"Sweetie, you will be just fine. I spoke with Dr. Martin yesterday and he said he had the perfect person to be your buddy guide today. You will have all the same classes as him, and you also have already met him. I promise you, you will be fine!" Cindy Welsh told her new son.
"I know Mama, but I am still a bit worried about being bullied because I will be the youngest kid in school. I just hope that those who pick on me aren't real mean." He said as he headed out the door.
Eli was waiting in the office so that he was on hand when young Sasha arrived. He remembered not long ago Ryan was in this same seat doing the same thing for Eli on his first day. Eli knew how scared Sasha would be, as he will be the youngest, but Eli will still be the smallest student.
"Good morning Eli, are you ready to guide our newest student today. Dr. Martin told me he asked you yesterday to be the student buddy for Mr. Kohler." Mrs. Dean, the school secretary, more like told Eli than asked him.
"Yes Ma'am that is why I am here early today. So I will be here whenever he arrives." Eli told her with a big smile, even though it was fake. Eli knew because of The Wizard Heart that this lady did not really like kids, or her job. Eli could not understand why people would stay in jobs they hated.
"Good morning Eli, thank your for being early today. I know you are still somewhat new to our school, so do you have any questions for me before Sasha arrives?" Dr. Martin asked as he walked into the office.
"No, not really. Both Ryan and Noah said they would help out today as well, so between the three of us, and the rest of the group we should be fine."
"Very good. You can always come to me if you have any issues as well. Now, if you will excuse me I must see to the messages on my desk. Somehow they always multiply overnight, how I have not figured out yet." Dr. Martin laughed as he walked away.
Eli saw Mrs. Dean smirk with what Dr. Martin said. He figured she was doing it on purpose. While he waited, Eli was thinking of all the things he still had to get done before the wedding. It was coming up fast so there wasn't a whole lot of time left. One of the things that was really bothering him was that he had yet to fine a Kahneu for his Aunt Karen who he was going to ask to be his Docy, High Court Minister of Health. For the life of him, he just couldn't come up with anyone who would fit. This was something that he was going to have to talk to Grandpa Max about again.
Before he knew it, Eli saw Mrs. Welsh and Sasha walk into the office. Eli saw Sasha light up when he saw Eli sitting there waiting. They spoke to Mrs. Dean, and she quickly called out Dr. Martin. He waved Eli over as they all went into the office.
"Now, before I get to all the fun stuff, Sasha, I asked that Eli join us, for several reasons. First, you have met him before and he is a friendly face to you. Second, he is your Student Buddy for the next few days until you get a feel for this place. I also wanted you to know that you are not the only new student in the building, as Eli is fairly new here too. Now, with that said, let's get on with the fun stuff, shall we?" Dr. Martin finished with a bit of an evil chuckle.
Dr. Martin went over all the same things he had with Eli, the 'Zero Tolerance' policies for bullying, which Eli saw Sasha roll his eyes at. Eli felt that he should speak up.
"Sasha, before we become buddies, I think you should know about me." Dr. Martin's eyes went huge at what Eli was saying, he was shocked. "You see, one of the main reasons we moved here not long ago was that I was being bullied really bad at my last school. Every day I was getting beaten on, I had more than a few broken bones and ended up in the hospital twice, nothing was being done. My new dad decided that it would be better to start our new family in a new area, where we all got to start over. This school is much, much better. We don't really have bullies here, and everyone that I know of would step in and stop it if it was to happen. You can relax here." Eli told the scared 10 year old.
"Eli is right. The last person who was caught bullying a student is facing many charges in court, including felony hate crime charges. Sasha, Mrs. Welch, we take this very seriously. Now, the last thing I have to say is the same thing I tell all young Wizards who start at this school, there will be no using your Gifts here at school unless one of three things happens. First, by not using your Gift someone would be killed or hurt really badly. Second, by not using your Gift a grave injustice would be committed. Third, by not using your Gift the building might be damaged and become unsafe. Do you understand these rules?"
"Yes Sir, but I don't have any Gifts." Sasha said.
