The Agency

by Ann Knightingale

below the horizon. The road is dark but there is plenty of light coming over the hills of the basin. We ride over the hills to the mountains. We ride up the dirt road without a problem because there is no snow.

  "That's where the van was parked we saved you in!" Chest yells to me pointing at a turnabout off to the side of the road. We ride for maybe two miles or so and he calls back to me again," That is where I found you in the snow." He points ahead slightly next to the base of the hill. I remember that day, it seems like a life time ago when it had not been more than two or three months ago. As I look back I find it hard to believe that I've gone from a street rat to a girl in love. From someone fighting for every scrap of food I could find to eating rounded meals every day, or weighing only 90 pounds to now around 120. I look back at myself and see me healthier.

  "I still can't get over how many times you have saved me." I say to Chest when we stop next to a picnic table and turn off the motorcycles. I walk over and perch myself up on the picnic table with my feet on the bench. I take off my helmet and shake out my hair. Chest comes over taking his helmet off as well, and comes over to stand in front of me. He pulls me to him and runs his hands through my hair and squeezes my shoulders. Chest releases me and takes a step or two backwards, I bounce my heels against the bench causing the whole table to shake with the rhythm.

  "That's one of the glories of being danger prone," Chest jokes smiling," You have the hot knight in shining spy gear save you." He stops unable to go on through his laughter.

  "I'm not danger prone. That is a very mean thing to say," I playfully scold him laughing as well, then seriously I add," But you are my hot knight in shining spy gear." I sound so cheesy but it felt so good to say something that was gooey and love struck for once. Chest looks at me as I stay deep in thought.

  "Let's go for a walk." I say distracted and hop off of the table and head up the road. I can see the road wind its way up the mountain. Chest comes up behind me and entwines his fingers with mine. We walk at the same pace looking around at the scenery. Everything has changed in a springy type of way from the icy way things were from the last time I was here. Sadly I can still remember a lot of the details from the fall. I may have been malnourished at the time but I remember everything. I wonder where Sunder went off to.

  I don't know how far I walk when Chest points off to the left and over the cliff," This is about where I lost you off the back of the skis. I was so scared when I called behind me to see if you were alright and realized you weren't there anymore. I thought you bailed, I would have left you behind if it wasn't for the cold snow."

  Taking in a breath I look over the edge to see how far the drop was, it was a long way down with many rocks that I somehow missed. I'm not quite sure how I managed to do that, but naturally I am grateful. Chest pulls me back against him and leads me up the mountain some more. This time I know that we have gone at least a mile maybe a mile and a half when we come to a crater in the ground where some plants have grown over the edges. I look down and recognize the familiar technology at the bottom. I find a rope that had been left there and give it a tug to be sure it's sturdy enough to hold my weight.

  Once I decide it's safe I propel my way down to the floor of the underground lab where I first met the people that would become my new friends, siblings, enemy, and boyfriend. I wander around remembering the time I spent here trying to figure my way out, I walk up the platform that Sunder had tried to kill Elaine, Maria, and myself. It brings back memories of that day, how my sight had lingered on Chest when I first met him and how amazed I was to have to ride on the skis behind him without falling to pieces (Metaphorically since I did it physically). I hear Chest's feet hit the ground behind me and feel his hand on my shoulder.

  I look back at him and smile," I remember. The day you found me here with Elaine and Maria. I thought I'd forgotten it. I figured I would have actually, so many other happier times have come between then and now." He looks at me and smiles sighing. He takes my hand and leads me back down off of the platform. I scan around trying to find some sort of a clue on how I got here in the first place.

  "What are you looking for?" Chest asks as if reading my mind.

  "Anything that says why I was brought here at the same moment Elaine and Maria were. Anything from my life before I met all of you. Just anything that can help me remember. It’s so irritating to have a big hole in your memory when you know there is something there that you are missing. I want to know how I came to be here. Not that I'm not happy to be here because I am. It’s just frustrating." I babble trying to seem somewhat intelligent.

