Annie IV: Home Again

(Chronological index: Just after Ray/Denise wedding, flashbacks to Raymond in Middle School/High School, The Day)

Annie's reflexes were rolling back the clock. The Mom always bumped the kitchen door open with her hip. That swung the carrier sharply to the other side. Annie grabbed the mesh in the front of the carrier with one hand, just like always, and snagged Pet's hand with the other. That part was new.

"Eeep!" Pet yipped as she nearly went down.

"Sorry," Mom said. Annie rolled her eyes. Mom was always sorry. The carrier came down on the kitchen counter with the door hanging over the sink.

Annie didn't relax just yet. Pet got her feet under her and started to step away. Annie pulled her back to the mesh.

"There's a four in ten chance…" Annie started to say. Something rolled out of the grocery bag and hit the carrier. They were jerked forward as it moved, then tilted down into the sink from their combined weight.

"Gotcha!" a new voice said, sweeping the carrier up into the air. Then they were face to face with a smiling giant. The young woman beamed at them as she gently set the cage down on the table and opened the door.

"Sorry!" Mom called.

"It's okay, Aunt Gwen! I got 'em. Hi, Annie."

"Hi, Sue. Sue, this is Pet. Pet, this is our cousin, Sue. What are you doing here?" Annie led her fellow sylph out a few steps into the clear. The Mom was putting groceries away. Sue sat down at the table and put a hand next to the two tiny women.

"I'm attending Gainsville," Sue said.

"No accounting for taste," Mom muttered.

"Hey, I applied to Georgia, but I made the mistake of spelling my name right on the application." Mom sniffed in disdain.

"Anyway," Sue went on, "Aunt Gwen says I can stay here whenever I get homesick."

"So you're basically living here," Annie said with a smile. Everyone laughed, though Pet's laugh seemed forced, her expression confused. Annie had seen that a lot, living with the extended Foster clan.

"The Fosters-" she started to explain.

"Of which you are one, now," Mom said. Pet's eyes glazed just a bit as she tried to follow the conversation.

"We Fosters," Annie corrected, "are famous for being a close-knit family. Some of them get homesick if they walk to the end of the driveway."

"Hey!" Sue said.

"It's the truth," Annie said with a dismissive wave. "You guys make Siamese twins look like lone wolves."

"We," Mom said. "We make cojoined twins…"

"Mom insists," Annie explained to Pet, "that sylphs slot into the family tree in the same place as their owner. So I'm effectively Ray's sister-"

"Little Sister," Sue said with a giggle. Annie made a rude gesture without slowing.

"And you're Mom's daughter in law. So we're sisters, and Fosters. WE make conjoined twins look like lone wolves."

"Uh-huh," Pet said slowly. "Nice to meet you, Cousin Sue."

"You, too, Cousin Pet. What are you guys doing here without Ray and Denise?"

Annie rolled her eyes dramatically. Pet covered her smile. "Oh, my GOD!" her older 'sister' intoned. "Twenty years of loyal service to my revered Master, and suddenly I'm surplus to needs." She staggered backwards in a faint. Sue dutifully caught her in a hand.

"One radio station gives away a diving vacation in shark-infested waters-"

"Shark infested!?!" Pet shrieked with alarm. Annie paused and opened one eye. "Oh. Okay. Um, go on."

"Shark Infested Waters off of Hawaii, travel and diver certification included, and they're off. OFF! Without a word of apology, they dump us on innocent bystanders, and hare off to distant lands of sun and fun."

"And sharks," Sue added dryly.

"Well, yeah," Annie admitted, popping to her feet. "They have to swim around sharks, pretending to have a fun time, we get to eat Mom's cooking for a week."

"Which I can't start until the groceries are put away," Mom said. Sue slid to her feet and started helping. They carried a few bags into the pantry.

"Family?" Pet asked. "Are they serious?"

"Mom's serious," Annie said, gazing fondly at the retreating back of her owner's mother.

"Is she…confused?"

"No. No, she knows exactly what she's doing. On the second worst day of my life, she made a conscious decision to save me."

------

"But she's mine!" Raymond protested yet again. "The law says so!"

"It may be the law," his mother said, turning around in her seat. "But it's not the right thing to do, now is it?"

Raymond pouted, clenching the coffee can Annie rode in. She shifted to keep her footing on the bottom as it shook in the young boy's hands. She also tucked her wrap in a bit more.

After a month being hidden in the boy's room, she'd met his parents last night, right after the President's statement on the Sylph Situation.

And what a difference a day made. The woman referred to her as 'it' or 'the thing,' but she had insisted that covering be provided. It wasn't exactly clothing, but she wasn't naked any more, either.

The man had come up with a bird cage so she didn't have to share quarters with the hamster for one more night. And the rag bed beat Thrud the Fluffinator's sawdust all to hell.

Then they both insisted that Annie go home. Yes, the legal wrangling had decided that sylphs weren't people, that they became wards of whoever found them, that they were pets at best.

But though Raymond had been counting on just such developments before he revealed his find, his parents had a different standard.

"If you were teeny tiny," his mom had asked, "wouldn't you want to be taken home? Back to us? To your family?"

"No," he protested. "I'd want to obey the LAW!"

"Uh-huh," the father had grunted. "You and the law are barely on speaking terms unless it's to your advantage." He picked up the coffee can and looked down on the teenager within.

Annie had noticed that neither adult actually touched her. She was trying to figure out if that was a good sign or a bad one. At least, after being pawed by the 6th grader for four weeks, it was a relief.

"I swear," the dad was saying, "I'd like to be going out of my fu- My freaking mind. People all over shrinking, disappearing, being caged and sold and traded like animals, and not knowing where my kid was?

"If nothing else, son, you've got to let the thing's parents know what happened. And the right thing to do would be to take it back."

"Okay," the boy finally nodded.

"We'll drive over first thing in the morning," the dad had allowed. "You can keep her one last night."

Now they were going down her street. She saw huge hangars go by, buildings that she both did and didn't recognize. It was even weirder than being in Raymond's strange, giant bedroom. She knew how this place was SUPPOSED to look.

Raymond led the way up the walk. He paused at the doorway so his father reached over the two of them and knocked. The door swung wide and Annie looked up at her mother's drawn face.

"Yes?" she asked, centering her focus on the tallest person on her steps. Annie quivered. She'd been wondering how she'd announce her change. Now she was frozen with fear, shame and…and something else. Was it anticipation? She shook her head, too confused to know what she even felt.

"Ma'am," the dad said with a nod. "I know it's been a rough month for you, but we have some…news." Hell, Annie thought, even he doesn't know if it's good or bad news.

"Your daughter is alive."

Her mother gasped. Then looked around wildly. To the left and to the right. Not down. No one ever looked down. No one would see her without a gesture.

Raymond lifted the coffee can up and drew the woman's attention. She focused. Then she shrieked and slammed the door.

"Momma?" Annie whispered. Raymond's dad knocked once more. There was a long wait.

The door opened a crack. Her father looked out. "Y'all take that thing away from here," he said. "We're good folk. Not cursed." The door shut a final time.

The man raised his hand to knock again, then paused. He looked down at his wife. Raymond still held the can up.

"Come on," the woman said. "Come on, let's go home. We'll give them some time. Maybe they need to adjust to the idea."

"Momma? Poppa?" Annie said a little louder. The family turned away and carried her back to the car. She started jumping up and down in the can. "MOMMA!" she shrieked.

Hands scooped her up and held her tight to a vast bosom. "Shush, hush, hush, little girl." The voice shook her entire body, vibrating through the shirt beneath her. "It'll be okay. It'll be okay. Whatever happens, you won't be alone, I promise. We've certainly got room for you."

Annie bawled as she left her childhood home, never to return.

"Annie?"

She shook her head and focused on Pet. "Wow. Guess my reflexes aren't the only thing suffering a trip on the way-back machine."

Pet shrugged, completely lost by the remark. Annie wondered if she could ever explain.

------

"…so Dad says," and Annie dropped her voice into a credible imitation of the man at the end of the table, "'Just fucking listen, goddamnit. EASE the foot off the clutch, EASE the gas on. When you feel the transmission catch, just let the car take it, okay?' And he didn't say 'okay, moron' because he was trying to be supportive."

Pet giggled from where Sue held her. Dad shook his head in rueful memory. Mom took the last empty plate to the sink then sat back down in the chair nearest the sylph. Sue stroked Pet's back and stared at Annie.

"So, I lay flat on the dashboard and get a death-grip on the vent. He puts the stick in first. Then you can see him concentrate. And you see Dad crossing his fingers. And then… Well, he works the clutch like he works the brake…binary. WHAM! Gas pedal to the floor, lets the clutch go like it was covered in fire ants, the car LEAPS into the air, shakes twice, moves about six inches closer to the Naval base and dies." She turned and smiled up at Dad.

"Ray says, in a shaky voice, 'that was better, wasn't it?' Dad just reaches out, puts a hand under the rear-view mirror and catches me before I fall. He hands me to Ray and says, 'Why don't you ask her?'"

When the laughter died down, Sue picked Annie up. "You poor thing," she said.

"Eh, we survived. I just didn't go with them in the car for a month or so." She grabbed Pet's hand and tried to jump back down to the table. Sue reached for her wine glass at the same time. Both sylphs ended up drenched in a blood-red puddle.

"Oh!"

"It's not that bad," Mom said, calming Sue and Pet both. Annie'd been through a lot worse. She slopped to the edge of the puddle and stripped off her clothing. With a nod of her head, she drew Pet over with her. The wine was mopped up and the stained clothes collected for immediate laundering.

