As soon as we had gotten around the isles the wind came against us, and there was nothing we could do but adjust the sails so that they were not facing it. Venomheart's ship came racing after us, likewise stalled by the wind. They seemed quite desperate to try and finish us off. Heh, all it'll take is one really good group attack from those super poisoners to get nearly all of us, or at least a third of us... and I'll be in that third, I reflected ruefully.

“Readying anti-poison wards!” Healina called.

“Let's see... where's that venom-nixing spell?” Peaches mumbled as she flipped through a book.

“I will help!” Anhe declared a second later, activating two of her auras to bolster Heali's wards and Peaches' spell.

“They certainly seem like they're in a hurry; let's not give them a quick death on our part!” Snow Dancer said, readying her own magic to help with healing and resistance.

“Hmm...” I softly mused, gazing at the enemy ship carefully.

“They really are in a hurry,” Ariana said, and I nodded. “It's almost like they might be out of time; but we've still got a couple Panarena days, right?”

“We should,” I agreed. “Wait -- behind them!” I exclaimed, pointing excitedly.

Coming up behind Venomheart's ship was a large galleon with a dragon's head prow and reddish sails, flying the pennant of a guild that some of us knew very well.

“Flamehearts!” Lizzy clapped her hands together.

“That ship has some serious speed to catch up with us all the way out here,” Cloveroak remarked. “Looks like it's got some good firepower too!” he added as the gunners on the allied ship began manning their stations.

The main deck had ten guns to a side, and the lower deck had eleven to a side, but it was the prow that surprised us; the dragon was no figurehead. There was a different kind of weapon in its jaws, one that blasted out two great jets of flame towards Venomheart's ship. Our enemy turned hard to port, no doubt intending to unleash a poisonous vengeance on them.

“Cylodel! Port them onto the island there!” I called out, and the portal mage quickly obliged me, opening a few short range portals to strand the members of Venomheart on a small isle with three palm trees on it.

As soon as this had been done, the galleon veered to starboard and unleashed cannon-fire on the already ragged caravel, sinking it for good even as one of the enemy guild members, a woman with green hair, ran to the beach and began yelling angrily, readying a spell of attack just for spite. But Angelfire was quicker, and after “herding” the other girl back to shore with some fireballs she literally encased our enemies in a wall of fire. I saw an arcane shield go up, but I knew by the time Angelfire's flames burned out we would all be long gone. Her ship came alongside ours, and I saw her smiling.

“Just in time, eh?” she remarked with a wink.

“Just in time,” I said with a relieved smile.

“Come on, you can hop on board here and we'll take your ship in tow.” she said.

None of us needed any convincing. Even Fyu came aboard with us, the dog-beast further relaxed by the company of Flamehearts' pets, a great white wildcat named Torayuki and two ravens called Edgar and Allan, and as soon as our ship was cabled to “The Sea Dragon” we were on our way back to Harmonia. We then headed into the cabins with Angelfire and some of her officers, where we confirmed we had the orb before she brought out a few bottles of mead to celebrate.

“To one left! And to the end of Djaziim!” she declared, and we echoed the toast.

“Have King-Priests struck with him again?” I wondered after our first sip.

“Yeah, there was a huge scuffle around one of Valiant Maidens' fortresses in the Wildlands. It's just barely standing. Well... the gates are, anyway...” Angelfire sighed.

“Uhh...”

“Ah-heh...” Ari and I returned bemusedly.

“And Guardians are still a real threat on land, even if you did crush their naval ambitions.” our friend continued. “They've done some mischief of their own in the Wildlands, but thankfully Fènghuáng is more focused on the Phoenix Domain and keeping Hua Ling's guild under control.”

“Might be time to head over Hua Ling's way and help her out again, at least until we find the next orb,” Ariana suggested to me.

“Agreed.” I nodded back.

“How soon do you think that'll turn up?” Angelfire wondered.

“Dunno; guess it depends on what Healina can find out.” I shrugged.

“Oh! This random cube thing appeared in my inventory after we got out of the dungeon; I'll talk to her about it!” Ariana said as she materialized the thing. It was golden in color, or perhaps it was actually gold, and there were eight symbols on it, one to each face.

