“Mari!” her mother’s voice sounded through the house. Mari looked up from her computer, where she’d been doing totally casual surfing of the net, not at all looking for mysterious events that she might one day be dealing with, and headed downstairs.

“Yeah, Mom?” Mari asked.

Mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding an envelope. Mari carefully didn’t respond to it, even though she wanted to start jumping up and down. They really were serious!

Mari really wasn’t sure why a secret operation would give them an internship, but Wilma had told her that it would be a good cover.

“Trust me,” she’d said, “If you are working for an internship, with all the paperwork filed, nobody gives you a second glance. If you’re just out there doing stuff, with no reason… People get suspicious. We want to avoid that.”

“There’s a letter here for you, from Sirius Technology? It’s addressed to you.”

“Oh, um, well, I read about them at school, and I sort of um, sent in an application for a job?”

“A job?” Kyoko raised her eyebrows. “Why didn’t you mention it to your father or me?”

“I…” Think… “Didn’t know if it would happen, so I didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up!” Mari smiled at her mother. “I mean, that’d just be dumb, right?”

“Right… Or maybe you worried that we might say no, and wanted to trap us?”

“Mom! I’d never do that—”

“Julies’ weekend ski trip?”

“…More than once.”

Mom shrugged and handed out the letter to Mari. “So tell me what this job is.”

“Well, it’s actually an internship, with Sirius, helping with their EM pollution project.” Mari opened the letter, looking at the impressive letterhead on the introduction. The rest of the papers were the documents for Mom and Dad.

“EM…”

“Yeah, like how cell towers can put out interference or how someone’s old refrigerator compressor can mess up WIFI signals because it was made before WIFI was a thing…” Mari knew this part, since they’d been told exactly what to say. “So they need interns to drive out and set up and tear down sensors, or just take readings.”

“You don’t have an unlimited license yet…”

“Oh, that’s why I’d be with David.”

“Ah…” Mom nodded. “So, a job where you get to spend all day with David.”

“At least until school. During school, it’s only two to four hours a day,” Mari said, holding up the relevant pages. “Here’s all the information!”

Mom took the pages and started reading through it. “You’re paid minimum wage with… Oh. Oh. ‘An equal amount to be deposited into a trust fund for the duration of your internship, or until you turn 18…’ I wonder if they’ve dealt with teens before…”

“So that I don’t get my full payment?” Mari muttered. They didn’t tell me about that…

“Mari, if work an average of twenty hours a week, by the time you hit college, you could have over 12,000 dollars in your bank account. That doesn’t include the money deposited into your trust fund.” She tilted her head. “I expect that you’ll qualify for student loans, but it’s still nice to have some… mad money?”

“Mad money?”

“Okay, so you can have a totally kicking and rad experience catch—”

“Mom, please, no! You’re trying to use kid slang, it burns, it burnsssss!!” Mari burst into giggles.

“Just remember, you’ll be old one day.”

“And I will be up to date on my kid’s slang, so I can use it properly,” Mari replied. “But…” She bit her lip.

“A job like this is a serious commitment,” Mom said. “And I expect that when school begins, you will focus on school. You’ve got a B+ average. I expect you to maintain it, and if possible, get your average up to an A. If it falls, you’re back to being unemployed.” She stared at her daughter. “And I’ll have to talk to Robert, and we’ll both want to see your employers.”

“But…”

“But if that all turns out okay, I think this is acceptable.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Mari said, throwing her arms around her mother. “I’ll have to prepare myself, so do you think that I—”

“No, you’re still on Kado-supervising duties.”

Mari sighed. “Okay.” Well, if he hadn’t been dumb, I wouldn’t have this job, so I guess that’s fair.

David waited while his mom finished reading the documents. It was breakfast, even if it was more or less dinner for Mom since she’d just come off the night shift.

“So, you and Mari found this and sent in the application…” Mom glanced up at him. “Correct?”

“Yeah.” Damn, she looks tired again. Mom spent way too much time working, and she was training a new paramedic, which meant that Mom was dealing with more overtime then she’d had in a long time.

“Without telling me…” Mom said. “Depending on what this internship required, that might have meant you lost it, even if they accepted you otherwise. Some programs have requirements for the parents, especially when they’re hiring underage interns.”

“I… I didn’t think of that.” Because we actually didn’t sign up, we busted into a secret base, only it turned out to be less ‘bust in’ and more ‘here for our audition,’ but you don’t need to know that…

“Well, it looks like this isn’t one of those internships, and it comes with a fair amount of money. That could really help in college.” Then she gestured at David. “But why do you want to do it? Next year is your senior year, and I know some of your friends will have trips and fun stuff planned for the last year before everyone scatters to the four winds.”

“Well, not everyone. I mean, Maria works at Dan’s, Will is going to be helping his dad…” David shrugged. “I just figured, I’m going to be getting a job after school, why not start early?”

“Don’t be in such a rush to become an adult,” Mom said. “Once you are, you’re in it for life.”

