[Sig – 13 years]

Xander's off to Youth Group, the rest of our friends have gone home, and Mr. Fuller's come over to the house just as I start getting ready to start working on dinner. Hunter's here as well, and I was not prepared for four people for dinner. At least I'm in the pulling-stuff-out phase, though it still complicates things a little.

"Aunt Racheeeel!" I complain. "You're supposed to let me know ahead of time how many people I'm cooking for!"

"I didn't know he was coming over," Aunt Rachel tells me as she lets him in. "Hey, Derrick."

You still seem pretty happy to see him here, though.

"Hey," Mr. Fuller gives her a quick kiss on the lips, and I just stare at the fridge, trying to decide what to make now.

It was just going to be something fast and easy to make. That's not a possibility with our current groceries, not if I'm feeding four of us. Aunt Rachel mostly buys with the expectation of feeding two people with a meal, not four.

"Hunter and I were near the neighborhood and thought we'd stop by," Mr. Fuller tells us. "I knew you'd only just be getting things out right now, and figured I'd offer to take the two of you out for dinner tonight."

"This sounds suspicious," I do my best to give him a suspicious look. "You have not dated her long enough to propose yet, okay?"

"Sig!" Aunt Rachel scolds. "Don't tell adults what they can or can't do!"

"As I told you," Mr. Fuller tells me. "We'd rather takes things slowly, to make sure we're a fit for each other. No, it's that Hunter and I were talking about your hunting trip this weekend, and we realized you might not have hunting clothes suited for the colder temps we'll have."

That's a lot better of a reason to stop by. I hadn't even though about how my hunting clothes probably won't be that good at warding off the cold. A regular hoodie probably won't work well, even if I don't need to hide.

"Oh," I say. "Oh! So you were gonna ask about taking me to get some?"

"Better to get them today so they can be washed and ready before it's time for you to leave on Friday," Mr. Fuller says. "And I think you might need a new bow and arrows as well."

"How come?"

"Your magic," Hunter tells me. "Along with how strong you are. Your mana level is high enough that combined with those muscles, you can easily draw a bow. You want the bow to be a little bit more difficult to draw – the higher the draw weight, the more force will be in the impact.

"The reason we were passing by here," he says. "Was because we were going to replace my arrows and buy me a new hunting jacket. I've saved up enough for that and we need to. Then that reminded us that you aren't just using magic on the arrows, but you'll be using fire magic."

"We didn't check the arrows," Mr. Fuller tells me. "But it's possible they have some damage from that. It'd be best for you to buy a bow and some arrows which are magic and able to resist that. It'll extend the longevity of your gear."

"Oh," I look at Aunt Rachel. "Pleaaaaaaaase?"

"Go get dressed," she tells me.

I hurry downstairs and change out of my shorts and into jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a hoodie, then slip on some socks and my shoes before returning upstairs. Aunt Rachel's ready to go by the time I'm ready, and she makes sure I have my wallet and keys before we leave.

Rather than taking Mr. Fuller's truck and Aunt Rachel's car, the adults sit in the front of Mr. Fuller's truck while us youth sit in the back seat. The first place we go to is a regular outdoors goods store, to buy Hunter's new stuff. Then we head to an outdoors store for mages, which Mr. Wilson recommended.

The building itself is huge, much bigger than the regular sporting and outdoors goods store I know. It's at least three times the size of the other one. If it's meant for just buying stuff for hunting, fishing, and stuff like that, why are they so large?

"Hello!" The young woman who approaches us when we enter greets us. "My name's Laurel! How can I help you today?"

"Sig here has gotten into magic archery," Mr. Fuller put a hand on my shoulder. "And he'll be hunting this weekend and needs some cold-weather hunting clothes and a bow and set of arrows which will work with his magics."

"Is it for the icicle hare hunt this weekend?" Laurel asks.

"You know about it?" I ask.

