Several hours had passed since Lia had realized what had been bothering her about the encounter she'd had with Marceena. Lia and Irene had spent those hours musing over Marceena and her unnaturalness. So far they hadn't been able to come up with anything to explain it.

"Ugh... we need a break," Irene said, stretching her arms over her head. "We need to just relax for a while. We are overthinking everything."

"Yeah... I guess we could go to the coffee shop. But if we do, let's take the car." Lia gestured to the pouring rain that had started outside. As if on cue, lightning flickered.

"Yeah... sounds good. I could totally use a coffee and a cinnamon roll," Irene said. 

"Hey, Nikki, do you want to go?" Lia asked. Nikki had been extra quiet for the last few hours, mostly just staring out the window into the rain. She continued to stare out at the sheets of rain and the crashing waves visible under the dark gray sky.

"Nikki? Are you alright?" Lia asked. Nikki finally noticed Lia had addressed her.

"Yes. I just... I was thinking," Nikki said.

"Irene and I are going to a coffee shop downtown. Do you want to go?" said Lia.

"Coffee?"

"Yeah. It's a drink. But they have other stuff too. You might enjoy getting out of the house for a while too. It will give you something to do besides look out the window," Lia said.

"Okay," Nikki said, slowly standing up.

"Here, I'll lend you some new clean clothes and some shoes." Lia ran to grab a change of clothes for Nikki. Nikki went and put them on and then came back. Lia offered some slip on shoes. Nikki looked unsure. Lia demonstrated putting on her own shoes. Nikki slipped on the other shoes and took a hesitant step, not sure about the strange human apparel.

"Okay, we're ready! Let's go!" Irene said. Lia went and grabbed her keys and wallet, and they all hurried through the rain to the car. Irene sat in the back, Nikki sat in the passenger seat, and Lia was the driver. After explaining seatbelts to Nikki, Lia started the ignition and they were off.

The car started to move. Nikki made a surprised noise and looked around uncertainly.

"Don't worry, Nikki. This is safe," Lia said as she turned onto the road and started to head into town. After several minutes, they had arrived.

"Ah, Common Grounds. One of my favorite places on stormy days!" Irene said, grinning. Lia helped Nikki, who had been complaining about being in a net since she didn't know how to undo the seatbelt.

"Alright, let's go," Lia said as they all got out and headed into the cozy shop. It was very busy, but they found one empty table and made their way over to it. Lia sat down, and Nikki followed suit. Irene stole an unused chair from another table and joined them. Nikki looked around with wide eyes.

"Oh, hey Lia!" A waiter came over and waved excitedly. 

"Michi!" Lia exclaimed, "I didn't know you worked here!"

"I just got the job. Nice to see you, Lia." Michi smiled and pulled out a small notepad. "So, um... what can I get for you all?"

"Can I get a latte with a cinnamon roll? Wait! No, actually make that two cinnamon rolls. It's been a long day." Irene said. Michi laughed softly and jotted down the order on his notepad.

"For you, Lia?" Michi asked, holding the pen poised over the paper.

"I'll get a peppermint hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant, please," Lia said. Michi nodded and wrote it down.

"And for you?" Michi turned to smile at Nikki. Nikki looked at him and then glanced at Lia.

"Oh, she will try a hot chocolate and a chocolate croissant as well," Lia said. "This is Nikki, by the way. She's from out of town but she is staying with me for a while."

Nikki gave a hesitant smile.

"Nice to meet you, Nikki. I am new to this town too." Michi said with a smile. "I'll be right back with all of your orders."

With that, Michi turned and walked over to the counter, passing the paper with their orders to someone behind it.

The door to the cafe opened and Lia waved as she noticed who had just entered.

"Oh, hey, Lia! Nice to see you again!"

Irene gave Lia a look clearly asking Who is he?

"Irene, Nikki, this is Marco. Marco, these are my friends Irene and Nikki.  Who is this?" Lia asked, gesturing to a girl who had come in with Marco.

"Hi... um... I'm Serena. I got lost and it was storming so Marco offered to bring me here to dry off and stay warm while I wait out this storm. The weather has been really rough lately hasn't it?" She said.

"Serena!" It was Nikki who spoke.

"Wait, Nikki?" Serena's face turned to one of shock.

Irene and Lia's mouths fell open as they stared.

"You know her?" Irene gaped.

"Yeah... uh... but Nikki, can I talk to you?" Serena gestured to the door, implying they talk in private.

"Yes." Nikki stood and she and Serena walked out the door.

"What the heck?" Irene stared after them. "How the heck would they know each other?"

"Well, it is a small town, they probably met sometime before," Marco said. In their shock Lia and Irene had almost forgotten he was here.

"Yeah... Yeah, probably," Lia said, although the glance she and Irene exchanged showed that they both knew that wasn't the case.

"Alright, here are your drinks, I'll be right back with the rest." Michi returned and set down the mugs carefully. "Wait, where is your other friend?" He asked.

"Thank you Michi, I'll go get her. She stepped outside for a minute." Lia said, standing up and heading to the door. She pushed it open and stepped out into the storm. She could hear Serena and Nikki talking in hushed voices. Over the sound of the storm Lia could just make out some of their words as they approached.

"You know you can't let him find out... if he finds out..."

"I know... it's just... my friends there, they tried but they couldn't..."

"Wait, they know about you?"

Serena hugged Nikki tightly.

"Nikki, I'm so sorry. I will try to help. But remember what I said. This is bigger than just us." Serena noticed Lia and quickly broke from the hug.

"I will let you get back to your friend." Serena looked flustered, not sure how much Lia had overheard.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. If you aren't done talking you can continue, I was just coming to tell Nikki that our orders are ready," Lia said.

"Oh, no. We are finished now." Serena smiled, but there was something more in her expression.

"Yes. We can go in." Nikki turned and walked back into the shop with Lia. They made their way back to their table. Their pastries had arrived while they had been outside. Marco stood from where he had been sitting talking to Irene.

"I'll leave you all to enjoy yourselves. Sorry for the intrusion," Marco said as he began putting on his jacket again.

"Are you going fishing today?" Lia asked as she sat down and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"No. The weather is too bad. It's been very unusual lately. The storms are much stronger and more frequent than they usually are at this time of year," Marco said.

"Oh. Well, good luck. If you want to stay here out of the storm and hang out with us you're welcome to," Irene offered.

"I don't want to interrupt you three. But I will probably see you all around sometime." Marco smiled and waved as he left the shop.

"So, what do you think Nikki," Lia asked as Nikki took a careful sip of hot chocolate.

"Good!" said Nikki.

"Try the pastry!" Irene urged. She had already devoured one of her cinnamon rolls and was part way into the second.

Nikki hesitantly bit the croissant. Her eyes lit up.

"Some human food isn't too bad," Nikki said quietly. Everyone laughed.

They enjoyed themselves, talking and laughing as they finished their drinks and pastries. They paid and were walking back to the car when Lia's phone rang.

"It's Luke. That's unusual. He usually never calls me," Lia said, answering the call and putting the phone up to her ear.

"Lia? It's Luke!" His voice sounded urgent and panicked.

"Yes? What happened?" Lia's face fell as Luke answered. "Okay. I'll be there right away." She hung up and quickly rushed to the car. Nikki and Irene followed.

"What is it? What happened?" Irene asked as Lia put the car in drive and quickly sped out of the parking lot.

"It's Jen," Lia said, a tremble in her voice. "She's in the hospital."

Hello everyone! This is a pretty long chapter for this story. What did you think? Please leave a comment. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!