[Xander – 13 years]

"Xander?" Dad says. "Do you need to take some time to relax?"

We're on the back deck, everything set up for the party. Dad has his grilling station set up to begin preparing dinner when it's time, and Mom is going to help him with the sides and stuff. Mom and I already have the snack trays and bowls out, though with homemade stuff rather than store-bought, even if the ingredients were purchased at stores.

Like the chips. Mom and I used a potato slicer to make them thin enough to be chips, then we baked them. They taste better than store-bought chips, and we flavored them plain, with a touch of salt, cheese, and barbecue. Different batches.

There are also bowls and platters of fruit and vegetables, fruit pops Mom and I made, pretzels, and non-chocolate fudge. We have a few other things out as well. I think it's excessive because there's no way everyone I invited will show up. I'm just me.

But my parents insisted on having enough food for the expectation of everyone I invited showing up. With a significant amount of the potential attendees being mages, that means there's a lot of food. We're even using dishes which preserve the food's state to keep everything fresh throughout the party.

The cake is excessively large. There definitely won't be more than five guests, I'm sure of it. But I had fun making it with Mom. It's a dragon that's as big as my torso, guarding its horde of blueberries and strawberries.

Mom looked away for a few minutes when we were getting to the part where it was going to be gold and jewels and when she looked back, I had a bunch of berry-shaped cake decorations. She didn't say anything about the candies so it was definitely okay for me to do that instead of making them jewels and coins.

There's also a table with gift bags for attendees. Dad said it wasn't necessary to do it but all of the pictures of the parties he's shown me from the parties he's been to have gift bags for guests. Even at the boys' home, everyone got a small box of candy at birthday parties.

Though making the gift bags was probably stupid. There's no way they'll all get used. But Dad said the party should have enough of everything for each person invited to get some. He didn't say that included the gift bags but it only makes sense to include those as well.

I probably wasted mana, giving us enough time to get everything ready between when my stream ended and now. A birthday party was a bad idea, I should've just treated it like a normal day.

"Probably," I answer. "But the party's starting soon. And there won't be many people showing up."

"I keep trying to tell you," he says. "Your friends will be here. They promised, didn't they? And you got the answer face-to-face for a lot of them."

"But not all," I say. "And what if they realized they don't like me that much and decide not to come? And-"

My phone pings and I check it. Rather than a message telling me that someone decided not to come, it's Carter letting me know that his group is ready to come over. The party starts at four-thirty and school lets out just-before three, so there's not enough time for them to drive over.

Which means I'm teleporting them here. Then, the ones who want to spend the night will. Dad's letting me have a sleepover as part of the birthday celebrations. I'm not sure how many people will actually want to attend that but it's allowed in case people want to.

It might end up being just me, meaning no sleepover. But if there is one, it's fine because tomorrow begins the four-day Labor Day weekend, so there's no school tomorrow.

It's also possibly Sig wants to do a sleepover with me, but that wouldn't be allowed if it's just him. No solo sleepovers with boyfriends until I've turned fourteen and am dating them for at least six months. That's the rule.

"Xander?" Dad asks. "Was that Carter?"

"Y-yeah," I look up from my phone. "He said they're ready for me to teleport them over so I'm gonna do that."

"Alright," he says.

"I'll be back soon," I start to return inside.

"Xander?"

"Yes?"

"You don't need to go to the street to teleport to them," he says. "Nor to the street when bringing them here. So once you've changed, you can just teleport there, then bring them straight back here."

"Okay."

I head to my room and change into black pants with neon green stripes down the sides and a dark green shirt with the MountainStorm Gear logo in neon green on the left breast. My sneakers are swapped to ones which match, then I teleport to the Martinses' ranch.

Rather than it being just Carter and Tate, there's Carter and Tate, along with Cooper, Knox, and Bo. All five of the boys I invited from here are coming to the party. They also have their play backpacks, so I guess that's something people bring to birthday parties.

Maybe it's so they can store their swim trunks and changes of clothes? I did say swimming is allowed for the party. I'm not sure if I will swim, especially not since I'm not that comfortable with everyone here other than Carter, but they're allowed to.

They all also have gift bags. Carter has a big shopping bag with several gift bags in it while the others all have just one big bag or two smaller ones.

They all also feel super excited for some reason.

Since it's my birthday, we're using mindwave cattle beef and some of their chickens as well for the grilled chicken stuff. Mr. Martins and Mr. Cox drove to Dragon Falls already and brought meat with them for the party, though I think they also did meat deliveries before coming to the house.

