Roar of Dragons

[Xander – 13 years]

I'm out of food. That hasn't happened in awhile. Not since I came to live with Dad. There's always been food in the house and if I'm not sure if I can eat it or not, I can check the theater room and my rec room for food. If those are out, I can just grab food from my backpack. Or buy some.

Me running out of food is so strange. Especially when they're all lined up like they were, just waiting for me to eat. Most of them delicious treats with some of them being delicious non-treats. That lasagna tasted really good.

How would it taste with mindwave beef? I think that one was made with ingredients with temporal magics.

Tate might have some, so I decide to ask him. It takes me a few minutes to figure out how to leave the big white emptiness where the foods were lined up. Exiting it just leads me into a big black emptiness, which is weird. I'm not sure where I am that it was just a big white emptiness, just that it was full of delicious food lined up and ready to be eaten.

Then it turned into a big black emptiness. Oh. This is where Austin is. He's performing on a stage right now. It's a weird performance and I don't understand his costume. The whole crowd is dressed to match, and all of his friends are in it. Even me.

How there's a me there when I'm right here, I don't understand, but I'm in the front row. I don't like the outfit that me is wearing, especially not with a big crowd around. Or what the whole crowd is wearing. Or how noisy they're being.

So I leave. There's already a me there, so he can watch the performance. He's obviously a lot more comfortable in crowds than I am.

The next person I find is Marty. He's sitting on a giant pile of candy, just eating as much as he can. Sitting on candy can't be comfortable at all, but I guess he is? Having a cushion would probably make it more comfortable, especially since he's not wearing cushioned/padded clothes. They probably do make clothes like that, though I'm sure I'd find them uncomfortable.

I leave him to it and continue trying to find Tate. I have to go into the blackness each time I leave someone, and I end up finding nearly everyone. They're all really comfortable with what they're doing, though I'm in some of the areas and I'm not comfortable with that. Why are there so many of me? And how come I'm not in long-sleeves, pants, and socks/sneakers in any of them?

Oh. I am in Carter's, though it's western boots rather than sneakers, and I'm wearing the western hat he gave me for my first time riding a unicorn. We're doing a trail ride, him on a grown Solaris and me on Uncle Aurum, both of us in our wolfkin forms. There are a few other people with us, following behind. Carter's telling them about the scenery as we go, and I'm just riding alongside with him.

His trail voice is really soothing. If walking around while trying to find Tate to ask him if he brought some mindwave beef wasn't making me more hungry, I would keep with them just to listen to Carter's trail voice. At least the horses (and unicorn) are moving slow enough I can walk to keep up with them.

Why are there so many of me, though? Did Greyson figure out cloning? I don't think he did, he said additional bodies require soul magic and he hasn't figured that out yet. He definitely wouldn't have without me knowing, and I don't think he would clone me without my permission.

But even if he did figure out how to clone people, that wouldn't explain why a lot of the other boys have multiples, too. Greyson wouldn't have cloned them, either. Quite a lot of people I've come across have been hanging out or are being watched by some of the others. Most of them are boys who came to my party. A few of them have girls in their spaces, like Ethan being cheered on by Macy as he plays football, but some of his other friends were there, too, including Jake, who's been in the space of eight others, including Connor's space.

I exit his space and continue looking for Tate, ending up where Sig is instead.

Sig's hanging out with Connor, Jake, Isaac, Sam, and another me. They're all swimming in a pond in Nine Springs, the same one where I made my first streamer orb. Unfortunately, the me who's swimming there is not wearing my in-a-pond-and-such swim trunks and swim shirt. The only me who's wearing the correct outfit for the situation for what I'd wear is the one in Carter's space.

That's really annoying. It's also bothersome that the me here is roughhousing with the others. The most I'll do is try to dunk one of them, and that's because it's okay to do that. But I also don't do it much because I'm not sure when it's good or bad.

Full roughhousing is definitely a no for me.

Tate's here, too, but he's not the Tate I'm looking for. I've found everyone except for Tate.

I exit Sig's space and as I wander the blackness, looking for Tate, I feel a presence appear behind me. When I turn around, Tate's standing there in his sleepwear. This is the first time I've encountered someone in this blackness. This is also the original Tate, not an additional one hanging out in someone's space.

