Sorry if the formatting, especially with the paragraphs, changes every chapter, but I'm trying to find a good way so it's easy to read. It would help to get more feedback. Thank you!
"I-I'm so s-sorry," Penny stutters, flushing bright red.
"I, I mean you, you weren't there at diner and you behaved odd and I thought I might find a clue to…" Penny stops mid-sentence and lowers her head in embarrassment.
Talon closes the door and walks towards her, shaking his head "Penny, Penny, Penny," he mutters, wearing a poker face. He stops right in front of her. They are so close Penny can feel him breathing.
Out of reflex she wants to step back but Talon grabs her shoulders to hold her back. He then slowly trails his right hand up the back of her neck and along her jaw to lift her chin. "Look at me," he whispers softly.
Penny slowly looks up, just to see Talon smirking.
"I know you had it in you," he smiles triumphantly. "You're quite reckless for someone who says they always follow the rules."
He starts laughing at Penny's dumbfounded expression and steps back from her. "You're such an idiot," Penny says lightly boxing him to cover up how confused she is by his earlier closeness.
Talon walks over to his kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. "Want some?" he asks. Penny shakes her head. "I don't like coffee. It's bitter," she explains, making a face as if remembering the taste.
Talon sips a bit of coffee, his eyes fixed on Penny. "So, you are here because I behaved odd?" he asks, raising one eyebrow. Penny once again looks down wrestling with her hands.
"Please sit down, it's weird if you're standing around like this," Talon interrupts before she could say anything.
Penny drops herself on the sofa, Talon sits down next to her looking at her attentive.
Penny slowly starts to speak "After the ranking you were lost in thought and then you suddenly disappeared, and Kayla thought we shouldn't have any secrets as long as we are partners. And I agree with her. Yesterday I told you that you shouldn't know too much about me, but I realized that we can't work as partners if we know nothing about each other. So, I wanted to apologize and help you in case you have trouble with something." Penny shyly smiles at Talon who looks taken aback.
"I didn't think you would apologize, you have no reason to…" Talon stops mid-sentence. He gets up and walks over to his nightstand. He pulls out a small package, walks back to the sofa and hands it to Penny.
"What's that?" Penny asks curious. "Just open it," Talon says with a light smile.
Penny unwraps the small parcel. "Wow Talon, it's beautiful." Penny takes out a silver bracelet with a little red stone. "Thank you, but why do you give me this bracelet?"
Talon scratches the back of his head.
"Well it's an apology. You were right. It's my fault our ranking is so low. I should sometimes just be quiet. Uncle Claw told me often enough, but I guess I never was a good listener. And when I was quiet after lunch I thought of a way to make it up to you. So, I hope you accept this as an apology." Talon takes his cup, sits down on the sofa again and takes a few gulps.
Penny looks at him without saying a word. Talon puts down his cup. "It's no normal bracelet, I made it myself, it's a special communication bracelet. This way we can always communicate with each other no matter where we are. You just need to push the red stone and you call me. It is a save connection and only works between your bracelet and my bracelet cuff."
Penny is still looking at Talon, too stunned to answer. "You don't have to use it if you don't like it. I just thought it could come in handy with the special missions or if we are looking for each other." Because Penny is still quiet, Talon drops his head and turns away. He didn't see Penny putting on the bracelet.
"You can leave it here or keep it whatever…" he starts his sentence.
"Hey" Penny interrupts and moves over to Talon, touching his shoulder. Surprised he looks up. "It's wonderful and I love it. I just didn't think you were the type for apologies…Looks like I was wrong. I appreciate it so thank you." Penny leans in and kisses his cheek.
She then gets up and quickly walks over to the door. "Sorry again for coming here without permission, it won't happen again. Now I have a way to find you. She raises her arm with the bracelet around it. Good night." With those parting words she leaves his treehouse and returns to her own.
The rest of the week continues without any further incident. It's dinnertime and Penny, Kayla, Ben and Talon are in the dining hall eating.
"Your attention please." The voice of the male instructor from the target practice, his name is Jim, booms through the room.
"Ten pairs of agents enrolled for the special mission this week. Immediately after dinner you will follow me, and the special mission starts. You don't need anything else than what you already got with you. We will provide you with the rest. The mission is over the entire weekend, so say your goodbyes and if you're ready come to me." Jim sits down once again, and the hall soon is filled with excited chatter.
"Are you nervous?" Ben asks curiously.
"Nah, it's going to be easy." Talon says. Penny kicks him under the table.
"What did we agree on about keeping your big mouth shot?" she asks him sweetly.
