"As nice as it is to be back home again I almost miss the adventure, you know?" Harper commented quietly.

  He added quickly, "I'm gd everyone's safe, that you and Chester and Fiona all got proper medical care. And that we're not still stranded and rationing supplies and regur strength acetaminophen tablets while waiting for rescue."

  Then he sighed, "I don't know. Regur stuff just feels kind of dull and boring and pointless now. Like st week we were doing really important stuff? Bke helped save the world, you fixed the radio and made the call that got us rescued, and I looked after everyone's injuries. This week I'm selling screwdrivers and paintbrushes."

  "Yeah I get it," Ellie grimaced. "I've been thinking a lot about that too. Especially when I'm busy cleaning grease and oil off the body shop floor."

  She lowered her voice as she continued, "I've only had two shifts since we got back, but I keep thinking about quitting? That envelope Cel gave me had enough money that I don't really need to work this summer. Except I have a feeling that doing nothing would be even more boring than working. Plus my parents keep telling me the job experience is just as important as the money. But yeah, it feels weird being back to our normal boring lives after everything we've been through."

  I pointed out, "I get that retail and shop work feel kind of meaningless compared to the stuff we did st week, but it's just temporary right? College is only two months away. Then Harper you'll be studying to be a nurse or an EMT."

  "And Ellie you're going to be studying engineering right?" I continued. "Those both feel like important careers. You're both going to be making the world better, in your own different ways."

  My boyfriend gave me a sad smile, "Yeah I know. I guess I should try and keep that in mind. Thanks Bke."

  Then he asked, "How about you, how are you handling stuff? I figure you might be feeling it even worse than me and Ellie, after everything you've been through."

  The waiter chose that moment to arrive with our food, so I kept quiet while he was at our table. It was Saturday evening and the three of us were out on another date night. We were back at the wings pce in Dundalk again, and this time it was almost packed. There were sports games pying on the TVs and a lot of the other patrons were drinking beer with their wings, but it wasn't so noisy that we couldn't hear each other talk.

  Harper got himself a dozen mild wings and a rge order of onion rings, while Ellie had a dozen Thai sweet and spicy wings with a side of fries. And I got a dozen honey bbq wings, and potato wedges on the side. And we all had rge gsses of co to drink.

  As my friends got started on their food I finally answered my boyfriend's question, "I've been ok I guess? Mostly just spending time at home with mom and Amelia."

  "I've managed to avoid that big serious conversation with mom so far," I added. "But me and Amelia ended up talking a bunch yesterday, while mom was out? I guess she's been kind of stressed by all this stuff too, just from being on the edge of it and not really knowing what was happening and stuff?"

  Ellie frowned, "I guess that makes sense. I'm sure she's been worried about you too, right?"

  "Yeah," I nodded. "I think maybe we bonded a bit more yesterday or something? Even though some of that stuff was hard to talk about, it was nice having that time with her."

  Then I sighed as I finally picked up one of my wings, "I found out today that my aunt's going to come over in a couple days to meet with mom and I? So I figure that's when my mom's going to want to hear all the details about the ritual and the Outsiders and her mother. I really just want to forget about that stuff though."

  My girlfriend gave me a sad look as she said, "I'm sorry Bke."

  "Thanks," I mumbled before I finally started to eat.

  Then after my first wing I added, "Mom also said aunt Leslie's going to be heading out to Saskatoon ter next week, to get their mother's affairs in order. She probably has to close out accounts and deal with her house and stuff like that."

  Ellie raised her eyebrows, "Is there some kind of inheritance or something? I got the impression Judith had money. I mean, she must have if she was hiring henchmen right? That can't be cheap."

  "I guess?" I shrugged. "Mom said she was disowned so she wouldn't get anything anyways. So if there's an inheritance, it's all going to Leslie."

  Harper had a thoughtful frown on his face as he commented, "I'm not sure how that would even work, without a body or a death certificate. Legally I think she'd be considered missing rather than dead."

