When it was early evening, Farrah's brother came in through the front door, and her parents ran up to him and squeezed him with a binding hug. They greeted him with boisterous hellos, and he walked around and introduced himself to everyone. Farrah's friends had their eyes light up as he went around. He was a handsome guy.

"And who might you be?" Elijah said as he came up to me.

"This is my boyfriend," Farrah said. Her voice had a coldness I had never heard before, yet I couldn't help but be excited that it was the first time she had ever called me her boyfriend.

"Well, aren't you going to tell me his name?" Elijah asked.

"He can talk for himself," Farrah said.

The tension was thick and unsettling. I was thankful that Farrah's friends kept chatting and that her parents had returned to the kitchen. No one else to noticed how awkward the conversation was.

"Well, can he?" Elijah said, studying my face.

I didn't realize I had been quiet for so long, but I didn't care for his tone. Had he been someone else, I may have said something rude or escalated the situation. Instead, I knew getting along and putting Farrah at ease would be best. "My name is Rollie. A pleasure to meet you, Elijah," I said with a gentle voice and a smile.

Elijah analyzed my mohawk. "What's up with the hair?"

"Can't you say it's nice to meet him too?" Farrah snapped.

Elijah scowled. "What has gotten into you, sis?"

"More like what's gotten into you? You come in here, and you're immediately rude to my boyfriend."

"Well, you were rude to me first. I got nothing against him."

"Yeah, but then you judge him immediately on his hair."

"I never judged him. I just asked him what's up with it."

"But the way you asked, it sounded like you were judging him."

I had seen siblings bicker like this before at school, and it was no different between Farrah and Elijah.

"Did I do something wrong? I don't think you even said hello when I walked in. You've been at my throat, and I haven't even done anything. C'mon, Farr, I see you only during the holidays. We usually get along. What's this about?"

Farrah huffed. "What do you know about summoning crystals?"

I couldn't believe Farrah asked that question. Again, I was grateful that everyone else was occupied with conversation or cooking in the kitchen.

Elijah blinked. His lips fumbled for a second, but he managed to blurt out, "I, uh, don't really know what you're talking about."

"Sounds like you know something. If you didn't know, you would just say, 'I don't know,' But instead, you replied with I don't REALLY know. So why don't you explain what little information you do have?"

"Where did you hear about this?"

"You tell me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. You hesitated when I mentioned summoning crystals. I know you better than most people, and I can tell when you're lying."

"Keep your voice down." Elijah glared at her.

"You're hiding something. I knew it." Farrah pointed at his chest.

"No, I just don't want to ruin anyone else's Autumn Feast by hollering at each other. No one wants to see that."

"Tell me what you know about summoning crystals, then."

"I don't know!"

"Yes, you do!" Farrah snapped.

Her parents poked their heads out of the kitchen, and her friends stopped talking.

"Is everything all right?" Jack asked.

"Just a little sibling disagreement, that's all," Elijah said with a perfect smile and delivery.

Her parents held their concerned stare before going back into the kitchen without saying another word. Farrah's pals began talking amongst themselves again and meandered into the living room.

"Tell me what you know about summoning crystals now," Farrah muttered.

Elijah flared his nostrils. "Let's talk upstairs. Just you and me. Sorry, Rollie."

Elijah and Farrah went up the steps, and I didn't know what else to do, so I sat in the living room, pulled out a book, and started reading. I never had much to discuss with Farrah and her friends anyway.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It felt like they had been gone a long time, but it was only a half hour before both of them came down the steps, and dinner was ready to be served.

"Hey, what happened upstairs? What did he say? What did you say?" I whispered. Everyone filed into the dining room. Elijah went in first and took a seat. Farrah and I were behind everyone.

"I'll tell you about it as soon as we're done with dinner. I promise."

The anticipation was killing me. As we sat around the table, food was passed around. It reminded me of Thanksgiving, except instead of turkey, we had dumplings of some sort. Still, they were delicious, just like every other food I had in Lementum.

"So, Rollie, Farah tells me you're from the other world. What's that like? I want to know all about it," Elijah said.

It felt like the same questions I had already answered with her parents, but I was happy to review them again. Elijah was kind and cordial to me about everything. I actually appreciated his company and how he had been kind and polite to me. He could've been nicer to Farrah, but perhaps that was just sibling banter.

"I don't meet very many people who have graduated from Attleton, so what do you do now that you're no longer in school?" I asked him.

"Elijah works for the Hartsera-"

"That's all right, Dad. I can tell him myself, thank you." Elijah smiled.

Jack blushed. "Sorry about that, son," he said and focused on his meal.

Elijah cleared his throat. "I actually work for the Hartsera Bank."

"Really? I didn't think mages would have such boring jobs," I said. Everyone at the table chuckled, including Elijah.

"I wouldn't say it's boring. Someone has to do it, after all. But yes, I work at the bank. I'm a Glacien, so all the vaults kept safe with ice are my responsibility."

"There are vaults for the different elemental mages?"

