As I brought a backpack and opened it I started loading it with weird tolls I found in the secret room. There were: a slime that I discovered would be very useful for wall climbing; a fancy-looking hand watch that had lots of buttons on it; when I pressed them, I found out that the watch combined an electronic GPS map, radio, phone, secret camera and a special mirror to see what is going on behind you- basically, it could do everything except for telling you time. I also found a weird-looking bug that was crawling up and down the bookshelf; I got disgusted at first; but then I saw that the bag is lacking legs- it seemed to move by itself, and had a tiny spot on its back. After several minutes of trying to realize what it might be, I carefully picked up the bug and placed on my hand. It immediately stopped moving and seemed to freeze, as I saw that the spot on its back is getting bigger and actually looks like a tiny camera lens. "So it's a robot bug", I thought. Might be useful to distract someone, and to screen them later using the signals from the camera. Not bad.

"Hey, I'm back." Ryan entered the room.

I grabbed some more things from the desk nearby and closed the backpack.

"Well, alright then, I have some things and I guess we can just…em..."

"Yeah… I'll just…"

It seemed wrong to leave, not knowing when, if ever, I will come back. I went around the house, trying to remember every tiny detail of it. The way the pictures were on the wall. The coffee table that never serves for coffee, but rather for people's feet. The supposedly white curtains that already turned gray since my mom didn't have a clue on how to wash them. I entered the basement. It was rather cold, as usual. "Maybe there will be a secret passage here or something." I thought. Like in spy movies. There would be a hidden helicopter here, and the roof will open up so that it will be able to fly through, and then…

"Cammie? Where are you?" I heard Ryan calling from the upstairs.

"I am in the basement" I screamed back. "Come down here."

I heard footsteps as Ryan came downstairs.

"What's wrong? Why are you here? Let's go, Cam…"

"No. I can't explain it, but I have a feeling that…I don't know."

Ryan carefully searched the basement. "Nothing here seems unusual to me," he said.

I slowly went towards one of the walls. There was a big beautiful picture of our whole family on it. The picture was framed and put exactly in the middle of the wall, but it was hanging very low- almost touching the floor. I always wondered why is it that way, but mom never answered my question. I carefully touched the picture, and…nothing happened.

Trying to hide the shade of disappointment I slowly turned to Ryan. He came closer and looked at the picture for quite a long time. Then, he carefully lifted it and removed from the wall, as we both gasped. It revealed a secret passage.

Literally, there was a huge hole in the wall, but I preferred to think about it as a secret passage. After all, I am a spy.

"Wow, Cammie, this is awesome!" said Ryan.

"I wonder where it goes." I said, thinking.

"Probably just to the yard." He replied. "But we can find out. I'll go first, alright?"

So sweet. He still wants to defend me.

Ryan carefully crawled into the hole, which seemed to be the perfect size for him- would he have been 2 inches taller, and he wouldn't be able to fit there. I crawled on my knees right after him.

We both expected it to be a short tunnel to the outside of the house, but it seemed to be very long, for we kept going on for at least fifteen minutes until we finally saw light. We, that is- Ryan did, as I was right behind him.

As soon as we reached the end of the tunnel, Ryan fell somewhere, releasing a short "ouch". I fell right on top of him, realizing that both of us are on a big, comfortable couch.

Shocked, we looked around. We were in a huge room that looked like a secret base for scientific engineering or something- there were lots, and I mean LOTS of computers. The place had a very high ceiling and was entirely gray- it seemed to be made of some sort of metal. Some of the desks were covered with weird tools, similar to the ones I found in my mom's secret room. At least twenty people were running across the room, and as soon as they noticed me and Ryan (noticed, that is- it's kinda hard not to notice two teenagers falling from a hole in a wall. Not a lie), they all ran towards us. The biggest one of them, who seemed to be a security guard, grabbed Ryan and yelled:

"Who sent you here? How did you find the place? Answer me!"

"He doesn't know anything!" I cried. I found a secret passage in the basement of my house which led here, and…"

"Secret passage? How old do you think I am, five?"

"Wait a minute," said a calm voice.

The crowd slowly separated as a very tall, middle-aged woman came through. "Cammie? Are you Cammie?"

"Yes", I said in a quiet voice, surprised that she knows my name.

"I suppose that you were informed that your parents are missing? Who informed you? How did you get here?"

"I…" it seemed wrong to explain them something. In my opinion, me and Ryan needed some explanations about the place.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You are not the one to ask questions here!" The security guy yelled at me again.

"For god's sake, Gustav, calm down!" The woman screamed at him. "Cammie, I guess you deserve some explanations. Come with me."

The woman slowly turned around, ordering me to follow her. Ryan was about to come with us, but the woman suddenly stopped.

"Who is he? We can't trust strangers."

"He is not a stranger," I replied angrily. "He is my friend."

Ryan lifted his head and looked straight at me, but he seemed sad. He lowered his head again.

The woman examined Ryan from head to toes until she finally said:

"Well. Alright then."

We followed her as she walked through a huge auditorium, into a fairly big room that looked like a meeting room. There was a very long table with many comfortable chairs on each side of it and a glass of water near every seat. Some five or six people were there, until we joined them.

"Amanda darling, who are they?" asked a middle-aged man dressed in a suit.

"One more time you call me "darling", Anthony, and you will get fired from this job. Is this clear?"

The man lowered his head and turned away.

"Sit down." The woman ordered. "And remember, you are not here to touch anything."

Ryan and I carefully sit next to each other, and the woman placed herself at the head of the table. She held a specific remote control, and when she started pressing buttons on it, the doors closed, the windows shut and the cameras spun away. This somewhat reminded me of out "spy talks" at home, just that we didn't have fancy remotes to close the doors.

"Alright," said the woman, who now looked to us as the boss of the meeting. "Let the explanations begin."