“Thank goodness you’re alright,” my mother said. The moment of affection was cut short when the yellow-suited woman and the blue-suited man entered the scene.
I looked at my mother, terrified.
The blue-suited man looked at the unconscious body of Milligan and started to laugh. His laugh was the strangest one the child had ever heard, sounding like a school of dolphins. “Oh, well done, my child! Well done indeed! You passed the test with flying colors! See, Number Two, I told you that Joshua would not pose any sort of threat to the children’s behavior.” The pencil woman stared at the man as Joshua wondered at the man’s perception skills. “He tackled Milligan! His mother shot him without bothering to see if it was lethal or not!”
(Joshua has a name now.)
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Now, I assume you want a proper explanation of why you’re here right now, but I think I should allow the children to explain everything first,” the man said as he started back to his study.
“Wait, this was a test?” I asked.
“Yes, but this was not the first test you have taken. The trip here was a test to see how you would react if you were truly kidnapped, which even now could happen, though it’s less likely. You passed, by the way, with flying colors.” The man was now seated at his desk, and the pencil woman had brought some chairs for Joshua and his mother.
“Do you, by any chance, work for the government?” asked my mother.
“No, not me. Milligan, however, is one of the government’s top spies. What with the Emergency still being wrapped up, I can understand your concern.” The man paused, listened for a moment, then said, “Children, I thought we had agreed that there would be no more eavesdropping on other people’s important conversations.” There immediately came a string of apologies from the wall, except for one voice which said, “I never agreed to anything like that!”
A sudden silence filled the air.
“I believe one of us should check and see if they are gone or not. Joshua, would you mind checking to see if the children have left their eavesdropping position yet? I’ve got a map right here.” With that, the man handed Joshua a sheet of paper.
I followed the map to the children’s eavesdropping spot behind the wall.
Turning the corner, my eyes met with those of three children. They were all about my age, and two of them were already beginning to quietly scuttle away and return to their own devices. The third, however, stared me down with sharp eyes. “Who are you?” I asked.
“Why on earth would I tell you, Joshua? And for your information, I’m almost 5 and-a-half,” the blonde-haired child said as she stared Joshua down, or up rather, as she was only about three feet tall. “Constance Contraire, you shouldn’t go scaring people like that.” And with that, the other girl in the cramped passageway lept over the short girl, who was fuming. “The name’s Kate,” the girl said, crushing Joshua’s hand in a bear-like grip. “You wouldn’t happen to mind nicknames, would you? Especially somewhat… longish ones?” Constance rolled her eyes.
“Um… not at all,” I replied. My eyes then locked on to the third child, who was still creeping away.
“Boy, you seem glummer than Milligan! Or at least glummer than he used to be, since…” Joshua tuned out the tall girl’s words as he stared at the boy edging back away from him. He was of average height, with a close-shaven head and wire-rimmed glasses. He looked like a college professor, except, well, young.
(seems like we’ve got a case or writer’s block.)
“Umm, excuse me,” I asked. The boy froze. “Where are you going?”
"Um, well, nowhere really. I mean, there’s nothing back here but some spider webs. I just, uh…"the boy stuttered. He reached into his pocket pulled out a handkerchief, and started polishing his glasses.
“What’s your name?” I asked the boy.
“His name is Sticky. He tends to be rather shy around new people,” said a voice from behind me. I whirl to find an insanely average-looking kid behind me. “My name’s Reynie,” he said. “Let’s go to Constance’s room so we can talk.”