“Pretty,” Angelfire remarked with awe.

“Huh! Neat,” I said as Ari held it up.

“Hmm... I'll show her now before I forget.” my partner remarked, gently bopping my shoulder and giving me a wink before she went to talk to Heali.

Oy... I sighed internally.

“You doing okay?” Angelfire asked me. There was a look of concern on her face. I didn't know how to answer. “You are still a high school girl, after all. All these nights you spend in this wonderful yet crazy world when you should probably be sleeping; I'm surprised you haven't gotten in trouble for it yet!” she added.

“Ahh... I mean, we manage... I manage,” I said in reply.

“Yeah?” the other girl smiled back.

“Yeah,” I nodded back more confidently. “It hasn't been... too much of a problem, yet.”

“Oh I know what you mean.” Angelfire said. “The other day one of my coworkers was getting on my nerves and I literally tried casting Flame Haze on him five times when he wasn't looking. Didn't work, of course, but you know.”

“Pfft!” I snorted in amusement, and then we both broke out into laughter.

“So what kind of things are you into outside of Panarena?” she asked me when we had calmed down again.

“Eh,” I shrugged.

“Aw, come on!” she prodded me.

“Mostly just other games.”

“Ahh, one of those girls, huh?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I replied.

Not *totally* a lie?

“It's not like I'm a recluse or anything, I just... haven't found anything more interesting... yet, I guess...” I continued, and she nodded.

“You will.” Angelfire smiled back. “If someone like me can make it through the courses I'm prepping for at uni, you'll definitely find something that catches your eye.”

“We'll see,” I said.

“Anyway; it's gonna take a couple of days to get back to Ragnarheim. And then we'll have to get your ship back to the Jade Sea after that...” she mused diligently.

“Ahh...” I started, sensing a deal of some sort coming on.

“And since my NPC crew doesn't have to go anywhere, they can take your ship there and then return to Port Fhormur in Woody Heights later... so, hmm...” she continued, and I saw the corners of her mouth twitching with mischief even as she directed a fairly solemn gaze at me.

“Uhh... crates, ore... rare... from Untold Deeps...” I stammered out, and she started giggling.

“One crate. And then help us pull off a raid against this guild called Cedar Kings in the Southern Plains.” she said in reply.

“You got it,” I nodded back at once.

“But that'll all have to wait until the real tomorrow.” Angelfire sighed.

“It does get confusing like that, huh?”

“Oh it really does.”

“Ari's on top of it, though; she's about the only reason I am where I am. Ah--!” I stopped, and then blushed, gazing over towards the girl in question.

She was occupied with Healina and Peaches, the three of them puzzling out the little cube while Derwydd looked on with an expression of both interest and bewilderment. The others were mingling with the members of Flamehearts, laughing and sharing stories of the wild adventures we had all been having since the competition began. But I could only focus on the Wood Elf mage across the room. Angelfire smiled at me, patting me on the head.

“I know.” she said, her voice quiet. I managed to look back at her. She seemed sad, but the smile remained on her face all the same.

Ahh... what, what do I do here? I mused to myself, feeling (and probably looking) flustered in the face of that expression--literally.

“It's okay.” she said a moment later. “I'm always here for you, though.”

“I know.” I replied.

It was at least the second time now that Angelfire had come through for us--for me, personally--in a pinch. I burst out with a faint giggle as I remembered our encounter in the Garth-Queens War. She looked at me with a grin of curiosity.

“Ahh... just... sorry, really, about the avalanche,” I managed to say before shaking with a silent case of the giggles. She made a wry smile, then sat beside me, giving me a gentle headlock as she tousled my hair.

“Still thinking about that and laughing, huh? Well so am I!” Angelfire told me, and we both started cackling out loud again.

***

The rest of our time in Panarena passed with a similar ease. There wasn't much to do but sail the ship, after all, and we were avoiding the tricky seas, too. But “The Sea Dragon” was by far faster than our caravel, and would get around them much faster than our ship could get through them. As Ariana and I prepared to logout the next Panarena morning, she smiled at me.

