Hey guys so sorry I haven't been able to update too much. School's keeping me pretty busy, I'm trying to stay a year ahead and be freshman by the end of this year. Well I hope you guys enjoy this. The story's getting close to the end so I hope it can keep you till the end =)

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After the last fight Carter and Alex had--telling each other off through out it and coming so close together in skin contact that it gave the wrong impression to Dan Welshmen--they hadn't talked much or seen each other a lot, and it had been going on for two weeks!

At breakfast they sat by each other again, but only to move when his roommates started teasing them and taunting them, but even then they didn't really talk.

Alex gazed at her a few times to try to guess what she was thinking but only got a few remorse-filled looks back from her deep gray eyes.

At lunch they tried to act like before but found it slightly impossible and one time at dinner when they were forced to wedge beside each other to eat it got worse.

Alex smiled as he remembered.

Something had happened to one of the long dining tables--rumor was that a couple of students got into a fight one night and broke it in half--and had caused to cram sixteen more students in an already full sixteen-seat table and caused Carter and him to sit next to each other.

They had been so close it wasn't funny. When he had gone to put his hand on his knee he ended up putting it on her bare leg. Carter had turned to look at him confusingly then slid his hand off and continued to talk to the girl in front of her--Dawnsey Caine.

Dawnsey Caine was sixteen, she had dirty blonde curls and big hazel eyes, her lips were small and pink and her cheeks were blushed soft rose. She was 5' 6" with long legs and a slim sculpted waist. She looked like a model that had stepped out from the Tyra Banks Show.

"I need some girls to talk to," Carter had said, "hanging with you, Jay, Ed, and Ty all the time is gonna brainwash me."

So she had met Dawnsey and had become friends with her.

Now there six in their group of friends. Tyler--whose wandering eyes went from Carter to Dawnsey--Jay, Ed, Dawnsey, Carter and himself. Finally, he was feeling welcome.

The charity ball was coming quickly, the whole school was bustling about it. Signs were going up about it, students were gossiping about it and what would happen after, girls were freaking out about it, guys were nervous about it.

That Saturday--tomorrow--the school was going to head into the small town Jour and get prepared for it.

"What kind of dress are you looking for exactly?" Dawnsey asked Carter.

They were all sitting at lunch and were talking about it.

Friday had come and so had the feeling of freedom--at least as far as it was able to go.

"I don't know, maybe a red one?" Carter sounded confused, "I was thinking of like a short tight one or maybe even a long one. I don't know. What about you?"

"I saw this dark blue one that I really like, it goes to the floor and has like this silver lining on the neck and an open back with criss-cross straps."

"Sounds cute."

"So," Tyler ate his food slowly, asking Alex, "asked anyone to go with you?"

Alex shook his head, "No, I haven't. I don't think I will."

"Why not? Dude, there are plenty of hot chicks here and they're waiting for you to ask 'em."

"Like who,"

"Amy Stupid's one of 'em," Dawnsey said, "I mean she only stares at you like a diamond that she's gonna whine her daddy for."

"Or a wad of cash that she's gonna flaunt," Carter said, mostly to herself.

"See, man," Tyler came back into his original conversation, "just ask her and get it over with."

"Yeah, and if she says no"--Dawnsey put her hands on Carter's shoulder--"you'll always have Silver."

"What?" Carter laughed, "Uh, excuse me but I am nobody's booty call."

"Of course not, just Garrett's."

The others started laughing.

Alex felt the blood rushing to his face and his ears start to heat up, he put his head down and tried to eat.

"Well," Carter got up with her tray, "you guys just mouthing cause you can't get yo' own dates,"

"Whatever," Tyler said, "I bet fifty bucks that I'll get a date before you."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah,"

"Prove it," she smiled as she spoke.

"I will."

"Get a date by Thursday or pay up. Come on, Tyler, bring it!"

They all started laughing.

Carter threw away her plate and put the tray on the holder over the trash can, then she came back and sat in Dawnsey's lap.

"So you gonna ask her, G?" she asked.

"Who? Amy?"

"Yeah,"

"I don't think so,"

"Why not?" Ed asked.

"Cause, well, when I'm around her and I just hear her talk she gets annoying."

"I know that feeling. I can't believe I haven't done something to her already. Sharing a room with the Late Years is so not my choice of torture. I would rather have a bullet through my hand to it."

"Oh come on, I don't think they're that bad," Dawnsey said.

"Heck yeah!" they all said in unison.

"Okay fine then, sorry I tried to see the good in people."

"Okay so how're we doing this?" Carter asked them.

"Doing what?" Jay replied.

"I mean we all don't have dates, so how're you guys gonna do your tuxes?"

"All white," Jay said.

