Jack was usually always careful where she left her things and always made sure she had everything with her when she left for anywhere. But sometimes she could forget to check all of her things. Especially when it was not a thing but a certain angry but scared blonde 7-year old boy.

After unlocking her car and walking into the dentist with Alex's hand in hers she had no time to think about all the ways that Alex could escape the clutches of the so called "evil" dentist. The whining, once they had gotten into the block, had been horrible for her- almost unbearable. She had no choice but to completely block of her hearing senses.

As usual there was a long wait to get into the dentist's room as he already had his hands full with a crying boy about the same age as Alex. She watched the boy struggle, kick and punch at the dentist as he tried to strap him into the overlarge seat. Alex watched with wide eyes as the man buckled the boy up with many belts that reminded both Jack and Alex of prison chains. Jack winced and thought how that would look to Alex who was already scared to see the dentist. Trying her best to avoid the same situation with Alex she tried and failed to distract him by calming him down.

"Alex, do you want to go watch the shows on TV like all the other kids. Look I think the James bond movie is on. Don't you really like that movie?" Jack asked desperate to get his eyes to move from the current target.

Without looking away Alex replied quietly, "I've already watched that movie and it's really bad. None of the scenes look realistic and it's all made up. Nothing like that happens in England. Also you can't do a back flip with that roundabout kick; you can see the obvious use of wires."

Jack stared at Alex, completely shocked at his answer. She knew that some of the things in the movie were unrealistic but she doubted that Alex would realize. Then she reminded herself that she was talking about the Riders, not an ordinary family. After living with the Riders for sometime, the out of ordinary ceases to surprise you.

Shaking out of her thoughts she heard her name being called out.

"Jack!"

Said person started before realizing Alex was yelling at her both out of worry and exasperation.

"Huh? What is it?"

"That receptionist just called my name and then she said yours. I think she wants you to go to her," replied Alex as if stating the obvious.

Jack walked up to the receptionist apologizing as she got closer. She felt Alex's presence behind her as he followed her.

"Your son's appointment will be delayed by around half and hour. The dentist is being delayed slightly by another young boy. I just need to know that you can wait that time but if you can not then I should warn you that the time slot will be covered in 5 minutes. We have a busy schedule."

"Oh, Alex Rider is not my-," she began but never finished as she looked behind to find nothing but empty space. That was her mistake. She had been so shocked that anyone had thought that she was old enough to be his mother that she had forgotten to keep a close eye on Alex.

"Mrs Rider? Is something wrong?" asked the receptionist confusedly.

"He's not my son! I've just lost him. Oh my god! His uncle is going to kill me and I just got the job a while ago. What am I going to do?!"

"Mrs Ri-"

"Jack."

"Uh… Miss Jack, I am sure we can alert the block and make sure we can find you son… uh… Alex. Can you give me his appearance because I doubt you can search the block in time. It's a large one."

*

Alex was currently running past various doors searching for the exit. He knew it was somewhere here. He just didn't quite know exactly where. As he past more and more doors his resolve to get out of the dentist block was lowering. He just didn't want to get his teeth cleaned. He just didn't see the point. Ian had made sure that he cleaned his teeth after breakfast and after dinner. He also flossed and gargled both times. His teeth were in perfect shape. Why did he have to get it cleaned and checked? It wasn't as if they were yellow and cavity-filled.

He turned a corner and found himself facing a door and no other lanes branching off it. It was called a dead end and even he started to realize that running away was stupid. He berated himself for being so childish. He hoped that Jack would not call Ian. Ian would be soooo angry!

He shivered as he remembered the last time he had gotten into so much trouble with Ian. It was the time he was taught the rule that he shouldn't call Ian unless it was an emergency. At that time he had a fat teenage babysitter. She hated him and just left him alone to fend for himself. Alex was feeling lonely as his babysitter had fallen off the couch unconscious after drinking a whole bottle of something called Beware. He had climbed onto the kitchen stool and picked up the phone and dialed Ian's number. Ian was absolutely furious when he realized that Alex was not kidnapped or dying. He had grounded Alex for 3 months and forbade him from the computer and television after also giving him a 1 hour lecture of why Alex shouldn't call him. Alex was terrified at his uncle's fury but from then onwards never called him even that time when a man dressed all in black had stood outside the window staring through it. He had simply ignored him and when he told Ian after he had come back from his mission three days later he had been grounded again.

He didn't think his uncle was unfair like most people thought of him. He just thought that Ian was cautious and strict.

But now Alex was scared… no terrified. What would Ian do to him for running away from such a simple dentist appointment? He decided that the best thing to do was to go back to Jack before she realized he was gone.

All he needed to do now was find his way back. If he could ever get out of this maze.