[Xander – 12 years]

  The moment ice shards begin shooting at me, I put my arms in front of my face, my breathing short and quick, my heart pounding in my chest. The shards tear into my arms and chest and stomach a little, and some make it past my arms and cut my face.

  Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. You're already healed up. You're already healed up. You're already healed up. It's just a test. It's just a test. It's just a test.

  The moment there's a break in the attack, I take a couple of deep breaths, then charge forward. A small scream escapes me as I charge towards the beast, which then begins to shoot flaming ice shards at me. The scream gets louder at that, but I manage to get up to the spirit.

  He lowers and twists his head when I get close, making it dangerous for me. I jump back before his antlers can reach me, then I try to come at him from another side. Rather than letting me do that, the spirit turns to face me. Right. He's not a dumb creature, he's going to try and keep me from getting too close.

  I try to think of something I can do to get close to him without getting torn up by his antlers, but I can't. If I move back, he starts shooting shards of an element at me, sometimes with them on fire. Either the spirit has changed the test for my redo or there should be a way for me to make it through to him.

  Oh. That might work.

  I jump back once, misjudging the distance and landing ankle-deep in the water. The spirit doesn't stop his attacks, continuing to have a small break in them while I'm at a distance. At least he doesn't charge in stupidly like I did.

  Well, this probably isn't something others can do as they aren't as strong as I am. With over 4,000,000 mana, my body is extremely tough – even with me still not at full strength. Grandpa Adrian says it should take another month and a half for my body to finish adapting to my mana level. My body will then adjust as quickly as my mana level increases. The main reason it's taking so long right now is because of how much my capacity grows.

  I quickly step out of the water and try to dry my feet off, only to get reminded that I can't use magic here. That doesn't restrict my strength at all, though. But why does this test have to include me not being able to dry off my feet? That's not right! Wet feet are bad!

  Focus! This isn't the time for that, even if wet feet are bad. I need to make sure I do this right.

  Crouching a little, I ready myself for the biggest jump I've ever done. Grandpa Adrian would probably scold me if he knew I was going to do this, but he might be understanding since we're in a pocket world and only make it a light scolding.

  Breathing deeply, I fix my gaze on the antelope, then jump nearly straight up into the air. My angle is probably off a little but if I'm right, then that won't matter.

  A scream escapes me again as my jump is a lot more powerful than I expected it to be. Everything moves so fast and I go so high, it feels like my heart sank down into my stomach. It takes me a few seconds to calm myself enough to twist my body around and I pull my knees up to my chest as I continue to fly upward while facing downward.

  Then I slam my feet down – or upwards, I guess – with all the force I can manage. I'm not trying to hit the air, though. Greyson already said it would need to be extremely cold for him to do that, which is why he's never tried this.

  I don't know where he got the idea for doing something like this, I just remember him talking about it. And I don't need the air to be cold. All I need to be is fast enough to hit the mana in the air. In a high enough concentration, it can be the same as solid if struck fast enough and in the right way.

  The mana concentration here is high enough it should be destroying my clothes (even though it's not) so it's definitely high enough for me to do that. By striking it hard and fast and flat, I can create that effect.

  Something I can do if I go all out right now, and I find myself plummeting back to the ground at an even faster speed than when I jumped. My head acts as a "break" for the mana, preventing it from being felt as solid as I fly through it.

  The spirit jumps back but I wasn't aiming for him. It really doesn't matter where I impact as long as I'm nearby, I'm sure. I make sure to brace my body for the impact, only to be reminded that falling hurts.

  Even when landing the way Sig taught me.

  My body quickly heals itself anyway, and I stand and look through the dust that's kicked up. I can't see very well because of it but I can still sense the spirit's magic and charge in the moment I spot him.

  "Stop! Stop!" He calls out. "You've passed!"

  I stop charging as the dust and dirt clumps suddenly settle down, the spirit's body shaking a little as if it's laughing.

  "Never had someone taking the rite-of-passage do that before," Fern chuckles. "Though that's certainly one way to get in close to one's guard. Threw me backwards from the impact, too."

  "Oh!" I say. "Sorry! I was just gonna try and obscure your vision, then jump on your back again!"

