I sat down on the steps in front of Dad’s house. The tears fell for a long time. Dad came out and sat next to me, rubbing my back. That made me cry even more!

  Just sitting there wasn’t making the decision easy to follow through with. It was time to pull off the band-aid. I turned to Dad to get his attention.

  “Dad,” I said. “I need to borrow your phone quickly.”

  “Uh, sure,” he said, giving me his phone.

  I punched in Mom’s number. She picked up moments later.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Hi, Mom,” I said. “It’s me.”

  “Oh, hi Eddy!”

  “Mom, listen. I need you to forget me. I’ll see you again next time. For now, though, it’s not safe.”

  “Ok,” she acknowledged with a monotone voice.

  I hung up and gave the phone back to Dad.

  “I’m going to leave tomorrow morning,” I told him. “The moment I walk out the door tomorrow, you will forget all about me and anything I may—or may not—have done. Ok?”

  “Ok.”

  I nodded and stood up. My bedroom was calling—not for sleep, but for packing. If I was going to be out on my own for a long time, I would need to take the most useful items with me. The most important were whatever allowed me to eat, drink, and separate me from the elements. Some of that could be done with skills—probably—but whatever I could do on my own was important.

  The constraint was that I had to carry everything. Fire was taken care of by Spark, so I had at least the basics of shelter with me at all times. There was no way for me to carry all of the food I would need for a decade with me. I’d have to grow, scavenge, or get food some other way. It would be best to take a few days’ worth of food, but no more.

  A change of clothes was worthwhile as well as a coat. Even though it summer was coming up, pants were better than shorts. I could use them all year and not half the year. It’s not like I had the space to carry a wardrobe with me!

  Next was water. I packed a water bottle. It would do temporarily, and that was one of the items I planned on making with skills. Either with the fire Spark would make, or by buying another skill. I hadn’t decided on that one yet.

  Finally, there was shelter. Yes, I had fire. But that wouldn’t keep the rain off of me, the heat in, or keep me safe from the local wildlife. For that, I would need to rely on skills. I would figure them out on the way, but that was my plan. Until I got where I was going, I wouldn’t make my ultimate decision. I would—however—look over my options on the road.

  My destination was the same location Grandpa Joe and I went to that one time. I knew roughly where it was, and there were enough people nearby that I would be able to liberate the food I would need. Depending on how things went, I might be able to snag a cabin or something, too—if it were abandoned or used as a vacation destination.

  I packed everything into my backpack. I set it next to my bed before taking a long, hot bath. It would be the last comfortable bath I’d have for a while, so I might as well enjoy it.

  I made it extra special. A generous amount of bubble bath liquid as the bath filled gave it the right pizazz. I dipped a toe into the slightly-too-hot water, slowly easing myself into it as I got more and more used to it—and it cooled some. I lay in the bath long enough for the water to get uncomfortably cold before I was done making bubble sculptures on my head—and the wall next to the tub.

  I toweled off and went to bed soon after. There was a long day ahead of me, and I needed sleep. And yet, that sleep didn’t come. Change both energized me and made me nervous. The combination was bad for a restful night. I cast Sleep after trying on my own for an hour. I would have preferred not to use the skill, but some sleep was better than none—even if I risked further trouble in the future.

  I woke early the next morning. I checked over my backpack again, then went downstairs to have breakfast with Dad one last time. It was the same beach-textured cereal as always. I don’t know why he liked that stuff when it was rather bland—and a danger to teeth everywhere!

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  “Sorry, Dad,” I said after breakfast was over. “I’ll miss you.”

  Dad looked at me silently. I waved at him after putting my backpack on. I closed the door quietly behind me.

  The trip was going to take a while. A couple hours by car was a couple weeks on foot. Even with Grandpa Joe under control, that didn’t mean his friends weren’t off the scent. I didn’t feel entirely safe taking public transportation. The cost of skills would be tiring enough over a long period of time, so by foot—or Flight was the best way for me to go.

  I climbed the long driveway to the road. Along the way, I threw on a Disguise Self so that I would look nothing like my actual self. It was an extra layer of security. The more layers, the better!

  I took off at a medium pace away from the center of town. There was a small nature preserve at the end of my street—a couple miles away. While flying down a highway would be a bad idea, using the river was my best avenue to travel quickly for at least several minutes at a time.

