[Xander – 12 years]

"Xander," Mr. Caldwell says as Ms. Katie clears away the dishes from breakfast. "You've seen really anxious since your lessons yesterday and I wanted to-"

"I'm sorry!" I burst out crying. "I know it was wrong and really, really bad of me but I couldn't help it, I just did it! He made me really mad and I know doing that was really bad and I'm really sorry for breaking the rules! Please don't beat me! I already put myself on grounding for being a bad boy and I'll try not to do it again and-"

I keep going until I run out of apologies, then I just sniffle and cry while staring down at my lap. Mr. Caldwell is quiet for several very long moments and that only makes me more scared of the beating.

"That's different from your usual thing," Mr. Caldwell says. "This one sounds like you actually know what you did wrong this time instead of just assuming. What did you do?"

"Put the leftover hot sauce that Ms. Katie made for your wings on Sunday on peach muffins I gave to Luke."

We had wings for dinner on Sunday and Ms. Katie made different marinades for each of us, especially since Mr. Caldwell likes really spicy foods and I hate them. She mixed up a batch of hot sauce for his marinade and there was some leftover from what she didn't put into the marinade for his wings.

"You… what?" Mr. Caldwell asks. "Is that why you've been so anxious. Wait. Is that why you were sitting in a corner when I got back from work yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Did you know about this?" Mr. Caldwell asks and I sneak a look to see that he's asking Ms. Katie.

"I knew he put hot sauce on them," Ms. Katie tells him. "Xander hurried into the kitchen yesterday after classes and asked if he could give Luke and Parker some of the peach muffins we'd made on Sunday. Said they weren't staying. I gave him a couple of containers and after assuring him that it was fine to use them, he put muffins in. I asked him about the hot sauce and he said 'for Luke' so I'd assumed Luke had said something. The kid's always been odd so I wasn't too surprised."

"Xander," Mr. Caldwell says. "You said you did it because you were mad at Luke? Why were you mad?"

"He tricked me and grabbed me and jumped into the water," I sniffle. "He said he did it because he wanted me to see that the water was fine and I wasn't gonna drown. I'm really sorry for being a bad boy, Mr. Caldwell! I was just really, really mad at him and I just did it and then realized what I'd done and realized I'd been a bad boy and I'm really sorry I struggle to be a good boy! Please don't beat me!"

"Xander," Mr. Caldwell interrupts. "This is the first I'm hearing about either of those. Let me call Melody real quick."

Mr. Caldwell pulls out his phone and makes a call, then he sets it to speakerphone before placing it on the table. It rings a couple of times before a woman answers it.

"Hello, Trey," the woman says. "Are classes canceled this morning? Lucas has been really nervous for some reason but won't say why."

"I think I know why," Trey says. "Melody, did Luke say anything about Xander when he got home?"

"I wasn't here," she says. "But Tristan did mention something about Lucas zapping his way downstairs to drink milk straight from the jug with the only explanation being that he made Xander mad and Xander got revenge. As much as that boy talks, we somehow couldn't get the explanation out of him and had to ask Parker… who doesn't know."

"Xander gifted him muffins soaked in hot sauce," Trey says. "Hot sauce used to make marinade for wings for me."

"Oh, dear," she says. "Sweetie, is that why you're nervous? Because you made Xander mad? Don't talk with your mouth full, Lucas. No, swallow first, don't show me the food!"

"I'm going to put you on hold for a moment," Mr. Caldwell says.

"That's fine," Ms. Gates says. "I need to hit my son with lightning."

She attacks her son? At least Mr. Caldwell doesn't hit me with lightning, I don't think I'd survive that. But I'm even more nervous now.

"Xander," Mr. Caldwell says after tapping something on his phone. "I think I know Luke's reasoning on doing what he did, though he shouldn't have done it. Kids make mistakes sometimes. The fact that Luke told his parents that you got revenge on him for making him mad but didn't elaborate or complain suggests that he's accepting what you did was justified. Was it appropriate? No, not at all. You should have let me know so I could talk with his parents about it.