He feels really amused. It's easier for me to identify that in this weird blackness than in normal spaces. I'm not sure why.

"You have no idea what's going on, do you?" He asks.

"I was looking for you," I tell him. "I somehow ate the entire line of food. There's none left. Did you bring mindwave beef I can buy to make something with?"

"Xander," he snorts. "This is the dream plane. I'm glad I was able to figure out how to get in here, you seem a bit lost."

"I couldn't find find you until now."

"My dream world is protected," he tells me. "Has to be, to protect my mind if one of the cattle starts acting up while I'm asleep. I noticed you go by, though I ain't a dreamsage so it took me a bit to figure out how to get in here. This is the dream plane. We're asleep."

This feels awake to me.

"We're asleep?"

"Yeah," he chuckles. "You're just wandering around the dream plane, entering into people's dreams. Considering you don't seem concerned at all, I'm guessing they were all happy dreams?"

"Yeah," I answer. "They all seemed really happy, even if outfits were weird sometimes. It sometimes made me uncomfortable, like Luke's dream of fighting monsters with me and Tyler and Parker and I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Also sneakers, which is weird. Why sneakers instead of boots? It was a hunt."

Boots are better for hunts and monster combat than sneakers.

"Dunno," he shrugs.

"Neither do I," I tell him. "So those were dreams?"

"Yup!" He grins. "I've looked up dreamsages a little. There ain't much on the internet 'bout them, but y'all can enter into the dream plane and wander between dreams pretty easily. I guess because it feels really real to you, you're not able to tell just by instinct that it's a dream. Like, I can tell this isn't real, but… well, you're a dreamsage."

"Oh," I say. "So? Do you have mindwave beef?"

Tate starts laughing.

"The food-in-a-line is a dream," he tells me. "Remember? You were dreaming you were eating. I'm guessing the line ended because it was just you filling in your sleep time and you're fully-rested."

"I don't feel fully-rested," I tell him.

"You just spent an hour wandering between dreams," he tells me. "So you're probably feeling a dream exhaustion. I, uh… I ain't sure if waking will help you or if you need to do some sort of dream rest. Information on dreamsages ain't that detailed."

"Oh."

Should I wake up and look in the book on dreamsage magic Grandpa Adrian gave me? Then again, I've already read through it and I don't remember anything like that. But my memory isn't perfect, so it's possible it does explain how to deal with dream exhaustion.

Except wandering through dreams is magic. I might have used some mana for this and am just hungry from that. Or because I've been asleep for awhile.

"By the way," he says. "If they all seemed happy in their dreams and the feeling you got from the dreams was comfort or happiness, that means it's something they like, want, or desire."

Sig dreaming about swimming in a pond somewhere makes sense, then. He likes being outdoors and being active, and I know he goes swimming in ponds and stuff often during summer. There were plenty of times he went while I wasn't hanging out with him even after we started doing so. Now that it's too cold to do that without magic keeping him warm (and soon, the water thaw), he probably dreams about swimming in ponds a lot. Also other things.

The me who was swimming with him not being in the right swimwear for it kind of makes sense. Not fully, just kind of. He hasn't seen my in-a-pond swim shirt yet. That's not excuse for not having the rest wrong, though.

Carter was dreaming about going on a trail ride with customers, but also with me. I guess it's because he was doing a ride with Solaris, and Uncle Aurum is his dad and my mount.

"Okay."

"And another thing," he says. "Don't let them know you were in their dreams unless they ask. It's not lying to not say something like that, and most people will get uncomfortable knowing someone was walking through dreams. Since it was completely accidental on your part, just pretend it never happened. And if you learned something about someone in their dreams… well, don't let them know and don't share it with others, okay?"

That doesn't feel right. It feels Very Bad.

"It'll make them more comfortable," he tells me. "And again, it was really an accident, wasn't it?"

"But it invaded their privacy, didn't it?"

Tate feels frustrated for a moment before realization hits me from him.

"I can go into dreams," he tells me. "Just using mind magics. It ain't really something I'm good at, dream magic is pretty tough to use. But dreamsages? The dream plane is your domain, as are dreams. Y'all can do whatever y'all want in them. That includes going into and even messing with dreams."