“I'm glad you're not so tense around her anymore.” she told me.

“Hmm? Oh,” I said, smiling. “Yeah. I am too,” I replied.

“But you're still mine.” Ariana smirked.

“Always.” I grinned back. We shared a kiss, and then logged out for the day.

In the real world, where I actually woke up, it was about six in the morning. I hurriedly got out of bed and started getting ready for school. As I made my way to head out to the bus an hour later, I saw my parents sitting together in the living room -- right as the morning news bulletins were being read.

“And last night at approximately eight PM, a young high school student was attacked by an unknown suspect in a ski mask; the assailant was last estimated to be in the Atherson's Park area near Ward Square, but the police are confident he will be caught within the next day or two. According to the official report, the young man who was attacked was driven home safely by the officer who arrived on the scene, and was thankfully without injury.”

“That's around our neighborhood,” my mother declared, starting to rise from her seat.

“Ehh, it's closer to where Rachel lives now--hah?!” my father said in realization, then sprang out of his chair to lock eyes with me at the same time my mother did.

“Sean!?”

“Sean!!” they both said at once.

“Ahh...”

“You were the young man in that report! Are you okay?!” my mother demanded, coming over to me.

“I'm fine, really; he didn't even touch me,” I returned at once.

“That's not the point!” she replied, taking hold of my shoulders and pressing me close a moment later. “Good God; you didn't call us at once?!”

“It's a little hard to call people when you're fending off some weirdo who thinks he's a ninja-robber or something,” I quipped back, and my father actually laughed.

“He's got you there. Did you get the officer's name? I'd like to call in and thank him, and then apologize for not being at the door when he dropped you off.” he said to me.

When I had divulged the necessary information and gotten a quick lecture about being safe coming home from now on, I all but sprinted to the bus stop. As soon as I got there the bus came rolling around the corner, and with a sigh I resigned myself to the arguably more boring but no less tedious rigors of academia.

Ty was asleep when I got on, and remained asleep until we arrived at school, whereupon he promptly woke up and flicked me before we got off the bus. And when I got to my locker a few moments later, Rachel literally pounced on me and held me tightly. I softly smiled, patting her hands a moment later. She let go so I could get my stuff sorted out for the morning, not taking her eyes off of me for a moment.

“You're really okay? From last night, I mean.” she asked as we headed in.

“I'm fine now,” I told her.

“Okay. I trust you.” she nodded as we sat down.

“I know. Thanks,” I replied.

“Ugh. I wish we could go to club today...” she said with a sigh.

“Right?” I agreed. “Though I guess we kinda get to participate at lunch...”

“Yeahh... not the same.”

“I did say 'kinda'.” I wryly grinned back, and she returned the expression. The bell rang, and our school day began.

***

It was a relief when lunch came along. Some things were getting easier in class, I suppose; at least I was maintaining a C-average in math. But it's still math, man. It'll never not be a problem for me, and that's no pun.

Rachel and I made our way to the club room after getting our lunches, and our afternoon books, where we found the others already waiting. We took our seat, listening to the conversation already going on between them.

“We get an actual tour of Fun Castle this time, huh?” Mary said.

“Yep!” Ellie beamed.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“That settles that number of work-visitation requirements for the year!” Andrea smiled, jotting down things in her notebook.

“Phew -- and hey!” Ellie said as she turned to us.

“Hey!” Rachel smiled back.

“Really though; Sean, you okay?” the older girl said to me with a more serious look.

“I'm fine, really; he didn't hurt me, and a whole night in Panarena really does make you forget some things.” I said, and she snickered.

“Someone got an earful from their parents this morning.” she grinned.

“Hyeck--?!”

“See??”

“Good grief,” Andrea smiled, slightly shaking her head. “Seriously it's good you're okay. But if it happens again, any time you come over to our house in the future we're making you stay the night.” she declared, and Rachel nodded vigorously in agreement.

“Def!” she said.

“Ahh...” I returned uncertainly, looking over at Thomas.

