Kiyro was next in line. He placed the book that he was reading and the selenite on top of it.
"I have never seen this book before. Are you sure you got it here?" The cashier asked. He flipped over the book to check if it had a tag price. On the back, with black ink on a white sticker, a $10 price tag was located. "Nevermind, I guess it is ours. That would be $20.91," said the sales clerk. The digital cash register rang up the two selenites. Kiyro pulled out his phone and slid his phone across a digital machine.
"Thank you. Next, please."
The moment the transaction went through, a message popped up in Kiyro's Alive gear updating the quest.
Please head over to Evergreen Atlanta Community College with your teammate. Once arriving at the location, six different map locations will be sent individually to each person. You have less than three hours to complete the quest.
Kiyro read the message over again. Three hours? That wasn't enough time for whatever they would complete the quest. He pulled up a digital map to the location of the College with his Alive gear. He noticed that going from his location to the College would take those thirty minutes, but there was a problem. The GPS was red on the highway with an accident icon floating over it, adding another thirty minutes. Switching over to the bus route view, he noticed the added amount of time increased by another hour and thirty minutes.
"I'm not sure about you guys, but the time to get to the college is over two hours and thirty minutes on the bus. So that gives us less than thirty minutes to complete a quest that we don't know if there will be more added to it or not," said Alex. "With that assumption, the possibility of it running over the time limit is high."
"I was thinking in the same line as well," replied Kiyro. "It would be best if we go by car and get on the highway or possibly go locally to save time, but our options are limited. We don't have a car."
"Why don't we call around to see if we can get a ride? I can look into a cab."
"We could do that," said Eve. "I might have someone."
"Okay. Let's try that out," agreed Will.
"I'm up for it." Jack nodded his head in agreement.
Each went on their own call list database, looking for a possible ride. Kiyro didn't have to think so hard about finding a possible ride. He only had a few people's names listed on his directory that lived in Georgia. The first was his sister, the second was his father, whom he did not want to talk to; the third was his brother, who went missing; and finally, his master Demon Fox. The only person he would ever call at this moment was his sister. Pulling up her number, he dialed her.
"Hello? Kiyro?" Anna's voice replied. Loud, obnoxious sounds could be heard behind her.
"What's that loud sound? It's difficult to hear you." Kiyro had to raise his voice over the loud sound.
"Sorry about that. There is construction going on right next to me. Give me a moment while driving away from it." The loud, obnoxious sound slowly decreased over time, and finally, it was peaceful and quiet. "There. I'm driving right now. What's up?"
"By any chance, are you free?"
"Yea. I don't have to go to work today."
"Then do you think you could pick us up?"
"Where?"
"At Midtown in front of the Ice and Phoenix store."
"Lucky you. I'm just right around the corner. I know where that is, and it should take me about ten minutes to get there."
"Really? Thanks a lot."
"I'll see you soon." Anna hung up the phone call before Kiyro could say anything else.
"I'm out of options," said Jack. He was slightly annoyed at how no one was picking up the phone.
"Me too." Eve and Isabel both replied at the same time.
"The taxi fare is going to cost over $50. I'm not exactly sure what the total outcome would be, but we could split it six ways." Alex threw in his opinion, and everyone thought about it.
"We could do that," said Williams.
"Or we could save money and ride for free with my sister. She'll be here in like ten minutes." Kiyro waited for their answer and knew what they would all choose.
"I'm down with that," Isabel replied quickly. "But I'm starving. So let's get this over with and grab something to eat."
Everyone else agreed with Isabel. So they walked out of the Ice and phoenix store and waited patiently outside for his sister to arrive.
"I didn't know you have a sister," Jack asked. "I thought you were an only child."
"Same." Isabel walked up next to him. Kiyro could feel her presence near him, making him a bit antsy.
"I did." Eve chimed in, coming next to him on the other side. "I haven't met her yet, so I don't know much about her. But, from what I know, she seemed pretty nice. She agreed to let my cat Tempest stay at the apartment. I even got to check it out. The place looked pretty nice and clean."
"Actually, it's my apartment. I only asked to make sure she didn't mind the extra company," said Kiyro. He felt like he was in between two large opposing forces.
"She came over?"
"Yea. For a moment to drop Tempest off."
"Oh." Isabel's voice slowly drifted and became quiet. She was deep in thought. Kiyro couldn't help but take quick sneak peeks at Isabel. He noticed her long eyelashes and even pink cheeks reminded him of a cute chipmunk. He felt like a pervert staring, so he averted his eyes away.
"Is your sister cute?" Alex cut in with a mischievous smile. He stepped forward in front of Kiyro and looked back. They all waited under the tree, waiting for his sister's arrival.
"You're the last one I want to introduce her to." Kiyro wasn't too keen on looking forward to allowing both Anna and Alex to meet. He felt uncomfortable at the thought of his sister being the next target for Alex if he put his mind to it. He didn't like the idea that his sister could possibly get hurt.
"Oh, come on. I can be a gentleman."
Jack chuckled, "It's going to be difficult for you to get through the guard dog if you're not careful. It seems you're already on the radar to not trespass." He patted Alex's back.
"What did I do?" Alex gasped and acted innocent as if he didn't know.
"It's always harder to get past the brother's sister's approval. But, if you cross that line, I suggest taking him out for a drink." Will came up beside Alex and wrapped his arms around his neck. He winked at him.
"Let's get off this topic. It's a bit uncomfortable to think about right now," said Kiyro.
A black SUV rolled up in front of Kiyro. The window rolled down as Anna peered out towards him. "Hey, little brother."
"Anna. You're here sooner than I expected." He walked up next to the car and opened the side door.
"There was barely any traffic at the moment." Anna moved the stack of papers over, allowing Kiyro to sit. "You're friends?"
"You could say something like that." Kiyro got in. "You guys get in."
The rest of the group surrounded the SUV peering in. They noticed that there wasn't enough space for all five people to sit. If they were to squeeze in, one person would still be unable to sit inside the SUV.
"How are we all going to sit in here?" Jack asked. His hands were on top of the SUV, peering into the SUV.
"You don't have to worry about it." Anna smiled her usually cheerful grin. She pressed a button on the car.
"There is an extra seat that you can pull up from the back." Kiyro pointed out. The back door of the car automatically beeped loudly as it opened. Two seats were pulled out, and the seat in front of it was slightly pushed forward. "Now, it should be fine."
The girls sat in the middle seat with Alex, right behind Anna, while Jack and Will sat in the back.
"Are you guys comfortable back there?" Anna called out.
"A bit stuffy and crunched up back here," said Will. He moved around a bit to make himself comfortable throughout the whole ride. "But I should be fine."
"So, Kiyro, you didn't introduce them yet. I'm Anna, by the way."
"Ah, my bad. Starting from the very back are Will and Jack. Then we have Eve and Isabel, and right next to Isabel is Alex."
"Eve? Do you mean that Eve dropped off her cat?"