Roar of Dragons

[Luke – 13 years]

"It was an incredibly awesome vacation, Parker!" I tell Parker as we get into Mom's car. "I met these other kids there and we were able to talk about some advanced magical stuff, which is rare for me to find. I was kind of sad to have to leave to help Mom with the work stuff last night but it was still fun. Especially discussing Nabdioak's theory of intertwined magic with Tyler. Oh! He was this really awesome guy, but I doubt we'll stay in touch. I do have his number, though. And Colby's and Emma's, too. But it's not like any of my vacation friends every stay in touch. I'll try until they quit, they were fun to talk to. Tyler comes from a family of monster hunters and is pretty cool. He was showing me some of his moves yesterday and I even fought a little bit, though that turned into us wrestling around in the sand, which led to another issue. Fortunately, a bit of lightning magic was able to get the sand off of us. It was pretty funny, seeing his hair stick up from the static."

"You did remember to have him drain his magic first, right?" Parker asks Mom.

He's annoyed, too? I guess he's finally given up on dealing with my babbling tendency. I didn't even realize that I was babbling and he just went straight to asking Mom about draining my magic.

"We did," Mom tells him. "He's almost completely empty. However, he's apparently eaten half a gallon of ice cream already so he's hyped up on sugar. No amount of draining his magical energy can fix that."

"Uh…" Parker gives me a slightly bothered look. "Do you think it's a good idea to be around Xander? He's probably going to get jumpy around you if you're babbling… why did you eat ice cream so early when you were going over? And how come you didn't invite me?"

"The ice cream was an accident," I tell him. "And I can avoid babbling as much… I think. Xander's pretty blunt about it when I talk too much so I'll have an easier time."

I don't think Xander knows that he's coming off as rude with his bluntness, but he does apologize after because he thinks he's in trouble. It's kind of amusing but mostly concerning. At least he tries to be nice about it. We'll never be friends because I'm too much for him, but I'm glad to be able to help him.

"How was eating half a gallon of ice cream before eight in the morning an accident?"

"I haven't slept yet and didn't realize it was morning and ate it to try and stay awake."

"Just drink coffee like a normal person," Parker holds up his travel cup of coffee.

"I don't think that much coffee is healthy for you."

"Says the guy who eats half a gallon of ice cream for breakfast."

"I had a potato hash dish with fruit for breakfast," I tell him. "Also some extra bacon on the side."

"You're not helping your case," Parker says.

"Oh! Speaking of cases!" I pull out my phone. "Check out the new case for my phone. I got it while on break. The other one was fine, but I like this one better."

My old case was black and yellow with gold and silver lightning patterns on it. This one is more plain than that and primarily black, but does have a small hellhound on the case. It's a handmade case that's made out of two materials, one of them is a gel-like material and the other is a plastic-like material, both made using natural resources from the island. The softer material slips around the phone, then the harder one 'snaps' into that to help hold it into place but also add a harder shell with some gaps in the sides to expose the softer one for grip.

"It's made by one of the island's natives," I tell him. "Not at a tourist shop but an actual proper shop there. Tyler and I found it while we were hanging out after Colby and Emma had to go to their families for stuff yesterday, before I went to the portal center for a quick return. When the island was first settled, the settlers discovered that there was a nest of hellhounds there and had to battle them to survive. Now, they have a few different symbols of their victory over the monsters and the image on here is one of them. I like it. Might change it up soon, I don't seem to be too comfortable with things too often. This outfit style is already starting to not really feel right. Been enough time for me to get a proper feel for it. Anyway, Tyler and I were talking with the woman who made the case and she grows some of the materials she uses for her goods herself, but it's all locally-sourced. Oh! Here's a picture of Tyler!"

I show him a picture that I took of Tyler and me before I had to leave, one arm across the other's shoulders. We're both wet as we'd just gotten out of the ocean right before the picture was taken. Parker makes a weird face and I swipe over to show him the next picture, which is us making goofy faces.

"You really had fun on your vacation, didn't you?" He asks.

"Yeah!" I answer. "On my first day there…"

I tell Parker more about my trip on the very short drive over to Xander's and when we arrive, we're allowed inside and so make our way to the classroom. Xander's peeking into it from outside, the door barely cracked open.

"Hi, Xander," I whisper in an attempt to not startle him.