"Of course!" She smiles. "Bigger incidents like that tend to spread through the hunting community for mages. Do you know your mana level?"

"It's currently a little under 30," I tell her.

"Alright," she says. "Depending on your muscles and how used to archery you are, your draw weight might be anywhere from 70 to 150 pounds. We can get you tested back there for that, to better equip you with a suitable bow. Do you want to do that now, or get the clothes first?"

"Uh…" I look at Mr. Fuller.

"Clothes might be faster," he tells me. "You'll want to test a few different bows."

"You can test the bows?"

"Most places which sell archery equipment will let you use a test one," Laurel tells me. "It lets you know if it'll be a comfortable bow for you. There is a deposit per bow and per five arrows for that, though."

"That's fine," I tell her. "Let's do the clothes first."

"Alright!" She smiles again. "They're this way."

Laurel leads us to the section for boys' hunting clothes and makes some recommendations. Saturday's hunt will have us all wearing a blaze orange vest, but she also recommends a long-sleeved shirt with blaze orange sleeves, a blaze orange hat, and a blaze orange beanie.

"Oh," I say as I feel the shirt.

"Something wrong?" Laurel asks.

"No," I say. "I was just thinking, Xander would like the feel of this shirt, I think. It's like what most of MountainStorm Gear clothes feel like and he seems to really like those over others."

He's even begun wearing their clothes for just regular hangouts now, over his other good-texture clothes. Jeans still make an appearance, but they're only half the time now rather than all the time.

"Golem Gear is the same company," she tells me. "But they exclusively produce hunting clothes meant for hunting magic beasts. They make sure comfort for the wearers of their clothes is a priority, and that it's texture-safe for a lot of people with textural sensitivities. It's not possible to cover everyone, but there are some which do work for a decent amount of them."

"Oh," I say. "That would definitely explain it."

"If your mana level is a little under 30," she says. "Then will you be hunting beasts in the 20-25 range?"

"Some," I say. "But also maybe some in the 25-30 range."

With my mana growth rate, I'll probably be out of that by the end of the year. I'm not sure if I'll be hunting too much more before the year ends, but it's still not a bad idea to get cold-weather hunting gear. That will cover me for the times I do.

Then when it's time for me to buy new clothes because I outgrew them, I'll be ready to buy new hunting clothes, too. At least, if I'm still interested in it then.

"Does the range matter?" I ask.

"It does," Laurel answers. "Magic beasts are willing to fight back rather than flee, so you'll want clothes made of materials in that range or higher. It helps act as a sort of armor, to reduce injuries. Ones which cover a specific set of protections are lower in cost, while general-purpose ones are more expensive."

"By that," I say. "Are you meaning stuff like differences between piercing and cuts, and fire magics and stuff?"

"Yes," she answers. "The materials they're made of can influence their resiliency to different attacks. It's more difficult to make something resilient to both burning and freezing than it is to make one resist stiffening up from cold and from freezing. On lower ends of power, it's even more difficult to do so due to fewer things in that range having both properties."

"Oh," I say. "Yeah, that makes sense. I think… I'll do general-purpose. There's a chance for flarepoint hares as well, so that'd be both fire and cold. Though I guess the icicles won't be freezing the clothes, but they'll have piercing power if they do hit."

"We could do one which resists pierces and heat," she says. "That should cover it, unless you're planning on hunting things with other properties. Some hunters do cover a wider range of things."

"Um…" I try to think for a few moments and as I do, my phone pings with an alert from Xander. "Hold on a sec."

That timing is too coincidental. He had a gut feeling and… sent me a picture of him, Austin, and Nathan sitting on a bench at a bonfire, Puffy lying across the ground at their feet. The blizzard wolf's coat seems to sparkle in the firelight, even through the pictures, and why is it at wherever they are?

"General resistance," I look at the worker after sending Xander a text to ask if he didn't go to Youth Group tonight. "I think general resistance would be best for me. I don't know what my next hunting trip will be for, but I've fought against earthspike hares and even managed to snag a gemstream buck through luck a few weeks ago."

