“And here we are again,” I say. “On the road.”
“Yeah, but this road trip will be a lot shorter. We’re only going to Wellington where we will catch an airplane.”
“A big one, right?”
“Yeah. A big one,” he says, smiling at me.
“How long will we be in Australia?”
“Not long. Just long enough for me to figure out where I want to go from there,” he says.
“Can we go to Japan?” I ask.
“I can’t speak Japanese. So, no,” he says.
“What languages can you speak?”
“English and Swiss German, obviously. A little French and Spanish. Enough to get by. And I can fluently speak German and Italian.”
“Italian?” I ask.
“Well, before we moved to America, I lived in Rome for a while. Until I was seven. So English, Italian and Swiss German are sort of my native languages,” he says. “My mom spoke in Swiss German a lot when I was growing up. At least, until she married my stepdad.”
“That’s so crazy,” I say. “I can’t imagine knowing anything besides English.”
“Some kids at Spy School know a lot of languages,” Sebastian says. “There is one kid there who knows ten and she’s only fourteen, not to mention the twelve-year-old with seven. They are both pretty much a genius.”
“My dad says not everybody at Spy School knew about it beforehand,” I say. “Like some kids get recruited.”
“It’s true. I’d say most, like, ninety-five percent, are kids with parents who went there. But occasionally they choose somebody who stands out.”
“Like my mom,” I say.
“Yeah. Like her,” Sebastian says. “A lot of times, a smart kid will be paired up with a kid who is really athletic and they will make an unstoppable team. I mean, you can’t be good at everything. It’s why we have teams in the first place.”
“Is there a rule on who can be in a team together? Like gender-wise, I mean.”
“No. But if there is a problem with jealousy, they immediately separate the team,” he says. “Like, say, if you were on a team with Sander and me and Sander got jealous because of time I spent with you, then we couldn’t be a team anymore. A lot of teams are all guys or all girls or maybe a couple. Like, my mom and dad were on a team before everything went down.”
“What about big teams? Like Sander’s team?”
“Well, as you can see, they can’t do everything together. Sometimes they split up,” Sebastian answers. “They all get along good and work well together, so when a huge team is needed, they go together. But realistically, they do most things on their own.”
“What about us?” I ask.
“Me and you, us?”
“Yeah.” Obviously.
“Well, you’re kind of my assignment right now,” he says.
“Oh,” I say, feeling disappointed at his words.
I don’t want to be just an assignment. I want to be his partner. His equal. Even though he is clearly better at everything.
“Maybe someday we will be partners. I can’t imagine I’d want to go on missions with anybody else,” he says. “Plus, you’re kind of a special case. You’re always going to need somebody with you.”
“And we can go with Sander and the guys when they need help?” I ask.
Because they’re my friends and I think working with them could be a lot of fun.
“Sure,” he says. “Truthfully, you’ll probably be devoting a lot of time to Spy School. Like your dad does.”
“Will that be boring for you?”
“Nothing will ever be boring with you,” he says.
Which warms my heart.
I know that he means it.
“Hey, Sebastian?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for not forcing me to get on the airplane,” I say.
He’s quiet for a moment.
“You know you’re going to have to overcome your fear of small spaces, right?”
“Yeah,” I say, swallowing hard.
“But don’t worry. I’ll help you,” he says.
Which is all the encouragement I need. I can do anything with Sebastian’s help. He makes me feel brave. Even if I was too scared today, I won’t always be. And he will make sure of it.
Thursday, October 5
Don’t answer that.
It’s a lot warmer in Northern Australia than it was in Southern New Zealand.
In New Zealand, we were on the southern island, about two and a half hours away from Wellington. And it was beautiful, but cold. In Sydney, it is warm. Definitely what I’m used to spring in Florida feeling like.
It’s so weird that it’s October and it’s spring time here. I feel like it should be starting to get cool, not the other way around. I should be seeing orange leaves. Not flowers. It’s strange, really. Of course, I’m sure somebody from here would say the same thing if they were in America.
