[Xander – 13 years]

I don't recognize the man behind the counter. The last time I didn't recognize the employee behind the counter here, he was a jerk.

"You must be Xander," the man smiles. "Lena told me you usually arrive around this time on Tuesdays, except for holidays."

His mind doesn't feel hostile, but what if he turns mean? Why isn't Lena here? She's almost always here when I come in for bowling, and she usually lets me know before if she won't be. The last time this happened, the employee I didn't know was really mean.

"Sorry," Trey says. "Xander's not good with change."

This isn't just change, like when Mom started joining us for this. This is an entirely new person rather than the usual one. And Mom joining us was planned in advance, too.

"No worries," the man smiles. "I'm Leo, here to take over for Lena while she's on maternity leave."

She's due in a few weeks, though it's not really possible to see that she's pregnant from my height. The counter has a full front rather than an open underside, and it's also a step up from here. That means that without being mostly or fully grown, seeing her stomach area isn't possible.

But I've still known she was pregnant. She's the first of the four women I know of who are pregnant. Lena, Mrs. Martins, Emily, and Mom.

"Oh," I say. "So she's training you?"

"Well, no," he says. "I wasn't supposed to start until next week – she was going to let you know tonight that you'd be meeting me next week."

"The plan?" I ask. "How come you started early?"

"She gave birth on Wednesday," he tells me. "Little Lucian apparently didn't want to wait another month, but he was born at a healthy weight."

"Oh," I say. "Okay."

Then now there are three pregnant women that I know, but they're not due until next year. I hope Lucian stays strong and healthy so that Lena doesn't have to worry. She's really nice. Also part dragon, of the mountain variety.

There are a lot of nonhuman people and their descendants in the area. I don't know what Lena's husband is, or her baby. I can sense how powerful he is, but since the counter's always been in the way, I couldn't see her stomach to try and get a read on his magics.

Dad pays for our lane, including for after he'll split off to join the other dads and Mom goes to do… something, and I give Leo the box of pie and small tub of ice cream meant for the staff.

"That's for the whole staff here tonight," I tell him. "Not just you. Okay? The whole staff. So's the ice cream. Got it?"

"Got it," he chuckles. "They already let me know you bring these in for us. I'll be putting them in the break room just as soon as you two are done up here."

That's the truth, so he definitely intends to.

"Okay."

"Come on," Dad tells me. "Let's go put our things at the table."

"Okay."

We head over to our assigned lane (the usual one) and put our things at it, then go to the concessions stand. We're the only guests at the alley right now, so there's no line for us to wait in. Chris is waiting behind the counter, too, so we don't have to wait at all for our turn to order.

"You can go first," Dad tells me.

"Okay," I step up to the counter. "Hi, Chris."

"Hey, little man!" He says. "How're you today?'

"I'm okay, I think," I tell him. "I don't know Leo. Make sure he's not stealing the pie and ice cream, okay? That's for all of you here tonight, not just him."

"I'll do that," he chuckles.

"Good," I say. "Is it okay for me to order now?"

"Go ahead!" He says. "And we've got buy one, get one on the meal baskets tonight."

So then either I can get the same amount of meal baskets for half of the usual price, or I can get twice as many meal baskets for the same price as usual.

"If you're that hungry, you can get as much as you'd like!" Dad laughs as Chris chuckles. "As long as you're sure you'll eat all of it, that is."

"Oh. I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"You did!"

"Okay," I say. "Um… seven cheeseburger combos, please. Only ketchup and pickles on them. Seven pretzel combos, please. Seven nacho baskets, seven mozzarella sticks baskets, and seven baskets of onion rings, please. Lemonade for all of the drinks, please."

"Got it," he says. "So seven each of cheeseburger combos with only ketchup and pickle, pretzel combos, nacho baskets, mozzarella sticks, and onion rings. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"I've got it all in," he says.

"Xander?" Dad asks, and I look at him. "That's more than double. You usually only order three of each except the nachos, which you do one of."

"Yeah," I nod. "That totals up to thirteen, if the combos are counted as one thing. This is thirty-five. But you said I could order as much as I want, as long as I'm sure I'll eat them. This isn't even as much as I want, but I'm sure I'll eat it."

