Agent Reptilian: Exploiting Gold|editing

Chapter four: "I have some rather unfortunate news for you and Ms Scott"

Both of us sat on the lawn chairs outside, staring at the tiny, glowing, specks against the inky black sky. It was a chilly night, or I for some reason was feeling colder than normal so Austin had given me his linen shirt that I had wrapped around myself. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing.

Since Austin had grown like crazy these past four months, his wardrobe obviously needed an upgrade to fit into him. The shirt of his that I wore was loose around me like a dress, falling till below my knees.

A breeze drifted by us and I kicked my shoes off and pulled my legs up on the chair, trying to keep myself warm.

"You're really could eh? Maybe there's a coffee or something back there." He got up from his seat but I waved it off and told him to sit back down.

"It's okay. It's just been a while since I've properly been out." When we were placed in the basement of the med care, they weren't that cruel that they didn't let us out. Whenever classes were going on and the pathways and roads of Secretum Academy were mostly deserted, they used to take us out on a walk. Which now that I think about it makes me feel like I was some animal.

We both stayed silent. I sipped the berry flavored water from its can and let my thoughts wander around in my mind. It might be weird that we drink water from cans but our organization was moving towards a more sustainable pathway, that meant slowly eliminating plastics and introducing other materials that we could recycle or reuse.

Suddenly I remembered that the files Nix and I had collected might still be under the mattress of the cot that belonged to me for the past four months. Had Nix grabbed them or were they still there? I had to go and bring them back before they got in the hands of the wrong person. Nix and I would be in deeper trouble.

I set the can down and went to get up but Austin's voice stopped me.

"What happened Al? What has been up with you and Nix? What's all this research you're doing and why? Agent Adams is handling it. Isn't that enough?" I just stared at him not knowing what to say. I couldn't tell him about Nix and I, that was a secret that I would mostly likely have to take to my grave.

I stared at an ant crawling on the handle of my chair. It had a crumb on its back and it was traveling up the handle, probably taking that food to it's loved ones to feed them, struggling against the wind. I was just like this ant, holding something on my back and making my way to my loved ones to serve it to them. The only difference was that the ant was feeding them food.

I was feeding my loves ones lies.

I looked towards him. "Austin, like I already said I-I can't tell you. Please understand that. Just ask me something else please."

I hated lying to him. I had known him as long as I had known Nix but how was I supposed to tell one of my best friend's about being a reptilian? It was embarrassing and he would start to see me as some freak-which I was. I didn't want Austin to see me anything other than as just Alaska. Just a normal girl who loved snow, beat him single-handedly in ninth grade and wanted to be an agent.

"Fine, fine. So... how were the injuries?" I'm sorry I didn't come to visit. We all tried to but they wouldn't let us. Must've been bad eh since you were in there for four months." I paused for a second, again I felt bad lying to him but I genuinely could not say anything. It was imperative for me to remain discrete.

"Uh yeah, it was pretty bad. Both my legs were broken and so was my left arm. But I'm all good now."

He shook his head slightly as he stared at his fingers. Behind his eyes he was calculating something.

"Hmm, that's strange." He scratched his chin. "Does it not take around 4-6 weeks for bones to heal? Not four months?" I couldn't help but smile. He would make a good detective.