Alex Rider: Contamination

By: Edna Baudelaire

Chapter Five: Meeting the Family

Alex's POV

Annabelle and I sat in the back of a Black Sedan as we watched fields of dust and sand zoom by. She looked out the opposite window, her hands writhing up a storm. I could tell she was nervous.

So was I.

I still had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, like the only thing that would come out of this mission is no good. I felt like we were fighting a lost cause.

"We are here," The driver said as we pulled into a long, winding driveway. I could spot a lone house about a quarter of a mile away that resided at the end of it. I looked over at Annabelle. Her composure exuded that of confidence, but her eyes showed otherwise.

The car came to a stop, and without meaning to, I hopped out. Outside, the blistering air held no oxygen. I could already feel the sweat dripping down the back of my neck. The sizzling sun blinded me. I quickly slid on a pair of sunglasses as I stepped onto scorching sand. As I wrenched my luggage from the truck, Annabelle appeared at my side.

"Ready?" I asked. She bit her lip before she nodded.

"G'Day! Well, who do we 'ave 'ere?" A cheerful voice rang out. I looked up to see a man of about 40 jogging over to the car. He wore a white V-neck shirt and jean cut-off shorts. He had an air of carefree-ness about him. His smile faltered as he spotted us.

"They must 'ave made a blue. I knew they'd be sending me some ankle biters but you two are smaller than I pictured." He scratched his chin. I didn't know how to respond to that. I decided on just nodding. He quickly recovered. "Eh, she'll be apples. Come on inside out of this heat. You're just in time for some brekkie."

With that he turned on his heel and walked inside. Annabelle and I were left speechless on his front porch.

"Did you understand a word he just said?" Annabelle asked. I shook my head, my mouth agate. Annabelle led the way inside. Much to my dismay, the inside of the house was just as hot as the outside. I groaned at the thought of living here with no air conditioning for God knows how long.

We arrived in the kitchen, which was swimming with people. The room immediately went quiet. All eyes were on us. I coughed, uncomfortable.

"Hello!" Annabelle said, waving enthusiastically. A woman stood up from the table and smiled. Without saying a word, she walked over to Annabelle and scooped her up in a hug. It took a moment for Annabelle to hug her back, obviously surprised.

"Welcome to the family!" The woman said. "My name is Ellie." I went in for her hand but she ignored it and gave me a hug. She was warm and smelled like clean laundry. "I'm sure you already met Dale. You can call him Uncle." She gestured to the man of 40 that we met outside. He waved.

"This is Aace," Ellie said.

She gestured to a boy, who looked around 17, my age, who sat comfortably on a kitchen chair. He didn't even acknowledge me as I nodded my head. His eyes remained fixed on Annabelle. I knew that stare, and I didn't like it. An unfamiliar feeling rose up inside of me.

Jealousy.

"How do you do?" he said as he got up and slowly and tenderly kissed Annabelle's hand. She blushed and muttered something incoherent. Aace sat back down, smirking. I looked over at Annabelle who was staring intently at the floor, a small grin hidden on her face. My mood significantly dropped.

"And this is Sophia." Even though my mind was focused on my sudden urge to rip Aace's eyes out, I could not help ogle at Sophia. She was tall, tan and dreamy. Her long blonde hair fell to her lower back and her pearly white teeth had me mesmerized. She smiled at us. I found myself smiling back. She was gorgeous but transparent. I could tell just by the look of her that she was not my type. She liked doing her nails and brushing her hair and talking about boys. I looked over at Annabelle who looked a little flustered. I grinned at the thought of her doing "girlie" stuff.

At that moment, a little girl of about 7 bounded down the stairs, spotted us, and ran behind Ellie. I crouched down.

"And who is this?" I asked, my voice light and airy.

Ellie chuckled.

"Bindi," she whispered. "Go introduce yourself." The little girl slowly unstuck herself from her mother and sheepishly walked over to us. As she talked, I noticed her two front teeth were missing, giving her a little lisp.

"My name ith Bindi," she said quietly.

"Hullo Bindi," I said, holding out my hand. She quickly shook it, giggled, and then ran back to her mother.

"Why don't you introduce yourselves?" Dale suggested.