He's being fully honest.

"Ain't it still invading privacy?" I ask.

"Ain't dragons allowed to go anywhere they want regardless of what humans say?"

Oh. It's the same as that? I guess that makes sense, though. Human rules only apply to the human world, not to dream worlds and the dream plane. That's governed by… I guess dreamsages.

"Just try not to go into dreams and cause problems, okay?" He asks. "That's when people'll start getting mad at you."

"I'll do my best not to," I tell him. "I didn't even know I'd started wandering through dreams. I was just looking for you for food. But I guess I'll wake up and get some real food."

"Before you do," he tells me. "I do know Carter won't mind you joining his dreams. How tired a dream world feels should tell you how close they are to waking as well."

Of all of the dream worlds I was in earlier, Sig's, Carter's, and Nash's felt the most alert, as if they weren't tired at all. They must all be waking soon, then.

I should get breakfast out and ready.

"Okay," I say. "By the way, how come you're in your sleepwear? Can't you pick whatever you want? It's making me uncomfortable."

"Er…" his face flushes a little. "I mean, I tried getting on some proper clothes since I know you'd be most comfortable if I were wearing more, but I ain't good at stuff in the dream world and conjuring or altering things ain't something I've done before. I don't really mess with it. I mostly just know how to shield my mind in such a way it becomes invisible, even if not untouchable, while I'm sleeping. That's just 'cause of the animals we have on the ranch and needing to make sure they can't hurt us in our sleep.

"To get into the dream plane," he says. "I had to basically project a mental copy of my real self into here. This is much different from my normal mind self and I don't know how to make modifications to it. It's definitely something I'm going to practice for the future, in case I need to do this again. Though being in the dream plane is also really disorienting. I don't think I would have managed to find you if you weren't passing by my dream world again."

"Your dream world's here?" I look around, then spot it right behind him. "Oh. It really does seem invisible. It's like I can feel it but not see it."

"Yeah," he says. "And it's shielded as best I can make it, too, but a dreamsage can enter anyway. Like I said, this is your domain. It's like we're actually guests in a yard belonging to dreamsages."

"Oh."

That's a better comparison than guests in a house, isn't it? Because generally speaking, a yard is wide open for anyone present to wander, while it's still rude to just enter a guest room someone's using.

"Also," he adds. "Most people wouldn't be able to notice your presence unless you deliberately let them. You're basically acting as a spectator, I think, rather than an active participant. So you'd have to purposely be seen for them to see you."

That makes sense, too. It's their dream world, even if it's in my dream yard. None of them seemed to notice me earlier, which I hadn't realized until Tate brought it up.

"Okay," I say. "Um… I'm gonna go now. Enjoy the rest of your dreams, Tate."

His dream realm still feels pretty tired, so he probably won't be waking up anytime soon.

"See ya later!" He tells me, then steps into his dream realm, fading from view as he does.

I wander over to Carter's dream world and contemplate poking my head in to see if he's planning on waking soon. Tate did say Carter wouldn't mind me entering his dream world, and the dream plane and dream worlds are the domain of dreamsages like me. At the same time, it still feels like it's invading their privacy.

But it wouldn't hurt to poke my head in and ask if he's planning on waking soon.

When I stick my head into Carter's dream world, I find that he's not doing the trail ride anymore. That makes sense, it's been awhile since I was in here and not all of their trail rides are long.

Stolen story; please report.

Instead of the trail ride, Carter's dreaming about ice skating on the lake where the barbecues occurred after the AR set testing sessions. Tate and his other friends are ice skating with him, and he's dreaming about Sig and me being in the group ice skating, too. We're all wolfkin in the dream except for Sig, who's a snow leopardkin.

How do I get his attention without messing him up? Falling while ice skating is probably as bad as falling while skateboarding. He probably wouldn't get hurt because of how strong he is, but it still wouldn't be pleasant.

"Psst," I whisper. "Carter?"

"Yeah?" Carter spins and faces the other me.

"Hm?" The other me asks, tail wagging.

"You just psst at me."

"That's not me," I whisper. "It's just you dreaming of me. I'm over here."

