Gen Three- Chapter Five

The smell of the store was one of my favorite things about where dad worked. The library kind of had that smell too, but most of the books there were naturally more worn. Newer books, like the ones lining the shelves here, appealed more to my senses.

     "Find something you want?" Ember asked from behind me, having picked her own choice of reading material.

     "Yeah, this one looks good."

I pulled down my selection, and I enjoyed the fact that dad's business was basically a second library to us. Reading, of course, was an activity mom and dad encouraged greatly over stuff like video games, so we had free pick of what the Mosaic Pages Bookstore had to offer provided we stuck to what was appropriate for our age. Dad would just deduct the price from the store's income, and what we paid was also greatly reduced considering we were the owner's children. Dad would very rarely grumble that we should just go to the actual library instead, but that meant an extra trip or two driving us there for him, which silenced further complaining. Besides, it's not like he had to worry about going broke. Business was good.

     "Where's Gilly at?" I wondered when I turned around.

     "On the second floor. Where else?" Ember rolled her eyes while wearing a smile.

The bookstore originally only had two floors. Back then the profits had been okay, but they slowly dwindled with each passing year. Dad, however, hadn't had the heart to change the store until after the previous owner, Mr. Mosaic, had passed away. That was when dad had the whole thing torn down so he could add a lot more. There was space to park cars now, as no parking had been a big complaint before. The next important thing on dad's list was to put in a public restroom. Most of the books were on the third floor. The business was modernized with stuff like a small cafe on the first floor and an expanded computer area on the second floor. The second floor also had a large children's section complete with a slide and an abundance of beanbag chairs. I swear, dad definitely had made the area so lush simply due to all the times he'd had to babysit us at work when we were younger. It made it easier to keep us out of his hair.

     "Really, Gil?" I asked my twin when Ember and I found her playing on said slide.

     "What?" Gilly shrugged, "I don't need any more books at the moment, and you two always take too long looking at stuff. It's either this or I sneak too many brownies from the cafe again."

     "I don't know why you keep doing that when dad adds an extra week to your time being grounded every time he catches you." Ember remarked.

     "They're good brownies."

That was true. That was also why dad made us pay full price for those from our own pockets as well. Aunt Mimi had her own home bakery business. She spent half her time doing that, and she spent half her time providing the majority of the treats for the cafe. Her knack for creating confections drew in a lot of customers just for them and not for the books. They were apparently also too addicting for Gilly to resist taking from dad's store when she could just ask Aunt Mimi to make her some for free. Well, I could kind of understand where my sister was coming from. Just thinking about brownies made me really want some as well. That's why I was glad when Ember and I got ourselves comfortable on some beanbags to start up a conversation.

     "What do you think would be a nice gift for mom?" I asked.
     "I dunno. Aunt Holly is difficult to shop for. My mom, not so much. I got her birthday present prepared ages ago."
     "Me too. Gilly and I pooled our money to get Aunt Mimi that dress she wanted. Mom never says what she wants though. She just says to get her whatever we think is good."
     "I hate it when people do that," Ember laughed, "It makes it harder, not easier."

She tilted her head in thought.

     "Although, I get that she probably says that because she doesn't want you to feel bad for not being able to afford the things she does actually want. Why bother telling you she wants this expensive piece of jewelry or whatever if there's no way for you to get it?" she rationalized.
     "That's true, but there has to be something we can afford that she would genuinely like to get. More of her favorite brand of makeup or a gift card to a restaurant or something like that."
     "Why don't you get her one of those things then? Those sound like good ideas."
     "Because that's what we get her every time." Gilly joined in.
     "What have you gotten her, Em?" I wondered.
     "Nothing yet," she chuckled hopelessly, "I have no idea either."

I groaned.

     "Why do she and Aunt Mimi have to be so different?" I mumbled.
     "Why do you and Gilly have to be so different?" Ember teased, "You're twins too."
     "Yeah, but mom and Aunt Mimi are identical. We're not."
     "Still doesn't mean they're the same person."
     "I know," I sighed, "I just wish this wasn't so hard."

Gilly stood in front of us after heading down the slide a final time. She shook her head at us and looked a little smug.

