[Xander – 13 years]

"Hello, Ms. Heidi," I greet Ms. Heidi as I enter her shop.

She has a few other customers in here, but it's okay to greet her when I enter. I didn't think it was when I first started coming inside, but it's apparently normal for most of her customers to do that. They don't find it rude.

"Hello, Xander," she smiles at me.

I look at the donuts as I wait for the other customers to finish. Some of them are picking up orders, such as for churches, while others are just picking up donuts for themselves or their families or something. Once they finish, I place my order.

There are Halloween-themed donuts which don't have chocolate in them, and I get three of those instead of three with strawberry icing. Trenton gets moved to my backpack, but set him up so that his head is poking up out of it, the zipper close to his neck but not quite.

That way, I don't need to hold him and he's not sitting on my shoulder. He's wanted to do this for awhile, too, and I don't see a reason to not let him.

"I saw you hanging out in front for a little bit," she says after I pay. "Friends running late?"

"They said they were going to the park today," I tell her. "And I'd mentioned getting donuts, but none of them showed up. None of them even said in the chat that they were on their way… so I guess maybe they decided not to hang out with me after all."

Which makes me really sad and want to ask Ms. Laney about getting another flower crown even though I just got one yesterday. They all left good surveys for the party but I guess something happened which made them not want to be friends with me anymore. Sig hasn't even sent me his "good morning" text and he's usually done that by now on Sundays since he makes breakfast for his aunt on them.

In fact, they're all quiet in the group chat. They must've switched back to their original one. Or they made one with Jake in it and are leaving me out.

"Maybe they all slept in?" Ms. Heidi suggests.

"Maybe…"

But it's doubtful that Sig did. He really does make breakfast for his aunt on Sundays now and even has an alarm to make sure he's up in time to do so.

"Well," she smiles. "I hope you enjoy the donuts, Xander, and that the rest of your day goes well."

"Thanks," I tell her. "Have a good day, Ms. Heidi."

I leave the bakery and make my way to the park, where only a few stalls and vendors are open. As I eat my breakfast at one of the tables, a few more stalls and vendors open up. Those are mostly the food ones, and they have warmers to keep their hot foods hot so that the cold air doesn't ruin them.

That's a good idea. It'll be even colder on Friday than right now, and the pavilions don't have warming or heating enchantments.

There are several smaller ones which are more like shelters scattered throughout the park's designated grilling zone. Those each have a picnic table underneath and a grill not far from it, though there are additional grills scattered throughout without a shelter to protect the eaters. Same with tables.

Then there are three larger pavilions. Two of them have twenty picnic tables, each able to seat six people, or eight to ten if they cram in. There's a stage in each, and the tables are to either side of it, but not in front unless someone moves them there.

The third big pavilion has forty tables, and one would really have to try to make it cramped. It has a bigger stage which is elevated a little bit more off of the ground and a lot of open space for playing games and doing other stuff, even without rearranging the tables.

Most of the eating for the barbecue will probably be under the pavilions, though some weird people like Sig might eat outside of them. The town was planning on announcing tomorrow about a "barbecue at Dragon Falls Community Park" on Friday, with a little bit of a potluck style to it. People can bring sides, desserts, drinks, and stuff if they want.

But if it's too cold for that, no one will want to come. Their food will get cold due to the weather. Most people will not want to go to a barbecue whose stated purpose is just "a barbecue". Not when it's this cold out, at least.

Yet I doubt Dragon Falls has it in their budget to add in enchantments which will keep the pavilions warm.

"Oh!" I exclaim without meaning to as I realize something.

If I offer to cover the costs of having those enchantments put in, the town can announce that the barbecue is to celebrate having those put in. It would be partially true, even if the main purpose is the barbecue with a dragon bit.

That's not being announced at all because they want to minimize people coming in from out of the area to participate.

Knowing that the eating areas will be warm will likely make people more interested in coming for the barbecue. Probably not an immense amount of people, but that'll change once the dragon part of the event is public. I'll need to make sure there are plenty of sides and desserts and drinks for it, since there probably won't be that many people bringing them.

