Once they'd scavenged the last of the PJs leftovers for breakfast and washed up in the lakewater, the nine odd companions started the trek up the mountain to Glen Haven.

"Our next item of business," AJ decided, "Is going to be building a staircase from our warehouse to Glen Haven."

"No arguments here," Roxanne raised her hand.

"What about an escalator?" Sam suggested, "then we don't even have to walk."

AJ slung his arm around Sam's shoulders. "You, my friend, are a genius."

Sam smiled weakly at AJ's grip, and slowly backed out of it to walk next to Emma.

"Okay, anything else we need to make sure and get? I've got AJ's pickles, Roxie's spices, Joan's cleaning supplies, bottled water-"

"Clothing," Willow reminded her.

"I've got that," Emma nodded.

"What's our budget?" Rebecca asked.

Emma stopped in her tracks, checking her purse. It was stuffed to the brim with bills, a few coins clinking at the bottom.

"Maybe we should stop at the bank first and get this all counted."

"Where did you get that much money anyways?" AJ asked, snatching up a hundred dollar bill before it hit the ground.

Emma snatched it back. "None of your business, AJ." She marched on, her hands balled into fists.

"You didn't steal it, did you?" Joan asked, running to keep up.

"No, I didn't!" Emma growled defensively.

"Uh, Joan-" Roxanne said nervously.

"Then you shouldn't have a problem telling us where it came from." Joan said, stepping in front of Emma and blocking her path.

Emma's fists crackled. "We're national fugitives, and you're worried about the money I have to keep us afloat while we're in hiding?"

"We became fugitives because we were doing the right thing. Stealing money is hardly the right thing." Joan crossed her arms.

Emma laughed. "I got this money through perfectly legal means. Sam can vouch for that. Even Joey saw me withdraw the money from my own bank account."

"So you got it from Phoenix? Why wouldn't you just tell us that?"

"It's not from Phoenix, either!" Emma shouted. Joan stumbled backwards. "I didn't steal this money. I didn't embezzle it, either, but I'm not one hundred percent okay with how I got it, so I'd rather not talk about it!"

The air became heavy with the scent of static electricity, like the calm right before a thunderstorm, and everyone was quiet.

"Emma?" Sam said quietly, "Are you okay?"

Emma looked down at Sam, and realized that she was floating a few inches above the layer of leaves that coated the floor. Those in the spot she'd been standing a moment ago were charred, and tiny lightning bolts ran up and down her sides.

Willow marched up to Emma, yanking on her arm so that she returned to the ground. "You need to stay calm. Especially if we're going to be hiding in plain sight among these small-town folks."

Emma sighed heavily, patting down her hair to make sure her electricity mowhawk wasn't permanent.

"You're right," She mumbled, eyeing Joan apologetically as Willow escorted her ahead of the group again.

"Are you okay?" Willow whispered to Emma as the rest of the group began to follow.

"I told you guys already, I really don't want to talk about how I got the money."

"And it's not from Phoenix?"

"No."

"But you didn't steal it?"

Emma shook her head.

"You didn't do anything bad to get it?"

She shook her head.

"Okay." Willow nodded as they approached the road. "I trust you."

"I trust you too," Emma replied.

"You guys go on ahead to the store and start picking stuff out, I'll meet you there." She said as the others caught up. Glancing both ways up and down the empty street, they dashed across to the main part of town. Taking Sam with her, Emma split off from the others, heading for a display that announced "Glen Haven Building and Loan".

Joseph yawned, stretching his arms so wide he hit the back of AJ's head.

"My apologies," Joseph said, even as he yawned again. "I have had a bit of trouble sleeping these past nights."

"Maybe it's too dry for you up here," Roxie suggested.

"No, it is fine," Joseph promised, "Though I did hear something in the warehouse last night."

"Sorry, that was probably me," Rebecca blushed.

"Actually, you all snored at one point or another," Willow said. Joan snorted, holding the door open for everyone.

"It was not that, I have slept with snoring friends before, but I am confident that I heard something rustling in the back of the warehouse last night. Perhaps we have an infestation."

"You're imagining things. It happens when you're hiding." AJ and Joan each took a cart, and Roxanne immediately placed a pancake mix and a bottle of syrup in Joan's cart before skipping off to the bakery section with Rebecca.

"I guess...we just get whatever we want." Joan shrugged.

"Emma can correct us later," AJ sped towards the candy aisle.

"Get something healthy!" Joan ran after him, skirting around a mother and her three wild children.

Joseph winced at the stranger. "My apologies."

Willow looked around the store. Roxanne and Rebecca were ogling the colorful circles in the bakery display cases while Joan bargained with AJ for the ratio of vegetables to candy he should get.

