[Luke – 13 years] → starts toward the end of Chapter 27

"That's why applying lightning magic doesn't work," I say as I open the door to the diner, and Tyler walks in ahead of me. "Not that there aren't ways around it, but those are all frustrating."

"Dealing with ultrapure water would be annoying," he says. "But if you made it conductive like normal water, it should be doable, right?"

"The trick would be contaminating it," I say as we slide into an empty booth. "See, water elementals are the epitome of true water magic. You'd have to actually find a way to get the contaminants to stick."

"True," he nods. "I can imagine that would be frustrating. And you're best with lightning magics, not others."

"Yeah," I say. "Most likely, I'd have to kick up dust or something to do it, but it would easily purge that – if the dust could even penetrate. Or make my lightning hot enough to just evaporate the water. Again and again."

"What would your strategy for fighting one be, then?" He grabs a menu from the older at the wall end of the table.

"Hope that I'm able to lightning-charge myself and run faster than it can start manipulating the water in my body."

"Smart move," he says as I grab a menu to look through. "I'd probably just end up dead, even if it's a weaker one. I can boost my speed, but nowhere near fast enough to escape from a powerful creature. Drinks aren't on this."

"They aren't?" I quickly skim through it, then glance at the menu holder and pull off the one for desserts and look through it. "They put it on the back of the desserts menu."

"That's stupid!" He exclaims as he grabs the other dessert menu from the stand. "So we've gone through all of the standard elementals. Should we do variants, another type of beast, or a mythic? In this case, ones which may or may not exist, like dragons, unicorns, and phoenixes."

"It would be hard to gauge how well I'd fare against something mythical," I say. "We can do greater canine variants, though."

"But not hellhounds," he giggles. "We already know how'd you fare against one of those!"

"I'd lose against a royal one," I say.

"I'd lose against any!"

"You boys talking about a game?" A middle-aged woman approaches, pencil and pad in hand and a name tag pinned to her apron.

"Nah," I say. "Hey, the menu doesn't mention if you do free refills on the normal drinks or not."

"All sodas and lemonade varieties have free refills," she informs me.

"Cool," I say. "Can I get the raspberry lemonade, a root beer float, and a chocolate-covered strawberry milkshake? Would it be possible to get banana in it, too?"

"We can do banana in it," she writes on her pad, then looks at Tyler. "And for you?"

"Same as him," he says. "Except the tropical island twist instead of lemonade."

It's a mix of lemon-lime soda and some more tropical fruit flavors. Not a bad choice, though I've never been to this diner before, so I don't know how theirs is.

"Okay," she writes on her pad. "Are you boys ready to order? Or do you need a few more minutes?"

"We haven't had time to look at the menu yet," I say. "But I did glance at the appetizers. Tyler and I just spent the last four hours using magic and doing martial arts, so we're pretty hungry. Would it be possible to put in an order for those while we look at the rest?"

After the two hours at the simulation center were up, Tyler and I went to a gym and sparred in martial arts alone, then compared skills and taught each other some stuff.

"Sure thing," she responds. "What would you boys like?"

"Could I get an order of mozzarella sticks," I say. "And a twelve-piece of the honey-barbecue wings, as well as a twelve-piece of the hot wings. Please, and thank you!"

The look on the waitress's face tells me she doesn't think we'll be able to eat everything we order if we order more than just this.

"You like honey-barbecue?" Tyler asks as he looks at the appetizers menu. "Weirdo."

"Says the thirteen-year-old who hunts monsters with his dad."

"Hey! Plenty of kids do that!" Tyler exclaims, then looks at the waitress. "For my appetizers, I'd like the supreme nacho combo, onion rings, and a twelve-piece of the lemon-pepper, please. Thanks!"

"And you're commenting about me liking honey-barbecue," I snort as the waitress pauses for a moment.

She thought that my order of appetizers was for the two of us, not that it was for me and me alone. I might share some of mine with Tyler and he might share some of his with me, but I actually need a lot of food at the moment. After draining my magic this morning, spending so much to show off with Tyler has wiped me out.

Even with us drinking magic smoothies at the simulation center.

"Oh, and don't worry about the cost of dinner," I tell Tyler. "I know you mentioned you and your dad are low on funds right now. My treat. I haven't had this much fun training with magic or martial arts in forever."

"Cool!" Tyler exclaims. "Thanks! My dad and I are going to be here for the next couple of days. You want to hang out again?"

"I can a little bit," I tell him. "Though I have stuff in the mornings on weekdays, and I was going to head to the office tomorrow afternoon to work on a project. It's a personal one and I want to get it done before school resumes so we can get it out on the market, but I can hold off on that. I've been hitting a block with it, anyway. There's something wrong with the enchantment matrices and I have zero clue what. I may have to ask Mom for permission to use our mana-analysis machine. That's pretty expensive to operate, though, so I want to hold off on asking as long as possible and see if I can't figure out the problem without it."

