As I sit here and write this, I think about the last time this fanfic was updated and think of only one thing to say...

Sorry!

I can't believe it's been so long! School really held me up this year! I can't wait till Summer holidays come around in December!

Anyway, here's the next chapter, and thanks to everyone who's still following this fanfic after all this time! Now, this story has started off a little slow, and I'm sorry but I'm having a lot of trouble with it. At the moment, I'm establishing characters. Very soon, we'll get into some real action.

Will and Halt are in Australia for two very good reasons:

1. Ranger's Apprentice is an Australian series, so it would make sense that they ended up here.

2. I live in Australia, so it's a lot easier for me. And I thought it might be a bit funnier, too.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The Ranger's Apprentice series is the intellectual property of John Flanagan. Anything I write can be considered just another RA fanfiction on a website called , and not an attempt to be famous (that will be coming soon, however...).

Martin Jones drove up to Beggar's Bay State High School and waited for his daughter, Nicola. He quickly scanned the crowd of teenagers for her, and spotted her talking to several other girls – she hadn't noticed him. With a sigh, he began to count.

58… 59… A full minute had now passed.

He honked the car horn and watched the group of students jump. Their heads snapped around simultaneously and Nicola rolled her eyes. She said goodbye to her friends and ran to the car. Getting in, she stuffed her bag in the back seat and pulled on her seat belt. Martin put his foot on the accelerator and the car rolled away. There was a long moment of awkward silence among father and daughter. Nicola hadn't regarded Martin once yet, and didn't look like she was going to any time soon.

She had been like this for the past six months, since the divorce. Being an only child made her parents' separation just that little bit harder, and apparently she'd sided with Deborah in the end, who'd already changed her surname back to Walker. Being fifteen, Nicola was allowed to decide whether or not she stayed with her father when his week came to have her, and he'd been worried she wouldn't. Thankfully however, she hadn't yet missed a week.

"So…" Martin tried. "How was your day at school?"

"Good."

"… What did you do?"

"Stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"You know… English, Maths, Geography…"

This conversation was going nowhere fast. In fact, it had already ended. There was another long silence.

"I got to boil chlorophyll out of a leaf in Biology today," she mentioned.

"Oh really?" Martin asked hopefully. Perhaps this time the conversation might last a little longer.

"Yeah," Nicola continued. "It was alright."

Even more silence.

"How's that boy Jack?" Martin was getting desperate.

"His name is Josh, Dad."

"Yeah, him. How is he?"

"Good. Can we go to the movies on Saturday night?"

"What, you and I?"

Nicola stared at him as if he'd just asked what an iPod was, "No… me and Josh."

"Oh. Is anyone else going?"

"Well, Joanne and her boyfriend are going."

"Uh-huh. So you're trying to tell me you're going on a double date."

"Pretty much."

Martin frowned, "I'll think about it."

Nicola sighed and reached back to pull a book out of her bag. Sitting back down again, she began to read. Martin couldn't pass up another opportunity to talk to her.

"What's that you're reading?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"Ranger's Apprentice," was his daughter's brief answer. "Book eight."

That sounded familiar.

"Uh-huh. Did you read that book I got you for Christmas?"

"Dad, that book was Ranger's Apprentice book one."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"So you've obviously enjoyed it then, seeing as you're up to book eight."

"It's alright."

There was another break in the conversation. Still, this was going pretty well.

"What was it about again?" Martin asked, as if he'd known what it was about in the first place. He had only bought her the first book because she'd asked for it, and had barely even read the blurb.

Nicola let out another long sigh, as if speaking to her father was one of the most exhausting tasks she could do, "It's about this kid named Will, in the Medieval times or something. He's an orphan at the Ward, and this guy named Halt – he's a Ranger –"

That name sparked a very confusing memory in Martin's mind, "Wait. A King's Ranger?"

"Yes."

"Halt O'Carrick?"

"Yes."

Martin nearly hit a streetlight when he swerved off the road after slamming on the brakes.

"Thank you ma'am," Will gave Julie a small smile as she handed him his dinner.

"You're welcome, sweetie," she beamed, and left the boy to eat alone.

Yesterday afternoon had almost ended in a catastrophe. By the time Will had arrived at the hospital, he'd been on the verge of fainting. Despite the obvious health issues such a state indicates, it had made Julie's job a lot easier in that the boy's panic had been reduced to slurred words of fear and fascination. He'd been rushed to a doctor almost immediately and stitched up.

The most difficult part had been filling out Will's medical forms, considering the fact the boy couldn't provide anything beyond where he lived – a place that apparently didn't exist anyway – and the name of his mentor Halt. Naturally, the hospital staff were more than a little suspicious, and had even mentioned calling the police. Julie had almost agreed, until deciding that she wanted to find out more about the boy before she went that far. So on an impulse she'd let him stay with her.

After being lent some clothes, he had slept quite comfortably on the floor of Josh's room the night before, even with his stitched arm and swollen ankle. The next morning he'd only caused minimal fuss when waking Josh up at five o'clock instead of the usual seven to ask him where he was and when he could go home. Josh had thrown something at him in response, swore a couple of times, rolled over and gone back to sleep. When he awoke at an appropriate hour, Will was still sitting on the floor, apparently having been awake the whole time, watching him nervously.