"Gray and black," Ed said after him.

"Blue and black," Tyler chunked a piece of bread into his mouth.

"What about you?" Dawnsey asked Alex.

He looked at Carter and smiled, "All black,"

"Ooh, he's going all James Bond," she teased.

Carter popped her neck and smiled.

"You?" he asked.

Carter and Dawnsey looked at each other, "Don't know," they said.

"Really depends on the guy I'm going with," Dawnsey said.

"Yeah, that has a big thing to do with it." Carter interjected.

"It's just dancing," Jay said.

"It's the celebration of getting out of this hellhole." Dawnsey grabbed her water and drank some of it.

"Hear, hear to that!" Carter high fived her.

The bell rang.

"Ugh," Carter grunted, "crap-school's in session again."

Alex got up with his tray.

He tossed the left over food in the trash.

As they headed out of the cafeteria, Carter came to his side and grabbed his arm.

"Hey," she whispered.

"Yes? What did I do?" he teased.

"Shut up, nothing. No, listen, I was thinking…"

Alex was picturing what she was going to say: I was thinking maybe…you could go with me--I mean since we're being teased so much we might as well.

But that wasn't what he heard.

"We haven't scouted the warehouses in a while, we should probably go do that sometime."

He looked down.

"Yeah," he said, "we should…do that…"

Carter let go of his arm, "A'ight, what's the matter?"

"What'd you mean?"

"Dude, you're acting weird. Like yesterday, you were holding on to the table so hard I thought it was gonna break."

"What're you talking about?"

"You grabbed the edge when I--" she cut herself off.

Alex remembered. Carter had sat across from him in biology and as they were listening she had put her foot on his leg. Her shoe was off so she had curled her toes just as she went to the inside of his thigh. At first he had barely moved, gradually growing stiff, but then she went so up north that she surprised him and he jumped, grabbing the table.

"I wasn't expecting it 's all." he said, flipping his history book in his hands.

"That's all?"

"That's all."

She nodded.

She reached for something in her pocket but then looked at him and just kept her hand inside it. Alex groaned when he saw the movement.

"You're still taking them, aren't you?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes.

"Carter, how can still be popping them after what happened week before last?"

"What did happen week before last?" she teased, pressing herself against him and putting her arms around his neck, Ever since then she had always somehow touched him, making all of the students stare at them--she loved seeing their reaction.

"Silver," he pushed down her arms gently, not really wanting to move them but knowing they didn't need to draw the attention, "stop. How is it even in your mind?"

"It's like you said, I'm addicted."

"Obviously,"

"You know what--this is something you have no business or knowledge in, you don't know how any of this affects me, how much pain I go through because of it--you don't know! If I don't take them then the pain is tripled, the suffering tripled, everything tripled!

"So unless you know that feeling, stay out of it!"

"No, Silver, listen, I know it hurts but you have to stop. It's gonna--"

"It's none of your business!"

"Silver--"

"Just shut up, Garrett--"

"I won't because--"

"Hey, Garrett!"

CRAP IT! Alex yelled in his mind, Why now? Of all times, why now!?

Amy Diputs was standing close to him, twirling a blonde curl with a finger. She looked like the bright blinding light that no one wanted around as they slept.

"Hey, Amy," Alex said in monotone.

Carter crossed her arms and cocked her head--the movement still got on Alex's nerves but less now. She was chewing a piece of gum so when Amy came up she blew a huge bubble and popped it in her face.

Amy scoffed at her, rolling her big blue eyes.

"Oh, Silver," Amy said in a smart-aleck, "you left some weird gunk in the room--oh, I mean your luggage." she put a hand on her hip and tossed her hair.

"Amy--" Alex didn't want this to start, it would never end! But even he couldn't stop it.

"Well," Carter cocked her head the opposite way, "I think some trash is staying in my room, it's your face."

Amy let out the most pathetic gasp Alex had ever heard.

"Oh, well it's ten times better than your face."

"Have you looked in a mirror? No probably not because they usually break whenever an evil, pathetic bit--"

"Silver, let it go."

"You know what--" Amy twirled her hair again, "I didn't even come here to talk to you."

Amy grabbed Alex by the arm as Carter did and whispered to him, "I need to ask you something,"

She pulled him and made Carter back off. Carter bit the inside of her cheek as Amy dragged Alex off, and as she did Alex looked back with pleading eyes.

Carter gave a final look to them, then walked the opposite direction away from them, shaking her head the entire time.

Amy took him down the hall and into a corridor where only a few students were.

"What'd you need to ask me?" he asked, desperate to return to his friends.

She turned him around and cornered him into the lockers, she grabbed his tie and entwined it around her pink-nailed, pale hands.