"A gemstream buck?" She asks.

"That one really was luck," I tell her. "It was a little stronger than me, since it's a gemstream buck and all, but I managed to layer enhancements on an arrow and pierce its hide before it realized there was danger. And it went down in one shot. The jerky tastes good, though I'm almost out of it."

"You're probably eating it a bit too much," Mr. Fuller tells me.

"I'm hungry a lot," I tell him. "I'm thirteen and a mage who uses magic a lot. Well, it's mostly just practicing… but it's the same thing. It's better for me to eat a lot."

My mana capacity isn't high, but it's still more than double a normal person's. Practicing a little bit every day has made it so I can eat a decent amount. Nowhere near someone like Tate, but still more than my aunt and her boyfriend.

"You need more than just meat."

"I eat more than just meat."

"And junk food."

"I had sandwiches for lunch," I tell him. "With lettuce, onion, and tomato on them."

"And bacon?"

"We're out of bacon."

"We weren't before lunch," Aunt Rachel says.

"So which clothes would you recommend at my mana level?" I ask Laurel, making Aunt Rachel and Mr. Fuller chuckle a little while Hunter snorts. "For the up-to 30, that is?"

"You'll see icons here," Laurel indicates a tab fixed onto the hangers. "They have the standard letter for size, then a number in a shape. That number and shape indicates the upper end of beasts you'll be in. For a mana level of 30, you'll want one with 30 in a triangle with a blue background. For general-defense, those will be this way."

She leads us to another section of the boys' area, and shows me how to check the store tags on the products to make sure. They have a coded image with text beneath to state what they are. General-defense tags have a brown turtle.

The icon clarifies that it does not fully protect against things, it only has increased resistance over ordinary clothes. I kind of figured that, making something truly resistant to anything this world has to offer is probably something only Adrian King can do.

I find a long-sleeve in my size, then pull off my hoodie and shirt and pull on the camouflage one and look at my reflection in a nearby mirror. The shirt looks good, so I swap it for one with blaze orange sleeves. Then, I swap that for one with a blaze orange torso but camouflage shoulders and sleeves.

A changing room is used to try on some pants to make sure they fit, then I acquire some new hunting underwear, socks, and boots. Beanies, caps, and gloves are next, then hoodies and jackets.

After seeing just how varied and prepared for different mage levels they are, it's no wonder the building is so large. They need the extra space to carry different sizes for youth and for adults, and in different defensive properties, and in different strength levels.

"This was faster than the bows?" I ask.

"I said 'might' be faster," Laurel says. "It depends on how long each one takes. If that's everything for the hunting clothes, we can head over to the archery section."

"Yeah," I nod. "Let's do that now."

"Hold on," Mr. Fuller says. "You'll want a new hunting pack."

"Oh, right!"

After I pick out one of those and a bottle of the magic laundry detergent to wash hunting clothes with, we go over to the archery section. There are a lot of different bows and arrows for me to pick from, and an associate in this section takes over for Laurel. She's neither an archery associate nor an archer, so this isn't something she's good at helping with. She does stay with us for this part, though.

There turns out to be a lot of different things to factor in for picking out a bow and some new arrows, and we start with my draw weight before anything else. The associate here has me pull on a cord fixed into a device seven times to determine my draw weight. According to the machine, it's 170 pounds.

"Really?" Aunt Rachel asks. "That seems a bit much."

"He is fairly muscular and it looked dense," Laurel says. "And with a mana level of 30, that makes sense."

"I do have to be careful with my friends," I tell Aunt Rachel. "It's something I noticed as my capacity went up. That's never really been an issue, though I'm glad for the strength-restricting bracelets."

When I looked it up, I found that people can instinctively tell how to hold back their strength. For the most part. That makes it easier to play with people of a lower strength level without risking hurting them. The addition of the strength-restricting bracelet simply makes it so that I don't hurt my friends if I accidentally forget.

