Chapter 9: Winters Wonderland, Part 1: A Call For Help.
(Winters, Snow Wood Boarding House)
A young boy with black hair and hazel brown eyes was in an enjoying a peaceful good night's sleep. He often times found himself sleeping in his own little world...tonight however, something strange happened. As he slept he heard a girls voice begin to talk to him.
"I'm calling out to you who I've never met...I'm calling our friend we've never met...Erick! Erick! We need your help! I am Sarah and I am with another friend, Moon...we are trying to contact you...if you hear us...say something!"
The boy suddenly found himself talking to the voice. "Um, hello...Sarah." he said.
Another voice began talking to him, this time it was a boys
"Please wake up and...head south!...Only you, though far away, can save us, Erick...please hear my call and begin heading south...Erick you are a friend who we've never met...but you are our one and only hope!"
"This has got to be the weirdest dream I've ever had." Erick replied. "And right before my big science test tomorrow...how does my brain expect me to…"
"We just told you that we are in danger, that you are the only person who can save us...and you're more concerned about a damn science test!"
"Well, I mean, this is just a dream, I'm quite familiar with the whole it was all just a dream cliche."
"Well, forget your science test Erick. You're meant for something bigger, we can't explain it to you at the moment, but you need to wake up and head south...we are doomed if you don't."
"You do realize this is a dream right?"
"Good grief, Sarah are you sure this is the right Erick?"
"I'm pretty confident, you did say hazel brown eyes with black hair right?"
"Wait hold on are you two stalking me how'd you know my eye and hair color?"
"Yep it's him, nice trickery right there."
"I'm so confused, explain this whole thing to me."
"We don't have time to explain it to you at the moment, can you please just wake up and start heading south? Sarah and I are in trouble...you are the only person who can help us."
"So how do I know this is not a dream?"
"Moon and I contacting you telepathically, in fact, you're communicating telepathically with us! We can help you if you'd like! Trust us Erick, this is far from a dream."
"So um...if this isn't a dream...and you two are actually communicating telepathically with me, could you tell me where you are so I can help you?"
"Sarah and I are trapped somewhere underground...we think maybe in Threed's cemetery but we aren't incredibly confident with our assumption."
Erick could only groan to himself, this was probably going to be harder than he first expected.
"Anyways, we'll try to contact you again if you'd like help...in the meantime why don't you wake up, gather some items, and head south to Threed...because um...we could really use your help!"
Erick felt himself spring up out of bed, he shook his head to himself.
"Well...I have no choice, those two could be in deep trouble...if I'm the only one who knows, then so be it."
He got up out of bed put on his glasses and quietly packed a few things into his backpack, a broken spray can that he had been tinkering with to try and fix, and a ruler and protractor. "Is there anything else?" he asked himself. His eyes fell on a big bottle rocket laying under his bed. He smiled to himself as he reached for it and put it in his backpack. He was a good student at the boarding school, but he had a love of explosives. He'd often times used these outside with his friend Tony.
He paused. "What am I supposed to tell him though?" he asked Tony was his best friend who didn't have any other friends, in of himself. "Yeah...didn't think about that...guess I'll have to sneak out no way he'll let me go."
Silently, he made his way towards the door. He heard Tony stir, then "Erick, where are you going in the middle of the night?" he asked.
Erick turned around, he was met with the face of a boy with flaming red hair, a fedora, and black eyes. "You know the dorm rules right?" Tony asked. "If you get caught, you'll get punished big time." Erick groaned, any student caught outside of their room after eleven was punished severely. He glanced up at the clock, it was only ten thirty...there's still time, he thought, just gotta get past Tony.
"W-what's wrong Erick?" Tony asked. "I know you and I break the rule of explosives, but, this isn't like you."
"I've gotten tired of being at school, I want to go and visit my father...you know, Dr. Andonuts, his lab is here in Winters, I just want to go there in back just to meet him...for once." Erick lied.
Tony looked at him skeptically, "All right, there must be some reason I clearly don't understand, after all you and your father haven't seen each other in years...you typically act like you don't have one." he said. "Don't worry I won't stop you, but it's dangerous to leave without taking anything along...specifically a weapon, I'll help you get out of here."
"Didn't you say that there was stuff in the locker room that the students use to hide stuff?" Erick asked.
"Yeah that's right, maybe Maxwell can help us." Tony responded. "Come on let's get going."
