"What the hell happened to you!?" Lydia screams—an expected reaction from her seeing Reed's bruised face. Gabriel, Mabel, and Illia all come running from the commotion.
"Oh my God!" Mabel shrieks. She clasps her hands around Reed's face to inspect the damage.
"What happened?" Gabriel asks, getting the obvious questions out of the way.
"I got in a fight..." Reed admits bemoaningly.
"A fight!? With who?"
"Some guy at school..."
Niel chooses not to speak up. The adults decide to treat first and question later, so they whisk Reed upstairs for first aid. Lydia, however, wants answers now.
"Did you see what happened?" she asks Niel.
"Yeah. He got in a fight," Niel answers monotonously.
"Okay, but what happened? Who was he fighting with? Do you know why he was fighting?"
"I saw him fighting and I fought the attacker, it was—"
"Hold on, you got involved?"
"Yes. I knocked him down and we ran off."
"Oh my God..." Lydia takes a few steps in place as she processes the information. "Okay, who was the guy? And why?"
"Somebody that goes to the same school as you. He took Reed's phone to lure him away to fight. Reed said they have history."
"History? Wait, no... Oh my God, Reed! You told me he was leaving you alone!" Lydia screams under her breath. She then storms up the stairs, leaving Niel and Illia alone.
A worried Illia points to Niel, then makes two gestures with her hand.
"I'm not following."
She crooks her finger in the shape of the letter 'R', points at Niel again, then signs with her hand again. The first sign has her cupping her hand into an 'O' shape so he assumes it's supposed to mean that, but he's unsure of what the second one with three outstretched fingers could mean. Maybe a 'K'?
"Am I... okay?" Niel guesses.
Illia nods her head in confirmation. He was right.
"I'm unharmed."
Niel and Illia can hear voices upstairs, and Niel can't help but shy away to the kitchen with Poppy. Illia ends up following him not too long after. Eventually, the others return to the kitchen, and a quiet and awkward supper is had.
While waiting for Illia to finish showering, Niel listens to the commotion down below. He can't fully make out what is being said, but he hears Gabriel talking rather loudly. A scan of Dust shows him talking on the phone with only Mabel nearby. Reed is lying in his bed. Niel doesn't fully understand the severity of the situation, but he knows at least that what happened today was a big deal. Perhaps it would be best to limit these kinds of interactions in the future.
As he's brushing his teeth, Mabel knocks against the open bathroom door to get his attention.
"Niel?" she says, "What happened earlier today?"
He doesn't entirely understand why she's asking him this, as she should already know the story from Reed. Nonetheless, he spits out the toothpaste and answers honestly.
"I found Reed in a fight with someone, so I attacked them and ran away with him."
"But, how did you know where he was? Or did you just find him accidentally?"
"Yesterday, I saw that he had an injury on his side, so I tagged him with a tracker this morning and followed it to him."
"Tracker?"
"My Dust."
Is there anything his Mute can't do? Mabel thinks. "Thank you for looking out for him, but you should have come to Gabriel or me first. And... getting into a fight like that can get you in big trouble."
Niel doesn't say anything. Instead, he closes his arms to his chest and shifts his gaze downwards.
"I'll be more careful," Niel says after a bout of silence.
A while later, Niel reflects on the day as he lays in bed, Illia's kalimba chiming from across the floor. Reed's words and feelings from before... They stir inside him. Feeling like you don't have a future, it's not wholly unfamiliar to him. And about not being able to save everyone—
An excruciating thought. Niel tenses up in recoil, his back arched, and he's left feeling breathless.
>>>>>>
"There's no school today?" Niel questions.
"No, because it's the weekend," Lydia explains.
"Yeah. We get to relax today," Reed adds, though without his usual energy. His face has swelled slightly since yesterday, and darker bruises plaster his skin.
"Don't forget about our plans with Clara today!" Mabel reminds, almost giddily.
"Right. Where are we going again?" Lydia asks.
"That's still a surprise!"
Niel bites down on a slice of toast to help chew and swallow up a particularly fatty piece of bacon. He takes stock of the situation; they're all going on a trip today, the location is being kept secret, and they'll be leaving shortly before three. He can't stop the distinct feeling of dread from building in his gut.
