Spy School Goes North (fanfiction)

Chapter 8: A Bad Omen

Thank you so much for over 2k views!!! Im so sorry it took so long to update, I had terrible writers block and no ideas. Any commented suggestions would be highly appreciated, and thanks to ziqimeng123 for the jealous Zoe suggestion, I'm totally using that, in the next few chapters. 

July 17th

7:40 am/ 0740 hours

Ben's POV:

I woke up like usual, going to the bathroom, brushing my teeth, getting dressed, going downstairs, filling a bowl with Lucky Charms and going to the breakfast nook taking my usual spot next to Erica. That's when I realized something was off, "Where's Cyrus?

"I don't know," Erica turned to meet my eyes looking very worried. Cyrus and Erica were always there when I sat down, Zoe, Mike and Trixie, would arrive after me, followed by Mary, Catherine, and Alexander. Astra being the unpredictable person she was, would either be there when I arrived, arrive last, or join us somewhere in the middle, along with James and wolves so I wasn't too concerned, however, Cyrus's absence was very concerning.

"Did he say something about not being here?" Erica shook her head, eyes darting around the house, as though searching for him. I took her hand in mine, rubbing her palm with my thumb soothingly. "Maybe he just slept in."

Erica shook her head again, "Grandpa never sleeps in."

It was at this point that Mike, and Zoe arrived, "Where's Trixie?" Mike asked immediately, looking worried.

I felt Erica tense up next to me "I'm not sure my grandfather is also absent," her face had gone emotionless so the others wouldn't see her worry, "Just continue like normal and we will determine the proper course of action soon."

For me that meant reading 2 books on a fancy fighting technique and then making notes to study in preparation for a fight against Mike tomorrow. However I finished my mid afternoon and after having to fend for myself at lunch, which meant a microwaved personal pizza that Cathrine had picked up during a grocery run but without any of her good spices, I was feeling very confused and slightly concerned. It wasn't like any of the Hales to disappear without warning, even Astra, who was highly unpredictable, would have at least told Erica.

"Okay what's going on?" Zoe asked, "It's like everyone else just vanished into thin air."

"First things first I have to check something." Erica got up from the table and briskly left the room.

I exchanged a look with the others before we all got up and followed her. Erica had ended up standing next to a random painting from Catherine's collection that was next to the front entrance.

"I thought you guys were supposed to be good, hidden spot behind the painting is the most basic trick in the book," I could tell Mike was trying to hide his true concern by making a joke but it wasn't helping.

"We know, that's why it's not behind the painting." Erica pressed a spot on the wall hidden by the painting, before hurrying over to the desk right next to the door. She removed a summery trinket likely placed by Astra who loves seasonal decor. Behind the trinket was a hole in the wall containing a pile of sticky notes. Erica grabbed the papers, put the summer themed thing back in its spot, re pressed the spot on the wall, before going into the living room and sitting down on the sofa."In order to prevent panic we have a system. If you leave the house without prior warning, you have to write down details about where you are, then you have to put the paper into the compartment. For future reference, it will only open if you press into the wall spot first."

Erica quickly read through all the sticky notes, "So my Dad is at a meeting in the CIA headquarters, my Mom left to go attend an art convention, Astra and James went to go meet up with some colleagues and they will be busy for a few days. Grandma took Trixie to look at schools for next year, along with some other errands, so they won't be back for a bit either."

Mike breathed a quiet sigh of relief, and Erica shuffled through the notes again searching for something about her grandfather, "Oh...my grandfather was called in as a part of a conference with President Stern and some other retired officials, he must have left early so the plane would get their on time."

Zoe and Mike looked relieved, but I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, "You don't sound sure."

"It's just Grandpa never just goes out to lunch, like ever. He's far too paranoid for that, this is just not like him... at all."Erica's voice was trembling slightly and I could see faint hints of panic in her eyes.

"So now what?" Mike asked.

"Well we know that no one is scheduled to be back for a few days which means that our usual routine is non applicable. For now just find something to do." Erica placed the notes down on the table and stood up walking out of the room.

"Do you guys want to play a board game or something." Mike asked after a minute of silence gesturing to the wide selection of games stored in the built in that surrounding the TV. 

Zoe agreed and I said, "Sure, why not." 

They talked while we played Monopoly,  but I didn't contribute much, more focused on if Erica was okay than the game. Despite that I beat them both twice. 

"So do you want to play again?" Mike asked awkwardly as he and Zoe watched me stare at the wall. I shook my head, "I should go check on her."

Zoe shook her head, "She's Erica, she will be fine. Besides, she's always telling us to be self-reliant and independent."

"Maybe, but she looked upset."

"She looked completely fine." Zoe corrected firmly.

"I'm still gonna go find her," I stood up and walked in the direction Erica had gone. I went through the kitchen and into the long hallway that looped around the entire house. I went past Alexander's office that was really Cathrine's, the side door to the outside, Cyrus's office, and Mary's office, before ending up back in the main entrance with the massive staircase going up. I causally peered around it looking hallway straight across from mine. While the left side of the house had all these offices and the kitchen, the right side only had 2 things I could get to in that hallway, Astra and James shared office, and the Hales unreasonably massive library. I doubted she would be in either of those places, so I went up the staircase and over to her bedroom.

I was about to knock when the door swung open, I peered inside to see Erica curled up on the window ledge surrounded by pillows, with Lyra curled up in her lap.

"Hey, you okay?" I slowly walked over to her.

She looked up in surprise "I... yeah fine. And, ah, not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing in here?" Erica swung her legs over the side of the ledge and got up moving over to one side of the couch, in the spot she always sat when we spent time together here. 

"Oh, um, the door just swung open, and I was worried about you." I could feel my heart race. 

Erica glanced away, cheeks flushing a pale pink. I felt a smile tug at my lips, a warm fuzzy feeling spread through my chest. "I'm okay, really, I just need some quiet time," She studied me for a second in her new spot and gestured next to her, cocking her head slightly to the side "would you care to join me?"

"I yeah... of course." I closed the door and Lyra watched as I sat down, tail twitching back and forth, from the short part of the couch. Erica smiled sweetly at me, her cheeks still bearing the reminder of her blush and I sat down in my usual spot at the other end of the couch, across from her. She opened the book that she was reading when I came in and I reached over to grab the book on Russian Cyrus assigned me yesterday. I was really hoping to talk to Astra about how to tell him that I know what I'm doing now when it comes to basic Russian vocab, but he can't get over how I pronounce words whenever he tests me on it. I was tempted to ask Erica but she looks so peaceful and I don't want to upset her.

Lyra yawned loudly from her spot and Erica giggled adorably reaching out to stroke her. I smiled at them both, having gained an appreciation for the cat no matter how much she has judged me over the past month.