"Hi," Xander whispers back, my attempt successful. "Welcome back from your trip."

"Thanks," I whisper back to him. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to arrive," he whispers back. "So that I'm not in there alone with Mr. Massey. Did you bring donuts?"

"Yes," I whisper. "Also a present for you from my trip. I can show you after the first class ends, when you put your packet in your room."

"Okay."

"Why are we whispering?" Parker whispers. "And I'm the one with the donuts. And the cheesecake."

"Cheesecake?" Xander doesn't whisper as he looks over. "You put it in your backpack?"

"Ms. Katie took it to put in the fridge while we're in class," Parker tells him. "Luke asked me to bring it as an apology to you. From him, I mean. He feels bad about abandoning you like that."

"Oh," Xander shifts uncomfortably. "That's okay. I asked someone else. He came to the classes for the last few days."

"One of the boys from the home?"

"Someone else," Xander turns around and opens the door. "Come on in."

Xander seems… more comfortable than he did before my sudden vacation. Did something happen while I was gone? Does it have to do with the person he invited over to help with things while I was away?

The beanbags are rearranged from the setup we had last week, with Xander's green one in its usual spot but a blue one to its left, where the yellow one I use normally sits, and the blue one that Parker uses isn't in its spot. Ours are moved back a little, indicating that it was probably just the one kid Xander mentioned who came over to be the other kid here for the lessons.

"Morning, boys," Mr. Massey greets us.

"Morning," Xander responds.

"Hi, Mr. Massey!" I wave to Mr. Massey.

"Hello," Parker greets the teacher.

Xander sits down on his beanbag while Parker and I move ours back into their spots. There's a backpack sitting beside Xander's beanbag, no doubt containing whatever snacks he decided to bring for today.

Mr. Massey does a review test for us today to see how much we retained from last week's lesson in Social Studies. Parker and I already did this class a few years ago but we didn't remember everything from it so it was more like a refresher course for us.

I think Xander hates Social Studies as a class type entirely. He seemed more frustrated during it last week and this week than I remember him being for any other class.

"Okay," Mr. Massey says after he reviews the test. "Xander, I'm going to dim the lights a little."

Xander gives a shaky nod, then Mr. Massey gets up and goes to the door to dim the lights. He returns to the front of the room and pulls down a roll-able video screen that definitely wasn't there last week. It's similar to the blank white canvas-style things used for projectors for normal schools but is magical and actually a durable piece of magitech. It can be used to play videos, slideshows, or whatever. Depending on how advanced it is, it's also a touchscreen and a stylus can be used

"That's new."

"Mr. Trey had it installed last night," Xander tells me. "To allow for visual aids as well."

"Today's lesson is going to be on the history of North America," Mr. Massey tells us. "Xander, how much do you know about the history of people on this continent? As in, the origins of society and such?"

"Um… people crossed the Burger Straight lots of thousands of years ago," Xander screws up his face in thought and I have to try really hard not to giggle at his mistake. "And then they had to teach the Cumulonimbus guy how to use magic and he and his people taught them how to make weapons like guns."

How does Xander know 'cumulonimbus'?

"Close but far," Mr. Massey says. "That's a good try though, Xander. It's the Bering Straight and Curuborm. We'll be covering a lot of ground today, so don't forget to take notes."

Xander nods and prepares some papers for taking notes, then poises a pencil and looks up at the teacher again.

"We aren't entirely sure when they started to," Mr. Massey says as he makes a swiping motion at the screen, and a map that shows the Bering Straight shows up on the screen. "But it's generally accepted that somewhere around one hundred and fifty to one hundred thousand years ago, people began to cross the Bering Straight over into what is now Alaska and Canada, stopping around twenty thousand years ago."

Mr. Massey goes into a decent amount of detail for Xander, though I'm sure most of it goes in one ear and out the other. This class seems to confuse him more than anything, but at least he still puts in some effort.

The original settlers took up residence in the northern part of the continent. They attempted to move further south, to what are now the United States of America, but found themselves unable to because of the high amount of powerful monsters.

Over time, the settlers and their descendants adapted to their land, which resulted in two primary 'clan types'.

There were the Zrebzial, who had brown eyes, dark brown hair, and fair skin. While they lived in colder areas, it was also more forested for them. They had stockier builds and sturdier bodies, adapted to the colder weather of the northern forests and tundras.

