Prologue

To the untrained eye she was just another sixteen-year-old boarding school girl getting ready for yet another day of classes. But to those who knew her, Skylar Golovin was a lethal trained assassin and a force to be reckoned with. She could take down five guys three times her size in less than ten minutes, and without breaking a sweat. But if you're reading this then you have the level ten clearance required to know about the black ops school for spies that passes as a boarding school for the authority challenged. And you would also know that Skylar Golovin isn't just any sixteen-year-old spy; but that she was trained from the age of three in the ways of Russian assassins. Her parents were Russian terrorists who wanted to train her to take over their group. The CIA found her and her parents when she was thirteen and worked through her to bring the downfall of the terrorist group. Since then they have taken her under their protection and kept her training going, now, however, she's working for them, not against them.

Chapter One

Skylar Golovin stood in front of her full-length mirror and checked her reflection. As usual at eight thirty-three a.m. this was as good as it was going to get. At five foot nine Skylar was slim and slender, with long dark brown hair that looked like it was purple in certain lights. She wore her hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her Hathaway Academy uniform. The plaid skirt ended just two inches above her knees, and the top two buttons of the matching jacket remained unbuttoned, showing the white tank top that she wore underneath. She gave her ponytail one last tug as her roommates rushed her out the door. Once again, she had made them late for breakfast, and they would have to hurry if they wanted any good food left.

They hurried through the hallways of the school, and entered the dining hall just before they closed the door to anymore enterers. In usual Hathaway style, the meal was conducted in a foreign language, as all meals here were. This time it was Russian, and a dialect that Skylar was most familiar with, having learned it and spoken it with her parents when she was younger. Many people assumed that she would resent her parents for being terrorists and dragging her into the wonderful world of espionage, but she didn't really think about it much. When she did think about it, she didn't hate her parents; she knew that they only did what they did because they believed it was right.

As she sat with her friends, she looked around her table and was thankful for the wonderful people who had accepted her here, without fear or judgment of her or her parents. Next to her was Lexi, a short African American girl with long brown hair whose brown eyes were always dancing like she had a secret. Across from Lexi was Cammie, a lanky girl, with dirty blond hair and blue eyes that always lit up when she smiled. Next to Cammie and across from Skylar was Katie, Skylar's best friend and room mate. Katie was the same height as Skylar, but where Skylar was tan and exotic looking, Katie was pale and slim. Next to Katie sat Rose, a small, quiet, mousy girl, who could kick your ass like nobody's business. And finally on Skylar's left was Heather, an Asian chic artist who preferred creation to fighting, but could still take you down with one hand. As she sat here with her friends, she was swept up in the nostalgia and couldn't help but think about what her parents would think if they were here. But she quickly put that thought out of her mind; she knew her parents would have been proud of her no matter what she did.

As usual, the hall was filled with chattering girls, excited over the new gossip. She tuned into the gossip going on around her as she tuned out her friends' argument over who was hotter, Brad Pitt or Kanye West. What she heard was shocking to her, and she hoped it was completely rumor, with no fact behind it. But as most rumors go, there was fact behind it as she soon found out when the headmistress stepped up to her podium for an announcement.

"As some of you may already know," she started with a reproving glance at those girls who were already talking about it, "We are hosting the Hawthorne School for boys. You all know that the Hawthorne School is the brother school to Hathaway, and that like us it trains spies to enter into the black ops of the CIA. And obviously, unlike us, it is a school for boys. For those of you who are thinking, where will they sleep, do not worry. We have arranged the dorms and found many available places to put people. There will be a reassignment of sleeping arrangements, so if you are in the Rosewood or Anawood dorms, please remain in the dining hall to hear your room assignments. Other than that, I hope all of you have a productive last day without guys, and remember that there will be NO inappropriate behavior while they are here."

Luckily for Skylar she was not in either of the dorm that the headmistress mentioned and was free to hurry off to her decoding class. Being Russian, and having been brought up in a Russian vigilante group, Skylar knew almost as much about decoding as the teacher who taught the class, but she still liked the class, but it always had so much potential. She thought maybe she liked it so much because it reminded her of herself. She was like a code, she didn't know who she was or what she wanted to be, but there was only one thing she could be, and she just had to figure out what exactly that was.

The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly, and before she knew it she was sitting in the library next to Katie, looking up information on the world's foremost spy, but since you have level ten clearance you don't need me to clarify who exactly that is.

"Sky, are you physically incapable of getting through one day of classes without having extra work assigned because of your smart mouth? I mean, seriously? Yesterday it was an essay on the secret alliance work of Bismarck," Katie rolled over on the couch where she was laying and reading a book to look at Skylar working on the computer next to her.

"I'm sorry, but sometimes the teachers just tick me off, and then I have to use my smart mouth. It's a reflex reaction. You try living with people who can kick your ass better than you and see what happens to you. My wit was the only way to stop the torture and now it's kind of uncontrollable." Her slight Russian accent came out when she talked because of her frustration with the assignment.

"It's hard to imagine someone being a better fighter than you are."

Katie returned to her book and Skylar finished up on her assignment just as Headmistress Pattinson entered the library. Seeing them clearing up she headed over.

"Good thing I've found you girls, where are your other friends? No matter, I will have to find them later, right now I need your help. The Hawthorne boys are coming earlier than I expected and I need your help getting things ready for them."

"Sure, anything you need. When are they coming?"

"Actually, they're coming now, as in an hour from now. I need you girls to help the others who have to move get there things moved, and I need someone to make sure the girls know they're here. Other than that, I need two girls to welcome them when they arrive, and show them around."

"Of course, Headmistress Pattinson, we'd be happy to help you. We'll take care of everything."

As soon as the headmistress was out of earshot, Skylar pulled out her cell phone to text Heather and the other girls. The school had special blocks up, to prevent students from being able to use their cell phones, this was in order to help them with their training, but Skylar and Katie had found a way to get around that, and had programmed the rest of their friends' phones to do the same.