“I have to agree with them, man.” he said, shrugging in support.

“I can get you some handcuffs if you need, Rachel.” Mary quipped, and Lizzy cackled as an understandable look of consternation came to my face.

“Let's lighten up on him for now, though,” Thomas said with a short laugh.

Just for now?!

“Right! So I'll talk to Mrs. Brown and we'll get a Saturday scheduled for our Fun Castle visitation this spring.” Andrea said.

“Thomas and I may have to be working that day, but I think that should somehow count.” Ellie returned.

“I think our advisor will agree to that,” Andrea nodded. “Oh! Now to more fun stuff!” she then smiled, pulling out another notebook. “I'm not exactly sure, but I think this final orb is called the Orb of Secrets, or the Orb of Mysteries,” she told us.

“Ooh, neat!” Rachel said.

“I wonder what kind of torturous dungeon that will be,” Anhe remarked as she took a bite of her sandwich.

“I'm not sure!” Andrea replied. “I know the cube--octahedron, actually--is a key to finding it, somehow or another, but I haven't figured out how it needs to be used.”

“Hmm...” the younger girl returned, pondering the thought. The rest of us began thinking about it too as we turned our attention to our food.

“We'll definitely have to take a closer look at it when we get back on.” I decided after a few minutes. As soon as I said that, an idea fomented in my mind -- but it would have to wait.

“Oh for sure.” Rachel agreed. “Let's get through classes and rehearsals first.”

“Definitely.” I said with a faint grin.

“Ooh, I bet Joanna is gonna be fuming tonight,” Ellie then remarked, and Rachel and I both tensed up, looking at each other bemusedly.

“Ehh... she's right...” I noted quietly.

“Hahh...” Rachel sighed. “Oh boy.”

A knock on the door was heard at that moment. We all looked around at each other in surprise for a brief moment, and then Mary went to get the door. As if we had summoned her, Joanna was at the door. Mary let her in with a smile, and she came to stand directly before Rachel.

“I'm calling off the bet.” the older girl said.

“Huh?” Rachel wondered.

“Our bet about your other identity, and my guild; I'm calling it off. You're gonna pay for that tonight.” Joanna said again, her glare icy. Rachel gazed back calmly at her.

“Fair enough. But I don't think you'll be getting one over us any time soon.” my girlfriend replied gently.

“Oh?” Joanna grinned back. “I already sent Jana, Merc, and Clara to the Torching Mount after we used our recall skill to get back to Harmonia. I think we'll get one over on you pretty soon. See you at rehearsal tonight, cutie.” she then said, and stalked out of the room proudly.

“She's wound up, huh?” Thomas remarked as Mary shut the door again. “And why send them to the Tor-- ohhh...” he realized with a shocked expression as he sat up.

“Snap!! Dracuoatlax!!” I nearly jumped out of my seat, as did the others. “They can probably lay an ambush for him in there, and it'll be nothing for those poisoners to get through that horde of -- oh, snap, snap!!” I fumed, hopping out of my seat to pace around the room frantically.

“Whatcha doing?” Ellie then said to Andrea.

“Sending a message to Peaches and Snow Dancer.” the redhead replied.

“Calm down, Sean. We have friends too. They'll definitely warn him in time, somehow, and he'll keep clear of the trap.” Mary told me.

“Uugghhh,” I heaved a sigh as I flopped back into my seat, Rachel patting my head.

“But let's allow her to enjoy the mood all the same.” Rachel suggested to me. “Maybe she'll stay on point tonight in rehearsal.”

“… Good point.” I agreed.

“Hmm...?” Ellie gazed over with interest, then shrugged. “She's been paying less attention in classes, too, come to think of it.”

“Right?” Thomas agreed.

“Oh for sure.” Andrea nodded.

“She's... got a lot to deal with, or that's what Malcolm says,” Rachel said with a faint smile.

“Yeah, that's the scoop.” Ellie said.

“And... Snow Dancer got the message. She's sending out an alert right now. See? He'll be fine.” Andrea smiled as she looked over at me.

