I got this up in less than a week! Yay! But I'm gonna tell ya now, I'm gonna be kinda busy over the month of November, so I dunno how frequently this'll be updated. But don't worry! I won't let things get too far out of my control, so rest assured. Anyway, here's Chapter 10!

Ding!

Jake ignored the ring of the small bell atop the door to the electronics shop as he entered, striding straight over to the sofa by the wall and collapsing onto it.

"Jake? That you?" he heard Fu Dog's voice sound from the back room. He didn't answer, believing that they knew full well that it was him; after all, it wasn't like anyone ever came in to buy anything.

A few seconds later, his grandfather emerged from the back room, looking tired and slightly annoyed. Fu Dog followed.

"Rough day, kid?" the shar-pei asked him, glancing at him wearily.

Jake just shrugged, not wanting to get into too much detail. "What about you guys? Find anything?" he added with a hopeful note.

Lao Shi sighed. "I am sorry, Jake. We have been hunting all day, and have not found even the slightest hint as to what happened that night."

"It looks like that guy, whoever it was, either completely made up the spell it used, or found one so old there's no public record of it. Either so old, or so dangerous…" Jake's eyes widened at that thought, and Lao Shi quickly shot Fu Dog a look, telling him he probably should've left that part out. Fu Dog smiled sheepishly, before turning to Jake again. "Eh, but what do I know, right? I'm sure there's nothing to worry about." He smiled encouragingly, but his eyes told a different story. Besides, Fu Dog was unofficially their go-to guy for information on anything magical. If anyone would know, it was him.

"You don't have to keep anything from me, you know," Jake began heatedly, that subconscious anger in the back of his mind slowly rising to the surface. Apparently, it didn't like being lied to.

Fu Dog glanced at Lao Shi worriedly. "It's not that, Jake. It's just that—"

"It's just what? You didn't think I could handle it?" He knew he shouldn't be reacting this way, they were just concerned for him, but still he found yet again that he couldn't control the words escaping through his mouth. "Well, I've got news for you two: I'm not a little kid anymore! I think I can deal with a little bad news!"

His grandfather reached a hand out slightly, but Jake took a step back. "We know that, but—"

"Really?" Jake interrupted in a disdainful tone. "Cause I'm not so sure you do." All the while he spoke, he stepped closer and closer to the two in front of him, as they worriedly stood their ground. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been through a lot in the past few years. A lot more than most people my age, anyway. I've been forced to grow up faster than I should have; I've taken on all the extra responsibility you guys have shoved on me, and I haven't complained about it. Now for once I need your help, and you're treating me like a little kid!" He was right in his grandfather's face now, glaring him down, wanting to just stop, but finding himself unable to. "STOP LYING TO ME!"

At this, Jake's head exploded in pain again, and he cried out loudly, stumbling back a few steps and bringing both hands to his head. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth, as Lao Shi and Fu Dog started in surprise.

"Jake-!" Fu Dog began, but Jake held up a hand to keep them from coming any closer.

"No!" he shouted, refusing to look at them as the pain began to slowly subside, his anger giving way to shame and regret for overreacting yet again. "I… have to go." Still not looking at them, and still holding one hand to his head, he picked up his school things and headed out the door, before either of them could say another word.

Shock still waving through them, the two remaining figures simply stared after him, not knowing whether to go after him or not. Fu Dog turned slowly to Lao Shi, confusion etching his face and voice, as another thought crossed his mind. "Back there… Was it me, or did his eyes turn…yellow?"

Lao Shi looked at him, wearing the same confused expression. "You saw it too?"

Fu Dog didn't answer, as both simply turned their gazes back to the door Jake had just exited, knowing now that they needed, more than anything, to find out what exactly was happening…

As he walked home, Jake's mind buzzed with a million different thoughts. He was still ashamed for yelling at his grandfather and Fu Dog like that, and for the similar events of the past few days. But more than anything, his mind still lingered mysteriously on his dream the previous night. He was tired of worrying about it, and felt he had exhausted every possible explanation or outcome. The only thing that still troubled him was the connection he had felt to that giant, red monster. He just couldn't put it into words or even solid thoughts. But he still felt, somewhere inside him, that that too was connected somehow to everything that had happened recently. And though he knew it was childish, all he now wanted was for it all to just go away.

Upon reaching his house, Jake opened the door and trudged inside, slamming it behind him grudgingly. He was about to head up to his room, when Haley hurried up to him in that excited manner in which she lived every moment of every day. She was struggling with a big stack of school books, and glancing hopefully in Jake's direction.

"Hey, Jake?" she began in her light, innocent tone. "I have to do this project for English class. Can you help me?"

Jake didn't look at her, and resumed walking toward the stairs. "Why do you want my help?"

Haley looked at him strangely, as if he had just asked her what color the sky was. "Because you're my brother. You're supposed to help with these kinds of things. Besides, Mom says it'll be good for you; she says you could use a little extra time spent on school work, too, so—"

"Haley," he interrupted her, coming to a halt and looking at her for the first time since the conversation began. "I'm sure you'll do fine without my help."

She turned to face the kitchen. "Mom?" she shouted. "I told you he'd say no!" Jake rolled his eyes in annoyance, wanting this to end so he could get upstairs.

"Jake, help your sister," their mother said sternly, emerging from the kitchen as she dried a dinner dish in her hands.

Jake turned to Haley again. "You don't need my help," he stated with a final tone.

"Yes I do!" Haley insisted.

"Yeah, right," he scoffed angrily. "You're better than me in everything else. I'm sure you'll manage just fine."

"What?" Haley asked, cocking her head to one side. "I'm not better than you. I want your help."

Jake sighed. "Just let me go, okay? I got stuff to do." He didn't actually, but he just wanted to get out of there to the comfort and solitude of his own bedroom.

