I do not own The Lunar Chronicles or the characters blah blah blah ;)

Enjoy the story and comment if you want me to continue!

Cress finished typing and rolled her chair away from her desk. She rubbed her eyes that were glazed over from staring at the various computer monitors for too long. She glanced at her watch: 8:15am. She sighed, she pulled all nighters often, but this one had been painful. She'd been coding since four o'clock the previous afternoon and she'd left her desk only twice.

Cress collapsed on the couch, too tired to go to her room. She pulled out her phone and checked her emails. One particular message caught her eye. She opened it.

From: Harvard University

Crescent Darnell,

We still want you! It's not too late to enroll for our fall semester. You're just the student we want for our STEM program.

Cress didn't finish reading the email. It's not that she didn't want to go to college, she actually kind of did, but there was no way for that to happen. Her main problem was money. As soon as she had turned eighteen, her foster mother, Sybil Mira, had dumped her on the street, leaving her alone and without resources. Luckily, Cress was smart. She immediately started a private business venture. Offering services in computer coding, website design, and the like. Her computer skills were excellent, and it wasn't long before she had enough money to rent her own small apartment and buy her own equipment.

The other reason Cress didn't want to go to college was the people. Cress hated being around people and she avoided others as much as possible. She had never made any friends in school. Her general awkwardness and geeky tendencies drove most potential friends away. That, and her crazy foster mother. Sybil Mira fostered a half dozen kids at a time. She was the kind of person who was only in it for the money, as soon as the kids aged out, she ditched then.

Cress had been in and out of foster homes as long as she could remember. As far as she knew, her parents had given her up at birth, though she wasn't sure why. The last time she had asked one of the social workers about it, they had said no one really knew what had happened to her parents. Cress also guessed that no one really cared.

A sudden knock at the door of her apartment caused her to jump. She glanced down at her rumpled t-shirt and sweatpants. As she made her way to the door, she ran her fingers through her long blonde locks in a hopeless attempt to untangle then.

Cress opened the door and tried not to gape. A tall, well dressed, extremely handsome man was standing at her doorstep. His brown hair was carefully styled, not a hair out of place. His face was clean shaven, his features pleasing to the eye. She could tell he was muscular, even in his suit and pressed white shirt. He looked her over with bright blue eyes that would make any woman swoon.

"Are you Crescent Darnell?" he asked.

"Um... yes... sir," she squeaked.

"I'm Special Agent Carswell Thorne, FBI," he quickly showed her his credentials. "Ma'am I'm going to need you to come with me please."