[Xander – 13 years]

"It's an Apollo!" I say after checking the snow leopard stuffed animal. "And look, there are mini-Apollos, too!"

We're in the souvenir shop for Big Cat Crossing now, since we're stopping here before the cafe. It's better to buy the souvenirs as we go by the shops rather than leave the area, then return later. There are a lot of different things we can buy here. Stuffed animals, keychain charms, lanyards, shirts, hoodies, hats, mugs, stickers, toys, and more.

As with the other gifts shops, this one reinforces the fact that it was a good idea to make my budget $500 for souvenirs.

"What about Tanyas?" Sig asks. "Couldn't they be her?"

"No," I say. "See? The tag says 'Apollo'. And they're males, not females. These ones are females," I point at the snow leopards of similar sizes to the first two but a little bit more to the right. "Those ones are a little bit smaller than these ones, like how real snow leopard males and females are in comparison."

Whoever made the stuffed animals for the zoo took that into consideration, too, so that it would be more accurate. They were probably doing their best to replicate the real snow leopards for the stuffed animals, since everything else about them matches, too. Even their fur patterns match Apollo's and Tanya's!

Though they can't do any spells, which is disappointing. The stuffed animals would be way more amazing if there was a way for us to trigger a spell like the one they're modeled after could use.

A feature like that would probably increase the cost a lot, making it more difficult to sell them. That's something I'll add to the list of potential merch items for content creators on Xanson TV, though it would likely be for ones at higher tiers. Having little figures which can cast harmless spells to imitate what the creators do in the games might be something people are interested in.

Personally, I don't like that idea, but if there's anything I've learned from Sig and Greyson, it's that a lot of people like weird things.

I grab an Apollo stuffed animal, and Sig grabs one and some accessories, then we walk over to the counter to pay. Once the rest of our group pays for their things, we leave and make our way to the cafe beside the lake and river. It's not too far from here and as we arrive, Isaac's group does as well.

"Let's eat together!" Sig suggests, then looks at the rest of our group. "If you're all okay with that?"

We all are, so our two groups combine (sort of) and head into the cafe building. It's called a cafe but it's huge, with the ability to seat several hundred people at once. There aren't too many others in here at the moment, but a few other groups have arrived and are in line or sitting at tables.

With how many people are in here, I decide to suppress my empathy so that I don't get overwhelmed from that. I'm already going to be dealing with a lot of stimulation from all the people in here and the noises and smells. Adding in the feelings of an additional thirty or so people might not be a good idea, especially since I want to try and relax a little after all of the stimulation I've already had.

Grandpa Adrian said that's very important in a place like this, to give myself quieter time where I don't take in as much stimulation. There are even rooms scattered around the zoo I can go to if I really need a quieter place for a few minutes.

As we wait for our turn to place our orders, I examine the menu and find that they have both food choices with mundane ingredients and food choices with magical ingredients. All of the options are essentially the same, just one set is magic and the other isn't.

Not aspected magic, just plain magic. It will still taste good to powerful mages, it just won't have an extra special flavor to those with magical bloodlines and affinities. Magical foods here also means we can fill up more easily with less food. That's important for those of us who aren't full on mana.

"And remember," I tell my group. "I'm paying for all of us kids so just order what you want. But make sure that you can eat it all, okay? Don't waste food."

They confirm they won't, then I ask for everyone's orders. It's easy to keep track of them thanks to my magitech glasses. I've given them a lot of useful features to help me out.

"What're you doing?" Sig asks. "You keep gesturing with your fingers when we tell you want we want. Some sort of memory technique?"

"These glasses look ordinary but are magitech," I tell him. "I scanned the menu with them and am marking what people say. As long as it works right, it'll let me compile a list of all of the orders, consolidating things so I can just say how many of each item and what item is that quantity."

Only as long as it works right, though. I forgot to test this feature before now.

"Oh," he says. "That's pretty ne-wait. Those are magitech?"

