Hidden Enemies | The Prime Archives #2 ✓

thirty

After dropping off Isabella at their neighbor's apartment, a kind old woman who offered to watch her until Uncle Jose got back, Oscar began the journey back to The Acropolis.

Before leaving, he requested two Atlas agents patrol the apartment building. He figured if Ghost was somehow nearby, they would be enough to handle her. Luckily, they didn't ask him why.

Despite knowing his sister was protected and that he would back to the apartment in a few hours, he couldn't shake the nervousness wrapping around him like a boa constrictor. It grabbed at his throat, threatening to crush his trachea. Sweat from his palms coated the leather steering wheel.

The sound of a horn blaring past his car yanked him out his thoughts.

Suddenly, he was aware of everything around him; the lights piercing through the night air, the crappy song playing on the radio, and the faint clicking noise of the tiny machine Archie was tinkering with.

Oscar grit his teeth and tightened his grip around the wheel.

Get a grip, Oz.

The secret he was holding within himself was starting to burn a hole in his chest. His stomach churned and his lips quivered. He needed to tell someone—and he couldn't wait until he got to The Acropolis.

A heavy sigh left his mouth.

He turned to Archie, who was nose-deep in the code he was programming into the handheld device in his hands.

"Archie."

The boy kept typing away, his sharp, green eyes moving at the speed of light.

"Archie!"

His arms jerked upward at the sudden noise, nearly flinging his small machine out the slightly rolled down window next to him. Agitation surfacing on his face, he narrowed his gaze at Oscar. "Dude, you just made me erase a whole line of code. It's gonna take me an hour to rewrite it."

"Yeah, well, what I've got to tell you is more important than your stupid code." He took a deep breath. Tremors rattled his body as he struggled to formulate his next words.

"What do you have to tell me?"

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Sweat beaded on his brow. He felt like he was in a sauna with the temperature setting cranked to one hundred.

Archie arched an eyebrow at him. "Wait a minute... Are you gay? Because if that's what you're trying to tell me then I already—"

He furrowed his brows at the question. "What? No, I'm not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay. I'm just not...that." He shook his head. He was getting sidetracked. "Just...let me finish, okay?"

Archie rubbed the top of his head and ruffled his mop of dirty blond hair. "Alright, alright."

"Promise me you won't freak out," Oscar told him. Caution coated his words. "Just...try to understand. Can you do that for me?"

Archie shifted in his seat. "You're scaring me, Oscar. Are you sure you're not gay? I won't judge you or anything—"

"Promise me." There was no humor in his tone.

The boy seemed to have gotten the message that this wasn't a joke. He gulped before nodding. "I promise."

Oscar took a deep breath. He kept his eyes trained on the busy street ahead of his windshield.

"I've been..." He blinked rapidly a few times before wiping his eyes. "I'm the mole."

"The what?"