Oliver and the Magial Boarding House

"I'm worried about Oliver."

"He'll be fine, Rose. He's got this."

"Does he? You didn't see him. It was awful. I saw the look on his face when he realized what he had done. If we hadn't been there...he would have..."

"It's okay, Rose. We were there."

She turned to face him, her green eyes flashing with anger. "We were not there! We couldn't even get there in time! How are we supposed to protect him if we're always too late?"

"Who says we can't?" A new voice joined the conversation. The two of them turned to see a lanky man standing behind them in the kitchen doorway, holding a steaming mug of tea between two hands, his eyes fixed on the floor beneath his feet. He wore a rumpled t-shirt and jeans that seemed almost *too* large for his body, as though he had either shrunk or grown out of them since they were purchased. His hair was brown and mussed, as though he'd just woken up from bed and had no time to comb it before making his way downstairs for breakfast. There was a quiet dignity about him that made him seem older than his years; and when he looked at Rose, she felt a warmth spread through her chest that she did not understand.

"Daniel?" She said tentatively. "What are you doing here?"

As though snapped out of a trance, Daniel blinked once and looked up at her, embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said quickly, stepping into the kitchen and setting his tea down on the table next to Lily's bowl of Rice Krispies. "I must have dozed off in the kitchen waiting for you guys." He glanced at Lily and smiled warmly at her as she chewed a mouthful of cereal.

Rose crossed her arms over her chest defensively and gave him an icy stare. "You never sleep in." She took another glance at Lily and softened her expression just slightly. "And...you're putting your shoes on." She pointed toward Daniel's feet where he wore a pair of black dress shoes with slightly frayed shoelaces dangling from them like snakes hanging from tree branches after losing their grip on their prey.

Daniel sighed and glanced down at himself self-consciously before reaching up to rub the back of his neck with one hand. "Well...it is Friday," he said slowly as though trying to remember why this might be so important for them to know about today in particular. Then it came back to him: The monthly town meeting had been scheduled for tonight, weeks ago when they first arrived in New Zealand; all three of them had agreed that it would be best if they attended together so that they could avoid any awkward questions or suspicions about why Mr Baker was suddenly sending two more kids to live with them all of a sudden; they were most likely thinking that they were poor relatives who needed somewhere safe to stay while Mr Baker recovered from an illness or something along those lines; but now that Daniel knew exactly what Mr Baker thought about Oliver's parents (and potentially half the town), there was no way he would allow his friend to show up alone tonight under the circumstances; not only would Oliver be overwhelmed by all of the attention being paid to him as people pressed up against him trying to shake his hand or take selfies with him or whatever it was that people did these days when they met celebrities at public gatherings (did they still call them celebrities anymore? Or were they just called 'stars' now?), but Oliver might also slip up somehow and let slip how Mr Baker really felt about Gilbert and Gretchen (Daniel would have tried harder to convince Oliver not to attend if it weren't for the fact that Oliver desperately wanted to go); which meant Daniel needed Rose and Lily along as well so that if someone asked any awkward questions about why Gilbert and Gretchen weren't alive anymore - which Daniel knew was bound to happen - then Rose could shoot him that cold stare again and shut down anyone who dared ask anything else; because Daniel simply wasn't strong enough yet mentally to do this alone, especially when he hadn't slept in months (because some nights he couldn't sleep for thinking about everything - about how much time had passed already since Oliver left home; about how much time could pass before someone found out where they had gone; about how long it would take them to find *them*); so he needed Rose here tonight; because if she was here then maybe she would understand why he needed Lily along too.)

Rose watched Daniel intently as he looked away from her and made his way over to Lily's high chair where she sat eating cheerios out of an egg shaped plastic bowl decorated with yellow ducks floating around in clouds against an orange background. He reached up one hand toward her face but stopped just short of touching her cheek as she looked up at him curiously without any recognition whatsoever on her tiny face; perhaps she wouldn't remember the day they met either - how none of them remembered much anymore - how none of them remembered anything except what happened during their training sessions while they attended Marjory Tarleton Academy For Special Beings (or MTAFB as everyone usually referred to it) - how all other memories seemed washed away by time itself - like every day was nothing more than a dream or perhaps more accurately described as being unimportant due to its irrelevancy compared with other events happening around them during their training sessions or outside MTAFB or during their free time in town when Daniel went into work early in order to clear his head after all of the seriousness surrounding MTAFB (because although MTAFB could be fun sometimes - like when all three friends pretended that one day in class was Quiz Day or Senior Prom Day or Teacher Appreciation Day - those moments were few and far between because MTAFB could also be very serious indeed - like when Oliver accidentally killed Mr Wilton by accident during one session; like how much pain Daniel suffered as he tried desperately to wake Lily from her cryogenic stasis after Mr Baker poisoned her with spider venom during another training session because he wanted revenge against Mrs Tarleton because she rejected his advances toward her many years ago); so yes, some days were fun while others were hard; some days were easy while others were impossible).