The device cost thirty-eight million dollars to purchase, and runs a cost of around eight grand for each square inch it analyzes just from how much fuel it needs. Well, the cost equivalent is that. I can lower that with mana crystals made from my mana.

I've been asking Mom to get it set up so that I just can power it directly, but she refuses because that'd violate the maintenance contract. Having to keep it maintained ourselves instead of calling in the producer would be troublesome.

"Do you know how to operate it?" Tyler asks. "Oh! Which kind is it? I've seen a couple at some of the facilities that Dad and I sold monster parts to."

The waitress is still standing here, having not written down Tyler's appetizer order yet. She's clearly not sure about how much food we've ordered with the statement that it's just our appetizers.

"We don't need it all out at once," I tell her. "So it can come out in stages if it's too much for the kitchen to do quickly."

"Okay," the waitress quickly jots something down on her pad. "I'll be back with your drinks in just a minute."

"Thanks!"

She leaves, and I look at Tyler.

"We probably should have gone somewhere that caters to mages," I say. "Oh, well. And we're Gatewood Energy, Tyler. It's a Lumaria-built one. We'd not go for anything but the best and my parents were able to purchase one from them."

Though our power company is a competitor to theirs, Adrian King isn't an asshole with his policies. Even if someone else bought a mana-analysis machine from his company, they wouldn't be able to replicate its efficiency. I've heard a rumor that he personally builds each one.

"I do know how to operate it, too," I tell him. "Mom taught me when we needed it for a recent project."

"That's pretty cool," he says. "What's the problem with the enchantment matrices? The power supply? It's a generator, right?"

"Yeah," I answer. "A small, portable one that is supposed to be six times as potent as the standard one for that size. And no, not the power supply portion of it. I can handle that just fine, actually. Usually just takes some tweaking and testing and I can get the power part down.

"There are two problems," I tell him. "The first is that it generates heat. Magitech isn't scientech. A magitech device isn't supposed to generate any heat, and I can't figure out why this one does. For a device that's supposed to be usable indoors or in an enclosed space, producing heat is a burn and fire hazard.

"The other problem," I continue. "And the most important one, is that something just doesn't work. The runic setup looks proper and even as I adjust it based on what I look up and experiment to find, some part of it just refuses to work. I need to do some more testing to narrow down where the actual fault lies, which is what my plan for tomorrow was. Like I said, though, I can postpone that a bit. I need a break from the project."

That's part of why I was just playing video games today when I didn't have anyone to hang out with. I really needed to get my mind off this problem. The heat issue can wait until after I figure out the other problem, since it may be caused by whatever is causing things to not work.

"Do you already have an idea?" Tyler asks.

"A little bit of one, yeah," I nod. "I can't sense anything wrong with the actual generation or transfer of energy when I test those individually. Something in the connections between the enchantment and power matrices must be what's wrong."

"I don't know much about magitech so I can't help," he says. "But I can say that if you kick it and it starts working, it's probably not magitech."

"I did actually try that in frustration yesterday," I tell him. "Didn't work. Anyway! Let's go back to discussing what monsters we think we could take on in a fight! Greater hound variants!"

Our waitress returns with our drinks while we're doing that, and we place our meal orders as well. Just as with our appetizers, she's skeptical of it. By the time our third round of appetizers has arrived, however, she's starting to realize that we can really put food away – we're eating it faster than it's coming out. There's no hesitation when she finally takes our dessert orders.

"We probably should have gone to a place that caters to mages," Tyler says as we slide out of the booth once we finish eating. "The food was good, but I'm stuffed and magic in it would have helped us recover."

"Yeah," I stretch, then pull out my wallet. "But I don't plan on using magic again today. Are you?"

"Nah," he answers. "It feels weird being so low on it, though. Wasn't expecting to use that much and it always takes a few days to return to full."

"I know," I pull some bills out of my wallet. "We'd probably have eaten just as much food there, though, and it would've cost more."

While magic-filled food boosts our recovery better than normal food does, it doesn't affect how much we need to eat. It would have tasted better for sure, though.

"You can keep the change for a tip," I tell the waitress when I hand her the cash. "Have a good day."

The waitress calls after us as we leave, probably because of the tip I'm leaving. Tips aren't necessary so they aren't common and she's probably used to receiving maybe a few dollars as one at most from a customer who even gives one. Our total came out to be around a hundred and seventy dollars and I gave her four fifties. It's around a thirty-dollar tip.