Then there were the Kenzibri, who lived in the mountains of North America, in the more northern sections, as well as the colder tundras and frost plains. Their hair paled and they developed the blue eye mutation separately from the one which developed in Europe. Though they were slender in build, they still built muscle easily enough and were a strong, hardy people.

"You're Kenzibri," Mr. Massey tells Xander. "Maybe fully, maybe partially, but there's a whole-blooded one in the last few generations or so for you. It's easy to tell by the structure of your face that you have Kenzibri blood in your veins.

"Most people in North America," Mr. Massey continues. "Have strong native blood, whether it's Zrebzial, Kenzibri, Volmezia, or a mixture of the three. However, most don't lay claim to that ancestry anymore. It has some dilution from immigration, but it doesn't matter too much. The reason for the lack of claim to it is because over the last six hundred years or so, they essentially started interbreeding and society changed, on top of some immigrants that came over from Europe. Yes, Xander?"

"What are the Volmezia?" Xander asks with a frown as he puts down his hand. "You, um… you didn't mention them. You said two tribes. I think."

"That comes next," Mr. Massey tells Xander. "Two thousand years ago, a Zrebzial tribe got chased south by a group of monsters they couldn't handle. Unusual for that area and they were simply trying to survive. The clans were already nomadic, so they didn't have strong defenses and at the time, no human knew magic… or so everyone thought.

"They were chased into what is now Montana and Tazralz," Mr. Massey continues as a map of the continent appears on the screen. "To this spot here."

He makes a circular motion near the northern end of Tazralz, not far from where we are depending on how one looks at things. It's about three hours north of here since we're at the southern end of the state, though it's still in the mountains like we are.

"They reached here," Mr. Massey tells Xander. "And found themselves rescued by a man they initially thought was Kenzibri, but one dressed oddly. A man with hair as fair as the sun and eyes the blue-grey of the ocean with a touch of green mixed into them. How he saved them was strange to them, as he used a weapon they hadn't. The clans used spears and bows to hunt… and he used magic, a power something only fauna and flora had wielded to their knowledge.

"That was Adrian King," Mr. Massey says. "He claimed to be from a land called 'Lumaria', though it isn't one which any can find, even now. It was he who taught mankind how to use magic, educating the tribes in the art. Adrian King had lived in that area for a long time, though no one knows for sure how long and he's never said. All he would say is that his people no longer exist."

The lesson continues on and I can see that Xander is struggling to take notes. I'm pretty sure we still have my notes from this class in storage, so if I can find them, I'll offer them to him.

Adrian taught not just that tribe how to use magic, but each of the tribes of both clans. Some of them then migrated further south, into the Great Plains and the hot deserts of North America, continuing their lives as nomads. They were the Volmezia, who developed black hair, dark brown eyes, and tan skin as adaptations over time.

With the clans – now three instead of two – able to wield magic and combat monsters more easily, their own societies began to grow and flourish. They eventually stopped nomadic lives and started to build more permanent settlements. Some of their advancements included figuring out how to make magic weapons, so their weaker members would use spears and bows and arrows that were magic instead of ordinary ones to fight monsters while their mages would simply use magic directly.

The way their society was going, they would probably have taken thousands of more years to develop something like a proper gun, or ships which could sail across the oceans. However, they were no longer tribal nations but countries.

That future of their technological advancement changed with the arrival of Mitchell Curuborm, who discovered the Americas in 1492.

Europe had some better technology and mundane weapons than North America did, but North America had magic and knowledge of how to make magic items. Combined, they were able to create more stable settlements on both continents and even the southern portion of North America, as well as Central America and South America, were eventually settled.

Even though the rest of the world has had magic for around five centuries now, North America remains the leader in it simply because by the time the east met the west, the clans were pretty heavily magical. Everyone could use magic and was trained in it, and it takes time for bloodlines to build up magical power.

On top of that, not everyone uses magic even among the descendants of the clans, and things like that or diluting bloodlines resulted in weakened magical inheritances. However, the average American and Canadian mage is still stronger than the average mage from anywhere else. There is simply more in the gene pool than in the rest of the world.

"That's one of the reasons why no one messed with us during the two World Wars," I tell Xander. "Back when the Europeans started immigrating into the Americas, it was along the eastern coast but also into the central and southern parts of the Americas, so their influence is stronger there. Especially down south. So Canada and the US remained stronger as a whole.'