Confusion fills the dream world for a few moments, then realization and he looks around, spotting me a little past the edge of the lake. Only my head is poked through the boundary right now, so he can probably only see my face as it just… appears here. Even if the forest seems like it continues on, it actually has a boundary before the dream world ends.

That might change as he moves around. I don't know. This is still new to me.

"Oh!" He smiles a little, tail wagging. "You're walking in dreams?"

"It started as an accident," I say. "I got… confused and mixed up the dream plane with reality and was looking for Tate to see if he had food since I ran out. Apparently, I finished resting in my sleep and that's probably why I ran out of food. And then I found everyone else's dream worlds while looking for his, since his is invisible and I wasn't looking for invisible ones. And your dream world feels like you're done resting, so I wanted to see if you were planning on waking up soon. If no one else is waking up soon, I'm just gonna find something to do. But if others are waking up soon, I'm gonna see if they want to do stuff."

"Sure, I can wake up," he says. "See you in the waking world!"

Carter's eyes close for a few moments, then he opens them… and his dream world fades, leaving me back in the dream plane.

Whoa. That was a nice transition when he woke up.

I wander over to Nash's dream world. He's relaxing in a field while watching the night sky above. There's a feeling of happiness and contentment filling his dream world.

"Psst…" I whisper.

Nash looks around until he spots my face. Confusion mixes into the dream world's feeling.

"Sorry for intruding on your dream," I tell him. "But you feel like you're done resting, so I wanted to know if you were planning on waking soon. Carter's woken up now, but knowing how many people are waking soon rather than in a few hours or so will make it easier to figure out what to do."

He thinks about something for a few moments, then shrugs.

"Yeah, I can wake," he says. "Though… I don't know how to wake myself up? So I guess I gotta just wake naturally?"

Why wouldn't he know this? Or maybe it's just that he's not thinking clearly since he's not used to having someone real interact with his dream self rather than dream versions of real people.

"I think you've just gotta close your eyes," I tell him. "Then focus on waking up as you open them."

"Hm…"

He closes his eyes for a few moments and when he opens them, his dream world fades away. Good, I was right about that. It was just an assumption I made based on how Carter woke but it looks like I assumed correctly.

Next, I go over to Sig's dream world. He's the only other person who felt like he was done resting. When I poke my head in, he's still swimming with us, in the same spot as before. I guess this dream's good enough he doesn't want to stop. There is a lot of roughhousing going on, and he does like doing that.

"Psst… Sig," I whisper. "To your right."

Sig looks over at me, then at the other me, and confusion fills his mind.

"You're dreaming," I tell him. "That's just a dream me you imagined, not the real me. You felt like you were done resting, so I wanted to know if you were planning on waking soon."

"Waking soon?" He asks. "Xander… you say that as if when to wake is a choice?"

"Isn't it?" I ask. "I usually wake when I want to, remember? At least, when I'm done resting. And Carter and Nash both woke up once they wanted to. They just closed their eyes, then opened them while wanting to wake and they woke. But don't feel like you have to wake up. I just wanted to know so that it'll be easier to know if we have to wait for you or not before deciding on what to do, if we decide to do something as a group."

"Oh," he says, then a weird emotion I'm not sure of fills his dream world. "You checked on Carter and Nash first?"

"I was looking for Tate and came across their dream worlds before yours," I tell him. "So I decided to check with them if they were planning on waking soon in the same order I came across their dream worlds."

"Oh."

There's disappointment, mixed with relief and a lightening of the other emotion.

"So?" I ask. "You gonna keep swimming, or are you planning on waking soon?"

"Um… I'll wake up," he tells me. "I just close my eyes and then open them while wanting to wake?"

"That's how they did it."

"Okay."

Sig closes his eyes, and when he opens them, his dream world fades away. That's everyone who felt like they weren't still tired, so I wake up, then quickly get out of bed and stretch. My body feels like it needs me to stretch so I do, even though I'm not in pajamas but more comfortable sleepwear. I'm comfortable enough with these three I don't need to wear long-sleeves and pants for bed. A full outfit isn't necessary.

But maybe I should get properly dressed before too long, even with these three being the only ones seeing me right now. It's not like I wasn't going to get properly dressed before leaving the room, anyway. So I change into jeans, a green long-sleeved shirt, and slip on socks.

