I skipped the lunch tray, the line. I glanced out into the crowd. Every inch of me was satisfied, like I'd stretched, lifted weights then took a nap, and stretched again. And already I heard the rumors swirl - that had somehow beat me to the lunch room.

Zelinsky and Abbot - our names, over and over again. As they stared at me and whispered that we fought - that I lost, or won. That I used magic against him -

But I found myself ignoring it as I sat next to Hannah, glancing over her book, getting a peak over the cover.

It slapped down on the table between us and I blushed, throwing my eyes up at hers, and she hurumphed at me.

She had a salad with blue cheese dressing, and I didn't know before that moment it could be sexy, but she took a bite. I tried to smile, I asked -

"I'm Cody?"

Which was apparently the perfect thing to say, because she looked right at me, and I got to see her smile.

"I know. We have two classes together." She reminded me, "And you're on my bus."

What was next? My memory shifted through hundreds of memories, flashed through all the interactions I'd had with women, and realized that they were mostly of my mother.

I shook my head. Wrong thought.

"There's a dance - in two weeks. Will you go with me?" I asked her.

In the silence that followed, I materialized a meal, leftovers. A plate with pork chops and mashed potatoes, gravy - and peas.

"Stud!" He shouted, slapping my shoulder.

And whatever Hannah had been about to tell me was lost as she turned to him with a wrinkled nose, "You're so crass, Brandon."

"Cody." Brandon ignored her - even as I heard the slapping of more plates around me, "You making a move, bro?"

I blushed - God, I wanted to climb under the table, no I wanted to punch him, I had awkward enough when it had been just me and her.

Worse - Hannah stood up and left, her salad uneaten, as I turned toward Brandon. I was both furious and confused, the only thing I understood was that I didn't understand!

"You interested?" I asked him slowly, like he hadn't just been crying half an hour ago, and then...

"I'd tap it." He shrugged, then turned away from me as Mike ooohed and brought a fist up to bomb his. Stupid.

"Get in line." I told him, digging into my lunch.

"Oh shit." Mike popped in, then followed it up like he couldn't believe - "You like her."

Who the fuck is Mike.

I had never said a word to this dude in my life, I doubt if it wasn't for my improved memory I'd even know his name, and how he's what -

"Tap it, then." Derek?

It surprised me, to hear his voice, to hear him talking to me in a genially friendly tone, but even more - as my eyes looked out further and I saw Brandon, Derek, Mike, Jason - I'd not realized that they all sat together, and what was more obvious, friends.

I looked around at the other people who'd appeared, who were now eating - Jenny and Rachel, nearby - apparently bored. Wrinkling their faces at our conversation, even as they slowly scooted closer.

It was an ambush of sorts, and I struggled to get my bearings - turning toward Derek, I tried to see if this was something he'd set up, a trap, if he was already on the attack.

They narrowed back at Brandon, because I real I wasn't actually sure he didn't play these sorts of games, and I'd already been wrong about him -

Then my eyes unfocused to take in a full cafeteria, and the gap that I had sat in, across from a person everybody should be jumping to sit next to.

Had I taken their seats? Was this like the bus where everybody just sat in the same place each day? Or was this where everybody just tried to sit close to Hannah, regardless of where she sat?

It was confusing, I couldn't be sure what the reason was, and I couldn't feel a desire to care that much. I'd sensed the power Derek wielded by understanding social nuance, but trying to sort through this snarl?

Boring. Silly. I wanted to battle, not analyze every fart, smelling every ass to see if it was important. Did I really have to? To take this power for myself?

I closed my eyes -

And reached for the store, I didn't know what I was even looking for, so instead I felt the shape of my thoughts and tried to mimic it, but there was no magic spell that I could afford, and the Abilities felt...wrong. Too close to something that had once been inside me, I didn't even want to read, to be tempted.

But the shape of some Skills tickled, and I bought the cheapest one. Maybe it was cheating? I didn't think so, though - not when I had bled for those coins...

Group Dynamics - Human. A broad primer derived from the study of interpersonal relationships at the small group level that refines reactions and assists with non-verbal communication cues.

And suddenly I was slapped with understanding, like I'd just been asleep since I sat down and began to grasp what was going on around me. My attention was instantly drawn to two things - that I had already begun to sense was more important then they appeared.

Where people were looking.

Where their bodies were pointed.

The skill bridged the gap, between what I had first noticed fighting and tied the memories together into a sense of understanding, an awareness I hadn't had before that didn't require me to analyze.