Outside of their dorm there was a group of kids huddled around, they were all talking about Tessie and Stonehenge. "I don't know why people talk about those two myths so much, all that talk about Cave Boys, a Giant Purple Serpent, Aliens, all of it is stuff for science fiction and video games." Erick muttered as they walked downstairs.
"Come on Erick, you're the son of Dr. Andonuts, you know that with the universe as big as it is, there's probably extraterrestrial life out there somewhere right?" Tony responded. Erick shook his head, it was nice to have someone contradict him every now and then, it kept him from getting a big head about his IQ.
The two arrived downstairs and entered into the science lab. In there was a kid in his late teens wearing a gray robe tinkering with some sort of machine. Tony tapped him on the shoulder and he promptly jumped up in surprise. "Oh...Erick...Tony...you two startled me." the kid said. "What's up...you two looking for a midnight snack?"
"Hey Maxwell, how's that science project coming along?" Erick asked.
"Eh, I've been having some trouble with my project. If only your father Dr. Andonuts was here Erick. He'd be able to provide a great deal of help. I've heard many good things, he's supposed to be an astounding person...after all the man was the first leader of our Ultra Science Club, supposedly he's even smarter than Albert Einstein or Werner Heisenberg."
"Heh...yeah." Erick said looking down. Despite being Dr. Andonut's son, Erick wasn't super into his relationship with him, he couldn't remember the last time he had even seen his father. "Um, Maxwell, I was going to go and meet my father, and Tony said I should take stuff from the locker room."
"If your going to the locker room take this key along." Maxwell said handing Erick a slightly bent bronze key. "When you leave, call me sometime, I can record your adventure, like saving a game." Maxwell said chuckling to himself.
Erick looked at the key in his hand, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this key wasn't going to fit in any sort of locker keyhole.
"Maxwell the key is too bent." Erick said handing it back to him. "I can tell."
"Yeah, I figured you would." Maxwell replied, "Which is why I wanted to give you this, I just invented it, it's called the Machine that Opens Doors especially when you have a slightly bad key! or if you want, the Bad key Machine. Sorry for the inconvenience." he said handing Erick a machine that looked like some sort of mini jukebox.
"All you gotta do is press one of these buttons, and the machine will make a key that fits into that specific lock...it's pretty convenient if you gotta bust someone out of a cage." Maxwell continued.
"Wait that's illegal! You can't just create keys to barge into people's houses can you?" Tony said.
"Well the school gave me clearance to create it so...you might as well use it to get into the lockers." Maxwell replied. "By the way Erick, I seem to recall that Dr. Andonuts is also apparently really strange...just what the rumors say though...anyways, if you truly are his son, you should be able to repair small tools and make them useful."
"Uh huh, yeah sure." Erick said glumly. He still hadn't fixed the broken spray can he had found five days ago, so he wasn't too confident in his abilities at the moment.
"Hey don't be like that!" Maxwell said. "Just try to keep a positive attitude! And please don't forget to call me sometime okay?"
"Yeah sure thing Maxwell," Erick said. "Come on Tony, I need to get going before curfew ends."
The two left Maxwell in the classroom and headed towards the locker room. Along the way they passed a girl with long light brown hair. Erick turned his head to look at her, the girl had always caught his interest, her name was Giovanna, she was a transfer student from Summers and that was about all Erick knew about her, she was particularly smart and often times found herself near him for whatever reason. Erick liked her but he often times kept to himself, just because dorm rules forbade any sort of "coupling" interactions between students.
"Erick? You good buddy?" Tony asked snapping him back to reality, "Did Gio put you in your little world again?"
Erick groaned, "Yeah...I'm fine, just...thinking something...let me ask you something Tony, if you dreamed that two people were calling out to you asking for help because they are trapped, and that you were their only hope...would go and look for them?"
Tony gave Erick a skeptical look, "I mean that's a...difficult question, for one thing, it was probably just a dream, but on the other hand, it could be real and two people could be in life threatening danger, if you're asking me, I'd go and look for them if I had the same dream again, just to be absolutely sure."
"That surely would've been a more logical option." Erick said to himself. "But I've made up my mind, I have to go look for those two."
