Привет, all! (That was Russian F.Y.I.) Welcome to my new story, titled Project Maddy. This story focuses on Maddy; a major character in Nine's Legacy. You don't need to read Nine's Legacy to understand this, it only contains slight spoilers. My story does not follow Nine's Legacy! However, if you do want some background on Maddy (from Nine's Legacy);

-Maddy is a 15-16-year-old girl who lived in Chicago around the same time as Nine and Sandor

-Maddy's family was taken by the Mogs, after her father, a researcher (I presume NASA) "saw something he shouldn't have" (Something related to Mog civilization)

-In result of this Maddy was told that if she helped find Nine her family would be freed, instead Maddy and her family were killed

-Maddy and Nine were close and it was revealed that she did actually like him

So, enjoy. I should be able to update weekly.

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Nine's Secret

Chapter One-A New Life

Maddy P.O.V.

My eyes are blurred with unshed tears that I blink away the second they form. Standing across from me is the only family I have ever know, it breaks my heart to see them reduced to this; my father's intelligent eyes are filled with fear as he stares at the tall Mogs flanking me. Next to him, my mother looks at me with hope, she nods at me, a small smile upturning the corners of her lips. She believes in me. My brother, Alex, is on my Mom's side. He looks at me with confusion, he's only eight. Too young to have to go through this. The Mog next to me scans my face for any trace of emotion, I lift my chin and force my gold-brown eyes to become hard and impassive. If I look at my family as if they are anything other than expendable around these monsters, the Mogs will kill them, because in the Mogs eyes my family is expendable. They are a pawn to get me to cooperate, the Mogs don't care one wit about them and I know that.

I turn my head and nod at the woman to my left, her name is Susannah, she's taken care of me ever since we got that awful letter in the mail from the Mogs telling us their harsh demands and conditions if we wanted to live. I turn my head as my family is lead away from me, I walk away from them because I can't watch as they are dragged away into some dark, underground hole. As I turn away, I feel the Mog's cold eyes leave me. I have passed their first test.

Susannah follows me, we walk to an unmarked black jeep that Susannah had told me would be there. I open the door to the passenger seat and step in. The second both doors close, Susannah looks at me. Her gray eyes scan me, I resist the temptation to look at her eyes. I will see motherly pity and I don't want that. Susannah sighs and turns away starting the car.

"If it makes you feel any better, I promise things will get better. Tomorrow you start school, the day after you start Soccer. The day after you will have your first art class. Soon you'll have a routine and it will all be a part of your life."

I look at her, a smile tugging at my lips, "You enrolled me in Soccer and an Art class?" I've played Soccer since I was three, on my old team in Ohio I was captain of my travel team. And Art has always been a passion of mine, I never knew Susannah knew that.

"Yes, I was able to negotiate it with the commander. So long as you keep your grades up and do a couple of required classes," Susannah said that word quickly, "He had no problem with it. I told him it would take your mind off your assignment and help you stay relaxed, this job can be… stressful."

I snort, "Stressful. I'm approving a sixteen-year-old boy for extermination so that your people won't kill my family. That's a mild way to put it!" I close my eyes, knowing that I shouldn't have said that. It's Susannah's choice to help me, she doesn't have to. And with one word from her, I'm dead. "I'm sorry,"I say, meekly.

Susannah's face hardens as she looks at me,"I know it's hard, but it's all necessary. My people aren't monsters, they're just... slow to trust." She speaks slowly as if choosing her words carefully.

I furrow my brow, "But, why? Why do you hunt them? They're reduced to fourteen, what can they do?" I ask slowly, trying to understand without severing my family's slim chance at survival.

Susannah's gray eyes soften, "No one ever told you, did they?"

I shake my head.

"The Loric have powers, Legacies, they call them. One unsuspecting teenager might have a Legacy to throw fire or summon the wind, these were only discovered about a century ago. Before that Lorien and Mogadore had a strong treaty and both nations needed each other to survive; the Loric were blessed with rare Loralite crystals, one the size of my thumb may have the power to repair a decade of pollution caused by factories. Lorien traded several Loralite crystals for our superior weaponry. Our relationship was peaceful for millennia and we survived off each other. Then, a century ago, Legacies began to develop in the Loric. With those new Legacies, the Loric were able to create weapons far superior to ours. Worse yet, they could create Loralite crystals larger and stronger than anything we had ever seen. They cut ties with Mogadore, leaving our Planet dying from the factories we had only built to create weapons they no longer needed." Susannah paused to turn onto a street filled with identical houses, "We tried to form treaties by they refused. Leaving us with only one option, attack. And we did. We hunt them because their Legacies are dangerous and they cannot be trusted with them. The Legacies can be used to control your people and we can't have that." She looks at me waiting for a reply.

I furrow my brow, "They saw your people die and they did nothing?"

She nodded, "Now do you understand."

