I was already as hard as I could be, and was more than ready to make good use of it. Julia's comment sounded like a damned good idea to me, whether or...not I'd be "damned" for doing it. It'd be worth it. I said, "I like the sound of that! I'd like to start by putting Carol in the middle, please, and having both of us working on her."Julia said, "Goody. I like 'working' on Carol, as you so romantically put it. Let's work her into a tizzy, repeatedly."Carol took my place in the middle, and Julia. "I'm still not sure about this." Shanna's comment drew his gaze back to the Dark Hussar. She stood beside him, dressed in the same dark blue uniform as the other soldiers."Which 'this'?" The design," she said, motioning with her brown hand. "It's like at home, which means it's for defense against cannons. But, they'll be attacking us for the next few decades, with luck, with big rocks. I still think thick stone walls would be better." She grimaced, holing up her hand to him. "But we don't have. “Please, let me through!” she cried while trying to push her way against the tightly flowing crowd.My entire body went ice cold when she whimpered from my touching of her shoulder, then I felt my own tears forming as I stopped my manipulation of the crowd’s flow and watched her head towards the stairs in a panicked run.I went straight home to be alone, my mother spending the week in Marlfield with my dad that week. I spent the rest of the day and night just sinking deeper into an illogical. I guess that tells you how sorry she was.“So, there really was someone trying to get into the house?” I asked.“Yeah.”“And we really did hide in the bathroom?”“Yeah! You weren’t dreaming. It all really happened.”“Um ... no! I don’t think it all actually happened,” I said.“Absolutely. I promise you, it’s all true. Everything that happened actually happened.”“Oh!” I frowned into the darkness. “So, how long do you think they’ll keep us in here?”“What?”“How long do you think they’ll keep us in.