I landed face first on hard gravel. My face stung like it had been hit by a swarm of bees. Irwin helped me up.
“Sorry,” said Irwin as I rubbed gravel out of my eyes, “I should have warned you about that.”
“It’s fine,” I said, smiling at him.
He smiled back.
“So anyways,” he said, turning around and pointing, “Follow me,”
Irwin hurried off in the direction of a large boulder that leaned against a big looking cave.
How’s a boulder going to help us? I thought but I follow him anyways. Irwin stop by the boulder and waited for me to catch up.
Once I got to him, he pushed aside a prickly looking bush and pressed his hand on the outside of the cave wall. I noticed that there was a metal panel that had been hidden behind the prickles.
The panel must have scanned Irwin’s hand because the boulder melted away like it was made of glass. Irwin grabbed my hand and stepped through the opening.
What was on the other side of the boulder shocked me. I expected a large cavernous space but there was an elevator instead!(Or that’s what I thought it was.)
It was completely made of glass with a metal bottom and top and had a clear tube on the top that seemed to be lit with fireflies. I ooed and ahhed softly.
The boulder sealed back up and we were alone.
“Well are we going in or what?” asked Irwin, pushing me lightly into the elevator. I snickered.
Irwin pressed the metal button on the side off the glass and the door of the elevator snapped shut. I held my breathe when all of a sudden the elevator plunged down at an alarming rate. I tried to scream but the quickness of the plung sucked my voice away. I clutched Princess Talia’s locket, hoping it would take me away to my happy place.
The elevator dropped deeper and deeper into the ground, faster every second. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for us to crash….
“Annie?” said Irwin’s voice, “We’re here.”
I opened my eyes. We were okay! We hadn’t crashed at all! I was alive! I let go of Irwin’s hand that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. The glass door slid open and we stepped out.
Oh, how I wanted to kiss the sweet ground! I was alive! Yay!
“Hey,” said Irwin who might have been snickering at me, “Come on.”
I went over to him and he handed me something.
“This is the map to the base,” he said, “If you have this, you’ll always know your way around here.”
I smiled and put the map in my bag. But, it wasn’t there!
“Oh no!” I groaned, “I left the bags at the base of the stairwell when I was chasing you!”
“Don’t worry,” said Irwin, “We’ll get them. Anyone can do anything.”
I nodded and looked at the map in my hand. It looked like this.



“Where are we right now?” I asked Irwin. He reached across me and pointed to the entrance. I looked up and saw two beefy guards standing in front of a pair of large, dark metal doors.
Irwin walked right up to the guards without any trace of fear. I, on the other hand, was very frightened. The guards were wearing iron armor each with a sword, shield, and a very grumpy frown.
I walked carefully behind Irwin as he made his way to the entrance.
“Name?” barked Guard #1, stepping to the side to block Irwin’s way of getting in.
“Irwin,” said Irwin.
“Who’s the girl?” said Guard #2.
Irwin looked back at me as if seeing me for the first time.
“Annie,” he said, “This is Annie.”
“Is she an A.T.P.E member?” questioned Guard #1.
“N-” I started.
“Yes,” Irwin cut across me, “She is.”
I stared at him. He gave me a wink.
Guard #2 pressed a red button on his belt and the doors slide open. Then he stepped aside, letting us go.
I hurried past the guards as quickly as I could. As Irwin caught up with me, I felt their eyes spearing through the back of my neck.
The inside of the base was much more exciting than the outside. On the outside, it’s just a rocky tunnel leading to the entrance. The inside has a big space with metal rectangles surrounding the space.(Those are the dormitories.) In front of me was what I assumed the Captain’s Headquarters because it looked round as shown on the map. It looks kind of like the tower at Fort Snelling I visited with my class in fifth grade.
People walked past us without even glancing as Irwin led me to one of the dormitories. He knocked on the door and waited patiently.
It creaked open revealing a pair of sharp, blue eyes.
“Who’s there?” came a voice from behind the door.
“It’s me, Irwin,” mumbled Irwin, looking down at his feet for some reason. Suddenly, the door opened and I was being dragged in my arm and Irwin by his ear. The person dropped me but kept holding onto Irwin’s ear which was now turning the color of a tomato.
“Where have you been?” shrieked a woman who looked about my grandmother’s age. She dropped Irwin as I took in her characteristics. She had brown hair that was graying with age and wore a beautiful, purple dress with red hems that I suddenly felt jealous about, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I thought you were taken by CODE!”
“Almost,” muttered Irwin, rubbing his ear.
“What?!”
“Nothing!” said Irwin, backing away.
The woman looked like a wild bull, ready to attack. But she pulled herself together and took five deep breathes.
“Were you in the star lab?” she asked after finished her calm-down- now-self phase.
Irwin nodded sheepishly.
The woman put her hand over her face and sighed.
“There’s just no keeping you from the lab, is there?” She sighed again.
Irwin lowered his head but it popped back up again.
“I found someone!” he said loudly, pointing at me, “Her name’s Annie and the CODE was in for her!”
The lady looked up at me.
“The CODE now, eh?” she said, “Tell me everything.”
“Um….” I stammered, “Can you tell me you name first? I didn’t really catch it.”
“Oh right. Of course,” she turned bright red, “I am Mimi, Irwin’s guardian. Since his family is part of CODE, I was assigned to watch over him.”
“How did Irwin escape from the CODE?” I asked, “Wouldn’t his parents want him to be like them?”
“Well it was twelve years ago when we found him,” said Mimi, gesturing for us to sit down, “I was- wait one minute. If I’m going to tell the story, we’ll need some cookies and milk. I was baking some this morning. Be right back!”
Mimi dashed off to the kitchen to get the cookies and milk. I looked at Irwin who was looking at his fingernails.
In a few minutes, Mimi came out with a silver platter of fresh cookies and three glasses of cow milk. She set the platter down on the floor, dragged a chair from the corner, and sat down.
I reached for a cookie as Mimi cleared her throat importantly.
“As I was saying, I was over in one of the watchtowers, doing a security check. We’d just had a battle with CODE and I was looking to see if anyone was left. Everything was clear but I spotted movement under a shield that had been dropped at the battle. So I opened the door and drew my sword.”
As Mimi told the story, she acted it out to like it was a play and she was one of the characters.
“I approached the moving thing with lots of caution. The shield was moving around a lot and I thought it was a creature. So I put my sword away. But that’s when I heard crying,”
Irwin hadn’t moved at all during the story. He just picked at his fingernails. But I listened with interest.
“I took up my sword again and flipped over the shield. And there sat a small toddler! I was quite startled. When he saw me, he looked slightly surprised then started crying. I quickly put the sword down and picked him up. He wailed the whole way back to the watchtower but I gave him my necklace and he was quiet. I carried him back to the base and straight to the Captain’s Headquarters. We then named him, introduced him, and I got to keep him. The end.”
I clapped happily. Mimi bowed and asked me to tell me my story about the CODE. So I did. My story telling wasn’t as good as Mimi’s but I did my best. She listen carefully to every word I said and after said, “We’re going to see the Captain.”
Irwin’s head snapped up immediately.
“Really?!” he asked, jumping up from the floor, “Ohhhh! Should I go change or-”
“Irwin,” said Mimi, “You’re fine. Now let’s go visit the Captain!”