All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of Spacebabie

by: Spacebabie

Email: LadyAndromeda@smstars.zzn.com

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School Days

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"Fox. She is a better dancer than me, and it will be a fair trade for her to teach you how to dance and you can teach her how harness her fey powers." ~ Kitty

"She has had prophecy dreams?"~Owen (Honeymoon)

"Things have been tense for a while, Proteus escaping, Taurus going after him and putting Cheiron in charge, Sphinx finding that human and Boreas sending the group out"~Helios (Clash of the Titans

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Five thirty in the late afternoon and the work day had ended. The business employees of Xanatos Enterprises packed up their attaches and clocked out, ready to return to the privacy of their own homes, restaurants, bars or clubs. While Xanatos does not establish the same amount of tyranny as Dominique Destine he does not treat them like a new age psychologist. Part of him still feels he must prove to his father that he is a hard worker and he monitors his employees performance with the occasional online checker that Lexington created.

Xanatos knew his employees were tired at the end of the day and looked forward where they can head home to a home cooked meal, or a nicely microwave TV dinner washed down with a beer or a glass of wine. Xanatos paused while waiting for the elevator to place his manila envelope under his arm and curled his left hand. Her pressed his other hand over his knuckles causing a ripple of pops. While his own employees were finished for the day he was not. He had a little more paperwork to sort out and was going to do that on his office in the castle instead of the one in the building he used.

During the ride up he pondered if he should have asked Owen in helping him out with the tedious task, but he knew his assistant was in the kitchen preparing dinner and he thought about what he wanted more: paperwork to be filed faster, or a nice dinner. The slight rumbling in his stomach answered the question for him.

Upon entering his office he realized he was not going to be alone after all. Sitting at his expensive mahogany desk poured over a catalog was his beloved wife. She sat in his chair with her arms framing the glossy print pages. Her head bent over just enough for her silky red cascade to tumble down and create a bright reddish gold canopy over her choice of reading material.

A sly smirk formed on Xanatos’s muzzle. She did not hear nor notice his entrance into the room. Clutching onto his folder he slinked to one side of the office before he stepped slowly and softly toward his desk. He was only two feet away when Fox stared up at him and smiled.

"Hello David, I didn’t hear you come in." She gathered her soft flowing tresses into her fingers and pulled her hair back till it hung past her shoulders.

David let out a defeatist sigh through his nostrils before he approached her. "I was hoping you didn’t hear me," he walked behind her chair. "I wanted to sneak up to you by surprise and give you this," His fingers vibrated and wiggled over her right arm, up her shoulder and across her clavicle. The second his fingertips brushed against her soft throat the rhythm slowed down from gently tickling to a sensual finger massage. The low purring left Fox’s throat and filled her husband’s ears. His smirk melted into a pleased smile before he replaced his fingers with his lips. He brushed against her throat and gently pecked her upwards, towards her graceful jaw.

"Oh David," Fox chuckled before she reluctantly pushed him away. "There is a reason why I came into your office." She folded the catalogue to the beggining. Several five year olds were seated at tables. Each one with a piece of paper in front of them and holding onto a pencil. Above their heads was the name of the school written in bright blue large font, Pembleton Academy. "I’m thinking of sending Alex there next month."

Her husband raised an eyebrow before he picked up the catalog and thumbed through it. "Isn’t he a little too young for school?"

"They have a preschool," Fox pointed out.

"You know we can afford a private tutor."

"Yes but he will miss out on interaction with the other children." She pointed at a picture of a group of children kicking around a large red rubber ball. "I have done my research and learned that Travis Marshals daughter goes there."

"You do bring up excellent points but there is only problem, We have to find some way to keep Alex from using any magic."

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The lesson room was Fox’s idea. Even though Alex had his own bedroom the ex mercenary felt it would be a better idea if he practiced in a slightly smaller, more empty room. She selected the one almost empty store room not just because of it’s size but mainly due to the fact that it did not have any carpeting.

Stepping into the room The air in the room was tingly and made the very fine hairs on the back of her arms stand on end. It was slightly hard to see where her son and Puck stood, because of the white wispy glaze that filled the room and made it difficult for Fox to breath. After coughing into her fist she waved the smoke away. "Scorch marks?" She eyed the large black streaks that marred the once smooth clean gray surface. Aside from that and the teacher and student. The room was virtually empty. The only object in the room was a round copper colored basin.

"We were practicing some fire magic," Puck wiped the soot from his face.

"You were playing with fire?" Thank goodness the room didn’t have any rugs.

Puck smiled sheepishly. "Sort of," his form melted and reformed into a miraculously clean Owen. "All right Alex it’s time to get you cleaned up and into bed."

The young boy ran his fingers through is soiled hair and nodded. Like the way Puck was he was covered in gray soot smudges. "I don’t want to be dirty or filthy. Nasty ash please get off of me." A soft white glow surrounded the boy’s from, washing him over with it’s illuminance. Once the light had faded he stood clean and spotless like had just taken a bath.

"Now you may go to bed," Owen instructed. Both he and Fox almost expected for Alex to stamp his foot in protest that he was not tired. Instead he rubbed his eyes and yawned .

"Okay," he said. "I’m sleepy."

"You don’t want some milk and cookies," Fox blinked. "What about our before bed story?"

"I’m not hungry," Alex shrugged. "And I’ll be asleep before you finish Once upon a time." He walked past his mother.

"Wait!"

"Mommy?" Alex stared up at his mother with droopy lids.

"I’m sorry honey, I just want to ask if you would like to go to school."

"I dunno, what about Charlie?"

Fox smiled and rubbed the top of her son’s head. "He is a little too young, but you will make a lot of new friends."

"I guess," Alex shrugged again. "Can I go to bed now?"

"Yes you may." She waited until after her son had left the room before she turned to Owen and caught his somewhat stern nonchalant stare. "I know what you are thinking. It will be a bad idea to let Alex be in school along with normal children."

The disguised fey shook his head. "I think having him attend a public school is good idea."

"Actually its a private school."

"Private or public it still good for him to develop his social skills. Where are you sending him?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Pembleton Academy."

"Children that go there do tend to do better academically. I understand you think that I may feel it is a bad idea for Alex to go to public school because of his magic skills." He paused to take a breath. "That is motion for some concern, but young Alexander will have to learn how to deal with humans someday and not use magic. Interacting with his peers is a valuable asset. His father would not be the business man he is today if he didn’t learn those skills."

"Good thinking."

"Now we can get on with your lesson." He pointed to the basin.

Fox glanced at it before staring back at him. "Don’t we need Alex in the room?"

"We only need him if I want to change into Puck," he fought off the smirk that tried to from on his face. "But we don’t need Puck. All you need to do is kneel in front of the basin and concentrate."

Fox shrugged and approached the basin. Her light blue eyes found Owen before she slowly dropped to her knees. She grabbed the edges of the round basin and stared into the water filled dish. Her relection on the clear smooth surface stared back at her. "What should I focus on, the future or the present?"

"Why not the past?"

"I could try that." She closed her eyes and thought of past images of the time of the Renaissance in Italy, Merry old England, Feudal Japan, Colonial America and ancient Egypt. She parted her lids a hair width crack to see if something was forming in the water. All she saw was the reflection of the walls, except they were too smooth to be the walls of Wyvern. Opening her eyes she noticed what she had mistaken for walls turned out to be buildings. The were city buildings. She wasn’t looking at the past, but the present, or possibly the near future.

