The two other kids arrived before too long and Agatha started our lesson. She was teaching us how to spell and form sentences. I remembered most of it from when Mom taught me, but it was a good refresher. We got to write our own sentences. I chose to write about plants, I was really interested in them since Diane's work seemed to involve them a great deal.

I looked at Agatha, "How do you spell wild bergamot?"

Agatha blinked and gave me a blank look, "What is that?"

I could remember the picture in the book, but not how to spell the name, "It is a plant that is sometimes called horsemint, but I want to spell its proper name."

She grabbed a big book, "Let's look it up."

It was my turn to blink, "Why do you need to look it up?" She was a teacher, I thought that she would know everything.

She chuckled, "Even teachers never stop learning. Ah, here it is. W-i-l-d b-e-r-g-a-m-o-t."

I wrote it down and continued my story of a horse trying out horsemint. I wondered if horsemint affected horses like catnip affected cats, well, it would in my story. I found it humorous that Diane knew what the plant looked like, the soil it preferred, how it tasted and the teacher didn't even know how to spell the name.

We had several breaks where we got to play and have snacks. There were lessons in math, sciences, english, and a class called life skills. Life skills was an hour long session where Agatha showed us things that would help us when we were older, like sewing and washing dishes. Agatha also went over several jobs that they called professions and what each one did in the Fort.

It was currently break time and Elisa and Mark were playing with a train set. None of the toys interested me, but I sat down anyways and watched. I was more interested in their company.

Elisa looked at me, "Laura, do you have any idea which profession you want to go into when you are old enough to join?"

I didn't even have to think about it. Diane was a Forager. "I want to join the Foragers."

Elisa shook her head, "I think it would be more fun to be a Cook, although I think it would be cool to be in one of maintenance groups." She tilted her head in thought, "Although I might join a farming group since I love animals."

I glanced at Mark, he shrugged, "I always wanted to be a mechanic, but Uncle says that the vehicles won't run much longer, so I am not sure."

Elisa clapped her hands, "Oh! You could be a Raider! Lots of excitement and adventure!"

Mark winced and shook his head, "No, I could never be a Raider or Forager. I never want to see a zombie again."

Elisa slumped down and moved a track so her train wouldn't run into Mark's train. Eventually Agatha called us back to the small table for more spelling practice. I aced the quizzes since every word she had asked us to spell had been in one of my story books. Agatha sat in a bigger chair, "Try and spell tree."

That was an easy one. T-r-e-e. It reminded me of the faint scent of pine tree sap. I could almost imagine the pine tree forest covered in snow. I blinked, the smell was faintly stronger now. I was positive that I wasn't imagining it. I turned around and inhaled in shock as I saw Diane leaning against the doorframe watching us.

I immediately got up and ran over as fast as I could, "You're back!" I couldn't believe how much I had missed her.

As I ran towards her she shifted her weight and crouched down. Instead of opening up her arms, she slid her hands under my armpits and used my own speed to twirl me in a circle several times. I laughed from sheer joy. I couldn't remember the last time I had been so happy.

She put me back on the ground with a grin. Her jacket had a bit of pine sap on one of the sleeves, so that was where the smell had come from. Her blue eyes brightened a bit and seemed to dance with amusement, "I said I would come back. How did you enjoy your day?"

I smiled at her, "It was good, Agatha was helping us learn to spell!" I remembered my manners and turned to look at Agatha, "Thank you for your help. Can I go with Diane?"

Agatha smiled, "Of course, we will see you here again tomorrow."

I took Diane's hand and she led me through a maze of hallways to eventually appear in a room with showers that I had not been in before. She showed me the wall dispensers with soap, shampoo, and conditioner.

Before too long we had both showered and got dressed in clean clothes. I was delighted that there were almost no knots in my hair when Diane brushed it out. We headed down for supper. I followed Diane closely as we loaded our plates and headed for the tables. Diane headed for a table with some people at it. I recognized John, Trish, Nathan, and Matthew, although I didn't recall seeing some of the others at the table.

Diane, Trish and Matthew asked me various questions about my day, which I answered. It was easy to speak with Diane, but I once more felt shy when speaking with the others. It wasn't quite as bad as before, but I still felt the need to squirm and lean into Diane under their gaze. I was thankful that Diane didn't mind when I leaned into her.

After supper Diane started walking through various hallways. At first I recognized a few hallways and rooms we passed, but I had no clue where we were now. If it had been anyone but Diane leading me, I would have been positive that we were lost and walking in circles.

Eventually we came to a room with a pool table. There were a bunch of people in here playing and visiting. One man headed over to us. I ducked behind Diane, not wanting to be seen.

I heard him speak, "Ah, I wondered when you would be stopping by. I finished it, do you want to have a look at it?"

"Yes, please." Diane sounded curious.

The man walked past Diane and she turned to follow him. I quickly followed, ensuring that I remained behind Diane. They were discussing the weather and what was likely to be served tomorrow at supper.

"I can't believe how fast you got all of that stuff. I noticed that there were a few extras, thanks for those. A couple of them will come in very handy."

Diane chuckled, "It took more than a few trips. Luckily almost everything was in Best Buy and that store had been cleared." I had absolutely no clue what they were talking about. I kept listening, Diane had obviously brought him stuff, maybe I could learn something more about her.