"This close to bedtime, we'll just wait and put on PJ's," Annie asked/said.

"Okay," Pet agreed.

Sue stared down at the naked girls. "Were there any…problems when Ray was smaller?" she asked. "I mean, going through puberty with a personal, living centerfold in his pocket?"

"None," Mom said with grave authority. "He still thought girls were yucky when he found Annie, and by the time he cared, he never thought of her that way."

Annie nodded, never thinking to argue with Mom, no matter how wrong the woman was. Or no more than partially right.

During the first two weeks she lived in Raymond's attic room, he always had her walking around where he could stare at her, or he was holding her, twisting her limbs around. He never pushed enough to hurt her, and he wasn't (yet) a horny teen.

He just found the first naked girl he'd ever seen fascinating. He would concentrate on one muscle or joint, watching the skin flow over it as she moved, or as he flexed it back and forth. She felt like a pocket model for anatomical studies.

She tried to put her foot down, to be treated like a person, but ordering someone who loomed overhead like the Statue of Liberty didn't work out well.

One night he was idly spreading and squeezing her thighs with his thumb when she lucked on a new strategy. "What are your grades like, Raymond?" she asked. He shrugged.

"B's, mostly. Why?"

"Well, you're not doing a lot of homework," she said. He stopped moving her and she twisted free. "When I got my first boyfriend, I spent so much time dreaming about him and me and us, my grades dropped like a stone. My parents thought it was because I was doing drugs."

She stood and dusted off her ass. The hamster bedding spread further across the desk each time he took her from the cage.

"I'm not doing drugs," he said. A finger snaked out to push her hip. She rode through it and kept her footing.

"But that's going to be their assumption. Your parents', that is. Mine tore my room apart, looking for my stash. Do you want your parents finding me before you're ready?"

"No," he said with a little surprise. Then he sank in his chair. "But we're doing poetry," he spat.

"Oh. I'd help you with your homework," she offered. Anything to keep from involuntary physicals. "But the only poem I know anything about is The Raven."

"Yep," he said. "We're reading that. A crazy guy yells at a bird that only knows one word. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid!" she shouted. "It's wonderful! Look, do you have a copy?" He pulled a textbook out of his knapsack and opened the page.

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore," he read aloud. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"Sure it does," Annie said, stepping up onto the page. She knelt and pointed at a word. "Midnight. He's staying up late. Dreary. He's fucking bored."

The kid's eyes went wide. Annie had suspected that he'd be more interested in an adult vocabulary than anything like sex, just yet. She moved over a bit. "Pondered. What does that mean?"

"That's the ranch on Bonanza," he said, starting to look interested. She pushed the hair back over her ear and sighed. At least he was holding the page, not her ass.

But Mom knew about the tutoring. What she didn't know was Annie's mistake much later.

She spent two years grooming her owner to be one of the cool kids when he reached high school. It was a lot easier on her second trip through the grades. Her apprentice owned a sylph and everyone wanted to be close enough to play with her. It was more a matter of picking the clique to join.

She goofed.

"Please don't do this to me! Please!" she begged.

Raymond pet her on the behind and smiled encouragingly. "You don't have to be afraid," he said. "I'll be right here the whole time."

"That'd mean a LOT more if you were stopping it!" she shrieked. He shook his head and peeled her off of his wrist.

Some giggling came from the teens in the other corner. They were looking in a cardboard box and discussing which one to put on the table.

Helen smiled over at Raymond. Annie didn't think it was a particularly nice smile. The bitch put on a much nicer front in the cafeteria.

Here, in someone's basement, under a naked bulb, she looked like a giant demon. Annie whimpered and scratched at Raymond's hand.

"This is Gordy," Helen said. She deposited a naked male sylph on the table. The other teens spread around it on either side of her and Raymond. He pushed her towards the middle of the table and pried his hand free.

Gordy was a much older man. His hair, what there was of it, was streaked with gray. There was a scar on his pot belly and bits of food in his beard. He leered when he saw Annie and lurched towards her. His smile didn't look…right.

"He was in a janitor's closet on The Day," Helen explained. "He seems to have dropped into or drank something that…screwed him up."

"I'll say," Charles said with a laugh. "He'll fuck a mouse if someone holds the tail up." The teens laughed. Annie wasn't sure whether or not Raymond joined in. She wasn't taking her eyes off of Gordy to check.

He made uneven progress across the wooden surface, as if tacking against the wind. She kept turning to face him, hands raised to ward him off.

"She's not playing," May said.

"Hold her down," Helen ordered. Hands grabbed Annie's arms and forced her to the table. Her ankles were pinched and spread. She heard the sound of duct tape being unspooled and screamed.

"Guys," Ray said, "this doesn't seem to be as much fun as you said it would be." A hand covered her and she started to cry with relief. That was her owner's hand, she knew from the smell. It was going to be okay.

The other hands let go and Raymond scooped her up. He stepped back from the table and lowered her into his pocket. She curled into a ball and started to shake with reaction.

"We're not done with her, yet," she heard Helen growl. Raymond's body moved then froze. She could just imagine his stance, now. Set for fight or flight, like the day they'd met. An arm up for defense and the other behind his back.

And she heard that same rustle, of wood against cloth.

Pet touched her arm and she shook of the memory. "What?"

"Can we sleep in the guest room?" Pet asked. "Sue's staying the night, is it okay if we stay with her?"

"I need another Annie story," Sue said. "Everyone in my dorm reads that thread, but no one believes I know you."

"I, uh, actually…" Annie shook her head and swallowed. "Is Ray's old room available?" Sue looked a little hurt, but Annie didn't care. Pet and Mom looked confused. They probably both expected a slumber party to break out.

Dad just nodded his head. "It is. Something you want in there? Or do you just want to avoid your grabby cousin?"

"Uncle Victor!?"

"What?" Pet asked.

"Sue's a little bicurious," Annie said. "And she's about as sylph-happy as you can get. Nothing wrong with that, but she tends to have difficulty taking 'no' for an answer when she sylph-sits." Sue blushed and Pet looked up at the woman with a thoughtful expression.

Oh, gods, Annie thought. A match made in heaven.

-------

Dad eased the carrier to the edge of the dresser by the window. Annie and Pet dragged their duffel bags out. Once they were clear he placed it on the floor.

Most of Ray's things had been removed from the room but a few things struck Annie's growing nostalgia. The birdcage on the dresser, for one.

"Do we have to sleep in a CAGE?" Pet asked. "I haven't slept in a cage since Denise went to college!" Annie gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"I always figured that tiny girls would be more comfortable with something around them, rather than just camping on the top of a dresser," Dad explained. "Besides, there hasn't been a door on that thing for fifteen years."

Wooden steps were wired to the frame, inside and outside the cage, allowing easy access through the un-barred entry.

Annie's old bed, the gel-filled sleeve, was wrapped in a clean handkerchief sheet and two tiny pillows rested next to some folded blankets. Someone had expected them to spend at least a one night here, she realized.

She smiled thanks up to Dad. He nodded and retreated, swinging the door almost all the way shut. It gave them privacy from the giants, but they could still slip through the crack if they had to get out.

Off to one side of the cage was a microfridge and she felt confident that fresh water and snacks waited inside.

She strode to one end of the dresser where a small souvenir-sized baseball bat rested on a display mount. She ran her hands along the handle. If you knew where to look, and she did, you could still see tiny dots of dried blood here and there under the varnish.

"Ray's a Marlin's fan?" Pet asked.

"No," Annie said. "But carrying a real bat would have been harder to hide." And Helen would have never come within reach of it.

"What? What did he need a bat for? Did he play?" Annie shook her head. She'd have to explain later.

"C'mere, let me show you something," she said to distract her roommie. At the back of the dresser a ramp led down to the window sill. A wooden board kept the window open but filled the space so weather and bugs kept outside.

She slid a panel open and stepped outside. A window planter full of sand gave the sylphs a tiny beach to stand on. Steel bars and a wire mesh protected the space from birds or any other predators.

"Wow," Pet said. She stepped to the wire and looked down. The roof of the house slipped away beneath them, stopped by a gutter. Beyond that, there was a one-story drop to the roof of the garage. That stretched to the branches of the backyard oak. Looking around, they could see into half a dozen back yards. Looking up, the clouds were streaked in pink and red by the setting sun. "Wow," she repeated.

"Wait'll the stars come out," Annie promised. "You can lay here and see halfway to infinity."

Pet stroked a finger over a line of the mesh. "Once you get past the cage." There was a wistful tone to her voice.

Partly out of sympathy and partly to show off, Annie took Pet's hand and drew her to the end of the planter.

"Look at this." She grabbed the mesh with both hands and hooked her toes under the bottom bar. With a practiced yank, twist and kick, she unhooked a section of wire from the head of a nail. Another yank and there was a head-sized opening in the mesh. "You wanna see stars without a wire in the way, there you go. But never, ever tell anyone else that we can do that."

Pet nodded and scooted to the opening. But rather than look up at the sky, she looked at the next nail along. Crap, Annie thought. Don't look there, don't look there, don't look-

"Hey, if you did that again, you'd unhook this bit, too!"

"And Ah sed ETHEL! Don't LOOK!" Annie quoted. "But it was too late, she done looked."

"What?"

"Nothing. Yeah. If you do that, you could get out of here. Out into the big world. Out there, alone, in the unregulated wilderness."

Her cutting tone flew right over Pet's head. "We could?" She gazed over the treetops. "What's out there, do you think?"

"Pet, it's Florida. There are lizards out there this big." Pet glanced over to see the spread between Annie's hands.

"That's not so bad."

