Roar of Dragons

[Luke – 13 years]

Xander's interested in watching documentaries and Parker's hanging out with his friends, so I'm at home playing video games. I'm hoping Xander wasn't too upset by me declining his offer to watch a documentary with him two days in a row. While I like that he's at least trying to hang out with me, I discovered last week that I'm not so good at just sitting there and watching something and doing nothing else and that's what Xander wants.

The fact that he's trying to do it as a way to excuse himself from other sorts of hangouts with me does bother me a little, too… he knows I want to hang out with him but he doesn't want to hang out with me. Xander's just too nice to flat-out say it. I can take a hint, I just wish more people than just Parker would hang out with me as a friend. Even with Parker, there are complications since he has his other friends and they don't want to hang out with me.

The fact that he doesn't really say anything when they start going at me makes me wonder about what he really thinks of me, too. Friends are supposed to stand up for each other when one's getting bullied.

My phone rings, drawing me out of my thoughts. I pause my game to check and find a surprise: it's Tyler, from my vacation a week ago. While we've maintained a small amount of contact since I returned home, it's only a small amount and I knew it wasn't going to last very long. That's how it always is.

"What's up, Tyler?" I ask when I answer.

"Hey, Luke!" He responds. "You mentioned you live in the Dragon Falls area, right?"

"Yeah, why?" I ask.

"My dad and I are in the area," he tells me. "We were dropping off some monster stuff we hunted over the weekend and I've got the afternoon free. Was wondering if you wanted to hang out, maybe show me some cool places?"

"I mean, the coolest place in town is wherever I am," I tell him. "But I do know a couple of neat places. Do you feel like fighting artificial monsters? I want to see how good you are and show off how good I am."

"Heck yeah!"

"It's actually outside of town and closer to the city," I tell him. "So it takes some time to get to, but there's a place called the Whitemane Simulation Center. Last I checked, they can simulate one hundred and fourteen monsters and variants. A pretty big one, though it's nothing on the Lumaria Hunter Training Facility. They can manage over one thousand types of monsters and variants. I guess that's one of the benefits of being owned by the company owned by Adrian King. Imagine the kinds of research they've done over the years."

"I can only dream of the day that I could meet Adrian King," Tyler says. "Have you ever met him? Your family's one of the big ones, right?"

"Second-biggest magitech power company, first if excluding Lumaria Energy," I say. "But no, I've never met him. My parents have talked to him over the phone but I'm not sure if they've actually talked to him face-to-face."

"That's still pretty cool," he says. "And yeah! We can go there! Wait. Lemme ask my dad. Hey, Dad! Luke said we can hang and he's asking about a place called the Whitemane Simulation Center. He says it's-oh, you know it? Awww. Luke, Dad says we don't quite have enough for me to do some simulations there. It's apparently pretty pricey and while we're well-off, we're not that well-off and recently had some big recent expenses on top of our vacation. Any other places you know where we can show off our stuff?"

"A few," I answer. "But I can take a guest with me when I go to WSC, no extra charge. They offer us that since we give them a discount on some of the stuff they buy from us. My family's company is where they get their energy from."

"Oh, cool!" He exclaims. "Dad, Luke says that I won't have to pay. No, he's not paying for me. He apparently gets to take a guest with him for free. Yeah! I can do that! Luke! Where should we meet?"

"There's frozen custard place that caters to mages," I tell him. "It's called Nikki's Frozen Custard and Pies. Well, they do pie, too. We can stock up on snacks for the ride over, if you don't mind. Also, should we go separately, your dad take us, my driver, or what?"

"Dad," Tyler says. "Luke wants to know if you want to take me or if I can ride with him and his driver? He wants to meet at Nikki's Frozen Custard and Pies. Cool! Luke! Dad says that he can drop me off at the pie place, then I can go with you and your driver, I just need to be back by eight."

"Alright," I say. "See you in about fifteen, Tyler!"

"See you, Luke!"

We end the call and I send Dad a text to let him know I'm meeting up with Tyler and heading to the simulation center, then one to Xavier to let him know to get the car ready. I need to change into combat-safe clothes, like the ones I wore to the rescue efforts. I also need to grab a backpack with a change of clothes, in case I need a shower after showing off.