The man lightly snorted, "That server did not come from Best Buy. Where on earth did you manage to find a military grade server anyways?"

Diane gave him an odd look, "It was military grade? I thought it was for running web servers from the books near it."

We were in the military base and I didn't know of any other military bases either. I wondered if Diane was trying to hide something. Everyone has secrets and I was pretty sure that angels had lots of them. Just look at how many times I promised to keep her secrets quiet.

He shook his head, "It could have been used for that, but it is a slightly older model of military grade server."

"Will it work for what you wanted?"

He laughed, "Oh, yeah. That thing has way more power than anything you might have found at any shop in town." Somehow that didn't surprise me. He had obviously needed it, whatever a server was, and she had brought him a good one.

We entered an office and the man closed the door behind us. He grabbed a roll of paper from behind the door and I watched as they unrolled it across the floor. The paper was actually a huge poster, I bet it was longer than Diane was tall. It showed the top half of a guy wearing some sort of weird clothing that looked like a uniform, he was posing and smiling. It vaguely reminded me of a movie my dad had watched that had people from the SWAT team, but this guy seemed to be in quite a good mood as he was smiling. The ones on tv hadn't smiled.

Diane was grinning at the poster in a mischievous manner, "This is very good, thank you. This should definitely take Trish by surprise."

She seemed quite pleased with the poster. I glanced at it again and jumped slightly as I recognized the man on the poster. It was Nathan, it even had his grey badge with his name on it.

Diane had noticed me jump, she turned to face me with a grin, "Laura, this is going to be surprise for her, so don't tell her okay?"

I loved helping people with surprises. I nodded with an excited smile, "Okay. What are you going to do with it?"

"Remember those odd sticks behind the door in our room?"

"Yeah."

"Well that is actually a poster frame, once it is assembled and we can attach this poster to the frame and hang it above Trish's bed when she sleeps. When she wakes up she will be surprised."

I grinned as I thought of something else, "I like that idea. You should tape something good onto it too. My grandpa once taped a rose onto a small gift he gave grandma and she loved it."

The man chuckled, "Great, now there are two pranksters. Trish will be thrilled when she finds out."

I had almost forgotten that he was there and I played with the hem of my shirt shyly. He sat down in a computer chair and Diane seemed to find his comment hilarious. Diane liked to play pranks on people? I didn't see how hanging a poster above a bed counted as a prank. I wondered what she had done in the past that had the two of them so amused.

Diane started to roll the poster back up, "That is a good idea Laura. I think I know just the thing to put on it too." I grinned happily, glad that she had liked my idea.

We left the room and wandered back through a maze of hallways to our room where we put the poster behind our door. Diane took me back to the playground and pushed me on the swing for a bit until some kids arrived. Once I went to play with them she started running laps again. I was delighted that I could easily pick out Diane's smooth flowing movements from the corner of my eye without trying. I had worked hard to memorize it previously and it was paying off since I noticed her the instant she came into view.

We eventually went back to our room. I helped her put the poster frame together and I peeked out the door to ensure that Trish didn't appear while Diane put small hooks in the ceiling for later tonight. Diane tied a package of hickory sticks to the poster with some string and hid the poster behind our door.

She said that she would hang it later tonight when Trish was asleep. I couldn't see how she was going to hang it without waking Trish, but she assured me that she could do it. I had some reservations, but I squashed those thoughts. I somehow doubted that there was anything that she could not manage if she put her mind to it.

Diane was helping me with some of my homework when Trish returned. She visited with us for a bit before we all headed to bed.

I woke up to the creak of springs as Diane got up. "Diane?"

I heard her soft voice, "I am just going out for a bit, I will come back."

I snuggled back into my warm blankets, "Okay, stay safe."

I saw the door open and close as she left. I was beginning to wonder how much sleep she got since she was always out most of the night. How much sleep did angels need anyways? I wasn't sure, but sleep soon reclaimed me.

I woke up when the doorknob turned. I tensed up as I peeked out of my blankets, but immediately relaxed when I saw the faintly glowing blue eyes. She glanced at me and could obviously tell that I was awake as she leaned behind the door to grab the poster. I sat up in anticipation, I wanted to see how she was going to pull this off.

A bit of light came in under Trish's door from the hallway, enough that I could see vague shadows. Diane left the joining door open and I watched as she took a small stepladder and quickly hung the strings on the corners of the posters on the hooks we had put up earlier. She quietly folded the waist high ladder up and went out into the hallway. Minutes later she returned and came back into our room, closing the door behind her.

I grinned widely, trying to not giggle as Diane got into the room without getting caught. When she closed the door, the room was once more plunged into darkness. I could see her glowing eyes, and suspected that she could see me clearly since she looked right at me. Her glowing eyes disappeared below my bunk and I heard the creaking of her mattress springs.

"Go back to sleep, Trish will wake up with the bell in the morning."

I answered just as softly, "Okay. Good night."

I lay down and got comfy. I faintly murmured, "Sleep tight."

Her faint voice replied, "You too."

I was stunned. How had she heard that? My head was under my blankets and my voice had barely been louder than a faint sigh. I had barely heard my voice and my ears couldn't pick out the individual words. There was no way she should have been able to tell I had even made a sound, let alone hear me clearly enough to know what I had said.

I think I now knew why Mom had always told me 'If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all'. It was because she knew that angels had really good hearing.