"This is the space between their eyes," Annie said. There are snakes, rats, cats, raccoons, rednecks, dogs, skinks, owls,..." She tried to think of other threats. Pet wouldn't have heard.

"Are there...boys...out there?"

"What, teenagers? Yeah. Great big clammy handed boys that'd likely cage us and make us strip and stand in Playboy centerfold poses and..."

"No, no. I mean...boys. You know. Boys."

"Pet? Oh, god, Pet, are you a virgin?" Annie tapped her friend on the shoulder to bring her back inside, then replaced the wire. "Is that why you were making gooey eyes at Sue?"

"Well, what's wrong with that?" Pet asked. She followed Annie back through the panel and up to the dresser. "I think I'm ready. I'm old enough. And if you're right, she's interested…"

"Maybe, maybe, maybe," Annie said. She opened the fridge and got them each a bulb of water. "But before you do anything like that, you really want to have Denise involved in the decision. Trust me. Owners get upset if you sneak around under their knees on stuff like this."

She went to their duffel bags and pulled out her pajamas. Pet knelt and got her own. They climbed into the cage and started getting ready for bed.

"Are…are you a virgin?" Pet asked.

"No," Annie said with a smile.

"Did…did you… Did you do it when you were big? Or was it after you shrank?"

"Well, I nearly lost my virginity in a sylph-party gang bang."

"Oh, dear!"

"Nearly," Annie said, shaking her head. "Only nearly. Raymond came to my senses in time. No, was a virgin until we went to college."

----

The wooden stand in the corner of the classroom already had a sylph on it when Ray lowered Annie onto it. She blew him a goodbye kiss as he jogged over to take his seat.

Miss Denner did not tolerate rivals for her attention. All sylphs had to be left at home or left in the back of the room.

Annie smiled at the man walking slowly towards her. He was a hand taller (her hand) and a few years older. And naked. He gestured towards her skirt.

"Your owner lets you wear clothes?" he asked.

"Since the Prom. He likes me better this way. Yours keeps you nude?" She was glad she'd used 'nude.' It was artistic. Naked was just defenseless.

"For the same reason," he laughed. Annie gave a small chuckle. She agreed with his owner. What wasn't to like? It was difficult to keep her eyes on his face.

"So, who's your owner?" she asked, turning to look over the classroom.

"Miss Denner," he said. He laughed at her shocked expression. "My name's Brent….?"

"Annie. And I belong to Ray." She started to point to where he sat.

"Ray would be the guy that set you down here," Brent said. Annie blushed. He must think I'm an idiot, she thought.

"So, Annie," he asked, "how far through school did you get before…"

"Junior. In high school." Her voice was small, even for her tiny form.

"Ah," he said gently. "So there's lots for you to learn."

Brent was amazing. In addition to sitting through Denner's classes, she often arranged for him to audit other ones. He knew a great deal and spent time teaching the barest glimpse of it to Annie.

They spent the semester discussing sylph rights, tiny people in ancient literature, the President's power base, the advantages of WYE power transmission over Delta configuration, the way to gamble at roulette, astronomy, astrology, dancing and poetry.

She was dazzled. Ray's living alarm clock always got him to Denner's classes on time, though he was often late to the next one. Annie didn't want to interrupt Brent just because Ray needed to be somewhere. The fact that he actually let her delay him was something she never noticed.

With much begging, she got permission to go with Brent for classes that weren't on Ray's schedule.

One night, she sat on Ray's cassette player as he worked some math problems.

"Master," she asked, "have I ever told you how much I appreciate you?"

"What do you want?"

"Well, now that you ask, I kinda want to spend the night with Brent."

"What class are you auditing?" he asked without looking up. "Something in the observatory?"

"Not a class. I want to SPEND the NIGHT. With BRENT. WITH him, as it were." He put down his pencil and leaned back. The fact that he actually considered the question made her feel a thrill of victory. Not so long ago, her desires were merely background noise for him.

"I see a few problems there," he said.

"Well, either you could bring both of us back here, or Miss Denner could bring both-"

"Not logistics," he said. "How is Denner going to take this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, is she going to think this is a way for me to try to get it on with her? Or that I'm trying to get you to put out for better grades for me? Or…or, I don't know what else."

"I'll ask Brent how he thinks we should ask her," Annie suggested. "Or maybe you just ask, 'Hey, I'm trying to learn the etiquette of sylph owners." She slid down the face of the player and walked over to stroke his hand. "Please?"

"What about other risks?" he asked. "You remember Dad's 'hygiene lecture' on the drive up? That stuff applies to you, too."

"He's clean," she said. She thought. She'd ask about that, too.

"And babies? Have you heard the mortality rate for female sylphs giving birth?"

"Not a problem," she said. "I'm infertile."

"What?" He wrapped a hand around her, concern plain on his face. "How do you know? I mean, are you okay? What's wrong?" And she'd worried that he'd think less of her.

"Sylph's that shrink during puberty have a high risk of vegrandis uterofibrocis. It means that the uterine wall turns to something like armor as a result of whatever caused me to shrink." He stared as she lectured up at him. "It's mostly benign, it just means that I have no periods and a fertilized egg won't latch onto the wall of my womb. It's okay. Really."

"Oh, god, Annie," he said, cupping his hands to raise her. "I never knew." He hugged her to his cheek. Then he froze and lowered her slowly. The look in his eyes was a lot harder. "How do YOU know?"

"Mom had me tested. Call her. Go on." He did. She paced across the mimeographed worksheet while he put the collect call through. His half of the conversation went about as she'd expected.

"Dad! Hey. Okay. Okay, I guess. That's fine. She's fine. Well, actually, I had a question. Is Mom there? It's about Annie. Uh, she wants to, uh… There's this boy sylph up here, and… Really? Well, how long have YOU known? Huh. What made Mom...? Cosmo article? No, I know what Cosmopolitan is. Why didn't anyone tell me? Well, I never asked because I never thought about… Oh, that's a cheap shot." He nodded for a while then ended the call.

"Ooooooooooooookay," he said. "I guess we need to ask Denner what's the polite way to ask, 'can your sylph come out and play?'"

Denner was only sensitive to the rumors that would appear if the student body connected student to teacher through pets. At this point in the year, the class hardly paid any attention to the sylph table. Ray made his daily walk to pick up his sylph as the class departed, but walked away empty pocketed.

They spent the afternoon in Denner's desk drawer and it was wonderful. Annie found Brent sensitive and sweet. He introduced her to his body and helped her explore her own.

Brent never hurt her. She'd lost her hymen on the dance floor years before. Disco could claim her cherry but no boy could. She did scream once, leading the professor to kick the drawer. Brent found something to put in her mouth to silence her. They giggled their way through another lecture.

Afterwards he cuddled her to his chest as they sprawled across a driving glove. He sniffed her hair as she lazily kissed his fingers.

"I want you beside me," he said.

"I am beside you," she pointed out, but teasingly.

"I mean, I want you with me when the revolution comes."

"I came, you came, the revolution can get its own girlfriend," she said with a snort.

"I'm serious, Annie. When the Sylph Nation declares independence…"

"When the what, now?" She rolled away from Brent, squinting to see his expression in the dark. "Are you teasing me?"

"No," he said urgently. "When we rise up against our oppressors, you must be here. With me."

"Uh huh," she said and started feeling around for her clothing. "A sylph rebellion. Didn't I see that on SNL last week?"

"That was mockery born of fear! They know that if we ever managed to organize, we would win handily. We can sneak through security measures, our mass-muscle ratio makes us stronger, our reflexes are faster. We would have the advantage."

"But they have flyswatters. And leashes."

"We can surmount the weapons of the mundanes. The sylphs are the chosen ones, we are the future!" He scooted over to take her hand.

She snatched it back and buttoned her skirt. "Sorry, I try not to get involved in lost causes. And I mean, lost as in out of touch with reality. Brent, you're smart, sweet and hung like a mole-rat, but this is crazy."

"Your oppressor has you convinced that he's the one in charge. You can change that. Tell him off!"

"I do," she laughed. "All the time. He puts up with about as much shit as he wants, then he puts me in the cage." She turned at a sudden thought. "All this time, all this education. Were you seducing me or trying to prepare me to be your lieutenant in 'the revolution?'"

"Women can't fight, Annie. But with a beautiful mate, the others were recognize my leadership-"

"Yeah, thanks," she said, standing to slap at the drawer. Denner opened it and looked down. "Excuse me, but can I wait for Ray in another drawer?"

The woman above turned on a brilliant smile and reached down. "Sylph Uprising?" she asked as she lifted Annie to the top of her desk. She had no class in the room and a rack of folders for submitted work hid the tiny woman from anyone passing the door.

Her hand hovered over Annie, prepared to hide the sylph from any student entering.

"You know about that?" Annie asked.

"It's his pattern. Educate them then try to enlist them. Most see him for what he is."

"Cute but naked? He's hardly a minute-man prepared to meet the giants at Concord." The two shared a smile. "But that's a hell of a butt he's sporting."

"Indeed," Denner agreed. She cleared her expression as Ray entered.

"Miss Denner, I-"

"Roy!" Annie shouted, running to the edge of the desk. She held her arms over her head as he picked her up with a hand around her waist.

"You're all ready?" he asked. She nodded, waved goodbye to the professor and they left. "So, did you, uh… You and Brent have… Um."

"My ashes have been well and truly hauled, Master," she said. Then hugged his finger as best she could. "But I missed you."

"Me, too," he admitted. "Kohlmi's class was about Poe today."

"Shucks," she replied. "You know as much about Poe as I do."

