“Aw,” Serix frowned in mock disappointment. “You’re making me wait?” He broke into a playful grin and threw an arm around Cassie’s shoulders, kissing her on the cheek to avoid getting any more of the lipstick on his mouth. She just laughed and rested her forehead against his, [b]“Well, I guess if you like it that much, I might have to start wearing it more often.”[/b]

Serix and Cassie headed down to the recreational area after Sarah called them, however when they got there, he was a bit surprised to see nothing indicating a fire of any kind. He glanced up at the cavern ceiling. Of course. The humans couldn’t burn anything inside the caves without smoking themselves out. But this revelation only led him to another question: If they weren’t having the bonfire in their hideout, where were they going to go instead?

He was soon answered by Jerry, who explained that they were going to leave the caves in order to burn their fire safely. Serix shifted uneasily at the new information. The humans were taking a huge risk by bringing their entire population aboveground, especially if they were going to light a fire. They hadn’t been caught by his people so far, but smoke was dangerously visible against the night sky. Even if the Lunairans hadn’t sent patrols this way, they would be able to see the glow of the flames or the trail of the smoke from a great distance. On top of that, they were completely exposed in the wide open desert. They would have nowhere to hide if they were attacked. He kept these uncertainties to himself, however. Ryan must know what he was doing if he had kept the humans safe for this long.

The half-bloods moved out when Jake entered the cavern to tell them that everything had been prepared. Serix trailed after Cassie, still slightly uneasy about the idea of taking a group of this size out into the open air. Once they were outside, though, his worries were replaced by awe. He and his mate had been in hiding for so long that he had forgotten what the night sky looked like from Earth. It was like an enormous blue-black blanket, spotted with countless pinpricks of light that he knew to be stars. He didn’t recognize any constellations, having only been taught the ones he would have seen back on Lunair, but the sight was still breathtaking.

Serix brought his gaze back down to the activity that was happening around him on Earth. The humans had set up a massive heap of old boxes and other garbage that glistened with some strange-smelling liquid.  They gathered in a ring around it while Ryan stepped into the center, raising a small, burning stick in over his head and shouting, [b]“Alright guys, let’s get this party started!”[/b] The humans howled excitedly in response. Their energy was so infectious that Serix found himself joining them while Ryan tossed the burning stick into the trash. The resulting bonfire engulfed it with startling speed, causing the humans to call out even louder.

After the flames died down slightly, the crowd began to disperse as the half-bloods moved to socialize with their friends. Of course, Ryan wasted no time in searching out Cassie. He approached her with a proud grin on his face, “What do you think? Pretty great, huh?”

Serix continued to watch the flickering flames while his mate conversed with the human. Their wild dance was enchanting. He had never seen a fire this large before. In fact, every fire he had seen until this point had been the result of an accident, and each was quickly tamed before it could grow to anything nearly this size. It was clever how the humans manipulated the bonfire’s destructive power to help them remove their waste, rather than avoid it altogether like his people did.

Serix was interrupted from his thoughts when he felt a tug at the hem of his shirt. He looked down to see the young human, Charlie, standing at his side. The child looked somewhat annoyed.

“Hey, alien,” he said. “Sally’s gone and gotten herself lost. We were playing hide-and-seek over there,” he pointed at a nearby hill. “And now I can’t find her. I figured that with those glow-y eyes of yours, you’d be able to see her better than I could.” He huffed, as if he didn’t want to admit that a Lunairan could be better at him than anything. “I just want to find her before her big bro notices she’s gone. Will you help?”

Serix hesitated, thinking it over. It seemed odd that the child would come to him for help over one of the other humans, but he sounded earnest. Besides, he might be able to use Charlie’s request to put himself in better standing with the others. It would be a start, at least, and really, what harm could it do to help the kid out?

“Alright,” Serix nodded. Cassie looked like she was still busy with Ryan, so he squeezed her hand and whispered in her ear, “I’ll be right back.” He knew she didn’t want him to go off on his own like this, but surely she wouldn’t object if he was merely helping a child. He followed after Charlie as the young male led him around the hillside where he had been playing his game with Sally. On the other side, he could no longer see the glow of the bonfire, and the chatter of the humans sounded distant. He slowed his pace, his eyes flicking warily over the boulders and shrubs that surrounded them, “You two wandered pretty far from the group.”

“Well duh,” Charlie rolled his eyes. “The game doesn’t work if we can see each other clearly. It has to be dark so we can hide.” He turned and started to walk to the right. “I’ll look over here, and you can go over there, alien.”

“I have a name, you know,” Serix shook his head, but did as the child instructed.

As he searched for the missing female, Serix kept his guard up, frequently glancing over his shoulder for signs of movement. Even if Charlie had no malicious intents, he was still unarmed and exposed. Any other human could easily try to ambush him while he was alone. For a moment, he wondered if the child had been part of some larger plan to separate him from the group so someone could do exactly that, but he discarded the thought after he had spent a good ten minutes wandering the hillside and no one made an appearance.

After another five minutes, Serix sighed and turned back for the bonfire. He hadn’t been able to find Sally in spite of all his searching. Perhaps Charlie had had better luck on his side of the hill. If not, well, the young female would be in quite a lot of trouble with Ryan when he discovered her absence. He hoped his own child wouldn’t be so troublesome.

Serix rounded the corner of the hill saw Charlie and Sally chasing each other in circles around the bonfire. The child must have found her long ago and just never came back to tell him. He shook his head and sighed again, [i]Kids[/i].

Serix walked back over to Cassie and wrapped an arm around her waist, planting a kiss on her cheek as he did, “Sorry I took so long. It looks like he didn’t need my help after all.” He nodded at the two children running around the fire and then turned back to his mate. “Anyways, did I miss anything here?”