After eating another slice of butterscotch pie downstairs, I hug Guidea before leaving for the lab again, with a slight limp in my step.

Eventually, I make it to Impact and Castellar's house. I knock on the door with the knocker.

Impact replies flatly "Who's there."

"Ice cream." I giggle.

I hear him perk up.

"Ice cream who?"

"Ice cream if you don't let me in!" I hear Impact giggle from the other side. "Come in then." I find the door is already unlocked, so I let myself in.

Impact starts to snooze on the sofa, and I quietly sit next to him. I then lean close to him and whisper "Boo." He then jolts up and screams an ear-piercing scream, which gets louder as he turns to face me. A tall skeleton with an uncanny resemblance to Impact walks out of the kitchen holding a coffee mug, takes a sip, and then spits it out as he sees me.

A few minutes later after everyone has calmed down and my ears have stopped ringing, I ask the tall figure his name.

"DR. WEBDINGS ASTER. BUT YOU CAN CALL ME WEBDINGS." He says, whilst signing something I assume to be the same thing with his hands. He seems to be an uppercase like Castellar.

I turn to Impact. "So the experiment worked?" He smiles and nods.
"Seems so. And you came out of it alive! Your determination is really limitless, Tyler, you weren't lying!" He chuckles in relief. I grit my teeth.

I slowly say "Well...that's not entirely true." They both look at me weirdly, and then I show them my soul. Webding's eyesockets widen as he sees the magic infused with it.

"OH MY! A WIZARD! CHILD, HOW LONG HAS YOUR SOUL BEEN LIKE THIS?" He remarks.

"Hmm...around an hour? I was hooked up to an IV drip full of magic and now my soul is like... this." I confirm.

"IMPACT, NOTE THIS DOWN." He orders. Impact rolls his eyes, mumbles "I'm not your assistant anymore...", and gets his notepad and pen out from his jacket pocket.

"SO YOU'RE AN ARTIFICIAL WIZARD? THIS IS INTERESTING TO SAY THE LEAST. WE SHOULD RUN A FEW DIAGNOSTIC TESTS." He nods towards Impact, still signing away.

Impact then proceeds to have a silent conversation with him in their weird sign language. Webdings seems to cringe a little at Impact's words, suggesting he is butchering it.

They then nod in agreement, and Webdings gestures for me to stand up. The three of us then head to the lab.

I notice the machine is under the sheet once more, and the blueprints that are usually laid out on the desk are in a roll tied up with an elastic band.

Impact pulls up a seat for me to sit in, and Webdings dismisses him. "Don't worry. He's a good guy. You'll be fine. He likes talking about his family if you get uncomfortable." He whispers in my ear, and then winks before leaving. Webdings watches the door close, and then turns back to me.

"SO CHILD, WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" Webdings asks, holding a clipboard and pen.

"My name is Tyler!" I chirp.

"I SAID YOUR NAME, NOT YOUR NICKNAME." He replies flatly. I blink a little, before mumbling:

"....Jesse Tyler McRey......"

He hums. "I SEE. MSK. MCREY, DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR PARENTS WERE WIZARDS?"

"Uh...I don't think so..." I stammer. Why is he asking me all these personal questions?

He seems reluctant. "OH, WAIT, SORRY. I STARTED OFF OF THE WRONG FOOT. HI, I'M DR. WEBDINGS AND I'LL BE YOUR EXAMINER TODAY."

I snicker, cheering me up.

Whilst he measures my height and waist line with a measuring tape, I start up a friendly conversation with him. "So! Are you and Impact related?" He stops and sighs.

"Impact is my son." He seems to have switched to a different font.

"What?" I exclaim.

"I am Impact and Castellar's father. Although it seems that Impact is the only one who remembers so." He touches his skull with one hand. I didn't notice it before, but there's two cracks running down from his eyesockets.

"Oh...I'm sorry." I say, biting my lip.

Next, he moves on to checking my soul pulse. "AROUND NORMAL FOR A HUMAN." He comments, noting it down.

"Wait...so if you're their dad, who's their mom?" I continue on. He seems to tear up.

"My wife...it's been so long that I can't even remember her face sometimes. I was a nobody before I met her. She has this cunning and resolute nature around her. It's only natural that I fell for her. Sadly, she passed away when Impact was a child, and when Castellar was only a few months old. I wouldn't be surprised if no-one remembers her. But she wasn't erased from existence like I was, so..." He trails off, before returning to silence once more.

The final test is an eye test, and I read out the numbers and letters happily. Webdings shows me my results.

I squint.

"Uh...I can't read it..."

He raises his non-existent eyebrows, and then fumbles about in the drawers. Finally, he pulls out a pair of glasses from the drawer and places them on my face carefully. "CAN YOU READ IT NOW?" He smiles patiently at me.

I nod and give him a toothy grin. "Thank you Mr. Impact and Castellar's dad!"

He chuckles and replies "Please, call me Webdings."

A few hours later (after calling up Guidea to tell her I'm staying at Impact's tonight), I sit watching Emma's new quiz show with the remaining members of the Aster family.

I turn to Impact, Castellar and Webdings fixated on the TV. "Impact, do you remember much about your mom?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Why may I ask?" He speculates.

"Just asking." I shrug.

He sighs and says, "I remember she had a great smile...and Castellar reminds me a lot of her. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. Oh yeah, and her name was Apple Chancery. But she liked being called by her middle name, Chancery."

I grin and reply "Like me!"

He laughs. "Heh heh, yup."

Webdings yawns and turns the TV off. "WELL, IM GOING TO SLEEP. ILL TAKE THE SOFA."
Impact starts to argue, but then shrugs and teleports to his room. I tap Castellar's shoulder, and she snaps out of her semi-trance.

"Bedtime already? But it's just started!" She whines. Webdings perks up and says "CASTELLAR, HOW ABOUT I READ YOU A BEDTIME STORY?" She squeals as she escorts him upstairs, babbling on about her favourite book.

"Oh! And can you do that funny hand dance while reading it?" I hear her ask before she shuts her bedroom door.

I sit on the sofa and slowly slip off into dreamland.

I faintly feel someone put a duvet on me before going outside.

z.....

zz...

zzzzzzzzzzz....

===========SAVE============

*Feeling finally happy with your new family...
*It fills you with determination.