"I didn't say I needed you. I just wished you were there." He lifted her up and kissed the top of her head.

"Awwww," she said. "Well, I will be next week."

She lay back on the bed, gazing at the ceiling and smiling at the memory.

Pet stirred next to her and asked, "Mole Rat?"

------

In the morning, they went swimming. Dad had found and refurbished the Annie Swimming Kit. A pump lifted water from the heated swimming pool in the back of the house up into a wading pool. A separate hose siphoned the excess back into the human-pool. A canopy protected the wading pool from too much sunlight and too many predators.

"I can't swim," Pet said when Dad revealed his handiwork.

"I'll teach you!" Annie said. She had fond memories of the summer Ray nearly changed her name to Mer-maiden. "Grab your swimsuit."

"I don't have one," Pet said warily.

Annie shrugged and stripped off her clothes. "It's not too deep for swimming lessons, is it?"

Dad lowered the water level until it was only as high as Annie's waist. Pet watched from the patio table until the adjustments were complete, then gingerly stepped down from Dad's hand to wade beside Annie. Dad made sure she wasn't too afraid of the water then went inside.

They spent some time working on floats, mostly to get Pet relaxed with the water. Then some simple strokes.

"You're more buoyant than a human of your build would be," Annie assured her. "It's actually harder for you to drown than if you'd been born human sized."

"Really?"

"Yep. Long as you keep your head, you'll be fine." She set the younger girl to working her way back and forth and set off for a quick lap of her own. As she passed her student on the return, Pet called out.

"Annie? I think something's wrong."

She stopped and lowered her foot. She didn't find the bottom where she expected it to be, so she shifted her weight to empty water.

That caused her to duck underwater for a second, then she popped up into the air. On tiptoe.

"Oh, crap," she muttered. "Nothing to be afraid of, Pet. It's just the outflow tube, it's gotten clogged or an air bubble. The water's going to rise a bit."

Pet was doing her best to dogpaddle in place. "How much is a bit?"

"Um…all the way," Annie said. "DAD!" There was no response. "Well, he'll be back out in a minute. Don't worry. You can't die at Mom's or Dad's home. They won't let it." She tread next to Pet and helped ease her into a back float.

"Sorry," Pet said.

"No, no, I'm sorry. I should have asked for some floaty thingys." They held hands and she gave Pet a reassuring squeeze. Then they floated, watching the water climb slowly up the sides.

"Annie, could you maybe climb out over the pump? Go get Dad and-"

"NO!" Annie shouted. She grabbed Pet by the arm, almost sinking them both. "I am NOT leaving you behind!" The two sank a little bit, spitting and coughing until they were back on their backs. "I'm sorry," Annie said. "I just… I want you to know I would never leave you to fend for yourself."

"Of course," she replied. "Annie, I never thought you'd abandon me… I just wondered if you could get out and get help, you know? I could float long enough…"

"And what if you couldn't?" Annie asked. "What if I got Dad and came back to find you at the bottom? I could never live with that."

"Okay," Pet said. She reached out and joined hands, this time she was the one that gave a reassuring squeeze. They floated in silence for a bit, Annie's breath slowing down over time.

"Annie," Pet asked, "what was the worst day of your life. That gang rape?"

Annie almost snorted. It was clear that drowning would rank high on Pet's list of fears and bad fucking days. But she kept her tone serious, hoping to reassure the kid. "No," she replied. "That party was about fourth place. Nothing really happened. First was…well, it was on the day I shrank."

"Oh, right, right. And you said being abandoned by your parents was second." They were quiet for a moment more. Annie started counting down. Five, four, three, two- "What was the third worst day of your life?"

"You don't want to know about the best day of my life?" she asked, this time with a small laugh.

"Sure," Pet said. "Once we're on dry patio! You can list your happy happy sunny fun days until you're blue in the face! Right now, I want to know what's the worst you've seen? And how'd you get through it? Okay? Please?" It was about as angry as Annie had ever seen Pet. Or, maybe, about as scared?

"Ah. Okay. Third. Let's see."

------

Raymond pounded down the stairs in his usual manner. Annie kept her hands to her ears and wondered if they EVER enforced the sound pollution laws in this neighborhood.

He slid into his chair just as his… The woman of the house placed the cereal in front of it. After another month in the house, Annie still shied away from thinking in terms of parents, hers or anyone else's, if she at all could.

Three bites were lifted over her head and to his mouth. She pointed out that she hadn't breakfasted yet with a sharp 'Ahem?'

"Oh." He lifted her down to the table and snagged a single cornflake out of the bowl. He placed that on the edge of the saucer. She crossed her arms and glared at him. "What?"

Da- The man didn't look away from his paper as he reached across the table and stuck four fingers into the bowl of cereal. "Hey!" Raymond protested.

"You don't like people fingering your food when there are perfectly serviceable spoons to be had?" his…old man asked, still not looking up. "Think there's anyone else in the house that might prefer grubby little fingers left her food alone?"

"Sorry, Annie," the kid mumbled. He started to lift another flake out of the milk. "Wait, now these all have had your grubby fingers on them."

"That'll be okay," Annie said. "I trust he's washed his hands this week."

"You haven't washed your hands?" the woman asked. Raymond shot a glare at Annie but he did scoop out a new flake. She thanked him and started to nibble on it.

"Leave Annie home today, Raymond," Victor said suddenly.

"What? Why?"

"Never mind why," he was told. "Just leave her on the table. I'll put her in your room when she's done with…what she needs to do."

Sylph and owner shared a glance but neither could think of any reason the man would keep her. She shook her head and went on eating. He shrugged and took his bowl to the sink.

Gwen walked Raymond to the bus stop, then returned and grabbed her briefcase for work. She pet Annie once, kissed her husband and left. The house fell silent after the sound of her car faded.

Annie sat very still and gazed up at Victor. "Mister Foster, what….?" Her voice ran down as he took off his glasses and looked down at her.

"Put this on," he said, taking a napkin from his pocket. She wrapped herself and remained standing when she was done. He tapped his fingers on the table for a moment. She'd never seen him this uncomfortable.

"Annie…we need you to talk to someone. I know you haven't said much about the day you…shrank. And Lord knows, I couldn't begin to say I understand what you're going through. But there are some people looking for their daughter. And…"

No, Annie thought. That was all. A complete denial. Of the day, of the night, of Mia, of today, of anything they wanted her to do or say or explain or apologize for. She couldn't.

Victor talked for a bit about honor and decency and doing the right thing. Annie didn't' pay a lot of attention, but she was sure that he didn't talk about fear or pain or panic or betrayal. There was no darkness, no shards of glass, no…death.

But the giant face with the gravelly voice was compelling. She aimed her face as if paying rapt attention, nodding now and then.

Then the door rang. Victor brought two people into the kitchen. She'd seen Mia's … older relatives at a few games. Right now, he looked haunted and she looked hopeful.

Wrong, Annie thought. Don't, there's no hope here. None. Go home, run, get away. Her face was frozen, though.

"Annie," the woman said slowly. "Annie, do you remember me? I'm Mia's mother." She was talking as one trying to get directions from the village idiot. Annie'd met a few people that thought the shrunken were little more than animals. Maybe she could play dumb and they'd leave without finding out.

"Annie? Do you remember the Coles?" She couldn't fool Victor. He'd seen her speak.

"Yes," she said very quietly. He nodded.

"They're hoping you can help them find Mia." Annie stayed silent.

"We found her clothes," the woman said. "Hers and yours. A the edge of the soccer field. You were together on the Day, weren't you?"

"I didn't see her," Annie said. She sat, clasped her knees and rocked back and forth. "I didn't see her."

"You were right beside each other," the man said. "Your gym clothes were touching when we found them. You had to see her."

"I went to sleep," she said. She couldn't look up.

"A lot of them do, right after shrinking," Victor said. Mia's…the man grunted.

"But what about when you woke up, dear?" she asked. "What did you see then?"

"I didn't see her," Annie insisted. There was a noise as Victor sat down, on the side of the table behind her. His hands cupped around her without touching her.

"Annie, could you just tell us what happened? From the beginning?" he asked.

"We were in Phys Ed. It ended. Everyone went inside." She glanced quickly up at the faces over her and back down to her toes. "We had cheerleader practice after, so we didn't shower at the end of PE." She rocked for a bit more. "We, uh. I mean, I…"

"We know you had a smoke," the man said. "We don't care about that."

"Um, yeah. We smoked. We were in the bushes beside the soccer field. Then I got dizzy. She said she had a headache."

"She? Mia had a headache?" Victor asked. "Or was there someone else with you."

"No, no, just us. We were holding our foreheads, then we were, you know, tiny. We didn't know what had happened. Or what to do. But before we could decide, I fell asleep."

Silence followed. The woman reached out gently towards Annie. The sylph scooted away until her back hit Victor's hand. The approaching fingers receded.

"What about when you woke up, Annie?" Victor asked gently.

"I didn't see her. I didn't see her." Her voice was insistent. "Then Raymond found me and took me home. I didn't see her." The adults looked at each other for a few moments.

"Well." Mia's old man was the first to stand. "I, uh… We're sorry to put you through that, Ann. It must have been horrible. But, uh, thanks for… Well."

"She put me in a shoe!" Annie said suddenly. "I mean, when I went to sleep? She put me in a shoe. My shoe. Mia… She protected me. I was out of sight when… Well, whatever happened. She…" Everything blurred as tears started to well in her eyes.

"Of course, dear," Mia's…Mia's MOM, dammit, said to her. "You were her friend. You would have done the same for her."