"Well, don't worry about that, because you are still a bit young, I want you to know that I will be treating you just as I would be any other student that comes into my school. If you have any problems feel free to come see me at any time. I know that you are by far the youngest student in this school, but that just means you are smarter than most of the rest. But, do not let that go to your head. I hope you can understand what I am saying."
"Yes Sir, or as my Papa says, don't let your mouth write checks your bottom can't cash!" Sasha said causing everyone to start laughing.
"Then I think you will fit in just fine around here. Now, Sasha, you will have the same schedule as Eli here, so he can show you around. If you have any trouble with your classes, come see me right away so we can adjust your schedule to work for you, alright?" After Sasha said he understood, Dr. Martin told the boys to get ready for their first class.
Classes went very smoothly for both boys. Sasha was proving easily why he was moved up a grade. As the day went on, Eli was starting to wonder if 6th grade was where Sasha should be or if he shouldn't have been moved up to 7th. This kid was smart!
Lunch was a blast. The whole group welcomed Sasha with open arms. Toby and Sasha really hit it off due to the whole dirt bike aspect. It turns out that Sasha would ride as a back up at the circus.
Ryan thought that this might just turn out really useful if they ever needed a backup rider or if they wanted to expand their team. He would have to talk to his dad about this.
Even the girls liked having Sasha around. Eli was worried that Stacy and Nora were going to try and baby him, but they figured out very quickly that was not going to be tolerated by Sasha. He was one strong willed boy.
As the group was finishing lunch, both Nora and Noah received text messages. They were the only two kids in the school to be allowed their cell phones to be on during class time, the school had a rule that all cell phones be turned off during class hours. Both of them looked at each other a bit weird.
'Sissy, what the hell is going on? Why is dad so spooked? Can you get anything?' Noah sent to his sister over their twin link.
'No, nothing but worry.'
"Alright you two, what is going on?" Ryan asked the twins.
"We don't know, but Dad asked if we were alright. He then told us to stay in the building until him and only he came to get us." Nora said looking at Noah to finish.
"He also told us to keep Eli with us at all times, and to get to Uncle David's class room if anything weird happens."
"Well, if you ask me, something weird just happened! Let's all get to Dad's classroom now, and save the rush!" Eli said while getting up.
The rest of the group followed Eli's lead and got up and dumped their lunch trays. The group headed to David's class room with Eli in the lead. They were about half way there when the school's PA kicked in.
"Elijah Hunt, please come to the office. Elijah Hunt, please come to the office."
"We should all go to the office." Ryan stated.
"No, I am not Elijah Hunt yet, not until after the wedding. I am not registered here at school under that name, so no one here would call me that. Let's get to dad now." Eli replied to Ryan before taking off in a run.
In the office there was a very tense scene going on. Two men in black were yelling at Mrs. Dean to get them Elijah Hunt, and to do it now. She was trying to explain to them that it was lunch time and the kids were spread out all over the school so it might take a little time before he got the message. She knew the men were aware she was stalling for time, but there was nothing else she could do. Despite her dislike for today's kids, she would not allow these men to hurt one of them.
Eli and the group made it to David's room just as David and Ron did. David was surprised to see the whole group with Eli, but was more surprised when Eli ran to him and dragged him into his classroom.
"Eli, why didn't you go to the office like you were called?" David asked.
"Because they called for Elijah Hunt, I am registered here as Eli Everett. There is no-one here that would call me Elijah Hunt! And, Nora and Noah got a weird text from their dad; it said if anything weird happened we should get to you. Well, being paged as Elijah Hunt is weird!"
David was about to call Nevin to find out what was going on when there was a loud siren.
In the office, Mrs. Dean knew these men were going to hurt someone, or worse, she quietly destroyed her keycard to the school doors without the men knowing. She also got to where she could hit the panic button setting off the automated Code Black system. This system would lock down the school and alert the authorities that there was an active shooter on the school property. However, by her destroying her keycard, the two men would be trapped in the office with her.
"Gentlemen, I think it is about time you leave. There is no student here by the name of Elijah Hunt, so you are barking up the wrong tree." She told them.
