“All right,” Larry said as we quickly turned and rushed out. After we left the corridor near the room we left, we started walking normally because we would probably be yelled at for running in the hallway.

“Do you think she’ll do anything?” I asked.

“My sister is very smart,” Larry said. “I trust her not to mess up.”

“But why would she want us to get a bunny for her?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” Larry said, “It is a bit odd, but who knows what ghosts think about.”

“I honestly am more confused as to why she called me a dog thing,” I said, “But still, there’s this weird feeling I’m getting from what she said.”

“Can you describe it?” Larry asked.

“It’s strange,” I said, “But I think she tried to rile me up on purpose like it was fun watching my reaction.”

“Oh,” Larry said, “Well, I only saw how you and my sister reacted, so I didn’t understand what was happening. Were you only able to see and hear the ghost in your dog form?”

“I just found out that I can that way,” I said, “But it was a bit unsettling as I couldn’t control my transformation.”

“You couldn’t control it?” Larry asked, “I thought you could, so why not this time?”

“I usually can control it,” I said, “It scared me.”

“Maybe she wanted to be seen by you,” Larry said, “But that was the only way to make you see?”

“That makes sense, but I can’t talk in my dog form,” I said, “So it’s hard to communicate.”

“What if you could talk in your dog form?” Larry asked, “Does your Dad talk in his Wolf form?”

“I don’t remember,” I said.

“Maybe you should talk to him about it?” Larry asked. “You might discover things you did not know about because he has the same transformation as you. It's just food for thought.”

“I’m still upset with him for disappearing on us,” I said, “But I guess there’s a lot that I need to learn from him, so I shouldn’t stay upset with him. It’s just been ten years since he left, so I don’t know how to act around him and it seems to be the same for him with me. He treated me like a child when he arrived last night.”

“It must be hard to readjust to having him back as you haven’t seen him for so long,” Larry said, “I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

“I think I’m just going to try my best to get along with him,” I said. “Even though it is weird that he suddenly returned after missing 10 years of my life.”

“That’s a good plan,” Larry said. “I better go find Mrs. Cole and ask to borrow a rabbit. Having Carly with me would probably be better, as she can see ghosts.”

“That’s a valid point,” I said, “But I can go with you too, you know?”

“So, how do you plan on getting along with your Dad?” Larry asked.

“I don’t have much of a plan,” I said, “But I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”

“That’s not helpful, Vernon,” Larry said.

“I honestly don’t know what I should do,” I said.

“Well, maybe just give it some time,” Larry said, “You’ll eventually get used to seeing him around again.”

“That makes sense,” I said.

“Or maybe tell him everything he missed because it might help him realize that he missed more of your life than he thought?” Larry asked.

“That’s a bit over the top,” I said, “I don’t think I want to do that.”

“It might work,” Larry said.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“So, how would you get along with him again?” Larry asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said.

“Do you want to come with me to get the bunny?” Larry asked.

“Sure,” I said, “But why can’t Carly do it.”

“She doesn’t know Mrs. Cole,” Larry said.

“Okay,” I said, “But I don’t want to scare a bunny.”

“Oh, right,” Larry said, “We can’t have you turn into your dog form near the rabbit pen.”

“It would only be a last resort,” I said. “If we don’t have Carly with us.”

“So, should I go by myself?” Larry asked.

“Fine,” I said. “I have to go to my locker anyway.”

“I hope the ghosts don’t kidnap you again,” Larry said.

“Right, I forgot,” I said, “If I have trouble, I’ll let someone know. But I have to confirm something.”

“Confirm what?” Larry asked. I kissed him.

“It was a joke,” I said.

“Oh,” Larry said. Then, the bell for school dismissal rang.

“I have to go to my locker then find my bus,” I said, “If you don’t hear from Carly, let me know.”

“I don’t have your number,” Larry said as he took out his phone.

“Give it to me; I’ll put it in,” I said. Larry handed over his phone, and I entered my details into his contacts and sent myself a message with his phone.

“Thanks,” Larry said, kissing me, “Have a good night.”

“You too,” I said. Then we parted ways, I grabbed my things from my locker, and I saved his number on my phone when I found a seat on the bus.

When I got home, Mom and Dad were nowhere to be seen. I thought today was Mom’s day off, so she should’ve been home, but Dad wasn’t home either. I found a note on the fridge that said, ‘We will be back around dinner time,’ but it had to have been written by Dad because I didn’t recognize the handwriting. So, I decided to do some studying to wait.

