Roar of Dragons

[Sig – 13 years] → starts around the beginning of Chapter 50

"Where are you going?" Aunt Rachel asks as I reach the front door.

"It's Friday and the weather is predicted to be great, so I'm going out!" I answer.

"Where?" She asks. "And who with, and when do you expect to be back?"

"Uuuugh!"

First she forces me to come over and stay with her, then she forces me to do this. It's never been a problem before, I don't see why I have to start doing this! This is one of the safest areas in America, too!

"Sig," she says. "It's part of the rules for when you're staying here. You have to tell me where you're going, who you're going to be with, and when you expect to be back."

"It's not even seven on a Friday in summer," I tell her. "I have no idea where all I'm going, who all will be there, or what time I'll be back. Happy?"

"No," she says. "That's not answering the question at all."

"It's the truth!" I tell her. "Connor, Sam, and Isaac aren't up yet, Xander's probably got his lessons, so I'm just heading out! First to go back to my house to get my bike, since we forgot it. Then I'll probably get something to eat, then maybe go to the park. If others are up for it, then to a pond in the woods. Or maybe for a hike. I might go to the games center. Or the rec center. I literally do not know! The only plan for today is to spend it having fun! Or would you rather I spent it playing video games all day again? Because I can do that!"

"Sig," she says. "Please drop the attitude."

"Please drop the stupid!"

"Sebastian Greyson!"

"Rachel Meredith!"

We stare at each other for several very long moments. I'm not giving up on this. I love her, but she's not my boss. She can't just come and decide to put herself in charge of me – it's my parents' choice on that and they haven't said it. That's for a very simple reason: my parents don't care what I do as long as my chores get done and I don't get into trouble. At the end of the day, I'm always fed and fine, so there's no reason for Aunt Rachel to try and make all these changes just for her.

This is how things have been even before Connor and I became friends and his dad started buying my groceries when my parents randomly vanished. It's the whole reason I know the combination to my parents' safe. If things really get bad on the food front, I just open it up and take some cash to get groceries. Heck, that's what I was doing before I started taking on jobs to earn my own money.

Sure, my parents get mad at me when I do that, but at least I got fed. I've never needed to go to the hospital (for my own injuries), never been kidnapped, nothing like that. There's literally nothing wrong with how things are.

Things could be better, but all of the boxes are checked. I'm clothed, I'm fed, I have a comfy bed, and my grades are good when school's in session. My parents don't abuse me, either, and I'm happy.

Except when stuff like this happens. So I'm not giving up. Aunt Rachel can deal with me not changing just because she wants me to. Being an adult doesn't mean she's right or can boss me around.

Almost two minutes pass before Aunt Rachel lets out a heavy sigh.

"Let me know as soon as you know the answers," she tells me. "And where's your shirt?"

"In my backpack," I roll my eyes. "It's summer. When have you seen me come home with my shirt not either in it or slung over my shoulder when it's warm? I decided I'm going to just skip the 'putting it on' step unless I need to for something, like going in somewhere that requires one. It's fantastic outside! Bye!"

I don't let her say anything else before I leave to get my bike. Strangely, Mr. Thompson's car is in the driveway when I finally reach my house. That's really weird and gives me a bad feeling about his reason.

Aunt Rachel called him, didn't she?

"Sig," he gets out of his truck.

"Morning, Mr. Thompson," I make my way to the back yard.

"Your aunt called me after you left," he follows me to the back.

"About what?" I ask.

"Your attitude," he says. "She says you blew up at her?"

"She's making me stay with her," I tell him as I unlock the back door so I can retrieve my helmet. "Instead of just letting me do what I always do. My parents didn't tell me to stay with her, my parents didn't put her in charge of me. She's just decided it. They don't have an issue with how things are and I don't like that Aunt Rachel is forcing me to stay with her. And she's got all these extra rules she's forcing on me, too. Like, how am I supposed to know where I'm going and who I'm hanging out with when I leave before literally any of my friends are awake? Except Xander, but he's got his own stuff to do."

We all send 'good morning' pictures in the group chat and Xander sent his first one today… though it wasn't of him but of his stuffed animals. I'm pretty sure they're growing in number. The picture taken was really good, too. No blurriness at all.