“Still... my gamer pride is a bit deflated,” I said with a half-grin.

“Pfft!” Rachel nearly burst out laughing, and then patted my head again.

“I am sure you will recover it tonight somehow.” Anhe smiled at me.

“Maybe.” I assented.

“You will.” Mary grinned. “I know it.”

“Oh, Sean,” Thomas then said, “I've heard about that guild Angelfire wants help with tonight, the Cedar Kings. Our guild got into a couple of scuffles with them in the Grasslands of Inyan, of all places, and another in the Yucu Plains.”

“Hehh...? Did you fight them?” I wondered.

“Nah, I've been too busy hanging out with the girls,” he said with a broad smirk. “But Cloveroak and Gondron apparently really hated going up against them.”

“If the Wereoak and the Rock Monster hate fighting them, they've gotta be tough,” I noted, ignoring the soft jab at my alter-ego.

I've mentioned before that Cloveroak has the nickname of Wereoak in-game because he's a changeling sage. Gondron, on the other hand, is a Stone Dwarf. They're not literally made of stone, but their racial tree allows them a rock-like durability and resistance to nearly any attack, and Gondron had blended that with the defensive skill trees to make himself an absolute wall against nearly everything in the game. A superb mage or shadow-warrior could probably take him down, but other than that he was practically impossible to wear down. Hence his nickname of “Rock Monster”.

“Right?” Thomas said in answer to my observation. “Each encounter left Gondron complaining about mages and sages, though, so that's at least a hint of what we're up against. I'm not surprised Angelfire wants our help with them.”

“Well sure,” Mary nodded. “Lana and Lysandra are definite mage-banes, to say nothing of Lizzy,” she continued, and Ellie stuck out her chest with pride, nodding in agreement. “And if Myanihia decides to come along it's game over for all but the toughest magic-users. Besides which there's almost no way to take us down with Healina, Anhe, and Belle around.”

“Unless we run out of power potions.” Andrea pointed out.

“I wonder who makes them in our guild...” the older girl grinned back mischievously.

“Yeah, yeah.” our club leader smirked back.

“Angelfire has some serious damage-dealers and tank-breakers in her guild though, aside from herself, of course.” I remarked. “I feel like she's asking us along for the shock value.”

“Maybe!” Rachel said. “I guess we'll find out when we get back on. Oh, are you gonna eat that?” she pointed to a brownie I had.

“Hm? Uh... yeah,” I returned.

“Wanna split it? I'll split this with you,” she said, slicing up her cheesecake.

“Oh, sure,” I agreed, and she sliced the brownie, snatching it up with delight as she deposited the other half of the cheesecake on my side of the table.

“Ugh. You two. You're too cute.” Andrea sighed.

“Almost too cute to live.” Ellie grumbled.

“Hyeck?!”

“Too soooon!!” Rachel fussed back at her, and the blonde girl's eyes widened.

“Ooooh, no-no-no-no-no! I am so sorry, I didn't mean it that way!” she raised her hands apologetically.

“N-no worries,” I returned with a faint laugh. “Really, it's fine,” I assured her, but she shook her head.

“Ugh. That was bad even for me. I'm bringing you home tonight after your practice and we're gonna go to a restaurant as an apology. 'Kay? 'Kay.” Ellie declared.

“Ah--uh--sure,” I agreed.

“You don't have work tonight?” Thomas suddenly wondered.

“Mr. Barnum told me I was taking too much time at work lately for a high-school student, so he's not letting me work again until the weekend.” Ellie said sheepishly.

“Ahh...” Thomas nodded. “Well I do have work tonight, so I'll miss out on -- wait, will I miss out on anything?” he wondered.

“Ehh, dunno,” I shrugged back.

“By the time he does get back we'll be getting into the action.” Andrea patted him on the shoulder.

“Nice.” Mary said.

“Ellie, can we all come too? Tonight, I mean.” Anhe asked.

“Hmm? Sure!” the other girl beamed back. “I'mma go with a pizza place. That okay?”

“Yes!” Anhe nodded.

“Good! I'll even see if our other two members can join up!” Ellie said, pulling out her phone with a smile.