Now I'm more comfortable. Sig and Carter just stick to shorts for leaving the dorm, while Nash sticks with shorts and a t-shirt, like what he slept in (but not those since they're dirty).

We leave the dorms and I put out food for our breakfast.

"Even though it's, like, two in the afternoon?" Nash asks.

"Yeah," I answer. "Because we did our night sleeping in the day, and breakfast is to break your fast from sleeping. So you do breakfast foods."

"Oh."

We eat breakfast and once we're done, Carter asks if any of us want to swim.

"Were you wanting to swim as a merboy?" I ask.

"Not if it'd make others uncomfortable," he tells me.

"Oh…" I look at Sig and Nash, the latter of whom feels a little uncomfortable. "Um… if you two wanted me to turn you into merboys for swimming, I can. But I'll have to turn you back before I leave the pool, okay? And you'll have to be transformed in the pool, but I can put up an opaque barrier with light inside for during the transformation. And you can still wear a swim shirt, if you want."

Nash relaxes at the mention of the barrier.

"Sure," he says. "Being a merboy might be interesting…"

"I wanna be a merboy!" Sig bounces a little.

"I know," I say.

"You do?" Confusion fills his mind for a few moments, then realization and horror.

Why horror?

"Oh," he says. "Uh… about my dreams, Xander… um… that's just something I enjoy and want to do and… don't feel like you have to do that to make me happy? I'm just hopeful it'll happen one day."

"Huh?" I ask. "Oh. You mean being shirtless when swimming and being comfortable? I dunno if that'll ever happen. Same with the roughhousing. But what does that have to do with knowing you want to experience being a merboy? We were all in human form in the dream. But you did have me in the wrong swim outfit. I wasn't wearing my in-a-pond swim shirt and shorts."

Now there's no excuse for having me in the wrong outfit if he has those dreams again, since he knows it's wrong. I'll make sure he sees the right ones before he leaves today.

"I wasn't a merboy in the dream?" He asks. "I thought we all were?"

"Maybe that was earlier?" I ask. "But we were all human boys in it."

"Oh," he thinks for a few moments. "How'd you know I want to be a merboy, then?"

"Because you said?" I say. "In the group chat Sunday night. Sam asked Jake if he could turn into anything other than human and wolfkin and Jake said no, since he didn't know the spells for others. He only knew the wolfkin one 'cause of me. Then he amended that he might be able to figure out the merboy one since he saw Carter switch back, and you said you wanted to try being a merboy because you thought it looked fun."

"Oh," he says. "Well… okay. And like I said, don't think you have to wrestle around and stuff just because we want you to. It's more like we hope you'll do it someday, and aren't upset that you don't do it now."

"Okay."

We move to the pool and once we're there, we get some pool toys and get into the pool, then the transformations happen. Once those are done, we start playing.

Initially, we compete against each other to get rings from the bottom of the pool. There's no reward for winning or penalty for losing, and I don't find it very fun. The other three do, though. I can feel it really strongly. Every time they get one of the rings, their excitement spikes for a few seconds. Mine does when I get one, too, but it feels different from theirs.

I get bored after the first few attempts, so I move to the side and watch them for a little bit. Carter asks me to keep track of points even though they don't matter, which is just confusing, but I do.

They play this game for about half an hour before getting bored of it. Sig and Carter then race each other back and forth across the pool while Nash joins me in watching them. Carter uses his magic at first, until Sig remembers that Carter's really good with water magic and suggests banning that.

"Okay!" Carter laughs. "But I'll win anyway!"

"Xander!" Sig calls over. "Can you keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't cheat?"

"Okay."

They return to racing each other.

"Xander?" Nash asks as we watch them race.

"Yes, Nash?"

"Thanks," he flicks his tail/fin a little. "This was… weird to get used to, but kind of fun."

"That's good," I tell him. "Just let me know if you want me to turn you back if you want that before I stop playing in the pool."

"Alright," he says. "Um… Isaac said this was your first time trick-or-treating since you were about six? Did you like it?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Especially since Sig made sure I'd be able to participate properly. I wasn't expecting that and it felt really good. But it also made me cry for some reason, too. I was happy but I was crying, and I don't know why."