Sebastian got us adjoining rooms at a beach hotel. Like, the view from my window is the ocean and it’s beautiful. He insisted that we keep the doors to each other rooms open so he could hear, just in case. And now, he’s sleeping soundly in the other room while I look out the window, because how can I not? I’m sad we won’t be staying in Australia. The truth is I’m not sure where we’re going now. We can’t stay here because they’ll have known that we left New Zealand by now. They’re probably already here looking. Good thing Australia is a huge country.
I look in the door to Sebastian’s room to see if he’s still asleep. I’m not surprised to see that he’s sleeping with his gun on the nightstand. I’m not even sure if guns are legal in Australia, but I have a feeling Spy School gets special treatment.
Sebastian has one arm hanging off the bed, of course the side that has the gun. And he’s lying on his stomach, sprawled across the whole bed. I slept in the car yesterday, then on the plane, and I slept all last night. I guess the stress wore me out. Or maybe it was the whole running ten miles thing. I have a feeling that Sebastian won’t let me get away with only running five miles anymore, now that he knows I ran ten.
I jump when I hear the phone ringing from my room. I put my hand to my heart. I wasn’t expecting that. I walk into my room and pick up the phone.
“Hello.”
“Don’t answer that!” Sebastian yells.
“Karlie. Nice to talk to you again.”
Sebastian yanks the phone from my hand and throws it down. He grabs my arm and pulls me away from the room. We run out the door and he stops in the hallway, looking right and left.
“Sebastian, that was Nolan,” I say, still in shock from hearing his voice.
“I know,” he says. “Do we go right or left?”
“What do you mean?”
“Nolan will be coming up the stairs. Which side do you think he will come up? We need to avoid him at all costs.”
“Let’s go left,” I say.
That is enough for him. He grabs my arm and we run left.
“What happens if we run into him?” I ask.
“I fight him and you stay with me. No matter what. Do whatever you have to do to stay with me,” Sebastian says.
“Why is Nolan still after us?”
He opens the door to the stairway and we start running down the stairs.
Why did it have to be the thirtieth floor?
“Nolan works for my dad now,” Bass says. “That’s who his parents work for.”
I can’t think of Nolan that way. I just can’t. Because he was so nice to me. But I saw him shoot Gage and I have to remember him as that guy. The monster who almost took Gage’s life. The monster who almost took me.
I count down each floor as we go.
Twenty-four.
Twenty-three.
I’m surprised my legs aren’t hurting yet. I figured after a couple of floors they would feel like jello. But then again, maybe the running really is paying off.
When we round the corner on the fifteenth floor, we nearly run into somebody.
&nb
sp; Nolan.
Sebastian grabs me and pushes me behind him.
“I’m glad you came this way,” Nolan says. “I took a gamble.”
Sebastian doesn’t want to hear it though. He swings a punch at him, which of course, Nolan blocks.
“I don’t want to fight,” he says. “I just want to talk.”
“We don’t want to talk,” Sebastian says.
“You don’t have much time. Your dad is here. He went up the other side. Really, you’re lucky you ran into me,” Nolan says. “Listen carefully. You both need to get out, but you can’t be Serenity or Karlie or Sebastian. You have to take on new identities. I’m talking hair, eyes, clothes, everything. Become somebody different. A war is coming. And you two are the prized possessions.”
“I don’t believe you,” Sebastian says.
“Despite what you think, I’m not a monster. I just wanted to be with my parents,” Nolan says.
“You almost killed Gage,” I say.
“If I’d wanted to kill him, he would be dead,” Nolan says, looking right at me.
“Don’t look at her,” Sebastian says.
Nolan quickly looks from me towards Bass. “Here’s what you do. I shut off the cameras on the left side of the hotel. They’re only off for five minutes. Get out of here from that direction and get out of Sydney. Don’t fly until you’ve disguised yourselves.”
“Why are you helping us?” I ask him.
“Because I like you, Karlie,” Nolan says.
“It’s Serenity.”
“You don’t have time,” Nolan says. “Sebastian, knock me out. This has to be realistic.”
“Gladly,” Bass says, swinging a punch at him.
This time, Nolan doesn’t block it. He falls over seconds after the punch hits, and his body hits the ground. Sebastian doesn’t stop to check if he’s okay. We just start running again. And this time, we don’t stop.