Had the meal been of magic food, the cost would have probably been over two hundred dollars, maybe even closer to two-fifty. That's the kind of restaurant meal I have when I'm starving and need magic, and part of why there was a separate meal station set up to feed me at the rescue efforts.

Me giving her a tip is really meant as a lesson than as generosity. It was clear at the start she didn't think we'd be able to eat or afford the meal. Me casually putting down two hundred dollars like that will hopefully teach her not to judge kids like that.

"Buy yourself a good meal," I wave to her. "Come on, Tyler. Xavier's waiting for us."

We head out to the car and get in, and Tyler buckles up in the middle seat so we can watch stuff on my phone on the ride back to Dragon Falls.

"Boys," Xavier says as I pull out my phone. "Drink these."

Xavier hands us some bottles that he pulls out of the center console. They look like ordinary water bottles, but one is filled with a blue-tinted liquid and the other is filled with a yellow-tinted liquid, both of them clear and glowing faintly. They're in clear, 16oz reusable bottles with sports caps.

I take the one with the yellow liquid while Tyler takes the one with the blue, staring at it with wide eyes. They're both cool thanks to the console being enchanted to act as a fridge, complete with a minor spatial compression enchantment so that it can hold more stuff than it ordinarily would.

"What… whoa," Tyler says. "You just keep these in the car? Jeez. I know you're a lot richer than me, but I didn't think you did that."

His confusion is understandable. These are called "mana potions" by normal people both because they usually don't know the real name and because the real name is a bit unwieldy to just say casually.

It's basically liquid mana that's been altered into a form that we can consume and process at a rapid pace. That glow is caused by the mana that's inside them, and a single bottle of it costs over $1,000 for a normal one.

I'm actually just as confused as Tyler, but not for the same reason as he is. We do keep these in the car, but they're never given out just like that. Ours are higher-end on top of being expensive, so they cost even more. The plain one that Tyler's holding costs $5,000 and will refill his mana to full with only a tenth of it.

Mine is tailored specifically to my own mana to bolster its recovery rate and the entire bottle will restore around a fifth of my mana. While my family is fabulously wealthy, we don't drop $10,000 just to restore a fifth of my mana.

That's why I didn't use this during the rescue efforts. There were cheaper alternatives. The fact that the alternatives also let me recover in other ways was part of it as well, but I'd have needed more than a dozen of these potions for the rescue if I used them.

"Careful not to over drink," I tell Tyler as I pop the top of mine open. "Drink slowly or you risk mana poisoning."

That happens if a person's mana recovers too fast from an artificial source, especially if they accidentally restore more than they can hold. I won't have that problem since mine was actually made with my mana, so it'd take a lot more of the drink to hit me with mana poisoning.

Using my own mana to produce it also lowered its cost significantly, though that's not too important.

"I've had them before," Tyler says. "Dad and I sometimes drink them when we're low on mana on a hunt."

"Yeah," I say. "But that's a higher-end one than you're used to, I'm sure. Only a tenth will restore you to full."

Tyler's eyes bug out as he looks at the bottle in his hands.

"What's going on, Xavier?" I ask before taking a drink of mine.

"A precaution," he answers. "It may be nothing, but your parents called and told me to give those to you before we make our way back. You can still watch stuff on your phone, I'll let you know if you need to be ready to move."

"A fight?" Tyler asks. "What's going on?"

"You know I could probably look it up, right?" I ask Xavier.

"It's not online," he says. "Just watch stuff on your phone and I'll let you know if you need to act."

Tyler and I are a bit distracted by the possible threat for the first ten minutes of the ride, but we eventually get distracted by the stuff we're watching.

Mostly.

I can tell that Xavier is serious about what's going on, so that does keep distracting me. The way his energy is flowing is… it's how it gets when he's tense. His gaze also keeps shifting around, looking for something.

After all the physical and magical exertion I've done today, though, and with a stomach that's stuffed with food… I end up falling asleep. Just because having more mana makes me hyper, that doesn't mean my body can't still be sleepy.

When I wake, I'm leaning against Tyler, with his head resting against mine. At least, that's what it feels like, and I'm still buckled into the car, which isn't moving.

A light poke in the side catches my attention and I realize that I'd been woken up by one. When a third one happens, I grab Parker's hand before opening my eyes and looking at him. We're at my house, and he's opened the door to the car.

"Oi," he says. "You're home. Who's that?"

"Tyler," I answer. "From my last vacation. Monster hunter. In town. Guess nothing happened on the ride."

"Nothing happened?"

"Yeah," I yawn a little, then shift and poke Tyler in the side until he wakes. "We're home. Whatever my parents were expecting to happen apparently didn't."

"It did," Xavier says, already outside of the car. "But it was something I could handle on my own so I left you two asleep."