"Yes," I say. The Mogs are reasonable people, once I help them catch the rest of the Loric, they'll have to let my family go. They would be hypocrites not to.

She turns into the driveway of a medium sized brick house. she presses a button on the roof and the gray garage door opens. She pulls the Jeep in and parks, yet she doesn't unlock the door.

"Maddy, you're a smart girl, and although I'm guessing you already know this I'm going to explicitly tell you; my people have the best intentions and are only trying to do the right thing. However, questions and statements such as the one you just expressed to me will not be welcome. I happen to think of you highly and admire your bravery. However, other's will be wary of you and be looking for an excuse for you to fall." Her gray eyes meet mine, "We don't trust easily. But know, when you prove yourself to the others, they will be the most loyal allies you will ever have."

I don't smile, instead, I seriously stick out my hand, "I understand this, Susannah. Know that you will not regret trusting me."

She shakes my hand, a smile on her lips. I extend my hand to the car handle and flip the lock. There's a click as the door is unlocked, I pull the handle and step out of the car, walking over to what I presume is the door leading inside.

Susannah smiles and follows me, grabbing a key from her back pocket. She opens the white wooden door and leads me inside.

"You can leave your shoes on," Susannah says, the seriousness of our past conversation gone. She talks to be as if that was her tone the whole time. It strikes me as odd. Then it hits me, cameras. I mouth that word to her, she nods.

I casually scan the room, pretending to be stretching looking for the cameras. There! In the corner! It focuses as I look at it. Unnerved, I turn away from the camera and walk over to Susannah.

"So, you said you had kids," I say calmly, impressed with how my voice doesn't even shake.

Susannah nods and leads me to a hallway about ten yards from the door leading to the garage, "Yes, two. Adam and Kelly, you'll like them a lot."

I grin as we turn and she opens another door, this one leads upstairs. "How old are they?" I ask, nonchalantly scanning the stairs for cameras.

"Adam's seventeen and Kelly is ten. She's really excited to have an older sister." Susannah says.

I smile, older sister. Odd title for Loric bait. "Do they know?"

Susannah sighs, "Adam does. But Kelly thinks that you're here to," She pauses, sighing, "Marry Adam."

It takes everything inside me not to choke and cough. "Oh," I say. My face is bright red.

"It was for your security." She says emotionlessly.

Susannah leads me up the rest of the stairs, without a word. I follow her, Distracting myself by staring at the five closed doors surrounding a lounge. The lounge has a T.V., couch and several beanbags. It looks homey. but not lived in.

"We just moved from D.C. so we're not fully moved in yet. However, your room is right there," She points at the closed door closest to me, "Adam or Kelly will have the room next to you. It's a Jack and Jill Suite, so you'll be sharing a bathroom with one of them. The room closest to the lounge is the bathroom, and next to that is the Commander and my room. To the right of that is the room that whoever doesn't have the Jack and Jill with you will have."

She leads me into the room which I was told was mine, I gasp as I walk in. The room is beautiful; a large queen sized bed, dressed in pale gray and gold sheets, stands against the wall to the right of the door. In the day, two windows that are on each side of the bed will provide natural light. On the wall across from the bed is a white dresser, bean bag, and desk. On top of the desk, I recognize my old laptop. They said I wouldn't be allowed to keep it.

I point at it, shock on my face. Susannah nods, she puts a finger to her lips, "Shhh."

I smile, "Thanks, I really-"

My voice is cut off by the sound of feet running up the stairs, "Ha ha! Take that, Adam! I beat you, you..." A female voice says, it pauses, thinking of an insult. It must be Kelly.

Susannah "Kelly! I'd think hard about finishing that sentence!"

She walks out of my room, she stops at the doorway and nods at me to follow. I grin and follow her.

In the hallway, I see a girl-Kelly, turned away from me looking down the stairs at who the presume is Adam. She sticks her tongue out.

Susannah sighs, "Well, this should be a great first impression for our guest." Her tone is biting, "Adam, Kelly. Up. Here. Now."

Kelly turns around, and I see her for the first time. She looks like a tiny copy of Susannah with her dark hair and gray eyes. She looks me over and smiles.

"Oooooh, Adam! You're girlfriend's here!" I laugh, that's so something Alex would say.

The boy on the stairs slowly walks up, he groans, "Kelly!"

I smile and wait for him to come into view, he walks up the final stairs and woah... I drink in the sight of him. He's beautiful, with black hair cropped in a military style, his gentle brown eyes also scan me, his mouth is slightly open, revealing pearly white teeth, he's pale, but not as pale as Susannah and Kelly. A white shirt and black workout pants hang on his lean body. He's just wow. I wouldn't mind being pretend married to him.

He looks equally in shock as to seeing me, I extend my hand, he extends his. Our hands connect and we shake.

"I'm Maddy." I say, lamely, lost in his brown eyes.

