Sadly, the book about Mr. Fitzwilliam's sister had taken a turn for the melodramatic, and not in a good way. Miss Austen's excellent novel had been about a social faux pas here, or a miscommunication there, and not dramatic kidnappings set in the middle of London.

And so the book had been tossed aside -- perhaps not permanently, but certainly for ( Read more... )

Peter was way too old for Trick or Treating, but he'd still dressed up in a helmet and Bruins jersey. With a couple pizzas set out, he settled in to switch the TV to some weird horror movie about a werewolf. This would be the first of the scary movies for the night. He'd find others on, but right now he liked this one ( Read more... )

Sure, Ariel had said just streamers and a banner, but there were balloons now thrown into the mix because she couldn't help it. She and Ellie had gotten up all the decorations, which were all very pretty shades of green, based entirely on the fact that Ariel remembered that green was the color of the shirt she'd helped Chuck pick out. There was ( Read more... )

It was Ben's fault ( Read more... )

By now, Karla was used to throwing parties at school. The set-up was easy enough: lots of food, lots of drinks, lots of games and activities, lots of space. There were some streamers and balloons up, mostly because Karla was trying to remind everyone (or, at least, herself) that this was supposed to be a happy occasion ( Read more... )

A rip opened in the middle of the dorms lobby-- but it was unlike any void the island had seen before. It didn't precisely shine, but white light did filter out, almost tentatively, like the rays of the morning sun. It did not pull or pluck at anything, and when it vanished, it would leave the dorms exactly as it had found them ( Read more... )

Alex didn't have a damn thing going on today which made it easier to decide to hoof it out to the campfire and take a seat there. Outside meant he could smoke and not get bitched at by cabinmates. Outside meant he could watch people passing by, maybe entertain himself by annoying them. Outside meant not feeling like the walls were closing in ( Read more... )

With Peter bored and classless today, he was sitting at the unlit campfire, reading a book and munching on a coldcut sandwich. He didn't have any food to share. He wasn't quite sure what would happen. Would a lack of food cause no one to come? Would a lack of fire factor into it ( Read more... )

Chuck had acquired a talky ten-year-old, somewhere between the time he went to bed on Thursday night, and been woken up on Friday morning with an unending stream of Japanese chatter in his ear ( Read more... )

Alex didn't tend to celebrate every random holiday that came along but he kind of liked Independence Day. It usually meant he could crash at a friend's and get some free food and, even better, it meant playing with fire. With that in mind, he'd made a trip off island to pick up a few sparklers and some other other things to make the holiday ( Read more... )