Eary emerged behind his brother from the group of teleporters. He caught the glare on his parents' faces and immediately ducked behind Sakile.

"Get out here right now!" Delia ordered her youngest. He grimaced as he emerged from the safety of his friends.

Luke emerged from the crowd as well and joined his parents. "We need to talk, Eary." He said in a somber tone.

Feeling a sinking guilt, Eary followed his family into the living room. Inside, the Bennetts awaited his parents and all of his bright hope friends. Along with the rest, Luke gave him an angry look as he and the others took their place among the crowd.

Mitchell instructed his son to sit. Nodding, Eary immediately acted in compliance.

Eary began, "I'm so sorry, everyone. I know I did a reckless thing. And I'm sorry." The silence and the expressions did not change as he stared at a sea of cold faces.

His father asked, "Why do you think everyone here chose to come to Toronto, Eary?"

Eary shook his head. "I don't know."

Mitchell continued, "Because, according to everyone, you're the strongest." He paused and glanced around the room. "Now, how do you think it makes everyone feel when they wake up and you're," Mitchell clasped his shaking hands and continued, "Nowhere to be found?"

Eary took a deep gulp. He apologized again, but this time, mitch interrupted him. "I didn't ask if you were sorry. I asked how you think that made them feel, Eary."

Eary sighed, "Scared." He uttered as he fought back tears of guilt.

Mitchell nodded, "Yeah, it scared us. The thing is, Eary, that the fear that causes, never fully goes away." Mitchell explained as he held back tears. "I need information, Eary, Apologies can wait." He paused a stared Eary down as he asked, "Why did you leave last night?"

Eary sighed, "I have these episodes at night sometimes." He explained, "I have to leave the house and usually fight some ghoul."

Mitchell nodded, "So this is a powers thing?" He asked in a calm tone. Eary nodded in agreement. Mitchell continued, "So why didn't you ask your friends for help?"

Eary hastily explained, "It's usually a one shot with my white light." Eary erupted his right hand in radiant pure light. "So I didn't want to wake anyone."

Mitchell calmly asked, "Was it that way this time?"

Eary looked at his feet. In a soft tone, he replied, "No."

Mitchell's voice cracked with emotion as he asked, "How long has this been going on?"

Eary looked up as he pondered. He quickly stated, "Since a couple days after the miracle." His hands fidgeted in his lap at the shocked expressions of the room. His parents began to cry. His friends shifted from annoyed to compassionate, as Mei placed her hand on his back, and Alice was visibly shaken.

All the eyes upon him made Eary uneasy. In a confused tone, he said, "What?"

Delia replied, "You've been doing this by yourself? For years?" She began to sob as Eary moved across the room to console her.

"Mom, it's okay. Mote goes with me." He explained as his mother stared in horror.

Mitchell reached around and pulled his son into his parents. "Buddy," he explained, "We don't want our kids doing something like this once." He paused as he stared off into the distance. He said, "I'm so sorry that you've been alone in this. But you're not anymore. So you need to tell people about your struggles. Not just this world, but your non-magic issues, too."

Eary nodded. Silent tears streamed down his face as he squeezed his father's hand on his shoulder. Soon, the room was filled with similar sentiments from everyone else.

Eary felt like the worst of his day was over. A sense of ease washed over him as he sat in a familial embrace.

As the crowd departed, Eary was left with his friends from Bright Hope and Josh and Ephraim.

Eary said said, "I am really sorry for everything, guys." He placed around the room nervously, awaiting reprisal. Much to his surprise, he was met by a unanimous group hug, save for Josh.

Decan whispered through the stillness of the moment. "I want you to know you can always count on me. I need you to know that."

Eary stared hopelessly at the boy. Just about two weeks ago, their future seemed so promising. Now, only a bleak fog remained as Decan gaze met his.

Tears filled his eyes. He wanted to embrace him. To feel the way he did before. But much like with Ephraim, those fires felt cold. With a heavy blink, two large tears fell from his cheeks.

Decan whispered again, "Can we talk?"

Eary didn't get the chance to respond as Luke interrupted, "Eary, we're all here for you. There isn't anything in this aspect of your life you need to hide from us." He looked into his brother's teary eyes as he concluded, "Okay?"

