All of a sudden the 'scuffle' started drawing eyes like nobody's business. First came a boy with long brown hair, trying to defuse the situation that now looked awfully serious from a first-timer's perspective given the presence of Penny's sword. He sprinted from concrete to sand and interposed himself right into the conflict's middle. Next on the scene, and right on Jude's heels arrived an actual adult, who also ironically sided against the bespectacled girl. As he started chewing her out the first kid did something to her sword that made her topple over beneath its weight, which sent her serfs into a tizzy. Another look around confirmed a third person incoming—the black-bearded security guard from before. With another two people in the mix, and both inscribed, this situation was poised to escalate out of control and it was time to stop it in its tracks.

In such a circumstance, getting the heck out of dodge suddenly struck Jessica as a very good idea. With Penny as the subject of attention and herself the victim of Penny's terrifying brandishing, she hightailed it in the direction of the rocky shore, and her new friend followed behind. They escaped just in time to hear the guard start shouting before they firmly dissociated from the proceedings. “Hey, hey! Stop right there! Cancel your epithets immediately!” He power-walked up to the group, one hand on his holster to get the troublemakers' attention. “If you're a bystander, get lost. Vigilante epithet use is not allowed!You!” He scowled at Penny, his thick eyebrows framing his aviators. “Explain what's going on right now.”

The yellow-eyed boy threw one last look at the commotion before parking himself on the rocky edge of a tide pool. “Yeesh. Some inscribed just can't help but jump in on other people's business, huh. Must think they're some kinda heroes, straight outta the comic books.” He let his feet dangle in the pool, stirring the snow-white silt. A cheeky grin rested on his face. “Not like us.” With a confidential air he lowered his voice to an exaggerated whisper. “You're a Blaster, right? You act just like this guy I know in the city. You his sister or something? I'm Haywood Chalmers, by the way. But you can call me...” He made a roaring face, with his hands like claws on either side of his mouth. “Hellmouth!” After that, he couldn't help but chuckle, though he seemed earnest enough. “I got the name 'cause me an' Oil Slick got caught smoking in a non-smoking area once, and I hid the lit cigarette in my mouth until the teacher went away. Hurt like...well, like hell!” He reached out for an evil handshake. “Who're you?”

A good distance away down by the shore, near where the newest wave of swimmers incoming from the hotels splashed into the water, Noelle turned her attention away from the where security was in the process of restoring peace. Just as she thought, the mean girl continued to rain on others' parades, but the next person she riled up turned out to be an irresponsible inscribed, and from there things got hectic enough that it required an official's attention even after the true instigator slipped away. Noelle shook her head, sighing. Not everything needed to be solved via epithets. Nowadays, with almost twenty percent of the population boasting hidden or not-so-hidden powers, such happenings turned up far too commonly. The teacher looked out over the water, squinting in the sun. “I lost track of Tucker. Where is he?”

“Saw him just a moment ago,” Heath told her, holding a hand over his eyes to keep the rays out. “Just about to pass by Lyd.” When she looked, however, Noelle couldn't see her son's orange-streaked black hair bobbing above the surf. Only other children, and Lydia. For some reason, a pit was forming in Noelle's stomach. She tried to assure herself that it was silly, that this was normal and that she'd see him again in any second. But she couldn't shake the feeling.

The feeling that something was wrong.