[Xander – 12 years]

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I scream as loud as I can manage, though it doesn't seem as if my magic is activating for it. That's probably a good thing, but also probably because it's not the same type of screaming as when I have a nightmare. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

There was so much screaming since I entered this room that I'm out of breath now and find myself panting as I clutch Trenton closer to my chest as I press my face against his head. This is scary. But I feel calmer now than I did before coming in here to scream as much I could. The doctor was right that it could help.

How did that work? It's like how Mr. Trey broke my panic the other day. I don't understand how it works.

I'm probably not going to understand it and it's not related to science or magic, so the dork probably won't know. He's not interested in much else apart from that kind of stuff and food. I think that that means there's no reason for me to worry about it, especially since it worked.

So I go to the door of the room and press a button on a small gap between the cushions of the door and the wall. A moment later, the door is opened by the doctor.

"Do you feel calmer now?" He asks.

I nod.

"Alright," he says. "Come on this way."

The doctor takes me to another room, which has the big scanning machine in it. Mr. Trey is already in here, sitting on a chair by one wall. Ms. Katie is here, too. I asked Mr. Trey if that was okay and he said it was, so she came with us for the appointment. There's a backpack sitting on the seat beside Mr. Trey, opposite the side of him from Ms. Katie.

"Do you see this machine?" The doctor asks me as he gestures to the massive device.

The machine has a strange bed to lie down on and a giant, thick ring device at one end of the bed. Some computers are attached to it as well at the end with the big ring.

I nod.

"This is the scanning machine," the doctor tells me. "You'll have to lie down on the bed there. We put down a pillow so that you'll be a little bit more comfortable. It looks thin, but I promise that it's soft and fluffy. Do you want to feel it?"

I nod.

"Go ahead," he says.

I walk over to the machine and reach out to touch the pillow. It really is soft and feels fluffy despite looking like a pillow that's been well-used, like the one I had at the boys' home.

"There's no magic in it," the doctor tells me. "Since that would affect the scans. But it's stuffed with a special blend of materials that remain soft and fluffy even when the pillow isn't as thick as a normal one. Does the pillowcase feel alright to you?"

I nod.

"Are you sure?" He asks. "We do have a few varieties and can try a different one if it's not comfortable."

I nod. The pillowcase really does feel alright.

"Is that a yes that you're sure?" He asks, and I nod. "Alright. Can you feel the bed as well? It's not going to be as soft as the pillow, but it's still soft. The covering is made from the same material as the pillowcase. Do you think you'll be okay on it?"

I nod. It's not the bed that I'm worried about.

"You've had MRIs in the past," the doctor says. "Do you remember them?"

I nod, starting to feel scared again.

"For them," he says. "You had to remain perfectly still for a very long time, with short breaks. This machine is going to move over your head just like with the ones you might have had before. However, you don't have to be as still. We do ask that you try not to move your head very much, but it's okay to move it a little. We'll also only do this in five-minute sessions, so you can get up and move if you want to. Okay?"

I nod.

"I'm sure you'll notice we didn't have you change," he says. "This is a magitech device, so it works a little bit differently than an MRI scanner. Since we're only scanning your head, there isn't much room for interference. That means you can still hold your bear for the scan, too. Trey told me his name is Trenton. Is that right?"

I nod.

"Why don't you take a seat on the bed?" He asks.

I sit on the bed.

"Alright," the doctor says. "What's going to happen when the scan is running is this big ring is going to move forward and around your head. Trey said you can sense magic, is that right?" I nod. "You'll probably sense it working, then. Try not to use any magic of your own. What the machine does it is uses magic to scan your brain, as well as any magic that's in there."

"Magic that's in there?" Mr. Trey asks. "There shouldn't be any, though. The accident was eight years ago and was just a car accident. I just wanted a more thorough scan so we can see what's going on and find out how it can be treated, if not with science then with magic."

"Maybe," the doctor looks at him. "But there's always a possibility that there might be something magic involved, which can negatively impact treatment if we don't find it beforehand. Your insurance company already cleared the full scan, including the one for magic. It's covered in full by your plan."

Mr. Trey doesn't look happy.

"How could something magic be in his brain?" Mr. Trey asks. "And how would it interfere?"