Annie spun then and burrowed into Victor's grip, crying her eyes out. There was uncomfortable shuffling around her. Mia's parents thanked her, thanked Victor, promised to keep in touch if anyone learned more. Then they left.

Victor closed his hands and just held the tiny form. Eventually she cried herself out. She crawled free and climbed up to a wobbly stand and started to apologize.

He turned the pepper shaker onto its side and slid it behind her. "Sit down, Annie." She did, still feeling shaky. He got up and got a glass of water, pouring a bit into the doll house pitcher she drank from. She sipped as he sat back down.

"Annie, if I say I was in the war, do you know which war I would be referring to?"

"World War Two?" she guessed. From his wince, she must have gotten it wrong. Well, short skirts and her smile had done more for her history grade than any homework she'd handed in.

"Well, not that one. But I've seen men in combat and on liberty, funerals, weddings, births and helo crashes. Men that have been stoned, drunk or just gone four days without sleep. Men excited, afraid, stone cold convinced they were about to die and guys in so much pain they'd have chewed their arm off if someone had suggested it." He refilled her pitcher and she realized he hadn't taken a drink yet.

"My dad was a firefighter, see. He constantly told me that the true test of a person was that critical moment. When the tiger or the fireball pops into view, do you run or try to help the guy next to you?" She paled and took another drink.

"If there's time to think, he always said, there's time to figure out what the people around you think is the right thing to do. In the stark moment of crisis, you do what you really do think is the right thing." He shook his head. "Much as I respected Ol' Walt, he was wrong on that one."

Annie sat quiet and still, staring up into Victor's face. He stared off into the distance. She wasn't sure what he was trying to say but it seemed much more important to him than his earlier talk had been.

"See, when someone's drunk, the alcohol changes the way their brain works. Some guys do things drunk they'd never do sober. They lose inhibitions, but they also lose something else. They're 'under the influence.' It's like the steering committee loses power and a smaller group takes over.

"Or adrenaline. You actually give over control of your brain to a different part, an older part. The part of your brain that only cares about getting itself out of Dodge. The part that would sell your grandmother or claw its way through a crowd of preschoolers to get away. I don't really think that that's the 'real' you.

"Some people get heroic in the Mad Minute. Some get scared, some get frantic… They do whatever occurs to them, whatever their brain hits on as a good idea. I don't really consider a man a hero if he just goes by reflexes and it turns out okay. Someone that has a moment to think about it, though, and chooses the way of pain, the way of risk, to go back into the burning building…that's heroic. You know what I mean?" She shook her head.

He snorted and smiled. "I dunno. I guess, I'm trying to say… I don't know what happened on The Day, Annie. But whatever did, no one ever taught you how to act when the world went to shit the way it did. No one prepared you to deal with whatever you faced. So… maybe your brain or Mia's brain made a choice. Maybe another choice would have made things work out better. Maybe not.

"I just don't want you beating yourself up over something you weren't even slightly prepared to deal with. Okay?"

"'Kay," she said softly.

"If you ever want to talk about…philosophy? Just let me know. Now, I need to put you back in the birdcage and go to work. Are you okay? Anything you need?"

"No, sir." He reached out and she crawled onto his flat palm.

"When did you start calling him Dad?" Pet asked.

"A little after that," Annie said. She was waiting for the water to start pouring out of the pool. Depending on which direction it went, it might drag them towards the patio, or it might sweep them into the swimming pool.

"Holy Crap!" Dad rushed to the side of the wading pool and swept the canopy to the side. They heard it splash. Then giant, warm hands wrapped around them and lifted them into the air. "Oh, god, girls, I'm so, so sorry. Are you okay?"

"Can't…breathe…" Annie gasped. He apologized and placed them both on the patio table. They assured him that they were both well and tried to calm him down.

"Okay. Okay, sorry," he kept repeating. "I, uh, can fix this. Right away. And I'll stay right here while you swim."

"Actually?" Annie asked. "Maybe we could just watch TV?" He nodded and gingerly picked them up. He held both sylphs in one hand, cupping the other over them protectively.

"And this is how I got through the third worst day of my life," Annie whispered.

"Swimming?" Pet asked.

"Dad," Annie replied.

-----

Sue was surfing the net in the family room when Dad placed them on the coffee table. She quickly closed her laptop and stood. Dad went out to wrestle the canopy out of the pool. Sue started to follow him.

"Where are you going?" Annie asked.

"I, uh, don't want to crowd you," Sue said.

"Get your ass over here!" Annie ordered. She slunk obediently to the table and Pet covered her mouth and her smile. The image of a giant woman obeying a small but angry sylph was a shock to the young girl.

"I thought you were uncomfortable with me around," Sue said as she knelt down beside the table.

"All I want is for you to ASK before you pick someone up and grope them. I never said you had to leave us alone entirely. Okay? Just that. Oh! And when people try to get out of your grip, don't squeeze tighter."

"I do that? Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"Pay. Attention. Then." Annie intoned. She spun as Pet giggled and glared. But she offered a wink with the eye away from Sue. Pet couldn't help giggle some more. "Okay. Fine. If giggling Gidget here needs attention, you can give her a backrub until you're forgiven."

Pet squealed and looked around. A mouse pad lay on the corner of the table and looked like a perfect massage mat. She padded over and lay across it.

Sue smiled and settled to the floor, dragging the pad over closer. She placed two fingertips against Pet's butt cheeks and started to work them in circles. Annie shook her head and walked towards the TV remote.

----

They got some tanning in that afternoon. As they came back inside, Pet looked down. She knelt on the ramp and pointed. "What's that?"

Annie turned and looked. "Paper. A piece of… Oh! I know what that is! Come on!" A dental floss ladder was thumb-tacked to the corner of the dresser. The two sylphs scurried down it then squeezed behind the furniture. There was nothing pinning the paper in place and they were soon spreading the yellowed sheet across the floor.

Annie stood at the foot and nodded as she looked it over. Pet stepped to the top and walked carefully backwards, reading as she went.

"The Agree… Ment. Bet…Bet-wene."

"Does that sound like a word you've ever heard?" Annie asked.

"OH! It's BEEtween. The Agreement Between…Is this your Amnesty!?"

"It's the original," Annie said. "Note the various inks and handwriting? We updated it a lot. It was pinned to the wall behind my cage. Over the dresser, there."

"That's different from everything," Pet said, pointing to one in particular.

"No Food Fights. Yeah, that's Mom's handwriting. I nearly drowned in pudding and she enacted protective legislation." The writing, the scribbles, the line-throughs…each told a story. Annie smiled at some memories, shuddered at others.

"What's this one?" Pet asked. She ran a toe along a line of capital letters, written with a firm hand. "The ex…pet…no, pect…"

"The expectation of privacy by the owner shall be held sacrosanct by the pet at all times and in all companies." Pet's eyebrows rose at some of the words. "Ray was in College Prep English. You probably can't throw a cookie at this sheet and not hit something from his weekly Vocab list."

"Was he mad when he wrote this?" Pet crouched and ran a finger along the ink. The paper was still depressed from the ballpoint.

"Oh, god. Mad doesn't cover it."

"Hey, before we go in there," Annie called, waving for Raymond to lift her up. He leaned against the wall of the hallway and held her next to his ear.

"Let Helen cheat off of your paper on the test. YOU won't be cheating, just don't cover your paper like you usually do."

"That's…no."

"Look, do you wanna go to a party with cheerleaders or not?" she hissed.

"Annie, anywhere I go, there's a cheerleader," he pointed out.

"Sweet," she said sourly. "Look, just stay on Helen's good side. None of the others at that lunch table matter if she's in your corner."

Raymond shoved off of the wall with his shoulder and continued towards his next class. "I think that as long as I own a sylph, none of them are going to care about anything I actually do."

In most classes, the teachers wouldn't allow Annie to be near her owner during tests. There was a risk of cheating, since she'd already been through most of the classes a few years before.

Mr. Pennward had welcomed her back, and insisted that she remain on Raymond's desk at all times. "Even quizzes and tests," he said happily. "I remember your grades in my class. Maybe this time around you'll learn something."

Today he actually reached down to pat her on the head as he handed out the tests. She muttered and moved to the corner of the desk.

Raymond glared at her, but he did shift his posture so that Helen had access. Annie offered a very small thumbs-up when she saw the blonde scan his answers. He just rolled his eyes.

Annie was thrilled when Helen cornered them at the end of class. No mention was made of the test, but Annie was sure it was the clincher.

"Hey, Foster, are you coming to my house on Saturday? We're trying to get all the sylph owners together, form a sort of club." She smiled down at Annie. The sylph waved back happily. "So, about eight?"

"Oh, no," Raymond said. "I have tickets to the play." Annie spun around in his pocket in shock. You just did NOT turn down the captain of the cheerleading squad to go see Shakespeare!

"Oh. Okay." Helen shrugged and walked away. Annie slugged his chest as hard as she could.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?!? Don't you want to be at Helen's!?!"

"I have tickets. I promised someone I'd go," he said and went to his locker. He leaned around Wendy to dial the combination. Annie remembered that his locker neighbor was playing Juliet on Saturday. Maybe she could save her owner from himself.

"Hey, Raymond," Wendy said with a smile. "Hey, Annie. How's the big goof treating you?"

"WENDY!" Annie yelled. "THAT'S the name."

"What?" the girl asked, confused.

"Well, he mumbles when he concentrates, so I couldn't figure out whose name he was calling when he beat off last night. Until now, anyway."

Waves of stunned silence spread out from Raymond's pocket. He and Wendy stared at each other for a second, then blushed and turned away. To see a dozen classmates staring in shock, horror, amusement and glee.