Not if they only decide to come after the dragon visit is public.

Okay. A plan is made and I'll do some more work on it after I return home. Before that, I need to finish eating my breakfast, then I'll investigate the games and stuff set up here. Dad's assured me that the stuff I have planned for my Halloween party is fine, but I still want to look at the things here to make sure.

After I finish eating, I throw my trash into one of the cans, then start walking around. Do I want a funnel cake right now? No, I'm not feeling like funnel cake, I'm feeling like cheesecake. But that apple cider smells good. The stall which smells good isn't being run by an adult at the moment, it's being run by a boy about a year or two older than me.

His outfit consists of brown jeans and a red hoodie with "APPLETON ORCHARDS" across the front. Black gloves with special grip pads on the fingers cover his hands and a beanie sits atop his head, his hood pulled over it.

He has platinum-blond hair and emerald-green eyes, his tan still prominent despite the cold. Like Sig and Carter and them, he's definitely spent a lot of time outside when it's warm out as he's grown up. Which I know, because I've seen him at the Lakeview Farmers' Market. His name's Ian Appleton, and his family runs an apple orchard.

They make really good cider and apple butter. It's more expensive than Mr. Jack's stuff but tastes a lot better, probably because theirs has a little bit of magic in it. Ian's got more magic than average, too. His family uses it for farming.

While I've never bought stuff from them before, I've tried the samples his family has at their stalls at the farmers' market a few times. It really is good stuff.

"Hello!" He greets me with a friendly smile as I approach.

He feels cold, but also really cheerful. He's not bored at all, which is weird. He's just standing here in the cold, waiting for people to show up and buy stuff.

"Ain't you from Lakeview?" I ask. "This is the Dragon Falls park. I mean, I know you ain't limited to Lakeview, but ain't that closer to home?"

"It is, yeah," he tells me. "But we like running a stall here. It's harder to have a big farm in Dragon Falls since it's the center, but it's also where a decent amount of the stronger mages live. Plenty of mages in Lakeview, too, but hey, it doesn't hurt to have a stall here, right?"

"Oh," I say. "I guess that makes sense. You're doing mulled cider, right?"

"Yup!" He answers. "Want some?"

"Yes, please."

"It's $5 for a cup," he tells me. "Though as you can see on the shelf behind me, we have ones themed to the holiday, and to the season as well. Those are $20 apiece. If you don't want one, you'll get just a regular cup, but it's a travel cup so there's a lid. And on the shelf there, you can see that we've got some apple cider donuts and pumpkin spice ones, too."

"Y'all grow pumpkins?" I ask as I look at the pumpkin bread slices.

"Yup!" He grins. "Not as much as others might, but we do grow some. They mostly get used to make canned pumpkin filling for pies, or for things like pumpkin bread. And I made the bread myself, just last night! We've got ones with icing on top and ones without, and you can buy a little dish of icing as well if you want to dip."

There's quite a lot here. I want to try everything which doesn't have chocolate.

"Do you take card?" I ask. "Or only cash?"

"I can do card," he tells me.

"Okay," I say. "Can I get one of each food thing which doesn't have chocolate?"

All of the items with chocolate in them are on a separate tray from the stuff which doesn't. That's really unusual, but it also means I don't have to worry about contamination. The trays even have their own tongs.

"Sure!" He answers. "Though we have two flavors of mulled cider – one of them has a little bit more citrus in it than the other."

"Um… regular, please," I answer. "And a regular travel cup, not one of the fancy cups. I can recycle and I'm not sure I'd use a fancy one like those very much."

"If you have your own," he says after I pay for my order. "I can fill that instead, no additional charge."

"Oh," I summon one from my backpack. "You can?"

My cup is dark green with a black lid, and my name written on it in gold.

"Sure!" He says. "As long as you're okay with me running it through a sanitizer real quick. Have to make sure it's clean to avoid contaminating stuff if it's not. Part of the food safety code for stuff like that."

