 
SpyCam:

The President Plot

# By Zoe Wynns

### Praise for Zoe Wynns

"Zoe Wynns is a talented young writer who is off to a terrific start with SpyCam: The President Plot. This is an entertaining and well-paced read, driven by spirited 14-year-old Cam and her plucky BFF, Stella. Zoe's novel has suspense, adventure and a lot of heart — a combination that will leave readers eager to take more fictional journeys with Cam and crew!"

—Tracie Fellers (fiction and nonfiction author with work in Long Story Short: Flash Fiction by Sixty-Five of North Carolina's Finest Writers, and 27 Views of Raleigh)

"Zoe Wynns is an amazing author. Her first two books were well written and interesting. I have read Journey to the End five times. Her book, Flicker, Fade, Soar, that I recently just finished, was awesome. This new book is obviously another masterpiece. Keep going Zoe!"

-Caleb McLamb (CEO of M-Tech)

This version of SpyCam has been updated in 2019, but I have left the original message to readers below.

I am thirteen years old, soon to be fourteen. SpyCam: The President Plot is my third self-published book. Feel free to send me feedback if you find a mistake in the book, but know that I tried my best, worked very hard on the book, and I am so proud of the final novel. Thank you so much for downloading this book.

If you enjoy this book, feel free to download my two other self-published books. Flicker, Fade, Soar is available on iBooks, and Journey to the End is available on Kindle and will be on iBooks July 6th, 2017!

Now, in 2019, I'm sixteen years old! I've published the rest of the SpyCam series, and another book called Awaken Illusionia. Feel free to check them out on Smashwords or the iBooks store!

Please rate this book or write a quick review if you enjoy it! Thanks in advance!

I hope you enjoy SpyCam: The President Plot!

This is a work of fiction. While some businesses and places do exist that I've mentioned, any interactions inside those places or any descriptions of those places are purely fictional. All persons are fictional, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The White House is mentioned in this book. Not all parts of the White House described are correct, but I strived for accuracy when possible, for example, the tunnel really does exist. Enough said.

This book is published by Smashwords. No part of this book may be copied or reproduced without the consent of Zoe Wynns. All questions to thewynnsfamily@gmail.com.

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Cam's life changes when she is recruited into a mysterious spy organization.

Published in 2017. Updated in 2019.

### Prologue

"They'll never suspect a thing until it's too late," the villain whispered, glee in his voice.

The room around him looked just like anyone would expect an evil villain's lair to look. It was set in a dark, damp cave, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling all around. Occasionally, one fell, shattering on the floor. Whenever this happened, the villain imagined his enemies crushed underneath it. An evil grin spread across his face thinking about it.

There were small tidbits of the future in this dank place of the past, however. A large table sprawled through the middle of the room, littered with a combination of massive bombs, laser guns, and other weapons that should not have existed (yet did).

A small machine the shape of an egg lay carelessly in the corner. Long metal limbs hung from one of the corners of the room, right next to a gigantic gun that looked so deadly the villain could imagine his enemies dropping dead from fear just looking at it. Clear masks lay on the table, barely visible, but definitely there. All through the room, large cans of liquids and gases all sat on the table and floors.

The low ceiling clipped the villain's head as he walked back over to the large table. He growled, grabbing a metal container and hurling it at the offending stalactite. It shattered, falling to the floor with a crack. The metal container popped open and spewed gas and liquid in eight different directions, including right towards the villain. He didn't even flinch. His immunity was so high that he couldn't imagine the toxic gas making him sneeze, letting alone killing him like it was supposed to.

The villain paced back and forth, staring at the collection he had amassed. He was amazed at himself for collecting all these highly illegal weapons, but like any "good" villain, he had a strong urge to get more. He suddenly stopped in front of a large container with a skull-and-crossbones on its side.

"What does this do?" the villain asked loudly.

To any average human, it would have appeared that the villain had a severe mental problem and was talking to himself, expecting himself to answer. But a spy would know that a villain never worked alone. And they, of course, would be right, because a moment later a voice answered from a seemingly empty corner.

"That, Master, renders the inhaler unconscious for as long as a couple hours..." the empty corner responded, venom lacing his tone.

"Thank you, assistant. Remove the camouflage cloak now," the villain commanded, piercing the corner of the room with a sharp and malicious gaze.

A person slowly emerged out of the shadows, tossing a thick, shimmering cloak to the side as he removed it. He swiped his sandy blonde hair out of his face with one hand.

"My plan is emerging slowly. I do not know all the details yet, but for now, I need-," the first villain suddenly stopped talking, snapping his head over to look at his assistant. "Why aren't you taking notes?!"

The assistant scrambled in his pocket for a pencil and paper. "Apologies, Master."

The villain resumed his pacing and talking. "I will need as many children as we can stealthily obtain. I will need two bombs... both will be to kill, so do not withhold any of the most heavy-duty ones in our arsenal. And finally, I need a large, large container of the aforementioned gas," he finished with a maniacal grin.

His assistant's face also morphed into a smile. "Back to world domination again?"

The villain gave a nod, coldness in his eyes that did not match his grin. "That's always the goal. Always. And if we fail, we just try again." The villain jabbed a finger in his assistant's face. "I'm not giving up until I'm dead, and if you know what's good for you, YOU won't either."

The villain turned his back on his assistant and strode out of the room.

The assistant looked at the vials, the guns, and then at the place where his master had disappeared. Somehow, he feared the day they died would come sooner than either one of them expected.

### Chapter One

My lungs screamed for air as rubble crashed down all around me.

I was battered and bruised, my ankle screaming.

I covered my ears, the explosion was too loud, deafeningly loud. Fire burned.

And throughout all the chaos, I heard one voice screaming.

I saw one pair of ice-blue eyes pleading for me to save her.

But she'd saved me. It was too late for her now. Now her scream ceased, and mine was the only one that I could hear.

I closed my eyes. Everything went dark as I sobbed.

I woke up with a start. Sweat drenched my body, mingling with tears on my face, and I breathed heavily. Something suffocated me, and I panicked for a moment before I realized I was just tangled in my blankets.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. I must have been screaming in my sleep again. My mom always came to check on me, always held me as I cried. But I couldn't tell her the truth about my nightmares. Nobody could know.

Because I, Cam Noble, am a spy. And this is the story of how I became one.

Just over a week earlier, I had no idea how much my life was about to change. I was just a normal, average, fourteen-year-old girl, whose biggest worries were mean girls and boy troubles and stressing over final exams. But not anymore.

Because everything changed on that day just over a week ago.

Most stories about life-changing events start on normal days. My story started on what was supposed to be the best day of my life.

I had just passed my black belt test in Tae-Kwon-Do, and the ceremony where I would be presented with my belt was later that day. I was so excited. I had been training for five years to get to this moment, all the way from when I was nine years old to this day smack in the middle of being fourteen. I just had to get through school first, and the ceremony was promptly at five.

The bus dropped me off at school that morning a little late. It screeched to a stop outside the bus stop. The faint smell of old, dirty socks and sweaty middle schoolers was released into the air as everyone stood up to dismount. I climbed over the girl who was sitting next to me on it and speed-walked to the front of the bus, my short, light brown hair bobbing. The sticky floor didn't want to release me, but my momentum was enough that I couldn't be stopped.

I maneuvered around talking kids carrying heavy-looking bookbags in a rainbow of colors and patterns. I slid down the steps, making sure to use the railing (the bus teacher yelled at us if we didn't). Without a glance back at the sickly-yellow colored bus, I took off at a dead run towards the school, my messenger schoolbag slung over my shoulder, my sandals slapping the sidewalk.

My best friend, Stella Moretti, caught up with me as I reached the school. Her very, very light blonde hair waved wildly as she raced towards me. I slowed down to let her catch up to me. "Why in such a hurry, Cam?" she asked breathlessly, her light green eyes sparkling. I grinned, my chocolate eyes sparkling right back and my sea of freckles shifting, but I couldn't find a way to explain that it seemed like the faster I got into school, the faster the day would be done, and the faster I could get to my ceremony after school.

Stella figured it out for herself, though. "Oh right, you have that black belt presentation after school today! No wonder you are all... what is the word... hyped! Too bad, I was going to invite you over for tiramisu after school..."

Stella had moved from Italy just over a year ago. She still had an accent (though it was rapidly fading) and sometimes she forgot what words were in English. It was okay, though, because Stella was the sweetest, smartest, funniest person I'd ever known. And as an added bonus, her family made awesome Italian food. Tiramisu was my favorite.

"Tiramisu... my weakness..." I mocked, groaning in pain. "But I've been training for years to get my black belt. I can't give it up for an Italian treat."

"Oh, I know," Stella laughed, giving me a playful shove. "Maybe you can come over after the ceremony."

We reached the doors of the school, their blue paint peeling and the handles starting to rust. The school building itself had newly been renovated, but the doors themselves had yet to be repainted.

I adjusted my grip on my blue and pink striped lunchbox, and yanked open the door, holding it for Stella. She shuffled in, struggling to fit her huge green bookbag through the door. I laughed. "What could you possibly need for school today that would make your backpack that huge?"

Stella gave me a mysterious smile. "You'll see."

The bell rang suddenly, and I forgot about the bookbag. "Crap! That's the five-minute warning bell! See you later, Stells!" I yelled.

I bolted down the shiny halls, ignoring the teachers that yelled for me to stop running.

Four minutes and fifty-eight seconds later, I opened the door to my first period, math. My teacher, Mr. James, barely had time to glance at me before the blaring bell rang again, signaling that I was technically late. Mr. James looked at his watch, and then looked at me. "Since you were here when the bell rang, I will not count you late."

I gave him a meek wave. "Thanks. Sorry, Mr. James," I apologized, shuffling awkwardly to my seat and sitting down.

With a sigh, I looked around the predictable classroom. Same old salmon-colored walls. Same old bland beige desks. Same old huge posters with motivational messages like, "Shoot for the moon! You'll land among the stars!" and "Mistakes are proof that you are trying!"

I glanced to the side of me, then wished I hadn't.

The person who sat next to me in first period was a girl named Taylor Pratt. Her black hair hung like a curtain around her face, her eyes a cold, icy blue. Taylor lifted her face a bit when I looked at her, and she gave me an unkind smirk.

Taylor was the girl that every school had, and everyone in school feared: the mean girl, the bully, the one that tended to dress in all black and wear lipstick that made her look like someone had bruised her lips... but more often Taylor was the one doing the bruising. If anyone got on her bad side, she bashed their faces in with only a smirk. I had learned to fear that smirk, and she was giving it to me now. To avoid conflict on such an important day, I looked away quickly and busied myself with putting my books in my desk.

Mr. James gave me one more look, and then started talking. "Today we will be continuing our unit on fractions. Can anyone remind the class what a reciprocal is...?"

I tuned him out, because as I had been reaching down in my desk to put my last book away, I felt something cold and flat. I pursed my lips and reached my arm further in my desk to try to grab the strange object. I got it between two fingers, and slowly pulled it out. It was a light blue piece of what felt and looked like cardstock, other than the icy coolness emanating from it. Taylor looked at me, the smirk disappearing, her eyebrows raised.

Noticing but not particularly caring, I turned my attention back to the paper in my hands. It had writing on it, in dark gray ink.

"You have been chosen to join as an honorary member of STPOW (Spies That Protect Our World)," I read silently. "We need your help on an urgent mission. If you wish to join us, come to the eighth seat of the ninth row in the middle section of the school auditorium between second and third period. THIS IS NOT A PRANK. Whether you believe us or not, we cannot leave a trail of information (for there are enemies all around us), so please put this message somewhere warm immediately after memorizing it (if you wish to join us)."

I read the message once, my lips moving silently, then I read it again, and again, and again. It made less sense the fourth time than it did the first. It had to be a prank, didn't it? Because the alternative was even more terrifying. Still, I couldn't stop myself from memorizing the words as I read them... eighth seat ninth row middle section eighth seat ninth row middle section...

I was so absorbed that I didn't notice Taylor's eyes widen as she saw the words written on the ice-paper. Suddenly the message was snatched from my hands. Taylor had grabbed it, and she was reading it without a sound, her eyes widening more and more as she read each word.

"HEY!" I said, a little too loudly.

Everyone turned to look at me, and followed my gaze to Taylor, and then the ice paper. Surprise lit up everyone's eyes, and murmurs started. Mr. James merely glared at us, not moving from his spot near the board. "Is there a problem, ladies?"

We cannot leave a trail of information, for there are enemies all around us... please put this message somewhere warm immediately... Out of pure instinct, I grabbed the paper back from Taylor and sat on it. Everyone gasped.

I felt an icy sensation, and then a warm burn. A little steam escaped from underneath my butt. I shifted uncomfortably, and I heard a few stifled giggles. I took the burn and the steam to mean it, whatever it was, had worked, and I reached underneath myself.

Nothing was there.

Now Mr. James was walking over to us. "You know there is no passing notes allowed in class, Taylor and Cam. Cam, I expect better of you." His eyes snapped to Taylor, and he said nothing to her.

Using my subpar acting skills, I burst out, "Oh, no Mr. James. I would never pass notes to her-I mean, I would never pass notes. Someone left a piece of paper in my desk, and Taylor grabbed it, and I grabbed it back and then I -" I improvised, "- dropped it, and now I don't know where it is!" I prayed that nobody would tell Mr. James what they'd actually seen me do when I grabbed it back.

But Mr. James bought it. He looked around on the floor for a moment, then looked at me. "Alright, Cam. I believe you." I felt awful for a moment, and then told myself that if the spy organization was so secret nobody could even see the ice-paper itself, it would be a nightmare if someone actually read the words on the paper.

Then Mr. James turned his glare on Taylor. "Why did you take the paper from her, Taylor?"

Taylor tried to defend herself in her raspy voice. "Mr. James, I'd just gotten a paper just like that in my desk earlier -"

Mr. James interrupted her. "That doesn't make it okay. Two lunch detentions for you. Come to my room after school today and tomorrow," he commanded with a scowl.

Even though I didn't like Taylor at all, I couldn't help feeling the slightest twinge of sympathy. Teachers always assumed the worst about Taylor. Usually they were right, but this time, I wasn't so sure. Taylor said she'd gotten a paper like mine in her desk earlier. Did that mean that this prank, if that's what it was, got to her too?

But after seeing the ice-paper disappear, I wasn't so sure that this was a prank. That paper wasn't something just anyone could make.

It was something only a spy could make.

I decided right then that I might as well go to the seat listed on the paper between second and third period. What did I have to lose?

### Chapter Two

Second period passed by in a blur, yet it seemed to take forever. I fixed my eyes on the teacher, but I couldn't hear a word she was saying, because the words eighth seat ninth row middle section eighth seat ninth row middle section were working themselves into my brain too much to be ignored. I finally resigned myself to the fact that the clock was ten times slower than usual and actually tried to listen to the teacher.

Ms. Abercrombie, my second period social studies teacher, was talking about the White House. "... and many people don't realize that the White House has a secret passageway leading from the basement of the East Wing to the basement of the Treasury building. This was built by Franklin Delano Roosevelt as an air-raid shelter."

Huh, I thought. That's cool.

Finally, mercifully, the bell rang. I practically sprang out of my seat. I grabbed my stuff in a hurry, stuffed it into my bookbag, and ran towards Stella's second period. By ran, I mean speed-walked. I didn't need a detention on this unusual day.

I reached Stella's class just as she was exiting it. She saw me and gave me a big grin. Her bookbag was as huge as ever. "Hi, Cam! What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," I said breathlessly. "Listen, Stells. I got this note in my desk that said to come to the eighth seat in the ninth row of the middle section in the auditorium between second and third period. The note said I had been chosen to become an honorary member of a spy society thing." Stella tried to say something, but I kept going.

