Annie POV

The Temps Commission HQ

'Why isn't she waking up?'

'I don't know, Friedrich, I'm not a doctor.'

'I should go and find some smelling salts.'

'Go on.'

I woke up to a sharp smell at the base of my nose, a little mesh bag tied up with silky red ribbon. I kept my eyes closed, rubbing my forehead, a pressure headache coming on me.

'She's awake!', I heard a voice say, from across the room. From the sounds of it, two more sets of footsteps. My eyes were still shut tightly as I felt their hands touch me and sit down next to the couch I was laying on.

'Come see her, Felix.', a dark-skinned woman with deep brown eyes said, hovering above me.

'Yeah, I'm out.', the voice said from across the room. I looked up to see who it was coming from, but all I saw was a swinging door. The owner of the warm, deep voice was gone already.

My mom looked down at me for a moment.

'She's rubbing her head, Lila, it's probably a headache. Find some pain meds.', she said. 'Does your head hurt, Annie?'

I raised up from the pillow they'd propped my head up on, rubbing my eyes. 'Who's Lila?', I mumbled, still dazed.

'Shhhh. Lay back down.', my mom said, putting a hand on my forehead and feeling it. Clunking heels came across the floor, back towards us. A hand grabbed mine, unfolding my fingers and placing three round pills in it, and then putting it back down. From behind me, Friedrich propped me up, and opened a bottle of water.

'Drink.', he said, putting the bottle up to my mouth. I threw the pills into my mouth. 'Swallow.'

He pat my back like a child. I would have rolled my eyes if I'd had the strength to. The dark skinned woman crouched down beside me, looking me in the face, propping herself back on her tall heels.

'Lila Pitts.', she said, sticking a hand out for me to shake. I shook it weakly. 'I've heard so much about you.'

Oh, this Lila? This one? But that's...

I gave her a confused look as I swallowed another drink of water roughly.

'You're supposed to be dead.', I said, screwing the cap back on and raising an eyebrow at her. That look a lot of energy. My entire body felt weak, every muscle fatigued as the day after a hard workout.

She kept a straight face.

'Supposed is the key word in that sentence.', she said, raising up from the ground. She grabbed a glass of wine from a side table, and a tray of glasses. Pouring herself a glass of crimson red, she looked back at me. 'But your family is surprisingly incompetent at eliminating Handlers.'

'They dropped you in a weighted body bag in the middle of the ocean.', I said, pursing my lips in confusion.

'Ever heard of a submarine?', she said, pointing a glass towards me. 'Wine?'

I took the glass, and she poured me some of the wine. I'd never even tried wine before. But who would refuse it, if offered?

I smelled it, and then took a sip. It choked me up, and I strangled on it for a minute. Lila looked back at me with a patronizing look as she poured a glass for my mom and Friedrich as well.

I tried another sip, making sure not to get choked this time. It wasn't something I would want to drink all the time, but it wasn't completely horrible. They all sipped it like it was some sexy elixir of the gods, but I didn't get that.

The room we were in was a fancifully decorated ornate office, a large desk at the back, and baroque style furniture and sculptures arranged professionally.

'Nice, isn't it?', Lila asked me, catching me looking around. I nodded, and she sat down on the couch beside me. The fabric it was made out of what a rough embroidered blush pink, and golden engravings lined the legs. 'Just think, it'll be yours, someday soon.'

I shook my head as I took another sip of the wine. I swallowed the bitter drink, my mouth feeling exceptionally dry, and turned to her.

'Why me?', I asked, confused.

She looked like she didn't understand the question. Like I'd asked something incredibly stupid.

'Is it not obvious?', she asked, pouring herself another glass.

I looked to my side, then back to her. 'Clearly not.'

She put a hand on my shoulder. 'Annie, little Annie Hargreeves.'

'Doesn't know her own rarity!', she said, looking over to my mom and Friedrich. They both smiled.

'Annie, listen to me.', she said, rubbing the hand across my shoulder. 'In all my time as the Handler, and to be quite frank, in all the time of any Handler who's ever been in position, and even more frankly in the whole run of the commission itself, we've never encountered an anomaly with powers like yours.'

Anomaly. Not person.

I questioned her with my eyebrows.

'No, it's true!', she said, standing up. 'You've got something extraordinary, Annie.'

'Yeah, and so does Joan, and Quinn, and Roman, and any of my family.', I said, still not understanding where she was going with it.

'Yes. They're...', she paused to take a drink of her wine. 'pretty special too. But not like you, Annie.'

I shook my head, still confused.

She grabbed my hands, standing my up with her. She brushed a curl of my hair behind my ear.

'But you, Annie. You have what we need.'

'What you need?'

'You can raise the dead, for goodness sakes!'

I nodded. 'Who do you want back?'

'We can discuss the details later.', she said, sitting back down. 'There are some rules here that you need to be made aware of first.'

I sat back down.

'Ok?'

'We're in a partnership, now, Annie.', she said, crossing her legs. 'You follow our rules, we grant your every request.'

I didn't react to that.

'Stay in line, and you'll be the Handler one day.', she said. 'Sound good?'

'I'm not even sure what that means, honestly.'

'Power, respect, anything you could want. Anybody you want dead, dead. Cold. That's what it means.'

'Are you wasting my time?', I said, eyeing her. She grew visibly perturbed.

'Are you wasting mine?', she said, her eyes growing cold. 'Because I could just send you back. In multiple pieces.'

My heart rate picked up at that threat.

'I thought you needed me?'

'Don't think we couldn't settle for less if you didn't cooperate.'

'And if I don't?'

'Let's not go down that road, honey.'

I took in a sharp breath, and so did she.

'Just tell me what to do.'

'Good. Some cooperation.'

She handed the wine bottle to me.

'Drink up.'

I poured another glass as I listened to her.

'First of all, no going off on your own. You need to be escorted anywhere you go.', she said, raising a finger.

'Escorted?'

'That brings me to the second point. Your escort. He'll meet you at lunch. Which is in five minutes.', she said, glancing down at her ornate wristwatch.

'He'll?'

'You'll mee him shortly. Great guy.', she said, smirking.

I shrugged. 'Any other pressing rules I should know about?'

She nodded.

'Absolutely no contacting anyone outside of headquarters.'

'My family?'

'Absolutely not!', she said, looking appalled. She looked at Friedrich, and my mom. 'As far as you're concerned, we're your family now.'

'I don't agree to that.'

She turned around quickly, her skirt flowing in the wind.

'Oh! I nearly forgot rule number four!', she said, smiling brightly. But I knew she was agitated. 'Fail to abide by any of the former rules, and you will be given an immediate termination.'

'Fine by me. I don't care to leave.'

'Maybe execution is a better word.', she said, smirking.

A lump formed in my throat.

We heard a knock at the door.

'That's your escort.', Lila said, sauntering over to the door. She opened it.

And there stood the most attractive boy I'd ever seen in my life.

It was like the wind had been knocked out of me. I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

'Felix, dear, come in!'

He walked in, hugging Lila, looking at me.

They came over towards me.

'Annie, meet Felix.', she said, placing a hand on his back. He smiled at me sarcastically. His dark brown hair fell in soft waves around his ears, and his deep caramel skin glowed like a painting. He looked like a movie star. 'Your new escort. And my son.'

Felix smirked at me. The air got knocked from my lungs once more.

'Nice to meet you, Annie. I've been waiting for this.'

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.