One of the men pulled a gun and pointed it at her head, "Lady if you don't call him up here using the right name I am going to put a bullet in your head!" He finished as she hit the button.
There were three loud siren blasts before an automatic voice started calling for the CODE BLACK. The man with the gun pulled the trigger and Mrs. Dean fell over dead.
"CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK! This is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill! CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK! CODE BLACK! Staff secure the students. This property is on lock down!" This just kept repeating.
"You kids stay here. I have to get to the office." Dr. Martin said.
"NO DAD!" both Toby and Ryan yelled at the same time.
"Guys, it's my job. I have to make sure that there is a way to get the help into the school. You stay here, so I know you're safe!" He said before going out the door.
"I am going with him to make sure he stays safe guys. You stay here, do you hear me Eli? Stay here!" David said as he rushed to follow Ron out the door.
The group could hear the sirens of the approaching police and fire rescue. Eli just hopped no one would be hurt as he knew this had to do with him. The more Eli thought about what was going on, the more pissed off he got. He was tired of people getting hurt because of what he was, like his parents and their families; he wasn't going to lose his new parents!
Using a gift he didn't even know he had, Eli walked right through the door into the hallway. He could hear the rest of the group yelling at him to come back but, he was already heading to the office.
As Eli approached the office, he could see that Mrs. Dean was on the floor dead. This pissed him off even more than he already was. He saw his dad and Dr. Martin with Sheriff Mills talking in the next hall, out of site from the office. The two men in the office were trying to force the door open so they could escape. This was not going to happen. Eli used his Gift of Levitation to slam the two guns into the brick wall of the office so hard that the both the guns and the bricks were destroyed. He then made the two men fly head first into the safety glass that was the outer wall of the office, hard enough to crack the glass and the heads of the two men, knocking them out cold.
The three older Wizards came running when they heard the first impact, that of the guns. They got there in time to witness the second impact, that of the men's heads. Nevin and one of his deputies along with Ron went running to the office to secure the two men, not that they were going anywhere anytime soon. David rushed to Eli's side seeing that he was shaking and had tears running down his face.
"Why Dad? Why do they keep trying to hurt me? Wasn't taking my parents away and their families enough?" Eli cried while in the embrace of his father.
"I am sorry son, I do not have a good answer for you. What I can say is that there is evil in this world and those of us on the good need to always fight so the evil doesn't win. You are on the good. What you stand for, the evil knows they are in trouble. Keep the good in your heart, and we will win!" David said while hugging his son. David was quietly and quickly trying to get Eli to calm down so he wouldn't accidently use his Pain Projection Gift in the school.
When Eli had calmed down, it hit David that Eli was here. He should have been locked in the classroom by the automatic Code Black System. Doors would only open for a staff keycard, and Eli did not have a staff keycard.
"Eli, how are you here right now? What I mean, is you should be locked in my classroom with the rest of your group, how did you get out?"
"Umm, I really don't know. I just got really mad thinking that others could be hurt because of me and just started walking up here. I don't remember opening the door or anything." Eli said looking at the ground.
"Okay, well we will have to ask the others about this, maybe they can tell us how you got out seeing they didn't." David said before checking with Ron about heading back to the classroom.
David had his arms around Eli when they got to the classroom. He sat Eli down in his desk chair before turning to the others. Noah was right by Eli's side as soon as he came in the room.
"Okay guys, I don't know what all has happened, but I will tell you this. Two men were here looking for Eli, they shot Mrs. Dean and killed her. The Code Black locked them into the office and they are now in custody of the Sheriff. Now, who would like to tell me how Eli got out of this classroom?"
All the kids except for Eli, who was laughing, tried to tell David all at once what had happened after he had left the room. David finally held up his hand signaling them to be quiet, before asking Nora to explain to him what happened.
"Well, we were all talking about what could be going on, but Eli was being very quiet, not talking at all. Then he just got up and walked through the door. He kind of shimmered before though, but it was like the door wasn't even there. We were all yelling at him to come back, but he just kept going." She told him.
