Sorry for the late update, everyone! I'm getting a bit busy, so I may not be able to post a new chapter every single day like I used to. I will definitely try, though!

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Chapter 42

"The US Mint?" Iggy asked as we arrived at the next stop on our tour. "We're going to a mint factory?"

"Good, I'm hungry," I said, laughing.

Jaz gave both of us weird looks. "It's where they make money, not where they make candy!"

"That's dumb, why can't they just call it the US Money Making Place instead?" I asked, smirking.

Mrs. Jenkins made us get off the bus in front of a big building surrounded by huge iron gates. I shivered, looking at those. "It feels like they're trying to trap people in there," I observed, thinking of the School.

"More like keep people out," Jaz replied.

Fang shrugged. "Yeah. They don't want people stealing the money."

Cindy the Tour Guide Lady gathered everyone together in front of the gate. "This is the Denver US Mint," she said. "In all, there are six US Mint facilities. This one," she said, pointing at the building, "was established in 1863 and became a mint facility in 1906."

I yawned. "I don't care about all these dumb dates," I whispered to Iggy. "Where's the money?"

Finally, it was our turn to go inside the building. Our class shuffled inside behind Mrs. Jenkins and Tour Guide Cindy, who kept spouting random knowledge such as, "Did you know the Denver US Mint can produce more than 50 million coins a day?"

I watched as the money was made. "I wonder what would happen if we – I mean, someone stole that," I pondered, as Fang described everything to Iggy.

"Oh my god, Max!" Jaz yelled, slamming her hand over my mouth. "You can't say things like that, they'll arrest you!"

I pried her hands away. "Yeah, but that's because of your screaming." Our classmates and a few other people were giving us some pretty strange looks, as was a security guard standing nearby.

I frowned. "Are we leaving soon? There's way too much security in here and gates and locks and it's making me uncomfortable." Fang and Iggy hadn't said anything, but I could tell that they were definitely out of their comfort zone too.

Finally, the tour was over. "Freedom!" Iggy yelled as I pushed the door open and everyone poured outside – where we had to go through another gate just to exit.

"There's a gift shop!" Jaz yelled, pointing.

"Can we go, please?" all the other kids in our class started begging Mrs. Jenkins.

Cindy the Tour Guide looked irked. "We have to be getting to our next stop on the tour-" Then she sighed. "If it's alright with Mrs. Jenkins…."

Mrs. Jenkins didn't have the chance to say anything because practically everyone had already ran off to the gift shop, except for Fang and me. Mrs. Jenkins frowned, heading after them. She looked back at us for a second. "Hurry up, Maxine, Nick."

I nodded. "Okay." Then I muttered under my breath, "My name is Max."

Mrs. Jenkins turned and continued walking towards the gift shop. I started heading that way too, but Fang reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Max," he said. "We need to talk."

I rolled my eyes at him. "What is it, Nick?"

Fang just frowned at me. "Don't pretend to play dumb. You know what it is."

I sighed, not looking at him. "Listen. I'm not one-hundred percent sure Daisy's evil, okay? Maybe I heard her wrong. Besides, it's not like we have any proof." I crossed my arms over my chest. "I mean, your girlfriend is more likely to be evil. Remember that time that she called the Erasers and almost got me killed?"

"Jaz isn't my girlfriend," Fang retorted angrily. "And she wasn't doing it to hurt us, remember? The School threatened her."

I rolled my eyes. "Wow, Fang, I didn't know you could actually talk."

He glared at me. "Maybe Daisy is working with the School. Maybe she's not. But her dad is. We know that."

I shrugged. "Well, maybe she isn't just like her dad. And I've been keeping an eye on her. The weirdest thing she's done is stare at me all the time." It occurred to me that Daisy was doing the same exact thing that I had been doing – we'd been watching each other, waiting to see what the other would do.

"Exactly. She's been watching you. Probably telling her dad where we are." Fang's scowl deepened. "I can't believe you've been keeping this to yourself for this long. We could all be in danger."

I looked at my feet. "Well, Fang, it's not exactly like you've done a better job at being the leader," I reminded him with a small smirk. "I know what I'm doing. Trust me, okay?"

Fang frowned. "Whatever." He was still mad at me, of course. That was easy to tell. Fang usually kept his anger inside unless he was fighting, and then you'd see it in the way he fought. He wasn't much of a yelling kind of guy, so vocal confrontation was usually strange for him. Of course, that just showed how mad he was.

I managed a small smile. "Hey, you're not gonna stay angry forever, right?"

Fang didn't reply. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Come on, we're missing the fun in the gift shop. Mrs. Jenkins is gonna kill us if we don't get over there in the next five seconds." I quickly made my way towards the gift shop, checking to see if Fang was following. He was, although he still had that scowl on his face.

"Hi, Max! Hi, Fnick!" Jaz said when we walked into the gift shop. "Look! They're selling fake money!" She held up a bag of plastic coins.

I rolled my eyes. "That's dumb. It's waste of money." Who would be stupid enough to buy a bag of fake coins?

Jaz, apparently, was. "How much?" I heard her asking as she ran to the cashier.

Iggy smiled at me. "Hey, Max." He shrugged. "Uh, what were you and Fang doing standing outside?"

I shook my head. "Uh, it's nothing," I said, not wanting to talk about it in the crowded gift shop. I tried to find a way to change the subject, until Jaz came running over.

"I also bought some candy!" she said, holding up a little tin box. "Anyone want one?"

I looked at the packaging. It was a box of mints. "Hey look, they really do have mints at the US Mint!" I announced, laughing. Iggy and Jaz started laughing too.

I glanced at Fang, who was not laughing. Instead, he was staring across the room at Daisy. Daisy, for once, wasn't watching us, but was looking at souvenir T-shirts with a few other girls.

"Hey, lighten up," I whispered, elbowing Fang. "I don't think she's planning anything evil with those shirts."

But even as I said it, I decided it might be a good idea to keep an eye on Daisy. Fang, although annoying sometimes, might actually be right.

Of course, I'd never admit that to him.