Another long wait...so sorry! But I'm back now and Evangeline has promised to dig herself into a little trouble in the next couple chapters just for your entertainment. That's sweet of her.

Loving my Chapter 6 reviewers: 5livelaughlove5, Whiteling, Sparkly-Vampire-Wannabe, queenVEExo, Carlint, Nana Cloud, lizziemagic, maramouse, Naara, HeartandLazerBeamGirl, and SomeKindofIdiot!

A little challenge for you all, just 'cause I thought it would be kinda fun. I gave a nod to another Princess and the Frog character in this chapter. Can you catch it?

Any attempt to sleep that night was useless. No matter how hard I tried to clear my head, I just kept tossing and turning. What did that Dr. What's-his-face mean? The same thought sat in my head night after night for the next week. I wasn't about to ask Aunt Charlotte. What was I supposed to say? "Hey, listen, I went to see this magician guy and he told me my parents are royalty." I'd sound insane.

I finally decided my friends would be the best people to consult. School started up the Monday after New Year's, so I was up bright and early to start up my second semester as a Senior at the New Orleans Girls' Academy. I drove there myself - I'd gotten fed up with the chauffer.

Before the bell rang each morning, the students were everywhere, each of us in our preppy pleated skirts and stockings. During the warmer months, we usually hung out in the courtyard, but the chill in the air drove the student body inside, where we sat by our lockers. Virginia was back from Georgia, so she was already there waiting for me when I walked up with my book bag.

"How was the funeral?" I asked her, trying to be gentle about the subject.

"Fine." She replied indifferently. "I didn't really know Aunt Harriet that well, so it was just a whole lot of hugging old people I'd never seen before."

I smiled. "Did Mary or Ruth tell you about our little adventure?"

"Yes, Mary did, at least. Figures she'd run into a dark alley for a magic trick."

"Yeah," I sighed and sat back against my locker next to her. Turning my head left and right, I made sure none of the girls around us were close enough to eavesdrop, then pulled a card out of my pocket. "Did she mention these?" I handed the card representing my past to her and let her examine it.

"The fortune-telling cards? Oh yeah, she said she's going to have a bunch of kids or something. She didn't say he gave them to you."

"He didn't." Virginia peered at me quizzically, but waited for a teacher to pass by before she said anything.

"You took it?"

"No! I found it in my pocket when I got home. See the two people here? He said they're my birth parents, and look. They have crowns on." I pointed to the two heads bent forward to look at the bundled up baby resting in the woman's arms.

"So, what, you think your parents are a king and queen or something?"

I shrugged meekly, realizing how stupid I sounded. "I don't know. Maybe?"

Virginia gave me the card back and looked at me seriously. "Evangeline, I know being adopted may make you wonder, but I hardly doubt some random guy you meet on the street is going to be able to tell you where you come from."

"But how'd he know I was adopted?" I inquired. "And how'd he know so much about Ruth and Mary?"

"Because he's a con-artist. That's what they do." Then she cracked a small grin. "You know, I'd say you're getting back to your old self, believing in magic and all that."

"I am not!" I protested, crossing my arms.

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Next thing I know, you'll probably be dating again." She teased, just in time for Mary to come skipping down the hallway, her brown braids flying behind her.

"Evangeline Louise La Bouff!" Mary carelessly dumped her stuff against the wall and stomped up to me. "A little bird, aka Marjory Benoit, just told me that you have a date with her older brother! Why did I not hear this sooner?"

Virginia laughed loudly and looked at me with wide, amused eyes. "Did I not completely predict that? I should be the one telling your future."

I shook my head violently. "It's not a date. He thinks I don't know how to have fun so he's taking me out to lunch on Saturday."

"That sounds like a date to me." Virginia commented.

"Definitely a date." Mary added, tapping her foot. I was cornered. Absolutely, undoubtedly cornered. "When did that happen?"

"New Years day. I kind of ran into him on the way to my house." They didn't seem to pick up on my literal meaning. Instead, they gasped and tackled me in an uncomfortable hug.

"What are you going to wear?" Mary pressed for details, but just as I opened my mouth to tell her I had no clue, the bell rang. I snatched up my books and practically flew away, yelling a swift farewell over my shoulder as I headed to my first class. Cooking. It was perhaps the worst of my classes. I had thought that it would be easy to get something right when the recipe and instructions were neatly written out for me, but somehow I still managed to turn a simple cookie recipe into a hockey puck recipe.

