CHAPTER 8: THE ARGUMENT

**

"Cait reckons she knows where Malcolm is and she hasn't said a single word to me?!" I asked, hurt, finding out my sister has been lying to me.

"Listen Kara. Don't blame Agent Silver. You are the one who left." Sam hissed.

I knew Sam had more respect for Caitlin than anyone else, because he saw her as a savior. But right now, I knew that that was it, 'respect'.

Even he knew, how much it means to me to be the one to catch Aaron Malcolm after everything he's done to me and my family. 'Cait knows that' I said in my mind.

"Guys, please keep your voices down. People are listening in!" Eunbi hissed.

It was true. Almost everyone around us were looking at us and whispering, probably asking each other what the argument could be about.

And the reporters who were let in after the speeches had ended to interview the celebrities, were scribbling away on small journals, and some had even brought their laptops along.

After all, it was an argument between Sam Anderson and the Krystals. For them it could be the season's gossip and they might even end up getting bonuses from their bosses.

These people don't care at all about how what they might write could hurt others.

...That's just how this industry works. 'Everyone for themselves' I thought, getting angrier.

I tried cooling my head, but it didn't work. Finally, the leader emerged from behind the crowd, alongside Peter and Ellie and asked in a low whisper, "what's going on?"

"oh nothing~ the usual lies between siblings" I said, just loud enough for only the Krystals and Sam to hear it, who were all gathered around each other, in a close huddle.

"Um.. what lies now?" Peter asked. "Nothing just.. nevermind.. I'm leaving." I said

"Kara. You can't just barge into the ENAC!" Ethan blurted. "Barge Into the ENAC? You're insane if you're even thinking something like that" Ellie said pointedly.

"Whatever's happened. We'll work it out, okay? But don't go to ENAC by yourself." Alec added worrying.

"Yea, especially if you don't want to be put in prison by the great Ryle Mason for trespassing." Peter snorted. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I won't go inside. I'll just wait right outside the boundary line, until I get a message delivered to Cait to come out and talk to me.. unless, of course, you decide to help me out?" I asked mockingly.

Just then Joshua Ryans came through followed by a bunch of security guards. "Miss Silver, Mr Anderson, is everything alright?" He asked matter of factly.

"Don't worry, Josh, everything's fine..." Alec spoke. "Something urgent has come up, so we might have to leave early." He continued.

"Oh. Uh.. sure, of course." Joshua said reluctantly. He looked around at the security guards behind him and pointed toward the reporters stealthily, who were still taking pictures and notes.

"Will all of you be leaving?" He asked.

Nobody answered for a while and just stared at each other hoping for some clarification. Then Sam replied, "No... I think only Kara and I will be leaving right away."

"Oh. Okay.. Well then.. Miss Silver, I trust I will be seeing you next week at the Vines?" He asked curiously.

I looked over to Ronnie and Ellie who were both eyeing at me suspiciously. I hadn't told them that Joshua had invited me for dinner at a restaurant called The Vines.

"Yes, for sure." I replied confidently, trying not to make contact with any of my members.

"Good night, then. Safe travels, hopefully" The way he said that was a bit strange. I thought I saw a gleam in his eyes when he smiled. It didn't seem like pleasant. But I chose to ignore it.

"Good night."

I was about to turn around when someone held my arm. I looked around.

"I should come with you. you know.. just to be safer" Ethan said glaring toward Sam, who was smiling from ear to ear.

"I think I would like for you to come too. Don't you agree, Kara"

Ethan just rolled his eyes at his sarcastic tone.

I made a groaning sound but nodded slightly. I also gave a slight wave to the rest of the members and then we starting walking out the venue. Sam was leading the way further away.

"How are we getting there again? I questioned remembering that inter-dimensional travel had been banned because of what I did 3 years ago. And so only agents of the OENAC could use a device called extrional which opens up a breach to whatever location you type in it.

"We'll use my extrional" said Ethan in response, walking right beside me. I raised my eyebrows and asked, "me too?".

"Yes, it's fine. Nobody would know. And I obviously won't open it up inside the building."

I decided to trust him. We were now well away from the venue. Ethan nudged Sam to stop and we turned to a dark alleyway.

There, Ethan took out the extrional. It was a very small , circular device, about the size of a child's palm. It was mainly silver in color, except for the tiny, green sphere in the middle.

Ethan touched it and a miniature screen appeared. Ethan tapped on it, and right away the breach opened. It was shaking and it looked as if it kept dissolving in itself.

Although, other people's extrionals would make a bit of noise, but this one didn't. This was because Ethan was an agent to another special organization, that deals with time travel. This institution deals with people who use the means for time travel for their own advantage.

To travel through time without being tracked by the institute of safe space travel, also known as The SST.

I took a deep breath and all three of us walked into the portal one after the other.

**

We were there in a split second. It was as thought we had just walked through fog.

"Kara! Get behind those trees!" Ethan hissed.

I couldn't see why he asked me to do that, but I did it anyway. The ground we came out on was sand and rocks. The temperature was moderate. I turned around and saw a couple of willow trees and hid behind them.