"That's fine," I tell him.

A law like that makes sense and I'm not going to ask him to break it. I'm not that sort of person, even with my cup having its own sanitation enchantment on it. Once it's cleaned, it sanitizes itself. The device he puts it on looks like it does a quick clean as well with magic water treated to provide a thorough cleaning and sanitization process.

Once my cup is cleaned and sanitized by Ian's device, he fills it with cider and hands me the rest of my purchase.

"Thanks," I say, then turn around.

As I do, I see the girl who walked up behind me as Ian filled my cup. She's around fourteen and a half and has brown hair and green eyes, and is dressed similarly to Ian but without a logo on her hoodie. Much like him, she has higher-than-average mana thanks to her bloodline.

I recognize her, too, but mostly because I saw her recently.

"Hi, Tessa," I greet Carter's cousin. "You came to Dragon Falls' park for cider?"

"Ian's my boyfriend!" She laughs. "I came to hang out with him! And it's nice to see you again, Xander. How'd your party go?"

"I think it went okay," I tell her. "I had fun, and I know the others posted they enjoyed it in the surveys. I don't know who said what, but everyone rated it a nine or a ten on all of the enjoyment parts."

"That's nice!" She says. "Carter hung out at our place for a little bit after yesterday before they headed back to Autumn Hills. He wouldn't stop talking about it for awhile, and his tail kept wagging."

"Oh, my goodness," Ian groans. "The tail… I thought you were joking when you told me he could do that! Seeing him show up as a wolfkin was a helluva shock, Tessa."

I move to the side a little so that I can look at both of them rather than have my back to Ian.

"It's actually my first time seeing it," she chuckles. "We haven't seen each other since he learned the spell. The tail looked super fluffy."

"It is," I nod. "At least, if it's like how mine is when I switch."

"Wait!"

Realization fills Ian's mind.

"You're Xander King?" He asks.

"Yeah."

"Oooh!" He says. "That's why you're so familiar! You look quite a lot like Matt!"

"He is not invited to my parties."

"Speaking of those," Tessa says. "Sorry I wasn't able to make it to Saturday's. Matt was having his own party, so we were all over there."

She couldn't make it because of my cousin's party?

"Wasn't it because your parents said you couldn't come since the rest of us were boys?" I ask.

"No," she says. "It was because of Matt's party. And I declined for Halloween because I wasn't yet sure what our plans were. My parents don't care about coed parties or sleepovers even when it's disproportionate. They know I'm responsible."

"Oh."

"Turns out that the only plans we have for Halloween are just trick-or-treating," she says. "So I'd be happy to attend your stuff for the afternoon, though I know the RSVP date is long-past."

"That's fine," I tell her. "The other girls' parents changed their minds yesterday and asked if it was okay to let them come over for the party part but not the sleepover part for Halloween's stuff. I wanted to stick to the plan, but Dad convinced me to try being okay with not."

Part of why they changed their mind is probably from their daughters' friends being really happy about the party. That's what Dad told me. Since there will be additional adults for the afternoon portion of the party on Halloween, their parents are probably a little more comfortable as well since they know there will be supervision.

"So if you want to come, you can. Carter would probably be happy for you to be there. He's talked about you a lot."

"He's a cool dude," she chuckles. "So it's okay for me to come?"

"Yeah," I nod. "I already have everything for if additionals get added last-minute, too."

I look at Ian. He has not-real fairies around him, and Trenton's already told me that he's been blessed by two gods. One of his blessings increases the bounty of crops he tends. The more he tends to them, the better and healthier they grow.

Which of those divine energies on him is that blessing, I still can't tell. Maybe one day, I'll be able to tell what divine blessings do on my own but until then, I'll have to rely on Trenton.

"Invites are required to enter the party," I inform Ian. "Lemme get your printed up real quick. It'd be rude to invite Tessa but not you, especially when you're a good person who seems really nice. But Matt is not allowed to come. Or Liam. They're too hyper. And please promise not to get obnoxiously hyper while there if you come."

