The next morning, Alex fell out of bed. Oddly enough, none of the twelve pillows that crowded the bed had fallen off with him.

The impact of his face with the floor had given him a risky idea. He decided to try and sneak downstairs to the kitchen before Lev and his mother woke up, so that he could make them breakfast. It was a kind deed, but also a mischievous one, and Alex's was completely committed to carrying it out.

He got up slowly, then climbed up the ladder to peek past the metal rail of the top bunk. But the bed was empty. It hadn't been made, and only the clothes had Lev worn to bed last night were there instead.

'Aliens,' Alex thought, 'must have abducted him, but their spaceship doesn't beam up clothes. Maybe they came from the strange colored moon.'

Worried that other bodies in town might have been abducted as well, he jumped down to the floor and grabbed his bow case, taking out Aetherius. Carefully, he pulled open the door and flew into an attack stance. But as soon as he was one foot in the hallway, he heard the sound of shuffling items and dishes against a counter. He lowered his bow as he stalked his way downstairs. He followed the sounds to the kitchen, where he saw Lev removing something from the oven, and Kaia placing food containers back into the fridge.

Lev was the first to notice him armed. "What the hell?" Kaia turned around when she heard.

Alex rushed to Lev's side and hugged him with his one free arm. "You guys are still here! And you're wearing clothes..." he whispered it, but both Novas' still heard it. Kaia went wide-eyed.

Lev gently pushed him off. "Yeah, making you breakfast like I said I would. Where the hell did you think we went?"

"When I woke up you weren't in your bed, but your clothes were. So I thought aliens from the moon probably abducted you."

Lev's laugh was unrelenting and unrestrained this time, and even Kaia shed a chuckle.

"Are you serious, Prior? Geez," Lev said.

"I am curious though, Alex. If we were abducted, what made you think the aliens came from the moon?" Kaia asked. Lev glanced, nonplussing, at his mother.

"Well the moon looked...purple, that night me and my dad got here in town. But then the next night it wasn't anymore. And then when I didn't see you this morning, I just panicked."

"Hm, I see. The moon here is quite unique, isn't it? Going through the signpost at the entrance of the town during the day, usually makes the lavender moon appear later at night. You won't really be able to see it again unless you past the signpost when its light out and return before the sun starts to set. I wouldn't think too much of the whole idea, it even gives the townspeople a headache at times," explained Kaia.

"If you two are done with your alien conspiracy theories, this food I wasted my time making is getting cold," Lev interrupted.

Alex looked over on the counter and saw a round pan filled with a well-baked loaf, golden brown and an aroma so delectable it could wake the dead. "Is that...pie?"

Lev grinned. "Hot pie. With steak, ground beef and cheddar cheese."

Alex had ended up having two large slices of pie, while Lev and Kaia each had a thinner piece. "This is so much better than what I cooked yesterday," Alex commented.

"I wouldn't get too carried away there," Kaia started. Lev glared at her. "Why don't you take the rest home?" she said to Alex, ignoring her son. "As a parting gift, and an invitation to come by again any time and cook another fantastic meal."

"Geez, time to go," Lev groaned. "Get dressed already, Prior."

By the time Alex got home, it was 10:30 a.m., and the sun barely shone through the mass of swarming clouds.

He saw a note taped to the front door from Grayson: 'Went to the city to finish getting the store ready for opening day tomorrow. Your new friends came by just as I was about to leave, so I let them in to wait inside your room. Wow, you're so popular now! tell me all about it later."

Alex rolled his eyes as he went inside, ripping off the note and tossing it onto the couch before heading to the kitchen. He placed the leftover hot pie in the fridge, then trudged upstairs to his bedroom. He walked in to see the group settled in a circle on his bed playing cards.

"Lexy, you're finally back!" shouted Carsyn. "Sorry about the max occupation on your bed. We're just playing a quick game of poker. Wanna join? Remi can deal you in."