"Wow Eli, another rare Gift. This Gift is called Transparency; it allows the owner to turn oneself transparent which will allow that person to pass through walls and doors, as long as they aren't too thick or too strong. This will be something that we will have to work on together. I remember one young Councilman trying this Gift on a door that was too heavy, and he broke his nose when he walked into it!" David finished with a chuckle.
"My I have your attention, please." The school intercom started with Dr. Martin speaking. "At this time the Code Black is All Clear, I repeat, at this time the Code Black is All Clear." This was the code to let the staff know the all clear was given. If anything else had been said, they would know it wasn't all clear. "I would like for all staff and students to go directly to the gym to wait until the busses or parents arrive to take the students home."
At the end of the announcement you could hear kids cheering that they were being sent home early. The group in room 109 were not cheering as they knew that someone had lost their life.
"Alright gang; let's just head to the gym like Dr. Martin told us too. We will work everything out from there." David told the group who then headed for the gym.
Some of the kids had to take the long way around as the sheriff's office still had deputies blocking the way to the office. Seeing all the law enforcement in the building made most of the kids nervous. Once all the classes were accounted for and all the students were present, Dr. Martin picked up a microphone.
"Today our school was attached and we lost one of our own. Mrs. Dorothy Dean has been the secretary at this school for almost 30 years, long before any of us were here. Today she sacrificed herself for the safety of all of us. She not only called the Code Black, locking all the doors to our school, but she destroyed her key card, locking herself in the office with the two would be kidnappers. She will always be remembered as a hero to those of us in this room. I would like you to show a moment of silence in respect to Mrs. Dean at this moment." Dr. Martin said before bowing his head.
After a minute of silence, Dr. Martin started again.
"Amen! Now, the district texting program has sent out an alert to all your parents letting them know what is going on. Those of you who ride the bus will do so as soon as your bus arrives. The drivers will come here to get you. You will be going out the back doors to the gym, where the busses will be as the front of the school has too much activity already. Those of you who are picked up by parents will wait here until your parents arrive for you. Those of you who walk to school, I would like for you to move to the far side of the gym at this time. We will be calling your parents to see what they would like for you to do. We do not want anyone locked out, or have no place to go. Thank you, and if you do have any questions, please find a staff member to talk to."
David and Eli's gang were still together when Mrs. Mears approached. Evan and Stacy both ran to her and gave her a big hug.
"Thank you Mr. Hunt for letting me know these two were with you. It really put my mind at ease knowing they were safe. Now, I don't know what the plan is, but I do know that I have been asked to stick around for those students who normally walk home and can't get a hold of their parents. We will be staying here in the gym. Did you all have any plans on what you were going to be doing?"
"I was thinking of taking the whole group out to the farm for the rest of the day. I know that Nevin and Dr. Martin are going to be tied up for the rest of the day, and most of tonight. I am not sure about Jeremy, as he normally walks home, or comes out to the farm with us." He said as he was Jeremy run back over to them. "I am guessing he got permission to come to the farm with us!" David laughed.
Jeremy was about to say something when he heard David say that, and just blushed.
"David, I have no problems with you taking Evan and Stacy out to your place, I can come pick them up as soon as I get out of here. Thank you again for looking out for them. It really does mean the world to me." Erin said again to David.
"Only doing what you would have done for Eli, Erin. Don't forget that!" David said before turning to the youngest in the group. "Sasha, why don't we call your mom and tell her that you will be joining us at the farm for the afternoon. I doubt that she was included in the district texting system seeing how today is still your first day. It normally takes a least a week before the district even gets a new students file." Sasha gave David his new home phone number that he had written down in his backpack. David called using his cell number.
"Hello? Who is this?" A frantic lady answered the phone.
"Hello Mrs. Welsh, this is David Hunt, I am a teacher at the Middle School. I know that you are new, and not on the District Text System, so I thought I would call and bring you up to speed on what has happened today." David started.
"Yes, yes, tell me is Sasha alright?"
"Oh, yes Ma'am, Sasha is just fine. Right now he is trying to help get a shoe out of the basketball net, how that happened I haven't a clue though." David laughed.
"Oh thank the lord! I wouldn't be able to handle it if something happened to him now that we finally are allowed to keep him! Mr. Hunt, what happened, the news said that there were two men there with guns looking to kidnap a child. Were they the men from the circus looking for Sasha?"
