TWO — BREAKFAST

  “Wassabigdeal?” Deyon shoved an entire pancake into his mouth. “If Eno gets to stay up playing anime with his weeb friends then I get all the pancakes. That’s fair.”

  “Eww.” Eno leaned back as if to avoid pancake pieces shooting from Deyon’s mouth.

  Deyon was Eno’s cousin, He had the exact proportions like a transformobot, with sharp features and cut muscles to match. His special attack was sitting on Eno and unleashing lethal fart damage.

  “It’s not anime!” Eno groaned.

  Eno shoved down a wave of anger. He knew that was just what Deyon wanted, then Deyon would blame Eno for it.

  Eno had barely slept and when he woke up, he wasn’t sure what had been real and had been a nightmare. “It’s only the biggest game ever. Your loser friends even play it.”

  Eno was sure he had run into Deyon’s dumb friends online bullying a bunch of locals. They denied it, of course, but Eno had recognised their voices.

  “Mom, you know I need to get on Scroll and like all of Davina’s posts. She’ll think…she‘ll think I’m not serious.” Deyon said.

  Eno snorted a laugh, which turned into a cough as Aund Deliah shot him a disapproving glare.

  “Davina Doll. Isn’t she like discount Barbie?” Eno asked innocently.

  “Mom!” Deyon said, standing.

  Aunt Delia stopped scrolling long enough to glower at Eno.

  Eno’s aunt Deliah had squeezed into a yellow polka dot dress, two sizes too small, with a frilly apron.

  The outfit had come in a single plastic package that had read, “Sexy 50s housewife”.

  The way she tried to fit in the yellow dress reminded Eno of the stack of yellow pancakes.

  Deyon had some sort of weird obsession with a Scrolleb named Davina Doll.

  Eno was fairly sure “Davina Doll” wasn’t a real person; it was right there in the name.

  Even weirder, Eno was sure his aunty Deliah sent Deyon messages from a fake account, pretending to be Davina.

  Deyon was a prefect and juggo star at Royal Academy, but Eno saw another side of Deyon. Not even Deyon’s mom knew the real Deyon.

  [Juggo was like football but you could pick up the ball and shove people, sit on them, and pound their faces into the mud. Deyon love it.]

  It was at times like these that Eno told himself he was “just visiting”.

  Of course, he had been visiting his aunt and cousin more than half of his life.

  Eno’s parents had dumped him here like recycling and never looked back.

  Eno’s Mom and dad had left on “important business” to the far end of the kingdom and were “out of range”.

  Of course, they would have forgotten all about him, if Eno’s aunt didn’t give them constant updates on what a “rotten apple” he was.

  H&H was Eno’s only real home.

  “We’ll send her some flowers, Yo-yo.” Aunty Deliah said. Her voice dripped with sweetness like honey on pancakes. “Honestly, she doesn’t deserve you, my handsome Prince.”

  “The biggest bunch, that red kind and chocolates. The big heart box. Oh, and bubble bath.” Deyon said, allowing his head to get tousled.

  “Gross.” Eno said as he bit into a strawberry.

  Deyon’s eyes flashed angrily.

  “I think that one had a worm in.” Eno lied, taking another.

  Eno’s aunt slid back into her chair. Close call. Eno tried not to let on that they were probably the most delicious strawberries he had ever tasted. His aunt would probably throw the lot out if he let on.

  “Ugh. That new farmer dropped those off.” Aunty Deliah said looking back to her Sleeve. “All the ladies are going lulu for him because he’s all sad. Boo. He can always have another kid.” She looked at Eno and made a face. “Imagine. Sneaking around in the dark, milking chickens. Dirt under his nails. Sounds like a real creeper.”

  Eno had started gardening after his aunt had forced him to sleep in the garden shed as a joke. Eno had decided to clean up the backyard and his aunt had made fun of him ever since. Eno would never admit it, but fixing up the garden had kept him from going crazy.

  But Deyon had returned to his favourite activity: blaming Eno.

  “I know it was you!” His gaze darkened. “You and your little weeb friends made the power go out. I just know.”

  The way Deyon stared made Eno feel see-through. Deyon was just guessing, obviously, but Eno felt a pit of doubt opening up under him — and guilt. Had what Eno had done in H&H affected his world? Could Deyon of all people somehow pick up on it?

  “How?” Eno waved his fingers. “With my magic nerd powers?”

  Deyon just narrowed his eyes at Eno.

  Deyon was three years older but age had not added up to maturity and he liked an unfair fight.

  Eno remembered the night before.

  The power had gone out just as the protection spell had failed and the creepy shadows rushed in.

  The power had chosen that exact moment to go dark.

  Eno shuddered remembering the moment.