"Adam." He replies.

There's a moment of silence, then an "And I'm grossed out." from Kelly.

We break eye contact and I turn to Kelly, my face a mask of practiced confident.

"I'm sorry, Kelly. That was rude of me, I'm Maddy." I say, walking over to her. I'm not here for guys, I'm here for my family. I repeat the motto in my head as I shake her hand. I speak to her as an equal, because that's the only way to earn her trust.

"Ahh, yes, the big 'sister'." She says with the tone of someone four times her age.

"You're only ten?" I ask with a smile.

"And a half." She says. I think I'm gonna like her.

Susannah glares at Kelly, "Be nice." She hisses through clenched teeth.

"It's ok." I say, "It's a big adjustment for her to make." I say, then realize the irony of the whole situation.

Kelly turns away from me and looks at Adam, "I made it up those stairs first so I get to choose my room. Hmmm," She looks at me then looks at Adam, "I'll take the one by the lounge." She turns to me and winks.

Susannah groans, "Kelly. Why don't you unpack? I think you've traumatized our guest enough for one day, don't you?"

Kelly smiles at me, then walks down the stairs.

Susannah waits for the sound of a door closing downstairs to speak, "I'm sorry about her." She says to both of us, "Why don't you guys compare school schedules and get to know each other in Maddy's room?"

She walks into her room and grabs two sheets of paper, she hands one to me and one to Adam. We walk into my new room, eyes buried on our school schedules.

We walk into my room, Susannah closes the door behind us. I sit on my new bed, the duvet cover, soft beneath me. Adam sits on the beanbag. I feel his eyes on me, I look up from my schedule.

"Your mom's ok with two teenagers in a room with closed doors?" I ask, breaking the silence.

Adam sighs, "Not normally, but I think she knows that we're not going to rip each other's clothes off the first chance we get, given the," He pauses, staring at me, "circumstances."

I nod, "So, what are we? Friends? Acquaintances? Or something else?" I say the last one with deliberate purpose.

Adam squirms in the beanbag, he looks down at his schedule, "What do you have first?" He asks, changing the subject.

I glance down, "Calculus."

Adam stands up and sits down next to me, he looks at my schedule, "Damn, girl. Calculus as a sophomore. AP French. Why?"

"Je ne sais pas." I reply in French, Adam gives me a blank look, "I don't know. I guess school comes easy to me and it serves as a distraction."

Adam nods, he looks down, "We have Calculus, AP Comparative Government and Politics and English together."

I nod, "And you're a...?"

"Senior." He says.

Oh, two years older, I've always liked older guys. I scold my brain. I can't think like that!

"Will the target be in my classes?" I ask, trying to make conversation.

Adam shrugs, brown eyes on mine, "Probably not. We think he's homeschooled."

"Think? How much do you know about this person?"

Adam rolls his eyes, "I probably shouldn't say this; but not much. All of our scouts have disappeared. He's probably nothing, but we're hoping you'll have more luck than we did."

That's reassuring, I could disappear.

"So how am I supposed to find him?" I ask.

Adam furrows his brow, "Didn't my mom tell you?" I shake my head, "We have reports that he's going to some YMCA. So your after school job will be looking for someone matching our limited description at one of Chicago's many Y's. Enjoy."

Was that a challenge in his voice?

"Is that a challenge, Adam?" I ask with a smile.

Adam tilts his head to the side, "Yeah. You won't be able to find him in a month."

Oh, Adam. You clearly underestimated how bad I want this.

"And if I do?"

Adam looks me in the eye, "I'll do anything you want for a week."

I lick my lips. Not here for guys. Not here for guys.

"And if I lose?"

Adam smirks, "You have to take Kelly and her friend Lisa to the Justin Bieber concert next month."

"Eww," I say.

Adam looks at me, his eyebrow raised, waiting to see if I'll take the deal.

"I'll take that bet," I reply with confidence. "Hope you like Bieber, Adam."

Adam smiles at me, "We'll see."

He stands up and walks over to our connected bathroom, he closes the door that leads to his room. The door closes. Leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Let's see, I got a little sister who thinks I'm only here to marry her brother. I have a crush on her brother. I have a limited description of the man who I need to find to save my family. And oh, yeah, I just made a bet on how fast I can find that target.

Huh, not a bad first day.

I smile, sinking back onto my new bed, in my new house, in my new life, and closing my eyes.

Thoughts? I loved writing this story so much! Maddy is such a fun character to write about! She's so freaking badass and awesome! I hope to be able to update soon and although I do plan on continuing, I don't think the next chapter will be up before next Thursday or Friday. However! If you love this story as much as I loved writing it a review could possibly (hint, hint) pursue me to write faster. Just sayin'. Also pairing ideas? Nine and Maddy or Maddy and Adam? I haven't thought too much about that yet... Tell me in a review.

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Nine's Secret