"I made them look like normal glasses so that I don't have to walk around the zoo with the other style on," I tell him. "It's letting me take pictures and record videos."

There's also a magitech orb I set up, but it's invisible and I don't want to mention that. Not in public, even if I do have a permit. The orb is mostly so that I can get pictures of me as well, though I suppose it wasn't fully necessary to wear the glasses.

Anything I can see, the orb can as well.

"Oh!" He says, then a strong feeling of curiosity and hope fills him. "Got any of me?"

Even if I didn't take a few pictures of him, I could get some shots from the orb's recording later. I do have some pictures with him in them that I took directly, though. He said it's fine to take pictures of him.

"A few," I nod. "Let's get back to taking orders. It's almost our turn."

I finish taking everyone's orders, then approach the counter. The others follow behind me, probably so they can grab their food immediately as it comes out. Everyone else who went through the line already received their food up there, but groups paying together received their food on trays. They must have forgotten that I use telekinesis when I don't have enough hands to carry things.

That's fine, though. I'm not going to complain if they want to help carry things.

"Some of the other registers are open," the lady we approach says. "So you boys can split up to make it faster."

"It's all one order for the seven of us," I tell her. "I'm paying for my group's. They didn't need to come up here with me, I could just carry the trays to the table."

"I want to help!" Sig says.

"Same," Carter and Austin say.

That's confirmation that I was right about my assumption. Good. I'm not great at this, but at least I'm getting better. I'll probably never be as good as others are but at least I figured that one out.

"With that much food," Dad says as he steps up to the next register over. "You'll have several trays."

"I was just gonna use telekinesis," I tell him, then look at my friends. "Thanks. Okay. Um. So the order. There's a lot. Six of us are strong mages who've been using magic a lot the last few days."

I read off the list my glasses provides, which turns out to be correct. It correctly complied everything into one neat list rather than a bunch of individual orders.

"Are you sure that's how you want to pay?" The worker asks when I pull out my debit card, and she glances over at Dad, who's watching the exchange.

What is it with cashiers and not believing I can afford things? I can afford it!

"If I wasn't sure," I say. "I would ask Dad, not you. But I'm sure. I haven't spent anything on the card yet today and a few hundred dollars is way less than my daily limit."

I insert my card into the reader and once the transaction goes through, we step to the side to wait for the food to be put onto the trays. The employees doing it are quick while the cashier quietly gets our drinks, and I feel sulkiness in her mind.

"Hey, Xander?" Sig asks. "How come you didn't have to do the identity verification thing? Isn't that mandatory on any unusual or large purchases on a kid's card?"

Oh. I guess that's weird when considering the normal requirements… and I can't fully remember what Dad told me was the reason behind that.

"I'm the guy who crushed a wyvern's neck with his raw strength," I tell him. "While I might get scared a lot, I ain't gonna let someone make me spend money on something I don't want to. Considering how much money I have, that's a good thing because I'm sure someone will eventually try to do it rather than just letting me spend it how I want."

There are already people upset with me spending it how I want, which doesn't make any sense. I really don't understand why it seemed to bother Sig that I gave everyone in our group $500 each for souvenirs.

"What if it gets stolen and they figure out your PIN?" Nash, the boy I don't know from Isaac's group asks. "If there's no verification to make sure it's you and your own will for the spending, someone could do that."

"I enchanted my card so that it can't be read by the readers unless I'm the one using it," I tell him. "Also so that it'll return to my wallet if it's out of it for too long. And if I notice it's missing, I can just teleport it back to me from wherever it is."

Dad starts laughing.

"Come on," I say. "Let's go eat. I'm really hungry."

We grab our trays as they're now down and take them over to some tables. Some of the others move tables together so we can sit together along with Isaac's group. That's apparently allowed here, as long as we don't bother other guests or completely obstruct walkways. Tables being together is fine, but putting the tables together and then blocking the walkways around them is not.