Which has me thinking that it might have actually been him just being happy at taking a good picture for once and wanting to show it off. It was a pretty cool picture.

"She is in charge of you right now," Mr. Thompson says as I grab my helmet.

"She's putting herself in charge of me," I say as I turn around to leave again. "And going against what my parents do to do so. If my parents wanted someone to supervise me while they're on their vacations, they'd arrange that. And Aunt Rachel can't just decide to force all these new rules and stuff on me just because she wants to."

"Sig-" he begins.

"I'm not done."

I lock the door and stomp over to my bike as I pull on my helmet before unlocking my bike and wheeling it to the front, making sure to lock the gate to the yard as well. Then, look at Mr. Thompson again. He's got a disapproving look on his face, but I'm not the one interrupting someone who's trying to explain things, and I'm not the one scolding someone for not being happy that someone is forcing her control over him.

"You're like a second dad to me, Mr. Thompson," I say. "But you're not my dad. Nothing you say is going to change the fact that my parents don't care what I do or who I'm with as long as I'm not getting arrested. Aunt Rachel can't just show up, go 'I'm concerned about you' and suddenly start forcing all of these new rules on me just because. I've done just fine for years before you became involved in my life, and I'm doing even better now as I get older. That's that and you can't change it!"

I get on my bike and take off, ignoring Mr. Thompson calling after me. Why are all of the adults in my life getting so mean lately? Aunt Rachel is trying to force all of these extra rules on me and Mr. Thompson's siding with her! Why can't anyone understand that my parents have their way of parenting and others can't just come in and boss me around without my parents' say?

After I ride my bike for a little bit, I stop so I can turn off my phone since I can't bother remembering how to turn off the friend tracker thing, then I just ride for awhile. Eventually, I come to the ruins of Nine Springs.

It was a large village/small town of about 14,000 people until around sixteen years ago. The game I played yesterday, Duty of Loyalty, has some grounding in reality. Portals sometimes do open up, except they don't cause monsters to form. Instead, they release monsters into the world before closing back up.

They're pretty rare and can usually be handled fine by local enforcement and mages. There might occasionally be loss of life, but it's rarely too big and the area can be moved back into soon after.

Nine Springs' portal opened up right in the center of the town, which was pretty spread out due to having a lot of farms in it. The central areas had more businesses and stuff but there were also a lot of wheat and potato fields.

They also didn't have enough mages of their own to deal with the portal and their police force was inadequate. The initial rush wiped out most of them and a significant portion of the population before reinforcements could arrive.

According to our history classes in school, the portal unleashed a really strong monster, a semi-elemental type in the form of a salamander made of stone. It was about thirty feet tall and while it caused less destruction than other monsters… more effort had to be focused on it.

The Gates were the ones who finally killed it and both Tristan and Melody Gates had to work together to take it down and it nearly wiped out all of their mana. That's how powerful the monster was. Other mages and even members of the magic special forces had to deal with the rest of the invading beasts.

Areas near the border of Dragon Falls and Hidden River were absorbed into those two towns as they were largely unaffected other than the rest of their town kind of being gone.

What remains now is basically uninhabited playgrounds for teens and tweens. There might sometimes be a random monster showing up since the western and southern edges of the former town entirely border the wilderness and the northern edge partially does. Those are easy to deal with since I just have to go somewhere else and they'll eventually leave on their own.

This is somewhere I don't normally come on my own, but that's the exact reason I came here rather than the park or rec center or something. Even if it means I'm a bit hungry since I won't be getting a proper breakfast, but at least I have snacks in my backpack.

If I went somewhere I normally go when I want to hang out with people, then my friends will probably find me at one of them. Their dads would then try to restart the conversation Mr. Thompson was having with me. That's annoying and I don't want that because it's stupid.

My parents don't care so why should other adults who don't have that authority over me try to force it onto me?

I shake my head to try and get rid of those thoughts. The whole reason for coming out this way was to try to clear my head and not get angry but I'm only getting more worked up. Maybe I should have gone somewhere I knew I'd be able to find someone to play with instead, even if it meant a higher chance of getting found by the dads.

Riding my bike on the old road is a little bumpy due to the gaps and cracks that have formed, but that makes it a little bit more fun for me to try and navigate. Just as I start to near my destination of the old park for Nine Springs, a voice calls out.

