Penny had just made it home after dropping off Vincent and Jas when there was a knock on the trailer door. That hardly ever happened, so she hurried to answer it.

"Abigail!" she said in surprise.

"Hey, Penny," Abigail said with a little wave. Penny joined her outside and shut the door quickly behind her.

"Can I do something for you?" Penny asked. Abigail had never sought her out before, let alone come to her house.

"My evening class got canceled tonight, and Seb doesn't have to work, so we thought we might get our Solarion game going again."

"Oh, great! Right now?"

"Yeah, Sam's already up there, so if you're down, I thought I'd come get ya."

"Sure, let me just grab something. Um, wait here." Penny left Abigail standing outside and slipped back in, careful to keep Abigail from seeing inside. She checked her hair quickly in the mirror and grabbed two books that had been set aside on her desk before rushing back out.

"All set?" Abigail had been scuffing her combat boot in the dust in Penny's yard, if it could be called a yard.

Penny nodded and fell in beside Abigail as they started north.

"What are those?" Abigail pointed at the books.

"Oh, I needed to return this to Sebastian." Penny held up Time Skipper: Night Mists. It was the sequel he'd lent to her; he'd left it in her mailbox just a day after they'd talked about it. It was as good as promised, and Penny had read it cover to cover twice since then. "And I thought he might like to borrow this. I don't know if it's his taste, but the author of the Solarian Chronicles has said that it inspired one of the main characters." She held up an older looking fantasy novel, The Truth of the Mountain. The paperback cover was cracked and worn from all the times Penny had read it.

"You two have got a real book club going, huh?" Abigail said with a grin. "Seb's been trying to get me and Sam to read the actual Solarian book for ages."

"Six books, actually."

"Oh, Yoba, six? That's a good reason not to start if I ever heard one."

Penny laughed. She'd never chatted so easily with Abigail, and she wanted to keep it going. "Do you like reading? Generally?"

"Sure, in theory. In practice, not so much. When I have free time I'm generally gaming or hanging out with those two losers." She pointed vaguely up the hill. Penny laughed, but it was hard for her to imagine thinking of Sam and Sebastian as losers. She was still a little intimidated by Sebastian, and she'd always thought highly of Sam.

"Have you seen the Solarion movies?" Penny asked.

"There are movies? Why didn't he tell me!" Abigail stopped in her tracks and pulled out her phone. "Oh nice, they're doing some showings in Bluejay Town, we should all go!"

Penny nodded, but the idea made her uneasy. It was one thing to be hanging out with all these new people just around Pelican Town; a big outing with them made her anxious.

"The party has arrived!" Abigail shouted when they reached Sebastian's room. There was always a great deal of commotion when the group was together, especially from Sam and Abigail, and even Maru.

Penny didn't get a chance to say anything or even catch Sebastian's eye to give him the books. She clutched them to her chest, unsure of what to do with them. She wished she hadn't brought them.

"Where did we leave off?" Sam asked, sitting down at the table when everyone had gotten their beverages and snacks of choice. "Were we still fighting the ogres?"

"No, no, we were fighting the undead," Maru corrected, sitting next to him.

Penny hesitated, then left the books in a neat pile on a side table beside the couch. The only chair left was between Sebastian and Abigail, directly across from Maru and Sam. Maru shot her a friendly smile.

Sebastian pulled out the deck for the quest and started to read. "We stand over the slain body, now dead for the second time. Bard, that's you, Abby, would you like to play a traditional mourning song to honor the dead man's life, or rummage through his pockets?"

"Rummage. Definitely rummage," Abigail said. Sam shook his head disapprovingly, so she shrugged and said, "What? We're supposed to be investigating, right?"

Sebastian continued, "You find a bag of coins that you pocket. Then you notice unusual green splotches on his skin."

"Could that just be part of the natural decomposition? Liver mortis, maybe?" Maru asked.

"Ew," Abigail said with a laugh. Maru just shrugged.

"Uh, I'm gonna say no," Sebastian said. "It's definitely something out of the ordinary. Anyway, we continue northeast until we reach the fishing village of Grimwallow. We have a group decision to make: do we stay in Grimwallow for the night, or keep going?"

"Group decisions are always pivotal moments," Sam said. "We should think carefully."

"I say we keep going," Maru said. "We aren't that close to the village we're actually supposed to be investigating, and I'm excited to get there!"

