The Rhyklen Project

Chapter 5

Entering the jet, I realized it was a lot more spacious inside.  Following the boy in front of me, I turned to the right to see eight black leather seats in a semi-circle facing the front of the jet.  What was more daunting though was the fact that each seat had a name on it.  The muscular guy we had picked up last's seat was on the far left and said "Tom."  The blond boy who had been sitting next to me sat down next to him under the name "Kyle."  I quickly found the seat with "Gina" printed above it and sat down.  My seat put the other two on my right.  The boy following me took the seat two to my left with the name "Aiden."

Looking to the front of the jet, I saw agent Haldry standing next to a new agent.  The other two that had driven with us were nowhere to be seen.  Then, somebody else entered the jet.

She was tall, with blonde straight hair, a soft-looking face, and simple hazel eyes.  When she turned to face us, her face showed no emotion, but she took one second to make eye contact with all of us.  She took the seat in between me and Aiden.  Her name was Joy.  And she smelled like cinnamon.  Call it prejudice, but I didn't think I was going to like this girl.

I looked back to the entrance and saw yet another guy climb into the plane.  His eyes were still squinting from the light outside, but seeing as his seat was the only one left open, he found it quickly.  He sat down next to me under the name "Henry."

So there we were, all six of us, sitting in professional leather seats with our names on it, looking at two agents, on an official government plane.

What the heck?

We shifted nervously in our seats, looking from the floor to the ceiling and back to the floor.  It seemed like hours had gone by, but I'm sure it was mere minutes.  Soon enough, the jet's door slid shut.  Seeing as the only lighting was the excessive brightness of the outside, closing he door encompassed us in darkness.  Again as in the car, I started freaking out.  I most definitely didn't like not being able to see anything.  However, after a single moment passed, the lights in the jet went on.  They was barely light enough to see everyone's faces, but being that I was almost in the center, the main light was right above me head.

Feeling the rumble of the jet's engine, I looked around for a seatbelt to strap myself down and found none.  We were going to take off without being strapped down to safety.  My hands went to grip the arms of my seat, and found none.  Our seats didn't even have arms!  I shifted my eyes to look at the agents in confusion.  They were still standing.  Suddenly, we heard a voice over the jet's speakers.

"We are now fully in the air.  We will arrive at our destination in ten minutes."

We were in the air.

We were already flying?! I didn't feel a single bump!  Looking around at my peers, I saw they were different levels of confused and shocked.  However, the boy Aiden who had sat in the back of the car with me, was simply looking down at his iPod and switching songs.  I looked ahead to the two agents, and saw agent Haldry's companion step forward. In the dim lighting I could tell he had close-cropped blond hair.  He was taller than agent Haldry, but not as buff.  I could see his eyes slowly go over each of us, but he was careful not to make eye contact.  When he reached Aiden at the end, he said with a soft but firm authoritative voice, "Aiden, put the iPod away."

Aiden looked up in a flash, and after staring at the agent for a second, I saw two earbuds fall from under his messy dark hair.  Then, the agent turned to face the rest of us.

"Welcome.  I am agent Reese of the United States Department of Foreign Threats and Affairs Astronomical Division."