"HEY! S.G.!"

I quickly stop my bike and turn to face the guy who shouted out to me. He's about a year older than me and is wearing shorts and sneakers, his body toned and tanned from a lot of time in the sun, just like me. His time spent in the sun is for a little bit of a different reason, though.

Tate lives on a magic cattle ranch a little bit northwest of here and is kind of one of the reasons – other than wanting to shoot lightning like Lucas Gates – that I wanted to learn magic. He has curly brown hair that's tinted gold from time in the sun and blue eyes as clear as the sky.

With him is Carter, another kid in the grade above, though I think he doesn't turn fourteen until next month. His brown hair's tinted gold from the sun and his eyes are a nice shade of green. Just like Tate, he's lean and toned and has a tan from playing in the sun and working on his family's ranch – though he's from a flaremane horse ranch rather than a magic cattle ranch. Like Tate and me, he's in just a pair of shorts and some sneakers right now.

The summer sun feels really nice today.

Both of them are wearing green baseball caps right now, though Tate's is a tad bit more faded than Carter's.

"Hey, Tate! Carter!"

I hop off my bike and walk it over to them.

"What's going on?" Tate asks as we all bump fists.

"Was heading to the park here," I answer. "You guys?"

"Dad came down to drop off some meat and hides," Tate answers. "We finished up a little bit ago, then he dropped us off to look for a good spot for Carter to do some stuff while he went to get us breakfast."

"Do stuff?" I ask.

"Yeah!" Carter says. "We haven't seen each other since the epic snowball fight back in February so you wouldn't know yet since you don't watch a lot of stuff online. I started streaming and uploading videos, and some of it is me doing freerunning! Parkour with flair."

"Oh, neat!" I say. "Can I see?"

"Sure," he pulls out his phone and calls up his channel to show me one of his videos.

In the video, he's standing in a semi-decrepit part of a town, dressed in grey-and-blue sneakers, grey shorts, and a grey-and-blue sleeveless shirt.

"Hi, everybody!" Carter waves to the camera. "Carter, back for another ep.! I'm in Autumn Vale right now in a section that's been semi-abandoned for awhile. Dream Best Entertainment has spent the last several years buying up the abandoned buildings and even the streets, and they own this whole section. That means this area is probably going to get torn down and something new put in place and considering the company, probably something fun!

"That doesn't mean it's okay to just come on out and do your thing, though," he says as the camera shifts to show his dad for a moment. "Always be safe, folks! And we actually have permission from DBE to be here and do this, too! It is private property and here on this channel, we don't trespass so you don't do it, either!"

Carter gives me a nod when I look at him, and my attention goes back to the video.

"Today," he says. "Tate and I looked around for a bit and we saw a few good spots for some running and tricks! I've already tested them to make sure they can handle it, so let's go!"

Carter takes off running, soon jumping up onto the trunk of a car, then onto its roof, then jumping from there to grab onto a banner bar on a streetlamp. He swings forward once and lets go, doing a flip before landing on the ledge of a windowsill for a building, his balance perfect.

The video's about twenty minutes long, and Carter keeps managing jumps and flips that seem insane to me – and landings which look even more insane. How does he land so well on such thin spaces? What's the most amazing part of this is that Carter doesn't stop. The entire video is just one straight filming session, no cuts. It was probably Tate handling it – he knows how to fly and float and so can keep up with someone running, jumping, kicking, and flipping around buildings and stuff.

"Do you always scout out first?" I ask once Carter stops the video at what's probably the sign-off.

"No," he answers. "If it's a more run-down area like here, we definitely check to make sure it's safe. And DBE had actually reached out to me about that place and asked if I wanted to do a video there! That was just last week I did it!"

"Companies ask you to do stuff?"

"It was my first time!" Carter nods in excitement. "And it's a sponsored video! I didn't have to shill their brand or anything, just mention it was their space and I had permission, and use it for the full video which had to be at least fifteen minutes long – not that my videos are ever any shorter when I do running."

"Sponsored?" I ask. "What does that mean? Isn't sponsoring where you advertise someone, like at sports games? They pay the stadium or arena or whatever a big chunk of change and get a big sign with their company name on it there?"

