Katz was halfway through her exercise routine when her roommate Alicia came walking over to her. She loved how sexy Alicia’s body looked. She wished she had a body like hers but had to work to maintain her body. The hormones she was taking made her hungry, and she had to be careful.

Katz stops and looks at Alicia. “What’s up, sis?”

“I’m heading to that new vegan restaurant that just opened up. Do you want to join me?” Alicia knew Katz worked hard to keep her body trim and curvy.

“Sure, I was just finishing up my routine.” Katz wipes the sweat from her forehead.

After a lot of fun Toni really knuckles down to work. She’s been given the freedom and opportunity to really show what she can do in her job, maybe the opportunity to keep her job. However the freedom comes in extraordinarily handy when she faces her first crisis, all alone and anxious for reasons she can’t understand.

The question is whether the nascent Toni is strong enough to handle this? And whether she can even begin to handle it? What she does could determine where she goes next. Is Toni ready for what Toni? Or is the warning Big-G gave her about setbacks coming true faster than she could ever have expected?

I returned her intense look and felt a wave of relief washing over me. I noticed a tiny smile on her face that was getting bigger by the second.

I tried to pull her up slowly. A few seconds later, Mary was up and let herself fall into my arms. We hugged intently for a while. Two sisters against the world. Nobody and nothing could shake us.

During this intense hug we were both crying. We held each other close a little bit longer and then finally let go.

“I am so sorry, Riley. I think that I was way too harsh.”

Special Note: This story takes place a few years after Momma Hatter’s story.
Character Ages: Bree is sixteen years old, Hollace is five years old, Aylin/Hatter is twenty-eight, Jamie is twenty-five, Taskhtali is twenty-four years old, Sakura is twenty-one, and Mark is thirty years old.

March 15th, Dining Room, Aylin’s and Mark’s Place:
Jamie looked at Mark as he sat at the head of the table. She just discovered she was pregnant with triplets today.

Highway 405 Los Angeles, California:
Ace couldn’t believe she was on another highspeed chase. This made four in one week, and the way the driver was driving, he would lose control of his car. She needed to put an end to this chase before anyone got hurt.

Anika stands in front of the mirrors as she admires herself in the wedding dress she picked out. She was still amazed at what the Blue Lace drug had done to her body with Jack’s blood added to it. Something about Jack’s blood has physically changed her. It had hurt like hell as his blood coursed through her body.

“I think that’s the one for you, mom.” Justice couldn’t believe that Ron and Anika had adopted her. That had been a year ago, and now she was calling Anika’s mom.

“Don’t worry, Riley! It will be okay.” Alice almost pleaded with me.

“Famous last words. You forgot to mention that the girl who is playing the Beauty is actually a Beast.” I told Alice.

“Oh come on! I promise it will be okay. Let’s get to our afternoon classes. We can all meet again after school and talk strategy” Alice said seeming a bit stressed out.

“Alright! Sorry, Alice! I am simply feeling nervous about having to work with Madison.”

Dixie holds her little sister and looks at the freshly dug grave their mother laid in. She was lucky that her parents had burial insurance and plots near each other. All she had to do was sign all the paperwork involved in burying her mother. She had buried her mother in her favorite dress.

Midnight, Sasha’s and Susan’s Mansion:
Angela was sitting on a floor pillow in the den while she made a database of sub-owners and dealers. She couldn’t believe how many people in the United States owned submarines. There were a few private dealers that could get old military subs.

Julia’s and Christmas’s House, Caldwell, Montana:
Julia watches as Haylee and Catori ride their horses out in front of the house. Chayton was out with her father and a few other men hunting. He would have taken Haylee, but Haylee had a thing about killing innocent animals.

“How are you feeling, Mrs. Bounty?” Katy looks at Julia as she stood next to her.

Julia looks at Katy and smiles “I’m doing okay, Katy, but you don’t need to call Mrs. Bounty. Mrs. Bounty is my mother. Just call me Julia from now on please.”

One Month Later:
Gracie tries to scratch an itch under the cast on her arm. She uses a nail file to get under her cast.

“You know if you keep scratching the skin under your cast, it's going to be raw.” Rose looks at her younger sister.

“Rose, it itches, and the heat isn’t helping.” Gracie hated the cast on her arm.

“How do you think I feel, sis?” Rose looks at Gracie. Her arm was supported up in the air, while the cast around her shoulder that held her bones in place.

What have I done? I simply got so excited about the dresses I found in the closet that I totally forgot they were not mine and that the owner, Alice, my new roommate, would maybe strongly disagree that I took the dresses and tried them on without asking permission.

“So?” Alice asked, seeming very angry and upset.

My still sleepy eyes saw cars go by fast on the highway. I yawned and snuggled a little bit with Mary. It was still early and the sun was not going to rise for another two hours. I felt a little bit anxious but mostly excited about this new beginning. Mary smiled at me and squeezed my hand, just to reassure me that everything will be okay. Sometimes sisters just know.