"Now," he continues. "Does this mean you don't want him around anymore? If you're scared of him now, then you can tell me and I'll let Melody know not to bring him over. There's also no swimming today. Not because of that, it was already planned for you to learn martial arts today, so that you can also learn how to defend yourself."

I don't like Luke. But I don't want to be alone in the room with those men, either, and Luke could probably zap them faster than Roderick could shoot them. And he was trying to think about me when he did that, even if it scared me and I don't like him anymore.

"H-he can come," I say. "B-but only if he brings extra snacks. And donuts. Um… sorry! That's really bad, it's not my place to say stuff like that 'cause I'm just a kid and kids can't make demands because it's wrong and I'm sorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry-"

"Xander," Mr. Caldwell interrupts. "If that's your condition for him coming back, then we'll set it," he taps something on his phone. "Melody?"

"She's currently wrangling Lucas," a man says. "What's up?"

"Hey, Tristan," Mr. Caldwell says. "What… is Luke doing?"

"At the moment? Ducking under her arms," Mr. Gates answers. "I think he's recovered from the rescue efforts. Gotcha! Lucas, sit your butt back down and finish eating. Alright. You were saying, Trey?"

"What Luke did yesterday," Mr. Caldwell says. "Is decide that trying to get Xander adjusted to the water was too slow and grab him and jump into the pool. It freaked Xander out, naturally, but also made him mad after, so Xander got revenge with the hot sauce, though he's also apparently grounded himself for the misbehavior. It's pretty obvious he doesn't like Luke anymore."

"I take it that means we're nixing Lucas coming over?" Mr. Gates asks.

"Xander said that he'll accept Luke's presence as long as Luke brings extra snacks and donuts," Mr. Caldwell says.

"Mel," Mr. Gates says. "You'll need to leave a little earlier today, Luke needs to buy donuts for Xander as an apology. No, it was Xander's request. And before you try to run off to your room, Luke, we need to have a talk about nearly drowning people."

Mr. Caldwell and Mr. Gates finish their phone call, then Mr. Caldwell tells me to go do my thing, so I return up to the room I'm staying in and wait until it's time to brush my teeth. When I finally go down to the classroom that was set up, I find Mr. Massey, Roderick, Luke, and Parker inside. Luke and Parker are on the same beanbags as yesterday and there's a poster hung up on the cork strips.

The poster is light blue in color with black text that shows the order of operations. A light green decorative border is set around the edges, as if framing the text but without an actual frame.

I move the beanbag chair I sat on yesterday from beside Luke to beside Parker, then take a seat. Mr. Massey starts the class by handing each of us a paper. The top part has a section for my name, the date, and the class period, then directly below that are directions. Underneath that, the page is divided into three columns without lines actually separating them.

The column on the left has a bunch of words, and each word has a blank line beside it, which is the second column. The third column is the widest and has a definition in it.

"Luke, Parker," Mr. Massey says. "These aren't any of the spelling sheets you'd be getting for class this coming year. I made sure to check that so that you don't get them earlier. Xander, most schools in the area don't give spelling lessons to students in the seventh or eighth grade so you probably won't have those classes anymore in your new school, whatever it is. The school I work at and which these two attend does, so I'm borrowing some sheets from the lower grades. You need help with spelling based on what I saw, so we'll be starting every Tuesday lesson with some spelling stuff."

"You're not good at spelling?" Parker whispers to me.

"I try my best," I try not to cry.

"Xander," Mr. Massey says. "Based on what I saw, it seems like you try to spell it the way it sounds like it should be spelled to you. That's something younger students do, and they learn the proper spelling through school. You can read just fine, but remembering how things are spelled seems to be a struggle. Your old schools apparently never bothered trying to help you learn the correct ones. It's okay. That's one of the reasons I'm here to help you, alright?"

I nod.

"Luke, Parker," Mr. Massey says. "You two do your worksheets. Make sure to do the backs as well and remember – no looking at the front when working on the back."

"Yes, sir!" Luke salutes.

There are backs to these? I flip over the page and find that there is, indeed, a back side. It doesn't have the spelling words or columns and instead, has twenty sentences, each with a blank line inside of it. The directions at the top says to fill in the blanks using the spelling words from the front, but without looking at the front.

