Sorry, I know this is a short chapter, and I haven't updated in FOREVER, but now that school is drawing to a close, and sports seasons are becoming manageable, I plan to write a lot more often! Hang in there, the plot's just beginning, and pretty soon, the espionage will begin! Enjoy!

The Honest Cannot Crave Knowledge

Teegan and I had agreed to research the serums because of our ignorance of what they were, and how they could be used in whatever revolution was being planned. Ironically, we were ignorant about more than just the serums.

For the next month, we went to the library after school each day, and perused the shelves for what we wanted. It didn't help that the Erudite librarian kept giving us the evil eye, and the other patrons, also Erudites, gave us weird looks. We just couldn't find what we were looking for, though. The only things related to 'serum' were old records of medicinal recipes from ancient times and fantasy books in which witches and wizards brewed serums to use in their spellcraft.

"Hey, Teegan, this looks cool…" I mentioned to him one day.

He looked over my shoulder at what I was reading, his hand on my shoulder, and his breath warming my check. He grinned and said, "Well, I suppose it is interesting, and I can't fault you for getting caught up in that story. It is your type of story after all…" He trailed off, his tone teasing.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" I teased back.

"I better not say… I don't want to risk getting on your bad side, Ava" He grinned. I rolled my eyes. "It's not what we need though. We'll have to look somewhere else." He continued.

"Yeah, I know. But who doesn't need a bit of adventure and witchcraft in their lives?" I said sadly, slightly upset that we hadn't found anything, for all we'd been searching for so long.

"Thanks, but I'll pass on that. For one, you bewitch better than any witch could, and for another, going out with you is adventurous enough for me!" His eyes crinkled as he grinned that grin that could make me turn to mush. I smacked his chest lightly then kissed him quickly on the lips.

"You're such a flirt!" I said, pretending to be exasperated.

"And you love it!" He replied happily, pulling me in for a longer kiss.

"Ugh! Is that what you two have been doing in the library? Bookworms like you, not even studying, but making out in a library? You know, there are more comfortable places. Ava, I could show you a few… If you begged." A smooth, mocking voice cut through the hush in the library.

Teegan sighed, lips still barely separated from mine. He pulled back, reclining smoothly in his chair, then turned his head to our one-man audience. "Peter." He said flatly, "What do you want?" Peter sneered at Teegan, leered at me, then walked away.

"Creep!" I exclaimed, disgusted.

Teegan sighed. "I really don't think he cares what either of us thinks. At least in a few months, we'll never have to lay eyes on him again." Shaking his head to get back on topic, he said, "Well, lets see. We could try a bookstore…"

I gave him a look. "You know that wouldn't work. They wouldn't have anything on serums. Especially if the library doesn't." He nodded his acknowledgement of the fact. We sat in comfortable silence as wee thought over our dilemma. Our hands slipped around each other, and we sat for a while.

The librarian called out that the library would be closing in twenty minutes. "We'd better put these back, Teegan said regretfully, pulling his hand out of mine, and picking up our latest stack of books. I grumbled about letting the stuffy librarian reshelf the books along with her attitude, but went to help Teegan anyway. He's too kind for his own good, I thought.

On our way home, I thought of something. "Hey, Teegan, what if they're doing research on serums, and it's some sort of top-secret government thing that's perfectly legal, and not a rebellion?" I asked hopefully.

Teegan ruffled my hair affectionately and said sadly, "We both know something fishy is going on here." His voice turned hard, "But, we'll figure it out. Clearly, the Erudites don't want the serum information available to the public. We might have to wait until we're in Erudite before we can access the information. And we'll need to come up with a plan for researching then, without arousing any suspicions. Even then, you might be right about the top secret part. Hmmm." His face srunched up in thought, a slight frown on his face.

I smiled up at him, utterly transfixed by how handsome he was in the fading sunlight. He noticed me watching, and smiled at me in a way that made my knees weak. He slipped an arm around my waist as we walked, and I put my head on his shoulder, my arm around him as well.

We were walking up our street when I said, "If it is top secret, we'll have to be careful how we look, and which means not just asking the right things of the right people, but also doing the right things at the right times in the right places. You know what that means, right?" I grinned up at him, knowing his response.

He groaned and said, "It's always like this with you!" He said, slightly exasperated, slightly admiring.

I remembered earlier, and replied, "And you love it!"

He smiled gently down at me and said, "Yes, it's annoying sometimes, and makes me worry about you, but I do love your determination. And if you're going to be headstrong and stubborn about this, then I'm going to help. And if we want to make it out of this alive, we're going to need training."