"Well. They might be a while, you never know."

"Well, I am going to be awake doing the taxes, so there's no problem." And he leaves.

"...I should probably tell you a small secret, all things considered, Adam. But I dunno how you'll react."

"Secret?" Adam asks suspiciously.

"As in, I've been hiding this fact. Mostly by failing to mention it not by lying. Nothing that'll hurt you, almost definitely."

"Okay... are you a fairy or something?"

"Or something. I popped over here from another world to get away from my awful school that locked me in my room for two days! So yeah my parents aren't coming to get me."

"So is that face for the 'awful school' thing or the 'other world' thing or what?"

"Other world thing... how?"

"Apparently my magic can do it! It's weird but I'm not complaining! I read something about teleporting in a book, and something about alternate worlds, and had an idea, and I did some math the way you do to make new magic in my world, and I thought it wouldn't work! But, pop, most of my magic for the day is gone and I'm on a boat and have to think fast."

"We should call an adult," he turns to go upstairs but turns back immediately, "how do I know you're telling the truth? How do you know you're telling the truth and that you didn't get charmed by something with a poor sense of humor?"

"Ugh, adults are gonna make such a fuss. That's why I was hiding it! I remember it all pretty clearly, you know, and I can do magic however I want, if you have lie-detecty magic I won't object to using it on me too much. Once."

Adam makes a helpless gesture. "I can not not tell someone. I think they have a law for it or something."

"So I should have kept it a secret longer. Gotcha." Sigh.

"I didn't mean like that. But like... where are you going to sleep? Or what are you going to eat?"

"I got some food from the boat, and the festival. There's a nice spot in the park under an awning I was gonna use. And tomorrow my points'll come back and I'll be able to use magic." Shrug. "I think I coulda figured it out."

"But what if something caught or you got sick? Or it was too cold?"

He shrugs. "I don't like begging. But, then I woulda tried to find someone. I was more worried about nasty monsters and stuff than food and cold."

"You should've been worried about nasty fae. Some like to take lost children and throw them at monsters to see who wins."

"I hadn't planned that far ahead, you know."

"And you don't want to tell anything to the adults?"

"I mean, I know it's probably a good idea to tell them. And I don't wanna make you lie for me. That's an awful spot to be put in. But I don't have to like it."

"I mean, they are going to find out. Dad would've walked you back to the boat if it got too late."

"Maybe I should run away before they do...?"