"Let's get started, Xander," Mr. Massey says. "We'll start with the basics and work our way up to more complicated words. The goal is to get you up to where someone who finished the seventh grade should be by the end of summer. That might sound intimidating, especially since that's a lot of words, but I promise that this is set to be easy, okay?"

I'm not so sure about that, but I nod.

"Flip it back to the front," Mr. Massey tells me and I flip the paper over. "Do you know what the vowels are?"

"Um… that's another word for your guts, right?"

"That would be 'bowels'," Mr. Massey tells me. "Easy mistake to make since they sound similar. Vowels are the letters a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes, the letter y. We'll get into what vowels are in more details later, but what we'll be starting off with are words that have the vowel 'a' in them. These are all one-syllable words as well, to start off more simply."

Mr. Massey goes through the paper with me, including teaching me about how the letter 'a' can sound differently based on the word, so it's good to know the variations to help me know how to spell a new word. Today's spelling words are 'act', 'art', 'ant', 'bat', 'cat', 'fat', 'mat', 'rat', 'bag', 'sag', 'rag', 'nag', 'wag', 'tag', 'lag', 'flag', 'drag', 'trap', 'nap', and 'ham'. That's a lot of words for me to keep track of, but Mr. Massey says that he's certain I'll be able to learn them all.

For each one, he has me spell it out aloud, then write it down on the line next to it, then he has me read the definition before spelling it out aloud without looking at the paper. I can look for the definition, not just the second time I spell it out aloud. Then he tells me to do the back page on my own.

I know I mess up a few times, but I still do my best. Then, Mr. Massey grades all three papers hands them back to us. On the back, I spelled four words wrong. That's a lot less than I thought, I'd thought I got maybe four right. But when I flip it over to compare, I really did only get four wrong.

The next half-hour or so involves Mr. Massey teach me about the differences between plural, possessive, and singular, which just makes my head spin a lot. About forty minutes into the class, he lets us take a break to stretch our legs. I'm still confused by that because Luke and Parker don't really do anything to actually stretch their legs, they just get up and walk a little and maybe do arm and back stretches, but then they sit back down and pull out food.

Luke did bring donuts, and he offers them to me along with some milk and cookies and what he calls 'blond brownies' which don't look like brownies at all. They're not brown, either. Parker has veggies, chips, and pretzels, which he shares with us. Everything comes in a little plastic container just like yesterday, instead of plastic baggies or the bags they came in. I'm a little confused by that but don't ask questions.

After the five-minute break ends, Mr. Massey quizzes me on the spelling words again, then hands me a new spelling worksheet.

"Don't be too intimidated," Mr. Massey tells me. "Forty words is normally more than we'd do but the goal of these classes is to help you catch up. This plan was arranged to make it easier for you to catch up, but not overwhelm you. If you feel overwhelmed, just tell me and I'll slow it down some, alright? But please give it a try first, okay?"

I nod, then Mr. Massey starts the second session. He gives me a brief lesson on syllables, then explains that this one will be two-syllable words with two vowels, one or both of which is the letter 'a'. This list has the words 'trapped', 'trapping', 'angel', 'angle', 'arrow', 'apron', 'adopt', 'acre', 'answer', 'alter', 'altar', 'adjust', 'artist', 'anchor', 'after', 'baffle', 'ballad', 'basket', 'dragon', and 'handle'. Another twenty words, most of which start with 'a' or 'b' for some reason.

Once we finish the worksheet (I mess up nine of the words on the back), Mr. Massey continues the lesson on plurals, singulars, and possessives. He quizzes all three of us on it during and even gives us candy every fifth correct answer we give. That makes the class kind of fun.

I'm given a couple of worksheets to do as homework when the lesson ends, so I put those up in the room I'm staying in and return downstairs for the martial arts lesson, which is in the double room. Coach Evan is here again, and he issues the three of us martial arts uniforms to put on, then leaves for a minute so that we can change.

"Hey, Xander!" Luke exclaims while we're changing. "Check this out!"

As much as I don't want to I turn to look at him and his back is still to me. He's stripped down to his anti-lightning leotard and I'm a bit confused by what he wants me to see. Then sparks form on the zipper and it starts moving downward.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"You know how to use telekinesis," Parker says. "And you're not even taking that off!"

