𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 | 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐎𝐧𝐞 | 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙽𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 | 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍

^^^

"Sorry to interupt. May I have a moment alone?"

Dot looked at me and Five sitting in the seats. Her expression was concerned. This worried me a little.

I winced when the smell of smoke from the cigarette the Handler had lit filled my nostrils. She smiled at us and nodded to Dot.

"Of course."

We had been sitting in her office for a few minutes, talking to her. Or actually it was Five who was talking to her, because I was sitting upright in my chair and silent, staring at the perfectly sharpened pencils lying on the desk. We both ate our lunch consisting of an extremely normal-tasting lasagna and rather non-poisoned orange juice (although I had my suspicions at first).

After the meal, the Handler almost forced us to taste some candies.

These, on the other hand, didn't taste good at all.

After some time, another woman entered the room. She was carrying two large cardboard boxes in her hands. She set them both on the desk in front of me and Five and then left in a hurry.

The boy looked at the boxes with curiosity, while I looked at them with distrust. But can you blame me? We were finally in the headquarters of some magical organization whose agents wanted to kill us just a few hours ago.

Our numbers were written on the lid of each. I opened the box with the word 'Eight' written on it. Inside I saw what looked like the robes of all Commission employees. I took a piece of fabric in my hand. It was surprisingly soft and pleasant to the touch. I didn't expect I'd say this, but...

Just kidding. Even if it was made of gold, I wouldn't wear it.

Then the woman started showing us around the office, showing us countless trophies from various missions in the field. Among them, there were even such gems as M26 grenades from the Vietnam War or even the famous pistol with which Hitler killed himself. Five was chewing on the sweets the woman had given us earlier, while I was concentrating on remembering the location of the gun. If necessary, this is where we could look for something to attack or defend.

I just prayed that we wouldn't have to do it.

"Duty calls," I was blinded by Handler's sweet smile. "We'll continue this discussion later, darlings."

Five gave Dot a cursory glance while I kept my eyes glued to her concerned expression. Something's wrong. And the nervous glances in our direction only confirmed my belief that what she wanted to talk to the Handler about was about me and Five.

"Sure," said the boy and then pointed to the candies placed in a glass dish. "May I?"

I held back a groan of disgust.

"Please!" The Handler smiled even wider.

Five grabbed my shirt sleeve and dragged me out of the room. I took one last look at Dot and paid particular attention to the red file she was holding.

The large 'Apocalypse' inscription on the top told me everything.

As soon as we entered the corridor, the door immediately slammed behind us. I heard Dot's heels clicking on the floor and then the sound of the alarm calling the Commission staff back to their offices. The end of the break meant no contact with Five. However, as soon as we heard the nervous footsteps of several dozen people in the distance, I felt Five tug on my arm and pull me into the chemical storage room.