"By the way," Isaac says. "They're still doing sea lion shows for a couple of more weeks. The next one starts at one, then the last one's at three. We were gonna watch it, did you guys want to go?"

"Sea lion show?"

"Yeah!" Sig says. "They've got some sea lions here, and they'll do tricks and stuff to put on a show for everyone! It's pretty fun to watch!"

I'm not fond of sea lions, but Sig seems excited for the show, and the rest of my group seems interested. Because of that, we agree to go to it once it's time to. Before that, though, we explore the area between here and there, and a pair of peacocks come out onto the path. The zoo apparently has some animals which can just wander around on their own.

They're so beautiful.

"They really are," Cooper says. "Which one do you think is a boy?"

Oh, I said that out loud? Oops.

"They're both boys," I say as the peacocks turn their heads to look at me. "Peahens – female peafowl – aren't brightly colorful for most species. It's the peacocks, the males, which are."

"Really?" He seems surprised.

"Yeah."

"Huh," he looks at them. "So it's just a pair of friends strutting along? Or are they together?"

"Hi," I wave one of Trenton's paws to the peacocks as they look at us. "I'm interested, but I don't know if the others are. I'll ask. They say they want to put on a show for us and want to know if we'll watch."

"Really?" Austin asks. "What kind of show?"

"A magic show," I answer. "They have light magic and a slight crystal aspect. Do y'all want to see it?"

"Yeah!" The others answers.

"They say they do," I tell the peacocks, who then move into different positions and face us with their full bodies. "Okay, guys and Mom, they're gonna begin."

The peacocks remain still for a few moments, then they begin dancing. As they dance, the colors of their tails shimmer and shift. Rather than it being an illusion, their tails are actually changing colors. One of the magics they possess allows them to alter their colors, which are perceived via light magics. They're altering what light is reflected back and what's absorbed rather than generating.

They can also create and uncreate crystals, which they do to accompany them in their dance. The crystals glow and glimmer and shimmer and shine, but only gently. Enough to be noticed and look beautiful but not enough to blind.

"Yeah!" Carter cheers as he claps his hands once the peacocks finish their dance.

Some of the other boys cheer and clap, too, and I clap Trenton's paws.

"That was a good show," I tell the peacocks. "Thanks for doing it!"

They raise a wing towards me, uncreate their crystals, then turn and trot back into the foliage off of the side of the path.

"The animals here are amazing," I tell Sig.

"They all really like you," Russell says.

"Please don't start that again."

"I wasn't, I promise!"

"Huh?" Sig asks.

"Nothing," Russell quickly responds. "I was just observing it, Xander. The animals here really seem to like you."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Which is nice," I say. "Since it means none of them are mean. And none of them look delicious, either."

"You wouldn't be allowed to eat any of the animals here," Dad tells me.

"They actually have a few shops which have jerky and stuff made from the same species as some of them," a boy I'm not familiar with tells us, his group having come up behind us as we watched the peacocks' show. "Some of the game animals aren't actually rare or endangered or exotic or whatever, they're just some which were captured and brought here for normal people to see living their lives."

Despite how that sounds, the animals all have a decent amount of space, and the zoo does its best to give them an environment similar to what they'd have in the wild. There's plenty of space for us to view them in, but the animals don't have to be out in the viewing areas and can just relax out of view in a more comfortable spot, if they wish.

"But since they're also things you can hunt…" the other boy trails off for a few moments. "Well, the gift shops have foods made from ones which were. They source the meat from hunters, it's actually one of the places it might go if you sell your meat to a certified shop. Strict standards are ensured to make sure it's safe to eat and is what it's said to be. They also have some pouches and other things made from their parts, too."

The boy and his group are from Crater Creek, according to the IDs they're wearing. His name is Thomas, and he's liked by fairies. When I look down at Trenton, I tilt his head up to look at me.

Oh. He was blessed by a hunting god. Him being a hunter would explain how he knows this stuff. It wouldn't surprise me if he goes hunting regularly.