"Well, where do we go first?" Daniel asked.

Joseph was just as lost as either of them. "What do you two enjoy eating?"

Willow shrugged. "They'd just give the food to us. They wouldn't tell us what it was. Not that we'd recognize it either way."

"What about you?" Daniel asked.

"I am certain that you would not be able to find many Alexandrene delicacies at a small-town grocery store, but we might try the seafood section," Joseph pointed to the sign just beyond the bakery that Rebecca and Roxanne had enchanted themselves with.

They found a large assortment of meats land-meats along with the seafood. Joseph selected a plate of shrimp and crab legs, Daniel took five packs of bacon, and Willow finally settled on a honey-glazed ham. At least it sounded appetizing.

"Hey guys!" Sam waved as he approached them, riding in the cart Roxanne had acquired to hold all the pastries she and Rebecca had found.

"What'd you guys find?" Becca asked.

"Did you get eggs? We'll need eggs for making pancakes." Roxanne interrupted.

"Nice choice, Daniel!" Sam said, leaping out of the cart to help Roxanne choose a carton of eggs. Rebecca cleared a space for them to put their selections in their cart, and swallowed. "That ham looks good, Willow, but do you think we could get something else instead?" She asked slowly.

"What's wrong with the ham?" Willow asked, "Is it too expensive?"

"No, no, it's not that, it's just...not kosher."

Willow blinked. "What's a kosher?" She asked.

"I don't think that's the word for allergic-to-pigs, Rebecca," Daniel said.

Rebecca laughed nervously, "It's not that, either. AJ and I are Jewish, that's our religion, and part of our religion is refraining from food that isn't kosher, or what doesn't follow the guidelines that God gave us in our scriptures."

She emphatically nodded to the food in their hands, "Pigs have cloven hooves, but they don't chew grass, so they are not kosher."

"Oh, okay. We can find something else." Willow immediately put her ham back. "Is beef better?" She asked, looking at the hamburger patties.

"Yeah, that's great!" Rebecca smiled. "We can have chicken too." Daniel placed his bacon back on the rack, grabbing a bag of frozen chicken nuggets instead.

"Would you be alright with eating shrimp or crab?" Joseph asked.

Rebecca thought for a moment. "Crab, no, and typically shrimp is a no too. We don't eat anything that lives in the water without scales, but this is lab-made shrimp." She pointed to the label. "It's like tofu, so basically it's fake shrimp, but it still tastes and feels like shrimp. Plus, it's better for the environment, so I say go ahead!"

Joseph put the crabs back, holding up some cans of tuna. "Tuna have scales, don't they?"

"Yeah," Rebecca was relieved that they'd taken this so well.

"Aw, I wanted to have bacon every morning." Sam frowned.

"It's okay," Emma promised him, running up with a cart full of pots and pans, "I'll make you scrambled eggs instead. Okay. What are we missing grocery-wise?"

"Oh! I need my spices!" Roxanne grabbed a basket from a nearby stack, meeting Joan in the produce aisle.

"You guys got meat and bread, good- Becca, how many cake mixes did you get?"

"Only three, I promise!"

"Well, I guess we have plenty of time to figure out how to bake a cake without an oven anyways," Emma decided. "What's AJ up to?"

Rebecca sighed. "He went straight for the candy aisle."

"Well, it's always good to have snacks," Emma made a note, "Let's go make sure he doesn't buy out the gummy bears."

Sam helped Rebecca push the cart, "At least Joan's got the fruits and veggies!"

"What's your favorite fruit?" Becca asked him.

"Strawberries!" Sam skipped for joy. "What about you guys?"

"I really like strawberries too, but oranges are my favorite," Becca grinned.

"I am quite partial to figs myself," Joseph stated.

"Huh, I've never had a fig before," Sam's bottom lip jutted out as he considered Joseph's answer.

Willow could then feel everyone's eyes on her.

"Don't look at me, I barely know what fruit tastes like!" She said. A man examining the store's collection of wines regarded the group of kids strangely, and hurried away in the opposite direction.

"There you are, AJ," Emma sighed, turning down the candy aisle.

"I know, I know, don't buy all the candy," AJ mocked Rebecca's voice. "I got some pickles and some chips and other 'healthy' snacks," He showed off his half-full cart as proof.

"Good, you got pretzels," Rebecca noted.

As Rebecca and Sam went through AJ's supplies to make sure he had all the necessities, Joan and Roxanne approached with their cart full of fruits and a basket full of herbs.

"Have we got everything?" Joan asked.

"Apples?"

"Check."

"Carrots?"

"Check."

"Bananas?"

"Check."

