Young Writers Society

"So-so I can do magic here?" Eddie was starting to get it. "Can I use the magic to get to Meggie?" he asked hopefully.

He was starting to get the hang of this.

"Not your magic," I said, "but other people's magic. We just need to track down someone who has a magical tool or can use their magic to send you back home."

Eddie hesitated. "...You mean I can get back to Meggie?" There was another flash of light and that strange sensation again and suddenly the man was taller than him again.

Relief flooded me when the kid went back to normal - teaching someone else how to use their powers wasn't something I was remotely ready to do, and I knew he couldn't walk around looking like that.

"You can get back to Meggie," I promised.

Then I stuck out my hand.

"I'm Skull," I said. "Nathaniel's unconscious on the ground and the last member of our little trio is...lost. All of us have met Meggie before."

He didn't shake his hand, hardly seeming to notice it as he grinned, "Then you must be good guys. If you were bad guys she would have made you not-alive."

"That's very true," I agreed. "What's your name, by the way? Meggie never mentioned you."

"Eddie!" Eddie chirped, "Meggie says that if I meet people who want to take me somewhere I have to tell them that the Queen of Kroy is my friend, and you said that we were going to a place, but you know Meggie and you know Meggie is my friend, so I don't have to say that."

The words didn't mean much to me, but I got the meaning. So Megara had been pretty good about protecting Eddie - even if he was alone, she still had a way of making sure he didn't get hurt.

"It's still a good idea too," I said, giving him a grin. I wondered where she had got him. Was he her actual kid, or was he someone she had just taken under her wing? It was hard to tell. Whatever the case was, he was my responsibility now, and I wasn't going to let this little kid get hurt.

I opened my mouth to say something else, but was cut off by a groan coming from the floor.

I glanced down to see Nathaniel just barely returning to consciousness.

"Oh, hey, Natty boy," I said, dropping down to a crouch. I poked him for good measure, but he refused to get off of the ground. "I got us away from what's his face-"

"Makepeace?" Nathaniel croaked.

"Yeah, him," I confirmed. "I got us away from him, Asmira got teleported to who knows where, and I found Megara's kid."

That got him to sit up.

"...Megara's-" Nathaniel started to repeat, only to stop when he saw Eddie standing near me.

I turned back to Eddie.

"Eddie, meet Nathaniel. And Nathaniel, meet Eddie."

Eddie waved excitedly, "Nat-hadle! You're not a body! If you fought Meggie you'd be a body."

The man was awake! Eddie didn't think he would wake up. The people Meggie fought never woke up. Or maybe they did. What if they all woke up after she left them behind? That would be strange. Why would they pretend to sleep?

Nathaniel looked more than a little disturbed at the comment, but I wasn't really all that surprised - as I had said before, Megara's morals were more than a little questionable. It made sense that her kid would share them.

"You can call him Natty boy, if it's easier-" I started to stay, but Nathaniel was quick to cut me off.

"Don't call me that," he said. "...You can call me Nat."

I shrugged. "I think Natty boy sounds better."

He shot me a look. "I wasn't asking you."

"Nat-boy!" Eddie exclaimed, "You have a good name, Nat-boy. Nat-boy, Nat-boy, Nat-boy. Better than Eddie. Ed-eee. Meggie has the best name. Meg-rah-rah. Like a dragon!" He suddenly got sad, "I miss Meggie," he pouted, once again on the verge of tears, "Bring me to Meggie!"

Meggie had to be here soon. She was always there soon. Whenever he was alone, she would come so he wouldn't be alone anymore and take him home.

I gave a little triumphant smirk, right up until Eddie started pouting again. Even if he wasn't calling Nathaniel by the nickname I used, it was still close enough. I could see Nathaniel was struggling not to correct him - he kept opening his mouth to say something, only to close it a second later.

"I will," I promised. Then I looked him over, an idea coming to mind as I saw his bloody and torn clothes. "But before we do, you're going to need a little bit of an outfit change. Natty boy, how's our money?"

Nathaniel almost immediately caught on.

"We have enough," he confirmed. "We'll need more later, but Asmira has some with her."

He turned back to Eddie.

"What kind of clothes do you like?" he asked.

Eddie looked up, confused, "Clothes?" He didn't know why they were talking about clothes now. Clothes wouldn't get him back to Meggie.

"Clothes," I quickly confirmed.

There was an awkward silence.

Then Nathaniel gave Eddie a surprisingly warm and comforting smile. "Your clothes don't fit this world," he explained. "We don't want people to notice us, so we need to all be wearing clothes that fit in."

"...Like when Meggie tells me to dress up for festival time?" he asked. He thought he got it, but he wasn't sure. Meggie told him to dress so he fit in, but she usually ended up picking his clothes out for him. They always had so many knots! How was he supposed to put on his nice clothes when there were a whole bunch of knots to tie? "I don't want to put on nice clothes."