  "If I weren't a spirit," he says. "You'd have probably killed me from the force of the debris being thrown around even with me matching my body's strength to yours. I can't clean you up like I normally do, as that's just removing the illusions I placed on them. Your magic should work again now, however, and I'm sure a powerful young man like yourself knows a spell or two which can do that."

  "Y-yeah," I nod as he approaches. "Um…"

  He tilts his head a little, touching one of his antlers to my chest. The necklace marking my completion of the rite of passage forms, starting with the central crystal bead where his antler touches. The cord is the last thing to form, traveling up and fixing itself around my neck.

  "And now you can say you've passed," he says. "By your own view, yes?"

  I didn't just cry and scream and try to protect myself, then take advantage of him checking on me. This time, I actually fought back, sort of. It wasn't really fighting back, but I still got past his guard and delivered a blow which would've been fatal to any monster. I was actually brave this time and I thought of a way to take out the beast before me. That's what this rite of passage is about: being brave and figuring out a way to handle the beast before me.

  "Yeah," I nod. "T-thanks for letting me redo it."

  "You're welcome," he says. "Never encountered someone using that with me. Did you know? There's a species of magical bird which uses it, though they strike it with their wings. If there isn't enough mana in the air for it to work, they'll saturate the air where they'll strike with their own mana to make it possible."

  They must have a lot of mana to be able to do that.

  "I didn't know about that."

  "There is," he nods. "It's a smaller bird, but very resilient to damage. They don't do it often, but they're fond of using it against strong foes. They're also immune to mana resistance, the ambient mana version of air resistance. They pass right through it unless they deliberately intend on hitting it."

  He chuckles.

  "Surprised me, the first time I encountered it being used against me," he says. "Never expected a person to use it. Once you clean yourself up, I'll send you back to the others."

  "Okay," I say.

  "Oh," he says. "And would you mind keeping the test being an illusion a secret? Something just between us? It makes it more effective if they don't know it's merely an illusion."

  Keeping secrets without lying can be hard, and I get the feeling this one might be even more difficult than all of the other secrets I've kept since it does involve others.

  "I-I can try," I tell him.

  "Thank you," he dips his head. "And don't stress too much if it slips out, alright?"

  That makes me feel better.

  "A-alright," I shift a little. "Um… could you turn around? You kind of messed up my pants and I want to change them."

  Fern turns around and I change clothes and use magic to clean myself off, though I stick to being in just pants for until after I leave. That's probably the normal way of doing the rite of passage and I want to do it all right, not just most of it.

  "Thank you," I say. "Um, one more question."

  "Go ahead."

  "How come the mana in the air here isn't destroying my clothes?" I ask. "It's really high. And shouldn't the passage here also have destroyed them? And the bodies of normal people?"

  "Ordinarily, yes," he says. "But the spirit energy I've infused this pocket world and the passage with ensure they are unaffected."

  "Oh. That's really nice."

  "Have a great rest of your day, Xander," he says, then dips his head to me.

  A moment later, I'm out of the pocket world and back on Earth. Almost immediately, Carter lets out a loud shout.

  "Yes!" He exclaims. "Congrats, Xander!"

  How did he know I passed? I took a long time in there and I'm facing toward the lake while he's behind me.

  The next thing I know, several someones are running over to me. Then someone's tackling me from behind with a sort of hug that's an arm across my shoulders. No shoulders! No shoulders! No shoulders!

  "You passed!" Tate exclaims as he rubs his knuckles in my hair.

  "Good job, Xander!" Bo gives me a light punch on the chest.

  Knox, Cooper, and Tucker all congratulate and touch me, too. They need to stop touching me, it's so bad! It's bad! It's bad!

  "Boys," Mr. Cox says. "You're crowding Xander and it's making him uncomfortable."

  Immediately, the others all step back while apologizing. Carter feels especially guilty, too.

  "I forgot you don't like being touched," he says. "And you look really freaked out. I'm sorry, Xander. I just got super excited when I saw the cord around your neck and just kind of acted like I would with everyone else. Sorry."

  He really does feel guilty. He also answered how he knew I passed. The cord would've been visible even with my back to him. They all feel guilty now. It was an accident and they were just treating me like they would any of their other friends while forgetting I don't like being touched.

  I hope they treat me like the rest of their friends and remember my boundaries next time something like this happens.

  "I-I forgive you," I tell him as I pull a shirt out and pull it on and then my camouflage hat, then start pulling socks and boots back on. "Um… please don't ever touch my shoulders again."

