Three first chapters for Book Two of ‘Light Keeper Chronicle’

It’s that magical time of year again where me and an unfinished-manuscript are locked in a room for the month of November and only one of us is allowed to leave a a complete, whole, finished entity: National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a., NaNoWriMo.

Now when I first wrote this post and had it scheduled to go out. I had originally planned to be able to take on NaNoWriMo, however — once again — unexpected life stuff means that it’s probably not viable with my schedule.

The same thing happened last year and I lost NaNo outright the year before that (only 25,000 words) so I figure that whenever I do pick it up again I’ll be due for a win.

My intent these past two years was to dive into the sequel to the Light Keeper Chronicle, but even without NaNo, I’ve been working on this sequel on-and-off for a LONG time, as I figure out how best to get it on the page. This past summer, I found a solution that I think will finally make the book work. I have a first chapter that I like with the broad beats of the next few chapters mostly outlined.

My previous NaNoWriMo attempts. Not sure why The Wilderlands (2018) isn’t marked as a “Winner” though I did cheat and use the 13,000 words previously written in that one … NaNo knows.

The matter of when that book comes out depends mostly on how my life goes for the next few months/years, but I am planning to give more of my time to this book through and after November now that I have a story mechanism that I think I like to make the story work.

Since Book 2 has been in the works for so long, there have naturally been multiple versions of it. While I don’t consider any of these versions wildly different, they all represent very different starting points for the book. I figured it would be interesting to see these three versions next to each other.

I’ll preface that none of these are edited (beyond what I have already edited) and none of them are final (even if details make it into the final version). This is just a fun look at how my writing/plotting has changed over the years.

Enjoy!

***

2014 DRAFT: The last time I would have messed with the draft this particular draft of the second book would have been 2017, but since this particular draft is 70,000 words long, those 2017 edits were likely me adding to the existing story. One might think: “70,000 words?! That’s nearly as long as the first book — you must have been nearly done!”

Eh, not so much. If I’d kept on going with the draft, the book probably would have been completed at 350,000 words. I could probably have edited that down to 275,000 but it would have been WAY TOO LONG.

The main thing to know about this is that it follows the old “Element Keepers” cannon so it alludes to things that happened in that version that didn’t happen in the latest “Light Keeper Chronicle” version. Mainly, the fact that Katrina originally came back with the main characters.

Chapter 1: Nearly Normal (~2013)

            What did you do last summer?

            The piece of paper posing the question stared at Walter Miller. Walter glanced at his teacher. She can’t be serious, he thought. We’re in 7th grade, this is the kind of question you ask 4th graders. It was the last of twelve random questions that Walter knew were just given to them to give them something to do in the last week of school. He had answered the others quickly and without complaint, but this caused him to pause.

            With a long sigh, he filled the blank space beneath the question: I went to Washington D.C.

            “Hey, Walter.” Zack Kinder called to him from behind. Before Walter could turn around, a piece of paper appeared over his shoulder. He knew it was the same paper he had just finished filling out before he even read it over. Still he took it and glanced through the last few questions.

            What’s your favorite summer activity?:  Starting fires.

            Who do you spend time with during summer?: Wizards, elves, a boy with too much hair.

            What did you do last summer?: I found out that me and my friends Walter, Lenzey, and Ellean  have really cool powers that we could use to like save the world. We went to this place called Garibain with this wizard, except we were kidnapped, but not by a wizard, it was an assassin sent by another wizard named Dassin who wanted to kill us. So when we got there, Zandar, the not-evil wizard, stopped the assassin. Actually it was this really big guy who stopped the assassin, his name’s Manokie…

            Walter handed the paper back to Zack. “You know, there is such a thing as being too honest.”

            “How did you answer it then?”

            “I gave the answer that will keep me out of a psychiatric ward.”

            “Oh, so the boring answer.”

            “No,” Walter corrected, “the answer we all agreed on.”

            From the front of the room the teacher—Mrs. Bowmann—spoke to her class. “Everyone, please hand me your finished worksheets as I walk by your desk.”

            The sound of rustling paper filled the room as the teacher progressed through the aisles. When Mrs. Bowmann passed his desk, Walter handed her his paper without incident. When she came to Zack, the red haired boy’s freckled face stretched into a grin as he handed her his worksheet. She saw his smile and paused, her long graying hair settling uncertainly.

            Mrs. Bowmann took the paper from Zack’s as deactivating a bomb. When it was safely out of Zack’s grip, her eyes scanned over it. As she read the classroom sunk into silent anticipation.

