Chapter Five

"Mom, dinner was great!" Akina said as she sat back against her chair and rubbed her stomach.

"Yes, it was, Mrs. Hailey. Great soup." Faye commented as she placed her napkin on the table.

"We haven't had anything to eat in a long time. This was just right." Spike said. Mrs. Hailey just looked at him with an odd expression on her face.

Just as she was about to say something about what Spike said, a man with a briefcase walked through the door leading to the garage.

"Hello, honey. Work was. um." the man said as he saw Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed and Ein.

"These are my new friends, dad. This is Justin, Faye, Doug, Brandy, and Brandy's dog, Spike." Akina said as she made up names for everybody.

"Hello, everybody. I'm Robert Hailey, Akina's father." Mr. Hailey said as he put his briefcase on the floor.

"Well, we're going to my bedroom. Bye!" Akina said as she grabbed Spike's hand, who grabbed Faye's, who grabbed Jet's, who grabbed Ed's.

"Whew." Akina said as she closed her door. "Pretty lame names, I guess, huh?"

"I'd say so. I do like Spike's name, though." Faye commented.

"Okay, now we're going to have to go shopping. But, we need regular money. Wait a minute." Akina said as she thought about who to turn to.

"Who can help us?" Spike asked desperately.

"Richy! He can help!" Akina said as she walked to the group, who were sitting on the floor.

"Well, can we do that some other time? I'm sleepy." Faye asked.

"Sure. By the way, you're looking pretty dirty. You can take a bath or a shower if you want." Akina said.

"A bath?! That would be heaven!" Faye said, dreamily.

"Well, everybody else can take a shower, if they want." Akina said.

"Great!" Spike said.

As Faye was taking a bath, Spike, Jet and Ed went back to the ship to get extra clothes, food, and money.

When Faye opened the bathroom door, she saw Akina's door closed. Just as she was about to knock, she heard Akina talking to herself.

"I hope they'll believe me when I tell them." Akina said.

".Believe me? Tell us what?" Faye asked herself before she finally knocked.