Dear Janeen,

Hullo from Lundin! You wont beleve how grate things are hear! I even hav a new business. I'm seling my art work, and peeple here luv it.

I always new I was to addvancd for Stonybruk. Peeple their have totaly stale fashun cents. Yourup is way dibbler.

Luv,

Claudia

I have to admit; I was bragging. After all, Janine had always been the "smart" and "successful" one in the family, at least in conventional ways. Now that it was my turn to shine, I couldn't resist rubbing her nose in it just a bit. I'm not a horrible sister, though; I'll be glad to help pay for her college tuition with all the money I earn. And I'll even help my parents out with the family bills (trust me – when I'm paying for things, there will be much more marshmallow cream served with dinner.)

As you can probably tell, the company Clem and I had started was going great. I spent the next few days busily creating mock-ups of our products for the catalogue and Clem spent them jumping in and out of various hell dimensions to publicize it. Demons and other evil entities loved it – he was already getting pre-orders!

Guess what? Apparently, the First Evil told him that if it was corporeal (whatever that means), it would have wanted one of everything! And with a name like that, you know the First must be super important.

About five days after we'd arrived in London, I was working on what Clem called our "Big Bad" collection. He gave me some basic concepts, and I was supposed to turn them into wearable art. I was so inspired that it was going really quickly. By 10AM, I had already finished two pieces: the Ascension Earring Set was made out of fimo (one of my favorite mediums), and had a little man in one ear, and a giant snake in the other, and the Hell Goddess stilettos were red, and covered with little flames made of orange and red glass beads. I made sure the heels were really high and the toes were steel tipped, so you could stomp down your minions and still be fashionable.

Finally, I was putting the finishing touches on a t-shirt depicting what Clem said was a historical scene. It showed a man being flayed! It was a really fun scene to do, because it gave me an opportunity to use all the puff paint I had brought along. Although, now that I thought about it, I was running a bit short on the red . . .

Suddenly, Kristy's voice drifted into my little backroom office. "Left, right. Left, right" she droned. Oh God, not again. It was so hard to work with all this violence. Personally, I only pursue suffering in the name of art.

Kristy wasn't the only one acting strangely. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure what had gotten into my friends since our arrival. Take last night, at dinner.

Angel had made us all omelets (I think eggs might be the only thing he knows how to cook. If you ask me he needs to spend a bit more time focusing on the "butter," "sugar," and "chocolate" layers of the food pyramid.) Even so, they weren't bad, and I was eating enthusiastically. So was Kristy – I think all that marching builds up on appetite.

Nobody else, however, even touched their food. Mary Anne refused to put down her book, and only lasted five minutes at the table before she left, saying she didn't want anyone to spill on it. Jessi was picking at her food, looking morose. Stacey was picking at her food, gazing at Angel. And Dawn was so spacey that she was actually picking at her food instead of complaining about it. I'm telling you, it was just weird. I don't think anyone said more than two sentences for the whole meal.

And get this. When I tried to tell them about Demonic Designs, every single one of them rolled their eyes. Rolled their eyes! Then Mary Anne said maybe I should focus on more important things, and everyone nodded. I can't believe they weren't showing more respect for my art. The Phillistinians.

As if that wasn't weird (and annoying) enough, after dinner Angel left the apartment for a bit and I caught Dawn sneaking out of his room carrying some kind of plastic tube and then fighting over it with Stacey, who said she needed it for a souvenir. Kristy and Jessi didn't notice because they were too busy trying to pick the lock on his weapons chest, and Mary Anne didn't even look up from her book.

I can't tell you what a relief it was to get back to the Demonic Designs office the next day. Clem may be a demon, but at least he's normal. And he brought me fried chicken, which after a few days of eggs is just vital.

Anyway, after Kristy had shattered my concentration, I realized Clem and Andrew (the Mr. Wells we had met in Stoneybrook – he was helping us with the business side of thigns) had come in behind me and were watching me work.

"It's just . . .beautiful!" Andrew said, wiping a tear from his eye. "Ah, it takes me back to the olden days. He looks almost god-like, doesn't he?"

Wow, I had never moved anyone to tears with clothing before. Well, sometimes my mother cries when she sees what I'm wearing, but mothers don't count, right?

"Yeah, it's a keeper alright," said Clem. "Listen, do you think you can spot us six Siamese and two Russian Long Hairs? We're running short of start-up capital, and some of the brighter puff paints can only be bought in the lower hell dimensions."

"Sure," Andrew said. "I want in on this one. I'll bring 'em by this afternoon in a laundry hamper."

Ooh, kittens? Too bad Mary Anne spends all her time in the library, I thought, she loves kittens. On the other hand, it's her loss; maybe it'll teach her there's a price for being so obsessed, not to mention rude.

Clem handed me a Mars bar, which he knows is necessary mid-morning to keep my sugar levels in an appropriate place.

"Claud, can you take a break from that? I got a phone call this morning; a client wants to come by in person. She says she needs to place a very special order."

"Won't the wards keep her out?" asked Andrew. "Willow did quite a job on them."

"Nah, she says not. Maybe she sides with the forces of good!" They both chuckled. "Anyway," Clem continued, "she should be by in just a minute."

There was a knock on the office door (we always keep it closed to block out the drilling out in the daycare center, plus the last thing I need is the kids thinking my work is one of their arts and craft projects).

"The new client!" Clem exclaimed. Andrew opened the door and swept the woman inside with an exaggerated bow.

The woman was tall and thin, with long, dark hair and a red velvet dress. It was pretty enough, but too conventional for my tastes. Add some lime green, on the other hand. . .

Oops, I got distracted. Fashion tends to do that to me. Anyway, the woman stared at us for a while without saying anything and then turned to me.

"Oh!" she groaned. "The stars! They tell me you are the one, little girl. You will make Gilroth reborn."

Man, she sounded just like Dawn's mother! How uncanny.

"That's just spiffy," Andrew told her, "We're good with Gilroth here at Demonic Designs. Now, do you happen to have a picture of the piece you want commissioned?"

The woman placed a piece of paper in front of me, an old black and white drawing of a necklace. It looked like it got ripped out of one of those books Mary Anne always has her nose in. It wasn't the kind of necklace I'd normally like – there weren't any bright colors or interesting themes, but I couldn't stop looking at that picture.

"Good. You will make the amulet," she said. "I will get daddy back. I will come for it when the moon is at its fullest point."

The sound of her voice startled me, and I looked up at her again. She smiled at me, and I shivered. A chicken walking over my grave, Mimi always used to say.

'There is the small matter of payment," Clem said cheerfully.

"Of course." She handed him a wad of bills. Clem counted them, looked up, and then began to hurry the woman out the door.

"Oh, no problem, this should be plenty." After she left, he shut the door behind her. "Claudia, this is our biggest commission yet. You have three days to the full moon - think you can finish?"

"No problem," I replied. It was going to be my biggest challenge yet, but I couldn't wait to try making something like that amulet. And the best part was, the picture was black and white, so the colors were going to be entirely up to me. This was going to be even better than the original; I could feel it.