The Sage's Vow

4.3 || Weekend Surprises

Josh stepped into the house, and the most wonderful scent in the world wrapped around him. "Oh, awesome, you guys made—"

He cut off as something slammed into him, arms circling around his waist and squeezing tightly. 

Boomer realized what was going on at the same time as Josh did, and his presence surged forward, as if that would let him magically appear at the house. The outburst of Boomer's presence unbalanced Josh more than the collision.

Eli! Boomer cried.

Eli stepped back, attempting to glare. It wasn't too easy when a large smile spread across his face. "You jerk! Why didn't you wake me up?"

Josh gave Boomer a mental nudge. You better be resting over there, Josh said. Boomer withered slightly, but the thrum of excitement remained. With a roll of his eyes, Josh reached out and ruffled Eli's hair. "You should still be asleep. It's seven in the morning. In the summer."

"You're here, and we have pancakes. I'm okay waking up." His eyes darted past Josh, and he frowned. "Who're you?"

Mateo clicked the door shut and stepped over to stand beside Josh. "I'm Mateo. You must be Josh's little brother."

"Oh." Eli looked back at Josh. "Are you and Mara fighting or something?"

"What? No, she's busy. Why would you even..." Josh shook his head. "Eli, go back to sleep."

When Eli's guarded curiosity about the stranger remained, Mateo reached into his pocket and produced a coin. "You want to see a magic trick?"

Unlike when Mara had proposed a similar icebreaker and Eli had been hesitant, he instantly lit up. "Yeah, sure!"

Grinning, Mateo twirled the coin between his fingers before gripping it between his thumb and index finger. He put it over Eli's shoulder.

He brought his hand back, palm open and facing up. The coin rested in the middle of his hand.

Eli frowned. "I don't understand the trick."

Mateo lifted his arms in an exaggerated manner that required bringing his hands along. "Maybe that's the trick. Now come along. Your mom is giving us a look that I think means she's about to take back her offer of breakfast."

Eli ignored him, too busy gawking at the coin floating in the air.

After a few steps forward, Mateo tsked at himself and backtracked. "Silly me. Forgot this." He plucked the coin from the air and slid it into his pocket.

Josh laughed. "Come on, Eli. Let's go fill that open mouth with food." He put an arm around Eli's shoulder and dragged him along.

"So cool," Eli whispered. "Josh, why can't you do cool tricks like that?"

Josh took his little brother to the ground with a noogie assault.

"Boys, I'm going to eat your food if you don't get over here!" their dad called.

Josh hopped up, hauling Eli, his hair an absolute mess, up with him. "You touch my peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes and I'll stab you with my fork."

His dad raised his eyebrows. "How do you know we made those kinds of pancakes?" he challenged.

"Because they're my favorite, and you love me."

Mateo still stood awkwardly at the dining room doorway. Josh gestured for him to follow and pulled out two chairs that had plates in front of them. Josh sat, and after a brief pause, Mateo joined in the other seat.

Sure enough, golden pancakes took up most of the plate, light brown and dark brown chips dotting the surface. After smearing butter on the top and drowning the pancakes in syrup, Josh dug in. Divine deliciousness exploded in his mouth. Man, he had missed these pancakes.