"I thought it was a prank, at first, but it the note told me to put the paper someplace warm immediately and the paper DISAPPEARED! This can't be a prank, this can only be a spy!"

Stella's eyes widened and she clutched my hands dramatially. "What are we waiting for?" she yelled. "Let's go recruit you into a secret spy organization!"

I loved Stella.

A few heads turned as she yelled, and I frantically added, "Yes, but shhh!" Good thing we were in eighth grade, not high school yet. High schoolers might have been a lot more surprised to hear those words in the hallway. In middle school, eh. Weirder phrases had been uttered.

We made our way discreetly to the auditorium. When we were at the door, which was propped open a bit, we slid inside with the ease of spy masters.

Well, rather, I did. Stella tried to slip in behind me, but her gigantic green bookbag got stuck. I rolled my eyes and tried not to laugh, yanking Stella in the rest of the way. "You've really got to tell me what's in that bookbag."

Stella raised her eyebrows and gave me a sassy smirk. "I already said, you'll see..."

We turned to face the auditorium. The sea of rows seemed like it went on forever. Eighth seat ninth row middle section eighth seat ninth row middle section...

"Come on!" I whispered to Stella. We raced to the front of the middle section, then together, we counted the rows. They weren't numbered, so we quietly counted together, "One... two... three... four..."

We soon made it to row nine. The seats were adorned with cheap-looking silver numbers and my eyes slid over each one, searching. We shuffled our way through the not-so-wide space between the seats and the next row. At seat eight, my heart started pounding. Stella and I looked at each other, and then both stepped at the same time into the space around seat nine.

Nothing happened.

"Dang it," I said, frustrated. "Maybe it was a prank."

"Did the note say we had to sit in the seat?" asked Stella, lowering herself towards it.

I shook my head. "No, it-"

Before I could finish my thought, Stella sat fully down in the seat and the floor immediately dropped out from underneath us.

My stomach seemed to have stayed on ground level. I screamed bloody murder as I fell, laughing at the same time. I could hear Stella beside me, screaming just as hard, and giggling in between gasps. The floor above us closed up again, and we plunged into darkness.

"This-is-crazy!" Stella screeched.

"I KNOW! AHHHHH!" I yelled back.

A moment later we were falling into light. I braced myself for impact, but the air continued to whoosh past our bodies. It took my brain a moment to process that lights were now on the walls of the vertical tunnel we were in, so I could actually see where we were falling. The walls of the cavern were smooth and metallic, not rough and brown like I'd imagined them.

"Cool," I breathed.

Suddenly, the ground was visible. There seemed to be a huge, fluffy pillow on the dark metallic ground. It was a clean white, but it had a soft blue and dark gray edges that almost seemed like some kind of plastic. I'd never seen anything like it before.

We sped up to the pillow with alarming speed, and then it caught us and stopped our momentum. I sank into the clutches of the softness, amazed that I'd not even been jarred by our landing. My bookbag wedged uncomfortably under me. I could hear muffled giggles that belonged to Stella somewhere else in the pillow.

It took all my willpower, but I managed to leave the grasp of the amazing pillow, and I rolled over. Not knowing the ground was right there, I rolled a little too far and fell out onto the metallic floor. My muscles tightened and pain shot through them.

"Ow... that's gonna leave a bruise tomorrow," I groaned, my laughter effectively quelled. "Stells, where are you?"

Stella appeared on the side of the pillow, bookbag in hand, and slipped daintily to the ground, landing on her feet and offering me a hand up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but holy crap, that hurt!" I admitted, taking her hand and pulling myself up. I felt like I'd just been through a wind tunnel while roller-skating. I struggled to stay steady on my feet. "Was that weird, or what?"

"The thirty-second fall, or the gigantic pillow?" Stella raised her eyebrows at me.

"Both," I answered, "but I have a feeling there's going to be much more weirdness yet to come."

We stared at a huge, round tunnel that seemed to be the only way out of the pillow area. It was lit periodically with the same soft yellow lights that had shown us the way on our drop down. Stella and I stared at it... and stared at it... and finally I spoke up. "We should probably go down there, huh?"

Without another word, we both silently took the first step into the tunnel, and then there was no going back.

After walking silently for about thirty seconds down the tunnel, Stella spoke up, saying, "What are those words written around us?"

I was so focused on looking straight ahead for some sort of civilization that I'd not noticed that there were words written in dark gray ink on the walls. I walked closer to a wall to get a better look. "Huh," I said out loud.

There were names on the wall, with messages below or above them. I read one out loud. "Agent June, you will be missed by all. You were a strong warrior and you fought for women to have more of a place in STPOW. Missing you, Zane." I looked at another one. "Agent Caleb: Your friends and family will never forget you. You died protecting your country and the STPOW. With Love, Reese and Channing."

"It's the hall of the dead," Stella whispered.

A chill ran through my body as I looked all around. The names and messages continued seemingly infinitely, all in the haunting dark gray ink. So many people died for this organization, the illusive STPOW. What were we getting ourselves into?

We kept walking after a moment, but now phrases jumped out at me from the walls. Gave your life for STPOW... I cry for you every day... You were so strong... so strong... The room spun dizzily, and I leaned against the wall.

"Whoa, Cam, you alright?" Stella gasped, running over to me.

"Yeah... I just... I'm just so scared," I confessed, my voice cracking on the last word. "I don't want to die for the Spies That Protect Our World. Should we... should we turn back?"

Stella took my hand and looked into my eyes. "Cam, you may be scared, but you are stronger than you know. We can't give up yet. Look, if what these STPOW people are saying seems crazy, we'll leave then and there. They can't force you to join something you don't want to join."

"Okay," I breathed, standing up straight, this time with a new perspective on the words around me. These people believed in what these spies were doing. That means it couldn't be all bad. And we could always back out.

I hoped.

After another minute of walking in silence, I saw something in the distance that wasn't more tunnel. "Stells - I think the tunnel ends, right down there!" I said joyously, beginning to run. Stella laughed and ran with me.

As we came closer I saw what we were running towards, a metal wall, with a single wooden door in the middle of it. I stopped running, gasping for breath. "Yes! Civilization!"

"It feels like we've been in this tunnel forever, even though it's only been a couple minutes," Stella observed, walking towards the door. I followed, my sneakered feet thudding softly on the ground.

Stella reached a hand out and turned the knob.

It was locked.

"Noooooo," I groaned.

But Stella was already rummaging around in her bookbag, pulling out a huge box, and thrusting it towards me. "Here, Cam. Happy-Black-Belt day."

I took the box, saying, "Aw, Stella, you're so sweet. And THAT'S what was making your bookbag so big. But is now really the best time -"

"Just open it!" Stella interrupted, trying to hide a smile from her face.

I gave her a suspicious glance but obeyed, ripping the box open. There was a smaller box inside of it. I looked at Stella. She grinned and shrugged. "Open that one, maybe?"

I opened that one and peered fearfully inside.

There was a smaller box in there.

"Stella, come on now!" I grimaced, already opening the next box.

I ripped open two more boxes before finally getting to a box that looked different from the rest. It was long and very small. I opened this one, and rifled through a little wrapping paper. I pulled out a pocket knife engraved with my initials: CGN, Cam Grace Noble.

"Oh, my gosh, this is the cutest little thing! Stella, thank you so much!" I hugged her, for a moment forgetting that we were trapped underground with a locked door our only hope. "Why all the boxes, though?"

"That's just the kind of friend I am, one who keeps you guessing," Stella responded with a grin. I had to admit, she was.

"But question: Why did you want me to open it now?" I asked, reluctantly pulling my brain back to the situation at hand.

"Check the last little pop-out tool," she advised.

I pulled it open, and a small, thin tool popped out. "It's a lock-picker!" Stella told me with delight.

I was already fitting the tool in the door. "That is the coolest thing."

After five more seconds of wiggling, I heard a pop. I looked at Stella, and we tried the door.

It opened.

"YES! Stells, where on earth did you get this? It works really well!" I exclaimed, taking the lock-picker out of the door and putting it into my pocket.

"eBay," she beamed. "I knew someone that engraved stuff herself, and I took it to her after I won the online auction. That is a magical website."

I shook my head, laughing. "Girl, you blow my mind."

We peeked into the door in front of us. There was a small room with a ladder in it. We looked at each other, walked into the small room, and started to climb up the ladder.

I was ahead of Stella, and when the ladder ended in a room, I looked in.

When I saw what, or rather who, was inside, I gasped.
Chapter Three

"Mr. James? And MS. ABERCROMBIE??" I blurted, stunned.

I heard Stella yell from below me, "No WAY!"

Mr. James gave me a huge smile, his flaming red hair easy to recognize. Ms. Abercrombie stared at me with her gray-green eyes, her stoic face not showing even the hint of a grin. She was one of my tougher and stricter teachers, and I could tell that even in these differing circumstances, that role had not changed.

I looked at who was sitting beside them. It was a tall man with sandy blonde hair. He flipped it out of his face when he smiled, and his eyes were a deep brown. "And... uh... who are you?"

Mr. James chuckled. "We will discuss everything once you are inside this room. Take a seat," he added, gesturing to the couch across from the one he, Ms. Abercrombie, and the other man were sitting on.

Still shocked, I climbed off the ladder and walked across the marbled brown floor, sinking into the baby-blue sofa with dark gray stripes. Stella joined me on it a moment later, staring at Mr. James. She had him fifth period. "What the heck are you doing here?" she asked bluntly, eyebrows raised, giving me a look like what have you gotten us into?

"I am an agent for STPOW," he answered with another smile, pronouncing STPOW like S-T-pow, "as are my cohorts here." He gestured to Ms. Abercrombie and the other man.

"Wait, so, this isn't a prank? This spy organization is real?" I marveled. Somehow, the whole time since we'd dropped from the auditorium floor, I was still finding it hard to believe that we'd actually find anything at the end of our journey, much less an entire organized group like this.

"Very real, at least, to us. Not many know of our organization. Allow me to introduce us. I am Agent Semaj, though you know me as Mr. James." He gave me a grin, his hazel eyes flashing with laughter. He then took Ms. Abercrombie's hand. "And this is Agent Rivers, whom you know as Ms. Abercrombie." His hand lingered on hers for a moment as he looked at her with a smile.

"Is it just me, or is there something going on between -" Stella leaned into me, whispering, but Mr. James interrupted her with a piercing glare that disappeared as soon as our attention returned to him. He gestured to the final man. "And this is Agent Wolf. His real name is Channing, but while you are around us and integrated with the STPOW, you'll need to call him and us by our agent names. It's actually a show of disrespect around here if you don't."

Before I could say anything, Stella spoke up. "Yeah, uh, Agent what-cha-called, Sen-waj? Was that it?"

"Semaj," Agent Semaj corrected. Agent Rivers gave a small giggle. I stared. I'd never heard a sound like that come out of Ms. Abercrombie's body.

"Yeah, Agent Semah. Uh, question. Are you going to be forcing my best friend to join some weird secret society she doesn't want to join, because if so, that's not cool," Stella asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"We will answer all your questions in a moment, Cam, assuming you have the same ones as your friend here. Whose name is what, by the way...?" Agent Semaj prompted.

"Stella," I responded slowly, scooting closer to her protectively

"Stella. So, kiddo, I'm sorry to say this, but since you're really not supposed to be here, and you're not supposed to know anything about us, we're going to have to ask you to leave now," Agent Semaj said apologetically.

"What?" Stella yelled, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.

"That's ridiculous!" I added loudly. "She already knows about the STPOW -" this time I said STPOW like Agent Semaj had, S-T-pow, "- so it wouldn't do any good for her to leave. She knows all about you, and she could... I don't know... tell someone. Plus, if she goes, then I'm leaving too," I added as a last resort, crossing my arms.

"Don't be ridiculous, Cam. We chose you, not your 'best friend' here," Agent Rivers snapped, her gray eyes hard.

"Hey, Rivers, take three deep breaths," Agent Wolf spoke up, his voice deep but not quiet, with an expression of total calm and coolness on his face. "Couldn't hurt to let the kid's friend listen in on the meeting, right?"

"The meeting?" I whispered.

Two minutes later, after debate and concession, squeezing through a hidden secret door into another room, and sitting down on the dark gray couch with ice-blue stripes on it, another door in the room we'd just entered slid open. My eyes met Stella's with anticipation.

The guy who walked through the door was in my fourth-period class. I thought his name was Jay, though I couldn't be sure. I only recognized him because he was the kind of guy that made girls blush furiously for no particular reason other than that he was impossibly handsome. His skin was perfectly tanned, his light brown hair casually windblown. His eyes were dark, dark blue, like the sea itself. He saw Stella and I sitting on the sofa. His eyes focused on mine and I blushed. He gave me a smile and came to sit on the sofa next to me. "Hey, Cam."

He remembered my name!

"Hey," I mumbled, awkwardly looking down.

Stella gave me a nudge. "Your boyfriend, Cam?" she teased.

Before I could think of a comeback, another door slid open, and Taylor walked out of it. We locked eyes, and the expression of horror I'm sure was on my face was mirrored on hers.

"What are YOU doing here?" we both yelled.

Stella rolled her eyes.

Agent Wolf, who was standing in front of the room with the other agents I'd met, chuckled in his calm way. "I take it you two know each other?"

"You could say that," Taylor fumed, sitting down on the other unoccupied sofa, as far away from me as she could get.

"Now, young agents, don't let silly feuds get in the way of your focus," Agent Semaj said gently. "It is time for you to learn what STPOW really is."

"In 1775, the colonists that had come to America from Britain started a revolutionary war against Britain. They wanted to be free," Agent Semaj started. "Back then, there was a colonist living in the America's named Christopher Davis. He didn't like fighting, but he wanted to help the colonists in any way he could. He got together with a group of friends, and they formed an organization they called the Freedom Associates. They helped with the Boston Tea Party, helped protests, but always did these things in secret. Soon, in 1783, Americans won the war, in part thanks to the secret work of the Freedom Associates."

"In 1787, our constitution was written," Agent Rivers continued. "The Freedom Associates helped, from behind the scenes, of course. But they were not satisfied. They wanted to make a peaceful nation where everyone could be free. So, over the next couple centuries, they helped with almost all the country's important events: aiding the North during the Civil War so slaves could be free, assisting with the new laws that ended segregation afterwards, fending off what could have been some of the worst terrorist attacks in history but weren't, due to the Freedom Associates. In 1951, the Freedom Associates decided to change their name, because they weren't just helping people to obtain freedom anymore, and they weren't just helping in America. They were helping all over the world, protecting the world. They thought then that the best name would be the one we still use today: Spies That Protect Our World, or STPOW."

"Sure, we've not always succeeded," added Agent Wolf, "But most of the time, big events in the world that would have killed countless people are stopped, due to the STPOW."

"But your organization didn't get any credit?" the cute boy Jay spoke up. "That's not fair! You should tell the world who you are!"

Agent Semaj shook his head sadly. "Even if they believed us, our element of secrecy would be ruined. Terrorists and villains would expect surprise attacks. So alas, we must hide in the shadows. But someday, the world will know our name."

"Right," Agent Rivers said with a nod. She snapped our head in our direction. "Questions?"

A perfectly tanned arm shot up beside me. "Yes, Jai?" Agent Rivers pointed to him.

So that was his name.

"This is really, really cool and all," Jai said, "and I'm really glad we got to hear about your super-secret organization, but why does it matter to us? Why did you test us, make me fall through a huge hole at top speed and almost miss the landing pad and then lock us out of the room you wanted us in just to tell us about you?"

"As for the locked door, we needed to test you to make sure you were worthy. As for the rest, we're getting to that," Agent Wolf answered, a soothing note in his voice that I didn't think was necessary.

