"What are you two doing?" Mr. Jones asks walking up behind us as Jordan and I place the empty boxes and paper into the fire pile.

"Hey, Kevin, how are you doing this fine morning?" Jordan asks, his tone casual.

Mr. Jones takes a sip of his coffee, glancing behind us at the neatly folded boxes. "Good. May I ask again what you two are doing?"

I glance at Jordan, who keeps grinning at Mr. Jones. I sigh, patting the last box's flat. "We built a little jungle gym for the triplites. It also functions as an emergency escape route and another watch tower," I explain, dusting my hands on my pant legs.

Mr. Jones nods "And how did you two get all these things, and where did you build it?"

I gulp, turning to Jordan. He stares back at me, completely at ease. Mr. Jones is a morning person, one of the first to wake up every morning other than the people on breakfast duty. Meaning the three of us are the only people at the front doors right now.

We have ten minutes until those on night watch switch out with the morning shifts.

Jordan nods his head outside "We'll show you."

Mr. Jones walks alongside Jordan, talking about the base's setup and any future alterations before winter. Jordan has always been the self-sufficient type, especially with being immortal; he has had plenty of time to learn and implement his findings. His old house wasn't even on the map and was fully self-sufficient for around a decade. Bella only used magic in her garden and to help keep the house hidden; Jordan did the rest.

I play with my fingers behind them, my un-beating heart caught in my throat.

Jordan stops as we round the corner, gesturing to our quite impressive creation. Around 20 feet wide and 12 feet high, the miss match of playgrounds and jungle gyms intertwine like a maze. It took us two hours to build and thirty minutes alone just to plan.

Mr. Jones stops, eyes wide at our creation "How did the two of you do this?"

Jordan laughs "Lots of blood sweat and tears." I cough, earning a playful glare from Jordan - vampires don't sweat, and crying is difficult.

Mr. Jones lays his coffee cup on the ground, walking forward to get a better look and the plastic, metal, and rope mayhem. "So you are telling me the two of you did this just last night, in the dark, without the people on watch noticing?" He asks, walking around the jungle gym/play structure thingy.

I nod, picking up his cup of coffee and staying quiet. Jordan takes the hint, stepping forward "Well, Kevin, that is exactly what we're saying." I force the urge to facepalm down - it's okay, Kaindra, remember Jordan is older and has more experience in these sorts of things, I hope.

Mr. Jones stops, turning towards Jordan "Is that so." He glances at Jordan and me, taking us in "That would be impossible for two people to do. Who else helped you and how did you get all this here without anyone finding out?"

I gulp, slightly moving into a relaxed defensive stance. Jordan steps forward standing face-to-face with Mr. Jones. Jordan places a hand on Mr. Jones's shoulder gently smiling at him "Kevin, you know me, Kaindra and I are completely normal. We hid the boxes in the storage room and built this last night with some help from a couple of people. It was your idea to have an easily accessible escape route and the hiding place as well as a fun place for people to relax."

My eyes widen, Jordan is compelling Mr. Jones. "You're a smart man. You can fill in the gaps to make this story sound reasonable and authentic," Jordan says, dropping his hand to his side.

"Yes, Jordan, you are right. This was all my idea, and I will fill in the gaps," Mr. Jones says in a daze.

Jordan claps his hands "Great...oh, and you will forget this whole conversation happened and that you were just checking on our work when you woke up."

Mr. Jones nods, his glassed eyes turning back to normal. Looking around, he shakes his hands "Where did I leave my coffee?"

I walk forward, smiling "Here, Mr. Jones," I say, handing him his still-warm cup.

He smiles, taking the cup from my hands "Aww, thanks, Kaindra."

"You're welcome," I say, backing up "I'm going to check on the others. Bye."

I wave as I turn to leave "Bye, Kaindra. See you later," Jordan calls as I jog to the front.

Jordan and Mr. Jones stay behind, examining our work. Mr. Jones listens as Jordan explains our project, nodding along as he drinks his coffee.

Sighing, I slump in my chair shoving food into my mouth. Kaitlyn watches me as she slowly eats her food, huffing she swallows turning to me "Okay, Kaindra, what happened?" She asks.

I grumble "Jordan and I almost had a mishap this morning."

"What kind?" She asks.

I look at her "The kind were...how Jordan handled it makes me want to slap him silly."

She nods "I get the feeling he makes you want to do that a lot."

Everly skips over plopping into the open seat next to me "Yep she does that a lot," she says happily munching on her food.

Kaitlyn looks at the sweet child "How did you hear us little one?"