From what I've heard, they all can get really hyper, even more so than Luke at times.

"Will do!" Ian responds.

After I make Ian's invite and give it and his invite treat box to him, I wish them both a good day, then start wandering around the park as I eat the stuff I bought from Ian. Are there any activity stalls set up for me to check out while I'm here?

[Sig – 13 years]

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Morning, Mr. Fuller!" I greet him as I let him into the house. "Aunt Rachel isn't quite ready yet, you're a little early."

It's freezing outside! The temperature really dropped last night, but as far as I'm aware, the plan to go to the park again this morning is still on. So is the plan for me to do some more archery practice over at Ryan's place after they all finish at church today.

I'm a bit relieved that I'm switching to Ryan's place, because I don't want to risk seeing Brooks again. We ran into him at the park yesterday and I nearly lost my cool when he was a little rude about Xander upon noticing he wasn't with us.

Nobody gets to suggest that we're hanging out without Xander because he's too much to deal with. I don't know what his deal is, but he needs to shut it before somebody snaps.

"I know," Mr. Fuller chuckles as I close the door behind him. "I wanted to ask how the party went."

"Oh!" I say. "It went great! Had a lot of fun at the farm, then carving the pumpkin, then goofing around in the foam pit and the pool. Played some games with the other, made new magic lamps and decorated a glass! Want to see?"

"Sure," he says.

I lead him down to my bedroom and show him the new magic lamp on my shelf. This one is black with an orange pumpkin on it, and I show Mr. Fuller how it glows.

"And it releases a scent, too?" He asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "But that can be toggled on and off. It's off right now, but I had it on for a little bit earlier. From what I understand, it just emits the smell constantly when it's on. There's no regulator to make it stop once the scent reaches a certain level, and having a toggle for it lets me turn it on and not get pumpkin spice, if I want something else."

"That's neat," he says. "Did you make it?"

"Yeah!" I nod. "Xander gave us instructions on how… and it was apparently impromptu again. And here's the glass!"

The pumpkin art is really good, and knowing that Xander hand-drew each one just for the party makes it even more special. It's something I can keep for years to show I was there, and I can even use it for years.

Xander forgot to mention the self-sanitizing enchantments on them. Once they're cleaned, sparkles cover them for a few moments as it sanitizes.

"You got a decorative glass?"

"Yup!" I answer. "And we got to decorate our own for keeping at the rec center, too. Oh! And he added more than just a few treats and a water bottle and bracelet to the party bag this time."

I lead Mr. Fuller to the basement lounge/rec room and show him the stuff. It's all sitting on the coffee table – what's left of it, anyway. There were sugar cookie bars again, these ones with either orange or black frosting and sprinkles of the opposite color (it's all vanilla). There were also apple cider donut holes; apple cider cookies; a bracelet with wooden beads decorated with pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, and straw bales; a small painted pumpkin; a puzzle sphere with pumpkin-shaped pieces fitted in around it; and a bag of pumpkin-themed gummy candies.

The bracelet is on my left wrist right now, along with the animal-decorated one and a plain bracelet I made on my own. My right wrist, of course, still has my friendship bracelet from Xander.

That's never coming off.

"Neat," Mr. Fuller says. "Is that a holiday-themed puzzle sphere?"

"Yup!" I show him the pumpkins. "Xander and I were talking on a video call last night, and he seemed really proud of the puzzle spheres. It wasn't really in his tone, so I really only knew because of the video. His tail wagged a lot when he talked about figuring out how to make it so the pumpkins worked for the design."

"That kid's pretty smart," he says. "It's a shame schools aren't a good fit for him, but good that he's found a way to learn that suits him."

"Yeah," I nod. "Xander really enjoys magitech and I swear, he learns more from trying to figure things out for them than he would have attending a regular school."

Xander does still learn regular academics, but more of at his own pace. I think that's better for him. Mr. Richardson said it is, anyway. We were talking about if Xander's going to school with Connor, Sam, and Jake next year while hanging out at Sam's after the park yesterday.

