Pepe was eager to get up the next morning. He had slept restlessly, tossing and turning, but while he slept poorly, he felt perfectly fine when morning came. He was full of energy; everything that had happened so far was simply exciting to him. He thought about his family, about his home, even about his brother, but those thoughts remained in the back of his mind. He missed them terribly, especially his mom’s cooking.

  He wanted to see what other adventures this new world offered. He wanted to explore that dungeon, the one the quest giver back in Starter Town had mentioned. The exploration quest had been okay, he supposed, but other than some weird noises and some puzzles, it had been boring. The egg they found had been all right, but it belonged to Erin, and that was fine with Pepe; he had no interest in raising chickens like his Abuela and Abuelo did. The mummy room, though—he wanted to explore everything in there, and he wanted that scepter. The scepter was just cool. Why leave it there when they could have brought it?

  He looked around the room. Everyone was still asleep. It was still somewhat dark outside, but it was beginning to get light; the sun would be up soon. Bobby was still asleep, and that guy woke up early every time. He must have been exhausted from the previous day. Pepe got up slowly so as not to wake anyone, got dressed, and made his way downstairs.

  The innkeeper was up and about, cleaning the common room area. There were a few tables, some chairs, and a small fireplace. He looked up at Pepe and nodded. The man didn’t say much at all—a very quiet innkeeper. That was fine; Pepe didn’t need to talk to him. He sat down and nodded back at the innkeeper. They didn’t have a large variety of food available; normally, everyone got the one dish that was being cooked.

  He brought out food. Pepe looked at it, and it didn’t look appetizing, but at least it was sweet when he tasted it. It was perfectly fine as far as a simple breakfast went. The food had the consistency of oatmeal, and while it didn’t exactly taste like oatmeal, it was edible.

  He noticed that it was much brighter outside now, so he decided to take a walk to burn off the energy he felt. Outside, people were already up and about, cleaning the fronts of their small stores. He saw one person sweeping the sidewalk and another cleaning a window—just regular, everyday activities. He made his way over to the patisserie; he could go for one of their wonderful sweet breads he’d seen on their last visit.

  The walk was short, and he nodded to those he saw or said good morning if they were inclined to speak. There were a few customers at the patisserie—some early workers getting their morning treat. Ms. Tebesa was among them. She saw Pepe and nodded. He went up to the counter and ordered the sweet bread.

  “Hello, young one. Have you been enjoying our little town?” she asked, handing him his order with a smile. He was still amazed that she could create such wonders with such large hands—the detail on the sweets was so delicate.

  “Yes, ma’am. I really like the place. Very nice people, and it seems like there’s plenty to do around here,” he replied. And it was true; quests seemed plentiful and would keep them busy if they stayed. He left as other customers came in and were waiting in line.

  Ms. Tebesa was outside when he came out. “Pepe, you’re up early. A little restless? Are you ready to head back? We’re leaving as soon as I finish up some last-minute deals,” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am, ready to go. I’m full of energy and ready to return,” Pepe replied. He wasn’t exactly surprised that she had noticed; she seemed very observant. They hadn’t asked about her being the guard’s sister. He found that fact very interesting. What else hadn’t she told them? This made him even more curious, and he decided to ask. The others would shush him if they were around. “So, you and Guard Rotgert are brother and sister?” he asked, leaving it at that.

  “He is my younger brother. He used to be a little runt as a kid, and look at him now. We are so proud of him,” she said. Pepe couldn’t believe it. The guard was huge. And when she said “we,” what did she mean? They really hadn’t thought to ask about anyone’s life; they had only thought about figuring out how to get back home and then leaving. She had to be teasing about the “runt” statement.

  “That is amazing. He is so big. Were you ever a guard?” Pepe asked. He didn’t want to be too direct, but it seemed obvious.

  “Well, for a time, but I really wanted to become a merchant, and here I am,” she replied. It was obvious now that he thought about it. This woman could handle herself. Why she had wanted to hire them was beyond him, but he wasn’t going to complain; they would be getting paid.

  He finished his sweet bread, they said their goodbyes, and he headed back to the inn. He had to tell the others to get ready; he was eager to get on the road.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  He arrived back in their room, and Bobby was up and dressed. Erin had just gotten up and was sitting on his bed.

  Josh and his cousin still had their eyes closed; Manuel was even snoring. Pepe poked his cousin, who only adjusted himself and kept sleeping. He poked him again. Manuel opened his eyes, looked at his cousin, and gave him the look. The look was always there in the morning with Manuel, especially for his cousin—something that had been a constant throughout their lives.

  Pepe backed away, his hands up in surrender. He looked over at Josh, whose eyes were open, but it was clear he wasn’t ready to get up. Groaning, Josh got up anyway, looked at his friends, and saw some of them up and ready to start the day.

  Pepe sat down on his bed, took out his daggers, and proceeded to clean them with the kit he always carried in his pack, giving the others time to get ready. Finally, everyone was ready. He put his things away. Everyone had their packs ready; they knew that today they would begin their trip back to Starter Town.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Pepe was hopping from one foot to the other, practicing some of his moves as he waited. The others just sat waiting, unsure why he was so eager to go. Sure, they also felt like getting back to Starter Town, but Pepe looked like he had an abundance of energy this morning.