By the time I'm out front, Xavier is waiting with the car and I climb in.

I'm absolutely bursting with excitement at getting to hang out with Tyler again and more than once, Xavier asks me to stop bouncing in my seat. It's hard, though. This is the first time in pretty much ever that someone other than Parker wanted to hang out with me of their own initiative. It's also the first time someone I've met on vacation wanted to meet up in-person after the vacation ends.

Tyler wasn't put off by my babble-mouth nature! And he's a pretty nice guy, too. I liked hanging out with him a lot during the vacation.

When we arrive at the shop, Tyler's hanging out in front of it, leaning against the low wall that surrounds the outside seating area. I expected him to be here first since the best place for dropping off the remains of strong monsters is near here.

The tables are all empty – it's fairly hot outside – but he's apparently decided to stand and wait. All of the planters are blooming with life, the various grasses and flowers in them looking healthy and happy despite the heat. As a place that caters to mages, they can afford the water magics necessary to keep their plants happy even in the heat without putting stress on the normal water supply.

Just as the plants are looking good, so is Tyler. His brown hair is as floppy as it was on the break, his blue eyes vibrant and focused on whatever he's looking at on his phone. He's wearing a pair of black shorts and a purple sleeveless shirt that fits him a little snugly. Black-and-purple sneakers clad his feet, one of which is on the ground and the other of which is pressed against the wall, his knee bent enough that is foot is up by his butt.

His free hand is tucked into the pocket of his shorts, though it looks like he's tapping his leg through them. Black-and-purple earbuds are in his ears, so he's probably listening to music. Slung over his right shoulder is a black backpack with purple markings on it, and there are a few pins designed after monsters on the right strap.

As soon as Xavier has parked, I unbuckle and get out of the car. Tyler looks up almost immediately, his face breaking out in a grin as he taps on his phone and slips it into his pocket.

"Hey, Luke!" He offers a fist to me as he pulls one of his earbuds out. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," I bump his fist. "Let's get some snacks for the trip!"

We head into the shop, where the air is much cooler, and browse the choices available. Xavier prepared a cooler for us, so we don't have to worry about things melting and can get extra stuff. All of the food here is made using magic plants, animals, and monsters, so the food all has magic in it. That's actually good for a mage as we process it more easily than normal food, so it bolsters our magic recovery more. It doesn't reduce how much we need to eat, it simply increases our recovery rate from what we eat.

Loaded up with food, we get into the back of the car, then eat and talk for the drive. It takes around fifty minutes to arrive, so there's plenty of time.

"Personally, I prefer just simple wind magic when taking down a stormhound," Tyler says. "Like, I know why others prefer other magics, but I can make blades of air around my fists and feet and bolt forward pretty fast using more wind magics. That lets me keep up with storm hounds and makes it dangerous to block my attacks. Or to get struck by them. Storm hounds are strong, yeah, but blades are pretty effective if they get close."

"For close-range," I say. "Yeah, I'd say wind or lightning magic is best if going with just elemental magic. I usually do long-range spells. For a storm hound, you want something that pierces, regardless of element. With how strong I am, I can usually just overpower their defenses with lightning blasts but if I have to hold back for some reason, I'll go with air magics, too. I learned how to do spears last year and while it wasn't against a stormhound, I did actually use it in combat.

"Dad and I go on a father-son camping trip toward the end of summer break every year and this bear attacked us," I start telling him the story. "It was insanely good with wind magics, too. Kpet summoning these mini-tornadoes. Anyway, while there was a lake nearby, we were in a forest and I wanted to avoid risking causing a forest fire. So I used the air spears in combat and figured out a way to make a cage using them. The bear wasn't too impressed with them, and I was shooting off the spears with enough force to bypass the winds it was summoning."

"Galeburst grizzlies!" Tyler bounces. "I fought one of those this weekend! It's the first time I managed to take one down on my own! It's one of the things Dad and I came here to sell!"

