“So Will,” Credic said. “What’s it gonna be?”

Will quickly looked at Bet and Ezra then back to Credic.

“Yes,” he said finally. “I’ll go.”

Credic only smiled and turned toward the wall. “Greggin,” he said. The shaggy dog loped along to Credic’s side and took something—a Binder Will thought—from his hand. Credic then dismissively stretched his hand toward the wall and Greggin forced the pocket open. He stepped inside and disappeared, though the pocket waited for Will.

“It’ll be okay,” Will said over his shoulder before he stepped inside.

A few minutes later, he and Credic were outside in the fading light of evening. It wouldn’t be long until it was completely dark. Will was a bit bothered by it, but no one else seemed to mind. Credic and Greggin almost looked bored, and Swoop twisted her head back and forth to take in the new sights and sounds. They walked silently for a while, until Credic finally spoke.

“Where’d you get those two?” he said.

“They’ve been with me since I first came through the Neptinox portal. They decided to help me.”

Credic gave a disinterested grunt in response. “Be careful with them, they’ve been on their own a long while,” he said. “Friends like that look out for their own interests, understand?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not trying to judge. The skies know I have no room to do anything of the sort, but I know their kind.”

Will didn’t like the statement, but he was lying if he believed that there wasn’t at least some possibility of it being true.

“So, here’s a few questions before we train,” Credic said. “First, and I need you to be truthful on this, who are your parents?”

“Their names?”

Credic nodded.

“My dad’s name is Jim, Jim Gladmen, and my mom’s name is Irene.”

“Do you remember her last name before she married your father?”

“I think it was… something like Holbrook, maybe Holdritch, we don’t talk about it much.”

For some reason Credic seemed to grit his teeth.

“You ever meet your grandparents?” Credic said.

“Yeah, we see ‘em some, but mom and dad say that their minds don’t really work well anymore. They’re really old.”

“You don’t say.”

Credic turned away from Will and wouldn’t look or speak to him for the longest time. Finally, Will decided to push.

“Credic, are you okay?”

He turned back to Will, and there were tears in his eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said.

“What wasn’t?”

“Will, I’m not a good man, but I’m going to level with ya. You and your friends aren’t safe. Not with me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I thought you were something else. I was told you were something else. Someone knew you were coming to me, and I told them I’d hold the three of you in my house until they could come and pick you up.”

“Why?” Will stuttered a bit.

“I was looking out for myself. I’m sorry it had to be like this.”

Will wanted to ask more, but he knew he couldn’t. Instead, he slipped his hand into his pocket and began to fumble with his pill bottle.

“Will, if you’d really been through what I’ve been through you’d—”

That was all Credic could say. Will had removed a piece. He pushed off Credic and began to ran the opposite direction. Credic unexpectedly fell to his knees. That’s was the last Will saw.

“Swoop!” He cried as he threw the Binder piece into the air. Swoop snatched it away mid-flight and as Will ran, he pointed forward. Swoop dove and opened a portal. Will dashed inside and spared a quick glance back at Credic. The man was fumbling in “half-speed” for something to feed Greggin. Good, he was still out of the Voidside.

Will didn’t look back, instead he ran with every bit of effort straight to the house. It took him less than a minute to get there, and as he arrived, he tripped over his own feet and fell through the house’s purple wall and into the room with Bet and Ezra. Good, they were still there. He raised his hand and Swoop cut a pocket out.

Will dragged himself from the pocket and choked out words in a breathless gasp.

“We have to leave,” he said. “Now. Credic is not… not a friend.”

“What?” Ezra said.

“He’s holding us here as a trap. Someone’s coming.”

Just as Will wheezed out the final words another pocket began to open. But this one was several times larger. Will stared at it. Frozen.

“What do we do?” yelled Bet.

From the portal emerged a large, black and purple toad, the very same one as he’d first seen in Bezda. It fell into the room with a thump, and it’s eyes darted back and forth from the three of them. Both Bet and Ezra began to scramble for their Binders.

Will saw a small person behind the toad, but he couldn’t clearly see who it was. It didn’t look like Murden. Then, the toad shifted sideways to make room and the individual stepped down from the pocket. Will couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Mom?” he said. “Mom, is that really you?”

No Question