Sebastian stood beside a doorway,he felt a lot smaller now. He watched his step-father and his brother yelling. They did that a lot these days, Sebastian forgot what the house sounded like without their yelling voices.

“What were you doing questioning your teacher's Rain!” His step father yelled out

“Isn't that what a teacher is for? To answer questions?” his brother answered

Sebastian heard something fall down as he watched his step-father hit Rain in the face “Not for punks like you to ask about if killing monsters is moral. I knew you were weird like your father but not this weird.” 

His step-father threw Rain towards the front door “Leave, I never want to see your punk face here and ruin my career.” 

Rain opened the door ‘fine I’ll go.”

Sebastian raised his eyes and dashed to Rain,”Rain, don’t go!” He grabbed his brother's shirt and tugged it. “Don’t leave me! Please.” 

Rain smiled, “Hey kid, I’m not going to leave you.Come on let's get ice cream.” 

* * *

       Slowly waking up, he could feel a soft blanket on top of him, as he moved his head, he could feel something soft under his head. Confused,he wondered where he was and what happened. 

“Am I dead?” He mumbled,he sat up, it sure didn't seem like he was dead. 

The room was colored in orange and brown with the accent of white. There were so many flowers that it appeared to be a floral shop, but it also had the appearance of a tacky grandmother's room decor,and it looked like the room was spinning.

Then he heard someone speak. He laid back down on the bed and pretended to be asleep 

“Dad, when is he going to wake up?” The voice clearly was female, it was high-pitched but not too high-pitched where it was overly annoying.  He quickly made it seem he was asleep. 

A door closed and a soft-spoken deep voice replied to the female, presumably the father

“He should wake up in a moment, don't jump around too much, you'll scare him when he does wake up. “

Sebastain sat up and opened his eyes, questions rapidly flooded his brain. He stared at the two people in the room with him.

 The man was middle aged with dark skin and braided long hair.

 The girl looked a year younger than he was, she had curly red hair that looked rather long, her eyes were wide with curiosity, showing her spring green eyes and had more of a lighter brown complexion.

“Who are you?” he cried out,Sebastian  leaped out of bed and grabbed the closest thing he could use to defend himself, a pencil.

“And where am I? “He hastily added. The two people in the room started to look like they were blurring together.

The middle-aged man stirred something in a light blue teacup and walked to Sebastain,

“Don't be alarmed, my daughter found you unconscious after she accidentally hit you with a barbiturates plant, you are in my house in a guest room, in Peinod.” he circled his finger around the cup and suddenly there was steam floating above the cup. 

Sebastian looked at the cup as the man moved the cup near Sebastian's hands . 

“Drink this, it will help with the  nausea.”  Sebastian dropped the pencil and drank it.It tasted almost similar to Chi tea. “ My name is Lorenzo Pierce, My daughter,Ayden Pierce, has been watching you. Despite my protest , you have been asleep for a couple of hours.”

He looked up at the both of them, “ Sebastian , it's lovely to meet you.”

Sebastian blurted out “How did you do that to the cup?”

Lorenzo smiled, “I take it you are human; I heated the cup using magic, I hope that doesn't alarm you.” 

Sebastian placed his cup down on a nearby table. "So, your wizards?” he mumbled.

Wizards are said to be one of the most dangerous monsters. They were said to act as humans to trick them and kill them. 

But Lorenzo didn't seem to be dangerous, instead he seemed to be homely and safe,but you couldn't always be too sure.

Sebastian backed away from Lorenzo in a panic and looked for the pencil he dropped,it was his only method of defense. 

Lorenzo however only chuckled “Don’t worry we aren't the human eating monsters you read from your books.” 

At that he stopped panicking, for an odd reason Sebastian felt like he could trust this man. There was something in his words that made him feel a sort of familiarity but he couldn't make out why.

Ayden walked up to Sebastian curiously with her big green eyes and poked him in his side.``A human? Is he a safe human?” 

“He is rather young, no I do not believe he is dangerous, however if he ends up being so, well we'll see in the meantime.”