Mr. Richardson overheard us and he said it might not happen. Xander's exempt from schooling due to his career, for starters, so he doesn't need to go to school. Even with that, he's still doing regular school learning… sort of. And it lets him learn things at his own pace rather than getting it all crammed in, which gives him more time to work on things he struggles with.

In addition, regular academics aren't Xander's strong suit and that's what schools teach. Sure, he's still learning history, but Xander's much better-suited to learning things like magic and magitech. And while he struggles with the sort of math we'd learn in school, he's good enough at it to create enchantments and magitech which use math.

Sometimes on a level better than what he really understands.

So it's kind of like self-guided learning, but not that sort which makes him uneducated or behind in core areas. He's a thirteen-year-old with enough knowledge about magic to write several textbooks.

"And he'd probably not do well with classmates and stuff," I add. "Especially being an empath. He can suppress it to a degree, but it apparently causes problems to do so for too long too often."

"Indeed," Mr. Fuller says. "Do you have any pictures from the party?"

"Yeah!" I bring him back into my room to show him pictures on my computer.

Some of them are from the farm, while others are from Xander's place. Not all of the ones from Xander's place are fully accurate to what was going on. An upgrade Xander gave to the observation system allows for it to change a person's outfit using a similar censoring system Xanson TV uses.

So anyone who doesn't want/isn't allowed to be shirtless on camera isn't even if he really was. Carter has on shorts and a tee in the pictures where he was wearing just shorts, for example. This makes it so that if we want to post some of the pictures or videos from the party online, we can do so without worrying about stuff like the restrictions Carter's and Tate's parents have for them.

Naturally, Xander's wearing pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and socks for all of the pictures and videos in the rec center. That's not from the censoring, though – that's what he was wearing when he wasn't in bed or in the pool.

"You just got down," Mr. Fuller says. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," I answer. "It's just… after the late-night crafting session, Xander and Carter went swimming just the two of them. They and Jake are allowed to be in the pool without the usual requirements, for one reason or another. I wish I could've gone with them."

"By themselves?" Mr. Fuller asks. "Why?"

"I'm not sure?" I answer. "Carter wanted to learn how to become a merboy, so Xander was teaching him the spell in there. Once they finished, Xander left, but… I dunno. Xander told me that was all that happened, but I dunno."

It has me a little sad and disappointed. I know Xander wouldn't cheat on me, but I wish he'd at least have let me hang out for it. Seeing them as merboys would have been cool! And I could've asked him to turn me into one for a little bit, too.

"Do you think," Mr. Fuller says. "That Carter might have done that to get Xander away from the crowd for a bit? If it was just after a crafting session, and it was late at night, Xander might have been stressed and overwhelmed. That could have been Carter trying to help him calm down."

"Help him… calm down?"

"In a quiet place," Mr. Fuller says. "Where something a lot more calming and relaxing is going on. If Xander had gone back to the room to try and fall asleep, he'd have probably still be on-edge from the crowd he was just at."

"So Carter gave him something to focus on that would calm him down before bed…" I realize. "Oh…"

Now I feel bad for not realizing that Xander had gotten overwhelmed. He did seem a little more fidgety than normal during and after the crafting session, but I'd just thought that was from being up past his bedtime. Changes to his schedule like that always affect him.

Tate's the empath, but Carter's the one who picked up on Xander being overwhelmed. It makes me feel like a bad boyfriend, too. I mean, I know we're not serious, and we haven't even gone on a date, but we're still boyfriends. I should be picking up on Xander getting overwhelmed and helping him calm down when we're hanging out, not others.

Quiet reigns between us for a few moments.

"Is that a video of you jumping into the foam pit?" Mr. Fuller asks.

"Yeah!" I turn my attention back to the computer and pull up the video.

In it, I don't just jump into the foam pit. I bounce on the trampoline until I reach the highest I can manage, then I flip into the foam pit, nearly crash-landing on Chris. The clip stops after he throws a block at me while laughing, but that's all I wanted for that one.