"Everyone has some of their own magic in their brain," the doctor says. "Their magical energy is spread in an even layer throughout their body. However, any number of things could cause other magics to end up in someone, even without their awareness of it. There's often a small amount of magic residue in a person at any given point in time. This device can't read mana directly, but it can read other forms of magic, including residue.

"Since Xander received the damage when he was four," the doctor says. "It's unusual that he'd have the same amount of damage in every annual scan he's had when he's nearing thirteen. New tissue that grew should have at least partially healthy at the very least. There may be something magic inhibiting his healing. If a ghost happened to be passing through him when he was impacted, then some of its energies might have imprinted into the wound. We would need to purge those before we could begin a treatment. Assuming that the level of damage picked up by our scans is something we can treat."

"How likely is that?" Mr. Trey asks. "The scans picking up something new? I know magitech scans are supposed to be more detailed, but I honestly don't know much the difference. I deal mainly in normal tech."

"We can get a three-dimensional image, for starters," the doctor tells him. "Allowing us to look at each area of the brain more clearly. Rather than flat images from different angles outside of it. We can also zoom in more thoroughly and look into the brain in different ways, allowing us to more accurately see the damage. Then there's also the matter of reading magical residues and detecting magic, which an MRI wouldn't be able to do.

"If you're worried about us doing a more complete scan than initially asked," the doctor continues. "Your insurance won't change because of it. We explained the same thing I did a minute ago to you – that it's unusual his brain isn't growing healthy tissue and there may be something magic involved – and they cleared for the more thorough scan."

Mr. Trey still looks unhappy.

"There is something magic going on," the doctor says. "If the scans I received are to be believed. Xander shouldn't be alive based on how damaged his brain is. This may even let us know what."

Mr. Trey still looks unhappy, but tells the doctor to begin. Good. I already don't want to be here any longer.

"Go ahead and lie down," the doctor tells me. "If you want to keep your eyes open, you can."

I want to keep my eyes open, so I do even after lying down. The doctor then counts down from five to when he turns on the machine, and the ring moves forward just like he said it would. Once it's over my head, I can feel magic starting to flow through it.

I start to open my mouth for some reason, but quickly close it. The dork always says not to do that when he's scanning me with his devices. I'm not sure why he doesn't want me to, but the doctor probably won't be happy if I do it here, too.

The doctor runs five separate scans, with a one-minute break between each.

"Alright," the doctor says. "I'm done doing the scans now, Xander. We're going to move into another room. You did very good for this. I've had to do scans on plenty of children and adults who couldn't stay still as well as you did. That was a good job, Xander."

"Come on," Mr. Trey beckons to me. "Let's head to the other room now."

I follow Mr. Trey, Ms. Katie, and the doctor to the other room, which has some sort of table in the middle of it and several chairs against the wall. Mr. Trey has me sit down, then he opens up the backpack and pulls out a container and a bottle of milk with a refrigeration sleeve on it. The box has a mixture of cookies (none with chocolate).

"Go ahead," Mr. Trey tells me as the doctor does something to the table.

Light magic weaves together above the table, creating the illusion of a brain over it. The dork has a similar table, but his is faster, cooler, and usually used to display cool things like wolves and dragons and griffins. When he hasn't accidentally messed it up and caused all of the light magics to weave wrong.

"This is what a healthy twelve-year-old boy's brain should look like," the doctor tells Mr. Trey as I open up the box. Ms. Katie has to help me with the milk, though. My hands don't want to grip it right. "And this is what Xander's brain looks like."

A second brain that doesn't look very happy forms above the table. Lots of parts of it are dark, and it's misshapen as well.

"That is… pretty much a match for the MRI scans before," the doctor says as he gestures, making the brain turn and spin and flip.

I can't understand much of what the doctor says after that so I focus on the cookies and milk. Eventually, though, the doctor changes the light magic to show the machine's readout from the scans for magic. There are a bunch of floating numbers and words and lines floating above the table now, but I don't understand what they're about.

"Here," Ms. Katie opens up a container of grapes and then one of dip, and hands them to me.

I accept them and start eating them as I watch the doctor. He keeps making adjustments and the light-brain flickers several times.

"Hm," the doctor frowns. "Nothing is showing up on the magic-reading scans. There's no residue or magic in his brain or head other than his own."

"His own?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Everyone has a little bit of magic in their brain," the doctor tells him. "Our minds are part of souls rather than our brains, and there's a bit of magic in its connection to the brain. Because of that, the scan is set to detect his own magic signature and then filter it out for the results. We can turn on the scans for his magic if needed, which is why we still ask that patients don't use any while being scanned."

