Chapter 1, two years and counting
6 months later
Alex Rider was not enjoying himself. School had always been what he'd craved most, but no longer. Today was especially bad. It was Science and the teacher (The bright spark she was) had decided that today they were going to be preforming dissections on frogs. All around him, the class was chatting happily, oblivious to Alex's dim mood. He had no wish to cut open the animals, in his short life, Alex had seen more gore and pain then most people see in their entire lifetimes. At age 14, he'd been blackmailed into working for MI6 like his Uncle and Father before him. Even though he hadn't been contacted in over two years, anything suspicious or abnormal put him on edge. Shaking his head in disgust, Alex realized that his time with MI6 seemed to have left him messed up. Sighing, he raised his head and waited for the teacher to come back, carrying trays of dead frogs ready to be sliced up like pieces of meat. Sure enough, Mrs. Derris walked into the room; only, she carried neither trays nor papers. The look of confusion on her face set an alarm off in Alex's brain.
"Alex Rider?" she called out, as if she didn't know who he was. This was ridiculous, everyone in the school knew him. Alex was frequently absent and one of the few times he had been present, the Science block had burned to the ground. Never the less, Alex felt inclined to answer the woman and be done with it.
"Yes, I'm here." He said wearily.
Her gaze zeroing in on him, Mrs. Derris said,
"You need to report to the front office now, bring your stuff please."
Uneasily, Alex stood, sweeping his books untidily into his bag. Waving goodbye to his friend Tom, he walked out of the room and down the corridor. Two years and counting he'd been free of MI6, was his luck finally going to end?