Astrid paced in her room at home trying to think up of solutions to how they were going to remedy this. She was going to need to be all three before this was all over. She shared a room with her sister. They had an older brother who was in the military. Easton. She hadn’t heard from him in days though.

“Do you need any help?” asked Cammie. “You look like a mess honestly.”

“Do you know anything on how to solve a cipher?” asked Astrid. “Because if you don’t… there’s nothing you can do to help.”

“Are you even sure this is connected to our family’s greatest mystery, Astrid?” asked Cammie.

“Right now, I am not sure about anything,” said Astrid as she got up from her desk. “But yes, there is evidence that is pretty clear showing that it could be them.”

The stress was starting to get to her. Even though, she was a great amateur detective and the fact that her foster father was training her to be an official one. Digging miles into her family history was hard. Especially, without any help from her mother as she wanted her to stay out of it.

She handed her the folder. “That tattoo is dead giveaway that they are a part of that family. Digging into our family history though is doing my head in. There are so many dark and deep secrets within our family… and even though I am in that line of work, I am so… tired of secrets.”

“I know what you mean,” said Cammie.

Astrid smiled.

“What really happened with Dad?” asked Cammie. “Mom won’t tell me anything and you seem to know more than you are letting on about our family.”

“Our dad was a sentinel,” said Astrid. “Like I am.”

“And like your partner,” offered Cammie.

“Yeah... he had the same basis of energy that I do. Light and life energy. And like me… he also had a counterpart... one that he thought he could trust.”

“What do you mean that he thought he could trust?” asked Astrid.

“Nox betrayed him to the other generals who with the help of the Circle were able to overwhelm him and kill him,” said Astrid as she looked back toward her screen.

“But why?” asked Cammie. “I mean, what did he want?”

“Power,” said Astrid. “And I, was destined to be the next sentinel with my dad’s qualification of powers. Somehow, the power of darkness and shadows was not enough for him. He craved dad’s power and he still wants mine.”

“Did he get the power?” asked Cammie.

“The energy was released into the environment,” said Astrid as a ball of light hovered over her hand. “My energy is slightly different and so too is Nightfall.”

“But how did he die?” asked Cammie.

“That I don’t know,” said Astrid. “If I did, I wouldn’t have spent this many years looking for the truth, would I?”

Despite not finding the truth behind the Circle, they were making progress on figuring out what they were planning. It was two-part plan. The first one was the catastrophe, but their backup plan was nanotechnology.

“Have you tried talking the government?” asked Ben.

Ben was her partner and previous handler before she had gotten approved as a full-time agent. He was also somewhat of an older brother to her.

“You actually think the government would listen about an interdimensional threat?” asked Astrid. “And an ancient terrorist organization trying to kill people.”

“No… not really,” said Ben.

They were looking over pictures and plans that her friend, Keith, who was still in the hospital from their recent disaster of a mission.

“Those look a lot like parts of an explosive,” said Ben.

“Except that’s not what they are building, Daniels,” said Astrid. “Along with my dad being an agent and a soldier for an extraterrestrial military. He was also a scientist. Even though, I can barely understand his notes… I saw a design like this.”

“Any idea what it was?” asked Ben.

“Not yet,” said Astrid. “You do realize you are asking me to translate something in a language I barely know.”

“Yeah… okay, you have a point.”

“So… what’s the plan?” asked Nightfall.

Astrid clicked her pen numerous times in thought thinking about how to proceed from here. Her intuition was telling her that if they acted now, it would be too soon but she also knew there was no way that she would let them succeed with their plans.

“Is it okay to admit that I don’t know for the first time?” asked Astrid. “Though, I have this sinking feeling in my stomach at the moment or uneasiness about acting now.”

“Nice to meet you, Nightfall,” said Cammie, not at all startled by his sudden appearance. “Do you even have a real name?”

“But your sister won’t allow me to reveal it,” said Nightfall.

“And within good reason,” interrupted Astrid. “If anyone knew our true identities, they could use us against each other, and I don’t want that to happen because you are the partner a hero could ever wish for.”

He smiled at this. “Your sister is right. You should invite your detective brothers to help us with this.”

“Who said I didn’t?” asked Astrid. “I called them yesterday and they are coming over tomorrow. It is not exactly a short flight from New York to London.”

“Can we talk?” asked Astrid.

She had pulled Joseph aside wanting to talk about her decision to quit being a part of the shadows and become a student again. She did not know how to break it to him, though. He had done so much for her.

“Sure,” said Joseph. “Is this about your decision to help me teach the class in Blackthorne Academy?”

“Yes… it is about that, but it is also about something else,” said Astrid. “How should I say this? I want to quit and by quit, I mean quit being a part of the shadows temporarily. I know I have done so many missions, but I am still a teenager. I’m seventeen and I think I need proper education and training before I officially decide to become an agent.”

“Okay,” said Joseph. “I agree and I was hoping you would come to that decision on your own.”

“Thank you for understanding,” said Astrid.

“No problem,” said Joseph.

Her brothers arrived later that afternoon and Astrid looked at the invitation for a couple of minutes. The bell rang at around five o’ clock. Frank and Cole were standing at the door wearing coats and boots.

“Why is it so cold in London?” asked Frank.

“Come in,” said Astrid.

“I can’t believe you actually allowed us to work with you on this is like the biggest case and mission you have ever been on, and you usually are so keen on keeping us out of harm’s way,” said Frank.

“Keep talking like that and I might as well change my mind,” said Astrid. “And I did because I know for sure this time that I am in and over my head with this one and I was convinced by my sister to let you guys in on what was going on.”

Frank put his coat up on the hanger. Cole did the same.

“I had no clue you were rich,” said Frank.

“The inheritance my father left me,” said Astrid. “I only recently found out about it. I honestly had no clue I had this much money from my father. I know, I don’t visit you guys often, but I really do love you guys. It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate how smart you are.”

Frank smiled. “We understand, besides this is more than a little personal for you. So… we want to be there for you in any way that we can.”

“Do you want go out to eat together?” asked Astrid. “And then, we can go over what I have found out about the other family. I could really use your help and you guys are really smart in your own ways.”

“Hey!”

“I didn’t say you weren’t smart, Cole,” said Astrid, as she turned to look at her brothers. “You are smart on the tactical side and Frank is book smart. That is all I am saying. You both are really smart, in your own ways, and I could not be prouder of you.”

“So… where are we going to eat?” asked Frank.

They ended up going to her favorite Japanese place. They enjoyed dinner when they came home but when they came home that evening they got to work, but the quiet and peace did not last for long.

“Uhh… guys, I got to go,” said Astrid. “Nightfall has found something that might help us narrow the search as to what they are making and how the hell they have all the materials we need but I am a secret agent trainee, and we can figure this out.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Frank. “But that face seems like you have heard bad news.”

“It’s only a little bit of bad news,” said Astrid as she activated the nanotechnology of her suit to wrap around her. “Nightfall has found a way to get into the house of the head of Galaxy X… we also, however, do believe they are building a device so that they can use our powers against the world and if that doesn’t work there will be microbombs or some other contingency plan to complete their plan.”

“So… what are you going to do?” asked Frank.

“I… I think that they are trying to distract me with these ancient secrets,” said Astrid. “From their real plan which I still have yet to find out about. I will have to put this on hold until next year, but I could still use your help with finding out what the organization is doing and their connections.”