Everly grins leaning closer to Kaitlyn and the others across the table "Magic," she whispers giggling.

Kaitlyn's brow scrunches as she looks at the child. Bella comes over to the two other children following tiredly behind her. Everly the one morning child in the trio swings her legs happily as she eats. Ignoring her sibling's tired glairs as they begin eating soon to gain the same energy as their older sister.

"I'm teaching them to use small unnoticeable spells in public," Bella says as she sits in her chair.

Kaitlyn turns to Bella her attention fully on the older witch "But don't they have to use an incantation to use magic? Wouldn't that gain attention?"

"When using an incantation all one needs is to first understand what they are saying, and second will the words into reality," Bella says.

Kaitlyn looks at her, her face now a lump of confused wrinkles "Will it into reality, I don't understand."

Bella gently puts her fork down "For us witches and warlocks magic is second nature. Yes you need to practice it to do it more efficiently and safely and you need to learn the language but a witch can still do magic even without having a teacher. Once they know they are a witch and start practicing the incantations just come to you."

Kaitlyn nods "So it's like if a person is gifted in art and they start practicing the basic idea of what to do just comes to them?"

Bella nods "Exactly all with practice anyone can learn the basics."

Kaitlyn nods her food forgotten "How loud do you need to say the incantations and how do you need to say the incantations to make the magic work?"

Bella turns to me, I look at her for a second before returning to my food "Already up since we sat down," I say.

She smiles returning her attention to Kaitlyn. "All you need to do is say the words and will your magic forward, or in other words believe what you are saying to be true and use your magic to make it so. It's difficult to explain to someone who is not a witch or warlock."

I huff "No kidding I don't even fully understand and I can use magic."

Bella laughs "Yes that's true all magic or sorcery for each species is different and follows different rules even though it comes from the same source. So what works for one and how one uses their magic is different per species. However, the main rules of magic per species are the same."

Kaitlyn fiddles with her fingers itching to write all this new information down. If we ever want a supernatural researcher with all the information on the different species we got a willing participant. The others sit their attention fully on the current conversation between Bella and Kaitlyn well the triplites talk in their own little world.

Bella holds up her hand in the middle of the table her gold-rimmed blue eyes flash slightly as she pulls her magic forth the white highlights in her black hair shimmering like snow. "Pożar," she mumbles a small flame igniting on her fingertips.

Kaitlyn watches the little flames dance on Bella's fingertips "How well can you control them?"

"Not as well as Kaindra can. Witches can only conjure fire, the most manipulation we can do with it is the temperature, and size, and move it slightly, we can't bend it to our will unnaturally like casters."

Kaitlyn nods "What about the other elements?"

"We can manipulate wind and water, the most we can do with the earth is make things grow and use for potions and such," Bella says snuffing out the fire as she closes her hand returning to her food.

Kaitlyn is now satisfied with the new information and stays quiet as she eats. Jen, Sam, and Liam talk excitedly to each other about the magic that was shown. I turn to the three six-year-old children "By the way guys Jordan and I have a surprise for you," I say excitedly.

Jen snaps to attention at my words "What surprise? I never heard of a surprise?"

Sam follows Jen "What surprise?" the two mimicking each other staring at me with their hands on their hips.

Chuckling I stand up grabbing my plate and cutlery "You all will just have to wait till after lunch to learn about the surprise." I say they pout glaring at my back as I leave removing the sound and vision barrier.

Waving to the table as I exit the cafeteria I bump into my mom and Kaylee just outside the doors. "Ahh Kaindra just who we were looking for," my mom says taking my arm as she turns away from the cafeteria dragging me downstairs.

Kaylee follows behind as I get dragged to Mother Knows Where. As I continue to be dragged around I interrupt the silence "So Mom how is it to be working with farm animals again?"

Mom smiles "Like I'm back at home with my parents and brothers."

I smile, turning my head around to Kaylee "How are you liking the medical area?"

Kaylee shrugs "Good for what we have here, I'm learning what I can from the books we brought over. But nothing would beat a traditional hospital."

I nod, looking forward as we slow down. My mom stops us in front of the back doors. "That's actually what I wanted to ask you about," Kaylee starts.

"We're limited on the medicinal herbs that we can grow and use easily for wounds," my mom continues.

"At home, we have aloe vera," and back to Kaylee.

"Which is easy to grow and multiply," and back to mom.

"And lives inside very easily even in winter," back to Kaylee.

"And we have two large plants," Mom.

"And four small ones," Kaylee.

"If you brought them back we can start a small garden," Mom.

