By Gunjan L. Shah
 
 
 

                                            To My Friends
 
 

Please remember that this story is just for fun.
It is to keep our good memories alive.
Whatever happens in the “future” of the story is purely for amusement.
It is not necessarily what I want to happen, what I think should happen, what I think will happen, etc…
One more thing:
If we are thirty-five years old before I talk to you again, I will be very upset with you!
 
 

Chapter I

A woman of 35 years, dressed in khaki shorts and a blue denim shirt with a cream round neck tee shirt inside, sat on a round wall that separated the sand from the ocean.  White sea gulls encircled her head and the blue green waves crashed upon the sharp, jagged rocks, spraying the icy water up at her.  Her long dark brown hair that fell in the middle of her back blew in the crisp sea air and her large, piercing, brown eyes lay focused on the wind driven sea.  It was a chilly day, as the sun could not penetrate the blanket of clouds, but it didn’t matter.  As a matter of fact, none of the elements bothered her as she sat quietly away from the world.  A sudden piercing tone broke the calming silence.  It was her cell phone.  The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.  She answered, “This is Ivy…”
 The voice on the other line sounded vaguely familiar.  The man spoke, “Ivy Fox…at last I have the pleasure of speaking with you.”
 The man knew her name!  Who was he?  How did he get her private number?  Questions floated around her head, but she spoke calmly, “Who are you?  What do you want?”
 The man on the other end chuckled and answered, “Such unimportant questions with disturbing answers.  I bet you are also wondering how I got your number…” The man paused, waiting for Ivy to speak.  When she did not, the man continued, “I am at the Castle, your Castle.  That’s right, something’s wrong!  Can’t put your finger on it?  That’s ok.  I’ll tell you.  I infiltrated your system, and I’ve got a gun pointed to your leader, Gerald Powe’s, head.  You know, I’ve heard that you are intelligent, but can you be in two places at once?  You might want to hurry back from where ever you are…just in case my finger accidentally pulls the trigger….”
 In the background, Ivy heard Gerald Powe’s voice, “Let go of me!  Fox, do not listen to him!  It’s a trap.  Stay where you are.  I can handle this!”
 Fox spoke, “Whoever you are, I’m on my way.  Just don’t shoot him!”  Out of frustration, she added, “Who are you?  What do you want?”
 Again, the man laughed.  “You don’t need to know who I am.  Just know I’m not with the Orders of Council.”  There was a pause.  Then, Fox heard a loud thump.  “Oops, my finger slipped…Goodbye.”
 Ivy fox quickly dialed the team headquarters in the basement of the Castle, three floors below where the leader had just been shot.  Lauren Worth, a senior team member, picked up.  “Ivy what’s going on?”
 With urgency in her voice, Ivy spoke as she ran to the castle.  “Lauren, someone got in!  He shot Gerald!!”
 Lauren was skeptical.  “Fox, what are you talking about?  I just came from seeing him 15 minutes ago.”
 Fox was exasperated.  “Lauren, I don’t care where you just came from.  Get up to that office right now…Be careful!  I’m on my way!”
 Ten minutes later, Fox reached the parking lot.  There were police cars surrounding the building.  An ambulance pulled in just as Ivy arrived.  Fox reached the building just as the paramedics brought Gerald Powe down from his office.  Lauren Worth ran out of the building and almost ran into Fox.  “Oh, Ivy…I’m so glad you’re here!  You were right…I’m sorry I doubted you.”  The speed, at which she spoke increased, “ I ran up to the office as soon as you called, and I walked in and he was lying on the ground.  There was so much blood, but there was no one in the room…The window was shattered I think…”
 Ivy Fox looked at the shaken team member and answered, “Shh…It’ll be okay.  Go with Gerald to the hospital.  I’ll be right there…”
 That had been three days ago, but the scene kept replaying in Fox’s head.  The 5’4” woman, with and oval face, small nose, naturally thin reddish lips, and dark brown hair that curled at her shoulders, had left her car at their old office and now walked coolly and confidently down the busy city street to the temporary office.  In her bright yellow suit and with her hair flowing in the wind, Ivy Fox looked around herself and sighed.  Gerald Powe, a man of only 35 years and their beloved leader, had been declared dead as soon as they had arrived at the hospital.  Yesterday, the group had given him a funeral, and today, life was supposed to go back to normal, but for her, it could not.  In his will, Gerald Powe left their organization to all of the team members, but there had been a catch.  Their new leader was to be a man named Blaine Lyndon.  None of the team had met him before today, and according to Powe’s will, Blaine Lyndon was new to their organization.
 Ivy Fox thought about all of this as she walked down the street to the temporary office Blaine had set up in a building he owned.  As she walked down the street, Fox’s thoughts were temporarily distracted by the delighted laughter of the children playing in the park on her right.  On her left, she saw many people running in and out of the tiny boutiques and stores.  Fox took a deep breath and smelled peanuts roasting in a vender’s cart.  Ivy went over to the vender and bought some peanuts.  The vender was a talkative old man of about 70 years.  He was dressed in a red patterned sweater with a white collared shirt inside and blue jeans.  His hair was white and circled a large central bald spot.  As he was scooping the nuts off the grill, he went on to talk about everything from his children to politics to the weather.  Then he said, “ I wonder what happened to Gerald Powe…”
 Up until now, Fox had not been paying much attention to what the old man had been saying.  Upon hearing the leader’s name, Fox became cautious and asked, “Why?  Did you know him?  What did you hear?”
 The old man looked taken aback.  “I didn’t mean anything,” he said.  “I just heard on the news that he died.  Anyway, your peanuts are ready.”  Fox thanked the man and continued walking down the street.  As soon as she was about a block away, the old man turned the cart and disappeared into a small alley.  He touched his ear and said, “She bought ‘em.”  Suddenly, all the peanut venders turned and disappeared, but Ivy didn’t notice.
 The comments of the old man had shaken the usually strong Ivy Fox.  She no longer walked in her refined nonchalant style; but rather, she dragged her feet as she walked slowly down the street.  Her walk was not a peaceful one; instead, her thoughts returned to how much she was not looking forward to meeting the new leader.  Then, the old leader became the center of her thoughts.  She cringed as she called Gerald that.  Gerald had been her good friend since he had created their organization five years earlier.  The 5’10” man was full of opposites.  He did not like the dark or windows; yet, his office was a large room with poor lighting and had a large window that was covered and could not allow much light to enter the room.  For the little time he spent in his office, Fox remembered it was one of the messiest she had ever seen.  Gerald always attributed this to being an amateur inventor.  She laughed as she thought of what the chief had been trying to make the last time they had spoken.  He had been all tied up in the wire because he was trying to make a coffee machine that would bring him a cup.  He never succeeded in making things, but he had fun.
The sound of a horn brought her back from her thoughts.  She looked across the street and saw a building that looked more like a deserted warehouse than an office.  From where she stood, the building looked as if it was made of smooth grayish-green concrete, and ivy covered all the edges.
 Fox crossed the road and climbed up the steps of the building.  She did not notice the two men who were watching from either side of the building.  Maybe the ivy hid them, or maybe she just did not feel like doing anything about them.  Either way, it would cost her later.
 She opened one of the large double glass doors and stepped into a large receiving area in an outer office.  As Fox was in no hurry to meet the new leader, she meandered around the room looking at the decorations.  The room was circular and lined with Christmas trees.  She went over to the first tree and gazed at the decorations.  She proceeded to look at all the trees.  The trees alternated the colors of red, gold, green, and silver.  The center tree was white.  Looking at all of the trees had begun to make Ivy feel better.  The inner peacefulness of the season had begun to infiltrate her somber mood.  Suddenly, a female voice spoke, “Excuse me, can I help you?”
 Fox spun around surprised.  She was even more surprised when she realized who had spoken to her.  “I haven’t been gone that long, Julia!”
 “Ivy, I didn’t realize it was you.”  Julia Hope was excited to see her.
 “Expecting someone else?”  Fox asked jokingly.  The woman standing in front of her was about her height.  Julia Hope, another team member, had blond hair that curled at her chin.  Her blue eyes radiated with happiness as she looked at Ivy.  Ivy held out her hands as if she was ready to be handcuffed.  She spoke to the team member she had not seen in a long time.  “I guess you’ll have to take me in.”
 Julia’s eyes sparkled with laughter.  “Cut it out, Ivy,” she said while pushing Fox’s arms away to give her friend a hug.  Julia then continued, “Come on…Let’s go…Blaine’s waiting for you.”
 Ivy and Julia walked though another set if double glass doors and into the inner lobby.  The entire room was filled with corridors and desks.  Fox looked around and remarked, “How could anyone work like this?”
 Julia looked at her friend and smiled before answering.  “You know Ivy, not everyone gets to work in large, spacious rooms filled with the latest technology.  It’s not too bad, and we’ve gotten use to it.”
 “You’ve gotten use to it?  You’ve only worked here a day!  And who’s this we?  I haven’t seen anyone else from the team.”  Ivy looked at her friend suspiciously.  This new boss had worked magic on her friend.  The team members did not like change, and never got use to it without a fight.  Julia was no exception.
 Julia laughed once more.  “I knew you were going to ask that!  This new chief is different, but I think he’ll be a good guy.”
 The rest of Julia’s response was cut off by a voice speaking from behind a desk.  “Fine Julia!  Just walk past me.  Don’t even let ME say hi to Ivy.”
Ivy recognized the voice of another member of the team and quickly walked over to the desk where the sound came from.  Ivy peered around the desk and said, “James?”  She thought the voice was that of fellow team member and her partner on many cases, James Durbin.  But, there was no one there.  She looked over to Julia, who just shrugged her shoulders.  Ivy’s spirit had been lifted for a second, but as she gazed around the room her somber mood drifted back.
 Suddenly, Ivy felt arms around her waist and laughter in her ear.  Ivy turned her head sideways and saw it was James.  “Hello Ivy!  I think you might need your hearing checked…” Ivy looked back at the cubicle she thought the sound had come from, and then she turned around in James’ arms and looked at him questioningly.  James laughed once more.
 “It’s not your hearing.  It’s this new device.  You speak into it, and it sounds as if you are talking from a completely different place.”  James paused and then continued, “Anyway, how are you doing?”  Fox answered that she was fine, and surveyed the other member of the group that she had not seen in awhile.  He was James Durbin, a 30-year-old field agent who often worked as her partner.  He had short brownish-blond hair that he combed back, and grayish green eyes that could look in the face of danger and not even blink.
 Ivy spoke again, “So what are you doing for the new boss besides playing with toys?”
 James looked at her and said, “Don’t you know?  I have to find a way to make these computers compatible with the ones in the castle in case we ever need to.  It’s taking forever.”
 Fox’s eyes gleamed as she teased him.  “Is somebody complaining about his job?”
 James knew he was being teased, but he also knew how to get back at her.  “Oh, and who is avoiding going upstairs?”
 All three of them laughed.  Ivy asked, “Is it that obvious?”
 Now it was James’s turn.  “Well, I don’t know, but with my skill, I picked it up right away.”
 Julia joined in.  “Skill?  Is he saying he has skill?”  Again they all laughed.
 Ivy replied, “Hey, it was nice to see you James.  I’ll probably be down after…” At this point, her voice slowed and had a tone of dread.  “…I go see Mr. Lyndon.”
 James chuckled, shook his head, and waved goodbye.  “Ok.  I’ll see you.”  He watched her walk away.  He sighed and silently wished she was in town more often.
 Julia and Fox continued walking and reached some stairs.  Ivy turned to Julia as they walked down the stairs.  “Since when do people have offices in basements?”  It was kind of a silly question since they were in the Castle’s basement all the time.
Julia just shook her head.  “Well, I didn’t think you would mind if we went the long way.  You don’t mind, do you?”
Fox laughed.  “Thanks…hey, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, what’s up?”  Julia said continuing to walk.
Fox thought for a moment and then said, “Tell me about Blaine Lyndon.  Is he really such a nice guy?”
Julia looked at her and said, “Well, do you want to know what I think, or what the others think?”
Ivy shrugged her shoulders, “Both, I guess.”  They had finished the stairs and entered a hallway lines with palm trees and pictures of various dignitaries and presidents.  As she looked at the wall, she remembered the times when she had met some of them, but she listened to Julia putting those memories aside.
“Well, everyone around here seems to love him.  All the women think he’s cute and all the men respect him.”
“But not you?”  Fox asked.
“Well, I’ve only known him for a day.  He is good looking, but the respect part…I don’t know.”
Fox’s suspicious mind was aroused, “Why?  Did he do something suspicious and who are ‘all’ the men and women?  There aren’t that many people on our team.”
“No, not really.  It’s just odd.  From what I gather, he is not related to the chief, and he is not really sure of what we do.  I mean, if he was related to the chief, then picking him might make some sense.”  Her voice ended in a low whisper, as if someone could hear her disloyalty to the new boss.  She continued, “Blaine brought in some new people.  I guess he’ll tell you more when you go up there.  He said he wanted to meet everyone before explaining the changes.”
“Oh…” Fox thought about that, opened her mouth to say something, and then changed her mind.
They had just about come to the end of the hallway lined with palm trees and pictures.  In front of them, there stood an elevator.  Julia pushed the up arrow and they waited for the elevator to come.  Julia reached unto her pocket and pulled out a card.  She gave it to Ivy.  “When the light turns green, swipe this through and punch in the number on back.”
“Thanks,” Ivy said taking the card.  With that, Ivy walked to the keypad.  When the light turned green, Ivy swiped the card and punched in the security number 43134.  The doors opened.  Ivy and Julia stepped inside and watched the doors close.  Julia pushed the button for the 7th floor, the top floor.  As the doors closed and the elevator jerked upward, Ivy wondered why anyone would make a building with seven floors.  Since she could think of no reason, Ivy stopped talking to herself, and settled against the back of the elevator, and looked around.  Above and on all four sides, there were mirrors.  On three sides, there was a metal bar 3 feet from the ground.  Then, Ivy saw another palm tree.  She had begun to think that this office was crazy for palm trees.  Ivy turned to Julia and asked, “Julia, can Blaine really add new people?”
Julia thought for a second and replied, “I guess so…He is the boss.”  At that moment, the elevator stopped, the doors opened, and Julia spoke.  “Just go straight down the hallway, there is only room on the floor.”
Ivy stepped out and walked down the hallway.  This hallway was also lined with palm trees.  Ivy shook her head.  These palm trees were getting a little annoying.  She walked to the end of hallway, passing no doors as she went.  The space of double doors was in front of her, but there were no doors.  Two lush velvet curtains took up the space.  They looked very heavy.  “This leader is definitely an odd guy,” Ivy thought as she pushed aside the curtains.  Though she was still not looking forward to meeting Blaine, Ivy went over to the secretary.
Without looking up, the secretary said, “Good morning.  I’m sorry but Mr. Lyndon is busy.  He is waiting for someone.  Would you like to make an appointment to see him later?”
Ivy smiled and said, “Is he too busy for me?”
The secretary looked up and blushed.  “Sorry.  You must be Miss Fox.  I didn’t realize it was you.  How are you?”
The twenty-five year old woman smiled as she waited for an answer.  She had blonde hair down to her shoulders and brown eyes.  She was 5’4” but looked much smaller.  Ivy answered, “I’m doing well.  How about you?”
With a slight English accent, the secretary replied, “Good, thanks.  You better go in there; He is getting a little angry.”
“Oh, we don’t want that to happen!”  Ivy turned to walk into the office.  She knocked on the door and entered.  Fox looked around the office as she stepped inside.  There was a big window behind the chief’s desk.  It had heavy green draperies.  The rest of the room was ill lit and had many bookcases.  There was a couch and a green rug on the floor.  There was no one sitting behind the desk, so Ivy sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
Blaine entered the office and cleared his throat.  Fox turned toward him and stood up.  Blaine motioned for her to sit and went over to his mini bar.  “Hello.  Can I get you something to drink?”
Fox looked at him in disbelief.  “No.  I don’t drink.”  She continued to survey him before speaking.  He was about 35 years old, just like her.  He was probably about 5’10” and had short brown hair.  He had blue-green eyes and wore a sweater that matched his eyes.  Fox continued in a cold voice, “I am Ivy Fox.  I presume you must be the new chief.”
Blaine still starred at her, but began to speak.  “Yes.  I am Blaine Lyndon.  It is a pleasure to meet you.”  Fox nodded to acknowledge him.  Blaine continued, “Well, you are the last member of the old team, so let’s move this along, shall we?”
Ivy looked him straight in the eye and said, “Mr. Lyndon, why don’t we start with you, shall we?”
Blaine glared at Ivy, who was glaring back at him.  He then coughed to clear the air and fake smiled.  “Ok.  What would you like to know?”  Blaine said as he sat down.
Ivy sat back in her chair smiling mysteriously.  She knew she had gotten to him and that she was in control.  “So, tell me about yourself.”
“Uh, well, I am 35 years old.  I own this company and this building.  And, I am willing to give it all up to lead the organization.”  He ended with an icy glare in his eyes, as if to challenge her.
“I see.  Well, what makes you think you are qualified to run our organization?”
“Listen up young lady.  I don’t care what you think.  I don’t think it even matters if you think that I am qualified.  Gerald left me in charge and if you can't deal with it, maybe you should leave!”
“Mr. Lyndon, I am a senior member on this team and you will address me as Fox or Ivy.  You’re right.  Gerald left you in charge, but he never told me.”  Ivy paused and then continued, “We’ll continue this at the castle.  Tell James, Julia, and the rest of the group to bring you to the castle.  This is no place for this discussion.”
“Ms. Fox, I don’t known where you get the idea that you are above me, but we will continue this at the Castle at 3:00 this afternoon.  Be there.”
Fox nodded and walked out of the office.  She walked past the secretary and went down in the elevator.  Julia came up to her as she got out of the elevator.  Fox spoke to her in a hard, demanding voice.  “Julia, I am going to the castle.  Bring Blaine and everyone on the team.”
Julia looked at her confused.  “What went on up there?”
Ivy glanced back and replied in a hurried manner that she and Blaine had a little disagreement.  They would be continuing the meeting at the Castle at 3:00.
“Ivy, I know you liked Gerald, but please give Blaine a chance.  I don’t have to tell you the good this organization does.”
“I am perfectly willing to give him a chance.  I just think it would be better to have these discussions at the castle.”
“If you think so…”
“Umm, Julia…Have you see James?”
“No, not since we saw him before.  Why?”
“I need to talk to him.  I’m going to the Castle.  Please find him and tell him to meet me in my office.”
“Sure, Ivy.  I’ll see you at the Castle.  Ivy nodded, turned, and walked out of the building.
 