"Oh," I say. "Sorry for falling asleep."

"Is that Parker?" Tyler asks as he looks at Parker.

"Yup," I locate my phone, which had fallen to the floor. "Weren't you hanging out with your friends?"

"Yeah," he answers. "But I was wondering about spending the night. Mom and Dad are catering an event overnight."

Parker hates being alone overnight.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Sure," I answer. "Oh! Tyler! I fell asleep before we got to the good part!"

"We can watch it again," he says as I close the app, then pocket my phone. "Let's get out of the car. I need to stretch my legs."

"Do you want to spend the night?" I ask as I unbuckle and get out. "I don't think my parents would mind. Or you, Parker?"

If Tyler's dad's okay with him spending the night, but Xander's not okay with Tyler coming over for lessons tomorrow, we can probably drop Tyler off at wherever his dad is staying before the lesson starts. Or Xander could take a break from his lessons for a day… he's trying hard but it's got to be stressing him.

"Uh… sure?" Parker has a weird look on his face.

"Don't worry," I tell him. "Tyler's cool. He's even able to hold a discussion with me on magical theories. It's gonna be-what happened to you?"

I just caught sight of Xavier and his clothes are a bit torn and bloody, and his face has several wounds on it, including a nasty-looking gash on his forehead.

"You should have woken me!" I exclaim.

"It was only a little bit more difficult than I expected," Xavier says. "I'll heal up fine once I get treated."

"Xavier!" I exclaim. "There's a massive gash on your face!"

"You did quite a lot of physical activity today," Xavier says. "And you're sparking, Luke."

"Argh!" I exclaim. "Let's go inside and play video games! And Xavier! Make sure you get healed properly!"

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

[Xander – 12 years] → starts during Luke's PoV

"Pwp! … Pwp! … Pwp! … Pwp!"

"Xander?" Mr. Trey asks from where he's sitting to watch Ms. Katie and I work.

He waited until I finished the task Ms. Katie assigned me to ask. It was probably so that Ms. Katie wouldn't need to wait, since she said that this task has to be done in a certain amount of time.

"Yes, Mr. Trey?"

"Were you having fun peeling the peaches?"

Oh, no. Am I not supposed to be having fun while helping Ms. Katie? The skins are coming off so easily, though, and it's just really fun to pull them off. I don't know why it's fun, it just is. All I have to do is pinch them a little bit in a certain way and pull… and pwp! The peel comes off completely! Ms. Katie did something to them with hot and cold water that's apparently made them like this.

"A little bit, sir."

"It looks like it," he smiles. "And sounded like it, too."

"S-sounded like it?"

"You were making a little sound each time you pulled off the peel," he tells me.

"S-sorry!"

"You're not in trouble, Xander," he says. "I recorded a video of you doing that, in case you wanted it."

It was okay for me to make a noise while having fun?

"O-oh. Okay."

Ms. Katie has me return to helping her. Now that all of the peaches are peeled, she starts cutting them up and removing their pits. Once a peach is sliced up, she slides it to the side of the cutting board, eventually having a lot of slices on there. They all get pushed into a skillet, then she has me pour the sugar she told me to measure into it.

"Good job," she says. "I should have mentioned, but when doing this, you want to pour the sugar around in the pan instead of all into one spot. It's not a problem, though. I can use the spoon to move it around like this."

This is the first time I've been allowed to pour the sugar into the skillet when we're making something with a fruit filling. I don't think she's upset that I messed it up the first time.

The only other problem that happens while we're working on this is when I drop a bowl toward the end of the mixing stages. It was over the counter so it didn't fall and break, but the loud clatter still startles me. That was really loud and scares me a little, but I'm even more scared of being in trouble for dropping the bowl. The bowl was empty since I just poured the stuff into the mixer, but I still dropped it.

"Xander," Ms. Katie says. "Are you okay?"

"N-no."

"I can see that," she says. "You're shaking. It's okay, Xander. All that's left is to mix this up, then put it on top of the filling and put the cobbler in the oven. Do you want to take a few minutes to calm down?"

"I-is… is that okay?"

"It is," she says.

"M-Mr. Trey?" I look at him. "Y-you said I-I could only b-bring something i-if I helped m-make it."

We got permission from the bowling alley to bring in another dessert, so I asked about making something with peaches this time and Ms. Katie suggested peach cobbler, which is what we're making now. Since it's something extra, Mr. Trey said I had to help make it if I wanted to bring it.

"And you did," he says. "You've done a lot of stuff today and didn't take another nap after swimming. You're probably feeling tired, aren't you? Go ahead and sit down and rest if you want, you've already done plenty to help make the cobbler."

"O-okay," I pull off the apron and make sure to hang it up, then wash my hands and dry them. "S-sorry for d-dropping the b-bowl, Ms. Katie."