            Mrs. Bowmann looked up from the sheet. “Zack.”

            “Yes?”

            “I’m glad to see your imagination is as vivid as ever, but I asked that you take this seriously.”

            “I said that there’s a wizard from another world trying to kill me. What’s not serious about that?”

            Laughter detonated throughout the classroom.

            It took Mrs. Bowmann three tries to quiet her students. “Okay then,” she said, her wrinkled cheeks beginning to turn scarlet. “You mention Walter, Lenzey, and Ellean in this paper as well…”

            Walter’s breath turned to ice in his throat. Uh oh.

            “Lenzey,” the teacher turned to a paler than usual girl near the center of the room. “Would you care to verify Zack’s story?”

            Lenzey Wright’s green eyes widened “Uhm, yes… I mean no... I mean…”

            When Lenzey didn’t start speaking again, Mrs. Bowmann found someone else. “Ellean Brown,” (she pronounced the name like “Elaine” rather than “Ellen”, a mistake she had made almost daily over the past year) “do you have anything to say about Zack’s story?”

            Ellean shrugged. “It sounds kind of ridiculous.”

            “I know how it sounds. I want you to tell me whether--”

            “Excuse me, Mrs. Bowmann,” Walter interjected, causing the teacher to snap in his direction, staring at him with eyes that barely kept back a flood of frustration. Walter continued. “I can promise you none of us have any idea what Zack is talking about.”  

            Mrs. Bowmann’s eyes considered Walter for a moment before refocusing on Ellean and Lenzey, both of whom were nodding in agreement. For a moment, Walter dared hope that the teacher would let the matter drop.

            “Katrina,” said Mrs. Bowmann, turning to a girl sitting in the corner closest to the door. “According to Zack, you come from another world.”

            Walter had to force himself to look as a girl, nearly two years older than everyone else in the class, stood up. “Mrs. Bowmann,” she said. “I’ve never even been outside the country of Michigan.”

            Walter winced as a few scattered laughs drifted through the air.

            “State,” Mrs. Bowmann said.

            Katrina opened her mouth, then paused. “State what?”

            More laughter.

            The teacher’s hands tightened around her students’ worksheets. “State. You meant to say you’ve never been outside of the state of Michigan.”

            For half a second, Katrina’s face was glazed with dread. She recovered with an awkward shrug. “You’re the teacher.”

            Before Mrs. Bowmann could say anything else, the bell signaling the end of the day rang; Walter, Zack, Lenzey, Ellean, and Katrina where the first ones out of the room.

            “Why would you do that, Zack?”

            “Come on, Walt, it was funny, everyone laughed.”

            “You made her call on Katrina. Things could have gone much worse.”

            The two of them pushed their way through the narrow halls toward the exit. Zack almost had to shout to be heard over the clamor of the crowd. “You’ve said so yourself, no one’s going to believe us.”

            “That’s the problem,” Walter said. “No one’s going to believe us. They’d think we’re insane!”

            When the two of them emerged under the crystal blue sky outside, Lenzey, Ellean, and Katrina stood waiting for them among the crowds of their peers ambling about until their rides arrived. As the two boys grew closer to their companions, Zack began to hang his head. He smiled nervously. “I guess you guys are mad at me too?”

            “I’m always mad at you,” Ellean assured.

            “I’m not mad,” Lenzey said with some distress. “You… you told the truth…”

            Katrina nodded. “It’s my fault; I should have known that Michigan was a state. I take responsibility.”

            “No,” said Walter. “It’s not your fault. You’ve spent almost a year learning everything that’s common knowledge for us. It was a small mistake; you’re allowed to make those. Zack, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing and that it was a bad idea.”

            “Well maybe things would have gone better if you had backed me up,” muttered Zack.

            Both Walter and Ellean opened their mouths to respond, a sixth person joined their group. “Lenzey!” the new comer’s lime-green eyes glossed over the group before settling on her friend.

            Lenzey forced a smile to her face. “Hey, Sara.”

            Sara Hardstone bit her lip for a moment before speaking. “Those things Zack wrote on his paper in class today, about wizards, it’s a lot like what you were saying to me last year, isn’t it? You said I was, like, what was it, a soothsayer?”

            “Sara,” Lenzey said, “can we talk about this later?”

            The girl tilted her head. “Is there something to talk about? I mean it’s all made-up, right?”

            “Well…”

            “Guys,” Ellean interrupted, “if we’re going to walk home we should start now, my mom wants me home before five.”