We continue talking about some of our magic fights until we arrive at the center, a sprawling complex of buildings with plenty of greenery. Xavier parks and lets me know that he'll wait here for us, then Tyler and I get out and head to the main building.

"Hello, boys," the receptionist we approach greets us. "How can I help you two today?"

"Hello!" I present my ID. "My name is Lucas Gates! My dad's already put a reservation on a multi-person simulation hall for two hours. Should already be paid for."

Dad texted me during the drive to let me know about the reservation. There have been incidents in the past where a receptionist didn't accept that a thirteen-year-old was authorized to reserve or rent a room, nor that he could just bill it to the family account. This makes it smoother for Tyler and me, too.

"Let me check that real quick," the receptionist scans my ID, then hands it back. "Yep. I see the reservation here, Mr. Gates. The hall is already waiting for you in Building 7, SimulHall 3. Your time will start once you're in there. Will you need an assistant to lead you there?"

"No, thank you," I smile as I accept the pair of bracelets she's held out. "I've been here enough times to know the way. Put this on, Tyler. Either wrist works. They're our passes. Thanks, ma'am!"

We fix on the bracelet passes, then I lead Tyler to the appropriate hall. It's a square room two hundred feet in width and seventy in height. Light grey tiles cover the floor, while darker grey panels make up the walls and ceiling. Though there's no visible source of light within the simulation hall, it's well-lit thanks to light magics.

Attached to the front of the hall is a waiting/watching room that's a more normal height, which has glass windows stretching from floor to ceiling along the wall where it joins with the simulation hall. Tables, chairs, and benches are set up in here, and some of the windows double as TV screens that display stats. Right now, there's nothing on them other than a transparent version of the center's logo, a unicorn.

The center focus of the crest is a mythical horse-like creature with white, gold, or silver coats and manes, with a matching straight spiral horn. Some people claim they're real, but no one's ever actually seen one before so they're mythical. Nobody can really agree on their powers, either.

Dad says that if they do exist, they're likely among the most powerful creatures on Earth. On par with the rumored might of the also-mythical dragons. I know people claim those are real, but all confirmed sightings turn out to just be wyverns.

"I haven't been a center this fancy," Tyler comments as he observes the logo. "Jeez. They even have a mythic in their crest. How much does renting a multi-room cost?"

"Ten grand per hour," I answer. "An extra thousand per person."

That's for the specific difficulty allowance set up for us, and my family doesn't throw that much money around for this sort of thing too often. We usually rent a cheaper room, but Dad made sure to get us the best the facility has so I can show off more of my skills.

"How does this one work?" He taps on the screen and the logo disappears, replaced by a menu. "Whoa. How do we select what we want to simulate?"

"There's a room above us where it's all controlled from," I inform him. "You can view the choices on there and can send the initial requests in as well. While we're in the room, we can just call out what we want. The staff up there will change the simulation as necessary."

Having a live staff monitoring things also helps to ensure that the simulations don't get out of hand and are canceled if there's a problem.

"Cool," he says. "I'm not good at fighting aerial stuff as most don't get in close. Let's see… ooh! This should be a fun one for a warm-up!"

"What is it?" I ask.

"Jackalopes!"

"Oh, those are fun!" I exclaim. "Want to tag-team or go separately at first?"

"Let's do separately!" He says. "Hm… oh! This place even lets you set a difficulty level based on your magic power level?"

There's no real universally-agreed-upon way to measuring one's power level. The most-accepted one here in the West is the one that Adrian King uses, which is based on mana capacity. It's something like take the natural capacity levels of everyone, strip out the outliers, then look at the most common amounts. Average that and divide by ten.

That puts "average" at 10 Lumaria Mana Levels, or LML, though the generally-accepted range under the LML scale is 8-12.

Even with this, it's not really a good assessment of a person's strength as their control over their mana also affects things, as does any innate talents that can make some magics easier for them. Two people with 10 LML might be vastly outmatched just because one is better at putting more mana into their spells.

There's a lot more which factors into it, but the LML is the scale this facility uses for its difficulty levels. They also don't have the simulations be that strong – rather, it's the level at which the average mage with that level can be challenged at but still handle.