It became a part of me - a reflex, available even though it was unnatural, and I felt how I could turn it off. It was a mod.

A fucking Mod. It modified my behavior, seamlessly, an overlay on top of the existing! Holy Shit!

But what surprised me even more than that, was that it wasn't making me do more, the feeling of it was telling me to do less. To open myself, to let walls fall, to stop blocking emotions and insights -

That in a way it was a game of catch, that to play you had to both catch the ball, and throw it.

Of course it all made sense, that I had understood the shape of it before, I had seen it, played a bit. But I'd never bought tickets to the game, and now - looking across at them, seeing how fast different thoughts, ideas, meaning - emotion flowed mindlessly fast - I understood this game. What was going on.

Like a compass needle. It was giving me direction, what I needed to do in this situation. To be a part of the group I needed to stand up, go with them, where? It didn't matter.

Then I felt the disappointment. Because even though I understood, I got the game, it didn't mean I could play. And I wanted to - wanted to let Brandon know he'd pissed me off by interrupting my time with Hannah - even if he was my best friend.

And I felt my hand curl into a punch and land on his shoulder, solid but glancing -

And he turned back at me, grinning and he bit. His teeth clicked together in what had to be a snarling bite as he winked at me.

And I realized he had known. That this was his table. And there was also a reason why he was sitting here - why he sat by me. And why he chased Hannah off.

-Get over it, Bro -

Mike slapped me on the back, squeezed my neck - and the others considered me, but they edged in closer, and somehow we were all moving at once, walking the quad, the lawn before slowly splitting off to different directions.

It was subtle - the change, and I realized I liked it. Realized how dangerous it could have been, if it had done what I had originally reached for. It would have changed me. How I thought. It could have overwritten my mind, altered my inherent personality.

I wouldn't be me anymore...and that thought, I shivered.

This wasn't as direct, not words, but a deep understanding that I was able to experience, somewhat similar to how I had learned magic and could use it when I wanted. Even when it was always with me - I had the control. I had the option.

It made it so I could be a part of their group. So I could communicate using their language. It was translation -

It filled my thoughts in class as I experimented with it more, and something else surprised me - I sensed groups everywhere. Each class had their own, and even if most groups stayed the same, sometimes when the class changed the group did too.

My brain felt absolutely bursting by the time school ended, and I was relieved to see the bus, and finally get my answer, as I sat next to her - and was thankful, even wondered if Brandon had saved me earlier - if he had chased her away because he'd seen me fumbling.

It was probably wishful thinking, but this time I did have a plan, to do what I had always wanted - to get to know her. I just started asking her simple questions,

"What books do you like to read?" I smiled, sitting next to her.

She looked at me and blushed slightly, she pushed a lost strand of hair behind her ear, bit her lip - then closed her hand over the book she was reading leaving a finger in it.

"Poetry. Not just, but - sometimes in a book, you can hear more than the words." She shook her head, in the pause I thought perhaps she intended not to answer. But instead it was like she didn't know the answer herself, and was still looking.

"It's so hard to explain, because it's always different. Sometimes the story I enjoy most isn't the one written, it's a shape. Like the author intends to write all around what's actually important - completely ignoring -"

She looked frustrated, and bit her lip, then blushed -

"I don't think I can explain it. You either see it or you don't."

"That's alright," I admitted, "I've felt that way before, that words aren't enough. They're like a map, the easiest way to get lost is to follow it too closely."

She nodded quickly, "That's close to what I mean, or maybe - it's the opposite?"

I looked at her, confused, and she said:

"Much Madness is divinest Sense -"

The way she closed her eyes and pronounced each word, hugging the book to her chest. She didn't so much say the words as kiss them. And even though I could tell she was trying to say something more then the words alone -

I couldn't think. Not about anything other then how maddeningly wonderful she was, and I also couldn't help but think of how I never wanted to unwrap if fully, I always wanted one more layer of surprise left -

That the impossibility of me grasping and unrolling the mystery of what made her special was the most alluring part. And she forgave my ignorance, and gave me small details and inconsequentials for me to treasure as well -

She told me she liked pecan ice cream, and that her favorite color was yellow, she didn't watch tv and I almost jumped in to tell her I hated the news -

I impressed myself as I stopped before I did my best imitation of a breathless anchor reporting on the rain - and rather this year it wouldn't be enough!, unless it was too much!

Instead I coughed, turning away to hide my blush, and saw Mike looking at me, giving me a thumbs up, and I had to cough again.

