My feet pounded on the cold stone making a rhythm I enjoyed. I couldn’t stop, though. They were after me. They wanted me dead and they would do anything to make it happen. I had to get out of the country and stay out of sight. I could see my school slowly becoming smaller in the background. I didn’t want anything to happen to my classmates and teachers, so I just kept running.

My name is Cameron Morgan and I’m a spy in training at the Gallagher Academy. The people after me are the Circle of Cavan. I don’t want them to hurt my family or classmates, so I’m running away to a different country.

I stopped to catch my breath, and that’s when I saw it. It was a light blue van and a tall man was running towards me. I turned to run, but another man was coming at me from behind. I ran down an alley to my left. It was a dead end and the two men were closing in. I braced myself to fight them off.

Then I heard one of them say, “Cammie?”

It was a woman’s voice, but not just any woman: my mother’s.

At first her voice was soft and compassionate, but when she realized it was me her voice turned hard and I knew if looks could kill I would have fallen down dead.

“Ah, ya?” I stuttered.

“What do you think you’re doing, young lady?” she snapped.

“Rachel maybe we should talk back inside the school,” it was Aunt Abby.

“Fine,” my mom said sharply.

We drove back in silence. Every few minutes my mom would give me a deadly glare then look out the window again. We walked up the stairs and into my mom’s office.

“What were you thinking?” my mom yelled as soon as the door closed.

I looked at my aunt for help, but she offered none. “I...I was trying to protect my classmates.”

“That doesn’t even make sense, Cammie!” my mom’s voice hadn’t lost its strength.

“Yes it does!” I was yelling now.

“Don’t you raise your voice with me. Now do you mind explaining?”

“I’m a danger, Mom. The Circle wants me and they’ll take down anyone who gets in their way. So I left.”

My mom just glared her deathly stare then said, “Ya, but you could have been killed!”

It wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for. She didn’t reassure me I wasn’t a danger. A threat. She just agreed with me and even though I knew I was right it kinda hurt me.

“Mom, I just don’t want anyone to get hurt. And if I get hurt then it’s better me than one of my classmates, or someone else.”

“Don’t talk like that,” my mom’s voice was compassionate again.

She walked over to me and pulled me down to sit on the sofa by her. I could see the worry in her eyes.

“Mom, I’m sorry. I just had to make sure if someone got hurt, I’d be the only one.”

She nodded slowly then said, “I know, but you scared me, that’s all.”

“Is it really? I mean, I don’t remember anything scaring you. Plus, you look like your hiding something.”

Now my mom was a trained agent. She was trained to keep secrets and not let on she was hiding anything. But in that moment I saw just how frightened and worried she was. The thought actually scared me.

“We found your father.”

And with those four words my world was knocked off kilter.