 
 

Chapter II

 Ivy stepped outside and sighed heavily.  She had a bad feeling about Blaine and just wanted to get away from everything.  As that was not possible, Ivy wanted to go to her office and lie down.  She walked quickly through the town.  The happiness and laughter surrounding her made her feel worse, not better.
 The little boutiques sat side by side on the street with little alleys leading to parking lots behind the park.  There were people in the windows decorating the stores in the holiday colors.  Artists painted pictures of Santa and Rudolph in the window.  Some of the stores had little awnings protecting their doorways.  Others had only cute shaped signs hanging above their doors.  Bells jingled and jangled as the townspeople hurried in and out trying to finish their shopping.  Parking meters poked out of snow piles along the edges of the road as cars sped by barely glancing at the American flags sticking out of the meters.  Yet, none of these observations brightened Ivy’s day.
Soon, Ivy had reached the outskirts of the small Virginia town.  There was no formal end to the town; the buildings just tapered off.  The last glimpse of civilization was the sign thanking people for visiting the town of Silver Oaks.  The black newly paved road provided a stark contrast to the rolling hills of the countryside, which were now covered in the powdery white snow.  As Ivy walked along, she shuddered in the cold breeze and wondered why she had left her coat in her office.  The chilly weather portrayed her mood accurately.  Her depressed mood was beginning to bother her.  Ivy closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.  She attempted a smile, but it lasted only a moment.  A chuckle leapt from her mouth.  Why couldn’t she just move on?  How bad could a new leader be?
Ivy continued walking and reached the top of a hill.  She looked over the hill and saw the valley below.  The paved road continued winding through the countryside.  An unpaved road broke off from the main road at a curve in the road.  This unpaved dirt road led into a densely wooded area.  From the top of this hill, Ivy gazed at the golden tipped gates leading into the Castle compound.  Behind the Castle, Ivy saw the sea-blue ocean blocked off by the rock wall.  The majestic view took away Ivy’s breath every time she saw it.  Ivy continued down the hill towards the Castle.
The Castle was the headquarters of their organization.  It had belonged to an old well-to-do family.  Gerald Powe had been a descendent of this family.  By the time the Castle had passed into his hands, the family was living in another house, so he used the old family possession as the headquarters for his new mission.  Powe had gathered together a group of young experts from the technological and medical fields.  The objective of this group was to prevent and control epidemiological problems around the world using the latest technology.  The group was made up of five senior members: Ivy Fox, Julia Hope, James Durbin, Gerald Powe, and Davis Whitten.  There were also operatives around the world.  Their organization wasn’t a secret, but most of the world didn’t know that it existed.
Ivy had reached the gates of the Castle.  The 15ft bars were a smooth black cast iron and had gold painted spiked tips at the top.  On the side of the pathway, the gates connected to a rock wall that enclosed the entire compound.  A guard station was just inside the bars.  When the guard saw Ivy, he said hi and waved her through.  Ivy smiled and continued through the gates.  The path was a lightly colored dirt path and was lined with barren maple trees.  As Ivy climbed a small hill, the top of the castle became visible.  The dark gray blocks of the Castle provided a stark contrast with the light gray sky above.  The four towers rose into the sky and the upper terrace looked like it was in the clouds.  Ivy reached the top of the hill and saw the wooden drawbridge that made the Castle special.  A few feet of deep blue water filled the surrounding moat.  Ivy pressed a button on the pillar, which scanned her fingerprint and compared it to the databank, causing the 200-year-old drawbridge to come down.  An iron chain link rope formed a handrail along the edge of the bridge.
Ivy crossed the bridge and entered the Castle.  The drawbridge rose up behind her and the door to the castle closed.  The inside of the Castle was as majestic as its outside.  The richness of the decoration was shown in the red velvet curtains and carpets.  Lanterns hung along the walls lit the hallways, and a large crystal chandelier enlivened the foyer.  Two sets of cream-colored marble curved staircases led to an upper level.  The main floor extended out either side of the foyer and contained numerous offices and research rooms.  There was a kitchen and other rooms used to entertain guests.  The upper offices contained more research areas.  Another stairway led down to the basement, where numerous database computers and filing systems were kept.  Ivy climbed the right side staircase and continued to her right.  She stopped at the second office on the left.
Ivy used her key and opened the door to her office.  The office consisted of numerous cherry bookshelves and a desk in the middle of the office.  Instead of windows, Ivy had French doors that opened onto a balcony faced towards the back of the Castle property and had a magnificent view of the sea.  On the balcony, Ivy had white colored desk and a comfortable white leather sofa.  Ivy took a deep breath, took off her jacket, and placed it on the leather chair for her desk.  She then collapsed onto the sofa and lay face upward to the sky with her left-hand palm upward over her eyes…
…Ivy was walking along a concrete sidewalk down the street with her husband Gregory.  She was wearing an off-white skirt that came to a few inches above her knees, a matching off-white jacket, with a dark green, light green, and orange striped knitted sweater.  Her arm was linked with her 5’8” husband, who was wearing an off-white suit with a green turtle neck inside.  The trees lining the street had changed to bright oranges and reds marking the high point of the fall season.  The 29-year-olds were on their way home from a luncheon and were searching through the little new boutiques to find the newest fall fashions.  Ivy turned her head and saw an outfit she liked in the window.  At the same time, Gregory turned and saw something across the street.  He turned and walked into the street.  Ivy heard a loud horn and turned, but it was too late.  She saw the bus strike her husband.  Gregory fell to the floor…
“Nooo!”  Ivy screamed and sat up straight.  She looked around confused.  Where was she?  What had just happened?  James came running into her office, but Ivy was still hysterical.
“Ivy?  Ivy, are you O.K.?”  James called out to her.  He raced through her office and came out onto the porch.  “Ivy, what happened?”  Ivy was still in a daze and very confused.  She trashed her head about from side to side and flung her arms wildly.  James had knelt beside the sofa and tried to calm her.  He laid her back onto the sofa.  “Hey, calm down…everything will be alright.”  He tried to calm her down, but to no avail.
Another team member entered the office upon hearing Ivy’s screams.  It was Claudia White, one of the researchers.  She was 5’9” tall and had blond silky hair to her shoulders.  Her bright blue eyes sparkled with concern.  Upon seeing her, however, Ivy became even more frantic than before.  James quickly shoed her away before Ivy became even more upset.  “Claudia, go tell Dr. Benton that we’ll need a bed and some tests, “ James whispered while getting Claudia out of the room.  Claudia turned and ran out of the room towards the doctor who took care of the team members.
James ran quickly back to Ivy, who was still thrashing about.  Suddenly, she stopped and did not move.  James became worried.  “Ivy, Ivy?”
Ivy opened her eyes.  “Gregory?”  When Ivy looked around and saw a face that was not her husbands, she freaked out once more.  This time her whole body shook.  James was afraid she was having convulsions.  He carefully picked her up and walked back through the office and into the hallway.  Dr. Benton’s office was on the floor above.  James climbed the stairs and knocked on Dr. Benton’s door.
“Come in.  Come in.  Lay her down here,” Dr. Marc Benton said with concern in his voice.  Br. Benton was an older man of about 60 years.  He had been a good friend of Gerald.  He was balding, but whatever hair he had left was a silvery white.  The 5’10” man had light brown eyes and a pleasant demeanor. James laid Ivy down on the bed, and Dr. Benton began to examine her.  By this time, Ivy had developed a fever and was alternating between a sweat and chills.  After taking her temperature, Dr. Benton turned to James.  “James, do you know where Ivy was today?  She seems to have been poisoned.”
James thought carefully, “As far as I know, she was at the Castle all morning and only went to Blaine’s office.  Besides, I think Ivy would know if something was poisoned.”
Dr. Benton chuckled. “Yeah, under normal conditions, but Ivy’s been a little depressed lately.  Maybe she isn’t thinking clearly.  I mean, it is understandable considering everything that had gone on in the last few days.”
James sighed.  If something was bothering Ivy so much that she could not think straight, then something serious was going on.  “What should I do doctor?”
  “Well, I need to run to the basement to get an anecdote, why don’t you sit here with her.”
“OK.”  Dr. Benton wrung his hands and then placed them in his pockets.  He walked slowly out the door, shifting his weight from side to side.  James pulled over the doctor’s leather chair and sat next to Ivy.  He sighed and placed his hand on her head.  While stroking her hair, James whispered, “Gees, Ivy.  What’s going on?  Why didn’t you tell me what was wrong?  What do you want me to do?”  He gazed around the room.  The cozy office was filled with bookshelves and medical supplies.  A skeleton hung in the corner to make the office have more of a doctor’s office feeling.
Shortly after, Dr. Benton returned with the anecdote.  He placed the correct amount in a syringe and gave Ivy a shot in the arm.  Marc and James peered over Ivy, carefully watching to see if she stirred from her deep sleep.  The clock on the wall ticked away the ever changing seconds.  Still, Ivy did not move.  Her still body began to scare James.  “Doctor?”
“Shh…The medicine just takes a little time.  She’ll wake up soon.”  Dr. Benton spoke calming to James.  He didn’t want to scare James, but he too was getting worried.  Ivy had been unconscious a long time.  Suddenly, Ivy twitched.  James and Marc quickly turned to her.  “Ivy?” Marc called to her softly.
Ivy just moaned quietly.  She tried to sit up, but before she could Dr. Benton pushed her back down onto the bed.  “No.  You need your rest.”  Ivy didn’t complain.  She lay back against the bed and closed her eyes.
James smiled and chuckled.  “Ivy, just because you were a little tired was no reason to scare everyone.”
Ivy opened her eyes and half smiled.  “I’m sorry.  Next time I’ll ask you before I get poisoned.”
Dr. Benton just smiled.   “Ivy, why doesn’t James help you to your room, and you get some sleep.”  At this, James tried to help Ivy sit up, but she pushed away his arm.  She twisted her legs of the bed and paused for a moment.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  Then, she straightened her arms and pushed herself off the bed.  Ivy then steadied herself and began walking out of the office.  She thanked Dr. Benton and allowed James to walk with her to her room.
Ivy and James lumbered slowly down the hallway.  Ivy was still a little out of sorts, and it took a long time to get to her room.  The Castle was divided into a living area and a working area.  The front of the Castle contained the offices for the team.  The rest of the Castle was divided into living quarters for the team.  Ivy’s room was on the left wall of the Castle and faced into the forest.  To get there, Ivy and James had to walk through most of the Castle.  The red velvet carpets continued to cover the floor, while lanterns lined the hallways.  The two teammates finally reached Ivy’s room.  James opened the dark solid wood door with only a creak.  He helped Ivy to her bed and after making sure she didn’t need anything, left the room.
Ivy’s room was an ultimate culmination of her personality.  Little trinkets from the various places she had been to sparkled throughout the room.  The furniture consisted of a full size four-post bed, a dresser, a desk, and a chest of drawers.  All were made of a dark cherry colored wood.  Forest green decorations illuminated the room.  A mirror sat upon the sparsely decorated dresser, while the bed was covered in matching green and silver ivy patterned sheets.  A single window in the room looked out into a densely wooded forest.  The scene outside the window seemed to flow into the room.  The walls were sponge painted with a lighter version of the dark green and an ivy border encircled the room.
The recovering Ivy lay facing upward in her bed.  She turned her head and glanced at the clock.  It would soon be time for the meeting with Blaine.  Ivy turned onto her right side and peered out the window.  She couldn’t take resting.  She had too much on her mind to just sit in a bed.  Ivy, therefore, decided to take a walk on the beach. Slowly, she sat up in her bed.  After sitting for a few moments, Ivy rubbed her eyes and stood up.  She then walked to the door and opened it quietly.  So as not to let anyone know she was going outside, Ivy snuck though the hallway and out the nearest exit.
Once outside, Ivy ambled along the paths until she reached the stonewall separating the Castle grounds from the sandy beach.  Ivy climbed up and over the 10-foot wall and jumped down onto the sand below.   She then began walking in the direction away from the Castle. Her pace was slow and thoughtful.  Who had poisoned her?  Why?  These were some of the questions that floated through Ivy’s head as she sauntered along side the water.  The pale tan sand rippled under the waves of the blue green water.  Ivy’s distracted footprints were the only things to harm the peaceful path of the sand.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Ivy felt that she was no longer alone.  She looked behind her to see who was there.  Instead of a person, Ivy was surprised to see a navy blue full-length GMC van speeding towards her.  Ivy’s confused expression told so much.  She instinctively began to run away.  For the first few moments, she continued down the beach, but then, she turned into the forest.  However, it was too late.  Ivy’s poisoning had taken away a lot of her energy and in this short span of time, the van caught up to her.  The side door opened, an arm reached out, and then, quickly pulled Ivy into the van.  Ivy hollered for help and tried to escape her captors.  However, she had no luck, as the men in the van soon drugged her.
 
 
 

Chapter III

 Ivy sat up and looked around.  Where was she?  This was not her room.  As she looked around and saw the lush furnishing she became more concerned.  This was not the Castle.  The bed she lay in was a king size cream colored metal bed.  There were tinges of gold and black chipped into the metal.  The whole room flooded with light from two gigantic windows on either side of the bed.  The bed covers were off-white sheets with a feather filled comforter.  Two night tables stood under the windows and a slight breeze provoked the embroidered curtains into blowing high into the room.  A closet and some decorative plants took up one wall.  A door to the hallway lay in another wall.  Ivy swung her legs of her bed so she could look out the window.  First, however, she looked down at herself.  She was no longer wearing the yellow pantsuit from before.  Now, she was dressed simply in a cream-colored, satin, dress-style nightgown with thin straps.  As she came in front of the window, Ivy shivered.  She proceeded closer to the window and looked outside.  The view took her breath away.  The morning sun shown upon her face.  Waves crashed onto the beach and the rock hills that stood a few hundred feet from this room.
 Ivy heard a rustling at the door and turned around.  An older lady of about 60 entered the room and gazed at Ivy.  This 5’3” lady spoke to Ivy with a very soft voice.  “I see you are up.  Get dressed quickly as the master would like to see you.”
 Confused, Ivy did not move.  Instead, in a calm voice, she asked, “Where am I?  How long have I been here?”
 The woman simply replied that the master would tell her everything and that she should get ready soon.  She then turned and walked out of the room.  Ivy took the clothes that were laid out for her and stepped into the bathroom.  A spectacle of great beauty lay before her eyes.  Everything in the bathroom was made of a cream-colored marble that sparkled in the sunrays.  Gold faucets and pale cream-colored walls surrounded her.  She took a quick shower and stepped into the new clothes.  Ivy wore a brilliant white cotton tank top with matching white flowing pants.  As Ivy stepped back into her room, she blended into the general scheme of the room.  Unsure of what to do next, Ivy went to the door and opened it.
 The sights she beheld made her gasp.  White marble columns lined the hallway and white, cream, and black designed tiles covered the floors.  The elegance of the place was something that Ivy had never seen before.  Outside of the room, on the right and left of the door, stood two men.  As they saw Ivy peer out of the door, they quickly called their boss.  In a moment, the same old woman appeared before Ivy.  “Come with me.  The master will see you now.”  Silently and in awe, Ivy flowed the woman through this palace.  She wondered again and again where she was.
 The woman led Ivy through numerous halls and finally arrived at a set of large white French doors.  The guards outside these doors opened them and allowed the two women to pass.  Guided by this silent woman, Ivy entered a grand ballroom and wondered if she was still alive.  The wooden floor in the room glistened with a new coat of wax and curtains fluttered in the cool breeze.  In the center of the room against one wall, Ivy saw a man dressed in a white suit.  He did not look much older than her, and in fact, he wasn’t.  This medium built 5’11” man with dark black spiked hair and piercing eyes sat patiently waiting for her to approach.  In a moment, Ivy stood before this man.
 He waited a few moments and then spoke, “Hello Ivy.  I am Gregory Austin.  What do you think of my palace?”
 Ivy peered into the man’s eyes.  “It is lovely, but where am I?  Do I know you?”
 A grin tugged at the side of this fellow’s mouth.  “My dear doctor, you are in the Elephant Castle in Barcelona.  I’m sure you have heard of me?”  He paused for an answer, but Ivy only shook her head.  He shrugged his shoulders and resumed, “That is too bad, but you will soon know me better than anyone.  Do you know why I have brought you here?”  This time, he did not pause for an answer, but instead continued, “Of course not…Well, anyway, I have brought you here because I want you to do something for me.  I trust you at least remember what it is you do?”  Ivy waited silently perplexed as to what this man was talking about.  “I want you to help me make a lot of money.  You see, I have a virus, as well as its anecdote.  However, the problem is that no one has this virus.  It was created in my research labs while looking for a cure to the common cold.  While that cure is still in development, I plan to make billions off of this cure.”
 Here, Ivy interrupted.  His voice sounded familiar and she was still very confused.  “I don’t understand why you are telling me this.  What would I do to help you, and why would I help?”
 The man smiled softly.  Ivy’s memory may be sleeping, but her brain definitely was not.  “In time my dear you will understand all of this.  As I was saying, I need someway to infect the people of the world with this virus.  You are going to help with that.”  Ivy looked at him incredulously, but the man paid no attention.  “As a respected doctor, no one will suspect that you will be spreading my disease.”
 “What if I do not want to?”
 This time, Gregory just laughed.  “Unfortunately for you my darling, it is not exactly your choice.  You see, I have something that you want.  Guards!”  At Gregory’s calling, two men dressed all in black brought in Lauren Worth.  Ivy sighed and closed her eyes.  She shook her head and looked at Lauren.
 Lauren called out to Ivy.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  Don’t help him.”
 Ivy walked towards Lauren and pushed Gregory aside when he tried to stop her.  “Lauren, are you okay?  Did he hurt you.”
 “I’m fine really…Please don’t listen to him.  I’m not worth it.”
 Ivy slowly turned around and looked towards Gregory.  “What do I have to do?”
 Gregory answered her question calmly, “Well, as soon as you release the virus, I will place Lauren on a plane back to the United States.”  Ivy looked skeptical.  “You don’t believe me?  Well, have I ever steered you wrong?”  Ivy rolled her eyes.  “Okay, fine.  To prove I’m serious, I’ll even show you how the virus is made.”  Gregory laughed.  “You know, I always used to laugh at the villains in movies when they explained their great plans.  I use to think they were so stupid.  Now, I understand.”
 Ivy looked at him incredulously.  “So you like being compared to evil villains?”
 Gregory didn’t answer.  Instead, he led Ivy out of the ballroom and through various hallways. Ivy had to run to keep from falling to the floor.  Finally, they stopped at a wooden door.  Gregory opened it with a silver skeleton key and shoved her inside.  He followed her and closed the door behind him.
Ivy looked around with wonder.  This room was so different from all the rest of the palace.  The flowing whiteness had ceased at the door and was replaced by a deep sapphire blue.  The walls were all painted this color and the only light in the room came from an illuminated lamp on a desk in the middle of the room.  Along side the desk stood numerous long wooden tables.  These tables were covered with all sorts of scientific equipment.  Long winding glass tubes were filled with solutions of various colors.  Greens, purples, red, yellows, and blues flowed through creating a magical experience.
Gregory tugged Ivy closer to the table.  Ivy gazed in wonder as the solution curled through the tubes and changed color.  Gregory explained the process.  Ivy was confused about a certain part of the process and asked how it worked.  Gregory told her and then watched as Ivy walked around inspecting the whole process. He saw that Ivy was about to ask another question.  Gregory was tired of these questions, and so he pulled a syringe out of his pocket and gave Ivy a shot.  Instantly, Ivy grew limp.  Gregory dialed a number on his phone, and instantly, two men came into the room and picked up the unconscious Ivy.
When Ivy woke up, she looked around.  She couldn’t remember how she had gotten here.  For that matter, she wasn’t really sure where here was.  Ivy’s white cotton pants blew in the wind, as her silky brown hair played in the air rushing past.  Because she lay face down in the sand, Ivy was forced to use her arms to push herself up.  Waves crashed against the beach just a few inches in front of her and on the rocks to her left.  Ivy stood up slowly and looked around.  The warm sun shimmered off her skin and the bright blue sky elevated her spirit.  Ivy walked towards the rocks.  She climbed almost to the top of the five-foot high hill and gazed far into the sea.  Where was she?
Suddenly, she felt someone behind her and soft hands on her shoulders.  Ivy did not turn back.  Instead, she continued to gaze out to sea.  The hands ran themselves down her smooth arms and wrapped themselves around her waist.  Still, Ivy stood motionless.  Gregory’s voice whispered in her ear.  “This isn’t too bad, is it?”  Ivy did not respond, but Gregory didn’t care.  He stood there with his arms around her and stared at the sapphire waters.
After several minutes, Ivy spoke.  “Gregory, where am I?”
His voice whispered into her ear, so as if not to run the stillness of the surrounding nature.  “You are standing in front of the Mediterranean Sea.  We are a few miles of the coast of Barcelona.  If you look over there, you can see the city.”  Gregory pointed to their left.  The city of Barcelona did indeed peak up from the sea.
Ivy then asked calmly, “What do you want me to do?”
This was what Gregory had been waiting for.  He then whispered the plan into Ivy’s ear.  One of his boats would drop her at the bottom of the Ramblas, the main market street of Barcelona.  The virus was extremely potent and only a few drops would contaminate the whole world.  As per these calculations, only a few drops of the solution existed.  Gregory’s planning had also shown that Barcelona was the ideal place to let the virus loose, as the world would be contaminated the fastest from this point.  To prevent her, him, and the rest of his staff from the disease, they would take some of the anecdote before Ivy set out on her mission.
 It was settled that Ivy would leave the next day.  He brushed his lips against Ivy’s cheek and then led her back to his private dining hall.  It was as magnificent as the rest of the house.  Open windows allowed the rays of the setting sun to illuminated the room.  Gold painted accented the whole room.  The glass-topped table was a white metal with gold speckles.  There were 12 chairs situated around the table.
Gregory made a telephone call, and one of his men brought around a powerboat.  He pulled two syringes out of his pocket.  He gave Ivy one shot and gave himself the other.  From his other pocket, Gregory pulled out what looked like a perfume bottle.   He told Ivy to walk along the Ramblas until she was past the statue of Christopher Columbus.
Ivy stepped into the shimmering white boat and sped off towards the city.  Gregory still stood upon the rocks and watched her go.  He would soon be a few billion dollars richer.  Yet, his mind was not completely focused on the money.  He wondered how Ivy could have been so calm the whole time.
As the boat sped through the water, Ivy stood holding onto the front windshield.  The ride was a short one, and soon they arrived in the port.  Thousands of people could be seen walking up and down the street and along the wave-like bridge.  The driver stopped the boat and let it coast to the shore.  He told Ivy he would be waiting about fifty feet back.  Ivy stepped out of the boat and onto the land.  All she carried was the bottle that would make the whole world sick.
Ivy walked slowly up the street, trying to fit in with the other tourists.  She passed group of Spanish school children learning under a tree and many buildings built years before.  Ivy then crossed a street and saw the statue.  It was about a seventy-five feet tall.  The bronze figure shimmered in the sun.  Ivy smiled as she saw many tourists taking pictures.  She remembered when she had been one of those tourists.
She had been 17-year-old.  A group of friends consisting of Abigail Carols, her sister Erin Carols, Katherine Eden, Hillary May, and herself, along with Eddie Arrons, and their Spanish teacher, Mrs. Healey and her daughter had taken a twelve day trip to Barcelona, Bilbao, and Paris.  They had come as part of a tour group with students from New Jersey and Indiana.  Ivy smiled as she thought of their attempt at the Spanish language, how they had gone to the beach by themselves, seeing the Park Güell with Gaudi’s architecture, the dance club, and the flamenco show.   She remembered pretending Abigail liked Eddie and how they had hated the New Jersey girls and their teacher.  The girls from Indiana had been nice.  Katherine and Abigail had stayed up all night on the plane over to watch the sunrise, but the sun rose on the other side of the plane.  They were so upset.  Finally, she laughed as she thought of the list of top phrases for the summer.  There had been fifteen phrases that encompassed their whole trip:
1. Shut Up, Eddie!
2. God Bless America.
3. Smelly Europeans
4. Yeah, and your daughter’s ugly
5. Where’s the magnum?
6. No unnecessary comments.
7. Where’s Healey Junior?
8. Go use the toilet.
9. Tell them I’m rude.
10. Katherine, look—a dog!
11. I came only for the Guggenheim.
12. I’ll just wait here.
13. Erin, stop falling down the stairs.
14. Short walks of 2½ hours
15. Wait, let me get my bearings.
By this time, Ivy had reached the spot where she was to let the virus loose.  She had been walking along the side of the street, but now she turned and admired the Ramblas.  They were basically the same as when she had last seen them.  Tall green leaved trees lined the middle, walking portion of the street.  A lane for cars lined each side and finally, a sidewalk lined these car lanes.  Just as Ivy was about to walk towards the center of the street, she had an idea.  She needed to get the virus into her blood stream.  The problem was that it was in a perfume bottle.  Ivy slipped into a souvenir shop and looked for a syringe.  Shop after shop went by, but there as no syringe.  She was running out of time.
Suddenly, Fox felt a heavy hand pull her into an alleyway.  Ivy was surprised.  One hand covered her eyes and another her mouth.  A familiar voice whispered in her ear, but she could not tell who it was.  The voice told her not to speak.  Ivy pulled the relaxed hands away from her eyes and mouth and turned around.  Much to her surprise, the man standing in front of her was James Durbin.    Even if Ivy had wanted to speak, she wouldn’t have known what to say.  Ivy gazed into his gray green eyes and hoped he had a plan.
“Funny meeting you here,” James said smiling.  Ivy just rolled her eyes and asked if he had a plan.  “Where does Gregory keep the anecdote?”
“In a vial around his neck, but I have a better idea.  He injected me with the anecdote before I left.  All I need is a syringe so that I can get this virus into my system.  I’ve been looking in all of these stores, but I can't find one anywhere.”  James tried to contain his laughter and Ivy looked at him confused.  “What?”
“First of all, why would souvenir shops carry syringes, and second, your big plan is to inject yourself with a deadly virus?”
“You know what?  I have not heard any ideas from you.  Besides, I was running out of time and some doctor might want a souvenir syringe.  Anyway, what should we do now?”  Without waiting for an answer, Ivy enclosed the spray of the perfume bottle with her mouth and shot the virus into her mouth.   Her eyes closed, her knees buckled, and she sunk to the ground.
James fell beside her, “Ivy?  Ivy?”  He looked around helplessly.  It wasn’t like he could just take her to a local hospital.  James pulled out his cell phone and called the Castle.  Before the call went through, Ivy’s body began to shudder.  James put away the phone and looked down at her.
“James?”  Ivy whispered faintly.
“I’m here Ivy.  Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”  Ivy struggled to sit up.  She sat on the sidewalk for a while.  Then, she stood up and looked at her watch.  “Oh, no.  The boat captain will be waiting for me.”
“Don’t worry, I can take care of that.”
“What are you going to do?  I mean, we want to capture Gregory.”
“Well,” James said slowly, very sure that Ivy was not going to like his plan.  “The police are waiting under water for the driver to lead them to the Elephant Castle.  You will go back with the driver and lure Gregory out of his palace.  We can't let him get away.”
Ivy sighed and said, “Okay.  I guess.”
James wrinkled his face, “Okay?  You’re okay with this plan?”
“It’s not like we have any other choice.  Just promise me one thing.  When we get Gregory, I get to interrogate him first.”
“Umm…if you really want to, I guess you can.”  James was confused.  “Okay, Let’s do this.”
“Right.”  Ivy ran down the street.  At the water, she slowed down and looked for the boatman.  After searching in a few inlets, she found him.  Ivy jumped in the boat and said, “Let’s go.”  The driver didn’t say a word.  He just started the boat and sped across the channel towards the palace.  As soon as Ivy jumped off the boat, the driver sped away.  Some of the police followed him, but James and other police officers followed Ivy.
“James, wait.”  Ivy said pulling James aside as the officers ran into the castle.
“What’s wrong, Ivy?”
“Gregory’s voice.  I realized why it sounded familiar.  He was the voice that was on the phone.  He killed Gerald.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m almost positive.  I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before.”
At that moment, the police officers ran back to them.  “The building is clear.  There is no one inside.”
Ivy and James turned to him surprised.  “What?  Are you sure?”
Ivy was trying hard not to show her disappointment.  “James, what do we do now?  He’s got Lauren.”
James sighed.  “What?  Why didn’t you say anything before?”
Ivy didn’t know what to say, “I…I…He said she would be on a plane as soon as I left.  Let’s hope he wasn’t lying.”
James pulled out his phone and called the Castle.  “Julia? Any news about Lauren?”
“James?  Is Ivy with you?  Lauren just called from the airport.  She’s fine.  We sent someone to pick her up.”
“Oh.  Good.  Ivy’s with me.  She’s fine too.  Bye.”
Ivy’s fears were laid to rest.  “Now what do we do, James?”
“What can we do?  We have to go back to our Castle.  Remember, you haven’t met Blaine yet.”
Ivy could not help laughing.  “Lead the way…”