When dinner rolled around, I was bored, but what could I do? They did say that they’d be back by dinner time. I decided to wait to eat until they came back, but I played on my phone. I texted Larry about the situation, but he said that his sister helped him showing the ghost the bunny, his sister drove him home, and everything was fine. But I was angry when my parents came in the front door. I mean, sure, they brought pizza, but still, I was worried.

“Sorry for the wait,” Mom said. “Dad and I had some catching up to do. I got your favorite, meat lovers' pizza.”

“Okay,” I said, “But why didn’t you text me about it?”

“I thought the note was sufficient,” Dad said.

“We didn’t want to bother you while you were at school,” Mom said, “I know how tough those teachers are when you have a phone out in class, so I didn’t text you so you wouldn’t lose your phone.”

“Fair point,” I said.

“I know that it’s going to take some time to readjust to me coming back,” Dad said, “But I hope that we can get along like we used to.”

“Dad, I was six,” I said.

“I know,” Dad said, “And I’m sorry for that, but I can’t exactly ignore summons from the home country.”

“I thought you said that you went there for my sake,” I said.

“It was mostly for your sake,” Dad said, “But they were the ones who originally said I needed to return. I wanted to take you and your Mom with me, but they deemed it unnecessary for us to come even though I begged them to let you come.”

“It must be because I’m an outsider,” Mom said, “They were very against our marriage to begin with, but I thought we were able to get them to agree to it.”

“I thought so too,” Dad said, “But they only wanted to see if our children would be wolves as well. Their agreement was conditional. They only let me back after it was confirmed that Rei could use powers and transform.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, “I can only transform.”

“That’s not true,” Mom said, “You’ve inherited some of my powers.”

“You had powers?” I asked.

“I didn’t tell you?” Mom asked.

“No,” I said, “I don’t even know what you do for a living.”

“Oh,” Mom said, “I guess there’s a lot we have to discuss.”

“You never explained it to him, did you, Estelle?” Dad said.

“I tried to,” Mom said. “But he gets bored when I talk about my cover job, so when I get to the part when I talk about the actual part, he’s already in a daze. How am I supposed to deal with that?”

“Why don’t you start with your actual job first, Estelle?” Dad asked, “You know you get the same way when I tried to explain how to cook.”

“You don’t have to go into so many details,” Mom said. “It’s just food.”

“Wait, Mom, is that why you don’t cook very often?” I asked. Dad glared at Mom.

“Who’s been cooking for you?” Dad asked.

“Me, mostly,” I said, “She really likes how I make most of your recipes actually. I didn’t realize that she thought cooking was boring, I just thought she was bad at it.”

“For how long?” Dad asked.

“Just the past 4 years,” I said, “She taught me a bit about 5 or 6 years ago and then when she felt I was ready, she allowed me to take over.”

“Okay,” Dad said, “I guess that’s alright. I am a professional chef, so maybe it does make some sense that my Astral Anchorwright wife is not one for cooking.”

“A what?” I asked.

“It means that she goes around adjusting supernatural phenomenon from ruining the lives of normal citizens,” Dad said, “Though, you’re a bit of a magnet for strangeness yourself, Rei… I mean Vernon.”

“So, how do I stop being a puppy?” I asked.

“Didn’t I already answer that?” Dad asked.

“I didn’t understand your answer,” I said, “What great trial are you talking about?”

“You have to subdue the ghosts of your high school that are reeking havoc on you and your peers,” Dad said.

“I hate this already,” I mumbled.

“You aren’t talking about Morning View High School, right?” Mom asked.

“We are,” Dad said, “Estelle, you didn’t know what school our son is going to?”

"I guess I forgot," Mom said, “It figures that the place with the most supernatural activity is the school our son goes to.”

That night, I had a terrible nightmare. It started off with Larry and I kissing, then it suddenly switched to third person. I watched as Larry pulled away from me and took a step back.

“Something’s wrong,” my dream self said as my stomach started to grow rapidly. Dream Larry looked at me in horror.

“Don’t leave me here, Vernon,” Dream Larry said, “I can’t raise our children without you.” My Dream Self didn’t really like the way he worded it or something because he glared at Dream Larry.

“What do you mean by children?” My Dream Self asked, but before Dream Larry could answer, my body exploded.

I woke up in a cold sweat. What the hell was that? I grabbed my phone to check the time, it was only 2 am. As I held my phone in my hand, I got a text message from Larry.

“What is he doing up at this hour?” I muttered under my breath. I checked the message, he just texted “I feel like calling you. Answer me if you’re up and willing to call.” Instead of texting him back, I decided to call him. He picked up on the second ring.