            Zack groaned. “We’re walking?! But--” Ellean silenced him with an elbow to the ribs.

            “See ya later, Sara,” Ellean said as she pulled Lenzey away, the other began to follow.

“Lenzey!” Sara called. “I’ll see you at the fair this weekend, right?”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll see you then.”

Before anymore words could be exchanged, Ellean had pulled Lenzey from hearing distance, leaving Sara standing alone in front of the school.

            “I still think we should tell Sara,” Lenzey said over the sound of passing cars as she and her friends marched down the sidewalk. “Even if she doesn’t know it, she’s as much a part of this as we are.”

            Walter nodded. He had never actually seen Sara use the power she, as a soothsayer, possessed to see the future, but Ellean and Lenzey had (he’d been turned into a field mouse at the time). According to them, whenever Sara came in contact with Zandar—or supposedly any Warlock—she recited a portion of a prophecy that proclaimed Lenzey, Walter, Zack, Ellean, and three unknown others as the saviors of Garibain. After delivering a portion of the prophecy though she would loose consciousness and wake-up with no memory of the event.

            “You’re right,” Walter admitted. “Sara is involved in this. But if I know Sara, the moment we show her the truth, she’ll tell everyone. You know her better than me though, if you think I’m wrong…”

            “No,” said Lenzey, “you’re probably right.”

            They quieted themselves and stepped off the sidewalk as a biker zoomed by them. Once they were sure he couldn’t hear them, they continued.

            Ellean vocalized the thought that had been on everyone’s mind for weeks now. “What about Zandar? He said he’d need us again. It’s been a year.”

            Zack finished the thought. “And we still haven’t found the other three Element Keepers.”

            “We haven’t looked,” Lenzey pointed out, her voice holding a hint of shame.

            “Maybe Zandar won’t come back.” Even as the words slid off his tongue, Walter knew he couldn’t believe them.

            He’d had a conversation with Lenzey on the topic. It had been months ago while their teacher had sent the two of them carry an extra table from an empty class room. Walter had said, “Do you know why Zandar sent Katrina here?” Lenzey had nodded, “He said it was so she could help protect us.” “I mean why he really sent Katrina back with us.” Lenzey had shot Walter a weary look; he didn’t blame her, after the way he had acted in Garibain his opinion deserved to be scrutinized. “He sent her here to make sure that we go back to Garibain.” “Walter…” “Think about it, she’s our age and Garibain is her home, she wants us to go back as much as anyone, except she’s been getting close to us all year. We won’t to be able to say no to her because she’ll be our friend.” “What are you trying to say, Water?” Lenzey had asked. “Are you trying to say that we shouldn’t make friends so that our consciences can be clean if people start dying?” Walter had flinched, feeling Lenzey’s eyes on him. “You’re right,” he’d said. “You’re right.”

            Zack shattered Walter’s recollection. “Whose house are we going to first?”

            “We’ll drop Katrina off,” Ellean said.

            “We should be looking for them,” Lenzey whispered to herself, just loud enough for the others to hear. “What happens when they get their powers and they don’t know what to do with them?”

            Ellean started to say, “Well Zack,” but spoke softer when she spotted someone walking down the sidewalk in their direction. “Well Zack can start fires at will, I’m not sure they can do much worse than him.”

            “Come on,” Zack said, “I’m standing right here.”

            Ellean ignored him. “I still think there’s a ninety percent chance he becomes a pyromaniac.”

            Zack waved his arms as if he was a lone survivor on a desert island trying to get the attention of a plane flying overhead. “Can anyone see me? Am I here right now? I know my superman-like appearance can make it hard to believe, but I can be hurt too.”

            Try though he might, Walter couldn’t help but grin at this.

            “Lenzey,” Katrina said with a volume that disregarded the approaching stranger. “Do you have the kingstone with you?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Well, if you give it to me I can start looking for the other Element Keepers.”

            Once the oncoming stranger had passed them, Lenzey began digging through her backpack for the kingstone, Walter had the mental image of Katrina wandering the streets, shoving the magical rock into the face of everyone she met.

            “Uhm, guys.”

            Lenzey’s voice drew Walter’s eyes to her. When he saw the look on her face, he followed her gaze to the item cupped in her hand.

            His breath caught in his throat.

            In Lenzey’s hands the kingstone lit with a brilliant light the color of the first leaf of spring.

            An Element Keeper was near.