Of course she loved Pride and Prejudice, and I promised her I'd never read it, which did make her laugh, and I couldn't stop smiling as she insisted on making sure I heard every word.

She peppered me with snappy quotes in a lovely English accent where she could make them fit, or she just forced them on me.

I loved every moment, for all the long ride felt only seconds as she suddenly stood up, breaking the spell she had over me, I could have just listened to her talk forever.

"I've never been to a dance. My parents won't let me go." She explained, before getting up for her stop. I had already forgotten about the dance, so I just nodded. "But I'll ask them."

We were long after my stop, I was just going to wait til the bus went back to school and walk back. Except the next stop everybody left on the bus got up at once, and I was suddenly just going with them - it was my skill I realized.

And I felt stupid sitting back down, so I just continued to walk until I was out the door, running would be fun, to ride with her and run back home each day would be perfect. So I stepped out, and found myself in a trailer park.

A part of town that I hadn't even known existed, and realized I was lost - I swept my eyes for landmarks, the tall steeple of the church was gone, but I could make out the water tower, and in my search my eyes drifted past everything, and everyone else.

Brandon, Jason, Derek, and Mike, a few others, lower classmen. I saw the rows of triangle homes with faded paint, no yard. Just gravel that crunched under foot. I saw the rusted vehicles parked under torn awnings, one or two worth more than the trailers themselves.

"You comin?" Mike asked me, and I realized I had been, that I hadn't stopped walking and the five of us were moving to one of the homes except I had drifted away as I took in the place. I adjusted to follow -

I climbed the weathered wood of a porch that circled a double wide and walking through a door that had saucer sized dents across the door. The sound of dogs barking, along with the faint aroma of piss, not overwhelming. But with my nose -

Thick brown carpet abutted plastic floors that curved up, chipped at the edges. The square design worn white in a path though the center.

Derek was already pulling out what I realized was a bong - and Mike slapped a lighter on the table, along with a ziplock on the unbalanced coffee table that wobbled as everybody sat down. I relaxed into a lumpy sofa.

Brandon went to the kitchen, opening the fridge.

"What you want!" He belched out.

I was hanging out, I realized. I hadn't asked to go over, hadn't planned it. I'd barged into somebodies house - Brandon's family home, uninvited, and now I was sitting on his couch while waters, soda, juice box flew over - I caught a can, looked at it.

Captain Thunder? Was that a knock-off of a knock-off?

Brandon picked up one of the little white dogs running around yipping happily, holding her to his chest he petted her, then kissed the top of her head.

Derrick was fiddling with the lighter - pushing it at the round bowl of the bong. And Jason just looked bored, like he always did. Or stoned?

Was that what it was?

And then I had it in my hand - and it looked easy enough, the bong felt like an instrument you suck in instead of blow, and for all the bubbling burps it was making it could have been. I felt a head-rush and a sort of fog descend over me, a bit tingly.

Poison. 0 HP

Then as the minute passed, so did it, before I even got to sense what it was doing - I tried telling myself no - not a poison, I want to try this.

"So who the fuck are you." Jason asked suddenly, looking right at me.

I felt the eyes turn - heard the bubbling take - the coughs as Brandon filled his chest.

"Cody." I nodded, I'd finally been able to push off the healing, the purge by the time the bong reached me again. But I invited it back - let myself sober up.

"No. Who the fuck are you." Jason explained, "What are you about my dude?"

He wasn't being unfriendly - the heaviness of the question, of what I thought he meant was softened by his striking features, his tone. I didn't need him to clarify what he meant, but I was buying time. He just wanted to know more about me -

It was easy to be jealous of his ease and looks, he dressed in a way I could never pull off, even had I wanted. And for all the lightness of his tone, I wasn't quite ready to lay everything out there, I wanted to say - don't crowd me. Let me breath, I'll open up to you in time a man has secrets -

And my eyes fell on the Yeezy's he had, how many pairs I'd seen him wear, as I looked around the trailer park I'd seen obvious poverty. Something I was still coming to terms with because I realized that was important, too.

Another fact I'd missed in my self-centeredness. Because in the bottom of a pit - all you see is walls.

"Where'd you get those shoes." I asked him, guided by the skill, and I heard his teeth snap shut.

After a moment he said, "They're fakes." But I felt the lie in it - felt it in the way Derek looked over at me suddenly.

"What was that about today?" Mike asked after his hit, nodding at Derek, and then I realized this wasn't us hanging out. It was them feeling me out - to see if they wanted to be my friend.