Erick withdrew the pop gun from the locker as Tony walked back over with a broken laser. "Hey Erick." he said. "I found this broken laser in the other locker, maybe you could fix it, it certainly would be stronger than the pop gun." he opened Erick's backpack and withdrew the rule and protractor, "Come on Erick, you know that these will just take up space, they aren't going to be useful for anything." Tony continued.
"Yeah you're probably right." Erick said zipping his backpack back up. "I guess I'll leave them here, it doesn't make sense to keep them with me."
"Um...Erick?" A female voice asked. The two turned around and were greeted with Giovanna looking at both of them with a hint of suspicion.
"Is something wrong Gio?" Tony asked.
"Um...yeah actually...Maxwell told me you were leaving." she said looking at Erick. "Tony would you mind if I talked to Erick privately for a minute?"
Tony very reluctantly nodded and left the locker room. Once the door shut Giovanna turned to Erick. "Are you really going to try and find two kids because a dream told you to?" she asked.
"How'd you know?" Erick asked with shock.
"I heard your conversation with Tony." she responded. "I'm not as ignorant as you may think Erick. "I just can't believe you're actually going to do this?"
Erick took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm going to try and find them...I know it sounds stupid, but I have to do it, they could be in trouble."
"Do you know anything about them, where they are, how bad of a situation they are in, their names...anything?" she asked in disbelief.
"Well...the voices I heard were a girls and a boys." Erick said. "They said their names were Sarah and Moon...and that I needed to head south...that's about all I can tell you!"
Giovanna looked him the eye, "Well..if you truly believe that you need to do this...I won't stop you," she said hugging him. "Just...stay safe, for my sake...and more importantly Tony's sanity."
Erick hugged her back, "Don't worry, I'll stay safe...just...make sure Tony doesn't do anything stupid while I'm gone." the girl nodded and left the locker room.
"So what'd she want to talk to you about?" Tony asked after Erick exited the locker room.
"She just...asked me to stay safe...I think she might have a thing for me." Erick said watching her go back upstairs.
Tony shrugged, "I wouldn't blame her, you're smart...caring...handsome."
"What was that?" Erick asked.
"Nothing...nothing." Tony said quickly.
The two walked outside where they were met with a brick wall with a black picket gate in the center. Tony walked over to the picket gate, got down on all fours in the snow, and motioned for Erick to step up. "Okay, now use me as a step and climb over the gate." he said.
Erick nodded and climbed over the gate. He jumped down in front and landed perfectly before turning back to Tony. "Goodbye Tony, I'll see you again really soon." he said.
The boy smiled. "Well...I'll say goodbye for now," he said getting up off the ground. "I don't know where you're going, or why for that matter, but remember, we are best friends forever Erick." Erick nodded in response as Tony walked back into the boarding school.
"Welp, now that this whole conundrum has been solved...now what?" Erick asked himself. "I guess I could try to find my father's lab and see if he can help me...Maxwell said he lives south of here near Stonehenge...so...I guess I'll head there."
He walked by a drugstore that was located by the school. Despite only having two dollars with him, he decided it wouldn't hurt to look around...after all you never knew when someone might just throw away another object that he could try to fix.
He entered into the drugstore and immediately his eyes fell on a pink monkey by the entrance to the door. It had a mechanical collar around its neck that read "Created by Andonuts Labs." the monkey looked Erick in the eye and smiled, before blowing a piece of chewing gum that was in its mouth.
"Incredible," Erick said to himself. "A monkey capable of blowing bubbles from a wad of bubble gum."
A woman by the counter noticed him looking at the monkey with interest and walked over to him.
"Hey, would you like to take the monkey little boy?" she asked. "He's really noisy, don't worry, all you gotta do is buy a pack of bubble gum and you can take him for free."
Erick looked at the woman skeptically "And how much is your pack of bubble gum?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah, he'll only cost ya a buck!" she said. "So, do you want him?"
Erick thought about it for a minute. "Yeah...I guess I'll take him." he said handing her a dollar.
"Great, the monkey is yours now, take good care of it," the woman said handing him a pack of bubble gum.
Erick moved over to the monkey who was still sitting by the entrance door. "Hey, um, little monkey," Erick said. "I've got some chewing gum and the nice lady over there said I could take you with me...you want to come?" The monkey looked at him with blank face before opening its mouth.
"Yeah, I'll come with you...as long as your giving me some gum every now and again." the monkey responded.
