Evan

After Adelfried and Dad left through the front door, the dead bolt clicked into place. Surrounded by a Wreckie strike team and Dad thinks the deadbolt is going to somehow make them safer. Now it was just Evan, Kae, and Nina in the living room. And the random napping guy in the corner they had brought with them.

The secret he had learned was starting to fester within. He really needed to tell someone, but could he trust Nina? Hell, could he trust his sister to keep her yap shut? Probably...maybe?

Evan let out a yawn. “I guess we’re sleeping in the basement tonight." Now that everything had settled down, sleep was making its presence known. “And no Kae, you can’t sleep on the couch in my room. In fact, you might want to get the air mattress because Adelfried’s homemade couch is about as soft as a doormat. I know. I spent most of the summer sitting on it.”

Kae scoffed putting her phone down. “As if I’m sleeping in the basement. I have a perfectly good bed upstairs. We have an army of commandos here.” Kae gestured at the FIST agents standing guard outside but halted with a wince. “Ow.” She grabbed her arm. That hit she took to her shoulder had to hurt. “I think I'll be okay in my bedroom.”

Nina put her empty lemonade glass down on the coffee table in the living room and came over to Kae to check her wound. “Let me get you a field bandage from the car.” The way she scrunched up her face as she examined the injury made Evan’s chest flutter. Wow, she was cute. No. She was hot. “Yeah, you definitely need one. But we really should all go to the basement.”

Kae rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, fine, but I need get something to eat first.”

Nina raised her hand as if to protest but changed her mind. “Okay. I’ll be right back.” She unlocked the front door and disappeared into the front yard.

Kae started towards the kitchen when Evan caught her arm. He whispered, “Hey. Do you trust her?”

Kae stopped before narrowing her eyes and said at a very non-whispery volume level, “Why are you whispering?”

She was so thick sometimes. “Quiet,” Evan continued, his voice low. “There are agents around.” He did a quick check to see if any had overheard them and luckily no one was around. “I need to tell you—”

The back door opened. An agent with the name Meyers embroidered his uniform came in. “You two need to go to the basement immediately. That is a direct order from Mistress Kreeg.”

Kae broke free of Evan’s grasp and moved to the refrigerator. “Maybe you didn’t hear my mom, we don’t work for your boss lady.” She opened it and started to forage for food. “Besides I’m just getting something to eat and then I’ll go hide in the basement like a good girl.”

Meyers folded his arms. “Ma’am, I am authorized to forcibly put you in the basement.”

Kae shook her head continuing her search. “I don't know. I’m pretty sure if you touch the basement, you’ll get roasted. Just chillax, I only want to get something to eat.”

Pride and frustration forced Evan to smile. He was sick of the Wreckies, except for Nina, of course, she could hang with them all the time. No one should be telling his sister what to do. But damn, Kae really needed to get her butt in the basement.

“Ma’am I am familiar with the barrier,” Meyers continued. “And I know that if I am in contact with you, I’ll be safe. So, am I going to have to drag you down there?”

Kae let out a chuckle. Oh no. She was gearing up for a fight. “I’m pretty sure Adelfried, you know, essentially my uncle, and your boss's dad would have something to say about that. So why don’t you back off? I’m getting some food and then going to the basement. Okay?” She closed the refrigerator and opened the freezer. “See here.” She pulled a cardboard box out of the freezer. “I’m just going to make a frozen pizza.”

Meyers took a step towards Kae. “Ma’am, I am only going to ask you one more time to go to the basement.”

Kae held the box up in the air. “Fine. I’ll go but then you have to make my pizza and bring it to me.”

Meyers tilted his head. “My job isn’t to—”

“Either you’re doing it or I am. So, what’s it going to be?”

It was truly a delight watching Kae go to battle against the defenseless Meyers. The poor guy never stood a chance. After numerous battles of will against school administrators and especially Mom, Meyers was practically defenseless.

“Fine,” Meyers said swallowing his pride. “Now go to the basement.”

But Kae wasn’t done with her prey. There was still time to toy with him. “And I’m going to need a drink. And Evan, you want anything? Meyers here is taking drink orders.” She turned to Evan with a devilish grin.

“Lemonade?” Evan said, hoping above all hope, Kae could brow beat Meyers into making fresh squeezed lemonade. But surely, surely, her powers weren’t that strong. Were they?

