“No, it’s like a mystery,” Cyan said gleefully, swinging the crossbow from one arm to the other. She narrated mysteriously, “Five agents head into the building of death, possibly never to return, searching for a secret tomb where lies an arsenal of weapons…dun, dun, DUN!” Her shout bounced off the gray walls and rang through the halls of the NAFEA building.
“’Building of death’?” Ashlynn repeated skeptically.
“Seriously, you’re arguing grammar?” Galath said with an air of distain.
“Someone’s testy,” Cyan said, making a face. “There’s no harm in making life a little more fun!” she exclaimed, testing a door. “Locked,” she declared.
“I always hated field trips,” Mors responded irritably.
“You know, I liked them until that one time we went to the science center and I got lost in that one section, you know, where the balls blow out of that giant nose—”
“Cyan.”
“Hmm?”
“Shut up.”
The group enjoyed the silence for a couple of minutes until Cyan squealed and put her bow against the wall. “What is it?” Jude questioned. “Did you find the special arsenal?
“I dunno, but this looks promising,” Cyan answered, stepping in front of a large door. On the left-hand side of the door was a small keypad and above the door a single word was etched into a metal plate: “SPEAR”. Cyan pulled an arrow out of the quiver on her pants and slid the tip across her pinky finger.
“What are you doing?” Ashlynn inquired.
Cyan made a fist with her hand, blew into one end, then traced the left edge of the door with her pinky, leaving a small trail of red blood on the cold metal door. “For good luck,” she said with a wink, then moved to the keypad. Ashlynn shuddered. “Let’s see…shouldn’t be too hard to figure out, but we’ve probably only got one shot at this.”
“Whoa, then maybe you shouldn’t do it,” Mors said, stepping forward and using the back of her arm to push Cyan away from the door.
Cyan placed her hand on her hips. “If anyone can, I can.”
“Then what is the passcode?” Galath asked impatiently.
Cyan looked at the keypad, then the sign, then the blood on the door. She looked at the sign again, the keypad, and the sign again. She opened her hands downwards before her and looked down at them. One by one, she tipped a finger downwards, as if she were playing a scale on the piano or counting on her fingers.
“Come on, we haven’t got all day,” Mors said, folding her arms.
Cyan moved towards the keypad, completely focused. She pushed nine buttons, then her hands hovered over the keypad. “A number…” she mumbled, staring at the screen. She looked up at the metal sign once more, then in revelation quickly pushed one more button on the keypad. Slowly, the heavy door began to open, sliding into the wall. Revealed was a large room full of supplies and racks of devices. Cyan grinned and clapped gleefully. “I found it!” she whooped, stepping through the doorway into the room.
Ashlynn followed in admiration. “How did you figure it out?” she questioned.
“Easy,” Cyan replied. She winked. “Magic.”
Ashlynn gave her a condemning look.
Cyan laughed. “I’ll tell you later.”
Ashlynn looked back at Jude, expecting to see a pleased look on her face. Instead, Jude’s face was grim. “What happened, Jude?” she asked, walking towards her.
Jude looked at her, but her eyes seemed out of focus. “Jorgia…”
“What?” Ashlynn asked, confused. She looked around, then noticed something missing. “Where’s Galath?” She looked back at Jude.
Mors seemed to be watching Jude as well. “What’s going on?” she asked suspiciously. “What are you not telling us?”
*********************
“You didn’t even ask me!” Xarissa exclaimed.
“Awkward…” Jacob muttered, glancing at Tyler.
“Well if I had known you wanted to go with me, I would have asked,” Caitlin responded, slightly dumbfounded. “Ever since the last mission we went on, you never once showed any desire to be around me.”
“It’s not like I was avoiding you,” Xarissa said. “I have classes to be at and things to do.”
“I know that. I go to the same school you do,” Caitlin huffed.
“You don’t have the same responsibilities I do. Trying to hide the agency from my parents and my little sisters isn’t easy, you know,” Xarissa answered.
“All the reason why you should give it a rest,” Caitlin asserted.
Xarissa’s mouth hung open. “You don’t think I’m a good agent? Is that it?” she asked, astounded.
