In For A Penni

[Elizabeth]

Introduction

It all started before I was born, or so I've been told. My sources might not be the most credible, but I guess they'll have to do. A lot of it I know myself, just because. Other parts, I had to have Jen tell me about, and... well... Big sisters should never be trusted -too- much.

Once, a long time ago, the stars were feeling tired - they've been up in the sky quite a while, now, haven't they? They deserve a break sometimes, too, more than just the daytime. They decided to come down to earth for a few days, to see the sights up close. Most of the people didn't like that much, and told the stars to get back up in the sky.

Well, the stars got all offended; they hadn't done anything wrong, and all these people were being mean to them. Just not fair. But stars don't have arms, or feet for that matter - they have to roll around to get places, which is very inconvenient - so they couldn't do much to stop the mean people. Other than ask them to be nice and let them stay for just a little longer, because they still hadn't seen the ocean, which, of course, never works. No matter what they tell you, asking someone to stop being mean is pointless.

Telling on them works much better. So some of the stars went up to talk to their daddy, the sun. He promised them he would make a human who would protect them. Like all good things, however, this human wouldn't be there anytime soon, so the stars went back up into the sky, waiting for the time when their hero appeared.

That hero is me.

Or should have been.

I guess I should explain.

A little less long ago, there was a little house out in the country, way out away from most anything else. There was lots of fresh air there, though, and a swing set in the middle of a big sandbox out back. Across the road, right before it ended completely, fizzling off into nothingness, was another house, a little smaller than the first, a garden to one side, a dirt path going from the back door to a barn that hadn't seen animals other than cats and the few mice who were good enough at hiding to get away for now (and probably some snakes, but I prefer not to think about that) for years.

There was a little family, too, one that was about to get a bit bigger, and a lot more important in the big scheme of things. The parents liked the house because of the fresh air, and knew the family who lived in the other house. The daddy had gone to school with the other family's mommy, and when he told her he was looking for a new house, she suggested that one. The family had a little girl, Jen, who was a little older than I was when all this happened at the time. I think she was about 9, and that's only a year and a half off. She liked the house's swing set.

The moon liked the house, too. He knew the stars had talked to the sun, and he didn't want the hero to help the stars. Lighting up the sky all by himself was hard, and he knew if the stars could go on vacation, he would get stuck doing it a lot more. So, he made a plan to keep the hero from growing to her full potential. But that's later.

The family who lived in the other house had a little girl, too, and her name was Caileigh. She was a few months older than Jen. She liked the swing set, too, but she liked the barn more, and soon, so did Jen. Caileigh's family was about to get larger as well, much sooner than Jen's.

"We're best friends, right?" Jen asked one day, as the two sat on the second floor of the barn, legs swinging out of the big window on the front. It was one of those long, hot summer days, when there isn't really anything to do but sit around and talk, but with more of the first than the second.

"Of course!" Caileigh answered, giggling. "And our little sisters will be, too!"

If Jen was here, she'd probably have to say that they didn't know that I was a girl yet, but who really cares? Mommy said she always knew I was, anyway. Jen didn't believe her until they scanned me. Or something.

Caileigh's little sister was born a few days later. They named her Nadine.

Caileigh and Jen had fun with the new baby, who, after a few months, was more a doll than anything. She even kept them occupied after I was born, until I was old enough for them to dress up and play with as they wanted, since, by then, Nadine was old enough to toddle away from them.

Me? Well, the name they came up with for me was Penni. Not as dramatic as I would have hoped for; it doesn't scream 'Savior of the Stars', but it'll do.

Nadine and me... We never did go together as well as Caileigh and Jen hoped. Nadine isn't a bad person. She just rubs me the wrong way, and I probably do the same for her. We became friends anyway. There wasn't much else we could do. There was nobody else around other than our own sisters, and they wanted us to be friends like they were.

It wasn't until the moon made his move that we really started to grow apart. You know, not really, but... metaphorically. I think.

We were almost always together then, and still are a lot of the time. So, when Nadine got sick with whatever it was the moon gave her, I caught it pretty quickly, before our parents realized that anything was actually wrong with Nadine.

I've always wondered why the moon chose to infect Nadine first. Maybe he thought she was the hero. I used to think she was, but I know better, deep down. I can't really explain it. I just do.

Whatever the reason, the moon's trick did its job anyway. Nadine got better in a few weeks. I didn't. I was sick for quite awhile, and even after I got better, I was never exactly hero material again. I get sick really easily, and, whether it was because of being sick for so long, or just not seeing her for so long, Nadine seemed a lot bigger than me, rather than being about the same size, like we had been before.

After that, it just seemed like she was everything I wasn't. I had gotten quiet after being in bed so long, but she was loud in everything she did. I was kind of unsteady on my feet, and she was everywhere, practically bouncing around the house, and the barn, and the swings, all at the same time. Like I said before, she was bigger than me now, and she discovered she could use that to get me to do stuff for her.

Once we started school, she got even more bossy, and more loud with what she said, though she had less to say; she had a lisp, and when she got to school, she realized how much different she talked than anybody else. So she just talked to boss other people around. She almost always knew the answer to the teacher's questions, too, but she didn't want to say them unless she knew she wouldn't sound dumb.

I wanted to be a good friend, so I pretended I had a lisp, too, so she wouldn't be alone. I had a little bit of one, anyway, or so Jen told me when I was practicing in front of her. Nadine must have noticed that, too, since she never brought up the change in the way I talked. But that could be because I didn't talk much. Unlike her, I felt lost about half the time the teacher was talking, and the few times I knew the answer, my hand shot up into the air. Usually before I gave the answer a second thought, which would have shown me that I was wrong.

We went to speech counseling - it got us out of math class, sometimes, until we got to second grade, and it got us out of music class instead. Nadine was a lot better at it than me. She's better at everything.

I think it was the beginning of that summer, the one I want to tell you about, we had our own talk in the barn.

It wasn't too hot outside yet, but we didn't feel like actually doing anything anyway. Nadine was going to turn 8 in a few weeks, and, like all of her birthdays, it was reminding me that she would always be older than me. She was going to be 8 for almost six months before I could - I'd already know about all the good stuff about being that age, and still have to wait what seemed like forever before I got to do that stuff for myself.

"We're best friends, right?" I asked, my legs tucked under myself, crossed Indian style, like we had to sit when we were outside at school. "Even if you're older than me?"

"Sure," Nadine shrugged. Her legs were swinging over the edge of the window.

I knew she wasn't lying, but I also knew she wasn't exactly telling the truth, either. Sure, she would sit with me now, but it was because nobody else but our sisters were around. That was good enough for me, at least for now. As long as I had somebody my age around to keep me from going crazy through the long months of summer, and I knew she'd do that.

I was wrong. After her birthday, she stayed in her house more. She had friends to talk to on the telephone, she told me, on the few times she came outside as I was sitting on my swing, boredly. They were more interesting than me.

I was starting to wonder if I would ever see her again for more than a few minutes at a time. And then... Then, -it- happened.

But I'm getting all ahead of myself again.


Chapter One

I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of reality.
- General Auriga Delta


The moon is a clever opponent. You never know when he's going to try something new.

I mean, surely the moon had to be behind this. My dentist had never been particularly pleasant, but he had never done this before, either. I figured it was one of those things like on TV, where he got one of his cronies to do something that would kill his opponent, eventually, then have the crony leave while death slowly crept up on the poor hero.

Being a hero is tough. Especially when the top of your mouth is filled with cement, or whatever Dr. Hugo said the stuff was. It was kind of cold, anyway, and seemed like it would taste awful, if I swallowed any of it. Probably not a good idea to do that, though. It was difficult to remember to breathe through my nose while my mouth was open, too. I kept trying to close my mouth, but my bottom jaw kept springing back downward when it was a few centimeters away from the metal tray. Getting my mouth cemented closed wouldn't be good.

What if the cement isn't getting hard fast enough, and it flows down into my throat? What if that was the point? Maybe it kept making cement, and it would just keep flowing down inside of me, until I turned into a statue?

I felt Jen's hand on my arm almost before I realized I was starting to gag. I tried to give her a pitiful look, to try to convince her to save me, but she just smiled at me and continued to rub my arm. She never has understood what I have to go through, for my destiny.

It was about then that Dr. Hugo came back, obviously expecting to find me already dead and statue-ified. He hid his surprise quite well, and I guess he had some other person he needed to torture soon, because he tugged the metal plate, now with a mold of my teeth attached to it, out of my mouth, more gently than I expected, and had been preparing for with a preemptive wince. He'd probably just been brainwashed by the moon, and got better, just in the nick of time.

"There you go. I bet that feels better, huh?" Dr. Hugo asked, managing to look at me without really looking at me. A lot of grown-ups were quite good at that, at least when they were talking to me.

I nodded, though the improvement left a lot to be desired. My mouth was dry, and it felt like there was still some of the cement still in there. The disgusted look on my face must have tipped Dr. Hugo off that I wasn't entirely pleased.

"Why don't you go down to the bathroom and rinse out your mouth, okay? And then you can go to the prize room and pick out something." I think he might have glanced at me once; mostly, he was looking at some charts or papers or something on his clipboard.

I looked over at Jen, who nodded at me, then gestured at the door. Trying to get rid of me. Hmph. She'd just better hope Dr. Hugo didn't get re-brainwashed while I was gone.

I walked slowly towards the hallway where the bathroom was, making sure to take my time. My mouth felt kind of icky, sure, but I knew they were trying to get rid of me so they could talk about me; I had a right to know what they were saying. Right?

I couldn't help but beam as I heard Dr. Hugo recognizing my courage. "You have a brave little sister, there," he said, even before I was out of the room.

Of course, my smile was quickly erased as soon as Jen answered him, saying, "Not really."

I had to stop myself from turning around and informing her just how brave I had been, but, luckily, the more tactical side of my brain kicked in, and reminded me I probably shouldn't have heard that, and if I replied, one of them would probably escort me to my proper destination. So I kept going, resolved to set her straight once we were in the car, and headed back home.

