Chapter 2

"Toby... Toby...!"

A voice. A familiar voice—it was calling for me. I turned my head around, trying to look for who was calling for me, but all I saw was darkness. "Where are you?!" I called out. A sudden growling noise made me turn my head to see two glowing red eyes. The creature bearing the demonic eyes lunged at me, making me scream in terror. I dodged, but suddenly I wasn't in the darkness anymore, and the strange creature was nowhere to be found.

My vision was almost completely blurry, but I could still make out shapes and color. I was lying on a cold, metal surface in the middle of a room with creamy-white walls. The only light that was on was shining directly down at me—but I wasn't looking straight at it, anyway.

A blurry white-and-brown shape loomed over me, blocking out some of the overhead light from shining down on my face. My vision was still blurry, but I could see that it was a young man, maybe in his late 20's or early 30's—somewhere around there. He was smiling down at me, a crazed gleam in his eyes.

I tried sitting up, but found that I couldn't. I turned my head and saw that both of my wrists and legs were bound to the table with cuffs made of blue aluminum—a rare mineral only found on, Uranus, lightning chains holding them there. "What is the meaning of this? Let me go!"

The man laughed, coming over with a needle in his hand, flicking the glass syringe in which a glowing blue liquid was contained. I struggled against my bonds as he continued to chatter—more to himself to me. "This won't hurt a bit. Nope! Not one bit. It might sting, but—oh, who am I kidding?"

And with that, he shoved the needle under my skin.

I screamed. The liquid coursed through my veins with a pain so intense, I thought my skin was burning, bubbling, and melting off of my body. The strange blue liquid caused my body to glow where it was moving throughout my veins.

My vision was slowly fading to black as I heard the same voice call once more through darkness.

"Come to me, Tobias... Come to me...my son."

"GYAAH!"

I whipped up in bed with a gasp, clutching my heaving chest and breathing heavily. My heart was beating a mile a minute as I rapidly looked around the room. The familiar sunburnt orange walls greeted my vision, cast in a golden hue as the sun filtered through the darker orange curtains. I swallowed nervously, falling back onto my pillow and holding onto the sides of my head. I knew that that nightmare had in fact been some kind of memory, but it was hurting my brain just even thinking about it. When I thought of the strange blue liquid that the man had put in my body, my arms began to tingle uncomfortably. I shook myself and rubbed my arms. It made my skin crawl.

I sat up again—slower this time—and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was about quarter to ten in the morning. I brought my head towards the door, silently wondering what Dr. O'Shay was doing at this hour. The dream was beginning to worry me, and I thought that maybe he would know something about it—or at least try to fathom it. I brought my legs around, removing the covers, and stood up. "Whoa..." I cautioned myself as I wobbled slightly.

As I made my way for the door, I looked down and saw that I was still wearing the same clothes as I had when I got out of the shower yesterday. I didn't have any pajamas, so I couldn't have slept in them, anyway. I pressed the button on the side of the door, causing the door to slide up as silently as the bathroom door had yesterday. I stepped out into the hallway and peeked around the corner.

The door at the end of the hallway sat ajar, and as I recalled back to last night, I remembered that when I had come upstairs, that door had been closed shut. My curiosity overwhelmed me once again and I silently crept towards the room. Careful not to make a sound—if this room were to be forbidden—I slowly began to look around the edge of the doorway, glancing inside. It appeared to be another bedroom, and as I placed my hand on the door frame to look farther inside, I could picture Dr. O'Shay sleeping in that neatly made bed beside the window.

I turned around and looked towards the top of the stairs, peeking out over the hand to the right of me, seeing that most of the lights were on in both the living room and another room that I hadn't seen before—the kitchen. I could tell it was, because I could just make out the fridge door from where I stood. I hurriedly went down the stairs, taking the right that would take me to the kitchen. My stomach grumbled in desperation as I entered the kitchen, but I was too shy to even take a glance in the fridge for food. Instead, I marveled at the amazing scenery that befell me.

