The Rogue Agent

by Shiloh White

  My leg flared up with pain. I bit my lip to keep myself from yelling anything. I'd fallen backwards, enough for half of my head to peak around the doorway. I watched the Lieutenant whip around and look in my direction.

  “I knew there was someone out here! So who is it?” she yelled. She must not have noticed my head. Maybe all the light in the room made the hallway look darker. Either way, I took the chance to back away and rise to my feet. My right leg still hurt like I bruised it, but that was unimportant. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Lieutenant coming up the stairs.

  “If I catch you, there will be punishment for breaking curfew.” she said, her shadow was cast onto the wall in front of the doorway. I decided I was not going to stick around to find out what that was. I booked it down the hall I came from, and around the corner. I wasn't sure where I was headed, but it didn't matter right this second. I heard footsteps running behind me, and I just needed to get away. I turned another corner and ran into an open area, with a dim light shining from the ceiling. I was back at the front desk. That meant...I looked to my left. There it was—the holding cell I woke up in. I ducked inside and sat in the far corner of the room, my hood up over my head. Maybe she would think I was just a part of the dark room.

  I waited for a moment, listening for her footsteps, but nothing came. The Lieutenant must have gone back to the Observation Deck. She probably believed whoever was crazy enough to be out after curfew just righted their wrong. And rightly so. The way everyone respected her, I'm sure anyone in my position would have torn through the hallways to reach their barracks before she caught up with them.

  Or better yet, they wouldn't have left in the first place.

  I took a deep breath, and my breathing evened out. I could feel the rush of adrenaline leaving my body, and the pain of my leg made me tired. I also wanted to let out tears. It was all too much for my brain. It couldn't even comprehend everything; from Chloe, to whatever those Dart and The Lieutenant wanted to do with me, to Scott being alive and well—and now sick? I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go before I became as crazy as Mr. Reggie.

  23. My Sister Gets Kidnapped…Again

  At some point, somehow, I must have gotten lucky enough to fall asleep, because I awoke the next morning on the slab bed to someone banging against the cell door.

  I got up slowly, dragging my head up and leaning against the wall for support. I rubbed my eyes with the jacket sleeves to clear my eyes and see who it was.

  Halsey stood in the doorway, light filtering in behind her through the cell. People were walking back and forth on the other side of the cell, too. It was morning. Or daytime. I wasn't sure how long I was out, and I didn't care all that much. I still felt drained and groggy.

  “Here,” she said, handing me a little white cloth. It was damp and warm. “For your face.” I reached up and took it, setting it on my face and letting it sit there for a minute. The heat seemed to suck the grogginess straight out of my face.

  “Hey, where did you go last night?” she asked me, walking in and sitting next to me on the metal bed. I took the washcloth off of my face, and bit my lip, looking for a quick answer out of this.

  “I, uhh, needed to go use the bathroom last night,” I lied.

  “I got lost,” I explained, clearing my dry throat, “and ended up here for the night.”

  “I see.” she nodded at me slowly, as if sizing up the amount of truth missing from my answer. “Well, if you need help getting somewhere, you can ask next time. No need to be wandering these halls that late at night.”

  I wondered if she was speaking from experience.

  “I didn't come to talk about that, though,” she said in a professional tone. I looked at her inquisitively. “The Lieutenant wants you in her meeting room. Do you need directions there?”

  I thought for a moment.

  “Nope,” I told her, shaking my head. “I know how to get there. Thanks for the washcloth.”

  “You're welcome,” she said. Then she stood up and pointed at the cell bed. “You can just leave it there for the custodians. Good luck with the Lieutenant, by the way.” she added, walking over to the cell door.

  “Huh? Why?” I asked. Real intelligent questions, I know.

  “She is not in a good mood today.” said Halsey. Then she left the cell with a wave.

  ✽✽✽

  So, I wasn't completely lying when I said I knew how to get there. I did (sort of) remember where the meeting room was, from where the holding cell was. The only difference was that last time, I'd gone to the Observation Deck and the TransPort room before getting to the meeting room.

