I fell onto a dark, dirty road. All around me was a swooshing sound that sounded like air being pushed through a vent. Suddenly, a bus honked several times. I turned around and was blinded by its headlights. I rolled out of the bus’ way as it sped by and noticed I was in a tunnel. Further down, some more buses were parked.

Where am I? I wondered. Did Katherine send me through the wrong portal? I couldn’t even see where a portal could be. I looked up and hidden in the pipework on the ceiling was the arch. No one would ever notice it unless they were intentionally looking for it.

When I pulled my mask off, I was back in my pajamas. I was thankful that I had at least put shoes on. I jogged down the tunnel before another bus came. As I approached the parked buses, I realized that I was in the underground part of the bus station downtown.

I passed through the glass doors separating the buses from the interior and took the escalators upstairs. I tried to ignore everyone’s gazes. There was no doubt that I seemed strange walking about in my pajamas. I reached the exit and escaped outside.

“Daniel!” A tiny body struck me and little arms squeezed me. I smiled as I saw that it was Hannah.

“Hey,” I said as I lifted her up to hug her. She weighed next to nothing. “What are you doing here?”

“We came to pick you up. How was camp?” she asked.

“It was great.”

“Oh-my-goodness! Look at you! Where is my son?!” My mom squealed with delight. She pulled me into a hug. When she let go, she squeezed my arm. “Look at the size of that! You’re a whole new person.”

“Thanks, mom. I worked my butt off.”

“Literally,” she said. “C’mon let’s get out of here. What on earth are you wearing?”

“Oh, um, it was a long ride from camp. I wanted to be comfortable,” I said.

“Well, we’ll get you changed. I’m sure none of your clothes will fit you now. Then we’ll find something to eat,” my mom said. She slipped her arm around my shoulders and hugged me tightly once more. Together, we went to the car. I took the passenger seat and kept my sword’s carrying case on my lap. “What’s that?”

“A poster I won,” I said, and I was glad she started driving so she couldn’t ask to see it.

At the rate my mom was driving, it took forever to get to the highway. Or, maybe it just seemed that way. I was so used to Katherine’s speeding.

I zoned out as my mind replayed the events in Harukan. I couldn’t wait to return and explore the city. The next time I looked up, we were pulling up to a strip mall. All of the stores were expensive designer brands, but my mom got out of the car like it was nothing.

“What’re we doing here?” I asked.

“We’ve got to get you something nice. I’ve decided to take us out somewhere decent,” my mom said. I noticed that she was in a white dress with a pearl necklace and Hannah had brushed her hair.

“We can afford that?”

“Yeah, you won’t believe it! Mom won a contest!” Hannah said as we entered the store. My mother floated over to a mannequin in a gray suit.

“You’d look handsome in this, don’t you think?” mom said.

“What contest?”

“I don’t know, I just got a letter in the mail saying I won. There was a check for a lot of money. I thought it was a joke, but I took it to the bank, and it was the real deal,” mom said. She laid a tie around my neck. “Hmm, no.”

I wondered if Katherine had something to do with this mysterious check. I made a mental note to ask her about it another time.

I settled on charcoal pants and a navy button up shirt. I ignored my mother’s protests about wearing my sneakers with it. I didn’t want her wasting money on shoes I’d hardly wear.

Located across the street at the bottom of a sleek high-rise was the restaurant my mom wanted to go to. People were packed into the waiting area. While my mother fought her way to the hostess, Hannah and I wedged ourselves onto one of the benches. The second I sat down; I felt a buzzing on my butt. I jumped from the surprise and forgot I had a cell phone in my pocket. I opened my messages.

KatherineC: Sitting at home watching cat

videos…can you tell I’m bored? :(

I laughed, and I swore the biggest grin found its way onto my face.

Kaine: LOL. I miss you, too.

“Who’s Kaine?” Hannah asked. Her chin perched on my shoulder. I turned the phone over so that she couldn’t read anything else.

“You can’t just read someone else’s stuff,” I said.

“Why? Are you texting you’re giiirrrlllfriend?” she teased.

My face flushed red. “She’s not my girlfriend,” I said irritated. Although, I didn’t know if I was irritated at the question or the fact that Katherine wasn’t my girlfriend.

“Come on kids,” our mother called.

We followed the hostess to a cushy booth. She practically threw menus at my mother and sister then set mine down in front of me like it was sacred. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you,” she said, smiling extra wide.

My eyes followed her as she went back to her post. She giggled and whispered to several other waitresses. They all kept looking at me. I figured I must’ve had funny hair from being wet or something. Why else would they stare? I picked up my menu and tried to hide behind it, hoping the girls would leave me alone.