"Hi, Thomas!" Sig says.

"Thomas?" I ask. "Oh! I didn't recognize you 'cause you're not in hunting gear."

I've only seen him from the brief interaction after the wyvern attacked me and from some pictures Sig showed me after. In all of them, Thomas was in hunting gear.

"Hi, S.G.," Thomas says. "Hey, Xander… and everyone else! Were those peacocks putting on a show for y'all?"

"Yeah!" I nod. "They asked me if we wanted to see it and we did, so they did!"

"Xander can talk to animals," several of the others say as Thomas opens his mouth to say something.

"Are you guys gonna watch the sea lion show, too?" I ask. "We were on our way there so that we can try to get tickets, in case it fills up."

Mr. Michaels suggested we try to buy the tickets as soon as they're available, which is forty-five minutes before the show starts. That's in case it sells out if a bunch of groups decide to go.

"We saw the one at eleven!" Thomas says. "It was pretty cool! We got turned around on our way to the cafe and saw the peacock show. Y'all enjoy the show!"

He waves and I wave one of Trenton's paws as the others tell him bye, and his group leaves. We turn and make our way to the sea lion exhibit, making sure to look at the other animals on the way.

Though the sea lions have an actual show they do, they have tanks they can swim around in outside of it. We can view them from a path through the zoo where the tanks are open at the top, with glass walls making the borders. Out here, they have some rock formations they can lounge or play on in addition to the water to swim in.

In addition to that, there's a tunnel going through the bottoms of the tanks, to let us view them while they're swimming around out of view from out here.

I don't want to go into the tunnels. Even with my earplugs being enchanted, I don't know how they'll fare against echoes.

"And you do enjoy putting on shows?" I ask the sea lion who's hanging out by the edge of the tank, and he nods. "Okay! Do you tell them when you don't want to?" He nods again. "Do they make you anyway?" He shakes his head. "Okay! At least they're nice. Are you gonna do the show for us when it's time?" He nods. "Okay! We were planning on buying tickets. I'm looking forward to it. Bye!"

The sea lion leaves, and we continue on our way to the booth to buy the tickets. Dad pays for them for everyone, then we go to the dinosaur exhibit not far from here to wait until it's time to get seats. Tickets can be bought forty-five minutes before it begins, but we can only go in to sit in the stadium seats fifteen minutes before it begins.

There aren't any real dinosaurs in the dinosaur exhibit, just fake bones and some bird which are relatively unevolved from the era of the dinosaurs. These ones aren't magical and they don't have much brains, so they're really boring.

This section has some stuff for kids to play with, including tables which have fake bones underneath sand (or dirt, depending on the table) that can be "excavated" by brushing the sand or dirt away.

I don't understand the purpose of that and my friends mostly mess with the sand and dirt before stopping.

"Does anyone want popcorn or something before the show?" I ask as we exit the dinosaur exhibit. "There's a stand over there doing popcorn and ice cream and stuff."

The others do, so we go up to the stand and place our order. Thankfully, Sig and Austin grab the stuff with chocolate on them to hand to the people who ordered them. Then, we go to the sea lion show area and sit at the front, since we're among the first people here and so can. Sig sits on my right, and Carter sits on my left.

I don't like being crowded, but this feels fine to me. Carter isn't too close even if Sig is right up against me, and it's keeping others from being too close to me. Especially since our other friends are on their other sides or behind us. Connor and Sam came with their group for this show and joined us for it as well.

And with all of them around me apart from the front, no one else can be. There's no seating in front of us since we're not allowed to sit on the floor. The walking area in front of us is much bigger than the one between seating rows.

All of that makes it safer.

When it's time for the show to start, a man and a woman come out from the back with two sea lions, including the one I talked with earlier. They introduce the sea lions to us, then have them start their show. The animals swim through the raised river between the rocks and the glass wall separating it from the sitting area, jump throw hoops, catch and play with balls, and just play around.

