Zoe sighed as she sat down in her desk, resting her cheek on her hand as she listened to Mrs King carry on about how they were going to try something called CRAC-ED. Zoe wasn't bothering to listen – her mind was on the way Dan's mouth had felt against her's the night before. She'd wanted to go all the way with him, but again, something was holding her back. It frustrated her to no end.

" . . . enrolled us in a new scheme called Centralised Revision for Academy and Class Education." Mrs King was saying. "Or CRAC-ED, for short."

"Cracked, more like." Mr Flatley said from his seat near the window. "Pre-recorded lessons sent from the Ministry of Education."

Mrs King rolled her eyes and pressed DVD player. As a boring, monotone male voice started droning on about possums, Zoe rested her head on the table, closing her eyes. She sighed and pulled her head up when she felt something light collide with her head. She saw a scrunched up piece of paper sitting on the table and when she unravelled it, she saw Dan's handwriting; This is so boring.

Zoe smirked and wrote back: What, got something else you'd rather be doing? before she threw it back to him when Mrs King and Mr Flatley weren't looking. She watched him from the corner of her eye as he wrote a reply and sent it back to her; Yeah, making out with you.

Zoe felt her cheeks flush as she started to write a reply – and then noticed her pencil communicator flashing. She cast a curious glance back at Aneisha – who shrugged her shoulders in confusion – before she grabbed her bag and walked out, leaving Dan and Aneisha staring after her and Tom listening to a Blade Quest audiobook.

"Zoe." Stella said, looking up as Zoe walked in. Zoe felt her heart skip a beat in fear as she saw the dark-haired woman, but she fought to her expression neutral as she sat down in the seat Stella motioned her towards. "Have I done something wrong? Am I in trouble?"

"Not at the moment." Stella replied. "I've been monitoring you over the past few weeks and I'm worried. Your focus has declined dramatically in the past couple of months and you've become increasingly distracted. Now, I need your focus back here immediately, -"

"Stella, we've got a situation." Frank interrupted, appearing with a phone in his hand.

"Just a moment, Frank." Stella said, waving him away. She turned to Zoe, who was sitting with her shoulders hunched and her gaze focused on the ground, studying Stella's shoes as she said, "I need you to be one hundred per cent here, Zoe. You know that. Make sure you remember it."

Zoe nodded feebly, remaining in her seat as Stella got up and started to talking to Frank. As their voices hummed in the background, Zoe got up and pulled Flopsy into her arms before she sat down in the corner, studying the white fur that covered Flopsy's body. She barely even looked up as Dan, Aneisha and Tom walked in, but she listened as Frank said, "Samantha Stiletto will secretly enter the country today to take part in the Shadow Games."

"The Spectre?" Tom asked in disbelief. "She's been MI9's most wanted for . . . years. She's deadly."

"That's why you'll be wearing masks when you arrest her." Frank explained, gesturing to the black and silver masks he'd placed on the table. Dan and Tom picked on up each and examined them as Frank continued, "If she escapes, we don't want her knowing who you are."

As the boys continued examining the masks that, in their opinions looked too feminine and delicate to wear while fighting one of the most wanted women in the country, Aneisha walked over to Zoe and asked, "Are you okay, Zo?"

Zoe looked up and mumbled something in reply that sounded vaguely like, "I'm fine."

"I'll send the co-ordinates of her drop point to your spy pods." Frank said.

Zoe sighed and rested her back against the hay bale, closing her eyes. They were waiting for The Spectre to show up and her hay fever was playing up – the one time she needed it not to.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Zoe jumped and almost cried out as her eyes flew open and she saw Dan's face hovering in front of her. His mouth was quirked up into a small smile of amusement, but his eyes were filled with worry as he asked again, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Zoe replied. Dan gave her a look that told her that he firmly didn't believe her and with a sigh, she switched her earpiece off and then reached out, switching his off. Then she sighed and said quietly, "Stella's noticed stuff."

"She knows about us?" Dan asked quietly.

Zoe shook her head, keeping her gaze lowered. "But she knows that I'm distracted. IF she's noticed that . . . it won't be too long until she figures it out." She raised her gaze to meet his, blinking tears away as she whimpered, "I'm not ready to let go of either of you, Dan. Not yet."

Dan wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "We'll be okay, Zoe."

Zoe took a deep breath against his chest before he released her, standing up. Are you going to be okay with your hay fever?"

Zoe smiled up at him and nodded. "I'll be fine, Dan."

Dan nodded down at her before he made his way back to Tom, switching his earpiece back on.

"Dan, thank God." Frank said. "You and Zoe just went offline. What happened?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry." Dan said, crouching beside Tom behind another set of hay bales. "Earpiece malfunction."

Dan heard Frank groan. "See? This is what happens when we let go out on missions. Everything decides to shut down."

Tom grinned. "A earpiece malfunction hardly counts as everything shutting down, Frank."

Frank didn't answer and the boys shared a grin as Tom asked, "Where'd you disappear off to?"

"I had to go ask Zoe something." Dan replied.

"Right." Tom said, looking upwards. Dan heard him suck in a breath and he looked up and saw a young woman dressed in black with bright red hair – so red and so bright that it was obviously a wig of some kind – parachute into the paddock.

"Here we go." Dan muttered.