Raymond turned to apologize as the laughter started, but Wendy was already halfway down the hall. He threw his books down, grabbed his coat and knapsack and slammed the locker shut.

"Dammit!" he said as he tried to jog through the crowd. Annie held on tight to his pocket and prayed he wouldn't bump into anyone.

He never caught up to Wendy. And he never spoke to Annie all the way home. She counted it as a victory, at least so far. He had a lot less reason to pick the play over the party, anyway.

He stormed up the stairs, into his room and slammed the door shut. Rough fingers yanked his pet to the desktop. She stood, pulled her tousled hair back and looked up.

Her owner was near to tears. "You can't do that, Annie. You just can't."

"What, humiliate you? This from a guy that carries me around town naked? You think with sunburned boobs, I care that you may have been a little shamed today?"

"I can do that. They're even saying that it should be a law, sylphs are always naked. You can't… You can't say stuff like that. Even if it was true, you can't."

She crossed her arms and tried to show disdain. It was hard to look down at someone when your neck had to tilt this far back but she was getting practiced at it.

"I suppose there's no free speech in America any more?"

He slammed his fist down on the desk. "Not for pets, god damn it!"

"Eh," she said, turning her back. "What are you going to do? Kidnap me? Strip me? Make me live in-"

She thought he'd been rough before. That was nothing. He snatched her from behind, lifting her into the air where he delivered a stinging slap on her ass. She screeched. He didn't hit her again, but he didn't pauses as he reached past her bird cage to open the hamster's.

Thrud had gone to that running wheel in the sky some time before. His heir, Trudy Brown, had never had to share her cage before. She ran around in a panic from the violence of Raymond's jerk on the cage door, then hid in the corner as he dropped Annie onto the sawdust.

He stared down with clenched fists for a second, then left the room. Annie looked over at the rodent. "Hey, roomie." She got one corn kernel out of the feeder and carried it to the water dispenser. "And they say you can't go home again," she muttered, soaking the kernel to soften it. She started to sit down and gnaw at her dinner, but her butt was going to sting for a long while.

---

Raymond did his homework in the kitchen, then watched TV. Annie only saw him when he got ready for bed, and neither spoke.

He was also silent as he dressed for school in the morning. Annie tried to apologize but he only topped off the water and food, then left.

Mom poked her head in briefly. She saw that Annie was okay, shook her head and left. The sylph spent the day failing to pop the catch on the cage door.

The teen was still sulking when he got home. Without a word to his pet, he started taping something to the outside of her birdcage. Then he spun it around so she could see.

It was a drawing. A mound of covers quivered on a bed. Three girls stood at the foot of the bed, holding signs as Olympic judges. One of the girls was drawn well enough to identify Wendy. Annie had no idea who the other two were supposed to be.

On top of the shaking bump, a tiny cheerleader jumped and waved her pom-poms. The identity of that figure was no mystery.

"This was on my locker this morning," he said. "And on Wendy's. In every teacher's in box. They showed up in every class. Library. The Gym."

When he stopped talking, she tried for humor. "Well, with those scores, you're a shoe-in for the Silver, huh?"

"If you ever do this again, humiliate me this much, Annie, I'll… I don't know what I'll do." He left the room, pausing at the door. "There's some good news," he said. "Helen still wants us to come to the party."

"That's great!" she replied. "Means that they know you're okay, right? That they know you're the victim here. So, are you going?"

"Yeah," he said. He turned away, then back again. "She did ask about you."

"That you're taking me?"

"No. She wanted to know if you were a virgin." He shrugged and walked off. Annie held the bars of the cage and wondered exactly what sort of party it would be.

"That was the rape party?" Pet asked.

"Nearly," Annie said. She shivered a bit. "Lucky for me, Raymond wasn't still so mad that he let them go through with it. Actually, he had found out that Charles was the one that made the drawing. Helen was the one that used the office Xerox. So, he wanted to punish someone. I'm just glad it wasn't me."

"Did he forgive his other friends?" Pet asked. Annie stared at the girl for a second. Such a protected childhood, she thought. She gave the innocent a hug. Pet hugged her back and looked down at the paper. "So, THAT lead to this?"

Raymond closed the bedroom door behind them and limped to his desk. He carefully lowered Annie down and slid the mini-bat out of his sleeve.

He held it to the light and admired the blood staining the surface. "I'm sorry, Annie," he said.

"Me, too," she replied, stretching to work out the kinks in her back.

"What?" he asked. "What are you apologizing for?"

"Making you go to the party," she said. "And sabotaging your play. And Wendy."

"Oh." He placed the bat down. "I was apologizing for ruining the party. But I have to say, I had more fun hitting those guys than I ever had talking to the bastards."

"Yeah," she said. "I got that. I doubt that anyone's ever said 'Yee-haw!' while Melton puked before." They stared at each other for a moment. Annie got more and more uncomfortable at the apparent significance of the evening. She didn't do significant emotions, so she tried to change the topic. "Are you going to wash that off?" she asked, pointing at the bat.

"Are you kidding? This is a trophy. I'm going to varnish it so the blood won't flake off."

"Maybe you could clean most of the blood?" she suggested. "Enough that it can't be introduced in court as evidence?"

"Good point," he said. "You're always watching out for me."

"Well, your fate is intrinsically tied to my own," she pointed out. "I'm, uh…" She walked over to where his hand rested on the desk and knelt. "I'm your pet. I have to accept that. This is your life, not mine. I'm an accessory, not a participant."

He swept her up to his cheek and hugged her gently. "You are a participant," he said. "I couldn't stand it if you weren't an active part of my life. But it is, really, my life."

"Right, right," she said, rubbing her face against his cheek. There was the sound of a drawer opening. He set her down on a sheet of lined paper and picked up a pen.

"We need to establish some ground rules," he said.

"No making a pet sleep in another pet's cage," she said.

"Can't see that one making it through committee," he replied. He glanced at the illustration still taped to her cage. "You know, the candy stripers have a rule at the hospital. 'What we see here and what we hear here must remain here when we leave here.' I think we need something like that. I mean, even if you DO know who I fantasize about, you can't tell anyone."

"We have a sacred right to privacy?" He bent his head and tried to think of the right wording.

"Huh," Pet said. "Am…nest…nesty. Amnesty! That's what that says, right?"

"Very good," Annie told her. "It means, all this list of things I can't do? If he grants me amnesty, I can't get in trouble for doing it."

"You can't do it but it's okay if you do it," Pet said slowly.

"Yeah," Annie agreed. She took a corner of the sheet. Pet stepped off and helped drag it out of the way of people walking around.

"Think it's time for ice cream?" Annie suggested.

"You said it's always time for ice cream."

"And I'm right, right?" They held hands and walked towards the door. A floor board creaked outside just as they reached it. Annie spun and swept Pet to the side. They rolled across the floor as the door swung through the spot they'd been in.

"Sorry," Mom said. "But I was wondering if anyone in the house was interested in brownies."

"Darn," Annie said. "We've got ice cream scheduled for this afternoon. And the reservation fee isn't refundable…"

"Hey!" Pet protested. "Did you hear her? BROWNIES!"

Mom laughed and picked the pair up.

-----

The night before Ray and Denise were to return, Annie woke up alone. She sat up and tried to figure out what she'd heard or felt that interrupted her sleep.

Then she tried to hear any noise from Pet. There was nothing coming from the little toilet box or the fridge. There was no movement visible in the hall light peeping through the cracked door.

With growing anxiety she rose and climbed out of the cage. "Pet?" she called softly. Then she snorted. There was no way she'd wake anyone if she had a sylph marching band. "PET?!?!" she shouted. No answer.

The door to the window sill was shut but she went out there anyway. To her dismay, the wire was loose where she'd shown Pet how to get out.

Her fellow sylph wasn't visible on the sill, the roof or the rain gutter below, nor was there a response to her shouts.

Annie rushed back to the dresser and stood for a second in indecision. The responsible thing to do would involve waking a human being. They could get out there in a few steps and find the lost Pet.

But if Mom and Dad's bedroom door was shut, Annie'd only be trapped at the bottom of the stairs. Pet would still be alone out in the wild.

The houseborn young girl had never even been in the jealous chaos of a sylph store, much less the open lawn. Admittedly, a tended back yard wasn't the Great Dismal Swamp, but it was still hunting ground to owls, cats and young boys.

No, Pet's best chance was for Annie to go get her. She yanked clothes out of her duffel for the excursion suit and quickly donned it. The rough denim and thick boots offered protection almost like armor. After that she dug down in a corner of the sand-lot. A few hands down she touched plastic.

The Ziploc was a little discolored, but her exfiltration kit was sound. The exacto blade had a few rust spots and some ick had seeped out of the duct tape around the handle but it was still sharp. She slid it back into the cardboard and duct tape sheath and strapped it onto her back. She slid the tips of the stir-stick spears out of the packing peanut. The Styrofoam had kept the fishing-hook barbs from piercing the plastic bag. Loops of dental floss and one barely-used dispenser went onto her shoulder or were set beside her on the sand.

The matches were still dry in the air-tight beach wallet, along with a few other useful tools. The last thing she got out was the moleskin. The pieces stuck to her knees, elbows and back. Then she slid through the wire and dropped down to the roof.

There were a few leaves in the gutter. It kinda looked like Pet had been this way, but nothing was certain. Annie got to the downspout and set on the lip. "Pet?" she called. "If you're in here, I'm coming down." She waited a moment, then hooked the floss dispenser on a convenient nail, grabbed the end and lowered herself over the edge.

