Chapter II

Clink!

Matt took a long drink of his ice cold lemonade. The ice clinked against the glass as he tipped the cup back, draining it all in one go. With the coolness refreshing him and the sweet taste reviving him, he handed the cup back to Janis, his neighbor who had brought the lemonade for him, wiped his brow, and prepared to get back to work.

"Wow," said Janis. "You must be really tired. Do you want one of my boys to come out and help you?"

"No, thank you," Matt said. "I'm fine."

"Well, if you need anything, I'll be inside," Janis said. She smiled at Matt and then went back to her house.

Matt picked up his ax from the ground and heaved it upwards. He slammed it down on the wood he was chopping, splitting it in half.

As he went to get another piece of wood, he tripped and nearly face-planted into the ground. Fortunately, he caught his balance and leaned against a tree for support.

His dream came back to him again. OK, hold up, he thought to himself. This is getting too weird now. I thought it was just a coincidence when I stepped on that branch when I was bringing back the groceries, but this has gone too far. I might need to ask the town seer for help.

In Matt's world, there were two types of people- non-magical people and magical people. From there, magical people were split into three groups- seer, battlemage, and scribemage. Seer's had the power to determine people's destinies and see if they had were magical or not. Battlemages had the power to make anything they could use more deadly. In other words, they could use magic to make their weapons more dangerous, no matter what they were using, whether it be a broadsword or a towel. Scribemages could use magic to help them figure out tough problems, like math equations of finding out the theme of literary works. There where sub-branches, too, but so many of them that it would take Matt all day to name them.

Matt shook his head and tried to get back to work. He couldn't afford to stop and ponder his dreams when he had work to do. He picked up the piece of wood he had come for and put it down on the tree stump. He raised his ax and slammed it down, cleaving the wood in two.

♤♡♢♧

The sun was a deep, warm orange as it slowly disappeared under the horizon. Matt admired the orange and purple sky as he lied on the beach. This was Matt's place where he could be alone and think for a while with no one disturbing him. Only him and Mack knew about this place. Matt could sink into the soft, warm sand and lose himself for a while, whether he was dreaming up fantasies or praying to his parents.

But tonight was different. Tonight he was thinking about who he really was.

He knew he was Matthew Daniels, of course, son of the late Mr. Andrew Daniels and Mrs. Faith Baker Daniels. But who was Matt Daniels? In his own eyes, Matt was just an ordinary kid. He had no claim to fame, he was just your average run-of-the-mill teen. The only thing special about him, he felt, was that his parents died and now he was the town's chore boy.

Footsteps padding on the sand snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw Mack walking towards him with what looked like a loaf of bread wrapped in a cloth. Mack came over and sat down next to Matt.

"Hey," Matt said.

"Hey," Mack replied. "How's it going?"

"Fine, I guess." Matt shrugged his shoulders and stretched, arching his back, looking up at the sky. "What do you have there?" he asked, pointing at the loaf.

"The chocolate chip coffee cake," answered Mack. "Here, have some," he said, passing the loaf.

"Thanks," Matt said, taking a piece. He took a bite and closed his eyes. "Hmm," he groaned. "I think this is the best thing Debbie has ever made," he mumbled through a mouth full of chocolate chips.

"Yep," Mack agreed. He reached over and took a piece for himself. They sat there for a while, watching the sunset and eating coffee cake in silence.

When the only thing left of the coffee cake was a few crumbs in the cloth, Mack said, "So, what's the matter?"

Matt sighed. "Mack, let me ask you a question. Who am I?" When Mack looked quizzically at him, he clarified, "And I don't mean my name and things like that. I mean, what makes me me?"

"Well," Mack began. "I think you're caring, for one thing. I think you're a hard-working, athletic and handsome young man." At that Matt became a bit proud and embarrassed at the same time. "But most of all, Matt, and listen to me," he said seriously, looking Matt in the eyes. "I think you're strong. Not physically, I mean, even though you are, but mentally and emotionally. You've never let your emotions and feeling get the best of you. Even when you're parents died-" Matt winced internally at the mention of that- "you never broke. You have never let Manuel have the satisfaction of you feeling bad about yourself and having the last word. Matt, that's something most don't have, myself included. That's something that makes you you. All of what I said is what makes you the amazing person you are," he finished.

By this time, both Mack and Matt had tears streaming down their faces. They embraced each other in bear hugs, slapping each on the back.

Matt pulled away and said, "We better not tell Debbie we cried like girls, or we'll never hear the end of it."

Mack leaned back and roared with laughter, his bellows echoing in the night sky.

♤♡♢♧

Matt lay his bed of hay, trying to go to sleep. He thought about what Mack had said and felt something root itself in him. It was a feeling of proudness, and it was for who he was and what he stood for. He wouldn't let anyone, Manuel included, change him, no matter what they said about him. That night, Matt Daniels fell asleep thinking that he knew who he was and what he was meant to do.

Little did he know that his life was soon going to change forever.

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