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❝John was given up by a former friend of Milo Duarte to his indifferent grandparents and was taken into the Duarte household as his third birthday present. They were soon joined by Seren Davies, who had been pen pals with Milo for three years during her time in England. The family stayed at the Duarte household for a year, then moved in with Seren’s brother George, who was starting a sanctuary. John’s parents officially married amidst the noise and dust of a barn complex undergoing construction.
Seren and Milo got John his first dog, Joist Nests for Balloons, the day before he started kindergarten. He had been reserved, and Joy was the catalyst that caused him to become talkative and outgoing. While excitedly telling his classmates about his new dog, he discovered what made him happiest was having conversations with others. Joy was sweet and calm; after he repeatedly showed himself to be harmless towards stranded baby birds, Seren and Milo felt safe adding a pair of rats, Heledd and Edith, to their pack.
Milo quit his convenience store job and joined Seren as a firefighter after finishing his history degree. John, who was six years old, readily agreed to dropping out of school so he could accompany his parents on adventures during their off days. During the year he spent in school, John befriended Ella Johnstone, Thomas Kelly, Maeve Muir, and Lucy Shaw. While his parents worked over the weekend, John had sleepovers at one of his friends’s houses.
They adopted a second dog, The Faces Which You Love, for John’s eighth birthday. The family had been grieving because both of the rats died recently; their deaths occurred within one week of each other’s and John’s birthday. After Faith proved to be just as gentle as Joy, two new rats, Grace and Moxie, were added to the pack.
John’s first instance of magic occurred when he was nine, as the family was driving back home from an excursion. On a highway, a heavily modded truck almost hit John, who was leaning out of the car window. John disappeared and then reappeared once his parents’ car overtook the truck. ❞

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