  "I'll try to remember that!" He says. "So it only took you a few hours? That's awesome! One of my classmates took almost all day to pass."

  "Is it okay if I leave for awhile?" I ask. "I need some calming stuff. I can teleport there and rejoin you once I've calmed down. That way, y'all don't gotta stop hunting, I know it's special."

  "That's fine," Mr. Martins tells me. "Though I'm not sure if you'll be able to find us again if you leave."

  "I can teleport directly to people," I say. "So I can just teleport right back to y'all."

  "There's a spell for doing that?"

  "Grandpa Adrian taught to me in case I ever needed it," I say. "In case one of my friends got kidnapped, so I could just teleport to them and then teleport them out. He said that's not kidnapping, that's rescuing. I'll see y'all later, okay?"

  The other boys all say goodbye to me, then I teleport to the cabin and grab my backpack and Trenton, then teleport back to Dragon Falls. It's Farmers' Market day and I have permission to go there, so I teleport to its entrance and walk in.

  A lot of different foods here look and smell good, and I buy some jam and preserves and fruit butters from a few different stands. I also buy some fruit from a few stands as well before leaving and teleporting to the mage district.

  "Hey, Xander," Ms. Laney says when I enter her shop. "You look a bit stressed. Want a flower crown?"

  "I can pay."

  "You don't have to," she gestures to a stool. "Go ahead and have a seat."

  I sit on the stool and Ms. Laney grabs blue and purple flowers to begin weaving a flower crown with.

  "So," she says once she begins working on the flower crown. "What has you feeling down right now?"

  "I went hunting with some friends from the Autumn Realm Region," I tell her. "And they took me to do a rite of passage for the boys of their area. But then they started shouting and cheering after I passed. That's what this necklace is from. They were also touching me. Like, Carter had his arm across my shoulders, and one of them rubbed my head, and-and… it was just a lot."

  "Oh?" She asks. "The ritual must've been interesting. Did you get to meet old -, or did he only put you through the test?"

  "I did," I nod. "And a friend of his who knows me apparently told him about me but didn't tell him that I have magical perspicacity, so he got confused at the start of it since I-um… can't say."

  "I already know it's an illusion," she chuckles.

  "Oh," I say. "Wait. You said his name. His proper name, too. In the spirit language."

  "Took you a moment!" She laughs. "But not as long as some have. Want in on another little secret?"

  "I'm not sure how well I can keep it," I say. "I almost shared his."

  "You caught yourself," she says, then leans in and speaks more quietly. "Most of the shop owners on this street aren't human."

  My lie-detection isn't triggering, but I don't remember my ability to see the truth of someone's identity triggering here, either. It always triggers with Grandpa Adrian if he's not in his real form, too, and I'm sure he'd know if there's a way to fool it.

  "Perhaps," she says when I tell her that. "Though it's more that we actually use a variation of the avatar spell to hide our real natures – it's why you can't tell we're not human. For all intents and purposes, the bodies you see are. At least, it should work that way against magical perspicacity."

  "So that's not your real body?"

  "Nope," she smiles. "It's also why I don't mind giving away flowers for free. I'm a species of magical plant beast who's lived for thousands of years. My mana capacity is quite high. Regrowing the flowers takes little real effort from me."

  "Oh," I say. "That's like how I don't think my enchantments should be as expensive as the ones others make, even though they're superior. Because the mana cost is so low for me, even if it's considered high by others."

  "Indeed," she smiles. "And we run this street mainly as a way of interacting with humans and to keep an eye out for budding flowers like yourself."

  She chuckles again.

  "That deal Roger has with you," she says. "Isn't something he offers to just anyone. He's been keeping an eye on your growth ever since noticing your real nature. In truth, he's actually a dragon. The avatar body he's been using to arm-wrestle you is one he's had to strengthen as you grow stronger just so that you don't win easily."

  Whoa. Mr. Roger's a dragon? So I've known a real dragon all this time! And he's been keeping an eye on my growth, too. I guess elderly dragons like seeing young dragons grow, even if I'm only a very small percent dragon.

  "Is that why everyone here is so nice?" I ask. "Because y'all are magical beasts who want to interact with humans?"

