That night, Lizzy sat in the loft with Amanda, who was crying. She had admitted to everything after some prodding, and Lizzy had ordered her to leave first thing in the morning. Marjorie, Alexander and Patrick had backed her up.
What they had learned was this: Amanda had been feeding information to the enemy. She was a double-agent, and Lizzy had felt like kicking herself when she had figured it out. She had told Amanda everything before she left – she had admitted all her lies, all the secrets she had kept from Madam Daphne – who also worked for MNT – no matter how hard her old employer tried to pry them out of her, she had stood her ground – just to have Amanda tell her anyway. Lizzy had been a humongous fool.
Amanda had told MNT their plans, their problems. If anything changed, the other side got informed. All along, she had been taking orders and Lizzy hadn't seen it. She had thought Amanda her friend, the best friend she'd ever had, her only friend who had never betrayed her. The friend who never would.
But she had been wrong.
Even worse, the fire wasn't an accident. Neither was the loose, cracked wheel. Amanda had vandalized both, and she had risked Patrick and Lizzy's lives in the process. In fact, Lizzy could have died in the barn fire, luckily Amanda was not committed enough to purposely murder, and she still viewed Lizzy as a friend. But Lizzy hadn't suspected anything, and that was worse than Amanda's betrayal – Lizzy's instincts had been dulled, she had been blinded by her friendship, and she knew she couldn't let it happen again. Lives could have been lost – her life could have been lost. The world could have been lost.
Never again.
Now Amanda was trying to, at least partly, save their relationship. She wasn't asking for pardon, but she didn't want to leave on such a bad note. She had taken the time to know Lizzy, even though she knew their friendship wasn't permanent. She understood her nature – Lizzy held grudges for an extremely long time – the only person Amanda knew who Lizzy had forgiven after a severe offense was Alexander, and Lizzy still wasn't completely over that. She doubted she ever would be.
So Amanda knew she had to try. She also knew it was a long shot, but maybe Lizzy had changed. Maybe she had opened up – Ireland was a magical place, a place of luck – if there even was such a thing – and Amanda had noticed that Lizzy was a bit more... content, if that was the word for it. Her eyes had softened, and she seemed to trust people more easily. She seemed comfortable with herself, and comfortable with their position, like there was no way they wouldn't win. She seemed confident. That was the word. Confident and stronger than ever.
"I don't think I can go back now,"
Lizzy rolled her eyes, but inside her heart was breaking. She had loved Amanda like a sister, and love doesn't fade that quickly – it had only been a few hours, and the pain hadn't dulled one bit. She had tried to push it down, of course – her instinct was to ignore it – but she had promised herself that she would be soft-hearted, and, unfortunately, that meant she had to feel all the hurt.
But just because she felt it didn't mean she couldn't hide it from others. All afternoon she had acted cool and reserved towards Amanda, no matter how hard she tried to bridge the gap.
And the pain hadn't lessened.
"Well, Mandy, you can't stay here. Maybe the sheep across the road will take you in." Lizzy replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Amanda frowned, blinking back the tears that had been gathering in her eyes all evening. "Lizzy –"
She paused, looking at Lizzy for acknowledgement. She only moved her head slightly in Amanda's direction, but she didn't sound discouraged as she commenced talking.
"I've known you for – well, half a year, at most, now that I think about it, but it feels longer – the fact is, I know you, and I understand you, and I know your moods. I've seen that expression before, and I know you're hiding all your emotions. But you are really hurt by what I did, and I understand that – I am ashamed of it, myself. If only I'd known –" Amanda stopped short, but Lizzy caught her blunder.
"Known what?" Lizzy demanded.
Amanda rubbed her forehead. "Umm,"
"You've lost most of your secrets today – who you are, that you're an agent for MNT – so why not one more? What are you talking about?"
Amanda buried her face in her hands, but Lizzy wouldn't let it go.
"Amanda. Please?" Lizzy knelt beside her on the hay and Amanda looked up.
She looked into Lizzy's eyes and almost smiled in relief. At least Lizzy didn't hate her. And what she had to tell wouldn't make her any angrier than she was. Maybe Lizzy would even – at least partly – forgive her.
Amanda exhaled. "Right. Might as well jump right in." she paused, collecting her thoughts as Lizzy waited impatiently. "So – MNT has your whole backstory –"
"WHAT?" Lizzy exclaimed, jumping up. "Well, that's obviously not all right. I don't even know my whole backstory!"
