The dean looked up and smiled as Amy entered. "I'm glad you came by, Amy. I was going to call you here later today anyway."

Amy blinked in surprise as she sat down. "Yes, Sir?"

"I'll get to that in a minute. What have you got there?"

Amy placed the two things in her hand, one of them a handwritten note, on his desk in front of him. "Sir, could these be mailed to Kathleen Sadler? Addressed directly to her, not her father?"

The dean picked up the note and read it, looked at the other item, and nodded. "That's very thoughtful, and I'm sure she'll appreciate it." He set the things down in his in-box to give to Tina later. "Now, I actually had two reasons I was going to summon you. One is that I want you to swallow this capsule." He pushed two paper cups towards her, one containing a small capsule, the other filled with drinking water.

Amy nodded. "Yes, Sir." Amy upended the first of the cups, dumping the capsule into her mouth, and washed it down with the water. "Is this what I think it is?"

"If what you think it is is a slave tracker, yes. You're familiar with them?"

Amy snorted, amused by the irony. "I imagine you want to be able to find me in case my brother Andrew comes up with some way of kidnapping me. What's funny is that the reason I know about them is that Andrew made me swallow one once. Of course, that one's power source is long dead."

The dean frowned. "So he knows about them too."

Amy nodded. "Yes, Sir, but remember he doesn't know we're onto him. Since no Hanging Girl has ever been kidnapped..." She looked at him questioningly, and went on when he nodded. "...he has no reason to think you'd plant tracking devices in any of us. But even if he does, there's nothing he can really do about it. In fact, if the idea does come into his head, he might give up on the whole plan."

The dean shook his head. "Not safe to assume that."

"Oh, of course not, Sir. And I gather we're not going to assume he's taking me to his dungeon? We know where that is, so there'd be no need for the tracker if I ended up there." She was doubtful that the tracker could be detected from within the underground dungeon, but her progress on the way to it could be followed.

He nodded. "Correct. We're not assuming anything."

Amy sighed. She'd be so glad to get to her hanging, after which Andrew could never again screw with her life. "What are the procedures going to be when I leave the grounds? Obviously you must be going to let me do that, or I wouldn't need the tracker." She felt relieved. She badly wanted an off-site hanging, as much like Miranda's as possible -- or in fact, like the hanging of every Academy graduate other than Megan. And if Andrew's threat somehow denied her that possibility, she'd request the hiring of a hit squad to take him out. She thought about asking for that anyway, but felt doubtful the dean would consider going quite that far.

The dean smiled. "Hard to get anything past you. Yes, I'll be letting you leave here. Beyond the precaution of installing the slave tracker, I'll want you to go out with two bodyguards rather than one. For the time being, that will be the standard procedure for all off-site excursions, even when you aren't involved. I don't want it to look as though we are protecting you more than the other girls."

Amy smiled. "I do feel better, anyway. I think we're doing as much as we can. Oh!" A memory from the start of the conversation came back to her. "You said there were two reasons for seeing me?"

He nodded. "I'd considered telling you this earlier, but I didn't want to distract you during your preparations for Megan's hanging. One of our club members has purchased a 'first chance option' on you."

Amy frowned, puzzled. "Does that mean... well, it sounds like this person wants to be contacted if anyone else offers to buy me."

The dean nodded. "He came in all set to buy you, but I told him you were not going to be available until early next summer. He does want to be contacted, yes. Now, you have the right to decline to be purchased by him, as with any other sale. He understands that."

"So I guess he knows me. Do I know him?" The thought suddenly came into her head that this person might be buying her on Andrew's behalf. Of course, that could be the case with any buyer. Amy shivered.

"You do, but he wishes not to reveal his identity to you so far in advance of your purchase. As I said, he's a member, and he doesn't wish to be treated any differently for the time being, by yourself or by any of the other girls."

Amy's puzzlement increased. She felt she should be able to figure out who it was. Several names came to mind, but she discarded them all as "unlikely" for various reasons. The first, of course, had been Steffi, but, aside from the buyer already having been identified as male, Amy strongly believed Steffi was satisfied for her lifetime with her one Hanging Girl purchase. Amy bit her lip, giving voice to her foremost worry. "Sir, could you... somehow check on the buyer's background? For any possible association with Andrew?"

The dean, unexpectedly, smiled. "I'd thought about that. For your own peace of mind, I'll do some checking. But I can tell you upfront that I trust him. Does that help?"

Amy blinked. "Yes, Sir. Sir, why are you telling me about this now?"

He sat back, resting his head against his hand. "Amy, you can't tell me you're not a little down right now. Megan had an excellent hanging, and I know you're happy about that, but I'm sure it's hard, after watching someone so close to you reach her goal, to know that you still have a long wait before you can do the same. Knowing, now, that the wheels are in motion towards your hanging, if slowly, does that help you feel better?"