  "It is," she confirms. "We're all benevolent beings, and running these shops helps us learn about people, see them, and watch them grow. When we pass on the shop to someone else… that's really just a new avatar of ours. I've run this shop ever since its creation."

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  Ms. Laney finishes making the flower crown and hands it to me, and I pull it on.

  "Does Trenton want one?" She asks, and I look down at him, then back at her and nod his head.

  "He does," I say. "And thank you."

  "You're welcome," she begins making a second flower crown, this one sized for Trenton. "Do you feel a little calmer now?"

  "A little," I nod. "But I think I still want to walk through the street to calm down more. I'm still-I'm still-um… it's hard to put into words."

  "That's fine," she smiles a little. "No one here has an issue with you. We enjoy seeing you and chatting with you."

  Ms. Laney and I talk a little more, then she hands me the flower crown she's made for Trenton and I put it on him. I wish her a good rest of her day, then walk down the street a bit more. When I get to Mr. Roger's shop, I enter it even though he has customers right now.

  I wait for them to leave before approaching the counter.

  "I know I have to wait until tomorrow for the arm-wrestle," I tell him. "I just wanted to ask about what Ms. Laney said."

  "Oh?" He raises an eyebrow. "What did she say?"

  This doesn't count as sharing the secret because it's one he would already know if it's true.

  "That most of the shop owners on this street are actually magical creatures using a specialized variant of the avatar spell which my magical perspicacity registers as your real selves for all intents and purposes and that you're actually a dragon."

  Mr. Roger laughs.

  "She's right," he says. "Though not everyone uses that particular avatar spell. Some have altered their actual bodies to be what they appear to be, so it is their real selves. As for me? Dragons possess the ability to shapeshift into any creature they desire and it's treated as their real self. A dragon is always exactly what they wish to be and nothing less. Not many know that, even among this street," he winks at me for some reason. "And if you're wondering about the arm-wrestling, I overpowered you originally to try and encourage you to build yourself up. Now that you're doing that, I try to use what I'm estimating is roughly your own strength, to make it more fair. One day soon, however, you'll be stronger than me without an issue."

  "I will?" I ask.

  "You will," he confirms. "Your mana capacity is already higher than my own, the issue is your body hasn't adapted to it yet. By what I can tell, it'll be another two weeks before physically, you're superior to me."

  "But you're a dragon!" I say. "And I'm only one… um… I think one-sixteenth one?"

  "Don't sell yourself short," he says. "You're an extraordinary child, and it's understandable why Adrian wants to keep an eye on you. If you were born to better circumstances, you'd have truly flourished by now."

  That makes it sound like he's been doing more than trying to encourage me to get stronger. Has he been keeping an eye on me for more than that?

  "Maybe I have," he smiles a little.

  Did I say that out loud?

  "I like to see little fledglings with talent grow," he says. "Once you're firmly stronger than me and can always win the arm-wrestle even when I enhance my own strength while you're not doing the same to yourself, you'll always be allowed to get three pounds of candy of your choice from me each week."

  "Is that really okay?"

  "I'm the one who owns the shop," he says. "If I say it's okay, then it's okay. And the arm-wrestle is like the fudge, it's once per calendar week, not per seven-day period. Exceptions can be made, though, if it's a Sunday and Saturday sort of situation."

  "But I did it on Sunday."

  "And if you're doing your walk today," he says. "You'll have a mental struggle tomorrow if you come to do the arm-wrestle then. After all, you don't like coming to this street without doing the walk unless it's early enough you're here for donuts or you're getting subs. At the same time, you only like doing the walk once a week."

  Oh, right. If I don't do it today, then I'd have to come back tomorrow to do it, but the walk is a once-a-week thing unless absolutely necessary. The arm wrestling is also only done during the walk, not during other visits.

  "Um… okay."

  Mr. Roger and I move to a table to arm-wrestle, and I barely lose this time. He assures me after that he always makes sure to use the same strength level he suspects me to be at and doesn't change it at all. This means that me losing or winning isn't something he decides on his own. He's trying to make it fair.

  After paying for the candy I get to pay for with the discount from this, I wish Mr. Roger a good day and continue my walk through the street. I'm feeling a lot better by the time I'm done with this so I teleport back to the cabin and drop Trenton and my backpack off in the room and use magic to sanitize and de-scent myself and my clothes, then teleport to Carter and the others.

