"You must never speak of this incident to your friends or the other children at the camp, ever. You are lucky that you are getting off with a warning this time for using your magic unauthorized. When we leave the room, I want you to pretend you never found what you kids were looking for? Got it?" A man with a deep voice said coldly.

That dream again. Darren twisted and turned in his bed, panting, with some part of his mind desperate to wake up. He hated this dream and wished he could not remember that night. The dream always started the same: He is walking into the forest with his friends and the other two campers. He remembered the summer breeze sent a chill giving Darren goosebumps up to his arms.

It has been eight years since the incident at summer camp that night. He still replays the dream in his head to this very day. Five naïve eleven years olds walking in the dark, away from the campground. The counselors should have been watching them that night, instead they opted to fool around and have parties. Never mind that a bunch of young campers sneaking out of the cabin past their curfew.

The dream scene always changed when the peaceful night turned into chaos and blood. This should have been a simple task for the kids to do. All they had to do to pass by the Bay Side Square neighborhood. After that, they proved to the other kids that they found the "legendary ghost town" in the Golden Oak Woods. When the kids arrived in the neighborhood, they witnessed something sinister that night. This scene always played out the same:

The streets of death. Bodies piling up with people dashing into the streets, only to get murdered on the spot by someone else. Darren recalled an older man shooting his wife in the head and another person running over a defenseless old lady with a car. Darren could never forget the image of a tall, slim man walking into the street with a pistol in his hand. The man shot himself in the head and fell down to the ground.

The horrid screams coming from the girls in Darren’s group made it too hard to think. Fires started, even houses burst into flames. However, the killing continued for those residents of the neighborhood who survived. Darren's group ran as if their lives depended on it, which it did because if the residents spotted them, they would chase after them. The residents were hungry for blood, even if it meant killing young children.

There was one thing that Darren knew that he had to do: He needed to use his magic just to protect everyone. He can't mess this up.

"Quick! Let's hide in the house over there!" Darren yelled to the group as they ran into a house that looked abandoned by the owners and untouched by the fire. More residents came after them until Darren fell behind to push the residents back from following them. He took off his wristband and pulled out his wand, then pointed at the group as he bit his lip, trying to fight the nerves away. With a slip of his tongue, he shouted a spell out, "Lucis!"

A rush of light came out of his wand and flashed into the eyes of the residents. They screamed in pain, covering their eyes, and fell to the ground. Darren looked at them for a second and ran to the house as it gave the group enough time to escape.

It was the only time Darren's magic ever worked right. The only night he could do something right when he had to protect his friends or anyone from harm. This dream sequence changed once again to where the five kids appeared to be in a private location. Darren twisted and turned on his bed, breathing heavily. He felt sweat all over his body as his fists grabbed the sheets to cover himself.

Darren remembered that same night: Some people interrogated all five of them, obviously they worked for the government. In his memories, he recalled the room being dim and cold while his younger self sat in a hard metal chair, shaking in fear.

"Why did you use your powers?! Huh?! Were you in line with one of them?!" A large, fat man dressed in a black suit yelled at him.

The man pointed at Darren, treating him like a criminal.

"I just wanted to protect everyone! That's why I used them! I did nothing wrong! I don't know what you are talking about, sir." Darren shouted at the man.

It was a painful interrogation. Being constantly yelled at by the government agents almost broke Darren. It was exhausting for him to answer all these questions since as one agent told him, “You’re a Supernatural. You’re a danger to society. You have little rights here, kid. Now, just shut up and answer our questions or we will give you a far worse punishment than what you have now.”

They even asked him about Leticia and Chantel, who unknowingly used their powers that night. The details were rusty on that and couldn’t comment on that. While he didn't know the full scope of their powers, he knew they kept everyone calm that helped protect everyone. The dream sequence changed again. This was the worst part of the dream: Darren saw a woman in a long black gown walking into the room and towards him.

She whispered a spell as Darren’s eyes go wide in fear. Next moment he felt that he couldn't move, much less run, as he sat in the chair, helplessly. He closed his eyes when a light flashed and knocked him out unconscious.

Suddenly, Darren woke up in sweat as he looked at his alarm clock where it rang loudly in his ears. He turned it off, then brushed his hair, trying to control his breathing after reliving this dream-like flashback once again. Darren knew what happened: They tried to wipe his memory, but the spell never worked on him. He is the only one in the Summer Camp group that remembered what happened that night.

Darren wished that damn spell worked, considering he would not have to keep on reliving that hellish dream almost every night. As the sweat rolled down his face, he took one glance at his phone before he brought himself time to focus. Messages blew up his phone and most of them were from Chantel. Most of these messages were about the band or asking if he is okay.

"I can't deal with this right now..." Darren got up from the bed after his rough night of sleep.

For the past week, since the meeting and after the festival, Chantel had been bugging him about the meeting with the Rise of Light. He dodged all her questions about it, knowing about half of this Supernatural stuff already. Darren told her he would talk about this when he is ready, but he doesn't think Chantel is ready to hear this. Hell, he does not even think Leticia is ready to know about what happened that night either. Darren threw on some clothes to start off the day.

