Jake woke up feeling fairly fresh. He found that surprising, considering how late he had been out the night before looking for that stupid store. Another rock concert had filled the streets with throngs of students, gangers, and other people caught up in the chaotic madness. It had been after ten before he’d called it quits and gone home in disgust with the others.

His failure meant that he’d have to go to the police now. He wouldn’t bother security with this; he guessed that it would fall outside their jurisdiction. No point in bothering them then.

He walked out of his room after freshening up and found breakfast already made—it was Serena’s turn to cook. Helping himself to the bacon and eggs and toast, he poured himself a tall glass of orange juice. Stepping out onto the small balcony, he set his food on the tiny table and ate heartily. Standing upright, he leaned against the rail to finish his drink, staring out across the broad sports field of the college. Already he could see the women’s soccer team doing their warm ups in short shorts and tees.

Ah, he thought happily, the view here is perfect. He kept his eye on a particular buxom girl running in place, her shirt bouncing wildly. He could tell, even from this distance, that it was Nacomi Rushing Water. His heart skipped a beat as her face turned towards him. Whether or not she actually noticed him was inconsequential. He thought she did, and that was enough. He could vividly see her gorgeous, heart-shaped face with its infectious smile and bright eyes in his mind.

A cough came from behind him. He spun around, heat stinging his cheeks guiltily as his sister grinned up at him. His embarrassment gave way to a surge of anger, before going back to chagrin at the ease in which she snuck up on him.

“What’cha want?” he asked shortly.

“Just checking your tongue was still in your mouth.” She teased, coming to stand beside him. “Otherwise I’d have to ask Nacomi to kick it back in.”

“Shut up.” Jake muttered without any heat. A grin kept trying to form at his mouth. As long as he’d been with her, she’d never let him develop an ego too far before popping his bubble. He watched her walk back into the apartment, laughing.

Once more alone with his thoughts, he returned to staring at the girls on the field. At last he pulled himself from a pleasant fantasy of a warm household with Nacomi as his loving wife and went inside. It was time to put the dishes away and get his stuff together for his classes.

Unexpectedly, a sharp pain in his chest knocked the wind from his lungs. He froze, one foot in the air, as his thoughts raced ever faster, imagining all the unpleasant possibilities. Everything from a heart attack to horrible indigestion that would keep him bedridden passed through his brain.

A small “urp” passed his lips and the pain went away. A smile of relief passed across his face and he chuckled inwardly to himself, scoffing at his fears. A heart-attack indeed!

“It was only gas.” He laughed at himself.

Without further thought about it, he went to grab his textbooks and packpack. He ran into Brain at the door, struggling with a broken belt-buckle on his backpack. It was so thread-worn and patched that it seemed almost to have been stitched from old rags.

“Haven’t you gotten rid of that eyesore yet?” He asked.

“I like this backpack.” Brian defended.

“Hell, it’s falling apart man. You really need a new one.” Jake countered.

“Well, the day it disintegrates completely is the day I’ll replace it.” Brian grinned, obviously feeling he’d won the argument.

“Well, just remember; things usually up and quit right when you need them most.” Jake riposted. Brian grunted sourly as the others showed up and ended it with Jake having the last word.

Jake locked the door behind them (He was the primary on the loan for the apartment, so he had the keys and sent the money in regularly) before they walked towards the campus. On the way, each of them were discussing the day ahead.

“…and I hope Professor Madison doesn’t assign chapter ten yet. I’m still confused with his explanation Friday.” Rachel was saying.

“I know. And calculus is hard enough to begin with. I wish he could be a lot clearer with his stuff.” Tom agreed. Jake knew they had the same class, and from what they had said about it he knew he would do his best to stay away from old man Madison.