     "You two are forgetting an easy solution. Why don't we just go ask dad? It's more likely mom's told him something specific we can at least use to brainstorm better ideas."
     "It's worth a shot." I agreed.

So, we went downstairs. I had to keep a grip on Gilly at first to keep her from sneaking off to the cafe while Ember and I went to dad. She would have never gotten away with snatching some brownies though. Dad was working the service desk at the moment, which had a clear view of the food counter.

     "You guys find some books you want?" he asked when we approached.
     "We did," I replied as Ember and I placed our books down, "We also had something to ask."
     "Which is?"
     "Do you know what mom wants for her birthday? We've already got stuff for Aunt Mimi, but we can't think of anything for her."
     "Nope," dad denied right away in amusement, "She doesn't make it easy for me either, and she's always been like that. I did, however, talk to her about it the other day, so I managed to convince her to make a gift list on that Lister website. Whether she's added anything or not, that's another matter entirely. You can use computer B2 upstairs to check it out."
     "That's amazing, dad. Thanks." Ember said as dad used the counter's computer nearby to activate the one upstairs before giving us the temporary password.
     "If you see something you can afford that has to be ordered, let me know. I'll do that for you." he continued.
     "What if we see something we want to get her, but we can't afford it?" Gilly put that out there.
     "Then you'll have to come up with a less expensive idea on your own."

A sigh escaped my lips as we walked back upstairs. The situation wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't wasted all my saved money on that white outfit that turned out to be utterly useless. I could have returned it for a refund, but my pride got in my way. Getting it had gotten me majorly grounded, so I wasn't about to just be rid of it. I mixed the sweater and skirt into my normal attire on occasion out of spite and to make sure the purchase didn't go entirely to waste. Unfortunately, that meant Gilly had footed most of the bill on the dress for Aunt Mimi, and enough time hadn't passed to allow us to save up much from our allowances.

     "Oh, good. Mom has actually put some stuff on here." I spoke with relief when I found the list.
     "Mmhmm."

Ember mumbled her response. Her phone had started going off, and now her attention to our current task was all but gone as she started texting at the speed of light. Now was when Gilly started wandering away to look at books too.

     "What do you think of all three of us pooling our money together to buy her one present?" I asked my oldest sister, "Mom's only put expensive stuff on here. Gilly and I can't afford it, but if you chip in we should be able to get her something."
     "Mmhmm."

I frowned at the repeated mumble.

     "Ember."
     "What?" she finally looked up again as if snapping out of a trance.
     "Who are you texting?" I questioned in annoyance.
     "No one, really. So, what are you buying?"
     "I just asked you if you wanted to pull your money together with mine and Gilly's so we can afford something from this list." I explained once more.
     "A disk that produces a holographic pet? They actually have stuff like that now? I mean, that's the most expensive thing on the list, so that's a no-go," Ember peeked over my shoulder to see what there was, "Eh, I don't really like any of these. I say we simply go into the city shops and just pick out whatever. I don't want to go entirely broke buying this gift."
     "Fine." I sighed, closing down the browser.

Well, if that wasn't pretty much a waste of time...

It was good in that I got an idea of what mom wanted, but there was seriously nothing I could hope to even find a cheap knock-off of somewhere in the city. I tapped my fingers on the desk as I waited for Gilly to find a book while Ember went back to texting. When we found our way back downstairs, dad told us it was fine for us to go shopping as long as Gilly and I stuck with Ember. We also had to be back before his shift ended.

     "Hey, wait, I have the perfect idea!" Gilly abruptly declared as we went to leave.

She rushed over to Doodle's area in the corner by the front door. Daffodil had once joked with dad about making his dog the store's mascot if he became the owner, and dad had decided to do just that when he took over the shop. Unfortunately, Doodle rarely came anymore. He was too old. If he did come, he just slept in his bed the whole time and got annoyed by all the people waking him up while trying to pet him.

     "Why don't Dia, Em, and I chip in to help you buy her a puppy, dad?" Gilly continued enthusiastically, "We have all this dog stuff Doodle doesn't use anymore. We could have the new dog be the store mascot."
     "It's a nice idea, but no." dad instantly declined.
     "Why not? Grandma said that you always planned to have at least three dogs when you were in charge of the house, right?" Gilly pouted.
     "That was the plan...and then I had kids."

