# HNTBL 85: Keep Up Disappearances

By: TheDragonBoy

## Content

How Not To Become Lunch: 85 - Keep Up Disappearances

“You’re, um, sure you don’t want to introduce me?” Fiona asked as she walked her friend down the street. She didn’t want to pressure him, or drudge up any of the various far-too-vivid memories, but she was sure they’d both prefer those ‘mistakes’ to remain memories, rather than happening all over again…

“Sorry, he just… seemed really nervous and I don’t want to scare him off,” Jack explained. “Uh, no offence.”

“None taken,” the werewolf replied casually. She was a predator; she was quite used to the idea of humans fleeing in fear. “…We did manage to convince Harry, though.”

“Oh, this Arin kid seems way worse than Harry was.”

“Way worse than Harry?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh, you might be right then,” Fiona admitted. “…It’s okay, I’ll just get a peak at him when he comes out with you, just so I know not to, you know.”

“I wouldn’t count on it. He seems to really keep to his concealment spells. You can just leave me when we get close to the bakery. I should be fine.”

“You sure you don’t want me to tail you back to his place? Just in case?”

“No, I…” Jack made a face. An awkward, guilty, sympathetic kind of face. “I just…” the words caught in his throat for a second, weighed down by the uncertainty behind them, but he finally let them out- as gently as he could. “I don’t think he’d appreciate it if I led a werewolf to his house.”

It took Fiona about a second before the similarities hit her and her ears drooped. After all, the last time Jack had let her follow to a new friend’s house, she’d gotten just about everyone there digested. Killed… She couldn’t just expect her actions to have zero consequences, could she…

“Come on, Fi, you know it’s not like that,” Jack said, reading the response straight off her muzzle. He reached out and gently took her hand. “I know I can trust you,” he said as candidly as any human could. “But he doesn’t yet. And it just doesn’t feel… right to bring you to his house without his permission.”

Awkward and uncertain, Jack wondered if he was just being stupid? Letting his trauma get to him? He didn’t want to make her sad. He did have this feeling but he couldn’t tell if it was right. He knew his logic was only half-sound at best. Would he be having the same ‘feeling’ if he were talking to one of his human friends? Like Harry or… He struggled to think of another human friend who wasn’t mad at him or dead.

“It’s okay, Jack. You’re probably right,” Fiona agreed, slightly melancholy. “If you can trust me with my instincts, I should trust you with yours too,” she added with a small, understanding smile.

He smiled back. ‘Instinct’ was a good word for it, wasn’t it?

“As long as you promise not to get eaten while you’re at it.”

“Oh, yes, of course, promise,” Jack replied, in the same half-joking, half-sincere tone as his friend. “Well, that’s the place up ahead. Say hi to Sissy for me.”

Fiona chuckled. Following his wishes, she stopped walking and let him continue, but she held his hand for just a moment longer, feeling the pull against her fur before letting it slip away.

With a final parting smile, Jack walked the rest of the way alone, as the smell of pastries grew thicker in the air. Coming to the door, he pushed it open with the jingle of a bell, and took his first impression of the little shop.

“Welcome, what can I get for you?” came a man’s voice almost immediately. His tone was a sturdy backboard of rigid overattentiveness, padded well with practiced manners and a genuine drive to provide a warm experience.

“Oh, um, I’m actually here to meet a friend,” Jack replied. He glanced around the bar table separating the staff from the patrons, as well as the little tables, but didn’t spot Arin.

“A friend? And what would your name be?” The man asked nicely, but also very much like he expected an answer.

“Jack?” the marked boy replied, with only a touch of hesitation. Why would he ask my-? But the man’s face seemed to brighten slightly at his answer; eyes softening just a bit.

“Nice to meet you, Jack. Arin is in the back. Just head through that door there.”

Relaxing a touch, he thanked the man and followed his direction, walking past a few others happily munching away on aromatic confections. Moving through that second door, Jack found a small room, with two more little tables, and a familiar boy sitting patiently.

“Oh good, you’re here. Come on, let’s go.”

Jack took in Arin’s demeanor as the other kid stood up. Until now, he’d only ever seen his schoolmate between classes, rushing to avoid the risk of being caught out in the halls by a hungry teen. But now that they were in a different context, out of that particularly dangerous situation, the other boy seemed… kind of the same, honestly. Maybe he was a little calmer, but there was still a very clear urgency in his voice, a careful haste in his movements.