"So, what's the deal?" Jen asked. -That- was my sister, there, getting right to the heart of the problem. Made it much easier for me, plus, didn't have to stand just outside the doorway for too long this way. "Does she have a cavity?" I gasped, a bit louder than I meant to, attracting the attention of the receptionist. I smiled innocently at her and pretended to walk towards the bathroom, until she turned her attention back to the lobby.

"No, nothing like that," Dr. Hugo answered after a brief pause. I couldn't quite hear them, but in my mind, I could see him flipping through whatever papers he had on his clipboard. "Though I think she might like it better if that's all it was."

I had no idea what he was talking about, though my mind was supplying all sorts of alternatives. What could be worse? Daddy complained like it was the most horrible thing in the world every time he had a cavity, and he was pretty tough.

This was the work of the moon again, certainly. I was probably going to be getting all of my teeth taken out, so I couldn't eat. Or maybe they would just ignore the whole teeth thing, and remove my stomach instead. I bet dentists could do that, if they wanted to. Or he could be planning on gluing all my teeth together, so I couldn't eat -or- talk, so I couldn't warn anybody about the evil plans of his evil master!

"Worse?" Jen echoed my thoughts, more calmly than I could have managed. Was she finally figuring out what was going on? "Ohhh, I remember what that mold is for..."

"I'm afraid so. You might want to take her out for a milkshake while I take a look at this, to make sure."

The thought of the milkshake was almost enough to take my mind off the terrible things that were going to be done to me soon, until it began to make me worry even more. If a dentist was suggesting a milk shake, then whatever he was going to do must be pretty bad. I was doomed.

I heard footsteps approaching the door, and, having enough to worry about without adding the threat of getting caught, ran to the bathroom. By the time I decided my mouth was clean enough, Jen was waiting for me, leaning on the wall beside the door, arms crossed, staring at the ceiling.

"Slow poke," she teased. I stuck out my tongue at her as I dried my hands on the sides of my shorts. "Are you done yet?"

I shook my head. "I still hafta get a prize," I informed her.

Jen sighed. "Oh, for..." She closed her eyes, calmed herself down. "Could you please not take all day?"

"I never take all day," I informed her. "I just hafta make sure I choose the right thing." I had become quite the connoisseur of stuff you could get from various kinds of doctors over the years - they had the best stuff at the hospital, but Dr. Hugo wasn't bad.

"How about we do this when we come back?" Jen suggested, holding out her hand to tell me that it wasn't really a suggestion.

"We're coming back?" I complained, not needing to pretend to sound upset. Guess she hadn't talked Dr. Hugo out of it or anything. Probably still didn't realize what he meant to do.

"Afraid so, babe." Since I hadn't taken her hand yet, she reached out and took mine, starting to lead me back down the hallway. "Dr. Hugo said it shouldn't take long, though."

"Okay," I pouted.

She pushed open the door to the lobby, and I quickly tugged my hand free from hers as I saw Lilly, one of the more popular girls from my class, sitting there, waiting her turn with her mommy. "I'm not a baby," I informed Jen quietly. "You don't have to hold my hand." Jen had a hurt look on her face, but she noticed Lilly sitting there, too, and nodded.

"Hi, Lilly!" I called from across the room, waving. I didn't know Lilly very well - she was better friends with Nadine than me - but she wasn't stuck up like most of the other popular girls, so I liked her, at least on principle. Still, when she waved back and I saw that she had her nails painted, I quickly put my own hands into my pockets, before following Jen out the door, into the sticky, hot air outside, quite different from the air conditioned dentist's office.

"Jen, Jen, can we get nail polish?" I asked as we walked to Jen's car, grabbing one of her arms and jumping up and down a little, just to get her attention.

"Did you stop biting your nails?" she asked back.

I put my hands back into my pockets. "Well... No..." I looked down at my feet for a few seconds before perking up. "But mommy doesn't have to know!"

Jen pulled her keys out of her purse and unlocked her car. "I don't think so, Penni."

I pouted as I walked around the car, and for a few seconds after I got in, so that Jen would see. "Well... Can we at least get my ears pierced? All the other girls in my class have pierced ears..." That wasn't precisely true; close enough, though. "Mommy doesn't have to know about that, either. I just won't wear earrings when she's around!"

Jen smiled. "I think she might still notice the holes in your ears, babe."

"You're no fun." I crossed my arms and sank down into the seat, and stayed there until the car stopped. I scrambled up in my seat, wondering where Jen had chosen to get my treat from - not that it mattered much, since there wasn't any place in town that made a bad milkshake - only to find we were at Wal-Mart instead. "Hey! They don't have milkshakes here!" I complained, not thinking anything of it.

"How do you know about that?" Jen asked suspiciously; I giggled nervously. "Were you eavesdropping again, Penni?"

"Maybe." I fidgeted with my seat belt. "Just a little. You were talking about me anyway! Why can't I listen?"

"That's not the way it works, Penni," Jen shook her head. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Pierce my ears?" I suggest hopefully. "That'd teach me a lesson."

Jen smiled, reached over to try to ruffle up my hair, though the braid she had put most of it into before we came to town made it difficult for her. My hair was getting a little long for my taste, and I was hoping I could get it cut sometime soon, maybe to just a little longer than shoulder length, like Jen's hair, rather than almost halfway down my back, at least when it was all loose. Both of us had red hair, though hers looked closer to brown sometimes, and mine was always pretty brightly red.

"We can look at earrings here, if you want to," she offered, "once we get some stuff for Mom."

I shrugged, sighed. Looking wasn't nearly the same if you knew you had to wait another four and a half years before you could wear them. Mommy could be so unreasonable sometimes.

The sun pounded down on me again as I stepped out of the car immediately feeling more sluggish as I saw how far it was to the entrance. The moon may be trying to kill me, but the sun just might do the job for him, while trying to see if I'm still up to the challenge of defending his children. On days like this, I wish he would just accept that I'm not, and leave me alone.

"Can I ride in the cart?" I asked as I saw the corralled shopping carts a few parking spaces down. "Please?"

Jen raised an eyebrow. "Ride in the cart? And here I thought you weren't a baby."

"Jeeeen!" I whined, grabbing her arm. "It's hoooot out here!"

"I don't think we really need a cart, sweetie. Guess you'll just have to suffer like everyone else." Jen smiled.

The walk was as long and harrowing as I imagined, with just as many close calls as I thought there would be, too. There were cars zooming back and forth recklessly, like they were in some kind of pinball machine. Even though I tried to pay attention before I moved anywhere, they always seemed to come from a direction I either hadn't checked, or had checked first and then forgotten. After we passed through the second or third row of cars, I grabbed Jen's hand - it was just easier that way - which made her smile a lot bigger for some reason.

The inside of Wal-Mart was blessedly cool; why couldn't they air condition their parking lot, too? Jen grabbed a basket, and soon we were searching for stuff. Mommy didn't need all that much, but what she did need was all in different parts of the store. I was happy to see Jen pick up some sunscreen, though, since I had noticed we were getting low. I used to hate having to wait for Jen or mommy to put that stuff on me before I could go out in the summer, until I had gone out without it, and gotten sunburned. That was a lot less fun, so now I didn't mind as much.

We did end up having time to look at earrings, too, and Jen bought a pair of little blue cats that she said brought out her eyes. She wouldn't buy me the green penguins that she claimed did the same for me, because she said they were ugly. I'm still not sure if that meant she thought my eyes are ugly, too.

By the time we were finished, my toes were starting to get cold through my sandals, so I was ready to leave. Not sure why my toes got cold first, since most of my legs and arms were uncovered, too, with the shorts and T-shirt I had on, but that's how it almost always was. Crazy toes.

We went through a drive through to get my milkshake (strawberry, of course), so we could get back to Dr. Hugo before his next appointment. Jen got a milkshake, too.

"That's cheating," I made sure to inform her. "You didn't have a dentist appointment!"

"Yes, but I'm paying for them," she said. It was a good enough answer for me.

I was still slurping happily away as we walked back into Dr. Hugo's office. Lilly wasn't in the lobby anymore; I guess she was with one of the other dentists there, since Dr. Hugo was waiting for us, as the receptionist informed us, after giving me a suspicious look. I made sure to return it as we passed by her window, glaring at her over the top of my cup. A spy, most likely. No big surprise, since her boss worked for the moon, too.

Dr. Hugo's office is pretty nice. I've only been in it a couple of times. Actually, only once, other than this, that I can think of, the first time I'd visited him, and he explained what he was going to be doing to me. He has nice chairs. Big and soft and comfy. I climbed up into the best one before Jen could steal it, and waited to hear what was going on.

"How are you doing, Penni?" Dr. Hugo asked, smiling way too pleasantly for this not to be bad.

"Better," I answered carefully.

"Penni, do you know what an orthodontist is?"

I didn't pay a lot of attention after that. I was too busy remembering Jen's visits to the orthodontist. Or, more specifically, what she'd been like after those appointments, and how much she'd complained, and whined about how annoying her braces were. They couldn't really make me get braces, too, could they?

"Weren't you paying attention?" Jen shook her head as we drove back home. "If this goes well, you might not have to wear braces when you're older."

"I'd rather have braces than get my mouth all stretched out," I sighed, leaning against the car door. And here I thought Dr. Hugo was just going to kill me...

"Look on the bright side, hon - they might decide you don't need it after all. And even if you do, it won't be for another six months."

That was one of the few times I ever wished I wasn't about to turn 8. What a dumb age.

Chapter Two


"I should have known it was you all along!" I shouted, shaking my head sadly. "How could you betray me like this?"

But, of course, I knew the answer, as usual. It was the moon again, that cursed moon, always doing its best to get rid of me. You'd think it would be an easy task, what with him already having weakened me, to prevent me from becoming as powerful as I should be, but somehow, I always manage to get away, to escape to fight his evil forces another day. And yet, this time... This time, it was my best friend he was striking me with. How dastardly was this villain? How evil was his black little heart? Using my friendship with Nadine, such as it was, to lure me into a false sense of security - the beast!