  Seriously, what were the chances?

  It was next-level spooky.

  Then there was Inky.

  As much as Eno knew Inky wasn’t real, it suddenly felt like Inky had gone from the background to the foreground.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  It was like a little bit of the shadowy mess had slipped inside him.

  That’s what the copypasta said. Don’t blink. When you blinked, he was closer.

  Eno tried to remember…Had he blinked as the spell failed?

  And the hooded lady.

  Who was she? What did she want from him?

  Eno tried to remember what the lady had said but mostly what he remembered was the feeling that she had been speaking to him —irl Eno.

  And was H&H still offline?

  Eno badly wanted to ask his aunt to search for news on scroll but he his aunt would see how much he needed to know, and she would find some way to torment him about it.

  He would just have to wait and ask Linus.

  “I guess we did have over a billion viewers on our livestream.” Eno said.

  Aunt Deliah was a streamer. She said she was the CEO of something-or-other, Eno couldn’t quite remember. She would talk to the camera for hours complaining her struggles taking care of her brother’s “problem child.”

  “Mom! Did you hear that?” Deyon said, a mouthful of half chewed pancake sluffing onto the table, “Eno’s a big fat liar.”

  Eno could see the wad of chewing gum in his aunt’s open mouth as she sat up and prepared herself for a lecture.

  “Eno! When are you going to learn to stop showing off?” His aunt scolded. “Well, I bet you don’t even know what a billion is, do you?”

  “A thousand million?” Eno grumbled.

  “A Big million you dope. Take the ‘B’, see, and carry the ‘i’…” Aunty Deliah said. “It’s that school of yours.”

  “Castle Jokes.” Deyon smirked in his stuffy private school uniform squeezed onto his body. The little hat looked absurd on his big head.

  “Castle Oaks is the best school.” Eno said.

  Okay, Eno wasn’t exactly in love with the idea of school but he wasn’t going to say that to Deyon and his aunt. “Please, you have to wear those dorky hats. Like, it’s only missing a little propeller on the top. What was it called? Royal Acne.”

  “Academy” Deyon growled.

  “Whatever,” Eno thought quickly. “We’re visiting the Castle on the first day. No homework guaranteed.” Eno say Deyon’s face get all smug. “What, you’re too cool for field trips?”

  “It’s the Castle’s 600th anniversary, dweeb. Every school in the burrows is going.” Deyon said.

  Great. How could Eno forget! Deyon would be there too. He really, really hoped he wouldn’t see him there.

  “Castle Oaks? Yeah, it’s the only school named after a castle. So, like, it’s automatically cooler than Royal.” Eno said. “Used to be on the grounds, even.”

  The Castle was Silverfalls only realm draw card. It was the reason Silverfalls existed. But when the castle got smooshed, the town dried up.

  “That explains why it’s a pile of junk, just like the castle.” Deyon said. “And your school’s named after the dumb tree you’re in love with.”

  “Am not.” Eno had one lousy photo of his family playing under the Caslte Oak and his cousin wouldn’t stop griefing him.

  Eno dipped his hand into the bowl finding it empty.

  Eno wasn’t close to full.

  His stomach let out a loud groan.

  Aunt Deliah rolled her eyes and hefted herself up with an effort, like feeding her nephew was a chore. “I know you don’t eat pancakes.”

  “Do too, eat pancakes.” Eno said.

  Eno had just never been allowed to eat any and one day his aunt had started saying he didn’t eat them.

  “Well, I suppose you don’t want the present I bought you then.” Aunt Deliah flung open the cupboard beneath the sink and brought out a box of cereal that she had obviously been hiding from Deyon.

  It was a box of Magic Martians. The gold box. Eno had never seen a gold box.

  “No. I want it.” Eno said trying not to sound desperate.

  “But if you want pancakes.” Aunty Delia started to put the box back.

  “No!” Eno said, “Like you said, I don’t really like pancakes. I just remembered.”

  “Don’t tell me I don’t know my Eno. Better’n he does.” Aunt Deliah smiled smugly and she threw the box into Eno’s arms and Eno half caught it with his face.

  Eno could barely believe his luck when he held up the box.

  It was a limited edition H&H colab!

  How weird was that? He’d just been going crazy wondering about the game.

  It was, like, a sign! Not that he believed in that stuff but he was that desperate.

  Everything was going to be cool.

  Be cool Eno. Be like Bart.

  Eno pictured himself like his hero, Bart Simpson, with shades on.

  Life was easier when you just didn’t care.

  Eno really needed to get some shades irl.

  H&H would be back up like normal and nothing spooky was going to happen ever again.

  Eno was starving for news of H&H and he devoured the box with his eyes.

