Arthur bolted upright and the first thing he noticed was his lack of clothes under a scratchy wool blanket followed quickly by pain running down his back.

He tried to sit up higher and immediately regretted his decision feeling a jolt of agony in what felt like most of his back muscles.

He looked around and noticed a sleeping Tom propped against the wall along with some sealed bags placed at the foot of his bed.

Arthur picked up one bag and shook it, hoping to discern its contents.

He opened the bag and found a shirt that looked like it belonged in his grandfather’s closet.

He opened the rest of the bags and put on the ensemble, finding some slippers placed at the side of his bed.

Standing up, Arthur felt the same feeling of being watched as before at the store.

Looking around, he noticed the trench coat man from before sitting at a table nearby staring at him.

Arthur yelped and fell on his butt which caused Tom's eyes to shoot open looking around in a panic.

At that point, the man stood up and said, "Hello. My name is Vincent."

Arthur looked flustered as he stared at the man before asking, "what do you want with us?"

Vincent stared back responding, "I only want to invite you to somewhere that can help you learn to control your abilities along with earn a high school or possibly even college education."

In the long list of terrible things Arthur had expected the strange man to lay out, school was not anywhere near the top. Murdering them maybe or possibly forcing them into some weird religion, but not the merits of a good education. Arthur began to feel more confused than frightened.

Tom spoke up saying, "You mean you were following us to give a sales pitch for some school? What happened to filling people's inboxes with emails or annoying letters?"

Ignoring Tom, Arthur asked, "Why were you following us?"

Vincent responded, "My goal was to inform you about the invitation. When you began to fly away, I followed at a distance in the hopes that you would land soon and I could try to reach out again.”

“I am not normally allowed to physically interact with you in any way, but I was forced to take drastic measures when you fell from the sky which put your life at risk. Once you were safe, I decided the best course of action was to take you to this location and allow you to recuperate."

Tom asked, "Why drag us all the way out here when you could have just taken us back to the town?"

Vincent responded, "There were too many condemning factors in the town. Mainly, none of us were wearing clothes. Although I ran out of camera view before shifting, It is likely someone found my clothes and alerted the police. They definitely would have taken my wallet and identification.”

“Lastly, do you have any idea how difficult it would be for a grown man without clothes or money to find somewhere to stay with two minors, one of whom was unconscious?"

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Tom figured that was pretty good reasoning on Vincent's part and Arthur asked, "Wait, how did you know where this place was?"

The man smiled responding, "These locations were set up sometime in the fifties or sixties. They were meant as a safe house for those in need. They constantly project a signal I can pick up on thanks to special training."

"And this is the same training we will receive if we go with you?" Arthur asked.

Vincent nodded and Arthur continued saying, "And this is going to be a free experience?"

Vincent responded in a calm tone, "Usually no, but I believe an exception can be made. One of the headmaster's sayings is that a loose end can fray even the strongest rope, and we do not want you both to become loose ends in our system."

Arthur looked to Tom who nodded and they both walked over to a corner, lowering their voices to a whisper. "Tom this is our best chance at getting a quality education for dirt cheap."

Tom laughed saying, "How do you know this is a quality education?"

Arthur sighed and said, "Community colleges don't send people to hunt down possible students and besides these guys are like us. We can probably learn something from this place. More than that, this sounds like a place we won’t have to worry about moving around. Maybe we can stay somewhere for years instead of weeks."

Tom responded, "How do you know this guy is not the type of person we've been trying to avoid? You basically freaked out when you first saw him."

Arthur shook his head and said, "I get what you're saying, but I overreacted when I saw him. He does give me this weird predator-prey vibe, but after listening, I think he’s telling the truth.”

“Besides I only know what my mom told me years ago. Maybe things have changed and we don't have to worry now. It’s also possible we can learn to protect ourselves and not have to worry about moving at all."

Tom sighed, "You're way too trusting dude, but fine I'll risk it with you.”

After a few more moments of debate, both nodded before returned to where they had stood before.

Arthur spoke up saying, "We thank you for this opportunity and graciously accept."

Vincent grinned saying, "I'm glad to hear that. Now, the next step is reaching the school. It is a few hundred miles north of here and the fastest way to get there is by flight. I only worry about your ability to make the trip Arthur. Will you be alright?"

Arthur responded, "I think I just pushed myself too far earlier. I should be fine from here onward."

Vincent continued saying, "Just to be safe, We should stay here for another twenty-four hours. I'm surprised you are even awake after five hours of sleep considering you used all your energy, Arthur. I want to make sure both of you are at peak condition for this trip."

Both Arthur and Tom sighed at the idea of staying in a dusty old bunker for another day, but grinned as they realized the room still had cabinets that were not explored.

Vincent sat down at the table while Arthur and Tom looked around the room in hopes of finding something entertaining.

After a few minutes of searching, Arthur yelled out, "Hey this one is full of classic books. These are all originals!"

"Only you would be excited about books” Tom sighed before opening a box and exclaiming, "Sweet! A pistol."

Vincent immediately spoke up, "Please do not play with the firearms!"

Tom put the box back and Arthur exclaimed, "Hey this one has cards and a chess set."

Tom responded, "I’m fine with cards."

Arthur looked over to Vincent and asked, "Want to play?"

Vincent shrugged his shoulders and responded, "Sure. Why not."

All three sat down at the table before Tom asked, "So what are we playing: Blackjack, Egyptian Rat Screw, Speed, War, Spoons, Old maid, Rummy, Moi or BS?"

"The only games I recognized from that list were War and Old maid" Vincent replied.

Arthur and Tom stared at him blankly before Tom suggested, "Let's just teach him BS. It's easy enough."

Arthur agreed and Tom continued saying, "Okay so the point of the game is to get rid of all of your cards. You do this by placing down a card every time it is your turn.”

“For example, I could play a three then Arthur could play a four and then you would play a five. You can put down as many cards as you want.”

“The game is tricky because you need to lie sometimes when you don't have the right card. If it was my turn and I need to place a three but don't have a three, then I would play a different card and say, 'one three'.”

“As we play, the pile of cards will get progressively larger. After someone has played a card, you are able to call them out and see if they played the card they said they placed.”

“And all you have to do to call them out is yell..." Arthur cut Tom off saying, "All you have to do is say BS.” Tom glared at Arthur before passing out the cards and starting the game.