The sea lions seem to really enjoy doing this and at the end, wave to everyone and even do high-five-flippers to anyone who wants to. I don't, but most of my friends do. Trenton doesn't want to, either, so I stay back as my friends hold up their hands for the high-five-flippers.

"How'd you like it?" Dad asks me after we leave.

"It was awesome," I tell him. "They're super talented."

"They are, aren't they?" He smiles a little. "Alright, boys, where to next?"

We visit the Herpetarium next, where there are a bunch of different species of turtles in addition to other animals. They're mostly in glass rooms, but some of them have more open areas we can look into. All three of our groups are together right now so we take up a bit of space, so the chaperones tell everyone to split up and walk around a bit so that there's room for other kids to come through.

Sig seems hesitant to buy a stuffed animal of a turtle when we visit the attached gift shop, but then ends up buying three of them and a turtle key chain to add to his keys. He bought an Apollo one earlier, too, and it's already dangling from his key ring.

After that, it's nearing time for the kids from the schools to leave so it's time for them to go look at any last souvenirs or items they want to buy.

"See you later!" Austin says.

We're having a party at my place tonight, and it's a sleepover as well. I invited a bunch of people, even ones I don't want there, like Luke and Parker. The reason they were invited is because I wanted to invite Seph, but he's their friend.

One of the things I learned when looking up parties is that a lot of parties that are thrown by kids or young adults in school end up having friends of invitees come. At least, if there's not a ban on bringing others and it's not for a specific occasion like a birthday. Banning Seph from bringing his friends just because I don't like them would mean that he probably wouldn't want to come.

Especially since having people he's friends with around would make him more comfortable. Sig wants to be friends with him but they aren't friends. That's part of why I wanted to invite Seph, but also because Seph seemed like a nice guy who I could be friends with.

"Um, hold on," I say, and he gives me a curious look while I look at the boy from his group I didn't know until today. "It's Nash, right?"

"Yeah," Nash answer. "What's up."

"Snow clouds."

"Huh?"

"That's what's up," I point. "Snow clouds. I don't know why you were asking, though."

"Xander," Dad clears his throat. "That's him asking what you wanted."

"Oh," my face heats up. "Right. Um. I know it's really late to be asking and I really don't want to do this because of that, but do you want to come to my party? We're meeting at my place for it after here and there's a sleepover as well. Austin said he's coming, and Nathan's coming, too. I dunno if you know him or not."

"I know a few Nathans."

"You do," Austin tells him. "It's the one in the Art Club."

"Oh!" Nash says. "If you two are going, then I'll see if my parents'll let me. Dunno if they'll agree to a sleepover if they don't know your parents, but they'll probably be fine with the party."

"It's going to start snowing tonight," I tell him. "So one of the things that might happen in the morning is a snowball fight or snowman-building. Magic probably won't be allowed to be more fair to others. And there are games and an indoor pool."

"An indoor pool?" Nash asks. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," I nod. "We also have an outdoor pool that's heated for when it's cold out, and the area around it has special heaters to keep it warm, so you don't freeze. I'm trying to talk Dad into replacing them with magitech ones as those'll be more reliable. We're not gonna be using the outdoor pool, though. My indoor one is guaranteed to not freeze you."

"I'll see what my parents say!" He tells me. "Hopefully, they say yes!"

Why would he be looking forward to it?

"Um," I look at Russell. "You're invited, too. If you want to come."

He might be a dummy, but he was okay today. And I talked with Dad about inviting him already, since I had a feeling we might end up spending time together during the field trip. That feeling was definitely my psychic powers letting me know that he'd be in Isaac's group.

I didn't want to invite him so late, and inviting Nash so close to the party is also bad, but I also didn't know Nash until today. With Russell… it's because he was okay today and I know he's friends with others who are coming.

"I'll ask my parents," Russell says. "Will let you know what they say. Thanks. Um. For the invite."