The older man dad was ringing out chuckled at that. They began talking about the vast responsibilities of parenting, and neither I nor my sisters were interested in listening. Ember, Gilly, and I headed out to begin our shopping trip.

Gilly took the lead, which was something I had no complaints about. She had a destination in mind. I had no ideas at all. Ember was the one I anticipated directing us, but there she remained behind still glued to her phone. The weird thing about it wasn't that she was glued to her phone. She'd been like that ever since Aunt Mimi got it for her, much to mom and dad's chagrin. Aunt Mimi had been firm in her decision that fifteen was plenty old enough for a cell phone. The issue now was that Ember was glued to it at weird moments. Sure, before if we were watching a movie at home or if she was in her room it could keep her attention for hours on end. However, if we were eating a meal, if she was in class, if she was having a conversation, if she was walking down the sidewalk, if she was a part of something that required active participation on her part then Ember kept the phone in her pocket. The past few months all that had been changing to where we were now.

     "Emberrrrr!" Gilly eventually whined.

Several shops later with no reasonable gifts popping out, my twin and I had had enough.

     "What?" Ember wondered, completely oblivious.
     "Can you keep up? Dia and I are walking as slow as we can, and you're still falling way behind."
     "Oh, it's fine, isn't it? We don't have to stick right next to each other as long as I can still see you."
     "You're not even helping us look for a gift anymore." Gilly pressed.
     "I'm tired of overthinking it. I'm just going to get Aunt Holly a bottle of that new scent of her favorite perfume and a gift card to Zero's."
     "I thought we were going to try to get her something different this time." Gilly wondered in mildly frustrated disappointment.
     "When did we agree to that? All you said was that you and Dia wanted to do something different this year." Ember shrugged, her gaze returning to her phone's screen.

I really wanted to know who she was talking to, but I wasn't going to bother attempting to get an answer at the moment. Ember was seriously off in her own world.

     "C'mon, Gilly. There's this radio and electronics store down the street. Maybe they have an old model or cheap brand of the smartwatch mom had on her list." I proposed.
     "Between the two of us we only have thirty dollars." Gilly sighed despondently.
     "Just c'mon." I prompted, taking her hand and doing my best to be optimistic.

My optimism didn't last for long. It started to crash when Ember couldn't be bothered to come inside. That basically ensured the worker in the store not taking us seriously. He only kept directing us to cheap toys for little kids, and when we did finally get him to show us the most used, worn smartwatch they had he could barely hide his smugness when we saw it was way beyond what we could afford. While it was true I had very well known there was little hope of us having enough money, there had been no reason for him to act all cocky and arrogant as he basically shoved it in our faces that we had no place in the shop being nothing more than children with a passable amount of pocket change.

I couldn't get myself to head into any of the other shops on that street. I could barely get myself to shuffle until we made it to the older elementary school next to the hospital. It was quiet since it was the weekend, so Gilly and I took a break on once of the benches near the front entrance while Ember puttered about still texting nonstop.

     "I think I'm going to give up," I pouted as I slumped against the bench, "We just don't have enough money for anything grand. We barely have enough to get a single thing of makeup and a gift card that's not next to useless. Ember had the right idea."
     "Oh no, Dia, don't you give up too." Gilly frowned in worry.
     "Why are you acting like that? You didn't even want to go into the electronics store." I pointed out.
     "That's just because I knew we wouldn't be able to afford the watch. If we think of a store that does have a good gift we can buy, I'll be glad to go there."
     "We can't think of a good gift though. And, really, what's so bad about new makeup and a free meal? It could allow mom and dad to go out on a nice date night or something."
     "I'm tired of taking the easy way out and everyone accepting it because I'm young. Mom and dad always put so much effort into the gifts they give us. Mom especially goes out of her way for our birthday to make sure it's special to each of us individually. She knows people can be lazy getting us the same thing or buying us one cheap thing to share just because we're twins. That's why I want to return the favor."
     "That makes sense," I agreed with slight guilt, "Let's keep thinking then."