 Sebastian looked at both of them and questions flooded his brain. Perhaps this is what he’d be hoping for all along.“I'm not dangerous, can you tell me about magic? I mean I have so many questions. Like why live in Eriel if you're trying to hide, and-”

“Yes, I see, all those questions and many more shall be answered. First, we should eat breakfast.``   Lorenzo interrupted 

Ayden jumped towards the door, her curly red hair bounced as she moved “Breakfast!” she yelled and left the room.  

Lorenzo walked towards Sebastian and looked down at him “If you hurt my daughter, I will make sure you will regret that mistake.”

Sebastian backed away “I promise that I won’t cause any harm to you or your daughter, sir.” 

Lorenzo stroked his beard. “So you say.” 

As they both walked into the kitchen, Sebastian noticed how many plants there were in the house,it made him wonder if plants were important to witches.

Some looked like ordinary plants, some of them were flowers, while others were unusual. There was one plant that had the shape of an eggplant and grew an eerie blue color.  

Ayden sat down by a table with 3 chairs. One chair appeared to be hastily placed there. 

Ayden was eating 3 pancakes stacked together like a tower, and whipped cream on top. Sebastian sat down on the chair and started to explain who he was.He got a bit carried away and was talking about his favorite school subjects, he was also going to ask them his burning question when   Ayden excitedly interrupted him with no real harm 

“You're from Florest! That’s so! I visit Florest all the time to get new flowers. “

Sebastian tilted his head “Oh Really? That’s interesting.” 

Peinod was a neighboring city near  Florest, it was known for cooking fine food while Florest was known for growing food. Peinod was also known for its ballet and other forms of stage shows. 

Sebastian slightly wished however that he was in the cursed forest.

A plate of pancakes levitated in front of Sebastian's head and gracefully landed on the plate. 

 He stared at it in awe. “How did you do that! “ He asked.

Ayden answered “It's a simple levitation spell. Every witch can do it just like every witch can heat small objects and hm that’s it really. Every witch has talent they can do, my special is -"

“Ayden.” Her father said sternly.

Ayden turned her head to her father,he was at the end of the table as he cut himself some pancakes. “Yes daddy?”

“You must remember Sebastian will be going back to his own family shortly.” 

Ayden turned around “ I know. It isn't fair." She pouted.

Sebastian had a thought,if he stays here the government won't find him and send him to jail. 

“Actually, I’d rather stay here, for a little while, it will allow me to learn more about magic.” 

Ayden perked up, “ Is this about the weird book that you had?”

Her father dropped his fork.

“Ayden Poppy Pierce, I told you not to look through the boys' things , you never snoop into someone else's things!”

Ayden stared at her empty plate.

“It was on the ground, not in his bag.” 

She looked excited. “Oh yeah! Sebastian, where did you get your book bag! It's so cute! I want it.”she said changing the topic 

“Ayden.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry for looking through your weird notebook.”

Sebastian picked at his pancake,he still felt a bit nauseous.

“ I uh,” he muttered, “ I kind of stole the book. It's not mine, it's the government’s."

He waited for Ayden's father to yell at him and kick him out of the house. That's what any normal father would do. It’s what Giancarlo would have done.But strangely enough Lorenzo didn't do that, instead he got up and patted Sebastian on the shoulder. 

Lorenzo calmly said to Sebastian, “That was a very brave thing you did, you remind me of an old friend of mine. Now what was in that book?”

Ayden replied “ Weird stuff that has to do with a ugly bird, it had no pictures either.” 

“I see, Sebastian, can you explain?”

Sebastian took a deep breath, “Okay well it was about the government finding monsters or magical creatures- folk, to get rid of them.” 

Ayden gasped “ How cruel! How could someone be that evil!” 

Sebastian finished the recap by saying, “So yeah somehow I ended up in the secret basement, not the first place you'd think you would go if you were in a fire if I'm being honest, as I was finding a way out along with escaping a mad teacher, I found the notebook along the way.” 

He left out Will and Noah in his recap, if they had known what he caused they would turn him in the police for murder. But maybe he should have told them, he will have to tell someone someday.

