From the Desk of Annie Jamison

Perry and the kids showed up right before Hilda. He was right about her needing some cheering up. What he hadn't mentioned was that it had something to do with him, which I didn't know until I saw the look she gave him.

He smiled in response to it, then looked over to calmly catch the look I shot his way.

Hilda had been awkward before she lost her memories, and she'd been especially awkward after, but now that she had them back, along with all the memories since, she was more awkward than ever.

Phineas extended his greeting to her, and got her to sit down on the floor with the others. "Have you ever played truth or dare before?"

"Not exactly. We have a game like it back… where I'm from. But I don't think it's quite the same."

"Well, not everyone plays it the same way over here, either. Usually, you pick truth, or dare. If you pick truth, you have to answer a question. If you pick dare, you have to do the dare. Now we let you take it back. If you don't want to do the dare, you can pick truth. If you don't want to tell us, you can pick dare. And they have to be yes/no truths. And… well, it's easier to show you the best rule change. Perry and Annie, you guys go first."

I wasn't sure where he was going with this, but I shrugged, and sat down. "Alright, Perry, truth or dare?"

He held up two fingers, and I handed him a cookie before I realized that we'd just illustrated Phineas's point.

Candace laughed at us. "See, Annie added this rule. When you're picking someone's 'dare' you can either pick a challenge, or give them a creme filled cookie from the name brand Dare. Perry always picks Dare, no matter what, and Annie practically always gives cookies the first round."

"Guilty. I even give cookies for truth sometimes."

Candace laughed again, mimicking me. "Um, well, would you like a cookie?"

Truth be known, I've given out some pretty notorious dares in my day. But back when I first started playing, I hadn't even known about the dares. Basically, I used to play truth or cookie.

Hilda turned to Perry. "Why do you always pick dare?"

He shook his head, held up one finger, then two.

"No, I was just asking…"

Phineas shrugged. "Perry never picks truth, but if he does, that's the only way he'll tell you. Candace, it's your turn."

"Alright, Ferb; truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"What does Dad want for his birthday?"

We all turned to stare at her as she whisked out a notebook, ready to scribble down an answer.

Hilda cleared her throat. "I'm confused; how is that a yes or no question?"

Ferb pondered that for a moment. "Yes."

"What do you mean 'yes'? Yes what? C'mon!"

"Yes, Dad will like whatever you give him."

Hilda stared at them, a little longing in her face. I didn't know exactly how she felt, but it'd be nice to have a Dad to give things to.

"Alright, Hilda. It's your turn."

She blinked at Phineas. "Oh. Um…" her eyes darted around the circle, trying to choose her victim. "Perry?"

Perry smiled smugly, and held up two fingers.

Her face fell. "Oh."

I swatted at him, knowing that she'd been hoping that he'd pick truth. But Perry never backed out of a challenge, and he never, ever, picked truth. Too used to holding his secrets close, I guess.

Phineas nudged her. "Now you give him a dare."

"Like what?"

Candace spoke up. "Traditionally, something like making him do a prank call, or something humiliating. We usually just do challenges like 'stand on your head for six seconds' 'hold your breath for longer than so and so' that kind of stuff."

Which would be the other reason Perry always chose dare.

"Okay. Um… AJ, give him a cookie." She slumped back, in defeat.

Perry looked disappointed until I handed him the cookie. Those little creme filled Dares were the only kind of store-bought cookies I actually liked. And if it sounds like I'm name dropping, I just really like the cookies.

Phineas looked torn. "Hmmm. Annie: truth or dare?"

Unlike Perry and Candace, I'm very open about everything except my past, and, you know, the whole, secret double life thing. "Truth."

"Have you ever wanted to go sky-diving?"

I managed not to make eye contact with Perry, but it was hard. "Yes."

The three Flynn-Fletcher children exchanged glances, and Perry shot me a warning glance.

Ferb blinked towards me, and I could tell he wanted to ask a follow up question.

"Truth."

"Would you?"

Perry shot me another look, warning me to be careful. I just laughed. "That would totally depend on the circumstances."

Candace shook her head. "Nuh, uh, uh! Yes or no!"

"If I had too."

"Yes or no!"

The worried look on Perry's face faded into an amused smirk. Some answers were just more complicated than yes or no. For some of us, anyway.

If I didn't have too, then… "No."

The kids nodded at each other, and my reputation as Perry's fun, but boring friend was restored. Perry gave me a thoughtful look, and I crossed my eyes at him. Because, yeah, I totally wouldn't ever have jumped out of a plane if I wasn't an agent. Not my thing. I do it to help people.

Hilda was looking at me, too, and Ferb noticed, so it was my turn to keep the game going. "You're up, Perry."

He nodded, looking around the group, gaze settling on Ferb. Always a fun combo to watch.

He looked at Ferb, who blinked twice, and then Perry made three quick hand signals that I didn't recognize. Ferb got up, walked into my kitchen, and came back gulping down a glass of soda. We all waited for a second, and then he belched, impressively, I suppose. We all burst into laughter as Perry nodded, indicating that he'd passed the dare.

Still laughing, I turned back to him. "Dare?"

His eyes twinkled as he nodded, knowing that I knew he hadn't received an actual dare yet.

It was always tricky to find something challenging enough to test him, without revealing his secret identity, but I always tried. "Alright then; I dare you to stand on one hand for one minute…" he rolled his eyes, and I finished, "while balancing a glass of water on your foot."

As he jumped up to get the glass, I noticed that Hilda looked worried. I wondered why, until she turned to Phineas. "I thought you said she always gives out cookies? That sounds hard!" Phineas laughed. "She almost always gives out cookies the first time. But it wouldn't be very exciting if she gave them out every time. Don't worry, though. Her dares are always fun."

I was glad when he didn't add that I was the hardest on Perry, who was coming back with the cup. He tried to hand it to me, and I shook my head with a grin. The smirk faded from his face as he thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to maneuver to a handstand while putting the cup on his foot without revealing his agent skills, or asking for help.

He lifted one foot behind him, and balanced the cup, looking a little doubtful.

We all watched with baited breath as he slowly bent to touch the ground, shooting me an amused glance.

Candace reached for a cookie without looking down, and I nudged the box closer to her hand, trying to laugh as Perry wobbled on purpose to mask his training. I happened to knew for a fact that he was able to throw a glass of water into the air, and catch it on his foot without spilling a drop, but what made this challenging, was the fact that he'd never practiced doing it this way, to my knowledge.

We all clapped when he got to one hand, and Ferb flipped the egg time I'd gotten out for just such a dare. When the minutes was up, we clapped again, while Perry carefully maneuvered the glass down, handing it to me with that smirk back.

He jerked his head towards Hilda, who looked like she was having a great time, and I nodded, happy to see that his own fatigue had eased up considerably.

The moment was happy, but for some reason, it felt almost… too happy. Like something was looming around the corner. It was that sixth sense I'd acquired as an agent, but I couldn't tell what was setting it off. It didn't feel like something horrible was about to happen, or even impending danger. But as I tried to think past that cheerful game, I just kept getting this overwhelming sense of…

Dread.