"Yeah," I answer. "If you need it tested, we can ask them if we can pause our timer so you can get tested. They have a device for testing a person's LML."

"Nah, I know mine," he says. "It's 517 on the LML scale."

That's really decent. Significantly higher than a normal mage's, that's for sure. It's still lower than mine by a large amount, but I wasn't wrong about him being strong. For a monster hunter who comes from a long, old line of monster hunters, though, 517 is probably pretty decent but not exceptional.

"Let's set it to 100 for a warm-up," he says, then gives me a grin. "Unless you're weaker, of course."

"As if!" I scoff. "I'll crush your 517 with ease!"

"Oh, really?" His grin widens. "How powerful are you?"

"Er," I shift a little bit, now uncomfortable.

Parker's also the only person significantly weaker than me who didn't either call me a liar, try to buddy-buddy with me, get scared of me, or put me on a pedestal. Even then, I can't help but wonder if maybe he thinks I'm arrogant or something just because I'm this strong.

"I don't… share that much," I feel my face heating up. "It's… you know what it's like when normal people find out that you're really strong? Put that with people not liking me because of how much I talk. So it's hard for me to admit my strength. Sorry. I've been made fun of a lot and now it's just-I don't-if-I don't-sometimes-"

"It's okay," Tyler looks really disappointed. "I understand, Luke. I know what you mean. Yeah, it's fine. Um… let's go kick jackalope butt!"

Normally, someone looking disappointed at me not sharing something with them doesn't affect me too much. For some reason, Tyler's disappointment – but also acceptance – makes me squirm a little, now regretting saying that and not telling him.

"It was 31,716 at the last reading!" I blurt out.

Tyler stares at me slack-jawed. For several seconds. Here it comes.

He turns back to the screen and quickly taps on some things.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I wanna see you fight some zombies!"

Zombies are an extremely rare monster to encounter, but they're also difficult for most to tackle without the use of holy magic. Learning holy magic is also extremely difficult, so there aren't many mages who can do it. Almost all who do come from old, powerful families because holy magic also takes a decent amount of mana to wield.

Tyler's own power level is a little bit above the range as those who come from those families, so he could learn it if he wants to. He might even know it already. I don't know it, but I could probably learn it if I wanted to.

For those who don't use holy magic… either consuming mana-recovery products or having an absurdly high amount of magical energy on their own is necessary. So too is the need for wielding potent magics that can blast through the bodies of the undead, destroying their vessels and overloading their own flow of magic.

Like lightning magic.

"Aw! It won't let me set it for higher than 3,000!"

Maniac.

"They don't have the materials to make the building too much stronger than that," I explain. "Or to simulate things stronger. The ten grand is so we can go up to their maximum. It uses a ton of resources. Besides, you never want to challenge something at your power level. You end up using too much mana."

Shouldn't he know this? He's a monster hunter. Setting to a person's own level often means needing to use at least half or more of their mana to win.

"I just thought it'd be funny," he giggles. "Let's do a three-K zombie horde for you!"

Tyler gets that set up, then I enter the simulation room as I try not to giggle back at him. It was just him being a dork.

As I enter the room, forms made up of pale blue light appear all around me. Hundreds of humanoid figures that quickly take on the appearance of beings of bones and rotting flesh. Some humanoid, wearing ragged, torn, and bloody clothes, some more bestial, such as dogs and cats and bears. Soaring through the sky are simulated zombie birds. If their flesh is destroyed, a zombie turns into a skeletal monster, and the unholy magics flowing through their bones makes those extra-resilient.

On the walls of the room is a two-minute timer, a countdown to when the simulated monsters will attack if I haven't already. That gives me some time to analyze the situation. It's not my first time fighting simulated zombies – I've played around with it on my own and with Parker a few times just for fun – but I've never set the simulation level this high.

At this level of power… the horde will have some degree of intelligence. Coordinated attacks caused by a leader. Well, if they're simulating it the same way they do when I come here on my own and set it to 1,000. There's usually a lich that's leading the undead horde, but hidden somewhere in the group. Once the lich is taken out, the zombies will lose that intelligence – but they'll still be pretty strong.