"It's okay, Xander," the smile she gives me seems gentle for some reason. "Go get some rest. I was expecting it for awhile now with how sleepy you look."

I leave the kitchen and go to the living room to try and calm down. I don't know why loud noises scare me and make my heart beat really fast, but they do. I wish I could be normal.

After I lie on the floor, with my arms and legs spread out, Mr. Trey comes and puts the phone he's letting me use next to me.

"Will you be comfortable if I lie next to you?" Mr. Trey asks. "A little bit away so we aren't touching, of course."

He's not asking if he can lie down, but if I'm comfortable with it? He's been changing the way he asks questions and it's been confusing me. Why does it matter what I'm comfortable with? It's his house and he's an adult, while I'm just a worthless boy.

"I-I might be," I tell him. "I-I'm not sure."

"Then I'll lie down, and you let me know if you start getting uncomfortable," Mr. Trey says.

He lies down and I look over to see that he has his hands on his stomach. If I try that while lying like this, my hands just slide off. Maybe I should bring my arms and legs in, though? But this is more comfortable and I always feel more comfortable like this. Mr. Trey doesn't say anything about it, either.

For a few minutes, Mr. Trey doesn't say anything at all so the only sounds are from Ms. Katie working in the kitchen.

"What bothers you more, dropping the bowl or the loud sound it made?" Mr. Trey asks.

"D-dropping the bowl."

"That was just a mistake, Xander," Mr. Trey tells me. "It's okay to make mistakes. Usually, you'll want to try and learn from them or avoid them in the future, but you struggle with your grip because of the damage to your brain. It's not something you can help. I'm never going to reprimand you for an accident that you can't help. You're not looking in my eyes right now and if you want to after resting, I can say that again."

Maybe… I don't need to look him in the eyes for that. But I still want to, just in case. But I think he's being honest.

"O-okay…"

"Now," he says. "Do you know why the noise scared you?"

"N-no," I answer. "But it did. And I don't know why it scares me."

"And that's okay," he tells me. "Sometimes, we're just scared of things. I know you worry about things a lot, Xander. You've been here almost a month now and I've gotten to see that pretty well. When you get scared, don't be worried about being scared. Just find something to help you calm down, okay?"

"I'm not in trouble for being scared?"

"No, Xander," he chuckles. "You're not in trouble for being scared."

"O-okay."

Mr. Trey doesn't say anything after that, and I don't know what to say. But then something I was thinking about while showering after the pool comes to mind. It's going to sound really weird if I ask it, though. But maybe I won't get into trouble?

"Mr. Trey?"

"Yes, Xander?"

"W-what's a golem?"

"A golem?" He asks. "They're magical constructs generally made of stone or clay, usually meant for combat. Expensive to make, and generally needs to be enchanted heavily to strengthen them so they don't break when struck by spells. They also need enchantments to hold up under their weight, I believe. I don't know too much about them, but I know they're regulated by the government. Quinn and some of the other guards would know more – they're mostly used by the military and Quinn is military and most of my guards are former military. Why?"

"Um…" I fidget a little.

"You won't get into trouble for answering, Xander," Mr. Trey tells me. "It's okay."

"Um… when I was washing off the pool water," I say. "I had some really weird thoughts and the world 'golem' entered them. But I don't know how to spell it so trying to look it up didn't work that well."

"What kind of weird thoughts?"

"They were all really scrambled," I tell him. "I don't really remember what they were. Not very clearly. S-sorry! I just remember 'golem' because it sounded weird to me. I think the dork's mentioned them before but I was scared to ask him because he'd probably explain it in a weird way."

Even though I'm awful at spelling, the dork always seems to know what I'm asking. He usually explains things in ways even I can understand… except when he's excited about the topic. I got the feeling that he'd be excited about the topic of golems, whatever they are.

"O-oh," I realize something. "I-I remember now. He says that he has to avoid making his own golems because, um… I can't remember."

"Probably because of how many laws he's already breaking," Mr. Trey snorts. "Was that part of what you were thinking about earlier?"

"Um… I don't think so?" I answer. "I remember… that Luke was part of it. But mostly 'cause I was glad I could shower alone after swimming. And I think cars? Probably 'cause I was looking forward to bowling and the car ride is always nice. And sleeping, probably 'cause I'm tired. I don't remember much else. I think 'golem' was the only bit of my scrambled thoughts that wasn't normal, but I don't remember it all clearly. It was all scrambled up together. Sorry for being so weird, Mr. Trey."

"Everyone's a little weird," Mr. Trey tells me.

"Did I hear 'golem'?" Roderick asks, and I open my eyes to see the friendly guard entering the living room.