“Oh,” Jack replied, as his new friend beckoned toward what seemed to be a back door.

“Is something wrong?” Arin asked with noticeable concern, as if worried Jack might have noticed some danger he himself had missed.

“No, I just,” the marked boy absentmindedly put a hand to his belly as he paused. “I figured since we were meeting here, we’d at least buy something before we left.”

“I wanted to meet here to avoid predators. My uncle’s shop doesn’t sell anything with meat so most of the customers are human, and I’m hoping the baking might help cover up the scent from your- you know.” There was a short pause as Arin looked over the marked boy once again. “Good, long sleeves. Come on, we shouldn’t stay here any longer than we have to in case you start to draw attention.”

Jack complied, following his schoolmate to the back door, starting to feel a bit guilty for imposing in the first place.

“Take this,” Arin instructed, as he removed a short length of scrap rope from the backpack he was shouldering.

Definitely feeling a few steps behind, Jack took one end, Arin’s body language showing he intended on keeping the other.

“I’ll be using a few concealment spells to make sure no one follows us. Hold on so you don’t get lost, just follow me. Okay?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Jack replied. He had a few questions he might have liked to ask, such as how far Arin’s house was, which spells he was about to be subjected to, and if he could still maybe grab a donut or something on the way out, but he really felt like Arin was wanting to leave quick, and he’d already imposed enough on the clearly anxious kid. A certain vampire he knew might have had some issues with Arin’s behavior, but Jack was just grateful the guy was willing to help at all. So he kept his lips sealed as the other mage readied his wand and began to chant.

Jack was no stranger to these kinds of spells himself. Being practically a walking ‘eat me’ sign, using magic to cover himself up was just about the only thing that kept him from becoming a satisfying bulge every time he walked to school without an escort. He easily recognized the incantations that first made him unseeable, then one to help cover up his scent- though it only ever worked so well- then- Wait, what spell was that? And that one? He caught one word from a third unknown spell, something to mask his… temperature? He’d be more impressed by the thoroughness and skill if it weren’t a bit unnerving.

After a few seconds, Jack recognized a silencing spell, after which he could no longer hear the other boy’s words. But it was still a few seconds more after that before Arin presumably finished his protections, then invisibly opened the exit door and pulled his guiding rope taut, signaling for Jack to follow.

They walked together for a time, down late-afternoon streets. Jack found he was happy to have some invisible-walking experience to fall back on so as not to accidentally stumble and expose them, especially considering how carefully Arin seemed to detour them to give every noticeable predator as wide a berth as possible.

Eventually, they arrived at a rather solid looking front door, to a rather sturdy looking house. They stood there for a few moments, presumably as Arin confirmed no predators were around, before Jack felt the rope go slack as the far end was dropped. A couple seconds later, a loud, metallic thunk sounded from the door, followed by another, and then a third.

The door creaked open, and a moment later Arin appeared inside, putting the previously invisible key back into his previously invisible backpack. He motioned Jack through, then quickly shut the door behind them, securing it with another series of three heavy thunks.

“That’s… some lock,” Jack commented. It maybe wasn’t the best thing he could have said after being silenced for so long, but it was the first thing that came to mind, so…

“That door could keep a full-grown bear out,” Arin replied, proudly. He did seem a fair bit calmer now that they were home. And Jack could 100% relate. After a long day at school, dodging predators, finally feeling the door close on the outside world when he got back to his place- or Fiona’s- was like a weight off his back.

“Arin, is that you?” came a new voice.

“Yeah, mom, it’s me.”

A pair of approaching footsteps signaled that presumably both parents were on their way to greet their son.

“Hide the rope,” Arin whispered urgently. Jack followed his first thought and stuffed the short length as well as he could into a pocket before two figures rounded the corner into view.

“Oh, and you must be Jack. Arin told us you were coming.”

“Hi, thanks for having me,” Jack replied. The couple seemed kind and inviting enough, if a bit more wrinkled and grey than he’d been expecting.

“Our pleasure, we’re happy to see Arin bring a friend home.” The tone suggested it wasn’t something that happened often. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too-” Jack started to extend his hand for a shake, but his classmate interrupted.