"What time will we be back?" Reed asks.
"Sometime around six," Mabel answers.
"Pizza for supper?"
"Pizza for supper!"
The other kids' faces light up at that revelation, but Niel is left clueless. Illia notices Niel's blank expression, leading Reed to notice as well.
"Never heard of pizza before?" Reed asks.
Niel shakes his head.
"It's food. You'll like it."
"Kinda hard to think about food right now after eating breakfast," Lydia says.
"Are you full already?"
"Yeah."
"I'm glad my cooking fills you up!" Poppy joyfully exclaims.
Some time passes after breakfast, and with three o'clock slowly closing in, Gabriel calls for everyone to start getting ready—specifically instructing them to change into flexible clothing. Niel is the first done, only needing to collect his wallet at Gabriel's suggestion, followed by Reed, then Illia.
"Heyo, I'm here!" a familiar voice calls from the foyer. Clara leans out into view, trying to be seen while also keeping her shoed feet planted on the foyer's mat.
"Hey, Clara. We're almost ready to go, just waiting on Mabel and Lydia," Gabriel says, surrounded by Niel, Reed, and Illia in the living room.
"Okay, no worries!"
"It's just Lydia now," Mabel says as she steps down the last stair.
"Lydia! Hurry up!" Reed shouts up the stairs. Niel can hear the tardy girl shout something back, but what she said precisely eludes him.
Another three minutes pass, and with no sign of Lydia still, Reed gives up on waiting and climbs the stairs to retrieve her. At first, there's some knocking, then some shouting, and then Lydia finally makes her appearance at Reed's (forceful) behest.
"I got the slowpoke!" Reed declares triumphantly while Lydia grumbles angrily.
Niel and Illia don't voice their relief, but they immediately get up to put their shoes on at the announcement. Mabel, Gabriel, and Clara give a slight chuckle and follow suit.
With just enough room in the SUV, they drive out to a part of the city Niel has not been to yet and pull into a small, nearly vacant parking lot. In front of them is a building labelled 'New Heights'.
"We're here!" Clara announces as she opens one of the car's doors.
"And what's here?" Lydia asks.
"You'll see once we're inside," Gabriel says.
Lydia is tired of this beating-around-the-bush, and she makes it known with an audible sigh.
The purpose of the building becomes apparent to three of the four kids as they all step inside. Surprisingly, it's Illia who isn't in the know.
"Oh, it's a rock-climbing place," Reed comments, causing Illia to tilt her head in confusion.
"You climb the walls here—for exercise I assume," Niel explains to her.
"Hey, you actually know?" Reed says.
"Yes. It's one of the ways they "trained" me... at least until we learned I can Shadow Dive up walls."
"You can do that?" Lydia questions.
"Yes. I'm not doing it here."
"I don't think you'd be allowed to anyway," Reed says.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Before they can get to climbing any walls though, they have to switch out their footwear for rental climbing shoes and equip small harnesses, the latter of which the workers assist the kids and Clara in putting on. Reed says the harness feels like a diaper. The harnesses are tightened and the shoes are snug—so snug that Lydia complains several times about them being too small. She's told they're supposed to feel a size too small because tighter-fitting shoes help you feel the wall better.
Next, they're given a brief tour of the building, including where the rope climbing walls and bouldering walls (shorter walls that can be climbed without a belay) are located. The plain white walls are covered with shapes of different sizes and colours, and some are skewed in different angles to provide a challenge. Many of the rope climbing walls are similar in height and width and are set up in neat columns, while the angled walls are kept further away. The bouldering walls are wide, less than half as short, and have their own section with a thicker crash mat underneath. It's not a crowd, but a few people come and go at their climbing leisure.
After that, they're told how the belays work and how to attach and detach themselves from one. Niel is the first one up, and with some assistance, he's hooked in and can begin his climb up the 10-metre-tall wall, though instead of climbing as far as he's able to, he's instructed to go only three metres up and let go on purpose to learn how it feels to fall. As soon as he lets go, the belay goes taught and he's lowered safely to the ground automatically. The others repeat this a few times as well, some braver to let go than others.
