#team dex

“Sweetheart?”

Running a hand through his sweat-soaked strawberry blond hair, Dex pulled himself up on his elbows. His brain felt fried from the very, long, very full sleep he had experienced. 

Kind of a big deal. Dex hadn’t had an actual good sleep since The Incident—the words his mother, Juline, used to refer to he and his best friend/cousin Sophie’s kidnapping,

Wasn’t a fan of the wording. Ever since it happened, things had been… good enough. There were some feelings floating around in there that Dex hadn’t been sure anyone could experience. He’d had his fair share of anxiety in his life, times where he would get hit with random waves of annoyance at everyone and get super upset at the world.

But never like way he had been. Last Tuesday, he had to leave halfway through family dinner because…

Well, he didn’t know.

Didn’t mean he couldn’t handle it. Even though this was the first night in a long time he’d slept, he was confident that whatever life threw at him he could handle.

As cliche as this was, it was one day at a time. The only way he could handle it.

“Sweetie?”

Looking up at where his mother worriedly looked at him, Dex tried for a smile. A real one.

He wasn’t quite there yet—to smiles.

“Did you sleep good?” A ritual question for his sweet mother.

“Yeah,” Dex replied, sitting up in his bed and stretching his limbs. An honest response. His mother glowed.

“That’s amazing. You better get to breakfast fast. The triplets are about to get up, I can feel it…” she kissed his cheek and left his room.

As she did, Dex stayed there for a moment. It was still dark, the only luminescence a small mechanical gadget that was in the making—mostly for him. It was a ring.

Dex was looking at color theory, and programming the ring to turn colors based on his mood, which was detected by the wearer’s heart rate. Colors that could calm him. It was honestly a lame idea. You could only do so much with Technopathy, and most of it was lame. Makes sense, for a lame ability.

As he sat and basked in the glory of his smelly room—well, okay, it did actually stink in here. Maybe he should open a window.

And take a shower, breakfast be damned.

How long has it been since I’ve showered?

Ew, the fact I have to ask that question is concerning.

I guess I just forgot…

With so much going on, it was hard not to.

The cool water streaming down Dex’s back felt too good against his body. He hated being hot. It was a good thing it wasn’t hard to find cold at Rimeshire, which his mother being a Froster and such. The heat reminded him way too much about the fire and the burns…

Looking down at his torso, he stared at the blindingly red burn mark on his body. Always looking right back at him.

Maybe mom is right. I think it’s better I don’t think about this stuff.

Finally getting dressed, walking down the stairs, he stopped when he got a call on his imparter. It was Marella—which meant he had to go back to his room to avoid being seen talking to a girl by the triplets.

“Hey,” he said, his voice still gravely from sleep.

“Hey,” she said back. “Uh, I wanted to call because… My dad is taking Sophie and I to Mysterium today. It would be so much fun if you could come too. If not, it’s fine and all, but… I dunno.”

Sophie. Dex wasn’t shocked Sophie had been invited out by Marella. It wasn’t the first time—she was doing way better than Dex was on the mental wellness part. She didn’t have half the “panic attacks” (as Marella put it) that he did. In fact, she’d probably gone out shopping with all of her other friends without him loads of times. Wonderboy, Biana, Keefe, Marella, even Jensi. Which was fine.

But at least he was being invited. Didn’t matter that it wasn’t by his best friend. And he slept well tonight. The least he could do was say yes.

So he did.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Marella squealed as Dex glittered in front of his father’s shop, where he and the girls said they’d meet up to start shopping. They would, of course, be supervised by Mr. Redek and Sandor. Juline had wanted to go, but Dex had said that he wanted a moment with his friends. Juline said she understood, but that she would freeze off Durand and Sandor’s fingers if they let something happen to Dex. They were currently lurking in the back, not interrupting or bothering the reunion.

Marella threw her arms around her friends next, and so did Sophie.

“It’s us! The band is back together!”

“Minus Jensi,” Sophie noted. “Too bad he had that lunch with his brother.”

“Yeah,” Dex agreed. “Too bad.”

Marella pointed to the only kooky building on the block, Slurps and Burps. “Okay, we need to stop in your dad’s shop so I can get some Lovelylocks. My hair looks deader than those cheesy ass jokes Dame Alina makes during morning orientation.”

Sophie laughed. “Oh, my God. You should have heard the old jokes that my vice-principal would make over the morning announcements at my old highschool.” Sophie covered her mouth in hyperbolized laughter.

Marella laughed too. “What the hell is a highschool?”