***

2022 DRAFT: The reason for the gap between last draft and this one is because I started re-writing the first book, wrote two other books (one of which will probably never see the light of day), and started another project that I’m putting on ice until I can get a draft of Book 2 that I like.

This version of the draft is fairly close to what Chapter 2 and 3 of the previous draft would have been. It follows the canon of the published version of Light Keeper Chronicles, so Katrina is no longer with Lenzey, Walter, Ellean, and Zack. It’s about half the length, but as I kept on writing, I was still running longer than I wanted. I got about 14,000 words into this version and the characters were still nowhere near Garibain and I was still wrangling too many plot threads — I imagine this version of the book would have been in the ballpark of ~150,000 which is better, but things still weren’t quite fitting together the right way.

Chapter 1: Nearly Normal (2022)

Walter Miller knew that eventually he would have to accept the fact his life could never be normal. Yet, even as the stranger’s unconscious form hit the cement, he refused to let this be the day he allowed that knowledge take hold.

            The seconds of shock from Walter and his friends did not betray his rapidly increasing heart rate or his mind already starting to race through their options: Wake her up we can explain. Go right to our parents. Blame it all on Zack.

            Zack, who was the second nearest to the girl and holding a green glowing stone seemed to be taking things better than the other three. “I mean, now she’ll have to listen to us, right?”

            Lenzey, the closest to the girl, (and theoretically their leader in situations like this, Walter suddenly remember) was taking it the most poorly. “Oh my god,” she stuttered, shaking light a butterfly caught in a cold breeze despite the summer heat. “What did I just—I didn’t mean to!”

            “If anyone asks,” Ellean said from next to Walter, “I’m willing to say this was all Zack’s fault.”

            At least two of us are on the same page, Walter thought numbly.

            He was trying to look around without appearing as frantic as he felt. He and his three friends were in a quiet neighborhood less than an hour after school had gotten out. There weren’t any cars passing by or any other walkers to spot them, but it was only a matter of time before that changed. To make matters worse, this wasn’t a neighborhood any of them regularly passed through, so when they were inevitably spotted in broad daylight by someone living in the area, the four of them would undoubtedly stand out.

            “We should leave,” Walter said.

            Though she’s already looked horrified having watched the strange girl collapse a matter of seconds ago, Lenzey looked very nearly livid at Walter’s conclusion.

            “We can’t leave her!” Lenzey declared (louder than Walter would have preferred). “She’s an Element Keeper. She’s our responsibility!”

            “Maybe,” Walter said, a week attempt at placating Lenzey. “But she didn’t even believe us. If someone else shows up, how do you think they’re going to feel about our most rational version of an explanation?”

            If he was being honest with himself, Walter was still foggy on a lot of the specifics. When the four of them had been kidnapped last summer, Walter had had the misfortune of being the most kidnapped. Meaning the explanation the wizard Zandar had given his friends had only been communicated to him through Lenzey, Ellean, and Zack’s somewhat confused accounts.

            The facts, as Walter understood them were thus. Firstly, he and his three friends were Element Keepers of water, light, fire, and shadow respectively. Secondly, according to a prophecy neither he nor any of his friends had ever been able or allowed to read proclaimed them as four of the seven heroes of a magical world known as Garibain. Thirdly, the wizard who had allegedly been trying to help them return home was likely the one who had set the kidnapping that got the four of them to Garibain in motion. Lastly, there were three other Element Keepers in the world who Zandar had asked them to locate for him—a task only Zack seemed to have any level of enthusiasm for.

            “She’ll believe us when she’s awake,” Lenzey insisted. “We don’t know what her—her thing is. Imagine if she ends up with something like…”

            Lenzey trailed off, blushing in embarrassment as she avoided looking at Ellean.

            That was one of the things Walter wasn’t completely clear on. Apparently, there was something about the fantastic abilities that Ellean had received that were dangerous. Whatever they were, those abilities hadn’t emerged at all since they’d come back from Garibain. Walter had seen Ellean take tests in math class, heard he play clarinet behind him in band, and even watched a soccer game where Ellean was hit so hard by a slide tackle that she was in a cast for two months and—supposedly—still tasted grass and dirt whenever she went too long without chewing.

            Yet, when Josh Long had misfired a flicked an eraser into Ellean’s eye during Social Studies five weeks ago, Walter had seen Lenzey barely resist the urge to duck and cover as Ellean had yelled at Josh profusely enough to get both of them sent to Principal Garcia’s office. Lenzey had spent the rest of the class hyperventilating so hard that when Mr. Peterson had taken the opportunity use Lenzey’s heavy breathing as a way to illustrate supply and demand. (Walter felt the explanation was very well done, but was in poor taste.)

