Oh my gosh I am so, so sorry, I have had a crazy week, even though I was super bored the whole time. But hey, we all have our weeks where things slip our mind. Anyways, here's the chapter now, I hope you enjoy, it's pretty important. I added at the end of last chapter that if you want me to add anything into the story, type it into the comments and I will add it somehow. Once again, I'm truly sorry, I won't forget again. I hope you all had a great week, and have a good week too.

Chapter Seven

Xorvat

Junior C.I.A. Academy

Langley, Virginia

April 21

1200 hours

We were back to our old schedule, and I was back to being bored. I couldn't believe that in only a few days everything could happen so quickly.

Catherine had flown in around midnight, and picked us up. Erica had insisted I get some sleep, but I wouldn't because I wanted to be there when Catherine was updated on everything. After a whole night of flying, we landed in Langley, only a few blocks from school. Catherine gave us each some food, realising that we had been lacking on that during our mission, and then sent us on our way.

By the time we reached school, the sun had peaked over the edge of the earth, and it was starting to heat up. Erica thought it best if we waited until the majority of the kids were outside before we went in. So we did. I honestly don't know how we managed to get in, but we did. And then I slept for a good twelve hours. Until Erica came to my room in the middle of the night looking freshened up, and told me we needed to find Alexander.

Alexander wasn't in the building, and we were sure of it because we looked everywhere possible. So we left it till morning, when Erica dragged me to the principal's office to tell him we would be resuming classes again. He was thoroughly confused, which was the reaction Erica had wanted. And then we resumed classes for real. Daily torture if you ask me.

"Smokescreen!" Zoe yelled upon my entrance to self-defense 201.

This led the whole class to look at me, which was not what I had wanted.

I quickly walked to the back of the room where Zoe sat beside Mike, and then tried to be

invisible. I noticed Professor Crandall was still talking to himself as usual, and hadn't noticed me come in. Or so it looked like. He was the most amazing person I had met at hiding his awareness. He had definitely noticed that I had come in, and he probably registered everything I was wearing too. Even the articles he couldn't see.

"Don't bring attention to me." I muttered to Zoe when I sat down.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because I said so."

"But why did you say so?"

I was on the verge of losing my temper, when Erica popped up out of nowhere.

"Leave him alone." she said, and then took the spot on my right.

Zoe glanced between us, and then looked away. Mike was still staring at me, and I could tell that he had noticed something was going on.

"What happened in the year of 1918?" Crandell asked from the front of the class.

Surprisingly, I knew the answer. And so did Erica. The whole class swiveled their heads to look at us, the only two with their hands raised.

"Benjamin?" Crandell said.

"The Spanish flu. Also known as 1918 influenza."

Erica gave me an impressed look, and I felt my face turn red. Mike looked jealous, and he didn't care to hide it.

When class finished, we headed to the Mess Hall - or just "Mess" - for lunch. Erica forced me to study viruses the whole time, while she got to look into Xorvat.

"Is someone going to explain?" Mike asked finally, half way through our lunch break.

"Explain what?" Erica asked.

"For starters," Zoe said. "Where have you been for the last week?"

"In Florida." I said.

Mike rolled his eyes. "We know you were in Florida. She meant Erica."

"In Florida." Erica said.

"And why?"

Erica suddenly and abruptly stood up and grabbed Zoes wrist and dragged her out of the mess. Mike and I looked at each other, shrugged, and then we both scrambled up after them. We followed them out to the courtyard where a few students lingered. The flowers were budding and there were puddles lining the stone paths. It was a cloudy morning, but the sun peeked through the clouds here and there making the yard look like a cross-stitch of light.

"What does she have in mind?" Mike asked me, sounding a bit worried, as he tripped over rock.

"You don't want to know." I muttered.

Mike gave me a sideways glance.

"Oh boy. This can't be good." He said.

"It's fine." I replied. And then I almost ran headlong into Zoe, as Erica had stopped abruptly a few feet ahead of us.

"Here will be good." She said to herself. And then she turned around to face us.

"You are all wondering why I was in Florida, and how." She started.

"Actually, I'm not." I said quickly.

"Shut up." Mike whispered.

"Jeez, it's only the truth." I whispered back. Erica gave me a pointed look.

"As I was saying," She resumed. "I left school a week ago with my grandfather. It was his idea. We went to get Ben, because he thought he wasn't safe alone in Florida.

"By the way Ben, that story about Zoe helping me with the mailboxes, and Mike going and checking headquarters was all false. Grandpa and I did that.

"Anyways, we were just about there when Cyrus got a heart attack and I was forced to go on alone."

"Oh my god Erica I'm so sorry!" Zoe cried, hugging Erica. That is, attempting to, but Erica held her hand out infront of her, and Zoe retreated back to her spot.

"Back to the story. I got Ben, and we met Brane Damage in a fast food restaurant."

"Who's Brane?" Mike asked.

"That's beside the point." Erica replied. "We then got ambushed, twice, I may add, and then we went to see my grandfather at the hospital.

"And it was a total coincidence that we met Ashley Sparks there." Erica said sarcastically.

"Then we found out an enemy organisation is creating a virus to destroy the world's economy."

"Which organisation?" Zoe asked.

"We're not sure, but it might be a new organisation." I answered.

Mike groaned. "More enemies?"

"Sure! It's the life of a spy." Erica replied.

"It's not SPYDER, that's for sure. CROATOAN? Sure, but they kinda disappeared from the face of the earth didn't they?" Zoe asked.

"Who knows?" Erica said. "Why do you say it couldn't be SPYDER?"

"Because we defeated them." Mike answered for Zoe.

"What's to say they can't come back?"

"What would be the point? CROATOAN covered for them."

"Either way, Xorvat is a new organisation."

"Why don't we look it up?" I suggested.

"You can." Erica said. "I already did. And you aren't going to be happy with what you find."

And then she walked away from us, leaving us all confused.

I pulled my phone out of my bag, and looked up Xorvat.

"What did you find?" Zoe asked.

"Look." I said, turning the phone around so she could see it.

"Woah." She looked up at me fearfully. "It says Croatian at least 6 times in that description."

"Lemme see!" Mike cried.

I showed him the phone, which he grabbed from me.

"Well now I see why Erica said we werent going to like what we found." he muttered.

"We have two minutes to be in Mcauley's class." Zoe said, and then she walked away as well.

Mike shrugged, and then we set off after her.

"What do you think this all means?" He asked.

"I have no idea." I replied.

"Life as a spy is confusing… And we aren't even real spies yet!"

We both wandered off into our own thoughts after that.

I decided that I would make a chart that night of everything that had happened, and I would study it.

But first I had to make it through PE. Which was one of the hardest classes. And today, we had to win a battle against Mcauley.