I got there first thanks to my quick getaway, but as I placed my books at a work table, others started to trickle in, including the teacher, Mrs. Ballard. She was a nervous breakdown ready to happen, which probably wasn't safe considering we were working with knives and ovens all the time. While the class sat in boredom, she sifted wildly through the papers spread across her desk.

At last she found what she wanted, straightening her glasses as she greeted us. "Welcome back, students. I trust your break went well." There was a low grumble in response. "Fantastic. Now, here are your new partner assignments for this semester." There was a mixed reaction from the other girls. Some were happy, like my partner, Rosie. She hated being paired with me from the first day when I nearly flung a chicken breast across the room. Others were disappointed to part from their friends. Some, like me, couldn't care less.

"At this first table," Mrs. Ballard chirped, holding the paper she was reading about an inch from her face, "Are Dorothy and Jean. At this table, Frances and Phoebe. Jackie and Marie, here. Evangeline and Marjory, there." I moved my things to the table she had pointed to, praying Marjory wasn't going to say anything about Daniel. As soon as she plopped down next to me, I knew I was wrong.

She looked straight at me and quirked an eyebrow up. "So you and my brother, huh?" I peeked at her, checking to see if she was mad. Mad may not have been the word, but threatening was certainly an option. She looked a lot like Daniel, come to think of it. They both had the same green eyes and mouth, but their facial structures were different and Marjory had lighter hair, almost blonde.

"Not really," I bit my lip. "We're just friends I guess. We hardly know each other."

"Not how I hear it." She opened her book, blindly flipping through the pages. "Listen, Daniel and I are really close, closer than you could ever imagine. We tell each other everything. Everything." Her eyes locked with mine, and I got her point. "Let me tell you about Daniel, and I'm only doing this because I respect you and think you should have a fair warning. He's not one to settle down. He's gone with a few girls, and none of them lasted very long. But, I know you probably keep likening him and all the other guys in the universe to Robby George - I remember what went on between you two - and I have to say Daniel doesn't deserve that."

"Students!" Mrs. Ballard had finished the partner assignments and was standing at the front of the classroom, holding a bag filled with beans. "Turn to page 576 and we will read on the great diversity of beans! Retrieve your supplies as needed, we got new rations. I expect two types of beans ready for a taste test by the end of the period. Go!"

Marjory and I flipped to the page and began reading. I tried not to make eye contact with her again, but she continued talking anyway. "All I'm saying is, Daniel's really a good person, despite how he may act sometimes, and you better not be using him as some bounce back tool to make you feel good about yourself."

We both kept our heads down and scanned the page, but I moved to get a large bowl from the front of the room. When I returned, I bent my head back over my book and whispered, "I'm not, I promise. I just kind of got sucked into this. Your brother's very…persuasive."

I started boiling some water on our stove, but Marjory moved to take over from there. She was well aware of my reputation in that class.

She chuckled a little, which was a pleasant surprise. "I know. He really should be a politician, but he's just not one to plan like that. He's smart, really he is, he just hates school."

"What do you think about him going into the army?" I blurted without thinking. I gasped, realizing what I'd just said, and rapidly fired out an apology. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be rude or anything. He just mentioned he might -,"

"It's okay." Marjory assured me with a heavy sigh. "I don't like it, and it makes me worry, but I'll never be able to stop him. It would take a lot to make Daniel want to stay here instead of go off to war. I don't know if anyone will ever be able to knock some sense into him."

I shifted awkwardly, feeling useless as she executed each of the steps listed in the recipe perfectly. "I'm sure he'll be fine." It was the only thing I could think to say.

"Yeah, maybe." We said hardly anything else for the remainder of the class other than small comments on our work. We finished with no time to spare, and luckily passed the taste test, though Marjory did most of the work. I'm glad she at least understood that I was about as useful as a rock rather than ordering me around and yelling at me when I did something wrong like Rosie.

We parted with polite goodbyes. The rest of the day is impossible to recall. The rest of the week actually. I went through the same routine with each sunrise, and the nights were all identical. As soon as I pulled the covers over me, my mind was bombarded with thoughts of Daniel and my birth parents. It had been so long since I'd even had a crush, and in my whole life I almost never thought of my birth parents, but ever since…I suppose the Christmas Eve Ball, I didn't even know who I was.

