There was a giggle as the small group flopped back to the unfeasibly large bed, most of them very noticeably out of breath. "Ooof, Trojie, you - sat on my hand!" giggled one young brunette, squirming to free said appendage.

"'S not my fault you had it somewhere it could be sat on," Trojie grumbled as she wriggled to the left a bit, giving Sara her hand back.

"On the plus side, it's a good thing you sneaked this book out of Lux's collection," Techno-Dann pointed out as he manouevred himself out of the heap with judicious use of his elbows and reached for the tome in question, currently lying on the floor beside the bed. "Look, we've managed numbers five through twelve, eighteen, twenty-three and thirty-seven."

"Oooh, can we try that one?" July asked, leaning over his shoulder and pointing to one of the highly detailed pictures.

"We can try, except... um." He held the book further away, then closer, trying to work out exactly where the intertwined figures' bits and pieces were. "I don't actually think this is physically possible."

"Rubbish." She pulled the book out of his hands and waved it at Trojie. "You're the anatomy know-how-y person, how do we do this one?"

There was silence for a few minutes as they awaited her verdict with bated breath. Finally, she put the book back on the floor, page carefully held open, and tugged the other three towards her with a grin.

"Well, it sort of goes like this..." she began, though the squeals and other assorted noises soon drowned her out completely.

---

'You know, I really should be feeling tired,' said Cassie several hours later. 'How many chapters through that book are we?'

'Seventeen,' July said, trying to snatch the volume of knowledge out of Dann and Trojie's hands.

'How many chapters ARE there?' Sara asked. It was hard to tell if her voice was plaintive or eager.

'Sixty-nine,' Dann replied in a sing-song innocent voice.

There was a WHUMP as everyone else in the bed went to smack him for the terrible joke ...