Double Agent

Chapter 17: Allie

Allie could not believe how stupid she'd been.

Why hadn't she trusted Reina? Now the two agencies were at war, and they were too late. A lot of little clues that she'd missed suddenly piled up in her head, like why her mother had been so ill at ease lately, and that mysterious envelope, which looked like it was made from the same material as that letter Camila and Richard had written.

She looked back, but Maeve, Kat, and Sophie weren't following her and Reina. Understandable, she supposed, considering that this was her and Reina's battle, not theirs.

"I saw Camila with the letter earlier. It just slipped my mind," Reina said miserably. "I'm sorry I didn't remember." What Allie really wanted to say was, Sure you didn't. Keep on acting. But she refrained, because there was still a... VERY slim chance that Reina was innocent. It wasn't like Camila was her mother. Melanie, however, was, and she was going to have to live with that. Instead, Allie just kept silent.

"Please, can't you just answer..." Reina trailed off, lowering her voice as the battleground came into their sights. She tightened her grip on the whistle, paling. "Here we are," she whispered.

"Okay, really?!" Allie hissed as she saw the two sides standing. "They're just going to stand there?"

"I'm pretty sure that's a good thing," Reina replied, stifling a smile.

As they got closer, they heard Melanie and Camila arguing like toddlers over a toy. It was all, "She started it!" and "They were mine!" and "FIIIIGHT!"

Wait, what? Uh-oh.

"HEY, STOP!" Allie shouted. The good thing about her was that she could yell really, really loudly when she was angry, and this was definitely the time.

"Allie!" Melanie shouted as everyone came to a halt. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to say you shouldn't do this," Allie told everyone. "And Reina here agrees with me."

"You do?" Camila asked, venom dripping from her voice. In her haste to stop the attack, Allie had forgotten that Camila really didn't care about Reina. At all. They weren't related, and obviously they weren't even close to friends.

"Yes!" Reina piped up, finally finding her voice. "And this is a stupid argument you've been having. Can't you see all the destruction you've already caused?" She gestured around the barren land. "THIS is what we once called home. Well, okay, technically it's still called home, but just by the wild, dangerous animals that you have created. Yourselves. So if you want to fight anyone, you should be slapping yourself."

Melanie and Camila frowned, considering the merit of that idea.

"What she means," Allie rushed to say, "is that fighting got you nowhere. I understand if you don't want to live together again or anything; that stuff just happens in fairy tales. But at least leave this place before all of the animals destroy both armies!"

Sure enough, all of the animals were prowling around the scene. They started to close in on the two groups.

Camila was actually the one to slowly nod first. "I get that. Honestly, Melanie, I'm not sorry that I still hate you," she drawled. "But I don't want to doom all my followers. Everyone, BACK TO THE ELEVATOR!"

Not to be left out, Melanie quickly ushered her troops into the other elevator; the one that led to the sky.

Allie looked to Reina. "Aren't you going?"

Reina shrugged halfheartedly. "My mother isn't my favourite person in the world right now, but she still needs me. My whole family does, so I'll be going with them." She paused. "Actually, would it be okay if we set a day to see each other in a few months or years or whatever?"

"Sure, that would be great! The only real problem would be finding a place to do it." Reina laughed.

Kat, Maeve, and Sophie caught up to them. "Do I still need to fight stuff?" asked Maeve, a little too excitedly for Allie's taste. "No, silly!"

And that was the day everyone went their separate ways. But maybe, someday, the two worlds would combine.