The drop was straight and swift. The moleskin pads gave her a braking control on her speed. With the reduced mass of the shrunken, and the speedier reflexes, her muscles were quite adequate to keep it a slide, not a fall.

She was past the mounting rivets before she remembered them, but her hands had moved around them automatically. "Just like old times," she sighed with a triumphant smile.

Then the spout fell off the wall.

There was a disorienting side-ways vector to her downward drop. Then a shudder shook her violently. After that, she realized that she was pressing down on her knees a lot more than on her behind. The drop was becoming a slide.

"Crap, crap, crap," she muttered, the official mantra of the royally screwed. She moved her hands from the sides where they guided her drop and placed them on the edge beneath her. Another shake and slam shook everything up. She lost her orientation in the dark and just fell.

She later estimated that she'd been within two feet of the bottom before the thing came completely free of all supports. When it landed on the grass she still had enough velocity to slide to the curved elbow at the bottom.

She lay there for a moment. She'd come to rest up on one shoulder, legs tangled and arms dragging behind. Almost all of the moleskin had scraped off, though a patch had ended up in her hair.

Outside of the opening, moonlight and streetlight illuminated the yard, stretching out into the distance. "Pet, you had BETTER still be alive," she whispered as she righted herself. "If only so I can kill you."

Once in the clear, she couldn't keep from looking up. The hole in the gutter was so high it looked like an artist's conception of something in orbit. The floss still dangled through it, waving in a slight breeze and glinting in the dim light.

"Can't get back that way," she said, thinking aloud. Then she turned around and looked at the copse of trees that looked like a city skyline. "Of course, if I get eaten by a cat, tonight, getting back in isn't my worry. Happy thoughts, Annie," she told herself. "Keep thinking those happy thoughts."

Pet had to have gone for the trees. Annie was sure she was out to have a little adventure. The stories she'd been hearing for the past year must have made her sheltered life seem dull. Annie glanced apprehensively towards the sky, gripped her stir-stick tightly, and set out for the nearest bole.

The night and the isolation stimulated her imagination. She hadn't gone on a nightly walkabout in a long, long time. Mainly, she realized, ever since she'd killed a rat out here. It was like a ritual of initiation. Once she'd proved she could survive outside, she had what she'd needed.

Maybe she could use that with Pet. Congratulate her on initiative, promise to help her get the skills, give her a spear and then insist that they get back inside.

Or maybe just tell her she'd earned some ice cream.

Meanwhile, the trees threatened and the night held a million lethal secrets.

"At least Dad mows," she told herself. With less grass, most of the snakes would keep to places they could better hide. But that made her a better target for birds.

She shook off the thoughts and concentrated on listening. Pet wasn't experienced enough with the Outside to be silent. The slightest twig snap might be a clue to her location.

"Denise!" Or there might be slightly clearer clues. Annie swung into the direction of the scream and started to run.

Pet was deep into the undergrowth beyond the lawn. She stood on a small hill and beat at the ground with a stick. Annie could just make out a carpet of movement over the ground.

She strode quickly forward, calling Pet's name. Pet just screamed for her owner and swung at the ground. She saw movement out of the edge of her vision and spun to swing her stick across. Annie ducked under it and grabbed it with both hands.

"PET! It's ME!"

"Annie!" Pet shrieked. "The ants! They won't leave me alone!"

"You're standing on their ant hill," Annie explained. Pet just looked confused. Annie sighed and bent over. Grabbing her friend in a fireman's carry, she stepped back over the swarm and over to a clear spot.

There she used a loop of floss as a brush to remove the ants from her and Pet's legs. She wasn't sure in the light but she thought they were red ants. Pet jumped and twisted until Annie assured her that the bugs were all gone.

Pet collapsed against Annie then, crying and hugging the older woman tight. Annie rode through it, hugging back but keeping an eye out for anything that might approach.

"Hush, hush. It's okay now. We just need to get back to the house. Here." She disengaged once the sobs slowed then handed one of the spears over. Pet looked at it in amazement, lifting a hand to touch the barbed tip.

"Be careful with that," Annie said, "now come on." She turned towards the house and took a few steps. Pet didn't move. "Pet?"

"My legs…I don't think I can…." Annie pulled the flashlight out of her beach wallet. She hated to use it, drawing attention wasn't a good thing. But the Cracker Jack toy was the perfect size and had a battery that promised to work for a bazillion hours.

She flashed it on then off again quickly. Pet's legs were covered with welts from ant-bites. "Got it covered," she promised. "Can you walk about…" She looked around. "Right over to that bush?"

"I don't think so," Pet said. "I feel…" She tilted a bit. Annie caught her and lifted her again.

"Okay, you don't have to." She set Pet down at the base of the aloe plant, as close to the center root as she could get the girl. Then she drew her blade and shaved off a strip of one of the leaves. She cut that in half and wrapped each of Pet's legs with aloe.

The sylph's tears stopped almost instantly. Annie tied the wraps in place with floss and sat back. "Those'll take down the swelling, reduce the pain and overall make everything just ducky," she said. "I think they actually work better on us than on the big people. Something about our metabolism." She scooted closer to Pet. "We'll just wait a minute or so, then we'll start the hike."

"I'm sorry," Pet said. Tears started to well up once more. "I just wanted to see what it was like out here."

"What it's like?" Annie asked. "You wanted an adventure?"

"Well, you have them all the time. I just wanted a… A…"

"A Pet story on the forum?" Annie wrapped an arm around the other's shoulder and pulled her into a hug. "Pet, no one thinks any less of you for not pulling a temper tantrum in the toy store and having the exchange posted on the internet. Denise loves you, Ray adores you, Mom and Dad dote on you, Sue could just eat you up."

"But no one respects me."

"Respect? Jeez, no one respects sylphs. They can use us or they can play with us or they watch us try to climb up big puffy sofas and laugh."

"They respect you," Pet said quietly. "Everyone does. You're so put together. You shrank and hit the ground running. If so many people didn't outweigh you by a couple hundred pounds, you'd be in charge."

"I'm not that well put together," Annie said after a moment. She stroked the blond hair under her hand. They were quiet for a while. Every so often Annie pushed on the aloe strips to squeeze more sap into the bites.

"Annie? Did someone leave you? The day you…The Day? Is that why you're so schitzo about leaving me?"

"No," Annie said softly. "No, that's not what happened."

----

PE ended and most of the class jogged towards the back door of the gym. Mrs. Diggel nodded at Mia and Annie as she passed the soccer goal they leaned against. "See you in a few minutes, girls. If I'm not here right away, Cole, get them started on calisthenics."

"Yes, coach," Mia promised. Once the woman was out of sight she drew a pack of cigarettes out of her leg warmers. Annie produced a lighter. They jogged to the trees lining the side of the field.

Three steps into the foliage and you were invisible. They'd checked to be sure. But from within the vines and branches they could see anyone coming.

They usually had time for at least one ciggy each before anyone showed up, maybe two before the coach came back. They were about halfway through their smokes when they both started to felt strange.

"Whoa. I'm getting dizzy," Annie said.

"I'm getting a headache," Mia replied. Annie started rubbing her forehead, then had to grab a tree to keep from falling. She said, "Catch me!" and suddenly the ground dropped out from under her. She seemed to be falling straight down. The tree bark slid under her hands. When she tried to tighten her grip, her hands seemed to be ripped off of the sides. She staggered back, tripping over something…

The dizziness faded as she lay on her back, but she became chilly. "Annie?" She rolled to her side towards Mia's voice. The girl was also flat on the ground, beside a billboard Annie couldn't remember. Surely a ten foot long tennis shoe would have caught her eye before… Of course, so would the fact that Mia was naked.

"What happened to your clothes?" she asked.

"Same thing happened to yours, I guess," Mia said. Annie looked down.

"Eep! What the hell's going on!" The two stood and looked around. "That's…that's not a billboard," Annie said softly.

"That's my shoe," Mia said. "I think I fell out of it. When did everything get so big?"

Annie went over the last few minutes in her mind. The falling, the tree bark, tripping over…out of her own shoe. "I don't think it did," she said quietly. Mia's eyes widened

"Do you mean, we shrank?"

"Yeah, I think…" she staggered a bit. The ground was uneven and she looked down to place her foot. There were regular ridges in the dirt and she tried to understand the pattern. She realized that she was standing in her own footprint. "Oh, god," she cried. Then everything started to go dim.

"Annie?" Mia asked. Annie didn't reply as she sank to the ground.

When she woke up, she was laying in a dark space that stank. Her mouth was dry and her eyes gummy. She reached up to wipe her face and bumped something that moved.

"Hey, you're awake!" Mia said.

"Not so much," Annie growled. She sat up and found a ceiling in her way.

"Scoot back here," Mia said. Annie followed the touch on her shoulder and moved to a space with more headroom. She sat beside her friend and tried to force herself awake.

When she could see clearly, she realized there was no roof over them here. Stars twinkled in the sky. Then the smell made sense. They were in one of their gym shoes. "When did we…?"

"I moved you in here when you fainted," Mia explained. "I thought it might be safer."

"Safer from what?"

"Bugs, rats, you know."

Annie nodded. "What happened to us? Is it just us? Or did everyone in the world shrink?"

"I heard an announcement, but I couldn't make out the words." Mia shifted a bit. "I was going to flag down Mrs. Diggel for help, but no one came out to practice."

Annie's voice rose in tone. "Mia, what are we going to do?!" Mia drew her friend's head to her shoulder.

"Let it out, Annie," she said, patting her shoulder. "I already had my little breakdown. But I see cars go by, way over there. And I heard the buses, so there are at least some people still normal. They'll find us. They'll help us."

"O-okay. Promise?"

