That figured. Something extremely hard, that I probably wouldn’t ever be ready for. I mean, c’mon, a princess! She would probably have a million and one guards around her at all times! I balled my fists again. “How am I supposed to capture a princess?! That’s insane!” I cried, but I was beginning to realize that nothing I did would rile this man’s temper. I had to admire that.

  He chuckled a bit, and I sunk back into my chair, feeling helpless. And the cuffs were really starting to irritate my wrists. “Ainslyn, that is what a spy is for! You shan’t just go in there and demand to take the princess! With your training that you shall receive, you shall go undercover, and just befriend the princess! Then once you acquire her friendship, or even her love, you’ll wait until she is unsuspecting, kidnap her, and bring her to me. Then your sister will be freed.” He crossed his arms. “See, easy.”

  I made a face when the word love was mentioned. And still… I found it hard to believe that I, a Kachinoan, could get anywhere near a Shiarizian princess. But maybe the training would help me with that. Besides, I didn’t have much of a choice. “How long is the training going to take?” I asked glumly. 

  The man rubbed his chin. “I’d say that in three to four years if you’re smart, you should be ready.” He leaned back. “Knowing you inventor types, you should learn quite quickly, I should think.”

  I sighed. Inventor types. Wasn’t that the reason I had been thrown in here in the first place — for using my brains? “Yeah okay. Now, can you loose these cuffs?” 

  The man nodded towards the soldiers, and the stepped forward. Each of them tapped a small button on either side of the chair, and the cuffs opened up, releasing my hands. I wrung them out, glad to be free from that. 

  The man stood, finally introducing himself. “I am Res Remington. Some people refer to me as The Boss, but whatever you want to call me would be fine.”

  I was almost certain he was not meaning for me to call him an insulting name, but I decided that, once out of his presence, I’d call him The Old Miser or some other insulting name, since that’s what he reminded me of. “Yes sir,” I mumbled, standing to my feet. 

  I was a bit wobbly, and I steadied myself by placing my hand on the metal chair I had just been sitting in. My mind still felt a bit foggy too, and for the first time I realized how tired I was. 

  “Come with me; I will introduce you to your roommate, and he will show you to your quarters.”

 Roommate? Quarters? I pushed myself off from the seat. “But where is the exit—” 

  He clicked on a keychain flashlight, and shone it behind him, revealing a door. “Come with me.”

  I looked back at the two guards behind me, wondering if they would come along too. Probably.

  I started to follow him out the door, and rolled my eyes when I saw the two guards following. What exactly did they think I could do? I was a thirteen year old weaponless boy — Mr Remington was a full grown man with a gun and who knew what else on him. Besides, the metal door shut behind us and I heard a click. It probably locked. So, like, what could I do? Run? Run where?

  The hallways I followed Mr. Remington down were dark and narrow; only a few little lightbulbs flickered on from the ceiling when we turned a corner or entered another room. I felt like we were going in circles, and if I hadn’t been lost before, I sure was now.

  Finally we mounted some stairs, and a door was at the top of them. Mr. Remington punched in some code in a monitor beside the door, and then pushed it open. “We are here.” 

  As the door opened, bright light shone in. I shielded my eyes with my hand, trying to adjust my eyes to the sunlight that I hadn’t seen in over a year — no, not since I’d been kidnapped.

  I stepped out onto a shiny wooden floor, and I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision quicker. I could hear lots of nails on keyboards, and figured I was in some sort of office. As I looked up, I saw that I was indeed in an office… of sorts — but it wasn’t set up in a way a regular office was. There were each little tables set up alongside each wall with a computer on each of them, and a printer beside them. 

  “This is our test results room. Basically, the children in our academy take their tests and such, and their results are brought here to be printed up. They are then examined by the principals to see if they are worth of passing to the next level. Each desk grades a different subject as well.”

  I nodded silently wishing he’d hurry up and let me be alone. I was beginning to dread every second I had to spend with him. And I’d agreed to serve under him for the rest of my life?! I decided not to think about that, and quickly removed the thought with another one. It was for my sister.

  I was glad when he walked out of that room, into one where a bunch of kids were coming in. All looked about ages twelve to twenty, and all had uniforms on. Some uniforms were different than others, however, and I supposed that the different uniforms meant the kids were training to go into different things. 

  Mr. Remington confirmed this. “I suppose you see all the different uniforms?” 

  “Yes sir.” I wasn’t blind, you know.

