Chapter 1: Hired

The first thing Nari Eaton noted upon walking into the room were the escape routes. There were two doors - the door she'd entered through and one other, small door on the left side of the room behind the desk, which sat in the middle of the room.

All of the walls were grey as were the furnishing of the room, which consisted of little more than a desk, filing cabinent, and four chairs, three of which were organized around the front of the desk, while the remaining one was situated behind it.  

The only splash of color in the whole area came from a single, small blue sculpture on the glass surface of the desk. It appeared to be a fiery stallion of falling water, but she wasn't close enough to know for sure. 

She steeled herself, sighing. This was it. Her last interview. Here, she would find out if she could move on and leave her past behind. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying that she would be accepted, that the past could be left where it belonged - in the past. 

"You can go in now." The man - who she assumed to be an orderly - waved her into the office. 

Now was when she would move on or go back to her dull, painful life on Earth.  

This was it.

*** 

Nari gazed up at the man. Originally, she hadn't expected to be interviewed at all, let alone by the general. What sort of military establishment was this that the general would stoop to talk to new recruits? And since when were generals as young as the man standing before her? He couldn't be more than her twenty-seven years.

But the answer to both questions was right before her. She had been interviewed once by a regular recruiting officer, and this was the second interview - this time, though, it was the General who stood before her, framed by the doorway. And he was without doubt younger than any general she'd known.  

“Does the general normally interview recruits?” She asked glancing about at his sparse furnishings and the rest of the gray-walled office before setting her gaze on his blue sculpture again. The little blue carving was a life-line for her in a sea of grey and fear. It anchored her and calmed her, something she needed desperately if she was going to make it through this. 

The young man smiled, making his way to sit down behind his desk. “No, not usually.”

“So why are you interviewing me?”

He gave her a searching glance. “What makes you think I’m the general?”

She struggled not to squirm under his penetrating gaze. It was almost as though she was back in elementary school being lectured by one particularly stern teacher for dropping a pencil. "You gave it away when you answered my question earlier. You said 'not usually.' The only reason you would phrase it like that is because you are the General." 

He smiled at her, dipping his head slightly in acknowledgement of her statement. "A good response."

She didn't allow anything to show on her face or in her eyes despite the triumph she felt at having given a good answer. That was what he would be looking for. Her reaction would tell him whether or not she was truly a good fit for this place.

He was interviewing her for a position in an organization that worked to keep dark magic from reigning over the world, and all the agents of such an organization needed to know how to control emotions, reactions, and all other hints that would give an opponent the edge.

The General's gaze stayed steady on her face, and she met it with a cool stare. She knew the game he played - or thought she did, anyway. And she wasn't going to play. Not his way, that was.  

His steady gaze moved away and to the manilla folder with her name on it, which was sitting in the center of the desk, opened to the first page with her picture and general information. “If you don’t mind, Miss Eaton, I’d like to know a little bit more about your background. I know you lived with your mother and sister until you were fifteen... Your bio says that your sister died at that time. It also says you were in law enforcement.”

“Yes. That is the case.” She kept her face emotionless, but she felt the familiar panic rising when he began delving deeper into her past. She didn't want to relive her sister's death. Her sister's murder. She wanted it to stay buried in the past. It was already hard enough to deal with without making the wound even deeper.

“What happened to your sister, Miss Eaton?”

“She was killed by a young man out on the streets. He shot my sister through the heart. They arrested him the next day and sent him to jail. That was twelve years ago. I saw him when I testified in the courtroom trial that locked him up for ten years in a juvenile hall."

The General nodded. “So why did you come here, Miss Eaton?”

“With all due respect, sir, I mentioned that in my last interview and in my file.” She shifted in her seat, gazing at a spot on the wall above the General's head.

“I would like to hear it again from you personally. Why did you come here?” He repeated the question again with a gentle smile.

She suppressed the urge to sigh. She knew why he wanted to hear it from her. He was looking to see what her facial signals and body posture could tell him about her and her true intentions. It just hurt to talk about this, and she would've preferred it stayed on paper instead of coming from her as well.

She needed this position to much not to comply though, so she cleared her throat and answered his question. “I wanted to escape my past. My family has a history of working here. When things became unbearable, I decided I needed a new start. This place has always intrigued me, and it seemed like the best place to turn.”

“I see. So, do you usually run from your problems, Miss Eaton?” He smiled at her.

She knew he was trying to be gentle about it, but it still stung. 

Her eyes glinted with rage and tears that she tried to conceal with little success. She berated herself with bitterness as she realized he'd gotten the rise out of her that he'd been looking for earlier. Her cheeks flamed, and her voice was steel as she replied. “I came here to fix my problem, sir, not to run from it.”