Nadine rolled her eyes. "Can we just do this if we're going to?"

And with that, Nadine lifted her sword, sunlight gleaming off of the dark steel of its blade, almost as brightly as the malice shining in her dark eyes. She held the sword out, straight towards me, flipping her shoulder length blond hair behind her shoulder and grinning at me. I could feel a danger lurking behind that smile, a danger that made my skin crawl.

"But, Nadine, we don't have to do this!" I pleaded, laying my sword down on the floor, although I made sure to keep my hand near its hilt. "Don't you rememb...?"

"Penni," she said, her voice more annoyed than dangerous now. "Do you want me to play with you or not?"

"Fine," I pouted, standing back up. It was just as well, I guess, as that was all the further I had planned my monologue, and I couldn't think of anything specific to tell her to recall that would keep her from attacking.

I raised my sword, quickly using both hands to hold it up, to keep it from shaking quite as much. Before I could do anything with it, however, I was forced to jump backwards as I realized Nadine was already right in front of me, her sword slicing through the air right in front of me. My foot slips a bit as I land, and I let go of my sword with one hand to steady myself, blushing, mostly in the fear that Nadine would notice that the shoelace on my left sneaker had come untied -again-.

I ducked to one side, Nadine's sword once more slashing right past me, twisting one leg off to the side, too quickly to notice my foot was standing firmly on my trailing shoelace still. I gave a squeak, letting go of my sword with my other hand, accidentally tossing it a couple feet away, since both my arms were already waving wildly, for all the good that did me. Which, in case you were wondering, wasn't much - a second later, I had fallen straight onto my butt.

"Oof," I said, kinda. Really, it was more like it forced its way out of my mouth without my meaning for it to. This could be going better, I told myself, in case I didn't realize it for myself.

The impact and shock of the fall kept me from doing anything useful for a few moments, during which Nadine beside me, laughing - though not, as I'd hoped, hard enough to allow me a chance to recompose myself more fully - and pressing her sword against my chest. "Good job, dummy."

"Shut up!" I tried to shout, but, much to my dismay, it came out more like "Thut up," the surprise and pain making me slip back into my lisp. My cheeks flushed red as Nadine smirked; I could tell she was cooking up something nasty to say.

Before she could, I threw myself sideways, towards my sword, letting my body roll a couple times before I reached out to grab the weapon, raising one foot a touch to stop myself, then jump back up, standing again. I raised my sword just in time to block Nadine's, metal scraping against metal as she glared at me over their crossed blades, eyes showing no sign of fear, no sign that she thought she could possibly lose to me.

She pressed forward, pouring her strength into trying to move her blade - and mine with it, as it was closer to me - closer to my body. She wasn't doing a bad job at it, either, being undeniably the stronger of the two of us, but I was doing my square best to stop her, frankly somewhat surprised her initial burst of power hadn't been enough to knock the blades into me, and land me on the floor once more.

I couldn't hold much longer... The swords were drawing closer to me every moment, my arms growing tired from resisting. She was going to win, unless... Unless...

I pulled my sword away from hers, following it, leaping out of her way as she suddenly fell forward, taking a couple steps to steady herself. It took me some time to recover as well, a hair shorter than her, and I spun around, swinging perhaps a bit wildly, moving the sword across the air in front of my body, where Nadine, unfortunately, wasn't. My other arm was there, though, and I probably would have hit it, if Nadine hadn't used that opening to attack it, her sword slamming into it seemingly as hard as she could make it.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, tears springing to my eyes as I drop my sword in mid-swing, my hand instead moving up to where I felt certain my arm was broken, or at least bleeding. The sword hit the floor with a dull clunking sound.

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Nadine ordered me, tossing her own sword, the blade now resembling silver painted wood more than steel, onto the floor as well. "I didn't hit you -that- hard."

"It was hard enough," I protested, working hard to keep my 'r' steady.

"It's not my fault. Wasn't my idea." I wasn't sure if she was talking about sword fighting, or playing with me at all. I knew neither one had been her choice - Caileigh had made her come up to the barn to see me, and I had somehow convinced her to do more than sulkily wait long enough for her sister to let her back inside.

"Still hurt," I pouted, lifting my hand from the sore spot. Was that a bruise starting already? I really hoped not... Mommy would know how it got there, like she always knew, and then she'd lecture me about having hidden those swords however many times for a good reason. She didn't understand. She never does. And she had been the one that convinced my teacher, Mr. Chaon, to let me keep them after the school play, too.

Then again, if she had actually known it was the swords, I guess she probably wouldn't have given the okay to my taking home a couple props. Which is, of course, exactly why I didn't mention it to her. I think she expected me to bring home something I had used in the play, but where was the fun in that? None of my props were very cool... It was the swords I really wanted, and had wanted ever since I'd seen the two boys who got to use them carrying them.

I'd kept them in my closet for a while, until mommy started taking them away when she caught me playing with them. I'd get hurt, she'd say, and hide them away someplace, which I would quickly find to reclaim my prizes. It took me a few months to figure out that the barn was the best hiding place, but now that I had, I didn't want one little bruise, no matter how painful, ruin it for me. Maybe she wouldn't be home by the time I got back to my own house, and Jen wouldn't tell her I had been at the barn almost ever since we'd gotten home from Dr. Hugo's.

Even though it isn't all that close to my house, I tend to think of the barn as being just as much my property as Nadine's, and even more mine than Caileigh's. I know Jen's told me time and time again that she and Caileigh had spent a lot of time up in the loft, but since I've only seen either of them up there a handful of times, I'm a bit doubtful.

Caileigh and Nadine's parents are nice - I probably wouldn't have an open invitation to play in a building on their property any time I feel like it if they weren't - but they could get on my nerves at times. Especially when they actually -did- something with their barn, like allowing our nearest neighbor, Mr. Stephens, a farmer, use half of the loft to put his hay up in while he rebuilt his own barn, which had burned down a few months before.

It wasn't too bad, I guess... They had at least stacked the bales up so that they could be easily climbed up, and there were a few spots where you could hide in there, and would have been good for Hide and Go Seek, I bet, if I'd had anyone willing to play that with me. It was kinda prickly, though, and if you weren't wearing jeans, trying to sit up there for any length of time would get your legs all scratched up. Well, climbing up there would generally do the same thing, but it wasn't quite as bad, so that mommy sometimes wouldn't notice, and it was fun enough to risk a warning to be careful, or one of the bales could fall on me and crush me, or I could fall off the top and hurt myself, or any of a whole variety of other lectures, even on days too hot for jeans.

The shorts I was wearing used to be jeans. My favorite jeans, in fact, even, or maybe especially, after the legs had acquired a few rips, and they had gotten all beaten up. Eventually, against my will, mommy had turned them into shorts, probably to prevent me from trying to wear them to school. They were still all right in shorts form, but not nearly the same. They had a stain on them now, the crash site of a spot of jelly from the sandwich Jen made me for lunch once we got back from my appointment with Dr. Hugo, and a few splatters of paint left over from helping paint my room last summer. I had painted almost all of the cloud border on the top of the wall my closet is on, but mommy let Jen do the other walls after I almost knocked the bucket of paint off of the top of the ladder, and then nearly fell off myself trying to stop that from happening. After that, I just painted the bottom part of the wall - where the bits of sky blue on the shorts had come from.

I rubbed at the spot of jelly, halfway hoping it wouldn't come off, since it looked all right where it was, before my hand drifted further up, back to the spot on my arm where Nadine had hit me. Nadine rolled her eyes at me as she noticed.

"You're the one who wanted to play that stupid game anyway," she reminded me again, before sighing and saying, "This is boring." Before I could say anything, she was climbing down the ladder, and the barn door was creaking open. I rubbed my arms for a few seconds longer, then hurried to follow her, turning back around after a couple steps to gather up the swords and clumsily climb into the hay, shoving them behind one of the bales. If mommy thought to look up here at all, surely she wouldn't look back there.

Satisfied, I went over to the window, where I could see Nadine walking down the path to her house. "Wait up!" I called anxiously, scrambling down the ladder as quickly as I dared, running through the door. To my great surprise, Nadine had actually waited for me, though as soon as I came out of the barn, she started walking again, forcing me to shove the door closed and race after her in order to catch up.

"You gonna be okay?" she asked once I was beside her.

I nodded. "Wasn't that bad," I lied. She nodded, too, and we took a few more steps. "Jen made me hold her hand at the dentist today," I complained. "I think Lilly saw me, and now she pro'lly thinks I'm a baby."

Nadine laughed, and I had a distinct feeling that it was directed more at me than the story. "Caileigh doesn't make me hold her hand," she told me. I resisted the urge to tell her that was because Caileigh didn't love her. "Guess it's 'cause she knows I'm not a little kid anymore." She shrugged, then proceeded meanly, "Jen probably just forgot you weren't a baby any more. It -can- be hard to tell with you sometimes."

"Is not!" I shot back, fists clenching at my sides.

"Oh, don't worry," she said quickly, most likely because she realized Caileigh could see us from her seat on their back porch. "I'm sure once you turn eight, Jen will see you aren't a baby."

I nodded uncertainly. Eight was definitely an important age, but today was making me wonder if I should be looking forward to it or dreading it. It would be nice for Jen to realize I wasn't some little kid anymore; at the same time, I really didn't want braces, or whatever it was the orthodontist was going to do to me, and if I never turned eight, I'd never have to see him. No matter how hard Jen tried to convince me orthodontists aren't all bad, all I could think of was how much she'd hated hers.

"Bye," Nadine said quietly, running to the porch next to her big sister.

"Bye!" I called to both of them, waving as I started to walk towards my own house, where I saw mommy's car waiting in the driveway. So much for beating her home... I glanced down at my arm, where it was now obvious that a bruise was forming. I also fleetingly noticed that my hands were a little dirty, sure to gain me a "Those hands are filthy!" and a "Go wash up before dinner, or I'll let Jen do it for you," and possibly a "What -have- you been doing, young lady?"