Agent Semaj explained. "The thing is, we need your help." He took a breath and looked each one of us in the eyes. "One of the most hated and least-known villains in America —he is known under the alias Shardstorm, nobody knows his real name— has hatched a plan to kill the President of the United States using a bomb."

Agent Rivers jumped in. "He wants to, while everyone is in chaos trying to figure out who did it and grieving madly, launch a revolution and take power, ruling first America, and then... the world." Jai and I gasped simultaneously and then looked at each other. It was obvious we were both trying to hold back laughter.

"The reason we chose to let you children," Agent Rivers took over, lacing the word children with a note of disgust, "join our valued and sacred society, is because Shardstorm's plan involves children. Kidnapping them, to be exact."

"What?" Stella exploded. "No way am I letting Cam be kidnapped! I'll kick and scream and... uh... scream..."

"As much as I appreciate your foolish loyalty, if Cam agrees to join STPOW, at least temporarily, she will have to pretend to be kidnapped for the plan to work. But she will never be in any real danger, at least, during the kidnapping part. What comes after... well, let's just say it won't be as risk-free," Agent Rivers responded with an icy smile.

"Now don't scare them, Rivers," Agent Wolf raised his eyebrows. "Let's let them hear the plan first."

"In short, Shardstorm, along with an assistant, is planning to kidnap Mr. Jon's fourth period. You are all in his fourth period, correct?" Jai, Taylor, and I nodded, fear playing across all of our faces, even Taylor's.

"They will load you, all eighteen of you, into a bus. Then you will embark on your journey to Washington, D.C." We lived about three or four hours away from D.C. It made me wonder what the kidnappers would do to keep us quiet on the ride.

"Their excuse for entry into the White House is that they're teachers with kids on a field trip. Their bombs are specially made to be small, light, and use very, very little metal. They are, however, incredibly deadly," Agent Wolf added, an unusually serious note in his voice.

I shivered. I could see where this was going. "And you're telling us this because you want us to stop them, right?"

"Yes," Agent Semaj said simply.

"But-" Taylor started, but Agent Rivers cut her off. "No questions until you hear the plan."

"You will act like you have no idea what is happening when you see a substitute in your fourth period. We have not been able to obtain the information about how they plan to transport eighteen eighth-graders from the classroom to the bus, but we assume they plan to drug you all, possibly with liquid or gas. If gas is the case, we have clear air-filtering masks provided. If liquid is the case, pretend to drink it and mimic the actions of the students who have actually swallowed it-"

"Hold on," I interrupted, anger and fear racing through my veins. "No! No way am I just going to sit there and pretend to black out while my friends and classmates are actually being hurt!"

"No one will actually be hurt," Agent Rivers snapped. "They need your classmates alive for the next phase of their plan."

"But I admire your loyalty," Jai smiled at me, and blinked his stunning eyes...

Ugh, I needed to stop falling for a boy I didn't even know. I gave him a quick smile back and turned to listen to Agent Semaj. I saw Jai's face fall a bit.

"Yes, I know it will be tough, but if you agree, we know that you're strong enough to handle it," Agent Semaj told me decisively.

He continued talking. "You will arrive in Washington D.C. Shardstorm and his accomplice will gain admittance for a tour of the White House as a teacher with kids on a field trip. He believes that having kids there will make him seem that much more innocent, and our studies show that he is correct. While the tour is taking place, he or his accomplice will slip off, bypass security by unknown means, and plant the bomb wherever the President is at that time. He will return to the group and then they, meaning Shardstorm and the assistant, will get their butts out of there. The children? Well, if they can escape, they can escape. If they can't..." He let that linger in the air.

"This is sounding worse and worse," Taylor grumbled.

Stella put an arm protectively around me and whispered in my ear, "You're not going to do this, are you?"

"Maybe," I whispered. "I don't know."

"But you-" she whispered furiously before a comment by Agent Wolf interrupted her.

"You may be wondering why we chose you three," he said. "Well, to be completely honest, it's because you're the best of the best in your class. Cam." He swiveled his head towards me and I sat up a bit straighter. It was odd how he could be so calm and yet make me feel like he expected an incredible amount from me. "You were chosen because of your aptitude in Tae-Kwon-Do. Though you are not yet a black-belt, we have been watching you ever since we learned of Shardstorm's plan, and you show a lot of talent. Also, you have a natural problem-solving mindset, and you are generally good at bringing a group together. That's why, if you agree, you have been chosen to be the leader of this mission."

Before I could even think a single word, Taylor spoke up loudly. "Okay, that's not fair. I don't see why she gets to be leader just because she has almost earned a piece of fabric."

"It's much more her tendency to bring people together that has earned her the spot of leader, Taylor. She doesn't tear them apart like you so often do," Agent Rivers said coldly. Taylor looked down.

"Hey, Taylor's here, isn't she?" Agent Semaj said lightly, putting a hand on Agent Rivers shoulder. I swore I could almost hear his hand crack with frostbite as it came into contact with her icy anger. "Taylor has a talent as a swordfighter. Shardstorm will likely not expect a master in this art to be up against him."

"Taylor? A swordfighter?" Jai whispered into my ear, laughter in his voice. I stifled a giggle.

"And Jai," Agent Semaj continued.

Jai snapped to attention. I was looking forward to hearing what was special about him.

"You have a creative mind. Though you may not be a master sword wielder or a black belt in any martial art, creativity is important for this mission to be a success. Improvisation will be key, and the plan can change at any moment. You must be ready for these changes, and you can give ideas to Cam. But Taylor and Jai, if you choose to accept this mission, remember that Cam is always one tier higher than you. You are completely under her control.

Agent Semaj looked expectantly at Taylor, then Jai, then me, a sparkly fire in his gaze. "So. Decision time. Are you in? Do you want to save the world?"

Looking at the confidence and passion in Agent Semaj's eyes, I could tell he felt strongly about this cause, and he would do whatever it took to make this mission succeed. Already I pictured myself sneaking through air vents, talking on walkie-talkies, defusing the bomb with seconds to spare...

As if she could read my mind, Agent Rivers spoke up. "And remember, being a spy in real life is not anything like it is in the movies," she clarified. "People get hurt. People die. People come back from missions changed... for the better or worse. Remember that if you join the STPOW, there are zero guarantees."

For some reason, this hardened my resolve. My life had been pretty easy-peasy up until this point. Who was I to pass up this opportunity? And though I certainly didn't want to die for the STPOW, today or any day soon, if I said no, I was basically condemning my classmates to die. Or worse, to be stuck with Taylor as their only hope.

As I was about to open my mouth and say I was in, Stella pulled me to her and hissed to me, "You're seriously not doing this, right?"

"I have to," I whispered back. "If not, I'm just letting them die. I could not have that on my conscience. And... you know, I need some adventure in my life."

Stella shook her head sadly. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. "Well, you've confirmed what I've always thought: You are absolutely insane." And then she pulled me into a hug. "And the bravest person I've ever met," she murmured. I let myself relax into her.

I had the strange feeling that this would be the last time I could relax for a long time.

"So..." prompted Agent Rivers.

I straightened. "I'm in."

"Good," responded Agent Semaj, visibly relaxing. Agent Rivers gave a curt nod. Agent Wolf grinned.

"If you're in, I'm in," Jai concluded with a sweet smile at me.

Taylor groaned a little. "Ew... Agent Semaj, can you ban incessant flirting during our mission? I don't think I can stand to watch any more of this." She turned to Jai. "And if you think you're being subtle... uh, think again."

"Does that mean you're in?" Agent Semaj said with a knowing grin.

Taylor gave a grunt. Agent Wolf smiled, flipping his sandy blonde hair out of his face. "We'll take that as a yes."

"Okay, fine." Taylor grimaced. "I'm going to regret this."

Agent Semaj smiled. "Excellent. Now, it is time to inform you all of the plan. Listen carefully, because this just might save your life..."

### Chapter Four

I stumbled, startled, out of the janitor's closet twenty minutes later with a legitimate looking pass from the principal saying I was in the nurse's office for most of third period, sick, and about a million thoughts buzzing through my brain. Why did I say yes? Why did I get Stella involved more than she had to be? How is what just happened possible?

Agent Semaj had explained the plan, made Stella (and all of us) swear an oath of secrecy, given us passes, and sent the whole group back up a cool-looking blue-gray glass elevator that had landed in the janitor's closet, then disappeared from sight. Agent Rivers had said the STPOW was nothing like spy organizations in the movies, but so far, with secret elevators and disappearing notes, it seemed pretty darn similar.

Now, I blinked in the bright lights of the school. I looked at Stella on one side of me, and Jai on the other.

I gave Stella a huge hug. "You are the best friend I've ever had and ever will have and I adore you so much," I told her, getting choked up. "I'll come back to you as soon as I can."

"You're so brave and strong. You got this, girl," Stella answered, hugging me tightly. Then with one more squeeze and a wave, she walked off in the direction of her third period.

But she seemed to be walking a little more heavily than usual.

I turned to Jai to see Taylor walking off in the opposite direction without a word. I shrugged at him. "Hey, her loss."

Jai's beautiful deep eyes sparkled. "Her loss, for sure."

We waved goodbye reluctantly and walked towards our separate classes, knowing that we'd see each other again very soon.

A couple minutes later, I peeked my head in the door of my third period, science. The door was slightly ajar, and the teacher was saying, "...but don't forget, dead organisms that were once living are still categorized as biotic factors."

She noticed me. "Oh, hello Cam."

I handed her my late pass. She looked it over for a moment and I held my breath, then she gave me a nod. "Glad you're feeling better. Take a seat, please."

I sat down, letting my bookbag fall out onto the floor, and let out my breath in relief. I looked at the clock. Ten minutes left in the class. Great. Not much time to dwell on what madness I'd just agreed to be a part of.

I stared at the clock and willed it to quicken. Thirty seconds gone... a minute... a minute and ten seconds... a minute and a half...

Giving up on willing the clock faster, I went over the plan in my head, quietly looking into a small dark gray bag Agent Semaj had given me that I had stashed in one of my smallest bookbag pockets. Everything he'd said I would need was there. I rifled through the bag a bit to make sure, then pulled it closed and slipped it in my pants pocket. The girl sitting next to me gave me a strange look.

I vowed to be subtler from then on.

What if I die? I wondered for about the eighth time since I'd seen the tunnel with the names of the dead. My mind started playing elaborate scenarios of what could go wrong, each one ending with me dying and Taylor laughing.

The bell rang. I startled, jumping up out of my seat and grabbing my bookbag. I hadn't taken a single note. Oh well. After whatever happened today, I doubted science notes would matter.

Nervousness set in, hard and fast, as I walked to fourth period. I was so worried I would fail the mission and let STPOW down, or get horribly injured in the process... or worse, let one of my teammates get injured or killed. A knot formed in my stomach, and it was all I could do to keep myself from running to the school office and demanding to go home right then.

I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, over and over, letting my uncertain steps lead the way, until I was there, in fourth period. I had made it to class-- the easiest part. Shaking, I walked through the open door and froze at what I saw.

There was a squat, short, and rather fat old man with glasses, white hair and a mustache at the board. He was currently writing his name on the board: Mr. Pitts.

Stunned that this was our kidnapper, I wondered for a split-second if the STPOW was wrong. But no, there was Agent Wolf, up next to him in the corner. I looked at him and he gave me a wink so quick I might have imagined it.

Agent River's words came back to me, "Agent Wolf is one of our most valuable double agents, because he is trusted by Shardstorm as his closest assistant. He will be assisting from the inside out just like you are."

I gave Agent Wolf a lightning-fast wink back.

The last few students filed in, and the late bell rang. I stealthily reached into my bag and pulled out a clear mask that filtered the air I breathed, and put it on. I peeked across the room at Jai. If I didn't know anything about the STPOW, I would have had no idea that he was doing anything other than scratching his face. But he was stealthily putting on the mask too. I looked in front of me. Taylor was just sitting there. I couldn't tell if she was wearing a mask or not.

My attention snapped back to the board as the man started talking. "I am Mr. Pitts. I will be your substitute today. I have orders to take a list of names of students who have misbehaved back to Mr. Jon, and I have no objection to doing so. Also, welcome your new teacher assistant, Mr. Sand." He gestured to Agent Wolf. A few 'hello's' were muttered. "Please begin working in your English book, pages forty-five to forty-six."

When was it going to happen? The knot in my stomach intensified. I looked around the room quickly and caught Mr. Pitt's eye. He smiled icily at me, a look that did not suit an old man such as himself. I quickly looked down over my book, breathing fast and willing my beating heart to slow down and be quiet.

I kept one eye on Mr. Pitts, though.

As quick as a whip, Mr. Pitts looked around the classroom at the children focusing on their work. He took out a small can and unscrewed the top just a little. Then he waited.

The first to fall was a kid up font, a major nerd and teacher's pet. He looked surprised for a moment, then he slipped down in his chair and hit the floor.

"What's happ-" The girl next to him said, before she too slipped to the floor.

And then all heck broke loose.

Kids started screaming, and then immediately fell unconscious, starting with the front, and spreading to the middle and back. I saw Jai fall from up front and I resisted the urge to scream, knowing it was false.

When Taylor slipped from her chair in front of me, I knew it was time. Only a few kids were left seated or standing, and they were rapidly decreasing.

I swayed a bit for effect, then, resisting all urges to catch myself, fell to the side out of my chair, letting my body go completely limp and closing my eyes as I fell. My head hit the floor with a bang, and I bit my tongue, trying not to scream as stars exploded in my head. I heard footsteps around the room, one more thump, and then all was silent.

I took a deep breath, and shakily released it.

I dared to open one eye.

To my shock and horror, Mr. Pitts (or should I say Shardstorm) was right above me.

When he saw my eye open, he gave a malicious grin. My stomach lurched. "We've got a little liar on our hands, Channing," he called, reaching for my face and yanking off my clear mask. "But I caught her."

Instantly my vision darkened, and I sucked air into my lungs, forgetting that it was laced with the gas. Black dots swum in my eyes as they slipped closed.

In my last moments of clarity, I heard Agent Wolf say from across the room, so softly that I might have imagined it, but with unnatural evil lacing his voice, "Good."

Everything went black.

———————————————————————————————————————————My throbbing head woke me. It seemed to thrum to the same rhythm as my heart. Throb-throb, throb-throb, throb-throb...

I groaned and shifted. Why did I have such a bad headache this morning? I tried to call out to get my mom. I couldn't possibly go to school today. But I couldn't form a word. My throat was too dry.

"Cam," a soft voice whispered.

I recognized that voice. Where did I recognize it from?

"Cam," it repeated, more insistently.

"Go away," I said, but it came out cracked and dry. Why was my bed so uncomfortable? And it was moving, like I was on a ship or something. Up, down. Up, down.

"Cam, you have to wake up," the voice said again. It was a nice voice, a soothing voice. It sounded like...

Jai.

I opened my eyes and sat bolt upright. My head protested. Everything came back to me in a rush. "Jai! Where are you?"

I took in my surroundings. A dark bus. There were seats all around me, kids filling about half of the seats. No lights. The bus swayed gently.

"Behind you," he said quietly. I turned around immediately. Jai's eyes were puffy, and his face was laced with shadows.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, getting out of his seat and coming to sit in the empty one next to mine.

"Yeah, I guess. Killer headache, though," I admitted, sighing. "Ugh... why did I open my eyes when I wasn't sure that they were gone yet? I was so stupid! Did they discover you and Taylor?"

He shook his head. "No. From what I pieced together, when the last kid blacked out, they carried us all through a secret door in the classroom."

"So that's why they chose Mr. Jon's class to kidnap, because the classroom had a secret door. I was wondering about that," I blurted.