The fridge was stainless steel with a mini TV built right into the door, although it wasn't on. The cupboards over the kitchen sink and along the wall above the fridge and oven were made of the same type of oak wood that made up the desk in my room. The oven was a dark black color, with white trim along the edges. I could already smell the aroma of the bread baking in the oven—a hint of cinnamon wafting through the air. I peeked inside the oven, watching as the light near the back waned on and off, on and off as the bread was baking. I smiled and squatted down in front of it, perplexed by the light. It was a bright—very bright—blue color, highlighting the bread in the same color as it came on, and then went off. I stood back up and turned towards the sink, looking out the window at the leaves on the trees as they rustled in the breeze. I saw my reflection in the glass and laughed at the way my hair sat atop my head. It was a complete mess, tufts of dark brown hair sticking out in every direction. I had forgotten to comb through my hair to make it better looking after I had gotten out of the shower.

Thinking about my shower last night also reminded me to ask O'Shay about something that had the same use as hairspray, but wasn't hairspray. I knew it was a liquid of some kind—it was on the tip of my tongue—but I just couldn't remember the name of it. I stuck my hands under the faucet, waiting half a second before the water came crashing into my hands. I pulled my hands out of the water—which shut off—and whipped them in the sink, sending stray droplets flying. I looked again into the window and ran my wet fingers through my hair, flattening my spiky hairdo that didn't quite fit.

Wiping the remaining water off of my hands with the towel next to the sink, I turned and began heading into the living room. This time, Dr. O'Shay was sitting upon the futon, looking down at two notebook papers in his hands. I recognized them as the ones that I had written answers on the day before. I glanced up, seeing that the news was playing on the TV above the fireplace, the news cast mulling over the weather for the next week and a half. I glanced at O'Shay once more as he muttered to himself, rubbing his chin and holding the two papers with his left hand. I remembered my earlier nightmare and upon doing so, it sent a shiver down my spine, causing me to shudder. Maybe he would know something about the strange man I saw? I just had to know.

"Dr. O'Shay?" I began.

He didn't look up from his papers. "Oh, Toby. Good morning."

"I had...a strange dream last night."

"Mmhmm...?"

"There was this..." I broke off, not completely sure how to word it. He didn't seem to be fully listening to me either. I glanced back up at the holographic monitor, the words 'Space' and 'Meteor' catching my eye. I realized that the sound wasn't even turned on. O'Shay must've turned it down to completely concentrate on his task at hand. Without asking, I grabbed the remote from off the table and clicked the volume button. The sound began off at a low level, but slowly turned up to normal range.

"...Reports of a meteorite nearly the size of England is slowly making its way to Earth," the announcer said, a picture of said meteor next to his head. "Rest assured, the meteorite will thankfully pass Earth with no damage to any of our home planet's inhabitants," he continued, smiling. "Which is a great relief to many in the world. What say you, Bill?"

The screen switched over to an older looking gentleman with graying hair and blue-rimmed glasses, his green eyes full of wisdom. "That is a great relief, Martin, I'll give you that. Wouldn't want that! In other news..."

I stopped listening after that, my thoughts running wild once more. A meteor, huh? That's from space, right? Well, I guess it's a really good thing it won't hit us, then.

I glanced back at Dr. O'Shay, seeing that he was too busy with looking at the papers and mumbling to himself that he didn't have any idea what was going on around him. I looked back at the TV, but saw that it was a news report on some boring, old person who saved a kitten stuck in a tree.

"It's completely impossible...!"

I turned back to O'Shay, blinking. Had he been talking to me, or himself? "What's impossible?"

"These equations should be too difficult to be solved by a mere child!" he exclaimed, completely ignoring me. "The last person I saw who had solved something like this..." He broke off and glanced up at me. "Oh, when'd you get here?"

I gave him a look and just sighed. "What were you saying just now?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing," he told me, folding the papers in half and stuffing them in the pocket inside his vest. "I was just thinking maybe we could give you an education."

"You mean school?" I asked, completely surprised.

"Yes, that's what I mean." He cleared his throat, finally glancing at the TV. "When'd that turn on?"

I face-palmed, but didn't let it bother me. Instead, I continued on the previous topic. "What school would I be going to?"

He turned back to me and shrugged. "I don't know yet for sure, but the highest possibility would be Metro High."

"Is that in Metro City?" I asked, my eyes sparkling.

He nodded. "Yes, it is!"

I pumped my fist in the air, my eyes shining with excitement. I couldn't believe it! I was finally getting to go into Metro City—even though this was my first day here. "When will I get to go?" I asked.