Dad feels exasperated and amused, but he doesn't snort like he sometimes does when he is. This must not be one of those times where I misunderstood him and he's going to talk with me about it later so that I can try and remember what he really meant in the future. I definitely misunderstood, but won't be getting talked to about it later.

"Alright," Dad chuckles.

Dad places his order, then Mom places hers, then we go over to our lane to begin the round. Mom doesn't bowl with us, but she watches and talks with Dad and me as we bowl. Right around their usual time, Sig, Connor, Sam, and Isaac show up to bowl, and Jake shows up to hang out.

Jake doesn't really like bowling, but he comes here anyway. I don't understand it. The same with Mom. If she doesn't want to bowl, why does she come? Dad's already here to supervise, but I don't even need that. I came here for about a year and a half without supervision because it's not required as long as I follow the rules.

It can be a really noisy place to go to when you don't want actually participate in what's going on here. Why would they put up with all of that noise?

"Hi, Xander!" Sig greets me, and the others do right after.

"Hi," I say, then look past them. "Oh. The jackasses are here."

"The who now?" Sig asks as he looks to where I'm looking. "Oh. Them."

I don't remember their names, but it's the boys who were mean to me at the park over the summer. They also got removed from here once for calling me a freak.

So they weren't banned, just kicked out for the time.

"Banned?" Jake looks at me. "They did something to get kicked out?"

"I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yeah," he answers.

"They did something here?" Sig asks.

"They called me a freak and a lame-ass," I tell him. "And Lena had security escort them out. And Chris said that the staff have cameras and microphones everywhere and that's how they knew the kids were being jackasses and breaking the rules."

"No worries!" Sig smiles at me. "They try starting something here, and we'll make sure they shut up! And that'll be before the staff say anything!"

"Okay," I look over to the lane the dads are at, where Ms. Rachel, Ms. Michaels, and Mrs. Riverfall are. "Oh. So it ain't just the dads tonight?"

"They're all the dads!" Sig tells me.

"Ms. Rachel's your aunt," I tell him. "And Ms. Michaels is Isaac's mom. And Mrs. Riverfall is Jake's mom. They ain't dads."

"No-I-they-argh!" He puts his head in his hands.

"Huh?"

"Xander," Mom says, and I look at her. "They're using 'dads' as a collective term for parents and guardians, since it used to be just the three dads and that's what they're used to. They know there aren't dads included in the group being referred to. It's like if a store is called 'Michael and Sons', and Michael passes away and it goes to one of his sons, who only has daughters, then he passes and it goes to one of his daughters, who doesn't have any children yet. The shop might still be called 'Michael and Sons' even though who is actually there changes."

"But it's wrong."

"It's just how many do things," she says.

But it's wrong.

"They all call Rachel 'Aunt Rachel', don't they?" Mom asks. "Even though she's only S.G.'s?"

"Yeah," I answer. "But that's also wrong."

"You call me 'Mom', too," she adds.

"But you are my mom."

"I'm your foster-father's girlfriend," she says.

"A mom is more than just a legal parent," I tell her. "Like how Mr. Thompson and Mr. Richardson and Mr. Michaels are all additional dads to the other boys in their own sons' friend group. And even though you're not legally my mom, you're still my mom. But Ms. Rachel isn't a dad. Nor is Ms. Michaels. If they were like the dads are to them, then they'd be moms."

"Katie," Dad puts a hand on her shoulder. "This might not be one we'll manage."

"Alright," Mom sighs.

Dad and I return to our game and once we finish, he and Mom join the other adults and I bowl by myself.

"What kind of pie is this?" Jake asks when it's time for me to cut it up and serve it to us. "I don't recognize the smell. It's faintly apple, but there's something else? Magic apples?"

"Yeah," I answer. "They have mind magics in them, and while they're still apples, their taste is a bit different. Only slightly the same. But they're still good and don't make my brain confused about the flavor, so they're definitely still apples."

Some plants look like one thing, but their flavor is so different that my brain gets confused about what I'm eating. I don't like those foods doing that to me and so I won't eat them.