"You know," she made her voice smooth and airy, "I don't usually do the asking, 's not my thing, but I totally couldn't resist."

Somehow in a manner of a second she had pressed herself against him and had moved her hands around his neck.

"What're you-what're you talking about?" he could barely find his voice as Amy transformed, in his arms, into the temptress every guy wanted.

"Ball's in two weeks, I got my dress and have well rejected every guy that's asked me to go with them." she put her face closer to his, "Come on, Garrett, we're both flying, both dancing alone…but I really,…really, want you to tango with me."

She moved his hand from his side and put it on her waist.

"What'd you say?" she put her lips so close to his they brushed them, "Will you go to the ball with me?"

Standing right there, with Amy pressed against him and the students passing by staring at him, he knew that this moment was bound to happen sooner or later. He had known it ever since he had seen her from his dorm window and she flashed a smile and a wink at him, ever since she had passed him and rubbed his cheek with the tip of her finger for less than a second, and especially ever since Carter became more aggravated with her and began to be a little green-eyed.

This was the moment almost every male student in the school dreamed about--everyone but him. He didn't want to go with her, not with anyone else besides one girl and if he couldn't have her he didn't want another date. But the few students that saw them were staring, if he refused the opportunity to go with the hottest girl in the school they would suspect something of him and look into him.

Amy began rubbing his cheek with her fingertips and pushed away some of his dyed black hair from his face.

He knew he could walk away from her and be known as the English-Bad-Boy that let Amy Diputs slip through his fingers, or he could be like Alice and fall through the hole into deranged-put-up-with-Amy-and-not-have-his-only-wish-wonderland.

"So what'd you say?" she finally kissed him. Alex could taste the cherry on her lip gloss and it felt so wrong. He felt no little flame, no spark, no passion, nothing!

She pulled back.

"So?"…

…he fell.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What was so hard at saying no!" Carter almost yelled her words.

"Wait," Ty said, "so she asked you?"

"Yeah, she did." Alex really regretted it now.

School was out and him and his friends were sitting at the fountain in square two, talking about what happened.

"but I mean, I told her it was just a one time thing. It doesn't mean we're boyfriend and girlfriend or anything."

"What'd she say to that?" jay asked.

"She was cool with it."

"Of course she was," Dawnsey, who was walking on the ring around the fountain, interjected, "as long as you're her newest accessory besides her 5 grand dress she's good to go."

"Couldn't you have just said no?" Carter repeated.

" 'No'?" Tyler said, "Silver, saying no to Amy Diputs is like-like going to a candy shop opening and not getting most of the food even though you're about to explode."

"You're explanation is like her last name spelled backwards--stupid."

"Yeah, yeah, but you get the point."

"Wish I didn't."

"Well," Jay put his leg on the fountain, "at least one of us has a date."

"Nope," Dawnsey said, "I got one too."

"Who?" Carter and Tyler said at the same time. Carter was glad at the change of subject, Tyler was only wanting to know for his own specific reasons.

"Chase Smith."

Carter smiled, "Hottie-Chase-Smith?"

"Yep! He asked me today."

"When?"

"Right after English Lit."

"Oh my God, wasn't one of the Placci twins wanting to go with him?"

"Mmm-hmm. Mel. But she ain't--I am! Heeey!"

The girls laughed.

"I'm guessing you're still, uh, solo." Carter teased Tyler.

"You're one to talk," he retorted, "you don't have one either."

"But I'm closer to getting one than you are, oh!"

Jay shoved him on the shoulder, "She's right, bro," he said.

Tyler pushed him back and accidentally made him fall into the fountain, but not before Jay grabbed him and pulled him with him. They splashed the water to where it hit them all, soaking Alex and Ed's back and Carter and Dawnsey's side.

"Oh my gosh!" Carter laughed, "you idiots!"

Alex laughed, some of his hair had gotten wet so he pulled it back.

"Dude, help us up," Jay groaned.

Alex and Carter extended their hands to them. Jay grabbed Alex with a slick grip and pulled him forward, flipping him into the fountain. Tyler did the same thing to Carter and she screamed at the surprise. She landed on top of Alex, but didn't stay long, she lifted herself with her legs and changed her expression. "You guys, we're gonna get in trouble." she said.

Alex looked at Ed and Dawnsey--who were barely wet--and saw the horror struck look on their faces.

"Too late," Dawnsey said, she and Ed grabbing their books, "Every man for themselves," she had a guilty look on her face.

They ran off and blended in with the crowd.

"What?" Alex began to get up when a large hand grabbed him and Tyler by the shoulder and jerked them around. They turned to face Charlie Joust.

"…Mr. Joust." Tyler's words were barely a whisper.