Putting on his black hoodie and some jeans, he smelled the aroma of butter and sugar maple syrup coming from downstairs. And that could only mean one thing: Pancakes. Darren's nose smelled the scent of burned, crisp bacon. It is rare that his aunt Michelle cooked anything. That reserved for special occasions. Darren suddenly heard his older brother, Mark, and his snotty older sister, Olive's loud voices outside his room.

He groaned, knowing that he has to put up with eating breakfast next to these assholes. As Darren came downstairs to the kitchen, he saw his brother and sister talking to his aunt at the table. Olive is a slender-bodied woman wearing a black and white business suit. She is sitting in a chair with one leg crossed over the other, leaning over to talk to his aunt. Mark chowed down his buttermilk pancakes covered with maple syrup. He looked up when Darren had made his presence in the kitchen.

"Hey, little bro! What's up? Come sit with us!" Mark called.

"Can't. I have to work today." Darren thought of an excuse to not take part in this family breakfast.

"Darren. Work can wait. It's still early. Your brother and sister came all the way from California to visit us. Sit with us." Michelle said in a stern tone.

Darren rolled his eyes, but he did not say a word to his aunt to protest. He plopped himself into a chair, then made a plate for himself. Darren ate his food, while Mark nudged him for his attention and he put his fork down.

"I wonder Mark, how is it you got over here without a horde of fans following you?" Darren spoke out.

"You do know bodyguards exist?" Mark said as he took a sip from his cup of black coffee.

The family ate the rest of their meal in silence. In the past, Darren and Mark had their fights at the table. Family meal table times were not great for him at all. Mark would always start with how much of a loser he is, and Darren complained about how much of an asshole Mark is. Olive would join in and team up with Mark to respond to how jealous Darren is of Mark and her.

Wands came out, and the siblings fought using their magic. But his Aunt Michelle wanted none of that, not in her home! She would put a stop to that before it escalated and alerting attention to the neighbors. Darren looked at Olive, fixing her bad, blond-dyed hair into a ponytail and asked, "So, Darren, did you pass your magical evaluation trials?"

Darren dropped his fork again on his plate as he almost spat out his food.

He swallowed his pancakes down, then answered back, "I'm not doing them. I gave up on doing magic and the mage life. Plus, I'm in a band and I don't have time to practice for that anymore."

"Stop fooling everyone here! We all know you're not doing it because we know your magic sucks. It's probably for the best. The Gods have spoken that they didn’t bless you with an exceptional skill like Mark and I." Olive snickered, while she lifted her teacup to sip her green tea.

"Olive!" Aunt Michelle snapped.

"Come on, sis. Darren is being smart about his options: His little band. Well, it's getting some success, so who could blame him? Why would he want to practice his magic when he knows it’s pointless as shit? Darren knows he is a lost cause. I admire you for quitting now. Instead of embarrassing yourself again to the examiners," Mark took another bite of bacon, before huffing down some of his coffee.

"Well, if it isn’t shit on Darren this morning. You know what? I don't want to deal with all your BS. I'm heading to work." Darren pushed back his chair, then went out to the hallway and headed to the door.

Before he put his hand on the doorknob, Aunt Michelle rushed over to hold his shoulder. Her frowning face pleaded for him to stay longer. Darren looked at his aunt as he shook his head in shame, then walked out the house. Outside, Darren kept on walking, until he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see Mark had followed him, not too far from him. Darren stopped in his tracks and waited for Mark to catch up to him.

What does this asshole want?

"Look, Darren. That was wrong for me to say. I was just stating the truth. It’s called being realistic." Mark moved his head around to check to see if anyone is listening to him.

Even magical assholes like Mark needed to cover their tracks around Outsiders.

"I already know my fate. I don't care anymore about getting better." Darren half turned around to walk away again.

"I know that you went to the meeting last night, Darren." Mark spat out, which got Darren's attention again.

"The Rise of Light meeting, you told me about? Yeah, why do you want me to go there, anyway?"

"Don't you ever want to reach your potential? Get out of this shitty town like I did? Don't you want to get better at your powers? This is your chance." Mark moved closer to Darren's ear and whispered.

"There is something about that group that creeps me out. I'm happy with how things are now. Like I said: I don’t care about doing magic anymore." Darren pushed his brother aside, then moved to walk.

"Aren't you, Darren? You need that group and my help. The group and I can help you get your band at a better level than the way you are right now. I can help you with so many things in your life, including your 'magic' problem. I'm extending an olive branch to you. I suggest you take it." Mark told him and left Darren alone, heading back into the house.

Darren sighed as he continued to head to work so he wouldn't be late. All he thought about on his walk to work was that he hated that dream, his asshole siblings, and the fact he had this secret that he couldn’t tell.

Fuck this morning.

This is the worst morning that he ever had in his young mage life.