"Streamers and uploaders can get sponsored videos, too," Carter informs me. "Companies reach out and offer us a contract that includes stuff like shilling their merch or services, having a product placed in view, or whatever. DBE just wanted me to mention them at some point. You probably missed it, but when we do a sponsored video, there's a flag at the start of it that mentions it contains sponsored content, and there's a site-generated flag beneath the video."

"So you got paid just for mentioning them?" I ask. "Seriously?"

"Yup!" He grins. "It wasn't a whole lot. Content creation in North America is focused on real-life stuff like freerunning, trickshots, magic, and games like paintball or laser tag, so the market is semi-saturated. That's also my market since, y'know, I don't speak other languages and I do a lot of physical stuff."

"There are a lot of people doing it?" I ask.

"Not a massive amount," he says. "But when that's most of the streaming market for an area, there's a lot to choose from. I'm doing pretty well, though – I only started back in April and already have seven thousand subscribers and get about two thousand views in the first week of a video! I'm hoping to be able to get advertising – I'm sure you watch some videos. Monetization will let me get some of the ad revenue. For that, I need at least five thousand subs and fifteen hundred watch hours in a year. I'm at over ten thousand watch hours!"

"SERIOUSLY?"

"Seriously!"

That is insane! He's only been doing it for two months and he's already gotten a ton of views and time watched! I might not know much about streaming and uploading, but I'm sure they wouldn't set the monetization threshold to something that's too low for money to be made off of it. Carter's really blowing up!

"That video was from two weeks ago," he puts his phone back into his pocket. "They put in high fences with visual barriers right after I filmed it, so you can't get into the area. I'm not really sure, but I do know they have construction equipment in there now, which is why I definitely think they're tearing it down."

"What's the company do?" I ask. "I've never heard of them before."

"They actually build play spaces and rent them out," he answers. "So different groups come in and use them. They have some obstacle course areas, and an area used for laser tag and paintball. They bought up a larger area for that project so I'm not sure what they're doing this time. Plus, I know they're pretty low on money. The project is probably going to eat up most of their funds. That's probably why they went with someone smaller. I only got about $40 from it. But hey – forty bucks is forty bucks!"

"Isn't that, like, nothing compared to what you get helping out on your family's ranch?" I ask.

Magic beast ranches are far more profitable than non-magic beast ranches, partially because of the difficulty in actually raising said beasts and partially because of the market demand for the products they produce. His ranch mostly does trail rides and stuff, but they still earn a lot of money from people wanting to ride magic horses.

"Well, yeah," he says. "The trail rides earn me a decent bit in tips. But this is money that's mine from something not related to my family!"

"Oh! That's right!" I exclaim. "That's pretty cool! I hope you get a lot of good luck!"

"Thanks!" He says.

"So are you looking for a place right now?" I ask. "You said you're wanting to do a recording."

"Yeah," he nods. "I think we found a spot shortly after Mr. Cox left. We're just waiting for him to get back now."

"He should be almost here," Tate says, then looks down the street. "There he is!"

We all look over to see a black pickup truck driving down it. The refrigerated trailer thing isn't attached to the back like it would be if this was a meat delivery like Tate said.

"Hey, Dad!" Tate exclaims when his dad exits the truck, dressed in jeans, cowboy boots, and a red button-up. "Where's the trailer?"

"Ran into Carter's dad, actually," Mr. Cox says. "He was surprised to find that we were down here. Told him what we were doing and he offered to take the trailer back for me.

"Was Mom there?" Carter asks.

"She was," Mr. Cox tells him. "She said to let you know that she's going on a girls' trip for the weekend with your aunt and cousin. That's why they were down here, actually – your dad was dropping her off at your aunt's house so they could leave for it. They were getting breakfast for the ladies and himself when I ran into them."

"Cool!"

Carter's parents are a lot more involved in his life than my parents are in mine and they had no idea where he was.

"And hello again to you," Mr. Cox looks at me. "It's… S.G. now, right?"

"Yup!" I answer. "Hello, Mr. Cox!"

"Now I see why you wanted me to grab extra breakfast stuff," he ruffles his son's hair. "Did you boys find a place yet?"

"We did!" Carter answer.