She did not look away or utter a word out of fear that she might loose the image. She kept her eyes on the smooth surface of the water and attached the scene. She noticed a car lying on it’s side and a fire hydrant turned over, spouting a geyser of water. Children were running around, but the children had no definition. They were dark forms. Fox couldn’t see their faces. She couldn’t tell which ones were boys and wich were girls.

Wish a frustrated grunt she let go of the basin and sat back. "That was a waste of time." She brushed her bangs from over her eyes. She stood back up and nearly stepped back. She did not know Owen was standing that close to her.

"What did you see?" He stared unblinking in to her eyes.

"Nothing," she answered underbreath. "Nothing at all."

"You saw something."

"Just the city and it wasn’t even that clear."

"It wasn’t?"

"Well the buildings were," she shoved her hands into her pockets. "And the car and fire hydrant were crystal clear too, it was just the children that were not clear."

"How so?" He finally blinked.

"They were very dark, almost like shadows." She rubbed the area between her eyes. "Even though my visions are not clear I still get sinus headaches."

Owen didn’t say anything for a minute. He kept his eyes closed and breathed deeply. "You should get ready for bed, I’ll clean up."

"Are you sure you don’t need any help."

"I am sure," he had waited for her to leave before he turned back to the basin. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that her vision was clear, but he knew he couldn’t keep the secret from her forever.

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Bright blue eyes stared at the multiple racks of the children’s department of Bloomingdales and narrowed in disgust. Alex hated to be taken shopping, unless it was for toys or candy. His mother kept on squealing in delight whenever she found a shirt, or pants, or even a suit that she thought he would look good in.

"I don’t want new clothes," he had complained several times before. "I have plenty of clothes."

"You need new clothes for school," his mother explained too him.

"Why? Mine aren’t dirty or torn." He never got an answer afer that. Instead she would ask him to stretch his arms and she would hold a shirt up to his chest. Whever she had four or five she would take him into the tiny one of the changing stalls and ask him to off his clothes except for his underwear before she helped him into the clothes she selected. After what seemed like forever his mother felt like she had enough outfits.

"Now we need to buy you some new shoes," she lead him to the children’s shoe aisle. "Find the ones that you like." That was an easy request. Alex zeroed in on a pair of black sneakers with shiny red Power Rangers pictures on the toes.. They were easy for him to put on because they had velcro tabs.

They went to a different store to buy his back to school supplies. Fox had already spoken with the school principal. He told her that those that are in Tot, Prek, and Kindergarten did not have to wear a uniform. He also invited her to observe the school's layout and meet Alex’s teacher.

Audrey Pomfour was a warm hearted woman who was slightly pudgy and had a sweet British accent. She gave Fox a list of what they will be covering that school year and what supplies he will need for school.

Like with his shoes Fox allowed her son to choose his backpack, lunchbox and pencil box. She thought her son would want everything to be Pokemon related. He did run up to the squirtle backpack, but Alex surprised her with his choices of a Max Steel lunchbox, and a Digimon pencil case. The other supplies were quickly gathered, glue, plastic coated safety scissors, box of crayons, pencils, erasers and construction paper.

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He was not supposed to get nervous. His demeanor was supposed to be cooler and more relaxed than his boss. David Xanatos never flinched, not even when Goliath dangled him over the side of the castle. Owen was supposed to have been even less emotional, even if his life was in danger.

"Owen honey," Kitty had noticed how nervous he looked. "Are you feeling all right?"

He wiped away some sweat that gathered on the bridge of his glasses before he smiled at her. "I’m feeling quite fine."

"You are sweating and fidgeting," her eyebrows were raised slightly while she examined his face. "Are you always like this before your lessons?"

"Not all the time," Fox smiled. "This is the first time you are watching us Kitty."

"So I’m making him sweat?" Kitty blinked.

Fox chuckled as she opened the door to the lesson room. "That must be it." She stepped past the door and gasped in shock. "You boys."

"What is it?" Owen peered past her shoulder. Alex and Charlie were sitting on the floor, rolling a large rubber ball back and forth between each other. It was just a snap of a second that caused Owen to transgress from nearly nervous wreck to cold and wooden. He coughed in his throat, causing the right distraction for the boys to sit up and notice. "Alexander," his voice was calm and cool. "Why did you bring Charlemange in here?"

"We were playing," Alex reached over for the ball.

"Playing," Charlie nodded.

"This is our lesson room," Owen folded his arms.

"It’s our secret playroom."

"Secret," Charlie agreed again.

"You can play during the day, but right now Mrs. Xanatos and I have a lesson."

"I’ll take them out of here," Kitty volunteered before she planted a kiss on her husband’s cheek. She approached the boys with hands stretched outwards. Charlie immediately grabbed one of hers and after Alex placed his ball under his arm grabbed her other one.

"You can spread out the mat," Fox said once they were gone. "I’m going to set up the music."

"Very well," Owen sighed. He kneeled to the ground and pulled up the rolled up white vinyl mat that he carried. He had it unrolled halfway when he noticed that it was upside down. With another sigh he turned it over , exposing shoe print images with lines and arrows.

Fox pressed the button marked play and stood back up. "This is a dance my father taught me when I was nine." She approached him with her arms swinging. "It’s been one of my favorites ever since."

Owen stared down at the dance pattern and read the name of the dance. "Ah the Fox-trot, I can see why."

She gave him a sly smile. "Give me your hands."

Owen did not loose his calm pallor when Fox lead him. He swung to the beat and allowed her verbal instructions on how to move. With her as a teacher and the dancing shoe prints as a guide he learned to master the dance within minutes. He almost wished that Kitty was in the room where she could see how well he was dancing, but was also glad she wasn’t. He didn’t want his wife to see him make a fool of himself.

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The outfit his mother had selected for him was a little hot. Alex wanted to unbutton the navy blue shirt jacket of his suit his mother constructed of the clothes she had recently bought him. His silver shirt matched his slacks. He was also well groomed. His mother spent minutes scrubbing his face with a washcloth and Owen combed back his hair with a wet comb till it was neat and slick. He looked like a tiny businessman in his outfit and only agreed to step outside of the castle in it when Owen told him how much he looked like his father.

Fox smiled at her son. He was adorable in his outfit. Before they left she had to show him off to Elisa and the weregoyles and take a picture of him for the clan. She knew when it is time for him to come home he will immediately strip out of his outfit, and she knew that Lexington and Rayne were going to see how he looked when he went to class. The only thing about his fancy outfit that didn’t match was his backpack and sneakers

"Well here we are," Owen announced as they pulled up to the four story, perfectly square building. The name of Pembleton Preschool was over the entrance. A few yards away on the same block was a eight story building that had the name of Pembleton Elementary. Older children in uniforms entered that building. "I’ll go find a place to park unless you want me to wait here."

"You go on ahead and wait here," Fox told him while unbuckling her seat belt. "Let’s go honey. We are going to meet your teacher."

"Owen is my teacher," Alex pointed out, but also unbuckled his seat belt.