            “It doesn’t matter what Element Keeper power she has,” Walter said. “She won’t believe us. We need to go. Now!”

            Walter didn’t have time to feel bad about yelling or even to see how his other friends would react to his insistence that they leave.

            As the word “now” was still in the process of leaving his mouth, a voice from up the street shouted. “Hey!”

            Walter, Lenzey, Ellean, and Zack all turned their heads. Two other kids—high schoolers by the look of them—were just up the block. One of them was sprinting directly at them, throwing his backpack off as he sprinted to get to them even faster.

            If Zack was to be believed, Walter’s three friends had fought 100 goblins, a million ogres, a trillion vampire bats, and one-more-than-a-trillion mega-godzillas during their time in Garibain. But as the older kid ran at them, it was also Zack who shouted, “Vamoose!”

            For once, Walter obliged a direct request from Zack.

2023 DRAFT: So I spent a little while figuring out what wasn’t working the previous drafts as well as what I originally wanted this second book to be and how that has changed because I as a person have changed and because what I imagined this series as is still in flux.

Without getting into the specifics of the big change I made with this conceptualizing this version (since it doesn’t really come into play in this first chapter) I’ll also add that — while I feel good about where this chapter sets me up to go — it is NOT THE FINAL VERSION OF THE CHAPTER. Assuming I do end up liking how this draft shapes up, this draft will certainly be tweaked.

Chapter 1: Putting Out Fires (2023)

Walter knew he had to stop being surprised by Zack’s inability to keep a secret.

            Though, Walter thought to himself as he saw the mischievous glint of a yet-to-be-lit fire reflect in his friend’s eyes, the fact that it can still be called a secret after two years is pretty impressive … for Zack at least.

            Why Zack thought he had enough of a chance with Kayla Prins of all people that he’d blow the biggest secret of his life the week before summer started and they almost certainly went to separate high schools was a mystery known only to Zack.

            “Wait,” Kayla, scrunched her face—some combination of confusion, disbelief and possibly offense. “You want me to believe that you can make a fire happen? Just, out of nothing?”

            “Not out of nothing.” Zack was rubbing his hands other with a precision that implied this was some necessary step for his particular brand of pyrotechnics. “It’s out of me! You see, I’m maybe something of a magic man.”

            Kayla was looking Zack up and down. It was recess, meaning Zack had already managed to cover himself in a fresh coat of scars, scabs, dirt, and sweat. Presumably, what Kayla was looking for was something up his sleeve. Some sort of lighter or match. But Zack was wearing a tank top. Even if he had worn a sleeved shirt, the boy generally lacked the patience to learn sleight of hand.

            What Zack did have, Walter knew, was the ability to start fires at will. No theatrical, hand-rubbing required.

            With a tired trudge, Walter made his way across the playground to where Zack was staging this demonstration. He could have run over to get to Zack before he managed to summon fire, but startling someone in the midst of manifesting fire seemed like a bad idea. Besides, Walter’s goals was to stop Zack from burning down the playground and/or school.

            (Walter also wanted to keep concealed the fact that he and his friends had inherited magical abilities two years ago and been magically transported to a place called Garibain where goblins and wizards and dryads existed—but discovering all of that would take at least a little longer than Zack starting a fire.)

            It was just as Walter was approaching that Zack, at long last, summoned a tiny flame, quivering in the palm of his hand, nearly imperceptible to anyone not standing next to him.

            Kayla’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Then she immediately closed her mouth, and looked skeptically between Zack and the flame. “How are you doing that?”

            “I told you I was magic,” Zack grinned, gesturing for her to look back to the flame.

            The moment she did, the flame got bigger. And bigger. And bigger. And—

            Walter clapped both of his hands over Zack’s, letting out an unintentional scream as his friend’s fire lapped against the palm of his hand.

            Perhaps more from Zack willing the fire extinguished in his surprise than Walter depriving the flame of oxygen, the burning stopped and Zack let out a cry of surprise.

            “Oh, Walter!” he declared. “I didn’t see you there.”

            “Oh my god!” Kayla cried out. “How did you do that?”

            Walter’s teeth were gritted. His hands were numb except for a faint sting that was growing sharper and sharper with every passing moment. “Zack, that’s not a trick you should be doing.”

