I rolled over in bed with a groan trying to figure out what had just woken me up. My eyes snapped open to see my cell phone ringing. I was utterly confused as to why someone was calling my cell phone and at three in the morning to top it off. I flipped the phone open to answer it not able to decipher the name that was displayed.

"Hello?"

"Lisa it was your wish that I notify you the second you turned eighteen."

"When was this? And why in the world would you call my cell?"

I asked still very confused over the flat voice talking on my cell phone but then I realized and I snapped to,

"KnIFE, why in the world are you calling me when I am supposed to be sleeping?"

"You asked to be notified the second you turned eighteen."

"KnIFE it is three in the morning, I don't really care."

"It is exactly three-oh-eight and thirty three seconds, you turned eighteen at three-oh-four and forty-five seconds."

"What part of 'I don't care' did you not understand?"

"The part where you ordered me to tell you the second you turned eighteen? I believe the original statement was that you wanted to know exactly when you were free from the Scott household or else you were going to rip out the child lock Charles Graiman installed in my software."

"KnIFE, that was over a year ago and I had had a bad day at school. I thought seriously that by now you understood my anger."

I was sorely tempted to hang up on my stupid overly intelligent car but something kept me awake to hear the rest of the message.

"Well even if you are totally not interested in leaving this life right now, I think you should come down and hear this message I just found in my databanks. It is addressed to you and I cannot play it unless you are here to authenticate the message."

"Can't it wait till I have to leave for school? I can go over it while you drive me to school."

"I do not think that would be wise as I have numerous red flags of urgency. It says to open it the first chance you get. Waiting till morning could be too late."

"I will be down in a minute, let me get my slippers on and make sure Linda and George are still fast asleep."

I slipped out of bed and stuck my feet into my slippers. It had been a while since I had replaced a lot of Lisa's stuff with my stuff. I had been living here for a year and a half. I had become almost comfortable living as Lisa Scott. Frankly other than having a talking car I had forgotten that I was even supposed to be someone else. There were even days that I didn't think about N.

I stepped into the master bathroom and peaked into the room to see the two of them asleep in their bed so I quickly slipped back to the stairs where I went to the garage. Sitting in the front seat, I leaned back and scanned the console. I was seeing some things that I had not seen since the last day at Graiman's house.

"Ok KnIFE, what is this message that you needed me to see?"

"I have it all set up, you just need to authenticate by using the handprint scanner."

"You are sure this isn't a virus?"

"It is very unlikely, it has the official F.L.A.G logo as well as the official Knight Industries logo attached to the message."

I reached into the center console and lifted the fake insert so that I could place my hand on the scanner. As soon as I pulled my hand away, I noticed the windshield light up and become almost like a computer screen. Charles Graiman appeared on the screen.

"This message has been activated after your eighteenth birthday. If I have sent you a video file explaining that something has happened to either me or F.L.A.G as a whole, I have chosen to keep this from you until then because if it was much more of a radical situation I would have over rid the safety protocols I left with KnIFE in order to keep you safe."

The message blanked out for a minute before switching over to another background setting. A frazzled and much less calm Charles Graiman came into focus.

"Today is January 29, 2009; I am saddened to say that there is less than a two percent chance that I will survive the next five minutes. There was an accident and the plane I am on is on a collision course. I have decided that I am not going to abandon this plane. I didn't want to worry you so I am going to send this so that you will get it once you turn eighteen. I am leaving F.L.A.G and Knight Industries in the capable hands of my daughter Sarah and the team I have put together. You are the last person I will send a message to. I leave you with the code word Phoenix. KnIFE is programmed to find out where Sarah is and she knows the importance of the Phoenix within F.L.A.G. I need to sign out now. Have a good life, Lisa."

The screen powered down and for a few minutes, I just sat there and stared at KnIFE.

"Charles Graiman is dead?"

"It appears so, Lisa. It is up to you. I know you wanted to leave this life as soon as possible. Does this new information change your mind?"

"I have no idea on whether there is anything for us to run to. He said that Sarah was in charge but would she actually keep something that seems so risky going?"

"I do not know, Lisa."

"Can you do some research and in the meantime I will just keep up with my daily life as Lisa Scott?"

"Charles Graiman was hoping that you would say that. He programmed me to try to persuade you to see this out until you graduated high school."

"I have only a few weeks of school left and then I am graduating and then we can work out where to go from there. I am going back to bed before someone comes snooping down here. George gets up randomly throughout the night. All I need is for him to come down here and accuse me of running away."

I turned off the console but decided not to tell KnIFE to hibernate so that he could continue researching our existing options. I however, just to spite the car, took the key and locked the door.

"Stay silent if anyone comes out here. You know the drill."

I left the garage and went back to my room. Just as I walked in through the door of my room, I saw a shadow walk down the hall. George had just gotten up to check the house. I threw myself against the wall. I really didn't want him to see my shadow. When he passed my door, I tiptoed to my bed and slid under the covers with my slippers on.