“…then I took the salmon head and snuck up behind her while she was talking.” Serena told Stacey and Brian, who were already grinning hugely. Despite having heard it before, Jake found himself grinning widely as well; it was pretty funny. “I could puppeteer the mouth with my hand from behind. So I moved it in sync with her lips and got it closer and closer until it just touched the back of her neck. She leaped around and screamed so loud! (Everyone doubled over with laughter at that) ‘Cause there she was, face to face with that dead fish!”

“Ha! Serves the stuck-up bitch right.” Stacey chortled gleefully.

Shaking his head, Jake tuned them out and kept an eye out for Nacomi and her class to do their campus jog. Unfortunately, they either forgot to do it or were late, and he ended up walking disappointedly to his history class.

Unsurprisingly, the classroom was almost empty when he got there. The only person there was Professor Vargus. It wasn’t unusual for them to be the only people in the room for fifteen minutes before the start of the class.

“Good morning Mr. Vargus.” He greeted cordially as he sat down at one of the empty desks and pulled out his history textbook.

“Morning Jake.” Vargus responded, looking up from his papers. “It’s good to see you in from that weekend we just had. That rock concert!” he shook his head.

“Mmm.” Jake agreed, thinking more about that strange shop. He checked his watch and briefly wondered if there was a walk-in time at the station, then told himself that was silly. A police station would have to be manned twenty-four hours a day, right? He had plenty of time to make it after his last class. He wondered if he should get the statue…then he wondered if he would even dare walk through town with it. It would be too dangerous, he thought. Best leave it at the apartment and see if the police would come and get it.

“Say, what are we doing today?” he asked, mostly to get his mind off the treasure.

“Well, with over half my students having called in today, and a low chance of any of my other students showing up, was there any particular subject you would like to talk about?”

Jake thought for a moment. He listed all the historical events he liked to talk about, from the construction of the first ironclads to the naval battle of Jutland and the others, but none really struck him as interesting today. And then the memory of the so-called “dragon’s claw” came to him, and he smiled.

“Actually, I’m curious to know more about dragon myths…er, the role they played in history and such.” He caught himself. It wouldn’t do to bring in fantasy without basing it in reality!

Vargus raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” he asked, clearly not having expected the question.

Just when Jake thought he would laugh it off, Vargus sat down and looked intently over steepled hands in what Jake recognized as his lecture mode. Jake scrambled for his notebook and pencil to write as he spoke.

“The origins of dragon mythology are, frankly, a mystery.” He began. “Some of the earliest accounts that I am aware of occurred in China. These dragons were described as long serpents without wings and maned heads, similar to lions. They were keepers of lore and possessed great wisdom. Emperors and kings were reputed to have sought their advice, and their kingdoms and empires prospered greatly from the lessons they gained in these exchanges. They lived tremendously long lives—indeed some believe they could not die of age, but would gradually vanish into deep caves, becoming invisible as they slept. Others think they became the stone statues that guard temples and bridges.”

As they were talking, several other students filed in quietly and took their seats, writing notes as Vargus continued speaking, not noticing them it seemed.

“This is a far cry from the dragons in medieval Europe. Unlike their gentler relatives in the Far East, the dragons in Europe were savage, bestial raiders that killed indiscriminately, taking sheep and shepherd alike for dinner. They had great hoards of gold, silver, precious gems and the like. It appears that all dragons, in East or West, had a similarity to the magpie in that they liked shiny objects; the only difference was that a dragon’s tastes were far richer. Some in the West were portrayed as cunning adversaries, but all were reputed man-eaters, devouring maiden or princess alike. Hence the knight’s commonest quest was to rescue a fair damsel in distress and would, in turn, have her hand in marriage and the wealth of her father.”

He paused a moment, thinking, before continuing. “Physically, the European dragons were stocky, long-limbed and fast creatures, with huge batwings, great horned heads, razor sharp talons and a mouthful of fearsome teeth. Some people believe early fossils of the Tyrannosaur family were found and thought to be the inspiration for the dragon head descriptions, although where the horns come into that assumption I do not know.”