"We're growing them in my greenhouse," I add.

"Neat," he says.

Once the pie and ice cream is served, we all return to our games. The jackasses keep looking over and making comments, and they have been the entire time they've been here. Jake and I are probably the only ones who can actually hear them, though, since they are a little bit away from us.

They're saying things like how we must be cheating and using magic to do so well at this. It makes me want to tell them all they're fucking stupid and need to get their heads checked. I'm probably the only one of us here who could use magic to cheat at this, but I'm not doing that. I'm really this good!

"Xander?" Jake says as we all finish our last games for the night.

"Yes, Jake?" I ask.

"The pie was great!" He says. "Can I get the recipe? I'm not into mind magics, but I can probably adapt the recipe a little into one using ingredients with water magics. Or Mom can, really. She's better at that sort of thing than me. But even with the recipe you used, it's still pretty good."

"Um… sure," I open up my backpack and pull out a paper and pencil. "But my spelling is probably gonna be bad. I ain't using my magitech glasses to help me out. Maybe I should put them on first?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"You're fine," he chuckles. "I'll be able to understand it."

While I'm not so sure about that, he's not lying so he definitely feels like he'll be able to understand when I misspell things.

"Okay."

I write down the recipe, using a little bit of temporal acceleration so that I can do have it done fast. If I didn't, it might take me over ten minutes and the adults who are bowling are just about done, too.

"Thanks!" He says when I hand him the paper, then he looks at it. "Uh… Xander?"

"Yes?"

"Isn't the cinnamon you listed really hard to acquire?" He asks. "I'm pretty sure it costs something like $500 per teaspoon."

"I dunno," I shrug. "We grow it in the greenhouse. Grandpa Adrian told me how much everything I'd want seeds and saplings and cuttings and other starter stuff for would cost, then I paid him and he acquired them for me. But that happens in batches, so I dunno the individual costs. Or what the grown costs would be."

"H-how much of the cinnamon was in the pie?" Connor asks.

"Does that say two teaspoons?" Isaac asks as he looks at the paper.

"Yeah," I answer. "That's what the little t is. The big T is for tablespoon. But it's also tsp and Tbsp, respectively."

"That's T-S-P and T-B-S-P, respectively," Jake snorts. "I'll have to see if we can find a substitute. My parents might be old, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're that rich."

"One of these days," Connor mutters to Sam. "We're going to get used to finding out that the snacks he's sharing with us would be ridiculously expensive to buy at the store or a restaurant."

"The cost. Doesn't. Matter," I state. "It ain't as if I went to the store and bought the cinnamon. That came from my greenhouse."

"We know," Sig quickly says. "It's just hard for us to wrap our heads around sometimes. Anyway, I think it's about time for us to go. See you tomorrow!"

"Wait," I start pulling boxes with party invitations stuck to them out of my backpack. "For my Christmas party. I don't know if y'all'll have something scheduled during it, but I picked the fifteenth. That's a Friday. Among other reasons, it's far enough from the Festival of Frost that it's not too close that others might not be in the area. Also, Fridays are less common for the parties, so it shouldn't overlap with others."

"That's my birthday!" Isaac says.

"What is?" I ask.

"The fifteenth!" He says.

"Oh," I look down at the boxes. "Um… I can maybe look for a different date? I did consider the eighth, but felt that'd be too early."

Avoiding overlapping with one of my closer friends' own celebrations is important. That means it can't overlap with anything Sig, Carter, Connor, Isaac, or Austin are doing. I didn't know when Isaac's birthday was, or I would have looked at another date.

"It's cool!" He tells me. "We're doing my birthday stuff the next day! Was actually going to ask you guys if you wanted to come for it."

Oh. So it doesn't overlap the party, unless his is in the morning. Most of my guests don't leave until around ten or eleven in the morning from my parties. It's my understanding that most birthday parties take place in the afternoon, though, so it probably won't overlap.

"What're the plans?" Sig asks.

"Pizza and games at my place!" Isaac answers. "Starting at four!"

That's the same thing for Connor's birthday, which is on the ninth. They'll probably do different games, though. And be at their respective houses. Connor's having his party as his own place, not at Isaac's.