"Hold on, Toby," he chuckled, holding out his hand for me to calm down. "We still don't even know for sure if you're going or not."

My posture slackened, and a gleam of sadness entered my eyes. "But you said—"

"I am well aware of what I said," he continued, standing up and wiping off his hands together. "Now, if you'll excuse me, dear boy, I have some bread to take out of the oven."

I followed his movements with my eyes as he walked away from me and into the kitchen, heading towards the oven near the back wall. I sighed and looked down at my sock-covered feet. I sure hope I get to go to Metro High... I thought to myself, sitting down in the love-seat with my left hand place on the side of my face. I just want to know more about this world—the history of it, I mean. If I can't remember anything of it from before, it'd be better to learn about it at school.

"Ouch!"

I turned my head towards the kitchen as O'Shay's voice drifted towards me; a clash sounded behind the wall. He must've burnt his hand on the pan as he took it out of the oven. I lifted my nose into the air and took a long breath in, relishing in the scent of the cinnamon that was baking inside the bread. My stomach growled, making me unconsciously stand up and make my way into the kitchen. Once I entered the room, Dr. O'Shay was holding his hand underneath the sink, washing away whatever was on his hand.

Water... Liquid...

I blinked, remembering another question that I'd had that I couldn't answer. "Doctor?"

"Yes?" he asked without turning.

"What's like hairspray, but liquid?"

He pulled his hands from the water and wiped them gently on the towel, turning to me. "Liquid, but like hairspray?"

"Yeah, that you put in your hair, but it doesn't have a brittle texture to it," I told him, miming what I was saying.

He watched my hands, and as I finished the story, he put a finger into the air with a smile. "Ah! You're talking about hair gel."

"Gel! That's it!" I exclaimed, running my fingers through my hair with a relief that I couldn't quite express. "You had no idea how hard it was to remember that."

"Why are you asking about hair gel?" he wondered aloud, placing the towel back on its rack.

"Well, I had a glimpse of a memory, and there was this picture of spiked hair," I explained. "I imagined it on my head, and it fit perfectly."

"Oh...!" Dr. O'Shay smiled at me. "I do recall you having spiked hair yesterday before your shower." He pointed to his head. "One on top, and one to the side."

"That's the image I saw!" I laughed. "Do you have any gel by chance, Doctor?"

He hummed to himself, thrumming his fingers on his chin, his other hand on his hip. "Hmm... I can't say for sure that I do, but I can go check! In the meantime..." Dr. O'Shay turned and pointed at the bread. "Help yourself, Toby. The plates are in the cupboard by the oven."

I nodded and hungrily eyed the bread, moving towards it as he left the kitchen. There was a knife sitting next to the pan with the bread inside, and I took it into my hand and cut a reasonably sized piece—which you could say was normally sized. I turned and walked over to the oven, able to feel the heat still rising, but not as hot as it had been before while it was cooking the bread. I reached over it and opened the cupboard, taking out a small paper plate and returned to the piece of bread that I had cut. As I place it on the plate, I noticed that it also had raisins inside it. I smiled. Raisin bread!

I turned towards the fridge, suddenly realizing that plain bread wasn't a meal. Hesitantly, I picked the knife back up and cut another piece, placing it on my plate and began towards the food's shelter. I opened the bottom door, peering inside. Many different varieties of food lay inside, just waiting to be eaten—but I didn't grab any of them. I reached inside after I found peanut butter and its opposite—jelly—and closed the door, returning to my half-made sandwich. I used the same knife that I had used to cut the bread and put the two different spreads on each side, closing the sandwich together and smiling to myself.

I made my own breakfast!

I felt so accomplished as I rinsed off the knife in the sink, placing it back next to the pan after drying it. I grabbed the plate and turned around, heading for the open doorway and out towards the living room, which housed a dining table next to the stairs. I pulled the chair nearest the couches and sat down, immediately taking a bite of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was quite delicious!

As soon as I was halfway into my sandwich, O'Shay reappeared—more like materialized—next to me. I looked up, seeing a bottle in his hands. He smiled and placed it on the table next to my plate. "I found this in the spare bathroom," he explained as I picked it up and examined the label. "I believe it's quite old, but nonetheless, there it is!"