“In the meantime -- hurry and eat! We have five minutes!” Andrea told us.

“Again?! Ugh!” Rachel softly griped as we all began squirreling food away into our mouths.

“Right?? Like didn't we just get here?” Mary sighed in agreement.

“Certainly feels like it...” Thomas nodded. “Oh, here,” he then said, tapping Andrea on the shoulder. She looked over, and he deftly placed a cookie in her mouth.

“Now who's too cute?” Rachel smirked over at them, and we all shared a laugh at the remark.

“And: line!” Miss Holly said to me later that evening. Afternoon classes had gone well, and we were now in our second hour of rehearsals.

“By all the saints! Your vile villainy ends here, wretched knight! Your treachery towards Lady Marion will be repaid!” I quoted with ardor as Robin Hood.

“Come, then, hero of Sherwood! Let us see who shall win the day: the sheriff's own knight, or a despicable and traitorous noble turned outlaw!” Joanna-Gisbourne quoted back.

“Speak to me not of treachery whilst wearing the livery of Lackland! While Richard yet lives, 'tis yourself who is the traitor, Gisbourne!”

“A feckless king with a feckless subject! Have at you, Locksley! To the death, and God help me!”

Our dialogue thus ended, we engaged each other in the practiced sword-fight, executing it without one misstep, finishing it up with a flourish and a dramatic death-throe from Joanna, who was in high spirits tonight. When she finished dying, Marion-Rachel came dashing down the steps.

“Oh, Robin! Thank God! Now come quickly, I pray you, for there is yet the sheriff to deal with and the gates of Nottingham to open for the rightful king!” she said.

“Trust, my love; Little John and the others have it well in hand! The king will find the gates open, and that worm Prince John and his quivering sheriff shall be dealt with royally!” I said in reply.

“All the same, Robin, come quickly!” she implored me.

“As you say, my Lady Marion! Let us away from here!” I returned, and we exited stage right to end the scene.

“Good!” Holly exclaimed, clapping her hands. “Right; Jo-girl! Up! We need to work on your scenes with Joe-boy and Marcus.” she said.

“Yes, ma'am!” Joanna said as she sprang up, dusting herself off and coming over to give me a five and handshake. “Good work!” she smiled before heading off to join Joe Dunn and Marcus for their scenes.

“Well that was different.” I remarked softly.

“I think canceling the wager also lifted her spirits some, as well as the pressure of it.” Rachel said quietly.

“Oh for sure. Heh... I didn't want her to end her guild for a bet anyway...” I said.

“Even if they are a gang of poisonous psychos?” my girlfriend grinned back.

“W-e-ll....” I shrugged uncertainly, and she laughed. “Come to think of it, we've never really gotten to fight them all at once...”

“Well we keep getting saved by other guilds when that sort of thing happens. And given their apparent arsenal of harmful substances I'm not sure I want to fight them all at once.” she said with a wry smile.

“Ehh... true.” I had to agree.

“Sean! Rachel! Act Three, Scene Twelve!” our teacher called out.

“Coming!” we both said at once, hurrying over to work on the scene in question.

***

“It's really coming along, huh?” Ellie remarked as she drove the four of us--myself, Rachel, Mary, and Anhe--to the restaurant later that night. Mary had stayed to watch with her as well, as had Andrea, who was in the other car with Christina and Mandy. They were on their way to pick up another person as well, which gave me a semi-uneasy feeling.

“Yeah, it really is,” I said in agreement.

“And Joanna's swordplay.” Mary added. “She's definitely getting into that school she wants to go to.”

“They have some sort of competition for that thing, don't they?” Ellie asked.

“I think it's actually more of a prep camp, or at least that's what I've heard,” Mary answered.

“Huh.”

“She does have to get through that first. But still.”

“Oh defs. No question there.” Ellie nodded.

“It sounds like it would be a fun kind school,” Anhe remarked. “Maybe I might consider something like that instead... helping with the play has given me that kind of thinking, anyway!”

“You mean like training to be a martial arts instructor of some kind?” Rachel asked her.