"If they have an innate magic, will that affect it?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Like a mind mage?" The doctor asks. "They mess with scans of magic in their brain when including their own magic. If Xander's one, it doesn't matter much. We don't need to look at the scans with his magic included. If his own magic was inhibiting things, I would have been able to tell. Here."

The doctor changes the light-brain setting again, though it doesn't look any different, then he zooms in on a part and starts talking using a bunch of words I don't understand. Ms. Katie opens up a container with celery slices in it and another with peanut butter, then hands them to me.

"Do you have ideas for treatment?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Well…" the doctor looks at me.

"I'll be sharing anything you say with him," Mr. Trey says. "He wants to hear it, too. Right, Xander?"

I nod. I really want to find out what treatment options for my brain there are, even if it's a doctor saying them.

The doctor frowns a little, but nods.

"None."

"What?" Mr. Trey asks. "What do you mean, 'none'?"

"The damage to his brain is too severe," the doctor says. "Even when we look deep into his brain, the damage is extensive. If the damage wasn't this bad, then we could probably at least restore some of his brain over the next ten years. The problem comes from the fact that his brain is so severely damaged, it shouldn't be functional at all. I don't think even a Lumaria King outside of Adrian King himself could recover from this. There is simply no healing magic potent enough to restore a brain that's so filled with damage and atrophy. I do know the Lumaria Medical Group is trying to research more potent healing magics, but even they haven't managed it yet."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I knew it. I'm too worthless to save.

"Can you give an estimate on how long he has left?" Mr. Trey asks.

"Negative eight years," the doctor answers. "Xander quite literally shouldn't be alive."

"That can't be right," Mr. Trey says. "I know that's what it looks like, but he is alive. And you can't find any magic in his brain. Something isn't adding up here. Either there's magic at work or every scan for the past eight years has been wrong about the damage to his brain. Can you refer us to a specialist?"

"I am the specialist," the doctor says. "This is Lumaria Medical. I'm specialized enough to treat Lumaria Kings and I haven't seen something like this for one of them. Even they couldn't survive like this."

"He is alive, though," Mr. Trey says. "There's got to be something that can be done. You said that there's a treatment that could restore at least part of his brain over the next ten years. Could we try that?"

"The problem here," the doctor says. "Is that entire sections of his brain are dead. We need at least part of that section alive to heal it with magic. Once the functions are gone, they're gone."

"Xander still has them," Mr. Trey says. "The only issues he has are grip problems and struggles with his memory. That means there might be some parts still alive in the sections that control them, right? Minute enough even your scans can't pick up? I know it doesn't make scientific sense, but Xander is alive. Something magic is already going on."

"It's pretzels coated in white chocolate," Ms. Katie whispers when I give her a confused look at the container with stick-like candies that have a white coating, some with sprinkles and some with butterscotch chips on them. "I don't know if you'll like them but I made them while you were in classes earlier."

I nod, then look at the doctor and Mr. Trey again. The doctor seems to be thinking about something.

"The only treatment for this that might work," the doctor says. "Requires an ingredient that only Adrian King himself knows how to acquire. It comes at a steep cost and your insurance won't cover it. No insurance will. And yes, it's the treatment that could potentially heal a part of the brain over ten years."

"How much?" Mr. Trey asks.

Mr. Trey starts arguing with the doctor over the price and the options, and all I can really understand is that it would be extremely expensive. Any treatment is to expensive for someone as worthless as me, yet Mr. Trey seems intent on finding something he can afford.

"That would normally work," the doctor tells Mr. Trey. "Except look here," he gestures to something on the light-brain. "Most of his brain is still the four-year-old's brain. Not a twelve-year-old's brain. All of the parts that were killed in the car accident never grew new tissue, and the parts that still functioned only grew new tissue for those parts.

"Even if we treated him with that," the doctor continues. "It would only restore the four-year-old's brain tissue rather than let it grow to match the twelve-year-old brain he should have. There's a very good chance that whatever it is that's keeping him alive won't be able to if his brain is a mix of two age types with such a vast difference in how they work. A four-year-old has a very different brain than a twelve-year-old."

The doctor then goes on to describe stuff about hormones and electricity (I think that's the word he's using) and something about snapping, I think? It's hard for me to understand and Ms. Katie distracts me with lemon cookies and more milk.