Chapter IV

 Blaine had completely transformed the chief’s office.  The broken window now had fresh glass and the only things that remained from Gerald’s office were the lush red velvet curtains.  The wooded floor had been wiped of blood and was now covered with a red oval rug that matched the curtains.  The bookshelves looked newly polished and were filled with Blaine’s personal collection of classics and other books.  The multicolored bindings added color to the room.  The dark wood that had filled Gerald’s office was no where to be found.  All of Blaine’s wooden furniture had a pearl-white finish.  When sitting at his desk, Blaine’s back faced the window.  On the other side of the room was a cream colored couch and a glass table.  On the table sat a clear vase with a single plant floating in the water.  A few spider plants hung from the ceiling in the corners of the room.  Such was the scene that awaited Ivy when she came to see Blaine that morning.
 There was a quiet knock at the door.  Blaine allowed her to enter and motioned for her to sit on the couch.  Ivy smiled slightly and said, “Umm…Listen, I just wanted to apologize for the way I spoke with you at our first meeting.”
 Blaine turned to her and waved it off.  “It’s okay.  I realize those were trying times.  How are you now?  Would you like anything to eat or drink?  You’ve had quiet an interesting week.”
 “No, thanks.  I’m fine.  I’ve got to say, though, that wasn’t one of the stranger weeks.”
 “Really?  Well, I hope there aren't too many weeks where two agents are missing and one is poisoned.  The same one who later swallows an infectious disease.”
 Ivy couldn’t help laughing.  “Well, when you put it that way, we did have a pretty exciting week.”
 Blaine cleared his throat and continued.  “While you were gone, I explained to the others how I became chief and introduced them to the five new team members I’ve brought in.  You’ll meet them at a meeting this afternoon.  That is, if you decide to stay with us all day and not disappear like last time…”
 “Well, I can't promise that I’ll be here, but I’ll try,” Ivy said smiling.
 Blaine smiled.  “Well, I know you were wondering how I became chief.  Soon after I took the job last week, it became apparent that Gerald never told you about me.  I was Gerald’s best friend when we were young.  My parents died in a car accident when I was three, and Gerald’s parents adopted me.  We grew up together, went to college together, and got our first jobs together.  When Gerald started this organization, I thought it was too dangerous and didn’t want to be physically involved.  So, I started my own business and invested money into this organization.  I was sort of a silent partner.”  He paused and looked at Ivy, who was listening intently.  He continued, “Gerald would tell me about all of you and all the missions.  As the years went by, I wanted to become more involved, and Gerald thought it was a good idea.  We had plans for me to take a more active role starting next month, but then, he was murdered.”
 Both of them were silent for a moment.  Ivy then continued, “I’m really sorry.  He must have meant so much more to you.”
Blaine nodded but didn’t say anything for a moment.  “James said you know who killed Gerald.”
“Well, the man who killed Gerald called me on my cell phone right before he shot Gerald.  I thought the voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.  The man who kidnapped me, Gregory Austin, had the same voice.  But, Blaine, there is something else I need to talk to you about…”
“What’s wrong, Ivy?”
“Well,” Ivy said taking a deep breath.  This was one of the hardest things she had ever had to say.  “As you said, this week I was poisoned, kidnapped, and swallowed a virus.  In my five years of service to this organization, I’ve never been so careless.”
“Are you saying that all of that was your fault?  You couldn’t control that stuff.”
Ivy shook her head.  “It was my fault.  I think it might be time for me to leave and go back to private practice.”
Blaine looked at her incredulously.  “Are you serious?”  Ivy nodded and Blaine continued.  “You can't quit now.  You are one of the best agents.  Gerald always told me how highly he thought of you.  You need to catch whoever killed him.  Besides, one bad week doesn’t mean you’re done.  Have you told anyone else about this?”
“No.  I thought I should tell you first.”
“Would you have quit if Gerald was still in charge?”
“Yes.  If all of the past weeks events had happened, I would have quit.  This has nothing to do with you.  You seem to have gotten a pretty good handle on how to run the office.  Besides, you have new operatives now.  You don’t need me anymore.”
“Ivy, why don’t you think about this.  We’re having a lunch meeting in the conference room on the 2nd floor at noon.  Come to the meeting and tell everyone your decision.  Meanwhile, I’ll have to tell Julia, James, Lauren, and Charles to convince you not to leave us.”
Ivy smiled and said, “I’m sorry Blaine, but I really think I have to leave the organization.”  She stood up, walked out of the office, and went to the rock wall where she had gotten that horrible phone call.

Chapter V

 The time for the noon meeting had arrived.    The oval shaped room was lined with bookshelves filled with the latest medial journals, encyclopedias, and other reference books.  A round table filled the center of the room.  Eleven cream-colored leather chairs were spaced around the table.  A box of sandwiches, bags of chips, and bottles of soda sat in the center of the table.  When Ivy arrived in the library style conference room, very few people had arrived.  Julia and James immediately came up to Ivy.  Julia spoke first, “Blaine told us you are leaving.  He wasn’t serious was he?”
 Ivy smiled softly.  “I’m afraid he was.  I’ll be gone in a few days.  Don’t worry.  I’ll come to visit.”
 “Ivy, you can’t be serious.  You love this place.”  It was James’ turn.
 “James, you know everything that happened this week.  If it had happened to you, you would be leaving too.”  James didn’t know what to say.  Ivy had a point.  He turned and walked back to his seat at the table.  James sat down resting his legs on the table and twirling his pencil around his finger.
 Julia continued, “Ivy, you can’t leave!”  Julia didn’t know how else to reason with Ivy.  She motioned for Lauren and Charles to come over.  The two were talking on the other side of the room, but came when Julia called.  “Ivy thinks it’s time to leave us.”
 Charles spoke first.  Ivy had seen this team member since Gerald’s funeral.  The 5’10” man had short dark brown hair.  “Leaving isn’t going to solve anything.  So what if some bad stuff happened this week?  That’s no reason to leave.  We still have too many things to do.”
 “I know that Charles, but I have to do this.  I can’t explain why.”
 Lauren had been hiding behind Charles, but now she peeked her head out from behind him.  “This is my fault, isn’t it?  If I hadn’t been kidnapped, you wouldn’t be leaving.”
 “Lauren, this is absolutely not your fault.   Don’t blame yourself.”  At that moment, Blaine walked into the room and everyone took their seats.
 “Welcome everyone.  Many of you still have not met Ivy Fox, so let me introduce you.  Ivy, this is Emma Greene.”  Blaine indicated a 5’8” woman with long blonde hair.  “This is Patrick Greene.”  The 6’ tall man with short blonde hair was Emma’s older brother.  Blaine then introduced Amy Parsons, a 5’4” woman with short red hair, Christopher Long, a 5’11” man with brownish blonde hair, and Joseph Curtain, a 5’9” man with light brown hair.  Ivy said hello to everyone and smiled.  Blaine then continued, “Ivy, have you made a decision?”
 Ivy took a deep breath and stood up.  “Yes, I have. I’m going to…” Just at that moment, Ivy’s cell phone rang.   “Excuse me,” Ivy said answering her phone.  “Hello?”
 “Ivy, it’s me Abby.  Yesterday, there was a bomb threat and today I received a letter saying that an infectious virus would be spread around my country unless I paid fifty billion dollars.”
 “Abby, hold on one second.”  Ivy turned to the confused team members.  “It’s the prime minister of Canadia.  She says her country is being forced to pay fifty billion dollars or see an epidemic of an infectious virus.”  Turning back to the phone, Ivy said, “How can I help you?  Do you know who sent the letter?”
 “I don’t know.  The letter came as a special delivery and I had to sign for it personally.  I called because I know this stuff is your specialty.  I called Sarah Robbins to take care of the bomb, so she’ll be coming up tomorrow.  Is there any way you can come here?”
 “Umm…” Ivy thought for a moment.  “Abby don’t worry about a thing.  I’ll take care of things and call you back.”
 “Okay.  Bye.”  The prime minister hung up the phone
 Before Ivy could continue her statement of resignation, her phone rang again.  Ivy sighed exasperated.  “Now what,” she wondered, but she said, “Hello?”
 “Hello, Ivy.  Did you miss me?”  The haunting voice of Gregory Austin was back.
 Ivy became angry, “You!  Now what do you want?  Haven’t you caused enough problems?”
 Gregory laughed, “I sent Lauren back safely, didn’t I?  Anyway, that’s not why I called.  I called to tell you that I am very upset with your performance in Barcelona.  My virus isn’t taking over the world, is it?”  Gregory paused, waiting for Ivy to answer, but she didn’t say anything.  Gregory continued, “Well, I’ll forgive you for that.  Now, onto something new.  I assume your friend, and our dear prime minister of Canadia, called you.”  This time, Gregory didn’t even pause for Ivy’s response.  “Well, that letter was from me and my threat was serious.  See you in Canadia.  You are coming aren’t you?  I’ll be expecting you.  Bye.”   The line went dead.
 Ivy turned to the anxious table, took a deep breath to calm her anger, and said, “That was Gregory.  He’s behind the note in Canadia.”  Ivy turned to Blaine, “I’m heading up there tonight.  I guess I won’t be making that announcement just yet.”  Blaine and the other team members gave a sign of relief.
 Blain thought to himself, “As bad as this Austin guy is, I’m glad he’s made Ivy mad enough to stay!”  He then addressed the group.  “Good.  Now, in other news…” Blaine handed out assignments to the rest of the team, and the meeting was over.