"He’s your magic teacher," Fox corrected. "Ms Pomfour is your educational teacher. There is one rule you have to follow here," Fox’s voice turned stern. "No matter what, you are not allowed to use any magic."

"I agree with your mother Alex," Owen turned around in his seat. "No magic."

The four year old nodded his head before Owen opened the door for him to exit the car.

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"Alex this is Ms Pomfour," Fox introduced her son. She had made sure her son knew how to pronounce his teacher’s name before they left. The four in her named did not sound like the number but more like flower. They were standing in the middle of a medium sized rectangle shaped room. The front of the room had a large wooden desk and a chalkboard. One long wall was halfway lined with square shaped wooden storage shelves and the other half was full of what appeared to be metal hooks covered with a white plastic coating. The other wall on the other side had pictures of cartoonish animals, folded up cots, and large cushins.

"Hullo Alexander," Pomfour leaned forward with her hands on her knees. She was a plump woman about the same height as his mother. Her nearly shoulder length hair was the color of dark gold with just a bit of red highlight, reminding Alex of the color of a cinnamon graham cracker. Her ruby lipped grin exposed a large smile full of small pearly teeth. Her warm brown eyes were as round and almost as big as Lexington’s. She talked with an accent that Alex had learned was called British.

"Hello Ms Pomfour," Alex smiled back.

"You are looking quite handsome this morning," Pomfour kept on smiling.

"Thank you," Alex had to smile himself. "You’re pretty."

Pomfour stood back up. "He is a very polite young man. You must be proud."

"I am," Fox said before she gave Alex a hug. "Now you be good and do everything Ms Pomfour says." She walked away from them the two of them and exited the room through the large opening that did not have a door but connected to a hall.

"You are a brave boy," Pomfour said. "Many children cry when their mothers leave."

"I’m not a baby," Alex puffed up his chest. "I’m four."

"Yes you are. Do you like puppies?"

"Yeah."

She pointed to the wall that was lined with square shaped compartments. Each compartment was marked with a sticker in the shape of a baby animal. "Your cubby hole is the one with the puppy. You put your lunch box and everything in your back pack except for your pencil box in there." She pointed at plastic coated hooks. "You hang your back pack there and during the winter your coats. You can go ahead and hang that shirt jacket if you want. Some of the other boys already have."

"Thank you Ms Pomfour," Alex slipped out of his backpack and placed his pack of construction paper, crayons and lunch box into his shelf before he peeled of his jacket.

"Oh don’t mention it," Pomfour said. "and you can call me Ms Audrey. We use last names at the big school."

Alex didn’t voice his reply, but he did nodd his head before he placed his jacket onto his hook and found a chair between a little boy with light brown hair and a girl with hair as dark as Elisa’s.

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Audrey Pomfour waited until the clock struck eight before she walked to the front of the class and clapped her hands. "All right children take your seats so we can start." She smiled at the children as they calmed down. "I would like to start by a simple good morning. Good morning class."

"Good morning," the children repeated.

"I’m going to do a roll call," She picked up a chart from her desk. "Whenever I call your name I want you to reply by saying here and raising your hand. "Freddy Aguire?"

"Here," a little boy near the back of the room called.

"Ruby Callahan?"

"Heere," a small girl who sat at the table across from Alex sang out.

"Stefano Dracon?"

"Stevie," the boy corrected.

Alex blinked at the name. Dracon? That was the same name as the crook that once stole guns from his father before he was born, who tried to assert his own form of protection, kidnapped Tina Chavez, and did other bad stuff that he was told he was to young to understand. He turned to face the boy that was close to his age with dark ebony hair and cold blue eyes. He was staring at the Dracon boy with so much intensity that he almost missed hearing the boy that sat next to him when his name was called.

"Richie Holland?"

"Here?" The freckle faced youth made his answer. The name had already sunk into Alex’s memory. He kept his ears sharp and his mind focused for when the girl at his table was called by name.

"Irish Marshall?"

"Here," the little girl that sat on the left side of Alex raised her hand and answered to her name at the same time.

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Alex wanted to learn more about the two children that were going to share a table with him, but before he could ask who there parents were or where they lived Ms Audrey passed out beige pieces of paper with thick bold red lines and broken blue lines.

"All right children," Audrey announced the second she finished passing out the papers. "We are going to start with the letter A." She took a piece of chalk and drew a diagonal line on the board. "Start with a slash to the left," she added a second slash connecting it to the right. "Slash to the right and cross in the middle." She place a line in the middle. "Nooooow At the top of your paper you have colored lines. Take a pencil out of your pencil box’s and draw a slash to left from a top red line to the bottom write."

Alex pulled out a green pencil from his smooth blue pencil box and drew a slash like Ms Audrey instructed. When she told them to make a slash to the right. He made another line that connected to the first line.

"Last we cross the middle on the dotted lines."

At her instruction Alex ran the graphite point over the fractured blue line.

"Good," Audrey smiled. " Now lets make another letter A next to the one you have already made. "Repeat with me this time class. Slash to the left, slash to the right, and cross it in the center."

"Slash to the right," Alex repeated and drew another left diagonal. "Slash to the right, and cross it in the middle."

"Again!" The teacher called out.

"Slash to the right, slash to the left, and cross it in the center." Alex, Iris and Richie said in chorus.

"Good when you have finished one row start on the row below."

"Ms Audrey!" A little girl called out.

"Yes," her brow furrowed as she tried to remember her name. "Bonnie is it?"

"Yes ma’am," the girl with the red curly hair nodded. "Are we s’posed to fill the entire paper?"

"Yes Bonnie you are. Now children from now on if you have a question I want you to raise your hand."

Alex wrote down more letter A’s on his paper. He did not try to out race the other students but instead to try to make his letters as neat as possible. He paused to glance at both Richie’s and Iris’s papers. The other little boy’s letter were fat and curvy while Iris’s were small and sharp.

"Very good," Audrey paused in front of their table to admire their writing. She walked around the room twice, examining everyone’s papers before she sat down at her desk and read over her lesson plan. "When you are finished please raise your hand."

Alex was a little halfway done when his teacher told them to raise their hands when they are done. Because of his curious nature he wanted to see if anyone else was done. He didn’t see any hands. He could have sworn that he saw the dark blue eyes of the Dracon boy lock with his own.

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What looked like a wooden wand tapped against one of the large "A"s written on the chalk board. "We know how to write the letter A," Ms Audrey said while she tapped against board at a steady rhythm. "Now we are going to know what begins with the letter. It isn’t hard to figure out what starts with A. Anything that starts with ah, or A," she stressed out the vowel. "Starts with the letter A. Now who wants to give me an example?" Several hands were raised. "Joey?"

"Apples," the tallest boy in the class replied.

"Very good," she drew a small picture of a round apple with a leaf and a stem before turning back around. "Beatrice?"

"Alligator."

"Good one," she drew a long serpentine bode with fat legs and a long head full of sharp teeth. "Alex?"

"Angels," the quarterling wanted to say Angela, but decided to use the being she was named after.

"Excellent." She drew a woman with curly hair in a dress with large wings and a ring above her head. "Richie?"

"Alex," the young brunette pointed at Alex.

"His name does start with A." She drew a little stick figure. "So does Freddy’s last name. Before this school year is over you will al learn how to spell your first names. Yes Bonnie?"

"Your name starts with an A too."