"But one night couldn't hurt, right?" Penny chimed in. "We're close enough for more rumors to have spread. Maybe we'll get a chance to ask the villagers what they've heard."

"I agree, and I'd like to hit up the tavern, if we can," said Abigail.

Sam couldn't seem to decide, but Sebastian said, "I'll vote to stay too, so that makes three. Sound good?" They all nodded.

Sebastian cleared his throat and held up the next card to read. "Our party takes rooms at an inn, and has drinks and dinner at the tavern. It's refreshing after so many days of camping. But before we've even finished our stew, a little boy runs up to us."

Sebastian put on a high pitched voice for the little boy. "Hello, are you the travelers that have come to stay? Please, can you help me?"

Abigail snickered at the voice until Sebastian glared at her icily, although Penny caught him smiling a little himself.

"My mother has taken very ill," he continued. "Can you heal her?" Then he switched to his own voice. "The Healer agrees to go with the boy, and can bring one member of the party for protection. Healer, who do you choose?"

"I'll protect you!" Abigail said.

"Thanks," said Penny, "but I'll take Maru this time."

"The Healer and the Marksman follow the little boy down to the docks, into a cottage that is little more than a one room shack. On the floor, a woman is lying under a blanket. The Healer examines her, and finds she has a high fever and speaks incoherently. Healer, do you treat her for Tornhal Flu, which is common in this region, or treat her for Auld Rash, which fits her symptoms, but is mostly seen in the west?"

"Well how is she supposed to know the answer to that?" Sam asked.

Sebastian shrugged and smiled at Penny. Penny knew she should know which one it was, both diseases are discussed in the books, but she couldn't for the life of her remember. And now everyone was looking at her.

"I'll say...Auld Rash? If it were Tornhal Flu, the boy wouldn't have asked strangers for help; he'd go to someone local."

Sebastian nodded encouragingly. "You make an ointment of herbs and apply it to the woman's face and hands. Her fever begins to calm almost immediately, so you continue applying the ointment to her skin. Then you notice green splotches on her arms, identical to the body of the undead.

"Marksman, do you run and fetch the rest of the party, or stay with Pen—the Healer and check the little boy's skin?"

"Umm..." Maru tapped on the desk in thought. "We're not really in danger right now, so I'll stay and check the boy."

Sebastian leaned forward dramatically as he read the next card. "You pull up the sleeve of the little boy, and as you suspected, he is marked with the same green splotches. The wind picks up outside and the howling gives you an eerie feeling. Suddenly, there's a great crash as the door swings open and bangs into the wall!

"But it was just a gust of wind. The Marksman slams the door shut and braces against it with all her weight. The boy begins to cry, and the Healer comforts him and his mother as best she can. You can hear the storm raging, rattling the house and sending what sounds like branches slamming into the walls. Bang! The window shutters split, and in reaches the splotched, green arm of an undead!"

Maru shrieked!

Sebastian and Abigail had been so invested in the story they hadn't seen the reason for her outburst, but Penny had. While Sebastian was reading, Sam had winked at Penny, then slowly reached his arm around Maru. Just as Sebastian had reached the end of the card, Sam grabbed Maru's sides, causing her shriek of surprise.

Now Maru and Sam were laughing hysterically, and Maru was leaning close against him. Touching him, holding his arm as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Penny forced a smile, but her stomach was in knots. She wanted to cry or run or throw up or anything in the world other than sit here and watch her two best friends flirting. She wanted to deny it, but she knew better. She knew those two better than she knew anyone. This wasn't their usual friendliness, this was much more.

Tears pricked at Penny's eyes, but she managed to hold them back. Luckily the others hadn't really noticed. Abigail just thought it was funny, and Sebastian seemed a little annoyed at being interrupted. He soon resumed the story, describing an army of undead trying to break into the cabin, and the Marksmen picking them off with a bow and arrows.

Penny could hardly pay attention for the rest of the game. She answered her questions when she needed to, but she couldn't really focus.

When she walked back to town with Sam and Abigail at the end of the night, she couldn't even follow their conversation. Not that they needed her too, they had plenty to talk about without her.

For so long, she'd had this dream, this stupid dream, about Sam all of a sudden realizing that he loved her. Then he would confess his feelings to her and sweep her off her feet. How many times had she imagined what he would say? And imagined how she would respond? Over and over, over the years, she had picked those words out so carefully. Words she would never say.

Now, it was like a bucket of cold water was being poured over her. Sam didn't love her. And he never would. And her stupid dream went up in smoke.