From there Julie had driven her children to school, bringing Will with her to keep an eye on him. He hadn't proved to be much trouble, sitting in the very back of the SUV with his head in his hands, muttering anxiously. When they got home, Julie had made it her job to find out as much about the youth as possible – and teach him about pretty much every appliance in the house – before the end of school.

He was still revealing very little. He was an apprentice apparently, who lived with his mentor, Halt. The man was the closest thing to family Will – an orphan – had. He was training to become something called a King's Ranger, which involved defending 'Araluen' (probably some Medieval Historical Society the boy was a member of) from enemies. As to how he ended up on the Williams' property, he couldn't explain himself very satisfactorily. He had apparently fallen in a river after being struck by a bandit's sword, hurting his ankle on the riverbed before…

Julie couldn't take much more of Will's outrageous story. She just left him to his own devices while she cooked dinner.

Still, he was a mystery that had to be solved soon. And his background must have been bizarre! He hadn't seemed to have even heard of a toilet before. Julie was beginning to wonder if maybe this mentor he lived with was one of those historical extremists who lived under strict simplicity. But even then, the boy should at least have heard of electricity!

"Julie?" she heard Will ask behind her.

She turned to see him offering her his empty plate.

"Thank you, Will," she smiled, taking it and dumping it in the sink with the other dishes she was washing. "Would you like to go and watch television with Josh and Mira?"

He shook his head, "No thank you. Do you need some help?"

She smiled again, "If only every teenager had your manners, Will. It's alright sweetie, you should keep off your ankle."

He nodded quietly and limped towards the back door.

"Where are you going at this time a night, Will?" Julie asked curiously.

Will looked up, "I was just going to sit outside, ma'am. Is that alright?"

"Well… yes, but would you like some Aeroguard?"

"… Aeroguard?"

"You know, keeps the mozzies away. You'll get eaten alive, otherwise."

"Oh. Er, alright."

"It's just on the bench there."

She pointed at the metallic blue aerosol can on the bench beside the door. Will frowned at it, and picked it up. Eventually he pulled the lid off it and stared at the nozzle oddly. He pushed down on it carefully and was almost blasted in the eyes by the spray that was projected from it. He coughed as he inhaled the fumes.

"Careful!" Julie raced forward and took it from him. "We do this outside, Will. That way we're not poisoning everyone, okay?"

Will frowned at that, and fiddled with the door handle. He tried to pull the door open but he'd forgotten to unlatch the little silver lock.

"Here, let me help you," Julie offered again.

Will allowed her to open the door and he hobbled outside. Julie quickly slid the door shut behind her.

"Alright. Hold out your arms and hold your breath," she instructed the teen, and he silently obeyed.

She sprayed the back of his arms and calves, then moved to the front and did the same. When she'd finished, she told Will he could let go of the breath he was still holding. The boy exhaled and thanked her, though he was clearly as bewildered as ever. After muttering a quick "you're welcome," Julie shuffled back inside.

Tomorrow, she decided, she was definitely going to have to call someone. Child Services, most probably.

"Mum, how much longer is he going to stay?" Josh asked his mother in hushed tones as they sat in the living room.

"I don't know, Josh. As long as he needs to," his mother sighed.

"But why? He's probably a crim."

"Josh!"

"Well, it's more than likely! He could be a druggie who got beaten up and left here 'cause he couldn't pay!"

"Josh, don't be so ridiculous! If anyone's at fault it would be his parents!"

Josh just stared at his mother as if she were insane. She always had to see the good in everyone, didn't she? Will's arrival was a little too suspicious for Josh, but Mrs Walker seemed to see right through it. And his father was no better; he probably wouldn't care if his wife took in every feral that passed the house. Josh groaned and stomped off to his room. He sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. He signed onto Messenger and found Nicola was online.

Hey Nic, he wrote.

After a few seconds, a reply was received, Hey.

What you up to?

Not much. You?

I think Mum's finally cracked.

What? How?

She's letting some guy stay with us. IN MY ROOM.

WHAT?! How old is he? What does your Dad think?

He's only about 15.

Oh.

He's one of the Medieval Festival geeks, I think.

What? What was he like?

I'll explain at school.

OK. Dad freaked out today as well.

Huh?

Something about some guy he questioned. Has the same name as a character in a book.

Spooky. LOL.

Yeah. Character from Ranger's Apprentice.

Is that the book you like?

Yeah. Halt O'Carrick.

WHAT?

Halt O'Carrick. The guy Dad questioned had the same name.

Josh froze. Halt. That was the person Will kept talking about. That was the name that had sounded so familiar. So Will was talking about…

"Mum!"

As you can see, I don't spend a lot of time on any IM sites.

What did you think? I was a bit unsure about this chapter, I thought I was waffling a bit.

I'd love to hear your opinion in a review!

See you next chapter! Or in The Troubles with Youth or Life, the Imagination and Everything if you've been reading them (Life, the Imagination and Everything will probably end up with another chapter or two after all, so stay tuned folks!).