"Yes it does." She drew a taller stick figure wearing a skirt. The other children mentioned other things that began with the letter A. There was an acorn, an ant, arrow, airplane, and even an alien. After she drew the last picture she went to her desk and pulled out a small stack of paper. "There are many pictures on this paper." Audrey walked through the room, placing a paper in front of each child. "I want you to take your pencils and circle everything that starts with A."

The assignment was pretty easy. There were a lot of pictures that didn’t start with A like the turtle, ghost and ice cream cone. Most things that began with A were already on the chalk board but there were a few things that Alex knew that started with the first letter of the alphabet that were not on the board like the armadillo and the astronaut. Alex helped both Richie and Iris with their papers while talking with them.

Richie told him that his mother was a doctor and his father was the boss to all policemen. He was even higher in the ranks than Maria Chavez. Iris’s father was the famous newsman Travis Marshall. His mother was in charge of large store.

They were almost finished with their assignment when a red paper ball struck Alex on the top of his head and fell to the table.

"What happened?" Iris asked. The paper ball was the furthest from her.

"Somebody threw it," Richie picked it up. "It feels like construction paper. It is construction paper." He squeezed it tighter in his little fist.

"Yeah," Alex nodded "but who threw it?" He stared up at the rest of the class. Everyone was busy circling the correct images. All except one little boy. Stevie Dracon stared into his eyes. His lower lip curled up into a snarl a few seconds before his lips parted ad his tongue shot out. Alex replied to him in the same matter.

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Ms Audrey didn’t say anything about the paper ball and snatched it away when she approached Alex’s table holding onto a shiny paper sheet. She removed three star shaped stickers and placed them on their papers. "You can put that paper plus the one you wrote your letters on in your cubby holes. And I want you to take a sheet of contraction paper back with you."

The children raced to the wooden shelves and placed their papers into them. Some of the children just shoved their school assignments into their spaces while others placed them neatly. Alex tried to glance into Stevie’s shelf to see if he had a piece of paper already torn out of his pack but Stevie’s cubby hole was too far away to stare into without appearing to be suspicious

"It is time for Art," Ms Audrey opened one of the wooden cabinets that lined the side of the room with the cots. "Art is another word that begins with A." She pulled out a gray tray that was full of tiny jars of paint. "We are going to do some finger painting." She pulled out another tray full of tiny bowls and packs of paper towels.

"Ms Audrey," Bonnie had her hand raised.

"Yes Bonnie?"

"What are we supposed to paint?"

"Whatever you want to paint." The plump woman approached each table one at a time and set four little jars there. One red, one blue, one yellow, and one green. She also placed four little bowels and small handful of paper towels on each one. "Places some paint into the bowls and take your fingers and dip them in the bowls and use them to draw and color a picture."

Alex sat up as he stared at the picture he drew. Using the yellow paint he draw a picture of Castle Wyvern. He used Red to make a picture of Brooklyn and Mercutio and used green to draw a picture of Lex and Frank. With the yellow and red he drew a picture of Matt and used Blue and red to make Demona and Charlie. He mixed red and blue on a napkin to draw Goliath, Gloria and Angela. He mixed red and yellow to draw a picture of Rayne.

He used Blue for Bronx and Marle and was about to mix the blue with the green to draw Broadway when the bowl was empty. He shrugged and reached for the jar of blue to refill the jar but it was empty. "We are out of blue."

"We are?" Iris looked up from her picture. She used blue for the sky but it only took up one tenth of her picture of a orange pony and dozens of flowers. "I wanted to make some more blue flowers.

Richie sighed and reached for a paper towel to wipe off the excess paint form his hands. He drew a picture of several red boas on the blue ocean. There was a lot of blue on his picture. "I’ll go see if I can borrow some." He slid out of his chair and wandered from table to table, but as luck would have it there was no blue any where else. No where else except for the small table that had Dracon and the boy named Freddy. "Hi," he smiled.

"Hello," Freddy greeted. "Why are you here."

"My table ran out of blue and Alex needs some more to finish his picture."

"Oh," Stevie said. "You can borrow some." He pushed the jar of blue closer to him. "oopse." The jar fell over and blue paint landed on Richie’s shoe.

"My new shoes," Richie’s eyes watered. He tried to grab one of the nearest paper towels but Stevie’s table ran out of them. He turned around to run back to his table when he saw Ms Audrey staring at him.

"What happened," their teacher’s brown eyes were wide with concern.

"Stevie accidentally spilled some paint on Richie’s shoes," Freddy explained.

Audrey stared at the boys who had innocent expressions then at Richie’s face. The freckle faced boy’s eyes were on the verge of shedding tears. She finally stared at his shoes. "Well accidents do happen. Now don’t you worry. We can get you all cleaned up." She took his hand and lead him to the bathroom. "Come on children. Take your bowls and follow me. After we get cleaned up it’s story time."

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Eating lunch with his fellow students was fun, but Alex was really happy to be eating with his family again. It felt comfortable and just right for him to be eating at the long table with his parents, Owen, Kitty, Jam, Elisa, and the weregoyles. He only wished that the sun had set and then his entire family would be eating together.

He thanked Matt after the detective slid the bottle of ketchup towards him. Alex immediatly unscrewed the cap and poured the thick tomato sauce on top of his tater tots.

"Don’t drown your food," Fox said to him.

"I’m not," Alex set the bottle down and picked up a fork.

"So Alex," Xanatos smiled slightly. "What did you learn in school today?"

"How to write the letter A," Alex replied. "We also talked about what starts with A and we had to circle things that started with A. My name starts with A."

"Yes it does," Owen forced himself to smile.

"Ms Audrey says that we are going to learn how to write our own names."

"Ms Audrey?" Fox blinked. "What happened to Ms Pomfour?"

"Ms Audrey is Ms Pomfour."

"Must be her first name," Kitty said after she swallowed her iced tea. "One of my first jobs was at day camp for preschoolers and the children called me Miss Kitty."

Xanatos nodded while he cut himself a bite of his steak. "That does make sense. So what else did you do today Alex?"

"We finger painted pictures of whatever we wanted." Alex picked up a green bean with his fingers and placed it in his mouth. That was the only way he would eat his vegetables. "Mine is still drying, but I painted the castle and the clan. I wanted to paint a picture of Broadway but I ran out of blue. My new friend Richie went to borrow some from Stevie Dracon but Dracon spilled paint on his shoe."

"Dracon has a child?" Gloria gasped.

Both Elisa and Matt nodded. "Records shows that he does have a son," Elisa said. "But I didn’t know that he could afford Pembleton. I guess he does have strong connections."

"Did Dracon’s brat spill the paint on purpose?" Frank suggested. When the room became quiet he stared up at everyone. "What?"

"He says it was an accident," Alex shrugged. "but I don’t think so."

"What happened after finger painting?" Kitty asked.

"We had story time, but it was the little red riding hood and it wasn’t the cool version Owen told me where both the grandma and Red got eaten. The wolf threw the grandma in the closet and Red ran around the cabin and found a way to trap the wolf and the woodsman just dragged him away on the leash. He didn’t chop of it’s head or anything, and then we played this game where we had to sing and clap our hands and then we had lunch, and then we pulled out the cots and took naps, but I didn’t sleep. I just rolled around and watched everyone else sleep, then we got to go outside and play on the playground and then it was centers time and today we got to play with the blocks. Richie and Iris and I built a future city."