Friday, October 6
Weird.
I now have platinum blonde hair, which is weird. I’m also wearing weird contacts, so my eyes look blue instead of green. I don’t even recognize myself when I look in the mirror.
“I can’t get over how weird you look,” Sebastian says.
He has contacts that make his eyes brown. He refused to dye his hair, so he’s wearing a beanie to cover it. Good thing it is kind of cooler outside today. Plus, we’re getting on a flight to the UK and it’s cold there. So, he doesn’t look strange wearing a beanie.
I wish I hadn’t had to dye my hair. The blonde is weird. I mean, I had dirty blonde hair before, but this is different. I look like Barbie. Especially with the blue eyes.
“Well, you look weird, too,” I say.
“Not as weird as you,” he says.
“Gee, thanks.”
“It’s not bad,” he says. “I like the blonde hair. I just like it better the other way.”
“You didn’t give me a choice.”
“Right. I didn’t.”
“I can’t believe we actually listened to what Nolan said,” I say. “What if it’s all a trap?”
“He doesn’t know where we’re going,” Bass says. “And he let me knock him out. I think, in his own weird way, he was trying to help. Maybe he really does like you.”
We still haven’t heard from my dad, which is disappointing. We had to ditch our phones and I’m not sure how he’s going to get hold of us, but Sebastian assures me that he’ll be able to when the time is right.
They call our flight to start boarding. We’ve got first class tickets, so we’re first in line to get on.
Today, I am a British girl named Amelia, and Sebastian is Jackson, my Australian boyfriend. We’re both nineteen years old, because we get less hassle if we’re not traveling as minors, and ‘Jackson’ is coming on a long holiday.
“Have a nice flight,” the lady says.
“Thanks,” I say back, using my best British accent.
I guess accent training classes paid off after all.
Neither of us say another word, and we keep our heads down as people board the airplane. But it’s not until we are in the air that I let out a sigh of relief. We’re safe now—officially. And I know that running is a part of my life now and that I’ll have to eventually do it again, but for now everything is okay.
“Sleep, S. We’ve got a long flight,” Sebastian says.
And so I do.
Sebastian and I started off this journey together and we will finish it together. Someday, we will face his father and we will win. After all, doesn’t Superman always capture Lex Luthor in the end?
The end.
Book 3 is coming soon!
Letter from Scarlett
This book was a long time coming. A really long time. And for that, I apologize.
Since I wrote the first book, a lot of things have happened. I experienced a kidney stone. It got stuck in my kidney and it took the doctors 3 weeks to figure out why I was in horrible pain. They thought everything from appendix to viral infection, kidney infection, etc. It was a lot of hospital visits and sleepless nights because of pain. But I finally had surgery to remove the stone. From that surgery, I got a horrible kidney infection, which resulted in fever and pain for 2 weeks straight. And the medicine from that caused... well, a lot of issues. I think the medicine they gave me made me sicker than anything. I also fell down the stairs and sprained my back. And that is why it’s taken me THIS LONG to write book 2. It was sitting half-finished on my computer for a while. And I’m glad that I was finally able to finish it. Here’s to hoping Book 3 doesn’t take as long to write!
For more information on this series or any of my books, be sure to check out my blog https://scarletthaven.wordpress.com!
—Scarlett Haven
More books by Scarlett
Stand alone books:
The Bucket List: Famous Online (coming December 15, 2017!)
Bayside Academy Series:
Gracie (Book 1)
Unraveling Gracie (Book 2)
Hating Gracie (Book 3—coming soon!)
East Raven Academy Series:
Ever After (Book 1)
Never Ever (Book 2—coming soon!)
Strange Land Series:
Magnetism (Book 1—coming soon!)
The Spy Chronicles:
Finding Me (Book 1)
Keeping Me (Book 2)
Losing Me (Book 3)
New Hope Academy Series:
Luck (Episode 1)
Fate (Episode 2)
Fame (Episode 3)
Wish (Episode 4)
*This series is completed.
Find me online.
Blog: https://scarletthaven.wordpress.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Scarlett_Haven
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorScarlettHaven/
Keeping Me (Spy Chronicles Book 2) Page 13
