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Chapter 20 – Laurëalas Heero
I was wandering outside, and I was fairly pleased with myself. I'd executed my plot for revenge perfectly. Mixing small, naturally hyper people with massive amounts of sugar had been a stroke of genius. I stood smiling at the walnut tree that supported Jiji's punching bag. I slapped at it half-heartedly.
I knew a bit of karate, but not as much as my sister. I'd been pulled out of my martial arts classes when we'd moved in the middle of my fifth grade year. There'd been nowhere local to continue my lessons, and by the time Ji had found someone to teach her (and convinced our mother that it was a good idea) I'd already moved out. Besides, I wanted to keep my carefully constructed illusion that I knew martial arts intact. I aimed a roundhouse kick at the bag, wobbling a little when my ankle hit it instead of my foot.
"LAURËALAS MARIBEL HEERO!"
Uh… oops. I guess I'd misjudged how upset Jiana was gonna get. I looked around for somewhere to hide, knowing that Ji was gonna be looking for me soon enough. The shed… no, that was way too obvious. The barn? Again, too obvious. The field was bad. I didn't want to be running from my irate younger sibling through the brush. I looked at the punching bag, hoping for inspiration. The tree! Granted, I hadn't climbed a tree in several years and was very much out of practice, but I was desperate.
I pulled myself up with the help of the chain of the punching bag and the limb it hung from. I scrambled up several more feet and just hopped that my fear of heights would keep Ji from looking for me up here. And, of course, that it wouldn't keep me from getting back down once it was safe to do so. I also hoped that something, anything would happen to distract Jiana's wrath from me.