Keeping Me (Spy Chronicles Book 2)(43)

“Right,” I say.

“Your dad is smart. Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it to keep us safe.”

“And here we are again,” I say. “On the road.”

“Yeah, but this road trip will be a lot shorter. We’re only going to Wellington where we will catch an airplane.”

“A big one, right?”

“Yeah. A big one,” he says, smiling at me.

“How long will we be in Australia?”

“Not long. Just long enough for me to figure out where I want to go from there,” he says.

“Can we go to Japan?” I ask.

“I can’t speak Japanese. So, no,” he says.

“What languages can you speak?”

“English and Swiss German, obviously. A little French and Spanish. Enough to get by. And I can fluently speak German and Italian.”

“Italian?” I ask.

“Well, before we moved to America, I lived in Rome for a while. Until I was seven. So English, Italian and Swiss German are sort of my native languages,” he says. “My mom spoke in Swiss German a lot when I was growing up. At least, until she married my stepdad.”

“That’s so crazy,” I say. “I can’t imagine knowing anything besides English.”

“Some kids at Spy School know a lot of languages,” Sebastian says. “There is one kid there who knows ten and she’s only fourteen, not to mention the twelve-year-old with seven. They are both pretty much a genius.”

“My dad says not everybody at Spy School knew about it beforehand,” I say. “Like some kids get recruited.”

“It’s true. I’d say most, like, ninety-five percent, are kids with parents who went there. But occasionally they choose somebody who stands out.”

“Like my mom,” I say.

“Yeah. Like her,” Sebastian says. “A lot of times, a smart kid will be paired up with a kid who is really athletic and they will make an unstoppable team. I mean, you can’t be good at everything. It’s why we have teams in the first place.”

“Is there a rule on who can be in a team together? Like gender-wise, I mean.”

“No. But if there is a problem with jealousy, they immediately separate the team,” he says. “Like, say, if you were on a team with Sander and me and Sander got jealous because of time I spent with you, then we couldn’t be a team anymore. A lot of teams are all guys or all girls or maybe a couple. Like, my mom and dad were on a team before everything went down.”

“What about big teams? Like Sander’s team?”

“Well, as you can see, they can’t do everything together. Sometimes they split up,” Sebastian answers. “They all get along good and work well together, so when a huge team is needed, they go together. But realistically, they do most things on their own.”

“What about us?” I ask.

“Me and you, us?”

“Yeah.” Obviously.

“Well, you’re kind of my assignment right now,” he says.

“Oh,” I say, feeling disappointed at his words.

I don’t want to be just an assignment. I want to be his partner. His equal. Even though he is clearly better at everything.

“Maybe someday we will be partners. I can’t imagine I’d want to go on missions with anybody else,” he says. “Plus, you’re kind of a special case. You’re always going to need somebody with you.”

“And we can go with Sander and the guys when they need help?” I ask.

Because they’re my friends and I think working with them could be a lot of fun.

“Sure,” he says. “Truthfully, you’ll probably be devoting a lot of time to Spy School. Like your dad does.”

“Will that be boring for you?”

“Nothing will ever be boring with you,” he says.

Which warms my heart.

I know that he means it.

“Hey, Sebastian?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for not forcing me to get on the airplane,” I say.

He’s quiet for a moment.

“You know you’re going to have to overcome your fear of small spaces, right?”

“Yeah,” I say, swallowing hard.

“But don’t worry. I’ll help you,” he says.

Which is all the encouragement I need. I can do anything with Sebastian’s help. He makes me feel brave. Even if I was too scared today, I won’t always be. And he will make sure of it.





Thursday, October 5

Don’t answer that.





It’s a lot warmer in Northern Australia than it was in Southern New Zealand.

In New Zealand, we were on the southern island, about two and a half hours away from Wellington. And it was beautiful, but cold. In Sydney, it is warm. Definitely what I’m used to spring in Florida feeling like.

It’s so weird that it’s October and it’s spring time here. I feel like it should be starting to get cool, not the other way around. I should be seeing orange leaves. Not flowers. It’s strange, really. Of course, I’m sure somebody from here would say the same thing if they were in America.

Sebastian got us adjoining rooms at a beach hotel. Like, the view from my window is the ocean and it’s beautiful. He insisted that we keep the doors to each other rooms open so he could hear, just in case. And now, he’s sleeping soundly in the other room while I look out the window, because how can I not? I’m sad we won’t be staying in Australia. The truth is I’m not sure where we’re going now. We can’t stay here because they’ll have known that we left New Zealand by now. They’re probably already here looking. Good thing Australia is a huge country.