Jai smiled a little. "Then, they brought us all to a bus and loaded us-- roughly, might I add-- into the seats, putting no two kids next to each other. Taylor's near the back," he added.

I looked down the bus aisle. Jai and I were towards the front, and I picked out Taylor's ice-blue eyes shining at me through the darkness. I couldn't tell what her facial expression was through the sea of black.

Looking around, I saw other eyes opening and appearing in the dark. A pair of blue eyes, a pair of green, a pair of hazel, two pairs of brown...

"Should we say something about the mission our classmates so they can cover for us?" I asked. It would be a lot less confusing for them and they might be less worried. I knew that if I was drugged, kidnapped, and loaded on a dark bus without knowing anything about it, I'd be absolutely terrified. I assumed that most of these kids would feel the same.

"No," Jai said vehemently. "If they know, and we're caught and interrogated, they could use them against us. We don't need the extra variables."

"You're right," I sighed. "I just feel bad, keeping them in the dark..."

"Literally and figuratively," Jai added, gesturing to the dimly lit bus around us.

I didn't know why that was so funny, but I had a hard time covering my giggles. Jai lifted his eyebrows at me, and I giggled harder.

When I stopped, Jai was looking at me more seriously. "I'm glad you're okay. I was really worried about you when they caught you. I knew that they needed you alive, but when we got on the bus and you wouldn't wake up..."

"How long was I out?" I asked quietly.

"At least an hour," he said softly, scooting a little closer to me. "I was scared."

"I'm scared now," I admitted, suddenly feeling like I was going to cry. "I... I don't think I can be the leader the STPOW wants me to be. I'm so scared that you... or Taylor... are going to be hurt, and I'm going to be responsible. And," I paused, and a tear ran down my face, "I don't want to die."

Jai reached up and gently wiped the tear away. "Hey," he said softly, "I feel the same way. We just have to stay strong. And you know what? We have each other. That's what counts."

He reached for my hand and took it. Tingles ran through my hand, my arm, my entire body.

I held it tight and stared into his deep blue eyes. Jai looked at me and then leaned closer...

"Okay, lovebirds, break it up," I heard a familiar voice say. Jai jumped, letting go of my hand. "We've got to figure out our plan."

I looked, surprised, at the sound of the voice, and my jaw dropped when I confirmed who it was.

"Stella?"

Stella stepped out from under a chair. "The one and only."

"What are you doing here?" Jai asked, obviously startled.

"Just here to remind you of your mission," she said sweetly.

"But seriously, Stells, it was dangerous for you to come here," I said. "How did you do it?"

"I didn't go to my fourth period. I snuck outside of Mr. Jon's class and watched as you were all knocked out. I almost vomited. That was a horrible sight," Stella admitted.

"Then, I recognized the parking lot they parked in when I saw it through the secret door they were carrying you all out through, so I ran around the school to it and slipped on the bus. One thing we can use against these bullies: They have no idea that anyone is onto them. They were completely clueless that I was getting on the bus," Stella finished.

"You're insane," I shook my head in disbelief. "But so, so brave. Oh, Stella, I'm just so nervous for you. The hours ahead are not going to be easy."

"I'll be helpful, I swear," she pouted. "And I won't be insane like I was before!"

I sighed, trying to stifle my smile. "Fine, Stella. One extra person is something that we can work with. But should I tell the Agents? They are going to be angry, and they might not let us finish the mission..."

"Don't tell them," advised Jai. "You never know when there will be a traitor among them... among us. And even if there's not, Stella's element of surprise will give us a distinct advantage when things get rough. It'll be easier if the Agents aren't walkie-talkieing us—that should be a word— like crazy, trying to get her out of harm's way. We definitely need her."

I reached over Jai and hugged Stella tight, closing my eyes and burying my face in her shoulder, letting my cover of complete calm and confidence down for a moment.

Stella released me with one more squeeze and gestured at Jai. "Hey you... I can't remember your name so I'm just going to call you Cam's boyfriend, can you move out for a sec? I need to talk to Cam alone."

"He's not my boyfriend!" I burst out. Then I blushed, looking at Jai's hurt expression. "Or are you?"

"If you want me to be, I will be," Jai told me, also blushing a little.

"This is what I wanted to talk to you about," Stella said through clenched teeth.

"Okay. Girls," Jai responded, looking mystified and moving a few seats back next to another boy who he then struck up a conversation with like nothing was wrong.

"You are taking things way too fast! It is a very bad time to have a boyfriend. No drama is necessary on this mission!" Stella whispered frantically. "If I were you, I would call him back right now and say hey, you're nice and... hot... and all, but can we just be friends?"

"But..." I started. "What's the harm in just being a little more than friends? You didn't have to interrupt us like that. We were just holding hands. Nothing more."

"Oh yeah?" Stella hissed. "The reason I jumped in when I did is because he was about to kiss you, Cam. You don't need that right now. At all."

I was stunned. I had no idea. "He really was?"

"He really was."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say. I liked Jai, but not that much. We were only fourteen! I didn't want my first kiss to be with a boy I'd just met that day on a dark, smelly bus after being kidnapped. Ugh. This was so complicated.

"Oh, is right. You don't want to date the kind of guy that's going to try that before you're even officially together."

"Okay," I said, resigned. "Jai? You can come back now."

Jai immediately slipped in next to me again. "So, what were you crazy gals talking about?"

"Uh," I stuttered. "Is it okay if we're just friends for now?"

A shadow of anger crossed Jai's face and disappeared so fast I might have imagined it. A small smile replaced it.

"Of course. If that's what you want. I wouldn't want to ruin our friendship." He blinked his long lashes over his dark blue eyes. I resisted the urge to faint on-spot.

Stella coughed. I might have heard the words, "stilltryingtoflirt," in the cough. Or I could have been imagining it. Either way, I gave her a glare.

"There's no time for icky eighth grader drama right now," smirked Taylor, sliding into the seat opposite me. There was a shy girl in the seat that I didn't think had ever spoken up in class. She looked terrified when Taylor sat down next to her. Then the shy girl looked at me with pleading dark brown eyes, her chocolate-colored skin shining in the light and her black hair falling in waves, shielding most of her face.

I looked back at the shy girl. "Hey... are you okay?"

"Of course, I'm okay, you-" said Taylor with a snarky tone, then realized that I was talking to the girl behind her. She turned and looked at the shy girl. "Oh." The shy girl shrunk away from Taylor.

Taylor sighed exaggeratedly. "Look, Emmi, I know that I pushed you into the wall that one time. You just didn't have the answers to the homework that I needed. Now we're kind of all in this together, trying to figure out what the heck is going on, so can you stop being scared of me? It might make my job a lot harder."

Emmi just whimpered a bit, retreating further into her dark hair.

I felt horrible for her. It was the worst, being on the receiving end of Taylor's wrath. I mustered up all the comfort I could achieve and plastered it on my face. "Hello, Emmi. Do you want to sit with me for a while?"

Emmi shook her head no. "I want to sit alone," she whispered. "What's happening?"

"I think..." I started, trying to figure out how much to reveal. "I think we're being kidnapped."

Before Emmi could respond, the bus intercom crackled. "Good afternoon," a malicious, evil, and definitely Agent-Wolf-sounding voice snarled. "In case you were wondering, you are being kidnapped."

"Well, there's that answer," Stella leaned over Jai and whispered to me.

"Do not panic. As long as you are good little children and follow our instructions, there will be no need for you to die today," Agent Wolf continued. I shivered to hear Agent Wolf sounding so... different. In a very bad way.

And the words he was saying weren't much better. I hadn't heard anything about what instructions they were giving us, and I could only hope that they'd be easy to ignore.

"Why are they kidnapping us?" Emmi whimpered.

"We are kidnapping you because we need you for a plan. Do not worry. All you have to do is act happy and excited and definitely NOT like we just drugged and kidnapped you." I could hear Agent Wolf's smirk even through the intercom. "You will act like we are your teachers, and you are on a fun field trip to the White House. For those that disobey, there will be consequences. Channing out," he finished.

"I'm scared," Emmi told me quietly.

"Me too," I said truthfully. "I don't know what's going to happen next."

"It seems like you know more than I do, at least," Emmi concluded softly.

I exchanged a glance with Jai, Taylor, and Stella. How much could Emmi safely know?

I decided to reveal a little. "Look, Emmi, you're right. We know a little bit more about what the kidnappers are planning. But we can't tell you. But can I ask you this: when we sneak away, can you attempt to cover for us?" Taylor gave me a death glare. Jai gave me a shocked look, and Stella just gave me a grin.

Emmi hesitated, looking like she wanted to say more, but then decided on just a nod. "Okay."

"Thanks," I gushed, relieved.

Taylor opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.

The rest of the bus trip, Taylor, Jai, Stella and I went over the plan (quietly, of course.) What seemed like only a few minutes later but must have been a couple hours, the bus screeched to a halt. The intercom crackled again, this time, an unfamiliar voice spoke. "Attention, students. This is Mr. Pitts speaking," the voice said mockingly. Now that I thought about it, I detected a trace of Mr. Pitts' voice in the one on the intercom.

"Please rise and walk, single file, off of the bus. Please wake any unconscious students around you if you see them. Thank you, and have a nice day." I heard laughter in the background.

"Sicko," Jai muttered. As far as I could see, all the students were awake and terrified, some rising uncertainly from their seats.

I got up as well, climbing over Jai in the narrow space between the seats and into the aisle. Jai followed, and Taylor and Stella filed out behind her. Emmi was still in her seat. I motioned to her. "Come on!" She got up with a sigh and walked out behind us.

The bright sunlight made me blink as I walked down the stairs and onto the pavement. I looked around, seeing familiar sights all around me that I'd only read about and seen pictures of. The White House was a little walk off, I shuddered to think of what was in store for the inhabitants. Behind its lush greenery and beauty was the Washington Monument. I would have loved to visit this beautiful city under differing circumstances.

A tall, strong, muscular man with a long scar on his face walked out from under the bus. It was the type of bus where the driver drove from underneath. Agent Wolf followed right behind the muscular man. I squinted at them both in the bright light. The muscular man gave me an evil smile. "Ah. I see our little trickster is awake. Tell me, trickster, where did you get the clear mask you were wearing earlier from?"

### Chapter Five

My heart lurched. I plastered a nervous expression on my face and widened my eyes. My next words were a gamble. "I found it in your bag! I didn't know what it was, so I put it on!"

Agent Wolf growled at me. I knew he was acting, but it still felt like a personal betrayal. "You stole from us?" He searched through his bag. My heart was in my throat.

Then he glared at me. "You DID steal from us! I wondered where our extra mask went." I let out a quiet breath of relief. Agent Wolf was playing along, so the muscular man didn't suspect there were other forces at work.

"Don't take our stuff again," the muscular man snarled. I forced my face to contort in fear. "I-I'm sorry! I thought the old man was just a harmless substitute teacher!" I chose my next words carefully. I assumed that the old-man thing was a disguise, but I wanted to make sure the muscular man didn't have another assistant. "Where is he now, anyway?"

"Idiot," he smirked. "It was a disguise! I am Mr. Pitts!" I heard gasps from behind me and turned. All of the class was behind me, watching the controlled argument.

So, I was correct that Mr. Pitts was just a disguise. I was staring at the notorious villain Shardstorm.

I meekly returned to the crowd. Shardstorm gave me an icy smile. "I will be watching you, Cam."

How did he know my name? I didn't even have to fake the shudder that followed.

Taylor slid over to me. "Great job, Cam. Now he remembers you," she sighed sarcastically, her black hair swishing in disapproval.

"You think?" I hissed. Shardstorm's eyes locked directly onto mine as I spoke. "Ugh, this is awful. Do we need to change the plan?"

"If you're sneaky enough, no," Jai put in, coming up to us with Stella right behind her. "He acts all tough, but I doubt he actually suspects anything."

"Should we check in with the Agents through walkie-talkie?" I asked quietly, reaching in my pocket for my black sack. I felt nothing, so I reached deeper.

Nothing.

"Oh, crud, you guys. Shardstorm must have searched me when I was unconscious, and found the bag of STPOW equipment," I whispered furiously. "What gave him the right?!?"

"Calm down, Cam," Stella told me soothingly, putting an arm around me. "That was a really crappy thing to do, but now we have to roll with the punches and take the next step."

"You're right." I took a deep breath and put my game face on. I was the leader. I needed to start acting like it.

"Follow me," Shardstorm growled, and started walking. The line of students stumbled behind him. Agent Wolf picked up the rear of the line. His eyes widened when he saw Stella. He mouthed to me the words, "We'll talk in a sec."

"So, here's the situation. We've got a supervillain on our hands that is cunning, strong, and is willing to play dirty. But all hope is not lost. It's possible that Agent Wolf was the one to search me, because after they found out that I wasn't really unconscious one of them DEFINITELY would have. But if Agent Wolf was the one to search me, hopefully he hid the bag of equipment from Shardstorm so he would be unaware I was a spy." I took a deep breath. "Here are our advantages: Shardstorm does not know Agent Wolf is against him. He does not know that Taylor, Jai, or Stella are working against him. He doesn't know that Jai and Taylor still have spy gear, some of which we can use to communicate with the Agents back at their base, and he doesn't know we know the code to defuse the bomb. That's a pretty good start."

Everyone nodded. "Awesome pep talk, Cam," Jai gushed. I gave him a smile, which he immediately returned. Stella groaned. "Cam, I thought..."

She kept talking, but I wasn't listening as I looked through my other pocket. To my shock, my pocketknife from Stella was still there. Shardstorm and Agent Wolf must have stopped looking through my stuff once they found what they wanted to find. I looked around. Shardstorm was looking towards the back where we were, calling something back to Agent Wolf. I decided not to say anything about my knife. Enemies were too near to know of the advantage.

"-so, you really need to... are you even listening to me?" Stella fumed at me.

I looked up at her, casually closing my pocket. I felt the dull edge of the wood digging into my skin. I bit my lip and ignored it. "Oh, sorry, Stells."

"Sorry is right! You -"

Before she could finish, Agent Wolf fell into step beside us. "Oh, am I interrupting something?" he asked in his smooth way.

"Nope. Go right ahead," Jai cut in, giving Stella a glance that said ha-ha-I-win-I-still-get-to-flirt.

"I have managed to keep your involvement in STPOW, Cam, a secret from Shardstorm for now," Agent Wolf continued. I let out a sigh of relief.

"But Cam, you have to be more careful. There is no room for error on this mission," he chastised. "Stella is an unknown variable. We need to keep her a secret from Shardstorm."

"I'm sorry. I will be more careful," I said truthfully.

"And Cam, do you mind if I talk to you alone for a sec?" Jai asked me. "I have a... theory... that I want to ask you about." He glanced at Agent Wolf and a look flashed between them for a moment.

"Okay," I said uncertainly.

Jai took me over to the side of the group. Taylor and Stella watched us, while Agent Wolf resumed his post at the back.

"I think we're alone now," Jai told me when we were farther away. I shrugged, my nervousness building.

"Here goes," Jai sighed, then blurted, "Do you think Taylor is working for Shardstorm?"

"What??" I responded loudly, stunned. I glanced over at Taylor. She was still looking at me. "Okay, Taylor isn't the nicest... actually, she's downright mean, but that doesn't mean she's evil!"

"What help have we gotten from her so far?" Jai asked softly but angrily. "She didn't comfort Emmi on the bus or answer her dangerous questions. She stood there smirking when you were yelled at by Shardstorm, and I haven't once seen her sword! I haven't heard her help with the plan, and she seemed very annoyed to see Stella. That's suspicious!"

I kept walking, letting Jai's words sink in. "Hmm. I guess you're..." I cut myself off before saying the word right. I needed to stop agreeing with people so easily and stick up for my own opinions.