"Goodbye, cutie!" Caileigh called.

I giggled and waved a little more before, long enough to see Nadine roll her eyes at me again and begin to head into her house before I turned and did the same.


Chapter Three


The carpet rubbed up against the bottom of my stomach, and made me giggle a little whenever I moved, although less so as I got more engrossed with finishing up coloring the picture, my legs crossing in the air behind me.

"Do you ever feel like you have problems making friends your age?"

I looked up from my picture, a bit annoyed at the interruption, even if I should have expected it, after having silence for so long. Dr. Veitch probably wasn't used to me being so quiet... Her office was just so nice and cool, after walking under the beaming sun for so long, and riding in Jen's stupid car before that. I wouldn't have minded curling up on the carpet and falling asleep; don't think it would have gone over well, sadly.

"I dunno," I shrugged after a minute or two of consideration, only half of which involved me thinking about the question, with the rest dedicated to trying to decide on a color for the second to last petal on the flower in the coloring book.

Even though she tried to hide it, I still heard a little sigh coming from Dr. Veitch. Guess I hadn't pretended for long enough. She always told me I should take as much time as I needed to answer her questions, but how long I needed was never as long as she wanted.

"Maybe," I added, pulling a light purple crayon from the box. "I guess."

Satisfied with that answer, I turned back to the picture. It was turning out quite nicely, I thought. Better than some of the other ones I'd colored here. Dr. Veitch must have a whole drawer full of pictures by now - I'd even colored some of the same ones twice. There were some puzzles and games and stuff scattered around the office, too, but I always chose to color, unless she asked me to try something new. Sometimes even then. It was just easier to concentrate on coloring than the other things when she wanted me to talk.

"Do you feel like the other kids in your class are mean to you?" she asked after a few moments, as I finished up the main part of the petal, and tugged the other crayons closer to find a slightly darker purple to go around the edges. If I had been at home, I probably would have dumped the box out on the floor, to make the search easier. Dr. Veitch seemed like she was getting fed up with me already, however, so I resisted the temptation. "Do they make fun of you?"

"Sometimes," I nodded. Nadine, for all her faults, probably had kept me safe from a lot of teasing I would have otherwise been subject to, just because the other kids knew she was kinda friends with me.

"What kind of things do they say?" Dr. Veitch got up from her chair, walked over to the couch she invited me to sit on every time I saw her, and which I denied every time after the first, when I thought mommy was watching me from the office door, and would be mad at me if I didn't sit there like a good girl. She bent over, and I pushed the coloring book a little closer to her, so she could see what I'd done so far. "Very pretty," she smiled.

"It's all right," I blushed, shrugging, pretending to have forgotten the question.

"Penni, what kind of things do the other kids say to you?" she insisted.

My hand slipped, a dark purple line slipping over, through the sky, into the blue petal. "Stupid," I growled, throwing the crayon onto the floor.

"No, Penni, it's okay. Happens all the time." Dr. Veitch set her clipboard beside her on the couch, scooting closer to me.

"No, it's ruined," I told her, ripping the picture out of the book, crumpling it up in my fist. "I can't do anything right."

"Why do you think that, Penni?"

"Because I can't," I said simply, my fist tightening around the ball of paper.

"Penni... Penni?" I ignored her, getting up off of my stomach and leaning against the front of the couch. "Penni, do you want me to get your sister?"

I shook my head, rubbing at my eyes. "I'm fine."

"How about we talk about the other kids some other day, all right?" Dr. Veitch rested her hand on my shoulder gingerly, and I nodded. Really, I wouldn't have minded the subject as much if just that morning Nadine hadn't reminded me of what I'd told the doctor, that I couldn't do anything right. Except then it had involved a contest to see who could jump furthest off of the swings. She won, of course. She always won.

I set my ruined drawing down next to the coloring book, which I closed, no longer in the mood. I looked up at the clock, wishing, as I always did, Dr. Veitch would get a digital one, like the one on the microwave at home. I knew how to read the regular kind, with the hands and all, but I wasn't very good at it, and tended to get all mixed up. So I usually didn't try, since, at home, I could just go into the kitchen and find out what time it was, and it was much easier that way.

"Anxious to leave?"

I hurried to answer, not wanting to hurt her feelings, although she was quick to assure me she wasn't offended. Dr. Veitch is a nice woman, not at all like Dr. Hugo, and, even though I probably annoyed her at times, I didn't want her to think I didn't like her. She was the person who convinced me that maybe you didn't have to be in league with the moon in order to be a doctor. Then again, she wasn't exactly like any other doctor I'd ever been to, and sometimes I suspected she was pretending.

"Do you still miss the Girl Scouts?"

The question had been unexpected, and, until I'd thought about it, disconnected from our conversation up to that point. If there's one thing that will get the truth out of me, it's the unexpected. I nodded automatically.

I had been mad at mommy for months when she'd made me quit Girl Scouts. It was just for a year, she said, as if a year wasn't forever. And I hadn't even done anything all that bad. Certainly nothing to deserve banishment from what had been becoming one of my favorite things ever.

Selling cookies hadn't exactly been my favorite part, mostly because it was a little awkward asking a bunch of people I didn't know to buy stuff from me. Even so, I actually did pretty well, despite not expecting to sell to anyone but mommy and Caileigh, both of whom were addicted to Somoas. Jen told me it was cheating for me to go door to door in my uniform, said I was too cute for anyone to resist buying. She drove me around anyway.

It was most likely then that I got in the most trouble. Mommy told me before she went to work to wear a coat; it was still pretty cold outside. Jen hadn't been awake to hear the command, and... Well, if I had worn it, people might not see my uniform, and then they wouldn't know for sure if I truly was a Girl Scout. They could have thought I was an axe murderer or something, and not answered their door. Then how would I sell them cookies?

Besides, it wasn't really -that- cold out.

Jen was kind of suspicious when I told her mommy wasn't making me wear my coat. She even said she thought I should wear it anyway, but, in the end, I won, by making her give up, washing her hands of all responsibility should I get sick.

Mommy hadn't been pleased to find my coat still hanging in the closet when she got home from work, but she didn't make me quit then. She just lectured me some, and let me stay home from school that Monday to try to help me get over my cold.

I wasn't quite well by the next weekend, and my troop had a table set up, right between the two sets of doors in Wal-Mart. Mommy drove me there, so I didn't have much of a choice.

Until she left, of course. None of the other Girl Scouts were wearing a coat, and technically we were inside, even if the doors to outside were letting in bursts of cold air every few seconds, and one of the walls ended before it hit the ground, so carts could go through. Also, if Nadine was any indication, the other Scouts would have made fun of me for being the only one with a mommy who made them wear a coat.

I guess it might not have been a horrible idea to chance a little teasing after I noticed I was starting to shiver. Or after the troop leader noticed and asked why I didn't have my coat on. I didn't need it, I told her, blushing at Nadine giggling behind me. I wasn't cold. It was much warmer than I thought it would be. Yep.

I definitely should have followed my plan and put my coat back on once Alaine's mommy picked her up, since she was leaving five minutes before I was supposed to. We had just started to get busy then, though, and I kinda lost track of time.

Mommy wasn't pleased. And, like being sick for a week and a half afterwards wasn't bad enough, she made me drop out of Girl Scouts, and she wasn't going to let me join again until the next year, if I could show her I was "more mature" then. And yelling at her wasn't being mature, and wouldn't make her change her mind in any way I'd enjoy. It got me spanked, in fact, before I figured out how much she meant that.

"Do you think you could get mommy to let me join again?" I looked up hopefully.

"We'll... see, Penni." Dr. Veitch hesitated - she meant 'No', didn't want to come out and say it. "I was a Scout when I was your age. Had a great time. I used to love going camping."

"We never went camping," I sighed wistfully, envisioning all the fun camping trips the troop would be having while I was gone. I've never been camping, so I don't exactly know what it's like, but in my fantasies, it's a blast. No parents, no bedtimes, no rules... No beds, either, but who needs sleep, when you can stay up and play with the stars?

Dr. Veitch smiled. "Well, you might be a little young for that at the moment. I think I was nine before I was allowed to go."

"Oh." I sighed again. Nine. So far away, when there was something to wait for there, it might as well be ninety. Or even nineteen, which was when daddy told me I could have a boyfriend, if I was good. Maybe by then I'll be senile enough to want one.

"So, what was your favorite part about the Girl Scouts?" I shrugged. "Did you have a lot of friends there?" Shrug; most of the girls there were nice enough to me, yet I always got the feeling it was so they wouldn't get in trouble with the troop leader. I don't know if any of them actually liked me much. "Don't feel like talking, huh?"

Shrug, followed by a shake of the head. Then a nod, confused by whether the correct answer was yes or no. I hate questions phrased like that.

"Well, our time is just about up for today, anyway." Dr. Veitch got to her feet, picking up her clipboard in one hand, offering the other to me. I took it, though my other hand went to the seat of the couch, and I pushed myself to my feet that way instead. Her hand stayed on mine for a second too long. "Where'd you get that bruise, Penni?"

I looked down at my arm, having forgotten about the bruise there. "Oh, that? I got that from sword fighting," I told her. She took it much better than mommy, although she looked a bit skeptical. Mommy had threatened to take away my swords again, except she couldn't find them, and I wasn't about to tell her, no matter what. Eventually, she settled on making me promise not to play with them anymore. The pit of my stomach began to knot up again as I thought about it, knowing I probably wouldn't be able to keep the promise for long, not with the swords hiding up in the hay, tempting me.

"What about those scrapes?" Dr. Veitch asked, pointing down at my knees, below the bottom of my skort. She didn't sound as interested in them, almost like she was asking to make her other question not seem as odd.

"I fell off my swings," I glanced down at my feet, embarrassed, as if by telling her that much, she would know exactly how awful I'd done in my contest with Nadine.