Gilly and I thought and thought and thought. We talked and discussed ideas until a good while passed. It was right when I realized I hadn't seen Ember for a bit that footsteps came in our direction. Expecting it to be my sister, the darker red man who appeared from around the corner caught me by surprise.

     "Oh, excuse me," he spoke with a small smile as he noticed us, "Do you two happen to live around here?"
     "We live in the suburbs not far from the Shaded Corners park, but we've grown up in Berrybrook. We used to go to school here." I replied.
     "Great. Well, you see, I'm afraid I'm a bit lost. My phone has died, so I can't look up the directions. Do either of you happen to know where I can find a place called the Whistling Heights Lofts?"
     "The Lofts are two blocks down this way, three blocks south, and about eight blocks west. It's on Windbrushed Avenue. It's the skyscraper with the bronze peak." Gilly explained with a hint of a sharpness that wasn't like her, although I doubt the man caught it as I did since it was that subtle.
     "Two blocks this way, three blocks...that way, and...eight, you said, eight blocks...this way again? On Windbrush Avenue?" the man repeated the direction, stumbling over his words as he planned out the directions by motioning with his hand.
     "Windbrushed Avenue." Gilly corrected.
     "Ah, right. So..."

The man trailed off as he attempted to plan it out again. Gilly and I watched him grow totally silent before turning back to us with a pitiful smile.

     "I'm sorry. I have absolutely no sense of direction. That's how I got lost in the first place," he chuckled at himself, "Any chance you might be able to show me the way there?"
     "Sure." I agreed as I moved to stand up.
     "Hang on." Gilly abruptly stopped me, placing her arm over my chest so I couldn't get on my feet.

Hurriedly, she grabbed a piece of scrap paper and a random crayon from her pocket to write out the directions instead.

     "Here you go. I put a few landmarks on there so you shouldn't get confused." she explained almost in rebuke, in that subtle way only I as her sister could catch, as she handed the paper to him.
     "Thank you. This is a great help. Sorry to have disturbed you." the man spoke before giving us another smile and heading off.

I wanted to address my twin's strange behavior, but Gilly wouldn't let me say a word until the man was far out of sight. At that point, she gave me a stern glare.

     "What?" I asked in confusion.
     "Dianthus Vivid, I cannot believe you." Gilly instantly rebuked.
     "I don't get it. Why are you mad?" I pouted.
     "Uh, 'stranger danger'? You're smart in a lot of ways, but not smart in a lot of ways too. You gave him a really clear location of where we live. You would have gone off with this random man who just happened to be hanging around the elementary school if I hadn't stopped you. That path to the Lofts has a lot of alleys and quiet streets."
     "Gil, you are being way too paranoid," I shook my head at her, "He was just a nice man."
     "Maybe he is just nice. However, I'd rather not take the chance." Gilly said firmly.
     "Fine, fine. I'll be more careful." I promised.
     "Good," my sister nodded with conviction, "Now, where in the world did Ember wander off to? We need to hurry up and finish shopping or else we won't get back before dad's shift is done."

Gilly and I searched all around, but we didn't catch sight of Ember anywhere. We sat and waited for several more minutes, but it didn't help. The both of us joked about her being so stuck to her phone that she could probably walk off the face of the planet and not know it. A few more minutes ticked by, and Gilly and I decided to leave. There were some public phones at the activity center, so that became our destination as it was the lone way to figure out where to recover our wayward sister. I cringed as I reached into my pockets when we arrived to pull out the several quarters I need to make the call. Ember was making me waste what precious money I had left. I was not happy with that at all.

     "I can't believe it!"

Gilly's shocked, exasperated, and somewhat angry call remained full of intensity while still being softer in volume. My task interrupted, I turned back, curious, and eagerly approached her when beckoned.

     "Look who just walked in the front entrance."

Gilly wouldn't let us stand in full view through the windows that peered down onto the first floor. Expecting it to be Ember, my thoughts were wrong again. The same red man from before had walked in, he glanced around, and he made his way to the drink station.

