It didn't take Gray all that long to find his way home, but by the time he got there, snuck past his Dad, and made it to his bedroom, the orb had already lost it's shine.

I guess this is my last souvenir. Gray sighed, as he dropped it into his bed, like a lifeless, snowless, snow globe.

He glanced at his clothes on the bedside table and realized that tomorrow was a school day.

"You have got to be kidding me," he muttered. Gray kicked his shoes into the corner and turned his light off with a huff. He stepped right over the Skelitin Saga laying in the middle of the floor, and sat down on his mattress.

Nothing was stopping him from crashing on his bed in his day clothes and taking a nap.

Nothing at all.

***

His Dad never wanted to talk. Actually, that was a lie. Gray's dad always wanted to talk, but never about anything important. Even when his wife died, the guy wouldn't talk about it, to anyone. Gray had to go to his grandfather whenever he felt like talking about his mom.

So why today, would his father catch him before he left and tell him they needed to have a serious conversation.

The curiosity was nearly enough to sway him. But really his mind was too full, to try and process whatever useless information about Miami that his father wanted to share.

"Get over here, Richy," Jack Houston's snobby voice called from behind, but Gray merely kept on walking.

Mark's hand landed on Gray's shoulder and spun him around. He found himself facing the two idiots, surprised to find not an ounce of trepidation in his gut.

I guess after being hunted by a bloodthirsty, magic, cyborg, these two morons don't seem half bad. He thought, scanning the boys over. Gray found it hard to believe he was ever really scared of them at all.

"Hit the road, Jack," Gray spat, shrugging his backpack onto his shoulder in what he hoped was a nonchalant fashion.

"No way punk," Jack laughed. "You told the principal on me, didn't you?"

"I barely admit your existence to myself, let alone to anyone else," Gray replied, borrowing a line from his hero. "Find someone else to assault, before I take a rock to your other eye,"

"So you admit it!" Houston cawed loudly.

"Yeah. I admit it. And that's only a small taste of what I can do to you," Gray whispered menacingly. "I know how to break each bone in your body individually. And I know how to keep you awake the whole time. I'll make sure you don't pass out, so that you get to feel each crack and splinter of those fragile bones of yours,"

"Wh-what?"

'Oftentimes, the ability to make the opponent hesitate for even a fraction of a second is the difference between victory and failure.' Oscar would be so proud of me.

Gray caught Mark eyeing his cast and smiled inwardly. "Admiring my handy work?" He whispered, patting the broken arm and shooting Jack a meaningful look. "I've been practicing,"

"You're nuts man!" Jack yelled, turning on his heel and rocketing off down the street, with Mark on his heels.

Gray smirked and continued on his way to school, almost knocking his girlfriend over as he turned around.

"Gray!" Crystal threw her arms over his shoulders and squeezed him. "Thank God you're okay,"

Then she took a step back and pounded Gray's shoulder.

"Ouch!" Grayson leapt backwards and touched his arm gingerly. "What the hell was that for?"

Crystal stared at Gray like he'd lost his mind. "How about: for me waiting by my phone, hiding under my bed all of last night waiting to find out if you were dead or alive?!"

"I'm fine," Gray shrugged.

Crystal responded by raising his broken hand up in front of his face. "This wasn't broken yesterday,"

"Actually, it was broken yesterday," Gray responded, stepping around her and continuing on his way. "You just weren't there to see it,"

"Gray!"

"Fine!" He snapped. "I broke my hand getting Scary to someone who could help him, and he told me he didn't need me anymore. So I came home. Okay? That's it,"

"What?" Crystal caught up and grabbed Gray's arm. "You can't just give up, Gray. You're that guy! The rock guy,"

"The Child of Stone," Gray corrected her. "And the Child of Stone's job was to free Scary. I did that. Now I'm done,"

"No, Gray!" Crystal stepped in front of Gray, forcing him to stop, to avoid plowing over her. "You go back to Scary right now and tell him that he needs your help!" She demanded.

"Why is this so important to you?" Gray wanted to know.

"Because you are important to me, and I can see this situation eating you up as we speak!" She insisted, stamping her foot. "Go back!"

"I don't even know where he is," Gray shouted. "I couldn't go back even if I wanted to!"

"Figure it out," Crystal spat. "Because I'm not dating a quitter!"

Gray stared at his girlfriend, and let her words slowly sink in. Then he took a deep breath. "Not anymore you're not," he whispered.

"What does that mean?" Crystal blinked.

"Take a guess," Gray threw his bag over his opposite shoulder and turned around.

"Where are you going?" Crystal called.

"Home,"

Gray barely even breathed until he was in his house, then he threw his bag against the wall and slammed the door behind him.

"Gray," Mr. Ritcher jumped up off the couch and walked towards his son. "Why aren't you at- You know what, nevermind. I really have something I need to tell-"

"Not now, Dad," Gray waved him off. "I'm a little busy right now,"

Gray knew that he was letting his emotions get the best of him, but it was all too much to handle at once. The last thing he needed was for his father to think he was going crazy on him.

So Gray made his was way up to his room without another word.

"'bout time!" His grandfather yelled from his spot on Gray's bed. He looked relatively pleased at scaring the living daylights out of his grandson. "Who laid you, hot stuff?" He sneered sarcastically.