Chapter VI

 Ivy stepped off the private jet and looked around.  She was in the beautiful and majestic world of Canadia.  The cool, pleasant air frolicked around her.  Large, strong fir trees played in the wind.  Sun bathed mountains surrounded the capital city.  A long black limousine waited for Ivy.  She stepped inside and was whisked off into the bustling city of Canadia, Canadia.  The ultra-modern city boasted numerous futuristic looking sky scrappers and glass buildings.  Park after park passed by.  The city itself was quite large, and half an hour later, Ivy reached one end.
The road continued to a mansion.  Numerous tourists milled about outside, but Ivy was quickly driven past them.  The car drove past fountains, gardens, and walkways and stopped in front of the numerous pillars decorating the front of the prime minister’s house.  The driver opened the door.  Ivy stepped out and was escorted into the building.
As Ivy climbed the glass steps, she looked around and paused.  The large double story foyer was lined with glass windows from floor to ceiling.  Two rounded glass stairways led to the second floor and surrounded a stone fountain.  Lamps, benches, statues, and plants decorated to lower floor.  When Ivy reached the top of the stairs, she was led to the prime minister’s private office.  Ivy knocked and then entered.  The prime minister jumped out of her seat and greeted her friend, “Are you a Chiquita banana?”
Ivy laughed and answered that she was.  “So what’s up Abby?”
Abby promptly answered, “The sky,” and led her friend to a couch.  As they sat down, there was a knock at the door.  “Come in,” Abby called out.
A guard entered with a younger man dressed in a white suit.  “Madame Prime Minister, this is the new foreign minister from Iceland.”  The guard then left the room.
The man walked over to the prime minister.  “Hello, my name is George Clark.  It is an honor to meet you.”
The prime minister smiled, “To the world, I am Prime Minister Abigail Carrols, but my friends call me Abby.”  Turning to Ivy, Abby said, “ This is one of my old friends from high school, Ivy Fox.”
George also smiled, “Hello, Ivy.”  Ivy smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgement.  He continued, “Well, Abby, Ivy, it was nice to meet both of you.  I won’t take up anymore of your time.”  Saying this, George opened the door and left.
Abby went to her desk, made a phone call, and then came back to the couch.  “Do you want anything to eat or drink?”  Ivy shook her head and said she was fine.  “I called Sarah to come and join us.”  The two rested back on the sofa.
“Hey, Abby, why are you wearing your glasses today?”
“Oh, my contacts were bothering me.  Do you remember when we took dance from The Ballet Theater of Scranton.”  Ivy nodded and Abigail continued, “Mrs. Reynold’s could never tells us apart, so you were the one with the headband, and I was the one with glasses.”
Ivy laughed, “Yeah.  She used to give us one dollar between the two of us.  We used to get a soda and chips and split them.”
“Those dances were funny.  What were we?  Ponies, Chefs, California girls.  Remember when your brother was popcorn with us?  Those were fun times.”
“Don’t forget when we were two of the three blind mice. The tails were velcroed on, and the farmer’s wife had to cut our tails off.  Didn’t we use those mouse costumes at that Girl Scout night when we did a Dandia dance?”
“Yeah, we did.  Then, there was that African holiday…what was it?  Kwanzaa.  We each lit a candle.  We used to have fun with Sally Bee, Marcy Tiger, and Ally Mudd.”
Ivy nodded, “Do you remember the summer that we kept beetles?  What were their names?”
Abby giggles, “How could you forget Sam and Samantha?  I used to keep them at my house and you would come to my side of Carnation Drive and feed them leaves.  The other time we named animals was in Bio II.”
“Olive and Oliver, our cats.  I worked with Tanya St. Cloud and you worked with Beth James.  Our cat was pregnant, remember?  We took out five spotted baby cats. We wanted to run over to show Mr. Montross, but Mr. Neurueter wouldn’t let us.  He wanted to show Montross himself.”
“What about the honey Neurueter brought in one day.  Remember how he ran his hand through, licked it, and did that again.  Then, we warned everyone not to try the honey.  I wonder where Beth and Tanya are now.”
Ivy thought for a moment and then answered, ““I’m pretty sure Tanya is an FBI agent in Los Angeles. Remember our fruit fly experiments?”
“Yeah, we used to put all the fruit flies in Monty’s terrarium.  We had good times in Spanish with Tanya, too: the silly conversations and extra credit projects.  What about Beth?”
The last I heard, Beth was a pediatrician in Massachusetts.  Do you remember studying for the Biology SAT II’s at her house?”
“That was the funniest day.  While drinking our lemonade, we fell onto the desk laughing when the answer to one of the questions was Rabbit fever.  What about the week of Rotary camp?”
Ivy laughed, “Remember how she wouldn’t eat orange jello?  Then, there was that night where we all were telling stories about the funny things Beth did.”
“That was the worst week! We had to listen to so many boring speakers.”  Abby paused and then continued, “We met cool people though, Beth’s room mate Mary Beth, her friend Kate, and my room mate Faith.  Katherine and I slept on that little twin bed.  We used to have good times with Katherine too:  all those rec softball and basketball games, Spain…”
“I know.  I was remembering all our fun in Spain last week when I was in Barcelona.”
Abby was surprised, “You were just there?  How was it?  Did it look the same?”
 “Well…I wasn’t there long, but the city hasn’t changed much.  The Ramblas were still so beautiful.  All the bird vendors were still there.  The dogs and pigeons that scared Katherine roamed around.”
Ivy smiled, “Do you remember the time Elizabeth Locke was at my house, and we would let you in unless you brought down a glass of milk?”
Abby laughed, “You guys were so mean to me!”
Ivy answered jokingly, “US? No! Never!”
Abby continued, “You guys always thought I would get lost.”
“Well, we remembered the time you were at the high school and were giving directions to your house.  You ended up at the Middle School!”
“Hey, that was just once and I was really little!  What about making fun of my driving?”
“That really was scary, but then we got used to it!”
Abby remembered something else.  “Do you remember the water fights we had at Jake Branch’s house?”
Ivy laughed, “Yeah, my brother, your sister, his sister, and a couple others were there.  We had just come back for camp and were celebrating his birthday.  His aunt told us not to participate because us girls ‘might get hurt.’”
Abby laughed too, “We had to play just because she said that!  We use to have fun in the Holiday Inn they owned.  Remember that day him, your brother, my sister, you and I were in the lounge during a party, and he got in trouble for being with girls?”  Ivy nodded, laughing.  Abby continued, “I haven’t seen him since he moved to California after tenth grade.  What is he doing now?”
“I haven’t had much contact with him, but I think he owns his own company based in California.”
Before Ivy could continue, there was a knock at the door.  Sarah Robbins entered into the room.  The beautiful Chinese girl was a few inches taller that the other two.  When she saw Ivy, she ran to her and gave her a big hug.  “Ivy!  How are you?  I haven’t seen you in so long.  What are you doing here?”
Ivy laughed, “Right now, we’re just reminiscing about old times, but I’m here on business.  Didn’t Abby tell you I was coming?”
Abby joined in, “I wanted to give her a surprise.  Come sit with us.”  The three went back to the sofa.
Sarah began, “So what were you guys remembering?”
“Only the good old times at Abington Heights,” Abby said smiling.
“Do you remember when I first came?”  Sarah asked.
Ivy shook her head.   “We didn’t know you that first year, remember?  Mr. McArdle kept telling us about this smart Chinese girl in his other class.  We had our first good times in Mr.LaCoe’s class.”
Sarah continued, “I remember now.  He gave us that first journal entry, and you and I search and searched for an answer.  That’s how we got to know each other.”
Abby joined in, “Remember how we sat next to each other, and Ivy and Gabriella sat across from us?”
“I remember how many problems that caused!”  Ivy said laughing.  “You two kept hitting each other and goofing off in class.  Labs were fun though.  All four of us use to work together, and we never had our notebooks ready.”
“Those were good times,” Abby noted.  “What about how all of you made fun of me so much?”
Ivy looked at Han and laughed, “US?  We did no such thing.  Mr. LaCoe always stuck up for you though.”
“Yeah, but he laughed when every line had to be perfectly straight or Abby would start writing all over on a new page.”
Abby stuck up for herself, “Everything looked very messy otherwise!”  The three girls laughed.  “Remember how we dragged Sarah to all the graduation parties?”
Ivy remembered.  “We would drive out to the middle of Newton to get her!”
“I didn’t live that far out!  It was only one mile past the middle school.  Your friend Kerry Light use to live there.”
Abby reminisced, “We were such good friends in Middle School.  Then, she moved away.”
Ivy changed the subject, “Do you remember your Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Project that year, Sarah?”
Sarah nodded.  “I was testing Aspirin, and I had to stay after school so many days.”  She turned to Ivy, “You stayed for awhile when I was almost done.  It sucked that we couldn’t go to states because of AP exams.  Remember how Eric Smart use to bother us all the time?”
Abby answered.  “He bothered everyone, but he was fun.  His sister Nicole was cool, too.  I wonder where he is now…”
“After going to Harvard, he became a senator from Boston.  I think he’s going to run for president after Samara finishes her second term.”  She paused and hen continued.  “Remember how he always got perfect scores in Junior Academy,” Sarah said.
Ivy continued, “Yeah, but he never got a white bar!  We did get our fun bothering him about his car ride with LaCoe to Pittsburgh.”
Abby spoke, “Didn’t he try to get the school to pay for plane tickets?”  Ivy nodded and Abby continued, shaking her head, “Like Abington would ever pay for that!”
Ivy thought for a moment and then spoke, “Do you know who else helped me bother you?  Christina Globe.”
Sarah joined in, “I think she became a physician’s assistant.”
“Sarah, we use to bother Abby so much in Mr. Bath’s class.”
“We bothered Mr. Bath too!”  Abby noted.  “Do you remember how we would have random parties because we would pass a sign up sheet around?”
Ivy nodded.  “What about the blue guidance cake?  Sarah, do you remember how guidance would pass around blue memos with college or financial aid information?”  Sarah nodded, and Ivy continued.  “Well, we decided that the memos were of no use, and we would just collect them and throw them away.”
Abby continued, “We thought that if guidance made a cake, we could at least have something to eat during class.  We got really hungry in that class.”
Sarah giggled.  “I can see that!  Didn’t you have Larry Sandwiches?”
Ivy answered, “Not in that class…Christina was there, but Robin was in another class.  I remember that I went to Sarah’s house after one party, and she gave me ice cream.  Then, we played Ultimate Frisbee.”
“I remember that.”
At that moment, there was a knock at the door.  A security guard poked his head in.  “Madame Prime Minister, there is a women at the front gate who claims she knows you.  Would you take a look at the monitor?”
Abby rose from the sofa and walked over to her desk.  She pressed a button, and one panel in the wall behind her slid away, revealing several security monitors.  She looked at the one for the front gate and recognized her friend.  Smiling she said to the guard, “Please show her up.”  The guard nodded and left the room.  Abby turned to her friends and said, “We have another Abington buddy who has come to visit.”  Ivy and Sarah were curious, but Abby wouldn’t tell her who was there.
After a few anxious moments, the door opened.  Acclaimed London fashion designer Robin Saint entered the room.  The tall blonde woman loomed over her shorter friends as she had done for many years.  More space was made on the couch, and after giving each other hugs, the four old friends sat down once more.   Abby made sure everyone was comfortable.  Robin spoke first, “So what’s going on around here? Why is everybody in Canadia?”
Ivy laughed, “We could ask you the same thing.  Sarah and I are here on business.  There was a bomb threat a few days ago, and the city is being held for ransom.  So what’s your exciting reason for coming to Canadia?”
“Well, I actually had good news for Abby.”  She paused, looked around, and then continued.  “You know how we always wanted to star in a Lifetime original movie?”  The three friends nodded.  “The channel contacted me with an offer do make a movie about the Prime Minister of Canadia and the Best Fashion Designer on either side of the Atlantic!”
Abby became excited and jumped out of her seat.  “Are you serious? We’re going to be in a Lifetime movie?  Who’s going to play me?”
“That’s the best part.  We can pick people to play us, or we can star ourselves!”
“Base on a true story…played by the real people…” Ivy laughed.  “I like this idea!  Only the two of you would want to be in a Lifetime movie.”
Abby agreed, “I would like to play myself.  What about you?”
“I will if you do.”  The two agreed to play themselves in the movie.
Sarah laughed.  “You too always do things together.  Do you remember when you sold knives for a week?”
Robin smiled.  “That job wasn’t for us.”
Ivy responded, “I can’t believe they let you have knives.”
Sarah started to get up.  “Abby, I have some stuff to take care of.  I’ll see all of you at dinner.”  She waved goodbye to all her friends and left the room.
Robin and Ivy were confused.  Abby explained, “Since the threat, Sarah has been making rounds to make sure everything is okay.”  She paused and then continued.  “Remember Dorkestra?”
“That was the funniest class in the world.  We did anything to get out of it.”  Robin giggled.  “We even had Mr. Montross write us a pass for the entire month!”
“Yeah, but the best part was that Miss Ramsey accepted our excuses.”  Ivy continued, “If you were late, you got in trouble. If you brought a pass, you were responsible, even if you were skipping the class.”
Abby joined in.  “We even skipped Dorkestra in the Middle School.  We would go get Mrs. Searfoss’s mail, roam around the school, and still miss nothing when we came back to class.  Those were the fun days!”
Ivy turned to Robin, “Did you ever find your violin after senior year.”  Robin shook her head, and all of them laughed.  “Remember how you always sat with Monica Jones, and I sat with Elizabeth Locke?  We had to be near the bass section so we could talk to Abby and Cynthia Walker.”
Robin reminisced about Spanish class.  “Do you remember how we did no work in Spanish class senior year?”
Abby laughed, “Yeah…We had so much fun wasting that class.  Remember plotting to jump out the window, writing and illustrating the Retardo Cleary story, making up our mock epic, and having cult meeting because of the Flamenco dancing poster.”
Ivy answered, “You did jump out of the widow eventually.  Wasn’t it after the paintings in Mr. Bath’s room were finished?”
“Yeah.  Those took so long to paint.”  Abby rubbed her arm, remembering the pain from painting.  “Mr. Bath gave us those awards for the paintings, and they turned out really well.”
Robin smiled.  “Remember how Mrs. Mikaylo thought Ivy and I would fight if we didn’t get the same grade in Spanish sophomore year.”
Ivy laughed.  “I remember our snack time right before that class!  The next year snack time was during Mr. McArdle’s class and then Mr. Reidenbach’s class.”
Robin continued, “We had such good food at our tennis matches, too.”
Abby added, “I didn’t even play, and I ate it.  I loved watching, though.”
“We had good times at tennis.  Remember practices with Samara Samuels and Carolyn Faith?”
“Yeah, and how we never ran as much as we were supposed to…” Robin laughed.  “Sophomore year we even did cheers for ourselves after we won matches.”
Ivy remembered.  “We found wildflowers for our project at one of the matches.  That was the year Katherine Eden and Isabella Greene played.”
Feeling left out, Abby said, “Guys, we played other sports besides tennis!  Those rec basketball championships were fun, too.”
Robin remembered, “Remember how we almost never saw Isabella?  We would see her at our lockers every once and awhile.”
Ivy laughed.  “I remember our newspaper articles.”
Abby interjected, “You know what I remember.  First, that fresh tomato salsa the two of you made for extra credit junior year.  Healey called us magpies that year.”  She laughed and then continued, “We also had all those fun parties at her house.”
Robin added, “I remember all the fun we had a Hershey Park sophomore year.  Remember how Grace Ebony and Gwen Johnson bought Monty a hat for the deer in his room?”  The two girls nodded.
 Changing the subject, Ivy asked, “So how are the Fijians?  Do you have any contact with them now that you are Prime Minister?”
 “Actually, I just visited a few months ago.  I met some of my relatives there.”
 Robin laughed, “I can’t believe that Abby got mad at us for not believing that her great uncle was the Prime Minister of Fiji.”
 “Well, after all the stories about Cousin Vinny, the shark swallowing him, the almost marriage to Chloe Peters, and his affair with you, Robin, why would we believe something like that?”  All three of them laughed.
 Robin continued the memories.  “We had good times at lunch too!  The communal fries, Abby and spoon, the potluck parties in the courtyard…Remember when Tracy Violet jumped in the bush at lunch?”
 Abby spoke up, “I don’t remember that, but I remember Robin and Chloe trying to throw food down my shirt!”  All three laughed again.
 “Do you know what I enjoyed about school? Coming in late every morning with Beth.  Kovall never marked us late.”
Abby nodded.  “I did that a couple times too.  Remember how we kept track of who missed more school, Robin or Chloe?”  Ivy nodded and laughed.
“You know what else was funny?  The Golden Rules…” Robin smiled.
 Ivy smiled too.  “Those were so amusing to write.  The Siwak ones are great.  We paid more attention to finding those phrases than we did to the Chemistry!”  Robin decided that she like the Physics ones.  Abby liked the Rhodes quotes.  While they were talking, Abby stood up and walked over to a shelf.  “What are you doing, Abby?”
 Abby smiled mysteriously and brought over a folder of papers.  The first set was titled, “The Golden Rules of Chemistry.”
        1.) oxygen is never oxidized
        2.) water is not soluble in itself
        3.) always note the "notes"
        4.) increasing means increasing
        5.) always have pretty colors
        6.) stochiometery
        7.) multiple guess
        8.) hallmark candles
        9.) "shielding"
        10.) mole madness (including the day 10/23 and the song)
        11.) "I just see it, I nver thought of explaining it to you!"
        12.) "18 x 2 = 36...um...what's half of 36?"
        13.) "sounds good"
        14.) "welcome, folks"-----"greetings"
        15.) "Oh-kay?!?!"
        16.) "Happy Groundmole Day!"
        17.) "Nobody understands me!"
        18.) "twoth" (2nd of Feb)
        19.) "Here's our little H2 molecule.......ooooooooo, yeah!"
        20.) "I know something you don't know!"
        21.) "I'm being really stupid here!"
        22.) "I don't have to justify myself to you!"
        23.) "Dry hands equal good transperencies"
        24.) "We make it up as we go along."
        25.) "zero to no difference"
        26.) "you have to do what makes sense!"
        27.) "I'm going somewhere with it."
        28.) "Just work with me!"
        29.) "I'll speak to you today, I'll speak to you tommorrow, and then I'm not speaking to
you."
        30.) Red petunia + white petunia = pink petunia
        31.) Topic de Jour
        32.) "I'm showing something!"
        33.) "You're rushing me and I can't deal with it!!"
        34.) from book--"never go step 5 until you have done step 4"
        35.) "I can't deal with expectations like that"
        36.) "Well, I just didn't even look at the book!"
        37.) "just disregard the book"
        38.) "I wasn't listening, I'm sorry."
        39.) "A brief minute or three."
        40.) "We're not in England so I won't get arrested"
        41.) "Why am I so stupid."
        42.) "There's a method to the madness"
        43.) "It was.....bitter base!!!!!!"
        44.) "This is sure to drive you wild."
        45.) "Make friends with your quiz."
        46.) "We're not interested."
        47.) "I'm mean and nasty! Don't you know?"
        48.) "I have high expectations"
        49.) "If you're on the 'see me' list, see me"
        50.) "I was in Shickshinny yesterday so I'm alound to talk wrong"
        51.) "That's quality breakage."
        52.) "You can smell the perfumes and the wonderful people who spray it on you."
        53.) "No doubt, you will smell someone’s grandma"
        54.) "I love the perfume counter.  Those people will even try to spray men's colonge
       on me."
        55.) "Red Door is the absolute worst.  It could kill people from miles away."
        56.) "My mother tells me that"
        57.) "Red Door stinks to high heavens"
        58.) "Don't stand by me"
        59.) "PSSSSSSA's"
        60.) "I only want to share two of them w/you"
        61.) "There's something about teaching in spring"
        62.) "I'm reliving my youth"
        63.) "This is the extent of my art. It looks like a hatchet or a really bad popsicle"
        64.) "I have a Mercury story too!"
        65.) "I didn't get hurt....that bad"
        66.) "This kind of looks like a tomato w/ a straw in it"
        67.) "Go play w/ the glassware"
        68.) In a pouty voice, "Fine, If you don’t like my artwork"
        69.) "I was able to play with the Mercury"
        70.) "My class ring kinda looks like a coin and it is my pride and joy"
        71.) "The mercury didn’t effect me, but it left a permanent scar and I had a kidney
       problem afterward"
        72.) "Brain damage, no I've always been brain damaged"
        73.) "It might be an educational class...for all"
        74.) "I have the faith"
        75.) "You can use your wonderful algebraic skills."
        76.) "My mother tells me I have a smart mouth"
        77.) "You too can amaze your friends"
        78.) "A well provided childhood."
        79.) "If only I had known I was a trend setter."
        80.) "Would you stop it?"
        81.) "Let me explain to you folks, I have a pulled muscle in my shoulder"
        82.) "Odius lipstick"
        83.) "If you're going to pick on me, I'm not going to draw for you."
        84.) "You've got that look about you"
        85.) "Let's call volume, 'volume'"
        86.) "We are bringing back the 'monstrous mole'"
        87.) "This will set us up nicely for some stochiometry"
        88.) "Bring in the 'monstrous mole' one more time"
        89.) "Polar BeAr"
        90.) "The ideal gas is like the ideal man.  It does what you want"
        91.) "I'm going to move my variables around because they just sound good like that"
        92.) "I like to share with you"
        93.) "For those of you who know we have a final…"
        94.) "I do a very good job boring daylights"
        95.) "Just don’t listen to me"
        96.) "Fun Facts Page"
        97.) "If I'm in your way, move! I'm not"
        98.) "While you're busy copying things that don’t make sense....."
        99.) "I would suggest reading the book...."
        100.) "Heat those vapors, catch them, through them away"
        101.) "It should smell like bananas in here soon!"
        102.) "Intermolecular glue"
        103.) "We're going to call them bonds, but they're not really bonds"
        104.) "The q's were bothering me. They didnt look like q's so I tries to fix them.  Now
       they really don't look like q's so....I dont know"
        105.) "Now that you've seen this......so what?"
        106.) "These aren't O's....they're just things"
        107.) "Fun fact here..."
        108.) "I've lost myself in my notes"
        109.) "They're back....."
        110.) "I dont know where I'm going.  I should clarify.  I know where I'm going"
        111.) "Listen to my stories and keep up with what's on the screen. Come on!"
        112.) "As in bonds not bombs"
        113.) "Hydrogen bonds...not really bonds"
        114.) "You set yourself up beautifully"
        115.) "Yes!! Now I'll use my fuzzy poofy slippers"
        116.) "There's all kinds of comfort here!"
        117.) "My example is with water.  Hey, it’s for Hydrogen...It's got oxygen"
        118.) "Allergies or is it us?"  (after someone sneezed)
        119.) "If there are electrons around, they are gonna spend some time with the O2"
        120.) "Don't forget what oxygen has"
        121.) "I can't even answer questions!"
        122.) "I feel like I’m giving you a flat presentation today"
        123.) "They made me dance with Miss Salivante.  They made me dance!"
        124.) "It's not rocket science here folks!"
        125.) "These molecules have choices!"
        126.) "That's all I can tell you"
        127.) "I resemble that remark"  (Candi's impression of crutches)
        128.) "What I have in my little itty bitty plan book...."
        129.) "Never thinking in my infinite wisdom"
        130.) "Yes, the foam balls are back"
        131.) "Ooops...Lost a bond"
        132.) "Back to the awesome model"
        133.) "Electron sea"
        134.) "That looked like you really wanted to answer the question."
        135.) "Have a good break away from me."
Abby pulled out another piece of paper.  This contained the “Golden Rules of Physics.”
1. I don't have much patience for anyone else.
2. Let's do an analysis of how you study.
3. Soon I'll be in full gallop.
4. This is not a tough chapter.
5. It's designed to make you hurt.
6. generic form.
7. This is a simple thing.
8. I'm going to make something up.
9. As I can remember...
10. definitional questions.
11. Get a grip!
12. COLLEGE....COLLEGE....COLLEGE...
13. That's real dopey.
14. You should know that.
15. One of these days we're actually going to start this class.
16. I own this class completely.
17. If I can be let loose...
18. Slap it on there.
19. As soon as I get myself in gear...
20. What are the odds?
21. Launch an attack on the multiple choice.
22. If I stop spinning my wheels....
23. I'm just going to hatch this up.
24. I'll do a tutorial on it.
25. I'm going to tear this apart.
26. I already learned.
27. This is a short chapter.
28. definitional.
29. some kind of moron operation.
30. Have any of you ever used these (pointing to Apple IIGs computers--answer: not
since 6th grade)
31. You don't know the rudiments of the primitive chapter.
32. after school time.
33. That's just the way this course is.
34. Slap it into the air.
35. I'm going to open the door...
36. I'm not messing with this chapter.
37. Under problem solving, you're going to see the problems.
38. tutorial....tutorial...tutorial
39. It's not a killer
40. graphical analysees
41. I've got to marry the graphics with the procedure.
42. I'm going to get my act together so you can get your act together.
43. Why are we doing this? We're doing this to... to...learn about the little cannons.
44. I can play the game for real.
 45. If I get home....
46. You don't know where you're going with this, but who cares?
47. When you get things wrong, you're a non-student.
48. Holding a piece of cardboard, "This is a critical piece of lab equipment."
49. tangential velocity.
50. HaHa..I'm flying horizontally.
51. This course is not important to me.
52. If you mess up you're bridge, you're not ready for college.
53. Maybe, on an asteroid...
54. If you were sitting on a bathroom scale...
55. nice elongation (must be notable)
56. heavy 200g (as opposed to a light 200g)
57. I know there's confusion...
58. dopey calculations
59. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this chapter.
60. Your book rocks!
61. Pendulums are dynamite.
62. same as with going to the moon...
63. Nothing moves without an unbalanced force. YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT!
   64. Ahhh....but not really!
65. Now, THIS is important!
66. vectorally speaking...
67. I'm stuck on you like glue.
68. I'm worried about how I am.
69. road to hoe (pronounced rotahoe)
70. It's sweaty time.
71. Elastickitersis.
72. We Americans...
73. The piano owns the energy...
74. These labs are not real work.
75. Real professionals who are not American...
76. It's one thing to put in you short term memory-which doesn't last very long.
77. Why am I doing this?
78. Shooting a rifle is like bowling.
79. This is RAW information.
80. If you have a retina...
81. This is my rule: I can make it up!
82. Why not go fluorescent?
83. I'm pottin' around
84. Wackaloon term
85. There's a relationship in a relationship!
86. The whole point is no!
87. High intensity light doesn’t mess around
88. Kids put their foreheads on the table and pretend learning doesn’t exist.
89. We need to run through space.
90. I spent my early like in aerospace.
91. I was living as a farm kid...
92. Center of Curvichure
93. A Square is not a Triangle.
94. When my buddy Donny and I went bow fishing....
95. This thickness is so thin.
96. In real space and time...
97. We don’t live in the water; we live in the air!
A third paper had the Rhodes quotes.
1. We ought to have a day where we all bring in our dogs!
2. Whhelll!
3. Just because the sun rises today doesn't mean it's going to rise tomorrow does it?
Whhell does it? Does it?
4. Just load it on you calculators and let er rip!
5. Now before you get all bawled up...let me explain.
6. Since yesterday didn't mathematically exist..
7. Just hack those cosines right off..Just hack em off!
8. Now, you have to haul out those negatives..
9. That's what they all say!
10. Now, if you do that on the test you ought to call yourself a jerk!
11. Max was valedictorian of his obedience school!
12. You'll be soorrry!!
13. Some of you got some really classy/hot answers!(she said both)
14. Alright, just go, I can't stand you any longer!
15. It must have taken you an age to see that graph!
16. Huh? I don't know..I just don't know..I can't help you..I'm soorry!
17. A batch of months ago..
18. That's for when it leaves the muzzle of the gun or whatever.
19. That's a pretty dumb thing if you think about it, because if you shot the gun straight
up, the bullet would hit you in the head! (Picture Mrs. Rhodes saying this
while doing the hand motion of her finger hitting her head)
20. So that's lovely...
21. Good for you! (As she smirks)
22. Of course we're living on earth...
23. Second calc. stinks in parametric mode!
24. You've got fat axis!
25. Yea I know! (Said the same way Rebecca says it)
26. That's a pretty stiff wind!
27. This is the standard form you saw several years ago.. and today!
28. Now do you all think that this is an idiot's delight?
29. So when you come home from school today and your mother asks, "Dear what did
you do in school today?" you can say, "I folded wax paper." Do you think
she'll be impressed? Probably not.
30. Guess where it's going.. righ smack into the focus!
31. There is an everyday use for parabolas..if you don't have cable.
32. We'll find the latus rectum and then quit because I can't take it anymore!
33. I've made a hidddeeeous mistake!
34. A safecracker is a yegg! (She spelled out the word yegg to make sure everyone got it
right)
35. My first day of teaching some nasty little student put a thumbtack on my chair and
ohh..it hurt!
36. "Mrs. Rhodes the thumbtacks are coming out"..I know isn't that maddening?!
37. This work of art you just produced by slaveing on the floor...
38. Rebecca says, "I'm calculator dependant"..Mrs. Rhodes, "It's a good thing your in
this class then!"
39. You're exactly right...we would have done ourselves into a whole lot of trouble!
40. You were trying to do tons of things...no fair...everybody gets one!
41. You'll be very good detectives!
42. And boy do I need you in a big way now!
43. I haven't got a clue...
44. Now I'd like to have you all write me a 10pg paper due Friday!
45. We'd have to drill holes in the floor and have pulleys under the floor...so I drew it for
you!
46. I saw when you did this that your eyes were all glazed over...
47. D as in Dandy and B as in Betsy!
48. Ohh Dear…too big!
49. Your authors give it a name I have never seen before!
50. Those measuring instruments are very crude!
51. And I did not lose my mind...I left a B out on purpose!
52. Did it hit you?...bang!
53. You know what helps? If you get those sticks of punk and put them in your hair... and
light them!
54. It doesn't have this limbo of having to make decisions!
55. When you see a problem with absolute value... promise me... you will shutter and
stop!
56. Hey! No fair...both of you have beautiful minds!
57. I can't sign that! It's like signing a blank check… A mathematician never does that!
58. You need to get your teeth into the f(x)!
59. Now I’m really gonna put a screw on you!
60. Yesss! ooooo that's just what I wanted to hear!
61. Ohh look... you were having a healing of powers!
62. Can anyone remember the definition of a relation?...and I don't mean a mother or
father...
63. My mother use to say "Newborn babies are like chestnut worms."
64. I think the cafeteria ladies make the best chocolate chip cookies on earth!
65. It's bad math...but it works like a charm!
66. Put your answer on a little slip of paper...and please no names… we don't want to
embarrass anyone!
67. Ok… so us mere mortals don't know..
68. Zero is what I call No Man's Land!
69. This is my parting shot to you...
70. We're getting into hot water here... some of you are still allergic to the point slope
form!
71. Those are the rickediest desks...talk about cheap stuff!
72. I didn't mean P.I.... I meant PIE!
73. Anyone who does that deserves to be strung up and defenestrated in the face!
74. Watch this fancy footwork...
75. The numerator and denominator are having a fight… who wins?
76. All I need to do is slap a limit on this thing...
77. You go right to the definition and just grind it out...
78. We're going to rationalize the numerator… watch the magic when we do!
79. OOOO you're brilliant!!
80. What the devil is going on?
81. Strange and wonderful things are happening with derivatives aren't they?!
82. Some smarty person taught me an easy way to remember this..
83. lo d(hi) - hi d(lo)/ lo lo (pronounced "Low dee Hi minus Hi dee Low over Lo Lo" say
it really fast and you'll know why its funny)
84. Mary Rhodes: Here's my present to you...
Student: Do you want it back?
Mary Rhodes: NO... that's why it's a present!
85. Dq/Dt... sounds like a dairy confection!
86. If you feel like hurting yourself...whipping yourself with a hair shirt... go ahead!
87. You could raise it to the 7th power but I don't know hey you would...only a masochist
would do that!
88. Newton was not a very nice person...he was a bigot!
89. Is this what you got... and then it drove you bats because you thought it was wrong?
90. The Demon that wrote your answer book wants to make sure you know your algebra.
91. Let's pretend you were going to be put on a torture rack and your arms and legs were
going to be pulled slowly if you didn't solve this!
92. Once you get use to it its kind of ho hum!
93. Which would you prefer doing.. dy of course unless you're a masochist!!
94. I'll show you a real whopper!
95. Another guy I don't like... John Milton... he's a bigot too!
96. Here's my next example...I love this one...Drives kids crazy!!
97. That's some pretty potent stuff!
98. What rule did you use? The Roma Desai rule?
99. Abha... it's your baby you do it!
100. You can volunteer, You can volunteer, and you, yes you can volunteer too
101.It's not smart to be dumb, Addie
102. Ohh my gosh! This is an old chestnut!
103. Do we some geometry coming up here… I hope so!
104. I'm going to do a little bit of fancy factoring here...
105. The weather service doesn't know Mean Value Theorem... They could easily, if they
had someone with a brain to figure out the function.. ESP in the summer…
it's blistering hot... In other words, the people at the USWS are a bunch of
knuckleheads.
106. I'm going to be very sneaky…
107. There were a few of you who I think have split personalities... you should be
consistent with your mistakes.. I am appalled... some of you were… but the
others, I think you should see a shrink!
108. Fight it out kids!
109. I wish some of you would fake pity on my failing eyesight!
110. You would be stymied!
111. That du stinks!
112. Please dear calculator...give me a value for the square root of 104/6…
113. Do you suppose I'm pulling a fast one on you?
114. Do it… since it's good for the soul!
115. It does work… sort of like bad tasting medicine..
116.(Instructions for the night before the AP test) You have better things to do with your
time… you could watch MTV or something like that..
117. Who doesn’t have their calculator? (glaring at Erin Higley)
 “I have a special treat for you,” Abby said pulling out a packet of papers.  It was their mock epic.
“The Pilfering of Leominster”
A Mock Epic
Written By:

Abba Paddle
Mary Scary
Trishkcavna Sladicka
Gorge Shaminster

Scooby Doo.Co     New York

All books distributed under the Scooby Doo.Co publishing company are hand picked, quality novels written by some of the best authors of today.

CLEARY BOOKS EDITION

Copyright © 2001 by Scooby Doo.Co

All rights reserved

Cover designed by Monét Paterna.

Cover Graphics by Jessalinda Jacobavich

Scooby Doo.Co
555 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10103

A Warner Communications Company
Printed in the Utopian Nation of Rétardos, Canada

Preface

I have had the unique pleasure of knowing these four talented women for the greater part of the last fourteen years. Their witty novels and charming characters have helped me through many a lonely night, not that I’m implying that I’m unattractive and can’t get a guy. More to the point, The Pilfering of Leominster has a unique charismatic quality that has yet to be equaled. By the end of the epic, the reader is endeared to the life-like and hopelessly flawed characters. Who could help but love the foolishly irresistible Reverend Rétardo Cleary and his well meaning meddling which always seems to lead to disaster, thus, adding excitement and suspense to the already wonderful tale. Those of you who have read the highly acclaimed novel The Rétardos know that this is a book not to be missed. By the way, I can be reached at 555-2862.
                                                                                       _Heatherina McDecker

Dedication

            This epic is dedicated to all the dumb people in this world who give us hope as well as laughter. Also, we dedicate this work to our one time English teacher whose inspiration and guidance have opened up limitless horizons for us.
 

The Washington Post says,
“This epic is definitely a must. Its characters and witty plot are designed to captivate any audience. You won’t be able to put it down!”
                                                                                    _Tarina Trudlock
                                                                                       Literary Critic

“If you read any book this year read the pilfering of Leominster!”
                                                                                       _Larry Catadoe
                                                                                  British literary society

“Mesmerizing, Suspense-Filled,.. Their Best Yet!”
                                                                                         _Raquel Peach
                                                                                             The Globe

 “Substantial… this is serious stuff… they clearly want the epic to provoke debate… a complex work about a painfully, confusing topic.”
                                                                        _Primavera Romana Desairia
                                                                                             Newsweek

US. News Says, “The pilfering of Leominster is as timely as it is disturbing. It combines suspense, the authentic flavor of regency England and a troubling awareness of the empty spaces in small and big cities.”
                                                                                   _Raymond Smullie
                                                                        The Christian Science Monitor

 
“This Riveting, totally hypnotic work is masterful in its compelling crisscross narrative!”
                                                                                                 _Mr. Ed
                                                                                      The New York Times

***

It has been my great advantage to recently become known to one of the most absurd and amusing situations that I have as yet to come across.  And upon learning this remarkable story, I find that I have an ardent desire to share its comedic nature to a wider public.  Therefore, the following contains an account of this largely engaging matter, told to the best of my ability.
 This story begins with the occurrence of a quite terrible event.  The dastardly Sir Epsilon Pepys Davenant (pronounced as “Peppy”) quite abominably ate his brother’s lunch while his brother was delayed on important diplomatic matters.  Now this in itself may not seem that great of an offense, but not only did Sir Epsilon steal his brother’s lunch, he left evidence of the ruined lunch behind for his brother to come home to.  Now when Sir Leominster finally arrived home he was met by this disgraceful sight.  You can imagine the anger he incurred, for this was one of many of such small daily nuisances wrought by his brother.  For example, not long before this unspeakable occurrence, Sir Epsilon, blatantly disregarding the authority of his brother, raised his voice to his elder brother.  Moreover, he had promised to partner his brother in the annual rugby match.  At the last minute however, he decided that he did not require such physical attentions especially in so ungentlemanly-like a fashion.  Thus, Sir Leominster was left unpartnered.  Can you imagine a more base crime?
 Well as you might imagine, full-blown warfare erupted between the two disgruntled brothers.  For you see, Sir Epsilon gave way to his own anger because he felt Sir Leominster’s anger to be unjust.  As most such wars are carried on, this one began with the exchange of some rather nasty words.
Sir Leominster exclaimed upon returning home to find his lunch dissipated, “ ’Fore Gad, this is too much!  You are indeed a dastardly cur and I fear that I can no longer live with this treachery!”
 Sir Epsilon replied in kind, “God’s truth, what are you grumbling about now.  My crimes are meager in comparison to your ungentlemanly display.  You have put yourself in a heat and what’s more you have put me in one too!”
 “I say, how can you so lightly disregard your offenses towards me?  Have you no shame?”
 And thus, began the war of the House of Pepy.  The two brothers began their war with a battle of the wits.  Each would fervently try to oust the other in a continual, verbal onslaught.  Sir Leominster, possessing the greater of the two wits, more often than not emerged victorious.  This only seemed to escalate the deepening anger of Sir Epsilon.
 Now this encounter between these feuding brothers may recall you to another such event.  Not long before this war of wits, another great and mighty war shook the land, the war of Jenkins’s ear.  As you must know, the sister countries of England and France were at the time most gracious rivals.  Their fantastic plight was undoubtedly as magnificent an affair as that which befell Sir Epsilon and his ill-fated brother.  Now on one clear blue day the distinguished English Captain Jenkins set sail on the newly christened Lady Belinda.  This superb specimen of ships was set assail on her virgin voyage, but when the bastardly oceanic winds began to harass her sails, turmoil was inevitably near.  The ingenuous Captain Jenkins’s peered through his spyglass a most wretched sight.  For what should he behold but the French flag as it crept over the horizon as dusk frightened day from the sky.  Thus, all hell broke loose as the French ship engaged in hand to ear combat with the unsuspecting English seamen.  One stealthy French sailor aimed for the Captain’s head, but won the prize of his ear instead.  Fortunately for the Captain, his ear lifelessly fell into a most worthy set of hands which promptly returned the misplaced piece of flesh to its owner.  This dastardly act may be considered almost terrible as the horrific pilfering of Leominster.  The “one eared” Captain scurried back to Parliament as quickly as the Lady Belinda could carry him.  Now Parliament, upon receiving this the news, immediately indulged itself in adopting a virulent frame of mind.  All out war engulfed England and France such that all they ate, slept and breathed was war.
 Their unwavering consumption with disgruntled emotions and fervent acts of violence was anything but unexpected considering the horrid events that had dispensed between the two countries.  The war of Jenkins’s ear is certain to never be forgotten, as are its most enigmatic heroes.  While trivial names such as Sir Francis Drake will be blatantly disregarded and forgotten, the name of Captain Jenkins is sure to live on forever.  However, we diverge from the story at hand.  Let us continue with these two feuding brothers.
Now not too far from the grand Davenant estates stood the old vicarage.  This establishment housed the kindly Reverend Rétardo Cleary.  The Reverend Rétardo was well respected throughout all of Devonshire.  Now being the gentle sort of man that he was, the reverend felt it his mission to reconcile the two feuding brothers, though secretly he sided with Sir Leominster.
 One day while walking in the neighboring Davenant woods, Reverend Rétardo was given a chance to put his plan into action.  While in the woods he met Sir Leominster who happened to be taking a little exercise in the form of a ride through the woods, for Sir Leominster was a great horseman and more than anything loved to be in the saddle.  Well more to the point, the Reverend Rétardo thought this a perfect opportunity to broach the subject of reconciliation between the two brothers.
 Knowing full well that such a subject was a dangerous one, and therefore must be treated carefully, he made sure to tread lightly.  After the usual exchanges regarding the weather and other general news he decided to begin his entreaty.  Thus he began, “My dear Sir Leominster I must say that I am greatly aggrieved by the falling out between you and your brother.  I feel it my duty to inform you that such behavior is quite unseemly.  Why not dine at the vicarage tomorrow night and let me see if I can not heal this breach between you both?”
 Feeling he could do naught else, Sir Leominster answered, “Well Sir, if you feel it may help in mending matters, though personally I think you waste your time, I shall dine with you tomorrow night.”
 Soon after this meeting took place, the reverend chanced upon meeting Sir Epsilon later that day in town.  He truly felt that this must be a divine sign that his endeavor would not be futile.  Reverend Rétardo spoke similarly to Sir Epsilon as he had to Sir Leominster.  He bade, “Dear Sir Epsilon I beg that you honor us with your presence tomorrow night.  I promise that you shall dine quite heartily.  What’s more, my niece of whom you are so enamored shall also be accompanying us.”
 “How can I refuse so generous an offer?  I shall be delighted to share your table this time tomorrow,” replied Sir Epsilon.  However, little did he know that his brother too would be dining at the vicarage the following night.
 Eventually, the time came for the two brothers to arrive at the vicarage.  Sir Epsilon was the first to reach the vicarage, and upon his arrival he was greeted by the entire Rétardo family.  This immense family consisted of the Revered Rétardo, his wife Beatrice, his daughters Minellé and Anne, and his son the Honorable Alfrédo Rétardo.  In addition to this party was the quite beautiful Sasprina Rétardo, the niece of the lusty Reverend.
Now the Honorable Alfrédo Rétardo had his eye on the lovely Sasprina as well.  For as you know, the marriage of first cousins was considered an acceptable affair at the aforementioned time.  However, we will not go into this matter since it diverges from the story at hand.
 Shortly after the arrival of Sir Epsilon, Sir Leominster was announced.  You can image the shock and dismay of his brother who knew nothing of the plot for reconciliation.  Well naught could be done but for him to swallow his indignation and carry through the meal as politely as possible.  Well now, during the course of the meal the Reverend Rétardo, seeing that an attempt at reconciliation would not be met with favor, informed the brothers of his newly formed plan of visiting his elder brother Lord Fatious Eugene, the doting father of Lady Sasprina, in Bath in the course of the following week.
Upon hearing this, Sir Epsilon declared, “I myself have been wanting to travel that way for days but have declined from doing so for lack of companionship during the journey.  I say, what of taking me with you?  I have been wanting to have a romp about London this age.  Do you know I have not seen the dear Comte Saint Viré for quite some time? What say you man?“
 This most wantonly tactless speech had the effect of throwing the usually silent mannered Sir Leominster into a state of disbelieving shock.  He could not credit his ears with having beheld such temerity.  He responded quite abruptly, “Good Gad man, you can not mean this impudence!”
 “What rubbish you speak of.  Why should I not ask the dear vicar to take me up in his carriage and deposit me in London when he is already traveling to Bath?”
 “My God, Bath is almost two days worth of traveling from London.  Do you seriously suggest that the kindly vicar diverge such a distance as you suggest from his chosen route for the sake of your entertainment?  How be it possible that you in truth are my brother?” responded the outraged Sir Leominster.
 This enraged speech of Sir Leominster had the effect of throwing his brother into an equally incensed state.  Especially, since his brother had dared to disparage him within the ear shot of his beloved Sasprina.  Unable to control his anger, Sir Epsilon impetuously challenged his brother to a duel.
 “What weapon choose you?” demanded Sir Epsilon.
 “I will give you the advantage.  Let it be a duel of swords,” replied his brother.
 “I want no favors of you, for doubtless you shall turn it against me.  Therefore, I choose pistols as the weapon.  I think that fair, do you not?  We will set the time for noon tomorrow.  Be Ready with your seconds.”  And with that Sir Epsilon turned and left the vicarage.
 Well you can imagine the shock incurred by the gentle reverend.  A result more distorted from its original intent could not be possible.  How could his kindly well meaning meddling wreak such havoc?  Rather than reconcile the two brothers, he had provided the means for this insurmountable rift to form.
 It was close upon nearing noontime on the following ’morrow.  Sir Leominster had claimed the Honorable Alfrédo as his second, while Sir Epsilon claimed the Reverend.  The Honorable Alfrédo, who was not very honorable at all, hoped that nothing short of paralysis should befall his rival suitor, Sir Epsilon.
 Precisely at the prearranged hour, both men stood their ground opposite each other.  They remained as still as the gargoyles that taunt the world below.  Both men stood apart with a distance of forty elephant paces between them.  The gallant sun shown down on them just as it had done on the legendary Captain Jenkins on that fateful day so long ago.
 The Honorable Alfrédo Rétardo held up the spotlessly white kerchief as a signal for the brothers to prepare themselves.  The tension was strung so tight that at any moment disaster was eminent.  In fact, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.  Then at the count of three Afrédo dropped the kerchief.  As his arm fell down to his side a shot rang out breaking the overwhelming silence.  This was almost instantly followed by a piercing scream with, quite astonishingly, a female voice.
 For you see, the outcome of this rather unique duel presents the most humorous part of this ridiculous tale.  As the story goes, Sir Epsilon forgot to load his pistol as a result of his over incensed state of mind.  Well you can imagine what results would have progressed if Sir Leominster hadn’t quite stupidly mistaken a nearby fluttering bird for his brother.  However, even though neither brother injured the other disaster was not to be deterred.
 What the two brothers did not know was that Sasprina had followed them to their meeting place and had secreted herself in the shadow of a clump of trees.  Now if her uncle had known that she planned to see her lover maybe for the last time he probably would have locked her within the chambers of the vicarage.  However, since he remained ignorant of her plans, she was quite easily able to remove herself to the prearranged rendezvous.
 Thus, it happened that the scream that followed the discharge of Sir Leominster’s pistol was in fact contributed by Lady Sasprina.  For you see, the discombobulated bird had flung itself into a tree causing a pin-sized splinter to breakaway from the tree, which then maliciously stabbed dear Lady Sasprina.  Well upon incurring this horrific wound, Lady Sasprina fell into a state of hysterics soon to be followed by a sensation of faintness.  From so far a vantage point as he happened to be situated, Sir Epsilon was sure he saw thrice a fountain’s fill of blood pour from his dear beloved’s limp body.
 Well now Sir Epsilon, in a completely woe begotten state, entirely forgot that there ever was a duel.  Instead, he drew up his dear Sasprina into his arms and upon careful examination was just thankful that a worse fate had not befallen her.  Sir Leominster, on the other hand, was so contrite over the thought of injuring Lady Sasprina that he too completely forgot the duel.
However, upon the emergence of Sir Leominster on this dreadful scene, the lamely constructed dam that heard Sir Epsilon in check broke free as all his unbridled anger poured forth.  Now Sir Leominster would not take the blame for something that was clearly not his fault.  Ans so as a result, his anger too rose to the occasion at hand, as he quiet logically retaliated to his brother’s accusations, “How do you say this unfortunate incident is in any way my doing? If only you had not been so dimwitted as to forget to load your pistol, you could have shot me as you should have and spared Lady Sasprina any discomfort!”
To this his brother replied, “What outrageous nonsense this is.  I would have gladly put a bullet through that pretty head of yours if you hadn’t been so ungracious as to make so distempered as to forget all else!”
 “Oh what infamous rubbish you speak.  Was it not you who began this hot-tempered feud by stealing my most desired possession, my lunch?  Ha, you see I am right!  Though you acknowledge it naught, I see in your all betraying face that you know you are the irreprehensible cur that is responsible for the injury of your supposed beloved,” bellowed Sir Leominster.
 Upon realizing the truth in this accusation, he flung away his dear Sasprina and fell into so great a state of shock and remorse that he in fact succeeded in moving his brother to pity.  Thus, one brother drew sorrow from the other and so the two brothers fell into a state of lamentation over their sinful behavior.  In all this uproar of emotion, the desperately injured Lady Sasprina had when quite regrettably forgotten.  Not only had she been brutally ill-treated but the two so called gallant gentlemen were now ignoring her.  For this she would not stand, and so she began a tirade of remonstrations towards both brothers for their ungentlemanly like conduct towards herself.  Immediately, Sir Epsilon took her back into his arms and placated her into a more serene state of mind.
 By now dusk had fallen on this unusual assortment of people.  The Reverend, his niece, and the two brothers solemnly gazed at the darkening sky above them.  The Honorable Alfrédo Rétardo had departed much earlier for being the poor sport that he was, he could not stomach the affection clearly evident between the two once again happy lovers.  And as all of them reverently regarded the star illuminated sky, what should they behold but the rather extraordinary constellation, The Earl of Sandwich.
 
The Epitaph

No longer shall he soar o’er the tree,
By a bullet, his wing was clipped deep.
Leaves now enfold his many a feather,
Less shaken by change in wind or weather.

A life of Grandeur; he had his fill,
Eating seeds from the local mill.
To him, nevertheless, Fate was a fiend;
The line of fire was where he always seemed.

He certainly enjoyed the pleasures of life,
The chirping, the worms, and the annual wife.
His soul resides with God evermore,
Flying higher than e’er before.

_In Memory of dear Chirper
He was our faithful and loving friend
And our cherished and beloved pet.
 

About the Authors:

 Under the respective pen names of Abba Paddle, Mary Scary, Trishkcavna Sladicka, and Gorge Shaminster, Abha Patel, Maura Scolere, Tricia Sladica and Gunjan Shah have written numerous best selling novels.  These four uniquely talented women have demonstrated a flair for bringing the satirical parodies of a mock epic to life in a ridiculously engaging manner.  These four extraordinary writers first teamed their talents in the now well-known novel, The Rétardos.  Each of these women are native-born Fijians, however, they have made their home in Canada (pronounced Can?dia) for the last fourteen years.

