Ethereal Madness

Chapter 6- Second Son of Price

  "I don't get it" She whined. "It's too hard."

"Hm."

I grabbed the pencil the little girl was clenching and started drawing two circles on the piece of paper. I made them into eight pizza slices each and began squiggling out six of the first and four of the second.

"Okay, how many out of eight is here?" I asked pointing at the pizza on the left.

"Two," she said confidently.

"And the second?"

"Four."

"And when you combine them you get?"

Six!"

She was about jump out of her seat in excitement when I stopped her.

"Six out of what?"

"Eight."

"Good. Now before you celebrate, you have to—."

"I know, I know, reduce, reduce, reduce." The little girl puffed up her cheeks, making her more adorable than she already was.

"You got it," I snapped my fingers at her.

"So, the answer would be...three fourths?"

"Correct!" I shot her a cheesy grin and a thumbs up.

"Ah ha, I did it! Thank you Tucker!" She raised her hands up and I gave her a double high-five.

"You betcha." I responded.

Good thing I taught her to reduce early on or I would've been in for a nightmare.

"Yo Tuck, can you help me with this?" The boy across the table asked.

"Yeah, what's up Key?" I asked, walking over to him.

"They're having me read this packet on different animals. And one of the animals they talk about are wolves."

"Kay, sounds good so far. What's the problem?"

"I always heard about lone wolves and how they just do their own thing, but when I read them in here, it said they always travel in packs like a family. Was what I heard wrong?"

How do I even start with this one?

"So, the article is right," I said. "Wolves generally travel in packs and take care of one another because there's strength in numbers."

"Then where does the lone wolf stuff come from?"

"A lone wolf does exist. It's a wolf who strays from the pack for one reason or another."

"You just said there's strength in numbers though? So why would they leave?" His inquisitive brown eyes were focused on me, patiently waiting for my response.

"Wolves don't like to separate, and there's a number of reasons why it's bad, but sometimes it's necessary."

"Necessary? For what?"

"Uhh, for like, leaving to find a new territory or start a family. A lone wolf doesn't stay a lone wolf, but it's more of a temporary position until they fulfill their goal."

Did I say it right? I hope that makes sense.

"That makes sense." He grinned. "Thanks Tuck."

"No problemo."

While I'm at it, I may as well check on Isaiah. Noticing that he was laser focused on the assignment in front of him, I snuck behind him and observed his work, only to see that he was doodling on his packet. If I'm being truthful, it was a pretty well-done drawing of an ominous man with his face hidden behind a hood. He even applied the shading correctly.