“Hey, we’d better hurry and get started with these potion ingredients before they expire,” the young mage urged.

“Oh, er,” Jack faltered, a little confused, but quickly decided to play along. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Come on, my room’s up here,” Arin guided, starting off toward the stairs.

Jack shot the parents a passing apologetic look before following after his new friend. They didn’t stop until Arin had safely shut the door to his room, at which point the boy practically collapsed on the ground with a relieved huff.

“That was close. If you lifted your arm any higher, your sleeve might have slipped enough for them to see your mark. I can’t even imagine how much trouble I’d be in if my parents realized I’d brought a marked kid home from school. And even worse, they almost touched you.”

“Touched m-?” That’s when Jack remembered earlier that day in class, when he’d tried to reach out toward Arin. ‘Please, not with your mark,’ had been the reply. Suddenly the bit of rope in his pocket made a lot more sense.

“Please, don’t go near them. Even a small bit of contact and some of your scent would rub off on them, and who knows how much more likely that might make- I can’t believe I agreed to this, just having you here is already such an immediate risk, not even counting the lingering effects.”

Jack did his best to hide a small scowl. Yes, his mark was a dangerous thing to be around. He knew that. Almost every other human being he’d ever met since he was a little kid had made a point of it. But that didn’t mean he had to be avoided like a plague, like he was some kind of deadly poison.

Come on, even Fiona, if she was trying, would probably have a hard time following my scent after I just touched someone’s hand.

A simple pleasantry like a handshake, a bit of company in the cafeteria, a helping hand when he fell in PE… He didn’t deserve those things any less because of the mark he had to bear.

Still, Arin was helping him. What was Jack going to do, complain? Besides, he couldn’t blame anyone too much. It’s not like most humans spent enough time hanging out with preds to know what effects his mark really had…

“Sorry,” the marked boy finally mumbled, disheartened.

“It’s okay. It was my choice, after all. Just… try to touch as little as possible.”

“Right.”

“So, what kind of potion are you trying to make for your friend?”

Cutting to the chase, huh? I guess it makes sense. The faster he helps me, the less time I’m here to ‘endanger his whole family’… But Jack decided to bury those feelings for the moment and join in on the task at hand.

“It’s a sort of… calming potion, I forget what she called it,” Jack answered.

“She?”

“My aunt. When I first got… marked,” he began, quickly deciding on how much detail to bother including. “I was pretty scared. Everyone was scared. Everything changed so much all at once… I’d get ‘the trembles’ she called them. I’d start shaking. Couldn’t even hold a cup without spilling or dropping it. She’d make me this potion to help calm my nerves.”

“Hm… something to dull the fear in your head?” Arin asked, visibly thinking through potion recipes.

“No, it was more to stop the shaking. Like literally calming my nerves almost. Once I saw myself stop shaking, I would start to calm down on my own.”

“Hm…”

“I think I remember most of the ingredients she used: milk, honey, tea leaves…” he thought for another moment. “I brought that stuff with me, but I’m not sure what the human ingredient was.”

“How did she usually prepare it?” Arin asked.

“I’m not sure… It was always warm… I remember her always blowing on it first, and testing the temperature with her finger.”

“That might be enough. The breath and the contact from her finger. Think you can do it like she did?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Good, then hopefully we can figure out the rest.”

The two of them set to work after that. Pulling out ingredients and discussing dosages. Arin picked his guest’s mind as to the specifics of the effects he could recall, making decisions on brewing time and trying different incantations to catalyze the concoction. Jack filled in what he could from his memory and his limited experience, pointing out the proper order for adding each ingredient, and besides he’d already gone a long way in helping by procuring exactly the right items, courtesy of his mother’s pantry.

They started to fall into a rhythm. Methodically brewing and then testing each batch, having Jack take a sip and compare the taste and the sensation to what he could recall from his aunt. It was almost… fun. Sure, there was an air of stress that never really left. Arin’s household was still at increased risk with every second Jack stuck around, and the thought of Ozzy’s scared, distrusting face was never far from Jack’s mind, but every time they made a breakthrough, they cracked a smile together. While one practiced the next incantation, the other would silently portion the ingredients, or cleanse and heat the water.

It felt nice to work together with someone. Jack hadn’t had anything like this since training with Zack. And as for Arin, well…

Still, one thought kept floating to the top of Jack’s mind, despite how often he pushed it back down.