“Excuse me professor!” Came a voice from the back of the surprisingly full classroom, jolting Jake out of his note-taking—he hadn’t hear anyone else come in—and making him look interestedly at the speaker. A gangly guy with freckles.

“Yes?” Vargus asked politely.

“What did the dragons do with the gems and gold and stuff?” he asked.

“There are many different theories to the ‘Dragon’s Hoard’ that has filled fantasy books on the subject. Like I mentioned before, some think the dragon was like a magpie, stealing anything shiny it could find, and because during the medieval period the only shiny objects were armor, weapons, gems and noble metals, they were what the dragon took naturally. Others think that, like humans, they suffered from a large streak of avarice, and the worth of the jewels and such were what attracted them. Most think that they liked gold the most and the others were a hint of the rest, avarice for finer things, but the gold they placed in a nest they slept on as a bed. Still more take it one step further, saying it is a way for a dragon to attract the eye of the opposite sex, similar to how certain dresses and necklaces on a woman attract a man and a snappy outfit on a boy can grab the attention of a girl.”

There were several chuckles at the professor’s last remark. Then a girl’s voice piped up; “I heard they could speak and liked riddles?”

“Ah, a Tolkien fan.” The professor smiled broadly at her. “And you are correct; one of the defining characteristics of many dragons in myth—not just Middle Earth—is their linguistic capabilities. It is more common in Chinese mythology, where an ancient dragon first taught them their written language which, through growing usage, became the unified language. This speaking ability could be found in European mythology as well. It isn’t as common, but here we find that dragons were much more sly and cunning in their riddles, with far more terrible consequences for the loser of their riddles.”

The professor stopped speaking and looked at his notes with a frown. Then he shrugged and moved to the computer nearby and fired it up, turning on the small box projector and pulling down the screen. Stepping aside, he waited for the warm-up to finish and an image flashed up on the screen of a roughly carved stone showing a stylized sheep being snatched by a fearsome looking dragon. Beneath there were about a dozen brave knights in armor charging into the flames of the dragon. The last showed the dragon flying over the mountains with a sword in its claws.

“This frieze was found some time back in Norway showing a local dragon that had taken to devouring livestock of the local villages. The knights quested singly or in a group to bring down the beast, but the dragon got the better of them, taking their weapons and armor as spoils of war. The rest of the frieze is damaged beyond repair from time, but at the absolute bottom, which isn’t seen in this photo, there shows a huge celebration and happy farmers and peasants farming in peace. So it seems that somehow, the dragon was driven off or killed.”

By the end of class, Jake found his notebook was full of notes and his head spun from all the information that had been crammed into it. The odd part of it was, he felt strangely exhilarated about it all. A glance around the classroom showed everyone seemed to be of similar mind; instead of a couple people taking notes while the others struggled to stay awake, nearly everyone was taking notes.

“Now,” Vargus smiled. “Since there seems to be so much interest in the subject, I suppose we could have some interesting homework this week. I would like to see each of you find a historical reference to some dragon, it can be European or Chinese or other, and write a paper discussing your choice, what effect it had in the local region, and what abilities it used.”





A little later Jake met Tom and Stacey at the cafeteria. They bought the special (pizza slices, as it was Monday) and made their way to an empty table near the back.

Jake listened as Stacey talked animatedly about her biology class that morning. It was her weakest subject normally and she had a fear of being dropped from the class or failing it completely—part of the reason she stayed up so late with Serena at night was to get as much help with her homework as she could—but for some reason today was different.

“I can’t believe I got a hundred on that pop quiz!” She gushed for about the dozenth time. “Professor Cetea seemed surprised as well. She checked it twice! I guess all that time with Serena is really paying off.”

Jake nodded in agreement, but at the moment he was far more interested in the last bite of pizza on his plates. Raising the gooey goodness to his mouth, his eyes caught sight of the wound on his arm, which looked much different then before.

Hmm. SPent more time in the sun this weekend than I thought. My skin is pretty red and dry. It looks almost…scaly.