"Happy birthday!" Carter says, then the others echo it.

"Thanks," I say. "Are y'all ready to go?"

"Yup!" Carter answers. "I didn't text you too early, did I?"

We still have about ten minutes before the party begins.

"No," I say. "Dad said a lot of people end up showing up right before a party starts or after it begins, but to account for the potential of guests showing up earlier than that. So we finished setting up already."

"Alright!" He says. "Let's go, then!"

"Okay," I say. "Oh! I'm about to do the teleport."

I teleport us to the back deck at my home.

"Whoa," Carter says.

"We factored in having a lot of additional mages here," I tell him. "That's why there's so much food on the snacks table. Desserts will come out after dinner – Dad's gonna grill and do some pizzas. Look! We've got a pizza oven out here. Mom's gonna help him with that, he's not good at the dough part. The pizza oven's new, we got it just for the party. Though we did try it out after I got back from Youth Group yesterday, to make sure we were using it right."

Desserts will come out after dinner, but the cake is out now so that everyone can see it. Also because moving it around safely requires using magic and we didn't want to bother with that.

"There are also wards to keep insects away from the food," I add. "And those three tables there are for the presents, the one with presents already on it and then the ones to either side of it. Dad wanted me to put some food-preserving enchantments on the tables, so I think he made me something edible for one of my presents. I don't know why he wanted it for all three tables, though."

They all seem relieved and happy when I let them know about the enchantments, which doesn't make any sense. Trying to understand other people is hard.

"You can put the gifts on there," I tell them, and they do that. "Also, the changing area for if you want to change into swim trunks is through the door there."

"No balloons?" Tate asks.

"There's going to be enough going on already without adding balloons into the mix."

I know that birthday parties are supposed to have balloons and other decorations, but we're keeping it simple. Dad suggested it and said I might end up overwhelmed if we do too many decorations. So there are birthday plates and napkins, and fancy tablecloths, but no streamers or banners or balloons or stuff. That will help reduce the stimulation.

Since there are at least five boys here for the party, that means there will definitely be some stimulation.

As they put the presents they brought onto the table, Sig, Connor, Sam, and Isaac arrive with their dads. They all have presents, too, and now nearly everyone I've invited has arrived.

Why did some of them get me two presents? I can even see envelopes for cards, which meant they all got me a card and one or two presents. The only presents I was expecting to receive at the party were from my parents, and that only because I knew they were getting me stuff. I also know that Greyson's planning on building me a new computer for my birthday, it's just delayed because of his restrictions at school.

Grandma and Grandpa Caldwell aren't here to reduce the numbers of people contributing to my over-stimulation, but they sent me a card. Dad and Grandpa Adrian and Grandma Lily also got me something additional to the presents on the table.

Sig's wearing shorts and a sleeveless (they were all driven here, so shirts were required), and he's still wearing the bracelet and necklace I gave him. He's also wearing the zombie bracelet I put in the gift bags at the end of the testing for the games. I haven't seen him wearing it since he tried it on then and thought maybe he hated it, but I guess he wants to wear it again.

He looks good.

"Happy Birthday, Xander!" Sig offers me a hug while still holding his gift bags.

"Hi," I give him a hug while making sure the bags don't get squished. "You said that when I met you this morning for the lesson, and again when I brought you back home, and then again when we started talking on the server, and again when we signed off of the server."

"Yeah!" He says. "It's your birthday! Happy birthday!"

Greyson isn't the only dork I know.

After I tell them about the table for gifts and the changing rooms, they put the gifts on there and head to the changing rooms with the other boys. While everyone is in there, I sneak a quick bite of some fruit, managing to finish it off before the rest of my invited guests arrive.

Everyone I invited showed up. The last two guests are Austin and Nathan, from Youth Group. Nathan's in the seventh grade this school year, but he's one of the older kids in his grade and is turning thirteen on Sunday, so we're actually close in age. The only reason I'm a grade higher is because my birthday is the cutoff day.

They put their gifts on the table for them, then head to the changing room to get changed into their trunks.

With all of the guests here, the party can begin. I'm not entirely sure what actually marks the start of it, though. Should we still wait until four-thirty? That's when it's scheduled for. But Dad did tell me that it's okay to start a party like this early if I want to. He said that four-thirty is more like a "rough" start time, not an absolute one.