Saturday came too slowly, and I was more than thankful for the chance to sleep in and do away with that dreadful uniform. Unfortunately, Saturday meant I was going on my non-date with Daniel Benoit.

So he's coming over around…, I thought, looking at the clock on the wall that read 9:43. When is he coming? He never said. I had a small freak-out, frenziedly trying to remember if there'd ever been even a mention of a time. There hadn't. I was sure there hadn't. He could show up in the next ten minutes for all I knew. But, common sense told me lunch was generally around noon, so I organized my preparation so I was ready to go around 11:45. That gave me two hours before he would show up.

I had torn apart my entire closet before I reluctantly had to call Aunt Lotte for help. She was the accepted fashion guru in the neighborhood, and she was only too eager to offer her services.

"This is perfect. You'll look prettier than a magnolia in May in this one." Aunt Lotte held up a white peasant blouse and a high-waist vermillion skirt. I was laying flat on my back on my bed and by no means had a clear view of the outfit, but I'd seen every outfit about a million times by then. At that point, I would've worn a potato sack if she'd told me to.

"Thanks Aunt Lotte." I didn't move, but raised my hand and gave her a thumbs up.

"I'll leave you to get ready then." She stopped in the doorway. "I'm so happy you're getting back to your old self, Eva." That seemed to be the popular opinion lately.

The clock read 10:58 by the time I hoisted myself off the bed and moved to get dressed. I went slowly, knowing I had plenty of time. I'd start my makeup around 11:30, and then all I had to do was wait.

Thoughts started trickling into my mind, troubling thoughts that I really didn't want to think about, but had anyway. What if he didn't show up? What if Marjory was wrong and he really was like all the other guys I've known throughout my life? I hated 'what ifs.' They always ruined the perfect moment. I glanced into the full length mirror I had on the wall, turning left and right as I looked at how the skirt fit on me. I still had my pajama top on, so the full effect wasn't exactly complete, but it worked.

As I flipped my hair this was and that, trying to figure out how it would look best, Aunt Lotte screeched loudly up the stairs, "Eva! There's a handsome boy here to pick you up!"

I jerked my head at the doorway and shouted, "What?!" He couldn't be there already! It was only 11:03. "He can't be!" I yelled out my door.

"Well he is?" the reply echoed off the walls, and sent me scrambling over to my vanity. I feverishly applied foundation, eye liner and lipstick, all while pulling my blouse over my head at the same time. My hair was actually a bit frightening when I caught a look of it in the mirror, and my attempts to arrange it the way I wanted failed miserably. I finally pulled my bangs to the side and fastened them to my head with a small ribbon-adorned barrette. Knowing I would only be unsatisfied, I didn't dare look in the mirror again and tore out the door and down the stairs.

I finally skidded to a stop in the living room where poor Daniel was trapped by Aunt Lotte as she blabbered on about embarrassing things I'd done as a child. "…And she just fell right on the floor and - Oh! Eva you're ready." I didn't really want to know what story she was telling, but I was certainly glad I had kept her from finishing it. Daniel looked at me, obviously relieved to be free from Aunt Charlotte's clutches. He smoothly lifted himself from the couch and crossed over to me, placing his hand gingerly on the small of my back. This time, I didn't move, mostly because my aunt was right there. Mostly.

"Ready to go?" He asked softly, as if the words were meant for my ears only.

I glanced quickly at Aunt Lotte, silently willing her to move. She remained oblivious. "Uh, yeah. I'm ready."

He chuckled and moved to hold the door open for me. "Then let's go. Thank you for the stories, Miss La Bouff. They were…," He looked down at me, his crooked smile present. "Lovely." I wrinkled my nose at him and stepped outside, waiting until we were out by the street before I said anything.

"Why are you here so early?"

"Hello to you, too."

"Do you know how quickly I had to get ready? I had no warning, and no time to properly apply my makeup." I faked anger and refused to look at him.

"Well that's the beauty of it." He exclaimed to the back of my head. "Things done in the spur of the moment are much more authentic than anything that has the time to be censored and masked." I bit back a grin, glad that he couldn't see me. I felt his warm hand on my shoulder, and slowly turned my head and looked up at him. Gosh, he was tall. "This way, I get to see the real you."

