Chapter 1: Unexpected News

"No! Not Alice! Please, have mercy!"

"Move aside!"

"No! Take me instead!"

"As you wish."

A sudden flash of green light

My eyes flew open. I threw my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming aloud. If I woke everyone in the house because of a bad dream, Aunt Tiffany would beat me until I was black and blue.

I laid back down and thought about what I had just seen. There had been screams, someone said my name, then a flash of green light.

Was this some kind of warning? Was I in danger

I was being silly. It was just a dream, nothing to get worked up over.

I sighed and rolled over in my "bed." It wasn't really a bed. It was just a thin mattress on the floor of a closet, AKA my room. I closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep, but the closet was suddenly filled with light.

"Get up, you worthless waste of space!" My aunt slammed the closet door shut again after yelling.

I groaned and stood up. Lucky for them, I was able to fit in the closet. If I were any taller, they would have to give me a real bedroom.

I opened the door from the inside and made my way to the kitchen. I heard my aunt and uncle talking about something. I walked in and they both glared at me.

"What?"

"Don't talk to us that way, you ungrateful, nasty little girl!" my aunt spat at me. I was always being yelled at for something, even when I didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't my fault weird things always tended to happen around me.

I sighed and sunk down into a chair at the table.

"Don't sit down, stupid girl. Go fetch the mail!" Uncle John ordered. I sighed again and got up. I walked to the front door and picked up the mail. I glanced through it. There was a postcard from Uncle John's sister, a catalogue from Barney's, a bill from the electric company, and a letter.

I looked at the letter again. It was a thick envelope made of nice paper. On the back, there was a seal with a large H surrounded by a lion, a badger, a serpent, and an eagle. It was addressed, in green writing, to:

Ms. A. Brandon
3 LibertyWay
The closet in the hallway
Riverton,Los Angeles

Strange. I brought the mail into the kitchen and handed it to Uncle Ryan, keeping the letter addressed to me. Kate was up now. She was sitting at the table and smirked at me. I sat down across from me, and she kicked me in the shins under the table. I winced in pain.

I looked at the envelope again, making sure it was real.

"What's that?" April shrieked at me, pointing to the letter in my hand.

"Nothing," I said, hiding it behind my back.

"It's mine now. Give it to me!"

"It's mine. It has my name on it."

"Hand it over," Uncle Ryan said, grabbing the letter out of my hands. "How can it be yours? Who would ever dream of writing to you?" He looked down at the letter and his eyes opened wide.

"Tiffany…it's…it's…" he stuttered, shoving the letter in her hand.

Aunt Samantha glanced at the letter. Her eyes widened like Uncle Ryan's.

"How did they find her?" Aunt Samantha whispered. "Look, it's even addressed to the closet in the hall. How did they know that?" The two of them looked fearfully at each other.

"Can I have my letter back?" I asked.

"I want it!" Katel whined. She was getting impatient. She had never had to wait so long to get what she wanted.

"Out of the kitchen now!" Uncle Ryan roared.

Kate started stamping her feet on the ground and screaming. Usually, if she threw a temper-tantrum, she'd get her way.

"Get out now!" Uncle Ryan picked us both up by our shirt collars and threw us in the hall.

"What was that about?" Kate asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. I pressed my ear to the door to attempt to hear what Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Ryan were saying.

"Move!" Kate hissed, shoving me out of the way. I wrestled my way back to the door. I ended up lying on the ground, pressing my ear to the crack on the bottom of the door.

"Tiffany," Uncle Ryan was saying, "how is this possible? How can she be one of them if she hasn't been, you know, practicing?"

"John," Aunt Samantha whispered, "we have to stop this now! We promised when we took her, we'd prevent this from happening. And look now, a letter from that freak school, offering her a place!"

"Well, if she never responds, she can't go. We'll just get rid of the letter."

The kitchen door opened and Aunt Tiffany came out.

"Where's my letter?" I asked.

"It was sent to you by mistake."

"It had

"It had my name and my closet!"

"Go get your things?"

"Why?"

"Your moving upstairs."

********

The next week was very interesting. After the letter arrived and was destroyed, Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Ryan decided it was time I moved out of the closet and into an actual room. I moved into the spare bedroom next to Kate. The room was where Katel kept most of the toys she no longer played with but refused to get rid of.