Amanda laughed. "Woah, hold your horses. I'm not even started yet."
Lizzy sat back down, cross-legged, and Amanda continued.
"MNT said –"
"Wait, so do you know it?"
Amanda groaned. "For heaven's sake, Lizzy, listen!"
Lizzy folded her hands tightly and nodded. Amanda sighed heavily and kept talking. "Anyway, as I said, MNT has your whole story, which he did, in fact tell me – who your parents are, why you were left at your godmother's house and exactly when. And MNT told me what he's doing."
"Well, I already know that." Lizzy interrupted once more. Amanda rolled her eyes, just like Lizzy had moments earlier.
"Well, yes, of course you do," she replied sarcastically. "But do you know why?"
Lizzy's face went blank and Amanda grinned. "Ha. Now be quiet and let me finish."
Lizzy fixed her eyes on Amanda's face.
"Now, let's start at the beginning, shall we?"
Amanda paused, collecting her thoughts, as Lizzy fidgeted impatiently. Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Lizzy, she took a deep breath and began.
"Once, long ago, there lived two brothers, who we don't know the names of as yet. They had the brilliant idea to pass information off to whoever paid them, but not just any information – coded information. So the real brains of the operation, nicknamed 'Donovan' by those who dealt with him, created the clocks. The coded clocks with riddles inside that only the person who received them could decipher. The brothers were neutral, but eventually Donovan decided to expand the corporation without letting his brother know, and keeping most of the profits to himself, which wasn't very nice. His brother had doubts about being neutral, and when he realized Donovan was 'betraying' him, he did the extreme – turned his back on his brother and joined the stronger side – the violent side. Donovan knew this would happen at some point, however, and since he wanted things to be fair, he joined the other side. His information was now being directed only at the 'good' people, and they slowly grew much larger than the previously dominant side. His brother knew Donovan was beating him again, and he wasn't happy about it, but he couldn't do anything. So Donovan continued to outstrip his brother.
Eventually, however, Donovan grew old and died. The 'good' side's power decreased and, under Donovan's brother's careful instruction, the 'bad' side's power increased dramatically. The league of people Donovan left behind tried to fight back, but they lost too many people and decided to scatter. But the leader of the 'bad' side – Donovan's brother, known by everyone by MNT – wasn't satisfied. He wanted everything his brother had worked on, anything that even remotely related to his brother destroyed. So he set off after the remaining 'good' guys. As did his descendants. And they all adopted the pseudonym 'MNT', after their ancestor. Each new leader was powerful and smart, but Donovan had left all his secrets and all his codes, all his new ideas for the people who were second in command, and they passed them on to their children. Just because they were scattered didn't mean they weren't strong, although they weren't nearly as powerful as their enemies. More people joined their ranks, and your parents" – she looked pointedly at Lizzy – "were soon part of the group." Amanda paused.
"Which meant that they were in constant danger of death..." Lizzy said slowly. Amanda nodded, a hard look on her face.
"Yes. They met in one of the undercover meetings and were immediate friends, and they lived near each other at the time so they met in real life, just to talk and get to know each other. They knew their time together could be quite short, so they decided to get married a week after they met. It was foolish to wait.
"A year later, they had you and your brother. It was during one of the worst, most dangerous times for the 'Donovan Group', as they called themselves back then. The recent MNT was ruthless, and bent on destroying their cause. They were the only thing that kept him from full power, and he hated it. He was the most power-hungry man who had ever been in charge – the original MNT's grandson – he had the drive, he had the force, and he had only a few years in power but he killed most of the people who were against him.
"Unfortunately, your parents were some of the most powerful foes. They were his grand prize. They fought hard, they fought strong. They were smart and resolute, and they avoided death at all cause.
"But they needed to get you to safety. They loved you and they wanted you to grow up in a good place, just in case they... just in case – they – well, in case MNT got them."
Amanda placed a hand on Lizzy's arm before she continued. "They loved you more than anything. They brought you to Germany on an undercover mission, but their real goal was to get you to a safe place. They might still be alive today if... if the other side hadn't gotten wind of their plans. They didn't even know they had children until a few years later. That's when they started trying to coax your brother over to their side. They weren't sure where you were until you were seven, and they went to your godmother's house to... well, anyway, they didn't know what they were doing in Germany, they just knew that's where they would be. Your father held them off for as long as he could with a company of a few other members who supported their cause – trying to overthrow the opposite power – fighting with him, while your mother crept through the underbrush to the safe house they had planned for you to go to. If she hadn't been spotted –"
Lizzy put a hand up, stopping Amanda from saying anything else. "Don't – try to comfort me, Amanda."