Historical Sources

Mr. Reidenbach.  The Battle of Jenkins’s Ear.  Clarks Summit: BigDaddy Inc. 2001
Davenant, Leominster Pepys.  The Wronged Brother.  Devonshire: Bird Inc. 1761
Clearly, Rétardo Rev. Where Did I Go Wrong.  Devonshire: Rétardo Co. 1765
 

 Robin spoke.  “We had so many good times with those stories.  There was one day when no one had a good time.”  She paused and then continued, “The day the Ivies said no…” Ivy and Abby looked at her confused.  She explained, “That was the day we all got our rejection letters from the Ivy League Schools.  Chloe, Beth, Grace, Carolyn, the two of you, and I went to Dino and Franchesco’s for pizza.  When we were leaving, those kids mooned us in the parking lot.  Then, we went to Manning’s for ice cream.”
 Abby and Ivy laughed.  Abby spoke, “We were all so upset that day.”
 Ivy thought of something.  “Robin, do you remember the day we walked out of school because we thought the letters were going to be there?”  Robin nodded.  “Mr. McArdle had told us he could get us out early, so we took him up on that offer.”
 Robin continued, “He had already left by that time, though, so we just walked out.  Our letters weren’t even there!”
 Abby smiled.  “You know what else?  This was a year of surprise parties.  You guys gave me a surprise party at the Underground, remember?”
 Ivy laughed.  “That was so much fun.  We would talk about it right in front of you, and you didn’t even know!”
 Robin continued, “We also had that bridge building meeting at the underground.”
 Abby replied, “I liked seeing what they had done with Grove Street School.  I wanted to roam around and see all my old classrooms.”
 “The one thing I remember about school was Abby’s poems.”  Robin reminisced.
 Ivy nodded.  “They were really good.  I remember how Abby never paid attention in Mr. Deveny’s class.”
 “I did too!  I just didn’t take notes.  Instead, I drew pictures and wrote poems.  Remember the ‘city’?”
 “How could we forget?”  Ivy laughed.  “You drew it on almost everything!”
 The phone rang.  Abby went to her desk and answered it.  “Hello…Thank you.  We’ll be there shortly.”  She hung up the phone and turned to her friends.  “Dinner is ready.  Come on.”
The three girls exited the room laughing and remembering all their fun.

Chapter VII

 After dinner, Ivy went up to her room.  A golden metal four post bed sat in the middle of the room.  Hunter Green sheets covered the bed and a long green cloth hung along the top of the posts.  Side tables, a desk, and a dresser filled the rest of the room.  A mirrored closet took up all of one wall.  The other wall opened on to a balcony.  Ivy stepped outside and stood against the railing, looking into the cool night sky.  The stars shined brightly and the moon gleamed above.  Two small bushes sat in the far corners of the balcony.  A metal swing was in the middle of the terrace.  Ivy sat on the swing and rocked back and forth.
 She picked up her laptop computer from a side table and opened it.  Ivy knew that the disease had to be stored in a high tech facility in the city of Canadia.  She searched the Castle’s database and found three possible sites.  After checking floor plans and security cameras, Ivy eliminated two sites.  The third laboratory, Industry Bio, had a secure area where only special staff could enter.  This room had a square freezer in the middle, where the virus could be kept.
 Ivy walked back into her room and dressed in a black long sleeve shirt and long pants.  It was time to go to work.  Not wanting the whole house to know she was leaving, Ivy walked over to the balcony and looked over the railing.  The second story room was about twenty feet from the ground.  She tied a rope to the railing and threw it over.  It just barely missed the ground.  Quickly and quietly, Ivy jumped over the railing and grasped the rope.  She then slid herself down to the ground.  At the bottom, Ivy looked at her hands and brushed away the rope fibers.
 Ivy heard the guards coming, so she tied the rope to a pillar and hid in nearby bushes.  After they had passed, Ivy crossed the lawn until she reached the stone wall at the edge of the mansion grounds.  She walked along the wall until she came to the guard station.  After finding a small stone on the ground, Ivy threw it at a tree on the other side of the guards.  Birds screeched and flew away.  The sound roused the guard, and he went to see what had happened.  Ivy snuck into the hut.  The small quarters contained wood paneled walls and floors.  A desk with a computer and monitors filled one wall.  The other wall had a green leather couch.  The final wall was the border between the outside world and the prime minister’s grounds.  Ivy went to this wall and felt for the button hidden in one panel.  Upon finding it, Ivy pressed the button, and a door slid open.  Ivy stepped out, and the door shut beside her.
 The cool night breeze played with Ivy’s hair as she made her way across town.  The streets, lit only with dim lamps, were almost deserted.  Not even the homeless people could be seen.  Block after block passed and still, Ivy saw no one.  She wondered where everyone was, but continued on her way.  After walking for nearly twenty-five minutes, Ivy reached the Industry Bio headquarters.
 Fifteen feet high barbed wire fences surrounded the complex.  Motion sensor security cameras patrolled the fences.  Ivy pondered what to do.  She walked to the main entrance, staying out of the camera’s range.  The main gates were open, when Ivy arrived.  She crept over to the fence making sure to move quickly while the camera pointed the other way.  Looking through the fence, Ivy saw the lush green grounds of the facility.  Large pine trees dotted the landscape.  Directly in front of her was the guard station.  She peered inside the window and only saw a guard lying over his desk.  The rest of the hut was empty.  Very sure that something was wrong, Ivy crept thru the open gate and into the guard hut.  She walked over to the desk and felt for a pulse, but she could find none.  Leaving the dead man, Ivy glanced at the monitors on the desk and saw a black thing flash across a monitor.  On the next monitor, Ivy saw that the ting she had seen was a man dressed all in black.  She watched as the man appeared to pull out a piece of paper from his pocket and examine it carefully.  He then stuck the paper back in his pocket, pulled out a gun, and proceeded slowly towards the center vault.  Reading the location the monitor was checking, Ivy ran out of the guard hut and onto the path leading to the facility’s entrance.
 The paved path curled up a hill and ended in front of a large gray green building that had four thick pillars.  Seeing more dead guards, Ivy hurried into the building.  This entrance led Ivy into a glass enclosed reception area.  Large metal detectors guarded the only entrance.  At a wooden desk sat a dead receptionist.  Ivy passes quickly thru the metal detectors into a maze of white corridors.  Ivy pulled out a palm top fro her pocket.  She had stored the blue prints to the building on it.  After looking at the map, Ivy headed towards the center vault.
 Five agonizing minutes later, after numerous twists and turns, Ivy reached the outer entrance to the center room.  The double steal door required a card key and retinal scan to open the door.  Ivy hoped James’s new gadget work.  She pressed a few buttons on the palm top and accessed the compound’s mainframe.  Ivy uploaded an image of her retina and the other required information.  Then, she slid a credit card sized object out of the palm top and placed it in the reader outside the door.  In a few seconds, the computer voice asked Ivy to place her eye in front of the scanner.  Ivy waited patiently and hoped the information had been saved properly in the computer.  A loud beep indicated that it had, and the door slid open.
 The inside of the room reminded Ivy of Gregory’s laboratory.  This room, however, was much bigger and the walls were a bright white.  The colored chemicals flowed thru twisting glass tubes.  Ivy’s attention to the mesmerizing scene was broken by the sound of glass shattering.  She looked towards the sound and saw the black hooded figure from the monitor.  The man had just broken the upper seal on the freezer.  Ivy yelled, “Stop!  Who are you?”
 The startled man had put his gun away because he needed both hands to open the vault.  Now, he fumbled around to get it out of his pocket.  He instantly gave up and began to run.  Ivy thought she had him cornered because she stood in front of the steel doors, but she was wrong.  The man jumped onto one of the tables, causing all of the chemicals to fall.  In one smooth motion, the man pushed away a ceiling tile and jumped into the air duct.  Ivy, quickly realizing her mistake began her pursuit.  She too jumped thru the hole in the ceiling and crawled after the man.
 The small ducts were another maze.  Lacking the time to consult her computer, Ivy followed the man blindly, using only her intuition.  Soon, however, she became lost and couldn’t see where the man was in front of her.  Ivy continued thru the ducts and eventually felt a cool breeze.  She followed the breeze, which led her to the outside of the compound.  She jumped out of the ducts and looked around.  The dim moon did not provide enough light for her to see clearly.  However, Ivy was able to make out a shadow running across the field.  She began running in the direction of the figure.
 Soon, Ivy was only a few feet from the masked man.  Ivy leaped into the air and tackled the man to the ground.  A struggle ensued.  The man’s gun was thrown out of either person’s reach.  The man choked Ivy with his arm around her neck.  Ivy elbowed him in the stomach.  The man doubled over in pain.  Ivy pushed the man to the ground and held him there.  “Who are you,” She asked.  “Whom do you work for?”  Instead of answering, the man rolled over so that Ivy was now pinned to the ground.  Ivy struggled, but could not free herself.  The man smacked Ivy across the face, stood up, and ran.  Stunned, Ivy didn’t move.  After a few moments however, she stood and resumed her chase.  Ivy ran as fast as she could, but the man was nowhere in sight.
Disappointed, Ivy gave up her pursuit and pulled out her computer.  She then found her way back to the central vault.  The main compartment was easy to access because the glass seal had been broken.  Ivy reached inside, but instead of finding vials filled with the virus, she found a letter.
 “Dear Fox,
 You are much to slow at this game.  I’m beginning to get bored.  For your sake (and the rest of the world’s), you might want to stay on your toes.  As it is, I’m done with Canadia.  It isn’t a very exciting place.  Tell your friend her country is safe from me.
         Till we meet again,
                 Gregory”
 Very annoyed, but relieved, Ivy threw the letter onto the ground.  She looked into the vault again to make sure there was nothing else.  Had she been too late?  Had the masked man stolen the virus before she arrived or had the whole thing been a game?  Ivy had a feeling the latter was true.  She was going to have to find Gregory Austin and deal with him one way or another.
 Ivy picked up the letter and walked out of the compound.  When she was a few blocks away, Ivy placed an anonymous emergency call and told the operator about the dead guards at Industry Bio.  She then made another call to Blaine.  She told him about the guards, the masked man, the chase, and the letter.
Blaine responded sleepily, “I don’t know what to tell you Ivy.  Do you have any other leads on why Gregory Austin has taken it upon himself to terrorize you?”  Ivy answered that she did not, and Gregory continued, “I think you should take a few days off.  Think about what we know about Austin and see if you can figure out where he’ll strike next.  Go to the shore.  Maybe the sea air will help clear your mind.”
“I think I’ll visit an old friend in Maine,” Ivy said yawning.
“Get some sleep and stay in touch if you find out anything.”
“I will.  You know where to find me, and I have my phone in case you hear anything.”  She said goodbye to Blaine and hung up the phone.  Slowly, the tired Ivy dragged herself back to Abby’s mansion.  The first shades of sunlight appeared above Ivy’s head.  She looked at her watch.  It was 6:00 am.
 

Chapter VIII

 That same afternoon, Ivy walked the streets of Canadia.  After sleeping until 11:00 am, Ivy assured the prime minister that the threat had passed.  The country of Canadia was safe once again, with its people none the wiser.  Her flight to Maine was booked for the next morning, so Ivy was looking for a way to waste the afternoon.  Sarah had left on her rounds, and Robin was busy watching Abby run the country.  Ergo, Ivy was left to amuse herself.
 The streets of this city were no different from any other city she had been to.  Little shops lined the street level, while apartments and offices occupied the upper levels of the sky scrappers.  The boutiques did not interest Ivy, as she was lost in her thoughts.  Dressed in denim overalls with a white sleeveless turtleneck inside and a white bandana around her hair, Ivy walked around town thoroughly bored with her life.  Times like this made her wish that she had done something else with her life.  What, she did not know.  Ivy dragged her feet and swung her arms as she walked.  She didn’t want to think about Gregory or Blaine or anybody else related to her work.  She was tired of it all and need some fun in her life.
 At the edge of the city, Ivy came across a building with a large advertisement for paintball.  She glanced at the sign and softly smiled for a second.  That would be fun to do.  Maybe when she went back to the castle, she could get the entire team to play.  As Ivy stood in front of the sign, a man of about her age came up to her.  “Hi.  I need someone to play against.  You don’t seem to be busy.  Would you like to play?”
 Ivy turned to him, “Are you prepared to lose?”
 The man was amused, “You think you can beat me?  You’re on.”  The two walked inside the building.  Only one room of the old warehouse could be seen from the entrance.  A wooden wall blocked the rest.  The two paid and took the paint ball guns outside.  Instead of being a wooded area, the Canadia paint ball club’s ground was an open field.  Participants hid behind haystacks, barrels, and other large boxes.
 The game began.  Ivy and the man fired numerous shots at each other.  They ran behind the different screens and continued to chase each other with the paint.  As the played, both almost fell over laughing with enjoyment.  The game ensued, but neither player could beat the other.  Suddenly, the area grew quiet.  Ivy and her competitor each hid, trying to catch their breath.  Ivy decided to make her move.  She crept silently out of her hiding place and listened for the man’s location.  Ivy thought she heard him and inched towards the sound.  She reached the sound and pointed her gun around the haystack.  The man, however, was not surprised.  He had been waiting to trap her.  As Ivy step forward, she tripped over the man’s outstretched leg.  She fell into the hay and laid there laughing.  Her competitor began to laugh as well and sat down beside her.
 Two loud rings broke the silence.  Both reached into their pockets and pulled out their cell phones.  “Ivy Fox.”
 “Kent Quincy.”  Ivy and Kent turned to each other, no longer paying attention to their phones.  “Ivy?”
 Ivy and Kent had already told the people on the phone that they would call back.  “Are you joking?  I didn’t even recognize you, Kent.”  She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t recognized her old friend.  She pulled her friend up by the arm.  “Come on, you have to meet some people.”  Confused, Kent asked where they were going.  Ivy laughed.  “We’re in Canadia!  We’re going to see the prime minister.”
 “Do I know the prime minister?  Don’t tell me Abby actually became prime minister.”  Ivy nodded, and the two friends walked out of the old warehouse.  As they walked towards the prime minister’s mansion, they reminisced about old times.  “Remember first grade?”
 Ivy laughed.  “That was so long ago.  I don’t remember that much.”
 “Me either.  I think of first grade when I eat Oreos.  Remember how Mrs. Kincel taught us touch points?”
 Ivy nodded.  “Do you know what I remember?  I remember missing the day before Christmas vacation.  So when we came back, I got my grab back gift.  It was a white teddy bear in a suit, and it was from you.  I still have it.”
 Kent laughed.  “That’s funny.  I remember how we had the exact same schedule in seventh grade.  We had made a bet of a million dollars about who would become president first.  I guess neither of us gets that million.”
 “Not yet, anyway.  Don’t worry.  You just save that million for me.”
 “Yeah, right.  You better be saving.  Remember how Mr. LaCoe took my side and Mr. Kepler took yours.”
 “What about when we almost bought the house next door to you, but we didn’t know?”
 “That was funny too.  I just thought of Ms. Genovese’s math class in eight grade.”
 Fox laughed.  “She made fun of you and Gary Maxell so much.  Remember how she took Emily Page’s toy Clifford and pretended to throw it out the window into the snow?”
 “Yeah.  Emily ran down the stairs and into the snow.  When she couldn’t find the toy, she came back up.  Ms. Genovese had the toy waiting on the chalkboard.  Our physics study groups senior year with Abby, Robin Saint, Diana Fleming, Emily Page, Marianne Margrets, Carolyn Faith, Ann Haley, Renee Jordan, Chloe Peters, Hillary May, Elizabeth Locke, Bianca White, Gabriella Scarlet, and Beth James were a lot of fun too.  Remember that one when everyone was there until midnight.?”
 She nodded.  “It was election night.  We had the TV on to see who won, and every time a state went to a either candidate got a state, a big debate started.”
 “And it didn’t even matter, because that election went on for months until Gore finally conceded to Bush.  What about our study hall discussions?”
 “Everyone use to get involved, especially when we talked about religion.  Bianca, Evangeline Wang, Christina Globe, Elizabeth, Abby, and Diana always joined in.”
 “We had some good conversations about college, life, and anything else going on.”
 Ivy smiled.  “Yeah, we did, but there is one question I have to ask you.  Have you been unmoral?”
 Kent laughed.  “That was a funny night.  Grace and I got in some argument about Columbine.  Wasn’t that the night before a Junior Academy competition?”
 “Yeah.  We practiced our presentations and then watched a movie.  So, how’s the gymnastics going?”
 “Well, after winning a gold medal, I opened a gym in Navatican.”
 “Navatican?  Do you mean ‘The Vatican,’ like Vatican City?”
 “The pope wouldn’t let me open a gym there, so I made mine in Navatican, Utah.”
 “Really?  That’s funny because that’s what you thought Vactican City was called.  Well, have you done anything else?”
 Kent’s eyes gleamed with laughter.  “Since high school, I’ve become a Constitutional engineer, an oracle, the dali lama, a justical engineer, a sea shell diver, a prophet, a nomad, a vagabond, a theorist, a parental engineer, a children crusade leader engineer, a water walker, a Harlemical Globist Trotterius, a Gravitational defiant engineer, a cynic engineer, a condemner, a praiseologist, a deviological engineer, a farmeceutical engineer, a planeologist, a crimistical engineer, a functionologist, a intelligentologistical engineer, a culinariological paleontology, a magistiological anthropologist, a identitiologist, a ballistical physcologist, and a (logistical engineer)2.
 Ivy couldn’t help laughing.  “Wow, you’ve done a lot.”  By this time, they had reached Abby’s mansion. The guard let them in, and they went straight to Abby’s office.  Ivy knocked on the door, motioning Kent to be quiet.  She opened the door and said, “Abby?  Robin?  Sarah?”
 Abby’s voice rang out, “We’re back here.”  The three friends were sitting on the couch.
 “I have a surprise for you.”  All three girls stood up and came to the door.  When they saw whom Ivy had brought they were excited.  They all exchanged hugs and went back to the sofa.
 Abby addressed Kent, “What were you doing in Canadia?  How did Ivy find you?”
 Kent laughed and told of the paintball game.  All of them enjoyed the story.  He continued, “I was scouting some gymnasts from Canadia High for my team.  I didn’t even know any of you were in Canadia.”
 Abby pretended to be upset.  “Didn’t you believe me before?  I told you I would be the prime minister of Canadia!”  They all laughed.
 Sarah continued the reminiscing.  “Do you remember Kent’s Junior Academy project when he had a Chinese title, which he couldn’t pronounce?”  They all nodded.
 Robin started in, “The funniest thing we did was joining FBLA.”
 Ivy laughed.  “It was all Kent’s fault, too.  Then, he went and got kicked out!”
 Kent responded.  “That wasn’t my fault.  Mrs. Kirchner was wrong.”
 Abby joined.  “We were all officers, remember.  Virginia Booth and Seth Cash were with us.  Then, we stopped going to meetings.”
 Sarah continued.  “You guys were always sneaking by her room on the way to Computer Science.”
 “That was another class we liked to get out of!”  Ivy smiled.  “We would go visit LaCoe or find any other way to miss some part of it.”
 Abby laughed.  “That’s why we took it pass/fail.”
 Kent spoke next.  “I didn’t, and my class wasn’t that bad.”
 It was Sarah’s turn.  “Ours was.  We didn’t even know half the people that were in our class.  Remember how we all copied Virginia’s final project and Mrs. Jane made the entire class do another project?”
 Abby nodded.  “People copied all year long. Seth and Monica Jones were in our class, too.  Everyone missed that class as much as possible.”
 Robin joined in.  “I think I had the best idea when I dropped that class at the beginning of the year!”  They all had to agree.  The five friends talked long into the night.  Finally, they hugged and parted ways.  Ivy had to leave early the next morning.