  Ms. Tebesa, her cart behind her, nodded to signal she was ready to go. The cart looked full, stacked high with goods. Pepe wondered what she had bought. It didn’t matter; he was ready to go, so they needed to leave.

  They formed up around the merchant as before. The short walk to the town entrance took only minutes. They stopped at the guard post, where she had to pay some fees on the way out—too many fees, Pepe thought. He would make a terrible merchant; it just involved too many unnecessary tasks. Bobby would probably enjoy the merchant lifestyle, but it wasn’t for Pepe—not exciting enough.

  They walked the road leading north. He looked around at the trees and tall grasses they passed. The trees were pine, he wasn’t sure what kind, just that they reminded him of Christmas trees. There were many other trees, but he had no clue what they were called. He started to sweat as they walked, the sun climbing higher and the day growing hotter. He felt his shirt sticking to his body from the sweat, but it didn’t bother him. They were moving, and he was able to expend some of the excess energy he seemed to have.

  They stopped for the night at the same farm as before, but this time, Ms. Tebesa’s friend’s family was there. Since it was still early, they offered to help with any needed chores. Pepe didn’t really want to do chores, but it helped tire him out. He slept little again that night, and the next morning, he was just as eager to leave, that energy still present.

  They made good time the following day, having started early, and no one tried to rob them, unlike the youths they had encountered previously. The day ended, and they set up the guard rotation for the night. This time, Pepe didn’t fall asleep during his turn. He didn’t even wake his cousin when his turn ended; he didn’t feel like sleeping at all.

  Pepe was a little tired that morning, but he was still eager to get back. His cousin appreciated not having to stand guard; he was a heavy sleeper and enjoyed his beauty rest. Again, there were no issues for this leg of the trip. They made it to Starter Town an hour before sunset. Rotgert and Ms. Liadris were on guard duty when they arrived.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Little brother!” Ms. Tebesa hugged him. The guard, about half a foot taller than she was, had her head reaching just above his chin. She even reached up and pinched the guard’s cheek.

  “Stop it, Tebesa! I’m on duty,” he said, his voice still shrill. Pepe found the voice hilarious. Again, he really, really wanted to laugh but thought better of it.

  “Merchant Tebesa, yes, we are on duty, if you please,” Liadris said, smiling. She looked around to make sure no one was nearby. “Rotgert, you are so cute when you’re embarrassed.”

  How she could tell he was embarrassed, other than what he said, Pepe had no idea. They waved them through, and with that, the escort quest was complete. Pepe was looking forward to tomorrow.

  “Thank you so much for escorting me to Avadur and back. I will make sure all my fellow merchants know what a good job you did,” Ms. Tebesa said, waving goodbye as they went on their way.

  Pepe followed the others as they went to the Guild. He hoped to get the dungeon quest while they were there. He waved to some of the townspeople as they walked, and they waved back. It was nice to be back in Starter Town; he liked the place quite a lot. It was bigger than Avadur, but he missed the patisserie and those wonderful sweets. He would need to find a place for sweets here in town.

  Ms. Hoysver was helping another group as they came in and, as usual, she was smiling and animated, happy to have so much work to do. She finished helping the other group and smiled even wider when she saw their party.

  “Ms. Hoysver, it is good to see you,” Pepe said, nodding, as did the rest of the group.

  “Boys, I’m glad you’re back! All went well, yes?” she asked.

  “Everything went great. A little trouble on the way there, but we took care of it. No issues on the return trip at all. We even got to meet a fellow Guild Manager in Avadur,” Josh explained. They still didn’t know the dog person’s name, as he never said it, and they had failed to ask.

  “You met Giles! He and I went to training together a long time ago. How is he doing? I’m sure he was happy to see you there,” she said. Giles—really, his name was Giles. Pepe was glad it hadn’t been Max or Spot; he wouldn’t have been able to contain his laughter.

  “He looked fine when we left. We were able to do some of the quest at his chapter as well while we waited for Ms. Tebesa,” Pepe said. He then left the conversation, not particularly worried about any of that. Since there had been more people available to take quests, they had posted some of them on the board around the room.

  He began to look at the quests and saw the one he wanted—the dungeon quest. He reached for it and read the notice.

  This was it. He needed to do this dungeon. He could feel his blood boiling with excitement. His excitement diminished dramatically when he felt something pointy in his back. What was happening? Who was trying to rob or attack him here?

  “What are you looking at, Pepe?” He knew that voice. It had a sultriness to it, and a I’ve got you where I want you tone. “Thief got your tongue?”

  “Hi, Michelle. Can you get that pointy thing away from my back?” he asked. She didn’t remove it, which made him sweat a little.

  “Sure thing, Pepe. Let me see what you’re looking at.” He handed the quest back to her, and the pointy thing was gone.

  “Ah, I see. Can I come with you guys? I’ve been trying to get a group to go, but most of them are chicken and just want to do the easy stuff. Or they already have a large group and no room for a badass thief like me.” He turned around now that the pointy thing wasn’t impeding his movement.