Erick was taken aback at first until he remembered that very recently, it was rumored that his father had worked on an animal translator this must've been one of those. "Okay then...do you have a name...something I can call you by?" he asked.
"Well...I've been given the name Bubble Monkey by the lady...so honestly, Bubble will work just fine." the monkey responded as it hopped onto his shoulder. "Now let's get going kid, we've got a big adventure ahead of us!"
Erick walked back outside into the snowy Winters weather, he wasn't at all bothered by the climate around here, it was always cold in Winters (hence the name), and since he had lived here his whole life, he was pretty much used to the cold conditions around here. He kept the laser at hand, despite Winters being relatively calm and serene, he couldn't help but feel just a little paranoid walking around at night, he had seen that some of the crows and goats that inhabited Winters were acting particularly unusual lately.
Suddenly a crow dived down at him. With a quick pace, Erick quickly pointed the laser at the diving crow and pulled the trigger. A small beam shot out of the tip hitting the crow in the head. The bird fell to ground and moved no more.
"Sharp shooting there kid." Bubble said. "You definitely have some talent."
"Thanks Bubble, just...try to stay out of trouble if I have to keep fighting, I'd rather not watch you get hurt by any of the animals around here." Erick responded.
Erick couldn't help but wonder what the deal was, the two voices he had heard inside his head said that their names were Moon and Sarah. Both of them sounded like nice kids...but..he still felt a little uncomfortable with the whole situation. "The two did say that they'd contact me again, so if anythings, at least I'll know for sure whether or not they can tell the truth." he said to himself. He hopped down another ledge just to save a bit of time and found himself face to face with a giant brown goat.
Erick didn't even hesitate, these goats were very dangerous, they'd attack without warning and he had seem some try to break through the picket fence at the boarding school. Immediately he pulled the trigger shooting the goat square in the face. The goat roared in anger and immediately charged straight at him. He fired the laser yet again this time aiming at the feet. The beam forced the goat to trip head first into the snow and he took the opportunity to quickly duck between some of the trees.
"You still good Bubble?" Erick asked.
"Yeah I'm fine, just warn me next time you're gonna try and bolt out like that."
Erick arrived at the shoreline of Winters. Where as he expected, a group of people with binoculars and safari hats were camping out, this was the Tessie-Watching Club. A bunch of people who thought Tessie was real would constantly show up along the shoreline hoping to catch a glimpse of the mythical beast. If this did anything for him it was tell him that there was at least a boat that could take him down towards where his father's laboratory was. All he had to do was wait until morning
He tapped one of the men on the shoulder, the man eagerly turned around.
"Oh hello there kid," he said. "So you've also been bitten by Tessie-mania too. Well, you're in luck, it's supposed to be pretty windy tomorrow, maybe you'll get to Tessie...I can hardly wait!"
"Yeah...sure." Erick said. "Listen buddy, I need a place to crash for the night, anyone got an open tent?" he asked.
"Oh yeah, the cook of our club got some space in his tent, it's the one right behind me!" the man responded pointing towards a large dark green tent.
Erick opened the flap to the tent where he saw another man with a pot over a electrical heater. The man looked up when Erick entered. "Oh hey kid," the man said. "I'm the cook for this Tessie-Watching club, I know that the middle of the night may seem like a weird time to cook, but if you're having trouble falling asleep I can help you with that, why don't you have some stew?" he asked holding out a bowl. "No need to pay me or anything."
"Um okay sure I guess." Erick said taking the bowl. He ate the stew in silence sharing a little bit with Bubble Monkey. After the monkey had fallen asleep he took out the broken spray can again. That's when he noticed the problem. "Here we go," he said to himself. "The nozzle is just out of place...if I can just...there we go!" he pushed the nozzle down and a bit of blue powder shot out of it. "And it's still full...I wonder why someone would just throw this away. Defense Spray is actually worth quite a bit, I could sell this for good price."
Carefully, he put the Defense Spray back into his backpack so it wouldn't accidentally spray all over the place again. He felt good inside, after five frustrating days of trying to fix that stupid spray can he had finally found the problem. Now, he could focus on the laser Tony had found. But he felt like he had worked enough for the night, he laid on floor of the tent, and closed his eyes hoping to hear from the two voices again.
(Mindscape)
Erick arrived inside of an empty void, "Well, not the strangest dream I've had per say, but then again, considering the dream I was having earlier this night...it's not that bad."
