Thanks to my reviewers! I posted another chapter in a week (well, about)!
By the way, I noticed that this story really has no plot, so I'm just going to have a bunch of mini conflicts.
And to clear things up a bit, Diana is not in New York City. Her family was staying there, but now they're going to stay at Grandma's house, somewhere in upstate New York, probably, because it's pretty big.
"So why are you living with Grandma now?" I asked, stowing my suitcase underneath the extra twin bed in her room.
"She offered to my mom. After my parents got divorced…" Annie trailed off and stared into space.
"Sorry." She gave no response, so I changed tactics. "Want to go see the library?"
Grandma's library could cheer up anyone. The shelves fan from the ceiling to the floor, with a ladder mounted on a track to reach the higher books. Scattered throughout the room were oversized armchairs perfect for curling up in and along one wall was a series of window seats.
When we arrived, out of breath from racing down the stairs, a girl maybe a few years younger than me was already there, her blond hair covering her face as she bent over a leather-bound book.
"Rose!" Annie groaned "What are you doing here?"
"Reading. And there's nothing you can do about it." She looked up smugly.
I looked closer at the book she was holding and realized with horror it was the original unedited tales of the Brothers Grimm.
"Is she really…?"
"'Fraid so."Annie shrugged, as if there was nothing wrong in letting a seven-year-old read stories about children playing butcher with each other (A/N: Seriously, I looked it up. It's an actual story.)
Feeling rather unsettled, I lifted a book of Greek Myths off a stand.
Annie snorted. "You're scared about what she's reading, but you're going to read that?"
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." An older boy intoned.
"What the heck? Ben?" I asked, setting the book down.
"Yeah, that's me." He stroked the lizard on his shoulder.
I stepped back involuntarily and he let the lizard crawl onto his arm "Yoda won't hurt you. Will you, Yoda?"
The lizard narrowed its eyes at me. Seriously, it did!
"Um, is Heather here?" Annie asked, while I tried to avoid making eye contact with the lizard.
Ben sighed "Yeah, she came. Unexpected this is, and unfortunate."
"Speak of the devil." Rose piped up, as Heather burst into the room.
"Annie! Help! My cell phone battery is getting low!" She waved her cell phone around frantically. "I need an electrical outlet!"
"There's one in my room you can use." Annie said soothingly.
She led the way back to her room, where Heather plugged it in and exclaimed she would cry of happiness if it wouldn't ruin her mascara.
Ben, meanwhile, picked up the knife on my bed and studied it.
"Celestial bronze." I explained.
A slow smile spread across his face "I'll duel you."
"With what?"
"Light saber."
"Against a knife?" I asked incredulously.
"Why not? Unless," he smirked "You're scared."
The lizard on his shoulder gave me an identical smirk.
"Come on, Diana." Annie encouraged "I know the perfect spot for it. You can come with me to my archery practice this afternoon!"
"I'll go easy on you…" Ben wheedled.
The lizard nodded vehemently, its eyes amused. It looked like it was laughing at me.
And no way does a lizard make fun of me. "Oh, fine."
Heather rolled her eyes "You guys are such geeks."
"This afternoon." Ben confirmed "And may the force be with you."
I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, so most of the Star Wars info was from the internet. Ah, I love technology.
Review!