"Kingston," Joust said, "Losten,"

"Sir," Alex breathed. He had never really been afraid of people, he had always found the upper hand and just confronted them but Joust was somehow very compelling to be frightening.

"Care to tell me why you've decided to…play in our fountain?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw that Jay was gone and so was Carter.

"Hmm…" Joust kept a hold of them and said, "Miss Massey, you will do well to show yourself."

For a moment, Joust seemed to talk to himself, there was nobody in the fountain.

"Miss Massey,"

Alex began to tell him she wasn't there when all of the sudden Carter stepped out from behind the statue--her arms crossed and her head cocked.

"Now then," Joust pinched his thumbs into Ty's and Alex's shoulders, "Why were you in the fountain?"

"We," Tyler tried to speak through his pain, he and Alex were slowly going downward, "we were just playing around and fell in."

"Really?"

"Yes," Alex said shaking, "nothing else."

"Oh, really?"

Joust grabbed their arms and knocked them back into the water, slamming them into Carter and making her fall backwards.

Alex spewed out the water that found its way in his mouth and rubbed his shoulder, squinting his eyes at his new bruise.

Joust looked at them and said, "Three days detention starting Monday."

He walked off and when he was out of ear reach, Carter spit out the dirtiest word she knew at him.

"Idiot," she mumbled, "You all right?" she asked Alex.

"Yeah…doesn't hurt that bad." he rubbed it gently.

"Well, let's go."

She helped him and Tyler up.

They began walking back toward their dorms, books in hand. Tyler was grumbling about his shoulder repeatedly and was beginning to irritate Alex.

Students were staring at them as they walked out of the square and into the outer part of the school, leaving a trail of water behind them.

"Silver," Alex whispered.

She looked at him, her gray eyes sparkling with something like guilt, but where did it come from? The past? The future?…The present?

"Yeah," she smiled. They found it strange to call each other by these names, pretending to be someone they weren't.

But Alex knew what he was about to do was stranger than anything they'd gone through.

"Can-can I ask you something?"

Her smile turned timid, "Sure,"

"Can I do…one thing…please?"

"Don't get too physical now." she teased.

He smiled. He walked closer to her and slowly lifted his arm, draping it across her shoulders.

"Am I allowed this physical?" he asked with a smile.

At first Carter just kept walking and didn't look at him, but then she slowly put her arm around his waist and put her head near his shoulder.

"Yeah, You're allowed that." her voice didn't sound like a tease, it sounded secure as if breathing a breath of "At last".

Many of the students froze to stare at them. Losten and Massey? Weren't they always fighting? Always arguing? Didn't they not like each other? They couldn't tolerate each other! But now they were holding each other? They looked like-like a couple.

"Everyone's staring," Alex whispered.

"Imagine what would happen if we locked lips," Carter said. An awkward moment occurred right then and Alex couldn't have been happier to have Tyler beside them.

"Dude," Tyler said, running to their side, "in case you haven't noticed you have the entire high school gawking at you."

"We know," they said.

"So are you guys like?…"

"No," Carter said.

"It's just a trick on the students." Alex said.

Tyler shrugged.

It's just a trick. The words rang in Alex's ears. He knew this moment wouldn't last and would probably never happen again, so he made his hold stronger, warmer, safer.

Carter did the same but, slowly, her hand began to tremble. Had he done something wrong? To frighten her?

"Hey," he said softly.

She looked up at him and he saw the pain and guilt in her eyes again.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she whispered, "Just…not used to having someone actually want me around is all."

"What'd you mean?"

Carter looked down and gave an anxious laugh, "Well"--her trembling increased a little--"I…I wasn't exactly able to have a choice to join…"

She paused.

Tyler was waving at someone, he turned to them and said, "Hey I'll catch you later--by the way you might want to stop that, fin's pretty much over I think they're taking it the wrong way." he ran off and out of the square.

Alex--unwillingly--slid his arm off Carter and she did the same.

"Carry on," he told her.

She nodded, "I didn't have a choice, you know, no options. And I still don't."

"I thought you said 'yes' to the mission."

"No, I'm not like you. CIA is a little tighter. They told me, I left. I'm sort of like a dog in a shock collar--do it, or they'll hurt you."

"Then how did you get into this?" Alex knew her story was probably nothing like his; he had been trained his entire life by Ian Rider and, even though he didn't know he was being trained, he had an option about the missions.

Carter crossed her arms, her books close to her chest, "My mom was really young when she had me, too young. By the time I was three she couldn't really take care of me anymore so…she put me up for adoption.