  About halfway there, however, I decided that if the Lieutenant was in such a bad mood, it might not be a good idea to keep her waiting. So I asked a nearby Officer how to get there.

  Once I reached the room, I knocked and entered, closing the door behind me. Dart was in there, looking deep in thought while he ate a donut. It took him a minute to even realize I'd walked in.

  “Finally!” he exclaimed with a mouth full of donut. I couldn't help cracking a smile at his crumb-sprinkled face. He held up his index finger, and finished his bite. “I was beginning to think Halsey didn't get my message to you.”

  “You mean it was you who wanted me here? The Lieutenant doesn't need us?” I asked, walking over to the table and standing across from Dart. The Lieutenant seemed harsh enough. Halsey made it sound like the Lieutenant not having a good day was not something you wanted to be around. If I could avoid it, I was planning to.

  “Oh, no, she does,” Dart said. Of course, right?

  “But I wanted you here earlier,” he continued matter-of-factly, “because I've got something you need to see.”

  He grabbed a small machine from the chair next to him, and showed me the screen. It was Chloe's hospital room, with Chloe lying in the bed with the covers off.

  My face fell instantly, and Dart must have seen it, because he gave me a confused look and a raised eyebrow.

  “I understand this is sensitive stuff, but I didn't even press play yet. What's with the face?” he asked.

  “I know what's—” I started to say, but I shut my mouth so fast I almost bit my tongue. Dart didn't know I was there last night, and that conversation was probably not for my ears. I wasn't sure what he would do if he knew I was there. For all I knew, these people might not even trust me.

  “I mean,” I started again, “I know what's coming is going to be bad. I saw your message to Scott. Something's up with Chloe.” I tried to play it off by looking uncomfortable; avoiding eye contact with him, and shifting from foot to foot.

  “Okay...” Dart said, still looking at me with a raised eyebrow, “well, you're right. So let's get you up to speed first. He looked down at the screen and hit play. I looked at the timestamp in the corner of the screen: 1:04 a.m.

  Right after the Agent spazzed out and the screen went black.

  The Depression Agent appeared as the clip started, swirling around the room until it calmed by Chloe's bed. It shaped into a human form and sat down next to Chloe on the bed, i's back to the camera. The Agent bent down and slowly brushed her hair out of her face. I wanted to punch it and gag at the same time; that thing touching my sister made me sick to my stomach. I couldn't quite make out his face, even when he lay down. No matter what it looked like, however, I was already convinced I didn't just want to get Chloe away from it.

  I wanted to destroy that Depression Agent. To do that, I had to finish the zones...

  The Agent stood up off the bed and spread out into its smoky form, quickly filling the room again like last time. Only this time when it swirled around the whole room, it disappeared. After the smoke cleared, the bed was empty.

  ✽✽✽

  Dart slowly pulled the screen away. He closed it, setting it in the chair next to him. I couldn’t bring myself to say a word. I just clenched my fists in the jacket sleeves and stared at him. I couldn't say it aloud, but it was the only thing filling my mind.
r />   Chloe was gone. Again.

  At some point, I found myself sitting. I wasn't sure for how long.

  It made me feel a little better that Dart didn't try to say anything to make me feel better. I looked up at him, but he just stared down at the table. His mind was probably elsewhere too but when he noticed I was looking at him, he looked away just as quickly. Not much for him to say about it either.

  The Lieutenant came into the room and studied both of our faces; looking quickly from mine to Dart's.

  “You've seen the footage then?” she asked calmly.

  Too calmly. From what Dart said, I wasn't aware she knew about the footage. Obviously, I was wrong. Probably the only one out of the loop. Just like whatever they’d been talking about last night. How else could she just walk in and drop a bomb like that? And how was I supposed to answer that?

  “Yep. My sister was just taken away by a figment of my Depression! How's your morning?” She couldn't be serious.

  “Her situation is getting worse with each passing moment,” the Lieutenant said. I kept staring at her, biting down on my cheek to keep myself from losing it.