     "What is he doing here now? So much for going to the Lofts." Gilly whispered with extreme suspicion.
     "He did say he has a terrible sense of direction. Maybe he just got lost a second time and came in for more directions?" I hypothesized, not wanting to think of what it could mean if I was wrong on this too.
     "I understand getting lost easily, but the map I gave him was really clear. He shouldn't be wandering about on his own if he can't even follow something as simple as that. Plus, he just happens to come in for directions to place we entered as well? That's way too much of a coincidence." Gilly mumbled bitterly with a daggering stare at the man's back.

I didn't want to think badly of him. He did look like such a nice man. Today was not my day though.

     "So much for his cell phone being dead." Gilly spoke with a true bite now as the man pulled out a clearly working phone from his pocket and used it for whatever he was using it for.
     "What should we do?" I asked her uncertainly, feeling my heart rate pick up slightly.
     "Hmm..." Gilly mused, "It could really just be coincidence, even though that's not likely. Let's head to the park. It's right across the street, and if he happens to show up there too we have to talk to someone."
     "Okay." I agreed timidly.

Forgetting about calling Ember, Gilly and I strutted our way out the main entrance where the man could have a good look at us. We pretended we had no idea he was there. I had wanted to go out the quieter exit, but Gilly pointed out we had to let him see us leave if we wanted to check if he was actually trailing our movements.

     "You should be the one pretending to look around. You were more open to him. He might not feel as caught if you're the one who happens to catch his eye." my twin instructed as we climbed up the jungle gym.

That was another plan of hers too. There were a lot of people at the park, but if, for whatever crazy reason, the man did try to come after us in the open he would have to physically climb up to get us. That allowed more time for us to scream or run away or something. Faking my playing, a slow moving five minutes passed while Gilly sat at my feet. Each second that passed strengthened my resolve that this all was ridiculous. The man was harmless. I hadn't entrusted a bad man with especially specific information about where I lived or that I went to the other elementary school. I definitely hadn't.

     "He's coming over here." I revealed softly after the sixth minute mark when the man left the activity center and entered the park.

My gaze never left him for a whole new minute as I studied what he did. He simply sat on a bench. He wasn't trying to head to the Lofts or ask anyone for directions. The man kept a general glance in our direction, but not once did he dare to look directly at the playground.

     "He's definitely watching us, Gilly." I spoke.

     My heart was seriously beginning to pound against my chest.

     "It's okay. There's lot of people around to go to. I think we should go inside and tell one of the workers..." she went quiet, and then her tense muscles relaxed as she spotted something, "Or we can go talk to who just walked out of the building."

I flew over to the other side of the jungle gym where I spotted a familiar shade of blue. Gilly was only just a second faster than I was at sliding down the pole to dash over.

     "Well, hello you two." Uncle Frost greeted us in amusement as we barreled up to him.
     "Hi." I answered with my voice sounding twice as loud as blood blasted through my ears due to the sudden motion.
     "Out here enjoying the good weather on your weekend?"
     "Dad was watching us at the store as Blaze, grandpa, and mom are busy. Ember, Dia, and I went out shopping to find a birthday present for mom, but we ran into a problem." Gilly started to explain.
     "Oh? What's the problem?"
     "Dia and I were taking a break by the elementary school. This man came up and asked us for directions since his phone was dead. He wanted us to show him the way, but I...we wrote down the directions instead. Dia and I then went into the activity center to call Ember as she went off somewhere on her own, and the man came in there too. He was using his phone that supposedly didn't have any power. We came over here after we saw him, and now he's here too not trying to get to the place he was supposed to be going."

Gilly put it all out there, and Uncle Frost's expression fell with each word. A suspicious frown appeared on his face as he folded his arms.

     "Which man is this?" he asked.
     "That one. The dark red guy." Gilly motioned towards him.

She did so rather subtly, but the motion was still caught by the man. Now he looked right in our direction. Something about his face seemed weird now that he saw us with Uncle Frost, and Uncle Frost didn't have to take more than three steps before the man practically jumped out of his seat. He didn't run, but he certainly took off and away from the park at a brisk pace that wasn't natural.

     "If that wasn't a giveaway that he was up to something, then I don't know what would be." Uncle Frost spoke with rightly placed suspicion.

His phone was yanked out of his pocket as he dialed dad.