"Just don't be a dummy, okay?"

"I'll do my best," he says.

"And don't think this means I want to date you again," I tell him. "I'm dating Sig now, and I'm still mad at you. You're only getting invited because you were okay today and you're friends with others who are coming."

"I-no, I get it," his face is bright red for some reason. "I won't."

"Okay," I say. "Bye."

"Not inviting your cousin?" Sig asks as I turn back to face my group.

"He's got a sleepover with his own friends today."

"How did you know about that?" Travis asks.

"I asked Greyson if he could let you know you were invited and he said you had a sleepover with your friends," I tell him. "I don't have your number or I would've asked you directly a lot more in advance. Everyone other than Nash and Russell had advance notice."

"How did Greyson know I had a sleepover?" Travis mutters.

"He probably hacked your phone and saw the texts arranging it."

"It wasn't arranged by text," Travis tells him. "Nothing about it was said by text. I'm gonna have to ask him next time he comes and visit. I think he's staying over there to play with his friends this weekend."

"That's what he told me," I tell him. "Bye."

"See you around!"

Our groups bid goodbye, then my group goes off to look at more souvenirs. Since we're not with any actual school, we don't have to leave as early as they do. That gives us more time for final souvenir purchases and so we can take more time to look.

Sig wants to stop in the fudge and candy shop, so we all go to there after the souvenir shops near the entrance/exit. It's a bit crowded with seven boys inside so our chaperones stay outside. All of the fudge flavors here are like the ones Mr. Vincent carries, the only real difference is that they're not made with magic ingredients like his. None of the candy here is made with magic, either.

The other boys all buy stuff from here, but I don't because none of it looks appetizing and the fudge might all be made on the same counter without a thorough cleaning. Mr. Vincent's told me that the counter he uses for his chocolate fudges is different from the ones without, so it's safe to eat.

They have two counters here, but I really don't think they have one decided for anything with chocolate.

"Anything else?" Dad asks the group once we leave the shop.

Nobody has anything else they want to do before we leave, so we exit the zoo and split up to our different vehicles.

"Did you enjoy the zoo?" Dad asks once he's driving.

"Yeah," I nod. "The animals putting on shows was super awesome, too!"

"And you, S.G.?" Dad asks.

"It was fun!" Sig says. "Thanks for taking me, Mr. Caldwell!"

"What was your favorite part of the trip, boys?" Dad asks.

"Apollo doing a little show for us!" Sig answers. "I didn't know snow leopards could use snow magics, and him showing off was cool!"

"Snow can't be warm."

"What about you, Xander?" Dad asks. "What was your favorite part of the field trip?"

"Getting to see all of that magic," I tell him. "I learned so much from it. That should help me with figuring out new spells. Also for when I hunt," I look down at Trenton, then look at Dad again. "Trenton's favorite thing was the sea lion show, even if he didn't want to give them a high-paw-flipper at the end. I don't blame him, I didn't want to do a high-five-flipper, either."

"Next time we come," Mom says. "Do you want to go for a ride on the train?"

"There's a train?"

"Yeah!" Sig says. "It's fun to ride on! It does a loop around the zoo, including through some tunnels and back areas we can't go otherwise. The conductor tells us about some of the animals and features as we go by them. There are even areas the animals can go into that are visible from the train but not the areas we can walk to."

[Sig – 13 years]

"Xander?" Mr. Caldwell repeats. "Xander?"

"Did we lose him?" Ms. Katie turns as best she can in an attempt to look back here, but Xander's sitting behind her so it's probably difficult.

"We lost him," I nudge Xander's arm.

He fell asleep while his dad was asking if there was anything he wanted to see the next time we came, but I'm not surprised. Xander hasn't had his afternoon nap and he definitely dealt with a lot of stimulation today. The more stuff which goes on around him, the more tired he gets.

"Yeah, he's gone," I say.

"Unsurprising," Ms. Katie says. "He was definitely forcing himself to not seem sleepy."

