Chapter 8 - Ursuline Academy

"And to what do we owe the pleasure of your company this morning, Annie?" asked Dad at breakfast.

"Why Dad, isn't my presence always a pleasure?"

"I refuse to answer because I might have to tell the truth."

"Chip, be nice to your daughter."

"He's never nice to me," grumped Kate.

"I guess that means you don't want a lift to the mall?" snarked Dad.

"I'll just have my boyfriend take me."

"Joanna! Where's my baseball bat?"

Christie tests for her next belt, but Tad has other ideas. Amanda, Rebekah, Valerie, Donnie and Grandfather Kim all become somewhat annoyed. Grandfather Kim reveals his fascination with 1960s TV Science Fiction.

Freya's Heir

DISCLAIMER: I am not a canon author.

Chapter 10
On Monday they dressed in slacks and shirts with full sleeves and brought a jacket along to the airport.

"Are we taking the armored limo?" Fred asked.

Security chief Rodriguez said, "Yes, ma'am. We are also sending four guards in front of you in an armored SUV. There will be another SUV and another limo waiting at the Berlin airport."

"Thank you," Fred said. "Any more protesters?"

Chapter 6 - Party Time

Saturday morning I woke up and I just couldn't help it - with all those new clothes still in the bags I just had to wear them. The party wasn't until two in the afternoon, but I really wanted to try on some of my new things.

“Umf,” Sophie grunted as her eyes slowly opened and she found herself in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. “He- hello?”

“Ah, bonjour!” The familiar voice of Sophie’s roommate replied with an excited squeak that made Sophie wince.

“Not so loud, please!” Sophie groaned as the throbbing in her head intensified. “What time is it, anyway?”

“Time for you to be getting out of bed,” Francine replied in an authoritative voice. “Today is a big day!”

Part One
Yet again Lindsay was dreaming. The dream was strange but as usual vivid and sharply detailed. It seemed to involve being in a bed in a small room with numerous folk dressed in blue and others in white coats looking at inexplicable things that had moving patterns on them that seemed to almost but never quite constantly repeat themselves. They also looked at objects that made strange noises at regular intervals. Lindsay was aware that there were a number of tubes and white string like things seemingly connected to the bed. However, like many of Lindsay’s dreams it was neither totally rational nor totally consistent. Lindsay’s dreams made life a living torment, for dream and reality crossed over, blended and became each other. It was impossible to determine what was a dream and what was reality. Dreaming of dreams within dreams within dreams, and dreams even deeper nested than that, dreams like images in two mirrors facing each other that reached to infinity and drew one into insanity, meant Lindsay had no idea what being awake was like, for all such experiences were probably only dreams too.

Part 2
“I want you to come home with me. I am here to arrange it all. I know about carrying the message to engage the assassin to kill Tomas, and the new dresses made by Serena your fee paid for. I know you are really a girl. I know all about your new dresses and where you keep them. I know how you get past the guards dressing as a girl, but you won’t be able to do that for much longer will you? It will not be safe for you when the guards here discover that you have been tricking them. I said I want you to come home with me, but I want you as my sister, the girl you want to be. I know you wish to be able to read and write, and I can give you that and much more too.”

E’volvo’lution Chapter 8

On the Monday, I took Anders and Bjorn out to the airport site in the SUV. It was huge and flat and had a good road running past it. Anders spread out a site map with the suggested buildings and we tweaked it a little with my driver’s eye regarding the entry and exit roads and the general movement of trucks.

Mantra (Malibu Comics) decides that its time to face down her bitterest enemy. The problem is that the enemy used to be her best friend. If the heroine gets the two opposing roles mixed up, she could be facing disaster.

Are you ready to rumble? Christie McKellar faces off with Madame Renee Coulter! A young dancer's future apparently hangs in the balance.

Christie is having one of those repetitive dream experiences again, only this one feels somehow urgent - like she needs to do something and soon. Trying her new meditation skills is a possibility. What to do? Sometimes, a girl just really needs her Mom and her Grandfather.

Chapter 4 - Annie And The Angel

I wore my new print dress home at Kate's insistence - she thinks that having a sister could be fun. Dad and Sam did some silly grunting and chest pounding thing when we got home to prove how great their men's night out was, but we sophisticated women just ignored the gorillas in the living room. We women had better things to do, like finish my homework and go to bed; after all it was a school night. Looking back as an adult having to go to bed so early shocks me, but back then I really did need the sleep. That school bus came awful early.

Billy was listening to the radio transmission from the police band, and the emergency band as well. She and the Wolfhart family knew the attack was going to happen tonight, but when was the question. As she takes a sip of her tea. She notices the power grid that the Blackstone mansion was on, and the neighborhood was all going out at same time.

That wasn’t the only thing that got her attention. There was a citywide alert for the shooting of several police officers.

Chapter 3 - Outfitting Annie

School on Wednesday took forever.

I was really looking forward to going out with Mom and Kate, and the idea of being Annie for the outing had moved from yeah, OK to this is going to be fun! Something had clicked when I saw myself as the girl version of me. On stage, Annie was a character, a role I was playing; off stage, the Annie I saw in the mirror was me as a different person.

Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California:
Gina watches as Arabella and Jennifer chase after a frisbee on the beach. The two of them have been getting along really well. That was the one concerned Gina and Arnold had about the two girls. They were totally opposites of each other.

Chapter 2 - Annie Off The Stage

Annie was a great success, which made me want to spend more time on the stage. I was hooked on the bright lights and the greasepaint, just like my parents. The hardest part of the whole thing was the my name in the program.

Even when you are a budding young sorceress, life is what happens when you least expect it. Just almost normal life things. Taking a stand against bullying in school. Waking your Mom up at an inopportune time. Learning the consequences of beating on another girl's boyfriend a little too enthusiastically. Finding out the hard way that male mosquitoes can sting sometimes. You know, life things.

“Can I give you a call? Something a bit weird happened this morning. X” read my message to Claire.

I’d been unable to concentrate since getting back from my coffee with Sarah. I’d taken Barney for a short, fifteen minute walk, skipped lunch and then tried to continue my studying. I was finding myself reading the same paragraphs over and over, and each time wouldn’t have been able to recall much of the material.

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun
A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you…Don't… Watch…Out!

"Little Orphant Annie"
James Whitcomb Riley
1885

Just before her Saturday class at the dojang, Christie is all suited up and hoping for some sparring practice. Her next advancement test is only a couple of weeks away, and she wants to be ready!. Some things go right. Some others, eh, not so much. In the end, however, a great many things in Christie's future may start to change.

On the run geisha style.