He’d have to get some aloe on it, was all. It should take care of the problem. He was glad to see the actual cut was almost gone, it had healed pretty darn fast. He was about to point it out to his friends when a commotion at the front of the cafeteria attracted everyone’s attention.

A group of teen rockers had come in, dressed like poor bikers or gang members, and were being generally loud and obnoxious. They were looking for some kind of trouble, but no one seemed interested in picking a fight with six guys. Seven, Jake amended, he hadn’t noticed the little one just behind the biggest who had arms the size of a pro wrestler. He was the one doing most of the talking, with the others riding shotgun.

We should call security on these guys. Jake started to reach for his cellphone when the punks hooted with glee, zeroing in on a older woman sitting alone at a table. Jake watched with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as they clustered around the table, talking loud enough to be heard around the entire room.

“Hey, old lady. What’cha doin here?” one of them sneered. “This place is for the young folk!”

“Looks like she’s gonna be a business woman.” The small, rat-faced teen grinned nastily. His emphasis on “biz” made it seem almost dirty somehow.

“Go back to the house, momma! And fix me a snack. That’s where you belong after all.” The big blonde teen guffawed.

Everyone else seemed frozen in indecision. Here and there a chair scraped back as other students, some young and a couple of older guys, started to get up, but Jake had heard enough. He wasn’t going to sit around and wait for Security to get there, the punks were going to apologize and then leave. Everyone was usually intimidated by his great size, it was time to see if it would work here.

His chair fell over with a loud bang as he stood up. He’d done it deliberately and so didn’t bother to pick it up. He strode towards the gang, taking long, deliberate strides and stretching to his full towering height. He vaguely heard Tom and Stacey behind him following. Tom was muttering a prayer and Stacey had apparently called security, at least that’s what it sounded like.

The gang watched his approach with a little apprehension, and Jake felt a little emboldened by the fear he sensed from them. He came to a stop in front of the big guy, who looked at him straight in the eye. Both of them sized each other up. The other man appeared to be the same age, a little smaller than Jake, but had tons of scars over his arms and face, attesting to many fights whereas Jake stayed as far away from fighting as he could. The other guy seemed to sense it, because he grinned widely, the fear falling away.

“Looky-here, boys.” He leered. “Looks like some frickin’ heer-oh comin’ to the rescue!”

Jake spoke slowly and deliberately. “Apologize to the lady and leave. Security will be here soon.” He added.

The punks laughed. “What, ya think we’re afraid of a few rent-a-cops? Besides,” he added with a sneer, “They’re too busy with that accident down the road to save you!” And to prove his point he suddenly reached out and punched Jake in the jaw.

It was pretty weak, Jake barely noticed it and it didn’t even snap his head back. Yet the big man suddenly screamed and held his hand like it hurt him.

Did he just attack me? He thought wonderingly.

Jake reached out and snagged the front of the big man’s jacket and lifted. Everyone gasped as his feet left the ground and he dangled helplessly in Jake’s grip. Jake made his voice firm as he spoke.

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me. I said you were to apologize to this lady and then leave this campus and not bother coming back. Do I have to repeat myself?”

Jake noticed the raw terror gripping the punks eyes as he locked gazes with him. Jake wondered why the man was so easily scared of being picked up. Of course, he didn’t notice the roiling volcanoes that his own eyes had become, with his face set in a terrible stony visage. The punk managed to squeak out an answer at last.

“N-n-n-no!”

Jake set the man slowly back onto the ground. The moment his feet touched the tough tried to run, but Jake held him firm. He spun quickly to the table and the bewildered and badly frightened woman still seated there, watching the entire display with stunned incredulity.

“Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean it! Sorry!” the tough babbled.

The woman nodded dumbly and Jake let his grip go. The man wobbled, turned, and pelted through his friends, knocking two of them over in his haste to get out. The others looked fearfully at Jake a fraction of a second more before they turned and followed their leader out the door.