"S.G.," Mr. Caldwell says. "I was informed by Grant that you were anxious about the souvenir money."

"By who?"

"Tate's dad."

That's Mr. Cox's name? I'm not sure I've ever heard it before.

"Ah," I say. "Did he tell you telepathically?"

Mr. Cox had contacted me with telepathy in the first souvenir shop to ask what was making me uncomfortable. He told me not to overthink it, but he doesn't really know Xander that well and I know Xander's always giving me stuff.

"He did," Mr. Caldwell says. "He said you were worried Xander was doing the souvenir money thing so that you had something to spend. I told him the truth, then he let me know you didn't seem to trust him on the matter."

"I trust him and all," I say. "But he doesn't know Xander that well."

"I know him a fair bit better," Mr. Caldwell chuckles. "And let me ask you this – have you actually told Xander that you're low on money? He's not mentioned it to me so I was a little surprised when Grant said you said you were."

"Um…" I try to think. "Maybe? I can't remember telling him."

"So he might not know, then?" Mr. Caldwell asks.

"Maybe not."

"The reason Xander did that," Mr. Caldwell says. "Has nothing to do with you. We were discussing his budget for souvenirs and he wanted to put it a lot higher than $500 so that he could buy three things for each of you as thanks for joining him on the trip. He wasn't sure how much that would cost, especially if the items had varying costs, and he wanted it to be fair between all of you. In the end, he decided on doing a souvenir money envelope for each of you so that you could pick your own things."

"We tried letting him know that souvenirs wouldn't be that expensive," Ms. Katie informs me. "But he was stubborn in not believing it."

"At least we talked him down from a thousand," Mr. Caldwell snorts. "He can get more stuff next time."

"He wanted to have a budget of a grand?" I feel my eyes widen.

"He wanted to do that for each of you," Mr. Caldwell corrects. "We talked him down from it."

"At least there wasn't a presentation this time," Ms. Katie chuckles.

"Thank the gods for that," Mr. Caldwell snorts again.

"A presentation?"

"Yeah," Ms. Katie chuckles as she looks at me. "Xander was due for another dental appointment and before Trey could let him know when the appointment was, Xander created a presentation for why he shouldn't be taken to the dentist."

"I can't imagine that working."

"Xander has a high level of mana," Mr. Caldwell says. "His body is extremely tough. And apparently, a dragon's teeth are regardless of their typical mana level. They're not made of the same things as bones are. Xander's teeth were essentially indestructible even before his brain healed and he started having more than below-average mana. Even if they did suffer damage from anything, they'd heal immediately. They're also perfectly straight, something normal for anyone with a dragon in the past three generations. There were a few more things, including about his gums, but it was him attempting to not have to visit the dentist's."

"Xander doesn't like the dentists?"

"It's someone else sticking stuff in his mouth."

"Oh, right."

There's no way Xander would want that to happen.

"He's not one for complaining, is he?" I ask. "I would've thought he'd have told us all about the visit."

"He didn't go to the dentist's," Mr. Caldwell tells me. "I contacted Mr. King to ask him what to do as I wasn't sure it would be a good idea, especially since he uses magic subconsciously and has enough to really cause a problem if he freaked out and started subconsciously casting. The one he saw before always sedated him, but that was before Xander's brain healed and his mana became high enough for his regeneration. With how quickly he can recover now, a normal sedative wouldn't work. He agreed with Xander that the dentist's isn't really necessary and filed paperwork to get him an exemption."

"Getting exempted from the dentist's would be amazing."

"Xander was relieved," he chuckles. "You might be up late tonight. If you want to nap on the way back, you can."

I'm not sure why he suddenly changed topics, but a nap does sound nice. Tonight really might be a late one, depending on what all everyone going to the party wants to do. From what Xander told me, there's no real required bedtime.

Though he'll probably still be asleep by ten.

"Alright," I say. "I'll take a nap now. Wake me once we're there!"

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