Everyone else is waiting to see if they can go get food. At least, I think that's what they're waiting for. The schedule. I need to let them know the schedule for the party.

"Is there a schedule for the party?" Carter asks me. "Or are we all just going to go play for a bit before other stuff?"

Oh! So schedules for parties are normal? I wasn't sure if there was or not and was afraid to ask Dad in case he made me change the schedule. I do have one I created, though.

"There's a schedule," I tell him. "First is presents, but you can get snacks before that. After all of the presents are opened, there are some games we can play. Dad's going to start the grills, and he and Mom are going to make dinner. After dinner, there are more games and stuff. Oh, but you can play in the pool during the play sessions, the games are required. Then there's cake and ice cream and other dessert stuff. Then there's more play time, and anyone who isn't staying for the sleepover can leave then. If you're leaving, you have to leave by eight. After that, we're moving into the rec center."

"About that," Connor says, then points at it. "Xander, that's bigger than when we were here for the flips video."

"Yeah," I nod. "Some more rooms were added yesterday. There's now a theater room and a big rec room for playing regular games, with its own small kitchen and snack area. Also a bathroom attached between the two and a sectioned-off spot of the rec room for us to sleep in. Dad let me get that added on even though it wasn't part of the original plan partly as an early birthday present. Birthday presents can apparently come on days that aren't the birthday or the birthday party. That doesn't make any sense."

We hired the same mage construction team which built the rest of the fitness center, and they were able to seamlessly add in the new section. Sig hasn't seen inside of it yet, but he might later as it's where the sleepover will be, if the sleepover happens.

"By the way," Carter says. "I am sooo glad it's cooler here. It's gotten warmer recently and it feels nice here! Doubt we'll risk heat exhaustion!"

"You'll still need to make sure to stay hydrated," Mr. Martins tells him, then looks at Mr. Caldwell. "It does feel nicer here, though. The forecast was saying it's the same temp as back home so we were expecting it to be warmer. And it felt warmer earlier."

"Yeah, no, something's up," Austin says. "It was definitely warmer when we got here. The cooler temperature is back here, isn't it? Is the weather being funky again?"

"I put a spell over the area the outside area the party's taking place in to make it cooler," I say. "So that it's not as hot. I'm using a spell which regulates my temperature to keep me from overheating, but I didn't think any of you would be able to use the spell. It's sort of like a bubble, but shaped to the yard area we'll be in. So you'll feel the normal temperature if you leave the area. But I made it pretty big so that we'd have a lot of space. What? Did I do something wrong?"

Dad's giving me a weird look.

"You didn't tell me you were doing that," he says. "I just thought it got cooler. The weather can change unpredictably, after all."

"I didn't ask you?" I summon my list. "Oh. I forgot to put asking you on the list. Sorry. I guess I thought I asked before I made the list, so I didn't add it. Sorry. I can undo it…"

"You don't need to," he tells me.

"You can just… casually change the weather?" Nathan asks.

"Dude," Tate looks at him. "He and Sig stopped by the ranch on Friday to buy some stuff from the shop. My ma says he then left for about fifteen minutes or so and when he returned, said it'd stop raining so much. The forecast has been relatively accurate every day since. And we've had an extremely unusual amount of rain this year."

"That was just a cloud beast instigating rains with water and storm elementals," I tell him. "But Thursday, Grandpa Adrian taught me how to touch the intangible in case any more monster-under-the-bed monsters go under my bed. I adapted the spell for cloud beasts, but didn't use the killing one for killing the intangible. Instead, I ate all of his mana and told him to stop or else. But I had to chase him down first, he kept trying to escape until I caught him."

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"There's a lot to unpack there," Tate says.

"Buddy," Sig puts a hand on his shoulder. "You have no idea."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you're a very special dude who can do a lot of crazy stuff," Sig tells me, and that's apparently the truth.

"Okay," I say. "Let's get some snacks, then I'll start opening the presents. I'll be sitting at that table, and y'all can sit on the chairs we set up there."

"I'm surprised your great-grandfather isn't here," Carter says as we walk toward the refreshments tables.

"He's here," I tell him. "He and Grandma Lily brought Berry with them."

"Who?" Sig asks.

"Berry," I answer. "He's the same sort of plant creature as Grandma Lily. Not related, though. Look! That's them over there!"

I wave to Grandpa Adrian, Grandma Lily, and Berry as they approach.

