"Hey!" she said. "There's another note in here!"
"Read it! Read it!" we all urged.
Dear Annie,
Congratulations on finding the gift that goes along with your power. I'm sure someone, somewhere, is very proud of you. Now your seven sisters need to get busy finding their gifts and powers. They can take their time ... but not too Long! Two down, fourteen to go...
"Huh," Durinda said, sounding a little bit like Pete. "This note seems almost friendly. I wonder who's leaving them?"
"Or what's leaving them," Rebecca added darkly.
"Do you ever get the strange feeling that someone is telling our story?" Marcia wondered aloud.
"I do," Jackie said. "And then I always wonder if that same person isn't leaving these notes."
"So," Georgia said to Annie, "now that you have your power and your gift, do you have a new plan for us yet?"
"I do," Annie said, fingering her ring, "sort of. We go on searching for our powers and our gifts and, in the meantime, we try to discover what Mommy was working on, what was in that Top Secret file when she and Daddy disappeared. I have the feeling that whoever or whatever is behind all of this, the answer lies there."
She took a deep breath, then spoke again.
"I think," she said, "our adventures are only just beginning."
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LAUREN BARATZ-LOGSTED has written books for adults, teens, and tweens. This is her first series for younger readers. Before becoming a writer she was an independent bookseller for eleven years, a reviewer, a freelance editor, and a sort-of librarian.
GREG LOGSTED wrote a teen novel as well as cowrote with wife Lauren Baratz-Logsted the lead story in the Johnny Cash theme anthology Literary Cash.
JACKIE LOGSTED is eight years old. This is her first professional collaboration.
Together, they live in Danbury, Connecticut.
www.sandpiperbooks.com
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Annie's Adventures Page 9