"During the wars," I continue. "When the Brazilian Empire, Kingdom of Central Africa, and various other countries went to war, they avoided messing with the original mages. Part of that was fear that if the US and Canada got involved, so would Adrian in order to ensure his family's safety. Part of it was because our mages were simply better and there was no guarantee their weapons would break though.

"During World War II," I continue. "The US government actually got concerned someone would try to draw us in despite our desire to stay out and despite the fear of Adrian King. So they started a secret project that got revealed when they tested it on some uninhabited island. They developed nuclear bombs. Strangely enough, the war coming to a complete end within the next month had absolutely nothing to do with that according to the other governments."

Xander's staring at me in confusion.

"What's confusing you, Xander?" Mr. Massey asks.

"Um…"

"Most of North America," Mr. Massey says. "Had strong magical inheritances compared to outside of there. Even when outsiders mingled in and produced heirs with the natives, those children were taught magic early on in this part of history. If the average person outside of it had, say, five to seven magical power, then the average person inside had eight to twelve. Example, not actual measures, Xander.

"Because of that," he continues. "While the rest of the world went to war, the US and Canada stayed out of it and no one really wanted to try and bring them in. Our mages had genetically superior magical bases. They were concerned that if we entered, then whichever side we picked would ultimately win as a result. On top of that, we had – and still have – Adrian King, the mage who's lived for thousands of years and taught mankind how to wield magic. No one really knows the extent of his magical power. Do you follow this so far?"

"Yes," Xander answers.

"That's the important part," Mr. Massey says. "Though it's not too relevant to the discussion. We'll cover the World Wars in another lesson. It's time for a break. Take five to stretch your legs, boys."

We all get up and stretch our legs a bit, then open up our backpacks to bring out our snacks. I brought donuts, milk, sugar cookies, baby carrots, celery, ranch, and grapes today. Parker brought chocolate-chip cookies, oatmeal-raisin cookies, sugar cookies, strawberries, and marshmallow rice treats. Xander brought milk, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, chips, pretzels, and fruit salad with a fruit dip.

When class resumes, it's a review of what we learned before it followed by additional information about the important parts of what happened during the history of the clans. This is different from last week, where before and after the short break had focuses on different things each day. Did they decide to screw trying to get Xander fully prepared before school resumes in August and just try to reinforce the lessons for him?

"Xander," I say once the class is over and Xander's getting ready to take his packet up to his room. "Can I come up with you?"

"Yes."

Parker and I head up to Xander's room and I have to resist the urge to check out his closet to see if Trey has bought him anything else to wear since the last time I looked. That would only make Xander more self-conscious, I'm sure, and I don't want to upset him. I want to help him with his fears and make him more comfortable, not less.

When Xander comes out of his office, he stops and stares at me. I hold up the item I'd taken out of my backpack while he was putting his packet away.

It's a hellhound plushie I bought yesterday specifically for Xander. I'm not doing it to win his trust over or anything, I just think it would make him happy and he's definitely a boy who could use such a thing. The plan was always to get him a souvenir from the island since I do that for my friends and family and even if Xander and I will probably never be friends, it doesn't hurt to treat him like one.

"It's for you!" I tell him. "I saw it while Tyler and I were talking about some stuff on the island yesterday – oh! Tyler's just another kid who was there on vacation. I met him and a couple of others and we hung out a ton. Anyway, this is a hellhound plushie and I thought he'd be a fun companion for the other two plushies! Do you want him? I bought Parker and my parents souvenirs, too."

"Um…" Xander shifts uncomfortably, then nods.

I hand him the plushie and he climbs up onto his bed to set it with the three he already has… wait, three? I count the plushies and confirm he has a third one that he didn't have before. It's a grey wolf plushie and the bear is set between it and the lightning wolf plushie I gave him the other day.

"When'd you get the grey one?" I ask. "You didn't have it before, right?"

"Yeah," Xander answers. "I went with Mr. Trey when he went to the store to buy some stuff yesterday and he bought it for me."

"Oh," I say. "That's cool. Hey! I'm not being too hyper for you today, am I? Parker said I'm too hyper."

"No," Parker says. "I said you might scare Xander with how hyper you are. You're always too hyper so that bit doesn't need to be said. It's simply the fact of your existence."