"Green Beans?"

"Ew, but yes."

"Oranges?"

"What about strawberries?" Sam asked.

"I got every veggie and fruit we could possibly want, Emma. Now can we please go? I've been wearing this same shirt for two days and I think it has sweat stains now. I have to change."

"Alright, fine, let's go." Emma shoved her phone back into her purse with the brand-new credit card she'd acquired from the bank.

"How much is all this going to cost?" Rebecca whispered to AJ as they began to unload the four carts onto the conveyor belt.

AJ bit his lip. "Emma's got it covered, I guess..." He glanced at Nightingale uneasily.

"How are you doing?" The cashier asked, scanning item after item.

"Could be better," Joan muttered bitterly.

"Sorry for getting so much," Joseph apologized.

"Oh it's no problem. This is my job, after all," She smiled. Her nametag said "Serene".

"I haven't seen you all around here before. Did you just move in?"

Emma and Joseph looked at each other in alarm. They needed to come up with a cover story quick, one that they could remember, and wouldn't contradict.

Thankfully, Serene didn't seem to catch it.

"I mean, if you are, it'd be nice to see some new faces around school. But I gotta say, I have no idea why any of you'd want to live here. Nothing ever happens in Glen Haven."

"We like the quiet." Willow said quickly. Emma and Joseph had frozen on their feet. If this cashier talked to other people as comfortably as she talked to them, she was bound to start telling everyone else around about the nine stinky kids who stumbled into the General Store.

"Our- Our parents are away a lot for business, so they got us a place out here." Emma said, hoping her voice sounded more confident than she felt. "Away from all the stuff out in the city."

"Ugh, I wish I could go to the city. Even Denver's bound to have something more interesting than here," Serene sighed, "Still, I guess we all have differences of opinions. So you're all siblings?" She asked.

"Yes..." Joan said through her teeth as she loaded a batch of bags into the cart. It was kind of true, half of them were related to the other half in one way or another. Shouldn't be too hard to keep up that guise.

"Adopted." Roxanne piped up, adding a York Peppermint Patty to the pile on the counter.

Serene nodded, "No worries, your far from the strangest thing that's popped up here." She assured Joseph, whose eyes were darting back and forth nervously.

"Even in your 'small town'?" AJ grinned.

"I said strange, not interesting," Serene grinned back.

"So, what would you do if you could get out of here?" Emma asked.

Serene shrugged, "I'm hoping to get a scholarship to Stanford or UCLA, something like that. I want to be an engineer, but I'm just praying that I don't just have a taste of the outside world before I end up settling down here, like ninety-nine percent of everyone who lives and has lived here."

She scanned the last item, and Rebecca was surprised at how fast she was done.

"Your total is $594.73."

Emma pulled out her card, grateful she didn't have to waste her time by counting out all the individual bills and try Joan's patience.

"Come again soon!" Serene waved as they drove the carts outside.

"Wait," Sam stopped them all in the fifteen-car parking lot, "What are we going to do with all the food while we go clothes shopping?"

Roxanne groaned, stomping her foot on the asphalt. "I am not walking all the way back to the house, all the way back here, and all the way back there!" She said, hands on her hips.

"Fine," Emma sigh, handing the credit card to Sam, "You all go ahead and pick out a few outfits. I'll stay here and watch the food, and then I'll go get something for myself when you're all dressed."

Everyone all but sprinted to the Ross's on the other side of the parking lot, carts abandoned by Emma, who congregated them all to fit in one parking spot.

"We should really get a car or something," Willow plopped down on the curb next to her.

"We don't even have a fridge, let's wait a little bit to start talking about a van." Emma decided. "What are you still doing here? I thought you'd be the first to change out of that skirt." She waved at Willow's outfit.

Willow stretched out her legs, smoothing out the aforementioned atrocity. "I can wait a little bit longer. Besides, you shouldn't be here alone."

Emma smiled, opening the bag of pretzels that AJ had selected, "Thanks," she held out the bag to Willow, who cautiously took a few sticks.

"Hey!" they both turned to see Serene, grinning, as she stood on the stairs to the store. "What are you guys still doing here?"

"We forgot the car." Emma told her, "So we're guarding the groceries while the others go get it.

Serene's nose crinkled. "How do you forget a car?" She asked.

"Well, we live in walking distance, but we ended up getting more than we thought we would," Willow patted the closest grocery cart affectionately.

"Ah, overconfident, huh?" Serene sat on the bottom step, about a yard away from the two of them.

"What are you waiting for?" Emma asked.

"My boyfriend," Serene held up her phone, which showed a lockscreen of herself with a boy in a letterman jacket. "Captain of the Glen Haven High football team for the past year. He's picking me up for our lunch date."