  It took half an hour to arrive at the preserve. The nature preserve had a small gravel parking lot for people who wanted to climb the cliff up to the heights above or take a hike. There was only a single car there that weekday morning, which was perfect for me. I would have preferred no one there, but I took what I could get.

  I picked the trail that would take me down to the riverbank. It was a steep and rocky trail that cut back and forth down the hill to the river below. An older man walking his dog climbed the trail in the other direction. I said hello as he passed, my Disguise Self doing its job. The dog wasn’t fooled—my smell was the same—but didn’t know anything was off to begin with.

  I continued my walk down until I came to the river. The river was a tidal one, and it was inbetween low and high tides, with the tide going out. The exposed mud stank of partially-decomposed garbage with notes of raw sewage. I got a big whiff and gagged. I’d fallen into it one time many years ago. It tasted as bad as it smelled—worse, even, since the taste was sticky.

  I looked out on the river. The traffic on it was thankfully light—only a single tugboat pushing a barge. There were a handful of motorboats and sailboats around. Though most of those were moored in marinas or just getting going—it was still early in the morning.

  When I decided the coast was clear enough, I got a running start before leaping into the air. Flight took hold of me, keeping me aloft. I cast Illusion to look like a bird from a distance. I put the proverbial pedal to the floor, going as fast as tier 2 Flight would allow me.

  The air whistled past my ears as I tore a path forward. It was loud—almost deafening. It was something I should have foreseen. Like a motorcycle rider, there was nothing between me and the elements. Even a hot summer’s day could turn cold when going highway speeds. Today was a spring day, so the air was as a much cooler starting point.

  I shivered as I flew. Part of me was thankful that I couldn’t sustain Flight for all that long. That way I could stop to rest and warm up before I got frostbite by accident. It wasn’t that bad, but it felt that way. And that’s what really mattered!

  The river was mainly straight. It had its bends, but they were minor when compared to the two or three miles it was wide. That width shrank as I flew north, but it wasn’t a quick process. The tidal portion of the river extended about as far as I could manage with my first Flight. I stopped just shy of a bridge that crossed at a local narrow point. Even so, the river was still a mile across!

  I sat against a tree, watching the water flow. I was worn out by and cold from the flight. The sounds of cards crossing the bridge filled my ears as I ate the first of my packed food. When I was done, I put on my coat and took a bathroom break. My limbs were stiff, but a short walk got the blood pumping again. I checked my status and saw that my blood was just under half. It was regenerating steadily, but it would be a while before I would be able to continue safely.

  I decided to take a short nap and see where I was. I cleared a small area by the tree. My backpack made a decent pillow, and a small pile of leaves would do to keep the cold ground—and uncomfortable roots—off my back. I let the exhaustion take me.

  I awoke sometime later—two or three hours at most. The sun was near enough to its apex, but I couldn’t be sure exactly how long I’d been out. I checked my status and saw that I had regained a third of my blood. While I wasn’t exactly full, it was enough that I felt comfortable continuing my journey. Wherever I stopped next would be where I slept overnight.

  I took off at a run before casting Flight. Like before, an Illusion to make me look like a bird was my go-to. I saw no reason to change something that seemed to be working. I took a deep breath and sped off.

  The bridge was a suspension bridge, which made flying safely under it a breeze. The old steel structure had held for a hundred years and would probably stand for a hundred more. It was built with an eye towards the future—one which had predicted the rapid expansion of vehicle sizes ans weights. Or at least it had enough of a margin of safety to shrug off such changes.

  Soon after I passed under the bridge, I saw the final brackish marsh that signified the start of the freshwater portion of the river. Now that I was away from the tides, the smell of trash was mostly gone. I say mostly because there was the barest hint still tickling my nose as I flew.

  Time was ticking. I needed to find a place to land before I ran out of usable blood. That last thing I wanted was a repeat of that day. I scanned the river ahead. There were two towns across the river from each other—a bridge connecting them. I could choose one or the other. I didn’t have enough blood to check both out. The one on the right shore looked bigger, so that is the one I made for.

  I didn’t want to land right in the middle of town. Not only would that have caused a stir—the last thing I needed—but it was simply farther than I needed to go. I opted to save my blood and land at a private dock a mile or two from the town proper.