Caroline

When I got to school on Monday morning, the mark on my face covered by a thick layer of foundation, Vanessa and Camden drew me into a hug that lifted me off my feet. Laughing, I wrapped one arm around them each, and when I opened my eyes as they set me down, I saw Ains watching us over Camden's shoulder. He stepped forward as Camden and Vanessa released me, his hand cupping my cheek. I shivered as the tip of his middle finger brushed against the sore spot on my cheekbone, reaching up and grasping his wrist to pull his hand away from it. He searched my eyes, his fingertips ghosting over the back of my hand. "Does it hurt?"

"A little," I admitted, biting my lip as I looked up at him. His mouth curled into a small smile and he bent his head, kissing me gently as if we were alone and not in the middle of a crowded schoolyard. I pressed my palms against his sides to keep myself steady as his mouth worked against mine, soft and warm but insistent, making my heart thump almost painfully against my chest.

When he pulled away, his breath warm against my face, I heard his voice in my ear; "Your pencil's flashing, Care."

I glanced down and saw that the end of my pencil was indeed flashing insistently. I sighed in annoyance and pressed my forehead against his, looking up at him as he smiled gently, brushing my hair out of my eyes. "Go, Caroline. I'll talk to you later."

"But I don't want to," I murmured. He chuckled, but he stepped away from me, looking over my shoulder at Vanessa and Camden as I walked away.

When the lift doors opened to reveal HQ, I found Oscar sitting in one of the chairs at the table.

"What's up?" I asked casually, walking a few steps away from the lift.

"Sit down, Caroline." Oscar said, gesturing to the other chair at the table. Confused and slightly anxious, I sank into the chair he'd gestured to, biting my lip. Oscar sighed and leaned forward, his blue eyes looking at me solemnly. He took a deep breath before he started; "The others told me about what happened with your dad on the weekend."

I hissed softly through my teeth. "Ains . . ."

"Actually, it wasn't Ains. From what I could make out, he seemed against it. Vanessa, too. Camden was the one who came and talked to me about it."

"Figures," I muttered.

"Are you alright, Caroline?" Oscar asked quietly and I glanced up at him incredulously as I replied, "Just peachy. My dad just hit me. I'm just fine, Oscar."

I started to stand, but he wrapped his long fingers around my wrist and tugged me back down. As I glared at him, he sighed and said, "You can't change your family, Caroline."

"Is that right?"

He nodded. "Do you know who my mother is?"

Confused, I shook my head. I didn't know what his mother had to do with my father hitting me and Dan. I wanted to tell him that, but then he got this faraway, wistful look in his eyes and I clenched my jaw shut against my opinion. Whatever this was about, it was important.

"Jade Dixon-Halliday," Oscar said, his voice cold as he said his mother's name.

"Isn't she . . ." The name rang a bell in my head, and I struggled to think back to the history lessons I'd been forced to endure during my training. For some reason, MI9 liked its agents to have a decent amount of knowledge about the criminals that they kept in their custody. A big part of those lessons were SKUL and its history with KORPS, so a big part of those lessons were Jade Dixon-Halliday's switching back and forth between MI9 and SKUL until she was arrested.

"She's the woman who kept switching back and forth between SKUL and MI9," I said finally. "She's your mum? I wasn't aware that she even had a kid."

Oscar shrugged. "It isn't something that MI9 likes to advertise. They never do, if the enemy has a child who's an agent."

I opened my mouth to say something, but then Oscar's phone rang and he held up a finger and answered it. "Hello? No, no you're not putting my agents through – it's not up to you!"

"What is?" I asked.

"Hang on," Oscar said, pulling the phone away from his ear. "MI9 wants to try a new training method on you lot that might get incorporated into the agent training regime that teaches new agents how to conquer their fears. They want to try it on one of you."

I shrugged. "So why won't you let them?"

"Caroline – "

"If it helps develop agent training, why not?" I asked. It couldn't possibly be that bad.

Oscar sighed and brought the phone back to his ear. "Change of plan. Be here in ten minutes."

Then he hung up and walked over to the computer, typing a code quickly into the computer.

"So, what happened with your mum?" I asked quietly, pulling my legs underneath me and wrapping my arms around myself.

Oscar sighed, raking a hand through his short hair as he turned to face me. "She tried to escape from prison and my team and I – the two girls I was in MI High with, along with my father – tried to stop her from escaping, but there was an explosion and they were all killed, except for me."

I stared at him as the lift opened and a man with dark brown hair stepped out. He had sharp cheekbones and jaw, and brown eyes that were so dark that it was practically impossible to decipher between his pupils and his irises. Something about him made me tense, made me watch him with doubt.

"Caroline Morgan." He said, offered his hand. "A pleasure."

"How do you know me?" I asked, staring up at him as I reluctantly shook his hand.

"Your brother and your boyfriend," he replied. "Both have been incredibly influential in discovering KORPS' plans over the past year."

"Neither of them define me." I told him, a little harsher than I meant to. I'd expected him to look taken aback, but instead his mouth curved into a smile as he told me, "Well said, Caroline."

I scoffed at him as the lift opened again, revealing Ains, Camden and Vanessa. Never in my life had I been so glad to see the three of them. This guy gave me the creeps.