The dice rolled across the table. They tumbled over and over, coming to a stop with a six, five, three, three and two visible.

  “I still need a large straight and three of a kind,” Piper muttered, looking at her Yahtzee card.

  She didn’t know what two dice to take. There was a good chance she might get three of a kind again. She hadn’t used her wild and still had three rolls left. And maybe she could get three of a kind with a four, five or six. That would give her a better overall score. And she needed more points, glancing at the column that showed Nicole, Teddy and Jake’s scores.

  The four teens sat at one of the cafeteria tables, crouched around the dice. Each had a single juice box that they were nursing. There weren’t any others rationed out for the night. Piper knew she could go and ask for more, and would be given more, but she didn’t want to abuse her position. Teddy kept trying to get her to use her rank, which annoyed her. She liked Teddy Smith, but not all that much.

  If this had been Pre-Connection, she would be friendly with him, maybe talk with him now and then, but probably wouldn’t have been friends with him. But it was Post-Connection, and the options in her age range were pretty limited.

  Jake Gannon, who was older by a year, but would have been in her grade still, was a different story. Piper liked him. Blond hair, which had grown long and a little unkempt, which was okay, she thought. Somehow he’d managed to keep his Patriots baseball hat and always wore it. The thing was looking a little dirty, but he refused to give it up.

  “Come on Piper,” Nicole said. “Addie is going to be playing tonight.”

  “We’ve seen her show like twenty times,” Teddy complained. “It’s going to be the same songs that we’ve heard fifty times.”

  Piper didn’t bother pointing out his math error. Teddy was just complaining and exaggerating. He was good at that.

  She made her decision. Taking the three, Piper rolled the dice. It tumbled across the table, coming to a stop. Two. Piper cursed under her breath. One more roll.

  “You got this Piper,” Jake said.

  Piper smiled, glad she was looking down at the table so he couldn’t see her blush. She moved a stray strand of hair out of the way and took the dice. Holding it in her hand, she gave it a shake before rolling onto the table.

  “YES!,” Piper said, seeing a four appear.

  “Good job,” Jake said.

  “My roll,” Teddy said, taking the five dice.

  Piper marked her full house on the score sheet, looking up to see Addie Taylor walking in with her guitar case. Teddy was right, they’d seen her play a lot. For a long time she had been the only musician in the Clan, but there were now two. The instruments were limited, the three having to share guitars, but at least there was a bit more variety. They were all even working on making new and original songs. Some solo and some together. Addie had even started giving guitar and music lessons to those that wanted it.

  Piper had thought about signing up but she was too busy with everything else she had to do. Maybe some other time.

  “Alright, four sixes,” Teddy said, fist pumping the air.

  He took the score sheet and pencil, marking down his score. Jake picked up the dice.

  “We still have some time while she sets up,” Piper said.

  They weren’t concerned about the noise but the lighting. When the musicians played, the lanterns that lined the wall and the candles on the table were extinguished. Not all, but enough to make it hard to see the dice and the scoresheet. The cafeteria had some windows high up in the wall, there was plenty of light during the day, but at night they had to use a lot of lanterns and candles.

  That was another thing that Piper had heard Mr. Turner and Ms. Conway talking about needing. There never seemed to be enough of anything. They always needed more. There were even people busy making candles. Piper didn’t know where they got the wax from, but they apparently had some. Someone had mentioned they were using animal guts or fat. Piper glanced at the candle near them, just picturing the Lynxia or Mutated Chipmunk that might have helped make it. She held in a shudder.

  “Can we move down toward the kitchen?” Jake asked. “They usually keep more candles lit down there.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Naw, we can stay here,” Teddy said. “No one is going to blow out this candle as long as Piper is here.”

  “Teddy,” Nicole snapped.

  “What?,” he replied with a shrug. “It’s true.”

  Nicole glanced at Piper, but she waved the comment off.

  It was true, and Piper hated it. Nicole knew how much she hated it. Nicole was a great friend. She didn’t try to abuse Piper’s friendship or rank. Early on Teddy had tried to convince Piper to get them extra snacks, but it had failed. For the most part he had given up, but now and then he tried to use her rank to his advantage.

