Super Secret | Half Hero Book 2 [ON HOLD]

Chapter 28: Family Vacation

"Of course he did," I sighed, lowering my head. At least Aaron was out of his coma and on the mend. "Is my mom going nuts?"

"I think it's safe to say she was way past nuts by the time we got there," Valentina remarked sullenly. "She kept muttering something about Moses in the morning?"

Mac burst into jumpy laughter, which confused everyone else thoroughly while they waited for his uneven chortles to die down. I was the only person who knew about his feelings for my mom (and their lengthy history), so I offered Nawell a polite shrug when she looked to me for an explanation.

"C.E. has been linked to several high profile international hijackings on the Department's radar in the past several months, according to Varun's sources," Cyrus spat his father's name bitterly. "They're going after technology, as much as they can get, and they're not discerning about who they kill or what country they piss off. Jonathan Miller is officially involved as this has global implications."

My stomach sank deeper with each bit of intelligence they'd gleaned from the spying expedition. 

Maybe if Galen had told me about this group we could have gone after them before my powers were damaged, possibly forever. At the very least, I could have crippled their operation enough to make them think twice about attacking the Scion lab or hijacking Varun's private plane.

"Varun's jet!" I spoke up as a memory hit me between the eyes. "It was hijacked too! He thought the same group that attacked the lab stole his tech."

"Well, that would have been nice to know," Valentina chided, halting in her tracks. "What else did he tell you?"

"That he tracked it to Venezuela, but Galen's department wasn't being very helping," I replied, glancing up at her furious expression. "He also said there was a portable proton accelerator on that flight, in case that's nice to know too."

Valentina's full lips were twisting into a hateful scowl as she stepped closer. "And you didn't think any of this might be useful to us?" She screeched like a barn owl.

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can with what I've got!" I shouted, unable to properly defend myself from my seat below her. "And the last few days haven't exactly been a party cruise, either!"

Basem wrapped his bulky arms around me protectively to give Valentina a stern look to get her to back down. 

"Val," Nawell whispered, taking one of my hands. "She's trying."

I snuggled against the warmth of his chest, thankful that at least one person appreciated the effort I was putting in. Cyrus' head snapped in our direction.

"Did you say Venezuela?" Cyrus interrupted impatiently. "Agent Smith is in Caracas. Jonathan Miller mentioned it on a call in his office."

"You broke into Miller's office?" I gaped, but Cyrus refused to look my way.

"Well that's no co-inky-dink," Mac sighed with frustration. "I'm assuming that's the same agent Smith you were working with Ella? Galen, right?"

"Probably not. The Galen I was working with, got fired," I answered, blinking back my surprise. "Well technically, I got him fired."

"Cyrus, who does agent Smith work for?" Mac looked over to notice Cyrus' concentrated ire aimed directly at Basem. "Hey! Cyrus! Focus up!"

"The Department," he growled, dragging his stare away from his brother.

"Galen Smith worked for a department in the CIA," I corrected them. "Past tense."

"No, Galen Smith works for the Department. Present tense," Cyrus suddenly turned his unfounded anger on me. "It's an acronym that stands for the Department of Extraterrestrial Phenomena and the Transcendental. D.E.P.T. Got it?"

"What in tarnation is that?" I peeked at the rest of the Scions, who didn't seem phased by this information.

"The Department is the group that hired colonel Hamm's black ops team to clean up the alien crash site. They also hired me out of Oxford to translate the glyphs they found onboard the ship," Mac explained. "They are also responsible for the Rishi brothers' involvement in Project Scion."

The twins released me while I fit the pieces together in my mind. "So, Galen's an undercover alien detective? And he's currently in Caracas where Varun's private jet was grounded? Which just happens to be the location of an international terror organization that wants to use the Scion element for mass chaos? And we don't exactly know the full extent of Varun's involvement in any of this either, right?"

"Yeah. That's about right," Mac remarked glumly as the rest of the Scions nodded along.

"Cool. Cool," I muttered dourly, "got it."

"I think it's time for a family vacation!" Mac exclaimed suddenly.

"You want us to go to Caracas?" Valentina recoiled, her eyes darting to my astonished expression. "That's too dangerous. It's a veritable battlefield down there right now!"

"We've got to nip this thing in the bud," Mac told her sternly. "So, suck it up buttercup."

Her jaw tensed as her teeth ground together. Cyrus sat forward to let Isla slide off his back into the crease of the sofa.

"Is she even ready?" He pointed a finger in my direction that I wanted to bat away.

"I say it's fine," Mac glowered at Cyrus.

"It is not fine, Mac, people could get killed!" Cyrus shot up to raise his voice until it filled the entire room. "You said it yourself! She's a liability!"

"You said that?" I asked Mac through the sting of his barb.

"Well? Do you deny it?" Mac challenged me, his beard vibrating with anger.

My heart sank and an embarrassing amount of hot liquid pricked my lower lashes.

"And you think going to Venezuela is going to help?" I threw my question back with a sneer. "So, to get this straight. Your plan is to storm into a city we've never been to and take on a mass of mercenaries we've never fought? What are you gonna do, have Isla open up a portal and send them to the moon? Have any of you guys ever fought bad guys before?"

I glanced over every single face watching my childish meltdown.

"No?" I continued. "Just me and Cyrus? Cool. And you say I'm the liability!?" 

I wheeled around to fix my burning eyes on Cyrus, which was a big mistake. I could hear his heart skyrocket the second our eyes met. His rheumy eyes seized my better sense for a few seconds, making me sputter like the indignant asshat I was.

"Oh, and Cyrus?" I finally recovered, holding his furious gaze as if my life depended on it. "Mac said your mind was a bag of cats."

"See? She's not ready, Mac," Cyrus broke our connection so easily it physically stunned me as he urged Mac in a cool, disconnected tone. "This is too dangerous!"

He stood up to storm out the front door,climbing over the snowdrifts to disappear into a mist of oranges squiggles. 

Oh no! Ella and Cyrus are fighting while things are going from bad to worse! I mean, do we need to talk about the D.E.P.T.? Or did you see that coming? 

(A slightly longer chapter than usual this week because I failed to update last week).