If she did, she waited to laugh at me until she assured me "it happens to the best of us", and escorted me out to the waiting room, where Jen was waiting for me, flipping boredly through some magazine, which she quickly set back down onto the table beside her.

Jen smiled at me as she took my hand and walked me out to her car; neither of us had anything in particular to say, until I started to pay attention to the scenery passing by outside the car.

"This isn't the way home," I informed Jen.

"No, sweetie, we're going to the mall. Remember?" Jen glanced over at me, expression partly amused, partly worried. "Are you feeling all right, babe? We can go home if you want to..."

I could tell she didn't want to honor her offer even as she made it. Luckily, I didn't want her to, either. "Are we going there to get my ears pierced?" I asked, just in case.

Jen rolled her eyes, didn't bother to answer.

"Fine," I pouted, sulking down into the seat, though a plan was already starting to form in my mind.

Chapter Four


I can be rather sneaky when I need to. It isn't something I like to do; it's not exactly a quality someone would normally look for in a hero. Heroes shouldn't -need- to be sneaky. They should be able to face their problems, and enemies, and whatever, head on.

I couldn't do that. I'd tried it, and I simply couldn't. I didn't like it - it even made my tummy feel a little upset - but I knew the end result would be worth it.

Unfortunately, as good as I could be at sneaking about, having Jen around made things much, much more difficult. I could be sneaky with Mr. Chaon, because he paid more attention to other kids than me, since I usually sat quietly at my desk and acted well-behaved. I could be sneaky with the other kids, too, as most of them didn't pay much attention to me most of the time, unless they'd come up with a new and exciting way to tease me, and Nadine wasn't around.

Jen keeps too close an eye on me, and knows me too well, for me to be sneaky around her. Even now, though especially back then. It was worse when Caileigh was around; as much as I liked her, and she was nice to me, she seemed to watch me even more carefully than Jen.

As a matter of fact, we had been at the mall for quite a while before I could even begin to consider putting my plan into action. We'd gone through a bunch of stores, from the bookstore, where I'd gotten Jen to buy me some stickers of the dragons in Harry Potter, to the shoe store, which would have been the perfect time to spring into action, if Jen hadn't insisted I sit beside her as she tried on about a kazillion pairs of shoes. I tried to convince her to let me walk around and find some I could try on, but she must have suspected my plot, and refused.

I also found the most awesome thing ever, while Jen looked at sunglasses - a pair of purple contact lenses. Jen wouldn't get those for me, or let me buy them for myself, not that I had enough money to anyway without borrowing a bit (well, most of it) from her.

"Look at them," I demanded, pointing them out, in case she thought I was talking about something else for some reason. "Aren't they cool?"

"You wouldn't like wearing contact lenses, sweetie," she said, all matter-of-factly. As if she would know what I'd like. And even if I didn't like it, that didn't mean wearing them wouldn't be worth it to have purple eyes, rather than my stupid green ones. "Come on, Penni, we have other stuff to do," she told me, grabbing my still pointing hand and dragging me out of the store before I could defeat her surely moon-induced bout of non-tolerance for all which was awesome with my superior logic. Times like that were what made me wonder if the moon hadn't invented big sisters in the first place.

Things like those, and what the "other stuff we had to do" turned out to be.

Now, I don't mind shopping with Jen. I even enjoy it a lot of the time. As long as we stay away from clothes. And I don't even mind (too much, anyway...) when she spends forever trying clothes on. I had been planning on her doing that, in fact, since it was about the only way I could think of to get her attention off me long enough to put any plans of mine into effect.

What I don't like is being the one spending forever trying clothes on, especially when Jen is the one deciding what I should be putting on next, and what "will look adorable" on me. It always made me wonder if Jen had forgotten that I wasn't a baby anymore, and therefore no longer there just for her to dress up like some kind of doll. Except that I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter...

Of course, I thought if I stood up to her, and told her what she didn't seem to realize, then I would have a choice. After all, isn't that what grown ups try to tell you all the time? If you stand up for yourself, then people will leave you alone? Or something like that, anyway. Whatever it is, I had never had the courage to try it myself, at least on anyone my own age. And it never really worked with anyone in my family, either.

As it turns out, it especially doesn't work with big sisters.

"I'm not putting that on," I told her, arms folded resolutely across my chest as I glared up at her, and the light blue blouse she was holding. "I'm tired of this... Can't we go somewhere else?"

"Aww, you're tired, sweetie?" Jen asked with a smile that informed me I had made something of a mistake. "Well, no problem, then." And before I could wonder if I had misread her expression, she herded me back into the dressing room, closing the door behind her.

"What are you doing?" I stepped away, narrowing my eyes at her as she put the shirt onto a hook on the wall.

"Lift up your arms, baby. I can't see how this fits you with that shirt on."

I pressed my crossed arms even tighter to my body, hardly able to believe her. "I don't need..." I started, only to be interrupted by a polite knock on the door.

"Yes?" Jen asked as she opened it, revealing the teenager who'd been sitting boredly at the desk in the front of the changing area a few minutes ago.

"Umm... I'm sorry, but there's only supposed to be one person per dressing room. See?" She nodded over at the sign hanging beside the big mirror behind me. "Sorry," she shrugged.

I couldn't help but stick my tongue out at Jen. Bet she'd get in all kinds of trouble now. Maybe even get thrown out of the store, and then I could sneak off through one of the other exits...

"Well, it's just my little sister," Jen answered calmly, as if all the things I was envisioning happening to her weren't about to occur. "She needs my help, you know."

"Hey!" I interjected angrily, eyebrows furrowing as I pouted, stomping my foot. "I do -not-!"

The employee actually had the nerve to giggle at me, before she turned and winked at Jen. "Oh, okay. No problem. Sorry to bother you."

"No problem," Jen smiled.

"Little sisters, huh?" The employee smiled, too, shaking her head as she shut the door and went back to her post.

"I do -not- need your help," I informed Jen, barely suppressing the urge to kick her.

Jen reached out and ruffled my hair. "Of course you don't," she said patronizingly. "Now lift your arms, sweetie. Come on, it'll be just like when you were a baby."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Look, I'll try it on myself, okay? Just... Go away."

"Well, if you insist." It must have been hard for Jen to keep a straight face as she left the dressing room; I could hear her giggling outside as I started to get undressed, her laughter fading as, I assumed, she walked away. I paused for a moment, lowered my arms to put my shirt back on, pulling it all the way back down to just above my belly button.

I hadn't been planning on putting my plot into action yet, but she'd gotten me mad. If I wasn't back by the time she returned, most likely with another outfit, let her worry. I'd be long gone by then. Really, it was the best time to start, since I knew exactly where the ear piercing place was from this store. While I could -probably- have found my way there from anywhere in the mall, if I had to, I was a little nervous about actually trying to. The mall is a big place, after all.

The teenager was sitting at her desk again, apparently not paying any attention to the mostly empty dressing rooms. Getting past her wouldn't be too much of a problem, not that she was likely to care even if she noticed me leaving. On the other hand, Jen was nowhere to be seen. That should have made me more confident, but instead, it froze my feet to the floor as I glanced around the store, chewing on my bottom lip.

Where could she be?

If I couldn't see her, surely that meant she wasn't anywhere too close, so she shouldn't be able to catch me. But... What if she wasn't? What if I just wasn't seeing her? I could remember a lesson we'd had in school the year before, about how everyone has a blind spot. That had freaked me out for a few days - if a dot on a piece of paper could vanish like that, what else was out there could?

Even though Jen claimed my blind spot wasn't big enough to hide anything large enough to be dangerous, I'd always wondered if that wasn't how the moon could influence so many people without their seeming to notice it. He could just sneak up to them by keeping in their blind spot, and do whatever he wanted to them.

And what if Jen could do the same thing, and hadn't wanted me to suspect, so she could use it against me sometime? Like now. What if she'd suspected my plot, and was trying to set me up so she'd be sure to catch me?

How unfair was that?

I stood there a few minutes, half of my mind shouting at me to go for it, the rest as scared as my feet were. The longer I stood there, though, the more chance Jen had of catching me. And how long had I been there already? Was it already too late?

"You okay, honey?" the girl behind the desk asked, starting to get to her feet. "You want me to find your sister for you?"

"No, I'm fine," I squeaked, darted back into my changing room. I looked over at the blouse, still hanging there, waiting for me, rolled my eyes as I began to take my shirt off again. "I am such a baby," I mumbled to myself, knowing full well how readily Jen, and Nadine for that matter, would agree.

The shirt was actually pretty cool, surprisingly enough - then again, even Jen had to have good taste every now and again. It had little pink hearts and white stars running along the bottom hem, and another star, this one sparkly, right at the center of the neck. Jen liked it, too, enough that, after making me try on one last skirt (a rather frilly and poofy pink one), she took it up to the front counter to buy it for me, and, finally, led me back out of the store.

I was beginning to wonder if I had chickened out of my last chance to start my plan, until Jen veered from her course to one of the mall's exits to make a short pit stop at the bathroom.

"I don't have to go," I insisted, lying. "And I'm not a baby. I can stay out here by myself for two minutes."

Jen looked at me suspiciously for a moment or two, until I was sure she would make me go into the bathroom with her anyway, but instead, she shrugged, shoved all her bags into my arms. "You go sit on the bench over there, okay? And you stay there, you hear me? Don't move one muscle."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, Jen," I sighed, started to trudge over to the designated bench.

"And don't let anyone kidnap you," Jen added. She waited until I sat down to push open the bathroom door, giving me one last glance before she stepped inside.

I waited for a second, hardly recognizing that I was holding my breath until I let it out, sliding down from the bench. If I remembered the layout of the mall correctly, there would be plenty of time to get my ears pierced and be back before Jen got out of the bathroom. Surely once she saw how good I looked with my brand new earrings, she would see what a horrible mistake she'd been making, going along with mommy's stupid rule all this time.