"I should be quiet or else our task may be more difficult, I know, I know," Talon grumbles.
"Exactly," Penny flashes a smile.
"I'm super curious what this task is about, it's just a shame you won't be doing the special mission as well." Penny says turning to Kayla.
"Not this week Pen, maybe next. But we made a lot of progress with our weapons. I'm quite good with the paintball gun myself now." Kayla says proudly. Penny smiles at her and hugs her.
"Talon are you ready?" she asks him while getting up.
"Sure, let's go." He enthusiastically replies.
"Good luck!" Ben and Kayla say in unison. They look at each other and start to laugh. "I think it's no problem for you to kill the time while we're gone." Penny says amused. "Thanks, and take care, see you on Monday."
Penny and Talon walk to the front waving.
Thirty minutes later, all twenty agents participating in the special mission are in a small separate room next to the dining hall. Most of the teams have low rankings and want to improve, just three other teams are there to check out what the special missions are about like Penny and Talon. Jim comes into the room and all look at him expectantly.
"Welcome to the first special mission of this camp. This week's task is to find a missing agent represented by a dummy." A murmur spreads through the junior agents.
"Be quiet please. You will have eighty-four hours to complete this task. Each group must find their own dummy. The task will take place under real conditions, this means the missing agent has a background and went missing on one of his or her missions. You must find clues to there whereabouts by going through files, talking to people they were close with, who are represented by other instructors of the camp, etc."
A young man raises his hand. "Is time the only thing taken to account concerning the ranking?" he asks.
"No, also your creativity, partner work and survival skills will be taken to account." Jim answers.
"Are there any more questions?" he asks.
The young man raises his hand again. "Will all of us start from the same position?"
"Again no, all of you have to search in the same area but it's very wide and so highly unlikely you meet each other. If you do nonetheless you can decide whether you want to help each other and work together or not." Jim explains.
"Now the introduction time is up. Each of you grab the backpack with your name on it and change into the clothes over there." He points to the right corner where backpacks and piles of clothes are lined up.
"The boys can change in the next room, the girls can stay here. Hurry up, we will leave in ten minutes." With these words he leaves the room.
Ten minutes later, everyone has changed and wears their backpack.
"Winter clothes, I guess we're going to the mountains." Talon says.
"Yeah, I think so too. I checked the backpack and climbing gear is inside." Penny agrees.
"This is going to be so much fun." Talon says, hopping up and down with excitement.
"You're like a little kid, who gets his favorite toy," Penny teases smiling. "I am not." Talon states. "Or chocolate." Penny adds, now chuckling.
Their little exchange gets interrupted by Jim "Talon, Penny, your ride has arrived. Good luck and hopefully we will see each other on Monday."
Talon and Penny leave to room and board the helicopter waiting for them. The time they take off, they are greeted by a female agent.
"Junior agents Penny and Talon, this is an important mission to find the missing agent Ann Silver, she went missing on an undercover operation. Her last known location is a small hut, near this lake." The agent points at a map.
"We will now take you to her mission control center. From there you can gather information and start your search. Because of the rough terrain we can't land with the helicopter. You will have to jump with parachutes. Good luck and bring her back safely."
She hands them the parachutes.
"OK. Let's go." Penny says. "I think this is a good spot to jump." She points at a wide snowy area. Talon nods. They once again check their parachutes and then jump.
Their parachutes open without problem and they glide down slowly. "We should land over there!" Penny screams pointing at a clear spot right of them. Talon raises his thumb to signal his understanding and agreement.
Penny lands smoothly on the spot she planned. She looks for Talon who jumped after her just to see him crash landing into a nearby tree. She takes of her parachute and takes out her snowshoes. She walks over to the tree as quickly as possible. "Are you OK?" she shouts so he can hear her. He does not answer so she shouts again "Talon? Talon, can you hear me?"
She suddenly feels something warm around her wrist and shoves back her sleeve. The little red stone on the bracelet Talon made her is blinking. She pushes it and a picture of Talon appears.
"Silly, you don't need to shout. We can use our bracelets," he tells her smiling.
Penny signs relived. "I thought you did this before?" she asks him confused. "Than why the crash-landing?"
"Well I kind of always had my boots, so no need for parachutes." He shrugs his shoulders and takes of his parachute.
"It would be super easy to get down this tree with my boots, but no, they need to force me to wear those ugly snowshoes."
"I'm sorry they are not your style but hurry and get down here, it's freezing." Penny says rolling her eyes.
"Why do you want me to hug you, so you get warm?" Talon asks wiggling his eyebrows, while starting to climb down.
"Ugh!" is Penny's only reply before she ends the call.