"Iris wouldn’t happen to be Irish Marshall?" Fox asked.

"I think so. Her mommy works in the store and her daddy is on TV."

Xanatos nodded his head. "Thats Iris Marshall All right," Xanatos said. "What about your friend Richie? What does his parents do?"

Alex finished taking a sip of his milk. "His mommy is a doctor and his daddy is the boss of all policemen."

"His father is Richard Holland senior," Elisa figured. "Holland is the police commissioner. You are making some nice new friends Alex."

"Alex is my friend," Charlie frowned and clutched onto the tray of his highchair.

"Course you are Charlie," Alex smiled. "You are my best friend. Riche and Iris are my school friends."

"I want to go to school," Charlie said.

Matt turned to him and smiled. "You are going to have to wait until next year."

"No next year. Now" He struck his spoon against his plate repeatedly. "Now, now now now!"

Fox and David stared at the sight of Matt and Dominique trying to get their son to stop making a fuss and to finish his dinner. They stared into each other’s eyes and nodded. They felt a bit of sympathy for the detective and the immortal. They remembered what it was like when Alex was two.

____________________________________________________________________________

It was his second day of school and Alex was glad that his mother did not insist that he wear something fancy again. Instead he wore an outfit that was somewhat relaxing. They were still covering the letter A and Ms Audrey passed out more writing paper for them, but instead of drawing the pointed big A they were writing what she called the lower case or little A. "We draw a circle and then put a line right next to it." She drew a circle and put a straight line down, touching the right side of the circle. "Now when you make your little A’s I want you to make sure the circle doesn’t touch the top red line. They are called little A’s for a reason. They fit right between the bottom red line and the broken blue line.

Alex tried to make his lowercase A’s perfectly round. With the rest of the class he repeated Ms Audrey’s phrase of how to write it. He noticed that Richie was making several circles, filling the top line and then going back over them creating the line.

Alex didn’t want to feel that way just yet, but he as already at he point where he was bored. After doing their writing work the children listened to a story where they held up their hand every time they heard something begin with the letter a.

"Go to your cubby holes," Audrey instructed. "And bring back your crayons."

Alex smiled when he picked up his paper and headed to the shelves along with the rest of the class.

"I wonder why we need our crayons for," Richie said as he reached into his space. "Is it time for art?"

"I doubt it," Alex placed his paper inside and pulled out his box of crayons. "It feels too early. Maybe we are just going to color."

They found their answer waiting for them. It was like the paper yesterday where they had to circle the things that began with A. "Like yesterday class," Audrey announced. "but instead of circling everything that starts with A you are going to color them."

Iris shook her head, loosening up her hair that was gathered in pink butterfly shaped barrettes. "I should have guessed." She sighed and pulled out a purple crayon.

Alex smiled and nodded before he reached in and pulled out a red crayon. He was about to color the picture of the apple when he noticed the crayon was missing it’s lower half. He puled out his yellow and saw that it was broken as well, the same for his black crayon. "Hey my crayons are broken." He pulled out an orange and saw that it wasn’t broken. "Well not all of them." He already had a suspicion on who broke them, but when he sat up and stared at Dracon’s table he saw that both boys were hard at work coloring.

____________________________________________________________________________

The dark blue cots were not uncomfortable and it wasn’t too hot or cold. Once again Alex found himself staring up at the ceiling in the darkened room during nap time. He didn’t hear any sounds coming form anyone else, so why can’t he fall asleep? He should have been as tired as the others. Making pictures by cutting out strange shapes from colored construction paper and then gluing it to a another piece of construction paper was not tiring work and learning about the difference between big and small was not as energy consuming as the game they played the day before, but the rest of his classmates were sound asleep.

"Not fair," Alex breathed. He didn’t dare speak a single word louder for fear that their teacher might shush them like she shushed Pedro and Bonnie the day before at nap time. Was he sure that everyone was asleep? He turned over on his side and stared at the children closest to him. He saw a few faces that were facing him and the eyelids were closed and they were breathing deeply and soundlessly.

He turned over on his other side. He saw three other cots and the two faces that were facing him were also asleep. Beyond them he saw Ms Audrey sitting in a large chair next to the entrance reading a book. He wondered if she had enough light to read by. "I hate nap time." He whispered again before rolling onto his stomach. He never tried that position yet. Maybe that was what he needed to fall asleep but as he rested their with his eyes closed he didn’t feel any closer to sleep than before. He stretched out his arms and let them hang over the sides.

He didn’t feel the least bit sleepy. He did however feel some small pressure on his bladder. Quietly he stood up and walked towards Ms Audrey. "Ms. Audrey?"

The British teacher looked up from her book. "Yes dear, do you have to go to the bathroom?"

"Yes I do," He chewed his lower lip. "May I go to the bathroom please?"

"Yes you may."

Alex stared at the mirror as he washed his hands. The one thing he liked about the bathrooms here was that they were all in his size. He just sat on the toilet. He didn’t have to climb it. He could reach the sink without needing a step stool. "What is wrong with me?" He asked his reflection while he washed is hands. "Is it because I can do magic that I’m not sleepy?" That couldn’t be it. He had taken naps back home. "Maybe I need my bed."

He didn’t know how much time was left for nap, but it was still dark when he returned to the room. He nodded at Ms Audrey when he passed by her and continued to his cot. He had only passed a few cots when his foot struck against something and he fell forward and landed on his stomach.

"Goodness Alex!" Audrey dropped her book and ran to him. "Are you hurt?" She helped him to his feet.

"I just tripped," Alex explained. "I don’t have any boo boos."

She sat him down on his cot and examined his knees. "Are you sure?" she ran her fingers over them and did not feel any tears.

"Nope." He flopped back down.

"I better turn on the light to make extra sure."

Alex wished that grown ups didn’t make such a fuss over him. Even the clan constantly worried about him. At least his friends didn’t act like he was such a big deal.

Speaking of his friends. He noticed several of his classmates sitting up before the light was turned on. Only a few were still laying down after the room was illuminated. One of them was Stevie Dracon. Alex studied his face and saw a smile.

____________________________________________________________________________

Water day was Tuesday. That was what Ms Audrey said to her class as she lead the students to the Centers room. The large room was divided into four sections. One had colorful carpeting and shelves lined with various sizes and shapes of wooden blocks. The section next to it consisted of a large playhouse. In the back of the room was a room with small plastic chairs in all the colors of the rainbow. Like with the area with the blocks it too had many shelves but they were filled with musical instruments.

The were lead to the section right next to the music area. It was the only area that didn’t have any carpet, just tiny tiles that reminded Alex of the floor of his bathroom. The walls were lined with sinks with large basins and in the center of the room was a water filled kiddy pool. It only had a cabinet, and shelves.

"Now before you enter the water center I want you all to remove your socks and shoes," Audrey said while slipping out of her heels. "Then walk over to the cabinet." She headed to the wooden cabinet and unlocked it with her key.

Alex, Richie and Iris were the first children to remove their shoes. They nearly ran over to their teacher who hand them shiny vinyl smocks.