It only took one trip up the stairs to move all my things in. It was nice to not have to be cramped in a tiny closet anymore. I laid out on the bed and relaxed.

The next day, three letters arrived in the mail. Uncle Ryan immediately ripped them into pieces. On Thursday, 15 letters came. They were in the mail, the newspaper, the cereal box, and the brand new cake box Aunt Tiffany bought. She threw them all in the fire.

On Friday, 24 letters came. There was one in each egg of the 24-pack of eggs Aunt Samantha bought. She threw them all in the shredder.

On Saturday, 50 letters came. They were jammed everywhere, from inside the shampoo bottle to hanging from the ceiling fan. Uncle Ryan threw each one unmercifully in the fire.

"Who wants to talk to you so badly that they're putting letters in our food?" Kate asked me.

"No idea."

On Sunday, Uncle Ryan was smiling. All morning, he was skipping around and whistling show-tunes. I knew why: there was no post on Sundays.

"Let's see them get us today," he kept muttering under his breath.

Around noon, we all sat down to lunch. Uncle Ryan was about to take a bite out of his sandwich when it dropped to the ground—something had knocked it out of his hand.

He reached down and picked up a piece of paper. He glanced in horror at it. Suddenly, the house began to shake.

All at once, letters began shooting out of everywhere. They were coming in through the windows, through the door, through the mail slot, and through the fireplace. They were sailing through the air, whizzing past my head.

I started jumping up, trying to grab one. I finally got one, but Uncle Ryan saw. I ran to the hall so I could open and read it, but he followed me and yanked me back, grabbing the letter I had stolen.

"That's it!" he shouted. "We're going away. Far away where they can never find us!"

The next morning, the four of us were driving in Uncle Ryan's car. We only stopped every so often for a bathroom break. Otherwise, we were driving all day. Finally, that night, we arrived at a shack on the edge of some town next to the sea. Uncle John got out, talked to the man there, and came back to the car. He had a set of keys with him.

"Alright, everybody out. This man has agreed to rent me his shack for the week. We just need to take this boat to the island in the middle of the sea."

"But John, it's starting to rain," Aunt Tiffany protested.

"Then we better get moving now," he said, shooing all of us into the boat.

Half an hour later, we were all soaking wet when we arrived at the rat hole as I call it. Uncle John unlocked the door and we all went inside.

The place was seriously a dump. The pictures were falling off the walls, the couch was missing a cushion, the paint was shipping, and there was no carpeting. The floor was made of dirt. Lovely.

Later that night, after a fight over it, it was decided that Uncle Ryan and Aunt Tiffany would get the bed upstairs, Kate would get the couch, and I would be forced to sleep on the floor with a blanket.

I laid down in the dirt and glanced at my watch. It read 11:52. Eight minutes until August 9th, Eight more minutes until my 13th birthday. I sighed loudly. It was unlikely that any of them would remember it, another birthday without presents. Oh well.

I listened outside. The storm was raging. I heard a banging sound in the distance. It was probably the boat hitting the rocks. Wouldn't it be our luck if the boat were destroyed in the storm? Uncle Ryan would probably make me swim back to shore if that happened to get a new boat.

I looked down at my watch again. 11:58. Two minutes. I heard a louder bang. Maybe there was an animal somewhere trying to get out. Who knew?

5,4,3,2,1. Happy birthday to me. The loudest bang so far. It sounded like a gun going off. Kate fell off the couch, startled. Uncle Ryan and Aunt Tiffany rushed down the stairs, awakened by the noise. Uncle Ryan clutched a rifle to his chest. I snorted.

The door to the cabin gave an enormous shudder. Someone wasn't trying to get out. They were trying to get in.

All of a sudden, the door fell off its hinges and a girl in dressed in black walked through the archway. She had long blonde hair and was wearing weird goggles. I had never seen anyone like her in my life.

"Don't worry, I got the door," She said, picking up the door easily and placing it back in the archway. She turned back to face us. "Now I got a letter her for yah, Alice," she said, looking at me.

"I'm not Alice!" Kate shrieked, running to hide behind Uncle Ryan.

