Seraph of the End...Spy School - DISCONTINUED

The Circle of Conaghan

Reinelle and Megan sat on the edge of their seats, leaning forward as they waited for Madame Kennedy to start explaining.

"You girls know the story of Annabelle Johnson. How courageous she was by building a whole school for women interested in espionage. She founded it in 1865, in Dublin, Ireland."

The girls nodded, but waited for more.

"Well. One day, an Irish man named Joseph Conaghan came out of the shadows. He found out about the school, and he was quick to judge. He disapproved of the idea of women learning to defend themselves, even think for themselves. They were becoming smarter and smarter, and they were learning more than any man had ever learned in the art of espionage!" 

Reinelle and Megan smiled. They were so proud of the woman who founded the basis of women in espionage. They were thankful for her hatred for hoop dresses.

"Joseph Conaghan had many supporters. Some were even women! They all thought that Anabelle's ideas were disgraceful. So he challenged her to a duel. He didn't expect the match to be hard. Joseph looked down upon all women, especially Anabelle. So when she defeated him and publicly humiliated him, he grew very unhappy. He held a grudge against her, and vowed that he would get back at her. He trained and trained, only to face the same loss."

Megan laughed. "Hell yeah! Females forever! That served him right," she said enthusiastically. Madame Kennedy held up her finger to silence her. Reinelle tried to stufle her laugh, earning a glare from Megan.

"I agree. But that wasn't the end of it. The feud between Sanguinem Academy and the Circle continued, but we haven't seen them active for years. But we recently got some news from some of our teachers who work for the CIA. They say the Circle's now on their radar."

Reinelle and Megan shared a look. "Do you think they're here to get revenge?"

Madame Kennedy nodded. "I hope I'm wrong, but that's what my theory is. That's why I need your help. Megan, I want you to go find Zillana and Giselle. Fill them in on what I just told you. Tell them I want their help to solve this problem, too. Make sure they know that anything that has to do with this mission stays a secret. Understood?"

Megan nodded with a determined look on her face. "Yes, ma'am!" Megan quickly walked out of the room, carefully making her way back to her dorm room to find her roommates, who were also her best friends.

"Reinelle, I need to talk to you about something else. It has to do with your father."

Reinelle felt a lump form in her throat. Her mother and father had both worked for Interpol and she lost them both on Interpol missions when she was in 6th grade. Her mother died a week before her father, although they don't know for sure whether her father's dead or not. But after being gone for so long . . . Reinelle has false hope.

Now, she only has Madame Kennedy, who was one of her mother's best friends. She promised her mother that she would take care of her and continue the mission to stop the Circle. That was the promise Madame Kennedy made to Reinelle's mother, Rebecca Simmone. The promise between two former Sanguinem Academy girls, two sisters.

"What about him?" 

"A little before your mother's death, she told me that your father was on to something. She said it had to do with the Circle. Rebecca told me that she would leave it with you, should anything happen to her on that suicide mission."

Reinelle thought hard. She couldn't think of any of her parent's belongings being tied to the Circle. She imagined the necklace her mother gave her as a young girl being tied to the necklace. She wanted to laugh. There was no way Rebecca's gold chain could have something to do with a terrorist organization.

She would later find out that the key to ending the Circle was under her nose the whole time.

"I'll help you find it, Reinelle, don't worry," said Madame Kennedy, after reading Reinelle's clueless expression. 

"I want you to tell Lalynn, Kayla, Misaki, and Hazel about this. We're going to need all the help we can get,bbut from trustworthy people. My directions for Megan are the same for you. The Circle has spies everywhere, and a lot of times they don't even know each other. I have a feeling we'll be encountering lots of them on our field trip soon."

Reinelle got up and took the book back in her arms, making her way to the door.

"Wait. Field trip?"

Madame Kennedy gave her a mischievous smile. "You'll see very soon, young lady."