Chapter 9

We Get a Mission From Our Room

*Macie*

My world started spinning for the second time in less than an hour. Not only was my mom gone, but now Mathew and Jamie were too. Who would be sadistic enough to kidnap little kids? I thought disdainfully. I felt Kaitlyn tense up beside me and worried that she was going to hurt someone.

"What do you mean kidnapped? How do we know that you didn't take them and you aren't trying to use them against us?" I asked no one in particular. I just wanted someone to answer me.

It was obvious that Emma was sympathetic towards us, Felix didn't really no what to say, and Carmen thought that we weren't worth her time. But what bugged me the most was that Cameron just stood in the back looking bored. I was pretty good at reading people, but he made no effort to hide his boredom. He just stood there, his tan complexion seeming darker in the shadows. He caught me staring and suddenly his toes had become much more interesting.

"Is someone going to answer her or can we leave?" Cameron spoke up from the back. I owed him thanks, but didn't want to give it because he really didn't deserve it.

"We wouldn't tell you something like this as a lie. We really are the Good Guys here." Carmen told me, re-braiding her long, black hair while doing so. Emma shot her a look, but Kaitlyn pounced.

"You don't have to be so sarcastic. I didn't ask to be here. I don't want to be here! Now the most important thing in the world to me is missing and you are re-braiding your hair? How did this happen? I want answers!" Kaitlyn was just about yelling at the top of her lungs. I wanted her to calm down because I was kind of afraid of being sedated again.

"We don't know. But we have our best people looking for your mom," Emma looked at me as she said this. "And your brother and sister. We will find them." Emma looked like she wanted to just pull Kaitlyn and me into a giant hug.

"You guys probably need to eat something. You haven't eaten all day. I will go see if we can get you guys some room service." Emma said smiling as she grabbed Felix and dragged him off down the hall. I wasn't hungry anymore and I was sure that Kaitlyn wasn't either. Her bleach blond hair still looked like it was changing colors and it amazed me. It defied everything that I knew about.

Carmen sighed, letting Kaitlyn and me know that she didn't want to be here any more than her brother, but she had a nicer way of showing it. She looked both of us over. I felt like she was somehow invading my privacy. Suddenly, her chocolate brown eyes brightened and a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

"I bet that I know a place that will help you calm down." Carmen pointed to Kaitlyn.

"Carmen, I wouldn't do that." Cameron warned. Somehow he knew what she was thinking. He stood up straight and stared at her. Eventually she just looked back at Kaitlyn, determination apparent on her face.

"What are you talking about? You don't think that I would leave my cousin alone after the rest of my family just got kidnapped." Kaitlyn replied dryly. I noted how she excluded her parents from the equation.

Carmen grabbed her arm anyway and gave her a look that said I dare you to move. Kaitlyn just went along with it and walked down the hall glaring at the back of Carmen's head. At the end of the hall Carmen yelled back, "Cameron, watch her and make sure she doesn't go any where!"

"Sure Sis, whatever you say." I heard him mumble under his breath. "I guess it's just you and me. Can we like, go inside now?" He asked me pointing to the room. I nodded and went to sat on the bed,

I didn't need watching. I was probably smarter than him anyway. "So, where are you from?" I asked him, attempting polite conversation.

"The Present." I looked at him blankly, taken aback by his answer. "Oh, Brazil."

I wasn't sure if The Present was a city in Brazil, but he didn't seem to want to talk much. I wonder where Carmen took Kaitlyn and why she didn't take me.

"Do you know where your sister took my cousin?" I asked Cameron. He seemed to have known whenever she first suggested it. He didn't even look up before he answered.

"The gym. She trains when she is mad. I'm actually surprised that she trusted your cousin enough to let her train with her."

I was obviously getting no where with the conversation, so I decided to look around the room. It looked like a hotel room ,without the television and the phone, that had silver doors that looked like an elevator. There was a bathroom to my left, but I didn't see any where for clothes. That calmed me down a little because there would be a place for clothes if you were going to be staying for a long time.

I got up to go see what the bathroom looked like, but Cameron stood abruptly. "Where do you think you're going? If you are planning on overpowering me, I can guarantee that it won't work." He still hadn't even really looked at me. Not in the shy way, but just kind of aggravated at me.

"I was just going to go to the bathroom, unless there is some rule against that too." I retorted. "Although, I bet I could overpower you using intelligence only. If I wanted to. You don't seem that smart."