“Okay, so basically…”

The five of them went through so many stores that Dex lost count by the fifteenth. Marella was looking at hair products, clothing, dresses. Sophie was having fun with her looking at the jewelry, something Dex had to admit he was pretty into as well. Occasionally Marella would coax Sophie into trying on dresses and heels, and they would all laugh as she struggled to walk towards them.

Admittedly, Dex would laugh more half-heartedly. 

“You need to walk in them like normal shoes. They’re just a little uncomfortable, is all!” Marella would laugh as Sophie had to sit down to stop tripping.

She looked at Marella incredulously. “Walk normally? I can’t even do that—”

Once everyone was able to contain their laughter (and Sophie was back in her normal shoes) they would all walk the streets of Mysterium, looking at stores that they hadn’t gone in before, eating food that was a classic to Dex and Marella but completely new to Sophie. They would explain foods and objects and items to her, and Dex…

Well, he supposed everything kind of just faded out.

In a city like Mysterium, with people like Marella, it was hard to focus on stuff that really mattered. Instead, they would get more into the more minute detail; that cape store used to be a bake store. Weird remodel, right? As they passed through a large crowd of people, they would occasionally see someone who they would point out because their shoes were gorgeous, or they themselves were gorgeous (mostly Marella. Actually, entirely Marella on that ladder bit).

In Mysterium—wait a goddamn minute.

Where they in Mysterium still? Dex slowed to a stop and looked around. His girls walked a few more paces before they looked back at him. “What’s up?”

“Where are we?”

Dex spun around. They were in the middle of a long, winding path. A few benches lining the dirt trail. It was clearly an Elven park, Dex just didn’t know there was one this close to Mysterium.

“More importantly, where’s Sandor and Mr. Redek?” Sophie asked nervously.

Marella bit her lip.

“Uhm…”

Dex’s stomach churned inside of him. Were they lost with no way to get back? What if this was it and no one found them? What if they ended up like that statue over there, the one covered in vines? Dex let out a shuddering breath, needing to sit down. He sat where the statue was, as it was on a pedestal where the artist’s name was engraved. It was of a woman, a tear dripping down onto her bosom as she looked down at something in her hands; what it was, Dex couldn’t tell. She was covered in vines.

“Hey, are you okay?” Sophie asked, approaching Dex as he looked down at his own hands.

“Yeah,” he said, simply.

“Sophie has trackers sewn in her clothes,” Marella said. She sat down next to Dex, on his left. Sophie was on his right. “Sandor will be here any moment. He’ll probably yell at us, but who cares what that guy thinks anyways?”

“Yeah,” Sophie added. “We lost him in the crowd. No dig deal. Plus, we can still see that big ass cape store in Mysterium from here.” Dex;s best friend pointed at the large roof which they could see poking over the trees.

Dex laughed, then nodded. Even though he could be over thinking this, he could tell what his friends were trying to do. A silent plea for him to be reassured. They were not lost; they were safe. They had a goblin warrior probably full on armadillo rolling towards them at speeds that could bend sound.

Then, just like that, rain began pouring.

“Just our luck,” Marella said.

“Glad we finished our food,” Dex commented, standing up. Fortunately, the trio didn’t get as soaked as they could have; thanks to the statue.

“Hey,” Sophie began. “We should clear off these vines from this woman. It’s the least we could do to thank her for protecting us from the rain.”

“And something to pass the time.” Marella stood up and tugged at a few tucked under her right arm.

The three worked quickly, pulling vines off and gently setting them on the ground, ready to be fed back to their mother, Earth. They spoke about topics that they usually spoke about, but something about this felt nicer than usual. They talked about abilities, how cool certain ones were. Sophie made sure to mention how cool a technopath would be, which made Marella go on and on about how she would create robots all the time if she was a technopath, which in turn launched into a conversation about Vertina.

Dex hadn’t laughed hard all day; he did then.

Once they were done, the rain had halted.

They could now see that she was looking at her own intertwined hands, and though Dex wasn’t too certain of the statue’s full figure before the vines were off, he was certain she was no longer crying.

They could also now see the inscription and the artist’s name: The Rain Goddess, by unknown.

“Hey, kids! There you are!” Sandor’s squeaky voice shouted as he barreled towards them. For a moment there Dex was scared he was going to get choke-slammed, then laughed at that image in his head. So did Marella and Sophie, though they didn’t know what he was laughing about.

Durand sighed. “Come on, kids. Your mothers’ want you come.”

With that, the trio forced down laughter and replaced them with smiles.

Then and there, Dex learned a small lesson in life, as cliche as it was. That the good days are worth it, even if it means suffering through the bad ones.

Before they left the park, he turned to the Rain Goddess and uttered to her, “Thank you.”