"That was my highest bounce!" I tell Mr. Fuller. "Knox followed it up by doing a higher one before landing on me, but that was my highest one!"

I show Mr. Fuller more of the clips, including part of the video of Carter swimming as a merboy. We were all challenging him to a race and he won it. By a lot.

"He's not shirtless in that one?" Mr. Fuller asks. "Didn't you say it was making boys shirtless when it wasn't allowed in pictures and stuff? Carter was the reason behind that, wasn't it?"

The differences between when it is and isn't allowed doesn't make any sense to me, but his parents still have one. If it's ever allowed, then why isn't it always allowed? I'll still respect his parents' restrictions, even if I don't understand them.

"He's allowed here since it's a swimming activity," I explain. "Since it's a swimming activity. Xander checked with everyone's parents/guardians before releasing any of the swimming stuff so that he knew which boys to tell it to put swim shirts on. I kind of wish I could've been a merboy, too. That looked really fun…"

Though having too many merboys in the pool probably wouldn't have been a good idea. Even if Carter wasn't very much taller as a merboy than as a regular human, he still took up more space. His tail wouldn't go straight down for him to stand, he was essentially always swimming. He didn't need to tread water to have the same effect, but his tail was curved forward or backwards when he was like that, too.

Not needing to tread water to keep my head up when my feet aren't touching the bottom would be amazing. It's something inherent to merboys, apparently. They can remain in whatever position in water as they want.

"Derrick?" Aunt Rachel's voice reaches us. "You down here?"

"I think that means it's time for you to go!" I tell Mr. Fuller.

"Have fun, S.G.," Mr. Fuller ruffles my hair. "I'll see you after lunch."

"Bye!"

Mr. Fuller leaves with Aunt Rachel and a few minutes later, I message the group chat to let the others know I'm heading to the park. Most of the stalls will still be closed, but that doesn't mean I can't play there for a bit until they open. The others were probably waiting for it to warm up a bit.

I also text Aunt Rachel to let her know I'm heading to the park, even though she knew I was planning on leaving after she did. Their service begins at 10 and goes until 11:30 at the latest, then they get lunch and return here by 12:30 unless something comes up. To make sure they arrive at the church early enough to talk with others before the service, they leave at about 9:30.

That gives me a couple of hours to hang out with my friends before I need to get ready to leave for archery practice.

As I lock my bike to a bike stand at the park, I spot Xander walking around, sipping from a hot-drink cup. He's dressed in a dark green hoodie, dark blue jeans, black and green sneakers, and has on black gloves and a black beanie. All of it is MountainStorm Gear apart from his jeans. His backpack is on his back and Trenton is sitting in it… his head poking up through the top of it as if he's watching behind Xander.

Goofball.

"Xander!" I call out as I hurry over to him, and he turns and looks over at me.

"Oh," he says. "That's why I thought I heard you. I just thought I was hallucinating."

"What?" I ask. "Didn't you get my text? I sent one saying I was coming."

Xander's phone floats up out of his pocket and hovers in front of him as the screen turns on.

"Oh," he says. "I didn't see that."

"Wait," I say. "You didn't see the text? But you're already here?"

"Y'all said you'd come today," he tells me. "So I came at the usual time, but none of you were here. So I was walking around the park. Have you tried the mulled cider from that stall? It's really good."

Oh… we do normally come out for breakfast when we hang out here on Sundays, don't we? Xander must have assumed it was the same this time as well.

"I haven't," I tell him. "And the others might still be asleep? They haven't posted a wake-up picture yet, anyway."

"You haven't, either."

"What?" I check the group chat and find that I sent it when I sent the message about coming here. "Oh… looks like I forgot to hit send both times. Whoops! Hit 'Send' for the direct one, though it's the same as the one in the group chat."

