The dryad took an unconscious step back, but stopped when he felt Zeke behind him.

"I..." he stammered.

"Y-yeah." he said.

"I... I...I know." he told her.

"I'm a dryad, and... you're... you're not." he said further.

Zeke was silent as he heard the exchange, but raised an eyebrow.

'The heck are they up to...?' he wondered, looking at Olivia and Angela.

The boy continued to blush and look flustered, before he nodded quickly and left the place with her.

Zeke watched them go, and then looked at Angela.

"All right." he said.

"What was THAT all about?" he asked her.

"You're up to something, aren't you?"

Zeke just smirked when he heard that.

"That's very nice of you." he said.

"While simultaneously deviously evil of you." he chuckled.

"Regardless, I think the days of your door being messed with are done." he then commented, before making his way to the kitchen with her.

"And you seem to be doing a lot better." he went on, changing the subject briefly.

"Odds are you'll be back to work within... probably another week."

Zeke just sighed and shrugged.

"Sure thing." he said.

"We can order in some Mediterranean tonight." he told her.

"Let's get to work on finding a place." he suggested.

Meanwhile, the dryad family had heard a knock on their door, and the father was the one that answered.

"Oh!" he said, seeing Olivia, as well as his boy.

"Please. Come on." he offered, stepping out of the way.

The father had missed the smirk, and thought for a moment.

"Well, I don't see why not." he said.

"Honey!" he called to his wife.

"What do you say about this?" he asked her.

"Think we can accept an invite to dinner next week?"

The boy had been frozen before when he heard the invitation.

And now his face was bright red.

"Sorry." the man apologized to his wife.

"And we're definitely interested." he told Olivia.

"Isn't that right?" he asked his son.

The boy was now stuttering and muttering incoherently, insanely flustered at this point.

"Well, tell him we'd be delighted if he joined in on it." Jesse's father told her.

"Jesse, are YOU up for this?" he then asked his son.

Jesse froze again.

"I..." he stammered.

"I... I... I... yes!" he finally got out.

"Yes! Sure! Okay!" he blurted out further.

"Excellent." Jesse's father replied.

He then paused and looked at Olivia curiously.

"Didn't you recently have a very bad case of Calaestus Thermaxia?" he asked.

Olivia nodded.

"...you seem to have recovered quite nicely from it." he commented.

"Impressively so." he added.

Jesse's father paused as well, and then cleared his throat.

"Yes..." he said.

"Djinn... and those that are like them... they tend to... prefer their anonymity, and hide themselves from public view a reason." he told her. "See, the world can be very... unkind to them, because of a long history that they can do nothing about." he sighed.

"Any further details would be pointless right now, as you can learn about their histories when you're older... and more prepared to learn unpleasant things." he continued.

"Just... try not to mention your mother works with one, or tell anyone who they might be." he suggested.

The boy watched her go, and then looked back at his parents.

"....uh-oh..." he muttered.

"Yep." his father replied.

"That's pretty much it." he told him, his tone unimpressed.

Meanwhile, when Olivia got back, she saw Zeke and Angela on the couch, looking through some menus.

"Ah, welcome back." Zeke greeted her when he saw her.