"The what?" Laurel asks.

"From Xanson Tech," I pull back my left sleeve and show her the bracelet. "They limit how much strength you're able to put out by what you'd have with your muscle build based on the average of the lower capacities you're playing with. Basically, it means that even though I'm a lot stronger than my friends, I can't accidentally hurt them from my extra strength. Well, too badly… I've got more muscle than them so it's not fully safe still. But it's a lot more difficult when I use it!"

"Didn't know they had something like that," she says.

It's not on the market yet, Xander just lets me have it so that I don't accidentally hurt my friends. It was my request, not his suggestion.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"It's really new," I say. "So I need a 170-pound bow, then?"

"Yeah," the archery employee helping us says. "What kind of archery do you do?"

"It varies," I answer. "This weekend, I'll be using fire and water, but I also do enhancements. I need one in my strength range, but also which has good resistance for when I imbue arrows with an element."

"Conjuring or no?"

"I can conjure, yeah," I answer. "But I don't want a bow which can conjure. Those are gonna be a lot more expensive."

I can probably afford that, but the bows I saw just walking up to this worker were expensive enough already.

"We don't have any of those here," he tells me. "Those are nearly always custom-made. Do you want a recurve or compound bow?"

"Uh…"

"You've been practicing with a compound bow," Mr. Fuller tells me. "A recurve bow requires more strength to handle, while compounds are more accurate and require less effort. Though I'm not sure how that translates when going into the mage bow categories."

"Recurves are still more for traditionalists," the employee says. "I'd recommend a compound bow, since it's better for hunting. Especially if you're used to a compound."

"Okay," I say. "Then compound."

"Alright," the employee says. "Let's go to the counter."

He takes us to the archery counter and has us wait for a few minutes as he grabs a few compound bows from the back. There's no functional difference between them, but he lets me try a few shots with each one, arrows supplied. I do have to pay per bow and set of five arrows, but that makes sense. The bows and arrows used for letting people try eventually need replaced, and they're fairly pricy. It also helps cover the costs of maintaining the archery range behind the counter.

I try each of the different arrows he recommends, five shots with each bow. Some of the arrows are good at being enchanted with fire magic and some are good at being enchanted with water magics. My enhancing speed for those is a little bit faster than with regular arrows, which is nice.

I pick out the bow which feels best to me, along with some arrows good at holding fire magic, some good at holding water magics, some which are good just for enhancing its physical side of things, and some a little more expensive ones which are good at holding most common elemental enhancements. The first two are specifically for this weekend's hunt, the third one is for when I don't need to add an elemental aspect, and the last one is for if I end up needing other elemental enhancements, but not with a focus. That's more for if I need other elements or if I run out of the others.

The general-enhancement ones should really be fine for this weekend, but their higher cost means it's better to use them less often. Then again, this is quite a lot of arrows for me to buy when I might not need them again.

"You'll want an archery cabinet as well," the employee tells me. "If you don't already have one. It'll help you keep them stored safely, and sorted. This also makes sure random people can't access them, since they are weapons. You don't want a little kid stabbing himself with an arrow, or a friend who's not really a friend stealing them."

I start staring at Aunt Rachel. This is already a lot to ask Mr. Fuller to hold for me, but an archery cabinet makes sense. It would make it easier to keep my stuff separate from his and Hunter's. If we're keeping them separate, then what's the issue with having them in the basement at home?

There isn't really a reason to not have them in the house in the first place, other than Aunt Rachel being uncomfortable with having weapons in the house.

After a few seconds of me staring at her, my aunt sighs.

"Alright," she says. "Let's get an archery cabinet."

In addition to that, I also pick out bracers to protect my arms. Even if I'm wearing a hoodie or a jacket, those are important because they're not just for protecting my forearms – they keep my sleeves pinned down so they won't get in the way.