"Alright," Mr. Cox says. "Lead the way. We can eat once we get there, then test to make sure it's safe for you to play on. S.G., if you want, you can put your bike in the bed of the truck."

I do that, and us boys ride in the back of it with Tate using the window in the back of the cab to let his dad know where to go. We arrive in a spot with a higher amount of buildings and stuff, then hop out of the truck. Mr. Cox brings out boxes of donuts and jugs of juice and milk, and we help carry them over to some boulders.

Considering that there are boulders breaking up the roads and buildings, these were probably created by the monsters. Now, they provide a bit of a playground for kids.

Or a perfect place to eat.

"It's been awhile since you last came out and rode ATVs with us," Tate says as we eat breakfast. "Got any idea when you can do that again?"

Of course it's been awhile, considering we only see each other a few times a year at most. One of those hangouts a year is me heading up to their ranches.

It's one of the very few times I actually have to talk to my parents before going somewhere, just because of how far away he lives and the fact that we don't know his parents that well. If even I had known his parents as well as I do my friends', I wouldn't have had to ask my parents despite them not having ever met them.

When I asked my parents for the last visit, their exact response was "Go ahead, we don't care. Just don't get arrested or end up in the hospital, understand?" They didn't even ask to meet his parents again, just agreed to it the moment I asked.

Situations like that – where I have to actually ask – are so few and far between that it might as well never happen. That was more than a year ago and it's not happened again since. The dads can take me camping or wherever they want without me needing to get permission just because I know them pretty well.

"I'd like to go again sometime," I say. "That was freaking amazing! But I'd have to ask my parents again and they're on vacation, so I won't know when a good time for it would be until they get back."

"Aw," he says.

"How're things with your parents?" Mr. Cox asks. "You said they're on vacation?"

"Yeah," I nod. "They went up to Niagara Falls for their annual trip there. They left a day early, so they'll probably be gone for a week or two rather than just the weekend."

"Did they make sure you have food?" He asks.

"Nah," I answer. "But it's not a problem. I make money on my own and can buy groceries, and my parents pay me back some of it. I do buy a lot of junk food, too, so they're not gonna pay it all back. And if I don't have money, I can just take it from my parents' safe to buy stuff. I'll get into trouble, but considering I buy a lot of junk food, it's understandable they'd ground me for a few days.

"The real issue," I decide to complain a little because the need for venting is just too strong. "Is my aunt. She's moved into the area and is being a pain. My parents' only rules are: get good grades, do my chores, don't break the law, and don't need to go to the hospital. As long as it fits within those rules, I can do anything I want and don't need to tell them anything."

"And your aunt disagrees?"

"She's forcing me to stay with her while my parents are on their vacation," I tell him. "And is putting in all these extra rules. I can't go anywhere without telling her where I'm going, who I'm going to be with, and when I expect to be back by. My parents didn't put her in charge of me and they don't have those rules. It's just something my aunt decided on her own."

"I take it you two have been arguing about this?" He asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "My best friend's dad apparently told her about my parents leaving for vacation last month and when they extended it, she came down here. Turns out she was planning on moving here anyway, she just came earlier because my parents extended their trip. And she kept pushing those rules on me and now she's got her own house. And it's like I said – she's making me stay with her while they're gone again and is forcing those rules on me. My parents don't care. They know I'm fine.

"We got into a big fight this morning," I say. "Then she called my best friend's dad and told him stuff and he ambushed me and started trying to scold me but it's like… she's not my boss? She can't just decide she's in charge, that's my parents' job. It's so suffocating, not being able to just do what I normally do! And he's a second dad to me, but he's not my real dad and I wasn't doing anything wrong, so I told him that and left. He's probably pretty mad at me, but he can't just ambush me at my house and tell me I need to listen to someone who isn't actually my boss. Being an adult or an aunt doesn't automatically make you someone's boss!"

Mr. Cox doesn't respond at first, and Tate and Carter both look a little uncomfortable. Me ranting like this might end what small bit of friendship we have. Sure, I've gone to their ranches once a summer the past six summers, but that's not us being close or anything. We barely see each other ever and so I'm probably not someone they're comfortable having vent to them or their dads or whatever.

I'll be really upset if I can't hang out with them anymore, but I'm sure I'll get over it quickly.