It wouldn't be an issue for me to go straight to using a sixth of my total power – the facility can actually handle up to around 5,400 strength of magic assaulting it. That would wipe out the horde entirely, but I don't want to get scolded by the staff for going too extreme again. Plus, it wouldn't be fun, and it wouldn't really get to show off my skills for Tyler.

And as I mentioned, it's generally not a good idea to use up a huge portion of one's power. It's not like I'm at half-strength, either, since I did have to drain myself before heading over to Xander's. In fact, I'm technically weaker than the horde at the moment since I'm still low on mana even with the magic food I ate on the way here. That won't be a problem for me, though.

Individually, the zombies aren't all that strong compared to my current strength.

Lightning magic flows through my body as I slip my hands into my pockets. A faint, electric glow begins to emit from every part of me as sparks begin to dance across my body and clothes. Bending my knees a little, I jump up into the air and once I'm floating about thirty feet up, I start scanning the horde.

There.

Near the back-left corner is a humanoid-looking figure wearing a cloak. The lich.

I pull my right hand out of my pocket and aim my palm at the lich, which looks in my direction at the moment Eyes of pale green flames stare back at me as four spears of lightning begin to form around me, aimed straight at the monster.

Hastily, the simulated lich erects a barrier of bluish-white light, though the first two spears of lightning pierce through it while the third and fourth punch through the lich's body, blasting it to pieces. As each spear impacts, lightning magic bursts out, engulfing the area around them. All affected zombies burn and fall, their bones broken enough that their magic can't hold them together anymore.

Raising my right hand up into the air, I begin summoning arrows of lightning, dropping them down from the sky to assault the monsters. The lightning blasts from their impacts aren't as powerful as the spears' were, but they're still plenty strong.

Once the horde is reduced to about a third of its former size, I return to the ground, then start charging through the monsters. Even though they're magical constructs, they still have the feeling of the real thing. That makes it a little bit gross to charge through them, but it's still fun to just plow right through a horde of monsters with my body. The lightning infusing my body is enough to amplify my speed high enough that I shatter the zombies' bones quite thoroughly on impact, too.

When it comes to the last zombie remaining, I stop the charge and flip, kicking its head off with my right foot. As I land on the ground, I kick out with my left foot to strike its chest. The moment my foot impacts it, I release all of the lightning my body was infused with into the monster, blasting it to bits with a thunderous explosion.

Upon the defeat of the last zombie, all of the simulated corpses return to being forms of pale blue light, then dissolve away.

"That was awesome!" Tyler charges into the room and toward me, headbutting me in the stomach. I put him into a chokehold for that and start poking at his sides. "Stop! Stop! I'm ticklish!"

"Oh, sorry!" I say, then poke him a few more times before releasing him.

"Dude! The way you jumped up into the air and then floated like that!" Tyler exclaims. "And then started calling lightning like it was nothing! It was like you were a lightning god! You could've taken them all out at once, couldn't you have?"

"Yeah," I nod. "If I wanted to, I could have just released a wave of lightning at the start to wash over them. It would've been strong enough to defeat the zombies but not strong enough to get us into trouble with the facility. The problem is that it would have taken up most of my mana – I'm actually fairly low on it right now."

"Oh," he says. "That's why you're not babbling a bunch today, huh? I was wondering about that. Hey! Go set it to 100 power in a jackalope horde! I wanna show you my stuff!"

I head into the viewing chamber and set up the simulation Tyler wants, then sit on a bench and watch as he starts attacking the jackalopes. The rabbits with antlers come nearly to his knees, and I think he's enhanced his body a bit to resist their attacks more. Even as a simulation, attacks from them can still hurt – they are physical constructs made of magic, after all.

Watching Tyler is fun. He performs spins, kicks, flips, and punches, some with and some without magic. His favorite seems to be a flip where he punches the ground as he lands, sending out a shockwave to knock the beasts back. Those closest to him are damaged or even killed by the blast.