“Hey, um, Arin?”

“Yeah?”

“If it’s so dangerous to help me… Why do you keep doing it?”

“Honestly, I probably shouldn’t, but… I just keep thinking about what you did in the cafeteria that day.”

Jack remembered. Arin had brought it up the first time they’d met too, how he’d blasted Pyre clear across the room and shoved his own angry, marked face straight into a table full of advanced-class predators.

“Helping you is… crazy. Not just crazy, it’s probably pointless,” Arin said, perhaps a bit too candidly. “I mean, a marked human in high school, who knows how many more days you have.”

Wow, thanks.

“But I don’t know any other kid who could do what you did- let alone survive afterwards. I mean, I think you’re nuts for doing it, but I also have to respect it. And if there were more people like you around, we’d all be better off. The more powerful mages there are, the better protected we’ll all be. So when you told me about your friend in the advanced class, I thought, ‘well, as long as I can minimize the danger and I’m extra careful, maybe it’s worth it’.”

“Guess that makes sense,” Jack responded.

“I’m just trying to do what I can without getting killed. I mean, if I ever ended up in your shoes, I think I’d probably lose it. You handle being marked way better than I could,” Arin admitted.

“Thanks,” Jack replied, a bit more sincerely. It certainly wasn’t easy most of the time. “And thanks for helping too, I really appreciate it. I doubt I’d be able to figure this out by myself. And it’s not like I could’ve gone to Caster for help.”

“Sheesh, no way. I’m sure that gobbler would’ve come up with some excuse to eat you right on the spot.”

“Yeah. You know when I started coming to school I was actually excited for my magic classes. They were supposed to be my best chance at staying alive. But with her as the teacher I kinda feel like they might be the opposite.”

“Right!? That’s why I’ve been trying to get into the advanced class. Stronger magic and none of the teachers will try to fail you for an easy lunch.”

Jack might have continued the exchange, except that mention of the advanced magic class made him think of Ozzy, and A.P.E., and Fiona, and…

“I think this one’s done. You should try it,” Arin said before long, breaking the short silence.

“Oh, right.”

Taking their latest cup of potion, Jack raised it to his lips and gave a slow, long breath over the steamy rim. With one finger of his other hand, he gently broke the brew’s surface, testing the temperature. It felt warm and soothing against his skin. So he took his hand away and put the cup to his lips.

*siiiip* *glrk*

“There, does that feel better?”

It was like he could hear his aunt’s voice again, the memory was so vivid, as was the feeling of calm gently flowing down his limbs, sinking into his bones like a warm bath.

“Wow, yeah, I think this is it!” Jack announced. “It’s perfect!”

“Really?” Arin smiled. “Well, I’m glad I could help.” He scribbled a few things on a notepad he’d been using and then tore off the page. “Here, I’ve been keeping track of the steps. This was the last batch.”

“Great,” Jack replied, but his triumphant smile faltered as he added, “now I just hope he takes it.”

“Why wouldn’t he?” came the confused response. The look on the other boy’s face implied that not accepting such an obvious advantage would be crazy.

“He’s… It’s a long story.”

“Oh… Well, probably better if you tell me another time.”

Jack couldn’t tell if his new friend was feeling awkward at being shut out, or just following the urge to get his mark out of that house as quickly as possible. But either way, something in the air signaled he shouldn’t overstay his welcome. He stood up and put on a smile.

“Sure, another time. Thanks again for your help. Do you, um, want to walk me out?”

“Yeah, I’d better,” Arin replied.

As Jack correctly predicted, the other boy quickly took the opportunity to open every door for him on the way back out. The marked boy followed politely, nodding a pleasant goodbye to his host’s parents as he left, almost unintentionally clutching the sleeve around that old bite on his arm.

When they reached the open air again, Jack reached for some parting words, but didn’t immediately find any. This Arin kid was kind of a lot, and he wasn’t really even sure how he felt about-

“Hey, uh, if you need any more help…” Jack pulled himself from his thoughts as Arin held back his words for a second, grappling with the future risk he was committing to. “…Let me know. I won’t promise anything but… It was fun working with you and it’d be nice to do it again.”

The marked boy’s polite smile grew a bit more genuine.

“Yeah, it would.”

Originally Published: 26-Mar-2025