"Where'd that knife come from?" Aunt Rachel asks as I begin putting everything on the conveyor belt at the checkouts.

"The knife section."

Mr. Fuller snorts, but Hunter laughs.

Aunt Rachel seems to debate something with herself, which is probably whether or not to allow me to buy the knife. In the end, she doesn't say anything, so I get the knife.

"That took awhile," Mr. Fuller says. "I think we're all hungry now. What should we do for dinner?"

"Well," I say. "Since we're not doing pizza every night this week… noodles!"

[Xander – 13 years]

"Turtle!" I say.

"Yes!" Austin responds. "Got it! Your turn!"

Today's Youth Group meeting is outside, and Ms. Kimberly and the other chaperones built up a bonfire. Well, we came out here after the normal lesson session thing, but we've been out here since. Even dinner was eaten out here, and it was neither pizza nor sandwiches. It was bonfire-grilled hot dogs with chips, soda, and lemonade, and a few other sides. Also mulled cider and hot chocolate.

Now, we've split off into a few groups, and the one I'm in is playing a guessing game. The person who's It draws a card from a deck, then tries to get the others to guess what it is that's on the card. The person who's It isn't allowed to give the definition of the word on the card, nor allowed to say it. Guessers have one minute to try and figure out what it is or the person who's It loses.

There's no penalty for losing. That's confusing, because why make a distinction between winning and losing if there's no reward or penalty? But the game is fun, anyway.

The ones playing it, aside from me, are Austin, Nathan, Mason, Russell, Maddy, Gabe, and Marty.

Gabe and Marty are the two other boys I wanted to invite to the party. Gabe has black hair and blue eyes, while Marty has black hair and green eyes. They're both cute (Marty's cuter), though not in an "I want to date them" kind of way. Even if I did, I'm dating Sig so it wouldn't matter.

They're both really nice, which is to be expected since they're both also blessed by the gods. I already knew Gabe was since he shows up sometimes, but I wasn't too sure about Marty until I met him today. He's the one Austin and Nathan wanted to introduce me to.

They're all apparently in the drama club at their school, so it doesn't surprise me they wanted to play a sort of guessing game. This is apparently a common activity in their club.

But Maddy and I aren't in their school's drama club, so we don't do this there. The game is really fun, though, so I get up and take Austin's place as he sits beside where I'd been and starts petting Puffy. The two of them and the others who are guessing are on a blanket spread out on the ground.

Our game location is up a hill behind the church, past the pool area. The bonfire zone is up here, too, though further off to the side, slightly-enclosed by a wooded area. We're sitting away from that so that we're not in the way of others.

I draw a card from the deck.

"Puffy is not this."

"A dog?" Russell guesses.

"No," I say. "Puffy is more likable than this."

"Wolves are more likable than dogs," Austin says. "Um…"

"Chocolate?" Nathan guesses.

"Big ones are usually fine."

"Cats!" Maddy exclaims.

"Yeah," I nod. "Your turn."

"What's wrong with chocolate?" Marty asks Austin as I put the card into the discard pile before returning to my seat.

"Dunno," Austin tells him. "Xander just really doesn't like it."

"That's weird," Marty whispers.

"He can hear you," Austin whispers back.

"He can?" Marty whispers, looking past him to me.

With as quiet as Marty is whispering and him being on the other side of Austin as me, he probably wouldn't have been heard by a normal kid. But I'm not a normal kid, I have really good hearing even in human form.

"Yeah," I say.

"Oh," he says. "Um… how come you don't like chocolate? Or hate it?"

"It's evil."

"Why's it evil?"

"It burned me."

"Burned… you?"

Austin's eyes widen and I feel him realizing something. Russell realizes something a moment after that.

"Yeah," I say. "My old foster parents would melt it and then burn me with it. They sometimes forced me to swallow it while it was still hot from them melting it, too. And after I got rescued from them, I tried eating some, but I kept trying to grab it and my hands wouldn't grab it. So it's got to be evil from burning me, and that's why I can't touch it. It's even been a few years, and it's still hard for me to touch it. That means it's definitely evil."

