Max sat across the table watching in horror and slight adoration at the enderman sitting across from him digging into a full roast pig by himself. On his sides sat Jonas, who was eating a salad he had picked earlier, and Colin, who was on his fourth fish. Max hadn't touched the food on his plate yet, and doubted he ever would. 

"So" Phil asked between bites, "does he know the whole story? Or do we have to tell him that later?"

"I told him some things" Jonas said, picking carefully at his salad. "but he'll need the lowdown on everything else. He doesn't quite believe it yet. Apparently, he got both his parent's stubbornness" Phil snorted. 

"We're in for a treat then" He said. "Colin, when you're done go fix up a bed for him, alright? He's probably going to have to stay the night"

"Oh, no I think I'm good" max said quickly. It was the first time he had spoken all night. All three stopped to look at him. He sunk down in his chair a bit, while doing his best to avoid eye contact with Phil. 

"It'd really be best if you stayed" Phil said gently, but Max understood from the tone that he didn't seem to have a choice. 

Max nodded silently, and stood up. "I've got to pee" 

"humans" Colin muttered and pushed his plate back. "So straight forward" 

Max didn't pay any attention to him and walked toward the hall. He locked himself in the bathroom and tried to open the small window inside. It was locked tight. Max sat on the toilet lid and tried to think. If he could get something to open it, like a hammer or pliers, he could unlock it and climb out. 

Outside the door her heard a knock on the front door. There was the sound of a chair scraping against the wooden floor, and Phil's heavy steps as he went to answer. 

"Creed! What a nice surprise" Phil's voice rang out, louder than Max thought necessary. Max quietly opened the door and looked out. Colin was grinning and leaning against the doorway connecting the kitchen to the hallway with the front door. Jonas was carefully walking back toward the bathroom door, blocking Max's view of the man who walked in past Colin. They fist bumped, and grinned at each other. 

"I thought I'd visit" He heard Creed say, "it's been a while, and I found a break in the schedule" 

"So your dad let you go?" Colin grinned, his pointed teeth way to white for Max. 

"My dad knows I'm here as much as yours knows you're alive" Creed shot back. "Which means I've got a limited amount of time to gossip. Might as well get to the point" He shrugged. "I heard my nephew was around here. seen him? He looks exactly like you'd expect him to look. His fathers hair, moms eyes, and a mix of the rest" 

Max felt his heart stop. He stared over Jonas' shoulder, which had steadily been getting closer, and saw Creed slowly looking his way. His blue eyes were glowing slightly, and something was unnerving about it. 

"No" Colin said, to Max's amazement and Creed's surprise "Haven't seen him. You think I'd have let him even come in here? The spawn of that butter loving barbarian? He'd be as good as dead around me" 

Creed let out a loud laugh. "Yeah, but I also know you'd be the one to catch him. Hell, it'd be perfect payback for what that family did to yours. After all, Sky did imprison your grandfather and kill him from what I heard" 

Max watched as Colin's skin slowly turned a burnt red color. 

"Yeah, it would be, wouldn't it. I'd rather rub it in his face that I settled the score though. Only thing that'd stop me is those kids are Her kids too. So they can't be all bad" Colin said, in as even a tone as he could manage. 

Creed shook his head and suddenly his eyes connected with Max's. 

"No, they're so much worse" He said, and vanished. 

In the next few moments, the house collapsed into chaos. Max's vision started to distort itself, and he felt himself fall forward. Jonas yelled something at him, but it sounded a thousand miles away despite him being right over top of him. The house went black, or was it his vison? Max was unsure. He felt someone pick him up, and the sickening feeling of teleportation. 

Whoever had him was running, and not doing a very good job. He did his best to fight  back, but the hands only tightened around him. A branch hit his face followed by the warm, sticky wetness of blood running down his cheek. Something slimy wrapped around his ankle, and the hands lost their strong grip as he fell to the forest floor. He stood up, dazed, and his vision started to return. The thing on his leg let go, and as his hearing came back he heard yelling and bodies hitting each other. 