Alex shook his head. "I'm good for now. You guys go ahead." He plopped down into a blue bean bag chair across from his bed, not paying much attention to the curious looks he was getting from everyone.

"Well, he still looks in one piece. So that's a good sign I guess," Evan mentioned.

"Looks can be deceiving," Tate stated.

"Sheesh, you guys really weren't expecting me to make it out alive from there. Did you also have low levels of faith, Syn?" Alex asked her.

"Lexy, you're amazingly innocent, and I have no doubt that you're a bad-ass with that bow, but I was honestly expecting at least some sort of evidence of a fight being put up. No black eyes, limping, or anything. It's almost like you're happy about whatever the hell happened over there."

Alex let a soft laugh escape him, but it quickly escalated into a boisterous fit. The group all watched him, curious and bemused.

"He's gone absolutely mad," Nyne said.

"I hear crazy can be contagious. Maybe we shouldn't be on his bed," Jeremi cautioned.

Ziro set his cards down on the bed. "Let's pause the game instead." He looked at Alex, his baleful eyes boring into his all the way from where he sat, "what really happened then?"

Alex sobered up from laughing his fit, and began to recount the tale. He told them about his meeting with Lev's musician mother. He told them of his greetings with the affectionate amphibian, Skelkin. He told them of the small feast he had cooked for the Novas'. He told them of his cold introduction to Verglas. He told the about the false alien abduction he thought had happened, and his crash-course lesson of the moon. He told them of the magnificent feast Lev had prepared for him. He didn't tell them about the serious conversation he had with Lev last night, though.

The group sat there, cards loosely held onto, astonished. Save for the rest of them, Carsyn's lips slowly curled into an ungodly smile. And for the first time, Ziro looked quite stunned.

"He showed you Verglas?" Ziro asked. The room grew more silent than it already was.

"Yes," Alex replied softly. "...and next weekend we're planning to have another sleepover, but at my house this time."

Collective gasps flew around the room; Ziro looked as if he really couldn't believe it.

"Lexy, you'd really bring that guy to your home?" Carsyn asked.

"He's not just some guy to me anymore, he's my friend. I know you guys definitely have an issue with him, so I won't try to be some mending bridge between you all. But I'm new to this town and the whole friendship thing too, so I'm making the sole decision of who I want to be friends with. I'm not getting younger, so I can't afford to be fickle with friend-making anyway."

"Wow. Syn, you never told us his innocence was this fatal," Tate mused.

"He'd make a good public defender, or whatever they're called," Jeremi commented.

"He'd make an annoying preacher," Evan said.

"American boys... What can you do, really?" Nyne sighed.

Carsyn just smiled. "Lexy..."

"Fine. It's your decision. But since you plan to be around him, why don't you keep an eye on him for us? To make sure he keeps his end of your deal, and whatnot." Ziro proposed.

The group exchanged more silent, disbelieving glances at each other. Carsyn watched Ziro carefully.

Alex shifted awkwardly before meeting eyes with Ziro. "Keep an eye on him? You mean...spy on him?"

"I wouldn't call it that exactly. Help me out here, Nyne."

"Ah, think of it more as...vigilant observation," Nyne explained with a pageant-like smile.

"Exactly. Just watch your back though, he can't always be trusted. Now come up here, you're playing. I'm buying the winner a meal of their choice." Ziro picked up his cards, then gestured for Jeremi to move over, but Carsyn stopped him.

"Actually, why don't you sit right here, Lexy." She scooted over away from Ziro, leaving room in between herself and him. Ziro glared at her, but Carsyn smirked reassuringly, swaying him to calm down and agree to the invitation.

Alex pushed off the beanbag and slumped over to the open space on his bed. Jeremi dealt him in while stealing amused glances at Ziro, who avoided making eye contact with him throughout the rest of the game.

Everyone noticed the strange atmosphere that had invaded, but they all kept quiet about it, not daring to disturb the new feeling.