“Vernon, thanks for calling me,” Larry said.

“Why are you awake now, Larry?” I asked.

“I wasn’t able to sleep,” Larry said, “And I wanted to see if you wanted to go on a date tomorrow. I got permission to take you on a date, but only if Carly drives us.”

“Do you mean tomorrow as in actually tomorrow or tomorrow as in later today?” I asked, “Because it’s 2 am now.”

“Today is a Friday,” Larry said, “So obviously it’s tomorrow, because I doubt my parents would force my sister to drive you and I around after school or at night.”

“I’ll have to ask my parents if it’s okay,” I said, “But I have something I think we should talk about while we’re both awake and on the phone. I would’ve preferred if we spoke about it in person, but I just want to get it off my chest.”

“Sure,” Larry said, “If you need to talk about it right now, we can talk about it over the phone, or you can wait like maybe 20 or so minutes and I’ll sneak out so we can talk about it in person. Mom told me where you live, so I know it’s not too far away from our house.”

“Why would you sneak out at this time of night?” I asked, “What if the cops find you wandering around and hold you while calling your Mom or something?”

“Why does the way you said that make me feel like it happened to you, Vernon?” Larry asked.

“It was a stupid mistake,” I said, “I was 11 and… Well, let’s just say that I’ll never do it again.”

“Vernon, I’m not 11,” Larry said, “And if you need me, there’s no way I’m not going to be there for you.”

“Okay, fine,” I said, “But I’m not leaving my house. There’s an ivy trellis that you can climb to get to my room on the second floor. My Dad used it the other night to surprise me that he came home after 10 years and Mom didn’t hear him come in from her room.”

“That’s sick,” Larry said, “Give me about 20 minutes, I’ll be right there.” He hung up and I just realized that I asked my boyfriend of less than 24 hours to sneak into my room in the middle of the night. God, how stupid can I be? Especially after that nightmare.

Sure enough, 20 minutes later almost on the dot, Larry comes in through the window. He wasn’t wearing pajamas, he was wearing almost the same outfit that he wore yesterday, the shirt was different… I think.

“I didn’t think you’d actually do it,” I said, “But somehow, I’m glad you did.”

“If I was having a hard time, I’m sure that you’d be willing to help me,” Larry said, “But yeah, not my smartest idea. So, what did you want to talk about?”

“I had a nightmare,” I said, “I know it sounds silly, but that thing with the ghost kind of put me in a weird headspace. I think it was a bit unrelated, but still very disturbing.”

“You had a nightmare,” Larry said, “A baby themed one.”

“Yes,” I said, “But how did you know?”

“I’m a tamer, Vernon,” Larry said, “And one of my tamed monsters took a liking to you, specifically the one that interprets dreams, Lacey. I told Lacey not to follow you, but she’s a curious little thing. She’s half the reason why I decided to come over now, the other half was because you sounded distressed.”

“What is this Lacey monster?” I asked. Larry sighed.

“She’s a type of Toad,” Larry said, “Lacey, show yourself. I know you slipped into Vernon’s pocket without asking.” All of a sudden, a tiny rainbow-colored toad hopped onto my blanket, she had to be about the size of my pinky finger.

“That’s Lacey?” I asked, “She’s so tiny and cute.”

“She’s also a troublemaker,” Larry said, “She may have let me tame her, but she only listens to about half of what I ask her to do. It gets a bit frustrating at times, but she does help me without me asking sometimes.”

“Yeah, this might be a bit too much of a privacy violation,” I said, “But she’s too cute to blame.”

“She’s part hypno-toad,” Larry said, “So, don’t look her in the eyes.”

“Oh, that’s frustrating,” I said, looking away from Lacey, “How do you communicate with your tamed familiars?”

“Telepathy mostly,” Larry said, “But let’s get back to your nightmare. Tell me what happened exactly.”

“My stomach started growing at an alarming rate,” I said, “You were watching me and told me not to leave you alone with our children. Then, I exploded and woke up.”

“Do you usually have vivid dreams or nightmares?” Larry asked.

“Not usually,” I said, “But when I have nightmares, I usually have three random things of good news about a month or so later.”

“You timed it?” Larry asked.

“The 7^th or 8^th time,” I said, “I just hope that none of it has anything to do with us having a baby. I’m not ready for that kind of commitment yet.”

“We just started dating,” Larry said, “That shouldn’t even be on our minds right now.” Lacey croaked in what I assumed was agreement.

“It was just a nightmare, Larry,” I said.