"I was going to say, you're just following your parent's way. They were trying to do exactly what you are, except without the – brother issue."
Lizzy nodded. "So I'm just following in my parent's footsteps."
Amanda smiled. "I couldn't imagine you doing anything else."
"And my brother is going opposite."
For a moment, Amanda was silent.
"Well –"
Lizzy shot her a look. "'Well', what?"
"In a way, he's also following your parent's example. He's fighting for a cause, against another, and he's not the leader of the whole thing, but he leads his own group." Amanda shrugged. "It's a similar concept."
Lizzy rolled her eyes, but she saw Amanda's point. Both were in the same position, and doing things the same way. But...
"We're still doing two completely different things," Lizzy said. "It's not like we're similar in that."
Amanda raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."
* * *
The next day, Amanda and Lizzy parted with an embrace while Marjorie, Alexander, Finn and Patrick looked on, highly confused.
They had talked long into the night, and Lizzy and Amanda had formed a plan. Lizzy had partly forgiven her, and their relationship was still a bit unsteady, but Lizzy trusted her enough – not much, but enough – to allow her to carry out her part of their plan.
It was simple enough – Amanda would head back to headquarters and admit that she had been found out, but say she thought that Lizzy would forgive her if she tried hard enough to gain it. She would gather information from the other side and report back to Lizzy. She would basically just be a double agent again, but in favour of the 'good' side instead of vice-versa. Lizzy would tell the others later, but for now, Amanda had to leave. Their whole conversation the night before would be left out of Amanda's account to MNT, of course, but Lizzy wasn't sure how long Amanda could keep up her ruse, so they had to work fast.
Amanda set off down the lane in the direction of the border. Her curly dark hair bobbed in the wind as she turned and waved a mocha-coloured hand to them. Lizzy grinned and waved back. She hoped against hope that Amanda would remember not to act too happy or content when she returned to the headquarters. Lizzy hadn't reminded her, but she had confidence that Amanda would remember. Otherwise, she had better be a quick thinker or their plan was going to go down in flames.
MNT may be reserved with his information, but some of his accomplices might not be. And Amanda could be very convincing...
Lizzy sighed as Amanda turned and disappeared from her sight. She and turned back to her friends and realized they had been staring at her with confused expressions for quite a long time, and she flushed red as they continued to do so.
"Uhh," she said. Patrick seemed to come out of a daze and nudged Finn, who said, "What was that?"
Lizzy folded her hands in front of her and leaned back on the heels of her feet, shrugging. "Amanda and I, we kind of made a plan last night? Without... any of you... or your consent..."
"Kind of?" Marjorie said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well – yes. We did."
"And what, exactly, is this plan?" Alexander queried. Lizzy stood up straight and held her hands to her sides, her loosely clenched fists against her hips. "Why don't we go inside first," she suggested. They nodded, and Lizzy led the way indoors.
Once they were seated, she explained Amanda and her's plan. Everyone seemed to completely understand and agree with their decision.
"Even though you didn't tell us, and I am highly offended by that..." Alexander said, attempting to hide a smile and failing. Lizzy playfully swatted his arm.
"Well, sorry," she drawled sarcastically. Patrick laughed.
"It's nice to see you back to your old self," Marjorie smiled. Lizzy made an unimpressed look on her face. "Oh, are you sure that's an accurate statement?" Lizzy said.
"Uhh – no, no – not at all!" Marjorie responded with her hands raised in defense. Lizzy nodded. "I'm not cutting any of you" – here she stared at Patrick – "any slack. We need to plan, and to plan well – there is no second chance if we don't succeed the first time."
Alexander nodded his support, and Marjorie smiled once more. Finn and Patrick both looked a bit scared, especially Patrick, and they both looked a bit guilty even though they'd done nothing wrong.
At least Lizzy thought they hadn't. But she should probably make sure of that. And who said she couldn't have a little fun with them as she did?
"Boys!" she bellowed. They leapt to attention, their posture straight and their hands to their foreheads in strong salutes. "Yes, ma'am!" they cried, the 'guilty' expression melting off their faces and being replaced with a firm, attentive stare, if not with a tinge of fear. Lizzy laughed. "At ease," she said, and they immediately assumed the general stance she requested, although Finn's was lacking a bit of conviction.