  “We can't waste any time, Lucy—” She started to say, but that set me off. I tried to control myself, but before I knew it, I'd slammed my fist on the table in anger.

  “I know that! I saw that footage!” I yelled at her. “Do you know where she is now?”

  The Lieutenant looked away, and folded her arms.

  “I had a lead on the Depression Agent last night,” Dart said from across the table. “But…” he sighed in defeat. “His trail went cold a little while ago.”

  “How did he get away?” I asked, still upset. This was my sister on the line. I couldn't handle a trail going cold.

  “He's gotta be in a zone that's Dormant,” Dart answered. Right, I thought. The hiding place is hidden because it's asleep, so they don't even need to try to hide. How were we supposed to get to them now?

  “Do you have any way to identify the owner of the zone, like you did with mine?” I asked. “Maybe make the Zone...un-Dormant?”

  “Un-Dormant?” Dart echoed.

  I ran my hand through my hair. “I’ve been here for barely two days! I don't know your scientific terms, but there's gonna be something that can help, right?”

  “Let me double check...” Dart picked up his screen from his seat and scrolled through it. After a moment, he sighed in defeat. “Just what I expected,” he shook his head, sliding the screen back into the chair. “No readings on anywhere. And unless I get coordinates, I can't find the Dormant Zone.”

  So much for that idea. I could feel the grip of hope I had in saving Chloe slowly slipping out of my fingers.

  “You said her situation's getting worse,” I said to Lieutenant Hollister. “How much worse?” She wouldn't look at me, but she said, “If the Agent is powerful enough to jump between your world and the Dust and bring a human back, then it has to be our worst case scenario...” She paused. I could see the look on her face. As tough as she was, she was hesitant to give me the answer. This made me want to know even more. I nodded at her, waiting for her response.

  “The Agent is probably strong enough to drain Chloe of her emotions in 24 hours. She could very well die.”

  Die.

  That word hit me so hard, I lost my breath. Would it hurt her? Would Chloe feel it, or would it just happen quietly over time until she was gone? I couldn't imagine how it would work. I didn't want to even think about that stuff, but a voice in my brain kept rapid-firing them at me:

  Say goodbye to your sister.

  She’s gone…

  You'll never save her, you know...

  One thought was really annoying because it was so quiet, so I couldn't understand what it was saying. I just told them to shut up altogether. I needed to stick to what I could handle. I needed to save my sister, while I still had time.

  “Chloe's my only real family. I have to bring her back.” I told Lieutenant Hollister. “So where's Scott? Is he better? We've got to hurry up and get to the next zone. My sister's life is at stake now.” Lieutenant Hollister took a deep breath, and rubbed her temples.

  “I was actually getting to that,” she said, sounding irritated. “He is holed up at the infirmary, where the doctors are trying to figure out what's wrong with him. They could use any information that might help, by the way. Did anything happen last night that could help?”

  Oh, great. Now I was stuck in this situation all over again.

  “Ahh...” I said nervously. I know; not a great opener. “We went to the Square to look for the piece for the TransPort—”

  “Which is fixed now perfectly!” Dart chimed in, looking me in the eye. Lieutenant Hollister looked over at him.

  “That’s great,” she told him.

  I nodded at him while she turned around. I caught his warning—don’t mention De Mentoria. But I didn’t plan to. When she looked back at me, I finished by telling her we spent most of the time looking for the tent to get the piece from and once we got it, we came back.

  “When did Scott get sick?” she asked. I glanced over at Dart, who simply shrugged. Great. I was on my own with this one. So for the second time that day, I lied.

  “He got sick…on the subway.”

  Lieutenant Hollister looked at the ground in thought. “Hm. That doesn't help much.” she said.

  “Tell me about it,” I said, wishing I could stop talking now. “I even carried him back. Now there's no way I'll be able to conquer the next Zone; not by myself.”

  “You won't be by yourself,” Dart reassured me.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, “Who's gonna help me?”