Thankfully, there's no overlap. That means there's no issue with my party being when it is.

"Okay!" Sig says. "I'll be there!"

The adults come over right after that and ask if we're ready to go, and I ask everyone to let me know if they'll be able to make it to the party no later than the end of the Saturday before. Then, I give Sig a hug and leave with my parents.

"How'd it go?" Dad asks as he drives us back home.

"I had fun," I tell him. "And Jake asked me for the recipe. Though apparently, the cinnamon is really expensive, and my friends got shocked and uncomfortable when they found out."

"What cinnamon did you use?" Mom asks.

"Thoughtburst cinnamon," I answer. "Berry and the shrubs are growing it in the greenhouse for me. The ground version of it is about $500 per teaspoon, according to Jake."

How did Jake know that off of the top of his head? It seemed like he really knew its worth, but he's not really a mind magic user.

"That sounds accurate," Mom says. "So Jake liked it enough he wanted to make it for himself?"

"Yeah," I answer. "But he also said he wanted to try adapting it to a recipe using water magic. Or ask his mom to. I'm gonna try to stay awake for the rest of the trip home, but I don't know what else to talk about, so I'm gonna tinker with a puzzle cube to stay awake."

"Alright," Dad chuckles. "Just remember that it's not always a smooth ride and that might mess you up."

From starts and stops and hills. The SUV is pretty even unless things are really bumpy, but hills, coming to a stop, and resuming driving all cause shifts.

"I know," I tell him as I summon out the items I want to work with. "I ain't gonna do anything which can get messed up by the ride."

[Xander – 13 years]

And if the muffin goes here and the turtle goes here, then the lightning goes over there. Yeah, that seems to be right, which means the triangle goes on top of the frog. But then why was the hippo tap-dancing with fifteen snickerdoodles?

Oh, because the water was eating the burgers. Okay, so the burgers need to have a moose first, so there we go! And now the hippo is waltzing with the thumbprint cookies with peanut butter dollops. That's better.

"Hm?"

Someone's watching me. That's never happened when I've been here before. I start looking around, but don't see whoever it is. Or sense them other than simply being aware that they're watching me.

The puzzle can wait, I guess. It's not like I've ever finished solving it before. But what if this visit is the one where I solve it? I'm pretty sure the wolf showing up in a leaf tuxedo was a sign that I'm nearing it. Though since it's uncertain how close I am to solving the puzzle, I guess I can investigate.

Finding the other being is difficult, though. No matter how much I wander around, I can't locate them. Greyson might know. He's good at knowing about surveillance stuff. Where is he at, though? He should be at the academy, but I feel like I can find him if I just exit this space and enter the big blackness.

Yeah, I'll do that.

It takes me a little bit, but I manage to locate Greyson. He's floating in a seemingly endless emptiness, blackness all around him. It has an up, but he's mostly upside down and is sitting cross-legged. Pieces of magitech float all around him, some of them complete, some of them not.

What a dork. Working on magitech while floating upside-down is just strange.

"You'll probably focus better if you're facing right-side up," I tell him, and he jerks as he looks at me.

This whole space becomes filled with shock and startledness. When he spots me, however, it becomes filled with surprise and happiness.

"Oh!" He says. "Hi, Xander! What're you doing here?"

"I was doing a puzzle and felt like someone was watching me and wanted to know if you knew anything about it," I tell him. "I couldn't find them, only sense them. But it felt like they were watching me."

The space suddenly becomes filled with nervousness and Greyson starts looking around.

"Are they here?" He asks. "Can you feel them here?"

"Um… no?" I answer. "It was just in the puzzle zone."

Relief fills the space, but there's still a small amount of concern.

"So you know who they are?" I ask. "Do you know why they were watching me?"

"Um…" he says. "No, I dunno who they are. They've chased me off a few times, though. They're scary. It feels like they're gonna eat me, when I'm the eater here. They're really scary. Don't mess with them, okay?"

The nervousness in the space increases as he talks.

"Okay," I say. "I'm gonna go back to the puzzle then. Oh, and that piece is wrong. It should be turned about a quarter."

Greyson looks at what I'm indicating, then back at me.