"Well, the news was correct, but they were not after Sasha. They were looking for someone else. They were not successful in their attempt; however they did kill the school secretary. My son, Eli, would like for Sasha to join him and his friends out at our farm for the remainder of the day. Eli said he was going to be Sasha's buddy, and he is sticking to that. I think it would be good for all the kids. Is it alright with you? I will be more than happy to bring Sasha home when it is time." David asked Cindy.
"Yes, it is fine with me if he joins his new friends. Could you ask him to call me when he gets there though, I would like to talk to him?"
"Of course. In fact as soon as we are on our way, I will have him call you from my cell. That way it won't cut into the kids fun time." David laughed.
David was able to get messages to Ron and Nevin that he was taking the whole group out to the farm.
It was a very full Explorer going out to the farm. With David driving, Eli riding shotgun, Ryan, Nora, Stacy were in the second row, Jeremy, Toby, and Sasha was pretty much sitting on Toby's lap. David was driving as carefully as he could. The last thing he needed was to get busted for having a child riding without a seat belt, but there wasn't much else he could do.
David had told Sasha to call his mom once they were in the car. Sasha asked if he could use a phone, everyone else in the car held out their phone for him.
"I guess it's time I get one for my own!" Sasha laughed. He used Toby's phone, seeing how he was sitting on his lap. "Hi Mama, this is Sasha."
"Я знаю, что мой собственный сын, sin-o-check" Cindy said to Sasha in Russian. (I do know my own son)
"Я знаю, мать, но на этом все это новый для меня." Sasha replied. (I know, Mother, but this is all so new to me.)
"Mr. Hunt said that he was going to be taking you out to his farm. I want you to promise me that you will be careful. I couldn't handle loosing you or the thought of you getting hurt! You understand me, Sin-o-check?" Cindy told Sasha switching over to English.
"Yes, I understand. Eli said that it's not really a farm any more, but they still call it that. He said we would just be hanging out and maybe play some catch or something. I will be careful, Сейчас слушает, I don't want to lose you ether!" Sasha told his mother. He ended the call with a simple phase in Russian. "Я всегда любим вас, мама! (I will always cherish you, Mama!)
Thankfully the ride to the farm was easy and over fast. The kids all piled out of the SUV and headed right for the kitchen. David had called ahead and let the folks at the farm know the group was about to descend. Gerald said he would have a snack ready for the group.
George had a fruit salad for each of the kids. He even had one made up for David. They each had a large glass of fresh apple juice as well. George knew about the secret of the apples with young Wizards.
Once the group had finished demolishing the great snack, they headed out to the fish house. Sasha was the only one in the group not to know about Eli's Fish House. Eli did ask him the same he had asked all the others as they approached the fish building. He asked him not to spread it around that he owned this.
Sasha was totally in awe of the fish house. He said he had never seen so many fish in one place before. He was totally in love with the rays and cichlids. He kept commenting on how beautifully colored the cichlids were. He really loved the male 'Christmas Fulu".
There was a light out above the fish area. Uncle Matt asked if Eli would fly him up to replace the bulb. Once Uncle Matt was on the flying saucer, Eli sent him up with his Gift of Levitation. Both Uncle Matt and Eli completely forgot that there were other Non's and Sasha in the building when he did it. Jeremy kind of freaked out a tad bit until Ryan calmed him down. He reminded Jeremy that Eli was special and very strong. Jeremy said the he had just never seen a Gift like that used. He said it was cool and all, but it might take him a little bit to get used to it.
Once the light was fixed and Uncle Matt was back on the ground safely, Nora and Noah both wanted a ride on the flying saucer. Grandpa Max said that it was alright, but suggested they do it outside, so if someone does fall off, they won't fall into the fish.
Nora was first to jump on. Eli gave her a smooth, slow, and safe ride around the yard. Sherry called this the SSS. Nora did not like that!
"Come one Eli! Give me a good ride. Show me what you can do!" She taunted him.
