Apologies

"Leilani! You're safe!" Lucy enthused when Dawnie plunked Leilani down in front of her.

Leilani looked around the hideout. Dawnie had only said that it was cool in a way that only Court and Lucy could be cool. Leilani figured that she was right. The place looked like an abandoned warehouse full of furniture.

"Isn't someone missing their inventory?" She finally asked as she slowly shouldered out of her knapsack.

"I think they think that there was a fire, or at least that's what their insurance company thinks?" Court said in passing, nibbling on what looked like an apple Danish.

Leilani took a step after Court. He had a whole container of them! Surely, just one or three wouldn't be a bother to ask for?

"Leilani? Earth to Leilani?" Lucy said, tapping her on the shoulder.

It broke the food haze she'd been in. Still, Leilani stared longingly after Court and the Danish. She hadn't had a Danish in so long. The conservatory only stocked their employee lounge with crackers, chips and healthy alternatives.

"Danish," Leilani replied, taking a step forward only to be yanked back by Lucy.

"If you want a Danish, I'll get you a Danish," Lucy promised. "I made them after all."

"You can make Danish? I thought they came from a Danish machine!" Leilani protested.

She tried to rip her attention from Court and his food. That was the only downside to being her that Leilani could figure. She lost concentration when it came to food.

"This way, little glutton," Lucy said affectionately. "You can talk while I bake."

And somehow Leilani found herself sitting at a counter in what looked like a faux kitchen. Lucy was taking out whatever anxiety she had on a stick of unsalted butter, chopping it into teeny, tiny little cubes the size of her pinky's nail.

"Do you want apple or cheese?" Lucy asked as she ruthlessly rolled out dough and then precisely dotted it with the little pieces of butter.

"Whatever's easiest," Leilani replied, forcing herself to not shrink back as the rolling pin came close to her fingers.

"Cheese it is, then," Lucy said with a smile.

Leilani fell silent as she watched Lucy turn the buttered dough into something that definitely resembled a cheese Danish. She even made the cheese filling from scratch. Leilani turned her head to survey the rest of the hideout.

There was a giant square of light in the center. She looked upwards, spotting giant spotlights dangling from the ceiling. Leilani didn't even want to know who got up there to hang them. There was a square of televisions sitting off to one side, surrounded by comfy looking sofas. Another area held curtained off beds, the beds visible because the curtains were tied back.

Leilani found herself wondering about the bathroom facilities. They obviously had water because Lucy was obsessive about washing her utensils and bowls as she went. Knowing Lucy, the bathroom was probably some improbably lavish thing.

It was when Dawnie returned from wherever she'd gone that Leilani felt the need to say something.

"Where's San?"

There was a sudden stillness. Rena, who'd been flipping through channels on one of the televisions stopped, glancing their way. The hum of background noise even ceased.

Leilani felt like the bumbling idiot that silenced a forest.

"Lucy?"

"San went off somewhere," Lucy said. She heaved a sigh and pulled out a clean measuring cup and an unopened bag of flour.

"We don't know what's going on with San, but the only way anyone could have found you is with his help," Dawnie said as she reached around Leilani and snagged a cookie from a nearby plate.

"Don't blame San. Blame us for not noticing sooner," Lucy said as she methodically measured out flour and dumped it into a sifter set in a bowl.

Leilani opened her mouth to retort but then closed it. She could feel the waves of anger and worry pouring off of not just Lucy, but Rena as well. Dawnie was, surprisingly, a blank slate to her. Leilani couldn't figure out if it was because she was vibrating too fast for her abilities to latch onto or if Dawnie had no opinion at all on what was going on.

Taking a peek at Dawnie who was munching on two Danishes at once, she realized that perhaps Dawnie just had too much going on in her head. Lucy's thoughts were a repeating litany of anger, mayhem and worry, all directed towards San. Rena's was just as loud and just as focused.

"Why are all of us here?" Leilani abruptly asked.

That had Lucy pausing in the midst of rolling out another sheet of dough. The butter was already cut, something Leilani must've missed while trying to read the other two girls.

"We're here because of Ella," Lucy said. She scattered the butter haphazardly this time. "We're also here because someone's hunting us. Oh, and Aarti's looking for a magic hat," she tossed out with a smirk.

"It's not magic," Aarti said as she breezed into the hideout's lights. There were bags, both paper and plastic dangling from her arms.

"She's also become a shopping addict," Lucy added. She rolled her eyes and opened the refrigerator, revealing a packed interior. "Now, where did I leave those cherries?"

"Don't listen to her. It's not magic…I think," Aarti said, sweeping Leilani up into a package laden hug.

"Aarti!" Leilani squealed. She couldn't help it. Aarti was her hands down favorite person. "Why are you shopping? Don't Amazons all wear armor and stuff?"

"Not all the time," Aarti said with a genuine smile. Leilani still caught a whiff of sadness laced with a name. "The hat got stolen from its rightful owner. A whole lot of bad will be solved if I can find it."

"Except that it's in the overlords' hands," Rena called from her sofa. She'd gone back to absentmindedly switching channels. A news story about missing children popped up onscreen with two familiar faces.

"So, you're looking for hats and Ella?" Leilani asked. She swiveled on her stool to look in the direction Court had gone. "And the overlords are involved as well?"

Lucy heaved a sigh as she twisted the dough into decorative little diamonds.

"That's about right, I think." Lucy pulled out another baking sheet and started laying the diamonds in an orderly fashion.

"Oh, and we think that they're turning San into a druggie to better control him," Rena also added.

Leilani slowly blinked. Then she picked up a Danish from the nearby wire rack.

"Can we start from the beginning?" She asked. "I think this is more complicated than you're saying."