"It happens sometimes," he shrugs. "People sometimes cry when they're happy. It has to do with the type of happy they are."

"Oh."

"I liked the party a lot, too," he tells me. "And the others. I know you only invited me 'cause I'm Isaac's friend, but thanks. It was nice, getting to know you."

"Are you… leaving?" I ask. "Or moving? You sound like you're not coming back."

"No," he chuckles. "I just… don't get invited to parties very much. So it's just really nice, and yours are pretty fun."

"Oh," I say. "Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying it. The feedback surveys say everyone does, but I still want to make sure they're as good as I can make them. But it feels like I'm a bad host since I'm not hanging out with everyone during them."

There are a lot of people I haven't done anything with during this party session. A lot of people. It makes me feel bad since I'm the host. Dad said that as long as I at least greet everyone, it's fine, but that doesn't make sense to me.

Though I don't really understand parties in the first place. I just know I like hosting them and having lots of people to hang out with, but don't like not being able to hang out with everyone who comes. That's why the big group activities are nice, but I'm not sure if that's something I can use every time to hang out with everyone. There are only so many magic lamps normal people can make before they get bored of them.

"Well," he smiles a little. "You're doing a good job. And you don't have to hang out with everyone at a party, even if you're the host. People go to them just to hang out with others and have fun."

It still makes me feel bad, though.

"And if you invite me to another party," he says. "I'll come if my parents let me. And the most we've hung out and done stuff for this one is… well, this. Your parties are a bit different from the only other one I've been to, which I heard is normal. Those are just… people hanging out and chatting and some of them maybe playing some sort of party game. This has a lot of different stuff to do. It's like a hangout with a big choice of stuff to do. And I like it."

"Um… okay," I say. "And you are invited to the next party. The invite's already in the party bag."

"The invite?" He asks. "Wait. There's another party already planned?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Next Friday. Since the Harvest Festival is the week after that, I'm having a party next Friday for the same stuff."

The final harvests on regular farms should be occurring next week, then the week after, the second full week of November, is the Festival of Harvests. That name often gets shorted to just "the Harvest Festival". It's to celebrate another year of harvests and dates back to when more people were farmers than not. Also to when farming was more difficult than it is now.

A lot of the boys at the home would go to the festival at the festival grounds during the week of it when I was there. The home would do a big dinner as well, though it was prepackaged meals donated by a church, I think. I've already spoken with them and they're getting stuff which tastes better.

"I'm doing the party the week before on purpose," I tell him. "Since I ain't sure what everyone's plans are for the week of, I figured having the party be the week before is better. But it should be after harvests are finished and everything. I spoke to different boys who live on farms and ranches and asked and they all said they'll be done before Friday unless something comes up."

From both here and the Autumn Realm, just to make sure in case schedules were different. Different farm and ranch types, too, for the same reason.

"Oh," he says. "I guess that makes sense."

"Yeah," I nod. "But there ain't gonna be any special activities for it like with this one and the last one, so I'm planning a setup for the gym right now, like with the foam pit and the maze. And I still need to figure out the design for the magic lamps, the glasses, and the bracelets."

"The… bracelets?" He asks. "You're doing a bracelet for every party?"

"Yeah," I nod. "That way, if someone wants to wear it for some reason, they can. I've noticed that people wear bracelets from events for more than just the event."

"Ah," he says. "Well, you could always do a necklace, right? And then beads to represent the event in each bag each time? That way, we just have one accessory that shows all of them, rather than a bunch of different ones."

"Oh!" I say. "That's a good idea! That would definitely save on space when wearing them and wanting to show several of them!!"

"And less work for you, right?" He asks.

"Wouldn't it just make more work?"

"Wouldn't it make less?" He asks. "Since you wouldn't have to make the as many beads anymore? Just two instead of… however many there are on the bracelets? And then you wouldn't need to enchant them all, either."

"Oh," I say. "I was gonna do both. That way, y'all can choose between bracelets, too. I'll put the necklaces and their beads on the lists for future parties. Separate from that, how much longer do you think they're going to try racing each other? Because they've been doing it for ten minutes already…"

Sig's mind is feeling tired, but he enjoys pushing himself when he's playing with others in a physical activity. That doesn't seem very smart and it doesn't make any sense to me, but he does it anyway. I guess it's just something else I don't understand about others.