  “Well, they all stand for different branches of our military. The black uniforms are for children training to be in the special forces. The olive green uniforms are for children who are going into the foot-army. The white are children training to be doctors and medical personnel. And the red are meant for fighter-forces…those who are training to fight in the air.”

  “What is my uniform going to be?” I asked then, studying them. “Special forces?” That uniform looked the coolest… though the red was cool too. At least I could get a cool uniform out of this, right?

  He laughed. “No. You are our second spy, and will be given a navy blue uniform. Now, let me find your roommate…” he scanned the room, but all I could see was children going to and from different classes. Finally he called up a girl. 

  “Natalia Atticus! Come here for a moment.”

  A girl with white hair and green eyes, dressed in a foot-army uniform came up, and saluted. She looked as if she’d just come from some type of vigorous sports practice, with her face flushed, and her hair falling out of her loose bun and into her face. “Yes sir?”

  “Find Raidon Zainab for me immediately.” 

  “Yes sir!” She saluted, and quickly melted into the crowd. 

  I felt rather small among all these people. These kids all seemed to know each other, and I hoped that, even though I hated this place already, that maybe I could find one person who was like me, and that I could be friends with. I’d always found it easier to talk to adults than kids if I was in a strange place with new people. But I couldn’t see any adults anywhere, save the guards posted at each exit, who never even flinched a muscle. They certainly wouldn’t be nice to talk to.

  I saw the white-haired girl coming back, dragging someone with her. He had brown eyes, but they were definitely tinted more reddish-brown than a pure brown. That was probably why they’d picked him to be a spy. He’d be able to fit in pretty well in Shiarizi, which was known for its people with red eyes. He also wore a navy blue uniform, and I had to admit, I liked it even better than the black and red ones. At least Remington had good taste in uniforms. 

  “Here he is, Sir! Thought I was lying to him about you wanting him, Sir!” Natalia spoke in an irritated tone as she glanced at the boy.

  He saluted lazily to Mr. Remington, wiping a lock of his thick brown hair out of his eyes at the same time. “Sorry, Sir. It’s just you’ve never really wanted me before.”

  Mr. Remington nodded to Natalia. “Thank you, Private Atticus. You are relieved.” 

  “Thank you sir.” Natalia saluted again, then took off, following the rest of the green-uniformed children out a door. 

  Mr. Remington then turned to us, and spoke once only Raidon and I were in the room. “Now, Raidon Zainab, this is your new roommate, Ainslyn Paine. Ainslyn, this is your roommate, and will be your aid in the mission we have been speaking of. Is that all clear?”

  “Yes sir.” I tried to sound calm and confident still, but it sounded more anxious, much to my irritation. I couldn’t wait for him to leave.

  “What mission?” Raidon asked. “And ooh, I get to be your aid?! Cool!”

  I sighed. This kid seemed too lighthearted for my liking. How could he be so happy when we were basically being trained to kill, and to be killed?

  “Paine will explain that later to you, Zainab. Now, take him to your quarters, and get him fixed up in a uniform, then let him to himself for the rest of the day. Tomorrow he can begin training.” 

  Raidon saluted. “Sure thing, Sir.” He grinned, then grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me along, down towards a hall. 

  “Hey! I can walk by myself!” I jerked my arm away. 

  “Okie dokey,” Raidon kept on grinning. “I’m Raidon Za-”

  “I know, Mr. Remington just introduced us,” I interrupted him coldly. I wasn’t slow or hard of hearing. I had understood loud and clear what his name was.  

  “Oh, yeah, but he didn’t say that you could call me Raid, and that’s what I’m gonna tell you.” He cleared his throat, and I rolled my eyes. “You can call me Raid!”

  “Sure, Raid. Whatever you say,” I answered glumly, doing my best to ignore him. Wouldn’t he just leave me alone? Of course, he didn’t know what I’d been through… or about Mai… or about what I was training to DO, but did he have to constantly run his mouth? 

  “So, what things make you happy?” he asked cheerily, as he opened a door leading into a long hall with numbered doors aligning each side.

  “What type of question is that?” I managed to hold back a bitter laugh. That was the last thing I wanted to talk about at the moment. What things made me happy? Nothing made me happy — not while I was here.

  “Oh.” He shrugged again. “A good conversationalist said that a good starter question with people who feel down would be that one! He says that it helps people feel better!”

  “And how many people did he have lined up at his door waiting to answer that question?” I asked sarcastically.

  He furrowed his brows, looking almost comical. “None, I don’t think.”

  “I didn’t think so,” I answered matter of factly, before sighing. This was going to be a long day.