Oh, he couldn’t believe it. He had finally told his anatomy professor that he loved her…and she had rejected him. Him! It was embarrassing, that was. His friends couldn’t know about it. If they did…the embarrassment would be worse. It had to be his secret. He would tell nobody. Then a fairy—or a sort of demon or apparition—was by his side. Her skin was a beautiful powder blue color, her hair and eyes a deep shade of indigo. Her dark blue lips—lips that looked as if they were frozen, really—pulled up into a smile, revealing bright white teeth. “Tell me your secret,” she whispered; he leaned forward, the words spilling easily from his mouth. And then she was gone.

Leena appeared in the Underground, teeth bared in a parody of a smile. That was wonderful. Her last job and it was a cliché I’m-in-love-with-my-teacher-and-she-rejected-me! Why couldn’t she have gotten something better? She snatched the boy’s file off her desk and scribbled down his exact words. That was the downfall of working in the Department of Secrets in the Underground, though. Cliché secrets were all that they got. Silly humans. She slapped his file shut and grabbed it, stalking towards the filing office. At least it was her last day. After a thousand years of employment, she could finally leave. No more humans, no more going Aboveground, no more filing, no more secrets—

Then Rune stepped in her path. Heat gathered in her cheeks. Okay, fine, there were still secrets, but at least they were hers and not some silly human’s. The stupid elf smiled at her and asked, “How was your last job, Leena?”

Leena merely pushed past him and continued on her way. Really, that should have been enough of an answer, but Rune followed her, saying, “C’mon, Leena, you know you want to tell me.”

On a normal day, Leena’s temperament would have allowed him to go on. This, however, was not a normal day. She spun on him. “Rune, no, I don’t. Go away.” His hand concernedly went to her to arm. She brushed it off impatiently. “Leave. You know I’m not supposed to tell you my clients’ secrets anyway. Remember the confidentiality policy?” She turned again, walked a bit, and then made a left into the filing office. There was a moment’s pause as she placed the file into the inbox. Another pause as she looked at Rune still standing in the hall. Then she left.

Months passed. Leena would have been happy and content, if not for the messages Rune kept leaving. Messages asking if she wanted to hang out some time, messages asking how she was doing, and things of that sort. Those messages made her nervous. She had her secret and if he had any notion of it, well…he was an elf. It would be in his nature to exploit her in any way possible if he did not return those…affections. Letting that happen of course, would just be the beginning of a horrid downward spiral. So Leena was kind-of-sort-of-not-really happy and content.

Then the Special Forces of the Department of Secrets showed up.

Leena was not happy. Her bath had been interrupted by someone knocking urgently on her door. She really needed that bath too. Stress had gathered in hard knots in her shoulders and back because Rune had sent another message asking—

There was another knock. Yanking the door open, she snapped out a, “What do—” before she realized who it was. The charcoal gray suits and the D.O.S. patches gave it away. The Special Forces of the Department of Secrets. In a nervous gesture, she reached up and clenched the collar of her robe closed in a tight fist.

Rune had debriefed her. He was the Acting-Head because the Head of the Department was on some confidential mission for something or other. Of course.

It turned out that one of her previous clients needed their secret back. Leena had snapped, “We get and keep secrets, not give them back. How I am—” Rune had cut her off by saying that all employees of the Department knew how to give a secret back. Leena had turned pale at that point. These were the steps:

1. Employee meets client.

2. Employee tells client the client’s secret.

3. Employee goes to the Head and tells secret of their own to take place of client’s secret.

It was all just an exchange of space, really. There were two problems though: 1) Leena had only one secret and 2) she would have to tell that secret to the Head—or Acting-Head, as it were. That meant Rune.

Leena appeared Aboveground. She hadn’t been Aboveground in months. Since her last job, to tell the truth. This—THIS!—would be her last time. If she were lucky, that is.

Leena glanced around. She was in a bedroom. Her client, though, was not in sight. Then she spotted the lump under the pink blankets on the bed. She took a deep breath.

When she pulled back the blanket, blue child-eyes stared at her. A little girl, the file had said. Sara, it had said. The little girl—Sara—blinked once, twice, and then said in a soft voice, “I remember you. You stole my secret.”

Leena crouched down, smiling a little. Children were the only ones who remembered having secrets stolen. Adult minds didn’t have the imagination or ability to entertain something so irrational. “You wanted it stolen, though. I was just doing my job,” she whispered back.

Sara’s small eyebrows puckered together. “I want it back.” An innocent smile came across her face. “Or I’ll tell my mom on you.”

Leena went closer to Sara. “I’ll tell you your secret…” She paused as the child’s face lit up. “If you keep me a secret.”

Sara laid her index finger on her lips. Shhh. Secret. A smile flittered across Leena’s face as she bent over to whisper the child’s secret. Then she disappeared. Sara laid back down and smiled as she drifted back to sleep.

The Department was dark. Leena glanced around and then grabbed Sara’s – the client’s—file off the desk. She started to scribble a few words down but stopped when a hand touched her arm.

“Leena?” Rune. Dang. She didn’t want to do this. Her insides were squirming unpleasantly and her knees wanted to knock together so she’d fall and— “Leena?”

She turned to face him. In the dark his light hair and skin seemed to glow. “Yes?” Feigning innocence. Maybe it would work.

“Let’s get this over with. Tell me your secret.” Or not.

She stepped closer, too close for an employee-employer relationship or even a friend-friend relationship. She drew one hand up his arm. “Do you really want to know?”

Something in his eyes softened. “Yes.”

Another step closer. Their bodies were touching; she wrapped both arms around his neck loosely. She stood on her tiptoes, mouth brushing his ear. And she told him. When she leaned back he was smiling.