The zipper is just moving up and down right now.

"Well, yeah!" Luke responds. "But this is much cooler. Right, Xander?"

As much as I don't like Luke…

"Right."

I turn back around so I can finish changing, though I don't know how to keep the front closed. Thankfully, Parker shows me how to keep it closed… by using a belt. It apparently has a specific way that it's supposed to be tied as well so he shows me how to tie it. Mine is white while theirs is black, though our uniforms are all identical otherwise: white pants and top.

"If you're wondering about the differences in belts," Luke tells me while Parker pokes his head out of the room to inform Coach Evan that we're done changing. "It's because Parker and I are already trained. Our school has martial arts as one of its required classes and Coach also teaches it. Under his instruction, we've both reached our black belts. For our school, the belt color is a pure indicator of our skill level. White just means you're a beginner. Some martial arts studios will require service hours to advance belt ranks, taking tests on honor and dignity and whatnot, or other such things. But our school's class just does it based on our actual level of skill. Black belt is sort of the highest, but there are different degrees for it. Parker and I are both first-degree, meaning we're the lowest level of black belt. Coach is a sixth-degree black belt. The academy actually works with a proper martial arts studio, too, so training from there carries over to the school and training from the school carries over to there. So if we graduate and want to attend the studio, we'll keep our rank. Or if we take extra lessons there, we will as well. Also-"

"That's enough, Luke," Coach Evan says. "Let's get started with some warm-ups."

Coach Evan walks us through some warm ups, though I struggle for a lot of them. Once we're done, he goes through several strikes, kicks, and blocks. Every five moves he teaches, he has us practice them while correcting our forms a little. I get nervous when he moves close to me, but he quickly moves back and asks Parker to help me. That still makes me uncomfortable since Parker has to touch me to adjust my positioning, but at least it's not an adult.

After teaching fifteen moves, Coach has us practice them all again, then puts up some pad-like gloves and has us punch each once, then move to the back of the line to wait our next turn. I don't want to do that. What if I hit him in the face by accident? But if I don't do this then I'll get into trouble for not listening to directions.

"Remember," Coach tells me. "Don't bend your wrist, Xander. Keep it straight when you punch. And if you miss, that's also okay. You're new at this, it's normal to make mistakes."

I nod, then try to do the punches. I kind of miss the first one and only hit the edge of it, but I manage to get my full left fist to connect when I punch with that hand. Coach has us do this five times, then tells us to kick instead. We kick with each foot five times, then he has us practice blocking an attack. First he pairs me up with Parker and tells me to slowly punch toward Parker, who will block.

This part scares me and freaks me out and it takes me everything I have to not scream and run away when it's my turn to practice blocking, especially once Luke is my offensive partner. Coach has us practice blocking from each of the other two boys. Unlike for me, where the movements are slow so that Coach can help me out, Parker and Luke go fast.

Sparks start forming in Luke's hair while he practices punching and kicking at Parker. I wasn't doing any practice kicks or kick-blocks against them but they were told to do so with each other.

"Hold!" Parker jumps back. "Luke, you're sparking!"

"I am?" Luke looks down at himself. "I don't see any sparks."

"Your hair, doofus."

Luke reaches up and feels his hair.

"Oh!" He starts rubbing his hair and the sparks fade away. "That happens a lot lately. Dunno why. Well, whatever! Let me kick you in the face!"

"No!" Parker blocks the sudden kick that Luke aims at his face.

"Give them a minute to burn through their energy," Coach Evan tells me as he steps closer to me and the two of them kick and punch at each other. "Go ahead and have a seat. You were flinching a lot even with the slower punches."

I'm glad for being able to sit down, but now I'm being scolded at the same time because I kept flinching!

"S-sorry!"

"It's okay," Coach Evan tells me while gesturing for me to sit, so I do. "I just wanted to say that this is why I told them to move more slowly for you. You're new to this and afraid of being attacked, so it's normal to flinch if someone is moving a fist closer to you. The slower movements I'm having them do for you is so that you can get used to it, so that you can eventually start practicing faster. Hope you never need to defend yourself, but train in case you ever do. That's one of the purposes of this."