Once training is complete, they're all let go to freely climb. Niel, Reed, and Clara continue to climb the rope walls, but Illia and Lydia disengage and sit back with Mabel and Gabriel—Illia being too nervous and Lydia wanting to protect her nails. Clara is either familiar with the sport, or just has great arm and leg strength because she scales both the flat and angled walls with ease. Reed, on the other hand, slips and falls a lot.
"Hey Reed, here's some advice," Clara calls over to him. "Push yourself up with your legs more than you pull yourself up—you'll tire out less often by doing that. And keep your arms as straight as you can when you're not using them so you don't wear them out as fast."
"Okay!" he calls back. While he doesn't get much farther than previous attempts, he does notice a difference.
Niel watches on from across the way. The advice sounds useful, and he never had to ask for it, either. He employs it himself and he also notices improvement, though if he were in a scenario where he had to climb and couldn't Shadow Dive, he'd use his own method. Using his Dust, he can create hooked platforms that his fingers lay on, artificially increasing their strength whilst allowing him to cling onto small holds with ease. He would also combine this with Dust around his elbows and knees for extra pulling/pushing force, with the result being him flying up the walls. Not only would employing this here draw suspicion, but if he doesn't have to use his Dust, he won't.
After enough rope climbing, Niel and Reed eventually shift over to the bouldering wall instead, picking up the girls along the way. Illia is still too timid to climb. Lydia however gives it a try, though not for long out of fear for her nails. But while she hangs back with Illia (again) and watches the boys climb and fall, she notices something.
"What's that on your arm?" Lydia asks Niel. He looks down at her from two metres up, and he chooses to just jump down instead of carrying a conversation clinging to the wall.
"My arm?" Niel questions as he approaches her. Reed, Illia, and their curiosity aren't too far behind.
"Yeah. Did you do something to it?"
With no one to bring it up and the last week being distracting, their existence had slipped his mind. Long white lines run down the tops of his forearms—not difficult to spot if you know they're there, but easily missable if not.
"Scars?" Reed questions.
"Yes. To keep up performance in the lab, I used to scratch myself," Niel explains.
"Were you that itchy or something?"
"It wasn't to scratch an itch. The pain of the scratches would keep me agitated and conscious."
"It's always something depressing..." Lydia mutters under her breath. However, it wasn't quiet enough for Niel not to hear.
"You did ask me what was on my arms."
Lydia sighs. "I know."
The rest of their time climbing goes well, but a change in atmosphere was felt strongly by the kids, resulting in a less enjoyable time there. With growing stomachs, they all leave the rock climbing gym and get back on the road to pick up supper.
"We already ordered it, so we can pick it up as soon as we get there," Gabriel says.
"Awesome, thank you," Lydia says hungrily.
"Thank you," Niel echoes, copying Lydia as he assumes it's proper etiquette if she's saying it.
Niel doesn't recognize the area they've stopped in, but it isn't too far away from the climbing place. Mabel disappears inside a small building for a minute and re-emerges with three thin boxes in her hands. As soon as she plops into her seat, a delicious scent wafts from the boxes and throughout the car. Niel can practically hear the others salivating.
"I have pepperoni, three meat, and supreme; who wants what?" Mabel asks behind her.
"Supreme," Lydia says.
"Three meat!" Reed says.
Illia raises a single finger for the first option.
"Supreme as well!" Clara adds.
After Mabel takes a slice for her and Gabriel, she hands all three boxes back to Clara, who then takes her share and passes the boxes around. Niel isn't sure what to have.
"Why don't you try pepperoni to start, Niel?" Clara suggests.
"Okay."
Illia passes a box over her shoulder to Niel sitting behind her, taking great care to not drop it. He opens it once he receives it and observes the contents.
"All you gotta do is rip off a slice and chow down!" Reed says while chewing, though making sure to keep most of the pizza in his cheeks when he does so.
Niel does as directed, grabbing a slice one-eighth of the pizza's size by the crust and hauling it away from the whole. Gooey cheese is left bridging the gap by strands, but they soon give way as well. Niel also copies how Reed and Lydia were eating theirs. Several unfamiliar flavours bombard his taste buds, and the cheese is as malleable as it looks.
