Over an hour had passed since Morgan and Agnes had been left at the house alone. After finishing her homework, Agnes had begun watching videos on her laptop while her brother contented himself with reading something off the bookshelf in the living room. Most of the books were new, but there were a few that Chris had kept from Morgan’s childhood. Feeling nostalgic, he started rereading one. Morgan was halfway through the second chapter when he heard a vehicle pulling up to the front of the house, and he peeked up to look.

“Ah. Mail’s here,” he said.

He promptly put his book down on the end table and got up to fetch it.

“Hey, if you’re going outside, take Tito with you so he can use the bathroom,” Agnes told him.

The infernal Rottweiler poked his head out from under the table he had been napping when he heard his name. When Morgan called out to him and gestured for him the follow, the dog eagerly did so. Even hellhounds loved the opportunity to stretch their legs outdoors. Hero and hellhound left the house together, the former heading straight for the mailbox, while the latter took a detour over to some bushes to handle some private business.

Just before Morgan opened the mailbox, an RV rounded the block. It stopped only a few feet away from him before he could head back to the front door. Morgan was curious about the vehicle; even more so when a young woman energetically popped out from the driver’s seat.

“Hey! Are you Morgan Moon?” she asked energetically.

Morgan made a face when the stranger said his name. He didn’t recognize this person, and for a person he didn’t recognize to approach him out of the blue and know his name most likely meant they were a Validaran whose face he had forgotten. He didn’t immediately react, but he remained cautionary as he answered.

“…Yeah. I’m him.”

The stranger smiled, unnerving Morgan further. “The same Morgan Moon who supposedly died in a plane crash into the Salish Sea a decade ago?”

Subtly, so subtle only an expert martial artist from the Nine Realms could sense it, Morgan started to hone his Quintessence. No strange moves had yet been made, but the Chosen One felt a confrontation coming on. Tito came over to Morgan’s side, but unlike with the Dannith sisters, he kept a calm demeanor.

“Yeah, I’m that Morgan Moon? There something you need?” Morgan replied, ready for whatever happened next.

The stranger’s smile evolved into a grin.

“You bet there is!”

She didn’t attack. She didn’t let unleash any Quintessence. She didn’t cast any spell. The stranger just turned on her heels and ran back to her RV. When she came out, she carried with her an expensive-looking video camera that she stood on a tripod a few feet from Morgan and Tito. After a bit of fiddling with the camera, she went over to Morgan with a microphone in hand and began counting to herself.

“Four, three, two… What’s up, everyone? It’s your girl, Angela Zaragoza out here bringing you the real news before fake news can even finish their coffee! Today, I’m following up on an investigation I started days ago, and concluding a case that’s been haunting the city of Seattle for over ten years!”

Morgan blinked. What exactly had he just gotten himself into?

“As my viewers know, I’ve been on the West Coast for the past few months, covering everything from political rallies to wildfires, but I’ve also been investigating in the meanwhile into the Puget Sound Disaster. Trying to piece together just what really happened and who, if anyone, is to blame for that crash that was all over every news station in America a decade ago. And I didn’t just research the pilots’ and airline company’s histories, I analyzed the names of every unfortunate soul on that plane! And in I wound up finding something fascinating. Just the other day – I’m talking a few hours before I’m recording this video right now – I discovered that one certain passenger who was written off as dead suddenly popped back up alive in the public records. And ‘lo and behold, look at who I found safe and sound and not dead at the bottom of Puget Sound: Morgan Moon!”

Morgan gazed *confusingly at the camera as Angela pointed her microphone toward him.

“…Are you a journalist or something?” he asked.

“I’m an independent, nomadic, esoteric, gonzo journalistic YouTuber.”

“Ah. My bad.”

“No problem! So, Morgan, you were supposed to have died in that plane crash just like all the others, but here you are all these years later alive and well. How did you survive and the others didn’t?”

“I’m sorry, but how do you know all of this?”

“Like I said, your public records got updated for the first time in over a decade. If I wasn’t already doing research on you at the time, I would have never noticed.”

Morgan then remembered how, because he had been presumed dead for so long, he and his father had to go somewhere to confirm his identity so he could finally get some ID. But that was literally yesterday. How had this girl already picked up on this? He glanced back at the house to see his sister peeking at the scene through the window. She gave him a look that asked ‘why is it taking you so long just to get the mail?’ The hero just shrugged and returned his eyes back to Angela. He could have told her to just go away or that he wasn’t interested in talking about things relating to his crash and the things that preceded it, but he could tell just from the look in this girl’s restless eyes that she would not retreat without first getting her scoop.