He smiled again. “I see.”

She gave him a cold stare, but she didn't say anything. Respect was key here, and she knew that if she wanted the new start she claimed to want, she would have to keep herself under control. “Are you going to let me join or not, General Parsi?” Her posture and voice were stiff, and her eyes held a dangerous glint as she struggled to hold herself in check.

He ignored her question, and his smile told her he was letting her sweat a bit.

He leaned back in his grey, metal-backed chair. “So, you were in law enforcement before you came here. Your bio mentioned you were a former FBI agent and police officer. Would you please fill in more details about what you did in these positions?”

She wasn't sure if sharing more information with him was a good idea or now, but seeing as this directly pertained to her ability to perform in the positions they might place her in, she knew the question was an important one to answer. “I was with the Criminal Investigative Division, and I worked as an intelligence analyst.” She looked straight into his dark brown eyes when she said it, daring him to defy her.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Why the surprise, General?” She jumped at the opportunity with a smile.

“Please, call me Andrew. If you must use a title, sir will do. You are only required to call me General in formal settings.” He smiled. "I'm not really surprised, simply interested. It isn't an easy thing to get into the FBI, as an intelligence analyst or otherwise." 

Nari remained seated on the edge of her seat, ready to attack or flee if she had to. She crossed her arms across her chest - her usual defensive posture - and stared him down. The longer this interview was stretching, the more uncomfortable she became. It felt like school all over again with constant questions and unforgiving silences. In other words, stifling and barely tolerable.

He sighed. “Please, be at ease.”

She relaxed a bit, but remained wary. 

He nodded, leaning back and resting his chin on his clasped hands, elbows resting on the table. “I see. Very well.”

She gazed at him with a placid expression, but her irritation and anger still burned just under the surface. By his expression, she could see that he saw it in her eyes despite her attempts to mask it. She knew he'd reached a decision long before this point, but he'd put her over the fire anyway. It didn't matter that this was just another tactic to test her for endurance and patience. She had little of those things, but in a pinch, she could fake them well enough. Right now, she was just praying that the trick worked this time. 

He grinned at her. “You’re accepted into the MBC, Nari. Welcome aboard!” He extended his hand and she gripped it, shaking it with confidence.

She felt the tension leak out of her, and an inaudible sigh slipped from her. “You won’t be disappointed, sir!” She let go of his hand, excitement flashing in her eyes and her tense body posture.

He nodded. “I should hope not. My Lieutenant General, Indri Blake, will brief you on what is required of you. I may call for you or have someone else do so to put you on assignment in a few months after you've gone through some training. For now, go with Indri, and he will take you to your quarters.”

Nari stood, smiling at him as the tension bled out of her. He had accepted her. The wait was over and she was on her way to a new start.

***

Chenn had been recruited into the MBC just a week before. He walked down the empty, grey halls, his soft whistling of a favorite Mozart piece punctuating his steps. 

A young woman passed by, bumping into him. He almost snapped at her to watch where she was going, but she was such a small, owlish creature that he couldn’t bring himself to do it. After all, he wasn't hurt. But she had stumbled and fallen onto the floor.

Instead of snapping, he picked up the paper she had dropped and handed it to her.

She blushed. “Thank you, sir!”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m not an officer, Miss…”

“Kallie.” Her gaze flitted away from him as she corrected his use of a title.

“I’m not an officer, Kallie." He repeated. "My name is Chenn.” She was still on the floor, Chenn realized, and he extended his hand to her.

She took it, allowing him to help her up. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Chenn. I’m so sorry I bumped into you like that. I should really pay more attention to what I'm doing!” Kallie answered, her grey eyes focusing on his face with unease.

Her cheeks went crimson as Chenn smiled at her.

He knew the effect he was having. Her eyes traveled over his face, then down to the floor as a deeper blush rose into her cheeks. She gave him a shy smile back.

He knew he should go. He was making the poor girl nervous and uncomfortable. She had things to do, and he shouldn't keep her from them.

Every girl Chenn had ever met had reacted this way. He didn’t know what it was about him that did it. Maybe his eyes did it. On the other hand, maybe it was just his powerful charisma.

Chenn didn’t really care. Well, he did, but he pretended it didn’t matter to him because he just wanted it to disappear.

All he asked was for one girl to see just who he was. Not the wind-swept dark brown hair peppered with gold. Not the smile or the eyes. Him. He just wanted them to like him for who he was, not for how he looked. However, he didn’t foresee that happening anytime soon.

“Well, great meeting you, Kallie! See you later!” Chenn waved, a cheerful smile gracing his face despite the turmoil he felt inside, and then he walked off, wishing that he would find some sort of meaningful, deeper connection here.