     "Hey, Coal," he spoke his half of the conversation, "Yes, hi, I'm doing fine. Listen Coal, do you happen to know where Ember is? She's back at the bookstore? That's good. No, you don't have to worry about where Gilly and Dia took off to. They're with me. Yeah, we're at the park. They didn't come here to play. There's actually a bit of an issue. Well, you see this guy approached them at the school wanting them to lead him to this place he said he couldn't find. They refused and went to the activity center to call Ember to see where she had gone, and he went there too. They came to the park, and he suddenly appeared here as well. When he saw me start walking towards him the guy bolted. No, I didn't get a good look at him, unfortunately. I think Gilly and Dia did though. Yeah, I'm definitely going to call the police. That guy was too damn suspicious. I just wanted to make sure Ember was fine as well. I'll keep Gilly and Dia with me for the moment, and I'll call you again as soon as I can, okay? I really don't want to waste much time to let his guy get away. Things will be fine. Yes, I'll tell them. Okay, bye."

Uncle Frost sighed loudly after hanging up.

     "Your dad says he loves you and that he's glad you're fine." he replayed before immediately calling another number.

The nearest police station was pretty close, so it didn't take long for some officers to show up. Gilly and I went through a detailed explanation of what happened, I admitted what I had revealed to the man despite Gilly trying to cover up for my naivety as I wanted people to be on the lookout more than I wanted to keep my words a secret, and Gilly, who was an incredible artist, sketched a rather good likeness of the man using the pen and paper one of the officers gave her. It took a while to get through it all, but by the end most of my nerves were gone. The police had solid leads about the man given they also had security footage from the activity center and the school's front entrance. Determined not to worry about it unless I had to, I eagerly engaged Uncle Frost in complaining about other matters after the police left.

     "Now all of this has happened, and Gilly and I still don't have a present for mom." I huffed despondently.
     "What were you going to get her?" Uncle Frost wondered.
     "We don't know. I really wanted to get her this new hologram pet toy thing that came out, but Gilly and I only have thirty dollars. We can't think of anything good that we haven't already bought her in the past."
     "Hologram pet toy thing? Like...this one?"

Uncle Frost spoke grandly, and he dramatically took from one of the bags he had with him a box containing the exact thing we spoke about.

     "Yeah! That's it! You bought one?" I asked in awe as Gilly's eyes went wide too.
     "I bought two. Swirl's birthday is coming up soon, and they were having a buy-one-get-one half off sale, so I got one for Mandarin for Christmas. I think you should take this one and give it to Holly instead though."
     "We can't take this from you." Gilly shook her head as he pushed the box towards me.
     "I would rather you did. I bought it on impulse because it looks amazing and it was part of a deal, but this is not the toy for Mandarin. She's a tinkerer at heart, and she's at that stage where she's taking everything apart. Every toy she gets is basically ripped open in less than an hour. This thing is way too expensive for her to just demolish. I was just going to give it to someone else anyway as I'm not interested in it, and since you two wanted one for Holly this all works out perfectly."
     "Uncle Frost, you're the best!"

He smiled and patted my back as I leapt up to give him a squeezing hug. I could have gone without meeting that red man, but by the end of the day I came to say that everything worked out well.

Uncle Frost took us back to the bookstore after that where dad immediately called us into his office. Gilly and I received long, tight hugs before dad basically became a scary principal sitting down at his desk before us. He linked his hands together and stared with a strong but unreadable expression as the tale was repeated once more. As soon as it was done, his attention first centered on me.

     "Dianthus." he began disapprovingly, and I shrunk inwardly knowing why.
     "I know I told him things I shouldn't have. I know I shouldn't have said I would have gone off with him." I said it openly with my head hung to avoid a long lecture.
     "I wish it hadn't taken this for it to sink in to you that what your mother and I have taught you about trusting and not trusting other people is important. If Gilly hadn't been there, you would have wandered off with him. Who knows what would have happened then." he emphasized with with a worry and fear in his voice that drove stinging guilt throughout my bones.
     "I'm sorry." I apologized in a quiet voice.

Dad just nodded before moving down the line.