  "Oh, jeez!" Carter jumps. "Scared the crap out of me!"

  "Sorry!"

  "It's a metaphor," Collin says, having apparently joined up with this group. "You didn't literally scare the crap out of him."

  "Oh."

  "Are you feeling better?" Carter asks.

  "Yeah," I nod. "Thanks for letting me go out."

  "What's the crown from?"

  "Ms. Laney," I answer. "She runs a flower shop in Dragon Falls. She also apparently knows the spirit who governs this area."

  "Wait," Cooper says. "You teleported out of here? Even teleporting around this area is hard to do. I heard it's impossible to teleport out because of the spatial distortion protecting it."

  The adults seem a little uncomfortable. Is it because I was able to teleport back in without receiving permission and being accompanied by them? I'll need to ask them in private later but me bypassing that rule isn't something just anyone could do. I doubt even Greyson could manage it.

  "I can see mana and magic, remember?" I ask. "I saw how it works and figured out how to adapt my teleport spell to allow me to go through. It does cost more mana, but it wasn't that difficult."

  "Oh," he says.

  "Hey, Xander?" Knox asks.

  "Yes, Knox?"

  "I ain't complaining about you rejoining us," he says. "But you teleporting like that, what if you'd scared off something we were hunting?"

  "Um…" I hesitate for some reason and don't know why. "I knew you weren't needing to be silent. The spell detects what's around the target location and it could tell you were all grouped up together. And you don't get like that when you're hunting, since you spread yourselves out for that."

  "Huh," he says. "So if we weren't grouped up, you would've waited?"

  "Or teleported further away," I answer. "Then approached while making sure not to bother whatever it was you were hunting."

  "The reason we were grouped up," Mr. Cox tells me. "Is because we were discussing whether or not we should head back to the cabin. Our packs are nearly full now, so we can't fit much more in them. You ain't hunted anything yet so if you wanted to, I'm sure the others would be fine waiting a little longer for you to catch some stuff."

  "I can do that on the way back to the cabin."

  "Are you sure?" He asks.

  "Yeah."

  "Alright," he says. "If everyone's in agreement about returning to the cabin, let's start making our way back. Once we leave, we can have the celebration for Xander passing the trial."

  There's a celebration for that? But they already celebrated. It overwhelmed me.

  The others agree on heading back to the cabin so we begin walking. As we do, I do some magic practice, floating a three-inch orb of spatial magics in the air. I'm not sure what it looks like to the others since I don't know the difference between our senses, but I think it just looks like a blackness with a faint light "border" around the edges of what they can see, sort of like a Rift.

  That floats in front of me on the right, while in front of me on the left is a three-inch sphere of ice which keeps turning to water and back.

  As we walk, the hallucinatory phoenix returns, landing on my shoulder with no one else reacting to him. That's just further proof that he's a hallucination because I'm fairly certain there's no way that many people wouldn't react to a mythological beast appearing. He's definitely not hidden from them through some sort of concealment magic.

  I stare deeply to make sure.

  Which means that even with my brain being fixed up, not all of the things I hallucinated were actually real. I'm not sure if I should tell Grandpa Adrian I'm still hallucinating, though. What if he puts me in a crazy people hospital?

  "Xander?" Carter asks about ten minutes after the hallucinatory phoenix reappears.

  "Yes?"

  "As an expert water mage," he says. "I don't gotta be able to sense magic directly to know the only water magic involved in that was you creating the water originally and then freezing it the first time, and you holding it in the air rather than letting it drop. The thawing and refreezing process ain't water magic."

  "That's because it's not water magics because it's bait."

  "Bait?" He asks. "How's it bait?"

  "Remember when the pocket hares showed up?" I ask. "When we hunted last time?"

  "Yeah."

  "They were drawn by the portals I'd created," I tell him. "A magic similar to their own. And accelerelk – the thing I want to hunt – uses temporal magics to accelerate itself to ram into its prey at a high speed and tear through them. Or to escape from a predator. So I figured, what if it's attracted to time magic similar to that? So I'm using time magic to reverse the flow of time on the orb so that it returns to being liquid, then reverse it again to refreeze it. It's also good time magic practice, as I'm doing my best to only affect the orb. I-oh, it worked."

  "It worked?" He looks around only to jump and look at me when something cracks.