"Well, hi everybody. My name is..." I froze. The word "Alex" was halfway out of my mouth when I nearly slapped myself. I heard Annabelle give a little hiss, that only I could hear. "...Aaron." I finished, lamely. I knew this family knew of our...situation, but it was better if our real names were left out of the picture. Who knows, if they were ever tortured for information, we can't let them know who we really are.

"My name is Alyssa," Annabelle said cheerfully, with a little wave.

"Alyssa," Aace repeated, staring straight at Annabelle.

"Well," Dale started. "There's no use in standing around like a couple of bludgers. Brekkie's getting cold!"

"Brekkie?" Annabelle asked.

"It means breakfast," Ellie said. "You'll get used to all this Aussie lingo. I did."

"So you're not Australian?" I asked.

"Oh, heavens no. I'm American. I married Dale 21 years ago and moved here, to Australia with him."

"And I'm glad you did," Dale said as he bent down low to give his wife a sweet kiss. I smiled at them. I looked over at Annabelle who had found a new interest.

She was on the floor, playing tug of war with a golden retriever who was probably bigger than her. I laughed.

"The-dog-has-my-shoe!" A chorus of laughter echoed throughout the kitchen as Dale ran over to rescue Annabelle's footwear.

"Bloody whacker," Dale said as he pried the slobber-covered shoe from the dogs mouth. "Meet Terry. He likes newcomers."

I bent down to pet him as he licked my face.

"He seems nice enough," I said as I scratched behind his ears. His foot pounded on the floor.

Annabelle snorted. "Yeah, nice." With pride, she shoved her shoe back on her foot.

"Before breakfast, I'll show you two to your rooms so you can drop off your luggage." Ellie said as she beckoned to us. "Your rooms are right next to each other in case something...uhm...urgent happens," she said as her smile faltered a little bit. She led us into a bright yellow room that was bare except for a bed, a closet, and some family pictures on the walls. There was a door on the left side of the room. "That door leads to the other guest room. You two can fight it out to see who gets the bigger room." She smiled.

Annabelle went over to the bed and sat on it. "I positively love this room," she said as she flopped backwards, resting her head on the pillow.

Ellie went and sat next to her. "Close the door, will you Aaron?" Ellie asked. I did as she said.

Her smile vanished.

"I need to talk to the both of you." Annabelle's eyes met mine. Her grin of contempt was gone and she looked worried.

"Go ahead," I said.

"My husband, he won't tell my why you two are here. I know it's some secret super mission thing but I don't know any details. All I I'm sure of is that you two are only here because my husband has ties to the government. I guess what I'm trying to ask is, will my family be in any danger from you two being here?" Her eyes were full of hope, expecting the answer she so desperately wanted to hear.

"Mrs. Beckett," I said, plucking the name from the files in my memory. "We can't promise you anything." Her hopeful eyes deflated.

"You have to understand," Annabelle pleaded. "This is for a much bigger cause. Thousands, millions of lives are at stake. Instead of looking at yourself, you have to look at the big picture. This is what we do. In our line of work, we can't think about ourselves, but the welfare of others. We are doing this to keep you safe against bigger things. You wouldn't understand if you didn't know the full story, but just know that your best interest is in mind but at the same time, the rest of the world is counting on us too." Annabelle took the words right out of my mouth.

"So, you're saying that there is no guarantee?" she asked, a smidge of terror inebriated deep within her bright blue eyes.

"That's exactly what we are saying," I said grimly. "But just know that we will do anything we can to keep you safe. For some reason, if we get caught, they'll know who we really are and we will be the ones in danger, not you."

Ellie blinked back a tear that was fighting to escape."Thank you," she said as she stood up. "I wish you both luck and I know that your doing the best you can." She smiled. "And no matter what happens, I'm glad you came to stay with us." Annabelle got up and hugged her.

Girls, I thought.

"Thank you, Mrs. Beckett." Annabelle let her go and watched her quietly walk out the door, leaving Annabelle and I alone in the room. We looked at each other, a silent conversation traveled between us. We sat down on the bed.

"Man, we can't screw this up." Annabelle traced a pattern on the bedspread. I rolled over to face her.

"When can we ever not screw up?" I asked.

"Knock knock. Am I interrupting?" A voice asked from the doorway. I looked up to see Aace, casually leaning against the wall. "Hello, beautiful," he said, nodding at Annabelle.