But what was my own opinion on this situation? I didn't like Taylor by any means, but it was a big jump from bully to double-crosser. To buy myself a little time, I looked around at my surroundings. The White House was looming closer. A visitor's entrance was clearly marked, and Shardstorm headed for it.

"I'm what?" Jai prompted me. I jumped a little.

"I don't know," I confessed.

Jai gave me a nod and a shrug. "Okay, take some time to think on it. But just be careful, Cam."

I had a bad feeling that Jai was right and a traitor was much closer than I realized.

As we walked up the path to the visitor's entrance, Shardstorm's entire manner changed. He called out in a cheerful voice, "Okay, kids! Time to get admitted! Make sure you don't have anything metal on you to go through the metal detector!"

Stella and Taylor caught up with us. Neither one asked about the conversation I'd just had with Jai, but I knew I'd be drilled later by Stella.

"Dang it, they're going to find our STPOW devices," Jai told us all quietly, peeking in his pocket. "Ideas?"

"Yes! Do any of you guys have a phone?" I looked at Stella, Jai, and Taylor. Stella nodded, and so did Jai.

"Great. When you put the phones in that little bin thingy that you put all your metal in, slide the walkie-talkies into the case. That's the only metal equipment STPOW issued us, right?" I confirmed.

Jai nodded. "My phone doesn't have a case, though," he said, sliding a sleek iPhone out of his back pocket. Then he stared at it. "They didn't take our phones?? Isn't that the number one kidnapping rule or something?"

"Try turning it on," Taylor smirked.

Jai pressed the power button. Nothing happen. He pressed it longer. Nothing happened. Jai slammed his fist against his palm. "They broke my iPhone!"

"I bet the gas they used to knock us out also did something to the electronics. No matter," I continued, "the guards won't know it doesn't work. Stella, yours doesn't work either, right?

Stella slipped a phone out of her pocket. It wasn't an iPhone, but it was still very nice. It had a hot-pink glitter case that shimmered in the sunlight. She pressed the on button, and the screen stayed dark and lifeless.

I sighed. "Oh well."

Stella held out her hand for Jai's and Taylor's walkie-talkie chips. The line started moving before Jai could make the handoff. Emmi, who was in front of us, looked suspiciously at the chip. Jai removed his hand from near Stella's and popped the walkie-talkie in his mouth. Taylor, Stella and I gasped.

Jai swallowed, then grinned and shrugged at Emmi. "Snacks," he smirked. Emmi shrugged and turned away.

"How could you - oh," Taylor was abruptly cut off as Jai removed the walkie-talkie from his mouth with a grin.

"I thought I saw you swallow," she said, surprised.

I stifled a snort. "Oldest trick in the book, Taylor. He put the walkie-talkie on the side of his mouth and swallowed air. And spit, of course. It looks real, doesn't it?"

Taylor scowled. Jai winked at me. The line moved again. We shuffled forward.

"Should we call Agent Semaj and Rivers to check in?" I asked.

Taylor nodded, as did Stella. Jai took the chip from his hand and pressed the only button, but nothing happened. "Hmm. Nothing's happening."

"You spit on it, crazy!" I laughed, shoving Jai playfully. "Of course it's not going to work."

Jai looked disappointed. "Aw, man. I felt better about this mission when I knew the Agents could track me wherever I went." The walkie-talkies doubled as tracking devices. The hint of a smile played across Jai's face.

"Let me try mine," Taylor interrupted, grabbing Stella's phone and pulling out her walkie-talkie, only distinguishable from the others by a single engraved "T" on the front.

"Hey!" Stella protested, grabbing her useless phone back.

Taylor pressed the button. Static, and then...

"Agent Semaj here. Thanks for calling, Taylor. How's the mission going?"

"I'm better at charm. Let me talk," Jai smirked, then grabbed the walkie-talkie and held it up to his ear discreetly, pretending to scratch his head. "This is Jai speaking, with Cam and Taylor in range. Check-in: All has gone as planned except one complication."

"Good to hear. Please describe complication."

"Cam's clear mask was discovered. She was searched while unconscious. She has lost her bag of equipment." I winced. Even though Jai was technically not saying I did anything wrong, I knew the blame was all mine.

Silence for a moment.

Static crackled and Agent Semaj's voice finally returned. "That is most unfortunate," came the answer. "Is she well now?"

Jai looked at me. I gave a thumbs-up. I could barely feel my headache anymore.

"Yes," Jai answered. "Agent Wolf says, though, that he's managed to keep her involvement in STPOW a secret from Shardstorm."

"I'll make sure to congratulate him on his good work," Agent Semaj responded. You could hear his smile through the connection.

"Agent Semaj, almost time to go!" a light voice said through the walkie-talkie. It was Agent Rivers' flirty voice.

"Go where?" Taylor cut in.

The connection suddenly died with static crackling and popping a little too loud. We got some curious glances from around us. Jai grabbed the chip from Taylor and popped it in his mouth.

"You have got to be kidding me," Taylor shrieked. Stella groaned loudly.

I sighed, exasperated myself. "Look, Jai, discovery from the students is far less important than communication from the Agents. And if there's trouble, now they can't track us!"

Jai quickly apologized, removing the walkie-talkie. "I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

But the Agents had described Jai as a master strategist. How didn't he realize this simple fact? Something felt off, but I pushed the feeling away and looked at Jai. "Forgiven. Everybody, let's try to be less impulsive." Jai looked hurt. I felt bad for scolding him, but I was the mission leader.

The line moved forward again. Stella grabbed the useless chips and put them back in her phone case.

We were now at the front. At least seven official-looking guards were checking us in.

With a start, I realized that my pocketknife was still in my pocket. The metal detectors, even if they missed the walkie-talkies, would pick up the pocket-knife's metal for sure. I cursed my bad luck.

But for some reason, I felt Agent Wolf's eyes on me. I had no idea why I suddenly felt it so important that Agent Wolf not see my knife, but I'd learned not to ignore my gut instincts. I quickly whispered to Stella, "Meet me inside." Then I bounced towards a nice-looking guard. His hair was dark brown, and his eyes were a piercing green. "Can I help you?" he asked kindly.

"Yes! Thank you! I really, really, really need to use the bathroom!" I wiggled a bit and jumped up and down for good measure.

He looked me up and down, my rumpled hair, short stature, and innocent looks. "I'll show you." Whispering something to a nearby guard, he led me through a close-by door, using a key to unlock it, revealing a beautiful, long, room labeled, "Visitor's Center." Then he pointed to an obviously marked bathroom. "Find your group outside when you're done," he added.

I fled towards the bathroom, calling out a "Thanks!" as I went, then entered the bathroom and closed a stall door.

Letting out a breath of relief, I opted not to sit on the toilet. Instead, I stood there for what my watch said was three minutes, and then re-opened the stall door. I washed my hands in the sparkling silver sink for good measure, then headed to the entrance.

Stella, Jai, and Taylor had been approved. I joined them on the opposite side of the metal detector. I congratulated myself on a job well done. For the first time on this mission, I felt like a real spy.

Of course, I couldn't show my feelings too much. Enemies were all around. So, when Jai asked, "What was that all about?", I tried my best to look embarrassed.

"Bathroom."

I looked around. I could take in the long room more now. It was a very long room, with gold lining the walls and ceiling. There were interactive exhibits everywhere, with touchscreens and expensive-looking equipment.

Shardstorm called us to him. "This is a self-guided tour, so feel free to look around the Visitor Center, kids! We have about an hour here, then we're moving onto other Washington, D.C destinations!" he said in a terrifyingly chipper voice for a supervillain.

We all nodded numbly, learning slowly to go along with what he asked of us.

Some kids actually spread out and looked around the Center. Others stood together, talking quietly.

Agent Wolf stood in the corner. He blinked twice at Shardstorm, who blinked twice back. If I wasn't looking for the signal, I would have completely missed it. Shardstorm slipped away discreetly.

I elbowed Taylor, who was also looking at Shardstorm. "That's your signal!"

Taylor snapped to attention. She ran up to a guard, saying something like, "I really need my teacher. Can I see where he's going?" The guard nodded. From what I could lip-read, he said back, "Something something probably something bathroom."

Taylor slipped away as well. My heart started pounding. Now, with no walkie-talkie, we decided to use our spy watches the STPOW provided to us to communicate, but the downside was, the watches couldn't be tracked by the Agents if we got in trouble.

After a tense minute of pretending to look around with Jai and Stella, my watched buzzed. I looked around, then idly glanced at it. "I'm in the air vents. Entrance is exactly where STPOW estimated."

I peeked at an interactive exhibit, putting an arm around Jai to cover noise and whispering, "She's in."

Jai nodded, and I put my arm down. I saw him whispering similar words to Stella.

The next moment, Stella vanished. I covered my mouth with my hand to stop from gasping aloud, and then realized that Stella must have used the temporary cloaking device that STPOW had given us. I remember her saying she was going to borrow it from Taylor. I felt a whoosh of air as Stella's invisible form brushed past me and heard her soft words: "You next."

Me next. Oh, man. I was super nervous. I started shaking quietly, then stopped abruptly. Pull yourself together, Cam! You're the leader of this mission. They all look up to you. You got this.

With an abrupt nod, I walked quickly towards the guard. "I need to use the bathroom," I told him quietly. He pointed towards the one near the entrance.

I quickly fudged a story, morphing my face into one of embarrassment. "You see, if there's another bathroom that nobody would be in, that would be... ideal. You see, I'm having lady problems, and I think it might be best if I could go to a less crowded area..." I let my voice trail off.

The guard's carefully shielded emotions showed for a moment, his face turning bright red, then he immediately regained his composure. "Of course," he responded smoothly. He pointed (thankfully) the way that Shardstorm, Taylor, and Stella had gone and giving me directions that I paid zero attention to. The only directions I needed to know right now were stuck in my head from repeating them multiple times after mission briefing at the STPOW headquarters.

I thanked the guard and rushed through the doorway, my short hair bobbing behind me. Then I closed the door and let out a sigh of relief. My watch buzzed. It seemed much louder in the echoing hall I had walked into, and I didn't want to risk discovery. I quickly covered it with my hand until the buzzing stopped, and peeked at the message. "Where r u?" It was from Taylor. Then a new message came in. "Footsteps came by, so we had to retreat further into the vent. From Stella," it was signed.

I gave a small huff of frustration. This made things rather harder. They were supposed to pull me up into the vent with compact plastic wire, but now that they were further in I would need them to toss down a grappling hook. I frantically typed back, "I need ur grappling hook!"

Send.

I waited, walking idly towards the spot they told me to meet at. The air vent was directly ahead, thin but tall. I would definitely have to crawl through it, though, there'd be no way I could stand. I sighed, then looked at my watch. No messages.

With no warning, a grappling hook shot out from the air vent above me and bonked me on the head. "Ow!" I shouted, then covered my mouth quickly and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. I saw nothing and didn't hear movement, so I said, more quietly, "A little warning never hurt anybody!"

Taylor's scratchy voice floated down. "Neither did that."

"Ugh!" I growled, then attached the thin plastic wires that STPOW had put onto our clothes to the grappling hook. "Ascend," I commanded quietly. The grappling hook lifted me high into the air.

At the worst time possible, I heard footsteps approaching. "Faster!" I whisper-screamed. I was lifted marginally faster.

The footsteps grew nearer, and nearer...

And then a scream resounded from the Visitor's Center. For a moment, I thought the scream was from somebody in the room with us, it was so loud, then I was able to place the source.

I heard a guard shout, "All guards, come quickly! A young girl has fainted. She seems to be African-American, and her classmates are telling me she is prone to nervous attacks."

Before I could process anything I'd just heard, a guard sprinted into the room I was lifted from and into the visitor's center, his field of vision never even coming near me, even though I was still dangling precariously in midair. With a whoosh and a puff, I was pulled into the air vent.

Relieved, I looked in the dimly lit cool metal tunnel at the faces of Taylor and Stella. Stella hugged me and we laughed. "I do not think that's the proper way to use a grappling hook," Taylor grumbled from behind us, but I could hear the hint of a smile in her voice too.

Then we got serious. "Guys, the person they were describing sounds like Emmi. Do you think... she pretended to faint to help me?" I asked, knowing the guard would have definitely spotted me if there hadn't been an urgent distraction in the other room. "Or did she really faint?"

"I think it's unlikely that she knew you needed help, I think it's more likely she pretended to faint to help -"

My watch vibrated, interrupting Taylor. The glowing screen pulsed in the dark. I read a message from Jai. My face turned pale white. Taylor was looking at her watch, and she looked almost as terrified.

"You too look like you've just seen a ghost," Stella commented uncertainly. "What's wrong?"

I answered grimly, "Jai's been caught."

### Chapter Six

"What?" Stella gasped. "How can that be? I thought he was pretty much the best spy of all of us!"

"He tried to use the invisibility device. Emmi gave him a wink, then pretended to faint to cover his escape. But the device malfunctioned, and he didn't realize it. He walked right out beside the guard that hadn't run to help Emmi, thinking he was invisible, and when the guard stopped him, he blurted out that he needed to stop a bomb." Taylor said, her eyes scanning the new texts that were coming in. -

I was one step ahead of her. "They will be searching the White House for intruders within minutes. On the bright side, they might find Shardstorm. But he'll definitely have a cover story. On the other hand, if they find us... we won't."

"But we won't have a bomb with us, while Shardstorm will," Stella piped up.

"Shardstorm's bomb can change shape, remember?" Taylor said irritably. "STPOW told us that his bomb can morph into different objects, like a briefcase and headphones. Ugh! Guys, if we want any chance of stopping him, we've got to move very, very quickly."

"Jai says go on without him," I looked at my watch as it vibrated. "Agent Wolf has him very closely guarded."

"Speaking of Agent Wolf, he's supposed to give us info on where Shardstorm planted the bomb, because they reminded us it could change on a moment's notice," Stella spoke up.

Like she'd summoned the message, my watch buzzed, and Taylor's did too. We both looked down to see a message from Agent Wolf: The bomb is planted in the easternmost room of the East Wing. Move quickly, and good luck.

"Perfect. We're already in the East Wing," I cheered quietly, then told Stella what the message had said.

"We best get moving," Taylor interjected. "They will be looking for us."

Using the small map Agent Wolf had uploaded to my watch, I started crawling down the air vent tunnel. Stella followed, and Taylor brought up the rear.

As we crawled, I spoke to Taylor. "Do you have an extra grappling hook in case we have to make a jump?" I asked. "If we have two, we'll be okay. I'm pretty skinny, so two people can fit on mine."

"I just have one grappling hook," Taylor responded.

"Oh."

We kept crawling.

Soon we came to a small intersection in the vents, with open air in the center of the crossroads, and vents at the start of each new tunnel. "Which way?" Stella asked, a little too loudly. I held my finger to my lips, but it was too late.

Footsteps thumped underneath us, and a guard shouted out, "Who's there?"

"Oh, I feel bad about this, but he can't bring reinforcements," I said apologetically and quietly. "Taylor, can you lower me down by my ankles?" Stella pretended to pout that she hadn't been chosen, but as much as Taylor got on my nerves, she was super strong.

Taylor edged by Stella in the thin tunnel, and held my ankles. I slowly dropped upside-down, feeling open air whoosh around my face, until I was far enough down that the guard noticed me and I was in striking range. As the guard started to say something, I brought my hand down, Tae-Kwon-Do style, directly on top of his head with all my strength. He crumpled to the floor.

"Take me up, Taylor!" I hissed, already hearing other footsteps and feeling all the blood rush to my head. I was quickly raised, a little jerkily, and then I was in the air vent. I scrambled to crawl onto the solid-ish metal.