When they had gone, silence reigned for a short while as Jake watched through the glass windows to see the punks pelting through campus and into the streets beyond as fast as their feet could take them. A security guard coming around the far corner spotted them and gave chase for a minute before giving up and watching with everyone else the apparent madmen sprinting for their lives. Then they turned a corner and were gone.

“Thank you.” The woman at the table said quietly, breaking the spell. Abruptly, scattered cheers and applause sounded throughout the crowd in the lunchroom before everyone went back to eating.

“You’re welcome.” Jake nodded to her as he went back towards Tom and Stacey, thanking them for their help.

Strong arms enfolded him from behind, making him stiffen in surprise. “That was amazing!” A thrillingly familiar voice said from somewhere about his shoulder blades. His heart stopped beating and sweat broke out on his palms…when on earth had she come into the lunchroom?! He wondered.

He turned to see Nacomi Rushing Water standing behind him, the rest of her team a little ways beyond staring at them. He didn’t notice. She looked drop-dead gorgeous, he thought wonderingly, and found himself wanting a chance to taste those full lips of hers.

He opened his mouth to apologize for not seeing her but what came out was, “Would you like to get a burger tonight?”

Her smile threatened to melt his knees. “I’d like that. What time?” Her sweet voice was music to his ears!

“Four?” he made it sound like a question.

“That would be fine.” She told him. He thought she still seemed a little put out and wondered what it could be when another unexpected voice came from behind.

“Well, why don’t you join us for a while now?” His sister asked, appearing suddenly beside him. It appeared to be the day for sneaking up on him, he thought ruefully. “And the big lug can tell me what he’s done to attract such praise.”

“You mean you don’t know?”Nacomi asked in surprise.

Serena shook her head. “I just got here.”

“Oh! Well, it was totally bad-ass! Your brother stood up to those gangers like it was nobody’s business and…” Nacomi explained as they walked over to the table. Jake stooped to pick up his chair, noting Serena’s eyes on it it as he sat back down, Tom and Stacey on one side, Serena and Nacomi on the other. He found himself impressed with the bold hero of her story, he sounded very brave! Jake didn’t think he had been that brave when standing up. He just wanted them to apologize and go away. He hadn’t been afraid, but neither did he feel bold. It was just something that had needed doing.

Serena’s disbelieving stare was starting to get a bit on his nerves though, and he decided he’d keep the fact that it was a simple exaggeration to himself. He wasn’t a bold hero, but he had had enough of those guys.

He realized Nacomi had stopped speaking. He waited for Serena’s response. He wasn’t disappointed either.

“Wow.” She looked at him in wonder. “Are you sure that it was him? It doesn’t sound anything like him!”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Nacomi laughed. “Ask anyone else here.”

Jake shrugged under her piercing gaze. It seemed much worse than usual this time, as if she was peering right into him to judge the truth. He noticed then that something seemed a little different about her eyes. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what, but there was something. He was sure of it. He stared at her himself, making her frown and squirm slightly in her seat. Abruptly she grinned mischievously. Jake got a plummeting sensation in his stomach.

“Well, I guess you really do bring out the best in my big brother, Nacomi. Told ya the fool liked you.”

Nacomi laughed gaily. Jake thrilled at it, he wanted nothing more than to make her laugh more. “I guess you’re right.”

Okay, perhaps he could do without her laughing at him. He sank a little lower in his seat. He noticed Tom and Stacey grinning hugely now and suppressed an urge to kick them under the table.

“Look how red he’s getting!”

“He’s getting beet red, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, hope he doesn’t get that shade when you two go out tonight! By the way, where ya goin?”

“He hasn’t told me yet.” Nacomi admitted.

“Oooh! You guys should go to olaf’s Burgers! They have the best around.” Serena enthused.

“That would be good.” Nacomi agreed. “If that’s where we are going.”

They both looked at him. Jake hadn’t actually had a place in mind when he suggested the idea, so actually the teasing worked out in his favor this time, he admitted to himself. Aloud he said “Olaf’s would be just fine.”

