Operation 007 (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 23: Part Three

There was shouting somewhere ahead of Damian and loud cracks as the walkway broke and buckled. Professor Henderson's head disappeared and as far as Damian could tell, some of the kids fell too. It wasn't a big fall. It could only be about a foot, but it scared the crap out of the students who screamed bloody murder.

The students fell out of line then. The walkway was quite wide, so they got as close as they dared to the jagged edges before the teacher from Wald hall made them scoot back.

Damian wasn't so close to the front but he got a good enough look. Mr. Gable had managed to avoid the collapse and now helped the few kids that had fallen. None of them appeared seriously hurt, a couple nicks, but they were fine. It was a small drop and Professor Henderson required no help.

Damian would never admit he was rattled when the students screamed, but his heart had jumped out of his chest and he had tensed up. When there was no more screaming, he curiously craned his neck at the incident, and nothing seemed amiss other than faulty boards. To Damian's right, he saw Blackbell advancing further for a better view and was surprised that Forger wasn't by her side like usual. He had talked to her little on the field trip, less than he would have liked, and was pleased he had least affirmed she had some sort of sixth sense however unsettling it was. He would get to the bottom of it eventually.

As if it was second nature, a habit he had not noticed in himself, he cast about his gaze for Forger and she was gone. She was not with the other students, he would've spotted her hair.

'What in the—?' He thought. 'Where could she have gone?'

He didn't think twice when he disengaged from the group that clamoured around the hole that they somehow found fascinating, and walked back the way they came from.

He wasn't worried about her, he was just curious. She was being suspicious again. Why would she leave like this? Forger would for sure get a bolt, she already had two, she wouldn't last 'til middle school at this rate. He was curious of her mental soundness to make such a choice, he wasn't worried.

He reached the intersection and casually looked both ways and saw her halfway down a long path to his right. She walked as fast as her stubby legs could carry her.

'Where the heck is she going?!' He thought incredulously. 'Has she gone insane?!' He glanced at the teachers who were attending to the students who fell, and talking to Mr. Gable about the incident.

They were busy.

"Aw, geez." He grumbled unhappily and started into a sprint to catch up with her. 'What am I doing?' He complained to himself. 'Who cares if she gets in trouble? I'm just gonna get myself in trouble. Then I'll get a bolt and Father will be mad.' He thought, but didn't stop.

He was moving much faster than Forger and caught up easily. She couldn't have been more than a couple metres away when she turned abruptly down another path, and he slipped from taking it too fast. The dirt and tiny pebbles ground beneath his shoes in his effort to stop, and his knee met the sun-warmed earth when he failed, hands planting on the path before he fell on his face. He only grunted at the blunt pain that ached it.

She didn't notice. He hadn't exactly been quiet.

Damian tenderly brushed away the soil stuck on his bruised knee, and the tiny, speckled impressions it left from his body's weight, as he righted himself and wondered at her obliviousness. He swiped any stain from his hands. Was she ignoring him? He didn't like being ignored, he rarely was ignored. No, she just didn't notice. How had she not noticed? She didn't turn to signify acknowledgment of his sacrificed knee, neither did she appear attuned to his appearance like she so often was.

He was about to call out for her and finally gain the attention he usually had, when he spied her shoulders and the way they shook. The way her hands fisted at her sides and refrained from swinging freely.

Well, that didn't seem right.

He didn't know why it stopped him. He didn't know why he let her walk further ahead before following at a distance. Maybe it was because he sensed something was wrong. Maybe he was curious as to where she was going when it would so obviously get her in trouble. Maybe he just wanted to know what she was thinking. What she was doing. Maybe it was all of the above. Maybe it reminded him of how she acted before she was abducted, but of course that was ridiculous. . . .

They made a few turns and Damian noticed they were keeping to the more concealed paths. Ones with more trees that shadowed over them, and Forger walked like she knew where she was going. He wondered if she'd been here before.

As Forger disappeared around a right corner, Damian jogged up to close the distance and jerked back into hiding at the person ahead. She didn't appear to notice him, looking at the animals as she was. It would just be really awkward if he was caught. . .

. . .
. . .

. . .

Caught. . .that implied he was doing something wrong, which he wasn't. He was only trying to uncover who Forger really was. He was convinced she wasn't a regular commoner despite knowing who her parents were.

Cautiously, he peeked around the corner and the lady had stood. She held herself straight and tall, a bearing similar to military personnel, and her emotionless eyes met Forger's. They seemed to know each other and from Forger's reticence to go near her, it was not a good relationship.

Damian had a bad feeling.

The woman held no expression when she spoke to her "Subject 007." She said and Desmond had no idea what that was supposed to mean. Why was she talking to Forger? Why did it make her nervous? Why did this lady come here to see her? They were on a field trip for crying out loud, couldn't this wait?

But Forger didn't say anything and he could have sworn he heard her sob once. She was still shaking.

Damian had a really bad feeling about this and the longer the silence went on, realized how taut it was. The leaves that fluttered almost silently, amplified it, and the occasional clittering of crisp greenery that was soft but clear, were like undertones to something serious taking place.

"Let's go." The lady said and eyed Forger expectantly. She spoke with authority and the words were followed by the same hush.

'Let's go!?' Damian thought. Was Forger seriously going to leave with this lady? Where? Why? What the heck was going on?

But Forger remained unmoving and a chill came over Damian.

This whole situation was wrong. It reeked of something vile. Everything about Forger's body language screamed fear and anxiety, and yet here she stood of her own accord. He didn't know how she knew this lady would be here, but she came. And this woman was going to take her away.