• Foxy awoke in a slight daze. Her gut hurt and her head was spinning. The sun hadn’t come up, and wasn’t going to for hours. She slipped out from under the covers and crept out of her room. It was easy not to make a sound, and the boys wouldn’t have noticed if she had, anyway. They had been on a hard mission for most of the month before and were sleeping soundly.
    Foxy slipped the window open and crept into the complete night. She jumped from the tall porch to the ground silently. She walked to the dock, picking up a net and a small shovel. She slipped into the cold waters, feeling it wake her body to the point were it almost felt like torture. Such a sudden awareness was what she wanted, and she walked in the waist high waters until she was fully awake. Then she reached down and dug into the lake bed, feeling what felt like a large chipped rock in her hands. Her tail brushed the surface slowly. She picked up the clam and put it in the net.
    She did this for an hour before she had a good sized batch and went to the grill sitting outside. She lit it and placed several clams on the top. She sat in the grass, looking up at the late night sky. She saw several shooting stars and more constellations than she knew were there.
    Foxy took out her cell phone. She pulled up a small picture of her parents. The two foxes were laughing, ears perked and happy. Across the bottom was the words ‘Chow from Italy’. They were also on vacation, but she hadn’t seen them sense she was twelve and even then they were gone often. It was dangerous for all three of them to be in the same area. They were world wide, she was world wide. If they got together who knew who would figure she was their daughter and us her against them.
    She text them quickly, “I’m on vacation; want to see you guys before I go back to work. If you can meet me somewhere- Uncle Sam.” She always signed them that way. She preferred to stay in the US where she was free to do whatever she wanted, so when her parents saw Uncle Sam they immediately knew it was her.
    Foxy looked up, the clams were done. She took one and ate it, ignoring the searing heat as she sloshed the meat around in her mouth. She placed several more on top of the heat.
    She remembered how she met Codi. They were childhood friends, but she was forced to move at ten to a secret camp in the middle of a secret civil war in Africa. After six years, she moved back to attend a college, again finding him. That’s were she met Serup and Waffil, too. All three of them became roommates and that’s were she came clean about her being a secret agent spy in the kids division. As she had learned; Codi, Serup, and Waffil were also spies but only on a national level.
    She at the rest of the clams quickly, fearing someone, or thing, maybe watching her. She doused the small fire and threw the shells into the trash. With a slow walk, she went up the stairs, through the window and back into her room. As she lay down she could still hear the quiet breathing of her companions sleeping. She felt safe knowing she was with them and nodded into, for the first time in a long time, a deep sleep.

    The world was bleak and dark. They were surrounded by the black hooded people, their smiles taunting and sharp. Foxy pulled out her small knife and pressed her thumb to the side of it, read for an attack if it happened to come.
    Beside her were the four boys, all wearing nothing but black pants. At first glance; they seemed like normal jeans, but as she looked at them they grew into a thin fabric like a cotton shirt. The way they were propped up was almost like they were chained there.
    One of the cult members moved forwards. Foxy slashed at them, but suddenly realized her quick reaction wasn’t effective. The figure moved like lightning, striking her in the gut with a hundred times the force she was using. She stumbled back, doubling over in pain. Such a real pain that made her head spin and her mouth fill with blood.
    There was a loud chanting. Foxys’ ears were filled with words she didn’t understand and the boys behind her were trashing in pain. She wanted them to stop; wanted all of it to end. Her body convulsed and a sudden painful burning blew over her body. There was a flash of light; and then, nothing.

    The boys woke tiredly, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes as they left their rooms. Codi smoothed out his tail until it wasn’t as matted. Serups’ ears twitched as he yawned and made his way to the kitchen.
    “Finally,” Shawn said, sipping a small cup of coffee. “You guys have been sleeping forever. Foxy’s already left.”
    Codi looked at him. “What?”
    “She left a note,” Shawn held up the paper quickly. “She went to the beach, wants us to meet her there ASAP.”
    Waffil opened the fridge and then closed it. “Did you get to the Administrator yet?” he asked.