  With so few options for friends, Piper tried to ignore it. She tried not to let it bother her, but it did.

  She felt a bit of energy through the Codex Band. Cerie had recharged, or woken up as Piper liked to think of it. She hated thinking of Cerie as just a hologram. The fairy had been real once, and Piper wanted to treat her as real.

  With a thought, Piper summoned the fairy. Cerie appeared in the middle of the table, glowing green, wings fluttering as she hovered a couple inches off the surface. She pivoted, looking at the four teenagers and then down at the dice.

  “What game are we playing?” she asked.

  ***

  Piper was happy. It turned out that playing games by candlelight and Cerie light was easy. The green tint took some getting used to, but in the end they had plenty of light. With Addie’s music in the background, they finished up Yahtzee and got a couple hands of UNO in before calling it a night.

  Or at least Nicole and Teddy called it a night. They had left, not together. Teddy had gone first, complaining about hearing the same songs for the 80th time. Piper had wondered if he’d streamed music at all. Nicole had left soon after. She’d looked at Piper and Jake, then back at Piper with a big smile and left pretty quickly.

  Now Piper and Jake sat next to each other, watching Addie. She normally did the more slower and folksy stuff, since all she had was an acoustic guitar, but had been trying some more upbeat stuff with a faster tempo. There were a couple people up dancing.

  Jake had been sitting across from her during the games, but had moved to sit next to her when the others had left. He was sitting pretty close too. Piper had looked around for Harper, not wanting her older sister to come and tease her. But Harper hadn’t made an appearance in the cafeteria yet. Probably sneaking off somewhere with Davis. She was more afraid her dad would show up and catch Jake sitting close to her.

  Jake was almost touching her, they were that close.

  Her dad would probably embarrass her if he appeared. He tried to show up to the gatherings at night, even though it always drew attention and got people walking over to talk with him. But he hadn’t appeared yet. Maybe he wouldn’t that night. Piper was hoping for that.

  The longer she was alone with Jake, the better.

  “Want to dance?” Jake asked suddenly, standing up.

  Piper smiled up at him, quickly getting off the bench. She didn’t even need to think of an answer. Of course she did.

  With a huge smile, she followed Jake to where the others were dancing.

  ***

  Harper looked up at the moon. It shone bright across the lake, the reflection large and wavering as the wind pushed at the water. A clear night, the stars filled the sky without a cloud in sight. Holding Davis’ hand, Harper smiled. They sat on the grass near the shore, enjoying the silence and solitude.

  That was hard to get in the crowded clanhold.

  Harper was not looking forward to the winter, when the temperature dropped and people couldn’t really work or go outside. With the wind and the increased storms, the older folk were saying they were expecting a very brutal winter. Harper was not looking forward to it.

  The air was cold already and the wind made it chillier. She shivered.

  Davis released her hand, reaching behind him and grabbing the fur blanket they’d brought. He wrapped it around her shoulders, shifting in closer. She leaned against him. His arm went around her.

  They sat like that for a while, Harper just enjoying the night

  This was the first time they’d been able to get along in a couple of days. There was just so much to do and with both of them being among the high Levels of the Clan, they had a lot of responsibilities. With Davis now leading an Adventurer team, he had Dungeon rotations and needing to hunt in the woods. Harper was in on Dungeon rotations with the annoying twins, Trent and Brent, Brian Jefferson and some others. They were all concentrating on their Advancements. And when not running Dungeons, they were helping the Clan get ready for the winter.

  Part of her wanted the winter to get there, just so they could end all the preparations they’d been going through. It was endless. She understood the need and really didn’t want the winter to come. If it was as brutal as everyone feared, it could mean trouble for the Clan. But she was not looking forward to how cramped it was going to be in the school. So many people in tight confines.

  They’d never get any alone time. She had to make the time they had last.

  Shifting, Harper turned to look at Davis. He turned to her, smiled, and leaned down as she lifted up, their lips meeting.