took the one
beside it.
I turned to my mom. “Will you wait for me?”
I’d seen Mom grab the Nora Roberts novel she was reading.
That was a good sign.
“I don’t know. I need to ask how long orientation lasts.”
Agent Crist stepped out of the passenger seat of the sedan.
Agent Melcher joined her, and they waited for my mom and me to step out. The
agents were dressed in their matching gray suits and wool military coats that
fell above their knees.
“Good morning, Mrs. Sky. Good morning, Aurora,” Agent
Melcher said. “No need to come inside, Mrs. Sky. I’ll call you when Aurora is
finished.”
“When will that be?”
“It could take a few days.”
“A few days!” my mom and I said at the same time.
Melcher grinned. “That all depends on Aurora.”
I turned to my mother with pleading eyes. She hesitated.
“My daughter needs more time.”
Relief washed through me. I wanted to throw my arms around
my mom in that moment and kiss her cheeks. Only the scowl on Agent Crist’s face
stopped me.
“She just started her kickboxing and tae kwon do lessons.
Couldn’t you let her finish senior year first?” Mom asked hopefully.
Crist’s eyebrows lowered as her upper lip rose. “The time
for negotiations is over, Mrs. Sky. I thought you understood the terms.”
Mom looked from me to Agent Crist and frowned. “I just don’t
see why Aurora has to get started so soon.”
Melcher took a step forward. “Don’t worry about a thing,
Mrs. Sky. We’ll call you the moment Aurora is finished. The sooner we start, the
sooner she can go home.”
Mom frowned then turned and gave me a quick hug. “You’ll be
fine, sweetie, and as soon as you’re done I’ll be here to pick you up.”
The moment Mom released me she hurried back to the car and
pulled away. The pit in my stomach expanded as her car disappeared from sight.
Melcher smiled at me as though I were a child. “Let’s go,
Aurora. You’ll feel better once you understand what’s expected of you.”
If Melcher was the doting dad, then Agent Crist was the
wicked stepmother who couldn’t stand to see Melcher’s attention directed away
from her. I could feel the burn of her frown even on my back.
I followed them through a sliding door into the lobby of the
building. A young woman in camouflage pants and a matching jacket sat at a
front desk. She nodded at Agents Melcher and Crist with the same detached look
as the man at the gate.
“This is our base of operation,” Melcher said. “On the right
we have our own private hospital and surgeons, which you’ve already seen. It’s
small, but it’s the state’s best. On the left are our administrative offices,
where we’ll go first. Then in back, we have our training facilities and several
holding cells.”
What? Were they going to lock me up if I didn’t do as I was
told?
I followed the agents down a glaring hallway. There were no
pictures on the walls. We reached a set of double doors, and Crist swiped a
keycard to open them. There was another reception desk manned by yet another
drone. The soldier looked at the agents briefly, never sparing me a glance.
Melcher led me into an office with two desks and shut the
door.
There were no photographs on either desk; no pictures on the
walls; no décor of any kind unless you counted the wooden cross nailed to the
wall. It formed a triangle with Crist and Melcher when they sat down.
“Have a seat,” Melcher said.
I selected the chair in front of him. It was either that or
fry under Crist’s direct glare.
Melcher rested his elbows on his desk and leaned forward.
“Let’s get right down to it. Our unit is rather peculiar. We
specialize in the identification and elimination of demonic forces.” Melcher
paused to smile. “Don’t worry, we won’t ask you to do both. We have undercover
informants specially trained to weed out these unholy threats.”
At the moment, the only threat I sensed was that of Agents
Melcher and Crist.
“You have been