That day Serena chose a different course, shorter but more uphill respect to the day before. Of course she demanded a good pace even in the steepest p...rts, using the whip with no mercy. This time josh enjoyed the ride and didn?t even try to contain his girlfriend?s sadism. The two had a delicious brunch at a restaurant, with Andy under the table as their carpet and boots licker. Some hours later, on their way back, they found the route interrupted at a crossroad by a jam: Serena roughly pulled. A teenage girl, one woman a few years older than me, another woman a few years younger, and her boyfriend Gunny’s age more or less. Toss into that mix the younger Kate and Martin, then my life was filled with more people than I might ever be able to keep straight. Monday morning when I woke at 8AM, I had a definite place to be at 10AM. Sleeping until 8AM was a little unusual for me. It was 9:30 by the time I found Helen and her breakfast wagon. I bought my bag, then climbed into the front seat. . uhhhh... cook or anything?" Mongrel askedhopefully."Uhh... no." The teen replied to the decidedly unpleasant-looking caninehumanoid."Man, this group needs some chicks," Mongrel lamented.Talon paid no attention to his teammate. He'd decided that Mongrel wascrude, and rather unpleasant looking... and smelling, but VirgilJefferson was basically a really good guy, cursed with a reallyunpleasant mutation. He didn't complain about it. He took it in stride,and made the best of it.Talon led the teen. .” she muttered.Slowly, ever so slowly, the colors faded from the sky as the sun descended into the western horizon. In the tangle of trees behind her, sloping down a quarter of a mile to the sluggish river that separated the mansion from the town, the frogs took up their cacophony, so loud that she didn’t even hear the house’s front door open. WHAM!Ada nearly jumped out of her skin, barely stifling a shriek as the door banged shut and wriggling further back into the weeds as the apparently.