An Undercover Spy

A Tadpole

    “I have prepared the papers, Sir.”

    Avery said politely as she placed the work done by her the night before. She sighed, breathlessly and sat in front of his desk. 

    James was impressed by her quickness. In only one night, she was able to finish all the work his old assistants couldn’t finish in less than two days. 

    She wasn’t even aware of her talent. She thought they should take the exact same time she gave. 

    He wasn’t blind not to notice how tired she looked. Her eyes weren’t as wide anymore, they were baggy and tired. Anybody could guess that she didn’t get a minute of sleep. She spent the whole night working on those papers!

    He widened his eyes in astonishment. He was liking her. She was polite, intelligent and was already getting work done before time. He hoped this wasn’t because she was new and she would keep on doing that. 

    “Excellent! Did you spend the night finishing them?”

    “Yes I did. Since you said they were urgent and had to be done fast.”

    She said, yawning at the end of the sentence. She smiled, covering it up and looked away trying her best not to show him that she was dying to get some sleep. 

    “That’s your work, I’m glad you didn’t take more time”he replied bluntly. He was as well trying as hard as he could not to show her his emotions. He didn’t show her that he was impressed yet made her think it was normal of her to finish them quickly. 

    “Do I have something now or can I get a few hours of sleep?”she asked, politely. 

    “Miss Anna, please have breakfast with us, reply to some of the cards I got and then you can head off to bed.”

    Avery felt like groaning loudly and rolling her eyes but she ignored her inner Avery and masked up her smile. “Of course, Mr. Lueders, I will change into something more appropriate and then I will join you.”

    He nodded and got back to his work as she started heading to her room. 

    As she was in the middle of the hallway, she saw Time running towards her. He stopped and stared at her with wide eyes before jogging down the stairs. 

    She raised her eyebrows, confused. “What the heck?” She shook her head and walked back, ignoring him. 

    She walked to her closet, looking between some of her skirts and ended up picking a pair of crimson red pants with a black blouse. 

    As she was turning around to place them on the bed, she found something odd and had to step back to observe carefully.  

    Was she too sleepy or was there something moving?

    She rolled her eyes and ignored it. She started undressing and changing into her other clothes as she noticed it again. 

    There was definitely something moving under the bed sheets. But what could it be?

    She took two steps and as she reached the end of the bed, she reached for the sheets. She yanked them up and as quick as she did so, something hopped on her shoulder. 

    She jumped back, spinning her head to her right side. As her eyes took in the small green creature, several vile words grouped up in her mind. It was a tadpole. Someone had placed it under her sheets so they can scare her. But little did they know frogs were actually her favorite animals.

    She scowled, taking it in her hand and remembering how Time was running in the hallway. 

    She stormed out of the door and rushed down the stairs with her new clothes. 

   Meanwhile, the whole family was at the table, sitting there, waiting to be served. 

    Avery put on her signature smile and walked towards them. 

    “Good morning!”She said with fake joy. Everyone turned around and gave her weird glances as she was holding te tadpole. 

    “Look at that! Time gifted me this cute little tadpole. Isn’t it amazing?”She mentioned, winking at the little boy. 

    But he wasn’t looking at her. Him and his older brother were staring at each other with troubled faces. So Ezra was in this too?

    That explained where they got the tadpole from. It was of course not the little kid who had brought it home. 

    “What? How would Tim bring a tadpole home?”

    The mother asked. 

    “Ezra bought it. They both gave me this gift. Frogs are my most loved animals. Thank you Ezra and Time!”

    She blinked as a thanks while staring into the older brother’s eyes. He was glaring at her with his eyes half closed. He chugged his tea down as soon as the maid served it which caused him to widen his eyes. He reached for the water and drank from the jug itself, making them all shocked. He had burnt his mouth! 

    Avery shaped her lips into a straight line, covering her chuckle into a cough which went unnoticed by the family. 

    She looked back up and caught the grandmother’s eyes. She was grinning like always and moving her head to a nonexistent rhythm. Avery smiled. She felt a deep connection with her. Like she knew her somehow. But why was she thinking like this?

    It was too odd for her to continue staring so she diverted her eyes and walked to the table, taking her seat beside Time who was frowning at her. He was probably angry that she wasn’t scared of it and had found out the truth. 

    “Please take this tadpole, I think I’m going to keep it and raise it”she said, handing it over to the oldest maid. 

    She was used to this. She ordered, others listened. Even if it wasn’t the same in that new house, the maid still listened as she was now a part of the family. 

    She walked away, probably thinking of a place to put the tadpole. 

    “Why would you two buy her a tadpole! Are you crazy?!”

    He shouted. Avery sighed and decided to let them be. He was addressing his words to his children, it wasn’t her business to deal with. 

    She dove into her plate, hungrily and starting taking a few bites. Gladly, there wasn’t extra salt or anything wrong with the food. It was just as they made it back in her home. 

    Her home. How she missed that place. She really wanted to go back and lay down in her bed. Talk to her mother’s frame as she always did. She missed her father, her grumpy old man. Her friends who would always keep her busy with their silliness or her witty fights with Nate. Even the work there used to be fun but after this mission, nothing seemed the same. It was like she came to a new place destined to discover new things and new people, have a new routine and well, be Anna Emelcourt, James Lueders’ personal assistant. 

    She sighed. When was she going to find that detail about him. She should probably take a look in his office to find something. After all, she was his pa, nobody would suspect anything. 

    “I thought it was nice of me to give your assistant something she might love. She must be missing her old life.”

    Ezra replied, spitting the words with hate. His relationship with his father was completely awful. Probably even badder than hers and Richard. 

    She wondered what his relationship with his mother and sister was like. They never seemed to argue or have a problem against each other. Plus, Avery once witnessed Jess and Ezra chatting. It was a good sign, right?

    Everyone stayed silent as they ate their food silently. Avery and Jess kept exchanging looks. Were they thinking the same thing? They were both the same age yet were so different. Jess would wear bright and bubbly clothes and keep her hair up in a bun. Exactly like how James’ daughter would be like. She was probably his perfect daughter and if Avery was right about that then she must know at least a bit about her father’s illegal work. If she did, then Avery had to win her trust. She promised herself that she was going to see him being arrested soon. Sooner better than later. While Avery’s favorite colors were dark crimson and grey. She wasn’t as bubbly as the other lady. 

    She finally excused herself to go check the cards then take a long awaited sleep. She was awake for a whole day and it was only the beginning. What would happen later on? Would she never be able to sleep from the big amount of work everyday? She hoped not.