His backyard was massive for a cliff-side mansion. A fence blocks off the edges, and a back fence leads down the cliff to the beach. Of course, there is an elevator two, but Emanuel reassures me that doesn’t make this a mansion. My feet crush the dead plants as the long grass takes over the backyard, which is the size of a moderate house. Not a house's yard, the backyard alone is the size of a full-size property.

My eyes bounce around my head, trying to find a quick hiding place. First was a large shed across the yard, but thats to obvious. Next is the pool house by the pool, which I first mistook as a small pond. Then I saw a second smaller guest house. The overgrown bushes and grass obscure it more than the others, so it is the best bet.

I grow another hand out of my head and point to the smaller guest house. “Let’s hide in there,” I shout out.

“The dog house is hidden. I know how to get in and lock it,” he says with his head poking out my back.

My eyes wipe back to Emanuel as I run toward the house. “Dog house? Thats is a dog house? Is your dog actually a family of five? How is that a dog house?”

Emanuel glares at me as he speaks. “This is a regular dog house.”

“Yeah, for a super mansion.”

“This isn’t a mansion,” He whispers yells at me,

I slip my hand under a wodden flap fleshes on the wall. I felt for a metal hatch and unlcoked the door. First Emanuel crawled in and then I squished throught he door. I gently closed the door, and locked it with a metal hatch. I thin moved tyhe CABINET? Come on, what dioes a dog need with this? Either way I moved the cabinet infront of the hatch. I also pull the curtains and lock the door Emanuel’s family would use to enter the dog house.

We squat on the floor in the dog’s bedroom in the dark. The mattress is soft, and the sheet has a threaded count I didn’t know was possible.

“How is a DOG HOUSE a mansion?” Emanuel whispers.

“We both can fit in it, and I am not in my ball form. Look, I can stretch my legs; look, I can even stretch them farther.” I stretch my legs a full foot longer to prove my point.

“I’m a kid, and you shrunk. “

“It’s two stories tall.”

“It’s not two stories. It has two levels.”

“The floors are heated.”

“It gets cod because we are close to the ocean.” Emanuel pushes his face against mine as he whispers. Yelling grows intense. “What? Do you hate dogs? You want him to freeze to death. Look at CID, god of dead dogs.”

“It’s a mansion. “

The tension eases for a moment. We forget a powerful adversary is hunting us. I lost a foot’s worth of slime after all that damage, even though i required my slime. Emanuel points at the limbs floating in my body. It’s not just that I am missing a foot; my stomach still hurts, and the pain isn’t fading.

I pull out the limbs from inside of me. I look down and see that I was unable to remove all of the burnt slime. The area is dark, with cracks spread on the section, like magma that has solidified to stone. In the worst-case scenario, if I get burnt too much, I can turn into stone for the planet, a little island for small animals.

I hold my disembodied hand. I clear my mind as a strand of goo reaches into the severed hand, integrates with the slime, and connects to the inside walls of the limb. The slime starts to break down and reform inside my body, except the closer we get to where the wind was formed, the more the slime solidifies, and I am unable to connect to it.

Normally, I would be able to control my slime without a physical connection, but if it is burnt, it takes a more direct connection. The only part that remained was the burst-hardened section. I did this to my severed foot, and it worked the same.

I crystallized my hand and stretched it into a thin wire. I wrapped it around the section where my hand was missing, and the burnt section fell off in one quick motion. Emanuel is my silent observer. His wide eyes and gaped mouth accompanied the silent whale he let out is perfect, as it matched my silent scream of intense pain.

Fun Fact:

Fire can burn my goo and harden it. This isn’t like my crystallization technique, which involves me manually channeling the energy found in everything in the universe, called the Source. That is a voluntary, painless move; I can reshape and undo it.

The fire one is hard, and I lose control of the section. That means I can’t simply produce more slime to replace what I lost. That involves food and rest. It has gotten faster over the years but not instantaneous, though I am working toward that… hopefully. This also leads to a loss of my overall side. Add that it feels like that section is always on fire.

BONUS FACT: REMOVING THE BURN SECTION HURTS LIKE THE WORST RING OF DAMNATION. I know I was just popping them out of my body, but it's the equivalent of ripping burnt flesh off your body and throwing it aside; I may be able to remove them easily, but the pain is all too real.

With the goo, I was able to save, and I gained back two inches of lost height. The heat from his knife works.

“You think he’s  out in the yard hunting us?” Emanuel asks, staring with shaking eyes at the door.

“No, he’s smart,” I respond. “If he knew we would be in your getaway mansion instead of your family’s home or by the shipyards, it’s safe to assume he knows we are after the Solar Sail in the garage.

“I’ll run out there as bait, and you can make a break for it.” Emanuel stands up, ready to move. I stay seated and grab his shoulder. I then push him down until his butt is back on the floor.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“He’s after me, not you. You make it down the hill. I bet we will find a car or a bike. He had to get here somehow. “

“You can’t fight him. “

“Not the plan. If I do, I’ll die. I’m going to run away, but let him see me do it. And then, keep running.” He smirked at me as he continued. “It’s not like you can take him.”

“You're talking like you can take me,” I say as I enlarge my black dot eyes and stretch my head over his. He simply chuckles. I’m glad he is trying to find a way to smile.

This didn’t solve the problem with the blade, man. The only plane we had at that moment was Emanuel’s sacrifice play, which I refused to go with. My brain is rattling plan after plan, each to varying degrees. What if we just walked away? Then he would catch up to us using his vehicle. Burn the house down and pray the Solar Sail is fireproof? One, who do I pray to? Two, as we learned, I am not fireproof.

My favorite was when we would ferment for a few years in a cocoon state. By then, the man should have given up and left. Emanuel said he would need food and water. He also stressed that he didn’t want to spend a large chunk of his life “waiting for me.”

It wouldn’t be a big chunk.

That left us with the only option I could think of: breaking into the house again, making it to the garage, and getting out.

“I don’t want you hurt.” He says, standing up.

“That’s my choice. “ I respond.

“You’ve done enough. I can sneak in.”

“Do you know how to drive a Solar Sail?”

“My dad taught me to prepare for the family business.”

“What kind of deity would I be if I left the job finished?”

Emanuel sat down, silent. Although he is a boy, he acts like an adult. The image of Emanuel when he heard Crimson’s name popped into my head.

“You know who he is. Crimson. Who is he?”

Emanuel looks down and avoids eye contact as his terror grips his mind. The name Crimson must carry a strong reputation on this planet. I stand up in the dog house and hold my fist out.

“Come on, pound it,” I say waving my fist in his face. “This is my promise to you, Emanuel. I will get you off this rock and find you a new home. One where you can live a happy life and do whatever you want.”

“I like to bake.” He spoke, hiding his red cheeks fielded by his embarrassment.

“Fine I will make sure you get a new home, one where you can make me a cake every seven days.”

Emanuel grinned with a nod. It was then we devised a plan to get us back into the house. Emanuel explained the layout of the house once more and I was acting as front man, making room for him to escape if needed.

It was risky, but our only option out of here.