"Okay."

"Are you sore from yesterday?"

"Yes."

"That's normal," Coach Evan says. "Your body did a bunch of stuff that it's not used to and your muscles need to recover. Everyone goes through those pains. It'll get worse over the next couple of days, and then start to feel better. That's part of why we chose to have this lesson right before lunch, so that you can get some protein and fuel put back into you right after to help your recovery."

"Okay."

"Tomorrow," he says. "Will be a fitness day. It's mostly stretching and exercises. Thursday will be playing games outside, mostly throwing stuff around, and Friday will be another martial arts lesson. That will give you five days of fitness-type classes, but it might be too much for you to handle. If it is and you need a break, just let me know. Your body isn't used to this sort of thing, so it will take time to build up stamina and endurance, especially with your current physical condition. Just let me know if it's too much or if you need a break, okay?"

Him saying that makes me realize something about yesterday's class.

"I-is that why you had me float for awhile?" I ask. "B-because I was tired?"

"Yes," he nods. "And this break is giving you some time to rest as well. You may not be able to go the full lesson without a break by the end of the summer, but that isn't the goal. The goal with the physical classes is to help you build up stamina and strength and give you some basic self-defense and swimming skills. Don't be afraid of making mistakes with us, we'll do our best to help you learn. Alright?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Alright," he says. "You can rest for a few more minutes, then we'll start the next part if you're ready to continue."

The next part turns out to be mostly practice and by the end of the class, I'm soaked in sweat and really need a shower.

"Hey, Xander?" Luke asks once Coach Evan dismisses us.

"Y-yes?"

"Do we get to stay for lunch today?" Luke asks. "Or should we go?"

The cookies he brought were really delicious and I know he has some left. If he stays, I might get to eat more of them. If he stays, I might also get thrown in a pool again. Or have my breathing process stopped by him again. And he did have two cheesecakes brought for me yesterday as an apology.

I don't like him, but he can stay. This time.

"Yes," I answer.

"Awesome!" He says. "We're gonna go use the shower at the pool, then we'll head to the dining room."

I nod, then go up to the room I'm staying in so I can get cleaned up.

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

[Luke – 13 years]

Xander seemed really hesitant to ask for more food during lunch, but Katie seemed to know he was still hungry and asked him if he wanted more. That got him to answer yes… all three times he was asked it. He's not even a mage and he eats like one. I'm impressed.

"Hey, Xander?" I ask once everything is cleared away, and he suddenly looks frightened. "Do you know what school you're attending when it starts again?"

There are four private schools in the area. There's the one that Parker and I attend, which is an all-boys school, then there's an all-girls school that's a sister school to ours, another all-boys school, and one that's got both boys and girls at it. The all-girls school is out since Xander's a boy, so it's going to be one of the other three.

Our school and the sister school are kind of pricey and I'm not sure how rich Trey actually since since he doesn't deal in magitech. Spending $100,000 to send a kid to school might be too expensive even with how much he makes. Just because someone's a millionaire, that doesn't mean they can just send their kid to an expensive school. On top of that, if Xander does get to stay with Trey, then he'd probably end up going to the related high school – and ours is $150,000 a year. That's an even higher price that I'm certain is out of Trey's budget.

The co-ed school is the cheapest choice so it's probably within Trey's pool of options. They charge $40,000 a year and their related high school is $60,000 a year. Of course, that lower price comes with fewer amenities and stuff, but it's still a private school. They're high-quality. Again, I'm not sure Trey's finances since I don't really know the non-magitech market that well but I'm certain it's within his budget. He lives in this house, after all.

Then there's the other private boys' school. Thinking about it, that might actually be the better option even if it has the potential to strain Trey's budget a little. It costs $60,000 a year and the related high school is $90,000 a year, but many of the boys there have dealt with some degree of abuse. Many, not most. The school was tailor-made to help boys who have suffered at the hands of one or both of their parents and who need a haven.

