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Do you want a dress, a gown, or pants?
Pants.
I think you d look good in shorts over tights. What color tights?
Uh, black?
You have green eyes. What if I go for a match?
Okay.
Fine. Stand up.
Melanie stood. What for?
Linda waved her right hand. How s that?
Melanie looked down at herself. Gone were the sweat shirt, jeans, and white
athletic shoes turned gray with grime. Instead, she was attired in
forest-green tights, brown leather short pants, matching boots, and a thonged
jerkin over a green puffed-sleeve blouse. Her old clothes and shoes lay in a
pile at her feet.
How did you do that?
Magic. What do you think?
I look like Robin Hood.
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Castle MurdersJohn
DeChanciee-reads2002Texttext/html0-7592-6266-7en-usen-usCopyright © 1994 by
John DeChancie{59FFE082-6408-11
Yeah, I
What s the matter?
With a sudden look of despair, Melanie slumped to her seat. I was just
thinking, I have a calculus test tomorrow.
Well, we can always send you right back.
You can? Melanie thought about it. She shook her head emphatically. I don t
want to go back. But what will people say about my just vanishing? And my
parents ?
Linda said, It used to be that there was no way back from the castle, and
people wound up as missing persons or listed as possible murder victims. But
Lord Incarnadine reestablished the Earth portal, and now we have almost
complete control of it. What we can do now is set up some kind of cover story
to explain your absence.
What would I tell my parents?
That you re dropping out of school for a while and staying with friends,
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which would only be the truth.
You could keep in touch with them by letter or phone.
You can phone from the castle?
With the castle s mainframe, we can tap into any communication system in the
world.
You can even fax a letter, Jeremy said.
Really? Melanie let out a breath. I guess I don t have any excuse not to
stay.
No, you don t. Why don t you have a bite, and then we ll introduce you to
Lord Incarnadine. Jeremy, have you seen him lately?
Last time I saw him he said something about going to his sister s garden
party.
Princess Dorcas? Oh, that s right. Well, that s one party we can t crash.
Maybe later. Go ahead and eat, Melanie.
Melanie pulled up the cheese plate and bit into a wedge of Camembert. She was
hungry, and everything looked so appetizing.
Don t feel guilty about stuffing yourself
, she thought.
After all, you re eating for
&
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Castle MurdersJohn
DeChanciee-reads2002Texttext/html0-7592-6266-7en-usen-usCopyright © 1994 by
John DeChancie{59FFE082-6408-11
She froze, a puzzled look on her small freckled face. By dint of some flashing
insight, she was aware of what was inside of her, the small bud of flesh that
had taken root in her uterus. She knew its structure and its potential, and
she knew with a certainty that could only come with seeing with her own eyes.
She did see it, somehow.
How? Was this sight of the unseen her talent?
A glowing smile spread slowly across her face.
You re eating for three now
.
Three
Keep West Wing
I ve got it.
Switching his golf bag from one shoulder to the other, Thaxton asked, You ve
got what? He kept walking down the gloomy corridor.
A clerihew, Dalton said.
Give.
Okay, here goes.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Turned his lights on and off.
An old Late Romantic, He was really quite frantic.
Dalton looked at his golf partner. Well?
Thaxton lifted one eyebrow. Never cared much for Rachmaninoff.
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Castle MurdersJohn
DeChanciee-reads2002Texttext/html0-7592-6266-7en-usen-usCopyright © 1994 by
John DeChancie{59FFE082-6408-11
I m asking for your opinion of my clerihew, sir.
Adequate.
They continued down the hallway toward a pool of light. When they reached it
they discovered that the illumination came from an archway that led out into
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the open, affording a pleasant prospect of stately trees, lawns, sunshine, and
shrubbery. A formal garden of hedgerows and flower beds was set in the midst
of all this, and a party was going on in the middle of everything. Canopies
had been set up, tables underneath laid with food and drink. Several dozen
people in widely varying costumes were enjoying the affair, many servants
attending. Music came from a small orchestra. A game of croquet (or something
to do with balls and mallets) was in progress on a greensward beyond.
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