Maybe she'd even take me to get my ears pierced again, so I could wear four earrings at once! Caileigh had like twenty holes in her ears, or a bunch anyway. Surely if it made her best friend look cool, Jen would realize it would make me look cool, too. Although I wasn't sure I wanted as many as she had, just yet. And then she could take me back to the bathroom.

I wasn't expecting to be gone for long, planning on being there and back before Jen left the bathroom - how long could it possibly take to pierce someone's ears? - but I gathered up all the bags into my arms anyway, to make sure nobody tried to steal my stuff. Or Jen's, I guess. She might not like that much.

We really had too many things, and I was nearly halfway to the piercing stand before I finally got done juggling it around, and finally had a somewhat comfortable way of holding everything. At least my arms didn't feel quite as much like they were falling off. Unfortunately, as I had been fighting with my baggage, I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to where I was going, other than to apologize for almost walking into a woman and her little girl, toddling crinkily next to her and staring after me as I walked off in the other direction.

I didn't even apologize to the man I actually did run into as I found my eyes being drawn back to the baby again, to see her eyes still on me, the bottom of what must have been her diaper peeking out from the hem of her dress. That was how Jen saw me, I told myself, shaking my head. And that was certainly -not- what I was. I would show her, and mommy, and everyone else.

All I had to do was find that stupid little store... booth... thing. I'd been in the mall enough times that the place I found myself in wasn't unfamiliar to me; I hadn't been there enough to know where anything was from there. I was right in front of a stage, where Santa Claus had sat way back near Christmas, and where I'd gotten my picture taken with him, and almost fallen off of his lap when I tried to impress him by saying I didn't need to be lifted down, and almost got down by myself.

The food court was right there, and a bunch of people about Jen's age were sitting at the tables and laughing loudly. I just barely kept myself from going over to the candy store by telling myself I wasn't sure how much it would cost to get my ears pierced, and I didn't want to not have enough. From there, the mall stretched out in three other directions besides where all the food places sat from there.

I turned around in a circle, unable to stop myself from feeling anxious, and perhaps a little scared. I had to hurry up... It wasn't supposed to take this long! Everywhere looked familiar, but I had no idea where they lay in the grand scheme of things. The map of the mall in my head was mostly just a clump of stores I liked in one section, and everything else lumped off somewhere else, and bore absolutely no resemblance to the way it really was, since I was used to just telling Jen or mommy I wanted to go somewhere, and being taken there. Or not, depending on how much they loved me that day.

"Are you lost, honey?"

I can never understand why everyone, or at least all grown up women, think my name is honey. This one was probably somewhere around mommy's age, I guess, and sitting at a table by the stage, surrounded by a bunch of brochures, and maps.

"No," I said, casually walking up to her table.

"Are you sure?" she asked uncertainly after a moment or two of me standing in front of her. I nodded. "Okay," she shrugged, and then finally turned her head slightly, giving me a chance to grab a map and dart back around to the other side of the stage, so she couldn't see that I really was a tiny bit lost.

The map turned out to be less help than expected, since it didn't bother to put the names of the stores where they belonged... They were all lumped at the bottom, and their spot on the map had numbers instead. There were altogether too many numbers, and by the time I started looking through the list for the number of the spot I thought belonged to my destination, I'd forgotten whether the second number was a 3 or a 8, and then I couldn't find the stupid spot again.

Sheepishly, I ducked around the stage, approached the table again. "Umm... Maybe I could use a little help..."

The lady smiled. "What can I do for you, honey?"

"I'm looking for the... umm... ear... piercy... place..." I blushed as my mind blanked, leaving me sounding rather more stupid than I had when I'd rehearsed the question in my head.

"It's right over that way," she pointed down the hall behind her. "Just keep going straight and you'll run right into it."

"Thanks," I muttered, still blushing, and rushed away. I probably didn't have much time now. I'd have to hurry...

Luckily, I didn't have to go far before I saw the familiar sight of The Piercing Pagoda. No wonder I couldn't remember what it was called. What kind of a name is pagoda? Also luckily, there was no line, and nobody around other than the woman working there.

She didn't notice me as I walked up to her little store, or as I pretended to look around, hoping she'd ask if I needed any help. Or when I tried to clear my throat, though I'm not sure I was loud enough for her to hear.

"Hello?" I spoke up finally, knowing I couldn't wait all day.

"Good afternoon," she droned, the smile on her lips very similar to the one mommy gave me when she was upset about something, but didn't want me to know. "Whatcha need?"

"I need my ears pierced," I stated with an authoritative nod.

"Where's your mommy, kid?"

I blinked a couple times, hardly expecting that response. "At work..."

She sighed. "Look, kid, I can't pierce your ears unless your mommy or daddy is here. Unless you're older than eighteen." She smirked. "Which I'm pretty sure you're not."

My tummy sank, tears stinging the corners of my eyes. "What?"

"Sorry, kid, those are the rules." She didn't sound particularly sorry, and with that, she turned around and started to straighten up one of the earring stands.

I stared at her, and all the earrings around her, earrings I couldn't wear for what was sure to be an eternity, for a long time, before I realized I should probably be going back to the bathroom, before Jen got out, even if my plan had self-destructed.

I pulled the map back out of the bag I'd shoved it into, glad for a brief moment to see that at least the restrooms were clearly marked, until I saw there was more than one set throughout the mall. Which had we been at?

I began walking back towards the stage, sure that once I'd reached there, inspiration would strike.

I never got there.

I was still trying to decipher the map, glad this hall was empty, so there wasn't anyone to bump into, almost missing the sight of someone very familiar storming towards me, the expression on her face less than pleased.

"Jen?" I asked nervously, stuffing the map into one of the bags without even attempting to fold it. I hadn't noticed my tummy returning after sinking into the floor in front of the pagoda, but it must have, because it was starting to do acrobatics inside me. I'd never seen Jen like that before - she seemed a little worried, but mostly just angry.

"What the -hell- is wrong with you?!" she demanded as she drew closer. Before I could even fully grasp how mad I'd made her for her to be using bad words in front of me, her hand was wrapped around my wrist, surely almost cutting off the circulation to my hand, and she was dragging me away.

But not towards any of the exits. She was heading for a bench by the side of the hallway.

"Jen, what are you doing?" I squeaked, struggling to break free to no affect. I began to sniffle nervously as she sat down, and I suddenly felt myself being lifted up. I let go of the bags, barely heard them fall to the ground as I was placed over her lap. "Jen?" My stomach finally stopped flopping around, instead freezing into a block of ice that spread to the rest of my insides. She wouldn't...

From the corner of my eye, I could see her hand going up into the air behind me, but even then I didn't believe, wouldn't believe.

And then her hand landed right on the seat of my skort, making me jump a little and shout, "Jen!", hoping the begging tone in my voice was enough to make her stop. It wasn't. Her hand lifted again, and I wanted to try to say something, to come up with something to convince her I didn't deserve this, but then I was too busy with things like "Ow!" and "Stop!" as I felt her hand slap down across my bottom again.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded, not giving me time, or reprieve, to answer. "You scared the hell out of me, Penni. What were you thinking?!"

I started to cry as she started swatting a fresh spot on my bottom. I almost started to leak from somewhere else, too, the pain almost making my already full bladder let go, but I fought to keep control. I wasn't saying anything by that point, just crying. I think I could feel my legs starting to kick behind me without my consent, though I couldn't quite tell.

And finally, she stopped. I don't know how long I laid across her lap, bawling like the little baby she thought I was. I thought I heard her talking to someone above me, and then saw what might have been a security officer walking off, but for all I knew, I was imagining them, as reality started to crash back around me, making me realize fully what had just been done.

Jen had just spanked me in the middle of the mall. The mall that probably every person in my school, or that I knew from anywhere, went to. What if someone had seen me?! What if they'd seen me not only being spanked, but crying like a fountain? The humiliation of it all was almost worse than the spanking itself.

Jen lifted me, put me down on my feet as she stood and began to collect the bags, her face still red with anger. But I didn't care about that.

I glared up at her, probably knowing how she'd felt a few minutes before - madder at my sister than I'd ever been before. "I hate you!" I tried to scream, although my voice was a little hoarse and choked now. "You're the worst big sister -ever-!"

Jen stopped in her tracks, and I saw her expression turn hurt for a second before it reverted to angry. "You'd better just hope I don't tell dad what you did," she growled.

My stomach started to twist up at the possibility of another spanking. "I hate you," I repeated, more quietly, right before I turned and tried to run away, not wanting to see her ever again.

Jen is a good deal bigger and faster than me, however, so I only got a few steps before her hand was clutching my wrist again, and using it to pull me down the hall, as oblivious to my struggles as it had been earlier.

My bottom and face were burning as we passed through the mall. I felt like every eye was on me as I fought against Jen's evil grasp. My bladder felt even closer to letting go now, and I was sure any minute I was going to wet my pants, yet I still couldn't bring myself to say anything until, at last, right at the entrance of the mall, Jen turned to me, finally seeming to notice my struggling.

"What?" she asked.

"I haff to go to the baffwoom," I mumbled, looking down at my feet, humiliation overpowering my hatred for her, nearly drowning out the end of my sentence as I noticed my lisp was back.

"Oh, for the love of..." she sighed. I could practically see her eyes rolling heavenward. "Can you hold it until we get home?"

I weighed my options - risk ticking Jen off more by forcing her to trek back across the mall, or risk having an accident in her car.

"No," I answered, barely audible, glancing up to see her face and immediately wincing, nearly expecting another spanking.

Jen shook her head. "Fine."

That was the last thing either of us said to each other that afternoon. We sat in silence in the car, me a lot more gingerly than her, shifting back and forth every couple minutes and staring at the floorboards bitterly, Jen staring straight out at the road, her knuckles white against the steering wheel.

Maybe it hadn't been all that good of a plan after all.


Chapter Five


We didn't say much to each other for a while after that, either. That may have had something to do with me not giving her too many chances to say anything, of course, but you never really know.