What I do understand is that I'm fucked. Something that even their magic scans can't detect is keeping me alive and they can't heal me without a treatment that Mr. Trey can't afford and his insurance won't cover. I didn't even know there was medical stuff that rich people can't afford.

The dork probably knows what's keeping me alive, but getting an answer out of him wouldn't be easy. He'd probably just say it's the strength of my will, which is neither medically nor magically possible.

I looked it up.

The appointment eventually comes to an end, with Mr. Trey looking much less happy than he did going in. I think the doctor angered him, but it's because of me which means I'm really the reason he's mad. Is this where he sends me back to the boys' home?

"Keep your chin up, Xander," Mr. Trey says as we leave the hospital. The air out here still smells weird, just like inside the hospital. "I wanted to try the best medical group in the country first, but there are others out there. They aren't as good, but maybe another has an option the Lumaria Group's doctors don't know. I can't get an appointment for one of them sooner than around two weeks from now. Just hang in there, okay?"

He's not sending me back to the boys' home even though I'm broken beyond repair? That's confusing… but I nod.

"And Xander?" Mr. Trey asks as we reach the borrowed car. "You did a very good job being brave in the hospital and not freaking out. Getting to let out some screams helped, huh?"

I nod a little. I don't know why screaming helped me, or why the doctor even thought it might, but it did help me feel calmer. I was still scared, but my body wasn't trying to make me run away anymore.

Mr. Trey helps me into the borrowed car, then he opens up the cooler that he'd brought with us and pulls something out of it. A slice of cheesecake that looks like the kind the Wolf's Dragon makes that I like.

"I already bought the cheesecake," he tells me. "You can have this as we drive back to the gate location."

We came to the city with the hospital by using a teleport gate. They're really expensive and set up at specific locations, but Mr. Trey was apparently owed a favor by a guy who knew a guy who knew a woman, and she got us the trip here and back for free. I don't know what kind of favor he was owed, but it must have been huge. Luke mentioned that even his family can usually only manage discounted rates with their connections when he was telling me about his trip.

The teleport gate is really a giant circle of stones on the ground that have so much magic etched into them, they glow. I bet the dork could make one that doesn't glow, but he kind of teleports on his own so he probably wouldn't care to make a teleport gate.

We walk onto the gate once the staff gives us the okay to do so, then the outside of the ring begins to glow brighter and a wall of light flares up around us. When it fades away, we're at the center back in the city north of Dragon of Falls.

"Hi, Xander!" A cheerful voice greets me. "You got to use a teleport gate? Oh, hey, it looks like Trey and Katie are sick, get them the gate sickness medicine."

A staff member is already moving over to give Mr. Trey and Ms. Katie gate sickness medicine, though I don't need any because I'm not feeling sick from it. In fact, I'm feeling a little bit better. That cheesecake was extra good. And the lemonade that I washed it down with had the special flavor in it, so I think it was made with magic lemons and magic sugar.

What's Luke doing here? And why's he's examining a giant machine that was pulled out of the wall? I remember seeing a panel where the hole is when we were here last time, so I think the machine was in the wall. The machine is absolutely massive, too. I bet fifty people could fit inside of it. Maybe if they were smushed up, but they'd still fit.

"I was right," Luke looks at the man who's standing close to him. "It's something about the connection between these two cities. There was a massive energy drain for this activation."

"There wasn't for any other," the man with him says as I step off of the gate. "The way the gate functions, the drain should be consistent. If there's a change for one, there should be a change for all."

"Hey," Luke says. "I'm just here to look into the drain itself and see what's causing it. You said you already had the gate itself examined and there's nothing wrong with it, so you thought it might be in the generator. The generator just says it was asked for more power. I've already done a thorough examination of the generator, too. It's functioning as it should be. That means that the drain came from the gate, not from the generator doing something wonky."

"How could you have done an examination so quickly?" The man asks.

"I literally helped build this machine," Luke tells him. "I helped create its energy matrices. I know everywhere to look to check for a potential power drain. I can also sense electricity and other forms of energy and was using that sense when you activated the gate. The excess energy the generator was outputting went straight into the gate without issue. Something in the gate consumed it like crazy. It wasn't even dissipating, it was straight-up being used to fuel the teleport. And I don't know spatial magics or enchants, so I can't help you there. You'll need a better expert for the gate. I could be hanging out with some awesome guys – one of whom is literally supposed to be leaving to go back home in a few hours and my time with him has been limited since his dad didn't let him have sleepovers and I'm busy on weekday mornings – right now because you weren't able to tell that the power drain is in the gate itself."