"Oh," Xander goes quiet for a few moments. "Want to try their cider? I'll pay. And then you can pay for the raffle over there. It's a dollar per entry and we can each do two entries and that'll be less than what the cider costs."

"Sure!" I say. "Have you tried cider from other stands or just that one?"

"All of the ones currently open," he answers. "I like the Appleton cider the best. And apparently, there's a vendor code this year which requires having items with chocolate on them separated from those without, including on different dishes and with different grabbers for them. And for the candy apples, they have to have the toppings used for chocolate-covered ones separate from the others, so that chocolate doesn't end up in toppings for non-chocolate."

"We noticed that," I tell him. "A bit weird, huh? Never seen that before… but it's an actual code for the vendors?"

That would definitely explain why it was everyone. We all thought it was weird when we noticed it happening but thought there was just some in-joke or something the businesses were doing.

"Yeah," Xander nods. "Grandpa Adrian says it wasn't him and I'd have to ask the person in charge of the permits and stuff why that happened. He's the one who decides the codes. But he's also apparently not easy to contact directly so I haven't tried."

"Ah," I say. "Why would they do that? I'd expect something like that if you were in charge of it, but this seems random."

"It's Dragon River," Xander tells me. "So he probably did it so that I wouldn't have to worry about chocolate in my stuff. He seemed to like me."

Xander asked the guy if he'd come and show himself publicly and confirm to the world that dragons are real, but won't call him to ask a question? I'm pretty sure Dragon River isn't difficult to contact for him at all.

Especially since we're friends with his son. A boy who lives with him. Jake can probably just ask his dad for us.

"Jake's dad is the one who sets the code for public events?"

"Yeah," Xander answers.

"We could just… ask Jake if he knows why."

"Okay," Xander looks past me. "How come your dad changed the code so that chocolate has to be separated from other stuff for vendors here?"

"So that you'd be able to try out the foods here without having to worry about chocolate," Jake answers as I turn to face him. "No Connor?"

"He's up?" I ask.

"Sent me a pic a little while ago," Jake says. "Looked really sleepy. Must've fallen back asleep, then. Mind if I join you two?"

"Nope!" I look at Xander. "You?"

"No," Xander looks happy for some reason and I get the feeling that if he had a tail right now, it would be wagging really hard. "But I ain't paying for your cider."

[Greyson – 11 years]

And by adjusting this section here, that should improve the overall transition rate. I'll need to completely remake the piece, though, so I grab some materials and get to work.

"Don't go in there."

Henry jumps and turns to look at me.

"You're back's to me," he says. "How do you know where I am?"

"The entire property has a sensory network throughout it," I tell him. "It allows Xander and me to feel the locations of everyone at all times. That's Xander's space and it's really important to respect people's space. Especially Xander's. His stuff probably won't explode, but it's also very sensitive. And he'll have a meltdown if someone goes into his space without permission."

Not a tantrum, a meltdown. His brain will overload and get short-circuited, and it may even make him not want to enter his zone again after it gets violated.

I didn't want to bring Henry to my workshop, but Cal suggested it when I asked Papa about bringing Travis over to help me test some of my adjustments. They're completely safe and he's already been a test subject once so it's not like there's danger to him.

Our great-grandfather was very clear that I'm not allowed to test anything with the mega-computer on a person without making certain that its fail-safes for if there's danger work.

Having someone who's experienced it before helps me know if something changed, which is why I wanted Travis to help me out.

Travis is here, too, but he's behaving rather than wandering around the workshop. Specifically, he's wearing a set of AR glasses and is playing a game outside rather than being a potential hazard. They both got to go in already and gave me a little bit of feedback on the transition into the magi-virtual world.

"His zone looks like it has some really cool toys in it," Henry says.

"Don't touch them," I tell him. "If you think I get bad when I'm annoyed, just imagine how Xander would be. He's more powerful, smarter, more skilled, and pettier. So don't try to go into his zone-"

"Ow!" Henry exclaims.

Xander apparently put a barrier up. And it shocks. Henry's in a lot of pain from his hand and he's feeling disoriented.