"I never had any friends at the orphan center, I mostly kept to myself…still do. No one could really understand me, even though we all had pretty much the same story I felt different…I was seen different. I was always getting into trouble so pretty soon people were calling me 'Punk', I don't know why but they liked it. They called me a lot of stuff, 'Punk', 'Tramp', they even called me 'Cassie No-Name' because when I was dropped off my mother didn't leave a name or anything so they called me Cassandra and since I didn't have a last name that was what they called me. But 'Punk' was always the favorite. I got into a lot of trouble for sneaking out and stealing things.

"Like one time, I remember, I was so desperate to get out of county house that I broke through the window bars and tried to jack a car. I was so close, I could hear the lock just waiting to be sprung. But the police and came and caught me before I could open the door…heh, but that's what got me in the CIA.

"I dead-beat the cops pretty bad, took their weapons and hopped in their car. They're always warning people, 'never leave the keys in your car 'cause someone can take it' but they never do it themselves.

"I was out on the highway, about an hour away from the County House, when this black Escalade rammed into my side. It scared me so bad."--her eyes were staring at the ground blankly, she remember the time so well that she seemed to just be reading it off a script--"At first I just swerved to the other lane and floored it but then it rear-ended me and made me hit my head on the windshield. It sped up and rammed me one final time in the side and it made hit the rail guard so hard it broke and I went racing down a cliff. Everything was so fast then. One moment I saw the end of the cliff, the next I was flying out of the car and onto a rough ground. I looked up and saw the Escalade coming back. It stopped near me and a man got out…Before I could say anything I blacked out.

"When I woke up I was in a white room with an oxygen hose up my nose, an IV in my arm, and a heart monitor near my head. I was still in my old clothes and I could see everything that happened to me. My arm was scraped, my leg had a huge gash and my stomach had a white bandage wrapped all the way around my waist. I looked around and saw the County House Supervisor talking to some guy, she shoved some papers, he signed it and she left. I didn't know right then I was becoming US property. I was twelve years old. Not even a teen.

"The guy was my boss, Dwaine Scottsdale"--she said the name with something more than hate--"executive chief of all CIA operations. He had made a deal with the president that if he could train a child as an agent he would attempt to make them one of the greatest weapons in History. They're still working on my 'glitches'." she made air quotations with her hands.

"I thought MI6--"

"--though it up first? No. CIA does steal a lot of ideas, but…"she sat down on the bench beside the wall and stared at her hands again, "not this one.

"I had never thought of spy stuff you know? We see all those movies and think 'oh, I wanna James Bond. I wanna be a spy.' the thought never occurred to me. They just nabbed me and put me on lockdown.

"But you, you on the other hand, your uncle was training, preparing you, your whole life. Of course, he didn't think your first mission was at 14-years-old. No one did. But no one should have to do this 'job' so young. I know that now."

She fell silent.

The square was cleared now. It was about six o'clock, everyone was getting in their dorms because curfew for the school grounds was in fifteen minutes. No one was to be on the school grounds, just in their rooms or on the outside--school, square, mansion, off limits.

"What'd you mean, 'too young'?" Alex asked. He sat down beside her slowly.

Carter had her elbows on her knees and her hands clasped tightly. She stared at them as if she were holding something. A purple strand of hair fell to her face.

"Carter?" he made his voice quiet.

She swallowed and exhaled, "I'll be fifteen next month…its almost been a year." her voice was sullen and remorseful but she kept on, "I've… I've killed before, Rider. I took someone's-someone's life.

"Killing isn't something a teenager or anyone should do. It's wrong. It'll stay in you forever, haunt you till your pushing daisies. I can't forget it."

"What happened?"

Alex had never killed before. Only once had he almost done it but only because Scorpia twisted his mind for it. When he had held up the gun to Mrs. Jones he had to close his eyes to pull the trigger. But nothing happened to her. She had been behind a bulletproof glass that Alex had missed seeing because of his anger and rage. He was curious at what happened to steel-guarded-Carter.

"We were after this guy named John 'Easy' Hardy, he was the CEO of a drug facility. We had found him after three months of searching and finally found the facility. We surrounded the place and had him cornered inside. Six other agents and me went into the building and cornered him into a wall." he hands kept shaking, "And…there was no way out for him.

" 'Please,' he had pleaded, 'don't! I have a child! A wife! A family! Please!' he was so afraid. I lifted the gun but my hand was wanting to drop it so badly.

" 'Do it, Luving,' they said, 'do it now!' I stared at Hardy. His whole life was in my hands now. I was going to do something I had absolutely no right to do. I felt so numb, so cruel.

"They yelled at me one more time. I fired. It was so frightening. His blood spattered from the force of the bullet and hit me. I dropped the gun and fell backwards. I tried to move away from the body but it-it felt like he was coming toward me the entire time. I really had blood on my hands then--it burned like fire on my skin.