"Xander had a bunch of confusing thoughts a little bit ago," Mr. Trey tells him. "When he went to clean up after the pool. He remembers only a little bit of them and one of them was something about a golem, so he was asking me about them."

"Xander has pretty good ears," Roderick says. "He might have overheard the walkie while you were eating dinner."

That's not him being psychic. I've asked him before about some of the stuff I overhead that was confusing me.

"There was something involving a golem?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Yeah," Roderick answers. "Frank was telling us that one of his contacts mentioned that if you were planning on heading up to the city tonight, to hold off on it. Also to prepare for a possible lockdown here. A few golems were spotted roaming around on the way up there and the military was looking into the situation but hadn't closed the road. There's no confirmation of the presence of the golems so they want to verify first."

"Um… maybe that's why," I say. "I hear them on the radios a lot. Like right now. I can hear two guards discussing a bird."

"A bird?" Mr. Trey sits up and looks at Roderick. "My guards are using the walkies to discuss a bird?"

"It's been watching the house for the past few minutes," Roderick says. "Jack was asking if it's okay to shoot it just in case and he was told to monitor it for a few more minutes while they look up the breed. Since there was a guard near the pool while you were eating dinner, Xander probably heard the mention of the golem sighting."

"Well," Mr. Trey looks over at me. "Now we know why golems came to mind earlier, Xander. Roderick – will it be an issue for us to go bowling?"

"No," Roderick answers. "Though we'll be updated if there is. Luke apparently went up to the city earlier and should be coming back tonight. Based on what Frank was telling us, he'll still be returning regardless so he should still be here for Xander's lessons tomorrow. Making a golem strong enough to stop Luke isn't realistic for most."

Oh. Maybe that's why Luke and cars were in my thoughts, too. They were both part of that conversation I apparently overheard but already forgot about.

As noisy as Luke is… he could probably blast the golems into nothing.

"Okay," Mr. Trey says, then looks at me again. "Go ahead and get some rest, Xander."

"Okay," I close my eyes again.

Mr. Trey lies back down, then nudges me awake when it's time to get ready to head to the bowling alley. Just in case I drop stuff again, Ms. Katie brings the food out of the car, though I still hold the containers on my lap for the ride.

"The dads for the other boys invited me to bowl with them tonight," Mr. Trey tells me as he pulls into the parking lot for the bowling alley. "I know you're used to bowling on your own, but I wanted to ask if you were okay with that or if you'd like for me to bowl with you tonight."

He wants to know if I'm okay with him bowling with the dads for the other boys? Why would my opinion matter?

"I-I don't mind," I answer.

"If I bowl with them," he says. "It'll be later when we leave than when you normally finish. Are you okay with that?"

"I-is that okay?" I ask as he parks.

"Is what okay?"

"M-me staying later?"

"I'm asking because it is," Mr. Trey says.

"Oh," my face heats up.

That was stupid of me.

"I want to know if you're okay with staying later," he tells me. "I know you'll be pretty tired by the end after the day you've had today."

"I-I think I'll be okay," I tell him.

"Alright," he says. "Paul – Mr. Thompson – also told me that the boys usually have a sleepover after bowling during summer and might ask you if you want to come over. I know you're worried about your nightmares, but also don't want to upset them by saying 'no'. I'm also sure that 'no' is only partially true for that and you'd like to go to a sleepover, am I right?"

"I-is that bad?"

"It's not bad at all," he tells me. "If you were given the choice of going, would you go? That's under the assumption that you're allowed to go."

Under the assumption… I don't know what he's saying, but I think he's asking if I'd go if I could and they ask. Is it bad that I kind of do want to experience a sleepover, and I'd be a little bit okay with it if it's S.G. and his friends?

"I-I don't think so," I tell him. "I-I don't want them to hear my nightmares and get mad at me. I like hanging out with them. Except when they're being too noisy and moving too much."

"Okay," Mr. Trey says. "If they ask and you decide not to go, tell them you need to get permission first. This is true, and I'm not giving it unless they ask and you want to go. Once you tell them that, tell me that they asked you if you could have a sleepover, and I'll know you're wanting to not go but not tell them that. This way, it's me saying no and not you, okay?"

I hope I remember all of this. Mr. Trey is being nice and came up with a way where I don't upset the others, which is really nice. I don't know why he'd go through that, though. It's not like they'll want to be friends after they find out about my nightmares and all of my problems.

"And if you change your mind," he says. "Ask me if you can go and I'll know you want to and give permission. We can cancel your classes for tomorrow if you want to go to a sleepover. Having fun with friends is important. Alright?"

He'd let me go if I asked? That surprises me lots and I'm not sure what to think. Especially with his insistence that the other boys are my friends. I don't think he'd be happy if I argued with him, but how could we be friends? I'm worthless and stupid and a pathetic piece of shit and they're… not.

