Author's note: Hope you have all had a lovely week! This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but is full of Zeddison mystery and some Mayar/Wyatt (Mayatt?) cuteness! I apologize for any typos, I'm a bit on the sleep deprived side this weekend.

Next chapter, we'll get to see how the City Council meeting goes, and if they find out anything useful from Charon without causing any drama.

As always, I live for your follows and reviews! You are all wonderful!

ZzZzZzZ

Breakfast time at the Zambie house had become a hectic but comfortable morning routine for Zed and all of his friends and family. Each family unit would rotate the daily duties of cooking meals, doing laundry, and completing other necessary household chores. On this particular morning, it was Zevon who was assigned the task of cooking breakfast. He, of course, chose a zombie breakfast staple, brains-in-a-can with scrambled eggs. Despite Zed's joking that his dad's cooking tasted "like old gym sneakers," it was actually one of his favorite meals.

But today, Zed was distracted as he poked absent-mindedly at the eggs and brain on his plate. He glanced at the clock every few minutes. Zed was hoping to be able to call Addison's house, but knew that the family generally didn't wake up on Saturday until after eight-thirty in the morning. Yes, that was what they considered "sleeping in." He could call in about fifteen minutes.

Around him, the other people around the table were laughing and speaking in a comfortable blend of zombie tongue and English. The combinations of the two languages definitely made for an interesting-sounding conversation.

"Gar gors gra football Zedka argon tozezra bly troras." Bonzo chucked, throwing a small chunk of egg at Zed's head. Several zombies at the table erupted into laughter, and despite his current nerves, Zed couldn't help but join in.

"Zah, Zah, Bonska, very funny varz zigrok." Zed replied with a roll of his eyes.

He wasn't actually annoyed, though.

Bonzo grinned brightly as Zed whipped a piece of cauliflower at him, laughing as it stuck directly over his forehead in his shaggy bangs. He shook it from his hair into Eliza's plate, who glared at him with a sharply arched eyebrow before busting into laughter as well. Even the parents were chuckling now.

While Zed had been worried that it would be cramped or uncomfortable with all of them in the Zambie house, he had been pleasantly surprised by how fun it was. It was, in many ways, a lot like the sleepovers he, Bonzo and Eliza used to have when they were little. None of them seemed to mind the chore rotation, nor did they mind the close quarters.

Zed glanced up at the clock again. 8:25 a.m.

Almost.

"Anxious about something, kiddo?" Zevon asked, eyeing his son over his second helping of breakfast.

"I have to wait until after eight-thirty to call." Zed replied.

"Ah. What we discussed last night?"

"Yeah."

Zevon nodded, raising his fork to his mouth for another giant bite.

Last night, after Zed got home, he had sat up watching television with his dad after the rest of their housemates had gone to bed. Waiting until he was sure they were alone, Zed had asked his dad the question that had been burning in his brain since the bonfire meeting earlier that evening. They had talked together for a while, having a great father/son heart-to-heart. This discussion had ended in Zed asking his dad a question, which had been answered yes.

8:28 a.m.

The other occupants of the table looked mildly curious, but none of them commented as Bonzo launched into another joke about Zed's football skills. Truthfully, Zed was just happy to see that his friend was feeling better. It had been a rough few days for Bonzo. For the first three days, his friend had seemed to almost act as though he were ignoring him. It was nice for things to be back to normal. But at the moment, Zed was too anxious to dwell on Bonzo for more than a few seconds.

The clock hands ticked inaudibly onto 8:30 a.m.

Zed stood from the table, and bolted out of the room and up the stairs. On the tiny landing of the second floor, there was an ancient telephone on the wall, complete with a long, tangled cord and a rotary dial. While this phone would be an antique to a human teenager, Zed and other zombie kids had grown up using cast-offs and old junk. He would pay money just to watch Bucky try to call someone on this phone.

Zed paused, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

Then, he carefully dialed the number to Addison's house, listening to repetitive clicking of the rotary as it spun back to zero after each digit. Then, the phone rang.

After a short moment, Addison's mom answered the phone.

"Well's Residence."

"Hi, Mayor Missy, it's Zed." He said, trying to make his voice sound mature and pleasant.

"Oh, hello Zed!" Missy said, sounding surprised. "How are you doing, this morning?"

"I'm doing great, ma'am. How are you?" Zed responded automatically, allowing manners and societal cues to momentarily steer the conversation.

"Well, I'm fine," she said, "But Addison isn't here at the moment, Zed. She and Bucky are meeting with the squad for an early weekend practice this morning. They agreed to perform at the Shore Day celebration, so they are planning an abbreviated version of the routine they'll be doing at regionals."

"Oh, yes, ma'am. I know that." Zed stated, gulping audibly in his nervousness.

"Um, I... Actually, I was hoping I could talk with you and Mr. Wells."

He took in another calming breath before speaking again.

"It's about Addison."

ZzZzZzZ

Wyatt stood outside the entryway to the Crater, rocking nervously back and forth on the balls of his feet. He had told Mayar last night that he would meet her outside her home an hour before the council met at the community center that afternoon. She had been nervous about going "Above," as they called it, during the middle of the day, but was determined to accompany them. Qamar would be catching up with them a half hour later outside the community center building, after finishing up his scouting shift beneath the city. Aruna would be busy watching the smaller children, and thus was unable to come.

