The Porter family’s attention turned to the porch of the house when the door opened and a woman stepped out. Donna put on a practiced smile in greeting as Karl grabbed Ryker’s suitcase and wheeled it down the sidewalk toward the home.
	Ryker sighed and followed in his parents’ shadows. He looked between them at the woman. His brows rose slightly at her attire, and he wondered how she was not melting from sweat beneath her overcoat.
	[i]This is going to be interesting,[/i] he thought with a slight smirk, trying to decide how stern of she would be, and how hard her buttons could be pushed.
	“Of course!” Donna answered cheerily, ascending the steps to the porch. “Thank you for accepting him into your school at such short notice.”
	Ryker hung back where the walk met the porch, avoiding the shadow of the house for as long as possible. Noticing the sign hanging above the porch, his brows rose further.
	[i]‘No quests?’[/i] He took a step back to get a better look at the sign. [i]What’s [u]that[/u] supposed to mean?[/i]
	Deciding he could figure that out later, he shook his head and looked to the boy who had followed the woman outside, a section of his hair presumably dyed blue. He glanced to the woman when she addressed the boy as Alexander.
	He sighed at the prospect of seeing what was to be his room. He had already spent too much time cooped up in the car. Though he hoped the room would be larger than that cramped space, walls were walls no matter what form they took.
	“You must be Ms. West, I presume?” Karl released the suitcase handle and offered the woman a hand to shake.