"I promise," Mia said firmly. They sat together for a few minutes, then they both heard voices.

"What's that?" Mia asked.

"I dunno. Could it be someone looking for us? Our parents?" She stood and slipped over the side of the running shoe. Her jump took her farther away than she'd expected. "Whoa! I'm an athlete!"

"Yeah, I think something about being small makes us stronger," Mia said. She crouched and jumped straight up. Annie's jaw dropped as her friend cleared the shoe and actually landed farther away from it that Annie stood. "Or maybe we're just as strong as we were, but packed into tiny bodies?"

"I don't know," Annie admitted. "I missed the 'shrunken women' chapter of the biology textbook."

"Ah," Mia nodded. "And then copied off a nerd to pass the exam. Well, we need to find whoever's talking. Which way?"

They both turned back and forth, then pointed confidently towards the sound. In different directions. Mia shrugged and started walking in the direction of her guess. Annie watched her go. Together, they'd be safer, but apart they might find help faster. She turned and went towards her guess.

She knew she wasn't walking as confidently as her friend, but walking along on the gravelly ground was uncomfortable. Being naked wasn't helping.

There were snippets of noise when she first started walking but they faded quickly. She plugged along, brushing the long grasses aside. She'd become turned around but she thought she was moving towards the middle school next to her own school.

There were a few branches lying on the ground. The first she tried to crawl over was rotted and collapsed under her.

"Eugh," she muttered. She brushed her hands against a fistful of grass stalks. "I shouldn't have to be crawling through this crap!" Then she had a thought. "But I don't have to, do I?" She crouched and jumped. She cleared the deadwood easily, but brushed into low hanging vines.

Her landing was twisted but nothing was really hurt. She brushed herself off again and set off.

Two branches later she noticed a lot of moss on the next one. She was about to jump when it rose and fell. Annie froze. The branch was breathing.

As she stared at it in the light filtered from the street, she realized it was a cat. A big cat. A cat big enough to eat tiny little Annie.

She backed away slowly. Her leg brushed a twig. She tried to step away from it but the sandy ground beneath her fell away. She came down on a branch with a sharp crack.

The cat stirred at the noise. Annie tried to be silent as she spun over onto her feet, but a whimper broke free. She took off running, jumping as high and as far as she could with each step.

In the situation, she bounced off a few trees and crashed through some branches. There was almost as much noise coming from her pursuer.

She stumbled over something, fell and slid to a stop. She pushed herself up with a sigh, bouncing off of something in the dark. She screamed in frustration and pushed through it, staggering back into her run.

A sound came from behind her. She had no idea what it was until it shrieked at the approaching cat. Mia's scream was cut off suddenly. Annie ran blindly on.

A few hours or years later she was still staggering through the dark. She kept to the edge of the trees that lined the soccer field. Her brain wasn't functioning too well, but it was the best idea she could come up with. Out on the grass she'd be bare to any predators. But among the trees were more places for the predators to hide. She just kept walking along. She was cried out, but moaned, "I didn't see her," every now and then.

Shouts sounded from the parking lot. Annie stopped and ducked behind a tree root. A figure ran across the field and slid into the tree line. She wanted to call out but she was also terribly afraid. And at that moment, she wasn't sure she deserved rescue.

Other figures were coming across the field. "Find that little fucker," someone said. She wasn't sure but she thought she recognized him. One of the vocational guys from the class ahead of hers. Ted… something.

The other figures shouted encouragement at each other. She wasn't sure if she wanted rescue, but she was sure she didn't want to be found by these guys. She turned and crept deeper into the foliage.

A thud on the ground froze her in place as she crawled over a root. The first figure to cross the field leaned against the tree over her. She whimpered and slid back down to the dirt.

It appeared to be a boy. Annie was having a hard time getting a good look at him, what with the lighting and the extremely steep angle. The jacket showed a smiling tiger, the mascot of the middle school, so the kid was probably younger than Annie.

There was a sliding sound, a rustle of wood against cloth. She looked up. For a moment, she thought the kid's finger was growing like Pinocchio's. Then he grabbed it and held. She realized it was a baseball bat, though it looked odd in his grip.

More shouts came from here and there in the trees. Annie realized the kid had done something to the seniors. And he'd come armed. The little thug was spoiling for a fight! She started feeling a little more sympathetic to the hoods from her own grade.

"What have we here?" The voice from a few feet away startled her enough to force a whimper from her mouth. That was lost in the noise of the thug spinning towards the sound.

There was rustling in the bushes and something huge forced its way into the clear. She peered between some leaves to watch the guy sit down on a bench beside the field. Glancing up, she saw the kid peering around the tree.

"What are you doing?" From the other side Ted walked into view. "That fucker's getting away!"

"Oh, he's probably a mile gone by now," the other said. She recognized him now, the guy known as 'Meat,' both for the size of his dick and the power of his intellect. Meat held something out in his hand. "Found a pack and a lighter."

"What else you got there?" Ted asked, shaking out one of the smokes.

"Panties!" Meat said happily. Annie realized those were her clothes, her and… And her cigarettes. "Some dumb bitches left their clothes out here. Must have been a fun class." The jackass dropped her and…the other girl's uniforms to the ground, stuffed two pair of underwear into his pocket and stood on the bench.

"GUYS!" he shouted. The others drifted back, all reporting that they hadn't seen the asshole they were after. Meat handed around the free cigs and they wandered back towards the parking lot.

Ted looked back and forth along the trees. His face tracked right past where the two crouched. "That shit BETTER come off my car!" he shouted, then turned to follow his friends.

The kid heaved a sigh of relief and sank down to the ground. Annie found herself breathing again, surprised to realize she'd stopped. She lay flat on the dirt, waiting for the kid to get up and leave. She wasn't sure what she wanted right now, but a prankster wasn't it.

After a while, the giant started to stand up. He placed his hands down to push up on, one resting on a small stick. Pressing down on that thwacked the other end across Annie's bare butt. She screeched.

The kid stuck in that position, unmoving. His hand and weight stayed on the stick, pinning the girl in place. "Please," she whispered. "Please let me go!" He still didn't move and Annie started to cry. "Please," she repeated, a little louder but muffled by sobs. "Please make it all stop."

"Oh, my God," Pet said. "That was horrible!"

"Yeah," Annie said. She was silent after that, staring off over the lawn.

"And you still came out here? All that…horror in your head and you came out to save me?" Pet rose to her knees, ignoring the pain in her legs, and wrapped the other in a tight hug. "I promise, I'll never, ever make you do that again."

"Yeah, well…" Annie suffered through the hug with ill grace, finally shoving the girl gently away. "Can you walk, yet?"

"If you need me to, Annie."

"Gods, no hero worship, kid. Seriously! I'm just me, okay?" They stood and started off slowly. Pet used her spear mostly as a walking stick, Annie kept an eye out for…anything.

----

Victor tightened his robe and stepped out on the front porch. The paper boy was pretty good this year, the day's edition was almost centered on the driveway.

He was glancing over the headlines when he climbed the steps. There was a sharp 'Ahem!' coming from next to the door. The bottom of the door.

Annie and Pet both stood just to the side of the door sill. Each shaded their eyes with one hand, like blinders, keeping their gaze on the porch.

"What are you two doing?" he asked.

"Right now, not looking up your robe, sir," Annie replied.

Victor snorted. "I'm wearing shorts, girl. Well, come on. Breakfast is waiting." He bent over to offer his hand.

-----

"We're back!" Ray shouted as he opened the door. Pet spun around on the coffee table and shouted in wordless glee. Annie leaned her foot on the remote and surfed through the channels.

Denise slipped past her husband, eyes scanning the room. They lit up when she saw Pet, a smile bursting onto her face.

"There you are!" she bubbled. Pet jumped until her owner picked her up. "Look at you! What have they been feeding you? A cow?"

"What are you talking about?" Pet shouted back.

"This!" Denise put a fingertip against the bare belly under Pet's halter. "This fat, fat, fat little tummy!" Pet squealed and kicked as she was tickled. Legs flashed and her skirt fluttered.

Ray circled the pair and sat down by the table. Annie's back was to him. She settled on a rerun of Sylph Straits.

"Not going to call me fat are you?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Only if you ever become fat," he promised. He moved forward and sat on the floor, head resting on the coffee table. "I missed you."

"Sun, surf, fun and your wife in Hawaii? Yeah, I'm sure you did."

He reached into a pocket and brought out a can. He slid it across the table to her side. She glanced over. A carton of Macadamia nuts the size of an oil can loomed next to her. "Hmph," she sniffed. "I see you thought of me at least once. Airport gift shop?"

She turned back to the TV. Fingers entered her peripheral vision, coming to either side of her. She smiled and leaned backwards into his grasp. Ray lifted her to his cheeks and they hugged.

"I missed you, too, you thug."

"Thug? You haven't called me that since…"

"What the HELL?!?!" Denise cried. She lifted Pet's skirt and stared at her legs. "What happened!?! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Pet said in a small voice.

Ray leaned over to glance at the problem. "Ant bites," he judged. "Annie used to get those all the time. Dad could never figure out where they were getting in at." He held out a hand. Denise rolled Pet from her palm to his. "Yeah," he said after a second. "These'll heal fast. Annie's never bothered her after a day or two."

He kissed Pet on the top of her head and handed her back. "Well, okay," Denise said, holding her sylph gingerly.

"Welcome back!" Mom said from the door with a tray of iced teas. "Dad'll be a sec. He's fixing a broken rain gutter."

Ray looked down at Annie as she squirmed in his grip. "Why do you look guilty all of a sudden?"



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