     "Gilly. I'm glad you were smart about the situation, but you shouldn't have waited to go to someone. If that man had been a decent person, he would understand why you and your sister felt suspicious towards his actions. He would have been able to go about his day after the misunderstanding was cleared up. I know you didn't want to blame someone who was blameless, but don't hesitate if there is a next time. Don't try to lure someone like him on. You might not be in as safe a situation as you think."
     "I'm sorry."

Another apology. Another nod from dad.

     "Ember, you're the one I'm most disappointed with," he addressed her, "I told you to watch over your sisters. You told me they were the ones who wandered off. Here they are saying they were at the school for over fifteen minutes after they realized you were gone, and there was still no sign of you."
     "I was in the restroom. They always have the separate ones by the playground and soccer field open to the public." our sister tried to defend.
     "You should have told them where you were going, and what in the world were you doing in the restroom for over fifteen minutes?" dad demanded to know with a raised brow.
     "She was probably on her phone. It's not like she was looking after us even when she was with us. She was glued to it the whole time not paying attention to anything." Gilly revealed.

That got her a nasty look from Ember.

     "Ember, your phone." dad instructed, holding out his hand.
     "But, dad-!"
     "Your phone. Now. You have been on it way too much lately."

With a massive huff like that of a temperamental toddler, the phone was frustratingly handed over.

     "Good. Now that we're all set, my shift has long since ended. Let's get in the car, make a quick stop to get some chicken nuggets as I am starving, and talk about this later at home." dad told us as he locked Ember's phone in the top right drawer of his desk.

I thought the idea to leave it at his work was an inspired one. Ember would definitely play up being nice and obedient to get it back sooner, and that game typically worked on mom and dad. If the phone wasn't in the house, however, they couldn't give it back even if they wanted to. Not having her own phone apparently wasn't going to stop Ember though. Gilly and I received a wide berth from her for the rest of the day. I felt bad that she had gotten in trouble, but she did break a promise she made. I went over to her room wanting to talk and make up, but I never got past the door. Ember was talking to someone on the phone now, most likely on the home phone, and what I heard made me extra confused.

     "I don't know when I'll get it back, but it's fine," my sister's muffled sigh came through the door, "We can still talk. What are you getting up to at the moment? Oh, yeah, I forgot you sighed up for that class. I won't disturb you getting ready then. I'll just call in the morning. No, no, it's fine. I've got homework I've got to get done. I know, it's the worst, right? I have a paper due for Literature on Monday, and I can't write to save my life. Really? That would be a great help if you could do that. You're seriously the best. Okay. Yeah, love you too. Goodnight."

Hearing that, I frowned and desperately tried to think of who she could be talking to. Melrose? I hadn't heard of her taking any classes this late at night. Tangerine, maybe?

I couldn't figure it out. Wanting to know but not being able to know was seriously the worst. I wondered if there was some way I could finagle my way into dad's desk drawer to sneak a peek at Ember's text logs. While I wouldn't actually do that, the satisfaction of getting desired answers made the plan highly attractive.

     "Oh, Dia. You got a letter."

Mom greeted me downstairs with that went I went towards the kitchen to get a juice box before bed.

     "I did?" I asked as nonchalantly as possible even though my ears perked up.
     "I believe so. It's somewhere buried in the pile." mom motioned towards the large pile of envelopes always littering the corner counter.
     "Okay. Thanks."

Thankfully, mom moved about finishing up her straightening of the place while I dug out what could possible contain crucial information for my friend. My heart skipped several beats when I saw the same return address in the top left that Timber had shown me.

     "Who's it from?" mom wondered.
     "Just Canary." I lied without effort.
     "Tell her I say 'hi' will you? Also, let her know we're thinking of bringing you all down to Prism for Christmas this year instead of them coming up here."
     "We are?"
     "Potentially. Coal and I think it will be fun to change things around."
     "That does sound fun. I'll be sure to let them know," I promised, making a mental note to send my cousin that letter too or else raise suspicion, "I'm going to go work on that before bed. Goodnight, mom."
     "Goodnight, baby."

A hug was given, and I tried not to feel bad about the deception as I rushed upstairs with the enveloped pressed against my chest.