I swallowed my mouthful and smiled at O'Shay. "Thank you!"

"No problem," he answered, watching as I took another bite. "Like the bread, do ya?"

I nodded, chewing the cinnamon and raisin bread, enjoying the taste that it brought.

"I usually prefer eggs and bacon in the mornings, but sandwiches are good too!" he chuckled, smiling and patting my shoulder as I finished off the last of it. He picked up the paper plate in his hands and made off with it towards the kitchen. "I'll take care of this for you."

I swallowed again. "Thanks again!" With a spring in my step, I hurried towards the first floor bathroom where I had taken my shower yesterday. Pressing the button and opening the door, I stepped inside and faced the mirror—the lights coming on automatically. Okay...now how do I do this the right way? I asked myself, staring down at the bottle of gel in my hand. After a moment or two, I opened the top and squeezed some of it out.

I closed my eyes, picturing the spikes that my memories had concocted yesterday, picturing it onto my own head. I brought my hands up to my hair and began to work. My eyes were closed the entire time, just doing it from memory while feeling throughout my hair. Once I felt my hands stop moving, I slowly opened my eyes. I gasped, smiling. It was perfect; one spike on top—slightly lopsided—and one off to the side.

"I did it!" I whispered, chuckling to myself. I accidentally smacked my palms to my face, and with a slight shout of surprise, I realized too late that my hands still had gel on them. Grumbling to myself, I rinsed off my hands and wiped my face with the towel, getting rid of the sticky hair gel. Looking at myself in the mirror again, I had to admit that the gel did do a pretty good job.

"Hello!"

I blinked. Was that Dr. O'Shay's voice? How could I hear it through the door that clearly? I ignored my questions and stuck my head out the opened door.I watched as he walked towards the living room, a small wireless device in his hand, displaying a tiny holographic man over a bright blue faceplate. Who is he talking to? I wondered, arching my brow and listening in. Now, some would say this is eavesdropping. What I say is that this is merely paying extra attention—devious, I know.

"Hello, Mr. O'Shay," the man on the hologram greeted, a tiny smile on his face.

"Greetings, Mr. Haverston," O'Shay answered. "It's been quite a while since we've spoken, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has," he agreed. "Far too long..." He cleared his throat, and positioned himself better on his feet, his hands behind his back. "So what brings us together on phone?"

"Well, I recently adopted a boy, and I was wondering if he could attend your fine school?" Dr. O'Shay asked, his eyebrow arched.

I gasped quietly. This Mr. Haverston guy must be the principal of Metro High! And Dr. O'Shay was finally calling it in! I could barely contain my excitement as the conversation continued on in the next room over.

"Why, of course!" Mr. Haverston chuckled. "I never imagined you'd be the type to adopt, but nevertheless! He can surely attend Metro High! But of course, before he enters..."

"I know, I know. He has to pass the entry exam," Dr. O'Shay interrupted. "I assure you, he is able to do that with flying colors."

Is he talking about how I answered those equations? I wondered, stepping out of the bathroom and peeking around the corner of the hallway.

"Well, the only way to find out for sure is for him to take the test," Mr. Haverston replied. "I'll have Diana set up a date for when he could do that... Friday at 8 AM, perhaps?"

"That sounds lovely! I'll tell him right now!" O'Shay exclaimed, excitement in his tone.

I gasped, immediately running back to the bathroom to have him believe that I hadn't heard a single word of it. As if on cue, I heard his voice call down the hallway and echo through the open door to the bathroom.

"Toby! Could you come here a moment?" he called.

Again, acting as if I were never eavesdropping, I slowly made my way towards the living room, brushing off fake dirt from my jacket. Now, if you think that wasn't acting, then you got another think coming. "Yes?" I asked, peeking my head from the corner of the hall. O'Shay waved me over, and I—albeit excitedly—hurried over to him and sat next to him on the futon. "What is it?"

His smile betrayed his answer, and I couldn't help from smile back. "You're going to school!" he exclaimed with a laugh.

A laugh escaped from me, my excitement bubbling head over heels. "When do I get to go?" I asked, shaking my hands in front of me like an excited little kid who got a new toy.

