On the third day they were in Vancouver, Kallan awoke to sunlight streaming through the curtains. For the past few days, not much had been done. They spent most of their time treating it like a vacation, sleeping in and enjoying the comforts of being away from the frantic hustle of Totus Islands. So far, contact with humans had been avoided since the restaurant incident. But on this day, Raidah had different plans.

"Get up!"

Still half asleep, Kallan rolled over and immediately fell of her bed. After spending 10 minutes trying to untangle her legs from the sheets, she went downstairs to the kitchen. Raidah stood at the stove, flipping pancakes.

"What took you do long? Hurry up, get a plate."

In answer, Kallan gave a sort of grunt, and shuffled over to the cupboard. "What's all the rush?" she asked in a groggy morning voice, words slurring together.

"We have work to," Raidah said.

"You found a lead?"

"No." Raidah flipped a pancake over a few times before setting it down on Kallan's plate. "Maple syrups right there."

Kallan drizzled syrup onto her pancake. "Let why do we have to get up so early?"

"Early?" Raidah snorted. "Back home you would've woken up three hours ago. It's eight thirty."

"But what work do we have that can't wait until later?"

"It's already waited long enough. Hurry up and eat!"

"But what are we doing?" Kallan took a bite of maple-syrup-soaked pancakes. "These are good. I didn't know you could cook!"

"Yeah, well, there's a lot you don't know about me," Raidah said. "And as for what we're doing today, there's one thing you should know about me by now, and that's that I think to keep some things a surprise."

That's for sure, Kallan thought, but said nothing else after that. They ate breakfast in silence. When they had finished eating, Kallan showered, got dressed, and generally got ready to go out. I don't need to bore you with all that. At 9:49 am exactly, Raidah drove up into the mall parking lot.

"What're we doing here?" Stepping out of the car, Kallan

"Shopping! Obviously. I take advantage of the low prices every time I'm out in the world of humans, and it's been fifteen years! My wardrobe needs replenishing."

"This is what you woke me up early for? Couldn't it have waited until the afternoon?"

"Absolutely not! For one thing, it's not even ten yet and look how crowded it is. Secondly, the sale at ends at noon." Locking the car, Raidah turned on her heel and walked towards the building. "You coming?" she called over her shoulder.

Kallan ran to catch up. Once inside, Kallan froze. She felt as if the masses of humans surrounding her were all staring. Those two teen girls whispering over in the corner? Had they just glanced at her? Did they see, through her carefully done concealer, a sign of her tattoos?

"Are you alright?" Raidah gently tapped her shoulder, and Kallan jumped at the touch.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?" She reached out and placed the palm of her hand on Kallan's forehead. "You're sweating."

"Yeah, it's just, uh, little warm in here."

"Really? I thought the air conditioning made it a bit cold."

"Oh, well, uh, not for me!" Kallan gave a small strangled smile.