"From how they've been at the other parties?" Nash asks. "We've probably got another half-hour before they'll stop. Why? Were you wanting to leave?"

"I don't want to have to turn Sig back yet," I tell him. "He's having lots of fun. But I'm getting bored. And since they ain't playing with the rings anymore and are only using half of the pool, I was thinking of trying to get as many of them as I can in one minute."

"Oh," he says. "I'll do that, too. But not as a competition, right? Just to challenge ourselves?"

"Yeah," I nod. "I'm gonna only grab one ring at a time, then put it on the side. That's how we do it the most during my swim lessons. With the strength-limiting bracelet and not using magic, my goal is to try and get ten rings in one minute, or roughly six seconds per ring. And if I make it, I'll eat a blueberry crumble cheesecake. If you manage that, too, I'll give you one, too."

"Alright!" He says. "Goal of ten in under a minute, let's go!"

[Sig – 13 years]

"Hey, Hunter!" I greet him. "You're picking me up?"

I can't imagine any other reason for him to have shown up right now.

"Yup!" He answers. "Dad and Rachel wanted to do dinner out tonight and I volunteered to pick you up. They just don't feel like cooking after spending the entire night awake and then sleeping until five."

Most of the other boys slept until around five, too. I think the Autumn Realm boys, Alec, Ryan, and Thomas were the only ones who actually woke up earlier. Outside of those of us Xander woke up, the rest slept until about three-thirty or four. A solid eight to ten hours of sleep.

"Ah," I say. "Where're we going?"

"Burgers!" He answers. "Come on!"

We head to his truck and once we're in it, I open up the party bag Xander gave me.

"How'd it go?" Hunter asks. "That was a pretty full bag you put in the back. Go all night?"

"Yup!" I answer. "We must've hit, like, a million homes! Four whole neighborhoods, plus the mage district. And… hold up. Xandeeeeeer!"

"What?" He asks.

"He put a party invite in the party bag," I tell him. "He's already got another party planned. It's next Friday and is apparently for celebrating the end of the harvests for the year."

I snort.

"And the goodie bag is otherwise basically just a Halloween version of the pumpkin party's bag," I say. "Not a bad thing, though! I bet the cookies'll taste good!"

"I've heard his do," he chuckles. "So you enjoyed the party, then?"

"Yeah!" I answer. "And then earlier, after I woke up – that was a weirdness by itself, by the way – I got to be a merboy for a bit! Kind of weird to get used to but once I did, it was like I was a fish in water! Xander did say he'll send me videos from it, so if I get those before you leave, I'll show you! Carter and I raced each other a lot, and Xander and Nash tried to get as many rings in under a minute as possible. They both ate some blueberry crumble cheesecake after, so I'm assuming that meant they succeeded? Or they failed and that was a penalty for it… I didn't ask and was too focused on racing Carter to listen to what they were talking about."

"That's neat," he says. "So you can shapeshift into a merboy now, too?"

"Not me," I shake my head. "That's actually Xander using the spell on me for the shapeshifting. It costs almost 100 mana, and I don't have even half that. I'm around 30, I think. It's why you don't see me as a snow leopardkin at home! Because I can't actually cast the spell… yet! If I hit what's effectively my current maximum growth rate, I should be able to do it by the end of next year, I think."

"Sounds fun," he chuckles. "I've got to start at base with normal growth, so it'd be quite a long time for me."

"Keep at it, and you might make it before you die!" I tell him. "Is Turtle at the house?"

"No," he answers. "We left him home since the plan was just to go out for dinner. I don't work tomorrow, though, since we close for the full four days. If Dad and Rachel are cool with it, I can bring Turtle over tomorrow."

"Yes!" I exclaim. "Ask them, and I'll share with you some of the cookies Xander put in the party bags!"

After the celebrations the last couple of days, being able to just chill and hang out for a few days will be nice. Wrestling with a dog counts as chilling, that's just normal hangouts. Parties and festivities are fun and all, but they're also a little exhausting.

There's just so much more to do, after all. Even after sleeping all day, I'll probably sleep all night, too.