Young Writers Society

Edward made a noise that sounded almost like a strangled noise when he heard what Damascus said to his teddy bear. "William's not real," he said, looking over at Damascus. He eyed his teddy bear for a moment, then suddenly pulled it close to him as he continued to roast his marshmallow.

Schadel, meanwhile, had been trying - and failing - to stop her flow of tears. She had even gotten to her feet and made her way over to the table were all the food was spread out, and was currently grabbing a few pieces of chocolate to eat. But just as she was about to grab another one, the chocolate suddenly multiplied - it had returned to its original amount.

Schadel gave a startled cry and stumbled back from the chocolate.

James wasn't very hungry, and he was always told not to take food from strangers. As he watched the others wander around in various states of emotion, he sighed and plopped down in the dirt by the fire. What was he supposed to do? Wait 'til his parents found him? Would they ever find him? He wasn't sure what to do next, but it was dark, and there was a tent, so if worse came to worse, he could probably sleep there, and the other boys could too if their parents couldn't find them either.

He looked up when he heart Mr.Watson cry out.

"What's wrong?"

"The-The chocolate," Schadel said, raising a shaking finger and pointing at the pile of food in front of her. She knew that there were some magical humans out there, but she didn't know that they could do things like that! "I-I went to get a few pieces of chocolate, and then more appeared in its place!"

Edward, who had just made a s'more and was currently stuffing his face with it, grabbed his teddy bear and walked over to where Schadel was standing. "You're lying," he wasted no time in saying.

Schadel turned and looked over at him. "I'm not! It wasn't there, and now it is!"

Edward frowned. "I don't believe you."

Her lip quivered. "I know what I saw. If you-If you don't believe me, then you can go try grabbing some and see if it does it again!"

The frown still on his face, he marched over to the table - teddy bear held close to his chest - and grabbed a fistful of chocolate. When nothing happened, he turned back to Schadel with a single eyebrow raised. "You're lying."

"Grab more," Schadel promptly replied. She wasn't imagining things! It just didn't want to work now that she had pointed it out. While she waited for Edward to do as requested, she took to nervously eyeing the chocolate.

He rolled his eyes, then turned back to the chocolate and grabbed another handful. He started to glance back at her, but suddenly gave a scream of alarm when the chocolate replenished itself. A second later, Schadel found Edward cowering at her side, his arms instinctively wrapped around her.

Damascus opened his mouth to explain to Edward that impressions of living thing usually also had some sort of semblance of a soul, but sighed, thinking better of it. He jumped a little when John Watson screamed, and hurried over to see what the matter was.

"Oh, it's magical choc-lit!" With a clap of his hands, he borrowed the word that had been used for the delicious sqaures. "There's enough for all of us to have some, now! Engel, take some."

He remembered that the boy had asked permission before, and so scooped up a few bars and brought them over.

"Magic?" James asked, his eyes lighting up with interest.

He didn't care what kind of chocolate it was, magic or otherwise, so long as it was food. He ran over to the table and started stuffing his face with it, face lighting up as he realized it also tasted good.

Damascus smiled over at Engel's expression, relieved that he was eating something. Staying close to the fire, he scooted over toward John Watson, intent on figuring out why he was so upset.

"So, you said that you aren't fully-grown. What are you, then? And why are you so tall?" A curious head-tilt punctuated his questions. He kept his voice low, maybe to combat for the fact that he had a vague inkling that John Watson wouldn't appreciate having to answer these.

Boris liked the night air. He liked the chocolate, very much. He even liked the company, strange as this company was. It was worth getting lost for.
Yes. This was all fine.

"It's getting very dark." Boris said, pensively.
Then he chuckled, and grinned. "Sigmund must be really worried."

“Who’s Sigmund?” James asked from his spot by the fire.

Boris perked up fully, like the subject brought him comfort.

"He's my big brother! He's funny, you'd like him.
He's always looking out for me, making sure I'm not getting up to mischief. I don't know why he bothers, I'm basically an angel." said Boris, an impish grin still on his face.

James’s mouth slowly upturned into a smile. “Oh! That’s cool. It sounds fun to have a big brother. I’m gonna be a big brother soon! I’m excited! I’m sure they’ll be an angel too.”

"Oh, lucky!" Boris enthused. "Being the big brother must be lots of fun! Little kids are cute, they believe everything."

Schadel was so startled by Damscus's sudden question that she stayed silent for nearly a minute after he had spoken to her, trying her best to figure out how to reply to what had been said. During that time, Edward realized that he was still clinging to Schadel - or maybe noticed that he had been doing it in the first place - and jumped back away from her.

"I'm a kid," Schadel finally said. She was still trying to figure out how to answer the question of why she was so tall when Edward butted in again; he seemed to really like doing that.

"You can't be," he argued, crossing his arms and staring up at her. "You're too big and old!"

"I'm totally a kid," Schadel shot back. She mirrored Edward's pose and expression, though she didn't have a teddy bear peeking out of her arms like he did. "I just-I just can change my form!"

"I don't believe you."

"It's true!" Schadel pointed wildly back at the chocolate. "You didn't believe me about that, and then you saw it happen!"

"...I'm sure there's an explanation for it?" Edward hesitantly replied.

Schadel groaned. "It was magic!"

"Magic doesn't exist!"

"Yes it does! How else do you think you go here?" Edward opened his mouth. "And don't you dare say that I kidnapped you, because I didn't! I'd never do something like that, and Blanx would be really, really mad if I hurt a human-"

Schadel covered her mouth with one hand, eyes widening in horror when she realized that she had implied that she wasn't human. At least Edward didn't look too scared by it; he just looked plain out disturbed from the combination of his expression and the way he took a step back from her.

"You're crazy," he confidently declared.

James was excited by the thought of magic, and was drawn to Watson’s conversation when he brought it up.

“Are you a werewolf?” James asked, inserting himself into the conversation. “That’d be cool. I’ve never met a werewolf. But you seem nice Mr.Watson - or uh, John.”

"Oh." Damascus smiled brightly, Edward's disbelief not phasing him. "Then you're like me! Except... I've never tried to be a grown-up before."

At Edward's comment, however, he turned in surprise, his eyes widening.

"Hey! Why'd you say that, that's mean. John-Watson isn't crazy. He's telling the truth!"