Chapter IX

“A…B…C…D…” Ivy heard children chanting with their teacher.  She walked through the halls of the little Maine schoolhouse.  Upon reaching Room 302, Ivy paused at the door and looked inside.  One of her best friends, Grace Ebony, sat on a stool with 15 kindergarteners surrounding her.  Ivy watched as all the children got up, put their stools away and prepared to go home.  A bell rang.  School and all the kids ran out the door past her.  Grace stood smiling and laughing as they ran.
 “Knock, Knock.”  Ivy entered the room.
 Before she could even look around, Grace ran over to her.  “Ivy! Hi!”  Grace threw her arms around Ivy and gave her a big long hug.
 Ivy just laughed and said, “Hi Grace, what’s up?”
 “Not too much.  Are you ready for lunch?”
 Ivy nodded.  “Yep.  Let’s go!”
 The two girls walked out of the school and into the town.  The main street of Green Springs, Maine was filled with cream-colored brick buildings.  They walked past all the little boutiques and headed to an outdoor café.  As they walked, the two chatted excitedly, as they hadn’t seen each other in years.
 Grace happily related the fortunate events since high school.  “Well, I met my husband at Messiah College.”
 Ivy interrupted, “Did you say no when he asked you to marry him?”  The two girls had always believed that it would be funny if a girl jokingly said no when someone proposed.
 “Of course not!” Grace said giggling and pushing her blondish-brown hair behind her ears.  “I started to cry.”  Both of them knew this was bound to happen.  It was inevitable, but the girls found humor in it.
 “So tell me about him.”
 “Well, his name is Lamar.  We have five kids.
 Ivy laughed.  “I knew you would.”
 “What about you?”
 Ivy became uneasy.  “I…I was married to this guy named Gregory, but he died.”  She paused, and then smiled ironically.  “Want to know what’s weird?  The man that we’re after in this mission, his name is Gregory.”  Grace didn’t know what to say.  The two girls walked along in silence for a moment.  “Hey, I have a surprise for you.”
 Grace became excited.  “What is it?  What is it?”  Ivy had been holding a gift bag behind her the whole time.  Now, she brought it out and gave it to her friend.  She waited excitedly as Grace pulled out the gift.  The stuffed animal was a cow with overalls.  Grace hugged the cow tightly and a smile spread across her face.  “I love it!” She said laughing and hugging Ivy.
 “It took me so many years to find one, but I managed,” Ivy said smiling back.  “Remember how you thought guys in overalls looked silly…”
 “How could I forget?  I still think so.  Overalls are only for farmer boys.”
 Ivy laughed.  “Right.  I forgot.  All that started from the farmer boy and Joseph.”
 Grace scrunched her face.  “Joseph…Now that was something.  I started out liking him in February, but by the middle of summer, I refused to speak to him.  Isn’t that when you started your theories?” The two girls reached the café, sat down, and ordered.
 Ivy nodded.  “Ahh, my theories.  They provided us with amusement.”
 Grace laughed.  “Yeah, like when you said you didn’t like people!”
 Ivy shook her head.  “I never said that.  Besides, you’re the one who said you hated me.”
 “Kiss my butt.”  Grace joked.
 “I thought it was reserved.”
 Grace laughed.  “It still is.  I apologized for saying that.  I try to forget that year.”
 “You mean eight grade.  The year of the obsession with Wesley.”
 “Yeah.  That’s the year.  I had just moved here, and I hated it!  Then, he ate my chap stick!  I was so mad, but I’m glad we didn’t move again.”
 It was Ivy’s turn.  “That English class with Mr. Steven’s was funny.  Elizabeth Locke, Cynthia Walker, and I had our ‘English triangle’ in the back of the room.”
 “Didn’t you guys give Elizabeth a surprise party that year?”
 Ivy laughed.  “Yeah.  Then, we came to school on Monday, and Mr. Lambert told Cynthia and I he knew about our ‘wild night.’  We were so confused.  Abby Carolls’s dad was his dentist and had told him about our party.”
 “You and Cynthia had some funny ideas, like going on the school’s roof…”
 Ivy smiled.  “Hey, chemistry with Siwak got boring.  Besides, the bubble was so inviting, and we wanted to jump in the funnel that went into the library.”
 Grace laughed.  “My favorite was your plan for the courtyard.  Remember?”  Ivy nodded and Grace continued.  “You guys planned a ball room so that everyone could jump out the window, and a slide from the roof for the winter snow.”
 Ivy giggled.  “I was so obsessed with going on the roof.  I never got to go on it, but even in LaCoe’s class, Abby, Sarah Robins, Gabriella Scarlet, and I use to talk about it.”
 “When I think of Siwak, I think of the lab practical she gave us.”
 “Making the airbag?  We were so mad she didn’t give us a procedure, and we had to come up with it.”
 Grace smiled.  “It took us a whole day, but we finally got it.”
 “Yeah.  Then, Robin Saint and I tried to make the bag explode, but we never had a big enough explosion.”
 Grace reminisced.  “What about our birthday celebrations?  We celebrated them together because they were so close.”
 “Junior year was fun.  We had a cake in Mrs. Baillie’s class because her birthday was the same day as mine and yours was two days before.”
 “Senior year was cool, too.  Elizabeth Locke, Diana Flemings, and our other friends came with us to the Indian restaurant, Amber.”
 Ivy smiled.  “Remember how you almost bought the land next to my house.  That would have been so cool.”
 Grace nodded.  “Yeah, but you didn’t live there when we were building.”
 “True, true.”
 “Remember the Rhodes reviews?”
 Ivy laughed.  “We used to have fun doing those together.  The day my cousin called in the middle was funny.”
 Grace remembered.  “We were talking in British accents, and you picked up the phone, still talking with the accent.  You scared your cousin so much.”  They both laughed.
 “All that Rhodes work paid off, though.  Remember how Marianne Margrets never brought her calculator?”
 Grace laughed.  “Rhodes use to glare at her everyday.  Ann Haley, Marianne, and I started singing out loud one day in class.  She was so mad.”
 Ivy smiled.  “What about the quote from the Einstein poster?”
 “I could never forget it.  ‘Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love.’  Ann and I were so excited when we got the poster.”
 Ivy remembered something else.  “Do you remember our summer reading parties?”
 Grace nodded.  “Yeah, we watched all the movies at your, mine, and Marianne’s house the week before school started.  The carpet ball game she had at her house was so cool.”
 Ivy laughed.  “We all got addicted to it every time we were at her house.  My favorite memory of Marianne was how she never typed her Ziggy papers.  We were all so afraid of her, and Marianne would write her essays on lined paper during lunch.”
 Grace laughed.  “What about how she would go to the mall the night before a physics test, while we were all studying and wonder why we didn’t come with her?”
 Ivy nodded and thought of something funny.  “Remember when you drove Julie, my brother, and I home after Elizabeth Locke’s graduation party?”
 Grace nodded.  “That was so funny.  Brandon Mead was following us in his car, and we drove in circles in Emily Page’s neighborhood until we lost him.”
 Ivy laughed.  “Do you know who I remembered recently?  Meredith Brown.”
 “Yeah.  I haven’t seen her in a long time.  How did you think of her?”
 “Well, Abby, Robin, and I were talking about Dorkestra.  After those concerts we would go to Friendly’s.  That was where she told me she liked the original RIT.”
 Grace was confused.  “RIT?  What is that?”
 “Ramsey-in-training.”  Both girls laughed.  “I think she owns a communications company now.”
 Grace reminisced.  “I was thinking about Christina Rose.  I only knew her for that one year.”
 Ivy nodded.  “Yeah.  She moved away in eight grade.  I remember when she first moved to Clarks Summit.  She lived up the street from me.  We were best friends, but we got in silly fights all the time.  She had this fort in her backyard where we use to play.”
 “Didn’t she play soccer with you?  I played for along time, but then I stopped when I moved to Abington.”
 “Yeah, she did.  One of my best memories of her was this double header we had one tournament.  My parent had gone to the airport to pick up my grandparents, but I didn’t want to miss the games.  I slept over her house and went to church with her family the next morning.”
 “You went to church?”
 “Yeah.  It was the only time I went to an actual service.  I was so confused.  I was probably nine years old.  Anyway, we won the first game, but it was so cold that we went to McDonald’s in between games.  We lost the second game.  It was sad.”
 Grace smiled.  “That is sad.  We were talking about Emily Page before.  Whatever happened to her?”
 Ivy shook her head.  “I don’t know.  I haven’t talked to her in a long time, but I think she became a florist in Lincolnville, Nebraska.”
 “Remember how she loved Mr. Pittman, Mr. Kovall and Mr. LaCoe?”
 Ivy nodded.  “Yeah.  She was so funny.  We had such a serious conversation with her at Tracy Violet’s house.”
 “My favorite memory was when the three of us went to the Olive Garden when everyone was at Senior Week.”
 Ivy smiled.  “We’ve had so many good times.”
 “Yeah, I miss those days.”  By this time, the girls had finished their meal and were enjoying the cool breeze.  Even though it was the middle of winter, the weather was unexpectedly warm, and the girls had taken advantage of this.
 There was a break in the conversation, but Ivy’s cell phone broke the silence.  “Ivy Fox here.”
 “Hello, Ivy.”  It was a voice Ivy hadn’t heard in a long time.
 “Dean?  What’s going on?”  Ivy was confused.  Why was he calling?
 “I’m sorry to ruin you vacation, but James told me to call you right away.  I have some information regarding Gregory Austin, but you need to come to Switzerland right away.”
 Ivy rolled her eyes.  “Now?”  She sighed.  “All right, I’ll leave as soon as I can.”  Ivy turned to her friend.  “I have to leave on the next flight to Switzerland.  Duty calls.”
 Grace laughed.  “I thought you were on vacation.”
 “Yeah, me too.”

Chapter X

 “We will be landing shortly.  The current time is twelve noon.  We hope you enjoy your visit to Switzerland.”
 Fox stepped out f the airport and looked around.  She smiled and walked towards a man of about her age.  “The skies are clearer in May.”
 “No, the trees are greener in May.  Are you ever going to get it right?  Anyway, how are you, Fox?”
 “I’m great Dean.  Now, don’t fuss about the password!  If I ever get it right, you would know that it wasn’t me!”  They both laughed.  She looked over at him and smiled.  He was Dean Whitemore, their contact in Switzerland and a long time friend of Ivy’s.
 “Where are you staying?”  the 36 year old, six foot tall man with dark brown hair, asked.
 “I am at the Baskerville Inn.  Do you know where it is?”
 “Oh, yes.  It’s not far.  I’ll take you there, and you can update me on the way.”  They reached the parking lot and took Dean’s Silver Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible.  On the drive to the hotel, they sat unusually silent.  Upon reaching the hotel, Dean spoke, “I’ll leave you to get settled.  I’ll be back at 6:00pm.  We’ll go for dinner.  Then, you’ll be able to tell me all about your mission, and I’ll tell you what I know.”  Fox nodded and entered the hotel.  The lobby was a traditional hotel lobby, filled with travelers, hotel staff, and luggage.
 Ivy got to her room and put her suitcase into the closet.  She had five hours until Dean came back, and she figured she would look around town.  She left the hotel and took the bus into town.  The bus reached town and Fox got off.  Across the street, there was a park.  She crossed the street and entered the park.  As she walked thru the trees, her thoughts returned to Gerald and Blaine.  Blaine seemed to have everything under control and was nice enough when she spoke with him, but she missed Gerald.    She laughed at herself.  Anyone who heard her would think she was jealous of Blaine.  That wasn’t it at all.  She didn’t know what it was, but she knew it wasn’t that.  Ivy shook her head and continued walking.  She had told Blaine everything she knew.  From now on, she might want to be more careful.  There could be a spy anywhere.
She walked around a little more and then went back to the hotel.  She went up to her floor and walked confidently down the hallway.  Her room was already open.  She paused for a moment and continued carefully.  Slowly, she pushed the door all the way open.  Ivy stepped inside and looked around.  On her bed, she found her suitcase dumped out.  Ivy opened the closet, but found nothing.  She then went into the bathroom and heard water running.  “Not very original,” she thought, but there was no one there.  She looked into the mirror and then, darkness.
***
 “Wake up!  Wake up!”  Fox felt someone shaking her.  It was Dean.  She smiled ruefully and tried to sit up.  A sharp pain in her head quickly ended that trial.  Dean tenderly brushed her hair out of her face.  He told her not to move.  Then, he lifted her of the floor and placed her on the bed, propping her upright with pillows.  Ivy looked around and saw that everything was blurry.  Dean looked around the room and then focused on Ivy.  “What happened?” he asked with such concern in his voice.
 Fox looked at him and asked, “What time is it? Don’t we have to go to dinner?”  In her typical fashion, Ivy tried to brush away all pain and emotion.
 Dean gestured for her to look at herself.  “Look at the condition you’re in.   How can we go to dinner?  Now, what happened?  Who did this to you?”
 Ivy shook her head and swung her legs off the bed.  “I’ll be ready in a minute.  Then, we’ll go to dinner and I’ll tell you the whole story.”  She tried to stand up, but she almost fell down.  Instinctively, she looked at Dean and blurted, “I’m fine!”  Realizing how loud she had spoken, she lowered her voice and repeated, “I’m fine, really.  I’ll just be a minute.”  Dean smiled and tried not to laugh.  Ivy walked to the closet, picked up something from the floor and walked into the bathroom.
 Sure enough, five minutes later Ivy walked out of the bathroom.  Dean had been looking out the window, but now he turned around.  “Wow!”  was all he could think of or say.  He looked her over.  She was wearing a red spaghetti strapped dress that ended a couple inches above her knees.  Her hair was up in a bun, but a few strands hung down around her face.  Still stunned, he uttered, “You look gorgeous!”
 “Thank you,” Fox answered, blushing.  “Come on, let’s go.  We don’t want to be any later.”  She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room so he would stop looking at her.
 They walked down the hotel hallway and stepped into the elevator.  They silently rode down to the first floor.  They exited the hotel and entered the car that had just been brought around.  Dean went to driver’s side and took the keys from the valet.  Fox entered the passenger side.  She was glad Dean hadn’t tried to open the door for her.  She hated when people did that.
 As they drove down the road, Dean kept looking at her and then back at the road.  After a few minutes of this, Ivy finally exclaimed, “What?”
 Dean laughed, “I’ve never seen you in a dress before.  I like it.”
 “Thanks.”  Ivy replied with a smile.
 Dean continued, “I was smiling before because I thought of a funny picture.  I pictured you wearing that dress while trying to get information out of a guy.”
 Fox rolled her eyes and shook her head.  “You need help.”
 Dean looked at her with a hurt gaze.  “Come on Fox, I was just kidding.”  He looked over at Fox and smiled fondly.  A small grin was tugging at the sides of Ivy’s mouth.  He continued, “See, now you’re smiling.  I was just joking.  I thought of the first time I met you.  Do you remember that day?”  Fox nodded and he went on, “It was back when I was stationed in France.”
 “I remember.  It was that mission when the French prime minister was being bribed by one of his cabinet members.”
 “You got of the plane and you were wearing a bright yellow suit…”
 “…and I looked out from the stairs and saw this dorky guy in a brown tweed suit…”
 “Hey, that wasn’t me!”
 “You didn’t let me finish.”  She cleared her throat and pretended to glare at him.  “I thought that couldn’t possibly be who I was to work with, so I continued to search the crowd.  As I stepped off the ladder, I heard a whisper…”
 “…I said, ‘What’s greener in May?’ and you said…”
 “I said, ‘the skies, of course.’  Then, you grabbed my wrist and yanked me thru the crowd…”
 “No, I led you thru the crowd…”
 “Whatever.  Anyway, you took me to your car and made me prove that I was the team member you were supposed to meet.”
 “Like that was my fault!  You couldn’t remember a simple password.”
 “It’s a stupid password!”  Ivy couldn’t help laughing.
 Dean smiled and said, “Sure…Anyway, that was a fun adventure.”
 “Yeah, we only almost got killed five times!”  Fox replied sarcastically.
 Dean was hurt.  “Oh, come on.  It wasn’t that bad a mission.”
 “No, it wasn’t.” Ivy admitted.  “I met some new people and solved the case.”
 “Oh, so now you solved the case!”
 “Yes, I did.  I found the hideout.”
 Dean looked at her incredulously.  “Yeah, but I took out the bad guys.”
 “All two of them!”
 “Oh, shut up!”  Dean sat looking forward.
 Fox looked over and laughed, “Oh, stop.  I’m just kidding.”  She tried to put her hand on his arm, but he pushed it away.  “Ok. Fine.  I’m sorry.  Are you happy now?”
 Dean stopped the car, turned to her, and replied, “Yes, let’s go.”  They got out of the car and entered the restaurant.  The inside was all gold.  There were two levels of tables inside of the circular area.  Long Greek styled columns came held up the ceiling.  The upper balcony level tables looked down into the center circle where a large fountain stood.  A wrought iron fence prevented the diners from falling.  The lower level tables surrounded the fountain, and a small orchestra took up one area of the circle.  Dean and Ivy waited for the hostess to show them to their table and then sat down.
 Fox looked around the room.  “Do you feel like someone is watching us?”
 Dean grinned, “Yep! But, they’re not watching me.  They’re looking at you!”  He knew this remark would get back at Ivy.
 “Shut up!”  As she yelled at him, she couldn’t help grinning.  Dean was back to his normal self.
 “Hey, you can’t walk into a restaurant looking nice and expect no one to notice!”
 “Shut up, Dean.  You know that’s not what I mean.  Do you think someone is really watching?”
 “I hope so, because then I might have a witness who could tell everyone I had dinner with such a beautiful lady.”  His grin grew larger as Fox became more annoyed.  He knew she wasn’t really mad.  That was why he said such things.  He laughed quietly.  “Sorry, Fox.  I just couldn’t resist.  I don’t think someone is watching us.  You’re still paranoid from being kidnapped.”  Fox sighed.  Maybe he was right, but at least she had gotten a decent answer.
 At that moment, the waiter arrived.  He spoke with a heavy Swiss accent, “Good evening.  Could I interest you in some wine?”
 Dean answered for both of them, “No.  Thank you.  We’ll just have two glasses of soda.”
 Unphased, the waiter continued, “Excellent choice.  Are you ready to order?”
 This time, Ivy answered before Dean could speak.  “Yes.  I would like to have the Fettuccini Alfredo, and he will have the Rigatoni.”
 The waiter scribbled down both orders and left.  Fox looked around the room again, admiring the beauty of the restaurant.  Dean broke into her thoughts with a curious, “Well?”
 “Oh, huh? Oh.  I was just admiring the restaurant.”
 Dean looked around and said, “Yeah, it’s nice, but that’s not what I was talking about.  Are you going to tell me what’s going on?  Remember, you’re here on this thing I like to call a ‘mission’.”
 “I am not amused.”  Just then, the conductor of the orchestra asked everyone to come and dance.
  Dean looked over at Ivy, took her hand, and said, “Come on.  You can tell me while we dance.”  Ivy followed him to the dance floor.  Dean put his arms around her, and they began to dance.
 Fox looked at him, “Are you ready to hear what’s going on now?”
 Dean smiled.  “Definitely.  I need to know what the mission is.  You might need me to save you.”
 Ivy acknowledged the last remark with another glare and then continued, “Well, after my first meeting with Blaine, I was drugged and kidnapped…” She went on to tell him the whole story of what had happened to the chief, how Blaine had taken over, and the trip to Canadia.  She paused when she saw a grin on Dean’s face.  “What?  What are you smiling about?  None of this is funny.  The chief died.”
 Dean looked at her tenderly.  “Hey, come on.  I’m sorry about that.”  His mischievous grin returned.  “But, I think you’re jealous of Blaine.”
 Fox’s eyes flamed, “I am not.”
 Dean replied.  “Sure.  Listen to yourself.  Don’t tell me you didn’t want that job.  Don’t tell me you don’t think you deserved that job.  You said it yourself.  Blaine is brand new.  You’ve been a team member, and a good one at that, for almost five years.  Now, you want me to believe you’re not jealous?”  He looked at her incredulously.
 Ivy couldn’t think of a response.  Instead, she looked at the table and saw the waiter come back.  “Good.  Our food is here.”
 Dean couldn’t help smiling as he allowed himself to be pulled back to the table.  He knew he hit a cord inside her.  He was going to have some fun with this.  He quickly wiped the grin off his face, as Fox glanced at him.
 All thru dinner, they sat eating silently.  Finally, Fox spoke, “What are you thinking about?”
 Dean grinned.  “I was thinking about how we are going to pay for this meal.  Fox looked at him inquisitively.  “Well, I didn’t bring any money.  I just realized I left my wallet in your room.”
 Ivy slapped her hand on her forehead and giggled.  “How could you do that?  Good thing I didn’t count on you to pay!”  Dean looked hurt, but questioned what she meant.  Ivy pushed a button on her shoe.  A small compartment opened in the sole of her shoe.  Ivy pulled out her credit card and said, “See, we’ll be ok.”
 Dean smiled, but he didn’t know what to say.  Instead, he changed the subject.  “Well, I guess I should tell you what you came to find out.”  Ivy put the card away and listened intently.  “After Abigail Carolls received the ransom note, we noticed an increase in activity at, what we thought was, an abandoned old castle.  When we contacted our Castle, Blaine told me…”
 Ivy interrupted, “Wait a minute.  You talked to Blaine?  You didn’t tell me that!”
 He laughed at her.  “Ivy, I was telling you.  Anyway, Blaine told me to see how many properties I could find on Gregory Austin’s name.  I found four: the Elephant Castle in Barcelona, the Industry Bio lab in Canadia, the deserted castle here, and another office building in New York.  Did you know he had a wife and a daughter who died a few weeks before your kidnapping?”
 Ivy was surprised.  “Are you serious?  Why didn’t anyone find this out before?”
 “Well, no one knew.  They lived at the Elephant Castle because Austin had a big research lab there.  I guess after the accident, he just snapped.”
 “What kind of accident?”  Ivy wanted to know more.
 “That’s the thing.  No one knows or is willing to tell.  The last message from our spy in his organization said he was going to New York next, but he didn’t know anything else.”
 Ivy thought for a moment.  “The whole thing is a big joke.  Austin just lead’s us around and makes a fool out of me.  I’m so sick of this mission.”
 Dean nodded.  “Then, we need to have a plan.”  By this time, they had finished their meal.  Ivy paid, and Dean continued.  “So what do you think we should do?”  They walked towards the car.  Before Ivy could answer, there was a huge explosion.  Everyone dove to the ground and covered their heads.   Ivy and Dean looked up, only to see Dean’s car up in flames.  “So much for driving…”