"O-oh…"

"Yeah," I look down at my lap, then grab Trenton and put him on it.

"Xander?" Austin asks.

"Yeah?"

"Want a hug?"

"Yes, please."

Austin gives me a hug, and it makes me feel a lot better. It's not as good as Sig's hugs, but those are different. This is just Austin trying to help me feel better and it's working. It's like his feelings and intention is leaking into the hug and that's really nice.

Maddy waits until we stop, then takes her turn with the cards. We continue the game for about thirty more minutes, then it's time for Youth Group to end.

"I have something for you guys," I tell Austin, Nathan, Russell, Gabe, and Marty once we're all in the parking lot.

"You do?" Marty asks. "But you just met me?"

"Is it cookies?" Austin asks. "It's cookies, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I say. "One of them's a box of cookies."

I summon the box for Austin, and there's a pair of business card-like objects on top of it. He accepts the box and looks at the top card as I summon the set for Nathan.

"A party invite?" Austin asks.

"It's next Friday," I confirm. "You'll need that card to get in. The front side gives the details for when and where, and includes some of the stuff we're doing."

"Like going pumpkin-picking at Clarkson Autumn Farms?" Russell asks as he looks at the card from his box.

"Yeah," I summon the box for Gabe. "And then pumpkin-carving after. The backside of the card gives some information for your guardians. So I guess your parents. For peace of mind, they'll be able to request access to a security feed of their kid – only their kid, they can't access it for someone else's kid. If their kid's doing something the guardian shouldn't see, like going to the bathroom, it'll just display a message stating what they're doing, where they are, and who else is with them."

"That didn't exist last time," Russell says.

"Dad suggested something like this," I say. "It's so that the girls I'm inviting might be able to come. He said it won't guarantee they'll get permission, but it'd probably reassure their parents to have that. And it'll also reassure the parents of others that nothing bad is happening, in case they're worried."

Grandpa Adrian said he could set it up when I asked, so that's now a thing that we can do for the party. The entire rec center is getting a security upgrade so that it has a system similar to the streamer orbs. Rather than radiating out from a central point, it will simply cover everything within the physical boundaries of the walls.

That's a little more complex than the streamer orbs, but it also means we don't need to stick streamer orbs all over the place or use one with a really big range.

"Oh," Russell says. "I guess that's reasonable. Just… never heard of that sort of thing before."

"The tech for it didn't exist before," I say. "Anyway, y'all've got your invites. Let me know by the end of the week if you're able to go and are gonna, okay? Dad and I are supposed to be going shopping for the groceries for it on Sunday."

"There are two cards," Austin realizes.

"Yeah," I say. "The second one's for my Halloween celebration. That, um… that's not all four days. That's just Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning. The thirty-first into the first. And it'll include trick-or-treating. I haven't been since before my previous foster home."

"How long ago was that?" Gabe asks.

"I was five the last time I went trick-or-treating," I tell him. "I would've been six, but I think I was in the hospital during trick-or-treating when I was six."

That's what Dad told me, that I was apparently in the hospital on that day.

"You never went at the boys' home?" Russell asks.

"No," I answer. "But I did get to help set up the stuff for the holiday. It's important to make sure you have a jack-o-lantern or seven or more at your house, to ward off the pixies."

"You know that's just a folktale, don't you?" Austin asks.

"Um…"

Should I ask Grandpa Blaze to tell everyone the story he told me about the origins of the holiday and why it's four days long? He said he'd be happy to supervise the party if a supervisor is needed.

"There are actually pixies, aren't there?" Austin asks.

"Yeah."

"Jack-o-lanterns actually ward them off?"