“Cool.” Serena nodded. “You two will have so much fun there! It’s very nice, and done in simple wood paneling to give it an old-fashioned look…” She paused, frowning and looked at Jake.

“Hey, I just remembered. Have you talked to the police yet about that shop?”

“What shop?” Nacomi asked interestedly.

Now it was Jake’s turn to recap Saturday’s strange adventure, and the lack of success on Sunday. He didn’t finish until most of the remaining hour had died.

“Huh.” Nacomi said thoughtfully when he’d finished. She looked at Serena, then Jake. “I sould hang out with you guys more often. It sounds like you guys lead interesting lives.”

“Not usually.” Tom said dryly. “This weekend was a pretty big exception though.”

“I’ll bet.” Nacomi laughed. “Still, I’d like to take that chance.”

“I’d like that.” Jake smiled.

“Cool. Well, I’ve got class in ten. See you later.” Nacomi waved as she caught up with a couple of her teammates and hurried from the building.

“Well.” Jake said as she vanished from view. He couldn’t seem to stop smiling.  “Well, this should be an interesting afternoon.”



After finishing his last class for the afternoon (Arithmetic, which he got his first “A” in despite missing three problems on the test) he walked off the campus and downtown to the Police Station to file his report.

The man at the desk politely took his statement, but Jake could easily read the disbelief on his face, especially when Jake mentioned the gold statue.

“It’s probably lead or something done over with foil and colored glass.” Was his response to the description. “No one in their right mind gives out a solid gold statue as large as what you’re talking about.”

“But it’s what happened.” Jake said firmly.

The sergeant shrugged and promised that a car would come around to their place to look at it sometime later or tomorrow. Jake knew he wouldn’t get better than that and bid him good night. He doubted anyone would actually show up, and he had to admit he wasn’t too surprised. The tale seemed so outlandish. Who would believe that a dotty old store owner would give them precious gems and gold, saying they’d been “chosen” by things? To be frank, he was surprised they didn’t call over a psychiatrist!

Well, the least he could do is warn Tom that the police might stop by to look at the statue while he was away, and he’d have to skip classes tomorrow just in case they did show up, but he could simply email all his professors and let them know.  

In the meantime, he had a date to worry about. He needed to go back to the house and get dressed. Ah, but what does one where to a burger date anyway? He smiled to himself. Definitely not a black-tie affair, but a nice T-shirt would definitely a good idea.

A sharp pain caused him to grab his arm, but as quickly as it had come it was gone. He looked at the scab and noticed the wound was gone, only the slightest scar remained. The skin surrounding it seemed bronzed, like he’d been in the sun for weeks on end. He’d put extra aloe on it as well. If it continued to hurt, he’d go in to have it looked at.

Feeling positive, he started to whistle a merry tune as he walked back to the apartment.



Serena eyed the clock on the wall. It read six o’clock. She took it as an encouraging sign that her brother’s date with Nacomi was going well, as she expected. If anyone could see the good heart behind that goofy exterior of his, it would be her.

She was glad her brother finally got the courage to ask Nacomi out. He’d always been hopeless, or maybe helpless, at meeting girls. Romantically at least, she amended. She thoroughly approved of his choice. She’d known Nacomi for several months—they’d had a lot of classes together, being interested in becoming marine biologists meant that they would have some classes together. She liked her immensely for her courage, sense of humor and ability to look behind the masks people always seemed to wear.

A bit like the one she was wearing now. She tried to feign interest in Rachel’s homework. They were seated at the table in the living room trying to finish the evening’s workload for tomorrow. Strangely, Rachel had breezed through her math homework, and Stacey had blown her natural sciences homework clean out of the water. That was definitely unusual. But sometimes something just clicked and it became really easy. Today’s stuff must not have been that bad. Unfortunately, Rachel needed help with her English homework, which wasn’t Serena’s best subject anyway, and Stacey couldn’t seem to figure out a simple algebra equation. So here she was, when she’d rather be finishing her natural sciences essay and getting to bed.