Well, actually, it was set up for parents who suspected or knew their sons were gay and wanted a place they could attend without having to deal with bullying over it. But then word got out that it was a safe haven with a strict zero-tolerance policy for any kind of bullying and which offered a lot of counseling services to the students who needed it. That resulted in a lot of parents who recently gained custody of their sons from the other parent after finding out the kid was abused sending their sons there as well.

I'm pretty sure that's the most likely choice even if it might be too expensive to send Xander there. It's literally a safe haven, so Xander will probably feel safe there once he starts to figure it out on his own. I don't think telling him that he's safe really does that.

My parents went with the most expensive school because it was the best in the area and money isn't really something they worry about. In fact, my school district is one of the best private school systems in the country. They earn that high tuition of theirs.

"DFMS," comes Xander's response without even a moment of hesitation or thought.

"DFMS… Dragon Falls Middle School?" I ask, and he nods. "That's… the public school, though. It's not the one you went to before, right? Are you just saying that 'cause you're in Dragon Falls now?"

"I asked Mr. Caldwell."

"Why would he send you to public school?"

"Luke," Parker interrupts. "You're making him uncomfortable."

I realize that he's right, Xander's squirming a little and looking really uncomfortable. This was just really confusing for me and I ended up not thinking about how Xander felt. This is why I struggle to make friends and I hate that I keep goofing up when I try! I was just wanting to talk to Xander about school and see if he was excited for it and all I did was make him uncomfortable.

"Well," I say. "DFMS doesn't even have a magic class, they probably can't afford to pay a magic teacher and enchant a room for it or whatever."

"Luke!" Parker says.

"I'm not done!" I say. "Hold on! I'm not trying to shame the school! They don't have a magic class at all. But! Anyone can learn magic, even people with almost no mana at all. If you want, I can teach you some super basic tricks, Xander. There are some really simple magic exercises that take almost no mana at all. They're useful for building up mana and magical stamina but also for getting used to accessing your mana."

"Don't wanna learn lightning," Xander mumbles. "Too loud."

So he doesn't like loud sounds? Oof. My babbling probably bothers him more than just from the babbling itself, then. I sometimes get kind of loud at times as well.

"Lightning magic is the classification for all electric magic," I say. "It's not always loud. Like when my hair was sparking earlier! It was just small crackles, right? Like the zaps you'd hear if you got hit with static electricity."

"I'm too worthless for static electricity to happen to."

"Static electricity discriminates against none," I say. "Besides, if you were worthless, Trey wouldn't have taken you in. He wouldn't have even noticed you. That's a weird thing to say. It's not like you're trash. Anyway, back to lightning magics. Mostly, the sound is just zaps and crackles because you're really just using electricity for the magic. Actual full-on lightning spells more rare. Well, technically. My parents hit me in the face with lightning at home all the time so you get the big booms for those but for the most part, lightning mages use weaker spells that have smaller sounds. I don't even power up my lightning-charge body all the way, so it really just makes more of a zapping sound when I move rather than a boom. Oh! And don't think my parents are abusing me by shooting me with lightning in the face, I'm completely immune to lightning. It literally cannot hurt me. Think of that as a way of flicking me in the face. From a distance."

Parker coughs into his fist.

"Oh, right, back on track," I say. "Anyway, I might be a natural lightning mage due to my bloodline, but it's not the only magic I can use. Everyone can use all magics, as long as they have the mana and training for it. Good bloodlines just make it easier. Almost no one can use teleport magics because they're so mana-intensive and complicated, but it can be learned with enough time and training. Usually years. But there are some bloodlines that actually make it easier because the family is so adapted to using dimensional spells. Mom thinks she knows of someone from one of those. It's a ten-year-old kid who occasionally teleports in and steals power cores. Well, he does leave money behind, but whatever. Like, if you're ten and you can teleport so casually, you're definitely from an old and powerful family of mages that has an affinity for dimensional magics in your bloodline. Actually, Mom said he's from a branch family from the one that owns the Lumaria Group, so it kind of makes sense. His birth was probably him teleporting out of the womb."

Parker coughs into his fist again.