            Kayla looked at Walter. “How did he do that?”

            Zack held a calming hand in Kayla’s direction, “I learned it from a wizard named Zandar.” He turned back to Walter. “She thought it was cool! See? Totally fine!”

            Walter was holding back tears and barely keeping a curse from flying in Zack’s face. Anger twisted his gut and he held up both his hands. Based on Zack, gasping slightly and taking a step back, the damage was apparent.

            “Totally fine?” Walter pushed. How that he’d moved his hands, he could feel them shaking, wracked by an aching sting.

            Kayla gasped again. “Walter, are you okay?”

            “He’s fine,” Zack said in a tone that didn’t entirely believe it. “He’s been kidnapped by goblins. If he got out of that, he’ll be fine with a little fire.”

            Kayla did a double take. “He—what?”

            Walter grabbed Zack’s arm and began pulling him away while forcing a smile at Kayla. “I’m just going to steal him away from you for a bit.”

            “But your hands—I should get someone.”

            “I’m fine,” Walter said, already pulling Zack away, directing him to the back of the playground, which tended to have fewer people on it.

            “Come on, Walter,” Zack said. “If I have the ability to make fire happen, I should use it.”

            “No, exactly the opposite,” Walter hissed. “You should make fire as little as possible.”

            “Well … the one fire I made this time started as little as possible.”

            “You can’t keep doing this, Zack. Someone could have gotten hurt—I did get hurt!”

            Zack flashed a smile that didn’t quite believe itself. “Come on, though. You’re alright, right?”

            Walter looked down at his hands. Looking at them now, he felt the dull aching escalate to burning pain. Red discoloration warped the palms of his hands—his right hand in particular, which he’d foolishly used to primarily smother the fire. As he stared at the injuries, he noticed some of his own tears begin to splash against his hand, each tear sending a faint ripple of pain.

            Probably some bad first degree burns, he thought numbly.

            Zack was still speaking. “… soon as I saw you grab for it I made it disappear so, it’s probably not that bad. You’re okay, aren’t you?”

            “We have an English test after recess,” Walter mumbled. “I’m not going to be able to hold a pencil.”

            “I—I’m sure you’ll still do better at it than me,” Zack flustered. “Even if you don’t, you could probably turn the test in blank and get a better grade than half of the class.”

            Without asking, Zack reached for Walter’s hands. Instinctively, Walter pulled away.

            “You saw them,” Walter said. “I think I’ve had enough of you, Zack!”

            “Sorry, I should have—I can fix it.”

            “You can’t fix it. All you needed to do was not talk about Garibian or magic or fire powers or Zandar, but you did! I don’t want you to fix it, I—I just want you to do better, Zack!”

            “But I can fix your hands,” Zack pleaded. “Come on. I’m sorry, but I can actually fix your hands.”

            Walter keep his hands away. “Is it with magic?”

            “… It isn’t not without zero magic, if that’s what you’re asking.”

            “Then I don’t want it! What was I just talking about?!”

            “Well, one of the things you were talking about was not wanting to fail Ms. Mann’s test,” Zack offered his hand. “Walter, I’m sorry, I’m really really really sorry. Please, let me help.”

            For a few moments, Walter wrestled with his thoughts. From what he had seen of magic—teleporting him to Garibain, broadcasting secret messages, pinning him to a wall while a man with a sword tried to kill his friend—he didn’t trust it. Zack might have the best intentions but Walter had also been in a room with Zack, pop rocks, and a soda bottle. He dreaded the idea of volunteering himself to Zack’s “good ideas.”

            No, I don’t need it. I’m going to take the test, even if I fail, I can still get, he quickly ran the number in his head, a B-plus …

            “Do it,” Walter said. “Whatever it is that needs to happen, do it.”

            Zack nodded, took Walter’s hand in his, and began to chant in a tongue Walter recognized but did not understand. As the chant went on, Walter felt the pain in his hand diminish and disappear. When he looked at his palm again, there was almost no sign that the burn had even been there to begin with.

            Walter took a moment to flex his hand, testing the skin and muscles and found to his surprise that whatever Zack did had been done with proficiency.

            “Okay,” Walter said, split between saying ‘Thank you, Zack’ and ‘Please don’t play with fire anymore, Zack.’ “Let’s just make it through this week. Then you can get into whatever trouble you want in a place where I don’t have to stress about it.”

            Zack smiled. “Awww, that’s sweet. But even when I’m not around, I know you’re thinking of me.”

            “With dread and fear.”