Free Reforming Little Anya by Rose St. Andrews

business? And why does she have to be so damn nice and noble? She’s an idiot and a distraction. No, from now on, I’ve got to ignore her silly girlish antics. Iva is a child, a hindrance, nothing more.
    As it was clear that Kelly was no longer in town, Jessica had to switch to plan B: getting to the train station, getting to Prague, and escaping this hellhole once and for all.
    Jessica sadly trod inside, and was put to work peeling potatoes. She longed to sit down and work, as her arms were getting tired, but there was no way she could even try to do that. She winced and rubbed her stinging seat. It had finally cooled enough that she could at least rub a little.
    “Anya, you want we get you pillow?” the head cook offered.
    Jessica smiled at her. “Thanks, but no. I’m too… I can’t.”
    The three sadly nodded their heads. Apparently, Viktor’s talent with various implements was well-known. As Jessica worked, her mind was also working, working out details and plans, and plots to try to escape or at least manipulate Viktor, Misha, and the others. The whole ‘Russian parents’ thing was pretty much dead, at least with the adults; they were on to her. But, she could use it in dealing with the girls, and she would.
    Right now, she needed money for a train ticket and the schedule for the trains to Prague. Ideally, she’d slip away from the home and get to the station only minutes before the train left, thus insuring Mr. Monster couldn’t catch her. Jessica froze; something just came to her. Viktor had created those posters on a computer! If he had a computer, maybe it had Internet access. If that were the case, she could log into her email account and write home.
    “Ah, can I go to the bathroom?” she said to the head cook.
    She nodded. “Ya, my dear, go ahead,” she said with a grin.
    Jessica headed up the stairs, wincing and groaning in pain with each step. Once upstairs, she bypassed the bathroom and made her way to Viktor’s room at the front, right next to hers. Jessica was a bit surprised; the room was not fancy at all, little more than an adult version of the girls’ rooms. But there was a nice big desk, and it did have a computer on it.
    Jackpot! She raced over to it and punched up the main screen. No password needed, yes, victory.
    Jessica scanned the icons on the screen, and her heart sank. They were in Czech. So much for that bright idea. Wait a minute, she should view the glass as half full. At least she now knew where a computer was. This was merely an impetus for her to learn Czech all the quicker. Since the system was Windows, and it had all the standard icons, surely she could find the email and access her online account.
    A distant creak and groan from the floor caught her attention, and she zipped over to the door. Down the hall trouble was coming with a capital V. It was too late to run; he’d seen Jessica in his room.
    Think fast, Jessica, think fast!
    Viktor came down the rest of the way to stand before her. Again, he did not look happy.
    “Anya, what are you doing in my room? Cook said you went to the bathroom.”
    “I was going to go, but then… well, I wanted to talk to you,” she said, and lowered her head contritely. “It was very wrong of me to run away, and I feel so very bad about Iva being punished. I wanted to apologize to you, and her.”
    Lifting her head, she tried to look remorseful without going overboard; it was clear that Viktor was an expert at seeing through fakery. After dealing with teenage girls for years, of course he was an authority.
    “Very good, Anya, it makes me happy to see you accepting responsibility for your actions.”
    “Thank you, sir. And I wanted to say, if you feel I need more, I’ll accept whatever punishment you see fit.”
    This was a ploy, naturally. Jessica was counting on Viktor’s innate goodness and caring to not accept the offer. She’d seen so many of these do-gooders before, and she could read them like a book. They always looked