"S.G.," Mr. Cox finally breaks the silence while I stuff my mouth full of donut. "I think I understand both sides of the issue here."

"What does that mean?" I ask after swallowing my food.

"Your aunt is worried about your safety," he says. "But you're used to having free rein to do essentially anything you want. If your parents put those rules in place, would you obey them?"

"Yeah," I answer. "But I wouldn't be happy with it. They've never done it before, so why would they suddenly start caring about that sort of thing? Aunt Rachel claims it's because it makes her feel better and like I'm safe. Like, my parents don't care. They know I'm safe. Heck, the closest I ever came to being sent to the hospital was literally at one of my friends' houses. With his dad there. We did have to go, but I wasn't one of the ones who got a mixture of pickle juice and hot sauce in his eyes. My body's tough as golem!"

I pound a fist into my stomach a couple of times to emphasize that.

"I know I don't have much influence in your life," Mr. Cox says. "But I hope you'll listen to what I have to say, okay?"

"You're going to tell me to listen to my aunt, aren't you?"

"Can you agree to listen to what I have to say?" He asks. "If you promise that, then I'll let you hang out with Tate and Carter today, okay?"

That's not very fair but there's no way I could stop him from that. He'd probably make them leave if I refuse to and then they'd just get mad at me. It wouldn't be a big loss considering how rarely we see each other, but I don't like losing even very slight friends once I make them. Plus, I actually look forward to the chance of visiting the ranches each year.

"Fiiiiiiine."

"Do you remember when we first brought you out to the ranch?" He asks.

"That's one of the few things from when I was younger that I remember clearly!" I tell him. "So much good food!"

"We'd run into you at the park a few times," he says. "Hadn't ever seen your parents. When you were seven, however, you'd mentioned being hungry but there not being food at home. That concerned us since you were pretty skinny, and we'd already been feeling something was off."

"What do you mean?" I ask. "And why did it concern you?"

"Hold on," he says. "So we tried to get you to take us to your parents, and that was when we learned they weren't even there. We had to bribe you into taking us to your home so we could meet them, which was problematic on its own. A seven-year-old shouldn't be bringing strangers home."

"But my parents were there, so it was fine."

"Not really," he says. "It can be dangerous to do that, even in an area as safe as here. But that's not the point. When we go there, we learned your parents were preparing to go on a vacation, yet they were barely feeding you. The math on the funds didn't add up, there. We asked about taking you to the ranches and two things rang alarm bells in our head."

"Alarm bells?" I ask. "Why?"

"First," he says. "They agreed despite having just met us. Second, they mentioned 'it would probably be more fun for you' and they were planning on leaving you home alone. A seven-year-old shouldn't be home alone for that long for safety reasons."

I open my mouth to say something, but he holds up a hand.

"Hold on, S.G.," he says. "We were worried about your safety, which is why we took you to the ranch for a week after your parents agreed. There's more, but I won't get into that. Now, we were essentially strangers who had these concerns about your safety. Your aunt knows you better than we do, right?"

"Yeah."

"She'll have probably noticed a lot more," he says. "And may have even been told about stuff by your friends' dads. You mentioned that she'd 'told on you to them', which suggests they talk."

I'm about to contest that, but then realize he's right. Aunt Rachel mentioned she moved down here sooner than she intended after learning my parents had just up and left and then only bought me milk, potatoes, and ramen when they extended the trip. Mr. Thomspon had told her. She was worried about my food even though I really would have been fine just because she didn't know for sure.

That doesn't make me happy with how she's acting, though.

"It can be hard for parents and other relatives," Mr. Cox says. "To see that someone can handle themselves, especially in a situation like this. And I'm sure she cares for you. She's probably stressing out a lot over your safety when your parents are gone and at least knowing your plans will help alleviate it for her. She wants to make sure you're taken care of, just as we wanted to."

"But I am taken care of," I say.

"By your standards, sure," he says. "This is what's normal to you. That can make it difficult to tell the difference between what's right and not. I'm just an outsider here, so I can't say things for sure. But your aunt is in a better position, and she's worried about you. Would it be so bad to let her know your plans when you know them, just while your parents are gone? To ease her mind?"

This really annoys me, but at the same time, I guess he's kind of right about telling her. It's not like I'm not allowed to go out, I just have to let her know. There was also that time that she went off on my parents for not being the ones buying me proper food.