  The accelerelk drops to the ground.

  "Did you just trick it into breaking its neck with an invisible barrier?" Knox asks.

  "I wouldn't call it tricking," I say. "But I did make a barrier in its path when it charged at me. And I guess its neck is broken from ramming it so hard."

  The other boys start laughing and I'm not sure why. Instead of trying to figure out why, I use telekinesis to move the accelerelk into a stasis pouch.

  "What's the other orb?" Tate asks me as we resume walking. "It kind of resembles a Rift, doesn't it?"

  "It's based on Rifts," I say. "A special sort of portal. I'm using it to see if I can lure in more pocket hares. They taste a little good, but their hides are really good for making spatial items. So I'm hoping I can catch more before we leave."

  At least three more, so that I have a lot more hide. I'm hoping for three accelerelk, too. That would be a lot of meat and hide to work with and there's a lot I want to try.

  Since we're walking back and not hunting anymore, we don't need to be quiet anymore. The beasts I'm aiming for won't be scared off by us talking. Should I try to make conversation with them? But what?

  "What did y'all catch while I was gone?" I decide on.

  "Oh!" Carter's face lights up. "So much! So right after you left…"

  [Sig – 13 years]

  Starting the process to tan the hides was a little gross, though Jack promised that he'll handle everything else for us. That's for the antelope everyone except Mr. Fuller caught, and the rabbits Seph caught in the woods shortly after returning to the camp.

  Once Hunter and Seph returned to the camp and Seph took out the pair of rabbits he spotted, they did the preliminary processing for their catches so it can all fit into the coolers, then we broke down camp and made the long trip to Jack's farm.

  Mr. Fuller insisted that I learn how to start the tanning process once we arrived. All of the hides except for the three magic hares' hides have been set for treating. Mr. Fuller looked it up and tanning a magic beast's hide is a little bit trickier if you want to retain its magic properties rather than ruin them. I'm not sure how that works but that's what the internet said.

  So we need to first figure out what those hares were, then we need to figure out how to tan them properly. The internet wasn't helpful with that so Mr. Fuller said he'll ask some of his buddies and see if they know anything. We're also saving the bones since they probably have magical properties and can be sold for money if so.

  Now, Seph, Hunter, and I are getting to harvest some watermelons before heading home. Mr. Fuller and Jack are butchering the beasts a little bit more than we did – all we did at the camp was make it easier to store them in the coolers while they're actually doing cuts and stuff. Jack sending us to collect watermelons was probably to get us out of their way, but we're each getting to pick out three watermelons for us to have for free.

  Which is pretty awesome. I'll take picking out my own watermelon over roughhousing with a couple of others any day. Though we'll probably go back to roughhousing once we finish, just away from the adults so they don't yell at us.

  "This one is huuuuge!" I say. "I'm taking it!"

  "Is it ripe?" Hunter checks it. "Nope. See here? It's too white, it should be more creamy."

  "Awww…"

  I manage to find a big watermelon that's ripe a few minutes later, so Hunter lets me harvest it. Once we've each picked out our three, we rejoin Mr. Fuller and Jack. Just as we do, my phone rings.

  "Hi, Xander!" I answer upon seeing who it is.

  "Hi, Sig," he says. "Can I call you?"

  "You're sleepy, aren't you?"

  "Yeah."

  "You've called me."

  He's quiet for a few moments.

  "Oh," he says. "Sorry."

  "It's fine!" I tell him. "How're you? How did the hunts go? Did you catch anything good?"

  "Yeah," he answers. "I caught three accelerelk, thirteen pocket hares, and a mindhammer wolf. Um. We're back at the Martins' ranch now, the trip out of the Autumn Circle wasn't distorted so it didn't take too long. We're gonna start tanning the hides and stuff soon, and the moms are working on a big feast. They surprised me with an offer to let me do a rite of passage for local boys and I passed it twice."

  That's so many different things at once. I've heard about the Autumn Circle, it's a sacred hunting grounds for the people of that area. Tate told me some stories about it during the times I spent a week at his ranch during the summer. If I remember correctly, the rite of passage is a test of bravery and ability to think while fighting without being able to use one's magic.

  They let Xander take it? And as a surprise, too. They must really like him out there. I'm not sure I'd ever be given permission to go through it, even if I wanted to.