Amy was suddenly conscious is a rising excitement within her, hidden behind her fretting over Andrew. Someone does want to buy me, she told herself. And it's someone the dean trusts! She grinned, letting the excitement foam up to the surface. "Yes, Sir. It does." She gasped, seeing the clock on the dean's desk. "Oh! Sir, I have a class to teach in a few minutes. May I go?"

"Certainly." He patted his in-box. "And I'll see to it that Tina gets this into the mail today, to Kathleen."

"Thank you, Sir."

Amy watched, a hundred emotions running through her head, as the students and graduates slowly assembled around her, facing her -- or more accurately, facing the cloth covering on the wall that Amy stood beside.

It was getting crowded. Getting all of the students into the party hall was one thing. In the party pavilion, there was plenty of room for all of them, and the only headache for anyone was maintaining security in that borderland between the Academy and the outside world. Here, in this relatively small, awkwardly-shaped room in the student area, the problem was finding a way to pack everyone in so they could all see.

Ms. Bennett, the assistant dean, had directed traffic as the students began assembling, having the graduates stand in front, with the students taking places behind them within view of the covering cloth, finding space as they were able, shoulders against shoulders. Amy spoke up, as nearly everyone was at last in place. "I think it would work better if everybody kind of kneels down, except way in back where there's nobody behind you." She grinned. "I don't mean like you're bowing down to worship or something," she went on, and several girls laughed, "I'm just trying to make it easier for everyone to see."

With a lot of giggling and wisecracks, the students and grads knelt on the floor, the foremost ones scrunching down a little further, the ones farther back kneeling upright, the students farthest back standing.

Ms. Bennett turned to give the dean a questioning look, and he nodded and spoke. "It seems we've been having several unique ceremonies lately. This one, today, will give all of you a first opportunity to see the permanent home of the person responsible for them." Several girls laughed, and several others applauded briefly.

He gestured to Amy, and Amy spoke again. "There were any number of places we could have put this. The dean's first suggestion was the school's entry foyer, where anyone coming in would see the display right away.

"But Megan wanted, very much, to be in the student area, but not just anywhere. Looking at everybody here now," she smiled as she looked at the students crammed into whatever space was available, "Obviously she could have picked a more convenient place." More laughs.

Amy cleared her throat, finding that her voice was becoming husky. "But this room was very, very special to Megan. She often came here -- sometimes I was with her, and sometimes she was by herself.

"Megan had two life-changing experiences. One of them was the day she saw her Aunt Serena, a graduate of this Academy, hang, and that's the day Megan decided to be a Hanging Girl. And the other one happened here, in this room, the Hall of Honor."

Amy brushed away a tear. "To a lot of us, this room is inspiring but also a little sad. The girls whose heads are in this room... none of them graduated, though they all tried their hardest, and wanted to very much. We honor them, here, for their contributions to the Academy, but actually we hope very much not to end up here.

"Megan didn't feel that way. When the dean told her he wanted to establish a 'Wall of Fame' for Academy graduates whose surpassing ability led the Academy to stage a hanging for them on campus, Megan insisted that it should be here, because she wanted to spend her days looking at the girls, in this room, whose sacrifice meant so much to her."

She palmed some more tears away, and continued, "So the Hall of Honor now includes the Wall of Fame, and here is its first occupant."

She pulled at the cord, and the cloth came away. Megan's head, smiling, was revealed in its niche. Amy had, several times over the last few days, come by periodically to watch as the carpenters and electricians constructed the display case, in the wall facing two different rows of cubbyholes, like library shelves, running perpendicularly from the wall, holding the heads of the girls permanently residing in the Hall of Honor. Megan's case was recessed into the wall, its sides and back made of a light-colored wood, smoothly varnished, softly lit at the top and sides. A plaque beneath her head read,

There were several gasps, and Amy heard a murmured, "Oh, that's pretty!", before the assembled students and graduates burst into prolonged applause.

Tears now streaming, Amy leaned in and kissed Megan on the cheek, whispering, "You're home now, babe."

Amy stroked Jackie's hip fondly, holding her as they lay on the bed. Jackie's skin was still slick with sweat from their earlier lovemaking. Amy sensed, in Jackie's silence, something waiting to be said. "Okay, what is it?"

Jackie giggled, moving her head forward to kiss Amy. "I guess I'm making too big a deal of it. But it's just always hard to say, you were right and I was wrong."

Amy blinked. "About what?"

"Back when you said you wanted to room with Megan. And I tried so hard to talk you out of it. I just didn't know you well enough then. Or her, obviously."

