Day 26

Viola and Ferox got up early and headed to mount Jeku. The slower pace the day before due to the robbers gave the horses time to rest. This meant they were much faster and didn’t want as many breaks.

Viola looked at the snow-capped mount ahead of them.

“Is that where we are going?” Viola asked Ferox.

“Yes, that is mount Jeku. Victoria’s region. We should stop and buy her a gift. She is not nice to travelers who don’t bring her gifts.”

“Victoria is dead. She and Griffith attacked the queen. They died in the battle. I only heard the names. I didn’t see what happened to them. I was engaged else were.” Viola didn’t like remembering the battle at the castle. But it was one of the points that had changed her and made killing a lot easier for her now.

They reached the mountain.

“Thank you!” Viola said.

“Here is the rest of my gold and silver. It is all yours.” She gave him her bag of coins.

“What!?” Ferox was confused.

“I can go alone from here.” She said.

Ferox sighed, he wasn’t sure why he was upset. This was Viola. She had messed him around more than any other girl in the world. She was full of surprises, unpleasant ones.

“I don’t need your coin.” He said.

“I can’t use it on earth.” Viola said insisting he takes it.

“Pay your friend’s rent.” Viola suggested.

Ferox shock his head took the bag and said.

“Goodbye Viola.”

Viola grabbed his arm. She went to hug him. As she hugged him, she fell of her horse.

Ferox laughed.

He got off his horse.

“I guess I want to say goodbye and thank you. I would be dead without you. If you didn’t get me to the castle, I would have died a stranger in the streets. You have been there for me and that means a lot to me.”

Viola hugged him.

“Stay who you are. You make the world a better place and you are an example to people.”

Viola kissed him on the check.

“My alien.” She said getting back onto her horse.

“Don’t like being called an alien.” He stated.

Stolen story; please report.

She kicked her horse and waved as she walked away.

Viola ascended the mountain alone. It was not long before a woman met her on the road.

“I have been waiting for you.” She said in English.

“Who are you?” Viola asked.

“Jagvi, I will be sending you home. Come with me. Leave the horse, bring only what you are taking with you back to earth. Everyone else has already left. It is only you who remains.”

Viola got off her horse and followed Jagvi.

She was led to a circle made of stones with glowing blue crystals sitting on the pillars making the outside of the circle.

“Stand in the middle. Think of home. Close your eyes.”

Viola closed her eyes then asked.

“How does this work?”

She opened her eyes and she was on earth in Germany. She was three streets from her house. She went to her apartment. The neighbors watched as she opened the door to her ransacked apartment. Even her couch was upside down and cut open.

Viola lived on the ground floor with a neighbor above her and one next to her.

She picked up the phone and called her dad.

“Hi dad it’s me. I’m home.” She said.

“Viola! Are you alright?” he asked.

“I am.” She answered.

“Have you checked in yet?” he asked.

“No, I called you first. I know they are listening and will be on their way. I just wanted to hear your voice.” She answered.

“My star you are home. I will meet you in the office. Can’t wait to see you.” He was excited.

Viola turned her couch the right way and put the cushions back. She sat down and felt her knives from the other world. She took one off her leg and looked at it. It was just a skinning knife with a wooden handle. She hid it in her drain pipe outside her kitchen window.

Two black cars pulled up. Viola was found sitting on her damage couch.

“You destroyed my place.” She said coldly.

“You need to come with us.” A man wearing a helmet said.

“Van, that helmet is ridicules. Take it off.” Viola said.

She was taken to the office. The secret head courters for their operations.

Viola’s father Victor ran over and hugged her.

“My star you are alive. I was worried, even went to church.” He said.

“Victor, you have to let us debrief her. You know this please don’t get in the way.” Director John Wells said.

Victor let them take Viola to an interrogation room.

“May I go to the med bay first please.” Viola requested.

They took her there, where they examined her, took blood, urine and saliva. They swabbed her body and took her strange clothes. Viola was given clothes and then sent to the interrogation room.

“What happened? You were at the embassy party and then you were gone. You vanished on the cameras. Who took you? How did you get away?” Ian Hobbs asked.

Ian Hobbs was in charge of internal affairs. Establishing if someone had been turned.

“I don’t know how I got there, but I was at the party then I was in a field. I met strange people there, some I made friends with, they helped me get home. But others were like people of earth, fighting, killing sending children to kill. I was not of consequence to them.”

“Write it all down.” Hobbs said.

Viola wrote down a believable story of half-truths. She didn’t mention that she told Ferox who she was nor that she had seen Fiona and she had married and chosen to stay. She didn’t mention pixies or any of the others from earth by their full name.

After a night of this she was allowed to sleep in the office beds. In the morning, she was sent for a lie detector.

“Does anyone know who you are?” Ian asked.

“You need to be more specific in your questions. I gave them my real name Viola Stone.” Viola said.

“Does anyone know you are a German spy?” he asked.

“No.”

“Did anyone interrogate you?” he asked.

“Yes. But not for German information.” She said.

“Yes or no. No sentences please.” Hobbs asked.

“Then ask better questions?” Viola responded.

And so, Viola spent a day having to go over everything again. It was miserable.

She began to understand why Fiona stayed. She didn’t want to be interrogated and staying with a handsome guy suddenly became appealing.

Three days later Viola was cleared as not a traitor. She then went to the director.

“If you make Hobbs my debriefer in the future, there will be no more Hobbs. If I wasn’t so loyal, I would be thinking about why my loyalty lies here after that.” She stated.

“You know it’s procedure.” Wells said.

“Change procedure. It will make traitors.” Viola stated.

“Are you planning to quit?” Wells asked.

“I have thought about it over the last three days. All I wanted to do was come back to my life and my job. Now I am planning how to kill the people I just spent three days with.”

“Your story didn’t add up. It made no sense. We had to be sure. We finally figured you were drugged and hallucinated most of it.” Wells said.

Viola nodded.

“You guys still suck.” She responded.

“You have changed.” Wells said.

“I have, I no longer hesitated. Try me.” She was serious.

Viola had always hesitated to kill. She didn’t like it. She would wound and lame but not kill. She was good so they over looked her lack of neatly tie up ends.

“I have a job in Canada for you. We have a German there who is giving information to the U.S about military capabilities. Bring him back for questioning.” Wells said.

When Viola got home and was reminded that her place was trashed, she called Wells.

“I want my stuff replaced and put back in its place. I can’t believe you guys did this to me. You have until I get back to restore my apartment.”

“That sounds like a threat.” Wells said.

“It is.” Viola answered.

She was angry and having an assignment was what she thought she needed.

Viola went to Canada and found her mark was dead. She went to the morgue to identify the body posing as a relative. On her way out with the microchip that was under his skin she bumped into Shane.