Theo had left Mario long behind him, still complaining about the safety of the abandoned site. The Latino gamer ignored the voice of caution, from both Mario and the small voice that whispered softly from the back corner of his mind. That voice kept saying he should just follow his mother's instructions and get out of there. Get home safe, it said, and Mom would have some kind of snack waiting for him. She probably wouldn't even mind if he went back online and rejoined Jeremy, who was probably still wondering what happened to him. 

Pushing those thoughts further towards the back of his mind, the freshman boy ventured deeper into skeleton of the unfinished building. Huge, naked frames of steel rose from the ground, giving Theo a rough idea of the square footage of the almost-mall. It was huge, and after a few minutes, he found he could no longer see where Max or Mario had gone. He shrugged to himself, it was no big deal, he could find his own way home. He wasn't a child who needed babysitting. Besides, despite having made the joke about ax murderers to Max earlier, Theo was sure there was nothing here that could hurt him.

At once, the sound was punctuated by the sharp sound, making the boy jump in surprise. As he panted quickly, he laughed at himself as he found the source of the sound. It was just his phone. Pulling it out, he stared at the screen in disgust, another message from his mother, probably wondering why he wasn't home yet with language strong enough to convey her mortal concern for his wellbeing. He swiftly shut the phone off completely, deciding it would be easier to come up with a lie once he got home rather than fake it now. Phone batteries could lose charge, surely anyone would believe that. More to the point, his shadow, by the name of Gregor, almost never left him when he was out of the house, making this an opportunity he couldn't bear to pass up. And look what an adventure he was having so far!

That is, until the world started to shake beneath him.

Grabbing hold of a nearby, exposed pipe, Theo held his ground. He turned towards the sound that had accompanied the earthshaking moment, a loud boom that drowned out even his own thoughts. Wrapping his arm around the pole, the Latino boy used both his hands to block his ears, clamping his hands tightly against his skull, but it didn't help them from ringing as the noise dissipated. 

"What the hell was that?" Theo couldn't help but ask aloud when silence returned. He didn't wait for anyone to answer his question. No one was there to answer him, anyway. Instead, the Latino boy made his way towards the —well, what could he call it but 'crash site'? He stopped the moment the crashed object came into view. 

It looked like something straight out of science fiction. A little rounder and thinner than most ships, but it wasn't unlike a Klingon ship. Maybe something a bit more Romulan. Not that he really watched Star Trek, that was more of his father's gig. Stargate was a much better show, at least for when Theo was in a science fiction mood. Regardless, whatever the downed object was, it didn't belong on Earth, and certainly not crashed in a construction site in Nowhereville, New York. Aliens were supposed to land in New York, or L.A., or even at the White House. It didn't make any sense.

Was he going crazy? Was this a dream?

No, Theo ascertained as he pinched himself, feeling a bit foolish afterwards. This was no dream. That didn't rule out having gone straight-up insane, but if he had to hallucinate spaceships crash landing, there was some small part of him that was okay with that fate. The freshman was almost ready to accept his new reality as he stepped into the small clearing that now housed the looming form of the crashed ship, until he spied Max rushing forward towards the smoking hull of the ship. Behind her, an unfamiliar teenager followed, blond hair reflecting the flickering lights of the vessel. Another one stood further off, and Theo saw Mario standing away from him, shouting at Max to stay away.

Well, if Theo was going crazy, at least he was going to have company in the asylum.