  Lieutenant Hollister stood up from her seat. “That would be me.”

  24. I Have A Real Problem With Kitchens

  I followed Dart and Lieutenant Hollister down the hall to the TransPort room. They were having a heated discussion up ahead of me, probably the rogue Agent again. I tried to listen in, but my thoughts were distracting me:

  That woman's going with you? You've got no chance now...

  My brain must have woken up on the wrong side of the prison cell today, because these thoughts were bombarding me one after the other. The crazy part was after the thought, there was another one. A quieter one. I still couldn't make out what it was saying. Only that it was making me anxious.

  Dart pushed the door open, and started to set up shop. I climbed into the TransPort machine, and hesitated to put the helmet on. I felt even more anxious because of the last time I was sitting here and my head almost caught on fire.

  “I assure you that the machine is working fine now,” Dart said from behind the chair. He reached up and placed the helmet on my head.

  “Dart said to me that this machine is actually working better than before.” The Lieutenant said to me. “You'll be fine.”

  “Better than before?” I asked, turning my head as well as I could to see Dart from underneath the helmet.

  “Well, I designed a way to program Depression Zone coordinates as a bit of a road map. I used your first Zone to make it easier for us to get you into your second zone from here.” he said from the table.

  “I think I understand...” I said slowly. I wondered if that had something to do with why he needed my Zone coordinates from last night.

  “To put it simply, it'll be like following someone straight to your destination, instead of following directions to your destination.” Dart said. I was still a little confused, but the analogy did help. Anything to make this process easy and faster. Chloe didn't have that kind of time.

  “Are you ready?” Lieutenant Hollister asked me. I let out a shaky breath and grabbed the end of my jacket sleeves. “I'm as ready as I can be, what with my sister kidnapped and all.” I said.

  Nothing but confidence, right?

  “Right,” Dart said awkwardly, “let's get started, then. Lieutenant, it's time to report to your station.” Lieutenant Hollister nodded and left the room, pulling the door most
-of-the-way closed behind her. I heard Dart clacking away on his keyboard, and all of a sudden the TransPort whirred to life. My heart skipped a beat when it powered on and I felt the humming around my whole body.

  “Dart, I've got one more question!” I shouted. The vibration from the machine made it kind of hard to hear around me.

  “What?” he asked. “How do missions with the Lieutenant usually work out?” I asked her.

  “When she's in the field, she can get a little intense,” he explained, just barely loud enough for me to hear. “For the most part though, they're usually just like she is; cold, and straight to the point.”

  “Awesome,” I answered sarcastically.

  I closed my eyes and exhaled, and tried to clear my head. None of that stuff was going to help with saving Chloe right now. Now, what did Scott say the last time about getting in? To focus, right? On the feelings. The emotions. Focus on the emotions that came to my mind.

  At first, it was really weird trying to pinpoint any feeling, since there I sensed a bunch swirling inside me over the course of this morning. All I could really “feel” was this uneasiness in my stomach.

  Suddenly, I wasn't sure if it was Hollister and Dart meant, but it wasn't just a feeling anymore. I heard something: the voice in the back of my head. It started off quiet, picking at the back of my brain until it was a loud whisper.

  You won't save your sister...

  That uneasy feeling in my stomach got stronger. The voice sounded like more than one person. Like a boy and a girl at the same time.

  You're worthless, remember?

  When it said that, the feeling evolved to a tug in my stomach. It felt like nostalgia. And then...there he was. This young boy stood in front of me. But it wasn't exactly a boy. It was a colorful silhouette of him. Some parts were orange, and the rest was pink. He walked up to me slowly, and I held my breath. He reached his hand out, and my whole body started to tense up. I clenched my fists and my toes curled. I didn't want him to touch me, but I couldn't move.

  He brushed my cheek. It felt warm and familiar. Something old that I forgot...I thought it was in the past. The boy's hand slid down to my arm. The warmth spread throughout my whole body, and it tingled all the way to my fingers and toes. I couldn't help but relax. The warm feeling felt safe.