Kae dropped the pizza box on the counter before going to back to the refrigerator and collecting a handful of lemons and depositing them on the counter next to the pizza. She opened a drawer, snatched a piece of paper out of it and slapped it on the counter. “Here’s the recipe. Sugar is in the pantry.”

Meyers unfolded his arms. “Ma’am, I’m not going to—”

“What?” Kae snapped. “Either you’re making me and my brother pizza and lemonade or I’m doing it. Or you can try, just try, to stop me. I’ve been soaking up ESH from the most powerful source ESH known to mankind for months now. Do you really want to try me?” Kae’s hand started to glow purple. “Or do you want to make me some pizza and lemonade while I go to the basement?”

Meyer’s face almost turned in on itself. “Fine! But you have to go, now!” He jabbed a finger toward the kitchen door.

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Kae turned and left, grinning ear to ear.

The exchange left Evan a little queasy. He turned to follow her as he picked through what had just happened. That was a little too intense. She never liked being told what to do, but that was not normal, even for her.

As they passed through the living room, the chubby sleeping man had started to mumble-cry to himself.

Evan patted him on the shoulder. “Hey man. You alright?”

Kae said, “That’s Federico. Dad said he had issues or something.”

Poor guy. Evan leaned over and put a hand to his forehead. It was warm. Then the smell of body odor and sweat hit Evan’s nose. “Eww. He reeks and I think he’s running a fever.”

Meyers came into the living room. “Leave him. We’ll deal with him. Now you two need to go—”

“Please!” Federico howled. He grabbed Evan by the wrist. Federico’s mouth gaped. He started to pant.

“Hey!” Evan snatched his hand away.

“Please!” Federico cried, reaching for Evan before fainting.

“What was that about?” Evan rubbed his wrist. “Do you think he’s okay?”

Nina came back in through the front door with a couple tubes of the field bandage goop.

Meyers pointed to the hallway closet. “Basement. Now. Both of you. We will look after him.”

Nina stopped in the doorway. “Everything okay?”

Kae snapped, “Yeah, everything’s fine and dandy as long as this jackass doesn’t screw up my pizza.”

Nina waved a dismissive hand at Meyers. “Well, being a jackass is kind of his job. Come on, I got the wound goop.”

When they got to the basement Evan immediately went to check on Zarg who had curled up on the dog bed in Adelfried’s lab. He wagged his tail. Pure warmth and happiness came from Zarg. When Nina and Kae followed him in, his emotions surged even more.

Evan plopped down next to Zarg and patted him gently. “You feeling better, Zargy?”

Nina sat down on the opposite side of Zarg to inspect where he got hit. “Wow. I can barely tell he was ever shot.” She brushed her hand over the skin where the faint outline of the wound was. It was slightly darker and mottled compared to the rest of his steel grey coat, but if you didn’t know what to look for you wouldn’t notice it. “Just be careful and don’t touch it if you can avoid it. He’s still healing, and the nerves are going to be sensitive. But you’re a tough boy, aren’t you?” She rubbed his neck which caused Zarg to immediately flip his legs into the air. He really liked her. And more importantly, he trusted her. Maybe Evan should too.

“You did it now,” Kae said plopping onto Adelfried’s stool. “Once Zarg knows you’re a source of pets that’s all he’ll want.”

Nina started to rub his chest and side. “He took out two Sovs. He gets all the rubs I have to give.” Then she started to rub him with her second hand causing Zarg to close his eyes and let out a little grunt which gave Evan the chills. That was weird.

Kae put her hand close to orb the Root was housed in. “That’s odd. Normally I can really feel the Root when I sit this close to it, even in its little concrete home. But now, I can barely sense it at all.” Her hand neared housing, and a bolt of green energy arced between it and her hand. “Ow, fuck!” She pulled her hand back and rubbed it. “What the hell was that?”

Evan chortled. “Oh, Mistress Kreeg put some kind of barrier around it that only she can open.”

Nina started to shake her head. “Never mess with a wizard’s stuff. Well, if you want to live that is.”

Kae tilted her head. “Did you just call her Mistress Kreeg? Her name is Minna.”

Evan sighed. “What’s wrong with calling her by her preferred title? Why is that such a big deal for you and Mom?”

