"Hello, Sam, right?"

"Actually, is Samuel, but yeah..."

"You don't like the nickname 'Sam', do you?"

"It's more a confusion thing... Sammy and I are tired of turning our heads around whenever someone says 'Sam', so I decided to use my full name..."

"Besides, the name Samuel is not very popular..." How many people you know that decide to show up their real name..?

"Yeah!"

"So, you're Zoë's younger brother?"

"Yep!"

"I wanted to ask you- what are you doing?"

"I'm building a small helicopter, see?!" Out of straws and clips?!

"Wow, it's great!"

"Yeah, and it flies too! Wanna see?" That thing could never fly...

"Yeah, sure... Why not?"

"Yes!" OK, it would need some kind of slingshot to make it fly, plus some wind to move the helices- Oh, look at that... Is actually flying with no wind...

"That was very good, Samuel..." You have no words to describe that and the only thing that comes to your mind is saying 'very good'?! That was magnificent, to say the least!

"It was nothing... Papá could do it before me... He taught me the trick!" Oh... Either way, magnificent!

"It was a very good one... Now, you know why your sister told you to come here, to see me?"

"Not exactly... She said I should come here before breaking anything..."

"Oh... Well, I'm writing a book and I was wondering if you could inspire my imagination with a story of yours..."

"Well, I have one... But I'm not sure I'm suppose to tell you..." This is getting interesting...

"And, why you're not sure you're suppose to tell me? If you think I'd go and tell on you..."

"No... Mamá and Papá already know what happened... But I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you..." It's the first time someone needs to ask for permission... What will he tell me?

"You wanna go and ask? I can wait..."

"Thank you!" There he goes sprinting away... Now that I think about it, all these kids gave me stories gathered around mythology or something... But they didn't sound made up in the spot, more like if they lived it... But that's impossible, right? I mean, there's no suck thing as mosters, though I could disagree on Mrs. Connelly, the Literature Dean... Ah! Here he comes back...

"So, you got permission?"

"Yeah! Everyone say so! But you have to promise not to mock me!"

"Samuel, how could I mock you?"

"You'll see... Once upon a time, Papá was invited to this cool and big ceremony where all the good inventors can exhibit their new ideas and get sponsors or patents. That year, Papá let me go with him, because I wanted to go since forever and I was so excited and Mamá said it was OK, so we went there! It was in San Fransisco, so Mamá and Zoë came too to visit Aunt Reyna and Uncle Frank and Aunt Hazel- well, to visit the family!"

"You remember the name of the ceremony?"

"No... It's important?"

"No, never mind..."

"So, when I was helping Papá to build his exhibition, I saw that a few of the contestants were staring at Papá, like if they were thinking on eating him... I didn't like it, but I couldn't tell him, because he was talking to someone who had confused the stand and wanted us to move from our place. Papá was making an scandal, so I didn't want to bother him..."

"OK... Tell me more about those contestants..."

"OK! Once I finished making the stand, cause Papá was not helping much, I went to get closer to those contestants that were watching him funny and stuff... I wanted to tell them to stop staring, that it was rude and that we were better inventors than them, when I noticed something different in them..."

"What was that different thing, Samuel...?"

"Well, their skin was some kind of pale blue... I thought they had painted themselves, like that bald group that paint themselves of blue, to catch the people's attention... But, people weren't looking at them, I must have been the only one... I thought I was being tricked by some light when one of them turned his head around and I knew I wasn't tricked or dreaming..."

"What did you saw?"

"Well, on the side of his neck, I saw some cuts that opened and closed, like gills on a fish-Uncle Percy taught me that one. They didn't look connected to any device or anything, because by then, I thought they were presenting some kind of costume device for Hallowe'en and events, you know? But... What convinced me were the scaly-mermaid-type of ears..."

"I never heard of anything like it..."

"They aren't technically mermaids, those were Telekhines, some rare forgers that like to mix crafting with dark magic... I guessed that they were there to steal some ideas or to 'boast their egos', like Papá said to me later... Not that they were good enough, Papá was better-"

"Samuel..."

"Oh, off tracks... Sorry! Anyway, since Papá was busy, it was up to me to defeat the monsters... Luckily for me, they weren't paying attention, as they were boasting between each other that they were the best forgers in town and that they were going to get the prize back home and show those 'giant one-eyed bullies' who they were..."

"How did you defeat them?"

"... Promise not to mock me?"

"I already promised you that I won't..."

"Well, I grabbed a few scrap metal that was around, a battery and a few screws and I made a, um... a exploding duck?"

"What's an exploding duck?"

"You know those toys, that have a handle that you have to turn so they would race?"

"Old toys, but yeah..."

"Instead of a car, think of a duck... but with a small bomb inside..." How is this kid here?! How-? Never mind, you don't wanna know!

"Everyone was safe then, right?"

"Yep! Papá said I was a hero!"

"You were... Thank you for sharing... Know any of your cousins that would want to talk with me?"

"Maybe Rose or Morgana... I'll go ask them!"

Why do I feel that I got myself into a bigger mess that I thought...?