While I'm just thirteen and am also not much experienced on the monster-fighting front, I can tell that Tyler's pretty talented. His movements are quick and efficient, and he doesn't seem to waste any energy as far as I can tell – and I'm doing my best. He's fought monsters his entire life and is even home-schooled so that school doesn't interfere with work. It doesn't surprise me at all that he's this good.

At least, not against jackalopes. Him fighting a horde of jackalopes is like me fighting a horde of zombies. I want to see him challenge something tougher. That can wait until after I challenge something tougher, though. There's no way I'm going to let him one-up me.

[Sig – 13 years] → starts around the beginning of Luke's PoV

"-would you say is the most important thing when it comes to raising a kid?" Aunt Rachel asks as I enter the house.

For a moment, I stop and try to figure out why she's asking me that about raising kids. Then I realize that she's in the kitchen with Mr. Thompson, so she's not asking me. Which makes more sense because I have zero experience with raising a kid.

Though why Mr. Thompson is here doesn't make any sense…

"Oh!" I exclaim, and they both look over at me. "Did you get pregnant? Is that why you're moving down here, Aunt Rachel? 'Cause you got pregnant? But if you're moving down here, you don't have a boyfriend, right? Since you'd be leaving him behind? Did you forget protection? It's very important, you know. Helps stop surprises. Or maybe it failed? That sucks."

"Sig-" she covers her mouth in an attempt to not laugh.

Mr. Thompson does laugh.

"Don't worry," I tell her. "I babysit. It's fifteen an hour per baby, or twenty if I need to change diapers."

"You had to come home right then, didn't you?" She chuckles.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" I ask.

"Not pregnant," she says. "I'm looking into getting custody of a boy. Didn't you say you it would take you a few hours to get all the lawns done?"

"Yeah," I answer. "They were kind of spaced out. But it's hooooooooooooot. Like, look at my shirt!" I pull it off my shoulder and hold it up. "It's completely soaked! And I'm all sweaty and gross, and that's after just one yard. So I decided to stop and come take a shower. Hi, Mr. Thompson! I was gonna see if I go hang out with Connor after my shower!"

"Sure," Mr. Thompson answers.

"So adopting?" I look at Aunt Rachel. "Oh! Was it because of me telling you about Xander being a foster kid? That's so cool!"

"Go take your shower," Aunt Rachel tells me.

"I need more water first," I hold up my water bottle. "Thirty-two ounces wasn't enough."

I drained the entire thing in just half an hour, it's so hot outside. It's only June, too, and we rarely get this hot even in August.

"With that much sweating, you need electrolytes," Mr. Thompson says. "Let me make you a smoothie. A few different fruits with some coconut water should do."

"Not coconut water," I complain. "That stuff tastes weird!"

"You'll not even taste it," he tells me as he starts grabbing things to make the smoothie. "Outside of just making sure he's fed and has clothes and a place to sleep, there are some pretty important things to keep in mind, Rachel."

"It's a boy?" I ask.

"It's a boy," Aunt Rachel confirms. "Paul offered to help me out with some advice and he had the afternoon free. I thought he might have some since he's close with Connor. We're going to head over to look at some homes in a bit, too. Want to come with us when we go?"

"Sure!"

"One of the important things to keep in mind is diet," Mr. Thompson holds up the kiwis he pulled out of the fridge. "The one you're looking at is a teen. Growing boys tend to eat like crazy. Trust me. I've got one of my own and have to feed him and his friends quite often."

"We don't eat that much!"

"How many gallons of ice cream did you four go through in an hour the other day?"

"In our defense, there were four of us."

"How many?" Aunt Rachel asks.

"Don't sweat the small details."

"Two," Mr. Thompson answers. "They bought two gallons of ice cream and ate all of it. A rule that the other dads and I have is that as long as they're able to eat their meals, they're allowed to snack on whatever they want – but their meals have to include healthy stuff as well if they aren't eating healthy snacks. How much and what they need varies from day to day, so they may snack like crazy one day and then not at all the next. We make sure there are snacks available for them in both healthy and unhealthy varieties, and in ones they like.