After weeks with no meat, I felt ready to devour a whole cow. But I was taken aback when our food eventually arrived. The smell hit me long before the waitress set the plates down. It smelled like soft cat food after it had rotted a week. I could smell the dead flesh of the steak underneath the spices and it turned my stomach sour.

“Is there something wrong?” the waitress asked.

“I think I’ll just have a salad, thanks,” I said and did my best to shelter my nose from the stench radiating from my mom and Hannah’s plates.

They asked about the camp while they ate. I answered truthfully; I told them it was a lot of hard work and I had to do things that I didn’t think I could do.

“Tell mom about your girlfriend,” Hannah said, snickering.

“I told you she’s not—”

“What?” My mom perked up, on alert Mom Mode. She put her finger in the air as if to tell me to hold on a minute. She shook her head several times. “No, no, no, Daniel.” She took a bite of her food and forced it down quickly. “You can’t have a girlfriend yet. We haven’t even had ‘the talk.’”

“Mom! She’s not my girlfriend. She’s just a friend!”

“Yeah, right. Two seconds off the bus and you’re texting each other your undying love,” Hannah said.

“You are not helping,” I growled. Hannah wiggled her eyebrows at me, challengingly.

“I thought we agreed—that since you have a finite number of texts—you’d only use them to contact me for emergencies,” my mom said.

“Did he show you his new phone too, mom? It looks expensive.”

“Wait, how’d you get a new phone?”

“I…uh, the camp gave it to me,” I said, struggling to think. Lying to them was a lot harder than I expected it would be. “And you don’t have to worry about the texting; I’m going to get a job to pay for it.”

My mom’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “Really?” She sawed at her steak. “That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“I can do it,” I said, a bit agitated because of her attitude.

“If that’s what you want,” she said. “Just no girlfriends.”

“What’s the big deal if I had one anyway?”

“You’re seventeen, you don’t need a girlfriend right now. You can start dating once you finish college. The same goes for you.” Mom pointed at Hannah.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” she said and gave me a firm look.

“Who is this girl, anyway?”

“She’s the one I met before school ended. She was at the camp too.”

“Wait, the girl who dragged you out all night and made you think it was okay not to tell me where you were?” my mom asked. I gulped, and somehow she knew the answer. “I’m not sure I approve of this girl. You knew her for all of one day, and already you were making bad choices.”

“You don’t even know her.”

“Sure I do. Everyone knows those kinds of people. They’re the fun, good looking ones, and they’re great to hang out with. They invite you to parties, and you’re all buddies. Next thing you know, you’re a parent,” my mom said. I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “You think this kind of thing can’t happen to you, well it certainly can. It happened to me, and I’m not going to let my kids make the same mistakes.”

I was surprised. She didn’t usually bring up anything having to do with our father. Either she’d cry, or get mad at the whole situation. Anytime I asked about him; she’d say, “He’s just like every other dead beat. One day, he just left.”

“She’s not that kind of girl, and she’s not even interested in me,” I said and shuffled my salad around. “Anyway, what have you guys been doing this summer?”

Thanks to my mother’s ten-second attention span, she easily switched to talking about the garden she started in the backyard.

Hannah talked about which assault rifles she’d been drooling over and couldn’t wait to be old enough to buy on the black market.

I had missed them, even with all of their craziness. I knew I would find a way to make this work. I wanted them in my life. Part of me felt guilty that I could be with my family and Katherine couldn’t be with hers.

After stuffing ourselves, we wobbled back to the car and returned home. I smiled as we pulled into the driveway. The last time our house had been in style was the 1970s. It needed a new paint job, and my mother might’ve been over zealous with the landscaping, but it was nice to be home.

For a moment, I hesitated to go inside. I worried about all of the camps that had been burning down. If the ones in my state were the latest to be hit, that meant my enemies weren’t too far. Were the Betrayals still hunting me?

I did a quick scan of the area around me. I didn’t feel like I was being watched, so I went inside. Maybe they knew that by now I was a lost cause.

I settled onto the couch to watch a movie with my mom and Hannah. When it was over, we all wandered upstairs to go to bed. I snuggled into my blankets and lay back onto the pillows. I was about to shut my eyes when my phone vibrated. I’d hoped it was another message from Katherine, but it wasn’t. The text read: CAMP UNDER ENEMY ATTACK.

Before I could do anything else, the phone’s GPS app opened. A destination was already chosen. Judging by the distance on the map, it was in the mountains.

Was this my first assignment? And was I expected to run that far? I figured I’d better get a move on if I was going to get there in time. I put my mask on and strapped my sword onto my back.

I was nervous and excited. This was a real mission with real danger. I remembered all of my mistakes during training; dropping the dummy, not moving fast enough, or not paying attention to small details. I couldn’t screw up anymore. I had to get things right.