“Yes!” the younger girl said.

“That does sound like fun!” Rachel smiled.

A car pulled alongside us on the right as we drove down the boulevard, and its driver beeped the horn. It was Mandy and the others, along with another girl sitting behind Christina who looked very similar to our bandeau-loving friend. I suddenly shrank in the seat, realizing who it was as they zipped ahead of us.

“Sean?” Rachel said as she noticed what I was doing.

“M-Myanihia...” I said in a defeated tone.

“Hm? Hm?? Ah!!” my girlfriend smiled.

“Oooh, this'll be gooood,” Ellie practically squealed with delight as Mary cracked a grin.

“Think she'll know who Lana is?” she asked.

“If she doesn't I won't know what to say!”

“You didn't figure it out for at least a week,” I quipped back.

“Ruuude. Minus five points.”

“Gyeck?!”

“You should know better by now.” Anhe said, reaching over to poke me.

“Hahh...”

“But really, you should!” Rachel agreed, patting my head.

“I can't believe you're taking points away from me while you're driving me to an apology meal.” I couldn't help but point out. In the mirror, I saw Ellie's face go blank for about five seconds before she puffed her cheeks out, sighing.

“Nrrrgghhh, blehhh... fine. Ten points to you.” she finally said with a grin. I decided to accept my little victory quietly, lest I negate it again.

When we arrived at the pizza place, we found Mandy and the others waiting at a large booth. She waved us over, and introduced us to Sabrina, as she was formally introduced to us, one by one.

“This is Mary, that's Ellie and Anhe with her; you definitely won't have a hard time figuring them out! And here's Rachel, our little wizard, along with her boyfriend, Sean.” Mandy said as we sat down, each of us reaching to shake hands with Sabrina.

“It's, good to meet you all, in this world.” she smiled. “Except... Christy, I thought, you said that Lana, would be here?” she wondered.

“Oh, she is.” her half-sister said with an innocent shrug.

“Is she?” the other twin blinked. “Maryn... Lizzy... Anhe... Ariana... boyfr--!! Wait... Ari, and Lana...” Sabrina said as she looked at me closely. Then she smiled. “You're the boy, from a few months ago. And you're Lana.” she said to me confidently. I could feel my face reddening, a hesitant smile coming to my face.

“Ahh...”

“Told you.” I heard Christina whisper to Mandy, who chuckled.

“I'm, not mad. It's cute. But, Lana...” Sabrina said to me with a twinkle in her eyes, “You're, getting a hug, before you go.”

“Ehh?”

“Give up now, kiddo.” Christina told me. “She's been dying to meet you ever since she found out we've been hanging out with you all.”

“Ah-heh,” I smiled back.

“And, I had a night off, so when Christy asked, I had to come along!” Sabrina smiled.

“Hm? You're a...?” I wondered.

“Lifeguard.” she replied.

“Oh, neat!”

“That's super cool!” Rachel nodded.

“It's, mostly boring,” the older girl said, smiling nonetheless.

“Still,” I shrugged as a waiter came over to take our drink orders. When these were in, he went to go get them, and our conversation resumed.

“I'll be on around midnight, by the way. It is a bar night for me.” Christina said.

“You brats should just sleep tonight, but I know you won't.” Mandy grinned.

“Ruuude.” Ellie quipped back.

“I hope Dracuoatlax was saved in time...” I suddenly recalled.

“I'm sure he was.” Andrea smiled.

“Ooh, yeah, Andi told us the details on the ride over.” Mandy nodded. “I bet all our friends are frantically looking around for the big guy, though, so he should be fine, if he wasn't found already.”

“Yep!” Ellie agreed. “So let's settle this before our waiter comes back: how many pizzas and what kind?” she asked, and we spent the next few minutes debating the question (or questions, I suppose), Sabrina watching us softly bicker and tease one another with a smile on her face. Rachel squeezed my hand as we subtly backed out of it, faintly nodding towards her.

“I'm glad you made a friend out of her, in both worlds.” she quietly said to me.

“Me too,” I agreed in a whisper. Me too.