"Please, Jake?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No!" If she asked one more time…

"…Please?"

That was it. "NO!" Subconscious anger taking over again, Jake grabbed the stack of heavy books in his sister's hands, startling her a bit, and threw them forcefully across the room, where they slammed into the wall with a loud thud and fell to the floor in a heap. Trying his best to ignore the pain in his head, Jake quickly turned and ran up the stairs before either Haley or their mother could say a word. They just stayed there, staring in shock at the spot where the books had collided with the wall, where they had left a long, deep dent formed by the sheer force by which the school books were thrown. Haley's mind was running on overdrive, trying to comprehend the situation at hand. She didn't hear the dinner plate fall from her mother's hands and smash on the hard-wood dining room floor. All she could think about was how she, like many others recently, had sworn she'd seen a tinge of golden-yellow flash before her brother's eyes, just as he grabbed the books from her hands…

Later that night, Jake was lying on his back on his bed, an arm under his head, staring at the ceiling. He had been in that position for hours, trying hard to decipher and organize the thoughts buzzing though his mind. He was once again feeling that now-familiar feeling of regret and shame for that afternoon (it had also occurred to him that he had felt this way more in the past few days than probably the rest of his life).

At that moment, he heard a gentle knock on the door. He sat up slowly, listening.

"Jake?" It was his mother. "It's dinner time. Why don't you come on down?"

It seemed strange to Jake that they would even want him there after what happened, but still he answered, "Uh, no, thanks, Mom. I'm… not really hungry."

There was a pause. "…Alright. Just come down later if you get hungry, okay?"

"Okay." He heard her footsteps retreating from his door and descending the stairs. He hadn't lied to his mother, he really wasn't hungry, but for some reason it still felt like a lie. Jake hated lying to people, even for a good reason, such as when he couldn't tell Rose why they couldn't be friends, and he knew that not telling the whole truth was just as bad as an outright lie. After all, he hadn't told his mother the whole truth. Really, he was afraid to face his family. He knew he should go and apologize, or at least say something, but he was unsure how. He knew they would begin to act differently around him, and he didn't want that. But something in him was, at that very moment, pushing him to act. He wasn't sure quite why, but he slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose to a standing position. As he walked silently across his room, through the door, and into the hall, he felt as though his legs were moving of their own accord, like he was sleepwalking, only he was awake.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he heard a voice flutter up from the dining room below.

"He said he wasn't hungry. I wasn't going to force him to come down."

Jake froze at the top of the stairs, just out of sight of the people below, as he listened to his mother's words. They were talking about him…

He heard a sigh. "I must admit I am worried." This voice belonged unmistakably to his grandfather, and it took Jake a minute to remember he was supposed to be joining them for dinner that night. "I spoke with his two friends earlier, and they bared the same news. He has gotten angry at them twice over the past two days; their stories are very similar to mine."

Jake thought a moment. His grandfather had talked to Trixie and Spud? Was he really that curious about the situation?

"I am worried," Lao Shi continued. "What if this has something to do with—"

"Okay, Dad," Susan cut him off abruptly, apparently not wanting him to go any further. "Jonathan," she now addressed her husband. "I think I left the potatoes in the oven. Would you go bring them in, please?" Jake realized that his mother was making an excuse to get his father out of the room; they had still not yet told him the truth about their family. Jake heard a shuffling sound from underneath him, and knew his father was getting up and leaving the table.

Lao Shi continued in and undertone, so Jake had to strain his hearing to hear what they were saying. "We believe this has something to do with the event two nights ago."

"The attack on Central Park?" Haley whispered, the first she had spoken. Jake didn't hear his grandfather reply, and assumed he had nodded in agreement.

"Fu Dog and I are trying all we can to find out what happened, but our search has yet come up unfruitful."

"You can't find anything?" his mother asked, an edge of fear and worry in her voice.

"As I said, we are trying. And we will not give up." He paused. "But I am beginning to worry we might run out of time…"

"What do you mean?" Jake found himself wondering the exact same thing.

He sighed. "As demonstrated by the event today, Jake is becoming uncontrollable, maybe even by himself. If this keeps up much longer, he may become a danger to himself and to those around him." Jake slowly took a step back, realizing with a guilty pang that this was completely true. He knew the subliminal animosity in the back of his mind had been growing ever-stronger, and was getting harder for him to control.

"But…" Haley began in a tone of slight disbelief. "Jake would never hurt anyone! Especially any of us!" Jake found himself feeling strangely grateful to his little sister for sticking up for him, though he knew she was wrong. If he couldn't control himself, there was no telling what he could actually do.

"Don't worry, honey," Susan said comfortingly. "We'll figure out what's wrong. Nothing's going to happen to Jake, or anyone else." Oddly, Jake felt consoled by her words as well, and began to believe that they just may find an answer after all.

"All we need is a miracle…" Lao Shi added, the almost-hopeless tone of his voice completely reversing the effect of his mother's in Jake's mind.

"Dad—" his mother began again in a reprimanding tone, but she was unable to finish her thought.

"Dear, I don't think the potatoes are in here…" his father said from the kitchen.

His mother sighed. "I'm coming." Jake heard her get up from the table. Feeling he had heard enough, he turned and crept silently back to his bedroom. Upon closing the door, he went back over to his bed and lied back down on top of it, feeling as though he wanted to cry but no matter how much he willed them the tears just wouldn't come. Instead, he just lay there, for how long he was unsure, not allowing any unwanted worry or stray thought to penetrate the soft comfort of the inside of his troubled and fearful mind.

Shortness, I know, but the next few chapters are gonna be pretty eventful, so they'll probably be a bit longer in comparison.

See ya then!

-oMM