Luke rambled a bit, but it sounded like he's really not annoyed at having his mornings taken up by going to classes with me. He assured me that he wasn't when he told me about Tyler on Tuesday, but I wasn't too sure. It sounds more like he's upset with having been called out here to examine the big machine than having to go to classes with me.

But I could be wrong. Maybe if Luke talked more, I could know? I don't like listening to that, though. He talks too much.

"Xander," Mr. Trey says, distracting me from Luke's talking. "Katie and I are feeling better now. You ready to head home?"

I nod.

"Hold on," Luke tells the man he's talking to. "Bye, Xander! See you Monday!"

I return his wave, then follow Mr. Trey out of the building and to his SUV. Ms. Katie sits up front with him, though Mr. Trey tells me I can eat more of the cheesecake if I want. And have more of the lemonade. When I open up the cooler, I find that it has three of the red-white-and-blue cheesecakes from the Wolf's Dragon.

Didn't he say he'd buy me one? He bought three…

I only eat the rest of the one he took a slice from because I was told only one, then doze off by accident because of how long the drive is. Mr. Trey wakes me when we arrive, then asks if I want to watch something in the theater while we eat dinner. It's already starting to get late, and is later than we normally eat dinner at.

Though I don't know why Mr. Trey is suggesting dinner in the theater, I like the idea of it. I give him a nod, so he hands the cooler to Ms. Katie and lets her know we'll be in the theater.

As we enter, the phone Mr. Trey lets me use pings for a text. While eating the cheesecake, I asked the dork if he knew about what could cause a teleport gate to have an extra drain on its power.

Happy Hungry Hunter: The gate that you were using? I looked it up. It only occurred on the two trips you were on. I took a look at the cameras for the chamber and it seems you had your mouth open during both trips. That was the case.

How could me having my mouth open cause a power drain in a spell?

"I'm going to guess the dork said something weird again?" Mr. Trey asks, and I look up at him, a little startled. How did he know? "You get a certain look on your face when you're reading a text from him that's a bit on the weird side."

Oh.

"You can get some snacks ready if you want," Mr. Trey says. "I was thinking we could order pizza for dinner tonight. How would you like that?"

I'd like that very much, but only depending on the pizza.

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

[Sig – 13 years] → starts near the end of Xander's PoV

I can't believe how smooth things are running on my computer now. Aunt Rachel took me to the store yesterday to buy the parts I needed to perform the upgrades I wanted for it, even covering part of the costs! She also bought me some extra stuff, like a proper microphone and good-quality headphones, to make playing with my gaming friends even easier.

Though everything is ready to go, with the game downloaded and other stuff setup, I want to get some water before I start. I get up and leave my room but before I reach the end of the hall, I hear my aunt's voice and it sounds really stern.

"-thirteen!" She says. "He needs more than ramen, potatoes, and milk! What were you thinking with that order?"

She knew that I'd lied about where those came from? And didn't say anything? I stop walking. Maybe I'm not supposed to hear her on the phone with my parents. She probably thinks I'm going to be on my computer for awhile since she knows I was setting it up and probably wanted to play with my friends.

"Wasn't that enough?" Mom asks.

Wait. My parents are back? That's not what she sounds like over speakerphone so she's definitely here.

"No!" Aunt Rachel exclaims. "It's nowhere near enough! First, what would he eat for breakfast? Ramen? Lunch? Also ramen? Dinner? Also ramen? That's not a healthy diet! And the potatoes? What was going to do, eat nothing but potatoes? It's all starches! What about other vegetables? Or fruit? Or meat? Sig's a growing boy and he needs a lot of food! I ordered us pizzas for dinner and he ate half of one by himself. That's not including the salad I made sure he had with it or the bread sticks and wings he also had. His lunch today was four hot dogs, a bowl of chips, and an apple! He had eight pancakes and six strips of bacon for breakfast! He's an active boy who's growing and using magic regularly. How do you not know what your own son needs to eat?"

"He usually lets us know if it's not enough," Dad tells her. "And we pay him back for what he buys."