"Okay!" He says.

"Bye," I tell him, then begin walking back to the puzzle space.

As I walk there, I sense the other person again. I'm near the puzzle space, but I want to find out more about this other person. Greyson's nervous of them, but it's understandable that he might get chased away. He was probably trying to blow something up or put something in a box that he wasn't supposed to.

Since I can feel their presence again, I decide to follow the feeling of sensing them, but it requires flying. At least flying doesn't cost as much mana here as outside of this place. And it's not as scary, either. I do switch to winged human form from wolfkin form when I go, though.

Flying as a winged human makes more sense than flying as a wolfkin. One form has wings, and the other does not.

"Oh, hello," I find them.

They're a big mass of mind magics with a lot of spatial magics and a touch of temporal magics. When I draw near, however, they shift to look more like a sphere of condensed magics. They're now in the form of an orb that's a mixture of greys and purples with some touches of gold, roughly thirteen inches in diameter. They make themselves sprout a pair of feathery wings similar to mine, but the same colors as their own form rather than matching my hair.

"Hello," they respond.

The way they talk isn't through words, not really. It's more like an impression of everything they mean, all at once. If I weren't a powerful mind mage, I'd probably get overwhelmed by even just that one word. Understanding them would also like be difficult if I weren't such a powerful mind mage.

"Oh!" I say. "So you're male?"

The feeling their voice gives me is definitely male rather than female. I'd thought they were maybe a genderless being, or something with a sex which doesn't fit into any of those and so doesn't have a word in human languages.

Masses of magic don't seem like they'd fit into a male-female sex dynamic, but they apparently do.

"Yes."

"Okay," I say. "I go by Xander."

It's always good to introduce myself to people I just met, especially if they seem important. He definitely seems important to me.

The name he gives me doesn't really translate into human words. That makes sense, though, since he's made of magic and doesn't have a physical form.

"You ain't related to the monsters under the bed, are you?" I ask.

"No," he answers.

Not related in the sense that he's not one of them, nor one of the same species as them. He does like eating them, though. That makes him a lot more likable. Though also a bit strange.

Why would he eat a monster under the bed?

"Okay," I say. "Why were you watching me?"

"Puzzle," he answers.

It's not really "puzzle", but more like him saying he was just watching me do the puzzle.

"That's kind of creepy."

"Sorry."

It feels like he's sorry.

"Why were you watching me do the puzzle?"

"Hide."

"I haven't been hiding from you," I tell him. "I didn't even know you existed until I sensed you watching me. But really, not until I came over to you."

"Oh."

He's saying that we've met before, but I don't remember doing so. That means it must have happened before my brain got fixed.

"I had bad brain damage," I tell him. "I don't remember a whole lot from before it got fixed in July. Just bits and pieces."

"Little."

We met after the car accident. No wonder I don't remember meeting him, that was so long ago. It seems we met because he noticed how I could go through things, and that made him curious about me. He told me I could come talk with him anytime, but I never did.

So when he noticed me at the puzzle, he decided to watch to see what I was doing.

"Oh," I respond. "I got really bad brain damage from that. And I didn't fully go through it. That's why I got brain damage. And I don't really remember anything from back then. Did we talk?"

"No."

He told me I could come talk with him at anytime and that he made it easier for me to, but that was all because I seemed really tired.

"Well," I say. "That's why I never talked to you after. I didn't remember encountering you. Sorry? Did you want something?"

"No."

"Okay," I say. "Do you know how to solve the puzzle?"

"Yes."

But he won't help me with it. The puzzle is something I'll have to solve on my own.

"How come?"

"Rules."

Because that's the way the rules for the puzzle works. If he helps me with it, the puzzle will change to something different. I have to figure it out on my own.

"Okay," I say. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Food."

"I dunno," I answer. "That's just a really big category, so it's hard to figure out what's my favorite. But if you wanted to ask about specific categories, some of those are easy. Like candy. Gummy bears are my favorite candy. Or desserts. Cheesecake. But I ain't sure what my favorite cheesecake is."