"Ooh, I feel so bad that I had to do that," I whispered.

Taylor shrugged. "You're a spy now, Cam."

Then she pointed to one of the branching tunnels. "That's where we go next." I wiggled my way over the gap, and Taylor and Stella followed.

After crawling for a couple more minutes, making a few turns along the way, we the tunnel we were in came to an end, full air yawning out below us. Stella started to say something, then stopped as Taylor put a hand over Stella's mouth. "Shh!" Taylor hissed.

Voices drifted out of the air below. "Mr. President, as your closest advisor, I do urge you to consider my advice!" A high-pitched voice coaxed.

A deeper voice responded, "I have considered your advice, along with every option I have been given. You know, I..."

The voices continued, but Stella spoke over them, quietly enough where I didn't think they would hear her. "This is perfect! Perfect, perfect, perfect! We just drop down, tell the President about Shardstorm, and mission completed!"

"Are you insane?" Taylor argued. "The President won't see three kids sent by a secret spy organization to save the world! The President will see three creepy kids that tricked his guards and snuck into his air vents to find him! We must continue the mission!"

"You're the insane one! This is the best opportunity we'll ever get," Stella shot back.

Taylor looked at me with her piercing icy eyes. "Well, Cam. You're the leader. What do you say?"

I looked at Stella. Her face was a mixture of worry and fear.

If we told the President about the bomb and he believed us, that was it. Our cover was blown. STPOW was no longer a secret. And it was that fact that made me say, however hard I had to work to force it out, "Let's go on."

I did not let myself look at Stella's face. Instead, I looked at Taylor as she said, relieved, "Good."

Stella's voice had a bit of a sob in it when she answered, "Fine then, but how do you expect us to even continue the mission? It's a dead end here."

I looked over the gap, and with a start, noticed that the air vent continued on the other side of the room. "No, it's not."

"Taylor, how much weight can that grappling hook hold?" I asked quickly. She shrugged. "I think they said four hundred pounds."

"Stella, you're skinny. Like a hundred pounds, right?" Stella nodded, still a bit sulky.

"I'm a hundred and five." I looked expectantly at Taylor.

"Great. We fit," Taylor finished.

"How much do you weigh, though?" Stella couldn't resist teasing.

"None of your business!" Taylor growled quietly, grabbing the grappling hook and attaching not the hook part but the other end to her clothes, then holding out her hands. "Grab on." Stella and I did.

Without warning, Taylor shot the grappling hook towards the other side of the tunnel. We waited in tense silence. It hit the other side and latched on with a small *ping*. I held my breath and listened carefully.

"Did you hear that?" a different voice spoke. "No," answered the shrill voice of the woman advisor. The President said something else, and I strained to hear it, leaning my head over the side of the vent.

Suddenly, I was falling, sliding head-first out of the vent. Fear shot through me and I scrambled for a handhold, but I was tumbling too fast. Then a lightning-fast hand shot out and grabbed my ankle. I looked up, and to my shock, Stella had grabbed me, looking stunned with herself.

But now we were in a bad position. I was maybe five feet above the head of the President himself, and if anyone looked up, I would be in a very bad spot. I felt Stella taking me up, but it wasn't quickly enough. The President said, "I thought I heard something too," and his eyes traveled slowly upward. Stella was pulling faster and faster, but I didn't know if I could make it before the President saw me.

Suddenly, looking upwards, I saw Taylor hurl something across the room. It landed with a clang, bringing everyone's eyes to it. "What's that?" the woman asked. The other man walked over to it just as I was pulled entirely into the tunnel. I mouthed, "Thanks!" to Stella and Taylor.

"It's a sword." I heard disbelief in the man's voice. "And it seems to be made entirely out of nonmetal materials."

"Now's our chance," Taylor mouthed. She held out her hands again. We grabbed on, and Taylor jumped out of the air vent.

We free-fell for a moment, then the hook pulled us up. It seemed to be straining, like it wasn't used to carrying three hundred some pounds of weight. My hand was sweaty in Taylor's, and I was worried it was going to slip.

Just as soon as I thought we'd never make it up, my head banged into the underside of the air vent, rather loudly. I had veered too far to the right. I bit my lip to keep from shouting. Stella and Taylor had already pulled themselves up and crawled inside the tunnel, but to my horror, the shrill-voiced woman turned around and saw me! Her eyes locked directly onto mine, and she screeched and pointed. "There's a little girl hanging from the ceiling!"

Taylor chose that moment to yank me up into the air vent and push us all three around the very close corner and out of sight if someone decided to grab a ladder and peek in the vent.

As we resumed crawling quickly, my heart pounding, I heard voices still drifting from the conference room. "Martha, it's been a long day. You haven't slept in over thirty hours! Nobody can deny you might be starting to see things by this point," came the cool and commanding voice of the President.

The woman Martha squealed something else that I couldn't hear. I stifled a giggle.

After crawling for another minute or so, Stella felt safe enough to whisper to me, "Close call, Cam."

"No kidding," Taylor hissed in response. "Next time try to cut it a little less close, will ya?"

"No way was that my faul -" I started to say, then cut myself off. As leader, it would probably be best to avoid starting fights. I sighed instead. "Okay. I thought our teamwork was pretty good there, though."

Taylor snorted and said nothing. Stella whispered from in front of me, "I thought our teamwork was good too."

As I crawled, I thought about what was to come. I'd memorized the code to defuse the bomb, but I couldn't help wondering, what if it didn't work? What if we sat there like fools while the bomb proceeded to blow us and the President up?

Lost in my thoughts, I barely noticed Stella had stopped until my face rammed into her butt. I turned bright red and started to apologize, but Taylor from up front said, "Shhh!"

I peeked around Stella and saw we'd come to another intersection. This one, though, only had a small slit to climb over. I didn't see why we weren't doing just that. "Can't we -" I started.

Then I heard the banging.

"I know you're in there! I'm going to call in reinforcements as soon as I catch you!" a voice was shouting from under the slit, a bang accompanying each word.

Taylor sighed and turned to me. "Problem. Guard saw me. Can you lower yourself down again, Skinny?"

"That's barely more than a slit," I told Taylor, a little angrily. "I may be kinda skinny, but I'm not that skinny."

"Could I fit down there?" Stella piped up.

"A newborn baby couldn't fit down there," I concluded.

We sat in silence for a moment. The banging continued.

"What about Taylor's sword?" Stella spoke up quietly.

I stared at her, and then her words sunk in. "Genius! Taylor, can you-"

"Already on it," Taylor interrupted, sliding a sword out from her dark gray bag. It was the same style as the one she'd thrown across the conference room to distract the President.

With great skill and ease, she thrust the sword through the gap.

"Don't kill him, Taylor!" I hissed. What was the point of stopping a bombing if someone died for it? I shuffled past Stella to see what Taylor was doing.

"I'm not killing-" Taylor smacked the flat side of her sword, even though the tight space, perfectly onto the side of the head of the guard, and he fell to the floor, still mumbling about intruders, "him."

"Nice," I grudgingly congratulated.

We moved on. Taylor consulted her watch-map. "We're really close. The bomb was planted in one of the conference rooms of the East Wing, because the President was due to have a conference there right about now."

"Hope he finishes up with that bratty lady in time to make it," I muttered, still sore about Martha and her shrill voice. Then I realized what I had said. "Actually, I hope Martha takes forever and ever so he doesn't have to be anywhere NEAR this bomb if it goes off," I revised.

"Agreed," Stella chimed in. "But it won't go off."

Before she could say more, Taylor quietly put in, "This is the place where the bomb is planted. Who wants to drop down first?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "I guess me, because you know, I'm in front of you and I am way better with a sword than you could ever be."

Just when I thought she was warming up to us...

Taylor looked down. "It's not far. Five feet, maybe?" Without another word, she dropped down and disappeared from sight.

Stella edged forward and peered down the hole. Taylor's voice floated up to us. "It's really not far, and the room is empty."

With a shrug and a grin, Stella dropped down next. "I'm out of the way," she shouted up to me.

I crawled to the edge and lowered myself down the hole, happy to be going somewhere feet-first for once. I only had a very short distance to fall before my feet hit solid ground for the first time in what felt like hours. I buckled to my knees, a bit surprised at how fast the floor came up, then I quickly got up before anyone noticed.

I walked a little bit out of range of the air vent, and looked around. Taylor was already exploring the room, and frantically typing a message on her watch. Stella was waiting for me. "Not a long drop, huh?"

I started to say, "Nope," but then I heard a thump and a thud from behind me. I spun around and screamed. Jai was brushing himself off behind me. He looked at me and grinned. "Oh, hey Cam."

"What the heck are you doing here?" I asked, my heart still racing. I thought for sure it would be Shardstorm.

"Oh, just not wanting to miss out on all the fun." He grinned again, this time seeming a little forced.

My brain raced, trying to figure out all the possible explanations for how this could be possible. But for now, I couldn't deny I was glad to see Jai. We could definitely use the extra hands.

Taylor turned and saw Jai. She jumped. "Oh. It's you," she grumbled, then continued sweeping the room for the bomb.

Stella looked at Jai curiously, if a bit offensively. "How did you escape, then? From Shardstorm?"

"Oh, you know," Jai said vaguely. "I'm a spy. I couldn't not escape."

Hm. Jai was acting strange. Fear, maybe? I couldn't blame him. I was terrified too. "Are you nervous?" I asked softly.

Jai's face fell a little. "Yeah."

So that was it. Nervousness. I forgot all about asking how he'd escaped from Shardstorm. "It's okay," I told him comfortingly. "We got this."

I was glad I got to repay him for comforting me earlier on. Jai's face took on a determined sheen, and he nodded. "So, anyway, before I met up with you guys, Agent Wolf told me that the room for the bomb changed because the President's meeting was cancelled and a new one in a different room was set. He loaded the map onto my watch. He also recommended we do not get back into the air vents, because they're being monitored. Something about a recently-unconscious guard insisting that there were kids in the vents and a plastic sword hitting him on the head?" Jai's eyes twinkled mischievously the way I was used to.

"That may have been me," Taylor admitted. "I guess I should have made sure he wouldn't wake up anytime soon." It was the first time I'd heard her sounding even remotely embarrassed. A smirk snuck out of my mouth and I forced it back in.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jai checked his watch, then his face went pale. "We only have one minute left!"

"Why didn't you say so?" roared Stella, racing for the door. We all followed.

Jai instructed us on where to go in our frenzy. Luckily, we didn't run into any guards on the way. I focused all my energy on putting one foot after the other, and tuned out everything but Jai's voice saying, "Left. Right. Right. Go through this door. Straight. Left. And... open this door! The bomb's in here!"

I took the lead, flinging open the door. A beeping was awaiting us, the bomb in plain sight on the floor. It looked less like a bomb and more like a tech-y pizza, but I did not have time to study it in detail. I rushed up to the bomb and looked at its face. The timer clicked down. 21, 20, 19...

"Crap, guys. Okay, I got this," I stammered, my hands shaking. I pressed the button on the bomb face that said, "Emergency shutoff." It asked for a code. I quickly pressed 4, 5, 4, 6. But my hand slipped on the 6 and pressed a 7 instead. The screen beeped at me, continuing its countdown all while saying: That is not the correct code.

Ten seconds left. Okay. I could do this. I took a deep breath and calmed my shaking hands. I pressed the four. Five seconds left.

I pressed the five. Four seconds left. I quickly punched in the other five.

But my mind blanked. What was the last number?

Two seconds left, one...

I smacked the six, my memory returning.

The screen went blank and for a moment I thought I was too late. But then a message appeared on the interface. "Emergency shutoff initiated. Code needed to begin countdown again. Would you like to begin countdown again?" I quickly slapped the no button and the screen went black.

I turned around, relieved, scanning all the faces of the room. "I did it. We did it. Mission accomplished."

Stella sighed with relief. "Great job, Cam." She hugged me, and then admitted, "That made me need to pee. Is there a bathroom nearby?" She wandered off to find one.

"Yeah. World saved. Super," Taylor grumbled a little.

I couldn't believe it was all over. All that, and the bomb was just... defused. It felt almost anticlimactic. But I was so glad that I could return to normal life. It was cool to help save the world, but also... stressful.

And then it occurred to me that I hadn't gotten the approval of the person that, deep down, I knew I wanted the most. I let my eyes wander to the boy that I still really, really liked, and that somewhere deep in my heart, wished had kissed me on that dimly lit bus.

Jai was furiously typing away on his watch. A little lump in my throat, I said tentatively, "You were awesome, Jai."

Jai looked at me, an icy smile spreading across his face. My face burned. Did he think what I had just said was stupid? Jai said nothing, just kept looking at me with those dark blue eyes that bored deep into my soul.

He had never been like this before. I started wondering what I'd done to make him go from flirty to cold, then I looked a little closer at his face. Jai wouldn't do this to me. At least, the Jai I thought I knew wouldn't.

Something was wrong.

At the exact moment I thought those words, the door burst open and Agent Wolf whooshed through it, a gun in his hand, pointed directly at my head. "Do not move unless you want to die," he said with calm authority.

Jai stood up next to him, and then slowly pulled out a gun of his own and pointed it unwaveringly at my heart.

No. No. NO.

I had trusted Jai and Agent Wolf.

And they had betrayed me.

### Chapter Seven

"No," I spat aloud, my voice cracking. I struggled to calm my shaking hands. "I will not surrender to your demands, whatever they may be. I trusted you," I shouted at Agent Wolf, then I turned to Jai, who had a self-satisfied smile on his face.

"And you," I snarled.

I lunged at him, wanting nothing more than to make him feel the same pain he made me feel when he betrayed me. When I was an inch from his face, his hands quickly shot out and caught me, slamming me to the floor. My head banged against the hardwood, and stars exploded in it.

"Oh, Cam," Jai's condescending voice sounded like it was coming from very far away. "You've always been too impulsive for your own good."

I was vaguely aware of Agent Wolf and Taylor having a short and heated battle, which ended with Agent Wolf slamming Taylor into a chair and tying her up, however much she must have been struggling. I felt like I was sinking in a very deep ocean, and I wanted to give into the darkness below...

But then I told myself to snap out of it. Now was the time that I could not afford to be unconscious, even for a moment. I blinked hard, trying to get my brain to stop moving so sluggishly.

Slowly, my vision came back, and I noticed something that made me freeze. Stella was sneaking up behind Jai!

My eyes locked onto hers. Both of our eyes widened, and I gave the slightest shake of my head. I mouthed (stealthily, I thought), 'Go get help!'

Stella then gave a slight nod and backed away slowly, still wide-eyed.

I was still the leader, after all.

Agent Wolf came over to me, looking with disdain at my form on the ground. "You are much too weak to lead this mission. I can't believe Agent Semaj chose you."

I sat up, then stood up, willing my legs not to shake and my head not to hurt quite so much. "Wrong again. You're the one who's weak. Betraying the organization that thought you were working for them for years? So cliche. Let me guess, you're going to say something like, 'We were one step ahead of you the whole time.'"

"We WERE one step ahead of you the whole time!" Agent Wolf narrowed his eyes. "The map, the other bomb, it was all an act to get you to be right here, right now! Because guess what?" Agent Wolf waited, glee in his face.

I did not give him the satisfaction of responding.

He continued anyway. "We have another bomb. The real one." He grinned maliciously. "This one is going to be placed perfectly, to kill the President, his wife, and you. And the grumpy one, of course," he added with a smirk, motioning to Taylor, who was straining against her bonds.

Jai spoke up, looking me directly in the eye. "Where is Stella? She said she was going to the bathroom," he added for Agent Wolf's benefit.

I allowed my eyes to grow huge. "I don't know! Probably still in there! Please, don't kill Stella!"