"Well, I guess he's got a barrier up now."

Henry starts stumbling around a little, which is weird. A shock shouldn't have done just that to him so I peek into his mind and am immediately greeted with the weirdest sensation. It's like his brain is registering his eyes, ears, and even his nostrils on opposite sides. In fact, all of his senses feel like they've been flipped straight down the middle of his body. But not flipped as in flipped, just flipped as in which side they're from is switched.

…Xander put in one heck of a punishment for attempting to enter his work zone.

I pull out of Henry's mind and let him deal with that as I reach for an inscriber. As I do, I notice a sphere sitting on my desk that I somehow didn't notice before. It was definitely here, though. I can remember seeing it, just not noticing it.

A barrier linked to the other barrier, perhaps? Or just me not noticing it because of paying attention to the hazard while working on my project.

There's a note accompanying the orb as well.

Greyson,

This is a massage orb. I know you like giving Cal a massage and getting one, too. But I also know you don't like being touched, especially around your shoulders. Will this make it easier for you? There's already some massage oil inside. If you want to refill it…

The letter goes on to detail how to use the orb, including refilling the massage oil. There's even a part which tells me how to access a feedback form for the orb.

I summon a mattress with a sheet on it, then pull off my shirt and lie face down before setting the orb on my back. A pillow appears and I rest my head on it as the orb starts working its magic on my back.

"Greyson?" Henry asks after a few minutes. "What're you doing?"

His senses must've returned enough that he can see me properly, though his hand is still in pain.

"Xander gifted me a massage ball," I tell him. "Oooh… this feels nice. Not too firm, and I think the oil is the right amount, too. And it's warm. My muscles are relaxing so much. Ahhh…"

A few minutes pass with me just enjoying the massage the ball is giving me.

"Um… Greyson?" Henry asks, a feeling of timidness coming from him.

"You're ruining the peace and quiet."

"Why is there oil coming out of it?"

"They reduce friction," I answer. "And also nourish and moisturize the skin. Depending on what they're made of, they can increase muscle relaxation and help release tension, among other things. Massage oils have many uses. Xander's letter says he used oil he's seen me have before, and I like the smell of it. The smell can help create a calming sensation, too."

Xander probably saw it while I was reorganizing my backpack or something at some point. I've done that a few times when stuff which didn't have a section before get added, so that I can have a section for them.

"Okay…" Henry trails off and goes quiet for a few more moments. "Is it supposed to keep putting out oil on spots which are already looking slick from it?"

"Xander probably thought I preferred a more oily experience," I tell him. "I'll let him know it was too much."

I do reach behind myself and turn off the oil function, though. The orb doesn't need to use more right now.

Once the massage finishes, I clean the extra oil off of my back and examine the ball for a few moments. The ball is completely dry despite having just been rolling around on an oiled back. A cleaning magic was imbued into this, then.

"Your muscles are probably all tight and stuff," I tell Henry. "Do you want to give it a try? Massages really do work wonders for helping with that."

"Don't you hate sharing your stuff?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Do you want to try the ball?"

I won't be using it again because it has too much oil. Chances are high that Xander will simply make a new one for me after he learns this one released too much. While I would normally store it away rather than let someone else use it… maybe this will get Henry to stop moving around so much while I'm trying to work.

"Take off your shirt and lie down," I tell him. "I'll turn it on. To make it stop putting out oil, just touch it and want it to stop. It'll register your want and stop."

Henry thinks for a few moments, then pulls off his shirt and lies down. I set the orb on his back and turn it on, then return to my desk to resume working on this piece.

Masseuses would probably start getting put out of work if that ball goes on the market. Or they'd need to up their specialization in order to outdo it. Other than the oil issue, it felt really good and made me feel like I was getting an actual proper back and shoulder massage.

And it's gotten Henry to stay still and stop wandering around. That's an added bonus, even if I know it won't last more than ten minutes. But that'll be ten minutes of peace for me, so I need to get as much work done as I can manage in that time.

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