Eary nodded as Alice and the girls accosted him with tips on what to do I this we're to happen again.

Decan looked down as he slowly departed the living room.

Eary watched, as another disappointing prospect departed from his circle. Ephraim tried to pull him a bit closer. Eary, however, released himself from the boys' grasp as he followed Decan without a word.

Catching up to him in on the stairs, Eary called out, "Fine. Let's talk." Folding his arms and looking annoyed, he awaited Decan's response.

Eary's tone had clearly caught the young man off guard as he stammered, "Y-yeah. I think we need to." With a stern face, Eary nodded as he followed Decan up the stairs.

Taking to Decan's room, the two stood feet apart as Decan explained, "I'm assuming you've heard about my situation with Laura."

Eary nodded. His crispy anger and rigid face unyielding. A fact that did not escape Decan's attention.

Nervously, he continued, "We talked about options at dinner that night." He sighed deeply and paused. His shifted expression softened Eary heart as he closed the distance and placed his hands on Decan's shoulders.

"What options?" He asked in a hushed voice.

Decan replied, "We talked about adoption or termination."

Eary gasped at the idea. He said, "I don't want you to kill your baby for me."

Decan shook his head, "No!" He explained in urgently, "Eary, I'm not with Laura anymore. We've been spending time together, trying to figure out what to do."

Eary's face grimaced with tears as he pulled Decan close. He hugged him back as the two intertwined in embrace.

Decan's emotional voice shook as he explained, "I was so afraid I was losing you to Ephraim." He admitted as he buried his head in Eary's shoulder.

Caressing his hair, Eary sobbingly confessed, "I thought the same with Laura."

The two locked eyes and soon lips. This kiss was different from the others that they had shared before. It was deeper. The two pulled at each other, as Eary felt his temperature rise. Decan pulled him from his feet, and the two found themselves locked in embrace upon the soft mattress.

A loud series of bangs on the door was followed by the sound of Josh's voice, "Hey Decan, what are you doing in there? I need to talk to you."

The disturbance shattered the moment, as the two discontinued their makeout session. Eary rested his head upon Decan's chest as he called through the door. "Give me a minute, man." He looked down and embraced Eary's cheek. He kissed Eary's hand as he said, "I'm sorry, this will have to wait." Eary grinned with relief as the two hurried back to their friends.

As the two sat rejoined the group, the notable change in their expressions was noted by Mei.

"Did you two figure it out?" She whispered to Eary in suspended anticipation.

Eary nodded and giggled back to his friend as the two giddily bounced in happiness. That is, until Eary caught the look of a devastated Ephraim from the corner of his eye.

He quickly calmed himself as he sat next to the young man, "Hey, I'm sorry I scared you."

Ephraim nodded as he gave a reluctant smile, "Yeah. Yeah, you did." His stared to his lifelong friend. His eyes were full of pain and remorse. He quickly rose from his seat as he announced, "I think I'm getting kind of tired, I'm gonna turn in early."

Eary nodded in understanding as he watched his first dream disappear into the darkness.

He leaned in closer to Decan as the group of friends discussed plans for the evening.

Calvin, who was sitting quite snug with Mei, announced, "We should do some porting again. That was fire."

Alice smiled as she replied, "Okay now. I'm not the taxi service here, but." She extended her grasp, and a book seemingly materialized in her hands. "Mei and I have been working on this scrapbook." She explained proudly as she opened the large book. "It has pictures for all the places we wanna go see."

Mei smiled as she erupted in excitement, "It's totally wild! We can go anywhere Alice can see, right? So we went online and found the coolest places to go to."

Alice proudly continued, "So this is now the porting book. If you have any requests, please deliver them to Ms. Wong or myself. The two gleefully smiled as the group praised the idea.

The group was in an uproar. Each sent different images to Alice and Mei as a dirty and urgent Mote came hurdeling into the room.

He gave a look of fear at first, then of utter determination, "The motelings!" He announced, "That psycho Sasha has invaded our sanctorium! He is capturing and imprisoning them all! They got Anu! We have to go help her now!" He flew off in the direction of the portal door.

The group looked at each other in shock as they sprung to their feet to assist the little moteling king.