  "Actually now I'm wondering about her whole expedition," he added. "Like an entire university sponsored crew just vanished, except for the two survivors. Two profs, a student, and a bunch of hired help all disappeared without a trace? People are going to be questioning that."

  All that stuff left me feeling uncomfortable again, and my girlfriend must have noticed. She looked to Harper and suggested, "Maybe we should talk about something else? This isn't exactly a good dinner-time or date-night conversation. I'm sorry for bringing it up in the first pce."

  "Right," the tall handsome jock nodded. "Sorry Bke."

  Then he changed the subject, "How are the new gsses Ellie?"

  "They're good," she smiled. "Not quite indestructible, but they should be a lot tougher than the st ones. They're supposedly made of the same stuff they make safety gsses out of? Except they can't call them that because they don't have any protection on the sides."

  Harper responded, "Cool. They look good on you."

  That made Ellie ugh, "No they don't. They make me look like a huge nerd. Which is fine, I'd rather look like a dork who can see clearly through her indestructible gsses than wear some fragile fashion crap that's going to break the first time they fall off my face."

  Like the st pair, these new ones had chunky lenses set in some thick bck frames. I had to disagree about them making her look like a nerd though.

  "Harper's right," I told her. "They do look good on you. Or maybe it's more accurate to say you make the gsses look good? They bring out the green in your eyes, which I think looks really pretty."

  My comments brought some pink to her cheeks, and also put an embarrassed smile on her face.

  "Thanks Bke," she mumbled, before distracting herself with another wing.

  We were all quiet for a minute or two after that, just munching on our dinner. Eventually my boyfriend spoke up again, with another question for Ellie.

  "Sorry if this is a delicate subject, but I'm curious how your cut's doing?" he asked her. "Have you had a chance to see your local doctor yet? Have you been changing the bandage regurly since we got back?"

  The tomboy had what looked like a new adhesive bandage on her forehead, one of those fabric 'skin tone' ones that was supposed to sort of blend in. Unfortunately it was a bit too dark so it stood out against her fair skin.

  She shrugged, "I've been changing it myself every day, but it's pretty much healed I think? Maybe tomorrow I won't even bother with a bandage."

  "My mom's trying to convince me to go see a pstic surgeon down in the city," she added. "Mom thinks they can work magic so there won't be any scar? I told her I don't really care about that. Plus the doctor in Iqaluit said it was probably too te for that anyways."

  "I'm really sorry about that Ellie," Harper sighed as he shook his head. "I wish I could have done a better job patching you up, but..."

  My girlfriend frowned at him as she stated, "It's not your fault. Hell if it wasn't for you it would have been ten times worse. The doc said so himself, that without you I could have ended up with life-threatening complications. Seriously Harper, you probably saved my eye. You might have even saved my life. And you definitely saved me from an even bigger nastier scar."

  The tall strong jock still looked upset that he wasn't able to do any better. He didn't argue though, he just nodded and accepted it. Then he looked to me and asked, "How about your arm? It looks like it's healing ok."

  "Yeah it's doing alright," I nodded. "Well enough I don't need to keep it bandaged up anymore, as long as I'm careful not to bump it or anything."

  The mark on my arm was still pink and tender, and it was pretty noticeable since I was wearing a short-sleeve top. The scar was about eight or nine centimetres long by maybe two centimetres wide, stretching diagonally across the back of my forearm mid-way between my wrist and elbow.

  Ellie gnced at my arm then commented, "I still can't believe you got hurt like that while you were pinked-out. I'll bet a regur person would have lost their whole arm if it happened to them."

  "Or worse," I mumbled with a grimace, as I couldn't help thinking about the fates of Judith and that professor guy.

  My friends still didn't know all those details either. I'd told them about the fighting and the ritual in general terms, but neither of them had asked for the grisly details. They both seemed curious, but either they were waiting until I could talk about it without getting too upset, or maybe they both realized that there were things they were better off not knowing.

  This time it was Harper who noticed that distant troubled look on my face, so he tried to change the subject. He asked, "Have you heard from any of the others since we got back? Anahera seemed a little more friendly with you by the time we parted ways at the airport in Ottawa, same with Val and Ivy."

