Chapter 5~
I struggle to keep up as Rosie pounds up flights of stairs and races down hallways. Eventually we reach her private suite. Once inside, Rosie heads straight into her bedroom and orders me to close the door. As soon as I do, Rosie walks right up to one of the walls and puts her hand on it. She gestures for me to do the same, so I do so without question, even though the confusion is killing me. There are a series of beeps and tiny lights and then the wall slides open.
"We made some updates to palace security after General Kane tried to take over," Rose explains.
We walk into the hidden room and the wall slams shut behind us. It almost looks like a movie theater inside, but I have a feeling we're not here to watch the new Harry Potter. As soon as we reach the center of the room, the face of Princess Protection Program's director Molly Rogan fills the screen. She doesn't look happy.
"Carter…" she says in that same scolding tone my dad uses, except with a thick Russian accent. "Nice of you to join us."
"Where's my dad?" I blurt out.
"Safe and sound on a top secret mission, as usual," Director Rogan replies.
"Then why did you need me here?" Now I'm really confused.
"We have a mission for you," Director Rogan explains. "Both of you."
I knew Rosie was training as a junior agent too, but I thought that was more of a self-defense thing. They wouldn't actually send us out on a real mission, would they? I don't know much about what my dad does, but I know it involves risking his life on a regular basis. I don't think I'm ready for that quite yet. I would really like to see seventeen.
"There is a small country off of the border of Italy known as Bellissimare," Director Rogan says. "In Bellissimare, a ruler is required to be eighteen years of age before taking the throne. The king and queen of Bellissimare were killed in a tragic accident a couple of years ago, so the queen's sister and her husband took over as the regent rulers until their niece turned eighteen. Princess Megrin is about to celebrate her eighteenth birthday and we have reason to believe that the regent rulers may be planning to have her kidnapped and killed so that they can continue to rule. We need to get her out of the country before they can execute their plan."
"What did you need us to do?" Rosie asks, as if this is already a done deal.
"Wait a second," I argue. "This sounds like a job for my dad or one of the more experienced agents. Why are you sending us?"
"We need someone who can get in and out of Princess Megrin's birthday party undetected," Director Rogan explains. "We need teenage girls. We need you. Your plane leaves tonight. You'll be back day after tomorrow."
"Wait a second," I interrupt. "I just got here. I'm on freakin' vacation! Can't you have one of your other junior agents do it?"
"If there was anyone else we could send, we would," Director Rogan says. "But you two are the one two we trust with such an important mission."
"What are our covers?" Rosie asks. "Who are we supposed to say we are?"
"No covers," Director Rogan replies. "You're on the invite list. Princess Rosalinda and her friend Carter Mason."
"What about Edwin?" Rose questions. "We can't leave him behind."
"Of course." Director Rogan nods. "You can bring him as well, as long as you agree to take the mission."
"Of course we'll take it." Rose sends me a warning glance. "We'll be on that plane tonight."
"Excellent." Director Rogan smiles and then her face disappears from the screen.
"I can't believe you were so rude!" Rose fumes on our way out of the secret room.
"I didn't mean to!" I insist. "Besides, she was the one being rude. I just got here. I've been a junior agent for six months and never once did they take me out of school to go on a mission. No, they wait until I'm on vacation."
"So, they're cutting into your tanning time?" Rose snaps. "Carter, we're talking about life and death here. That girl needs us."
It's different when she puts it that way.
"Where were you today?" Rose suddenly looks suspicious. "I had my entire staff turn the palace inside out looking for you."
"Armando took me on a tour of the city," I explain as nonchalantly as possible. This isn't the way I want to tell Rosie about my date.
"Armando, my pool boy?" Rose stops, shocked.
I nod.
"Oh, I get it now." Rose glares at me. "You don't want to leave cuz you're afraid you'll miss an opportunity to hook up with Armando."
"It's not like that," I argue. "And I didn't mean to go MIA today. It's not my fault my cell phone doesn't work out here."
"Yeah, whatever Carter." Rose storms off.
"What about you?" I run after her. "You're abandoning your entire country."
"It's two days," Rose says. "My mother can take care of everything until I get back. She's done it before."
"What will you tell everyone?"
"That I got invited to a royal birthday party in one of our ally countries and it's very important that I attend, lest I offend them and they go to war with us." Rose rolls her eyes as if the answer was obvious, then speeds up.
"Where are you going?" I try my best to keep up with her.
"To tell Ed to start packing," Rose replies without turning around or slowing down, then adds sarcastically, "I'm sure you'll want to say goodbye to Armando."