A blaring alarm jostled Gruff from his sleep. He fought his blanket off him as the alarm clock’s buzzing filled the room.

The pungent smell of cricket stew wafted through the air. Gruff’s toes curled as his bare feet touched the tiled floor. Rushing across the room, he quickly reached the door, where a loud creak broke the continued buzzing of his alarm clock. Milk spurted out of Ma’s nose just as she took notice of him.

Jonah rolled back and forth on the couch, his roaring cackle adding to the morning noise. “What happened to your hair, Gruff?” 

Gruff rushed to a nearby mirror to find that his once pin-straight black hair had become a multicolored afro. “That's real funny, Jonah. Change it back!”

Jonah stuck his tongue out, and Gruff charged at him. The older boy quickly pinned Gruff to the ground and sat on him. “Make me, pipsqueak!”

“Let me up, you turd!”

“Oh, so we are resorting to name-calling now, are we?” Jonah asked.

“Jonah, act your age and let poor Gruffy up.” Marcia pulled Jonah up by the ear.

Gruff quickly found his way to his feet. “Change it back, you jerk!”

“Fine.” Jonah rubbed at his sore ear, then spoke, “Normal.” At once, a stream of black fell into Gruff’s eyes. “You guys are no fun.”

“Why do you insist on torturing Gruffy like this every year?” Marcia firmly placed her hands on her hips.

Gruff turned red. “Marcia, I told you not to call me that!”

Ma once more began laughing. “It looks like we don’t need a Christmas tree this year. Gruff’s face can light up the whole room!”

“Just like Rudolpho—” Jonah poked Gruff’s face. “Happy birthday week, little brother.” A sinister smile crept onto Jonah’s face, and Gruff rolled his eyes. He then directed his attention to Ma. “So, why cricket stew?” Pinching his nose as he approached the stinky stew that sat on the counter, he noticed a note. “My sister-in-law sent us some stew with a message from Luis. I think she thought it would lighten our moods.”

“Did they send lousy news?” Marcia began to drain the stew down the sink.

“Marcia,” Jonah stopped her. He clicked his tongue, “Now it’s going to smell like Auntie’s stew in here.”

“Crap, you’re right!” Marcia turned on the faucet, running water down the sink.

“Well, we will only have to put up with it for a few days. They sent us a mission.”

“What kind of mission is it this time?” Marcia asked.

“Their letter tells of an orb. It’s been causing the monsters in Yorck Mountain to become violent.”

“An orb?” Jonah snatched the letter from the counter. His eyes darted back and forth as he read through it, then his brow knit tightly together. “How do they know it’s the orb that’s the cause? What if it’s just the madness of old. Didn’t that happen once when we first brought Gruff back?”

“It’s a little different this time. Usually when the madness comes back, the monsters don’t act on reason. They just go on a rampage.”

“So your saying they are going on an organized rampage?” Jonah chuckled dryly.

“I’m saying they are much more dangerous then when you first brought Gruff back.” Ma glanced at the boy.

“I guess we should look into it then. When do we leave?”

“We will be leaving on Gruff’s birthday. Sorry, kiddo.”

“It’s probably for the best,” Gruff said honestly. “If we’re preparing for a mission, Jonah will have less opportunity to prank me.”

The room went silent as the four looked at each other.

Jonah grinned from ear to ear. “Who says I won’t just prank you after the mission?”

Gruff bared his teeth at the older boy. “You’re an adult. Act like it!”

“You’re an adult. Act like it.” Jonah spun around the room with his arms up like a chicken.

Marcia and Ma shook as they laughed, “Gruffy, you know he only acts like this with you because you react, right?”

“No! He acts like this because I’m the only other guy in this house.” Gruff stormed out of the room, and the three burst into laughter.

“Ew!” Jonah exclaimed from the other room. “I can still smell the cricket stew!”