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Alex wasn’t quite sure how to begin. He hadn’t had time to plan this out. “Gavin introduced me to his father today. He’s the British consul-general, Derek Michaels. I really had no idea. I can promise I was as shocked to see him as he was to see me.”

“I see. And that’s your whole story, is it, young man? You don’t have anything else to add? He didn’t say anything to you? Are you quite certain?”

“Well, pretty much the whole of it, yes.”

“So if I told you he wants you to accompany his son to England, you would be surprised?”

“Mostly. I mean, Gavin mentioned he wanted to go and asked if I would go with him. I told him that I’m not really allowed to go to England anymore and that even if I could go back, I didn’t think I could get enough money to pay for it.”

Amanda thought her son was lying, but Alex hadn’t said anything yet she could catch him on. “Mr. Michaels had a proposition for me to consider.”

“A proposition? I don’t understand,” said Alex, genuinely confused.

“If you go with Gavin, as his companion, Mr. Michaels will do a number of things. First, he’ll fix it so you can legally enter England, which is something you obviously need corrected. Second, he’s agreed to forgive our debt for the fiasco that resulted from your last trip.”

“Really!? I’m shocked he’d do all that just so I could go on a trip with his son,” exclaimed Alex, surprised at the revelation.

“Yes, shocking, I agree,” said Amanda. She knew the surprise on Alex’s face was real. She decided she must have been mistaken earlier, and the situation was as innocent as it seemed. “He’s also agreed to pay your airfare.”

“And pay my airfare? Why would he do that? What does he want? He’s not doing all that ‘cause he’s a nice guy, that’s for sure.” Alex was going to go on, but he stopped himself, realizing he might just talk himself out of the gift he was being handed.

“There is a catch. The trip will be considerably shorter than you’d like.”

“That’s okay. How long are we talking?”

“You’d leave on a Friday and be back ten days later, on Monday.”

“That’s not so bad,” said Alex.

“Well, it’s not all going to be quite so easy. Mr. Michaels has some documents that need to be hand-delivered on your way to London. His son will be the courier, because he’s a British citizen and you’re not.”

“So? It can’t take more than a few extra hours to deliver an envelope with paper in it even if we have to hand deliver it.”

“You’d actually be going via Hong Kong. That’s where the documents have to go. You’d leave here Friday, and arrive in Hong Kong Saturday, then leave Hong Kong Sunday or Monday, and arrive in London the day after that. Because of the date line, you’d lose that day en-route to Hong Kong.” His mother looked at him, quietly studying him as he digested this information.

“You know mom, it might be cool to see Hong Kong. And that would make it an around-the-world flight, which would also be cool.”

“Now, Alex, do you know why he might be willing to do this?” asked Amanda suspiciously considering the attitude of the British government until today.

“I don’t know. I really, really, don’t know,” replied Alex, and he meant it. He did have an idea as to the reason, but he certainly wasn’t going to reveal it to his mother. At seemed that the elder Michaels was planning on using him as Nicky bait.

“Maybe he wants you to help find that boy and his father again?”

“His name is Nicky, Mom. Besides, I haven’t heard from him since he walked out our front door,” Alex lied. Nobody knew the rest. Maybe they suspected, but nobody could prove anything. “I wouldn’t know where to even begin looking.”

“I see,” said Amanda, not sure what to do. “I already discussed this with your father. Or, at least I tried to. He wanted no part of it and hung up. Getting rid of this debt would really help our situation, although he obviously doesn’t care about that part of the picture since he’s not helping pay for it. You know how many problems this debt has caused.”

“I know. I’ll go, but it’s because I like London and I like Gavin. It’ll be fun.” Alex knew his mother needed to see he had his own reason for going. Still, the enthusiasm he showed was genuine.

“Now that we’ve almost settled that, what’s wrong with you and Delos?”

“What do you mean?” asked Alex defensively.

“Mrs. Theopilus called today. She had asked Delos how you were, and Delos screamed ‘don’t ever mention his name again,’ before running to her room and locking herself inside.”