"Good, huh?" Reed says.
"Yes," Niel responds plainly. While his answer is simple, his word is genuine.
>>>>>>
Despite breakfast not being due for another two hours, Niel gets out of bed and changes. While washing his hands, his attention is drawn to his arms. On one side, his skin is scarred from tears and rips—and on the other side, it's smooth and free of blemishes, but it's not his skin. He runs a damp hand over both, taking in how they feel against his fingertips, and he sighs. The Warden's Key flickers. He dries off and makes his way downstairs.
"Morning, Niel. You're up early again," Gabriel greets.
"Morning!" Mabel and Poppy echo.
"Uh, morning," Niel responds with a tad of confusion, as Gabriel and Mabel are still in their pyjamas. Poppy is fully dressed, though. "Why are you in..."
"It's still the weekend! It's okay to still be in your pyjamas for a little while!" Mabel exclaims explanatorily.
"I... see."
Across the way, Niel watches Poppy retrieve a medium-sized plastic bowl. If it were supper, he wouldn't think much of it, but he hasn't seen her use a bowl like that for breakfast before. Instead of asking what she's doing, he drifts closer, silently observing as she gathers ingredients.
"Oh!" Poppy squeaks in surprise upon noticing how close Niel has suddenly gotten. "Would you like to help me?"
"Okay. What are you making?"
"Some dough for something special: toutons!"
"...What?"
"Pan-friend dough," she explains as she gathers ingredients. "It's a Newfie staple."
"Right, you have family from Newfoundland, don't you Poppy?" Mabel says.
"Yep!"
Niel doesn't know what or where that is, but for fear of sounding like a Reed-nagging two-year-old, Niel refrains from asking yet another question.
"So, we'll be following this recipe here," Poppy explains as she shows Niel the sheet of paper. Niel can understand the ingredients and the numbers, but things like 'tsp' is an unknown to him.
"When you cook, you follow a recipe like this one. It tells you the ingredients, how much of each to use, and sometimes directions on how you should mix them and how long to cook," Poppy explains further as she washes her hands.
"There aren't any directions," Niel observes.
"Nope, but I know what to do! We'll walk through what we need, you'll put it in the bowl for me, and I'll mix it all together, okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay! So first, we need two cups of flour." Poppy grabs a white plastic measuring cup from the counter and hands it to Niel. "Scoop out some flour with that and fill it to the brim!"
Unsure if he's doing it right, he dips the measuring cup into the small bag of flour and hauls some out. He shakes the cup a bit to dump out extra flour so the cup is filled almost perfectly.
"Perfect! Now dump it in the bowl and fill the cup again!"
Niel does as instructed again, this time speedier and with more confidence. Mabel and Gabriel watch on in glee like two proud parents watching their child learn.
"Now we need some sugar. In that set of spoons, find the one that says '1 tsp.'"
Niel picks the set of measuring spoons up off of the counter and flips through them. The one Poppy wants is found near the bottom, and he unhooks it from the ring.
"Good! 'Tsp' is short for teaspoon, while 'tbsp' is short for tablespoon," Poppy explains, emphasizing the 'b' in the second abbreviation.
"I see," Niel responds. Using the spoon, he scoops some sugar into the mixing bowl, followed shortly by some yeast from a red and white bag.
"And now we need half a teaspoon of salt!"
The math lessons with Ms. Louise come into use as Niel identifes the right spoon based on the fraction labelled. He scoops out the right amount of salt and adds it to the bowl.
"And lastly, a tablespoon of oil!"
Niel picks out the largest spoon of the set, and with Poppy's help, measures out a tablespoon of canola oil. With Niel's role concluded, Poppy takes the lead and adds water to their mixture, followed by her stirring it all together with her hands to make the dough. She folds the dough over itself again and again, much to Niel's confusion. Once done, she sets it aside to let it rise.
"Thanks for the help! Now, how about some breakfast?"
"Yes, please."
Poppy swiftly whips up breakfast for the hungry boy. He watches every step of the process; how she cracks the egg over the frying pan, how she cooks the bacon in the small countertop oven, how she spreads butter over a slice of toast, and how she keeps an eye on the frying dough. Each bit of food eventually finds its way on his plate, including a newly made touton fresh off the pan. Per her recommendation, he cuts it lengthwise and fills it with butter and syrup. It's quite delicious for something so simple.