"Okay. If you're not feeling well, just let me know okay?" Raidah said, eyebrows creasing.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kallan said with a shrug. "Now, what was this store you were talking about?"

~~~

Four hours later, laden with shopping bags, Kallan and Raidah headed to the food court. The smell of grease and cheap junk food filled the air. Packed with people, the atmosphere was alive, full of vibrant noises and loud, popping colors screaming Notice me!

"What do you feel like?"

"Hhmm... I want to try as much new food as possible. Pretty much the only human food we get back home is breakfast foods, pasta, or pizza. Maybe I'll try nachos?"

"Perfect!" Raidah clapped her hands in delight. "I think I will too. Wait here, find a table and I'll go get food."

Kallan found a relatively clean table to sit at and set their bags down by her feet.

"Hey you."

Kallan jumped and turned around to towards the voice she had hoped to never see again.

"Did I scare you?" Sliding into the seat on the opposite side of the small circular table, Darrin grinned and ruffled his hair.

"No."

"Lies!" he exclaimed. Darrin reached from the across the table and gave a sharp tug on one of Kallan's curls. "Hey! They bounce."

"Dude. Don't do that."

"Why?" He pulled another curl.

"Because it's annoying!"

"Not a good enough reason," Darrin said. "Hey, when did you re-dye it?"

"Just about an hour or two ago."

"I like the blue. Nice, bright color compared to the dark purple you had before."

"Thanks." I managed a small smile. "So what are you doing here?"

Darrin rolled his eyes. "Shopping. Actually, more like my mom's shopping and I was forced to go with her. What are you doing here?"

"Same as you. My sister wanted to shop so I had to come along. She's just gone to get food, but she'll be back soon."

"You have something on your face," said Darrin, pointing to her left cheek.

"I do?" Beginning to panic, Kallan dug through her bag frantically, looking for her mirror. Where her tattoos that obvious, even through all the makeup?

Darrin stretched across that table and gently wiped across Kallan's cheek. "Yeah, this thing." He held up a small black sequin.

"Oh." Relief watched over Kallan, and she smiled. "Must have come off of a shirt I was trying on."

Darrin shrugged and flicked the sequin to the side. "You never e-mailed me."

"I never got the chance." I don't want to talk to you.

"Oh, well, if you get the time then." Are we friends now? Why won't you talk to me Kallan?

"Kallan! Ready to eat?" Raidah chirped. "Oh, it's you from the restaurant, isn't it?" she added coolly, with an unemotional glance at Darrin.

"Yeah," he mumbled, glancing down at his sneakers, a nice pair of black Nikes, the swoosh a pure, clean white.

Raidah handed Kallan a place plate covered in cheesy nacho deliciousness and a medium sized cup of French fries. Suspiciously, Kallan picked up a French fry by one corner. "What is this?"

"You did not just say that!" Darrin exclaimed, fist slamming onto the table. "Did you really just ask what a French fry is?"

Ah, jurat, why do I always have to mess things up? Kallan thought. From across the table Raidah was giving her a sharp, cutting glare.

"What Kallan means is," Raidah said hastily, "is that mall French fries look a lot different than the ones we're used to. We don't go out very often, especially not to fast food places, so Kallan's mostly eating French fries I make at home that are very different than fast-food fries."

"Oh, okay then." Darrin seemed to except Raidah's explanation, though with a doubtful look. "Well, I'll be going now. My mom's probably wondering where I am. Nice seeing you Kallan."

After Darrin left, Raidah put down her burger and turned to scowl at Kallan. "What were you thinking?" she hissed. "Ask stupid questions like that and humans' with have us figured out before you know it!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Kallan whimpered. Her eyes began to water, it may be a small incident but Raidah's words cut like a knife. Scratch that, they cut like a chainsaw.

"I know you are," Raidah said much more softly, shoulders sagging. "Just... remember next time okay? Be careful. It's for your own safety, you know."

"I know, but, I thought humans were scared of us and that's why we were forced to the islands in the first place."

"When people are scared of things, they try even harder to thrash them down," Raidah replied.

Kallan looked over her shoulder, to where a group of four teen girls where sitting around a table, talking and laughing.

"Oh shut up!" one of them exclaimed, lobbing a chip at another's head. The girl hit by the potato chip simply laughed and threw it back.

"You know it's true though," she said, eyebrows wiggling. The table erupted in laughter and even the chip-throwing girl couldn't stay mad.

I wish I could be like that, she thought. Someday when this all is over, Taya and some of the others and I will all go to a mall, I'll make sure we still have those when the humans are gone. And we can just laugh and talk and have fun. Won't that be great?

Interrupting her thoughts, Raidah snatched a cheese- covered chip from Kallan's plate. "You eating these or not?" she asked playfully, crunching on the stolen chip.

"Hey!" Kallan yelled, hunching protectively over her plate. A small grin spread across her face, slowly turning from small grin into a wide smile. She laughed, the first she remember in a long time. Then again, maybe we can just enjoy life like this.

A/N Hope you all liked this chapter! Remember to vote + comment! <3

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