“Theesh ith amathink.”  Quinton’s words were garbled by at least 15 cookies.  Several more were on his plate, waiting to be devoured.  “Swallow, and repeat.”  Holly scolded, without even looking up from her own treat.  Quinton obeyed, and smiled.  “These are amazing.”  The boy’s teeth were coated with chocolate.  Across from him, Paix grinned.  Unlike Quinton, she only had a single cookie in her hand.  “Thanks.  I’ve had years of practice.”  Hachi just rolled her eyes, but continued to munch on her snack.  Antigone also was enjoying her cookie, though rather half heartedly.  Eventually, she had come back to the land of the living, but her eyes betrayed that she still wasn’t completely with us.  She was still trying to wrestle with the fact that she a future ahead of her that she had no idea how to live up to.  But, giving her credit, she was doing a great job of holding up.  So far…  Now, my friends and I were seated around a little fold up table in the back of the store.  Paix had placed several plates of cookies in front of us, but Quinton had downed more than half of them before the plates were actually on the table.  If this was how the boy ate even when he wasn’t that hungry, I had no desire to see him when he was starving…  But, that’s besides the point.  The warm homemade cookies had calmed my little group and I down enough to let us think clearly.  Hachi had cleaned Antigone up, while Paix tended to the rest of us.  It had been decided that Paix and Hachi would accompany us to the gates of Lendeor, doing as much as they could to help.  However, being who they were, they were not permitted to actually enter the gates of Morian’s world due to some enchantment.  This sort of stressed us out.  How would my friends and I managed after we entered the realm of darkness?  Hachi had an answer to that.  THEY were not allowed, though they knew someone who could.  Their mistress.  When we questioned the 2 girls about their mistress, they would not say much.  Apparently, this “woman” was someone not to be trifled with.  She was powerful enough keep Morian in check, but was hard to persuade into doing so.  Hachi and Paix were the only known living souls who could convince this mysterious lady.  And so, it was later decided that, since we needed the help of this shadowy figure, my friends and I would set out with Hachi and Paix in quest of their mistress.  If we got her on our side, we had a good chance of retrieving the book from Morian and escaping unscathed.  We were to leave Hachi and Paix’s store after our little snack escapade in search of the lady.  And right now, that’s exactly where we were.  Currently, we were all finishing the last of the cookies and packing up.  Sage stood up from her chair and brushed all the cookie crumbs from her jeans.  They cascaded to the floor.  Jada did likewise.  “Those were some pretty epic cookies.”  Jada commented, licking her finger and proceeding to catch any of the crumbs that were left on her plate.  Paix smiles, her brown eyes gleaming with joy.  “Yes, I must agree.”  Holly stood and dusted herself off.  Quinton shoved one last cookie into his mouth before sneezing and spraying me with a good sized cloud of crumbs.  Patiently, I closed my eyes, and brushed off my face.  “Sorry…”  His eyes skirted the floor, though there was a big grin on his face.  I decided to brush it off.  “ ‘s fine.”  I stood.  Beside me, Antigone was still munching.  She was still eating the same cookie she had been half an hour ago.  But, upon seeing that we were all ready to go, she stuck the remaining half cookie into her mouth.  “Alright, let’s go.”  Her words were muffled.  Hachi came out of an adjourning room with a backpack slung over one arm.  She had a long rain slicker on, complete with neon pink rain boots.  Paix, dressed in a similar fashion, stepped out from behind her friend.  All she had was a satchel.  I looked outside.  The sun was shining bright and warm.  “Why?...”  Sage looked totally confused.  “Oh, it’ll rain soon.”  Paix chirped.  And, sure enough, not long after the words left her mouth, than a clap of thunder broke loose from overhead, followed by a sheet of rain and a flash of lightning.  Where had that come from?  “It’s the time unwraveling.”  Hachi mumbled, checking the contents of her bag.  “Nothing will make sense till we restore the seam.”  There was silence.  “Oh.  Ok…”  Sage still looked confused.  “Ready to roll?”  Jada spoke up.  She had her hood low on her head, though I saw the bump of one of her ears sticking up through the fabric.  “Just about.”  I walked over and slid the hood a little to the left, disguising the lump.  “Now we are.”  I smiled at my pal.  “Right we are.”  Antigone said.  With that, she led the way to the door and opened it.  Instantly, a flash of lightning lit up the sky and an intense gust of wind pushed the cold heavy rain into the doorway.  I stared out the windows and into the dark clouds beyond the comfort and warmth of the shop.  “Right we are.”  I repeated Antigone, almost in a whisper.  We were ready to embrace our fate.