“Um, I’d rather not talk about that. It’s private and personal.”

“What did you do to her, young man?”

“Look, we had a fight. Just leave it alone. Please?”

“You men are all alike,” said Amanda, disgust in her voice. She knew pressuring Alex for information concerning his romantic life was not going to result in her receiving any information if he didn’t want to give her any. It would just create friction.

Amanda sighed, and after a few moments, realized Alex wasn’t going to say anything else; she continued on with another subject. “I have to work tonight. You’re on your own for dinner. Oh, and your job called. They want you to work from eight to closing tonight. I told them you’d be there.”

“Thanks. I’ll go.” Now that he needed spending money, the extra hours would be a good thing.

Alex went to his room and grabbed a new book to read. Sweet Silver Blues by Glen Cook was an older book, but he had found it misfiled on a shelf at the bookstore where he worked; it had looked interesting, so he’d bought it. He was only halfway through it now, but was really enjoying it. He knew he’d end up buying the rest of the books in the series. Alex lay down on his bed and read voraciously, finishing the other half before it was time to go to work.

After finishing the book, Alex went downstairs to forage for food. He’d rather have gone to a local fast-food restaurant, but now that he was saving money, he figured he’d make do with whatever he could find. He settled on making sandwiches and having some fruit. It wasn’t really what he wanted, but he didn’t have much choice unless he wanted to cook, and he wasn’t in the mood for that.

He changed into his work clothes and then went outside to his bicycle. It wasn’t in the best shape, but he’d gotten it to the point where it was useable. He’d need a new one eventually, but right now he wasn’t going to spend any money he didn’t absolutely need to.

He rode to work, thinking about the upcoming trip the whole while. He thought Hong Kong would be neat, but going there was just really a diversion from what he truly wanted to do. Besides, it would be a small price to pay to make this trip work. He also knew he’d have to work very hard to identify any tail that was put on him once he arrived in London, though he wondered if Gavin might have been recruited by his father to spy on him. He supposed not since Gavin had indicated he was going off to Liverpool after they arrived.

He knew it would be much harder to get away with anything during this trip than it had been during his last, when he’d been virtually unknown by anyone outside the government; he knew he could be watched by any number of people this time, but he felt confident in his ability to disappear when he needed to, and the idea of doing so while being secretly observed added an element of excitement that Alex rather enjoyed.

He arrived at Barnes & Nobles, and rode around to the back. He beat on the rear exit and was let in by the manager. He put his bike in the break room, which was where most of the people who cycled to work kept their rides. He punched in on the time clock and went out on to the floor, where he was immediately accosted by a customer demanding to know the location of the occult section. That’s how he spent nearly half of his time on a shift: helping customers find things. The other half was spent putting away books, both new shipments and returns, as well as the occasional misfiled book set in the wrong place, most likely by an inconsiderate, lazy customer.

Time dragged by slowly, but he amused himself by people watching while he stocked some books in the new releases section. He was turning around to open another case of hardbacks, when he felt a tapping on his shoulder followed by a voice,  “Excuse me my good sir, where might I find a book on how to crash a bicycle in the park?”

He turned around and Gavin was there wearing a shit-eating grin.

“Come, my good man, surely you can speak and direct me to this book I seek!”

“Um, yeah, it’s right over there. See the sign marked ‘restroom’? If you go there, and enter the door named ladies, you will find what you seek.”

“Smarmy git. Do you get a break?”

“Yeah, I get one fifteen minute break. You want me to take it now?”

“Yes. Please.”

Alex clocked out for his break. He followed Gavin outside and sat on a nearby bench reserved for customers who wished to have a smoke outside. It was empty most of the time, as it was now.

“Your mother called my father a little while ago and agreed with his proposal. So, Dad’s taking care of all of the arrangements. We’ll be together until London. In theory, you’re supposed to follow me to Liverpool, but I know you don’t want to, so that’s cool. We’ll split up in London. I’ll come back and meet up with you the day before our return. What’s so important about London, anyway? You could come with me to Liverpool and we’d have fun.”

