A/N: I am updating my butt off today! So far thats eight up and idk how many to go :P

The weekday was over and it was finally Saturday. Finally the day the dragon looked forward to the most, because not only did he have two whole days away from school, homework, and his annoying teacher, but right now he had an actual excuse to sit back and do nothing at all. Well, at least he did, but that was before his mom's sudden plans threw him through a loop.

"We're having company over tonight, so you and Haley will have to help clean up the house." She said it so subtly too, as if trying to slip it into her usual 'Good Morning'.

"Wait! What? When was this decided?" Jake gasped in dulled surprise, slinking off of the couch and standing up.

It wasn't like his mom to suddenly invite company over, and even if she did then she usually gave her children at least a two day warning in advance. Jake wasn't so much surprised by the sudden news though, rather he was just really curious to know who this 'company' was and why the plan was made so suddenly. Luckily, he wouldn't have to wait long to find out both.

"Yesterday, when I ran into my old college friend last night at the store." She said with a bright smile, idly crossing over to the coffee table in the living room and straightening it out a little. "She has three kids, and two of them are in your grade."

"Oh?"

"Are either of them in your class; Hailey and Kati?" The woman asked, gathering a few loose papers off of the table and stacking them in her hands as she did so.

"Eh... Yeah, me and Hailey met." Jake muttered as he eyed the novel poking out of his backpack on the couch.

He should probably return that book when she came over. It wasn't the greatest read for his taste (Romance scenes and gory battles really weren't his flavoring, especially now that he thought about it) but then again, he was only a quarter of the way away from finishing the darn thing, so he might as well finish it now while he had the time before returning it.

"Hey mom, I'm gonna be upstairs reading." Jake said suddenly as he grabbed his backpack and fled up the stairs before his mom could question him on anything.

"You can't be serious!" Tarax yelled, watching the albino woman with wide eyes as she stood on the very edge, staring down into the abyss.

Margo lay on her knees with tears streaming down her pale cheeks as Tarax tightened his grip on her shoulders.

"Oh... But I am my dear boy." Rochelle's voice was emotionless and bitter as she turned a quarter to face the two child who were on the verge of sobbing by now.

A pregnant silence followed the oldest of the three's words as she stared slowly back down into the thick blackness. With a quickly drawn in breath, the words she never thought she'd ever have to say left her lip.

"The war is not yet over. But a life is. Phoenix is dead."

It was an unexpected turn of events, Jake had to admit. Phoenix always seemed the strongest character of the story, having saved Rochelle at the beginning of the story from being hung in the main court-yard of their village, as well as saving his daughter (Margo) from being sold on the black market, and yet here he is, done in by his own past. It was a pretty cheesy ending, but he had to give the book credit- It did give him an excuse not to clean the house for the company that caused him to loose his original excuse to do nothing for the day.

"Poor guy." Jake muttered, before tossing the book aside and looking quickly over to his clock.

The moment it hit the ground, and the moment his clock clicked over from 6:14 to 6:15, he heard his little sister's yelps as she quickly ran into his room. In her hands, there was Book Four of what ever this series of books was called. With a gentle huff, a feeling of dread settled into his stomach, guessing that he would have to hear about the ending from two Haleys that evening.

"Hey Hale. What was with that yelp? Was the book that bad?" He asked as he slowly got off of his bed and stood in front of his sister, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"More like amazing!" She said happily, waving the book around in front of him.

Yes, since he began the book, he had informed his sister that he had begun reading them, and she tried her best not to spoil anything for him, but she failed in doing so several times, especially since she was now excitedly attempting to fill him in on what the 'fandom' of the series was up to. Also adding the topic about the possibility of getting to meet the Author of the books at a book signing that weekend.

"It was such a twist! Margo and Tarax's mother really being Cinder from book two and Phoenix's rise again! I did not see it coming! And the final line of the book is soooo cool!" She was bouncing on the balls of her heels as she held the book in front of her face like a shield, suddenly stopping and looking up at her brother. "Do you think your friend read this far into the book yet?"

"I'm guessing, I don't really know." Jake said, and he sounded rather annoyed now as Haley was happily chirping. "Why don't you ask her when she gets here?"

"Can't wait! Its going to be nice finally having someone I can discuss this with!'" Haley squeaked happily, but soon fled from the room the moment she heard the doorbell ring.

With a slight roll of the eyes, Jake followed down the stairs after her, already spotting the family of five at the bottom of the stairs. From them, he instantly recognized Hailey and Kati, the two sisters now dressed in matching sundresses with Kati's hair tied back in pig-tails and Hailey's in a ponytail. Their older brother, Baron, was silently looking around the house with a certain unsureness in his eyes, eventually scooting closer to his parent in favor of staying hidden. Their parents, whose names Jake didn't know yet, stood behind their children, closer to the front of the door. They both seemed like nice enough people, with the twins obviously taking after their father with matching hair and eyes, but their mother's firey red-hair and emerald eyes shifted more towards her only son.