"Wh-hey!"

[Xander – 12 years]

"Hellhounds or elementals?" I ask Luke after we finish lunch.

"Huh?" He gives me a confused look.

No! I wasn't clear enough and messed up! Now he's going to be upset with me for confusing him, isn't he? It's my own fault, too, because I was too nervous about him being mad at me that I didn't even ask the question properly.

"Um…" I look down at my hands as Ms. Katie clears the dishes from the table. "I meant… do you and Parker want to stay and watch a documentary with me? I was thinking about either hellhounds 'cause of the stuffed animal you gave me or elementals 'cause I heard that you fought a lightning elemental and beat it up real bad. S.G. told me."

"S.G.'s the friend you had coming over when we weren't?" Parker asks. "He's a cool dude."

"I-I think he said the same thing about you," I tell him. "I-I don't remember the exact wording but I know he seemed to think you were okay."

"Who's S.G.?" Luke asks.

"A kid from DFMS," Parker tells him. "We weren't friends but he and Connor, his only other friend at the school, were always pretty fun guys to hang around. A bit goofy and often hyper, but pretty nice."

"He only has one friend?" Luke asks.

"No," Parker says. "He has some 'friends' who are just friendly people he hangs out with sometimes, and there's two more kids he hangs out with but they live in Lakeview so go there instead. I've played basketball with them at the park a few times."

S.G. and his friends are at the park right now. He sent me pictures of them playing basketball, with all four of them shirtless. I don't know who the fourth person is as it's not Isaac but I think he's still one of S.G.'s friends.

"Oh, cool," Luke says.

"How'd you meet them?" Parker asks.

This makes me nervous. Does he not want me to be friends with them? That's okay, we aren't friends. I'm too worthless to have any of those and will probably get beaten if I try to make any.

"Bowling alley," I answer. "I go bowling most Tuesdays. Last week, they invited me to bowl with them this week. I didn't, but we did talk while there."

"You bowl?" Luke asks.

"Yeah," I tell him. "But I don't want to bowl with you. Sorry! I-I-I-I didn't-"

"It's cool," Luke says. "I'm just impressed that you bowl. What's your average?"

"Average?"

"Score."

"Do you want to watch a documentary?"

Parker snickers as I hope that Luke doesn't get mad that I'm ignoring his question. If I tell him, he'll accuse me of lying and then not want to come and help me be comfortable during my classes and I'd like someone who can fight elementals around for that. Asking the dork would create complications if he's real but also if he's a hallucination so I don't want to go with him, and I prefer the parts of hanging out with S.G. that aren't for classes. S.G. also doesn't have the skills to defend me like Luke and the dork do.

"I didn't actually kill a lightning elemental," Luke tells me. "It was a weaker one and the fight ended in a draw. Stories like that tend to get exaggerated during re-tellings of it. Let's go with the hellhound documentary! I know a little about them but not too much."

"They're lava wolves."

"I-I know that," Luke snorts.

"Sorry."

"It's cool," he grins. "Where are we watching it?"

"Theater room," I tell him. "But I want to get Trenton first. He likes watching documentaries with me. Also, the hellhound documentary is a little more than two hours long. I forgot to mention that. Sorry. The one about elemnetals is about an hour and forty-one minutes long for the first part and about as long for the second."

It's important to tell them the times in case they have other plans or don't want to sit for a long one. I'm not sure why the documentary about elementals is almost three and a half hours long but it is. I guess there's just a lot of stuff to learn about them.

"We'll meet you in the theater room!" Luke says.

"Xander," Ms. Katie returns to the table. "An additional fridge has been set up in there with some colder snacks as well. I also stocked in some candy in the cabinets just in case you want some."

"T-thank you," I tell her. "I-I don't like candy that much, but maybe Luke and Parker do."

"Do you want me to bring some of the cheesecake to the room?" Ms. Katie asks. "It's plain cheesecake with caramel swirls and chopped pecans. No chocolate."

"Yeah," Parker says. "You said you don't like chocolate so when Luke asked about bringing a cheesecake for you, I made sure it didn't have any."

"Oh," I think for a few moments. "Thank you. And, um… no thank you, Ms. Katie. Cheesecake isn't really movie food to me. Sorry."

Hopefully, that's a good response.

"It's okay," she smiles at me. "Enjoy the movie, Xander."