"My senses went haywire. I couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything. I was so numb I couldn't cry, couldn't scream, couldn't do anything. I had a friend--Sammy--there with me. He was the only one who ever looked out for me. He told me it was okay, that it would all be over. He took the gun from my hands and carried me out of the building…it was all the worse for us. He died that day too…got shot. We found out that Hardy had actually been working for a group called Black Eclipse and they were the ones who…" she drifted for a moment, "After that I just went downhill."

"How?.."

She looked at him, "I didn't have a soul anymore. I…after thirty I lost count of how many people I've killed, but it's so many. Their faces haunt me in my dreams.

"We're too young for this, Rider, too young."

She seemed so innocent right then, so fragile. Like someone who could be broken in spirit very easily.

"I'm sorry," she said, a smile touching the ends of her lips, "I-I shouldn't have said all that, I just made myself sound like a victim."

Alex looked down and placed his hand on hers. She looked at him and just seemed to stare into his eyes.

"At least I'm not alone," she said, "My past is something I consider dark so thank you for listening."

He shrugged, "Just trying to get to know my partner." Just trying to get to know you.

"Come on, let's go."

He helped her up and put his arm around her again, she put her arm around his waist.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Alex opened the door to his dormitory it was as if he had stepped into the W.W.E. arena. Jay and Tyler were on the floor, both of them trying to bring the other down. Ed was standing on the desk chair yelling, "And he has him on the side, looks like he's down--no wait! Ladies and gentlemen the T-Tops has Mr. J on the ropes!"

Tyler was sitting on Jay's back, he went to grab his leg but Jay squirmed and pushed him off. This time, Jay lay on top of Tyler, pulling his leg toward his back, grabbing his hand and putting it under him.

"Mr. J's got him, ladies and gentlemen!" Ed exclaimed, "He has T-Tops down!" he leapt off the chair and onto the floor, crouching on his knees and slapping the floor, "Three, two, one! Mr. J wins!"

Jay jumped up and whooped, "HA! YES! HA! IN YOUR FACE!" he laughed and jumped.

"Lucky win, man," Ty said, a smile tugging on his lips.

"What's all the commotion?" Alex asked, "I could hear you all the way down the hall."

"Were we that loud?" Ed asked, lifting his fallen chair upright.

"Yeah,"

"We're just doing some T.J.E matches."

"T?--what?"

"T.J.E. matches," Jay said, "Tyler, Jay and Ed matches. Just us messing around."

Alex took off his tie and threw it on the bed.

"You all changed?" he asked going toward the closet and grabbing a green-blue Hollister shirt and dark denim jeans, heading toward the bathroom.

"Yeah," Tyler said, "soon as we got here.

"What took you so long anyway?"

"What'd you mean?" Alex said from the bathroom, pulling off his shirt and pulling over his dry one.

"It's been almost twenty minutes since Joust boxed us in the fountain. I thought you were right behind me."

"Nothing," Alex put on the warm jeans, "me and Silver were just talking."

" 'Just talking'?" Alex could hear the sarcasm in Jay's voice all the way in the bathroom.

"Yes just talking,"

"Nothing else?"

Alex walked out of the bathroom and looked at him, "Nothing else."

"Are you sure?" Tyler tapped his temple.

"Come on, guys, stop."

The boys laughed

"There's nothing going on between her and me."

"Of course not," Tyler climbed up to his bunk, "And is especially not now since you and Amy are going together to the ball."

Alex sat on Ed's bed, "I somehow regret that."

"how the heck do you regret that?" Jay asked.

"I'm not a big fan of Amy, or any of her gang for that matter.

Jay and Tyler were quiet, so was Ed but he was normally like that.

"So you don't think they're hot?" Jay asked.

"Yeah they're hot but I'm not like the guys who just wanna get in their pants."

"You should have a plaque." Tyler said abruptly.

"A what?"

"A plaque. And it should say 'First Guy Alive To Not Like Late Years and Not Be Gay'."

Alex laughed. He swung himself up to his bunk with one steady movement and stared up at the ceiling.

"So you sneaking out with her tonight?" Tyler asked.

Alex rolled his brown eyes, "Come on, Tyler, that was only once. The other time I couldn't sleep--"

"--So you took a walk. Yeah, I know."

"Just drop it."

"man, chill, it was just a joke."

"But still."

"You like her…don't you?" Tyler's statement made Alex almost clamp down on his tongue.

"No," his answer barely came out.

"Why didn't you ask her to the ball?" Ed asked. Everyone looked at him. Ed wasn't one to ask questions, not this type anyway.

"I don't know."

