I was tired from all the work I had done, I needed some sleep. Setting scrap down onto my desk. I stood up and stretched “Ahh that's better,” I said. Walking over to the hatch, I opened it, looking out I found that the kids were still awake which was rare for a time like this. It must have been close to 10 pm. And I was not about to give up the hiding spot I've had to myself for years, just because the kids weren't asleep yet.

I slowly reached up from under my bed and grabbed the one blanket that was on it. Looking at the kids, I found that they were all huddled up. I Quickly pulled the blanket into the hatch. Checking again, the kids hadn't seemed to have noticed.

I closed the hatch once again. Pulling the blanket over to my chair, I flattened it down on the chair before sitting down on it. Pulling the sheets close to myself, I grabbed the book and began to read. Suddenly I felt a pull on my consciousness, looking over I noticed that Scrap was looking at me as if asking why I had done that. “ I don't want them to know about my magic or this place,” I said gesturing at the room.

Scrap seemed to think on this. Before nodding and hopping over to me. He climbed onto my shoulder before positioning himself so he could see what I was reading. It seemed that scrap inherited the ability to know what I did from the bond, but only the basics. he knew how to read and what the runes did, even how I felt at the moment. But he didn't know that I wanted this place secret or that magic wasn't something others should know you could do. This was something I would need to teach him.

Settling in, I began to read. The book was fascinating, It talked all about the different things runes could be used for. It even mentioned things about the void, although it said these were second-hand accounts from the summoned creatures with enough intelligence to tell the author. Speaking of the author, I wasn't sure who it was. The writing style seemed to change every once in a while, there even seemed to be notes scribbled onto the pages. This led me to believe that there wasn't one author but many. And that the date 1709 was just the latest entree in the book.

Which meant that no one would come looking for it. That knowledge was a great burden off my shoulders. I had been struggling with the idea of someone coming in and taking it from me.

Scrap sent me a feeling of comfort, “Thanks” I said looking at him. It amazed me that I had essentially made artificial life. In less than three days with the book. And not just that he was intelligent and even seemed to have emotions.

Returning to the book, I continued to read.

Waking up ‘I must have dosed off’ I felt a sense of… Pride? It took a second before I realized that the pride wasn't my own but scraps. I turned in the direction I felt it from and was surprised to find my golems lined up like soldiers in front of Scrap. And not only that but they all seemed to be altered in a way. Bomb had somehow gotten a large rune placed on his chest that I didn't recognize and the GGs had gotten little fingers instead of the mitten hands they had before.

Standing up quickly, I moved over to them. Scrap was beaming up at me in expectation. It took me a moment, then it hit me Scrap, Scrap had modified the golems by himself. “Wow,” I said sending a happy feeling toward Scrap. “ I knew you should have been able to do this, but I thought it would take some time”. Scrap moved over to the other side of the desk where the book has been placed down and was open. The book was opened to a page where the same rune that Bomb had on his chest was written.

“Defense,” I said. “Defense doesn't necessarily increase the defensive properties of the item it is attached to, what it does instead, is make it harder to break the cohesion of the atoms it's made of.” That was news to me. The fact that Scrap had not only understood its meaning but also put it on to the weakest golem, meant I had underestimated the intelligence he had.

“Wow,” I said again. “This is amazing Scrap” I meant it. “Grrr” I was hungry. “I wonder if any of that meat I brought in is left” I mumbled. I was about to go check on the kitchen but stopped. Turning around I stretched my hand out letting scrap climb inside my cloak. I also grabbed My GGs. Making my way to the hatch I checked the room, this time no one was inside. I climbed out of the hatch and whispered “Gaurd the base Bomb”. I started heading to the kitchen. Once there I started to smell the delicious fragrance of meat cooking.

“Poping into existence are we” turning my head I noticed Mrs. C.

Scowling I said “As always Mrs. C”

“Well make sure whatever you are doing doesn't become a problem” That made me a little angry, but I composed myself. After all, magic could become a problem.

Continuing forward. I hopped into line for food. I helped myself to a healthy dosage of steak and mashed potatoes. I didn't know how they had gotten potatoes, but I was glad they had. Sitting down. I took my time eating the first real meal I had eaten in a long, long time.

As soon as I was done enjoying my meal I started out the door towards the Junkyard. I knew that the gang would still be in the area but I had a plan for that.

Once I was close enough to see the junkyard, but not close enough for the gang to care. I moved into an alley that was hidden from view. Once hidden I pulled off my cloak and laid it down. “Do you think you could put the Light bend runes down on this?” I said to scrap. He nodded. And started on his work.

Light bend was a rune formation that redirected the light around the object it was attached to, basically making the object invisible. I discovered it last night when I was reading with Scrap. Looking at Scrap. I noticed that instead of grinding up rocks for ‘paint’ like I thought he would. He instead lowered his hand down, a tube coming out of his hand. Before I could ask what he was doing Ink started to come out of the tube. He quickly and precisely wrote out the runes for Light bend. Before stepping back and looking up at me.

“Nice I wasn't expecting that,” I said to him.

Now that my cloak was invisible. I could safely walk past the gang into the junkyard without them even noticing, Hopefully.