Almost two hours pass after this, and while Niel sits on the couch spinning a pencil in his fingers, a thumping from the second floor brings his attention to the stairs.
"Morning!" Reed calls out as he descends to the first floor.
"Morning," Niel echoes from the couch. He quickly notices something about Reed, and it isn't the bruising on his face. "You're still in your pyjamas?"
"Yep! It's still the weekend! It's okay to still be in your pyjamas for a little while!"
Niel can see where he gets it from.
Trotting down the stairs behind him is Lydia, also in her pyjamas. Behind her is Illia, who is surprisingly fully dressed. While she waves good morning, she notices that Niel is dressed, too.
At least I'm not the only one, Niel thinks.
After breakfast and once everyone is dressed and doing their own thing, Gabriel approaches a bored Niel with a suggestion.
"Hey, Niel? We're going out to the store to pick up groceries. Want to come with us? I can show you how to use your debit card," Gabriel says.
"Okay," Niel responds, despite not knowing what groceries are. He takes his wallet, and he, Gabriel, and Mabel all step through the front door and into the car.
"Are the others not coming with us?" Niel questions.
"Nah. Reed and Lydia don't want to go, and Illia's helping Poppy with supper."
"Supper? Already?"
"We'll be having supper at the usual time, it's just that what we're having for supper needs a little extra time to prepare," Mabel explains.
"We're also missing a few things that Poppy needs, so we're going out to grab them for her," Gabriel adds.
"I see," Niel says.
When they arrive, Niel recognizes the supermarket as the one they went to on his second day at the home. They pull into a parking spot close to the building and make their way inside. Gabriel takes a basket instead of a cart this time around.
"If you want, you can go look around the store and see if anything's interesting to you," Gabriel suggests, knowing the chances of Niel getting lost are slim with his Dust. "If you find something, bring it back to us, and I'll show you how to buy it."
"Okay."
Not knowing where he should go, Niel picks a random direction and strikes out on his own. Outside of being in his room at night, this is one of only two times that he's been on his own since living at the home. This feeling is a lot different than when he went looking for Reed; not only is this a more personal and selfish expedition, but the closer quarters make him feel uneasy when a stranger walks by. He instinctively pulls his hand over the Warden's Key hidden underneath his shirt.
Niel finds himself looking at clothes, strolling through aisles of frozen goods, and gazing at various toys, but nothing piques his interest. However, while examining small boxes containing smaller collectable figures, Niel takes notice of someone familiar behind him—and that someone recognizes him, too.
"You..." Reed's bully hisses.
Rather than turning around, the two of them keep their back to each other and look over their shoulders. He wasn't able to properly observe him in his fit of rage, but Niel sees that he has green eyes, hair that's longer than his but shorter than Reed's, and he's almost a full head taller than Niel. He guesses from the uniform and name tag that the bully works here, but he isn't able to read the latter with his eyes nor his Dust. Much like Reed, several bruises coat his face—Niel feels a twisted sense of pride at this.
Niel grunts and looks back at the cubes in front of him, but he keeps his Dust trained on the bully's every move.
"What kind of shit fate put us here?" the bully grumbles to himself, though loudly enough for Niel to easily hear.
"Nobody's asking you to stay," Niel says.
"Are you looking for a fight?"
"No, but there's an alley close by. We can go there if you'd like."
The bully scoffs. "You're a lot more willing to fight than Reed."
"Because Reed's nice. So nice that he'll try to help someone even if they're pointing a gun at him."
"I'd like to see that happen."
"I've seen it with my own eyes."
"Sure you have."
"I have—because I was the one holding the gun."
Niel doesn't turn around, but he sees through his Dust that the bully has. His face is furrowed with some kind of alien expression—some drawn-out cross between confusion and consideration. Niel isn't sure. It could be a look of 'I don't believe that for a second' for all he knows. Regardless, with nothing else to keep his attention here, Niel walks off to follow the Dust tracker back to Mabel and Gabriel.