  Chest laughs and reassures me," You get frustrated so easily. But I will help you look. I kind of am curious too, what such and evil person would want from an angel like you."

  "I'm nowhere near being an angel trust me." I say walking ahead toward a tunnel in the rock," I knew that this couldn't be all there is to the lab. I vaguely remember cells. Not from the time I was caught on the compound but from here. I remember them because the daze was wearing off. I can remember falling asleep in an alley in I believe Vegas, or maybe Shasta but any way I remember waking up in a cell."

  I walk down the tunnel feeling my way down the dark passage. I know there is another ceiling window hear somewhere. Or at least a shaft of light coming from somewhere. How else would the Sunder helpers get back and forth from the lab to the holding area without stumbling in to walls or feeling their way down them at least. I remember that there were no light bulbs. Everything about light was natural.

  Finally I reach a dead end. I sigh and head my way back to the opening and find the ray of light I was looking for. Oh wait duh, I have a flashlight in my pocket. I pull it out and follow the passage with Chest right behind me. The beam of the flashlight isn't very big but I can see enough not to run in to anything. The passage widens out in to a den like space with a small hole in the ceiling letting in a little light to make the space less dark, I flip off the flashlight and wait for my eyes to adjust to the near darkness.

  Once my eyes can see better I walk around the walls where I find the cells I was looking for. I look inside one cell and see if I can find anything that says whether or not that I was here. I continue to go down the row of cells and look inside hoping for anything that will give me a sign of how I came to be here. But there is no sign of what I am looking for. I sigh and head back out to the middle of the alcove, Chest meets me there and takes my hand in his.

  "Did you find anything?" He asks. I just shake my head.

  "Don't worry. It’s not a good idea to live in the past any way. The only thing that matters is that your here now."

  I look up at him and smile "Your right. It doesn't matter how I got here it just matters that I did. "

  Together we both walk out of the lab and climb the rope back to the surface.

  "But I still wonder how Sunder got down there to begin with" I state.

  "I do to sometimes. But it’s one of those things that happened and isn't critical, so I don't worry about it." Chest answers me.

  We walk in silence back to where we left the bikes. When we get there the sun has gone down and a starry night sky is left in its place. The night air is warm and comforting knowing that down here in Arizona there isn't cold nights really till the sun has been down for a while. Chest and I both get on our bikes and head back to the compound. The air is a little chilly as we go through it at about 50 miles per hour. I follow Chest back to his shed and put my bike next to his, and take my helmet off. He copies me and we walk back to the house together.

  "So what's the next move?" He asks.

  "I don't know," I reply" I still want to know how he found me."

  "We may never know." He says trying to make me feel better. I guess it does a little but not by much. We walk up the steps and in to the house in silence. Maria glares at us (or maybe just me) in pure hatred. A cruel wicked smile grows on her face and I can't help but to shake slightly. With her you never know what could be coming. She
looks at me and taps her wrist in the universal signal for time. I don't know really what she's thinking of but I'm not really sure if I'm afraid or excited for the next chance I have to show her that I can pull my own weight.

  Amy and Tim walk in to the room talking and laughing amongst themselves. I can't hear what they are saying but I certainly can hear them laughing. Maria walks up to them and looks at them waiting patiently for them both to stop talking show she can speak. When Tim finishes whispering in to Amy's ear they both turn to look at Maria. Amy tries to hold back a smile and a giggle from whatever Tim had told her.

  “I have something I need to tell you two about Chest and Macey. I would like the both of you to sit down please." Maria announces trying to sound sweet and shaken. Once Time and Amy are both sitting on the couch, Chest in the rocking chair, and I on the floor beside him Maria paces in front of the television and continues," In case you do not know, and I have the urge to inform you that there is a problem in this house. I know that I have been saying that since Macey has gotten here. But I know have proof.

  "I believe that every person has the right to a proper trial. Even in a house hold environment. I have dropped the charges of running away and drug possession slash