Polyglot

Chapter 4

We land about 20 minutes later quite a bit outside Washington DC. You would think a plane that resembles a commercial avión to land in a commercial airport, but that's not what happened. Instead, we land in some kind of military base near Quantico. I can't exactly see where we are because one of the Secret Service agents (I eventually found out they were secret service) and my pita are blocking my view. I step out of the plane and there's a black 2015 Ford Escape waiting for us. I think that's what it is.

I can't stop thinking about how Edwin is going to be a part of this. Well, considering how he is a political and financial prodigy, it's logical he'd be in this. Still, there's this feeling in my gut something bad would happen to us.

Anyway, I'm practically forced into the car. They keep me in the middle so I don't see anything I'm not supposed to, I guess. We drive for about 5 or 10 minutes at a slow speed. Now is great time to show off my fastidio.
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"Já estamos lá?"

"No. God Lyric, have you always been this annoying?" It kind of hurts to hear that from my own father. "It doesn't matter. We're here." he waved me off, as always.

I get my legs unstuck from the leather seats and exit the car. In front of me is a large building with barely, almost no other tatemono around. That kind of makes sense, since this is some sort of secret government facility nobody's supposed to know about. Anyway, our group of five enters through heavy glass doors. The inside is the opposite of what you'd expect a government agency facility to look like. The walls, floors, and furniture all have a dark grey and black color scheme. To my left is a small lounge area with couches and chairs to relax. On my right, I see a few desks with computers and chairs for business purposes. There's very little decorations, just a rug in the lounge and dark grey squares on the walls and floors.

"Où sommes-nous?" I ask.
Where are we?

"We're at the ISSD headquarters. Come, we don't have all day." Ms. Reynolds replies. I'm then led down the corridor in front of us. We walk all the way to the end of the hall to a lone elevator. Ms. Reynolds takes a key out of her pocket and unlocks the button. I thought we would use one of the other sei ascensori, but we walked past them. What makes this one so special it has to be locked?

Everyone enters the elevator. I notice neither of those secret service meatheads followed us. We go up only 5 floors and then get out. Why only 5 floors?

The doors open to another lounge. But this one has more color and decorations. The walls and floors are the same black with dark grey squares, but the couches and chairs are mahogany color. The rug and tables are white, and there are bookshelves lining one wall with a set of double doors between them. There are two televisions on the wall opposite the many books. The room itself is strangely round. It's cozy and warm, nonetheless.

The strangest thing of all, though, is the girl standing in the middle of the room. She's roughly my age and has an olive skin tone which contrasts my darker skin. Her black hair is on the short side, but slightly longer than mine. Her sharp green eyes watch me carefully.

"Ms. Scalf, meet Verona Forrest. She is the geography and history prodigy of the project. You both will be working quite a bit with each other." Ms. Reynolds introduces her from next to me.

Verona gives me a meek wave and mumbles "hi" so quietly, I'm surprised I heard her. I guess she's one of the shy ones. I politely wave back. This is all way too overwhelming, so I turn my speaker on so she can understand me. I always feel better talking in a language other than English.

"Annyeong nae ileum-eun Lyric."
Hello, my name is Lyric.

My mom recently started teaching me Korean. Every year I learn a new language, this is the most recent and the one I'm worst at.

All of a sudden, the double doors swing open. Verona and I jump back from surprise. It's Edwin! Some agent is gripping his arm tightly and Edwin is trying to break free, hitting him and yelling all sorts of things.

"Let go of me! I'm perfectly capable of walk myself!" He finally gets loose and straightens the jacket-almost-blazer. We make eye contact and he freezes in shock. I must have worn a similar expression.

"L-l-Lyric, I didn't.. didn't know... I didn't know you would be here, a part of this and everything." Edwin stuttered. I've never seen him this taken aback.

"Si, è-"
Yes, it is-

"Look out!"

I get cut off by a kid barreling through the double doors on a skateboard. When he gets near the couch closest to me, he ditches the red skateboard and flips over the couch, landing on his butt.

"Lyric, Edwin, this is Zeke. He's our 'parkour and free running prodigy,' as he puts it. Though, we call him the field agent. His job is to do the dirty work, basically." Ms. Reynolds sighs, holding the bridge of her nose between her fingers. Now that he's not moving, I finally get a good look at him. This Zeke kid has dark brown roots with bleach blond tips. His light brown skin made his blue eyes pop out on his boyish face.

"Zeke, you really shouldn't be-" Verona tried to speak, but Zeke refused to let her. He looked right at me.

"Hey, sweetheart~. Has anyone ever told you how much beauty your eyes see?" he drawled, waving his hands in front of himself. Great, he's trying to flirt. I'm not that good with emotions, but I know a player when I see one.

"Bù, dàn wō quèshí kàn dàole chōulòu."
No, but I do see ugliness.

"I don't know what you just said, but I'm guessing you were complimenting my incredibly good looks." Why? Why me!? Why not Verona? Or if he swings that way Edwin?

"If you had not been checking her out, you would have known that is the exact opposite of what she said." Edwin stood up for me. It's true. I never turned off the speaker. If he were paying attention, he would have understood me. Zeke stared down Edwin, but didn't say anything. "Now, can someone please explain what the hell is going on! You all seem to know but nobody told me."

Together, we gave him a quick run down of everything that happened. Introductions, the Project, basically everything I already knew. Once questions are out of the way, Ms. Reynolds says, "Got it? Get it? Good. Let's get started, shall we?"