"Jake, come say hello." With his observation halted for the time being, the dragon shuffled down the stairs, stopping only when his mom put a hand on his shoulder. "This is my son, Jake."

"Hello, Jake." The mother of the Dailey family greeted, outstretching her arm. "I'm Nettle, and you've already met my girls and son, but this is my husband Reed."

"Hey, nice to meet you both." The teen muttered, feeling a little awkward as he shook hands with both of the parents then taking his hand back quickly and looking around the room for his little sister. "Wheres Haley?"

"Your sister?" Hailey D asked, her own eyes scanning the room carefully. "She was just in here."

"She might be in the dining room." Jake's mother said suddenly, "She was looking forward to meeting you girls actually."

"Well, isn't that nice?" Nettle smiled, looking up at her old friend. "Should we head in there now?"

"Of course, follow me." With that, the group of eight headed into the dining room, and sure enough, the little girl was already waiting there.

Upon seeing the twins, her smile grew a little brighter, and the girls instantly took notice and took their seats at the table with both sitting on either side of the little girl. Everyone else followed their lead, and within five minutes, the dining room was filled with happily chattering woman and three men talking about typical guy things such as varsity football, or something like that. All the while Jake just sat there awkwardly, loading up his own plate with the dinner that had been set out and trying not to zero in one any one conversation. That was until he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to meet Hailey's blue eyed gaze.

"So what did you think of the book, Jake?" She asked suddenly as she held her loaded fork in her other hand and ate from it while she waited for him to answer.

"Oh, it was Okay." He muttered as he sipped from his water glass. "Not my favorite though."

"Good to hear. But was it okay enough that you'd want to read book two?" She asked, swallowing the last bit of food in her mouth, seeming to like how good this light conversation was going already.

"Eh, if you got it with you then sure, I'll read it." Jake figured as he began to eat his own food, trying to sound indifferent. "But why do you care?"

"Well, a few reasons." She admitted with a shrug. "I over-heard you and your friends talking the other day when I first came to school."

Jake almost choked on his steak as his head whirled around to see the blue eyed girl. There were a lot of things that were discussed on the day in question, and he hadn't a clue which part she was refering to or why he was getting so worked up over it.

"O-oh did you?" He coughed into his hand, quickly taking up his drink and sipping it quickly.

"Yeah, or at least I picked up on a few parts of it. You said something about dragons or something, and I thought you might like these books because of the main character." She said with a shrug of her shoulders as she idly sipped her own drink. "And I hardly meet anyone who likes those types of things for some reason."

"Well yeah, but why that book in particular?" He asked as he set his fork down and turned to face her.

"Publicity for the book." She laughed, rolling her eyes up to the Heavens and then back down. "And again, it seemed like something you might like."

"Oh. Thats cool." He answered with a smirk, picking up his fork again. "But seriously, if you are into dragons and fantasy like I am, then I know of a few cool places where we can get our fixes on that genre. That doesn't include that book."

"Oh really? And where might that be?" She smirked as she went back to her own food as well.

"Come over tomorrow and I'll show you this cool little store." Jake muttered around bites.

"Sounds like a date. See you tomorrow at three."

And that was the end of that conversation, for now at least.

It was only eight at night when the Dailey family decided to take their leave. The sun had just set a little while ago, and now the sky was lit with the light pollution that came from all around in their area. The three children were already in the family car, waiting for their parents to finish up with their goodbyes and return to the car so that they could go home. During this seemingly long wait though, the siblings found themselves debating a few things.

"They seem like a nice family." Kati began, finally clicking off the car's radio so that she could be heard above the noise. "Haley L. is really mature for her age."

"I'm sure she is." Baron said back, a tad monotone as he folded his arms over his chest idly. "Didn't really talk to her though."

"Well, that's because you never really talk to anyone." Hailey piped up, nudging her brother's chin with her small fist gently. "You looked like you didn't even want to be here."

"Because I didn't." The elder sibling reminded her, slapping her hand away from him. "I don't do well with new people."

"Or any people for that mat- Stop changing the subject." Kati cut in suddenly, already sick of this 'anti-social' joke. "Now come on guys, what did we honestly think of these people?"

"They were nice!" Hailey exclaimed suddenly, reaching for the radio nob yet again. "Is this going to be a thing with you?"

"I was only asking." Kati said innocently, sitting back in her seat as she looked out of the car's tinted windows to see their parents approaching the car. "Here comes mom and dad! Sit back in your seat, Hail."