"Was I talking to you." She turned to face Kate. ". Your Alice, a spitting' image of your mother. Got her smile, too. Come here," she said, reaching out and pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm sorry to be rude, but who are you?" I asked, staring at the strange woman now sitting on the couch.

"Natalie Blakeman, researcher for Afandwarth."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Now, you can't tell me you have never heard of Afandwarth."

"Nope. Sorry."

"Well, where do yeh think you're parents learned it?"

"Learned what?"

"Willks!" Natalie thundered. "Are you telling me this girl knows nothing' about who she is? That she knows nothing' about her parents?"

"I know they died in a plane crash," I said meekly.

"Plane crash! A plane crash kills Jason and Nicole Brandon! That's like saying a cat murdering me!"

"Excuse me, but what are you talking about?" I asked politely.

"Open the letter."

I looked at the letter in my hands. It was the same one I had gotten a week ago. It was sealed with the letter A. I broke the seal and pulled out the letter.

"Dear Ms. Brandon," I read. "We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Afandwarth School for Spies. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins September 1. Yours Sincerely, Ms. Sophia Nothans, Headmistress Cathelwins"

"You're a spy," Natalie said, looking at me."

"I'm a what?"

"A spy, and a damn spanking good one, I'm assuming'. You're parents were Spies too

" I can't be a spy. It's impossible," I stuttered, looking around, waiting for someone to pop out and say how it was a joke for some new TV show.

"Have you ever done something unbelievably impossible when you really wanted something."

I started to shake my head no, but then I remembered when Kate was trying to hack her way into my email I went and took apart her computer" See,

" Natalie said looking at me. "You are a spy, it's in your blood."

"She won't be going," Uncle Ryan said curtly. "Tiffany and I agreed when we took her in that we would put a stop to all this nonsense."

"You knew?" I asked, bewildered.

"Of course we knew!" Aunt Tiffany shrieked. "I remember the day my sister got her letter. My family was so happy. I was the only one who saw her for what she really was: a freak. Every year, she went to that school with the other freaks. Then she met that Brandon boy and then they had you. I knew you'd be exactly like them. And then she went and got herself killed, the freak." She swiftly turned away from me.

"If my parents didn't die in a plane crash, what happened to them?" I asked Natalie.

"You mean you don' know? I didn't realize how in the dark you were, Alice. Well, okay. Ten years ago, there was this a spy. She went bad, as bad as a spy can go. Most people don' like to say the name. Just thinking' 'bout it gives me the chills."

"What was her name?" I looked at Natalie

. "Could you write it down?"

"Can't spell it. All right'. Her name was Milisant," she let out a violent shudder. "Jus don't make me say it again. Now You-Know-Who was going' all around the country, gathering followers. Some wanted a bit of her skills, some liked the ideas she was preaching', some were jus plain scared. Some stood up to her, and she killed 'them. Terrible times. It wasn't safe anywhere. I suppose the only safe place left was Afandswarth. They always said the only person You-Know-Who feared was Katherina Figglewarth.

"Now, your parents were in the group resisting' her. They were the nicest people I ever met. Good, kind people. People always wondered why You-Know-Who never tried to get them on her side before. I guess she figured they were too close with Katherina.

"Anyways, on Halloween ten years ago, she arrived at the village you all lived in. She busted the door down and' killed your parents. Then, after they were dead, she turned her weapons at you.

"Now, here comes the real mystery. They say that when she raised her weapon to kill you, the weapon backfired, stripping her of her memory and skills and causing her to disappear."

"Why? What's so special about me?"

"No one knows. she killed some of, the best spies that ever existed: the Prewetts, Annabelle Fenwick, Nort Figglth. But for some reason, that night when tried to kill you she couldn't."

"So is she gone for good now?"

"No one knows. She hasn't been seen since that night. Some believe she's dead. Rubbish in my opinion—she was too skilled to die. Some thinks he's out there, biding' her time. I don' believe that either. If she were going to come back, the people on his side would still be out there. Most of' us think she's still out there somewhere, powerless. Something in you destroyed her powers. No one knows why, but after that night, she finally disappeared."

I shivered involuntarily. "What happened after M—sorry, You-Know-Who tried to kill me?"