"Just loop them around your head and I’ll tie them in the back." She said before she grabbed the bright red straps of Riche’s smock and tied it behind him." Once she had tied on the last plastic apron she lead them to the sinks and opened up the cabinets underneath them. "Children you can either be a boat," she pulled out a plastic yellow and blue boat. "Or a duck." she brought out a white rubber duck. "Now don’t worry there are more than enough boats and ducks. You will be playing in the water. Now I want to see at least two of you playing together, and use your imaginations." she smiled as she held up the boat again. "You can be the captain who discovers a new island," she lowered the boat and lifted up the duck again. "Or you can be the young duck who discovers the new island."

Both Riche and Alex wanted to be boats, but the freckle faced boy changed his mind after he discovered the blue duck that had black sunglasses painted over his eyes. Iris was happy with her hot pink duck with lavender bow on the top of it’s head. Alex didn’t see any ducks that held his fancy so he selected a black and silver boat.

"Quack, quack." Iris made her duck dance in the water. "I love these island parties." She made her duck dance a little longer until Riche pushed his duck and had it bump into hers.

"Hello there," Richie pretend he was the duck. "My name is Cool Duck. What is yours?"

"My name is Sugar," Iris said. "Don’t you just love this party?"

"This party is great. Watch me dive." Richie pushed on his duck until the head went under water and let go. The rubber toy floated to the surface. "Ta da."

"That is real nice," the pink duck was bobbed slightly. "I’m not that good of a diver, but I can dance. Watch me." Iris picked it up and made it splash the water while rocking side to side.

"If I teach you how to dive will you teach me how to dance?"

"No pro-" Irish stopped talking as soon as she saw Riche’s wrist in the water. His fingers were pointed up. "Cool duck what is that behind you?"

"Oh no," Richie made his blue duck turn around before pushing it closer to Iris’s. "It’s a shark. Don’t worry I’ll protect you."

"I’ll save all of you!" Alex shouted before he pushed his boat to the two ducks. "My name is Captain boat. This shark is fish food."

"What kind of strange duck are you?" Iris asked.

"I’m not a duck. I’m a boat." Alex pushed it in between the ducks and Richie’s "shark." "I have special canons that will shoot this shark." He aimed the pointed front of the ship at the shark’s fin. "Pow, pow, pow."

"Ah!" Richie made his voice gruff as he yelped. "Glug, glug." his hand sank into the water.

"Our hero!" Iris pushed her pink duck to Alex’s boat and pressed it’s bill against the side of the hull.

"He can take on sharks, but what about pirates?" The three of them sat up to see Stevie Dracon running towards him. The dark haired boy smirked as he leaned against the water. He pushed his boat through the water at a high speed creating a wake that caused water to spill out over the sides and onto Alex’s Richie’s and Iris’s feet. Thank goodness they were not wearing any shoes. "Yo ho, yo ho a pirate’s life for me." Stevie sang.

Alex had enough. He stood up and stomped over to Dracon. "What is your problem?" His anger came out in a whisper. He did not want Ms Audrey running over and making a big fuss. He was a bug boy. He could take care of himself.

"I don’t like you," Stevie whispered back with his lips pulled over his gums. "You may think you are cool, but you are not."

Alex blinked. "I don’t think that at all."

"Yes you do. You live in a castle. Your daddy is the richest man in the city and he didn’t work. My father works hard and he isn’t as rich as you."

"My father does work hard."

"Not as hard as my father."

"Your dad is a thief," Richie said. "He steals stuff and does other crimes. My dad knows how often your dad has been in jail."

Stevie turned up his nose at him before he pointed at Alex. "His dad and his mommy went to jail."

"Only once," Iris added. "And they learned their lessons. Your daddy didn’t."

"What is going on over here?" Audrey noticed the small commotion and wandered over to them.

Alex dropped his anger and turned around. "Nothing," he let his shoulders relax. "Nothing at all. We were just playing." Why did he have to keep his promise to his mother and Owen? He could make Stevie fly to the ceiling or go to sleep, but a promise is a promise.

__________________________________________________________________________

He kept thinking about the no magic promise for the rest of they day. He wanted to bring it up during dinner, but he didn’t. He did want to mention it before he fell asleep that night. When Owen lead him to his bedroom he knew he had his last chance.

"Would you like to hear a story" Owen asked while Alex changed into his pajamas. "Your mother wouldn’t mind telling you one."

"Can I use a little magic tomorrow?" Alex stared up at his teacher.

Owen shook his head and crossed his arms. "No you may not. Is there a reason?"

"Yeah," the quaterling crawled into bed. "Stevie Dracon. He’s mean. He did all that bad stuff yesterday and he did more stuff today."

"What kind of stuff?" Owen grabbed the ends of Alex’s Toy Story2 sheets and blanket and pulled them up to his chest.

"He broke some of my crayons, and he tripped me during nap, and when we were playing with our ducks and boats at water day he splashed a lot of water on me and my friends."

"That is mean," Owen agreed, but you can’t use magic."

"Why not?" Alex pooched out his bottom lip.

"Learning self control is central to your development. You can’t be at a business meeting and turn a competitor in a frog.’

"I won’t do that."

"If use magic to fight every bully or person you do not like you will end up like that, like Oberon." He winked and whispered. "And we don’t want that."

The child shook his head. "Oh no."

"You also don’t want your friends to be afraid of you. You perform a spell and your new friends will view you as a freak and not want to be your friend. You don’t want that do you?"

"No. I see what you mean."

"Good boy. Would you like me to leave the light on, or would you like the night light."

"Night light."

Owen handed him his stuffed gargoyle and approached the night light in the corner. He turned on the switch before turning out the main light.

____________________________________________________________________________

Owen had stepped out of Alex’s room when he felt a small vibration in his pocket. Xanatos wanted to see him. He wasn’t exactly sure why Xanatos wanted to see him. He knew it had to have been important. Xanatos knew that after he and Fox were going to have another lesson that night.

The glowing green digital message on the pager read out as courtyard. Owen walked out to the part of the castle that contained part of the original Scottish soil the castle rested on. The courtyard itself had been modified to include the lush flower gardens and swing set for Alex. It was a great landing area for the clan and Fox’s helicopter.

Another air craft was parked on the grass covered ground. It was like a hover jet cycle. Similar to what the Hunter’s and Macbeth’s old hired help once used but different. It was more like a chariot in shape and the technology was enhanced. on the front was what looked like a weapon.

Owen was about to a inquire about the vehicle when he saw what he took for the owner. The creature was as tall as Goliath and covered with fur. He had regular hands but his head was bovine. He had cow like muzzle and the long curled horns of a bull. The creature was too busy talking with Goliath and Elisa to have noticed him.

"Sir?" Owen raised his eyebrow at his boss. "May I ask what is going on?"

"Of course you can Owen," Xanatos smiled and approached him followed by the only other gargoyle not on patrol. "I think I know what you are about to ask and I’ll answer for you. His name is Taurus and he is the chief of security on New Olympus."

"The same beings that have entered Washington?" Owen pushed his glasses further up his nose. The reports on the news from Washington had grabbed everyone’s attention. A few politicians have approached them and set up meetings with the group. There were many who had questions and many who did view them as freaks. A Washington chapter of P.I.T had formed almost instantly.