"Grandpa?" Gray gasped, clenching his chest in an attempt to hold his racing heart still.

"I sure as hell didn't, Casanova," his Grandfather snapped, standing up. Gray gagged. "What happened to your hand?"

"Got stuck," Gray lied casually.

"Then you done something wrong," Grandpa informed him.

Gray couldn't help but smile. "Come on Grandpa. What happened to good old fashioned foreplay?"

His grandfather howled with laughter. "That's my boy. Going all in,"

Mid-chuckle, a thought struck Gray. This was his mother's father. Carly's son. "Grandpa," he whispered. "Scary is real,"

His mother's father smiled. "I know,"

"And I set him free,"

"And Dare?"

Gray hung his head. "I set him free, too,"

"Good," his Grandfather nodded, not an ounce of sarcasm in his voice.

"What do you mean, 'good'?" Gray yelled, dumbfounded. "I was supposed to save the hero, not the villain, Grandpa. I screwed up,"

Grandpa shook his head. "My mother's plan was to set Scary free, and then have Scary destroy Dare's statue," he told Gray. "But, you never kick a man while he's down, Grayson. You do not attack a man who cannot defend himself,"

"Dare turned his back on the team, and killed almost all of his friends!" Gray retorted.

"And if you kill him like that, than you're just as bad as he was. We aren't animals Grayson. If we're going to win this war, we'll do it without turning ourselves into our enemies," his grandfather told him. "Do not lower yourself to their standards,"

Gray surveyed the old man carefully. "You knew. Mom knew,"

"That's right," Mr. Corman nodded slowly.

"So why didn't you take me to Scary, when you knew that Mom couldn't?"

"Magic has a mind of it's own, Grayson. Your mother's death was a sign. That you were the Child of Stone, but you weren't ready yet. I knew you'd find Scary when the time came," He sat back and observed his grandson. "But, if you set Scary free, why are you still here?"

"Scary told me that my work was done," Gray replied vaguely, lowering himself down onto the bed beside his grandfather.

"And what do you think?" His grandfather asked.

"I don't think I can help him any more," Gray shrugged. "I have no assets,"

His father cleared his throat, from behind Gray, making him jump. "Let me show you something, Gray,"

He pulled out a short, long, wooden box, and gestured for Gray to open it. "This is what I've been trying to tell you,"

Gray walked over and lifted the lid. Inside was a wand, laid in red velvet. "What is it?"

"This," his father pulled the wand out. "This is my old wand,"

"Your..."

"I got ninth place in my family tournament," his father recalled. "Never the best, never the worst. Exactly in the middle. After the tournament ended, I appeared in the forest here, in South Dakota. And..."

"You lost your magic," Gray finished for him.

"And I found some more magic," his dad corrected him. "Or, magic found me,"

He leaned back against the doorway and smiled at his son. "I appeared in the forest with nothing but an I.D and the clothes I had on my back, after I lost. I met some older women, who let me stay at their place until I got 'back on my feet'.

"I got a job at a gas station, and was just trying to get the hang of things in this world. Your mother's car broke down outside the gas station, and when she came in to ask for help, she saw something strange about me. She could tell I was different," he looked up at Gray. "Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"No," Gray replied "I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this,"

"This might help," his grandfather picked up the Skelitin Saga from the ground, the book Gray had stashed away all those years ago, and took a stray piece of paper out of it's pages. He handed it to Gray.

It was a letter. The writing was sloppy, and curly... His mother's.

Dear Grayson,

As I write this, I know I don't have that much longer to do everything I need to. I will be the first to admit that I have made a million mistakes in my life. But I can't change any of that now. I want to spend every last second with you and your father. I want you to know that I love you both, more than anything and everything this world has to offer.

I also wanted to tell you that you are the Child of Stone. I wanted to show you. I wanted to be the one to see you set Scary free. You have no idea how much I wanted to see you do that. How much I wanted to see you get married. How much I wanted to see your children. How much I wish I could have watched you grow up.

I know you're special. I know it just the same as I knew your father was special, the second I saw him. You're going to do incredible things, and no matter the outcome, I'm going to be proud to call you mine. Because you are everything to me.

You have a world of wonders to accomplish.
Don't let anyone tell you that you don't.
Don't let anyone tell you that you can't.
Don't let anyone tell you when you're finished.

I want you to grow up Gray. Grow old. Ask questions. Fall in love. Have a family. Leave your mark. And when you're done... tell me all about it.

Love,
Mama

Gray wiped his eyes, with his sleeve and stared at her signature. "Love, Mama," he read again.

"I was born a wizard, Gray," his father whispered. "I had no control over that. When I lost my tournament, that was it. I was done being a wizard. But I wasn't done. If anything, my life only got better after I'd lost my purpose. I found a new purpose, that I got to choose. I met your mother. I had you,"

He put his arm around Gray's shoulders. "You may be done being the Child of Stone, but you are not done being Grayson. You've finished doing what everyone out there has told you to do. The next step is your choice, and only yours. 'Don't let anyone tell you when you're finished',"

"So tell me, kid," Mr. Ritcher caught onto his son's shoulders and looked him in the eye. "What are you going to do?"

Gray looked at his father. Then he looked down at his mother's letter. He smiled through tears.

"I'm going to save the world,"