"Hm," Jai smirked. Then with a lightning-quick lunge, he pushed me into the chair that was next to Taylor's and wrapped rope around me tightly four or five times. I struggled against him. "Please don't do this, Jai. I know you have..." I fought tears, "some good inside of you, however deep down. Could you live knowing you killed two kids who had their whole lives ahead of them?"

Jai shrugged unfeelingly. "I've trained with the best and biggest supervillain in the whole world. I can kill a grown man eight different ways with my bare hands and thousands of ways with a gun, not to mention using all the weapons that Shardstorm himself has created. Do you think I can afford to be swayed by my emotions now?"

"But... why? Why the life of a supervillain instead of the life of a hero?"

Jai looked me straight in the eye, the deep blue eyes that I used to adore now searching me heartlessly. "Power. In the end, that's all that matters. It's really not about supervillains and heroes, is it? It's about in the end who comes out on top." He leaned in closer. "And I've been training my whole life to make sure it's me."

Then he leaned back a little. "But it can be you too, Cam. Join us. We could use a Tae-Kwon-Do master like you in our ranks. You can have unimaginable power, and we can be together..." he held out his hand, "forever."

I looked at Jai's soft, tan hand that I had held with such hope. Then I let my gaze travel upward to his strong shoulders, beautiful tan face, and perfect hair. Then I looked in his eyes. And really, it was those eyes that made up my mind.

"No. I will not become a murderer like you." I spat in his face, leaving his hand untaken.

Jai became lifeless once more. "Fine," he snarled. "Then you will die here, friendless and weak. Goodbye, Cam. Wasn't really nice knowing you."

Agent Wolf checked his watch, then threw another pizza-bomb on the floor in front of us. It started clicking down from five minutes. Then he and Jai walked out the door, closing it.

But then the door creaked open again.

I felt a surge of hope for a moment, but it was crushed the moment I saw Agent Wolf's face.

"Oh, by the way Cam, if you think your little STPOW friends are coming to save you, they arrived at the White House five minutes ago, hearing that something in the mission went wrong. They will be notified that you are making a final touch and will be out in less than five minutes."

Agent Wolf's lip curled in a snarl. "They'll never suspect a thing until it's too late."

He slammed the door in our face. I heard a lock click into place.

I slumped back in my chair, feeling defeated. The click of the bomb counted down steadily. Four minutes and forty-five seconds left.

"Well, that's it. We're done," Taylor rasped, straining against her bonds.

"No, I'll think of something," I said stubbornly.

Taylor sighed, then she looked like she wanted to say something. She opened her mouth a little then closed it again.

"What was that?" I asked, knowing she hadn't said anything but hoping she would with a little push.

"Oh, fine. I guess since we're going to die anyway..." Taylor told me, "I want you to know that I'm not a mean person, really."

I tried not to snort or shout out in disbelief.

"I just don't think anyone could ever understand me, so I push people away rather than even attempting to make friends," she admitted.

"What could be so big and horrible that happened to you that nobody could understand it?" I wondered. "There are plenty of kind people at our school, and you pushed away all of them."

Taylor took a deep breath, then started crying.

It was a sobering sight. Taylor was usually the one making other people cry, so to see tears streaming down her face, mixing with the dark mascara she always wore, made me rethink everything I'd ever known about her, even though she hadn't even told me her backstory yet.

"My mother"-sob- "died"-sob- "last"-sob- "year," she finished, crying even harder.

I was stunned. Taylor actually wasn't such a bully. She was going through a world of hurt on her side of the story. I didn't think that her actions were right, but now I understood them much better. If I wasn't tied up, I definitely would have given her a hug.

"I'm so sorry," I told her, my voice cracking. I felt my eyes watering up on her behalf.

"And now I'll be leaving my dad alone... though he did start dating someone recently..." Taylor added, her sobs finally ceasing, she was obviously trying very hard to regain her composure. She wiped her mascara-streaked eyes with what she could reach of her shirt, then stared up at me again. "I think she really loves him, because she gave him a really cool pocketknife for his birthday. So maybe he won't be completely alone if I die down here in this Godforsaken place."

And in the blink of an eye, I realized how we could get out of there.

I looked at the timer. It was at three and a half minutes. Then I gave Taylor a grin. "Don't worry. I may not be amazing with a sword, or be a master strategist, but I have a trick up my sleeve that Agent Wolf and Jai will not see coming. I have a pocketknife!" I tried to triumphantly yank it out of my pocket, only to remember that I was tied to a chair, as were my hands.

A smile crept onto Taylor's face. I didn't think I had ever seen a true smile on her face before, and it startled me. She was pretty when she smiled.

"What are you waiting for?" Taylor asked.

"Uh, I would reach it, but it's in my pocket, and my hands are kinda..." I moved my restricted hands, "tied. Literally and figuratively."

"Yank them out of the ropes! They're not tied together, they're just tied to your body!" Taylor sputtered with a laugh.

"Oh," I said sheepishly, working my left hand out of my bonds, "right." I couldn't quite get my right hand out, but one hand was all I needed. I grabbed my pocketknife, flicked open the knife tool, and started sawing at our bonds. The bomb was at two minutes and ten seconds, and its rhythmic ticking was started to really get to me.

Finally, I got through the rope, which loosened the other ropes around me enough for me to crawl out of them. "Looks like they really didn't plan on us trying to escape," I smirked as I cut Taylor loose.

"Or, they knew we'd escape our bonds but assumed there would be no way we could get through the locked door," Taylor told me sadly as she stood up.

"But wait. We can't just... escape and be done with it. We have to save the President and his family, or else we've failed the mission!" I exclaimed.

Taylor thought for a moment. "Do you think this bomb has the same defuse code as the other?"

"It couldn't... does it?" I reconsidered. "Maybe they think there's no way we'd try the same code again." Taylor clicked the emergency shutoff button and put in 4, 5, 4, 6. The screen beeped. That is not the correct code.

Taylor slapped the bomb. It blinked, then kept counting down.

"Taylor! That could have set it off!" I chastised. "So that idea was a fail... how can we get the whole White House to know to clear out? Taylor, are you any good at techie stuff?"

Taylor nodded. And then my idea fell into place. "You know how you can send voice recordings through watches? Could you either turn up the volume really, really loud on mine, loud enough where anyone close enough to be hit by the bomb could hear it, or find a way to broadcast the words I'm saying to the whole White House?"

"I think I could do either, but the first one would take less time. And time is of the essence," Taylor glanced at the clock. One minute forty-five seconds left.

"Okay! Do it!" I burst out, a little frantically.

"Record your message. I will then find a way to send it out loudly," Taylor told me.

I pressed the tiny "Send recorded message," button on my watch. It told me to start speaking. I took a deep breath and said, "Attention, White House residents and staff. A heavy-duty bomb will be going off in the room next to the President's secondary conference room in approximately a minute. Please exit the facility now. Also, Agent Semaj and Rivers, don't come in for us. We'll find a way to get out."

I hit send. Taylor fiddled with her watch for a moment, then said, "Plug your ears." I plugged mine. Taylor hit a button and plugged her ears with her fingers.

My voice blasted out of the watch so loud, it sounded like a bullhorn mixed with a heavy metal concert gone wrong. And that was with my ears plugged! I couldn't make out the exact words I was saying, but I knew that anyone within range of the bomb would definitely be able to hear it and figure out what was important with the message.

The words stopped. I peeked at Taylor. She gave a little grin.

"Awesome, Taylor!" I exclaimed. "Okay. Let's get out of here. Agent Wolf definitely knows we've escaped now, and he's probably coming back for us.

Taylor nodded.

A flash of brilliance dawned on me. "Wait. Agent Rivers told me in my social studies class that there was a tunnel leading from the basement of the East Wing to the basement of the Treasury Building. If we can make it out of this room, I bet the basement entrance will be clearly marked. Even if we don't make it all the way through the tunnel, the basement shouldn't be hit too hard by the bomb and we should be able to get out from there."

"Let's do it," Taylor said, pushing her black hair behind her hair in anticipation.

I tried the door. Locked, obviously.

I took out the lock-picker part of my pocket-knife and quickly wiggled it in the door. To my great relief, I heard a click. I made sure the knob turned. It did.

I glanced at the bomb timer. A minute left.

"Go!" I yelled, and flung the door open.

Immediately a blaring alarm sounded. I quickly yelled to Taylor, who was right behind me, "I see the basement entrance! This way!" and ran to the right.

Before we could even take two steps, Agent Wolf burst from a staircase and sprinted after us. We took off bolting towards the basement entrance. If we sprinted fast, we could make it in the minute we had left.

But Agent Wolf wasn't sprinting to the best of his ability yet. He kicked it up into high gear and ran faster than seemed humanly possible.

"Faster!" I yelled to Taylor. She was right behind me, glancing fearfully Agent Wolf's crazed form behind us. We both did run faster, nearly slipping on a slick part of the hall.

Agent Wolf did slip on this part. I was about to celebrate when I realized he'd meant to do it. He was sliding on his belly, inches from Taylor's ankles, ready to reach out and grab them and bring them down.

I knew we couldn't have more than ten seconds left before the bomb. I glanced furtively at the basement entrance door as Taylor and I barely avoided him. It was really, really close. But Agent Wolf was closer. We would never make it.

Suddenly Taylor stopped. I didn't notice for a moment, and kept running, but I skidded to a stop when I noticed she was missing.

Agent Wolf closed the distance between them.

Taylor gave me a sad smile as Agent Wolf reached for her. "You know what, Cam?"

"You're pretty cool, after all."

Then before I could say a word, she flung herself at Agent Wolf, taking him to the ground.

"What??" I yelled, turning back towards them. I tripped over my own feet and almost fell to the ground, but desperately tried to run back towards Taylor. Agent Wolf was taking a beating, Taylor's attack surprising him. "Stop it! Come on!"

"I'm sacrificing myself for you, you idiot!" Taylor screamed. "Go!"

And that's when the bomb went off.

It started as a small blast, a boom blossoming out of our capture room, and then it spread, throwing dust and debris and everything around it to the floor, rapidly coming towards us. Taylor finally punched Agent Wolf in the head, and he went limp.

She stood up, and like mad, the two of us ran for our lives towards the basement.

The ceiling shook and rumbled, and dust filled my lungs as I stumbled but the door was only a few feet away. "We're going to make it!" I gasped.

Then the ceiling shook particularly hard. Chunks of plaster started raining down, with bigger and bigger pieces. Then a huge, huge, piece of wall slammed into the floor between Taylor and me. "NO!" I screamed.

"You've got to go," Taylor yelled back at me, a trickle of blood running down her face. The mascara on her cheeks and the dust in her hair made her face look like she was in the final act of a tragic play. Playing the part of the hero. The one who didn't make it out.

A painting fell from the wall, landing on my ankle. Pain shot through me and I gasped for air. The basement entrance was so close, and I knew that if I didn't escape then nobody would ever know what Taylor had done for me.

"I'll have them come back for you," I screamed, looking back one more time at Taylor. Her ice-blue eyes pierced mine, cutting through the dust. Then they disappeared.

The door to the basement collapsed just as I put my hand on the knob. I literally fell forward, tumbling through the doorway and down and down and down the stairs into darkness.

I gasped desperately for air, taking a short breath and coughing violently out every bit of oxygen I'd managed to take into my body. Pain shot through every inch of my body. My lungs seemed to be on fire. My head felt like it was about to explode. I reached the end of the stairs and lay there, sprawled out on the basement floor.

I tried to breathe as black dots surrounded me, blurring my vision until I couldn't even tell what was real.

"I cannot die," I told myself, and then I blacked out.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The only reason I knew I was awake was because of my mind.

Generally, my thoughts went at a million miles per hour, almost never ceasing, so it was a foreign feeling to have my mind working so slowly. I struggled to focus. Where was I? What was going on?

My senses came back next. First, the pain hit me like a wave and I groaned a little. Then, sound returned, whispers, rustles, and someone tentatively saying my name. I ignored them for now.

Next, I breathed fresh, beautiful, clean, air, my lungs thanking me profusely. They still burned like fire, though.

I knew I needed to open my eyes. But they felt so, so heavy. I assumed they were going on strike from being knocked out twice in one day. They were so tired. I was so tired.

"Cam?" a familiar voice said again. Stella. Why was she here?

And then the memories hit. STPOW recruited me. I defused the first bomb. Jai betrayed me. He tried to kill me. Taylor saved me. Taylor... This was the thought that finally forced my eyes open.

Stella was standing over me, looking very worried. She looked relieved when I opened my eyes, revealing chocolate-brown disks. "Thank the Lord. They kept telling me you were alive, but you looked so..."

I struggled to sit up. This shot a fresh wave of pain through me. "Everything hurts," I rasped, my voice dry.

"I'll bet," Stella said gently, sitting down next to me. "I can't believe you survived that bomb."

"I'm so confused," I told her, my voice slowly turning back to normal. I took in my surroundings. I had awoken on a grassy field outside the White House. The grass around me still looked pretty green. The White House... oh, the poor White House. Part of it had collapsed in on itself. I couldn't stand to look at the symbol of liberty so brutally destroyed.

Agent Semaj and Agent Rivers appeared on the edge of my view, walking over to me, looking concerned and relieved all at once. "I'm glad you're awake," Agent Semaj told me with a smile. Agent Rivers gave a quick and seemingly brusque nod, but I could see compassion in her eyes. A smile played across my face.

"So, what happened?" I asked, propping myself up with my elbows and pulling myself to a full sitting position, wincing a little.

"You did it," Agent Semaj told me, a small smile on his face. "You saved the President and his family. And, actually, the entire White House staff." Just then I noticed the President standing next to Agent Semaj and a multitude of people on the White House lawn.

"But the White House is destroyed," I said, a bit confused.

The President spoke up. "Yes, but you saved my life and the lives of my family. The goal of the attack was to kill me, not destroy the White House. You stopped it, and I am forever grateful to you."

I looked at Agent Semaj. "Does he know..."

Agent Semaj smiled and nodded. "We've told each President of the USA about the STPOW, and only the President. He'll be the only one that knows you, alone, saved America, and quite possibly the world."

Agent Rivers took over. "Stella came out of the White House about two minutes before the bomb went off. She was in shock, though. She really couldn't say a thing," she told me bluntly.

I hugged Stella tight.

"We checked your trackers on the walkie-talkies, but they were not working," continued Agent Semaj. Jai and eating the walkie-talkies! I knew there was something more to that. "That's when we suspected you may be in trouble."

"That's about when you made you... shall we say, announcement," Agent Rivers contributed. "Everyone started flowing out of the White House, a huge mass of people."

"I was desperate to go back in for you, but Agent Rivers wouldn't let me," Agent Semaj admitted. "She knew I would never be able to make it to you in time."

"After the bomb went off, I remembered telling you about the White House tunnels in social studies class," Agent Rivers finished, "So I checked the one nearest to where you'd gone. Lo and behold, there you were. I thought I might have been too late... but we got you outside in time."

"You inhaled a lot of dust in there, Cam," Agent Semaj told me sympathetically. "You also sprained your ankle." I looked down. My ankle was swollen and red.

"Great," I sighed. "Did Agent Wolf get this many injuries? He deserves more."

"Agent Wolf... or shall we call him Channing since he betrayed the STPOW, died in the bomb," Agent Rivers said shortly.

"I can't believe it was so powerful..." I shook my head.

Then I remembered the most important thing of all, and sat bolt upright, taking my elbows out from underneath me. "Wait! Where's Taylor? She can't still be in there! You have to go find her!" I looked frantically around, as if Taylor was hiding somewhere right out of my line of vision.

Agent Semaj and Agent Rivers looked at each other sadly. "We did find her, Cam."

"Well, is she okay? Can I see her?"

