Derek was talking with Alejandra and Rafael at his house. Once again Derek found himself in an almost déjà vu situation, where he was talking with an older brother while a younger sister was staring ahead, miserable.

  There was a knock on the door, and Derek moved to get it. He walked across the entryway before opening the door. Tyler was there, not smiling.

  “You alright?” Derek asked.

  “No.” Tyler let out a sigh. “I knew they were having a hard time. I even acknowledged that it was abusive. But… I don’t think Nick’s going to last until April. And I don’t want Evelyn staying there until she’s eighteen, either.”

  “God, this sucks,” Derek muttered.

  Tyler rubbed the gray mark on his neck. “I’m assuming Evelyn and Nick aren’t here?”

  “No. Evelyn sent me this, though.” Derek pulled out his phone, finding the text she sent. He tapped the picture before turning it around. It was a picture she snuck of Walt at dinner last night. He had a few scratch marks on his face and a black eye.

  Tyler was confused as he looked at it.

  “Apparently Nick had to pull Evelyn away from attacking Walt after Walt yelled at you.”

  Tyler glanced up at Derek, then shook his head. “She shouldn’t have done that. We don’t want to anger Walt any more than we already have.”

  “It’s why Nick had to drag her away,” Derek said, turning off the phone and placing it back in his pocket. He moved aside so Tyler could walk inside. “Also, Evelyn’s not doing too well.”

  “That entire family has me worried,” Tyler said.

  Derek sighed as they walked over to Rafael and Alejandra. Tyler’s appearance brought a subdued atmosphere.

  “Rafael’s already agreed to talk to Walt,” Derek said.

  “Yeah,” Rafael said quietly. “I’ll… do that tomorrow.”

  “I’ve been calling Nick every night, but that’s changed, too,” Tyler said, glancing as Milo walked down the hallway and entered the room. “We’ve all just got to assume I’m completely cut off from contacting Evelyn and Nick, so that responsibility is now on you three.”

  “Alright, so… another group chat then?” Derek asked. It was already hard enough to juggle two.

  “That, or someone’s got to be the designated Larsen family information giver.” Tyler shrugged. “I’m willing to workshop better labels for that title.”

  Rafael and Alejandra both glanced at Derek. Derek nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll check in on them.” He apparently had the best relationship with both siblings, which should have been an honor, but honestly, Rafael and Alejandra were getting better, too.

  “Alright,” Tyler said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. “Let’s fight off some monsters before they reach Elmwood.”

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  ***

  Nick finished rolling for a battle Saturday night when two cars pulled into the driveway. He knew Evelyn had gone with Walt to buy another car. Walt had spent the past week figuring things out with insurance, which was fine because it kept Walt busy while Nick avoided him in his room.

  Grizzizzik got another four hundred experience points for that fight. Nick started to feel the excitement of it again. There was still the lasting trauma of checking how close he was to the next level, when he remembered it didn’t matter. Everyone knew about Grizzizzik having three levels in his warlock class. They had slacked the last two days on fighting monsters, but all of them agreed they needed to get back to it. Grizzizzik may not feel the pressure to level up, but Nick agreed that it would be so much better if they were as high as they could when they faced Akshi again. Grizzizzik also left Nick alone, and Nick couldn’t deny that he enjoyed not seeing that rogue of his.

  And there were still over a thousand monsters left on the earth. And it was the higher level monsters he was most concerned about. Thankfully there weren’t too many higher level monsters, but Evelyn showed him the video of the ancient gold dragon making a nest in one of the Los Angeles skyscrapers. Also the video of the kraken trying to wrap its tentacles around the cruise ship, trying to break it. It was wild for Nick to see those tentacles and for people to mostly point out how some of the lounge chairs seemed to shift on their own. They needed to get rid of that thing before June, but they had to get stronger. A lot stronger.

  “Nick?” There was a knock on his wall. “Can I come in?” Evelyn asked.

  “Yeah. Sure,” Nick said.

  Evelyn was smiling as she walked in. “Hey, has Dad told you about what we’re planning on Tuesday?”

  “Uh, no. No, he hasn’t.”

  She smiled a bit wider, even as she tried to stifle it. “Family therapy.”

  Nick blinked. “Family therapy?”

  She nodded, smiling. When she noticed Nick had no such smile, it drooped. “Don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

  Nick sighed, folding his arms. “As most things are, it’s a good idea on paper. I doubt it’ll help, though.”

  Evelyn’s frown finally appeared. “What? Why?”

  Nick shook his head, feeling like an ass. Evelyn seemed so happy about it that he hated to make her feel bad. “It sounds great. I’ll clear my schedule.”

  It was already clear. It was Tuesday, after all. He didn’t have work on Tuesday, and Walt made sure he didn’t have a social life.

  “Hey, do you want to see our new car?” Evelyn asked, lifting her hand to show the keys dangling over her finger.

  “New car?” Nick asked.

  “Well, not brand new. But Dad promised he had enough money to get the car now instead of waiting on insurance to pay him back. It’ll be nice not to need to schedule cars so much now,” Evelyn said.

  Nick got up off his bed, brushing himself off. “Yeah. Sure. Let’s look.”

  He and his sister walked out the front door. It was getting dark, but Nick saw the car that Evelyn called theirs, but he knew it was mostly for her. It was meant for her, after all.

  “So, what do you think?” Evelyn asked, brushing her hand over the top of the car. It was blue. Ridiculously blue. When Nick looked in there, he could see Evelyn already put that ridiculous glitter pink car handle cover on it. “Do you love the color?” She ran her hands over the hood of the car. “Honestly, too many cars are either gray, silver, or white. There isn’t enough color on the road, you know? This baby, though, this one just says ‘Bam! Hello! I am the color blue.’”

  Nick chuckled. “It looks great.”

  “Now, I still think I should be driving mostly. Do you need me to drive you to work and come pick you up?” Evelyn asked.

  “No. I’m fine,” Nick said.

  “You’ve had a concussion, Nick.”

  “It’s just the first day or two they suggest not driving. It’s been a week. More than a week.” Nick paused, counting on his fingers. “Ten? Ten days.”

  Sometimes he still couldn’t believe that ten days ago he was still deep in Chaos’s grasp. A lot had changed since then. Hell, a lot had changed since August.

  Evelyn sighed, glancing at the keys in her hands. “Fine. Dad says we can’t touch this thing until he’s made sure it’s insured.”

  Nick snorted, glancing at the door. “Probably smart.”