Lizzy sighed, but a hint of a smile still remained. "Just because we need a plan doesn't mean I'm taking charge and want little puppy dogs, such as you."
They looked personally offended, but Lizzy kept talking. "I need men who think for themselves, and add to conversations – like you – before you did any of... that."
She gestured to them, and Patrick's posture sagged. "Sorry."
"Hey!" she barked. "First rule: never apologize for being you. Unless you are an offensive person. Then you... can – or shouldn't... oh, never mind."
Finn snickered, and Lizzy rolled her eyes.
"Right." Alexander cleared his throat, clearly seeking to take control of the situation. Lizzy whirled around to point at him and, with a glare, exclaimed, "And that's enough from you, sir!"
Alexander met her eyes, and she held his dispassionate look for as long as she could before a smile broke out. She sat down, laughing a little. "Continue." She said as properly as was possible. She accentuated her British vowels and tone, and shushed Finn when he began to snigger once more, although she was barely repressing a chuckle herself.
Alexander cleared his throat again and said, "Well, then. Now that I know I won't be interrupted, although – of how long this blessed silence will last I am uncertain, so I will make this concise – and I will simply say –"
Erin walked into the room, a bit sleepy. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, then said, "Do we have pie yet?"
Alexander collapsed in a nearby chair. "I am defeated by the child."
Erin looked around, bewildered. "Do you want pie, too? Or... well, I didn't try to defeat you – what do you mean?" she looked oddly like Finn as she looked around.
Everyone laughed. "Exactly, Erin," Lizzy said, struggling to speak through her laughter. "exactly."
* * *
Lizzy and the others began their hardcore planning that afternoon. Patrick and Finn had to excuse themselves several times for farm work, but for the most part, everyone contributed to the conversations. Kit popped in from time to time, but he had his own farm to care for, and he couldn't come as often as Lizzy would like. His suggestions were smart and he added a tinge of subtle humour, which everybody but Jack understood and he could not, for the life of him, figure out why everyone was suddenly laughing when Kit added his ideas.
Jack was leaving that day, and everyone knew it was a loss – true, he wasn't the most intelligent out of everyone, and he was extremely unhelpful at times, but he was a relief from all the seriousness of planning and the daunting prospect of taking MNT down. He was funny, random, and hilariously strange, and his ability to make anyone laugh, anywhere, anytime was uncanny. But he couldn't stay much longer, or, as he said, 'my boss will wonder if I am dead, and I don't want him getting his hopes up.' Then he laughed uproariously and nobody could do anything but join in, albeit uncertainly.
Nobody was sure exactly how they were going to get into MNT's headquarters without being seen. Even Lizzy, who used to live there, was uncertain. Of course, that was when the previous MNT had been in charge. Now there was a new one, who was extremely cautious and deliberate. If the rumours were correct, it was safe to assume that the security had been tripled and every agent's training was much more advanced than before. Each member was inspected for certain qualities and, for the first time, some were turned away. Lizzy, personally, thought this was a mistake – she knew how angry some people could get when rejected. She knew how angry she could get when rejected, although as she had matured, she learned to relax when she wasn't accepted by someone. It was their loss, anyway. But the others, who were turned away from MNT, were probably not as calm about that as she was. They might rise up and rebel, and if there were enough of them who were angry...
Suddenly, an idea struck Lizzy. Just what they needed in their plan! They hadn't started anything final as of yet – just brainstorming – but if they could...
Lizzy stood from where she was working in the garden, weeding between the vegetables. They had taken a break from planning – both to clear their heads and give Patrick a hand – and now Lizzy had dirt all over her. But she couldn't wait to tell the others her idea. It wasn't outstanding, or revolutionary, but maybe it was enough...
* * *
When Alexander and Finn heard the plan, they both smacked their foreheads with the palm of their hands. "Why didn't I think of that?" Finn exclaimed. "And I am the smartest of all of you! How did I overlook this...?"
Alexander fake-glared at him. "Ugh." He said. "You are not the smartest. And you probably didn't know all that about MNT, so it was impossible for you to have –"
Finn only seemed to hear the first sentence. "Excuse me? If I'm not the smartest, who is?" he exclaimed, interrupting Alexander mid-sentence.
"Not you."
Finn rolled his eyes. "Of course. Such a brilliant answer. I guess we know who's not the most intellig–"
Alexander punched his shoulder and Finn laughed, stumbling sideways.
Lizzy left to tell Marjorie and Patrick of her idea, leaving the boys bickering.
"Boys," she muttered, smiling as she walked away.