Clarissa Jenkins is an 18-year old high school dropout, but she isn't just a dropout. She's a spy recruited to work for the Ethereal Code Agency (EC). The Agency saw her skills and she was professionally trained and became the #1 field agent at th...
I shot up from the bed, looking around bewildered. Where am I?! My heart thumped wildly out of my chest and I almost screamed, confused at my surroundings. I don't remember the Agency walls made out of cement? Why was this bed, I mean cot so rickety?
Then I realize.
I remembered that I wasn't at headquarters at all. I'm at Edmund's place. I sit up and look around to see that Ellie and Karen are nowhere to be found. I yawned and attempted to comb my crazy tangled hair with my fingers. There were too many knots, so I gave up on the idea of looking decent. I looked over to see Marshie still asleep in the make shift bed I made him last night. I pat his head before I cautiously tiptoed across the room and peered out the door.
Straining my ear, I heard the slight chatter of voices down the small hallway. Tiptoeing back across the room, I got dressed in my London attire, complete with a petticoat and a long skirt. I walked slowly out of the room, wincing every time I made the wood creak with my footsteps. I entered the living room and found that Edmund and the children were already eating breakfast. Each of them a small slice of bread in their hands, which seemed like a very small breakfast to me. Edmund looked up, meeting my eyes with his deep set of blue eyes that slightly crinkled at the end whenever he smiled.
"Good mornin' Miss Jenkins!" smiled Ellie, with her gap-toothed grin widening broadly. "Hey," I nodded to her, smiling and sat down in one of the extra chairs. Some of the boys looked at me oddly. Oops! Was "hey" too casual?! Edmund slid a plate with a slice of bread on it towards me," Here I bet you're hungry. We ran out of butter today, my apologies for that."
I felt bad that they were sharing their obviously limited food supply with me and I reluctantly pulled out the bag of Twinkies I snuck in my bag that I packed. "Here I have some... uh pastries for you guys. I really appreciate that you guys are sharing your food." One of the boys, John snatched the package from my hands immediately. The other children scurried out of their chairs, causing the chairs to make loud screeches. Even Edmund looked curiously at the package.
John opened it and took out the yellow treat that I knew was strange to them. He looked at it for a moment then took a huge bite of the Twinkie. For a moment I saw his eyes flash with something and he chewed excessively, licking his lips with pleasure. "I WANT TO TRY!" yelled many small voices and a flurry of hands grabbed chunks of it and devoured them. I sat there staring. It was like seeing a pack of wolves rip apart a deer after 3 months of starvation. "Wow Clarissa I'm impressed. You've managed to win their hearts already, in less than a day," Edmund smirked teasingly at me, clearly amused.
"I hope I've won your heart too," I answered smoothly, not even realizing what I just said. I paused, horrified. Woah!! Since when did I flirt?! I think I'm coming down with an illness.
I peeked at Edmund was surprised to find that he seemed stunned. Ha! I bet he never had a girl flirt with him like that before! He chuckled, his deep laugh sounding like music to my ears.
"What was that delicious pastry?! Where did you get it?!" George jumped up and down along with the others. "It's called a Twinkie and I...um got it from back home in America," I answered, hoping my lie was believable. The children stared up at me in awe. Oh crap! The museum!! I'm supposed to check it out today!
"Well thank you for breakfast, but I got to get going. I'm just going to visit the museum!" I said hastily, the false enthusiasm evident in my voice. "Oh I'll come with you," Edmund said, standing up immediately. I bit my lip, wondering if it was smart to let him go with me, but he looked at me piercingly as if he could read the uncertainty on my face. So I shrugged and accepted it. "Be good. I want you guys to behave while we're gone," Edmund ordered the kids sternly.
"You guys should behave while WE'RE gone as well!" they snickered and I thanked my African American background once again that they couldn't see my blush. Otherwise I'd be red as a baboon's butt. Edmund pushed me towards the door, in attempt to save us from embarrassment. Once the door shut, Edmund sighed in relief and grimaced, "I completely apologize for my siblings' inappropriate behavior." I laughed and waved it off, "It's fine. I love your brothers and sisters anyway."
We walked down the rickety old stairs with me gripping on the rail to make sure I didn't fall, again. "You seem pretty intent on visiting the British Museum. Do all Americans find England that interesting?" He asked me as we made our way across the busy London street. "Oh yea I'm just curious about... London's history, that's all," I smiled absentmindedly, my mind already forming a plan to steal the artifact. I tried to ignore the stares that thrown my way while we were walking down the street, knowing that I was the the only African American girl in this city of English people.
When we reached the museum, I expected there to be a small amount of people, but I saw crowds of people entering and exiting the museum. I widened my eyes. How was I going to find the artifact now?! Edmund placed his hand on my arm and led me to the ticket booth. "2 tickets please," he said. Alarmed, I tried to stop Edmund from taking out his money. I knew how much his family needed the money. "Here Edmund I can pay for us," I quickly slapped down the pounds the Agency gave me before he could object.
The ticketsman stared at me for a few minutes, but eventually he reached out to accept the money and gave us 2 tickets. I glanced over at Edmund who had a slight frown on his face, but when he caught me looking, he smiled quickly. We walked inside and I had to marvel how beautiful the museum was and it was unexpectedly bigger than I imagined. 1700 London was still beautiful. I noticed the museum only had one floor which was going to me much easier for me. My gaze roamed around the room, spying some historical artifacts that people were looking at, including knights of armor, ceramic vases, ancient jewelry, and statues.
And ah! There it was! I spotted a large group of English men and architects that were crowding around an object in a huge glass box. I spotted Edmund in the middle of a huge crowd of girls wearing fancy dresses and some of them even carried a parasol! A parasol! I rolled my eyes, thinking he must be too busy. As I walked over to the artifact in the box, I realized that I was annoyed at Edmund. Was I jealous?! I looked over and saw a girl with gorgeously curled blonde locks and she was giggling and touching Edmund's arm.
ARGH!! Get your hands off my man! What am I talking about, he was never mine in the first place. I huffed in annoyance.
I shook the thoughts out of my head and continued on my way over to the artifact. The English men noticed me and parted a path, each of them staring at me as I muttered "Pardon me."
I looked inside and my jaw dropped open.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What could that artifact be?! Read the next chapter to find out! Thank you guys so much for reading this far!! We really appreciate it!! Would you like a chapter in Edmund's POV?
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