  "How in the heck did you pass it twice?" I ask.

  "I didn't agree that I passed it the first time so Fern offered to let me try again and I passed it that time, too, so that's twice."

  "Who's Fern?" I ask.

  "The ancient spirit who governs the Autumn Circle," Xander answers. "He's really nice. Um. Anyway. I saw your picture that you're back. And that you're harvesting watermelons. I guess I forgot you said you were gonna do that."

  I never told him I was but I guess his sleepy brain made him think I had. I do tell him a lot of what I'm doing.

  "Um," he hesitates again. "If you're finished in the next couple of hours or so, do you wanna come out here? Mr. Martins said it's fine to invite you, and I can teleport you here so you don't have to worry about the long trip. I was gonna spend the night again since the hides won't be finished until tomorrow, and Mr. Martins said you can spend the night as well. There's gonna be a lot of us."

  Their hides are finished tomorrow? Mr. Fuller said it can take a week or more depending on the hide. Wait, I remember Xander mentioning that his new bracelets and pouches were made from pocket hare leather. He'd had them when he came back from that trip, too.

  Is he using magic for it?

  "That sounds like fun!" I say. "I'll have to ask Aunt Rachel if either of those is okay. Oh, wait! Actually, you're all tanning magic hides, right?"

  "Yeah," he answers.

  "The picture I sent you," I say. "Those hares are magic and we're not sure how to tan them since you can apparently ruin the hides of magic beasts if you tan them wrong. Do you think they'd be willing to help me with that? Mr. Fuller said he was gonna have to ask some buddies of his. I'll still need to ask Aunt Rachel if I can go, but if she says yes, I wanna know if they're okay with helping me. And for the bones, too. We're not sure how to clean them since they're magic."

  "Please hold on," Xander says. "Mr. Martins, Sig caught some magic hares while hunting this morning and doesn't know how to tan them properly. He wants to know if y'all can help him do that if he gets permission to come.Okay. What about cleaning the bones? Okay. Sig, are you still there?"

  "Yup!"

  "Mr. Martins said it's fine."

  "Alright," I say. "We'll be heading back to my place soon, I'll ask Aunt Rachel then and let you know."

  "Okay," Xander says. "Talk to you later."

  "Bye!"

  "Bye."

  Xander hangs up and I pocket my phone, then look at Mr. Fuller.

  "We've finished with yours and Seph's," he tells me. "Hunter can take you boys home if you'd like."

  "I'll make sure to transfer the hides and box of bones over," Hunter says. "Just in case. If he ends up not, I'll bring them back after I drop them off."

  We make sure the coolers with our meat are in Hunter's truck, then Hunter drives us to my house first. Mine because Seph's is a lot further away, so it's on the way to his.

  "How'd it go?" Aunt Rachel asks as Seph and I carry one cooler in while Hunter carries in the other with the box of bones on top.

  "Awesome!" I answer. "This is Seph, he's the other kid who went hunting with us. Hunter's got the cooler with magic hare meat, and we've got one with antelope meat! I caught all four of them! One antelope and three magic hares!"

  I tell Aunt Rachel about the hunt as we take the coolers to the basement (we should've gone around the back) and move the packages of meat into the deep freezer. One thing I leave out while describing the hare hunt is that I got hurt. In my version of the story – the only one she's getting – the hares never attacked me, the last two just tried to flee and I shot them down by figuring out their paths.

  Which is true for the second one, just not the third. I'm currently wearing a shirt right now and if I get to visit with Xander, that'll give me more time to figure out an explanation for the bruise. I just hope she doesn't ask why it seems I'm in a little pain right now.

  "He was super grumpy, though," Seph tells her. "Got less so after sleeping on the way back."

  "I still don't believe waking up that early was necessary," I grumble.

  "Other than being grumpy," Hunter says. "He was pretty well-behaved. Dad admitted to me that he was surprised he wasn't more grumpy and that it was mostly just whining. We've taken some other kids out before and they threw fits at the early hour, so we were kind of expecting that out of habit."

  Aunt Rachel gives me a sort of stern look and I know she's about to say something.