"But you guys are fighting all the time? Is that the reason you do?"

"No, I--we didn't agree on some things and so you know I just kind of…I don't know."

"You can't even answer a question that's about her."

"Yeah, but--"

"You can't not like her, Garrett."

"And why not?"

"Because it's written all over your face that you do."

Not obvious, Alex gathered all his gadgets into his pockets.

"No it's not."

"Then why were you guys so close--?"

"We got into a fight, she tried to hit me and I grabbed her arms."

"So her leg was just casually hitched on your hip."

"She tried to kick me and I grabbed her foot."

"Sure, sure."

"Whatever," He jumped off the bed and headed to the door, "I'll be back."

"Where are you going?" Tyler said.

"To the mansion." He opened the door.

"But what about the rule?" Ed asked. He was never one to break rules much.

"Rules were meant to be broken." Alex walked out and shut the door tightly.

He went down the stairs and checked for guards. None patrolled that night and he was glad. He reached the ground floor and opened the door. Closing it quietly he creeped down the sidewalk and past the gates.

The mansion was about an acre away, almost the same distance as the warehouses were from the school, so it took him a while until he got there. The entire way he was walking on a road with two walls on either side of him. The sun was almost setting so he began to run, he didn't want to be on this road at night time. After maybe fifteen minutes he arrived at the back way of the mansion. He jumped out of the road and into the bushes. A car was coming. It was a black jaguar with white rimmed tires and a shining silver muffler.

What is that? Alex thought. It turned around the corner and disappeared to the front of the house.

Alex got out of the bushes and ran into the backyard--which was a large garden with several metal arches and broken clay pillars.

There were three fountains in the garden, a sculpture stood in each of them majestically. Roses grew around the sculptures and arches and pillars, each a different color. Alex kept himself from gaping at the color of one of them.

A blue rose.

There was no way. A blue rose? But they didn't exist. Was it fake? He walked toward the pillar slowly, it was still light and he was in plain sight. He crouched behind one of the bushes and extended his arm to the pillar. He grabbed the closest rose there and touched it. The petal was soft and very real. So this blue rose was completely totally real.

"CHARLIE!"

Eva Joust's scream scared him out of his wits. He fell backwards and accidentally snatched the rose with him.

He rolled closer to the bush until he was almost under it, the rose in his hand.

"Charlie!" Eva was outside now. She was in the garden!

Alex made his breathing soft and barely noticeable as the headmaster's wife walked around presumably upset.

He raised his head and saw through the branches where she was.

She was near one of the pillars walking slowly with an impatient look on her small face. She was wearing a white sundress that went all the way to her ankles, her hair wasn't in its normal spiked style instead it was down and almost covering her eyes.

"Charlie!" her voice was in between worried and mad as she looked for her husband, Alex could see something had happened.

Eva came to the bush he was under.

Alex's muscles tightened as her foot came near his arm. He didn't move an inch as she stood above him. She looked around and sighed, not suspecting that one of their students was right at her feet.

Eva had her cell phone in hand and dialed a number quickly.

"Come on, Charlie, pick up." she began to pace.

Come on! Leave!

He could hear the tones of a voicemail and the simple beep.

"Charlie, baby, listen that man came by today regarding those two new students we received about three weeks ago. I don't know what he wants us to do but he keeps saying that we need to have them expelled before the years over. Please call back, he sounded serious this time." she hung up and went back into the mansion.

Alex waited for three minutes then rolled back out into the open.

What had just happened?

Someone had come by and told the Jousts to drop him and Carter. Why? They hadn't done anything suspicious. Maybe MI6 and CIA was wanting to pull them out. But they would've informed them about first wouldn't they? He shook his head. Why were things getting complicated now?

Standing up, he dusted off his pants and began walking toward the mansion. There was a white picket fence around it, two white stone tables in it and six wooden white chairs. There were two 8-feet-tall glass doors that lead inside and two equally tall windows with cream silk drapes on either side of the door.

Quickly he tried to open the door. It was locked. Darn, he thought.

He took out the iPod Smithers gave him and almost pressed the center button when he thought, They'll notice if I drill a hole into their pretty little white door. I should probably just save this until the ball night.

He took out the pocket knife he always carried with him and began to pick the lock.

The things I do when I'm bored.

The lock sprung and the door opened.

Quietly, he went in and shut the door. He was in the den now. It had light sandy brown walls with past war paintings hanging on them, a fire place with two dragon heads at its ends, a long leather couch and chair, a grizzly bear rug, and a small vanity that looked desperately out of place.

Hearing voices, Alex went towards the entrance of the room, crossing on the bear-skin rug.

"Sorry," he said.

He poked out his head to see if anyone was there. As far as he could see, whoever he had heard was gone.