He looked around, and saw Creed dodging in and out of trees with a grin. Phil appeared and disappeared almost fast enough to be unseen, but Creed was managing to dodge each of his swings as he ran. Jonas had a bow in hand, aimed at Creed, with a whole stack of arrows sprouting from the trees all around them. The only one he couldn't see was Colin. Max looked around confused, and stumbled back.

"Be quiet" Colin hissed as Max walked into him. Max looked around startled, but still couldn't see him.

An invisible hand grabbed his arm. Max let out a yelp, but was silenced by Colin's other covering his mouth. He was picked up again, but this time couldn't move as Colin carried him off into the forest, away from the fight. 

Max stared around worried, tears pricked his eyes. He didn't want this. It was all too much for him. All he wanted was to go back home, and be left alone by his annoying brother and help his mom with the garden again. 

The fight was out of sight, and Max had his hearing and sight fully back, though he had a huge headache as well. Colin slowly became visible again as well. It was a hypnotic thing to watch the color slowly return to his body and, from what Max could tell, specialized wetsuit like thing he was wearing. 

Colin slowed his pace, and set Max down. He kept a tentacle wrapped around his wrist though, and lead him toward a pond. 

"You're going to need this" Colin said, handing Max a smooth stone. It looked like quartz. 

"What is it?" Max asked, taking it with a free hand. So many questions were going through his mind, but this one just popped out. 

"It's a portal stone" Colin said, rolling his eyes. "us squid use it to get from pond to pond. I'm lending you one of mine. They're simple to use, but easy to mess up. Just think of the place you want to go, and it'll take you to the closest water source to it. Just make sure it's not a bathtub first" 

Max nodded solemnly. He didn't understand any of what Colin just said, his mind was too scattered. 

"Just throw it in after you think of the place" Colin said coaxingly. 

"Why do you live back with them?" Max asked, taking both himself and Colin by surprise. "That guy, Creed, he said your family was still alive. So why do you live with an ender and a half?" 

Colin stared at him, unable to answer. After a moment, he shrugged, but his face was dark. 

"My father isn't a good man" He said, his voice colder than he meant it to be. "He's a tyrant, and I'd rather he not know I'm still alive. It's been long enough, he's probably forgotten about me anyway"

"parent's never forget" Max said, miming what Budder had told him once, when he was smaller, when he went on one of his many long trips to take care of the kingdoms. "They remember you always" 

Colin was silent. 

"You'd better go" He said, more of a mutter. "before one of them defeats the other and they come for both of us" 

Max nodded and threw the stone in the pond. The water bubbled, and an image of a blue sky appeared on the ground. Before Max had time to take in the sight, he felt two hands on his back push him in the water. He was sucked down, and looked back just in time to see Colin bashed on the head with a stick. He fell into the water after Max limply,  and floated past him through the portal. Creed stood above the water, staring down at them with a glare. He was battered and bruised, but still walking. 

Max looked around fervently. he swam toward the blue sky, and picked up the glowing stone of the other side. The portal closed before Creed could jump after them. 

Max swam as fast as he could, his air was running out faster than he thought it should. He surfaced just as he though his lungs would explode. 

"We made it" He laughed, sputtering as a wave of water entered his mouth. He looked around, and saw Colin floating next to him, his eyes slowly opening. He blinked confused. 

"Why are we here?" Colin asked, staring. Max took another look around. They were surrounded by blue walls. He looked up again and saw that what he thought was the sky was, in fact, a painted ceiling. Around them and the pool they were in were gold decorations. 

"We need to go" Colin said quickly, he swam toward the edge of the pool and started to climb out. Max followed but slower. 

As Colin grabbed the side of the pool, an alarm went off. Red lights flashed, and the one door, decorated with a trident, locked. 

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A/N booooooo, tis the month of spooky! I have been busy with school, so I am sorry about not getting this out sooner. College has a ton of free time that apparently has to be used for homework :/ who knew? 

Hopefully it won't take so long to get this out next time, but hey, who knows? 

Anyway, I'd love to hear your Halloween costume ideas! If you want to see a pick of mine, comment that as well and I'll post it in the next special chapter! 

SEE YA FOXES!!