Xanatos nodded his head. "Exactly, but he is here on a mission. A dangerous criminal that Goliath, Elisa and Angela know about-" he was briefly interrupted by one of Bronx’s barks. "I’m sorry and Bronx. Taurus claims this criminal is not only a bit crazy he has been known to be the only evil New Olympian."

"Taurus is staying with for a short while?"

"He is staying until he catches Proteus. He says he has tracked the criminal to New York."

"And we are going to assist him in catching Proteus?" Owen asked. "Do we have any idea what kind of Grecian mythical creature Proteus looks like?"

Xanatos frowned slightly. "He does have a standard form but Proteus has the ability to change his form. Kind of like your kind."

___________________________________________________________________________

The lights in the lesson room was also out, only several candles kept the room illuminated. In front of her scrying basin Fox kneeled her arms stretched out and her eyes closed. She wore nothing but a pale blue satin nightgown. Owen could see that she was not wearing anything under it, not like he was trying to look. In front of the basin were several rows of the candles.

Owen approached her, carefully stepping around the candelabras. "May I ask what you are doing?" He asked.

"I am creating the right atmosphere," Fox explained without moving an inch. "This will help me see things better."

"Candles and mediation are used by normal humans and gargoyles. The fey and those of fey blood do not need them."

"I need them," Fox exhaled. Her smooth posture was bent when she slouched and lowered her arms. "My human blood is messing up my magical side."

"Nonsense. Lack of education is what is causing roadblocks in your magic. Grab the basin and try to see a future image."

Fox sighed and placed the palms of her hands against the large smooth hole. She stared in the water and saw her own reflection "Okay future." She first had to pick up a time frame in the either past, present, or future. Once she had perfected that she could move on to specific years, places and events.

She watched the smooth surface as her reflection melted away, revealing nothing but darkness. A small white circle came into view. Another white circle appeared next to it, a third, fourth, fifth and finally a sixth ball formed. She had no idea what the balls meant until she saw something appear on them. Numbers. On each ball a number appeared.

Owen noticed her twinkling eyes and bemused smirk. "What do you see?"

"I don’t believe it," Fox chuckled. "I see lottery numbers."

"Some people wish they could see that."

"Yeah, but I don’t need it."

"Tell me the numbers anyway." He pulled out a pen and notepad.

"You are going to buy a ticket?"

"And give it to Talon."

"I should have thought of that," she whispered to her self before she peered into the water again. "The numbers are 12, 27, 05, 03, 08, and 31, and I can see the it is the New York Lottery. I can’t see the date though."

Owen placed the note pad and pen back into his pocket. "I’ll let you know if the numbers had already been called, but if it isn’t I’ll go on ahead and buy the ticket.

"Thanks Owen," Fox crawled over to the other side of the basin and began to blow out the candles.

"Mrs. Xanatos I’ll clean that up."

"I," Fox didn’t finish. She knew it was useless to argue with Owen about cleaning up. She stood back up, hoping that the sheer material of the night gown did not stick to her body and reveal what was underneath. She thanked her husband’s assistant on her way out.

Owen blew out the rest of the candles and grabbed the basin to pull it towards the nearest bathroom so he could dump the water down the drain. The image on the sloshing liquid was a distorted reflection of himself. He almost wished Fox saw the shadow children again and in a way glad she didn’t. He didn’t want to cause her alarm, but he needed to know more details about what the were doing or will be doing in the city. He also wondered if their new guest might have a hand to deal with the shades.

____________________________________________________________________________

Alex clutched the string and lifted it, pulling up the empty coffee can as he raised his foot. He had finally gotten used to the coffee can stilts. He took another step while Pedro walked beside him, making sure he did not fall.

Ms Audrey promised that tomorrow they will work on the number one instead of the alphabet. Alex was glad to hear it. He was sick of working on the letter A. That morning they filled up their writing paper with both upper and lower case A’s before they sand a song about the letter and took their safety scissors to old magazines and cut out pictures of airplanes, axes, and alligators. Even art was a disappointment. All they did was color pictures of cats, bunnies, and puppies.

The can stilts were the first fun thing that happened all morning. Ms. Audrey partnered up the whole class into teams of two. Alex wanted to be either partnered with Richie or Iris, but was glad he didn’t have to be with Dracon. Pedro was a nice boy with his hair cut into a near buzz, large brown eyes and dimpled cheeks. Alex made sure Pedro didn’t fall when it was his turn on the cans, and vice versa.

"Lunch time children," Audrey clapped her hands, causing everyone to stop in their tracks. "Bring the stilts to me, wash your hands, and then you can bring out your lunches."

Like the rest of the class Alex enjoyed lunch time. It was not only a break from doing school stuff. The children can talk freely.

"What lunches you got?" Richie asked while opening up his Dinosaur lunchbox. "I got grilled cheese and potato chips, and a brownie."

"I got peanut butter and jelly," Iris smiled. "And carrot sticks and Oreos."

"I have chicken salad," Alex pulled out his sandwich. "Doritos, and a Rice Krispe treat. Time to mix."

The four of them asked for their sandwiches to be cut into quarters, or in four pieces. They would keep half of their sandwiches for themselves selves and give a quarter to their friends, and in exchange receive a quarter from them. They also shared their chips, fruit, and or vegetables too.

"I bet none of you got pizza," Stevie Dracon walked by their table with a crumpled up napkin and pizza crust.

"Go away," Alex frowned.

"Or what?"

"What do you want?" Richie narrowed his green eyes.

"Oh nothing," his hand swept across the table and struck Iris’s thermos cap full of grape juice. "oops." The cap was knocked over, spilling juice all over the table and onto Iris’s skirt.

"Ms Audrey!" Iris leaped out of her chair and grabbed one of her own napkins.

Dracon ran to the trash can to disperse of his garbage before racing back to his table. Alex was already there. "What do you want?" Stevie glared.

"Tell Ms Audrey you were the one who spilled the juice." Alex turned his head to watch as Richie finish cleaning up the table and Ms Audrey lead a crying Iris to the bathroom.

"Why should I?"

"If you don’t I’ll, I’ll." Alex’s fists were shaking. He wanted to use a spell on him. He waited to make Dracon shrink to the size of a bug, or turn his hair color to purple, but he remembered his promise.

"You’ll what?" Stevie crossed his arms.

"One of these days you will be sorry."

____________________________________________________________________________

They usually had centers before they talked about what they did that day at what Ms Audrey called Review time, but not that day. Instead the were lead to the Centers room after they did their review. That day they were lead to the playhouse next to the block area.

"Today we will be playing house," Ms Audrey ducked in side the playhouse and brought out a plastic bowl. "Each of you will select a piece of paper from this bowl."

One by one the children walked up to her and selected a piece of paper from the bowl and show to Ms Audrey. They did not know how to read and it was up to her to tell them what each paper said. She read out names of family roles such as mother, brother, and baby. Richie drew the paper marked father, Iris selected grandmother and Alex drew teenager.

"Stevie you are the dog," Audrey read out the word on the paper that Stevie held out for her, and Freddy you are the grandpa." She ducked back into the playhouse and pulled out a cardboard box. "Some of you are going to need props. Their are fake kitty ears for the cat, dog collar for the dog." She handed the props to the children that drew their cards. "For the baby there is a bonnet and a bottle, grandma and grandpa you both have wigs and plastic glasses."