"Hmm," Willow just nodded. She didn't know much about sports.

"Lunch?" Emma glanced at her phone. It was so much later than she though

"Are any of your...brothers thinking of trying out? They all seemed pretty athletic, and the team really needs more players this year."

"We'll ask them." Emma said, "But we need to actually get enrolled in school before we start making any promises."

"All the papers and stuff are online. I can show you if you want, I worked in the main office last year!" Serene offered. She blushed, "Sorry if I'm coming on a little too strong, I know I talk a lot."

"No, it's fine," Emma walked over and sat on the stair next to her, "We could really use some information."

With nothing better to do, Willow joined Emma and Serene on the stairs, carefully watching as Serene demonstrated all the steps of enrollment on her phone.

A horn honked briefly, and they looked up to see an old blue pickup truck stopped on the side of the road, the driver waving to Serene.

"Oh, that's me! Good luck with getting everyone enrolled!" Serene waved as she ran over to the truck, "I'll see you all at school!"

"See you!" Emma and Willow waved until the truck had pulled away.

"She was...interesting." Willow supplied.

Emma chuckled, "A little overbearing, but I think her heart's in the right place."

"That doesn't mean we're telling her who we really are, right?"

"Of course not!"

"Emma, Willow!"

Roxanne skipped out of the clothing store, twirling to show off her new outfit.

"Roxanne, you look amazing!" Emma gushed. She had a white cardigan over a gray top that said "Making Magic Happen". Her black skirt twinkled when she spun, and her curly hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"I don't know much about clothing dos and donts," Willow admitted, "but you do look nice."

"Thanks, Willow." Roxanne beamed.

Rebecca all but leaped out of the store, wearing a burgundy hoodie with skinny jeans and new sneakers.

"I have never been so thankful for new clothes," She sighed happily.

"Come on, you two take a turn to get some stuff. We'll watch the carts."

"Finally," Willow scrambled to her feet.

"Hey, you made the choice to stay out here!" Emma teased in good fun.

"Maybe I should stop being nice," Willow joked back.

"No!" Sam said, holding the door open for them, "I like nice Willow!"

As they entered the store, Emma took Willow's hand. "Here, let's get you some pants and sneakers first.

Shoes were the easiest. They ran into AJ, who was schooling Daniel and Joseph on the finer points of men's fashion, starting with how to make Nike off-brands look like real Nikes. Willow took the cheapest pair of sneakers in her size- purple and white- and moved on. After Emma found some red converse, of course.

Jeans were next to impossible. When they fit on the waist, they were too tight on the knees. When there was enough room for the knees, the waist was too big. Willow finally settled on two pairs that were a size bigger, and got a belt to go with them. Emma, miraculously, found two pairs that fit her lean frame perfectly.

Shirts were easier. A couple graphic tees, and one just slightly nicer. Then a sweater, of course. They got hoodies from the same brand; Willow's was gray, and Emma's was yellow. Emma added a ton of deodorant to their purchase too, along with some hair-care items.

"Hey Willow?"

"Hmm?" Willow was examining an interesting cast-iron sculpture in the "Home Decor" section.

"What kind of dye do you want?"

"Huh?" Willow was confused.

"You know, for your hair. You said you'd dye your hair if you went to school. Is that still something you want to do?"

Willow looked at the selection of dyes from the "Hair" section. Anything outlandish, like purple, would draw too much attention, even if it was a pretty shade, and brown and black wouldn't make her look any different.

"Let's go with blonde." She decided.

Emma added it to the cart, along with a shaving kit. "For the boys."

Everyone carried their own clothes, along with four bags of groceries each.

"Well, at least we managed to keep our spending under a thousand dollars," Emma sighed as they disappeared back into the woods.

"How much more to we have?" AJ pounced.

Emma looked him in the eye.

"Just under two hundred thousand dollars."

AJ dropped his bags. Thankfully, it wasn't the eggs.

"How do you even have that much money lying around!?" He shouted, disturbing a few birds in nearby trees.

"Well, while it is ridiculous, it's what's letting us stay in hiding without having to work."

"Yet," Joan muttered as the warehouse came into view.

"We can use the old safe we scavenged as a fridge," Rebecca brainstormed out loud, "We may need to go back and get some ice, but it's still sturdy and not rusted, and it's waterproof, so we can keep it half-submerged in the lake for now-"

Joseph held out his arm, signalling for everyone to stop.

They all went silent, and noticed that everything around them seemed to silence as well.

"Emma?" Sam whispered.

"What is it, Joseph?" Emma asked.

Joseph glared at the doorway.

"We are not alone."