"Okay," I nod.

"Let's go inside now," he says.

Mr. Trey helps me carry our stuff inside, then rents the lane for only me, since he'll be joining the dads once they arrive.

"We brought you cobbler," I tell Lena once Mr. Trey finishes paying. "And ice cream. For the staff, not just you. Um. Peach flavor. I haven't tried it yet."

Mr. Trey gets the cobbler and ice cream Ms. Katie and I made for the staff out and hands it to Lena.

"Thank you, Xander," she smiles. "The pie and ice cream last week was pretty good."

"T-thank you," my face heats up again for some reason. "Um… I messed up while helping make the cobbler."

"You dropped an empty bowl," Mr. Trey says. "That's not going to affect the taste."

It might. I'm the one who did it, after all.

"Come on," Mr. Trey says. "Let's go put the stuff at the table, then we can order our food, okay? Thanks, Lena."

"You're welcome," she smiles again. "And thanks for the dessert, Xander!"

"You're welcome."

Mr. Trey and I put the food we brought down at the table, then he takes me over to order food. Mr. Trey only orders something small, since he'll order more when he joins the dads for bowling. Once that's done, we return to Lane 20 and I change into the bowling shoes he bought me, then pick out a bowling ball and put my name into the computer. The first batch of food arrives before S.G. and his friends do, and they all greet me as they set up at the lane next to this one.

"Dad said you're playing with them tonight?" Sam asks Mr. Trey.

"Yeah," Trey answers as he grabs his shoes. "Let me know when you're done, alright, Xander?"

"Yes, sir," I nod, then Mr. Trey leaves.

"Did you bring dessert again?" S.G. asks while looking at the stuff on the table.

"Yeah," I nod. "I wanted to, so Mr. Trey told me to call and ask if it was okay and they said it was. It's peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream. Ms. Katie and I made them. But for after eating everything else."

"Cool!" He says.

I look at the ball which just rolled back. My first game is almost done. I look back to S.G. and his friends.

"Um… Donner?"

"It's Connor," he giggles.

"Sorry," my face heats up.

I'm so stupid.

"What's up?"

"The fire elemental said 'no'."

"What?" Connor looks confused.

Did I mess up?

"Um… maybe it was someone else?" I ask. "I thought you said in the chat that you demanded to speak with the fire elemental making it hot."

"I did!" He grins. "The heat wave's over now, though!"

"Yeah," I nod. "I asked the fire elemental if they wanted to talk to you. They said 'no'."

"What fire elemental?" He asks.

"The one making it hot," I tell him. "They stopped because they didn't realize they were bothering people. Also because they went back home, I think. They left after I gave them the caramels, anyway."

All four of them look confused. Am I not being clear? Stupid brain not letting me be clear.

"Um… there's a fire elemental who likes caramels and wants them once a year," I try to make sure to explain it properly. "But I thought, um… that they were a hallucination. So I didn't give them the caramels today. They got bored while waiting and started playing with the weather. You saying that in chat made me realize that maybe they weren't a hallucination. So I went and bought the caramels they like to give to them. I told them that you demanded to speak with them… maybe they thought you were a reindeer? They said 'no'."

I even showed them the message from Connor saying that he demanded to talk to them. The fire elemental asked me if I was asking them to or just me letting them know. When I said it was that I was just letting them know, they asked how powerful Connor was. I told them that Connor's not a mage as far as I know so probably not very powerful. His mana levels aren't very strong, at lesat.

That was when they told me 'no', so maybe it was because Connor's not strong and wasn't the person who brought them the caramels they wanted?

I don't know. I'm not going to try to understand the thoughts of an elemental. Or even how they have thoughts in the first place. That's beyond my stupid brain's ability to understand.

"Wait, hold on," Connor shakes his head. "There was an actual fire elemental behind it?"

"You didn't know?"

"No!" He laughs. "I was just joking around in the chat! I didn't know there was actually a fire elemental making this hot!"

"And he wants caramels as tribute each year?" Sam asks. "And you have to give them to him?"

"Y-yeah," I nod. "But Mr. Trey said it won't come out of my allowance anymore. He already gave me back the money I spent on them. And then scolded Mr. Quinn for not telling him about the elemental… Oh! But they did let me take a picture. Well. Mr. Quinn took the picture. They only agreed to having one taken if I was in it."

I pull out the phone and look for the picture, then show it to them. The elemental is just a mass of flames that's eight feet tall and floating about a foot and a half off of the ground. For the picture, they made some partial whorls around them, but wouldn't tell me why. I didn't ask because I was scared.

