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Penelope stepped into the kitchen and dropped her backpack on a chair near the door. Her sister, still in pajamas, looked up from her cereal and watched Penelope throw some bread in the toaster.

"You're looking nice this morning," Elizabeth remarked in her usual monotone. "And is that new perfume I smell?"

"Thank you, dear sister," Penelope replied with the tiniest bit of sarcasm and the tiniest bit of red creeping into her cheeks. "I thought I'd try one of the ones mom brought down from the attic."

"I hope Josh likes it." It's strange how such a straight voice could convey sarcasm, but Elizabeth was an old pro. "You'll have to tell me if it works."

"Oh, whatever, Liz." Penelope, now quite red, turned to watch her toast cook. "What eighth grade dream boats wait for you? Thomas from your 'Great Halls and Griffins' group?"

Anyone who doesn't really know Elizabeth assumes she's totally emotionless. But someone who has lived with her as long as Penelope can pick up on the subtle changes that accompany emotions. In this case, it was a light flush in her cheeks and a lack of retort that gave her away.

"No way." Penelope grinned wickedly as their mother walked into the room.

"No way what?" She asked.

"No way did Penelope finish her assignment so quickly," Elizabeth jumped in (well, as much as she ever jumps in), "She just told me that she finished her timeline in only two hours last night."

"Yeah, and it's really good, too," Penelope added, and then mouth the words 'I own you' to her sister.

"Alright, then," Mrs. Greenhill smiled as she caught the smell in the air. "Penelope, are you wearing one of the perfumes I brought down from the attic?"

"Yeah, it was called 'Lilac Dream' and I just thought I'd try it out."

"Ah, good choice. Josh always loves my lilacs. You'll have to tell us if it works!"

"MOM!" Penelope grabbed her toast, buttered it fiercely, and headed for the door.

"Don't forget your bag," Elizabeth chimed in, clearly enjoying herself.

"You better watch your mouth. You know paladins can't hang out with anyone who violates their alignment," Penelope shot back, effectively shutting her sister up. Their mother watched with a bemused smile.

"Give me a hug before you go." As Penelope obliged and headed out to catch the bus at the end of the street, Mrs. Greenhill turned to Elizabeth. "Your sister's right, you better go get ready for school. I think tardiness is a chaotic act and we can't have you messing with Thomas' alignment." Elizabeth gave her mother a shocked and slightly terrified look, then slightly cleared up her dishes and darted up to her room.

<<
"I'm glad they let you out of there tonight. I've never been one for 'modern' medicine. There's no cure that can't be found in Nature, right?" Penelope didn't mind that her mother droned on the entire ride, it saved her from having to entertain Cait. "No, what you need is some soup!"

"Mom's soup fixes everything," Penelope smiled. As far back as she could remember, her mom had been giving her soup for every cut, scrape, or cough. But it actually worked, that was the crazy thing.

"Indeed it does. And here we are!" Penelope looked up at her slouching, ivy-covered house and sank a little in her seat. The place looked like the next strong wind would blow it over. What would Cait think of her? "Now, Penelope will help you get your things inside and show you where our phone is. There's no rush, though, stay as long as you'd like. I'll start up the soup and make sure our little adventurers haven't turned our living room into a dungeon again."

"Well, this is it," Penelope managed, helping Cait out of the car without really looking at her, "Home sweet home."

"Well, yes and no..." Penelope flopped onto her bed. "Most of them are from the attic, so I just pounce on the chance to have them in here." Cait gave her an odd look, so Penelope explained. "Elizabeth and I aren't allowed in the attic. We aren't sure why. Mom barely ever goes up there, but when she does she always brings down another box of stuff. She let it slip once that she's sorting out the 'safe' stuff. Makes you wonder what she leaves up there..."

"Oh, but I'm sure you don't care about my little disaster of a home." Penelope turned away, staring absentmindedly at her doll collection in the corner.

"Oh, that's a psionics handbook." Penelope watched Cait leaf through it with some interest. It was fairly obvious she had no idea what she was reading. She probably thought the book was fantasy or something. Of course, Penelope herself had believed that until her meeting with Secret.

"I didn't know you were interested in that sort of thing. You can borrow it if you like," She smiled. "You aren't going to learn a psiball in few seconds of leafing through."

"Oh, of course! Sit down before you fall over." Penelope followed Cait's gaze and blushed a little. "Yeah, those are mine. I'm probably a little old for them now, but they're so full of memories. Like this one-"

Penelope picked up a simple looking doll, one that looked a lot like a stuffed sock. It's color had faded and the re-stitched sides made it obvious that it had been well loved in it'd day. It wore a goofy expression, it's eyes no more than "X's. It was actually a little creepy. "This is the doll that they kept stealing from me in second grade. But Josh-"

Penelope suddenly went beat red and stopped short. Here she was blabbing everything to someone she barely even knew.

You have no idea... Penelope smiled a little. She had no intention of spilling all of Josh's secret's, but it was nice to know she wasn't the only one who saw that in him. "In second grade, Josh would always get this doll back from the bullies that took it from me. That's why we became friends."

"He's a real sweetheart." Penelope's mom was suddenly at the door with a steaming bowl. "Sorry to interrupt, girls, but I have Cait's soup. Make sure you eat all of it, dear. You'll feel better in no time."

"Come downstairs long enough to call your parents, Cait. You can stay here as long as you like, but I don't want your parents to worry about you." Mrs. Greenhill smiled. "Don't worry, the kids are done launching spells down there."

"You'll probably need a nap," Penelope laughed, "I know mom's soup always does that to me."