She does care and worry, I just don't like her doing this, I guess. It feels suffocating to me, but she's not stopping me from going out.

"I guess not…"

"Why don't you call her and let her know you're safe," Mr. Cox asks. "She might be freaking out, based on what you told me happened earlier."

Unhappy as I am with it, I get up and walk away from them to call my aunt. The moment my phone connects back to service after I turn it on, I'm flooded with notifications about missed calls, voicemails, and texts. Sheesh! People can't let me be moody in peace!

I ignore all of them and call Aunt Rachel.

"Bas?" Her voice is filled with panic and worry, and that makes me feel a little bit guilty, though I'm still really upset. "Are you okay? Are you safe? Did something happen? Your phone's been off for over an hour and no one knows where you are and you're not anywhere anyone could think of and-"

"I'm fine!" I interrupt her. "I wanted to be alone after you sicced Mr. Thompson on me, so I turned off my phone on purpose so they couldn't locate me. I'm in Nine Springs right now and came across some boys I hang out with whenever I see them. Mom and Dad have met their parents and I've been to their families' ranches a few times. And no, I still don't know when I'll be back, because I never do unless an actual plan for that is made."

"We're going to talk when you come back home, okay, Bas?" She still sounds panicked and has even forgotten that I don't go by that anymore. "You're not in trouble, and I'm sorry for pushing this on you. I want to talk with you about it some more when you get back, okay? I'm going to head to the store to get some apples so I can make apie for us to talk over. You still like those, don't you?"

The apple pie thing is something she came up with four or five years ago and probably thinks I don't remember. She knows I'm basically always down for some pie. Apple pie is one I'll eat, but it's not like I love it or hate it. That's why she picked it – if I agree to it, then she knows something's wrong.

If whoever kidnapped or whatever studied me first, they'd see that I eat it and so wouldn't think anything of me agreeing to it and not know it's a code. If I ask about changing it to something I hate, then she'll know something is very, very, very wrong and it's an emergency. Bringing up ice cream on my own is how she knows I'm safe regardless of any other response.

She probably thinks I forgot yet is still doing this, just in case. She must really be worried and probably thinks something bad really did happen.

"Um… you saw how many bananas my parents bought before their trip, right?" I ask. "Can we do banana cream pie instead? And I've got money, so I can get ice cream on the way back. Do you still like cookies-and-cream ice cream? Wait. Ice cream with a cold pie, um… I guess a berry pie instead? Can we do that?"

"We can do both," she sounds extremely relieved and the guilt I feel increases more. She really was super worried about me. "You're an active teen boy, you're eating a lot of food anyway. You might eat both in just a few days."

"Maybe," I say. "And, um… I'll try to be back before dinner, okay?"

"Okay," she says. "See you then, Bas."

"You, too, Aunt Rachel," I say.

"Be safe, Bas," she says. "I love you."

"Love you," I say. "Bye."

"Bye."

Once the call ends, I call up the group chat and send a quick message. They're all freaking out in chat now that I'm back online and it looks like they've all already looked at my location and are saying they're asking their dads to take them out here or let them come out.

I'd normally be happy that everyone wants to make sure I'm safe, but this is ridiculous. It's not the first time I've left them all while upset to get myself some time away. Well, all of them except Xander are flooding the chat, but he may not have even checked his phone since he woke up and sent that pic. That's the sort of thing he does.

[Sig]: Please don't come out here, I'm fine

[Sig]: I already talked to Aunt Rachel, too

They're all pretty reluctant, but they agree not to come out. I'm grateful that none of my friends are the pushy sort who'd just ignore me trying to set a boundary. I don't want to be with any of them right now and even though they're worried because I ran off… they'll at least check with their dads to make sure it's really okay to listen when I say to leave me be. And their dads will probably talk to Aunt Rachel, so things should be fine.

I pocket my phone and return to Tate, Carter, and Mr. Cox.

"Can I have another donut, please?" I ask. "I know I wasn't expected, but-"

"No worries!" Tate says. "I texted Dad and let him know you were here when he was out, and he hadn't gotten stuff yet so he got extra for you! Besides, he got food for mages, so there's always extra."

"Cool!" I say. "Thanks!"