A sharp jab in the palm of her hand jerked her hand off her lap. She gasped slightly and winced, rubbing the spot. A glance showed the other girls too engrossed with their homework to have noticed. She focused on her hand.

The wound was gone, it had been since last night. That was comforting, and it looked like there wouldn’t even be a scar to show. Strangely though, her hand seemed a little paler than before but she thought it was nothing. The odd flashes of pain had been showing up throughout the day. It was never more than a instant, but they always brought tears to her eyes. What was going on?

She rubbed her thumb along the palm, pressing in and rolling the flesh. The narwhal horn (she knew that was what it was, not a unicorn like the old man claimed) had been broken at the tip, and she hadn’t had time to really look for it. She thought it had fallen onto the floor, but what if it hadn’t? Could a piece still be lodged somewhere in her hand? She didn’t think so, as she had been looking at it all day, running her thumb up and down in a hard manner so that she could feel the muscles and tendons beneath the skin, and hadn’t felt a strange bump or clear horn shape.

Why was her hand hurting like this? She hoped she could find out on her own. Hospital visits were expensive, even with insurance. Only if the pain started coming more frequently or she noticed other symptoms or the flashes continued into the next week would she go in. She dreaded the thought.

“Hey Serena, is everything all right?” Stacey’s concerned voice broke into her thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, uh yeah, yeah. Every thing’s all right. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Uh, because you’ve been grimacing and staring at your hand off and on all day?” Rachel looked at her with a “duh” expression.

“Yeah. It’s just been hurting oddly for a couple of days now. Nothing serious, I think.” Serena assured them.

“Okay.” Stacey didn’t sound all that convinced, but Rachel nodded.

“Same thing with my foot. But that’s because a big, heavy horseshoe fell on it Saturday. Probably won’t stop until Wednesday.” She said.

Stacey was saved from responding by the sound of the door opening. Jake walked inside, pulling off his jacket and tossing it carelessly on one of the three chairs around the small dining table set in front of the kitchenette.

“So, how’d it go?” Serena asked, grinning hugely up at him.

Jake smiled down at her. “Pretty well. We talked until they basically threw us out. Kept coming by to see if we ‘needed anything’. We finally got tired of it and left. Then we walked through the park and I left her at the door.”

“Ooh! Did you kiss her?” Stacey asked excitedly.

A look of confusion crossed Jake’s face. “I thought you weren’t supposed to kiss on a first date?!”

Stacey and Rachel buried their faces in their hands with a groan. Serena wanted to smack him upside the head for being too dense. She admired his restraint and desire to treat a lady right, but geez!

“That’s old-fashioned. Did she signal you that she wanted to be kissed?” Serena scolded.

He looked even more confused and aggravated now. “Signal? Like what?”

“Did she lean in towards you at all? Lower her eyes and push out her lips? Snuggle close and look up at you?” Serena demanded.

“I…don’t think so?” Jake answered cluelessly.

Now it was Serena’s turn to put her fingers to the bridge of her nose. She was starting to get a headache from her brother’s denseness. “Jake, Jake, Jake.” She groaned. “What am I going to do with you?”

“What do you mean?” Jake demanded. “I thought I was the perfect gentleman!”

“No, you were. But was that what she actually wanted?” Serena asked him pointedly. She was rewarded by the clueless look.

“Never mind. You did the right thing.” Serena shook her head. She didn’t want to deal with this now. She’d have to talk with Nacomi tomorrow and judge her reactions. Who knows? Perhaps the lug did the right thing.

She sighed. Now she just wanted to go to sleep. The homework would wait until tomorrow. Hopefully, she could get the tightness out of her lower back tomorrow.

She bid everyone good night. On her way out the door, she rubbed her hand hard. That horn piece must be in there, somewhere. She would find it.