I'm not sure how to react to that, so I get up and let them know I'm going to go get Trenton. After grabbing my teddy bear, I go to the theater room to find Luke looking at the concessions area and Parker holding him back. It seems like Luke is wanting to go into it and I'm not sure why Parker isn't letting him.

"Hey, Xander," Parker looks over at me. "Keeping Luke from trying to use your popcorn machine. He'd probably break it."

Parker has the right idea. It's rude to go into someone else's house and start using stuff without first making sure it's okay. I'm allowed to use the stuff in here because Mr. Trey said I could and I know that I can share the food and stuff in here if I want to because Mr. Trey said so, but Luke hasn't been given permission. I would probably get into trouble for letting him even though there's not much I could do to stop Luke if he really wanted to.

"Would not!" Luke says.

"Do you want popcorn?" I ask. "I can make some for you if you want. We have different flavor options."

"Sure!" Luke stops struggling against Parker, who lets him go. "Buttery! Extra buttery, please!"

"Do you want popcorn, Parker?" I ask.

"Yes, please," Parker says. "Buttery is fine for me as well."

"Okay," I say. "Um… is it okay if I make mine first? There's only the one machine and if I do buttery first, then the buttery remnants will get on my popcorn if I make it second. Sorry."

I don't know much about hosting other people but I think it's bad to ask to go first instead of your guests.

"That's fine!" Luke says. "You don't like buttery popcorn?"

"I like buttery popcorn."

I start making popcorn, then put in some soft pretzels to warm up and cheese sauce to heat up. The new refrigerator in here also has a freezer, and there are things like pudding and jello in the fridge part and different types of ice cream in the freezer. Some of it is homemade stuff while others aren't. The pudding comes in tubs rather than little individual cups, so I'm sure Ms. Katie made them. The same goes for the jello and some of the ice cream.

Butterscotch pudding?

"It's got a weird flavor," Luke says from where he's wrestling Parker on the ground. "It's definitely a niche taste."

"I don't know what niche means," I realize I must have muttered the flavor. Mr. Trey told me I mutter sometimes, if I'm remembering correctly. "But I like it. I'm just surprised 'cause I didn't think there would be any. I haven't had it here yet."

Not only that, but I haven't told anyone I like it before now because other boys at the home complained anytime we had it there. Some of them said that no one liked it, so that must mean that my tastes really are bad if I do. I already get judged enough, that's not something else I wanted people to judge me over.

"Trey told me you like it when I was asking him about what to stock the fridge with," Ms. Katie says, and I look over to find her having entered the room and walking over with a tray that has some dishes on it. "I realized that I forgot to put bowls and spoons in here in case you needed them."

"H-how did Mr. Trey know I like butterscotch pudding?"

"Tiffany told him," she tells me as I grab a squeeze bottle of caramel from the fridge, which I then close before going over to the popcorn machine, which has finished its first batch of popcorn. "She said that she noticed that anytime there was butterscotch or lemon pudding at the home, you seemed more anxious about being last but always happy some was set aside for you. I mixed up batches of those, banana, and vanilla pudding for you. Don't worry about eating it quickly. As long as the lids are fixed on securely, the enchantments on the containers will activate. They're stasis tubs, similar to the boxes you had the pies in."

Ms. Johnson noticed that I liked them and told Mr. Trey, and he suggested putting those puddings in here for me to snack on while watching documentaries? That's really nice of him. And also of Ms. Johnson, too.

"Thank you, Ms. Katie," I say as I finish putting popcorn into a bowl, then I start drizzling caramel on it. "And thank you for bringing caramel in here, too."

"You're welcome," she puts the bowls and spoons and ice cream scoops into one of the cabinets. "I hope you enjoy."

I work on getting the next batch of popcorn ready, then get all three of us boys drinks. Luke and Parker both get soda but I fill a cup up with lemonade, then bring their cups over to the seats and stand by the outer side of the left-hand set of seats when facing the screen.

"Right there is good!" Luke tells me as he puts Parker into a headlock. "Thanks, Xander!"

"You're welcome."

I go back to the concessions area (I'm glad Mr. Trey let me make a sign with the name on it so I can remember it properly) and finish preparing the snacks for all of us. Or at least, the first round of them. Mr. Trey assured me yesterday that it's okay to get up and get more if I want to. I'm a growing boy who has magic active at all times, it's okay to eat as much as I can fit in my tummy. That's what Mr. Trey told me. Not in those exact words, but the meaning is the same.