"I have receipts from the grocery trips I took to feed him," Aunt Rachel says. "You'll be paying me back for every penny. It excludes anything outside of the normal, like me treating him to things. Also, he needs to go clothes shopping, so please make sure that happens in the next week. And take him with you. The clothes need to actually fit him and be a kind he likes."

"We'll put it on the schedule," Mom says.

"Good," Aunt Rachel says. "And make sure grocery shopping happens soon. There's almost no food left. And I made a down payment on a house this morning, so I'll be moving once everything gets approved, which should be in the next week."

"What's in the next week?" I decide to feign ignorance as I walk into the living room.

"Hey, Sig," Aunt Rachel pulls me in for a hug as I approach her and my parents, whose suitcases are still in the room. She ambushed them as soon as they arrived! That's awesome! "The inspection for the house should be on Monday or Wednesday and as long as it passes, I can move in the next day, so I'll probably move in on Wednesday or Thursday."

"That fast?" I ask. "Really?"

"Really," she ruffles my hair. "You can help me clean up the yards if you want."

"Sure!" I answer. "Oh! I'm gonna go play soon, just getting something to drink first."

"Alright," she gives me a squeeze. "Have fun."

I go to the kitchen and fill a glass with water, then return to my room and sit at my desk, pulling on my headphones before booting up the game. Upon logging in, I start changing my keybinds to a more comfortable setup, then join the party group chat.

"Helphelphelp Sig!" Sara exclaims. "I'm being shittalked and I don't want to out myself!"

"Got you," I log out and then switch to my main account before logging back in and rejoining the group chat. "Where you at?"

"At the entrance of the Labyrinth of the Eternal Flame!" She exclaims. "Jack really had to go poo and Grace hasn't logged in yet! Also, your voice is coming in crisp and clear."

"My aunt bought me a new microphone!" I tell her as I start the teleport. "And I got the new graphics card and installed it, too. Things are awesome! Okay, gonna talk in public."

They really are shittalking her.

"-almost like you're trying to be a cliché," one of the guys there says. "How often are you the damsel in distress?"

"Why?" I make sure the voice filter is on. "I've seen her fight. She doesn't really need rescuing. Maybe the monsters she's fighting do, though. Kind of felt sorry for them."

The three of them are completely silent, probably in shock at seeing the name floating above the fairy rogue's head. Well-known as being the physically-weakest character species and also a difficult class to play until it's high-level. And the number floating beside my character's name is 160, which is the current cap.

Not that they're even noticing the number. [TheBladeFairy] is a well-known user that appeared around four months ago and is considered one of the ten top members of the server, four of whom appeared as newbies around that time. All playing free, all doing so casually.

Also all reaching the heights with absurd ease. And using voice filters to speak in public.

We deliberately picked awful mashups for early game and are among the few who stuck with it until the end. We're all also actually pretty damn good at combat when we're serious. Our other accounts – like the elf archer Sara's on right now – are just for fun. Flaunting our real skills doesn't happen often since we play on our mains mostly for the challenge, and our alts just for fun.

I do feel bad for besting that streamer last month, though…

"'Sup?" I ask. "Were you guys wanting to recruit her for your team?"

I equip my character's main weapons, a pair of daggers.

"Wanna look at my daggers?"

"Uh… no," the one who was talking when I arrived says. "We're, uh… just passing through. Bye."

The three of them run off and Sara starts laughing into the party chat.

"I am your doom," I say in a deeper voice into the party chat, the voice filter making it sound even deeper than that."

"That was ridiculous," Sara says. "They weren't even doing a good job at shittalking! I thought about switching to my goddess bow and seeing how good they were at PvP but then you popped on."

Damn! That would have been fun to watch!

"Let me switch back over," I laugh, then quickly do that. By the time I'm back, Grace has logged on and Jack's returned from his bathroom break. "Hey, guys! We doing party stuff tonight?"

"Nah," Sara says. "I need to run this dungeon a few times and I know you all hate it."

"Gonna grind out more hides," Jack says. "Want to join me?"

"Sure!" I answer. "What kind?"

I join Jack for the hide grind, though we remain in the party chat with Sara and Grace. After a bit, the four of us meet up to hunt high-level kobolds in a forest before I log off to head to bed.

As I change for bed and climb into it, I can't help but hope that Aunt Rachel lets me come over a lot once her new house is ready.