"You'll see on the fridge here that Sig writes up grocery lists as things get low," he continues. "That's something he started after noticing that Connor would write stuff on a pad on our fridge at home. With Connor, we let him put down what snacks he wants on his own separate list as well as meal suggestions. It helps us know what he's liking right now. We don't make what he wants every day, but we take it into consideration for at least two meals a week."

He starts cutting up ingredients and adding them into the blender.

"I was wondering about the list," Aunt Rachel glances at it, then looks at me. "So that's you writing up what we're low on or what you want?"

"Yeah," I nod. "But I do buy my own snacks a lot, too."

"That's another thing," Mr. Thompson tells her. "Make sure there are snacks on-hand, but don't go too extreme. If they want more than that or something different before the next grocery trip, it should come out of their allowance or what they're earning. At least, that's how I and the other dads do it. I do an allowance for chores and homework for Connor, while as you know with Sig, he does various jobs."

Mr. Thompson's done putting ingredients into the blender and turns it on, pulsing it a few times during the blending. Once it's done, he pours it into one of the smoothie glasses I bought a few months ago, then hands it to me.

"That leads into another thing," Mr. Thompson says as I take a hard drink of the smoothie before discovering that even though there wasn't ice, it's cold. "Another big one. Transition periods can be rough for someone of any age. Try to keep some degree of consistency from his old life to make it as smooth as possible. Your rules and the ones he's used to will probably be different. The boy you're looking into is used to being allowed to do basically anything, so even though he's a good kid, there will no doubt be clashes."

It's a specific boy? And Mr. Thompson knows who it is? Then it must be someone he knows from his work, since he's a children's doctor.

"Make sure your rules are clear," Mr. Thompson continues. "But when there's a conflict between what he's used to doing and what you want to do… ask yourself one important question: is it worth it? Not 'is arguing worth it', but 'is there really a reason for enforcing this rule in this case?' There may be times where you realize that it's not really worth enforcing a rule in a specific situation. If he wants to argue with you about a rule, try to talk with him and ask him about his feelings on it. That may lead to a realization that in that moment, it may be fine to let the rule go."

Mr. Thompson thinks about something for a moment, then nods.

"One example is the first time we let the boys go off on their own at a holiday fair," he says. "It was the Interception Day Picnic last year. The rule had always been that they had to be with at least one of us dads but last year, they wanted to go about independently and were pretty insistent on it. Our main concern was that something might happen to them."

"Yeah!" I exclaim. "They really didn't want to let us go off by ourselves because of all the people there! But there were four of us! There's no way someone would've gotten us!"

"Right," Mr. Thompson says. "They pointed out that four of them together meant that it would have been difficult for someone to kidnap or hurt any of them without others noticing a commotion. We realized they had a point, and agreed to allow them to under a few conditions. First, they kept in contact with us. Anytime they went to a different area of the fair, they let us know so that we at least knew where they were. Second, they stuck together as a group of all four of them. No splitting off into pairs. Third, if anything happened, they had to contact us as soon as they were able."

"Sig," Aunt Rachel looks at me. "You keep taking big drinks of that even though you get hit with brain freeze immediately after. Maybe slow down a little?"

"But it's so gooooooooooood."

"Even with the coconut water?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Can't taste it," I take another big drink.

"As an adolescent," Mr. Thompson flicks me on the nose once I pull my drink away from my mouth. "He's going to be a little bit independent. Trying to block the stuff he does to establish his identity and independence will only backfire. That leads back into the 'is it worth it' thing I just mentioned and the example I gave. Just try to communicate rather than force your own side and things will go a lot better, especially if compromises can be worked out."

"Yeah," I nod. "Especially since you won't really know him that well. Also, why a boy? Wouldn't be easier to foster a girl since you're a woman? Like, getting permission and all that?"

"Finish your smoothie and go take a shower," Aunt Rachel tells me.

I finish my smoothie, then rinse out the glass and put it by the sink before heading to my room. I drop my sweaty shirt onto the lid of my hamper so it can dry out some, then take off my sneakers and socks before grabbing a fresh change of clothes and heading to the bathroom for my shower. Fifteen minutes later, I'm scrubbed clean, dried, dressed, and ready to head out with Aunt Rachel and Mr. Thompson.

