*LJ. Smith owns the Night World Series.*

There was childish giggle mixed with musical laughter and footsteps lightly thundering towards them.

Then a woman came into view, clutching Thistles hand. She had long golden curls, a pinkish complexion and naturally full cherry lips. And her eyes were dark violet like a glossy indigo at the end of dawn.

"Hey, Kayla, looking good." Raven brightened up too.

Kayla wore a snug turquoise dress that reached above her knees and four inch heeled sandals. She got an approving low whistle from Val.

Iona saw Timothy roll his eyes.

You know her?

Me? I've only been here yesterday and– Timothy's face drained. Nothing.

Thistle was your only friend. Iona finished, just to show him it didn't bother her one bit.

"And who are these?" Kayla was clearly sweet and charming but not overly so.

Raven introduced them. "That's Timothy and that's Iona. They're sort of together."

Iona felt her face swell that her hands automatically flew up to her cheeks and felt oozing warmth. Timothy didn't react, conspicuously watching Thistle look sceptically from one to the other.

Kayla gave another musical laughter. "Cuties."

Val huskily laughed with her, obviously smitten. "This is Kayla. She's the librarian."

Typical.

Iona always enjoyed Timmy's twisted perception, she had to laugh too.

Then Kayla glanced demurely at all of them. "I hope I'm not disturbing anything."

Everyone shook their heads in chorus. Kayla wasn't part of Iona's problem, they all knew that.

"Oh, good." Kayla straightened. "Because you're all late for lunch. It's one o'clock already. That means the dining area is cleaning up already so you all have to eat at the rooftop."

Thistle and Raven shared a look and then shook their heads. "We're not really hungry."

Timothy joined in. "Yeah, we ate a heavy breakfast."

And Iona saw Kayla's face fall. "But we'll catch up!"

"No!" Val shot up and gave all of them a hard look. "We are all going to lunch. Now." Then he turned and softened, smiling at Kayla. "Lead the way, Miss."

"Oh, wonderful." Kayla shifted back to a happy doll. "To the rooftop!"

The roof top was spacious lined with flowering bushes and the sky was a cloudless azure. There was a big round table in the middle and they began setting up the plates and utensils.

Iona had never been to the rooftop and she wished she'd known of this beautiful place sooner.

"Now, the food is downstairs." Kayla clutched her hands under her chin and dabbed her lashes at Val. "Could you and your gang fetch them for me?"

"No problem!" Val grinned. "Wait. What about them?"

"Oh, I'd like to get know these two a little more." Kayla showed them her best smile. "Is that alright?"

Timothy shrugged and looked at Iona who sat beside her. "Oh, sure. Why not?" Iona giggled. Timothy turned back to Kayla and nodded.

"Wonderful!" Kayla's blond curls shone bronze against the sunlight as she clapped. "Wonderful!"

Please review. I'll post the next chapter later today. :)