"They don't like messing with people who have one outside their home's front door," I tell him. "I dunno why, but they really do avoid them. They also disappear after the night ends, and I don't know where they go. But people who didn't shield themselves with jack-o-lanterns get a weird magic energy. Trenton says it's a curse which can cause bad luck to varying degrees, and it usually lasts a few months. Until the next Night of Pixies at the most. It's usually just minor bad luck which pops up on occasion. Like a shoelace breaking when you go to tie it."

"That would be really annoying!" Gabe says.

"It's better than getting hit by a car, though," I say.

"True."

"We were going to hang out on Saturday," Austin tells me. "Us and some of the other kids from the drama club, plus a few other friends. Did you want to join us?"

"Oh… um…"

"You can invite Sig, too!"

"Not that," I say. "Sig's gonna be hunting this weekend. I don't know how long his thing'll take, but Grandpa Adrian's taking me hunting, too, and I got invited to something else in the afternoon, if I've got free time."

"Wait, seriously?" Austin asks. "Adrian King's taking you hunting?"

"Wait, you're a Lumaria King?" Marty feels really shocked to me.

He didn't know? I would've thought that they would have let him know that I was, but they apparently didn't. That's strange. Wouldn't most people tell others they're friends with a Lumaria King and that one is who they're being introduced to?

"Yeah," I answer. "And yeah, Austin. We're doing another expansion to the rec center, to add in some dorms so that we're not all sleeping on the floor for sleepovers. There are additional rules for couples."

"Alright," Marty says, then looks past me. "I think my mom wants me to go. I'll ask her about it."

"Tell her she can talk to my parents if she has questions," Austin says. "They've talked with Xander a few times, and I've gone to his other party."

"Thanks for coming," I tell Austin. "And I'm glad you enjoyed it. Anyway, what I was saying with the dorms. Grandpa Adrian wants something a bit stronger than pocket hare bones to use to make the structure for the dorms able to handle the expansion magic. It was technically fine for the storage room even though that's huge, but he wants to be more certain because of it being a bunch of different rooms where people will sleep.

"So instead of pocket hare bones," I say. "We'll be hunting something a lot stronger. But he said I have to be the one to actually hunt and kill it, he's just teaching and supervising me."

It'll be deep into true wilderness, where there are plenty of beasts with hundreds of thousands of units of mana on the standard scale. Rifts go unmanaged in that area, so the monsters they release tend to live and breed as well. At the same time, that also means much stronger beasts with spatial magics. They'll be a little trickier for me to fight unless I use my spatial severing spell, but Grandpa Adrian will probably tell me not to.

Some of the beasts where we go might even be as strong or nearly as strong as me.

Which makes for allowing something to have a much more powerful and stable spatial expansion enchantment on it. Since I'm wanting such a small space expanded to a bigger one for my rec center again, Grandpa Adrian said I need to work for it a little this time.

I just hope that whatever we're hunting tastes good.

"Alright!" Marty says. "I'm gonna go now, bye!"

We all head to our different parents' cars, and Dad asks me about Youth Group as he drives me to the boys' home. Every other time we've gone there to drop food off, it was after the boys there had been sent to bed. That's kind of late, though, and I'm really tired by that point now because of all of the stuff I do during a day.

There still aren't many boys out when we get there, though. They're mostly in the dorm section, getting ready for bed or studying or something.

"You know you don't have to do this every week, right?" Ms. Johnson asks after we greet each other.

"Yeah," I answer. "But it's mainly extra stuff from my greenhouse. The other option is to reduce how much it produces, but the common shrubfolk like having as much work as they have. If we reduced how much work there is, then they'd have a lot more free time, and they apparently don't like that. They like taking care of plants. And it helps y'all with food, too. Oh. And I brought cookies this time. And candy."

"Candy?" Ms. Johnson asks.

"Yeah," I nod. "Mom was teaching me how to make some Halloween candy before lunch. Oh. That wasn't skipping classes or anything. I did packets for the classes I missed for the afternoon, too. The session with Mom was a lesson, too. I was learning stuff, she was teaching me some candy-making techniques again."