"Why is it even this hot?" I ask as we get into Aunt Rachel's car. "It doesn't make any sense. It's the end of June, not the start of August. This is like, August temperatures. On a really bad year."

"It is a bit unusual," Mr. Thompson says. "A surprise heatwave, and clearly magical in nature so the meteorologists can't get a read on how long it'll last."

One downside to magic affecting the weather: the weathermen can't get close too often, even their high-accuracy magitech weather devices. All it takes is one random mage doing stuff they shouldn't and bam! A surprise thunderstorm for six hours.

Though no one can't convince me that that wasn't actually a nature spirit.

I pull out my phone and message the group chat.

Sig: This heat is awwwwwwwful!

Connor: I know! It's killer!

Sam: Where did it come from?

Connor: I demand to speak with the fire elemental heating this place up!

Xander: Ah.

Isaac: Ah?

Sig: Ah?

Connor: Ah?

Sam: Ah?

Xander doesn't respond to us even as we keep texting the group. We created a new group for him to be in with us for texting after hanging out with him on Sunday. Well, we tried to add him to the existing one, except it just created a new one instead.

Sometimes, he'll just say one thing and then go quiet, and others, he'll try to chat and then get flustered over his bad spelling and start sending a bunch of what he considers memes. Mostly, it's just pictures he's pulled from the internet of things he likes, like waterfalls and trees and dogs. While I'm not sure what the "Ah." was about, it seems like one of his quieter times. He'd still be watching a documentary right now, wouldn't he? Maybe he's distracted by that?

We keep texting anyway, and it turns into us sending each other pictures of what we're all doing. Connor's shirtless and lying on the couch at his place while looking ready to give up on the heat, Isaac's cleaning his bathroom, and Sam's playing video games.

I do have to take breaks while looking at the houses with Aunt Rachel, but I send pictures from some of them. A real estate agent is showing us the houses, and it's the same lady for all of them. She seems super nice, but most of what she says goes right over my head.

The first two houses don't impress me… but the third house is pretty cool. It's a three-bedroom house with two bathrooms – one in the master bedroom and one for everyone. It even has its own dining room, which is pretty neat.

"I like this one," I tell Aunt Rachel as I look in the bedrooms again. "You'd have your foster kid, and he could be in this room since it's the bigger one. That's not yours, I mean. And then when I stay over, I could stay in this one! Though I guess it'd be your guest room, for when you have guests over. If you get this house."

I leave the rooms and hurry outside to look at how big the yard is. I barely notice the faded wooden privacy fence with ivy, falling-apart shed, and overgrown backyard before noticing a feature neither of the other two houses had…

"A pool!" I exclaim. "Aunt Rachel! Please get this one! I promise I'll mow your yards for free if you let me swim in the pool!"

"I don't know if the pool would be useful," Aunt Rachel looks at the real estate agent. "The house is in a little bit of a bad state and the pool looks… bad."

Sure, it looks grimy and that's probably algae all over it and there's dirt in the bottom of it, but I'm sure that we can just clean it out and fill it up!

"Yes," the agent nods before I can try to argue that. "It's not been in use for a few years, but the wiring and plumbing are up to code. For the pool, the inspection showed that it does need a new filter and possibly a new motor, but everything else is fine. The owners know that the house isn't in great condition and while the pool does increase the value, they're pricing the place for less to account for repairs needed."

"How much is it?" I ask. "'Cause if it's over sixty-mnh!"

Aunt Rachel put a hand over my mouth from behind and pulled me against her. She quickly jerks her hand away after finding that I lick when that happens.

"Sig!"

"Hahahaha!"

She pushes my head, causing me to stumble to the side a little, and she chuckles a little as well.

"How much is it normally worth?" Aunt Rachel asks.

"Three-eighty-nine," the agent answers. "But the owners are asking three-twenty. There aren't any other offers on the table right now."

Aunt Rachel, Mr. Thompson, and the agent continue talking as I check the group chat. I send the group a picture of the pool and say that I hope Aunt Rachel buys this house. There are still two more houses to go, but unless those have pools, there's no way they'll top this one.