Lorenzo patted Sebastian on the shoulder, “That was very brave of you Sebastian, so sorry about the fire.” 

Sebastian glanced at Ayden and something was moving in her hair.

“ Eh!” She said feeling her hair being tugged,she shook her head and flying out was a fluffy glowing creature.

It was a light blue color with slightly transparent wings and black antenna. It flew around confused. 

Lorenzo looked at the creature. “ Oh did Ayden bring you here?” He went to pick up the flying creature , it sped up to Sebastian and hid in his shirt. 

Ayden stared at the creature, “Dad what is it?” She asked. 

Lorenzo shrugged, “ Who knows, it looks friendly.” 

The creature poked out of Sebastian's shirt and flew out of his shirt. The creature started to fly around the room and poke into pots and pans.

Ayden quickly stood up , “ Hey Sebastian, want to see my bunny?” 

Sebastian stared at Lorenzo for permission. 

“Go.” The man said

Sebastian left his chair, the little blue creature sat on  his head and they followed Ayden into a room with yellow flowers on the roof, the bed hanging off of vines. “ You're going to love Fern!” she said.

Ayden sat on the floor next to a tiny house,she clapped her hands and out of an enclosure was a brown bunny that went into Ayden's lap.Sebastian reached out to pet the bunny,but it hopped back into the enclosure.

Ayden frowned “ Sorry about that, we haven't really met anyone like you before.”

Sebastian looked at the timid bunny, “ Really? So you don't have any friends?” he asked

Before Ayden could reply he walked over to a small bookcase full of plants and a few books. The creature  flew into a flower pot. Sebastian turned around and asked  “Hey can I-” he stopped talking as he saw Ayden’s uncomfortable look as she hugged her bunny. 

Sebastian took small steps to the girl and sat down, “ Hey are you okay?”

Ayden looked up, “ You’re right, I don't have any friends. I'm really a loser aren't I? “ 

Sebastian looked around the room as he tried to figure out the right thing to say, “ Well uh, I’ll be your friend.” He said awkwardly.

Ayden looked up at him and smiled.  

“Really?”

“I mean sure if you want to be.”

Ayden tackled Sebastain into a tight hug. 

“Of course I want to be friends! We are going to be best friends!” 

Ayden bounced up and grabbed a watering can that was next to the bookcase, Sebastian observed all the plants in the room. “So, you like plants…Must take a long time watering them.”

Ayden watered a vine plant in a yellow pot,” Of course.” She put her hand in front of her and the vine wrapped around her arm. 

“I’m a plant witch.”

Sebastian grinned and walked up to Ayden, “That's so cool.”

He touched the vine and it hissed at him.” Ayden looked at him and frowned, “ Tom doesn't like it when you touch him.”

“Oh sorry.” Sebastian pulled his hand away, and the vine skunked back into the pot. 

“It's alright, Tom is a hard plant to get along with, it took me 3 months to sort out all his issues.” 

Fern jumped on the bookcase to try and go to the fluffy bug-like creature in the flower pot, she knocked down a picture frame,Ayden scrambled to pick up Fern,Sebastian picked up the fallen picture frame.

 The picture was of a younger Lorenzo with a pregnant woman with red hair . Ayden looked at the picture like all the sunshine left her soul. “That was my mom a month before she died/”

Sebastian placed the picture back on the bookcase.

“I’m sorry, I bet she was a great woman.” He said a bit awkwardly. 

“Well my dad says she was, he told me she was the only human who seemed to radiate magic. “ 

Sebastian looked confused, “ Wait, wizards and humans can have kids together?” 

“Yeah I mean the only difference is the two-heart thing.” 

Sebastian raised his eyes at this new information, “My uh father passed on as well.”

Ayden smiled, “Oh I guess we are both in the lost parent club. “ 

Sebastian shrugged“ Yeah , I guess we are.”

Ayden grabbed Sebastian's sleeve and pulled him out of the room. Sebastian looked around confused,” Uh where are you taking me?” Ayden laughed, “To teach you magic silly."