“Well, uh… The thing about the crash is…” Morgan began.

The Chosen One started giving her the same made-up narrative he had given his father. It sounded as silly now as it did when he first told it then, but just like Chris, Angela bought the story. More than that, she seemed positively enthralled by it.

“That’s incredible. What a life it’s been for you…” she said in an astonished tone.

Little did the journalist know that the true story of what Morgan had been doing in between the plane crash and his return home was far more incredible than the fake one he had narrated to her.

“So, you really just think it was a mechanical failure then?” asked Angela, giving Morgan her final question. “It wasn’t an inside job to take out any specific passengers, or anything like that?”

“No, I think it was all just a tragic accident. Maybe that’s a boring answer, but I really don’t see any real ‘conspiracy’ going on here.”

Angela hummed thoughtfully. “I see. Well, you heard it here folks. That concludes my investigation into the Puget Sound Disaster. Maybe in the future, new evidence will pop up, but I’ve turned over every rock I could find about it for now. This is your girl Angela Zaragoza signing off!”

With the impromptu interview concluded, Angela rushed to turn off her camera.

“Thanks for agreeing to the interview, Morgan. I really appreciate it” she said as she started gathering up her equipment.

While still pondering when such an agreement had been made, Morgan asked Angela: “When this gets put on YouTube, just how much information are you going to include?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll blur out your address and edit out the really personal childhood stuff. I just like to get as much footage and material as I can.”

“Childhood stuff? You have things about my childhood?”

“Oh, yeah. I get really thorough when I’m investigating. I promise it’ll only be the relevant stuff though.”

And just what ‘relevant stuff’ would that be? She had apparently been digging deep into his background before she even knew he was still alive. Morgan had to wonder just how much did this woman know about his past.

“Oh! Before I forget, take this,” Angela said as she hastily handed Morgan a card with her number and email address. “If you really hate I edited it down, you can throw as many complaints through that as you want.”

“Will you change anything if I do?”

“In the future, sure.”

Morgan cocked a brow at that response. He watched Angela give Tito a pet before heading into her RV, waving goodbye, and driving off. He watched her vehicle vanish around the block before starting back inside. He wasn’t sure what to make of that girl, but she certainly seemed to live up to the title of "independent, nomadic, esoteric, gonzo journalistic YouTuber.’ One thing was now certain to Morgan – there were more troublesome people he could be ambushed by than a hostile Validaran.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

“How did your bonding time when Agnes go?” Veronica asked from where she sat on the countertop.

She inquired this while watching her stepson wash the dishes that evening. He wasn’t forced to do chores, but Morgan felt bad if he didn’t contribute something to the household while not holding down a job. Granted, he still didn’t feel all that great with Veronica looking over him like a mother hen while bothering him with questions.

“Something is off with your daughter,” he said.

“You must be mistaken. My little girl is a sweetheart.”

“A sweetheart who’s completely unfazed by death and is lacking in critical amounts of empathy. She uses the words ‘weak’ and ‘pathetic’ a little too much for a nine-year-old. Just what have you let her see?”

“If you think that Agnes is traumatized from something she saw years ago, you’re incorrect. Agnes has always been like that ever since she was at knee height. There was a time when Chris was picking her up from daycare, a car accident happened just around the block and the results were grizzly. Agnes, who had only just turned five at the time, looked at the grizzly remain of one of the deceased drivers and she asked her father: ‘Daddy, why do people die so easily? Are they just too weak?’”

Morgan nearly dropped the dish from his hand. He stared at the witch blankly.

“Keep in mind; this was before she ever saw me kill anyone. The first time she ever witnessed something like that – which was a complete accident, just so you’re aware – she wasn’t even bothered the next day. Honestly, I think it might just be the dragon’s blood in her. She’s a quarter dragon-kin, and there’s often a saying that quadragons are the most likely to go insane later in life.

Morgan’s eyes widened at the revelation. He most certainly did not know that, and the fact that Veronica stated it so plainly bothered him almost as much as the fact itself.

“Relax,” the witch reassured him. “I’ll reel her in once she reaches puberty. Besides, she’s got you as a role model now. You and that annoying moral compass will definitely help keep her on the right path.”

The hero shook his head. Somehow he had gone from being his sister’s occasional babysitter to being her primary moral mentor.

