My Best Friend's Best Friend

Chapter 6: The Quest Continues

Penny had just made it home after dropping off Vincent and Jas when there was a knock on the trailer door. That hardly ever happened, so she hurried to answer it.

"Abigail!" she said in surprise.

"Hey, Penny," Abigail said with a little wave. Penny joined her outside and shut the door quickly behind her.

"Can I do something for you?" Penny asked. Abigail had never sought her out before, let alone come to her house.

"My evening class got canceled tonight, and Seb doesn't have to work, so we thought we might get our Solarion game going again."

"Oh, great! Right now?"

"Yeah, Sam's already up there, so if you're down, I thought I'd come get ya."

"Sure, let me just grab something. Um, wait here." Penny left Abigail standing outside and slipped back in, careful to keep Abigail from seeing inside. She checked her hair quickly in the mirror and grabbed two books that had been set aside on her desk before rushing back out.

"All set?" Abigail had been scuffing her combat boot in the dust in Penny's yard, if it could be called a yard.

Penny nodded and fell in beside Abigail as they started north.

"What are those?" Abigail pointed at the books.

"Oh, I needed to return this to Sebastian." Penny held up Time Skipper: Night Mists. It was the sequel he'd lent to her; he'd left it in her mailbox just a day after they'd talked about it. It was as good as promised, and Penny had read it cover to cover twice since then. "And I thought he might like to borrow this. I don't know if it's his taste, but the author of the Solarian Chronicles has said that it inspired one of the main characters." She held up an older looking fantasy novel, The Truth of the Mountain. The paperback cover was cracked and worn from all the times Penny had read it.

"You two have got a real book club going, huh?" Abigail said with a grin. "Seb's been trying to get me and Sam to read the actual Solarian book for ages."

"Six books, actually."

"Oh, Yoba, six? That's a good reason not to start if I ever heard one."

Penny laughed. She'd never chatted so easily with Abigail, and she wanted to keep it going. "Do you like reading? Generally?"

"Sure, in theory. In practice, not so much. When I have free time I'm generally gaming or hanging out with those two losers." She pointed vaguely up the hill. Penny laughed, but it was hard for her to imagine thinking of Sam and Sebastian as losers. She was still a little intimidated by Sebastian, and she'd always thought highly of Sam.

"Have you seen the Solarion movies?" Penny asked.

"There are movies? Why didn't he tell me!" Abigail stopped in her tracks and pulled out her phone. "Oh nice, they're doing some showings in Bluejay Town, we should all go!"

Penny nodded, but the idea made her uneasy. It was one thing to be hanging out with all these new people just around Pelican Town; a big outing with them made her anxious.

"The party has arrived!" Abigail shouted when they reached Sebastian's room. There was always a great deal of commotion when the group was together, especially from Sam and Abigail, and even Maru.

Penny didn't get a chance to say anything or even catch Sebastian's eye to give him the books. She clutched them to her chest, unsure of what to do with them. She wished she hadn't brought them.

"Where did we leave off?" Sam asked, sitting down at the table when everyone had gotten their beverages and snacks of choice. "Were we still fighting the ogres?"