"Besides, Renn doesn't trust you," Drake informed his father and glanced at the two men sitting beside him as if waiting for a reaction. They received none. Drake's father only sighed.

Regardless of whether the vision was true or false, it had planted a seed of doubt that took root so deeply that Drake was having trouble trusting their fathers.

In the background, the music still played, but none of those at the table could comprehend it. They were too focused on their own conversation. A conversation that had stopped abruptly as soon as Drake had told them that Renn didn't trust them.

Mayor Ivan had long ago left to dance with Mary, who blushed as they danced.

It was nearly night when the music had finally stopped, and Drake and his friends, along with their fathers, could go home.

Drake had gotten up, with Renn by his side, and walked over to the two children. He bent down to Nelly and Tod, who were still sitting on the ground playing with their blocks. "I have to leave. I'll come back as soon as I can for my next quest." Drake told them.

Nelly stood up and hugged him. Drake returned the gesture, rubbing her back while he did. As he released her, Renn nuzzled her gently, nearly knocking the small child to the ground.

He quickly hugged Tod before getting up and heading over to Mary and Mayor Ivan, who were talking quietly near the side of the building.

Drake cleared his throat before he moved forward toward the two. "We're leaving. I wanted to thank you for all your help… I didn't want to leave before saying goodbye, either," he told them. "We'll be back as soon as we're able. We want to get the next quest started, but we still have things to do back in our own world."

Mayor Ivan smiled. "Then we'll see you soon." He hugged Drake before he could step away. He allowed it, not wanting to be rude.

Mary was next. 'We'll see you soon," she beamed. "I'll have rooms ready and waiting for you."

"Thank you, Mary. We appreciate everything you do for us," Drake confessed, before hugging her too.

After he said his goodbyes, he and Renn returned to their fathers, who were waiting in a small cluster. Mike and Chad had made the rounds as well.

Drake's father scanned the boys and his own cohort. "Are we ready?" he asked.

"Yes," Drake said flatly, as he grasped Renn's fur, afraid that she would be left behind.

Just before His father's staff was slammed on the ground, Drake's gaze lifted toward Gavin, who was looking at him. There was something in Gavin's eyes that made Drake flinch. Before he could, the bright flash of green light consumed them. When it faded, they were in the large living room of his home.

He looked at Renn, who still looked like herself, but only for a few seconds. A soft glow surrounded her, and she turned into a rat with pitch black fur. The only green on her was her bright green eyes. "Good girl," Drake praised. 'You're small enough to hide so I can take you to school."

Mike grinned. "I expected her to turn into a dog. It makes sense, though, with her rat tail and all. Maybe she could choose either form if she wanted to…a rat's good though. It would be hard to hide her green eyes if she were a dog."

Chad stayed silent as he watched Renn and Drake. He turned to his father. "I'm staying wherever Drake and Renn are staying."

Mike nodded. "Yeah, me too."

It was clear to their fathers that the boys no longer trusted them. They didn't see the vision, but knew it had to be bad if they were acting this protective.

"I want to know how to change the cabin so Renn can fit inside it. She shouldn't have to sleep on the porch," Drake added.

"When you get back, she should be able to change to whatever form she has chosen for this world. All she has to do is change form and stay in it until she leaves the cabin." Drake's father informed him. "She couldn't do it then, because she hadn't left the dimension yet."

Drake nodded in understanding. "If we have school tomorrow, I want to get some sleep. Mike and Chad can stay with me in my room. I don't want to separate from them either. We need to restock the cabin and get other things we need in case it takes too long to complete the next quest."

"Don't you think we should have our talk first?" It was Drake's father who spoke. The other two men stayed quiet.

Renn jumped onto Drake's shoulder and stared at the dimension master. A small rat hiss came from her mouth.

"I think we need to shower and get some rest. We can talk when we do all that." Drake turned to Mike and Chad. "Do what you need to do. I'll be in my room. I want a real shower before I do anything right now."

Mike and Chad nodded, following their fathers out of Drake's house, leaving Drake and Renn alone with his father.

As soon as the front door closed, Drake's father spoke. There was pleading in his voice. "Whatever vision your beast had was a lie. We would never do anything like that to you. We would never harm you. Our only goal is to protect you and do what we can to get you through the quests. Nothing that happened during your quest was supposed to happen. It shouldn't have been like that."

"I can't help it. That vision was terrible. You slaughtered all my beasts. You killed my friends, then me. All I saw was hate. There was no other emotion… except there was also bloodlust. It washed over me like a tidal wave. I could barely stand there was so much of it. You wouldn't even tell me why you killed them. You just killed me without saying anything."

His father lowered his head. He knew the vision was bad. He didn't know how he could make his son believe him. The vision was false… it had to be. "I don't know what else to say to you," his father pleaded. "I don't know how to prove to you that it wasn't real."

Drake didn't say anything. He didn't know if it was fake or not. There was that seed of doubt that bloomed in his gut. Until Renn believed the vision was false, he would maintain his distance. He turned and left his father standing in the middle of the room.

Just as he stepped onto the first step, he turned to his father. "When Renn trusts you, I will trust you," he said before continuing up the steps toward his room.

After taking a shower and cleaning up his armor and washing his clothing from his quest, he waited in silence on his bed for his two best friends to arrive.

After waiting for nearly an hour, his friends showed up. They had sleeping bags with them, which they spread out onto the floor. They had their backpacks with them, so they could take them to school.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think I would like to get school over with. We still have one year to go, but I'm not sure we need it if we can live in the dimension. I was wondering if we should just move to Draco Town and finish our quests. Besides, my father said that if you die, we die with you. It's automatic," Mike stated, a glum tone to his voice.

Chad nodded. "I don't think we need school either. I think if we go back, we should just stay there."

Drake looked between his two friends. Renn was sleeping comfortably on Drake's lap. "I think we need to make sure we know how to get fresh water, food…" he looked at Chad. "Coffee. If we don't return, we won't be able to obtain anything like that."

Chad shrugged. "Dad said they have a similar drink, but it's not as good. I think we should stop at the big box store and get several pallets of it. That way, we don't run out. Each time we return, we should get more. I'm not talking cases…I'm talking complete pallets filled with cases of them," he said, grinning widely.

"Or we can just figure out how to live off the resources in the dimension," Drake stated calmly. "Your obsession with coffee seems to be the only real reason to return here."

Mike slipped into his sleeping bag. "I think we should restock the cabin, get as much water as we can. Evern get more water holding tanks…. Chad's coffee…. And figure out what we need so that we don't have to return. That way, we can just get our quests over with. If we fail… we're all dead anyway. If we don't, then we can live there, preferably peacefully."

Chad slipped into his own. "Agreed," he said, yawning loudly.

Drake flipped his light switch off, then carefully slid into his own bed, moving Renn to one of his pillows. "We'll talk more about it in the morning."

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