Agent Rivers took a deep breath, unusual sympathy lacing her words. "Cam. Taylor didn't survive the blast."

The world spun. "No."

Blackness dotted my vision again. Tears leaked from my eyes uncontrollably. I leaned into Stella. "NO. I promised her I'd come back for her! She can't be dead! She can't! She saved my life!" I sobbed into Stella.

Stella held me steady. "Whoa, Cam-girl. Don't black out on me again," she said gently, stroking my hair.

"She..." I gulped air, "she held Agent Wolf back. I would have died... if... if she didn't..." I broke into sobs again, angrily swiping my eyes,

"I am truly so, so, sorry. I think we all underestimated Taylor's kindness," Agent Semaj admitted, obviously trying to contain his own tears.

And then the last person I expected to comfort me did. The President himself. "It's a great loss," he murmured. "Any time that a young person dies, it is a great loss for the whole country. But what we need to remember is that we must stay brave." He spoke louder, putting feeling into his words. "We must stand strong and tall. But the most important thing is, we must not lose hope."

I took a deep, shuddering breath and stared at the bright afternoon sun of what had been the best day and the worst day of my life. Having any sort of optimism should have been impossible after what I'd experienced.

But somehow, through it all, the flutters of hope still beat their wings in my heart.

### Epilogue

The day had finally come of my black belt ceremony. The Tae-Kwon-Do Master had been kind enough to push it back a few weeks for me to heal. He didn't know the full story of my injuries, though. Nobody could ever know the full story.

The mat felt soft beneath my feet. I slowly stepped onto the place where many of my dreams were born, then I looked up into the eyes of the Master. His face was kind and his eyes locked onto mine. I shifted on my one crutch. I tried not to cough. The dust inhalation issues still acted up under stress.

"Cam Grace Noble," the Master started. "Do you promise to uphold all the values you've learned in your five years of training?"

I suddenly had the strong urge to say, "I do," like it was a wedding. I choked down a giggle and looked the Master firmly in the eye. "Yes, sir!"

"Do you promise to always follow the Black Belt code, which you have studied at length to get to this moment?"

"Yes, SIR!"

"And do you promise," the Master seemed to get choked up, "to never lose hope, no matter the circumstance?"

I rocked the room with my next, "YES, SIR!"

"Then I present you with your black belt," he told me warmly, holding it out. In reality, it was really just a limp piece of black fabric. But in my mind, that black belt might as well have been made out of pure gold.

I took my belt from his hands, untying my old belt fondly and folding it carefully on the ground. Then I held my new belt from my hand. "Sir, I'm ready."

"And now it is time for your final yell before you become a black-belt," he said excitedly. "Whenever you're ready."

I mustered up all my feelings of anger, grief, pride, fear, and always most importantly, hope, and put them all into this monumental yell.

"HIYAAAAA!" I yelled loudly, shaking the room.

Then I tied my black belt on my waist, knowing I'd earned it.

The room was silent for a moment before it erupted into cheers. I saw my mother wipe away a tear.

"You are free to go, Cam," the master shouted over the cheers. "I am so proud of you!"

I made my way out to my family as the cheers subsided. To my excitement, I saw Stella, Agent Semaj, and Agent Rivers in the crowd! I rushed over to my parents, giving them a long hug, then quickly ran to the people who had become my second family, sharing a long group hug with the Agents and Stella. Even Agent Rivers joined us.

Then we separated and I beamed. "I did it, guys!"

"You earned it," Agent Semaj reminded me.

"Heck yeah, you did!" Stella gently punched me in the shoulder that was not hindered by a crutch. "I always knew you had it in you."

"We have news to share," Agent Rivers prompted. Agent Semaj was startled. "We do? I thought we were agreeing to keep that private for a little while..."

"Not that, Alen," Agent Rivers grabbed his hand lightly. With a start, I noticed a shining engagement ring on her hand that I was certain had not been there three weeks ago, along with a matching one on Agent Semaj's hand. I had to force back a grin. I was so happy my two favorite Agents had finally gotten together.

"Oh," said Agent Semaj, uncharacteristically flustered. "Well, STPOW's team of scientists has finished work on a memory-altering serum," he told us.

I suddenly felt very cold. "You're... you're not going to wipe our memories, are you?"

"What? Don't be ridiculous," Agent Rivers scoffed. "We need to modify your classmate's memories, so they don't recall the exact detail of the kidnapping. Rather, we have modified their memories. The whole kidnapping part is just a haze to them, and they don't remember the White House part at all. The official story is that a terrorist attack occurred on the White House on the same day kidnappers attempted to take the students in your class for a ransom, but the terrorist attack startled the kidnappers and they released the students. Only you were injured and Taylor was killed."

"If that's the official story, why is Emmi standing right behind you listening to everything you're saying?" Stella asked, pointing.

I jumped when I noticed that Stella was exactly right. "What is she doing here?"

Agent Rivers took a deep breath. "Well. Emmi is different. The memory serum did not work on her."

"What do you mean, it didn't work?"

"We don't know why or how. All we know is that Emmi is different. We don't know everything now, but we suspect we'll figure it out someday."

I gave Emmi a small wave and a smile. She smiled back. There was something different about her, not just shyness. Oh well. Like Agent Rivers said, we'd figure it out someday.

"So, why are you here? I would love to believe that you just came to watch me get my black belt, but everything you Agents do seems to have a purpose," I concluded, half-wishing they would say that they were just here to watch me.

"You're correct, as usual," admitted Agent Semaj. "We were wondering if you would like to join our ranks as a full Agent."

A beat passed. My jaw dropped. "Say what?"

"Along with your friends here, of course," Agent Semaj added. "We do wish Stella had told us about her involvement in the White House mission, but we have to admit, she did a stellar job. No pun intended," he added with a grin.

"And Emmi... well, Emmi's special. We know, with some training, she'll make an excellent Agent. She also covered for Jai when she thought he was on our side."

I winced. Even the name Jai was still hard to hear.

I needed to know what I was signing up for before I agreed. "So, what would being a full Agent entail?" I asked.

Agent Semaj looked slightly disappointed that I hadn't said yes immediately, but he answered nonetheless. "You would be liable to go on missions as they popped up, with Stella and Emmi, of course, along with some adult agents, usually. The White House mission was a rare exception where no adults could be present.

Agent Semaj looked me in my eyes. "Also... we generally don't hire kids. They're a liability, plain and simple. But since you and Stella did so well on the White House mission, better than many adult agents could have done, we are considering perhaps hiring a few younger people to join our ranks, and we were hoping, after you had some proper training, of course, you would help us teach these new recruits."

Agent Rivers added, "Shardstorm is still out there. And so is Jai. You know them. You know their fighting style, their strategy, where they might strike next. You girls would be a huge help stopping them once and for all."

I was honored that the Agents (especially Rivers, she did not praise easily) would think of me that way. I really was. The only thing was, I didn't ever want to feel the same pain I'd felt when Taylor died again, and I was worried that becoming an Agent would mean experiencing many more similar deaths. My mind flashed to the hall of the dead in the tunnel to STPOW's headquarters.

But at the same time, I honestly enjoyed the adventure of the mission. I liked feeling like I was helping to save the world. In a world that had gone kind of crazy, what with terrorists and supervillains and people always wanting to hurt someone else, I was proud that I was doing my part to help keep the peace.

I took a deep breath and made my decision. I flashed back to when I'd said these same words not too long ago. But at that time, I hadn't really known what I was getting into. This time, I had my options and I'd considered them carefully. I would defeat those villains in Taylor's name!

"I'm in," I told them with feeling.

"Me, too," Stella said determinedly.

"Same," Emmi added quietly.

Agent Semaj smiled. "Then you three need Agent names."

Cool! I was already happy with my decision. I shifted my crutch to a more comfortable position.

"Emmi," Agent Semaj turned to her. "You will henceforth be known among STPOW members as Agent Whisper. Your quietness will help you to sneak under the radar when villains come knocking," he complimented. Emmi's face shone.

"Stella," Agent Rivers took this one. "You will henceforth be known among STPOW members as Agent Star. Your positivity, smarts, and confidence will get you through any tough situation."

Then Agent Semaj turned to me, his eyes twinkling. "Cam," he told me with a grin. "You will henceforth be known among STPOW members as Agent Hope. Your tendency to see the bright side to get through tough situations and your braveness makes you a natural leader."

Then he turned to all three new recruits. "Congratulations, new Agents!"

He and Agent Rivers said parting words to us and said they'd be in touch. My parents came over to me and commented on my new friends. We loaded up in the car, my mind racing. But one thought bubbled to the surface.

Whatever happened next, I'd be ready.

Because I was Cam Grace Noble, otherwise known as Agent Hope.

The end...

But wait! Keep watch for the next book in the series! SpyCam continues!

Stick around after the acknowledgements for bonus content, including on the next page!

Acknowledgements

First off, thank you so, so, so, so much to my family. When I'm in the writing zone, I can be admittedly crazy at times, and they put up with it wonderfully. Once, we were outside throwing a football, and everyone agreed we wouldn't go inside until we got twenty throws in a row. After ten minutes of this, I was getting cranky. I had just written the part where Jai drops down the vent and surprises Cam, and I was itching to go back in and finish the story. We made it all the way to nineteen throws, and then guess what? I, with no football skills whatsoever (I was already stunned I'd manage to catch the ones thrown at me before that) dropped the ball. Everyone groaned. I gave up and went inside to come up here and frantically write more. And that's just one example! My family is a blessing every day and I don't honestly thank them enough.

Getting down to the specifics, first, thank you Logie Loo, for being an awesome sister, and listening when I charge into your room with a new plot twist idea or just to vent my hopes for the future of my authordom.

Thank you, Mother dearest, for listening to me and encouraging me always.

Thank you to my dad, who I told my idea to first, and who was so very helpful with the cover.

Thank you to Luna Hou, my awesome friend and editor, who gave me feedback that made so much sense that I was stunned I didn't think of it in the first place.

Thanks to my best friend, Jackie, who read and told me that she loved the early part of this story.

And finally, thanks to all the people that I sent a frantic message to saying, "Hey! My new book's out!" for being so kind and supportive.

And now turn to the next page for "The Meaning behind the Agent Names," and "The Stella Pages!"

The Meaning Behind the Agent Names (Spoilers!)

I bet most of my readers were reading about how Mr. James, Ms. Abercrombie, and Channing were actually Agents in STPOW, and they were wondering if there was any rhyme and reason to the Agent Names I'd chosen. Actually, there was. You'll learn about them below.

Agent Semaj: Straightforward enough. James backwards!

Agent Rivers: The name Abercrombie means mouth of the bendy river. Agent River seemed to fit for a kind of harsh but always fair Agent.

Agent Wolf: Channing is a name that means, "Young Wolf." Since Channing ended up being a traitor (sorry, I warned you there were spoilers!), wolf is a fitting name.

So that's the meaning behind the Agent Names! Hope you enjoyed! The Stella Pages begin on the next page.

The Stella Pages (SPOILERS)

I didn't mean to freeze when I got back outside. I don't even think I was aware I couldn't speak or move until I tried to tell the Agents what was happening. Jai and Agent Wolf had betrayed us. My best friend would be killed if I couldn't get help. I think it was just all too much.

After Cam told me to go tell the Agents, I stumbled out through the front doors. A few guards tried to stop me. I ignored them. Only one thing was in my mind: Save her. Save her.

I got outside onto the grass. I frantically looked around for the Agents. But Agent Semaj was already running towards me. "Stella! What are you doing here?"

I tripped over my own feet and fell to the ground. Cam. Cam. Cam. I tried to say, "Cam and Taylor are trapped! Jai and Agent Wolf are working with Shardstorm!" But nothing came out.

Agent Rivers walked over briskly. She looked me up and down. I could feel myself shaking and black dots gathering in my vision.

"She's in shock," Agent Rivers said brusquely, quickly taking a small blanket from her duffel bag and wrapping it around me.

What? I was not in shock. The black dots gathered further. The sun beat down but I shivered and retreated further into my blanket.

"What could have happened to make such a harsh impact on her?" Agent Semaj wondered, bending down to my level. "And what on earth is she doing here in the first place?"

"They're in trouble," Agent Rivers murmured, fear in her eyes.

Suddenly, a loud voice boomed out of the White House. I perked up a little. It was Cam's voice. I couldn't make out the individual words, but at least I knew she was alive.

"Oh no," Agent Semaj whispered, standing up. "I've got to go back in for them."

"Alen, you'll never make it," Agent Rivers told him softly. "It's all up to the girls now."

"No!" Agent Semaj shouted. "We can't lose them!"

"We won't," comforted Agent Rivers. Even with the darkness still pressing into me, I registered how funny it was for Agent Rivers to be comforting Agent Semaj, not the other way around.

A great mass of people started flowing out of the White House, including the President himself. The President caught the eyes of Agent Semaj, and his eyes widened. Hm. Did the President now about STPOW?

The President came closer. A few frantic words were spoken. The Agents tried to communicate with the girls. And then all they could do was wait.

I watched the entrance carefully, hoping with all my heart that I'd see Cam and Taylor burst out of the White House.

Then the bomb went off.

I didn't even notice it at first. Part of the East Wing simply shook on its foundation, then it suddenly started smoking and shaking and falling apart, exploding into huge pieces. "No..." I groaned, my mouth finally forming a word. "No."

The next few minutes were a blur. The shaking and exploding stopped, the White House partially destroyed. Agent Rivers ran to the rubble and vanished from view. Then, she came back up holding something. Two things, actually. One of the shapes she lay down carefully near the rubble. The other body-shaped something she quickly hustled over to us.

My vision returned a bit. The darkness retreated, because she was holding CAM! Suddenly, everything was going to be okay.

But then I saw Cam up-close. Her eyes were closed. Part of her hair was singed off. Her ankle was swollen and red, and her breathing was ragged. Burns and bruises dotted her body.

"Cam!" I screamed, louder than anything I'd ever screamed before. Most of the surrounding people looked at me. I ignored them, rushing up to Agent Rivers. "Is she alive?"

"Yes. But she needs help very quickly," Agent Rivers said shortly.

A couple medics tried to rush over, but Agent Rivers shooed them away, getting to work on treating Cam's injuries herself.

I watched anxiously as she worked on Cam. Agent Semaj asked me a few questions, like how I got to the White House, how I escaped, and how the heck I snuck past Shardstorm onto the bus. I answered them mindlessly but truthfully, never letting my eyes leave my best friend's limp body.

Then Agent Rivers sighed and stood up, putting a small pillow under Cam's head. "All we can do now is wait."

And wait I did. For ten minutes, actually. A couple times Agent Semaj and Agent Rivers came back to check on her, but for the most part, it was just me.

Then the most beautiful sound I could have ever heard: a small groan. Cam shifted a bit. Hope spurting through me, I inched closer.

"Cam?" I asked tentatively. She shifted a bit more.

One more time, I asked, with love and gentleness in my voice, "Cam?"

And then her eyes opened, two chocolate-brown pools of hope, and everything suddenly became perfect.

I hope you enjoyed SpyCam: The President Plot! If you enjoyed, I also wrote two other books, Flicker, Fade, Soar, and Journey to the End: An Unofficial Minecraft Novel. Flicker, Fade, Soar is available on iBooks now, and Journey to the End: An Unofficial Minecraft Novel is coming to iBooks July 6th, 2017, and is currently available on kindle.

2019 UPDATE:

As of republishing this book in 2019, I have written several other books! Check them out at smashwords.com/profile/view/zoewynns, or search Zoe Wynns on Google or iBooks.

Please rate this book if you liked it! For a young author like myself, you wouldn't believe how much joy this gives me. Rate it on the iBooks store, Goodreads or Smashwords!

Thank you for reading!

