I had texted Seb last night. Tiana seemed to have mostly recovered from our battle, so I felt alright leaving the others in the house. I wanted hang out with him since I hadn't gotten to do that since before Duke's birthday.

It was crazy how busy we'd been the last couple months. Not necessarily as a group, but we should probably do something fun soon. It wasn't good to do nothing but work all the time.

Anyway, he got back to me when he got up about an hour ago. Jake had to go to someone's house to put some things together. Seb had to go with him since Jake wasn't good at navigating his surroundings. Seb also said that the people who owned the place wouldn't mind if we hung out in their house.

I wasn't sure about that part, but I wouldn't mind if we had to do something else. At this point, I just wanted to hang out with him. What we did didn't matter.

I stopped by Becca's room before I went to put my shoes on. I didn't know if this was just something we did or a traveler's habit, but unless the house was clearly dirty, we didn't wear our shoes inside.

Knocking, I opened the door slowly. "Hey, Becca. Wanted to let you know that I'm going to go hang out with my friend Seb."

"Have fun." She didn't look up from her typing. "Today will probably be a quiet day around here."

I was trying to not eavesdrop, but I couldn't help looking at what Becca was typing. "Oh? You're writing a letter to Aunt Lyn? I don't think I've seen you do that in a long time."

"Of course, I'm writing Aunt Lyn a letter!" Becca's cheeks were redder than a tomato. "I do happen to love her!" She turned her head. "When was the last time you wrote to anyone in our family?"

It was my turn to blush. "It's been a while. I didn't want Izaz or the Council to intercept our letters." I scratched the back of my neck. "I did mention to her that Alain liked that book of hers he bought."

"By name?"

"Of course not." I shrugged. "That was way too risky back then."

It really would have been. If they knew Aunt Lyn was my family, they could've used that against me. If I said too much about Alain, that could have put his mission of rescuing the royal siblings in jeopardy. Those were not things either of us needed.

"What are you writing to her about, anyway?"

"For me to know and you to find out." My sister shot me a glare. "Go goof off with your friend!"

I put my hands up. "Alright, I will... Text me if you need anything."

I really should write to Aunt Lyn. I knew she liked to hear from me. It was fun to listen to her. She always told the best stories. With how long it had been, she probably had a lot to tell me.

***

After that, I went on my way and texted Seb I was coming. I just needed directions because I didn't know where the people lived.

My phone started ringing. Since it was Seb, I picked up.

"Hey, Marshall. I could just give you the address and have you put it in the GPS, but those things drive me crazy most of the time."

"I like them, but we still use paper maps where I'm from, so I like how portable the digital one is."

"Yeah, that makes sense." There was a pause. "Anyway, it's faster and more efficient for me to tell you this way."

Seb was good at giving directions. As long as one knew left from right, they could likely follow his directions. It felt like I was there in no time at all.

He was waiting for me on the front porch.

"Hey, Marshall!" He jumped up. "Thanks for coming!"

I waved. "I wanted to hang out, too. I hadn't realized that it'd been a couple months since we played that game of horse."

"No big deal. Jake and I were keeping ourselves busy, too." Seb got the door. "Let's go in. I have this weird feeling it's going to rain today."

I hoped not. Alain hated it, and he could really use an easy day right now. I didn't want him to crash again like he did after our first Lock battle. Although, our best efforts would not be guaranteed to stop that from happening...

We passed by a woman in a dress that reached her ankles. Her hair might have been as long as her dress. I didn't think I'd ever seen anyone with such long hair.

"Have fun!"

"Thanks, Ms. Kylie." Seb flashed her a smile before we went into this room.

And I thought the rooms in Alain's house were big... There was a big table with a green inside in the middle of the floor. Then there were squishy chairs by this gigantic screen. I thought I might have heard the screen was called a TV... and on the other side of the room was a big round table. No clue what the big round table was for...

Seb smiled. "Wanna play a friendly game of pool?"

"That depends..." I tilted my head. "How do you play?"

"You start out with these balls in a triangle. Then the white ball is on the opposite of the table."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What do you do with these things?"

He picked up this strange stick. "This big, long stick is called the cue. You use it to hit the white ball. The first hit that makes all the balls scatter and it's called a 'break'. You try to get the other balls into the pockets on the sides of the table."

"Use the big stick to hit the white ball. Try to get the other balls into the pockets on the sides of the table."

Seb nodded, "Oh, and see how some of the balls are solid and the others have stripes?"

"Yeah."

"We each get one set of balls. If we hit the other balls, we get a foul. Same thing if we get the 8-ball directly or get the white ball in the pocket. If we get a foul, the other person gets to hit the ball twice."

I went quiet. "Okay, that makes sense. Sounds simple enough. You can go first."

He laughed. "I kind of figured you'd say that."

This game was really fun once you got the hang of it. I could tell Seb played a lot, though. I could probably count on my fingers how many fouls he got during our first game.

That was when it dawned on me to ask. "Does Jake like pool?"

"Jake loves pool. Right up there with basketball." His cheeks went red. "I'm gonna have to play a game with him if he finds out we had fun without him."

My phone dinged in my pocket.

"What was that?"

"My sister texted me." I pocketed my phone. "One of our friends got sick. She wants me to pick up groceries on my way."

Seb raised his eyebrows. "Did she mention anything in particular?"

"Nope."

A man came in. He had stubble on his face. "Are you boys playing pool?"

"We were," Seb said.

"Did you—?"

Seb shot him a glare. "No."

I put the stick back. "I should go. I need to go grocery shopping on my way home."

"Be careful, son. It's running out there."

"It's raining?" Seb's eyes got big. "I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. Let me give you a ride."

I tilted my head. "It's just a little rain, right? I'll be fine on my own."

"Marshall." Seb put his hand on my shoulder. "The way you're dressed right now, you're going to catch a cold if you spend too much time out in that rain."

Seb had a point. Phoenix was running a bad fever, so we didn't need more things to worry about. Still, I didn't want to be a bother to him.

"What about Jake?"

"He likes carrying things, so he wouldn't mind coming."

"Alright then." My cheeks got hot. "Thanks for your help."

***

Anyway, I really only thought to buy soup for Phoenix. Since he had powers, I wasn't sure what they needed to take care of him. As for the rest of us, I bought a week's worth of food.

The strangest thing happened when I went to pay for it. When I pulled out my wallet, the cashier pushed it aside.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie." She smiled. "Someone already took care of it."

Once we were situated in Seb's car, I said, "That was crazy. I can't imagine how much that person just paid."

"I'd say it was a Christmas miracle, but thanksgiving isn't for another couple weeks."

"Christmas miracle?"

"People tend to be in a giving mood close to Christmas. Sometimes, they'll do things like pay for people's coffee."

Huh... Sometimes, Earthlings had some pretty weird customs...

***

Thoughts on Marsh and Seb? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!