Berry's our age and has suntanned skin, just like Grandma Lily. His eyes are a leafy green, while his hair is a vibrant blue at the tips and fades to white at the center, with stripe-like streaks of a slightly darker blue running from the tips to the white area, sort of like how some flowers are. He insists it's a personal choice while Grandma Lily says that he's just not skilled enough at taking on a human form to fully blend in with humans.

I'm believing Grandma Lily because she was honest.

It's possible he'll agree to the sleepover, but I don't know him well enough to know if he will or not. We did only just meet today.

"Did you say plant creature?" Connor asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "Grandma Lily's a plant person. They're an entire species of people unknown to most of the world because they usually live in areas full of nature. Berry's gonna supervise the greenhouse's workers, once it's built, so he's moving in with us."

He was planning on just living in the greenhouse, sort of like how the other plant beings like him and Grandma Lily live in the farming facilities they supervise. For the ones who do work in the farming facilities, that it.

That's just weird, though, so I asked Dad if he could get his own room in the house and Dad agreed.

"They were looking at the spot for where the greenhouse will be," I add. "Just to make sure it's a good spot to put it. Also, it might not actually be a greenhouse but just another building. I'm not sure if we're going to make it have glass walls or not, since that would definitely look odd with expanded spaces. Grandpa Adrian said it can disorient people looking in."

"Which is true," Grandpa Adrian says, the three of them reaching us as he does. "If you look into a space which seems small but is quite expansive, it can disorient many people. A backpack or a cooler isn't an issue for most, especially once they get used to it, but a building is a different story."

"Okay," I say. "Is anyone gonna get snacks, or are we just gonna stand here?"

"You're the birthday boy!" Sam says. "You get your snacks first!"

"The birthday boy gets to go first?"

"Yes," most of the other boys respond.

"Oh."

None of them seem bothered by me going first, and they were all honest, so I guess it's really okay.

I grab a tray and put a bunch of snacks on it, then move over to the table where I'll be opening my presents. It's a different table from the one the presents are on in order to give me space to open the presents.

Once everyone has gotten their food and is seated on the chairs set out so they can watch me, Dad brings over two of the presents, both of which are from the same person.

"These two are from Austin," I say after checking their tags. "And this one has a card in it," I pull out the card first; Dad said to always read the cards first. "'Happy birthday, Xander!' Thanks, Austin. Okay, what's in this bag?"

I pull out the tissue paper, then the items in the bag. It's a set of art supplies.

"I know you get your stuff from that store in the old mage district," Austin tells me as I look at the kit. "So I looked there for stuff I thought you might like."

"I haven't gotten colored pencils for sketching," I tell him. "And it's three sets of it, too. And three sharpeners, and three packs of erasers for all of my mistakes! That's really good. Thanks, Austin!"

I set the presents to the side, then fold up the bag and set it to the other side, along with the tissue paper. That way, they all take up a lot less space. Then, I pull out the tissue paper from the other bag and pull out the paper box inside.

"Cookies!"

They're lemon thumbprint cookies with dollops of a sort of frosting in the dips and drizzles of icing streaked across them. I didn't even know thumbprint cookies could be made this way!

"I baked 'em myself!" Austin tells me. "So I'm not sure how good they are and you've already got one in your mouth."

I finish the bite I took and nod.

"They're good," I tell him.

"Cool!" He says. "I noticed you like eating cookies a lot, and usually have at least one or two lemon cookies at Youth Group, even if that's not one that's on the table. So I figured, I'd try and make you some!"

He saw me eating cookies I was sneaking from my backpack but never asked me for them? That's really nice of him.

"It's good," I tell him. "Thanks, Austin!"

Dad brings over the next present as I put the tissue paper and bag with the others, and the box of cookies with the art supplies. I finish off the cookie as well, then look at the tag on the present.

"This one's from Nathan," I say as I pull out the card. "'Happy Birthday!' Thanks, Nathan. Okay. And the present is… ooh! Strawberry biscuit cookies!"

They taste delicious as well. I continue opening presents, and it seems like everyone got me at least some sort of baked good they made. Banana-nut bread, lemon crinkle cookies, danishes, blueberry scones, blueberry pie bars, blueberry streusel bars, and more. Some of them did get me a non-baked treat gift as well, such as the documentary on mindwave cattle that Tate got me.

"That was made on our ranch a few years ago," Tate tells me as I swallow the bite of oatmeal lemon crumble bar I took. "It gives a lot of information on them. You've mentioned you like watching documentaries, so I figured you might not have seen that one."