Kae squinted with disapproval. “What kind of name is Mistress Kreeg anyway? What is she, like part time wizard and part time dungeon master, or something? I half expected her to be wearing black latex. Kind of disappointed actually.”

Dungeon master and latex? “What do you mean?”

Nina giggled. “Mistress Kreeg is just the loose English translation of her name. It means ‘Master of War’ from her...less peaceful days, apparently. Krieg is the German word for war. We’re called the Wrecht order. Wrecht means law or some such nonsense. And no, before you ask, Wrecht is not the same as Reich. We get that a lot. We’re not Nazis.”

Kae rolled her stool back from the Root’s enclosure. “I don’t know. The way y'all came in here ready to kill us all...”

Nina got up from her spot on the floor next to Zarg, much to his disappointment. He turned his long beak-like snout towards Evan hoping he would make up the lost pets now that she had stopped. “Oh, we’re total dicks sometimes. A lot of times, actually. But we do good too. I’m trying to, you know, bring a little heart into the organization. That’s the reason I joined, among others.”

Evan rubbed Zarg’s chest. “You’re such a pet sponge. Are there ever enough pets?” He knew the answer to that question even without being able to sense Zarg’s emotions.

Nina popped the tube on the field bandage. “Let’s have a look at that shoulder.”

Kae turned her shoulder towards Nina who started to slather the goo on to it.

“Ow,” Kae yelped, pulling her shoulder away.

“Sorry. I have to get it in there.” Nina continued to massage the goop in.

Kae continued to wince like a big baby; unlike Zarg who didn’t even yelp when Nina fixed him up. What a wimp. She said through gritted teeth, “So if I can’t sense the Root does that mean I’m not growing in power? Will I eventually lose my magic?”

Nina put the tube down now that it was empty. “Now hold still. This is going to sting.” She put both hands on her shoulder and it started to glow orange.

Kae turned away and closed her eyes. “You weren’t lying about that were you? Ow!”

“There, all done.” Nina removed her hands from Kae’s shoulder. “So, kind of...think of humans like giant ESH batteries. Any ESH diamond is essentially a power source. And ESH is just radiation, but that’s beside the point. You absorb the ESH and your body can use it to do all kinds of things. The more you store and use it, the more you can store and use. It’s kind of a cycle that builds on itself, you know? Of course, everyone is different and has different tolerances and whatnot.”

Kae examined her wound which had taken on the shiny look of a healed burn. “Gross. Will it eventually turn to normal skin?”

Nina smiled. “Not on its own. But you can get ESHmetic surgery to restore it back to its normal state. I mean look at Mistress Kreeg, she’s over a thousand years old and she looks like she’s thirty.”

Evan finally stopped petting Zarg who was not pleased. “So, how long could someone like Adelfried go without the Root before he loses his power?”

Nina approached the Root but didn’t get as close as Kae. “Adelfried’s different. He’s a wizard, which means he’s been exposed to so much ESH that I am not sure he would ever run out. Everyone reaches a saturation point. The higher that saturation point, the more powerful the wizard. To be honest, knowledge about wizards is kept secret from someone like me. The Wrecht order is very secretive. Plus, there just aren’t that many wizards. And it’s not like there’s a bunch of ESH diamonds just waiting to be found either. Well at least not above ground. There are some—”

“Okay. Okay.” Kae started to get excited. “So, all I need to do is hang out with the Root and I could become as powerful as Minna?”

Nina nodded. “Potentially. Everyone’s different in how they—”

“Ha!” Evan laughed. “There’s no way Dad’s going to let you get that much ESH.”

“Yeah, well I’m turning eighteen this year. So, Dad will just have to deal.”

“Uh huh,” Evan said in a mocking tone “Are you going to go out and get a tattoo and start vaping too?”

Kae held her hand up. “Don’t make me force choke you!”

“You have no power here.” He puffed his chest out. “Your pitiful ESH can do nothing against Evan the invincible.”

A pillow flew off the couch smacking Evan in the face. He couldn’t help but laugh.

Zarg rolled over and sat up at attention. Concerned filled him.

“Don’t worry, boy.” Evan patted his haunch. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just shocked Kae was able to hit me at all. If it was a baseball, it probably would have hit you.” Another pillow flew from the couch smacking Evan in the head.

Zarg twisted his head. Something was bothering him.

Evan threw the pillow back at Kae. “Quit scaring the dog.”