The older of the twins rolled her eyes and sat back. As much as she wanted that radio on, she also wanted to go home, which would be delayed should she stay where she was. Seconds later, their parents entered the car with their father, Reed, was on the driver's side and their mother, Nettle, was in the passenger seat. Without acknowledging their children, the car was started, pulled out, and then put into drive. It wasn't until they hit the first stop sign did their mother begin to speak.

"So, Hailey, what were you and Jake talking about?" Of course, that would be the first thing she asked about.

"Just that book I loaned him, that one with the dragons and stuff." Hailey said, shrugging her shoulders and looked up at herself in the rear-view mirror. "And what were you and Mrs. Long talking about?"

"About our wonderful children and how proud we are of them." Nettle replied, speaking in an overly sweet tone, almost sounding sarcastic but really wasn't. "You know, boring mom stuff like that."

"Don't tease, Net." The woman's husband scolded gently, his eyes never once leaving the rode.

"Yeah mom." Baron mimicked his father's earlier used tone.

"I'm serious though." Nettle cooed, turning around in her seat to face her children. "I am so proud of each and every one of my special babies."

"Mooom! We're all teenagers!" Hailey groaned, looking out of the nearest window suddenly. "Enough of this baby stuff."

"Hey, as your mother I will always think of you three as my babies." Nettle said sternly, folding her arms over her chest. "Its well within my rights."

"And I am well within my rights as your daughter to be embarrassed by this." Hailey sighed, puffing out her cheeks in a silly way.

"Be glad she went with the baby joke and not the boy one." Kati cut in suddenly, bringing the family back to the original topic. "It was the question she started with."

"Oh, you mean when she was talking to that Jake kid?" Reed piped up, looking up at his children through the rear-view mirror.

"Yeah! Lets talk about that." Baron smirked, nudging his little sister in the arm. "You two hit things off pretty well."

"So? You think I'm going to start dating him or something like in the movies?" Hailey mumbled, rolling her eyes idly. "Fat chance."

"I'm pretty sure that line is one they use in the movies also." Kati pointed out, shrugging her shoulders simply.

"Thats not what we're saying at all! We're just saying that you two are getting along well." Nettle jumped in quickly, trying to prevent an unwanted argument. "And that is a very okay thing."

"It sure sounded like you were saying that." Hailey mused, smirking a bit despite her annoyance. "Now stop picking on me."

"Okay, okay. Lets talk about how our days went. Lets start with Baron and go from oldest to youngest." Nettle said, turning back around to look at her kids yet again."

The red and black haired boy looked up quickly. His eyes then drooped a bit and he shrugged his shoulders idly.

"Eh, I didn't do much. Just worked on some homework, practiced my guitar and then we went over to your friend's house." He said simply, turning to Hailey and nudging her. "Your turn shortly."

"I had a decent day. I got some reading done, painted part of the wall on my side of the room, didn't have any homework though so I took a couple of pictures standing on the roof, and then went over to your friend's house like Baron said." Hailey summed up, turning to her twin.

"Well, my day was a bit more active." The younger twin began. "I went for a walk around the neighborhood and met our new neighbors, made up my side of the room with complete painting included, called grandma to tell her how everyone was, finished my own homework, talked to my new friends on the phone for the first time with each call lasting about an hour each, and then went to the Long family house hold like my siblings have stated before."

"Well, I had a good day because I spent it getting my new home ready and then going over to my old friend's house with my four favorite people." Nettle said happily, looking over at her husband. "And you hun?"

"I had breakfast with my family and worked all day until we went to your friend's house." Reed laughed, pulling into the family's new driveway. "Then I listened to all of them talk about their days until we got home."

"And that leads us to now. Where I tell my bunnies to hop off upstairs and get ready for bed." The oldest of the women giggled, opening up her car door and getting out first. "Because its dark and its late. Bed time."

"Mom! Its a weekend!" Hailey groaned, filing out of the car with her siblings. "Can't we stay up just a few hours longer?"

"If this was our first day in our new home, I would say yes. But its not, its the third." Nettle said, pausing for a moment. "You can all stay up just one hour longer. But thats it."

"Yes! Thanks mom!" Both twins exclaimed in unison, rushing to the front door of the house.

After the five were safely back in the house, the three siblings found themselves all busy with their own devices. Baron was currently hogging the upstairs bathroom, taking his sweet time in his shower. Kati was in her room during this time, busily rummaging through her clothes as she picked her outfit out for the next day, only stopping a few times to answer a text message or two should one pop up during that time and the last of the Dailey children, Hailey, found herself in the livingroom, reading the latest book to the Madame Blue Jay series. All of them idly wasting their time before it was time for bed.