Mommy asked me why I was sitting all funny at dinner that night, gave me a weird look when I insisted I wasn't, and apparently believed me, since she didn't bring it up again. She probably asked Jen about it later, when I was sulking in my room, or already in bed, yet Jen was at least nice enough not to say anything. Or if she was, mommy didn't feel the need to come up with any more of a punishment for me.

As nice as that may have been of Jen, she was still the number one enemy for a couple days, making lunchtime particularly difficult, as I was determined to say as little as possible to her. The moon had used people to do some awful things to me, but Jen, who was supposed to be my big sister and look out for me and all that, had done this herself. I could feel that, somehow, beneath my slowly dissolving anger, helped along a bit by Jen breaking the rules and letting me have dessert first for a couple days afterwards, even though that had kept me from eating more than a couple bites of macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly before running off back to the barn to sit in the loft by myself, contemplating why she could be bribing me like that.

I once heard somewhere that having a big appetite was a sign of good health; that just went to prove to myself that my health wasn't particularly great. I've never been one to eat very much, or want to, although I'd tried to convince myself to for about a week after hearing that, which caused me to have a sore tummy every day until I gave up. I very rarely even ate dessert with lunch, which Jen knew full well. The first time, I suspected her of trying to get me in more trouble, but after spending an anxious afternoon in the barn and then spending a while walking around in the field, raising my courage to go back home, I found Jen had apparently said nothing about it to mommy.

After that, I couldn't quite think of a good explanation for Jen's actions. The best I could come up with was she was trying to fatten me up, like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, but I was pretty sure she wasn't planning on eating me, and if she was, she was doing a rotten job of the actual fattening up, since, according to the scales in the bathroom, I was still the same weight after the third day of her "desserts-first" policy.

I had plenty of time to come up with new theories, and try to perfect my old ones, since Nadine was apparently too busy to come to the barn with me. Instead, I spent most of those days laying up in the hay and staring at the ceiling, until I was tired of the prickliness of the hay, and then I laid down on the floor and did the same thing. Occasionally I would take out one of my swords and take a few practice swings, but it just wasn't the same on my own, and, besides, it was too hot out to go hunting down the various monsters in the woods around the barn, even if I wanted to risk Jen somehow finding out I'd been in there. Luckily, none of the monsters felt like invading the barn on those days, either. Must have been too hot for them, too.

It was on the third day, just when I thought I was about to go insane from boredom and had almost broken down enough to consider going home to make Jen do something with me, that I saw a patch of yellow hair coming up the ladder, and underneath it, Nadine. I couldn't help but smile as I told her, "You can't come up here. This is my stronghold."

Nadine rolled her eyes, hopping from the last rung of the ladder onto the floor of the loft. I tried to cross my arms authoritatively, doing my best impersonation of mommy when she'd given me an order, like "Go wash your hands!" or "Go take a bath!" or "Eat your eggplant!" Nadine didn't seem to be impressed, much less intimidated, unless her response to being intimidated was shoving the other person and making them fall over.

"It's my barn, dummy," she said, now crossing her arms, and looking much more like mommy than I probably had. "So if it's anyone's stronghold, it's mine."

"Do you want to sword fight for it?" I asked, although I was glad she just looked at me like I was stupid before dusting off an old upside-down bucket to sit on rather than saying yes. It was too hot for that, even if my bruise from last time was almost all the way healed.

I started to sit on the floor, decided not to, since, like this, I was actually taller than Nadine, and she'd have to look up at me for once. If she wanted to look at me, that is, but instead she was boredly glancing every other way, as if she hadn't been up here a billion times before and didn't know where everything was. Eventually, I gave up and sat down, rather gingerly, after all, crossing my legs in front of me.

Her eyes finally fell on me, now that I was once again below her, and it was then that I noticed something was different about them.

"Where did you get those?" I demanded, new anger rising up from my stomach.

"Do you like them?" Nadine batted her eyes a couple of times and giggled, a sound that did nothing to make me feel better about her having -my- purple contact lenses I'd been denied by stupid, stupid Jen. "Oh, of course you do. Jen mentioned you going on about them at the mall the other day."

"Well, they're cool," I admitted begrudgingly, knowing full well what was coming next.

"You know, it's too bad you couldn't have gotten them, but Caileigh agreed with Jen. You just wouldn't like them." Nadine shrugged innocently. "I guess they're not for little kids like you."

"I am NOT a little kid!" I screamed at her, tears stinging my eyes as I crossed my arms and sulked, eyes now firmly planted on the dust around my legs. It just wasn't fair. Nadine isn't that much older than me, but she always got what she wanted, and what I wanted, for that matter. I never got -anything-.

One day, she'd know what it was like to be me. One day she'd see.

Except... She'd always be older than me, and there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it.

"If you're not a little kid, then why are you sitting like that?"

My eyes shot up at the question, the expression on her face telling me right away what I'd feared, although I asked anyway, hardly able to stop myself. "She -told- you?"

"She may have mentioned it to Caileigh," Nadine answered, her voice mysterious, before turning annoyed, "before Caileigh made me come over here 'cause Jen told her you'd been over here alone for the past couple days."

"They were talking about me?" I asked, surprised. Nadine shrugged.

As it turns out, they -had- indeed been talking about me, or so I've been told.

"What were you thinking?" Caileigh had asked, shaking her head. She really was nice, and at the time I would have much rather had her for a big sister, even if she sometimes treated me like even more of a baby than Jen in terms of what I was allowed to do around her.

"What would you have done?" Jen demanded, probably sulking down into the couch at her friend's reproach.

"I think I would have started with waiting until I got home." Caileigh shook head again, her black hair, reaching almost to the seat of the couch, moving like waves behind her. "You know, like the Big Sister Handbook says."

Jen snorted. "Oh, please. Like I ever look at -that- anymore. What a waste of time!"

"You should really treat her with more respect; she's the only little sister you've got." Caileigh's voice was calm, like it always was, but anyone who knew her could tell she was far from happy at the moment.

"Respect? Her? She's just a little kid! She probably doesn't even know what the word means." She started to laugh, was interrupted by Caileigh leaping to her feet and grabbing the coffee table in front of the couch, sending empty cups and coasters sailing every which way as she swung at Jen's face.

Jen had only a split second, but that was enough time for her to duck out of the way, diving off of the couch into a perfect roll over to daddy's favorite chair, which she then shoved with all her might at Caileigh. Caileigh jumped out of the way, up onto the couch, which was sent spinning as the chair crashed into it, forcing her to let go of the table to keep her balance.

Lunging forward, Jen grabbed the fallen table, swung it at Caileigh, still struggling on the couch. For a second, it looked like it was over... Then Caileigh's hands shot up and grabbed the edge of the table, just inches from the side of her head, right as the couch came to a halt.

"You never did appreciate her," Caileigh said, her voice still calm, but much lower than normal.

"Who cares?!" Jen shouted, struggling to wrench her table free from Caileigh's grasp. "She's just a stupid little kid!"

Caileigh's eyes flared. "I care. And, on behalf of the Society of Big Sisters, I -will- defeat you!"

Or something like that, I'm sure. It would have been right around then that mommy came home, so they would have had to stop fighting. Which is too bad, because Caileigh certainly would have won, and then none of the rest of this would have happened.

Strangely, when I got back home, Jen didn't show any signs of having been in a fight, and the living room was all cleaned up again. Since I still didn't want to talk to her if I could avoid it, I didn't ask her about it. She pretended to be all nice and such, asking if I'd had fun in the barn, a question which was met with a shrug before I escaped to the bathroom to wash my hands before mommy saw them and complained.

"What is up with you two?" mommy asked at dinner as another night went by with the two of us doing our best not to look at each other. Fork of spaghetti halfway to my mouth, I started to answer, got cut off by "And don't you tell me 'Nothing' again, either."

I turned anxiously to glance at Jen, trying not to meet her eyes while, at the same time, trying to figure out if she was going to say something at last, something to get back at me for being the cause of the fight between her and Caileigh earlier - the fight they would both later deny having when I asked them about it.

Fortunately, at least in a way, neither of us had to answer, since, at that moment, mommy spoke again. "Watch what you're doing, Penni!"

I own very little white clothing; a couple dresses, one or two shirts. For one thing, a lot of my white clothes had been turned pink a while back, when I'd tried to be helpful and do laundry on my own while Jen did homework and mommy and daddy were out on a date. I didn't mind too much, since pink is better than white anyway, but daddy had been a little adngry. For another, white clothes had a habit of not staying that color for long around me.

Mostly because of things like this. By the time mommy spoke, it was already too late. All I had time to do was watch as the sauce covered noodles slid off of my fork, straight onto my shirt, as if attracted by the pure, clean (well, except for some dust and hay and stuff) fabric, then fell down between my legs onto the chair.

"Penni!" Mommy had a way of scolding that didn't require her to say anything more than my name, yet still was enough to make my face burn red as I picked up the spaghetti from the chair, setting it down on my napkin.

"Maybe you ought to wear a bib," Jen suggested, trying to sound as if she was joking, although I'm sure she meant it.

"I don't need a bib!" I shouted, finally meeting her eyes in order to glare at her.

"All right, all right, calm down," daddy said quickly. "Don't yell in the house, Penni."

"But daddy..." I complained.

"Go get the sauce off your shirt, sweetie," mommy told me. I obeyed with a sigh, stopping at the edge of the bathroom doorway to try to hear what mommy was saying to Jen. I hoped she was telling her not to be mean, not that Jen would ever listen.

Wet spot on my shirt in place of the sauce, I returned to the table a few minutes later, blushing anew as I saw Jen and remembered her words before hopping up into my chair and trying to continue eating as if nothing had happened. My hand had other plans, however. I'm not sure if the moon was trying to control me, like he did with so many other people, or if he had made my glass extra slippery, but he must have done something, because almost as soon as I'd picked up my cup of water and began to bring it towards my face, I saw it falling down, down towards my plate of spaghetti.