"Dude, Chill." Derek insisted - not at me, but Mike, before I could drop a word.

"My bad - just making sure we all were good -." Derek grimaced at him, but stayed quiet, and I realized he was waiting for me -

I didn't want to lie, nor did either of us want to speak the truth, so instead I compromised. I reached out on the table, letting a stack of cookies appear in a peace offering, knowing that Derek would understand the way they fell - like poker chips.

After a second they all reached in, grabbing - and the questions began.

"What's it like? To do that shit."

"It's like breathing."

"Would you do it again - would you go back. Is it worth it?"

I nodded without hesitation.

"Will you take me?" Mike asked, and I nearly bit my tongue on my cookie, I found myself coughing in surprise.

Where had that come from?

I took a long hit from the bong before I said a word -

What did I say? The thought hadn't occurred to me. Did I want to go back? Could you go back? I had seen that my father hadn't taken his potion - and a part of me wondered if he was going to go on his own, that he would feel the call much as Brandon had.

I thought the only reason he didn't was because of my mother, and it was why I didn't bring it up. The risk was - but Mike...

"What are you talking about?" I asked him, and he practically jumped out of his chair!

"You don't know!?" He screamed at me like I was the biggest idiot on earth, "Haven't you gone online?"

"What? No, I threw away my computer." I admitted, "I realized I was addicted, in the dungeon, that it wasn't a part of the life I wanted."

"You don't have a phone?" He asked, waving his smart phone, and a small flip phone popped into my hand, for emergencies - I didn't say the obvious.

'Who's gonna call me?'

"Duuuuuude." Jason said, picking up my phone by the antenna like it was gross, or even dangerous, he looked at me, "Duuuude."

"Cody -" Mike literally pushed Jason back into his chair, almost standing on the coffee table to get my attention back, "You have to go online! There's - I don't - bro!"

I couldn't understand what he was trying to say -

"You're important." Derek said it. "Valuable. Just your story. Anything to do with the dungeons, people will pay. And what they will pay most for is a person to guide them through one."

I blinked up at him, even as Mike looked at him accusingly, then back at me, "Cody, I don't have any money but please!"

Only today had it occurred to me that somebody would even go there willingly - they'd put out numbers, the odds of survival was horrible...but I thought of everything I'd got, already, thought of what I'd risk again, now that I knew.

That I would go back to get more potions for the family, if I could.

I looked at Brandon, saw even him peer back at me, interested in my answer.

"What do you know about them?" I asked Mike, realizing he had more than just a passing interest.

"Everything." He said, suddenly excited, "I know that so far the longest anybody has been gone is three days...that they've reported it was two people, both women." He looked at me, "Obviously there's more, but who knows how many?"

I nodded.

"But there's evidence now that people have vanished in groups - mothers holding a child, or a couple walking and holding hands, even pets. Some have even survived - there's video of them returning. None have done an interview yet - it's impossible to tell what's true and fake." He frowned, "But the rumors of people paying for a guide - that has to be based on something -"

"It's also illegal." Derek stepped in, filling in the gaps, "Which is why I think it's true. The government has put out a statement saying what laws would apply - reckless endangerment, involuntary manslaughter, perhaps murder. Money laundering, fraud, you name it -"

My eyes widened further and further, and I was drawn back to the strange pressure I'd felt at the doctors, at something else I had noticed - in my grandmother's tone, and what my father had been hinting at -

The government was concerned about the Doors hurting society at large, were doing everything they could to make sure the world kept spinning, was making laws to keep people from killing themself in a dungeon too far?

I wasn't sure, as I thought of Brandon's story and my own, people needed to understand the horrors of a dungeon before they went to one - or they would die. But afterward, if they still wanted to go? Was it right to stop them?

Mike had continued talking -

"Right now there's five colors - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, but Indigo and Violet are speculated about, those are your Dungeons by days or difficulty - Red is one - easy, Orange two - simple, Yellow - you know."

I hadn't, but understood that a yellow orb must have been in my freezer when I reached, and the difficulty was basic.

"People can only go into a Red Dungeon."

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah, after the first day, only Red Dungeons. Not you - probably, just new people, I think. There's videos, you just pass right through the other colors now."

This rang a bell for me - like I knew it to be true, but -

"How do you know?"

"He doesn't." Derek interrupted again, "This is just what people are putting together, online, and it gets deleted almost as fast as it goes up, now you can't find anything that isn't half crazy."

