Secret Silver | hiatus

iv. Callisto & Europa & Ganymede

Jupiter was my world.

Maya Santiago was ten years old when she was brought into G.O.L.D.

Her father was an agent his entire life, but when him and his wife died in a tragic accident, Maya was left all alone. The agency brought her in, and now that I think about it, her fate may have been better if maybe they had just let her live on her own. 

I was Maya's mentor. Having been an agent since basically birth, I was qualified to teach her the skills that no one else would. Diffusing bombs, combat fighting, and the sort were taught to each one of us in the Academy, but there were rules to being a spy that were not written in the handbooks.

One of the most important ones—

Don't get attached. 

Not to a civilian and especially not to one another.

Maya and I—we were always skilled at breaking rules, and Maya broke this one in more instances than just one. She and I were inseparable—until Oliver Fleming came along.

Oliver wasn't a part of the agency until he was fifteen years old, and he didn't join the Jupiter sector until he was eighteen. Maya and I both knew of him before that. He was the new boy in the Academy, the one who talked smoothly and could kill with just his smile. 

We didn't know much about him besides the fact that his father was the assistant director of G.O.L.D.'s most hated organization, Arc. How he ended up as one of us remained a secret to all, even to Maya and I. We never spoke of it, simply because Oliver said it was better not to.

I can't exactly pinpoint the moment where Oliver completed our trio. He always made a good impression on my mother, and I did not trust anyone's instincts more than I trusted hers.

Oliver and Maya grew close almost instantly, and they shared a type of love that I never really experienced; they were each other's ardors, as well as each other's vices.

G.O.L.D., like many agencies, had its private sectors made of agents with diverse talents. 

Maya, Oliver, and I were Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede, respectively. We were the only known surviving agents of Jupiter.

After the events that led up to the explosion in which my mother died, we were forced to run. It was our only chance at survival. By helping Rose Dubois expose G.O.L.D., we became fugitives.

You don't want to know what they did to fugitives.

Our makeshift Jupiter headquarters had not changed much since we were younger. Among the endless foliage that concealed the headquarters were massive rocks that overlooked the city. What people didn't realize was that there were crevices under the rocks—caves, almost, in which the agents of Jupiter would meet. 

Our sector was closer than the others. Now, only three of us remained, as far as we knew. We hadn't heard from the other three: Ali, Charlotte, and James; they had either disappeared as my mother had instructed, or they were dead.

Their names remained constantly lurking in the back of my frenzy of a mind; they were like my family, and even though we were taught to become numb to losing one another, they were all I had left.

The cave, which we'd named Jupiter after our sector, was untouched when I stepped in. I was not an emotional person, but at that second, I felt my spirits lift the slightest bit. Mother's books, which remained in the corner, were still there. The usual lanterns that remained lit were still there smiling back at me, and the boards on which we'd write on still sported Oliver's childish doodles.

I didn't notice Maya until she lunged herself at me.

"Oh thank God!"

I stumbled backwards when she launched her arms around me, reminding me once again that I should never question the strength of her smaller frame.