He smiled at me. "Well, first you'll have to take the entrance exam on Friday, and I believe that if you pass the exam, you would start that day." He shrugged. "You'll pass; I just know it!"

I smiled. Finally! I get to go to Metro City! "What makes you so sure that I'll pass? Is it because of those problems I solved?"

"I sure think it is!" he exclaimed. "Your father had the same talent."

"M-my father?" I asked. I suddenly remembered that O'Shay had mentioned my father yesterday on our way back from the hospital. "Doctor, w-where is my father?"

His eyes darkened, but he didn't answer. I frowned. "Doctor? What is it?"

"Nothing; it's nothing," he finally answered. "It's just that..." He broke off, looking at me. "No matter what anyone says, your father was a great man, Toby. Always remember that."

I frowned, confusion plain on my face. What did he mean by that? I opened my mouth to ask, but he turned away from me and walked towards the door, grabbing his overcoat and slipping on his shoes. "Since you're going to school soon, you'll need more clothes than just those," he said instead, motioning his head towards my clothes. As I looked down at them, he added, "As well as some school supplies."

I glanced up at him, our eyes meeting. I could tell that he knew that I knew he was hiding something from me, but what that something was, I wasn't certain.

"Okay!" he sighed. "Get your boots on... Oh! You'll need new shoes, too," he mumbled, pressing the button on the side of the door and walking out into the hallway.

I shook my head, shaking myself from my thoughts. I'd ask him about it later. With a slight frown, I located my boots by the front door, noticing that O'Shay had moved my boots from the bathroom to the door. I slipped them on my feet, pulling my pant legs over them, and hurrying out after him. Once we were down the bumpy elevator—that's at least what I still thought of it—we hurried down into the parking garage, hopped into the hover-car, and we were on our way! I turned to O'Shay, hesitating a moment. I wanted to ask him right then and there what he was hiding from me, but I was certain that he wouldn't say anything about it. I sighed inwardly. "So, where are we going?"

He shrugged. "I thought maybe the mall would be a good place to start. There's this new store called New Navy—only maybe about a couple decades old. We can get your clothes from there, as that would be the best bet. And there's also a supermarket inside of the mall where we can find your school supplies, and possibly a few groceries too..."

He continued to mumble to himself as we continued flying across the road. We arrived onto the bridge that led into Metro City, cars on both sides flying by as they either entered or exited the city. I looked out the window and down below under the bridge where the water shone in the morning sunlight, some boats and jet-skis mulling around on the river. I glanced back at Dr. O'Shay, who still seemed lost in his thoughts. The way he had been describing the mall seemed as if it were huge. Despite the questions that I had before, I smiled as we continued on through Metro City. The buildings were so big!

They loomed over us in the hover-car, my eyes following the tube bridges between buildings as we made our way towards the middle of the city. "Wow..." I breathed, hardly realizing that I had spoken it aloud.

"Brilliant, isn't it?" O'Shay asked, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye while driving. "I remember the first time I arrived here. I was about your age."

"Really?"

He chuckled to himself. "Well, I had almost the same reaction you did, although back in the day, there wasn't as much technology as now." He shrugged. "I guess you know what I mean."

I nodded, watching the faces of hundreds of Metro citizens blur by on our way to the mall. Finally, after what seemed only to be a couple of minutes, we pulled into the huge—and I mean huge!—parking lot of the mall. I looked up at the entrance sign as we passed by. It had almost a hundred different shops listed on it, and I wondered how and why they could fit all of the names up there while people would still be able to read it—of course, I may have also been exaggerating.

"Welcome to the Metropolitan S. Mall!" Dr. O'Shay exclaimed as he searched through the parking aisles for a spot.

We finally parked and got out of the hover car. I looked up at the top of the building; the large neon red letters that spelled out the name of the mall bright and lit. As we walked towards the entrance, I turned my head to O'Shay. "What does the 'S' stand for?"

"It stands for 'South'," he explained. "There are two malls here in Metro City, and both of them are exactly the same—only the North mall's arrangement is quite different than the South mall."

I nodded in understanding. If there were two malls of this exact size here in the city...well, you can understand how huge this city is, then.