Alex watched as Stevie’s slipped on the large collar and felt a chill walk down his spine. What just happened?

"Okay class it’s time to begin," Audrey clapped her hands Now act like your roles, or what you think your roles might be. "You can pretend to be people that you know."

"Man work was hard today," Richie stepped inside the house. "What is for dinner?"

"I can’t cook dinner right now," Bonnie said as she tapped her finger against the surface of the plastic table. "I have to finish paying the bills and then I will only have time to bake a dessert."

"But the whole family is hungry," Richie said as he walked up to the little kitchen.

"Then why don’t you cook the dinner?" Bonnie crossed her arms. The rest of the class was playing quietly. The "sister" was having a tea party with her doll, the " dog" barked and almost bit the "brother" when he went to pet him. The "brother" decided to pick up a ball and toss it in the air and catching it. The "cat" purred and rubbed up against the baby who was pretending to suck on the bottle while both grandparents danced with each other.

"I can’t even microwave," Richie frowned and pulled out an imaginary bottle. "And I work all day."

"Stop," Audrey waved her hands. "Richie does your father drink when he gets home?"

"He usually has a glass of wine or he drinks Pepsi," Richie explained.

"Okay," The teacher nodded and stepped back. "Carry on."

"I work too!" Bonnie stomped her foot. "And I do the dishes and clean the house."

"Wahhhhhh!" The baby dropped his bottle and wailed.

"And I have to take care of the baby." She walked over to the baby and wrapped her arms around him and helped him rock back and forth.

Alex decided it was time for him to make an entrance. "Hey mom, dad, granma and granpa," he entered the clubhouse and stretched out his arms. "Practice was tough. Can I borrow the car? I have a date."

"No," Richie pointed at him. "You are going to take care of the baby so your mother can cook dinner."

"Awww," Alex pretended to be disappointed. "Do I hafta?"

"Yes you hafta."

"I still don’t see why you can’t cook," Bonnie was holding the bottle to the baby.

"You need dinner cooked?" Iris stepped back from Freddy. "I’ll make my turkey surprise for everyone."

"Thank you mom," Richie said.

Iris tapped him on the head. "Don’t you thank me. One of these days sonny you are going to learn how to cook."

Audrey’s clapping brought the attention of the class back to her. "Iris is that how your grandmother is?"

The reporter’s daughter nodded. "That is both my dad and my grandma. She is always trying to teach him how to cook." She opened up the toy stove and pulled out the plastic pots and pans. "My grandmother is the best cook in the whole world."

"I’m sure she is," Audrey smiled. "Carry on."

"Um," After Iris had left him to cook an imaginary dinner Freddy didn’t have much to do. He decided to pet his desk mate who was really into his role as the family dog. He even licked Freddy’s hand and buried his nose in between "Grandpa"’s legs

"Now can I take the car?" Alex asked while trying not to laugh at the sight of Stevie crawling around Freddy’s legs.

"If you play with your brother," Richie said before taking his "drink" to the front of the house and siting down. He picked up an imaginary remote and turning on the "TV."

"Fine," Alex approached Pedro. "Let’s play catch. I’ll teach you some of my special quarterback moves."

"Cool," Pedro threw the small ball to him. The ball bounced against Alex’s hands before hitting the floor.

Freddy picked it up. "I’ll give this ball back to you kids on one condition." He pointed at them. "Pull my finger."

Audrey squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She waited until the laughter died down before she spoke to the class. "Freddy does your grandfather do that?"

"Yeah," Freddy nodded. "He is always going around saying pull my finger."

"Hey dad," Richie turned to him. "Give the boys their ball and we’ll watch the game together"

The rest of the time seemed to fly by. Riche and Freddy pretended to watch a sport on television while Iris cooked their meal and Bonnie took care of the baby. Alex and Pedro played catch with Stevie who acted like he was really a dog and Ruby had her tea party with the doll and the cat who meowed and purred, didn’t throw herself into her role like Stevie was

Iris had just announced that dinner was ready when Pedro’s mother arrived to pick him up. They were eating their "meal" when Iris’s mother, and Freddy’s nanny arrived.

"Well class I guess it’s time for us to clean up," Audrey said after she waved goodbye to two of her students. She helped the children pack away the toys that they used in there playtime. Those that needed props removed them and placed them in the cardboard box.

The only one who did not help in cleaning up was Stevie. He was still running around on all fours barking.

"Stevie give me the collar," Ms Audrey held out her hand. Dracon just growled at her and ran into a corner.

"Stevie give it back," Bonnie said. "Centers is over. You can stop pretending now."

"Come on Stevie," Alex and Richie approached him. "The game is over." Dracon did not budge he stared at both them and growled. "Get him!" Alex shouted and leaped forward, but Dracon maneuvered around him and continued running. Both Alex and Richie ran after him.

"Stevie what are you doing?" Stevie changed directions when he nearly ran into several legs. Alex recognized them as Stevie’s nanny and several other parents. His mother was one of them.

"Alexander Xanatos," She placed her hands on her hips. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get Stevie to stop acting like a dog." He turned around to join Richie and the others in chasing after him but felt his mother’s hand on his shoulder. He turned back around when she pulled him closer to her.

"Did you use magic?" Fox leaned down and whispered.

"No we were playing house and Stevie was the dog," Alex explained. "But he won’t stop pretending."

Fox’s eyes narrowed. "You promised no magic."

"I didn’t use any magic." Alex’s lower lip quivered.

"End the spell or this will be your last day here."

"But I didn’t do it," his eyes misted over with tears. "I didn’t use any magic." He turned to watch as Ms Audrey pull the collar of Stevie. The dark haired boy blinked as he sat up.

"Stevie are you all right?" Dracon’s Nanny asked as she pulled the boy to his feet.

"Yeah I’m fine," Stevie said. "I just liked being a dog. I didn’t want the game to end."

"You don’t feel funny?" Alex asked him.

Dracon shook his head. "I feel fine."

"He is always playing pretend," Stevie’s nanny said. "We have a hard time getting him to stop."

"A good imagination is hard to find these days," Ms Audrey said.

Fox led her son to his cubby hole to pick up his things. "I’m sorry I didn’t believe you," She said while her son filled his backpack with his papers and artwork."

"That’s okay mommy," He said. "I almost thought he was under a spell."

"Lets go home." She took his hand and they walked towards the elevator.

___________________________________________________________________________

Audrey Pomfour gave the chalkboard one last wipe with the sponge before she set it down. She had finished her paper work and lesson plan for the next day. She knew she was going to have to watch Stevie Dracon more closely.

"I’m not going to let you bully the children around," Audrey said as her plump form melted away to a slender figure. Her pale creamy pink skin shifted to turquoise and her hair grew longer, silkier and turned to the color of bright pink. "I’m not going to let anyone cause harm to my grandson." Her accent faded and warm bubbly voice became deeper and more velvety. "Especially when he can’t do a thing about it." The spell she put on Dracon had faded once the collar was removed. She had to quickly replace it with mind control spell and forced him and his nanny to explain that he was just playing and he did it all the time before she made both of them forget that Stevie Dracon acted like a dog.

Titania grabbed her purse and tote bag and teleported to her temporary apartment. Two more days till she can visit her husband for a few hours.