    “Nope,” Shawn sighed. “I’ll talk to him later. I’ve decided to take a day off. Come on.”
    The four men walked through the reservation until they had made it to the beach. Once there, they found no one on the long stretch.
    Codi pointed to a patch in the sand. “Something’s buried there,” he said. He ran over and dug quickly, pulling up four air tanks, wet suits, snorkels and flippers. He dug more and found another note.
    “Got impatient, went in without you. Get dressed and meet at ship wreck,” he read quickly.
    “She’s got to be kidding us,” Shawn said. “We need a permit to swim here. And not only are we swimming, but we’re scuba diving to a ship wreck? Oh, the administration’s gonna have a field day with this one.”
    Codi was already zipping up his suit. “Why not? This will be fun. Besides, we do have a permit. I got one before we came.”
    Waffil pulled on his flippers. He looked toward Serup. “I’m guessing you’re not coming in.”
    Serup shook his head. “I’m only a shower kind of guy, and besides; who knows what kind of creatures are in that thing.”
    Shawn sighed. He looked out to the sea, spotting the only part of the ship that was visible; a piece of the mast. Perched on it was a small figure, waving fiercely at them. He waved back. Foxy fell back into the waters quickly without another wave. Shawn pulled on his wet suit and tank.
    “Are we ready to get in a whole crap load of trouble,” he asked, pulling on his mask.
    “Oh, hellz yes,” Codi said.
    The waters were cold, but after a while their skin got used to it. They stayed as close to the surface as possible to not be rolled over by the strong waves. After a few minutes they found the ship, covered in algae and seaweeds, around a hundred feet from the surface. Foxy was diving in and out of the holes in the hull, chasing a fish. She swam a little on the clumsy side, but the way she was going she could’ve caught it if she hadn’t noticed the boys coming toward her.
    She pulled out a dry erase board. “What took you so long?” she wrote.
    Codi took it from her with a roll of his eyes. “If you haven’t noticed, it’s really early.” He replied.
    Foxy pointed down. They boys looked, finding a large star fish moving slowly. She took the board back. “That’s what you guys are like,” she wrote. “When I got here it was five feet away from where it is now.” She took out her mouth piece and laughed.
    Shawn took the board angrily. “Fall in a ditch and burn,” he wrote quickly.
    Foxy narrowed her eyes at him as she put her mouth piece back. She turned and swam toward the wreck, again diving in and out of the holes in the hull. Codi followed her, finding a school of fish scrambling as Foxy dived through them. She smiled widely, laughing again.
    “What are we here for?” Shawn handed the board to Foxy.
    “Treasure,” she answered, shoving the board into his gut. She pulled a sack from around her waist and then shuffled through it. She pulled out several coins.
    “Really?” Waffil wrote.
    Foxy swam down to the bottom of the boat. She brushed the sand away, pulling up a few more coins.
    “They look like they’re old,” Waffil wrote.
    Foxy took the board. “They’re only worth a few dollars, but it’s still something.”
    They swam around the ship wreck for a while, filling the small sack with the coins. Foxy told them she’d send them to HQ. After a while, she had pointed up toward the surface.
    “I’m tired of this,” she said once they were all there. “I think we should go back to the cabin and see who can make Serup the maddest.”
    Codi felt a smile run across his face. He loved messing with Serup and he knew he was going to win. It was only a matter of time before the cat would be pissed at him.
    As they swam back, Foxy dived down to the sea floor, picking up a few shells as she skimmed it. Codi watched in somewhat a horrified state as she reached for a shell, strangely black and smooth, and it moved away with inhuman speed. She reached for it again, but it moved. She laughed, chasing the clam for what seemed like forever until she had just given up and walked onto the shore.
    “Hey, Serup,” Codi said, looming over him. He shook the water out of his hair. “You missed a good swim; why not get a little wet?”
    Serup hissed loudly, jumping up and shaking. “You know damn well I hate ocean water!”
    Codi smiled widely, looking over and watching the sun set in a rainbow of colors.