He got out of the den and began walking around. Pretty soon he came to the winding cream-colored stairs and checkered floor. The paintings were there like last time, so were the pictures and sculptures and vases. And also the doors to the piano-Ballerina-floor room.

He began to try to pass the stairs but heard Eva's heels rapping on the floor. What was with her?! He hid in the shadow of the staircase.

"Eva, it's nothing," Charlie's voice rung in the air. He and Eva were at the front door now.

"But, baby…" she whined.

Alex poked his head out to see them.

"No, buts!" Charlie put his arm around her and pulled her close to him, "Now, we are going to go to this party and are going to forget about this man who called. He didn't leave a name, he never rang."

She smiled, "Okay,"

They were both in formal wear now so Alex guessed their "party" was a formal one.

"Where's Nellie and Franco?" Eva asked softly.

"I gave the staff the night off."

"How sweet of you." her voice was playful and seductive, so were her movements and her eyes.

"Everyone but the driver. Come on, let's go."

He opened the door for her, took her slim hand, and left.

Alex waited three minutes before coming out from behind the staircase.

The staff were gone and so were the Jousts--he couldn't have chosen a better time to come to the mansion…."the luck of the devil".

He walked past the staircase and opened one of the big oak doors from the piano-ballerina-floor room.

It was no different from when he had first seen it three weeks ago.

The same white walls and the single mirror one, the same ballet-wooden-floor, and finally what had been bugging him the entire time he was at Power Point.

The piano.

Closing the door behind him, he walked toward the black topped instrument. It looked so majestic in the lone room.

Running his hand on it he noticed it was clean. Very clean for something that seemed to have never been played.

He lifted the top slowly and set it upright on the holding stick. (Didn't know the name lol)

He scooted into the red padded bench and placed his hands on the keyboard.

…his secret.

He pressed down on the B-flat note then arranged his fingers. He smiled and began to play "Victor's song" from the Tim Burton Film Corpse Bride.

Jack had gone through a Johnny Depp Obsession Phase once and had to watch all of his movies that were ever created. One of them had been Corpse Bride and they had watched it so many times together that he had figured out how to play it on the piano by ear.

He had learned to play the piano by the many classes Ian himself had given him.

Everyone must have a passion. Something that can say that they have a soul. Whether they are a charity leader or a hitman. Everyone must have a passion.

His words were clear in his head. The word 'Hitman' then was only a phrase. Not anymore.

He kept playing and stared at his fingers as they overlapped to create their tune.

He looked up and back at the door. He remembered the first time he had gone near the piano and how carter had been standing there, just smiling at him. It had been the first time he saw her smile.

Like how Ian had said everyone has a soft spot. Carter had told him all of her past, her deepest, darkest secrets. They both knew things of each other not many people knew. But somehow--and he knew he shouldn't even think it--he felt she was still hiding something from him.

When she had mentioned her co-agent Sammy's death she had refused to look at him. Why? Maybe he shouldn't be judging her. Maybe she just couldn't look at him for fear of remembering the moment even more. He didn't know.

Alex looked at the door again and pictured the ball. He could see them all there. Quiet Ed. Loud-mouthed Tyler. Smart-aleck Jay. He could see the annoying Late Years there, he could see blonde-curled bubbly Dawnsey and most of all he could see Carter. He could see her gray eyes dancing more alive than ever, could feel the softness of her skin on his, could smell the sweet scent her perfume gave off.

He looked back down at his fingers and kept playing.

What was the ball going to be like?

He hoped it went the way he wanted.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Max Grendel dabbed at his eyes again. When would the doctors find a cure for this darn cure?

He folded his handkerchief and put it in the pocket at the top of his silk white suit.

He placed his hands palm side down on his cherry wood desk and began drumming his fingers impatiently. He had been waiting a call from his black Magician for over three hours. The gorgeous woman had told him that she would call at seven or so and already it was ten at night.

The phone rang.

He picked it up, "Hello?" his silky voice was smooth on the line.

"I have him. He'll be with me at the night of the ball. What else do you want?" Black Magician's voice was stern and laced with something of anger.

"He's your plus one for this school's charity ball festival?" He took out a cigar from a small hand carved box that was given to him by the prince of Islam.

"You could say that," Black Magician said her words point blank.

"Good, good, now, my dear, whenever the time is right I want you to bring him here to the warehouses, have him see our small 'Drug Works' and then I want you to do one last thing…" he allowed her to finish his sentence.

"…kill him." her words came less then a whisper.

"Thank you, my dear,"

"Grendel, go to--"

He hung before he could hear the rest of her unnecessary profanity.

His plan was all set.

Alex Rider would die in less than two weeks.