Light shone in front of him, and a boy similar to him entered the void as well. The only difference between him and the new boy was the fact that his hair was blonde instead of black. Erick opened his mouth to say something but the boy cut him off.
"I know what you're going to say." the boy said to him, "Just listen to me okay?" Erick nodded in response. "My name is Jeff Andonuts...I'm going to make the educated guess that you are Erick Andonuts right?" Erick nodded again.
"Good good, okay now, to answer your question...I'm you...from a different world. I'm supposed to give you advice on your adventure."
"Makes sense to me, so what advice do you have to give to me?" Erick asked.
"Well I'm going off my own accord, but I assume you've heard a voices in your head asking you for help correct?"
"Yes, you'd be right."
"Do you have a pink monkey capable of blowing bubbles?"
"Yes...I do, why is he important?"
Jeff frowned, "Okay...I expected this to be difficult but you seem to pretty much have a basic concept of what you need to do and you don't seem to be very confused about anything...so I guess before I go...do you have any questions that I can answer?"
"Well...um...you could help me figure out how I'm supposed to get to Threed." Erick replied.
"Just...um...try to find your father...he can help you with that...Anyways, I should probably get going, I'm sure your friends are in trouble and you gotta save them...good luck Erick, I hope to see you again soon." With that Jeff vanished out of view.
Erick wasn't really ready to wake up at the moment, despite being needed somewhere it still felt way too early to wake up. That's when he heard the voices of Moon and Sarah yet again.
"Hey so...have you left yet?"
"Don't ask him that Moon, of course he has, he wouldn't leave us in the dust like that!"
"Well we don't know for sure."
"You two do know I can hear you right?" Erick asked.
"Yeah."
"Okay so I did what you asked me to do...can you please tell me what the heck is going on?" Erick asked.
"Well, we're trapped...obviously...and you need to save us...I'm not sure how you haven't pieced this whole thing together...didn't we tell you before?"
Erick facepalmed. "Not that," he said irritably. "Sarah, you said I was meant for something bigger. What is this...bigger thing?" a moment of silence followed this question then.
"Well, how much time do you reckon we can spare Sarah?"
"Not long if we want to keep our energy steady."
Erick was really puzzled by all this...maybe when he met them it would all make sense for now though they were just talking and talking.
"Okay I'm going to try my best to sum this up quickly for you..basically, there's this universal cosmic destroyer known as Giygas. 10 years from now he will plunge our world into eternal darkness. However, an insect named Buzz Buzz found a prophecy that predicts Giygas being defeated by four children, you, me, Sarah, and another kid, together we are supposed to travel the world uniting eight special places called sanctuaries together, once we do that we'll be able to defeat Giygas once and for all. Does this make sense?"
"Let me get this straight, you two believe that me, another kid, and yourselves are destined to save the planet from a dumb alien who just so happens to be a universal destroyer by going around the world to unite some random locations all because a random insect said you could?" Erick asked. "This whole thing sounds like the plot of video game!"
"Well...yeah...we're both special...just like you...I'm sure the four of us will make the perfect team...please, we know this is a lot to ask of you Erick, but Moon and I really need your help, the world is counting on us...whether they realize it or not. Giygas is the reason that animals are acting so violent recently...so please just wake up, and head to Threed!"
The second she finished her sentence Erick felt himself being tossed up and back into the air.
(Reality, Early Morning)
Erick woke up in the tent and looked from side to side quickly. "Strange." he said. "Well, I know it's way out of whack...but I need to go help them." Quickly he shook Bubble Monkey awake and exited the tent into some pretty heavy windy weather Immediately Erick made his way over to a little outing peninsula
"Brr." Bubble said. "It's never this cold around here."
Erick arrived at the edge of the peninsula there were bubbles coming out of the water, "Probably just another fish." he said to himself.
Out of nowhere music began to play and a man with a top hat, glasses, monocle, and camera dropped out of the sky. "Whoa hold up dude, where the heck did you come from."
"Sorry Erick, but I'm not allowed to say." the man said. "Either way I'm here to take your picture...so..Pictures taken instantaneously, I'm a photographic genius if I do say so myself. Alright get ready for an instant memory...Look at the camera...ready?...Say...FUZZY PICKLES!"