  "By the way," I say. "Xander's apparently finished his hunt and they're having a big feast after they finish starting the tanning process for their stuff. The hares I caught were magic and from what Mr. Fuller could find online, you have to treat them special when tanning or you ruin them. He invited me to join them, and Mr. Martins said he can help me tan the hides and clean the bones from the magic rabbits so that they're sellable. Is it okay if I go over? Xander said he can teleport me. I can get the hides tanned, and then join in on the feast. It's to celebrate Xander completing a sort of rite of passage."

  I give her my best pleading eyes, and she looks at Hunter.

  "He's a thirteen-year-old who got woken at three in the morning when he's not used to it," Hunter tells her. "Complaining was to be expected. The gods know I complained a lot when Dad first started taking me hunting with early mornings. It was bad enough I actually didn't get to go on a couple of trips until I begged and promised not to do it again."

  Hunter chuckles as he says that last part, and I get the feeling he's being honest rather than making something up. So it isn't just me not being happy with the early hour, it really is one.

  "You can go," she tells me.

  "Yes!" I exclaim. "Thank you! Also, Xander said he's spending the night, and there's gonna be a bunch of them spending the night there, apparently. Can I? Please, please, please?"

  Aunt Rachel takes a few seconds to decide on an answer, then sighs.

  "Behave for them tonight, alright?" She asks.

  "Yes!" I give her a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

  I say goodbye to Hunter and Seph, who leave, then I pack a bag for the night and text Xander to let him know I'm ready to go. About a minute later, there's a knock on the front door and when I answer it, Xander's on the other side.

  He's dressed in dark blue jeans and a green long-sleeved shirt, hunting boots, and his usual assortment of bracelets. A pair of black leather pouches are fixed onto his belt on his left hip, and he's wearing the necklace which signifies one has completed the rite of passage.

  "Hi!" I say.

  "Hi," Xander fidgets for a moment, then gives me a hug.

  Did he just… he just gave me a hug without asking! I feel like jumping but that would probably freak him out so I just hug him back.

  "Lemme grab the cooler with the hides," I tell him after we release each other. "And my backpack, then we can go!"

  The cooler with the magic hare hides isn't large, it's just one that's big enough to fit the three hides while they're rolled up. Jack is letting me borrow it, and Mr. Fuller will return it to him.

  "Okay," he says. "Hi, Ms. Rachel."

  "Hello, Xander," she says as I move the box onto the cooler, then pick both up. "Did you have a good hunt?"

  "Yeah," Xander answers. "I caught a lot more than I expected to. We're still working on starting the tanning for all of the hides for everything we all caught. There's a lot."

  "Did you catch what you were hoping to?"

  "Yes," Xander answers. "And more."

  "That's good to hear," she says. "Have a good evening, Xander."

  "You as well, Ms. Rachel."

  "And you behave for the Martinses," Aunt Rachel tells me.

  "Will do!" I set the cooler down and hug her. "Love you, Aunt Rachel! See you tomorrow!"

  "Love you," she hugs me back. "See you tomorrow."

  I let go of Aunt Rachel, pick up the cooler again, and step outside. Once the door is closed and I tell Xander I'm ready to go, we're suddenly in the tanning station at the Martinses'.

  I so badly want to ask him to give me a little warning next time, but I think I kind of asked for him to do that to me. I did tell him I was ready for us to go and I did know he was teleporting us. Xander took that to mean to actually do the teleport.

  "Hey, S.G.!" Tate gives me a fist-bump. "Xander said you said you caught some magic hares?"

  "Yeah," I answer. "Their hides are in this," I hold up the cooler. "And their bones are in the box. They had light magics and they used them to make it hard to look at them and make them look sort of like blurs. They were super fast, too."

  "Oooh!" Cooper exclaims. "Lightstep hares! Their meat's amazing! I'll help ya tan 'em!"

  "Also," Mr. Martins tells me. "You can ruin any hide by tanning it wrong. The special way to tan a magic hide instead draws out its magic properties, enhancing its natural traits. It makes them more valuable. The hide of a regular hare the size of a typical lightstep would sell for around $20-30 around these parts. For a lightstep hare, it's about $50. If you treat it right to enhance the properties, you can sell it for around $70-80, and it doesn't cost that much more to do the special tanning for something that small. They're good at channeling and hosting light magics, so there's a market for high-quality leathers and pelts from them."

  Whoa. I caught three of them, too, so if I sold them, I'd really earn a decent amount.

  "Alright," I look at Cooper. "So how do I tan them?"