— Saturday, 88 Days Remain —

  The next two school days passed without incident thanks to Devon sticking close to the teachers and Cole, meaning the weekend was here. This would give him a chance to sleep in but he wasn’t that kind of person, so instead he woke up at the same time he did during the school week.

  Upon leaving his room he ran into Emily “Hey kid, didn’t expect you to be up so early. Leo is in the dining room with Lady Jasmond if you want something to eat. Also, can you put your laundry basket outside your door for me? It makes it so I don't have to enter your room.”

  After thanking her for the info and doing as he was asked Devon headed off to the dining room.

  Upon reaching the dining room he saw Lady Jasmond sitting there and Leonardo standing off to the side. “Ah Sir Devon,” Leonardo said “I figured you might be getting up so I made you some breakfast. Please have a seat while I grab it for you.”

  “Thank you, Leonardo.”. Devon said before taking a seat.

  Devon expected Lady Jasmond to be the one to say something, but after waiting a bit he noticed that she was seemingly bothered by something “Is everything ok Lady Jasmond.”

  There was no response, seemingly because her mind was too distracted with whatever was bothering her. Devon, worried about interrupting her during an important thought, decided to just wait for either her to be done thinking, or for Leonardo to return.

  Leonardo ended up returning with his food first and so Devon asked him if he knew what was going on with Lady Jasmond.

  “Do not worry Sir Devon, The Lady is just worried about the family meeting you two will be attending.”

  “Is she not on good terms with them?” Devon asked, worried that his situation was making her go through with this.

  “No, that is not the problem.” Leonardo said “It… is not the easiest to explain, but she… I guess she is worried about being embarrassed, both by them, and because of being with them.”. Devon looked confused so Leonardo just said “As I said, it is complicated.”

  The plan was to Leave before lunch and meet up with Lady Jasmonds parents at a restaurant. Then they were to head to the parents house to meet Lady Jasmond’s brother and nephew, come up with a plan for the test situation, and just spend some time there. This meant Devon had a while before they left, so he spent this time trying to relax by playing the games that Lady Jasmond and Emily had got for him the day he arrived.

  The games came on small portable devices and most of them were simple arcade style games, however he eventually found something that was different from the others. It looked like it was some sort of headband making him think it was simply put in the wrong bag, but it came in a box that said otherwise as the name “Game Visor” was written on it. Before Devon could open it however, he was called away as it was time to head out.

  The restaurant they were heading to was called Moonlit Veil. Upon seeing it, all one could think to call it was fancy. It was dimly lit just slightly enough to see with. The walls were coloured deep blue with semi-reflective paint. The tables were covered in clean white cloth with golden patterns sewn in. They also had special privacy rooms that were typically used for business meetings.

  When they arrived Lady Jasmond and Devon were taken to one of the privacy rooms while Emnily and Leonardo were taken to be seated in a servants area. Lady Jasmond’s parents had yet to arrive, giving the two some time to chat.

  “So… Devon,” Lady Jasmond started “do you want me to order for you?”

  “Yes, please.” Devon responded.

  A few seconds passed. Then a few more. Then finally Devon decided to take the initiative “So, your parents, you said they know about me but do they know I’m human?”

  “Yes.” Lady Jasmond responded “I told them hoping they’d be willing and able to help if anything bad were to happen to you, and, well… here we are. Honestly I was hoping it would never come to this. I was not even sure if I should tell them about you in the first place. Now, however, I’m glad I did.”

  “What are they like?”

  Lady Jasmond winced and said “Well, they’re nice and, well, they’re… just wait and decide for yourself.”

  And so Devon did just that until eventually they arrived. The first one to step in wore a fancy light pink dress that a movie star could be jealous of, along with an old fashioned large brimmed hat. She had purple skin with brown hair and a tail with a spade design on the end.

  Coming in behind her was a man who had deep blue skin with darker blue hair and a tail that ended in a spear point. He wore a gray suit with a blue bow tie that matched his skin.

  Upon sitting down the woman said, voice sweet yet mature “Why hello there dear, you must be Devon. I am Jasmond’s Mom, Lady Clair Runerood and this here is my husband Sir Dimitry. Please feel free to call us by our first names only.”

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  Despite his tendency to say nothing upon meeting people Devon had been mentally preparing himself and managed to get out a few words ”Hello It's nice to meet you.”

  “Now now,” Sir Dimitry said “no need to be shy around us. We're happy to have you as part of our family and promise that you’ll be welcome at our place, no matter what.”

  Both Devon and Lady Jasmond were wincing at hearing that, but they had been looking awkwardly away ever since the parents had arrived so neither of them picked up on it.

  “Now then,” Lady Clair said “Let us order some food before continuing since, I for one, am getting hungry.”

  After everyone ordered something both for themselves and for Devon to try they got back to talking, starting with the mother asking a question “so missy there has been giving us small updates on what has been going on with you, but I want to hear it from your point of view and in more detail. So, Let us start with this, how has staying at my daughter's house been?”