"Well, the house was destroyed. I went there after it happened, brought you to Professor Katherina and we left yeh here with this crap of a family," she said, jerking her thumb toward the Willk's who were all sitting in the corner in fear.

"And' now you're finally going' to Afandswarth. You wait and see, Alice. You'll be famous there, 'the girl who lived' an' everything'."

"I already said she's not going!" Uncle Ryan said. "I saw the list. She needs books, equipment, and all kinds of rubbish. We won't pay for it."

"Prevent Nicole and Jason's only daughter from attending Afandswarth? I'd like ter see a nuth like yourself try!"

"Nuth?" I asked. I'd never heard that word used before.

"Means non-spy folk," Natalie replied, still glaring at Uncle Ryan. "She's going' to Afandswarth, where she'll learn from the best headmaster Afandswarth has ever seen. Katherina Figggleworth—"

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME FOOL TO TEACH HER HOW TO FLIP AROUND IN BLACK OUTFITS!" Aunt Tiffany screeched in Natalia's face. That seemed like a bad idea.

"NEVER—INSULT—KATHERINA—FIGGLEWORTH!" Natalie roared. She reached into his coat, pulled out a tube, and put one end in her mouth and blew. There was a loud scream, then the Willks were out cold.

I looked at Natalie and started laughing.

"Err, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone. If I'm being' honest, I'm not really supposed to use spy weapons on nuth's."

"Well, we best be going." Natalie reached

Natalie knocked the door over again and the two of us headed back out into the storm, leaving the Willks's behind.

(An: Since the first few chapters are boring I'll just out them in one big boring chapter. A line like that one will separate each chapter, ok here is chapter 2.)

The next morning, Natalie and I were walking through L.A. Natalie kept talking about Afandswarth while I read the list of things I needed for school.

"3 sets of black leather mission uniforms …night vision goggles …2 tiniest cameras…Natalie, can we buy all this in Los Angeles?" I asked.

"Yup, if yeh know where to look."

Another problem entered my mind. "Natalie, how am I supposed to pay for everything? You know Uncle Ryan won't pay for it, and I don't have any money."

"Did you think your parents left you with nothing'? First stop is Camolath."

"Camolath?" I asked.

"Spies bank. Anyways, you'd be mad ter try and' rob it."

"Here we are." Natalie said

We were at a deserted beach

"Natalie, what are we doing here?" I asked. I was really confused. I didn't see how standing on a deserted beach was going to help me get my school supplies.

"This is the way to Oceanous Alley," she explained.

"Oceanous Alley?" I asked. I had never heard of a place called Oceanous Alley before.

"It's the place ter go for all your Afandswarth needs," Natalie said matter-of-factly. She pulled out weird looking sunglasses from her pocket and looked at the ocean for a while then she reached into the water and pulled out a keypad.

The keypad began talking. "Name, and password please."

"Agent Natalie Blakeman, Nina Blakeman." Natalie said

"Access confirmed."

"Part the waters." Natalie said

The water began circling into a tunnel.

We began walking through the tunnel.

People dressed in different colored outfits like Natalie's walking along the buildings, occasionally stopping to peer at something in a shop window.

We stepped out onto the street in Oceanous Alley and started walking. "First stop's Camolath, then off to buy all your school supplies," Natalie told me as we passed a shop selling night vision goggles. We passed another shop where there was a bunch of kids my age, mostly boys, peering in.

"…the new Amaglass 2000…"

"…the best ever…"

I shook my head and followed Natalie. We approached a large building and entered. Inside, there was a bunch of people dressed like Natalie. "

Everyone looked busy. They were either writing something in big, leather books, weighing coins, examining stones, or helping someone. Natalie spotted a free girl and we went up to her.

"Morning! We've come to get some gold out of Miss Alice Brandon's vault."

"Miss Alice Brandon, does she have pass card?" the girl said,

"Oh, I have it" Natalie said pulling out a gold card.

She He glanced at it for a moment, then said, "Everything seems okay."

"Samantha will take you to the vaults."

The two of us followed another girt into a drill cart on railroad tracks. Her hand on the control panel, and the cart began to move.

"Vault gold 13. card please," the Samantha said, holding out her hand. I passed her the key and she waved it in font of a scanner. The door then swung open. Inside, I saw piles and piles of gold, silver, and bronze coins.