"I haven't," I say. "Thanks, Tate! Also, that bar is really good."

"Thanks!" He says. "Mom helped me make it! There should be more in the bag."

"It was just the one box."

"No!" He laughs. "More stuff in the bag with the movie!"

The bag was a little on the big and heavy side, and the movie was at the top, with more tissue paper underneath. So that wasn't just to fool me into thinking it was a massive item? Big doesn't always mean more expensive so I didn't think he was trying to make me thing it was a more expensive one, just a bigger object.

"Oh," I pull out the tissue paper and look inside. "It's… sauce?"

"Barbecue sauce!" He says. "My recipe! You like it, so I made a big batch of it for you! Also, there's summer sausage in there. We don't normally make any until it starts getting cooler out since it's mostly bought during wintertime, before the Festival of Frost, but we made some for you for your present! It's beef, but it doesn't need to be chilled until it's opened."

There are three sticks of it in the bag.

"The packaging doesn't seem to be magic?" I frown.

"It's not!" He says. "The process used to produce it made it that way!"

"Oh," I say. "It's as long as my arm."

I want to give the summer sausage a try, but set it to the side instead and begin opening the gifts from Carter. There's a box of blueberry muffins, another of banana-nut muffins, another of blueberry cake donuts, a ceramic Aurum which fits in the palm of my hand, a ceramic Solaris which fits in the palm of my hand, a bottle of syrup with fire and water magic properties (it tastes good), a stuffed animal designed to look like Aurum, another designed to look like Solaris, and a new western hat.

"I made the figurines myself!" Carter puffs up his chest a little. "We use earth, fire, and water magics at the ranch, so one of the ways we practice is with ceramics. Since you like Aurum so much, I figured I'd make you figurines. I paid someone to make the plushies, though. I ain't able to do that."

"They're really nice," I say. "Thank you, Carter. And the last present is from Sig."

I pull out the tissue paper and set it with the others, then pull out the card and read the happy birthday from him. That goes with the other cards, then I pull out the top item, which is a necklace. It's made with a black leather cord with spatial magic properties, and has a dark green metal dragon hanging from it and a clasp made of the same green metal. The metal is made from orichalcum with plant magic properties.

Did he spend most of what he had left from the beta tests on this? The small little metal dragon would've cost over $500 by itself, and that's not even including the much more expensive cord or the clasp. That wasn't necessary at all. Just a hug from him would've made me happy.

"I don't know if it's real or not," Sig tells me. "But they said the cord was made from the hide of a bull which can warp space around it, and the metal is orichalcum and has plant magics in it. Er… the plant magics was just because I was looking at green magical metals and that was one of the ones which popped up, and then I remembered that you said you were getting a greenhouse built."

"Thanks," I pull it on. "I like it. And it does have those properties. I'll enchant it for longevity later. And there's more in here… cookies!"

Strawberry shortcake cookies and lemon-blueberry ones, like the ones Mom and I make a lot!

"Aunt Rachel and I made them earlier," Sig tells me. "They're a lot more work than we realized. The shortcake ones. I didn't realize how much work it takes to make them, and you do them all the time? Damn!"

"I sometimes cheat and use telekinesis."

They all laugh at that, but it doesn't feel like they're being mean, they're just amused. Mom feels especially amused for some reason, even though she knows I do that. She even assigns me to rolling the cookies when I start doing it, probably because she doesn't want to have to roll all of them by hand, too.

"Thank you for all the presents, everyone!" I say. "It wasn't necessary. But the treats were all delicious, so thanks! Y'all can start playing while we wait for dinner to be ready, or get more snacks, or whatever. I'm gonna put my presents away and enchant the necklace."

Sig comes over as I start storing things in my bracelets, and I give him a hug and thank him again for the presents. Austin is watching us and suddenly feels slightly anxious. Not in the same way he often gets with me.

"Are you okay?" I ask him, and Sig looks over to him. "Do you need a quiet place? There's a room inside you can use, just ask the guard in the dining room. He's there to show people the bathrooms and the quiet room."

"N-no," Austin fidgets, discomfort in his mind. "Um. Are you two dating?"

"We haven't gone on any dates," I tell him. "But we are boyfriends. I asked him out and he said yes, and now we hug a lot and text a lot. And he sits by me when we eat."

"Oh," he suddenly feels really disappointed.

