There was a silence as Chloe Singleton struggled to regain her composure. She hadn’t thought about the possibility that she and Lola had siblings for ages. It was just something she had filed away in the back of her mind a long time ago.

“Black as night and sweet as sin.”

Every time Chloe Singleton made herself a cup of coffee, those words came to mind.  Chloe preferred her coffee unadulterated; black and bitter.  It was her mother who had taken her coffee with sugar.  She was the one in the family who had always used the phrase “black as night and sweet as sin”.  Chloe couldn’t help thinking of her mother every time she made herself a pot.

It was funny, Chloe thought, how the expression could make something as innocuous as coffee seem almost forbidden, something not to be spoken of.  That was why she had once used the phrase a dark handsome exchange student she had dated in her junior year of college.  If her mother had ever found out about Amhid, she would have been appalled that Chloe had gone back on her promise not to date until she finished college.  Chloe smiled dreamily as she remembered the many nights she and Amhid had spent together in his co-ed dorm.  She wondered whatever had happened to him and where he was now.

Chloe’s reminiscing was interrupted by the ringing of the phone.  She picked it up and pushed the call button.

“H’lo?”

Dear Chloe and Lola,

Once again I have not made good on my promise to write often. It feels like a lifetime has passed since the last time I wrote to you. I suppose, in a manner of speaking, one has.

The warm morning sunshine felt wonderful on Nervous Subject’s naked head as he and Circe walked from their parking space to the car lot. It was a beautiful morning and, for once, Nervous felt optimistic, not only about what the day might bring, but his entire future. He was taking his first steps towards becoming his own man. He was not going to live under Loki’s thumb any longer. He was taking control of his life; today he was tackling his first objective in his total transformation.

The second drive in the rusted out pick up was as quiet as the first, but not nearly as uncomfortable. Amber was not sure what would happen once they arrived at Bernard’s; nor was she sure what she wanted to happen. Part of Amber felt guilty for having agreed to go to his place, like she was perpetrating some sort of betrayal.  She knew it was absurd to feel that way. There was nothing to betray.