  “Magic Martians

  with limited Edition H&H Quest

  Embark on a cosmic quest. Find the soul gem and unlock in-game rewards!”

  “H&H

  Inspired

  Epic

  New

  Orbit.”

  How had Eno not known about the colab? It was like it came out of nowhere.

  The picture showed the green Marty the Martian had parked his flying saucer to dig into pile of cereal and holding up a gem shooting beams with unearthly light.

  The cereal shapes were star clusters with marshmallow moon rocks and jelly gems.

  “Unlock clues in each box and redeem them for exclusive in-game rewards and find the legendary Magic Martian soul gem. From Magic Martian armour to enchanted Magic Martian blasters, power up your H&H character like Marty.”

  The limited edition armour and weapons looked insane. Though Eno knew the blaster would probably be underpowered.

  “Look inside for your first clue and start the adventure!”

  “You sure you wouldn’t pancakes?” His aunt tousled his hair and snapped a selfie and Eno hardly even noticed as he ripped open the box and peered inside.

  Eno was faintly aware that his aunt and Deyon were teasing him but Eno paid them no attention.

  He poured cereal and the purple clusters and in a second the bowl was overflowing. Eno was looking for the clue.

  Soft moon rocks and landed and a gummy gem bounced and spilled onto the table.

  But Eno wasn’t just hungry for news, as his stomach kept reminding him, so he reached over and grabbed the heavy milk pitcher in both hands.

  The milk lifted and spilled the cereal and a the bright twinkle of a foil package lifted out of the sugary clusters like magic.

  The package was foil wrapped H&H trading card. Woah! Eno was freaking. Between the two of them, Eno and Linus knew everything there was to know about H&H and Eno had never heard of an H&H card game!

  Eno couldn’t wait to show his bestie, Linus. Linus was seriously going to lose it.

  Eno turned over the box looking for any mention of the H&H trading cards. Nothing.

  H&H would never release cards without so much as an announcement…was it some kind of low key viral marketing?

  Like, were they waiting for people to post on scroll?

  Eno felt a rush of relief.

  That’s what it was.

  H&H had gone dark to hype their trading card game.

  It was genius.

  H&H goes dark and suddenly new trading cards drop?

  That had to be it.

  Eno had been worrying about nothing.

  Eno knew Bart wouldn’t let him down.

  Eno only looked away for a second.

  When he looked back their was only a faint outline in milk and the foil-wrapped card was in Deyon’s fat sticky pancake hand.

  He was getting honey all over it!

  How had Deyon even grabbed it without Eno noticing?

  This was okay. Eno could get it back and just wash the package. As long as Deyon didn’t…

  “Deyon. Wait. Okay.” Eno was out of his seat. “I’ll do all your chores for a month. Two months.”

  Deyone turned the card over in his hand, with a grin.

  Aunt Delia had her phone out and was filming the scene and mouthing, “do it.”

  Eno realised how Deyon had gotten the card. Eno’s aunt Deliah had passed it to her son.

  “Desperate much? Or did you forget? You already do my chores, weeb.” Deyon lifted the card in both hands and paused and ripped the package so savagely that Eno thought he had ripped the card clear in half.

  Eno didn’t even have time to yell wait.

  He knocked his elbow painfully as he lunged forwards knocking over the entire bowl before he had even had a mouthful of star clusters.

  “That’s why I can never buy him anything.” Aunty Deliah stood and pointed the phone at Eno. “Careless, Ungrateful. What a waste!”

  Eno held his elbow.

  Deyon grinned despite his hands suddenly dripping with blood. He hah ripped the card, the card had ripped back.

  “He attacked me! Did you get it?” Deyon said in a weak voice. “Is it enough? Can they send him away?”

  “Yo-yo, Your hand!” Aunty Deliah shrieked. “I’m taking you to the hospital right now!”

  “Wait.” Deyon pushed his mother back. The card was face down on the table. He picked it up, his slick fingers having difficulty with the card that was hugging the table.

  Eno would have done anything to see the other side of that card. Eno felt the anger boil as Deyon’s syrupy fingers grabbed at the card. Eno’s hope of a mint condition card died.

  Deyon froze as he looked at the card. His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell slowly open. Deyon spoke weakly. “Mom, this card…it’s, it’s…”

  “Completely blank.“ Deyon dropped into his chair and fell over laughing. He looked at Eno’s face and laughed until he had slid from his chair onto the floor.

  “Just wait until I tell your parents!” Aunty Deliah dived on her son screaming hysterically, slapping at him like he was on fire.

  Eno’s heart sank like it had fallen through the ground. He couldn’t help it. And he shoved the table in frustration so that it lifted and scraped on the tiles.

  Eno reached down to the floor and turned over the card.

  Deyon was right. The card was completely blank.