David rolled his eyes. “And that’s bad because?”

“Well, maybe not at first, but if you ever change your mind, it’s not something you can go back on.” Mom stood up and stretched, running a hand through her dark brown hair. “Fortunately, I can attend—it’s an hour before my shift starts.”

Mom still looked a little tired, and David shook his head. “I can just go—”

“This needs my signature on it, and you’re not an adult, not yet, thank God.”

“You think I’d make a bad adult?” David asked.

“I think you’ll make a great one. But not just yet.” She tapped the paper. “So, EM interference. I wouldn’t be too unhappy to hear what they have to say. There’s been a few times when our radios and cell phones have just died, especially recently.”

David tried to control his expression at that. “Died? Anything else happen?”

“No, and I know dispatch has been getting annoyed at it because the interruptions never happen in the same place. If you manage to find out if some idiot is playing jamming games, you’ll make a lot of people happy.”

Yeah, and if we keep you from running what we ran into, I’ll be happy…

“Also, we’ll have to talk to them about driving.”

“I have my license…”

“You do, but I want them to understand that Mari doesn’t, at least not an unrestricted license. One good way to lose this internship is if I find out that you are letting Mari drive.”

“Mom, she’s a good driver!”

“And she can wait like you did, until she can get an unrestricted license. For now, Mari doesn’t drive with teens in the passenger seat.” She smirked. “Weren’t you the one who told me her driver’s ed instructor lost all of his hair that semester…”

“That was a joke! Sort of.”

“Well, I’m not joking. Besides, if you got pulled over, Mari would be the one who lost her license, not you.”

“I understand…” David said. I hope Mari does.

Mari tried not to bounce in her seat. They’d all come to the company (or secret base, but the parents didn’t know that), and Wilma and Antonio had escorted them to the main meeting room. It looked surprisingly ordinary given what the place did.

Sure it had a 72-inch monitor on the wall, and every seat around the table had an individual display, but it wasn’t anything like the basement.

And hopefully, Mom and Dad will never find out about that… Mari thought.

David and Daphne sat on the other side of the table, David’s mom going through the documents they’d been handed, just like her parents were. Dad was talking to Mom in a low tone.

I bet he’s wondering if Kado is going to be sneaking an online game right now… Mari didn’t think so.

She’d changed his password, after all. She wasn’t going to risk having to pass up something like this because her brother went and got himself grounded for another two weeks.

“So…” Dad said. “EM interference. Do you have permits for all of this?”

“Our work will be completely passive,” Wilma said. “So in terms of permits for the use of actively emitting transmitters and such, we won’t need them. If our interns have to go onto private ground, we will, of course, obtain permission well in advance.”

“What about the equipment they’ll be using?” Daphne asked. David’s mom frowned. “What type of currents and chemicals are they working with.”

“That is on page four,” Antonio said. “As you can see, they won’t be working with any dangerous equipment. In fact, the power these sensors use will be less than what a laptop uses.”

“When your children are working for us, if they must leave the site, they’ll be using either one of our vans, or we will drive them.” She glanced at Mari. “Due to Mari’s age and current provisional license status, when they are working together, David will be required to drive the company van.”

Mari tried not to sulk. So David was older than her. So he’d gotten his provisional license long enough ago that he could drive with her in the car.

It still wasn’t fair. Whoever heard of a secret agent hunting strange creatures and sealing holes into other dimensions needing to be driven there?

“Also, needless to say, their work schedules will be adjusted when school begins so that they will have adequate time for sleep and homework.”

Or have curfews. Mari really tried to not sulk.

“The payment…” Mom looked over to Antonio, “seems extremely generous for this type of work. Especially the amount you’ll be holding until they turn 18. Why?”

“Because presuming they do well with their internship, we would hope that your children would agree to continue working with our business during and after college. Even if we don’t have an affiliate near their college, remote working is something that we also offer.” Antonio raised his hand. “Our company is interested in long term gain, not simply finding an underpaid intern to get our coffee.”

“Hmm…” Mom and Dad got into a huddle with David’s, and Mari couldn’t understand what they were saying.

“Well, for my part, I have no objections,” Daphne said and started signing the documents in front of her, handing them over to David for his signature.

Her parents were still talking. C’mon! Let me do this already!

Finally, Mom and Dad nodded and turned to face Wilma and Antonio. “So long as Mari’s grades remain acceptable, and she is not overworking, I think this would be a good experience for her,” Dad said.

“But those two requirements are firm,” Mom said.

“Don’t worry!” Mari told them. “I’ll keep my grades up, promise!”

“We know you will,” Dad said.

Mari couldn’t restrain herself, as she thrust both her hands to the sky, fists clenched. “Yes!”

And then she felt the smile slide off of her face as Wilma and Antonio pulled out two big stacks of paper.

“Of course,” Antonio said, “there is some documentation we have to finish up…”

Just remember what it is for, Mari thought as she glanced at David, who looked just as unhappy. But really, why did a secret organization have so much paperwork.