"Sorry, went off a little," I say. "Anyway, everyone can cast all types of magic, it just takes time and training. For families that are used to casting one specific type of magic over several generations, that can turn into a magical bloodline that makes it easier to cast spells. I'm from two such bloodlines, both of which have a high affinity for lightning magic. My dad's also has an affinity for fire and my mom's got one for air, and I gained a little of both of those as well."

Xander looks at me and seems like he's concentrating on something. Since he's not actually saying anything, I continue on.

"Parker, on the other hand," I tell Xander. "Has a mom who's an earth mage and a dad who's a fire mage. His mom's second-gen and his dad's first-gen. Oh, right. Your gen, or generation, is basically how many generations before you also cast that type of magic, plus one. So second-gen means one or both of her parents used earth magics as an actual earth mage rather than just as a thing, and his dad didn't come from a fire mage parent. Actually, I think his dad was the first mage in his family."

"And my mom was a third-gen mage," Parker says. "But a second-gen earth mage. Her grandmother was a mage but wasn't really specialized."

"Right," I say. "Anyway, if that's too confusing for you, don't worry about it too much. You'll eventually understand it better the more you interact with mages, if you do. So since I come from an old and established pair of families, there was already the magical bloodline developed, so I inherited it. In fact, it ended up even stronger when my parents' bloodlines mixed together for me.

"Parker, on the other, doesn't have that," I tell Xander. "But he does have an earth magic affinity in his bloodline, something his mom doesn't have. He's the first in his line to have what's considered an actual magical bloodline and it's given him an advantage with earth magics. But he didn't inherit his father's fire affinity, so he still has to spend more effort on fire spells."

Xander frowns and looks at Parker with the same look of concentration as before. I think he's just confused by my explanation of magical bloodlines, though. It's probably a lot for him to take in and what I said probably blurred together.

"Anyway," I say. "None of that's really important. What's important is the point – you can still learn any type of magic, even with a magical bloodline or even if you don't have one. Do you want me to teach you something basic? It's really easy and can be fun to play with if you're bored. I do it all the time."

Xander looks down and frowns a little bit more. Then he starts mumbling, and I can barely hear it.

"Trey, the dork, and now Luke," he mumbles. "In a week. Three and seven. Good numbers. Signs come in threes. But it's magic. And Luke. I don't want to learn from him. And Parker's only earth? Stupid brain."

Trey warned me (well, my parents) that Xander tends to mumble a lot when he's confused or nervous and is trying to work through his thoughts and that he thinks Xander isn't aware that he's doing it. He also did it a lot during the tests yesterday and today in the first class for each. I was told to pretend like I didn't notice because it might cause Xander's anxiety to increase.

That's why I'm pretty sure he wasn't actually confused when he was looking at Parker while confused: he wasn't mumbling to himself.

"You don't have to agree," I tell Xander. "Or even give me an answer. Just think about it. You can even ask Trey if you want to learn magic, he'd probably find you an instructor. Heck, he'd probably even try hiring our school's magic teacher, though summer lessons from him would probably cost even more than from Mr. Massey or Coach Evan, so he'd probably go with a more normal teacher than one who's written four published papers on magical theory. But if you do and you want to learn some awesome magic fun things, I'm willing to teach you some neat tricks! Anyway, thanks for having us over again, Xander! See you tomorrow?"

Xander squirms in his seat for a moment, then hops out of and it starts to go to the kitchen. Katie hands him a container and he stares at it for a few moments, then she softly says something to him while pointing toward me.

"Oh," Xander softly says, but loudly enough I can hear it.

He comes back over to the table and gives me the box.

"Bye."

Then he hurries out of the room and out of sight. For a few moments, I stare after him, a little confused. I turn to the container and open it up and find four more muffins.

"He felt really bad for doing that to you yesterday," Katie tells me. "I anticipated him wanting to give you ones to make it up so whipped up a fresh batch while you guys were in class."

"Oh! I was wondering why it smelled like muffins in here! Thanks!"

"You're welcome," she smiles. "Have a good day, Luke, Parker."

"Bye!" I tell her, then leave with Parker. "Do you have anything today? If not, we can walk over to my place instead of calling Mom to pick us up."

"Sure," Parker says. "Pick any game you want, I'm gonna kick your butt."