Amy had no need to ask Jackie why she was saying this now. The last days before a hanging often brought a lot of secrets out. "Well, nobody knew her. And remember, she and I did go through, uhh, kind of a tough time."

Jackie waved the point away. "Nothing you couldn't handle. Anyway, I've been waiting for a chance to tell you that, without Shawna being in the room." Shawna was spending the night with Jana. They'd become close while working together with Megan on Jana's bound-feet hanging program, and it gave Melissa and Holly a rare night alone together. Tomorrow night would be Shawna's alone time with Jackie before Jackie's hanging. "I don't think she knows how hard I tried to argue you out of saving her."

Amy shook her head. "You know that's not what you were trying to do. You just cared about me and thought I was being really stupid. And I love you for that." She gave Jackie a long kiss, and felt Jackie's arms tighten around her. They were both ready to make love again.

TWO DAYS LATER

Amy shook her head in amazement, remembering that day when the rest of her entering class had arrived to take up residence in the First Year dorm at the Academy. Amy had a clear memory of meeting Jackie that day, trading introductions, liking her immediately.

Today Jackie had the Glow.

There was a cool, crisp breeze riffling Amy's shorts as she stood awaiting the limo at the front of the Academy building, with Shawna and Jackie -- and with Jackson, the huge bodyguard whose eyes swept up and down the street, no less attentive than if he were in the presidential guard detail.

Jackie, wearing short-shorts and a low-cut bikini top, both in a soft cream color, bringing out her deep tan, turned to Amy, grinning. "It's supposed to be warmer later. This will be perfect! Look at the sky! No clouds anywhere."

Shawna seemed to be imitating Jackson, her eyes flicking from side to side -- not nervously, more in curiosity. "What should we be looking for, Ames?"

Amy laughed. "Well, gee, if only we knew that, it would make everything a lot easier. I'm kind of doubtful of seeing a band of wild-eyed men waving guns. That's not Andrew's style."

Jackie suggested, "We should be watching the manhole covers. He'd travel by sewer, right?"

Amy bent double, laughing so hard she couldn't breathe for a moment. At last she was able to gasp, "So you know why he can't keep a girlfriend!"

The limo pulled up in front, Karl driving. Jackson opened the doors, second and third from the front, and the girls all tossed their bags into the rearmost seat, then piled together into the seat behind Karl -- Shawna first, Amy last, with Jackie in the middle. As Jackson pushed the door closed, opened the one in front and took his place beside Karl, Amy and Shawna each took one of Jackie's hands in both of their own. Amy raised Jackie's hand and kissed the back of it. "You really look great, hon."

Jackie smiled and sighed. "Everything feels really right. I was just thinking that's the most important part of the training. Not learning how to hang, but convincing yourself that you're ready to do it. That you have an ability and it won't let you down."

Shawna nodded seriously. "Learning how was, like, the first six months. Everything after that was for the confidence. Well, and style."

Amy nodded. "Style. That helps with the confidence too."

Jackie looked up to the limo ceiling. "Confidence!" she shouted. "That must be what's getting me wet!" The other girls laughed.

Sitting at the picnic table with Shawna, her nostrils flaring as she smelled the aroma of Jackie being barbecued, Amy nodded when Shawna remarked on how well Jackie had done. "Twenty-five minutes," Shawna pointed out. "I'm thinking the average is getting higher lately. But really, anything over twenty is fine."

Amy agreed. She was glad that it didn't appear that Jackie had sacrificed any of the most crowd-pleasing elements to try to increase her time. She had worried a little that graduates might set their sights on Megan's new benchmark, but decided that the pride any graduate took in displaying her stylistic training would always take priority. "I don't think the audience pays that much attention to the time anyway. What gets them off is the moves we do."

Shawna wrinkled her nose. "It's funny, I was just thinking you're the only girl I've ever roomed with at the Academy who's still alive." She blinked suddenly and looked horrified at herself. "I'm so sorry! I know it's hard, having to wait so long to for your own hanging."

Amy smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I'm okay with it, really. I've got plenty to do, working with the girls," meaning Melissa, Jana, and Holly. "And it's so fun to watch them when they're working out new stuff. They get so serious about it."

Shawna smiled. "I know, I've seen them. Are you going to room with them when I'm gone?"

Amy nodded. "There are some girls in our own class who'll be fun to spend some nights with, but we're all kind of vanishing like soap bubbles now. I want to get back to a stable roommate situation." She grinned suddenly, and kissed Shawna. "No offense, please. I love you, but I've been losing all these roommates lately, and you're about to go too. It'll just feel good to get to say, okay, I'll live with these girls the rest of my life."

"Oh, no offense taken! I understand totally."

Amy caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. "Oh! They're taking Jackie off the fire. I am so hungry."