We slowly made our way through the grand parking lot and walked into the building, the doors opening automatically for us as we stepped in front of it. The mall was teeming with hundreds—if not thousands—of people, all frantically trying to get whatever they wanted to get. I looked around, noticing that the shops that had all been on the sign were right in here as advertised. "So, what shop are we stopping at first again?"

O'Shay began forward and I followed. "New Navy. I believe it'll be a nice place to get you some clothes," he explained. "It has a great selection of clothing for young teens—like you! This is also where I bought your current clothing." He motioned to what I was wearing, and I glanced down with a smile. "They change their selection every day... Ah! Here we are!"

I glanced back up, noticing a huge shop that took up one whole wall of the entrance lobby, the neon blue letters above the shop spelling out the name of the store. We walked inside the doors—which were open—and I examined the clothes. O'Shay had been exactly right; there was definitely a great selection of clothing...and only for teens. I didn't see any child clothing or adult clothing anywhere. "Where do we start...?" I mumbled under my breath.

"Well, let's start over here!" O'Shay exclaimed, obviously having heard me mutter. He took off in the direction of the 'boys' section. I couldn't help but groan at the prospect of being dragged around. I wanted to look for myself.

He paused at a rack of t-shirts and jackets, picking one off the rack—which just so happened to pop out of the wall once we approached. "Does this look okay, Toby?" he asked, holding it out to me.

I grabbed the hanger in my hand and held the shirt up in front of me, tapping my chin. "Hmm..." It was a light blue with a white splatter design on the front. I turned it around, seeing the same white splatter on the back as well. It was an awesome shirt, I had to admit. And I did like the clothes that O'Shay had bought me yesterday, so he had good taste, at least. "I like it!" I said with a smile.

"Splendid!" he chuckled, sifting through more t-shirts. "We'll have your new wardrobe in no time!"

I blinked. "You're...?" He turned to me, his eyebrow raised. "You're not...buying me a whole closet's worth of clothes...are you?" I asked, my voice slightly off kilter.

"Well, we can't just have you with two t-shirts, one pair of jeans, two socks, and a jacket, can we?" he asked, giving me a serious look.

I averted my gaze and stared at my boots. "I-I guess not..."

"Well, let's get back to work!" he laughed.

I looked up. He's buying me a whole closet's worth! I thought, looking at the t-shirt I had in my hand. We're going to need more hands, then...

"And how about this shirt?" he asked, holding it to me.

I grabbed it and held it up once more. It was a musky green color, and it had two white stripes on both sleeves, with a white 'x' in the middle. I winced at the shirt. It looked too...gothic?

"Don't like it?" he asked, noticing my expression.

I gave it back to him. "Not really," I laughed.

"That's alright! We'll keep looking. Here, I have an idea." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you look through these shirts while I look for some pants and shoes for you? There's another whole row of t-shirts to the left, and it's larger than this one, okay?"

I nodded, smiling. "Okay!"

"That's my boy," he chuckled, heading off in the direction of the boy's pants. My eyes trailed after him, remembering what he had said on the phone earlier.

"So what brings us together on phone?"

"Well, I recently adopted a boy, and I was wondering if he could attend your fine school?"

I swallowed, watching him as he sifted through the pants. "He...adopted me?" I breathed to myself. So...he's like my father now? I left myself have a moment to let it all sink in, and then I smiled. That's okay with me. I frowned a little as I remembered our earlier conversation. I really need to bring that up with him...

I shook my head, turning around and sifting through the shirts once more. I noticed there were also long-sleeved shirts on this rack, and most likely on the other one as well. It went on like this for a couple hours, just picking out shirts, pants, jackets, and the occasional shoe. Soon, we were finished with shopping for clothes. We went up to the reception desk and abandoned our load on the counter. The lady at the desk glanced at the heap of clothes with huge, wide eyes.

"Um...w-will that be all today?" she stuttered, still in shock of how many clothes we were buying.

"I believe so, yes," O'Shay answered, taking out his wallet from his back pocket.

I watched as the lady—whose name was Yolande, as said so on her name tag—scanned in every single tag off of the clothing and totaled it up on her Hoverdesk, which was a type of computer. As the total amount pinged up on the screen, I about fainted from the amount. O'Shay didn't seem fazed by it at all, taking out his credit card and swiping it on the screen in front of him.