"Hello, cousin," she replied. I stifled a chuckle. The sly grin on his face wavered, but he quickly regained his posture.

"We're all going out for a swim. Would you two care to join us?" he asked, walking over to us. I stood up, towering over him.

"I didn't pack a bathing suit," Annabelle said, shrugging.

"I'll swipe one of Sophia's for you." he said as he looked her up and down. "You two look about the same size." Even though our conversation remained light and friendly, their was an air of tension in the room. Aace stood directly in front of me, his eyes fixed upon mine in an almost challenging way. I got it now. It was a competition to him.

Annabelle decided to butt in.

"That would be nice, Aace. Are you sure Sophia wouldn't mind?" Annabelle asked as she purposefully got up and walked to the other side of the room, making Aace's gaze transfer from me to her. She gave me a knowing look.

"Not at all. I'll be right back." I could feel his eyes on her as he exited the room. I let out a lungful of air that I didn't know was there. Annabelle walked over to me.

"He's a creeper," she said.

I snorted. "You really think so?" I asked.

"Yeah. It gives me goose bumps every time he looks at me." she shivered.

"I thought I gave you goose bumps?" I asked. I mentally slapped myself. The words found their way out of my mouth before I had even thought about it. I could feel the familiar sensation of humility rushing into my cheeks.

Annabelle didn't hesitate.

"Of course you do. You just give me a different kind of goose bumps." She took a step closer.

"Good goose bumps?" I asked, watching her intently.

"Good goose bumps," she confirmed. I ran my fingers up her bare arm; feeling shivers travel up her spine. "See?" she asked as she held up her arm. Sure enough, tiny bumps were visible.

I smiled. "Well, I'm glad I give you good goose bumps." For a second time, our faces seemed to race towards each other in slow motion. This time, I slid one arm around her waist while the other remained on her arm. She mumbled something illogical before her eyes closed. Our lips were centimeters apart—

"I have your bathing suit, Alyssa." Sophia stumbled into the room as if on queue, wearing barely anything at all. A small black bikini covered the smaller part of her body while the majority of it was bare. She didn't seem phased at all that she was almost completely naked.

Annabelle and I quickly broke apart. I cleared my throat which had suddenly turned very dry.

"Was I interrupting something?" Sophia asked incredulously. Annabelle shook her head.

"No," I said. "Not at all." Sophia tossed a bathing suit at Annabelle.

"Aace asked me to lend you a bathing suit. I don't know what type you like, so I just got you this one." Annabelle held up what looked like even less material than the one Sophia currently had on.

"Do you have one that's a little more...non-revealing?" she asked, blushing as she looked at the bright pink bathing suit in her hands.

"All my other ones are dirty. Sorry," Sophia said and her gaze returned to me. "Do you have a suit, Aaron?"

"Yeah, I have one. I'll change quickly and then I'll be out," I said, hoping that she would take the hint to leave. Thankfully, she did.

"We'll be out in the back when you two are done getting dressed." With that, she turned around, and made sure to sway her hips provocatively as she walked out of the room. Behind me, Annabelle made a small "humph" sound. I turned around. She was sitting on the bed, holding up her "bathing suit".

"I would never wear anything like this." She put her head in her hands. "It's pink and will barely cover anything at all!"

"You don't have to go swimming," I suggested.

"I have to," she said. "Or else I'll hear hell from Sophia. I can just hear her now. 'Oh, did it not fit? Sorry I don't have any bigger sizes.' I'll have to go out there."

"Why don't you just ignore her?"

"You don't get it, Alex." I shivered at the sound of my name on her lips. "It's a girl thing."

"Whatever you say," I said. She looked at me, expectantly.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, go to your room so I can get dressed," she said as she motioned at the door to her left.

"Who said this was your room?" I asked in a childish voice.

"I did. Now shoo!" she said as she hastily got up and swung open the door to reveal what looked like a master suite, equipped with a T.V and a mini fridge. Our jaws dropped. I looked back to the yellow room, which was bare and uninviting.

"Alright, I'll go to my room," I said as I ran through the door.

"Wait, no! I change my mind!"

Tell me what you think of the new characters :D

I've been horribly sick lately so some reviews would really make me feel better.

Thanks for all your support!

Edna B.