It wasn't hard to settle back in at home. It was difficult, of course, to explain to his parents why he had been missing for two weeks. The police took statement after statement, and no one quite believed him. He didn't blame them. It was an odd story, for sure. At first, he was tempted to make up some lie, but he believed lying was wrong and there was also something fun about the idea of telling people all the details of Arestana.

His parents comforted him in the way they knew best. They baked him many desserts and tried to listen to the stories of his experiences. Most of the time they just shook their heads, but after a while, Liam began to wonder if they were starting to believe him. He hoped one day they truly could.

School returned to normal. He wasn't a big fan of school, but it was nice to have a normal life again. The big thing that changed, though, was the whole situation with Harry.

Two days after he had returned to the real world, Liam met up with Harry. He was walking home and turned a corner. As he turned, he expected to see what one would normally expect to see around a corner—a new street with a new sidewalk—but instead ran into a large Harry shaped wall.

"Hello, Ed," Harry said, looking mean and ready to teach Liam a lesson for being away for so long.

"Hello, Harry. What a wonderful day for a walk!" Liam said. He realized he was about to try to provoke Harry and thought that might be a foolish move, but if he could take on a giant sea monster, certainly he could stand up to Harry. "You're looking mighty slow today. Are you wearing a new shirt?"

Harry looked confused, or perhaps more confused than usual. "No, I don't think my shirt is slow... or new... or... what was the question?"

"I think you should step out of my way and let me go home," Liam replied. He had faced soldiers, a dragon, giant Kittens and a Kraken. He no longer found Harry to be much of a threat.

"I think I should pound you into jelly. Then I should make a sandwich. A peanut butter and honey sandwich," Harry replied.

Liam thought that through for a moment and wondered if he should point out any one of the many problems with Harry's idea. He then realized he would have to work hard to help Harry understand what he had missed. He decided to miss the point himself instead. "Sounds tasty. Can I have half of the sandwich?"

"No, you are going to be the sandwich!" Harry replied, although there was a look of uncertainty in his eyes.

"Tell you what. How about I make the sandwich, and then both of us can have some!" Liam thought a little peacemaking would take away some of the hostility in Harry's eyes and maybe even add some more confusion.

"Well, I am hungry, but then I won't get to pound you into the ground!" Harry explained, a little less sure of himself.

"I thought you wanted to pound me into jelly. If you pound me into the ground, you won't have any jelly and then how are you going to make your peanut butter and honey sandwich?" This was starting to be a lot of fun.

"What? I don't... hey... ahhh... alright, you asked for it. Here comes the pain!" Harry pulled back his right arm and got ready to bring on the "pain."

Liam stood ready. He had had enough practice with hand to hand combat over the last while to not be too concerned about Harry. He was like a non-dangerous guard. Strong, but slow. Harry just didn't have a sword or any armor.

As the swing came toward him, Liam simply pushed it aside and waited for another. The second swing came from the left and Liam did the same again. Harry looked at Liam with a lot of anger and jumped right at him. Liam calmly stepped out of the way and gave a little push to help speed Harry along on his way to the sidewalk. Harry hit the sidewalk hard.

Liam walked over to him and rolled him over. He looked down at poor Harry. The confusion was growing by the second. No one had ever stood up to Harry before, and he wasn't sure what to do about it. Liam bent down and found himself drawn to finish him off. Not in a violent way, but to put an end to the bullying once and for all. At first, he thought it was a bad idea, but he found he couldn't resist. He leaned in close to Harry and stretched out his teeth. He chomped down on Harry's nose.

Liam held on. Their eyes met, and the look in Harry's eyes was one of shock. Neither boy moved for a moment. Harry looked like he couldn't make sense of why someone would be biting his nose. Liam didn't find that to be a surprise. He himself tried to make sense of why he was biting Harry's nose. They looked at each other again, and Liam realized that might work for Jep, but it was a bad idea for Liam. Liam released, and Harry got to his feet. Harry stared at Liam with a mixture of unbelief and horror in his eyes.

Liam stood up and took a step back. He felt very awkward.

"Ed?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Did you just bite my nose?" Harry wiped some saliva from his face.

"I think I did," Liam replied. He felt embarrassed and disgusted.

"I think I'll leave you alone for now. Let's just not be around each other anymore, Ed."

"That sounds good," Liam replied.

The two boys parted ways. Neither spoke of the nose bite again for a long time.

For Liam, the next two months were pretty normal. At least until Liam once again felt the pull.

* * *

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