"How can you pay for $8,270 dollars worth of clothing, Doctor?!" I whisper-shouted at him.

"I'll tell you later, Toby," he said nonchalantly.

"W-would you like, um...bags for your clothes, Sir?" Yolande asked.

"Yes, please."

I about fainted again. $8,270 dollars worth of clothing...and there was still more to buy! All the school supplies he's going to get me... And still, what if I don't pass that entry exam? Then what? He'll have spent all that money for nothing!

"Toby!"

I blinked, snapping myself out of my trance. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

"Could you help with the bags, please?" O'Shay asked, groaning with effort.

"Uh..."

"I can call a Host to help with your bags, Sir?" Yolande said from the desk.

O'Shay dropped the bags to the floor unceremoniously with a large sigh. "Yes, that would be great, thank you."

After the call went through, it took a total of seven seconds flat for the Host to arrive—which was just a robot...with eight arms.

"Hello!" the robot chirped. I glanced over the machine, wincing at its girly pink decor. It was a shade of all hues of pink, had a really bright white bow with a red dot in the middle of its forehead—and did I mention it had eight arms?! "Don't worry, Sirs! I'll take care of your bags, no worries!"

As the robot began picking up all the bags with its arms, O'Shay leaned over to me. "That's the model GJ-327 Host. They were discontinued at the Ministry after a mishap with their programming and taken from every location. I wonder why the mall has one, then? Are they out of funds...?"

The last couple questions were more to himself than to me. I blinked at the robot as all the bags were in the air and through its arms. The robot turned to me, and upon finally seeing me, it gasped, a smile—if it could even be called that—upon its face. "Oh, my! What a lovely design!"

"Uh...wh-what?" I asked, completely confused.

O'Shay stood by me protectively, holding my shoulder and pulling me back. "GJ-327, control alpha!" The robot beeped, and he continued. "Ignore boy!"

A series of more fluttering beeps were heard, and its eyes fixated only on O'Shay, completely ignoring me, as O'Shay had directed. "Yes, Sir!"

"Take the bags to my car please. License plate number is DL-36J8."

"Yes, Sir!"

And with that, it rolled out of the shop and eventually out of the mall. I turned to Dr. O'Shay. "D-Doctor?"

"Yes, my boy?"

I swallowed nervously, not even knowing why—it just sort of happened. "Wh-what did that...robot mean when it said that?"

O'Shay looked sullen for a moment before perking up with a smile and patting my back. "Oh, she just meant your DNA, my boy! Those GJ models have the most advanced scanners of this age!"

I frowned at O'Shay, noticing the look upon his face—he looked strained. He was hiding something again.

"Well! Let's get you some school supplies, shall we?" he exclaimed, changing the subject and walking off.

I watched him with a wary expression. If he was hiding something from me, it had to be extremely important enough that even if the slightest bit of information were told to me, it would be devastating or even worse—maybe cause me to go insane.

After a moment's hesitation, I hurried after him. The thoughts were beginning to cloud my mind, but I didn't want them to ruin my time here in Metro—even though they probably would. I tried to push the thoughts away to ask about them later, but they always kept pushing back. It was also a good thing that Dr. O'Shay didn't notice my clouded look, because he would've asked, and I would've blurted my thoughts—made myself look foolish as he thought of another excuse...

I realized that I had almost forgotten: he was a very clever man. If he were that clever, then he must be of high authority and status here in Metro City, and also why he could afford to spend that much money.

"Here we are; the grocery part of the mall!" O'Shay said, turning to me. "Could you grab a cart over there?" he asked, pointing to my right. I followed his direction to the huddle of carts, floating in the tight space, and hurried over to grab the smallest one I could find—which was still big. I didn't want that many supplies, and I certainly didn't want him to waste all his hard-earned money on me.

Once I returned with the cart, we went directly to the school and work supplies section, passing by many interesting people and robots—who stared at me as we walked past. I admit, it was pretty suspicious that the robots kept staring at me. This made my earlier thoughts from before rise into my mind again, making me uncomfortable. If that GJ model said I had an interesting design...and O'Shay said she was just talking about my DNA...

Why hadn't she said it to anyone else?

A/N: Again, please review! Every little review helps me with pumping out these chapters, especially once I start actually writing the new 7th chapter after this!