The houses that hugged the hill didn't hug us back. We landed on the houses like unwelcome guests. I hit an old thatched roof that hit me back with almost equal force and I landed on to another roof, and then I was in the air again and continued my slow and painful decent till there were no more roofs to bounce me. So the ground met me instead. The earth seemed to rise up and it took a swat at me. I tumbled and landed on my back. I stared up at the air, which was filled with my troupe, who decided to land a little later than me. They landed on me. First the Ambassador, then Chevron, then Macie. The air was sucked out of me as they all piled on.

Each stood, dusted themselves off and looked confusedly around.

I stood, realigned my spine and looked at whatever it was they had locked eyes on.

"A restaurant!" I said with glee.

"Pepper and Brine," the Ambassador said. "This isn't good."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because Pepper and Brine are not what you think."

"You mean they only serve breakfast?"

"No," Chevron said. "They only serve the dead."

"Which means..." Macie began.

"They have a lunch special," I said.