"By the way," I say. "I liked your present! Have you made those cookies before? I really liked how they taste, and they had enough lemon to actually taste like proper lemon cookies, too!"

"That was my first time," he tells me. "So they really tasted good?"

"Yeah!" I nod. "You did good! Do you wanna play cornhole after I finish here? It's apparently a normal game for Labor Day weekend. I know it's not then yet since that starts tomorrow, but Dad bought a set yesterday and was teaching me how to play."

"Sure!" He says. "By the way, did you have a favorite present?"

"Yeah," I nod. "The addition to the fitness center, turning it into a proper rec center. I paid for part of it, but Dad let it happen and Grandpa Adrian and Grandma Lily paid for a lot as part of the present. I know Dad already has a room for games and stuff, and a theater, but this one's my own room, and it has more space. I'm getting a lot of friends and twelve seats in the theater ain't nearly enough. I mean, there are thirteen of us kids! If we watch a movie, two people would have to sit on the floor!"

"Wouldn't it just be one?" Austin asks. "There's Nathan and me, which is two, plus and you S.G. and that group, which brings it up to seven, then Carter and his group, which brings it up to twelve, and then Berry, for a total of thirteen."

"And Trenton," I tell him. "He gets his own seat for when we watch stuff. The new theater has forty-two seats. I don't like that, but it's okay because it's two sets of seats, in three rows of seven. So it's really twenty-one seats twice. I was going to ask for three so that it's better, but Dad said no to that. He also said I couldn't do three rows of nine twice, which is why it's three of seven."

"So your dad does say 'no' to you sometimes?" Sig asks. "It seems like he usually says 'yes'."

"He does," I say. "I can't just do whatever, there are a bunch of rules I have to follow. And one of the things on my list of rewards I wanted was to have my own house, but he said I couldn't do that. I had to stay in this house. What do I do with all of the bags and tissue paper?"

"I'll handle those," Mom tells me. "You just go have fun with your friends."

"Lemme just finish putting all of these into my bracelet," I say. "Then I'll enchant the necklace, then I'll play with them."

"Hey, Xander?" Austin snickers.

"Yes, Austin?"

"I was meaning about the treats when I asked if you had a favorite."

"Oh," I say. "The frosted sugar cookie bars Knox made tasted the best!"

I finish putting my presents into my stasis bracelets, enchant the bracelet, then get up and we head over to where the cornhole stuff is so we can set it up.

[Xander – 13 years]

"Wait!" Carter exclaims as I show everyone the gym during the tour of my rec facility.

The party has ended and it's officially time for the sleepover now, so I'm giving the twelve boys staying for it a tour of my rec facility. They're all still wearing their swim trunks, though some of them haven't been in the pool for awhile. None of them changed back even after they stopped, probably because it was warm outside.

I can tell the one who were still wet from the pool when we came in got a little bit chilly, though. Their trunks are still a bit wet and the cool air of the rec facility only makes that worse. Should I have turned up the heat in here? But I don't like doing that, it feels nice in here to me when I don't use my environmental magic.

"Is this the 'secure facility' Sig mentioned in his flips video?" Carter asks. "The wall mats match, right?"

"It wasn't guarded by two thousand gummy bear mages when he said that," I tell him. "Dad told me that Sig said it as a joke, not as a serious thing, and no one would actually believe him."

"There's an implication there that it's now guarded by two thousand gummy bear mages," Bo says.

I worded my response wrong?

"Bo," I say. "It's not guarded by two thousand gummy bear mages. Even if they're made with ingredients which have mana of their own, meaning they'd have mana… they'd just be gummy bears. They don't have brains or wills of their own. No minds. They wouldn't be able to cast spells. Even if they could, they wouldn't be able to recover their mana.

"We can pull out obstacles and mats and stuff if we want," I move the topic back to the tour and what we can do. "But I have to unlock them for that. That door leads to a weights room, and that one leads to the changing room for the indoor pool. Dad said that we can go swimming without adult supervision under one condition: there are at least four boys in the pool room. He says that we should still behave and if anyone gets hurt, to take care of it immediately and let him or Mom know."

"Awesome!" Sig pumps his fists up into the air, then hesitates for a moment and looks at Berry. "Do you swim? I know there are chemicals and stuff…"

"There are safe alternatives to harsh chemicals for pool treatments," Berry says. "Though the pool here uses sanitation and balancing magic to keep it safe for swimmers. And yes. I might be a plant, but I do enjoy a good soak."

