Hidden in Plain Sight

Chapter Seven

"You ready?" Luke asked, sitting next to me on one of the white couch things inside the jet. Other people around our age were milling around, chatting and getting settled down for the long flight.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I responded, looking up at him. His white smile lit up his face, and he leaned back, taking in our surroundings. His broad shoulders took up a good third of our couch, and I crossed my legs.

Why was I taking in such detail about his body?

Quickly averting my train of thought, I looked down at my own before picking at a piece of fuzz on my pants.

I was dressed comfy for the flight, black leggings and a mint colored jacket, Converse completing the outfit. We had gotten up four hours after I fell asleep, showering and immediately grabbing our bags before going to Headquarters to meet our plane. Luke's parents dropped us off, wishing us well as we stepped off of American soil for the last time in 7 months.

I brought my eyes up, scanning the people, picking up various excited and annoyed thoughts. There were so many thoughts, voices, and emotions that it almost made me sick trying to pick through them all.

The plane was kind of full, with probably 50 people on it. It was a big plane, but it was designed to be spacious, so it was most likely near its maximum capacity, thank God.

"You guys must be Eighlynn and Lucas?" a girl holding a big stack of papers and envelopes that was probably a couple years older than us asked, and I looked up at her as I zoned away from the other people. Her long dark hair was pulled into a side braid, and her olive skin was obviously seeing the sun a lot. Her big smile wasn't forced at all, and I was immediately suspicious.

Leave it to me to find someone who would be completely normal to anybody else suspicious.

"Yes?" I responded, and she sat down across from us, laying all of her papers on the table.

"Great! So I have some information for when you arrive, just the basic stuff. First off, you will have 48 hours before your first shift, in which you can get settled in, I hope that's enough. You two will be sharing an apartment, strict orders straight from the board, and it's two bedroom with one bathroom and fully functional. In the building with your apartment, there will be plenty of other Guard members of all nationalities," she said, handing us a packet of papers and a thick envelope.

"What's in the envelope?" I asked, and she gave us another smile. Something felt off.

"Approximately $5,000 in Australian dollars. You may want to go explore a little bit, and get food for your apartment once we arrive," she answered, and I nodded, putting the envelope on my lap.

"Thank you," Luke said, opening up his duffle bag to put all of our papers in. He reached for the envelope before picking it up and putting it with the rest of the papers, his hand grazing my thigh and making me tense up.

My eyes stayed trained on the girl, and she just crossed her legs as she observed the people around us.

"I can't believe this is actually happening, I'm so excited. I've been helping prepare this for so long," she thought excitedly, and I pursed my lips.  "I wonder what they are. They seem nice, well Luke seems nice, Eighlynn doesn't really seem to like me. I thought I was being nice, oh well, maybe I should be nicer." 

Her mind was a constant babble, and I looked down at Luke's duffle bag before he shoved it back under our seat. I glanced back up at her chest, seeing a very faint, dark cloud. So she's dark, huh?

"I didn't catch your name," I asked. She sounded like she had good intentions, but I was getting the feeling that something wasn't adding up, like I wasn't getting the full story. I couldn't trust her.