I drove home to meet Marilyn so we could car pool to work, where she told me how horrible this one flowers life story was. To every common person the Modest Teas Coffee shop in town was just like its name, modest. A cute coffee bar where the poetic kind came to banter about the most recent novels and whether it really went deep enough into the true meaning of the story or just a quiet place to get homework done.

Of course, beyond its misleading appearance lied the real truth. It was a coffee shop, yes, but a modest coffee shop for the artist type, no. This shop had a special purpose, to bring the loners together to give them some sort of safe haven if needed. We meet about thirty different loners a year. It might not be much but take into account how scarce our kind is; we consider those to be great numbers.

About ten minutes later we pulled into the parking lot behind the shop and the feeling hit me with a force that could only mean trouble. I could feel three different loners inside and that the shop owner and fellow loner, Jackie, was in some sort of distress. Mari was sitting composed, waiting to hear what I was feeling. She had seen me do this several times in the past, many of which saved our asses or put them in danger. Depending on whether I wanted to play hero and save the day.

"Come on Mari," I said coldly climbing out of the car "Jackie needs our help with some pests."

The backdoor opened quietly enough but the real challenge was getting into the office where Jackie's tazer and pepper spray were stashed. Not designed to kill but to stun long enough to immobilize them and contact the others. The police wouldn't be called though, we didn't believe in sending our own kind to jail. Most believed since we were different-some even believed a more supreme being than humans- that we should have our own form of punishment, considering none of our kind believe in murder.

Our only complication would be that to get into the office we would have to crawl under the curtain that covers the backroom doorway, go behind the counter, and be in the whole shops field of view while we move from behind our barrier into the hallway on our left. Sketchy sometimes but has had to be done a couple times in the past.

Though there was no need this time, from the window in the kitchen we could see Jackie and three guys, who looked to be around eighteen, all sitting around a table. Jackie had her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shook giving the impression she was crying. Marilyn nodded at me that she would take over the register.

Only one guy noticed us as we stepped through the curtain and I saw the other two tense up as I stopped at the table, placing a reassuring hand on Jackie's shoulder. She didn't look at me or make a noise. "Which one of you is containing her emotions?"

An Asian guy, who looked to be the youngest, raised a hand timidly "I am," he answered nervously like I'd attack him at any moment "we were not sure how she would react and we didn't want her to cause a scene or something."

I nodded, bending down and wrapping my arm around her shoulders. "What happened to make her so distraught?" asked Mari from beside me.

A long haired Cuban guy closest to us stood up "Maybe we should talk about this somewhere more private if you don't mind."

Giving each other confirming glances Mari went to get rid of some customers sitting in the corner and flipped the front sign to "closed" behind them. Mari always had a way of getting people to do things without any kind of confrontation; it was just part of her personality. The Cuban helped me get my silently crying, emotionless heap of a boss into the office where she curled herself into a ball on the couch, not making eye contact with anything but the floor boards.

"Hey Mari, can you get us some cappuccinos and a green tea for her please?"

She nodded, happy to leave the room and remove herself from the tense situation. Never being good with emotionally overwhelming moments, and would ask me about it later when everyone cooled down.

They were definitely our kind bearing bad news, if that wasn't already apparent. "Explain," I demanded jumping right into it.

"Our kind is being attacked."