[Greyson – 11 years]

Xander came back to my dream just to tell me that the dream being that's chased me off a few times is friendly and not at all something to be nervous of. Our experiences definitely differ. Whenever I encounter it, I really feel like it looks at me as potential food.

"Cody?" I whisper as I get out of bed. "You awake?"

He's not, so I step over to his bed and poke him in the arm a few times until he wakes up.

"Greysoooooooon…" he complains.

"It's time to get up for our morning workout."

Ever since his first time joining me for one, Cody's joined me for every morning workout. Finn doesn't usually join us, but Cody was clear that I need to not let him go back to sleep instead of doing them.

"Dun wanna go."

"Come on," I keep poking his arm. "It's workout time."

"Lemme sleeeeep."

"You said not to let you go back to sleep," I tell him. "A workout every weekday morning. So you need to get up."

"No," he huffs. "I'm going back to sleep."

"You said I can pinch you if you refuse to get up," I remind him.

"Nooooo!" He whines. "I revoke that!"

"You also said to ignore you if you revoke it."

Cody groans, then sits up and gives me an unhappy look.

"You're mean."

"I'm just doing as you requested," I state. "That's not being mean, that's being a good friend. You were insistent on me not letting you skip morning training unless you're actually sick. So come on. Get up, get dressed, and get ready to go."

Cody grumbles, but listens to me as I get ready to go. We both head to the athletics center and split from each other to do our respective morning workouts. Today, I'm doing some swimming exercises, so I change in the locker rooms at one of the pools, then begin stretching beside the pool.

A few other students are here, in varying ages, as are two lifeguards. Both lifeguards know water, air, and life magics. All important when it comes to lifeguarding and since this academy is the best, it can afford the best.

Which is why the lane I'll be in won't affect others. It's not that it's being separated out from the rest – it's the lane dividers. They dampen powerful waves from lanes so that students of varying strengths can swim in adjacent lanes. Someone as strong as I am can create some really big currents in the water from their passing.

Without a precaution like those dividers, that would disturb those in other lanes. To them, however, it'll be as if a normal person was swimming.

Though being really strong, physically, doesn't mean I'm able to just blitz through the laps. Water resistance is a real thing and that affects how fast I can go if I don't use magic to deal with it. Which I'm not, because this is training for my body.

By the time we're done with our morning fitness session, Cody is red-faced and out of breath, but no longer grumpy and annoyed. The workouts help him wake up, and he's always no longer annoyed with me by the time they're over.

"Thanks for waking me," Cody says as we walk to the cafeteria, Finn joining us on the way.

"You're welcome," I say. "But you were really insistent on not getting up today. I almost had to pinch you. Hi, Finn."

"Hey, guys!" He says. "How'd the workouts go?"

"Good," Cody answers. "I was doing martial arts, and I think Greyson swam."

"I felt like swimming today," I nod. "I managed to do one more full lap than I usually can for the same amount of time, and I didn't even cheat! My goal to increase laps by thirty-one-point-six percent by the end of the semester is looking reasonable!"

"Greyson?" Finn asks. "Why that specific percent?"

"That's what I estimated I could manage," I tell him. "After doing the math on my abilities and rate of learning, I determined that I could manage a lap increase of thirty-one-point-six percent. Therefore, I felt that a reasonable goal and so set it as such."

"Why not aim for something higher?"

"According to my math," I tell him. "That's the highest increase I'll be able to manage. So I set the goal for that because why strive for improving any less than the most I can manage?"

It's a shame my math said that was the most I can manage, but I'm still aiming for it anyway. Being able to double the amount laps which I can do in twenty minutes would be much more amazing.

"You should join us for morning training," I tell Finn. "It'll help keep your body healthy. And if you work hard enough, you can even get a six-pack, like me! That's not common for boys our age, so that'd be a big flex over anyone who makes fun of you."

"People make fun of me?" He asks.

"Not that I know of," I tell him. "If anyone does, you let me know, okay? I'll make sure they stop."

"Don't get into trouble again!" My friends say simultaneously.

"It was one time."

"Twice," Finn says.

"The second one doesn't count because what I did was justified," I open the door to the building. "Oh! I can smell cinnamon! Did they do surprise cinnamon rolls again? Let's hurry before they run out!"

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