Erick gave a thumbs up to the camera and smiled brightly as it flashed. "Wow what a great photograph it'll always bring back the fondest of memories!" the photoman said before vanishing.
"What a nice guy, sure him falling out of the sky and vanishing defies all scientific explanation, but I haven't had much sleep so I'm probably just seeing things." Erick said to himself.
"Hey Erick you said you needed to cross this water to get to your fathers lab right?" Bubble asked.
Erick looked at the monkey. "Why do you ask?"
"Give me some gum, now. I'll take care of everything."
Hesitantly, Erick withdrew the pack of gum from his backpack and gave the monkey a piece of gum. The monkey chewed the gum and blew a bubble instantly the monkey began to rise up off the ground and moved over the water specifically where the bubbles were coming out of.
"Um Bubble...please come back down!" Erick said.
Suddenly the ground began to shake and a giant purple sea serpent with probably the friendliest face Erick had ever seen rose out of the water. Erick felt his jaw hit the ground, this was Tessie, the friendly beast who lived in the waters around Winters. All this time...it was real? Erick couldn't believe his eyes.
"I have to still be dreaming." he said to himself. He reached over and pinched himself. "Okay...so I'm not dreaming...well, I might as well make use of this."
Bubble Monkey landed on the head of Tessie and the serpent moved over to the peninsula where Erick was standing. "Hop on kid," Bubble said. "Tessie won't hurt you, she's a good friend of mine." Erick, still shocked, got onto the back to Tessie and the serpent began to move out too sea
Bubble hopped off Tessie's head and onto the back. "So...Bubble, how do you know Tessie?" Erick asked.
"How do you think I made it to that crummy department store?" Bubble responded. "Tessie was willing to give me a ride over so I could look for a monkey wife...unfortunately I didn't have much luck...but hey, at least I'm getting you places."
"Yeah, thanks a lot for that Bubble, you've been a big help so far." Erick responded.
"Thanks kid, I'm sure whatever you're doing with those other kids will go well, they'll be lucky to have someone like you." Bubble responded.
"Wait how did you know what I was doing?" Erick asked. "I don't think I ever told you what I was doing." The monkey scratched its head.
"You were talking in your sleep kid, I heard the whole thing. Don't worry though, I'm sure Moon and Sarah will enjoy having you around, you're a smart kid so you'll definitely be useful."
"Thanks Bubble...I hope you meet someone one day as well."
Tessie evenutally stopped along the coast near a mountain. Bubble Monkey hopped back onto Erick's shoulder, "This is the place kiddo, just through a cave is Dr. Andonuts' Laboratory, all we gotta do get past Stonehenge and we'll be good."
Erick nodded as they both turned to watch Tessie drift away before sinking back into the water.
Erick heard a growl in the distance and immediately turned around firing his laser. It hit another Gruff Goat square in the face causing it to collapse.
"The two arrived by a cave entrance opening, there was also a steep ledge with, quite weirdly, an iron shaped pencil statue blocking the way. "Strange, that wasn't here before." Bubble Monkey said, "Guess we have no choice but to go through that little cave dungeon thing right there."
Erick turned to see a hole in the side of a cliff with a sign right next to it. The sign read.
"This Dungeon has no entrance fee! Come on in!"
Erick sighed, "Well, this is the only way around. Moon, Sarah, you two hold on just a little longer, I'm coming to save you!"
I was going to make Erick's Winters adventure into one chapter, but whilst I was writing I eventually got to a point where I realized I forgot a certain part of the earlier section of this chapter, as a result I ended up rewriting this chapter entirely. By then I was a little exhausted and decided that it would probably be for the best to split this chapter in two.
As for a certain burnette in this chapter. While I do support the whole TonyJeff relationship, Erick's character is a little bit different. I have a whole "lore" planned ahead going into this story that I am going to stick through until the very end. As a result Giovanna's weird addition to this story is one of the more "minor" changes I made. I hope I've made it clear to you why there are OCs popping up randomly. If not then let me know.
Also I hope the whole animal translator on Bubble Monkey wasn't to big of a deal. I haven't really seen how most people interpret that part so I wasn't quite sure what to do considering Jeff/Erick doesn't have telepathy like the others.
Anyways thanks for reading chapter 9 I hope you enjoyed it if you have anything you'd like to say let me know I'm always open to see what others think even if it's just a comment like "really cool chapter"