“Just keep throwing new jobs at me,” he said sarcastically.

“Actually, speaking of jobs, didn’t you say you were going job hunting next week?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“But… why? Chris is fine with letting you live here until you readjust to life on Earth. There’s no need to rush.”

“No, I definitely need to rush. Dad might be fine with me taking my sweet time to get things together, but I’m not. I can’t stand not doing anything and just, y’know… living off his charity? No. Whether it’s flipping burgers, doing construction, or mopping floors; anything is better than being a… What’s the word I’m looking for? Being a…”

“A NEET? A non-productive, able-bodied adult whose not in education, employment, or training? Is that what you meant?”

“…Yeah. That.”

“Okay. What’s your plan then?”

“I left Earth before being able to graduate from junior high, so the first thing I plan to do is get my GED. After that, I’ll probably sign up for community college, maybe some online classes or something, and work a job or two in between. I could probably go to school full-time in the morning while working an early morning or late night shift around that. I’d like to stay busy if I can.”

Years of constant traveling, fighting, and training had turned Morgan into something of a workaholic. He became unsettled if he didn’t have something to do. He needed something productive to keep him busy or he felt he would start going slightly insane.

“So, any job that pays minimum wage would do?”

“Not exactly. I have one condition: It has to be an early morning or late night shift. I’m not sure how many Validarans know I’m on Earth, and how many know I’m living with my dad, but I want a job that’s out of most people’s sight. Something where most people are sleeping and I have as few co-workers as possible would be great.”

“Trying to be unseen, are you? Keep a low profile like that won’t help you for too long, especially not when the Hero Slayers start coming after you.”

Morgan shrugged. “Better to stay underground for a few weeks than to have my spot blown up from the get-go. I’ve run into enough Validarans as it is. I can definitely wait to meet more.”

Morgan finished washing the dishes and drained the sink of the sudsy dishwater. As he was drying his hands, his father came into the kitchen.

“Uh, Morgan? Can you come into the living room for a minute?” he asked.

“Sure, what’s up? You need me to do something else.”

“No, Agnes just found something that I think you really need to see.”

Still confused, Morgan and Veronica followed Chris out of the kitchen and into the living room. There Agnes sat on the couch with Tito sitting near her feet. When she saw them all enter, her gaze instantly homed in on her brother and lingered just long enough to make him uncomfortable.

“What?” he asked.

“That girl you were talking to earlier this morning; I thought I recognized her, but I couldn’t believe that she would actually show up just to interview you,” she said.

“You mean that journalist girl? What about her?”

Agnes then turned her laptop around to show a video she had been playing. It was a video of Morgan from just earlier today.

The Chosen One’s eyes widened. “Is that the interview I did with that Angela girl this morning? Wait… It almost has a million views already?! She only interviewed me this morning! And it was uploaded only a few hours ago!”

“Angela Zaragoza has millions of subscribers,” Agnes said. “She’s only been making videos for two years and she’s already one of the most popular content creators on the site. She gets more views on most of her videos than almost all the news networks’ videos do. This interview will probably have a bunch more views by tomorrow since it’s already trending. Just look at this.”

Agnes then refreshed the video. Within the span of a few minutes, the video already had an additional hundred thousand more views than before. Morgan ran his hands through his hair in disbelief at what was happening. At this rate, the video was going to have millions of views within only twenty-four hours.

“Wait, you said you did this interview earlier today? How come it’s so well edited then?” Veronica asked. “Does she have a team for this or something?”

Agnes shook her head. “She apparently does all the producing for her videos by herself.”

“Are those photos of Morgan when he was ten?” Chris asked in shock. “Where did she get those?”

“Angela is a junkie for investigating and researching stuff,” Agnes answered again. “She probably uncovered all sorts of information even you didn’t know was public.”

The hero groaned audibly when his sister refreshed the page again and showed that the video had finally surpassed two million views. These were the types of numbers reserved for music videos to chart-topping hits or content creators of the highest echelon; the latter of which Angela obviously was based on of her insane subscriber count. It was on the front page and gathering momentum at an insane speed. The story itself would no doubt be picked up by regular news outlets within the next few hours. Morgan’s unlikely return to Earth, or at least the version he had told his father and Angela, was now trending and about to go viral.

Veronica, knowing exactly what he was thinking, gave him a sympathetic but still somewhat schadenfreudistic smile. Morgan could only sigh. In a single day, his hopes of keeping a low profile had gone up in smoke.