The girl in the picture is Megan.

...................

I sat in a comfy, high backed leather chair at WGO headquarters, casually browsing the internet in between phone calls, sipping a mug of tea, and thinking about my assignments for the next week when Jade and Calvin ran into my office, with heavy breaths and scared looks on their faces.

An automatic frown crossed my face as my gaze fell upon them. I had grown so accustomed to the calm order of WGO that even the smallest disruption in it was beginning to put me off.

"Amanda? Amanda!" Jade yelled frantically, blatantly ignoring my presence in front of her.

What was wrong? I had never witnessed Amanda's obedient secretary raising her voice above a comfortable, conversational level. I hoped that there hadn't been too large of a disturbance to the workings of the organization. As usual, I was the one who would be answerable to the angry President.

"Amanda isn't here right now," I told her, thankful that my superior had not seen the very unprofessional situation. "She's in a meeting with the division leaders. What's wrong?"

Before Calvin could even respond, I noticed that something- or rather, someone- was missing. "Where's the new Glitch you guys were supposed to get?"

"That's the problem," Calvin breathed. "We—weren't able—to...get her."

"Why not?" I snapped with an eyebrow cocked up. "She couldn't have possibly refused. Most new Glitches absolutely love WGO when they first hear about us." A disobedient Glitch would be a big problem indeed. Amanda had reiterated the point that we were incapable of fulfilling our original purpose without the maximum number of Glitches possible numerous times.

"Oh, she loved WGO alright," Jade said sourly. "But her dad didn't."

"Wait a second..." There was one possibility, one possibility that fit this situation so perfectly, but one I wished with every inch of my being wasn't the truth.

I almost didn't even want to know more.

"The girl you were supposed to get, did her name happen to be...I don't know...Claire King?"

"Yeah," Jade shrugged. "How'd you know?"

"Daughter of Henry and Lucia King?" I pressed on, ignoring her question. Both Claire and King were fairly common names. There was no reason that it had to be her.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, no." My head spun with fear and confusion. Why did this have to happen to me? Why my family? Out of all the billions of families in the world, it had to be mine.

"The Programmers weren't supposed to put more than one Glitch in a family," I muttered through clenched teeth. "They weren't supposed to! They made a mistake!"

A mistake that would cost me.

"What do you mean?" Jade asked.

"I mean that Claire Marie King is my little sister!" I was almost screaming now. "Something happened between Dad and Amanda back when Amanda came to get me, something terrible that made him hate her and all of WGO. I thought he would forget it and move on with his life, but I had no idea that Claire was a Glitch, too. Now that she is, though, the fire has been reignited. He's never going to leave us alone!"

"What happened?" Jade inquired softly. "If you don't mind me asking."

"I'm sorry, it's not that I don't trust you, but that's one thing I can't tell you or any of my other friends. Amanda and I are the only ones besides Dad who know about it, and I want to keep it that way. The smaller the number of people who know the details of the incident, the sooner it can be forgotten."

"It was that bad?" Her eyes widened with concern. Despite her staunch devotion to Amanda, I could tell that she genuinely cared about me. It made me feel rather guilty for keeping such a crucial secret from her.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. It was seven years ago. It doesn't matter anymore." I waved her off, although I knew very well that it still mattered and always would.

"What's going on in here?" Amanda stepped into the room, a frowned look on her face. "I could hear you guys all the way from my meeting across the hall!"

The three of us instantly fell silent, as if bound by an unspoken agreement. I clasped my hands behind my back, lowering my gaze to the floor. Perhaps, if I could please the President enough with my subservience, she would let Jade off without too harsh of a punishment.

The leader of WGO circled us slowly, carefully studying our blank expressions. Her dark, wavy hair fell almost to her waist. The flecks of green in her piercing hazel eyes shone greedily, and her pale skin was stretched taut over her prominent cheekbones. I still failed to understand how, in the seven years I'd known her, she'd managed to look almost exactly the same.

"Oh, Jade," Amanda gave her typical, condescending smile. "You look so scared. What's the problem?"

Jade remained frozen in her spot, refusing to speak. The only audible sound was the clack of Amanda's shoes on the polished, wooden floor. "And where's the new Glitch? If you two had correctly followed orders, she'd be in the lobby of Government Building A by now, but somehow she isn't. You know what happens to people who don't follow orders."

"We tried our best," Jade somehow managed to choke out despite Amanda's unnerving presence. "Her dad, though..."

"Yes, what about her dad?" Amanda raised an eyebrow, suddenly interested. Potential struggles always drew her in like magnets. The girl simply couldn't resist an opportunity to display her power.

"He wouldn't let us bring her here, or even talk to her. He was mad."

Jade's face turned pale at the sight of Amanda's terrifying expression, and she began to blabber uncontrollably.

"I have no idea why, but we didn't do anything wrong! We knocked on the door, and said hello, and everything. We were really nice! Claire actually looked pleased with us, before her dad came along."

Taking in a deep breath, I decided to save the secretary from what could end in total and utter humiliation.

"Amanda, you'd better leave Claire King alone!" I stated, trying to seem confident and sure of myself. At least, as confident as you could be while speaking against the President of WGO to her face.

"Have I ever failed to bring a new Glitch here, under our control?" Amanda turned around to face me. She did not look particularly angry, only unimpressed with my lack of faith in her Glitch-recruiting abilities.

"Of course not," I replied quickly. Amanda liked to believe that she was infallible, and she preferred that we believe it, as well.

"Then why would I fail now, when our mission is almost complete? Why would I give up when success is so close?"

"It wouldn't be called, 'failing', Amanda. It would be called, 'being sensible'." I quickly lowered my voice so only Amanda could hear. For the good of both my family and WGO as a whole, it was necessary that I ran the risk of offending the President. If he wished to do so, my father had the potential to expose the entire organization.

Amanda raised an eyebrow in mild confusion.

"Don't you remember what happened seven years ago?" I hissed. "He's never going to let you near Claire, not after that!"

"Oh, yes! Claire's your sister! That's just going to make it even more fun," she smiled, seeming very amused by all of this. "Are you sure it was her dad who stopped you from getting her?"

"He did much more than stop us," Jade grumbled.

"I see, I see," Amanda paused in thought for a second before a mischievous grin flashed across her face. "Okay, everyone, it seems like old Henry King wants a rematch. Well, he's going to get one!" she smirked.

You didn't have to be a seven year member of WGO to know that something was about to go down.