"Go for it, my Khil. Make her scream!" Grandpa Max said behind Eli. Eli just looked at him and chuckled.
At first Eli kept to the SSS, (Smooth, Slow, and Safe) and then, he let loose. He accelerated the saucer greatly and wiped it around a big tree a couple of times, and then he stopped all movement of the saucer for a moment. Slowly he started to spin the saucer around in place. He slowly increased the speed until all everyone could see was a blur. Eli thought that he heard Nora scream, but it was just her laughing. He stopped the spinning and then sent her strait up into the air about 30 feet. Once there he did a simple roller coaster of sorts for her. Nora was laughing the whole time. By the time she was back on the ground all the others wanted a go as well.
Grandpa Max did allow it, but spread it out so Eli wouldn't get too tired. There was also a lot of apple juice consumed. The whole group was having a blast. Even pulled out a foot ball and asked if they wanted to play '500'. This is a game where one would throw the ball to the others calling out a number value of the catch. If one would catch the ball, they got the points. There were also times where it would be called a hot ball, and if you caught the ball you lost points. Once a player reached 500 points, it was there turn to throw the ball.
The whole group thought it sounded like a great idea. Eli was a bit worried because he was never good at catching a ball, no matter what kind of ball it was. He was also a bit worried due to his size. They all flipped coins to see who would be the first to throw. Jeremy won the flip. The game got started. The adults were all standing by the fish building watching.
Eli was having a blast. He was laughing and running around with friends. This was something he had only dreamed about for a very long time. He tried to play the game as best as he could, but he was loosing very badly. Then a pass came close to him, and he decided to help the ball into his hands with the use of his Gifts. At first no one noticed what he was doing, but after a while, Nora figured it out!
"Wait! Hold up you guys! Eli, are you using your Gifts to help?" She said after getting everyones attention!
"Well, how else would I play? I mean really, even you can catch a ball, but I can't. I have never been able to catch a ball, no matter who throw it, or what kind of ball it was. I am sorry for cheating, but I just didn't want to look like a complete looser!" Eli said while starting to tear up.
"Okay, I get that, but HOLY cow would you be awesome on the football team! I mean we would win every game with you never missing a pass!" Jeremy jumped in! This caused everyone to start laughing.
"Eli, we don't care if your good at catching a stupid ball or not, but, if you are going to use your Gifts, you should use them to help us as well!" Nora said before bursting out laughing. The next thing you know there was a dog pile on Eli, except none of the kids were touching him. They tried, but they could not get to him. Eli had just found a new Gift from The Wizard Heart, this one was called Armora and gave him the ability to put up armor around something or a person.
As the kids were playing, Eli had a small visit with The Wizard Heart.
"Dexas, you should Mark those of your friends who are not Wizards, to protect them in times of need."
"How would Marking them protect them?" Eli asked his necklace.
"By Marking them, all Wizards would know they are under the protection of the Dexas, and non would dare harm them for fear of your retribution."
"I do not wish others to fear me! I want others to respect me. I think the Mark should wait until after I have declaired myself. At this time we do not want everyone to know that I am the Dexas."
"A wise move Dexas. You are a great and powerful king who is also very wise for his age. I am honored to serve you." The Wizard Heart said in a soothing voice.
"I just wish that you had a name when we were talking like this." Eli told it.
"You may call me after my creator, Magnus." The Wizard Heart told him.
Eli felt the connection break, and looked around at his friends. They didn't act at all like Eli had been away for any amount of time. Eli thought this was pretty cool and would come in handy if he ever needed quick answers.
The group horsed around in the yard for most of the afternoon. Before they knew it rides started showing up. Mrs. Mears was the first to get there. Evan and Stacy were begging to be allowed to stay longer. The adults were all laughing at how pathetic they were looking. The begging ended with the arrival of Mitch and Amanda who were there to pick up Nora and Noah. Right behind them was Ron. That just left Jeremy and Sasha.
David asked Ron if he would be willing to run Sasha home, seeing it was close to his new home. Ron had no problem with that. Jeremy was waiting tell everyone left before heading into the Fish Building to get started working. He would normally be there for a few hours every other day. Today would have been one of his normal days.