"And easily make salves," Kaylee.

"And-."

"Okay, okay, I get it, I get it. Please stop with the back and forth," I cut off my mom before they can continue. Taking a deep breath I start "So, you want me to go home and bring our aloe vera here to start our indoor garden and to have a medicinal plant on hand?"

They nod "Exactly."

"Okay, and you brought me out back so that I can leave out the back gate like I'm going scouting?"

They nod "Yep."

Sighing, I pull my backpack out of the shadows and placing it on my shoulders. "Alright, you could have just said that without the back and forth."

They clap excitedly, high-fiving each other "Thanks, Indra! You're the best."

I sigh, smiling nonetheless "As always." Saluting them, I open the door walking out to the cloudy sky "See yeah in a few."

They wave "Don't forget the plants," Kaylee shouts.

Jogging out the gate, I wave to the person on the lookout as I go. Rounding the bend in the road, I go out of the lookout's sight. Two steps later, I vanish reappearing in the mudroom of my house.

Hanging my backpack on my hook, I remove my shoes as I walk further into my house. No one has come here since we left; everything is in the same condition as when I left the morning for school so many weeks ago. Has it already been almost two months since I last came here? My dad was at work, my mom was at lunch with a friend, and Kaylee was at the hospital doing her rounds when I got them.

Taking a deep breath of the stale air, I relish in the familiarity of the still lingering scents, ingrained in every nook and cranny from so many years of being in this house. Built before I was born with the blood, sweat, and tears of my dad.

Slowly walking around the house, I grab all the things I deem important. From Kaylee's favourite book about human anatomy to the family photo album, I pick something for everyone. My dad's small tool kit from his workshop, because it would be hard to explain without compulsion how I brought back a bug red rolling toll kit. My mom's gardening tools and seeds. And a couple of other Knick knacks that would be useful and gratefully accepted.

I packed a few bags of the food that is still good and the medical supplies we have. It would not be uncommon for me to come back with a few bags of things. But with all I'm bringing back, I'm going to have to make a few trips to make it believable; we have a large pantry in the basement.

My raid is complete I go to the sun room for my last requested item. The two large pots of aloe vera go into the wagon I pulled out of our toy garage, nestled beside the two other bags filled with food and medical supplies. The smaller pots squeeze into the corners and stack in the large pots' open spaces.

Rolling the wagon to the mudroom, I grab my backpack and put my shoes back on. Four other bags of food lay at my feet, along with the full wagon. Taking one last look at the mudroom, I breathe in the sweet scent of home and vanish for the last time.

Placing the four bags beside the building, I pull the wagon down the road. Waving at the lookouts, they open the gates, letting me in. It's almost lunchtime, so Jen and Sam are probably waiting for me to show them the surprise, if they haven't found out already. They seemed more excited than the triplites.

Dropping off the wagon with Kaitlyn, I run back outside to grab the four other bags that also go to her. Smiling sheepishly, I skip away before she can pull me into assisting her in organizing the stuff in the bags like a hyper maniac.

Checking the watch, I find my parents' and sisters' room, dropping off my gifts as I delay showing the surprise just to annoy Jen and Sam. Slowly walking to the cafeteria, I grin as I spot Sam impatiently tapping her foot. "You're late," she grumbles, holding Jaylin's hand.

I check my watch for show, holding it up for her to see "No, I'm not. I am just on time, I said lunch." Jen grumbles, as Sam frowns. Laughing, I nod my head in the direction of the stairs. "Come on, Jordan is probably waiting with Bella."

Taking that as the cue, Liam and Sam take Josh and Everly's hands, guiding them as they follow me. Leading them outside, I pause as we reach the bend before the jungle gym/play structure comes into view. "Now we have to stay calm and stay safe, okay?" I say, confusing the hell out of the three teenagers and exiting the three six-year-olds. "Now go ahead."

Sam, Jen, and Liam let go of the kid's hands, allowing them to run around the corner, screeching with joy as they see the structure in front of them. As the others follow suit, I stand back, watching their faces transform. "Holy shit," Liam says, mouth agape.

"Holy shit is right. When and how?" Sam asks.

I shrug, holding back my laughter at Jens's open-mouthed, frozen face as she stares. "Last night with Jordan - that's about as much as you need to know," I say, walking forward. Looking back, I almost break down laughing as Kaitlyn comes around the corner, her eyes widening. "Come on, you guys. Last one there is it for grounders," I exclaim, running as fast as I can if I were a human.

They all scream at me, jumping into action as we race each other to the maze of metal, plastic, and rope.

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