“I need to find someone,” said Alex plainly.

Gavin looked at Alex, who met his gaze. “I know the feeling. That’s why I never interfered with you and Delos. I saw you and her together. You two were like the closest people I ever saw. You were always talking to each other, joking around, and you were always together. I've never seen you argue. It's like you were perfect for each other. I watched you guys and it made me jealous and angry, because you had what I wanted before you broke up.”

“What's that?”

“I want that kind of friendship, not the superficial stuff I've had to settle for my whole life.”

Alex nodded, wondering if he and Gavin could share that type of friendship. “You realize Delos and I've known each other for quite a while now. We always clicked like that, even when we were younger. She's been my best friend, my only friend in fact. Erm, make that was my best friend.”

“I know. That’s really sad. I want to be friends with her, but now that I’ve met you I want to be friends with you too. I don’t want to be in the middle of you two. If I try to get close to her is it going to freak you out? If I have to pick only one of you to be friends with, I’ll pick you.”

“That’s nice, Gavin. I appreciate the thought. You can get involved with Delos however you want. I just don’t want to hear about it. It hurts too much right now.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, not now. Not ever. I gotta’ get back to work.”

“Alex, wait. Are we okay?”

“Yeah, as long as we’re done talking about Delos,” he said coldly and started walking back towards the store before turning to face Gavin. “You know, I’m just feeling a lot of things about Delos right now, and have to get used to the idea that we might not be friends any more. That hurts. It’d just be better if you didn’t mention her to me. I’ll get over it one day. Anyway, I’ve got to get back to work.” He gave Gavin a quick and somewhat tentative smile that didn’t have his heart in it, and then walked back into the story to finish his shift.

Alex finished his shift despite being distracted by thoughts of the conversation he’d had with Gavin. Twice now Gavin had expressed an interest in Delos and yet Alex also felt Gavin had some romantic interest in him, a feeling he didn’t return. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, though. There were definitely mixed signals.

He rode his bicycle home, arriving without incident. He went to his room quietly so as not to disturb his mother. He took a quick shower, and after finishing it, decided against checking his e-mail or reading. He was not so much tired as drained. It has been a long day and there was so much to think about. He knew lying in bed was when he had his best thinking time, so he hurried his few tasks and jumped into bed less than a half-hour after arriving home.

The mysterious green-eyed teen stood before him shrouded almost entirely in shadows, looking back at him with a steely-eyed gaze, as if demanding answers to unspoken questions, yet no words came forth. Alex knew he should recognize the peculiar teen from what little he could see, but he didn’t recognize the shadowed figure. He felt a slow terror creep up his spine; suddenly, the strange teen lunged forward, reaching out towards him. Alex had trouble breathing; he wanted to scream, but he was unable to. He felt as if he was being smothered. He began to struggle, and then he felt something sharp, knife-like, draw across his throat, and at that moment, he knew he was going to die. He got a clear look at his attacker and realized it was a younger Derek Michaels. He blinked himself awake, and flicked on his light.

It was an unsettling dream and the third time he’d had it, though it had changed slightly each time. What disturbed him, though, was the fact that this time he’d identified his tormentor as Gavin’s father. And it was definitely the same person in each dream. He wondered what it meant or even if it meant something. Was it a warning or just happenstance? He was confused. After pulling himself together, he flicked the light off and drifted slowly back to sleep whilst pondering this new mystery, for which he was sure there was no ready answer.

He awakened to someone pushing him gently. “Alex, wake up.” His first thought was that he really needed to start making a habit of locking his door before he went to bed. He peeked open his eyes, and saw a smiling Gavin looking back at him.

“Hey, sleepyhead. Come on.”

“How’d you get in?”

“Your mom let me in. She left right after that. She seemed in quite a hurry. Anyway, we’ve got things to do. The trip’s on and we’re leaving in a couple of days. We have to go shopping! Get a move on!”

Alex made no immediate move because he was naked. To his horror Gavin reached towards his sheets and began to pull. Alex started to scream, “Nooo....” as he felt the covers begin to move.