  Devon took a moment to compose his thoughts before he decided to say “Well, I never had the best home life to compare it to but it has been wonderful. I get good food and have games to play. I don't even have to worry about doing the chores by myself.”

  The look in the parents' eyes was that of both worry and intrigue, “You realise those are basic things, right?” Sir Dimitry decided to clarify.

  Devon simply responded “As I said, I didn’t have the best benchmark for comparison.”

  Deciding not to let them press further Lady Jasmond chimed in with “I promise, My servants and I are taking as good of care of him as we possibly can. While still giving him a choice in what he wants to do that is.”

  Intrigued, Sir Dimitry asked “What's that supposed to mean? Has he gotten into trouble already?”

  The look on Devon’s and Lady Jasmond’s face was a sight to behold, with enough guilt in hers and shame in his to give away a simple version of the answer.

  “Well,” Lady Clair said “we will deal with that later for now let us enjoy our meals.”

  After finishing their meals and meeting up with Emily, Leonardo, and a servant of the parents, they made their way to the parent’s house. While the house was big, it was no bigger than Lady Jasmond’s house. The outside had a rustic mansion feel and upon entering Devon thought it seemed nice and comfortable.

  They were greeted by a servant who welcomed the parents home before saying that the other guests had already arrived and escorted them to the living room. The room was lavished with paintings and other random artworks. It had enough seats to accommodate multiple families, with each chair and couch looking more expensive than Devon thought possible.

  Sitting on a two person couch was a man wearing a flashy red suit, tie, and dress pants. He also had blue skin, dark blue hair, and a tail that ended in a spade pattern, the latter of which Devon only noticed when the man stood up and started walking over to him.

  “Ah, so you must be Devon. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Jasmond’s brother, Sir Drake.” the man said joyfully.

  Sir Dimitry then looked around and asked ”Where's that boy of yours. He better have come with you. And you better have finally told him about Devon.”

  Sir Drake chuckled before saying “he's in the washroom.”

  This caused lady Clair to sternly say “Did you tell him?”

  But Sir Drake just replied “And ruin the surprise? Of course not.”

  Everyone except Sir Drake stood there shocked and annoyed at least that was until someone familiar to Devon came walking in the room. Wearing his usual red button up shirt and black pants, with tan skin and horns that curled to the side was Sir Tytus.

  Him and Devon both stared at each other until Sir Drake said “Tytus my boy meet the reason we came here today, and your new cousin, Devon.”

  No sound could have been louder, as all anyone could hear was Tytus screaming “What!”. “Why is…” he started fiercely saying before composing himself and starting over “Why is the human here, and what do you mean cousin.”

  This confused Sir Drake who asked “Why do you already know he’s human?”

  Sir Tytus just responded with “Everyone in school knows, it was revealed by Mr. Zephyr day one, and the news spread from there. More importantly, why did you call him my cousin?”

  “Because he is.” said Lady Jasmond “Or at least he’s your adoptive cousin since I adopted him.”

  “Well, with that out of the way, I guess we should move on to figuring out a solution for this problem of yours. I’m guessing it is just the fact that he is human was revealed, right?” Lady Clair said.

  “No, things… got worse than that.” Lady Jasmond said before explaining what had happened with Sir Asher the great.

  Everyone seemed somberly worried except Sir Tytus, who was unskillfully trying to hide a grin.

  With no one wanting to be the one to say anything Devon was ultimately the one to speak up “Well, we have time but we do need to start acting. So what is it possible, or better yet likely, this test could be?”

  Sir Tytus was the one to speak up “Well it could be on any, or even every subject. And it would likely be set up to only let someone who matched his high standards pass. Good news is it likely won't kill you.”

  Everyone knew he was just trying to make things worse but he was right, and without even a hint to go on they had to assume the worst. Eventually a decision was made, one which made everyone disheartened, besides Tytus who did seem to be hiding his grin better. It was that there was nothing that any of them could do except hope for Devon to pass. This caused Lady Jasmond to decide to head home early and Devon, of course, went with her. Eventually they made it back and upon entering Lady Jasmond just stood there looking defeated.

  “I’m sorry Devon” she said in a tone as sombre as it could be “I really thought they might have some ideas.”

  “It’s fine.” Devon said “I’m sure we’ll manage somehow.”

  The rest of the evening nothing really happened, or rather everyone just sat around doing nothing but worry. That was with the exception of Devon who, while worried, decided it was finally enough. He finally had an answer to that question that had been bothering him. He knew, at least in part, what he wanted for his future. He knew it did not involve being sent back to earth, but instead involved staying here in the underworld. He came up with a plan to try and meet any sort of crazy requirements possible across all possible subjects. This plan started with getting a Magic tutor meaning, he would have to wait until tomorrow. But that was ok. He had time. So he went to rest after the stressful day he just had in preparation for tomorrow.