"Wow," I gasped.

"The two of us got back in the cart after we loaded my card with enough money for my school stuff "

After we left Camolath, we walked back down the road in Oceanous Alley. We approached Madam Molly's mission wear.

I walked into the shop.

I started looking around the store, feeling a little nervous. A tiny witch peaked out from behind the one rack. "Hello, dear. Afandwarth?" she asked.

I nodded.

"First year?" she asked.

I nodded again.

"Come on back," she said, beckoning me to follow her. "There's a young man being fitted for Afandwarth as well."

She led me to the fitting area and placed me on a stool next to a blond-haired boy.

"Afandwarth?" he asked me.

"Yeah."

"Have we met before? You look kind of familiar…"

"Most likely not. This is my first year at Afandwarth."

"Mine too. My parents are out now getting the rest of my things. Mother is off getting my books while father is talking to Snippitwith. I'd rather he was out buying me swick glasses. I'll have to tell him to get me one after this. Do you own any swick glasses?"

The way he was talking reminded me of Kate when she got in her everything-I-want-is-mine moods, which was all the time.

"No."

"Well, most girls aren't Swith players, so I guess you wouldn't."

I didn't say anything, but it irked me how he assumed I didn't play Swith (whatever that was) because I was a girl.

"Well," the boy continued, "I do. Father keeps telling me how it will be a crime if I'm not picked to play for the house team. Know what house you're going to be in?"

"No," I said, feeling completely lost in the conversation.

"Well, you can't know for sure, but I know I'll be in Finilth. All my family has been. I'd just be completely ashamed if I was in Mangonial. Bunch of fools."

I didn't say anything and just nodded like I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"You're all done, dear."

The blonde boy hopped off his stool and strode over to me. "Well, it was nice talking to you. I guess I'll see you at Afandwarth. I'm Luke Philborn, by the way," he said

"Well, see you around," Luke said before leaving the shop.

A few minutes later, I was finished. I left the shop and joined Natalie on the street.

Can I ask you something?" I asked him, tentatively.

"Sure, Alice."

"What are Swith, Finilth, and Mangonial?"

"I keep forgetting' how much you don't know. I mean, not even knowing what Swith is! Swith is a spy sport played in a pool. It's kind of hard to explain. And Finilth and Mangonial, along with Difflewant and Pollyons, are houses at Afandwarth.

"Almost all dark wizards came from Finilth. You-Know-Who was in Finilth, and she's as bad as they come. Well, why don't we go get your night vision goggles now?"

I smiled and followed Natalie down the street. We approached a shop with a large sign that said, "Dalloway: seller of night vision goggles." I followed Natalie into the shop.

I looked around the store. It was cramped. Everywhere I looked, there were boxes. It appeared to be empty; I didn't see anyone in the shop besides Natalie and myself.

"Hello?" I called out, wondering where this Dalloway was.

An older man with black hair and sparkling eyes peeped out of one of the long aisles.

"Alice Brandon. I knew you'd come eventually," he said, staring at me.

"Mr. Dalloway, seller of night vision goggles."

For almost an hour, I tried night vision goggles after goggles , we finally found the right ones.

"Oh, wonderful, a pollyfoe!" Mr. Dalloway said, clapping.

I quickly paid for my goggles and left the shop with Natalie. "Well, that's everything' on the list," Natalie said. "Wait, I haven't got you your birthday present yet!"

"Natalie, you don't have to get—"

"Nonsense!" she said, interrupting me. "I can't imagine you ever get many birthday presents living with those ass waffles you call your family."

15 minutes later, we left Melanie's Robot Pet Emporium, holding a Yorkshire terrier that fit in my palm. I named her Layla.

The two of us left Oceanous Alley then headed through L.A

"Here," she said, handing me an envelope. "This is your ticket for the Afandwarth Submarine. Everything you need to know is inside. I'll see yeh at Afandwarth," Natalie said, smiling at me.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the ticket. On it, it said, "The Afandwarth Submarine leaves on September the first at 11 am from bay 10 ½ at Luevana beach.

"Natalie," I said, still looking at the ticket, "there must be a mistake. It says bay 10 ½ There is not a 10 ½ bay I looked up, but saw Natalie has disappeared.