He reached up and playfully flicked at my barrette. "Hey!" I swatted his hand away, saving my hair from undoubted destruction. Fixing the accessory back into its place, I casually inquired, "So where are we going, anyway?"

Daniel pondered for a moment, cocking his head to the side and rolling his shoulders. "I don't know. There's a good café place up that was a couple blocks. Up for that?"

"I guess, so, sure." I really had no preference, and as it turned out, the café was quite delicious. I got soup, knowing it would warm me up a bit, and Daniel got some sandwich loaded up with every filling ever placed between two slices of bread. "Is that even good?" I curled my lip at the mess on his plate as he chewed his third bite.

After he swallowed he stared at the various ingredients as if he were just realizing they were there than looked across the table at me playfully. "Not at all. But, hey, now I can say I've tried it." Okay, I had to admit, the accomplished look on his face was absolutely adorable. We chatted endlessly from there on about subjects I never thought I'd converse about with a boy. He asked me about school and told me about all the different things he wanted to do before he was 21.

"But that's hardly two years away!" I exclaimed.

"All the more reason to start now," came his fast reply. Soon after, we were strolling the streets, laughing about random things and window shopping at the most obscure little stores that Daniel had come across at one time or another. At one point, he hopped over a short brick wall into park filled with large trees and took off, only turning his head to laugh when I yelled at him to come back. My only choice was to follow him, and I was eternally grateful for wearing my sturdy shoes.

He was much, much faster than me, as most people were, and I had to sprint hard to keep him in sight. Being the merciful person he was, he slowed down and waited for me to catch up, shouting at me to hurry the whole time. Every one of my questions as to where we were going went ignored. Without warning after we were deep into the quiet section of the park, Daniel grabbed a thick low branch of one of the trees, a big oak, and effortlessly hoisted himself up, climbing several more feet into the braches before he rested on a high limb. I stopped as quickly as I could and looked up at him through the leaves, my upturned face met with his grinning, mischievous face.

"What are you doing now?" I asked while catching my breath. This guy was perhaps the strangest person I had ever encountered.

"I saw an opportunity, and I seized it. Plus, trees are a great place to think or just talk." He patted a spot on the limb next to him and beckoned to me, "Come on up."

He must have been joking. "I don't think so."

"Why not?"

I placed my hands on my hip and started to list the reasons. "Well, I'll ruin my outfit," that earned me a scoff, "sitting on a branch can't possibly be safe, and I really just can't."

"Can't what?"

"Um…climb." I dug my shoe into the dirt when he looked at me, confused.

"Did you never climb trees as a kid?

"No."

"Not once?"

"I was always afraid of heights." I admitted, and Daniel's gaze softened.

He held out his strong hand to me and said in one of the kindest voices I'd ever heard, "Take my hand. I'll help you up."

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you kidding me? I'll fall and die!"

Ever patient, he did not withdraw his hand and calmly said, "I won't let you fall, I promise. And you'll be so proud of yourself when you make it up here and join me in the nice peaceful canopy."

My eyes squinted at him, and despite my better judgment, something about him made me answer, "Fine."

I took his hand and cautiously placed one foot on the lowest branch as he hauled me up toward him. "That's it," he advised me along the way, "Just put your left foot there and push up."

"Whoa!" I cried when one of my feet lost its footing, but I did not fall as I thought I would. I looked up at Daniel, who was only a little ways above me, chuckling at the look on my face.

"I told you I wouldn't let you fall." I smiled at him, and before I knew it I was pulled up next to him against the trunk of the great tree. One look at the ground - the very, very far away ground (in my opinion at least) - had me clinging to Daniel's arm for life. My head was pressed against his shoulder, and I could faintly make out the sound of his rhythmic heartbeat. Neither of us spoke, we just sat there and savored the strangely blissful moment. Why did I feel so darn comfortable around him.

Even after I my fear had ebbed, I continued to hold onto Daniel. After a few more moments like that, he took a deep breath, and began to talk again. "How'd you get your name?" He asked me simply.

"My name?" I murmured back like I was awakening from a deep sleep.

"Mmhm."

