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Later After the tears Sitting around the living room Annie had recovered fro hot chocolate I hadn’t called the others in yet - I wanted some personal time with Annie before I dumped the full fallout from the War of the Scars upon her

Annie made me tell her more about my life She wanted to hear about the countries I’d visited, the people I’d hlights, leaving out the darker aspects She listened, dazed, touching me every few minutes to hed with delight "Does that make me a princess?" she smiled

"Afraid not," I chuckled

In return, Annie told me what her life had been like The hardto nor, so she recovered, but Muot over it She raised the question of whether or not they should be told I was alive Then, before I could speak, she said, "No They’re happy now It’s too late to change the past Best not to drag it up again"

I paid close attention when she spoke about Steve "I was a teenager," she said angrily, "mixed-up and unsure of myself I had some friends but not many And no serious boyfriend Then Steve came back He was only a few years older than rown-up And he was interested in me He wanted to talk to me He treated ether Steve put on a good act - kind, generous, loving Annie thought he cared for her, that they had a future together She fell in love with hiave her love to hi a baby

"His face lit up when he heard," she said, shivering from theintently "He et ether He told me not to tell anyone - he wanted to keep it secret until ere husband and wife He went away again He said it was to earnand the baby’s upkeep He stayed away a long ti Woke , he clahed ’Too late to stop it now!’ he s Then he left I haven’t heard from him since"

She had to tell Mum and Dad about the baby then They were furious - not with her, but with Steve Dad would have killed Steve if he’d found him But nobody knehere Steve was He’d vanished

"Raising Darius was hard," she sive up a day of it Steve icked, but he gave ivenhard not to s tiainst me even then This was back before he met the vampaneze and learnt of his abo et Annie pregnant, so he could use his nephew or niece to hurt uessed those were his exact intentions

Annie started telling me about her life with Darius, from how Mum and Dad helped rear hi now on their own She worried about hi a father, but her experience with Steve had made her wary of men, and she found it hard to trust anyone I could have listened to Annie talk all night, telling tales about Mu up on all those ain I didn’t want it to stop

But ere in the middle of a crisis I’d delayed the ht was drawing on, and I was keen to conclude the business I’d co - about Darius’s first week in school - then asked if I could introduce her to some of my friends

Annie wasn’t sure what to make of Vancha, Alice and Evanna Alice dressed normally, but Vancha in his anireen hair, and the hirsute, deliriously ugly Evanna draped in ropes They would have stuck out like a couple of gargoyles anywhere!

But they were my friends (well, Vancha and Alice were, whatever about the witch), so Annie welcoh I could tell she didn’t entirely trust the trio And I knew she sensed they weren’t here just to

We made small talk for a while Alice told Annie about her years on the police force, Vancha described soave her tips on how to breed frogs (not that Annie had any interest in that!) Then Darius yawned Vancha looked at fully - it was time

"Annie," I started hesitantly, "I told you Darius pledged himself to the vampaneze But I didn’t tell you what precisely that means"