I walk into the near-empty room. Jim, who is sitting at the counter, barely looks up. When he does, though, he smirks and raises his brows.

  “Again, Mr. Duke?” he unnecessarily calls across the room. “This is the third time this week, and it’s only Wednesday.”

  “That means I missed a day, Jim,” I joke. “Also, try not to yell my name like that again. It attracts unwanted attention.” A few heads turn in our direction, and some ears twitch.

  “I forget, Sam,” he apologizes. “Anyway, what’s in the bag this time?”

  “I’d say a Tiger-to-Grizzly-Class lizard.”

  “Where’d you get it?”

  “Some lower-guild exec got tripped up on its nest yesterday and got hunted by it. Just happened to pass my way.”

  Jim nods. “Speaking of…”

  “Don’t start, Jim,” I interrupt, shaking my head. “Not interested.”

  “But with your last name alone, you'd have your pick of the top guilds. Not to mention your skill.”

  “That’s the problem. They only want to boost their rep.”

  Jim just shakes his head, his signature half-smile playing on his face. “Alright, man. Here’s your payout.”

  “Thanks, Jim. See ya tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I bet I will.”

  Back outside, things have quieted down. The sky seemed to clear itself of the few clouds that were in it, and there were no screams and yells from a fight with Abnormals, only light hums from the traffic both on the street and in the air. Smiling as I walk, I breathe in the cool air and enjoy the current peace of the city at night.

  I reach my house, but before I walk up, I see several cars parked in the driveway. My heart skips several beats and I shake my head. This can’t be happening to me right now. I hesitate before going in.

  My family was here.

  “Hey, Sam!” cried my sister, Bella. “Dad was starting to think you wouldn’t show!”

  “That’s right,” my dad adds. “Where were you?”

  “Working,” I mutter. What I really want to know is how they got inside and why.

  “Working?” asks Brent, my older brother. “Don’t tell me you finally picked up a job?”

  “I’ve always had one,” I say flatly.

  “Not sure what you were doing counts.”

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  I stamp forward. The impact shook the floor, causing a tremor to run through the room. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

  Brent raises his chin with arrogance. “I think you know what I…”

  Bella intervened. She stepped between us with such a fire in her eyes they seemed to glow. “If you two don’t stop now,” she starts. “I will hurt both of you.”

  I immediately sit. Brent lowers his head. We both knew better than to argue with her.

  “So,” I say slowly glancing around the room while avoiding making eye contact with Brent. “Why are y’all here?”

  My mother holds out a container. “Brought you dinner,” she says. “And we haven’t seen you in days. You’ve been avoiding us.” This was true, except I talked to Bella at her apartment just two days ago.

  “That’s mostly because last time, Dad tried (and failed) to recruit me to the Duke & Co. Guild again,” I say, my eyes shifting to him. “Well, that aside, how’d you even get in here?”

  “You gave your neighbor your spare key,” answers Brent. “After showing them some ID, they let us in happily.” I’m going to need a word with my neighbors.

  Before I could think of any smart remark, both my entire family’s cells started beeping. A Hostile Abnormal alert.

  All of my family members look at each other with wide eyes. Only the highest-class Abnormals triggered alerts like this. I call Jim.

  “What’s going on, Jim?”

  “It’s bad, Sam. A Dragon-Class. Escaped from the research facility.” Jim’s usually unflappable voice had a sharp edge to it.

  “Where?”

  “Sam, listen to me—” Jim started, his voice strained. “This isn’t some two-bit bounty. This is… this is different. I know you're a better Hunter than you let on, but you need to stay out of this one.”

  “Why?”

  “The top Guilds are mobilizing all their Hunters, Sam. People are going to die, Sam. You could…” He trailed off, the unspoken words hanging heavy in the air.

  I was touched for a moment. He was worried. About me. It was a rare thing. But there were lives on the line and I wasn’t coung to stand aside. “Jim,” I said firmly. “If people are going to get hurt, I need to be there. You know that”

  Silence crackled on the other end.

  “Jim?”

  A sigh. “Bard and Yale.”

  “I’ll be on my way.”

  “Yo, Sam.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Be careful, man.”

  I nod to myself. “I always am.”

  After I hung up the call and filled in my family, I headed to a bright red control panel on the opposite wall. Once it read my biometrics, the wall slid open to reveal my weapons arsenal. There was no way I was going to face this thing unarmed. Inside there is a slightly armored jacket, a suitcase, and my oversized S.O.L.A.R.I.S. sword.

  “Why do you need all that?” asked Brent. “You're not really going to Hunt are you?”

  “You say one more word,” I say, heaving up my weapon. “You’ll be wishing you hadn't”

  That shut him up. He muttered something about going to suit up himself, and left, the sound of his car engine quickly fading. Good riddance. The rest of the family (except my mother, because she wasn’t a Hunter) followed soon after.

  Now that I had my real Hunting outfit on, I headed outside. With the press of a button, and many clicks and whirs, my “suitcase” transformers into my Ironclad Razor board. I hop on and am instantly lifted into the skies. Even from a distance of a few miles, I can already see the destruction.