Wyatt let out a small sigh of frustration as he thought back over their run-in with Charon last night.

After reaching Addison, he, Willa, Wynter and two other wolves had run after Charon, hoping to catch him. To their astonishment, though, he was able to outrun them easily, despite Addison's perfectly landed kicks to his leg and face. He had never imagined that the Lunites might be so fast, and wondered if their strength was equally impressive.

He was loathe to admit it, but it hurt his wolfy pride as well as his manly pride to be so effortlessly outraced by an adult in his forties, different species or not.

Behind him, Wyatt heard the soft padding of bare feet against stone, and turned to watch a very bizarrely clad Mayar ascending the steps. She was wearing a long, slate grey cloak, with a large hood that almost completely obscured her face. Her outfit, however, was not the classic Lunite attire that he had expected. She was wearing soft, pastel pink jeans with a white belt at the waist, along with a tucked-in white shirt and a bubblegum pink jacket with silver cuffs. Beneath the cloak, a white and pink floral scarf securely covered her neck and hair, a few wild curls springing forth from beneath the scarf.

Aside from the cloak and lack of shoes, she could have passed for a normal Seabrook citizen. From beneath the hood and scarf, her bright green eyes glittered up at him.

"Wow." He mumbled before he could stop, cheeks burning mildly as he realized he had spoken aloud rather than just in his head. Not that she wouldn't have heard it, either way, he realized as he saw the gleam of her teeth as she smiled broadly.

She hesitantly walked out into the light of the day, burying her face deeper into the gigantic cloak.

"Does it look alright?" She asked, squinting up at him. "I thought it would be a good idea if we tried to blend in. Qamar has a Seabrook Power coverall with him to put on when he meets us later."

Wyatt grinned, trying to ignore the tiny jab of jealousy at the mention of Qamar.

"You look great! I mean, you know, you always look great." He grinned.

"Actually," he continued, "I thought it might be helpful if I brought you a few things."

Reaching into his backpack, Wyatt produced a medium-sized gift bag, offering it out to her.

Her smile brightened even more, which he hadn't thought was possible. She actually danced from foot to foot in her excitement.

"What is it?"

Wyatt shook his head, loudly reciting last weeks list of vocabulary words in his head so as not to spoil the surprise.

"Open it!"

She squealed with joy as she reached her hand inside the bag, pulling out a cylindrical pink bundle of fabric.

"It's a retractable umbrella," Wyatt explained at her look of confusion, as he gestured to a button on the side of the device. "Push this button, and it extends out into a huge umbrella. It will help keep you from getting too much sunlight, and it won't look as out-of-place as a cloak.

She immediately pressed the button, jumping back with an expression of happiness and astonishment as it unfolded in her hand.

"Oh, dear! That's amazing!" She laughed with delight, unclasping the cloak and allowing it to fall forgotten to the forest floor. She stared fondly at her new umbrella, now twirling it over her head. "I've heard of these, but I've never seen one in person. Thank you!"

He was smiling now, unable to escape her contagiously happy attitude.

"There's one more thing in there," Wyatt said, reaching down to the bag, which had dropped to the side amidst her enthusiasm about the umbrella.

He pulled out a pair of fuscia-framed sunglasses, waving them in front of her as she continued to twirl her new umbrella. She gasped again, padding towards Wyatt until she was practically nose-to-nose with him.

"Sunglasses!" She breathed. "I love them!"

Mayar leaned forward, so close they were almost touching. For a moment, Wyatt completely forgot the sunglasses still in his hand as he stared down at her. It would only take leaning forward a few inches for him to be able to kiss her. As they locked eyes, he noticed that adorable, periwinkle blush ghosting across her cheeks, and reminded himself again that she knew exactly what he was thinking about.

To Wyatt's utter astonishment, she leaned in, closing the small space dividing them as she pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

"I like you too, Wyatt." Mayar said, leaning back slightly to look at him again.

"I've liked you for a long time, even before we met in person. I've always thought you were cute and brave and caring. I know that's probably weird and awkward and creep—"

He pulled her back to him, interrupting her flustered ramblings with a kiss of his own.

"It's perfect." He said.

"You're perfect."

Smiling gently, he reached up to tuck away an errant curl into her scarf. With another touch of his lips to hers, he raised the nearly forgotten sunglasses to her eyes, still squinting lightly against the bright sun, and placed them onto her. The large sunglasses engulfed the upper half of her face, the other half still smiling charmingly up at him.

"Come on," Wyatt said, feeling more at peace than he had in a very long time as he reached out to touch her hand.

"We have a city council meeting to crash. And, er, maybe after that... I mean, if you wanted to, or something... Maybe we could go out for some fro yo?"

His expression softened as he looked hopefully back at her.

"I would absolutely love that." She beamed, periwinkle shimmering across her cheekbones. He wasn't completely sure, but he thought that he could see the faint glow of her hair, radiating out from her head and bright enough to be seen in the light of day. Joining her beneath the pink umbrella, they clasped hands as they walked together towards Seabrook.

Wyatt didn't stop grinning the entire trip into town.