Water splashed up all over me - if only I'd waited a few more seconds, I could have avoided going into the bathroom and missing seeing Jen lectured - soaking my shirt and dripping down onto my chair and legs and shorts.

Jen's face was shocked for a few seconds, and then she was overcome with laughter, ringing louder and louder in my ears, all but drowning out mommy's second "Penni!" of the night. Face red, tears threatening, I jumped back down from my chair and stormed off, out of the house. I thought about going to the barn, but I felt too tired for that, and so I sank down onto my swing instead, gently letting myself rock back and forth as I stared upwards.

Clouds were all about, dashing back and forth hurriedly, though mostly keeping the whole sky blanketed, like they were gearing up for rain soon. I hoped it would come that night, while I was asleep, instead of the next day.

"You okay?" daddy asked after a few minutes, sinking down into the swing next to me. I shrugged. "Did you and your sister have a fight, princess?"

I smiled at the nickname, reminding myself that at least daddy obviously liked me the best, since he never called Jen that as far as I knew. "No," I answered, not quite sure if it was true or not. Sure, I was mad at her, and she was mean and awful to me, but I didn't recall an actual fight between us having taken place.

"Then why don't you come in and finish dinner, okay?" We swang back and forth in silence, swing set creaking ever so slightly, for a minute or two.

"I'm not wearing a bib," I said at last.

"No, of course not," daddy assured me. "Jen was just joking, Penni. Everyone can be a little messy sometimes, especially with spaghetti."

"We shouldn't be," I sighed sadly, recalling a conversation I'd had with Nadine at school once, when I'd had a similar problem with the spaghetti there. "We're part Italian... We're s'posed to be experts."

Daddy smiled, didn't quite laugh, although he looked like he wanted to. "Well, you're still an expert-in-training," he explained, sounding sure enough of himself that I couldn't help but believe him. "By the time you're Jen's age, you'll be just as good as she is."

"Okay," I replied, a smile of my own finally breaking across my face, paused by daddy raising a finger suddenly, as if I had interrupted him. Which I guess I had.

"But only if you practice," he warned. "Now, are you ready to get to work?"

Although I was starting to feel better, I still shook my head.

"What's wrong, princess?"

"I'm full."

Daddy laughed. "Well, come inside anyway, okay? It's windy out here."

I nodded, holding out my arms as daddy stood up, letting him lift me down from the swing, even though I was perfectly capable of getting down myself. As we walked back to the house, I glanced up at the sky, watching the clouds blow back and forth.

For a split second, there was enough of a break in the clouds for me to see the moon underneath, where he had sat, scheming and plotting. He was full tonight, too, all big and round, though not too bright yet, since the sun hadn't yet set, and was still keeping him from doing anything -too- evil.

A shiver moved down my spine and I quickened my steps, no longer wanting to be outside. The clouds may have covered the moon back up, but that didn't mean he wasn't still there, waiting, watching. I thought I would be safer inside; I knew I could never truly escape him.

I was right about the second part, at least.

[Elizabeth]

Chapter Six


"Good evening," I forced myself to smile, extending a gloved hand to Dr. Hugo, who hurriedly stuffed his little mirror on a stick thing into the pocket of his white coat before elegantly taking my hand and kissing the top of it.

"Wonderful to see you here," he said. "Would you care for some punch?"

"No, thank you," I answered, trying to think of a civil way to end the conversation before it started. "Oh, look, there's Dr. Irvine!"

I hurried off, long pink skirt flowing behind me, sparkling from the light of the chandelier hanging above me. Luckily, it was turning out to be much easier to walk in heels this time than it was when last I'd - ahem - borrowed mommy's, and thought for sure I'd broken my ankle after about the hundredth fall, one that had been particularly bad.

Unfortunately, I somehow had managed to guess the direction which Dr. Irvine really had gone in since last I'd escaped from his attention. Maybe if my heels had been a little bigger, I could have seen through the crowd better; it shouldn't have been hard to avoid him since, like Dr. Hugo, and a few other doctors strewn about the room, he was wearing his white coat instead of a tuxedo or pretty dress, like everyone else. Of course, since they were doctors, after all, so what else would they wear? Unless they were fake doctors like Dr. Veitch.

"Ahh, Penni, there you are!" Dr. Irvine stepped forward, wrapping his arm firmly around my shoulders. "Have I told you yet how incredibly pleased I am that you've finally come to your senses?"

"A few times," I smiled weakly, starting to feel a little queasy, as I always did whenever I was around him. I could see a few needles in the pockets of his coat, didn't care to guess just what they were for. "I'm... feeling a bit thirsty. I think I'm going to get some punch."

"Oh, perfect!" his face brightened, as he started to move through the crowd, arm still on me, steering me along beside him. "I have something of a thirst myself."

"Perfect," I echoed, much less enthusiastically than he.

"Penni, my dear, have you ever thought about having some of your internal organs removed?" he asked conversationally.

"My... what?" I had a vague recollection of hearing the phrase on a TV show once, but, if I wasn't mistaken, they were somewhat important. "I think I need those, don't I?"

Dr. Irvine laughed, picking up one of those little cubes of cheese from the buffet table we were passing in front of. "Oh, no! Definitely not! You only use a couple of them really, and the rest are just for show, you see. Mostly just take up space, but a growing girl like you, she needs all the space she can get, doesn't she?"

I wasn't entirely convinced, but he -was- a doctor after all. "Yes?"

"Oh, perfect!" He let go of my shoulder for long enough to clap his hands, a look of pure joy on his face, and then he reached out towards the table, swept about half the dishes off and onto the floor, sending fish sticks and tater tots, and something strange and globby and possibly alive that I could only assume was caviar, since I wasn't quite sure what that actually was or looked like, flying. A few of the more well-dressed guests turned to see what the commotion was, annoyance plain in their expressions, though their pure black eyes didn't show any emotion at all. "We can get that taken care of right now!"

"I really am pretty thirsty..." I protested, starting to back away from him.

"Nonsense!" he exclaimed, grabbing me by the waist and lifting me up onto the buffet table, laying me down on the space he had just cleared. "This won't take but a minute." He reached into his pocket and dug around for a few moments, taking out a few needles, each bigger than the last, and setting them on the table, before producing a scalpel. "There you are!" he smiled as he kissed the blade, then bent down over me, positioning the blade over my tummy.

"Maybe we should wait until the ball's over," I suggested nervously, fighting to keep every inch of my body from squirming and succeeding with just about everything but my feet, hoping he wasn't really planning on cutting my pretty dress.

"No time like the present," he countered. "Now, this might hurt a bit..."

He leaned in closer to me, but set the scalpel down for a moment, instead deciding to knock lightly on my stomach. "What are you doing?" I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.

"Just trying to find the best place to start the cut," he assured me, picking the blade back up. "That should be perfect."

I gave a little whimper, feet starting to squirm more violently, enough so to hit the side of a bowl, knocking the contents over onto my legs.

"Oh, Penni," Dr. Irvine sighed. "Do be careful. You've let the spinach loose."

He changed his position for a second, and I saw that was, indeed, the contents of the overturned bowl. There was a mass of green laying across my shoes, moving and pulsing ever so slowly, like the tentacles of some great underwater beast. One of the leaves, a more productive one than the rest, started to crawl across my foot. I had to bite my lip to keep from squealing as, through my tights, I felt it wrapping itself around my leg. I squeezed my eyes closed.

Dr. Irvine shook his head, then, I assume, went back to his task. "Really, Penni, be still!" he ordered.

"Penni, what are you doing?" a rather angry voice asked.

I opened my eyes hesitantly. "Hi, mommy. You look pretty." She did, too, with a dark blue dress, and matching diamond earrings, tiara, and necklace.

She ignored my attempt at lightening her mood. "Do you know how far past your bedtime it is, young lady?"

"We were just..." Dr. Irvine began to explain, only to be cut off by mommy picking me up off of the table and setting me back down on the floor, where I immediately began to stomp my foot to get the spinach off, sending little leaves scrambling every which way, though mostly under the table. I didn't get quite all of it off, but I didn't want to touch it with my hands, so it was good enough for the time being.

"I'm afraid that will have to wait until later," mommy told him. "-Some- little girl is in big trouble."

"You'd let Jen be up this late," I pouted.

"Jen doesn't need a bedtime," mommy said, grabbing my hand. "She's a big girl, and so I like her more."

I considered informing her just how unfair that was; however, I had a feeling it would have as much affect as it did every night when I complained about having to go to bed well before Jen. Anyway, it was probably best not to get myself into any more trouble than I was already in.

I struggled against mommy's grip, only to be met with exactly as much success as I'd had with Jen at the mall. This was far more important, though, and I knew I was going to have to do something, or...

The chattering of hundreds of people droning on about random things at the front of the room began to die down. Mommy stopped, turned, as the moon himself began to descend through a massive hole opening in the ceiling. I've always thought that he looked much less threatening as he got more powerful, and his appearance here did nothing to persuade me otherwise. He was always the creepiest when he was just a sliver, sharp and dangerous against the night sky, or when you couldn't see him at all, although I could always feel his presence, his eyes on me.

However, he was full tonight, big and round and, to be honest, quite harmless looking as he descended, beaming. The people gathered in the ballroom began to clap, his smile growing larger as he saw his servants' respect. The applause spread out from the front of the room like a ripple; by the time it reached mommy, I was prepared for it, darting away as soon as she lifted her hands, vanishing into the sea of legs.

"I'm glad to see all of you here tonight," the moon spoke, his voice loud and booming, filling the ballroom, as befitted his size. "This is, as I'm sure you all know, a truly glorious occasion."

His audience began to clap again, yet there was just enough of a pause to allow me to hear that I was being pursued. Quickly, I ducked under a buffet table, crawling under the hanging tablecloth and huddling silently as the sound of clapping began to die down around me. I dared a peek out, saw none of the legs around me moving, sat down with a sigh of relief, to figure out my next move.

"We have all accomplished something today," the moon continued.

That was what he thought, I smil