  Damn, she was pretty. He could get lost in those big green eyes. Why did she make him feel like this? What was it about her that made his heart race every time he saw her?

  “Earth to Pepe, you there?” She snapped her fingers in front of his face. This got his cousins’ attention right away.

  “Michelle, it’s good to see you,” Pepe said. “Well, let me ask my companions. You know Josh is the leader, so we’ll have to get his okay.” He turned toward his friends, who were all making their way over to him.

  Manuel was the first to reach him and threw an arm around his shoulders. Why was he doing that, and why was he smiling at Michelle like that? “Hi, I’m Manuel, Pepe’s better-looking cousin. Nice to meet you,” he said. She gave his cousin a smile, and those dimples appeared. Why was it suddenly bothering him that she smiled at Manuel? Get a hold of yourself, tonto.

  He was going to kill Manuel later. Wait, why would he do that? He felt his face getting red; it was good that his skin was a little darker—it would make it harder to tell. “Sorry, Michelle, this is my cousin, the slightly dumber one,” Pepe said.

  She smiled even wider. “Michelle? This knucklehead didn’t mention me? I’m hurt, Pepe. Did you also fail to tell them that I kicked your behind in training?” Yes, he had failed to mention the ass-whooping she had given him.

  The rest of the group was now around them. He would need to introduce them. “And this is the rest of the group: Josh, our fearless leader; Bobby, our accountant; and Erin, our linguist.” Each one raised a hand as Pepe said their name.

  “Nice to meet you all. Pepe, you were going to ask your group something for me,” Michelle said. She gave them a pleading look, tilted her head slightly, and tucked her hair behind her ear. What was she doing? It only made him feel warmer for some reason.

  “Josh, you see, I was, uh… you know, looking at the quest, and I found the one about the dungeon, and Michelle wants to come with us. Could she tag along, please?” Pepe asked. He felt like he was stuttering and felt a little dumb at the way he heard himself talking. He needed some air; everyone was too close.

  Josh looked at them and shrugged. “Sure, I don’t think that will be an issue, as long as we can go in with six. As far as I know, it should be all right.”

  Pepe hadn’t thought about that. Would six be okay? They would need to check with Ms. Hoysver about that. He sure hoped it would be fine; he would really like it if she came along. Or would he need to talk to Maria about that? Why hadn’t he thought about this before?

  “Maria, would there be any issues if we brought Michelle with us?” Pepe asked.

  “Who is Maria? You cheating on me, Pepe?” Michelle asked. Why did she say that? It made him even more embarrassed. How she could get to him so easily was beyond him.

  “No, of course not. Wait, what? Oh, Maria is our HelpNode,” he explained. He hadn’t even thought about Maria; she was just there for them, so he hadn’t considered that the others would be confused.

  “Wait, wait, you can name them? I had no idea. I just call mine HelpNodeX154. Guess I’ll need to think of a better name,” Michelle said. Pepe wasn’t sure what kind of voice her HelpNode had—maybe it was a boy’s voice, or like Maria’s, a girl’s. He felt silly thinking about it; it didn’t really matter.

  “All right, well, seems like we have something to do. Let’s get registered for the quest and might as well make it an early night and start early in the morning,” Josh said. Pepe handed him the request. Josh went over to Ms. Hoysver, with Erin and Bobby tagging along. Manuel stayed put for a few minutes before finally disengaging from his cousin.

  “Well, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” Manuel said. Yes, Pepe would most definitely kill his cousin; Manuel wouldn’t survive the night.

  “I like your cousin; he’s a funny fellow. So, tomorrow then?” Michelle asked. Did she like his cousin, as in like like, or just like? He was so confused. “Thief got your tongue again?”

  Why did he keep freezing up? “Yes, tomorrow morning,” he managed to say, sounding more businesslike than he intended.

  She looked at him again and seemed about to say something, but she shook her head. “Tomorrow it is. See you in the common room in the morning,” she said.

  She turned to leave. He watched the thief’s clothes she wore as she walked out the door and noticed she had made some alterations; she looked great in them. He shook his head. What was he thinking about? She probably saw him as a dumb kid; she was a year older than he was.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  He had been chilling in his room. His brother and his friends were camping—whatever camping was, it was dumb. Why did they even like it? He got on his computer to check out some bands he liked. Man, he wished he could graduate already so he could go off to college or get out of this little town; he hated the place. He missed being back in Texas with his friends. He had met some people in town, but his real friends were back in Texas.

  He was surfing the web and stopped on an article about the occult, rituals, and summoning. He knew that stuff was fake, but it piqued his interest for some reason. He read on and on; it was well thought out, and the research was impressive. Whoever had written the article had clearly done a lot of research and had written a detailed paper about it all.

  He kept reading, but it was late, and his eyes were closing. He saw the screen go black; his computer had turned off on its own. Oh well, it was bedtime. He got up and lay down on his bed. He didn’t feel the change as he fell asleep. Something was going on—maybe it was a dream.

  Why was he cold? And where was that air coming from? Had he left his window open? He opened his eyes. It was still dark. He looked up—at the sky. Why was he seeing the sky?