N.C.

Chapter 1

    "So, where are we going?" Key asked as she looked around the back of the limousine the man had directed her to after collecting her bags. "This is a very nice car, I had no idea my parents worked with such a rich company." The man hadn't said anything yet besides 'right this way miss' and 'I will take your bags miss.' He was quite polite, and she wasn't terribly bothered by it because, of course, her parents would explain everything when they arrived wherever they were meeting.
    "We are headed to The Hotel, miss, and my name is Charles, in case you were wondering." He said kindly, glancing at her through the mirror.
    Key looked at him surprised not having expected him to answer. "Oh, of course. Lovely, Thank you Charles. Will my parents be meeting me there or will they arrive later, do you think?" she inquired.
    He gave her a sad look, and kept silent. His actions gave her a small sense of foreboding but she assumed he just didn't know. Oh, well. I guess I will have to find out when I get there. She started to talk to him about the Play they were doing in school at the moment. They talked about drama and theatre for the rest of the drive. It took around 10 more minutes to get to the hotel. When Key realized that they had stopped moving she immediately started jumping in her seat in excitement to see her parents for the first time in a month. She hopped out of the car, and stopped, gazing at the sight before her. The largest building she has ever seen rose to the sky in front of her.
    "Uhm, Charles I thought you said we were going to the hotel?" She looked to her side where he had suddenly appeared.
    He grinned, and said, "I did, miss. Right this way please." She followed him into the giant building as he signaled to another man standing at the front desk. "Hey, Richard, please make sure that Miss Michelson's room is prepared."Richard nodded and went out to the car. "I'm going to take you to a meeting room where you will be joined by three other people. Then everything will be explained to you." He gave her another sad look and guided her to the lift.
    "Will we see each other again, Charles? You will probably be busy but if you aren't, then I would quite like to talk to you again." She said to him when they got on. He pressed the button looking surprised, but then gave a small smile.
    "I'm sure we will Miss."

    "What am I doing here?" Drake scowled, glaring around the room the man pushed him into when he woke up. The huge desk in the middle of the room had four chairs opposite the main chair, that was so grand it looked more like a throne than anything else. He was alone in the room and decided to look through the desk to see if he could get any clues as to where in hell he was. As he shuffled through the papers on the top, he noticed angrily that he was all the way in london. When had I gotten on a plane? After they knocked me out? "What am I doing here!?" he yelled at the ceiling and spun around to punch the door, but it swung open revealing a tall boy with curly brown hair who looked like he was going to piss himself when he saw Drake's fist.
    "Uhm... hello?" He said nervously.
    "Who are you?" Drake said, and dropped his hand.
    "My name is Sam, and you are?" The boy said, obviously still nervous but trying to hide it.
    "What, you mean you don't know? Did they bring you here to?" Drake immediately spun around again and went back to the desk.
    "Yeah, I guess, that Joe guy picked me up at school earlier today." Sam said, skepticism unmasked in his voice. "We got on a private jet. It was weird. He said I was going to the main headquarters for the company my parents work for, to meet about them or something."
    "Oh. Oh my god, I should have known." He gave up looking through the desk and slumped in one of the chairs. The Sam kid sat in one chair over and pulled and iPhone out of his pocket.
    "Wow, we're in London, huh? Wait, you're American. Where are you from?" Sam asked. "Not to pry or anything, just wondering." He said when he realized he might have asked something rude.
    "Miami," Drake replied, annoyed that he had to deal with this.
    "Huh. That's in Florida, right?" He pondered on that fact for a while and said, "I'm from Vancouver. In Canada. And I still don't know your name."
    "It's Drake." Just as he said that the door started to open again.
    "In here? Okay. Thanks Charles, bye-bye!" The excited voice with a soft Irish accent on the other side of the door caused both of the boys in the room to twist in their chairs. It opened the rest of the way and the prettiest girl either of them had ever seen walked in. "Hello! My name's Blake but you can call me Key, Do your parents work here too?" When neither of them answered, her wide smile faltered a little bit, and she looked at them curiously. "Um, hi?"
    "Sorry, you startled me." Sam said, waving awkwardly. "I'm Sam, that's Drake." Drake had sat back in his seat when he saw who it was, not caring in the least what her name was.
    "Oh! Alright." Key sat down in between them, and waved at Drake who rolled his eyes. She turned towards Sam after the rejection with a hurt look on her face.
    "Don't mind him. He's been like that since I got here." Sam said, "do you have any idea what we are doing here?"
    "Well, the letter that I got said it was about my parents. Didn't you guys get one?" Key said amiably to Sam, glancing back at Drake again.
    "A letter? No, Joe just came to pick me up at school. He said he had already talked to Crystal." He said, glancing at the time on his phone.
    "Crystal? Who's that?" Key asked, confused.
    "Sorry, Crystal is my aunt, my parents and I decided I would live with her since they are away all the time." Sam replied, looking embarrassed, "What about you Drake, how did you get here?"
    He gave them a sour grin, and told them. "Some guy in a suit pounded on my door at 7 in the morning, shoved me into a car, knocked me out and then woke me up in some other room in this building then dropped me in here." The looks on their faces were enough to cheer him up. "They must have information on the best ways to get us here. School for the nerd, letter for the- Whoever you are, and force for the delinquent." Still looking at the others shocked faces, he let out a short laugh.
    Sam went back to his phone and Key sat there looking worried, and no one spoke for the next five minutes. Until the door opened again. Another boy walked in, wearing all black, and had his hood up. He was bobbing his head back and forth and his headphones were leaking some Green Day song.
    Key stood up and gestured in front of his face to catch his attention. "Hi! My name's Blake but you can call me Key. What's your name?" The boy simply looked at her and went to sit in the only free chair, next to Sam. Key sighed harshly, "Stuck in a room with two spoil sports and only one friendly person, what's a girl to do." She smiled at Sam and went back to her seat. They all went back to what they were doing before, and the new boy snuck glances at the rest of the group, studying them. The boy at the other end of the line-up had black hair and what seemed to be a permanent scowl on his face, but was alright looking besides it. The girl who had introduced herself as Key had long brown hair and was gorgeous. She had a worried look in her eyes but her lips were still curled up into a smile. The boy next to him had curly brown hair and striking green eyes that he could see pain in even though he was using his phone as a distraction. He could tell it went deeper than whatever he was dealing with in his game.