"Thanks a lot. Whatever you say. You can go to the bathroom, but don't take too long." He kind of growled. He had stopped muttering and seemed to be more confident in his own strength. Leave it to a boy to feel over confident I thought.

I walked into the bathroom, only to be extremely amazed and disappointed. Inside was the biggest shower that I had ever seen. It had two shower heads, one was portable, but was stationed directly where your face would be in the shower. There were jets on the bottom of the shower too. The thing that scared me most was the thirty buttons that lined the shower wall. What I would give to take a shower right now. The Klondike commercial came to mind. What I would give for ice cream right now!I was hungry now.

Straight ahead was also the biggest closet ever. It made me sad because it indicated that we might be here for a while. I felt my face drop as I saw that it came with clothes. I didn't want to be here. There was a click as I heard the doors to our room slide open again. I thought that maybe Cameron had given up and left me alone. I strode back into the room, not giving away any of my true emotions. It turned out to be Emma with the food. Even better!

"Hey! Where's Carmen and Kaitlyn? They didn't get into a fight did they? I knew they had personality clashes, but I didn't think that would happen. Oh I can't afford to get into trouble again." Emma started rambling. Felix shut her up.

"No Emma. Cameron said that they went somewhere." Felix told her jollily. His accent wasn't as noticeable.

Emma just narrowed her eyes at Cameron. "Where?" She sounded and looked like she could really hurt him. He just laughed.

"Emma chill out. I couldn't stop them, I mean her. She took Kaitlyn to the uh, Gym." He automatically blocked his face with his hands. Just in time because any later and he would've been hit by a pillow off of my bed.

"Why would you do that? Make them even more dangerous!" She took out what looked like an Ipod. She started tapping it furiously until she finally gave up. "Ugh! She didn't answer."

"Uh, Emma?" Felix asked her unsure.

"Yes, Felix?" She talked to him like a child. In that fake happy voice that usually fools them.

"Can we eat now?" Felix's emerald eyes grew wide. Resembling a puppy that had just done something wrong.

I burst out laughing. I had just had an extremely depressing and confusing day, but Felix just was concerned about the simple things. Everyone just looked at me like I was crazy. They had forgotten I was even there. I stopped laughing and smiled at Felix.

"Let's dig in!" I told him. He gave me a high-five before following me to the tray. Emma smiled at me, not a sympathetic smile like she had been giving me, but a real smile. Cameron just sat there until I just looked at him.

"Stop sulking and get over here. I know you're probably hungry. Don't protest, just get up!" I told him. He had really been aggravating me when he was just sulking like he had been. He narrowed his eyes at me before finally joining us at the makeshift table.

Emma had gotten us none other than McDonald's. I needed some kind of normal today. It wasn't healthy, but it worked for me. I scarfed down my chicken salad, drink, and my fries. I didn't care that it wasn't 'lady-like', I was hungry. No one seemed to care either because they were doing the same thing.

By the time Kaitlyn came back, I was full and so was everyone else. Emma, Felix, and I had been talking for about thirty minutes with Cameron occasionally adding his own opinions. I could tell that he didn't trust me at all. I learned a lot about Emma and Felix. Felix was from a poor Dublin family and Emma was from The Hamptons. She didn't strike me as the 'rich and mean girl' stereotype, so that surprised me.

Kaitlyn came back with her short, black hair wet with sweat and her forest colored eyes were gleaming. She had changed into short gym shorts and a tank top. Carmen came right behind her, dressed in similar attire. They were both smiling widely.

"That was the best time I have had in a while! Oh, food..." Kaitlyn said to Carmen.

"Yeah, I thought that you would like it. It really did seem to help you. You're a natural fighter." Carmen seemed happy that she now had a workout partner. Emma had told me that while she was good at fighting, she preferred not to fight, so Carmen had to practice by herself most of the time.

"Hey Cameron, Felix. Emma, have you talked to L1 yet?" Carmen asked. Emma just shook her head and yawned. It had been a long day for everybody.

All of the sudden, our room became like a giant loudspeaker. "Cameron Alvarez, Carmen Alvarez, Kaitlyn Fortes, Macie Fortes, and Felix O'Reilly need to report to the Council Room for debriefing." The automated voice said quickly. I looked around the room for answers. I got one from Cameron of all people.

"I guess we have a mission." He said as he walked out the door, a smirk on his face.