

"Cool," he says. "This was pretty fun, Xander! I'm gonna end my stream now. Wanna say anything to my chatters? Oh! Tate, Dad! Are we still on the chest cams?"

"Lemme switch back to the phone," Tate says, then holds up Carter's phone. "Okay, we're back on the phone cam!"

"Um… Mr. Trey?" I ask Mr. Trey, who holds his phone up as well.

"Just switched back to the phone camera," he says.

"Okay."

"Alright!" Carter says. "So that was us getting to ride hoverboards, everyone! And if you came in partway through – they were created by this awesome dude, Xander! Check out his channel, XTK9, too! This is his first stream so there's not much else to it yet, but you can see his perspective for the rides, too!

"So we've got hoverboards," Carter says. "We've got gloves you can use to control them and their lights if you want, and we've got awesomeness! And that dude right there? That's S.G.! You might've seen him briefly in my last video and he got to try the hoverobard today, too! He's the one who introduced me to Xander! S.G. and I have been friends for years now, and he and Xander are friends, so when I asked if he knew the boy on the hoverboard, he was able to connect us!"

We're connected? I don't see anything connecting us, though.

"Before we go," Carter looks at me. "Xander! Want to tell Chad again what inspired you to build the hoverboards?"

"Who's Chad?" I look around. "Is there someone else here."

"Chat!" Carter laughs. "With a T at the end! As in the chatters and viewers!"

"Oh," my face heats up. Stupid me and mishearing things. "Um… I did it so I don't have to learn how to ride a bike but can stay with my friends when we're going places and they're on their bikes. So they don't have to walk their bikes and take longer."

"What about a skateboard?" Carter asks. "That would work, wouldn't it?"

"Skateboard wheels can break off."

That causes the other boys to laugh, while Mr. Rachel and Mr. Martins look like they're trying not to. Mr. Trey is definitely trying not to laugh.

"What about roller blades?" Carter asks.

"They have wheels, too."

That makes him giggle a little.

"Alright!" He says. "Thanks for letting me give it a try, Xander!"

"You're welcome," I say. "Thank you for enjoying it."

"Of course I did!" He says. "It's pretty awesome, man! Is there anything you wanna say to chat before we go?"

"Bye," I say.

"See you all next time!" Carter waves. "Byyyyyyye!"

"And done!" Tate says. "Stream's over!"

"Same here," Mr. Trey says. "I think?"

"Can I see?" Tate looks. "Yeah, you ended it!"

"Whew!" Carter grins at me. "That was super fun, Xander! Can I come back over and ride it again sometime?"

"You want to ride it again?" I ask.

"Of course!" He bounces a little as he nods. "It was super fun! Man, there's no way I can afford to have you build one for me right now, it's gotta be ridiculously expensive. But I wanna ride it again sometime."

He's being honest with that.

"If-if that's okay," I look at Mr. Trey.

"It's your board," he tells me. "If you're okay with that, then I don't mind."

"Okay," I nod, then look at Carter. "Maybe again. And. Um. I think the cost for a hoverboard would be around $150,000, but I'm not really sure. My math might be off. Possibly by a lot."

"Yeah," he chuckles. "That's out of reach for me right now."

"Did you not want to ride it while the streams were going?" I ask Tate.

"What?" He looks confused.

Maybe I changed topics too fast?

"You were lying when you said you didn't want to ride it," I say. "Did you just not want to do it while others were watching, in case you fall off? It's really safe and won't make you fall. I tested it really lots yesterday and today."

"What makes you think I was lying?" He asks.

"I can tell when people are lying if I'm looking in their eyes."

"Seriously?" S.G. asks. "You can do that?"

"I didn't tell you?" I ask. "I thought I did. Oh. Yeah. Um… sorry for not telling you."

"It's cool!" S.G. says. "That sounds like a cool power!"

"Um," Tate looks at Mr. Trey, then looks at me. "After you and Carter went off, your dad told me that you'd probably offer to be nice, but that letting one person you don't know use your stuff was probably making you uncomfortable and that two would definitely stress you out, so would I please decline."

Mr. Trey really told him that? That's so nice of him.

"Thanks," I say. "He's not wrong."

"And now that this is done," Mr. Martins claps his hands once, and we all look at him. "How would you boys like to do some grilling? It's nearing dinnertime now, and I brought food just in case we got to do this."

That must be what he wants to offer as payment for me letting Carter ride on the hoverboard and do a stream with it.

I hope it's delicious.