  "I haven't heard from those three yet," I replied as I popped another wedge in my mouth. "But Fiona messaged me Thursday, and we ended up talking a bit online."

  After swallowing I eborated, "She was compining that she still needs that cane they gave her in Iqaluit. She said she can't wait to get back on her bike, but it's going to be a few more weeks before she's healed enough to ride."

  I smiled as I continued, "She's already covered the cane in stickers. Uh, rainbow and lesbian pride colours mostly, plus some two-headed axe stickers. Which apparently are also a kind of lesbian symbol?"

  "She's done the same sort of thing on her bike too," I added. "She sent me some pictures of it. It's big and bck and shiny, with lesbian pride fgs on the gas tank and little two-headed axes on the front forks and the back of the seat."

  "That's called a brys," Ellie grinned. "The axe, I mean? Very appropriate symbol for her, since she knows how to use one."

  Harper commented, "It's ironic that you and Fiona ended up being friends. Considering how it went when you first met, I mean."

  I shrugged, "That wasn't her fault. She said herself she'd been misinformed."

  "Although I guess I'm a little surprised how fast she changed her mind about me," I admitted. "She actually invited me to come visit her in Wales, if I ever get the chance to go over there."

  "Cool!" Ellie smiled. "Are you going to take her up on it?"

  That left me thinking for a bit, as I had a gulp of my soda. Finally I shook my head, "Probably not. Or at least not any time soon? I don't think I'd want to go on any long trips without you two, and after our st 'vacation' I doubt any of our families would be happy about us getting on another pne and flying across the ocean this summer."

  "Plus you're both working again, and I doubt you could get more time off," I added. "And I'm supposed to be looking for work too. Then in September we've all got college. So really it wouldn't be until next summer, at the earliest. And that's assuming you two are even interested in going."

  Harper and Ellie exchanged a look, then my tall handsome boyfriend nodded. "I'd go. Especially if we could do a bit of touring around? I don't know how far it is from Wales to the rest of the UK, but it'd be neat to see London and stuff."

  "Yeah," my girlfriend agreed. "I can think of a dozen things I'd love to see over there. I don't know if we'd be able to afford it though? It's probably an expensive trip, plus I'll bet hotels and stuff like that aren't cheap over there."

  She grinned as she added, "We probably can't get Cel to pay for another vacation."

  That got a ugh out of Harper, while I just smiled. Then the three of us focused on our dinner again for a bit. I ate the st of my wings before they got too cold while my boyfriend munched on a few more onion rings, and my girlfriend drained her soda.

  Eventually the waiter came by to check on us, and we were all pretty much finished so he gathered up the dishes. We all chipped in to pay the bill, then headed outside to Harper's pickup, where we spent the next ten minutes trying to decide what we wanted to do next. It was barely eight o'clock on a Saturday night, but there weren't a whole lot of options out in the middle of nowhere.

  After some discussion we ended up driving further south, down to Shelburne to visit a cafe that specialized in desserts. I got a big piece of chocote mousse cake, Ellie picked a slice of cherry cheesecake, and Harper went for the key lime pie. And we all got fancy coffees.

  Then as the three of us sat down at one of the tables my boyfriend asked, "Are you still looking for work Bke? I checked at the hardware store, but they don't have any openings."

  "Yeah I'm still looking I guess," I replied as I loaded my fork up with a big chunk of my dessert. "I mean I haven't really started yet, but the next few days I'll probably be out putting in applications everywhere within walking distance."

  My girlfriend had a sip of her coffee then responded, "I checked at the body shop but they didn't have anything either..."

  Her voice trailed off and she hesitated, with a sort of thoughtful look on her face. Then she finally said, "There's one other pce I could check if you wanted? If there's an opening I'm ninety-percent sure it'd be retail work, but I guess it's better than nothing."

  "That's pretty much what I was doing at Crawford's," I pointed out. "So yeah, I'd appreciate it if you could check for me?"

  Ellie nodded, "Ok Bke. I'll try and find out tomorrow, and let you know."

  PurpleCatGirl