"Yes, the idea is, if someone were to try and steal money, they would have to come in a group of six to fully access the vaults. We limit customers to a couple at a time. A lot of them wait outside. If we ever get busy, we can quickly stay on top of requests."

"So people don't really rob the bank here, huh?" I asked.

"As in, steal the money inside the vaults? Nowadays, that's unheard of. We can keep great security and service our clientele."

"How interesting. Perhaps I can consider that as a career if my elemental abilities aren't too strong," I said.

"You'll be fine. I'll help you if you ever need it," Farrah said.

"Yeah, Rollie, I wasn't the best Voltrun when I was in school, but as I got into year six, I felt I really started to sharpen my abilities, and working with the city for the energy program seemed like a good career," Farrah's mom said.

"Not only that, you must be a strong mage to have my job," Elijah said. "It's more challenging than it sounds. Sure I spend most of the time working with customers and handling requests, but you need to have some skill in case anything comes up, and you have to routinely power the frozen vaults and instill the security measures. I can't talk about what happens if you open the door to a vault, but trust me when I say you couldn't handle its defenses. Are there any other careers, though, that strike an interest?"

"I can't think of anything at the moment. You have to remember I just started here back in September; I'm not from this world. So I'm just getting my bearing straight. I'm dazed that I can shoot fire bolts out of my hands."

Elijah laughed dryly. "Well, take your time with things. Attleton is a good school where you can find out what interests you and pursue that toward the end of your school year."

"Like me, I didn't realize I wanted to work in the energy department until my 7th year. You've got time, Rollie," Farrah's mom said.

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about it yet," I said.

After we finished dinner, Farrah's parents brought out dessert, which was a pastry cube filled with different fruit fillings, just like a pie. There was a cherry one, an apple one, and a pumpkin one. They were so small. I tried all of them, and still wasn't that full. The pastry melted in my mouth.

When people started leaving the table to have a hot beverage in the living room, whether it was tea or hot cocoa, Elijah hung around with Farrah and me.

"That was a little rude earlier when you said my job was boring," Elijah said.

I scrunched my brow. Couldn't believe the nerve of the guy. I didn't want to escalate the situation, so I stayed calm. "It was just a friendly joke. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Jokes can have truth to them." Elijah scowled.

"How about we call it even since you were rude to me when we first met?"

Elijah scoffed. "Sure thing, kid." And he walked away into the other room.

Farrah stared at me wide-eyed but had a little smile. "Wow, I'm uh, really sorry about my brother's behavior. He's not normally like that."

"It's all right. Nothing I can't handle."

"Don't feel like you have to respond either. You can just ignore him."

"Did I say too much?"

"Nah, I thought it was great." Farrah beamed.

"So what did he talk to you about upstairs? You two were up there for a little while."

Farrah's lips fell. "Oh." She shook her head. "With how pleasant the meal was, I didn't want to think about it again."

"That's all right. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

"Well, it's bizarre because I feel like I can't talk about it."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, it was freaky. He told me that whatever I was talking about, I should shut my mouth."

I paused and clenched my fist. "Elijah told you to shut your mouth?"

Farrah nodded. "Elijah said he didn't like my tone and kept telling me he didn't know what I was talking about. Eventually, I felt like I had to tell him, so I told him I had followed him two nights ago. I lied and said we were walking around the pier at night and saw him. I told him I tried to call out his name, but he didn't look back, so we went to see where he went. You should have seen the look on his face. When I told him that, he looked like he had seen a ghost."

"What did he say after that?"

"Once he finally realized I spied on him, he told me I needed to keep my mouth shut. And Elijah said he didn't mean to be rude and exclude me, but apparently, if I kept pursuing more information and asking more questions to other people, he said that I could get seriously harmed. Elijah said he was looking out for our family's safety. And that's when I asked him if you're looking out for all of our safety, why do you involve yourself with sketchy situations and sketchy people. He just shook his head and told me I wouldn't understand. Then he said he is doing amazing work for us so that someday we can have the best lives possible."

"I can't believe that. I mean, the life here you have is amazing. Sparky is a wonderful dog, this house is awesome, your parents seem happy, and they're some of the nicest people I've ever met. I don't understand how you'd possibly want something better than this?"

Farrah shrugged. "Well, we don't live in the best house. My brother has always been a big dreamer and has wanted more. It would be nice if we had more space, so my friends didn't have to sleep on the floor. I get where he's coming from, but you're right. For the most part, there's not much I would change here, so I don't understand. But he probably wants a mansion or something, and he thinks hanging out with this crowd will get him that. And maybe he just never wants to work again too. But I don't know, I've got a horrible feeling about it."

"I'm not gonna lie, it bothers me he told you to keep your mouth shut while he's calling me rude for making a little joke about his boring job."

"Don't worry about it, seriously. I don't like the idea of you getting angry over it. We're siblings. Sometimes he and I squabble like that."

"Well, if you ever wanted me to talk to him for you, just know I would." I put my hand on her back.

"Sure, that will probably never happen, but I still greatly appreciate that." Farrah grinned.