"I dunno." I removed my head from his shoulder and replaced it with my chin as he swiveled his own head to look down at me. Our faces were so close we could feel each other breathing. Startled, I sat up straight and took to smoothing out my skirt. "Once, my aunt said it was her friends' name for the Evening Star. You know, the star you make wishes on? It's a little odd if you ask me, but this is coming from the girl who used to steal eggs out of the kitchen, draw faces on them and pretend they were people."

"I like your name."

"That's good, I suppose."

"Evangeline." I looked back at him again, expecting him to say something more, but his unfocused eyes clued me in that he wasn't really talking to me. He was just saying my name, feeling the word roll off his tongue. He continued to look off in the distance, and softly murmured his thoughts out loud. "The word 'angel' is right in the middle, almost perfectly." I visualized my name in my head, analyzing each letter as it was etched into my mind with a mental pen. E-V-A-N-G-E-L-I-N-E. Angel.

"Yeah, it is." It was kind of cool, actually. I'd never noticed it before.

"It fits you." I blushed and let my hair fall on either side of my head, shielding myself from his knowing gaze. I could see the ground again. The little brown and green blades of grass seemed so much clearer from above.

"Um…," the uneasy feeling of being high up settled into my stomach again, "maybe it's time to get out of the tree?" Daniel laughed to himself and before I could blink he was on the ground and looking up at me. I tried to slide one of my legs down without giving him an opportunity to look up my skirt, but the next branch down wasn't terribly sturdy. Helpless, I looked at Daniel, who held up his arms to me.

"Go ahead," He said gently, "I'll catch you." I wasn't convinced, but it seemed the only way I was ever going to get out of that tree was the hard way. Sliding myself as far to the edge of the limb as I could, I supported myself with my arms until I was as low down as I would get. My eyes squeezed tightly shut as I dropped myself, free falling toward the ground. Strong hands gripped me around my waist and slowly brought me down to the grass, only bringing me closer to his body as I descended. When I opened my eyes I was flush against him, and I jerked away awkwardly to make sure my skirt still covered me in the right places.

"Ready to go home?" He asked me.

"What time is it?"

"Almost four I think." He looked down at his watch and confirmed it. Wow, it hadn't felt like we'd been out that long.

"Yeah, I guess I have to get back." So we made our way back to the main street and casually dawdled home. A reckless bicyclist almost ran me over not too far into our journey, and Daniel grabbed my hand to pull me out of the way. He never let go. We were holding hands. I really wasn't that big of a deal in hindsight, but then it sent my mind reeling.

I can't remember what drew my attention to that familiar corner, but some invisible force turned my head toward it. It looked different, but I realized it was probably due to the absence of the voodoo man. There was no sign of him leaning against the dirty brick building, slyly watching the passers by to lure in another small sum of income. I subconsciously reached my hand into my coat pocket. The cards were still there. I pulled one out, the future card, and hesitantly looked down the alley. Daniel noticed, and opened his mouth slightly. I could tell he was trying to form a question, but didn't quite know what to say.

Before he got a chance, I started pulling him toward the alley. "Where are you going?" He blurted out, though I didn't even slow down.

"I need to ask this guy something." I could see the door at the dead end, and my pulse quickened.

"This isn't a good idea." He disconnected our hands, but when he saw I wasn't stopping, he cautiously followed me. "What good could possibly come from looking for a guy who lives in this place?"

"What good could possibly come from joining the military?" I retorted crossly.

"That's different, it's a career move. This…this is just stupid."

I glared back at him. The door was right in front of me, though I couldn't bring myself to knock on it. Daniel did have a point, I was being incredibly reckless and stupid, yet I desperately wanted to know what the cards meant. Somehow, I knew this man had the answers I needed. I slowly lifted my hand up, and rapped against the splintering wood three times. Nothing happened. There was no noise inside. I tried again, only to get the same result.

"Alright then," Daniel said strongly. "No one's home, and I really think I should get you home now." I was about to agree, and even went as far as turning away to walk, but a loud creaking noise bit at me ears at the last second. I gasped, and looked back.

The door had opened.

Goodness gracious, I feel so mean for that cliffhanger, but the good news is, I hadn't initially intended for it to be there. Actually, this chapter was supposed to be much longer, but I felt so bad about not updating that I really just wanted to get this out there. So, since I already know exactly what I want the next chapter to be like, it will most likely come a little quicker. Not to mention I have Monday off of school, which gives me more time.

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