“No, I think you overwork yourself and you need some time to let loose,” Caitlin stated.
“Oh, now the truth comes out,” Xarissa retorted, throwing her hands into the air. “Am I too Type A for you, Caitlin?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“Guys, seriously,” Erica interrupted. “You two need to chill.” She turned to Xarissa. “You’re getting worked up because you weren’t invited to go on a mission? You can at least try to be more mature than a first grader.” She looked at Caitlin. “Next time I think Jake would appreciate you not taking over his mission.” She raised an eyebrow at Jake. “We gonna do this or what?”
The group was surprised by her composed and authoritative demeanor. Although her words were somewhat insulting, the agents respected them. The group dispersed to gather their essentials before taking off in a miniplane towards Miami. Xarissa, however, walked into the Administrator’s office with a different question on her mind.
*****************
Laura was crestfallen. She had lost more than half of the DANE agents in the attack from the SSAWPS. She knew that the agents wouldn't survive for long in the Norwegian forest. There was no time to find work, and there was no way of getting back to Denmark to get money to support them. They were almost out of food and were at least 25 miles from civilization. For the first time in a very long time, she didn't know what to do.
"Laura?"
Laura looked up from her curled position on the ground. One of the DANE agents, one of the newer ones, Agent Svensen, was staring down at her. He was about 19, and with that age came the cockiness of a 17 year old.
"Yes?" Laura asked, standing up and wiping the dirt from her pants.
"If you're getting tired of leading, maybe you should let someone else lead for a while. You look really tired." Agent Svensen suggested awkwardly, digging his hands into his pockets.
Laura sighed. "I wish I could, but I'm the only one here that can lead this team to a safe place. I'm the only one here that remembers where the other place is and why it was abandoned. But for now, we need to worry about food. Have any of the agents seen any wildlife in this forest?"
"If there were, the attack drove them all away." He replied with a sad frown.
"And we have no money?" Laura asked.
"I could check. We could all check, but I don't know if we'll have enough for anything." He answered.
"All right, go on ahead and do that." Laura commanded. Agent Svensen trodded off towards the camp. Laura then saw Imraan move away from the camp with an inconspicuous walk. An idea suddenly hit her, and she started to follow Imraan.
"Imraan!" Laura called. Imraan turned around and saw Laura walking briskly towards him.
"Laura! Umm, what is it? Do we need to move? Or am I not allowed to walk freely outside of camp?" Imraan stuttered as Laura caught up to him.
"Neither, well, the second one yeah, but I was wondering if you had any GCA technology on you. I remember that one of your agents had something that could transform itself into any form of transportation." Laura folded her arms and waited for her answer.
"Uhhh." Imraan replied intelligently.
*******************
“Daniel Pang,” came a stern voice.
“Huh?” Daniel asked, turning. He spotted Xarissa walking towards him.
“Come with me,” she commanded. She grabbed his wrist and before he could react, she was dragging him off of his seat and away from the picnic table his lunch was left sitting on.
“Where are we going?” he asked, still a bit rattled.
“Oh hey Daniel,” someone said. Christopher Wadsworth was standing at the door leading to the foyer. “You coming with?” He opened the door for them.
“To where?” Daniel questioned as they stepped through.
“Hey, Xarissa. Sorry I couldn’t get out earlier.” Kate Price appeared, walking up the stairs from the classrooms below. “Mrs. Hendrix was on one of her ‘crazy English teacher’ rants.” She smiled and shrugged, then noticed that Daniel was there. “Oh, you’re coming too?” she asked.
“What a group you’ve got here,” came a voice. Hayden Randall was walking towards them from the bathroom.
“And that’s everyone,” Xarissa stated triumphantly.
“Everyone for what?” Daniel asked, exasperated.
“Let’s go,” Xarissa commanded, opening the door to the front of the school. “Hayden…”
“Yup,” he inserted, holding up a disk.
Xarissa smiled as the others stepped through the door. All but Daniel. “You coming?” Xarissa asked.
Daniel stood and stared in stunned silence. Then he realized she was talking to him. “Oh. Yah.” He stood there for a second. “Right.” He walked out the door, having not a clue what he was getting himself into.
**************