"Shhhh!" Mike cut him off, as to say none of that was important, "Nobody knows how long the others are, or even if they exist - nobody has come back from a different color alive that we know of, so it's a bad choice anyway. But Cody - if you could handle a Yellow..."

He let the words hang there, and I saw his logic, even if I didn't quite believe it. Because - Brandon, his dungeon didn't sound easy.

I nodded again, biting my lip.

"There was a dude online that was sharing everything - he'd posted hours and hours, he's famous - he loved his dungeon, and he was trying to get a group together to go back. I think he already did, he hasn't posted again but I bet he does soon and tells us how great it was - will you take me?"

He was back on the edge of his seat, I thought he was about to grab my arm and drag me to one. I felt he would if I agreed. Right now -

"Why?" I asked, "What makes it worth the risk?"

"Are you crazy!" He shouted, "Cody! Everything from there goes for thousands, just a coin. One coin. Ten Grand. Nobody will sell them. You can get them for killing a rat. And some of the potions, the items..."

"You would never have to worry." Derek whispered.

"Your whole life is set." Jason said, "I could buy a Benz."

"My family." Mike looked up.

"You're all idiots." Brandon spoke for the first time, "I told you it sucked, you aren't ready. I wasn't ready!"

"It's bad." I agreed without hesitation, "I should have died, so much of it was just luck."

I saw Brandon nodding.

"Will you tell me what it was like?" Mike asked, "Will you tell us? Brandon won't and I respect that, I get - I've heard the stories man. I know it's bad, but I know I have to go. My Mom, she's alone and she's given up everything to make my life better -"

"And what is she going to have -" Brandon started, in a conversation continued - but.

"I'm going." Mike said, cutting him off, "And if you could tell me something - anything. If it could save my life, give me a better chance, then please tell me what you saw."

I saw Brandon sag, that this was the first time Mike had said that -

And I realized how much Mike respected Brandon, by not pestering him. That he had seen Brandon's struggle, and hadn't pushed him -

I felt the tension, the anticipation, just as much as I felt the truth of Mike's argument. One I realized with my folks as well. Told them everything I could to give them a chance because I trusted them completely to do what was best. But I felt I needed to handle this differently, because if Brandon hadn't told them - was there a reason?

I hesitated, glancing at him, and he had a helpless expression, torn between deciding when -

"Damn it!" Derek shouted, "Stop being so dramatic and just tell us. What's so bad."

I flicked out my hand and suddenly there was a monkey diving across the space between us, landing in his lap - and he was scrambling back, screaming as it bounced on his lap with every jerky movement of escape.

The dog dove from Brandon's arms - howling as it tore off into the back -

And I was roaring with laughter as everybody flew back, pressed flat against the walls.

"A monkey!" Derek shouted at me as he finally caught his breath from where he had tried to climb Mike like a tree, and I heard the fury in his voice he used to cover his embarrassment. The others gave relieved chuckles as they realized that it wasn't moving, the final sleep of strangulation and without the blood it appeared only to be resting.

You could see the sharp incisors, the long knobby fingers, hardly bigger than a child.

Mike bent down and touched it cautiously, then turned up at me with a surprised look -

"Do you know how much this is worth?" He asked me.

I shrugged.

"It only spooked me because I wasn't expecting it." Derek mumbled.

"You don't know what to expect." Brandon told him, socking his arm, as I nodded seeing that at least he got my point. The other's had were slowly inching closer, and I thought they began to understand as well, they nodded with less enthusiasm.

Derek looked it over, "These are what hunted you?"

"No. These are what I hunted."

He laughed. And I laughed with him. Because it was sort of funny, wasn't it? That I disappeared into a jungle for three days and hunted monkeys.

Then almost everybody was laughing with us.

Then Derek started making monkey noises and he picked up the dead chimp and had it dancing like a puppet - he made little voices, "You can run, Cody - but you can't hide."

Just Brandon was quiet - he wore the same expression I had seen earlier, when I'd torn my arms out of their sockets to escape. He really needed to work on his sense of humor.

"What hunted you." His words were sober, and Derek snorted - rolling his eyes.

And my shirt vanished, replaced by my Cowl.

It was funnier, I realized - the second time. That monkey's could only be so amusing, they had a limit to their expressions...but people?

They were so much more complex.

They had so much more range. Some of the expressions Derek made before he started screaming? I won't say we were even, but we were a lot closer.

And now we're going to a dungeon - in two weeks, Friday, after the dance.