"Doesn't your aunt use the magic treatments?" Connor asks Sig. "I know Dad recommended them to her since they're better, even if a little pricier."

"Uh… I dunno?" Sig answers. "I just use 'em, she's the one who buys 'em."

"If you're going to play in here," I say. "I'd recommend wearing shoes and changing out of your swim trunks. Alright, let's go look at the theater."

I show them the theater room, which has its own concessions area, with three popcorn machines, a roller grill, a pretzel heater, and more. There are also directions for use on all of them, and Dad gave permission for them to be used by others just for tonight.

"Why's there a murder mystery show playing?" Isaac asks.

"Trenton's watching it," I walk over to Trenton and turn off the show, then pick up Trenton. "It's time for the sleepover, so no more murder mysteries, okay? We might use it to watch stuff. And speaking of what we're doing, that's it for the tour. I am way overstimulated and need a nap, so I'm gonna try to take a nap for an hour and a half. Y'all can have fun doing… whatever. Then when I get back up, I'll join in for some games."

The real question is how many of them will still be here when I wake.

[Xander – 13 years]

"INCOMING!" Carter shouts the moment I appear above the water in the pool.

He noticed me fast.

But it's not enough time for anyone to really react as I crash down into the water, magic amplifying the splash.

All of the others are in the pool right now, with none of my guests deciding to leave. I decided to join them even though it's not comfortable for me, especially since I didn't put on the full suit, just my trunks. The ones modified for my wolfkin tail, because I decided not to switch back from this form for tonight. It's comfortable and I think Austin and Nathan are the only ones who didn't know about it before.

"Ack!" Sam exclaims as he shakes his head a bit.

"Hey, Xander!" Sig says. "We're playing the sharks game!"

"The… sharks game?" I ask. "Is that the one where someone is It and they have to try and tag out the others as the others swim past them?"

"Yup!" He says. "Kind of lopsided 'cause we've got some mages here, but it's fun anyway!"

"I've got strength-dampener bracelets that'll make it so that those wearing them can only put out as much strength as if they have the same mana level as the weaker people," I say. "They can be worn as anklets. And it factors in something like even you having twice as much mana as the others making you not one of the weaker people. So if y'all want… we can do those. It doesn't actually make you weaker, it just restricts how much strength you can actually put out."

"Okay," Carter says. "Everything else you've made has made some sense as for why you invented it, but that… I can't imagine you'd want to make yourself weaker."

"I ain't sure why I made them, either," I tell him. "But Greyson was happy to test it out and the version which can be turned on and off makes it so that Luke doesn't have to listen to his classmates complaining about him being so much stronger than them for things like PE."

Luke seems really happy with that, too. He's sent me pictures of him, Tyler, and Seph playing in Seph's backyard, the anklets on. I don't know why he's still talking to me, he's not helping me out anymore. He did bring me a birthday present after school let out earlier, though.

"But I made a bunch once I figured out they work," I say. "Did y'all want to do that? It'd make it a lot more fair, and people wouldn't have to worry about how much to hold back. Especially for those not used to holding back down to normal-person levels. I've got more than enough for everyone."

"Sure!" Carter says. "Let's do that!"

The others agree to it, so I distribute the bracelets after figuring out which of the two stasis bracelets I'm wearing they're stored in.

"Whoa!" Carter exclaims after testing his strength with Tate for a few moments. "This is awesome!"

"If I'm understanding what you're meaning there," I say. "The government agrees. They wanted to order a modified set of them which cannot be taken off except with a special key, which limits a person's strength down to what an ordinary person can put out, and which completely blocks a person from being able to use their mana in the first place."

Everyone suddenly feels uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable, too. I don't ever want my mana blocked, not even if it's something I can take off. Wearing the bracelet just to dampen my strength already makes me uncomfortable, and that's even with knowing it makes it easier for me to restrict my strength and avoid hurting people. Even with knowing that I'd still be stronger than I was just a few months ago despite the bracelet restricting how much strength I can put out.

"What did they want that for?" Carter asks.

I'll answer this, but then we're going to play games. This is supposed to be a fun night, not one to talk about stuff like this.

"Prisoners," I answer. "A lot less money can be spent on security in a prison when they don't have to worry about their prisoners being extremely strong or having a lot of mana they can use. Alright. So whose turn is it to be the shark, and which side do I go to?"

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