Spy School Goes North (fanfiction)

Chapter Three: A Forest Walk

June 12th

7:00 pm/1900 hours

Ben's POV:

Erica finally came back in along with the rest of the Hales and they all sat back down right as the buzzing could be heard again indicating we were starting to go down. After 3 minutes of waiting the voice over the sound system spoke again, "The plane has landed successfully. Feel free to exit." Erica stood up, turned to the 4 of us, and made a following motion with her hand.

As I stepped out of the plane and looked around I was shocked. I'm not fully sure what I was expecting, but it was not to be standing in a relatively small clearing, surrounded by forest on all sides. "Um where are we exactly?" Mike asked.

"I said we were going to the place I grew up in, to see my older sister didn't I," Erica answered.

"That's not exactly helpful."

Erica just gave him a cold stare in response that quickly shut him up.

"Now it is around a half hour walk since you guys are slow, therefore we should be arriving at roughly 1930 hours." (7:30 pm)

---

We had been waking for 10 minutes and seemed to have formed an order, me and Erica in the front, walking side by side, then Zoe, then Mike and Trixie in the back since no one wanted to watch them flirt. For a while neither of us were talking, it was peaceful and kinda romantic. The forest was unlike anything I had ever seen before, it felt completely undisturbed by people and the air was quite cool for summer with a soft breeze swirling through the tall trees.

After walking for a few minutes, Erica leaned into me and whispered, "I should warn you about something." I turned to her feeling completely surrounded by her scent of lilacs and gunpowder, "James."

I give her a very confused look, and whispered back, "Who?"

"James is Astra's boyfriend."

"How much older are they than you"?

"They are both 18 with May birthdays so almost 1 1/2 years exactly."

I paused, "18? That's quite young for the reputation she already has"

Erica smiled, "If Astra likes you, you can ask her about her career. It's a very interesting story."

"Must be fascinating if you consider it very interesting," I grinned at her.

Erica giggled quietly, "Shut up," she nudged my shoulder playfully, smiling softly. I slipped my hand into hers, and she intertwined our fingers together, leaning slightly into my side. After walking like this for a while, 20.27385 minutes to be exact, I took a deep breath enjoying how nice she smelled and then immediately felt self-conscious about how I smelled. I probably would have said something really awkward next. But I didn't get the chance because as the path we were walking on opened up to a massive clearing. I heard Zoe gasp loudly and I suddenly realized she was standing right behind us. I wondered what Zoe was gasping at, until I looked up and was speechless.

Directly in front of us, was a beautiful French chateau style, multi story mansion made white siding with a roof of solar panels.

"You grew up here?" Mike's voice came from behind us, his eyes were wide in astonishment.

Erica nodded, and for a moment a slight nervousness or even embarrassment flitted across her features, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

There were two fountains a few feet away from the entrance of the clearing with a cobblestone path, that was wide enough to be a driveway. It led up to 2 steps and then to a large, white, double door.

Erica let go of my hand and took the lead walking up the path. Once we got to the door she stood 5 feet away from the door and waited 5 seconds. Once she did this a pleasant female voice echoed from the door, "Welcome back Ms.Hale, you will find Astra in her office." The double doors swung open revealing a breathtaking entrance foyer. 

Right next to me was a white table with little drawers attached below and a mirror above. Ahead of our group was a wide double staircase that led upstairs in 2 directions.

Erica waved her hand in a follow me motion leading us down a hallway that I had barely noticed before.

Towards the end of the hallway was a door that Erica stopped in front of.

Erica gently pushed it open and sat there behind a desk, in a plush office chair is Astra Hale.

(All characters belong to Stuart Gibbs, I only own the plot James, and Astra Hale.)