It's important to clarify that because of Ms. Johnson being my case worker. Even if I qualify for the exemption from classes, I'm still a foster kid. They're supposed to be strict on us attending classes and I don't know if that applies to when we qualify for the exemption or not.

Mom really was teaching me stuff I didn't know during it.

"What kind of candy?" Ms. Johnson asks.

"Can I show you once I pull it out?"

"Sure."

I start pulling the produce I brought out of my stasis bracelet, and it gets put into a few different spots. Then I pull out the stuff for their breakfast tomorrow, which is cinnamon rolls, sausage links, and eggs. Simpler stuff which mostly just requires heating up, and Ms. Johnson said it was fine to bring the stuff for cinnamon rolls again even though there's school tomorrow. They'll still be able to make finish them early enough for everyone to eat and still get ready for school.

"Pumpkin-shaped cookies?" Ms. Johnson asks once I pull out the first platter of them.

"And ghost-shaped ones," I tell her as she accepts the platter from me. "They get their own platter. And I've got a tray of decorated ones of both, but also icing and sprinkles, so that the boys here can decorate them their own way if they want. Or for you adults to. They're sugar cookies."

"Thanks," she says. "We'll set them out tomorrow."

"Okay," I pull out a paper bag. "Here's the first batch of candy. We made a few different batches."

After I give her the three bags of candy, I pull out the box for Nick.

"Can I give these to Nick?" I ask Ms. Johnson. "I know he won't be allowed to have the treats in the room, but these are for him. And the cards are invites."

"Nick's no longer here," she tells me.

"But it's a school night?" I ask. "Or did he get permission to stay out late?"

"What I meant was," she says. "Nick's in a foster home now. Do you remember that he went to another home during holidays and festivals, and for the occasional normal weekend?"

That's something which happens as well. Some families which don't really foster might still foster in a different sense. Rather than the kid living with them, the kid might spend a holiday with them, to let the kid experience it with a real family rather than the boys' home. Nick somehow always got to go for the holidays, even though the staff tries to rotate it between the boys who behaved, when there were open slots.

He even sometimes got picked for a random weekend a family said they were willing to host a boy for.

"Yeah," I answer. "Nick was always getting picked, even though it wasn't fair."

"It was the same family every time," she tells me. "Nick refused to leave until you found a home, though, because he wanted to make sure you had a good roommate. We normally wouldn't allow that, but he was a good roommate to you, and we weren't at capacity. Since it seemed to help you, we arranged things with the family. Once it was clear you were likely to remain with Trey permanently, Nick moved in with the family who wanted him."

"Oh," I look down at the box. "I wanted to invite him to my pumpkin party, and to my Halloween celebrations. There were going to be games before trick-or-treating."

"Would you like me to give them to him?" She asks.

The "correct" answer is probably "yes", but that's not my honest answer.

"Um… I'd rather give them to him directly," I say. "To make sure he gets them."

"Then would you be fine with me letting him know you had something for him?" She asks. "And he can make his way to your place to get it? I can't tell you where he lives for privacy reasons, since I don't have his new family's permission, but you're here so I can get permission from you and Trey."

I look at Dad.

"Go ahead," he says. "He'd need to know where it's at if he's to come to the party, anyway."

"Okay," I look back to Ms. Johnson as the box and cards disappear back into my bracelet. "That's okay, then. Thanks. Oh, but can you let him know I want to give it to him before Sunday? Dad and I are planning on going shopping on Sunday to get the food for the party, so we need to know before then how much to get."

"I'll do that," she says.

"Thanks," I say. "I think we're leaving now. Bye, Ms. Johsnon."

"Have a good night," she smiles at me.

Dad and I leave, and he starts driving us home.

"I don't think I'll manage to stay awake for the rest of the trip home," I tell Dad.

"Don't worry," he tells me. "I'll try to wake you when we get there."

"Okay."

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