Once everyone left, David pulled Eli off to the side. They walked towards the old hay barn and the pond. David wanted to talk to Eli about all that happened earlier in the day. This was not something that he was looking forward too at all. They both were quiet until they reached the pond.
"Lets go sit on the dock, there are some things we need to talk about." David said while leading Eli out to the dock.
Once they were both sitting on the dock with their feet in the water, David took a deep breath and began.
"Eli, a lot has happened today and I am worried about you. Those two men were sent here, to kidnap you. We do not know who sent them."
"Can't Grandpa Max use his Force Truth Gift to make them tell you?" Eli asked.
"I wish we could, but both men are dead." David started.
"Did I kill them?" Eli asked in a very small voice.
"We do not know, but I do not think it would have mattered if you had or not, see they both had cyanide capsules in their mouths. The leader of the two, we think his capsule broke on impact when his head hit the glass; the other did it at the hospital. Eli, this attak means that they know that you are here, whether we let the Wizard Council know who you are and how powerful you are is now up to you. Do you wish to confront them now, or do as we planned?"
"Nothing has changed. We knew that there were Council members who knew I was the Dexas, it was only a matter of time before the others knew. There is someone scared that I will be at my coronation, but it is more for personal reasons then me being King. I do not know what the reasons are, but this person is very scared." Eli told David in a far off voice.
"Eli, how do you know this?" David asked.
"The Kings have been telling me things that they have seen. Although it is helpful, sometimes it is very annoying. But, King Benjamin is very helpful when it comes to English homework!" Eli laughed.
"You are having past Wizard Kings help you with your Homework?" a very shocked David asked.
"Well, not much, but the other night I was stuck on my English assignment and The Wizard Heart told me to ask King Benjamin for help. He is a much better teacher than Mrs. Patrick. He was able to explain my homework to me so that I could complete it. What Mrs. Patrick was trying to teach us was so confusing NO ONE in the class got it." Eli told his Dad hoping he wasn't getting into trouble for seeking help.
David started laughing. "Eli, I have no problems with you getting help from the Past Kings, but you have to admit it is a bit weird even for us Wizards to hear that you are being tutored by someone who died more than 200 years ago. A lot has changed since then."
"Yeah, I know. But, the structure of a sentence hasn't. And that is what he was helping me with. I know that the Past Kings are there to help me, and so this is just one way they can."
"Just don't use them too much to where you aren't doing the thinking for yourself. They had there time, and now it is yours." David said with concern.
"Yeah I know, and I won't use them to much, but it is nice to have someone who has been there and done that. Know what I mean?" Eli asked his dad.
"Yes Son, I do know what you mean. All I am asking is that you stay yourself, be yourself, and protect yourself." David said pulling Eli into a tight hug.
"Now, what are we going to do about your safety? We need to figure something out."
"No Dad, it is not my safety we need to worry about, it is everyone else around me that needs to be worried. Earlier today, Magnus said that I should Mark the Non's that were with us. He was meaning Jeremy, Evan, and Stacy. I told him that we weren't' ready to go public yet. Maybe I should use this Gift with everyone who is close to me so that they know not to mess with us?"
"If I understand that Gift from the history books, it is only recognized by other Wizards, correct?" David asked.
"Yes, that is what I was told."
"It wouldn't have helped at all today. Both the men that came to the school were Non Wizards, and they were not being Compelled. Sherriff Mills thinks that they were freelance thugs who were looking to fill a contract. He is looking into seeing if there is a contact out there for you. If there is, then maybe we will be able to find out who is behind this attack."
"There are only 12 suspects right now, and we know that at least five of them are on our side. So that only really leaves seven!" Eli said with a grin.
Father and Son sat arm in arm on the edge of the dock soaking their feet and watched the sunset. Shortly after the sun finally sank beneath the horizon, David made the first comment in a while.
"Well, my feet are feeling pruned."
"Well, you are OLD!" Eli said with a giggle.
David tickled Eli all the way back to the house, while Eli teased David of being old and prune.
I would really like to thank THE STORY LOVER for editing this work for me. Please let me know what you think.