"That's… freaking awesome!" S.G. exclaims. "I mean, not the part where you have to give them a tribute every year, but there really was an elemental nearby!"

"There's a water elemental at a nearby lake," I tell him. "I know they're not a hallucination 'cause they soaked me every time I went near there so I stopped going. The fire elemental lives further away."

I wasn't going to the lake to swim but because there's a really cool cave near it that I wanted to explore. But the water elemental didn't like me exploring the cave, I guess. It was better to stop trying than to risk making an elemental mad.

"Hey," Isaac giggles as he looks at the others. "Think our dads would let us check out that lake and see if the elemental will shoot us with water?"

"Please don't anger the elemental," I say. "He might get really mad."

"Which is why the dads won't let us," Sam giggles. "And I'm betting you won't tell us which lake, either."

"I won't," I shake my head. "I don't want him getting mad."

Especially since he'd probably know it was me who told them where to find him, then come after me for doing that.

"We won't!" S.G. says. "Don't worry, Xander! Guys! Let's get playing!"

I'm really glad they dropped the topic because I was getting uncomfortable and didn't know how to tell them. We do talk more as we bowl and eat, and they invite me to the barbecue next Tuesday again. That's when I find out that next Tuesday is Interception Day, the Fourth of July holiday. It's a big holiday with lots of stuff going on, and I think it's to celebrate the actual founding of the country.

Mr. Trey probably has plans for us for that, so that's what I tell them when they invite me. Interception Day is the celebration of when a demonic force trying to break into Earth was intercepted and defeated by the joint forces of the US and Canada, so most people do stuff for it. They even do stuff for it at the boys' home.

Even the dork does stuff for it, and he observes nearly no holiday. I prefer staying where it's quiet, though.

"Hey, Xander!" S.G. says when I finish bowling for the night and start changing my shoes. "We're having a sleepover at Isaac's tonight. Want to come? The dads already said it's okay as long as you want to and Mr. Caldwell says you can go!"

Mr. Caldwell was right about them asking me. But I don't want to rely on him for saying "no" to them, if I can find a way to do it on my own without making them mad. Mr. Caldwell would probably be upset if I used him as a way to tell people "no", and I want to try doing stuff like this on my own, too. Figuring out how to do something would make me less stupid, right?

But how can I refuse on my own without making them mad? This is hard.

"Um… what do you do in a sleepover?" I ask. "I-I've never been to one that I can remember."

"We stay up really late and play lots of games," Isaac tells me. "When we're at Sam's for it, we go swimming in his pool, too."

"And eat lots of junk food," Sam adds. "And sometimes do karaoke."

"And sometimes do experiments that make the dads shake their heads and tell us to clean it up," Connor adds. "Though as long as we can get it cleaned up easily, no one gets into trouble."

"Or if we don't have to go to the hospital," Sam giggles.

I'm not sure I want to know what happened with an experiment that put one of them in the hospital. None of them are a Lumaria King like the dork so they can't heal as fast.

"But we wouldn't do something like that with you," S.G. adds. "Since we know you wouldn't like it and our sleepovers are group things. So it's always stuff we all want to do."

They decide on what to do based on what everyone wants? But if I don't want to do something that they all want to do, they'd probably get mad at me and not want to hang out anymore. Or just do it anyway.

At least I know how to say "no" now without upsetting them. Maybe.

"Oh," I say. "Um. That's a lot more than I thought. I thought it was just sleeping… and um… I'm really tired. I'm probably going to fall asleep on the ride home. So I would just sleep through the sleepover. Sorry."

"Maybe next time!" S.G. says. "You do look really sleepy, but we wanted to ask just in case! Have a good night!"

"Oh!" Connor exclaims. "And the laser tag's gonna be this Sunday if you want to come! We'll be meeting there at three-thirty. Just let us know before then if you're coming!"

"Um… okay," I nod. "I-I'll try to remember to do that. Have a good night."

They all wish me a good night, then I grab the bag, containers, and bowling shoes, and go to meet Mr. Caldwell.

"Hey, Xander," Mr. Caldwell says. "Did you have fun bowling?"

"Y-yeah," I nod.

"We have a little bit more to our game," he says. "If you want to rejoin the others until I'm done, you can."

"I'm really sleepy," I tell him. "Can I sit here and wait?"

"Sure," he says. "Did you have fun hanging out with them?"

"Yeah," I put the stuff on the empty table he gestured to, then climb onto a chair. "They asked me if I wanted to go to a sleepover, but I'm really sleepy so I told them I'd just sleep through it. They said 'maybe next time'. And then invited me to do laser tag with them on Sunday. Can I put my head down and close my eyes? I'll try not to fall asleep."

"Go ahead," Mr. Trey chuckles. "You've had a tiring day."