Once Luke's and Parker's snacks are delivered to them by tray, I finish putting my snacks on a tray, then take it over to a seat on the right-hand side of the space and sit down, making sure to put Trenton on a seat as well. He doesn't seem to have an issue watching the documentaries like that even though he's really short compared to the seats.

I grab the remote and turn on the streaming service that has the documentary we're watching, then sign in and navigate to the documentary on hellhounds and pull it up. After making sure that Luke and Parker are ready to watch (they're in their seats now), I play the documentary.

Apart from a short break halfway through the documentary to refresh our snacks (and so Parker can go to the bathroom), we watch it uninterrupted. It's pretty interesting and when it finishes, I gather the dirty dishes and put them all on the trays, which are stacked together.

"Thanks for inviting us to watch that!" Luke tells me.

"It was pretty interesting," Parker says. "I learned a lot."

"You're welcome," I say. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think I like it more than I'd like a sleepover."

"You can watch them at sleepovers, too!" Luke says. "But I guess I can understand why you're saying that! We'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"I think so," I say. "Bye.

Luke and Parker leave and I take the dirty dishes to the kitchen.

"Did you like the documentary?" Ms. Katie asks as she takes the tray from me.

"Yes, ma'am."

"That's nice," she says. "Learn anything interesting?"

"Hellhounds aren't from Earth," I tell her. "They come in through lifts… not lifts… um…"

"Rifts?"

"Yeah, rifts," I say. "Thank you, Ms. Katie."

"You're welcome," she says. "Anything else you learned you found neat?"

"Not much is known about their native homes," I tell her. "Because it's too dangerous to enter the rifts to follow. When they die, their lava quickly cools into stone, so studying their lava is difficult, too. Am I annoying you?"

"No, you're not annoying me," Ms. Katie tells me. "If you want to tell me what you learned, you can. It's interesting to hear."

"Okay," I say. "The stone that their lava cools into is stone but not stone, and it can be ground up and used as a really potent fertilizer. But hellhounds are difficult to fight and are rare, so it's not used very often. When it is, however…"

[Luke – 13 years]

"Did you notice what Xander did?" I ask Parker once we're in my room.

"No," he answers. "What?"

"Two things!" I tell him as I grab a bag off my dresser and thrust it toward him. "First, he tricked us! It was so subtle I didn't even realize it until we were twenty minutes into the movie!"

"How did he trick us?" Parker asks as he pulls out a necklace made of wooden and stone beads from the bag. "Oh, this is cool! What are the images?"

Each bead has an image carved and painted onto it.

"They're different things important to the island," I tell him. "The stone beads are made of volcanic rock, too. That's your souvenir!"

"It's nice," he pulls it on. "Thanks."

"You're welcome!" I say. "So back to Xander! The seating! Xander walked over to some of the seats and asked us where we wanted to sit! When we told him there was fine, he put our stuff down… and he sat at the other side! That was totally him doing it so that we'd pick our seats first rather than him pick his and then us sit by him! He tricked us into picking our seats first so that we wouldn't be by him! And I'm betting he stood in that spot in the hopes that we'd pick there!"

"Smart move," Parker says. "And he did it without lying, too, so he probably felt okay with doing it."

"Yeah," I say. "There was probably some anxiety there. I did notice he was a bit anxious but thought it was just because of extended interactions with us. Well, that probably did contribute to it, but he was probably worried that we'd notice and be mad or something."

"What was the second thing he did?" Parker asks. "He tricked us twice?"

"No, but maybe yes," I say. "His sleepover comment! Trey totally told him about me wanting to invite him for a sleepover on Friday but him being asleep! Xander's probably hoping that by inviting us to watch a movie, we won't invite him to a sleepover this weekend so that we aren't hanging out too much, or something like that! It's his way of trying to find a way to say 'no' to it if I ask anyway, too."

Chances are good he'll ask about watching a documentary again tomorrow, and go with the elemental one. He really seemed interested in the documentary we were watching so it wasn't him just picking something random to use as an excuse. If I accept that and then ask him about a sleepover, he'll probably try to figure out a way to say that he's interacted with me too much in a way that doesn't offend me.

As forgetful as he might be, Xander's definitely clever.