Chapter XI

 As Ivy walked along the New York Streets, her thoughts turned to her original conversation with Gregory.  She needed a clue to figure out how to stop him.  Ivy remembered the one answer Austin had given her.  “I’m not with the Orders in Council.”  She had ignored the statement when she first heard it, but what did it mean.  Who were the Orders in Council?
Ivy pulled out her cell phone and dialed the Castle.  “James?  Can you check something for me?”
“Sure, Ivy.  What have you found out?”
“Dean told me about the four properties and Austin’s family.  Before he shot the chief, Austin told me he’s not with the Orders in Council.  I’ve never heard of it.  What is that organization?”
James thought for a moment.  “This might take some digging.  Let me call you back.”
“Ok.”  Ivy hung up and looked down, as she put her phone back in her pocket.  When she looked up, Ivy bumped into someone.  “Oh, sorry.”
The woman turned back to Ivy.  “That’s okay.”  She turned around, paused, and turned back.  “Ivy Fox?”
Ivy heard her name and spun around.  She looked at the woman intently.  “Evangeline Wang?”  Ivy laughed.  “How are you?”
Evangeline smiled.  “I’m good.  How about you?”
“Good, good.  What are you doing in New York?”
“Actually, I’m an author in Florence.  I was in this restaurant…” She pointed to the building next to them.  “…meeting my publisher.  You know what’s funny, crack head?”
Ivy smiled.  “What?”
“Elizabeth Locke and a bunch of Abington people just sat down to eat as I was leaving.”
“Really, maybe I’ll go say hi.”
“I actually have to catch a plane, but it was good seeing you.”
“You too.  Bye.”  Ivy gave her friend a hug and waved goodbye.  She turned back to the restaurant.  The New York Café had a navy blue awning covering the entrance.  Ivy walked up the stairs and was let in by the doorman.  Ivy took off her sunglasses and put them on her head.  Her ponytail swung back and forth as she walked up the red velvet stairs.
The hostess greeted her.  “Hello.  How may I help you today?”
Ivy smiled.  “Actually, I’m looking for some friends.  Can I see if they’re here?”
“Sure.  Right this way.”  The younger looking lady, with deep black eyes and even darker hair and dressed in a red skirt and a white dress shirt, let her pass.
Ivy roamed past a few tables until she heard loud laughing.  She turned and saw a long table filled with old friends.  She saw Elizabeth Locke, Carolyn Faith, Gabriella Scarlet, Chloe Peters, Ann Haley, Monica Jones, and Sonia Phoenix.  Fox quickly walked over to them.   “Hi guys, what’s going on?”
All of the girls at the table looked at her.  “Ivy Fox?”  They all jumped up and gave her a hug.
Elizabeth began.  “What are you doing in New York?  Come sit with us.”  Ivy sat down at an empty seat next to Elizabeth.
Ivy laughed.  “I could ask you the same thing.  I thought you were a Chefess in Las Vegas.  I’m actually here on business.”
Elizabeth continued.  “I came to visit Carolyn, and we tried to get everyone in New York together.”
Carolyn started in.  “How did you know we were here?”
“Actually, I bumped into Evangeline, as she was leaving.  She told me.”
Ann nodded.  “Well, it’s good to see you.  I’m actually an advertising CEO, professional rock climber, and a wilderness backpacker.  Remember how Valencia Fletcher and I planned a clothing store in high school?  Well, we actually opened it.  I have an advertising agency above the store.”
Ivy smiled.  “Wow.  That’s cool.  Where is Valencia?  We had so many good times junior year in gym class.”
Chloe answered.  “She’s competing in a horse show in Kentucky right now.”
“Oh.  Well, what have you guys been up to?”
Chloe smiled.  “I have my own architecture firm here in the city.”
It was Carolyn’s turn.  “I am a journalist for Times, and a lawyer in discrimination cases here and in Philly.”
Next in the circle was Gabriella Scarlet.  “I became a researcher and a doctor, but I play volleyball on the side.”  They all giggled.
Monica Jones spoke.  “I’m a Broadway dancer, choreographer, and teacher.”
“What about you, Sonia?  I didn’t know you lived here.”
Sonia laughed.  “I don’t.  I was just in town.  I’m actually a philosopher in Seattle.”
It was Ivy’s turn to laugh.  “Really?  And what have you philosophized?”
Sonia knew what to say.  “Well, I’ve decided that Chocolate Milk does go with Cereal.”
Ivy rolled her eyes.  “Never did and never will.”  Everyone had to agree, but they had no idea what Sonia and Ivy were talking about.  “So, what is everyone else doing?  I thought more people were in New York.”
Carolyn thought for a moment and then answered.  “Well, Renee Jordan was here two weeks ago.”
“Was she really?  I thought she would be training in Cape Canaveral.”
Gabriella was confused.  “Training? For what?”
Elizabeth answered.  “She is going to be the first woman on Mars next month.”  Everyone was excited and impressed.  “Remember how we all use to skip dorkestra?”
Ivy laughed.  “Yeah, I just met Robin Saint and Abby Carrolls in Canadia.  They’re doing well, too.”
Ann spoke next.  “Well, Tracy Violet is an author here in the city, but she is on a world book signing tour.  I think she is in Australia right now.”
Chloe smiled.  “Remember Tracy’s dead doll position?”
Elizabeth nodded.  “That was so scary!”
Sonia spoke.  “I remember the fun we had at the newspaper meetings with Baillie.”
Monica joined in.  “Jessica Cole became ABT president, but she’s out of the area also.”
Ivy smiled.  “I haven’t seen her since we graduated from George Washington, but I remember selling tickets at that band competition for NHS.”
Elizabeth giggled.  “Ahh…NHS…those were some fun times.”  All of them laughed.
Gabriella added.  “I spoke with Jaime Tape and Lynne Knight the other day.  Jaime became a lawyer, and Lynne is a teacher.”
Ivy laughed.  “Lynne and I had so much fun in karate class.  Ann, do you still practice?”
Ann smiled.  “No, but I do remember how excited I was when I got my black belt.”
Sonia joined the reminiscing.  “Well, I spoke with Jonathan Drake the other day.”
Chloe became interested.  “Really?  I haven’t seen him since we graduated from NYU. What is he up to?”
Sonia laughed.  “Haven’t you seen his movies?  He lives in Seattle, but commutes to Hollywood to act in movies.”  They all were silent for a moment.  The waiter came and took their orders.
Elizabeth resumed conversation.  “I saw Marie Quick in Las Vegas the other day.  I didn’t get to talk to her, but I hear she’s doing well.”
Ivy smiled.  “I remember how she couldn’t stop laughing at Mr. Bath’s jokes.  What about Olivia Brooks?”
Carolyn answered.  “I haven’t spoken to her in awhile, but I think she went into research.”
Ivy nodded.  “We once took Abby’s hair clips and used them as swords in Mr. Montross’s class.  He thought we were insane.”  They all laughed, remembering all their fun in biology.
Elizabeth spoke again.  “Do you know who else I saw in my restaurant?  Bianca White came in the other day.”
“Really?  How is she?” Ivy asked.
“She’s doing well.  She became a researcher in Washington, DC.  Remember watching Hamlet at her house?  We got so bored we turned it off in the middle.”
Chloe spoke up.  “I remember making our English extra-credit videos.  My favorite was when we were the witches.”
Ann laughed.  “I think the Canterbury Tales were funny.  We had such funny costumes.  Remember how Kent Quincy bit my hand?”
Gabriella spoke up.  “At least he didn’t have to pretend to rape you!”  They all laughed.
Ivy turned to Monica.  “Monica, do you remember that tennis tournament in Delaware Valley?”
Monica laughed.  “Yeah, all the finals were Abington vs. Abington, and we had another one of our epic battles.”
“How about the year when Mambo #5 came on the radio every time we went to play tennis.”
“I remember.  That became our tennis song for the year.”
Carolyn joined in.  “Tennis was fun.  Samara Samuels played with us, too.  Remember the party where we played that lying game?”
Ivy laughed.  “It was a weird game.  Robin kept getting frustrated.  We use watched that ‘thinking movie’ that night.”
Carolyn laughed.  She then spoke with a British accent.  “Yeah, all of us kept trying to figure out the plot.”
Elizabeth burst in.  “NO! Not the accent.  Stop talking like that.  I hate it when you guys talked like that.”
Chloe joined with the accent.  “Like what?”  Elizabeth groaned, and Chloe continued.  “We started speaking with the accents at my surprise party senior year.”
Carolyn gasped.  “That’s when we started the brothel.  Everyone who heard us in Don Pablo’s thought we were crazy!”
Ivy smiled.  “You know when we had fun, Carolyn?  When we were at Penn State for Junior Academy States.”
“I remember how Abby fell so many times because of her shoes that one time she wouldn’t get up.”  They all laughed, and Carolyn continued.  “We also had fun making a bridge with Mrs. Horger.”
Ann laughed.  “Remember bridge building with Kovall?  Robin, Ivy, and I built ours together.”
“Yeah, we worked for so long, but we got bored and went to Revelo’s for dinner!”
Ann continued.  “Then, we couldn’t concentrate when we got back to Robin’s.  Remember the million dollar question, ‘What the crap is Ivy doing?’”  Ivy nodded and laughed.
Gabriella spoke up.  “Do you remember the brain jello mold?”
Ivy answered.  “Yeah!  We sent it to Abby’s house.  We wanted to make it and give it to the science teachers as a present, but we never did because Abby lost it.”
Gabriella smiled.  “I never did get my pocket G.”
Sonia was confused.  “Your what?”
Gabriella explained.  “I wanted to make a pocket size version of Ivy to take with me.”  The conversation paused when the waiter brought the check.
After the waiter left, Ann started to laugh softly.  “Remember the time we had gone to Grotto’s Pizza, and Grace Ebony unknowingly offended the waiter twice?”
Ivy laughed.  “She wouldn’t believe us when we told her what she said.  Wasn’t your friend from youth group with us?”
“Yeah, Sarah had a good time.  Remember panel’s with Ziggy?”
Elizabeth spoke up.  “I hated those!”
Ann continued.  “My first panel was so crazy.  It was with Abby and Kent.”
Ivy nodded.  “I remember.  All three of you guys called me at the same time and told me how much work you still had to do.”
Ann laughed.  “We just barely got it done in time.
Ivy smiled.  “My first panel was with Hillary May and Gary Maxell.  I remember it was Ziggy’s last panel ever.  After that, she fell and retired.  Hillary and I were pen pals in fourth grade.”
Elizabeth laughed.  “I remember our pen pals.  We went to Waverly, so we wrote to kids in the middle school.”
Ann spoke again.  “Remember your second grade birthday party?  We were twins for the day.”  Ivy remembered.
Elizabeth joined the conversation.  “The thing I remember from when we were that young is our sleepovers.”
Ivy laughed.  “Or almost not sleepovers.”  Everyone was confused, so she explained.  “I would call my dad in the middle of the night to take me home, but when he came, our dad’s would keep talking.  By the time he was ready to go, Elizabeth and I would be fast asleep.  I remember our mother’s presents.”
Elizabeth laughed.  “They would send each other goodies and make us deliver them.  We never did go on that bike ride.”
Ivy smiled.  “It was just to far to go between our houses.  Then, we got cars, so we didn’t need bikes.”
Elizabeth continued.  “What about TV education?”
“That was the best.  Inevitably, we found something on TV related to what we were studying in school.”
Chloe spoke up.  “Do you guys remember the Super Bowl parties at my house?”
Ivy nodded.  “Those were so much fun.  Everybody would be there.”
Elizabeth added.  “We had so many people on your trampoline.  Then during the game, all the kids would be drawing the logos of their team.”
Ivy remembered.  “You had your bunny in that house.”
Chloe nodded.  “Remember how we use to walk to the Human Society to see the animals?”
Ivy smiled.  “Yeah, and we went to where you rode horses.”
Elizabeth changed the subject.  “Ivy, do you remember our eight grade research papers?”
Ivy laughed.  “We got so into the cloning research.  We must have each had fifty sources and 200 pages of information, and that’s not exaggerating.”
Elizabeth nodded.  “We were so good in that debated against Cynthia Walker.”
Ivy continued.  “I think the most fun thing we did was rec soccer.”
Elizabeth agreed.  “Rec softball and basketball were cool, but soccer was the best.  We were so excited when we finally made it to the finals.”
Ivy laughed.  “We didn’t even care that we lost.  We just wanted the medals.”  All of them giggled.  Ivy’s phone rang.  “Ivy Fox here.”
“Hey, Ivy.  It’s me James.  I have the information you wanted.”
“Ok.  Hold on one second.”  Ivy turned back to her friends.  “It’s been really fun remembering everything.  Unfortunately, I have to get back to work.”  Everyone agreed they had a good time and exchanged hugs.  Ivy gave the money she owed and left the restaurant.

Chapter XII

 Ivy turned her attention to her cell phone. “James?  I’m back.  What did you find out?”
 “Well, the Orders in Council is an organization that oversees the destruction of people with infectious diseases.”
 Ivy was confused.  “Why haven’t we dealt with them before, then?”
 James laughed.  “The organization is new.  If Gregory hadn’t said anything about it, we might not have known for a while.  Anyway, I think this means that Gregory isn’t serious with his threats.”
 “You mean he doesn’t really want to kill anyone?”
 “Precisely.”
 Ivy wasn’t sold on the idea.  “Then, why all the threats?”
 James wasn’t sure.  “I don’t know, Ivy.  It’s just a theory.”
 Ivy nodded.  “Well, I’m going to Gregory’s New York office.  He’s bound to show up sometime.”
 “Do you need any help?  I can be up there in an hour.”
 Ivy shook her head.  “No.  I’ll be fine.  Just have some plain clothes policemen around the building so they can arrest him when I bring him out.”
 “Ok, Ivy.  Blaine wants to speak with you.”
 Ivy rolled her eyes, but spoke politely.  “Hello, Blaine.”
 “Hello, Ivy.  Are you all right?”
 Ivy laughed.  “I’m fine.  Did you need something?”
 “No, I just wanted to say ‘Be careful.’”  Ivy laughed and hung up the phone.

Chapter XIII

 Gregory’s New York office turned out to be a run down, abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city.  The outside was made of wooden planks.  Part of the building had collapsed, so Ivy had moved to the intact side.  She pushed open one of the doors, and the hinges let out a loud squeak.  Ivy groped along the wall looking for a light switch, but she couldn’t find any.  She moved silently thru the darkened building carefully examining whatever she could see.  From what she saw, Ivy decided the place had been the victim of a fire.
 Ivy finally made it to what looked like the main office.  She saw only a large desk and several filing cabinets.  Papers and folders covered the floor.  The office looked as though a person had been searching for something.  Ivy picked up some of the papers and looked thru them, but she couldn’t understand what they were for.  She turned her attention to the desk.  All she saw was pencils and more paper.  A glimmer on the floor behind the desk caught her eye.  Ivy walked around the desk and picked up a gold picture frame.  The picture was of Gregory, a woman, and a little girl.  “They must be his wife an daughter,” Ivy thought to herself.
 Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her and almost dropped the picture.  “Don’t touch that!  Give it to me!”
 The surprised Ivy spun around only to see Gregory behind her.  Calmly, Ivy handed over the picture and said, “Gregory, it’s just me, Ivy.”
 Austin had calmed down by now.  “I thought it was you.  What are you doing here?”
 “I came to see you.  You need to stop this nonsense and turn yourself in.”
 “Never!”
 Ivy came over to him and spoke softly.  “I know about the accident, about your wife, and your daughter.”
 Austin laughed.  “You don’t know anything.  No one knows.  Only I know what I did to them.”
 Ivy was confused.  “What you did to them?”
 “Why do you think I come back to this deserted place?  My wife and our daughter had come to see me at work one day.  Then, the building caught on fire.  They were trapped.  I even jumped into the flaming building to save them, but I didn’t get there on time.”
 “I’m sorry.”  Ivy paused.  “But, what does any of that have to do with all of the threats and me?”
 Gregory laughed again.  “Nothing really.  I was bored and depressed.  When I heard about you, I came up with this game.  I was never going to kill anybody.”
 Ivy became angry.  “What about Gerald?”
 “Who’s Gerald?”  Now, Gregory was confused.
 Still flaming, Ivy grabbed Gregory’s arm.  “You’re coming with me.  Gerald was our team’s leader.  You shot him while you were on the phone with me.”
 Gregory had allowed Ivy to pull him, but upon hearing this accusation, he jerked his arm away.  “I did no such thing.  The first time I spoke with you was at the Elephant Castle in Barcelona.”
 Ivy was really confused, but she didn’t say anything.  She dragged Gregory out into the main room and was planning to take him to the police waiting outside.  At that instant, the overhead lights came on.  Ivy shielded her eyes, as they had become accustomed to the darkness.  Gregory did the same.  “What is going on?  Did you do this?”
 Gregory shook his head and pointed.  “Look.”
 To Ivy’s great surprise, Blaine, James and the other team members walked thru the door.  “What…what is going on?” she stammered.
 Blaine came over smiling.  “The whole thing was a test, Ivy.  You passed.”
 Ivy became angry again.  What test?  What are you talking about?  I saw Gerald die.”
 The team and Blaine became somber.  “Ivy, Gerald really did die, but Gregory didn’t kill him.  That was not related to this at all.  Julia and James caught his murderer while you were in Canadia.”
 Ivy was shocked.  She looked over at her two friends.  They nodded, but averted her gaze by looking at the ground.  Ivy turned to Gregory.  “You were in on this?”
 Gregory nodded sheepishly.  “Yeah.  Sorry to put you thru all this, but I was just following orders.”
 “What about your family?  This warehouse?”
 Gregory became serious.  “All of that was true.  I became a team member a little while after it happened.  I’m actually your contact in Barcelona.”
 Ivy still wasn’t sure.  “What about the voice of the caller?  It sounded just like you.”
 Gregory was confused.  Blaine answered.  “A lot of people sound alike on cell phones.”
 Ivy looked at the ground, still very upset.  “I guess so.”  She started to leave the building.
 Blaine was surprised.  “Where are you going?”
 Ivy looked at him.  Her eyes were black and fierce.  “To the Castle.  I have real work to do.”  She pushed her team members aside.
 James caught her arm.  “Ivy?”  She didn’t want to hear anything.  Ivy jerked her arm away and walked out of the building.

Chapter XIV

The two friends sat across from each other not saying a word.  The silence wasn’t uncomfortable, but rather relieving.  Suddenly, Ivy’s eyes opened wide.  “Wait right here.  I’ll be back in a second.”  Samara Samuels just nodded her head, still marveling at the beauty of the Castle.  As she looked out, Samara saw the sheer cliff used for rock climbing practice.  Ivy came back with a tray in her hand and a smile on her face.  Samara looked at the tray and began to giggle.  She took one of the cups filled with the brown creamy substance.  Ivy took the other.  She placed the tray on the table between them and settled back into the cushiony chair.  Silence reigned once again, broken only by the sips of hot chocolate entering the two mouths.  Again, Samara began to giggle.  Ivy only smiled.  She knew Samara understood why she had brought the hot chocolate.
 Samara began, “Do you remember the…the…Oh what was the name of that SAT class?  KAPLAN!  Diana Fleming, Elizabeth Locke, Emily Page, Carolyn Faith, and Hillary May were with us.  That class was so funny, but that was the best hot chocolate.”
 Ivy joined in, “How about the last day?  Do you remember?”
 Samara giggled again, “You mean the day we didn’t let Elizabeth Locke have any hot chocolate?”  Ivy nodded and Samara continued, “Yeah, I remember.  We got to the Holiday Inn next to the Avoca airport before she did.  Of course, we went right for the hot chocolate!  I remember we drank one packet each right way.  Then, we hid the rest in your coat!”
 Ivy continued the story.  “Yeah.  Then, when Elizabeth arrived, she asked the manager to fill up the hot chocolate, and they had none left!  Do you remember hoe mad she was when she found out we hat the hot chocolate the whole time?”  Samara nodded as they both settled back into their chairs giggling and sipping the hot chocolate.  Both women looked around peacefully.  A sudden breeze played with their hair.
 Samara spoke again.  “Diana doesn’t live to far from here.”
 “Really?”
 “Yeah.  She became an orthopedic surgeon in Baltimore.”
 Ivy spoke.  “Remember the ‘heads’?”
 Samara laughed.  “Yeah, Emily was driving the three of us to class one day, and she saw a truck without a trailer.  She called it a ‘head.’”
 “We counted how many ‘heads’ we saw on the road.”
 “There were a lot more than we expected.”
 Ivy smiled.  “So, Madame President, have you enjoyed your tour of our facilities?”
 Samara smiled.  “I love it out here, Ivy.  Listen, I’m sorry about the last couple weeks.  I didn’t know that I was testing you when I ordered Blaine to test a team member.  Don’t be mad at him.  He only did what I told him to.”
 Ivy nodded.  “It’s okay.  I’m just glad the whole thing was only a test.  I’m not mad at Blaine.”  She shrugged her shoulders.  I guess he felt the need to test me.  It doesn’t matter anymore.”
 Samara became concerned.  “You’re not quitting, are you?”
 Ivy laughed.  “No, of course not.  I have a lot of work left to do.”
Just then, they heard a whirring sound above them.  Samara looked up.  “That must be my helicopter.  I have to get back to Washington.”  She rose, gave Ivy a hug, and boarded the helicopter as soon as it landed.
 Ivy waved goodbye.  Soon, the helicopter could not be seen or heard.  James came up to Ivy.  The two walked along the stone wall enclosing the property.  Clouds once again covered the sky, but the grayness did not bother the two friends.  They stopped at the portion of the wall where Ivy stood when she received that first phone call from Gregory.  Ivy laughed ironically.  “This is where it all started.”
 James looked at her fondly.  “I know…” The two of them looked out over the blue ocean and watched the calming waves follow their undulating pattern.  “I know…”
 
 

Characters

Abha Patel -- Abigail Carols
Amy Schuester -- Tracy Violet
Angelina Brutico -- Olivia Brooks
Becky Rupp -- Diana Fleming
Ben Heller -- Gary Maxell
Brian Rosland -- Brandon Mead
Caitlin Prokay -- Monica Jones
Candi Feldman -- Emily Page
Courtney Russell -- Christina Rose
Eileen Schmidt -- Lynne Knight
Eric Nyugen -- Eric Smart
Erin Higley -- Marianne Margrets
Han Li -- Sarah Robins
Heather Decker -- Carolyn Faith
Heidi Thran -- Katherine Eden
Jeff Gilkerson -- Seth Cash
Jennie Imdorf -- Meredith Brown
Jessica Hibard -- Marie Quick
Jessica Jacobs -- Ann Haley
Jessica Toro -- Virginia Booth
Julie Belch -- Gwen Johnson
Kezin Parabia -- Jake Branch
Laura Cataldo -- Christina Globe
Lauren McGraw -- Renee Jordan
Lindsey Wilson -- Jaime Tape
Liz Coyne -- Jessica Cole
Lorna Wang -- Kerry Light
Manali Patel -- Chloe Peters
Matt Charnitiski -- Jonathan Drake
Maura Scolere -- Robin Saint
Meghan Johnson -- Valencia Fletcher
Michelle Zinicola -- Isabella Greene
Nicole Nyugen -- Nicole Smart
Rachel Burt -- Cynthia Walker
Rachel Petry -- Grace Ebony
Rachel Sumlovitz -- Tanya St. Cloud
Rachel White -- Sonia Phoenix
Rebecca DeSanto -- Hillary May
Roma Desai -- Elizabeth Locke
Sabeena Shah -- Evangeline Wang
Samantha Morris -- Samara Samuels
Sara DeMello -- Sally Bee
Silvana Gross -- Ally Mudd
Stacy Rosenberg -- Bianca White
Steve Douglass -- Kent Quincy
Tahira Gooden -- Marcy Tiger
Tara Trudnak -- Gabriella Scarlet
Tricia Sladicka -- Beth James
 

When you finish reading this, email me at [email protected] and tell me what you think!