"You're...you're joking," I shook my head. The world seemed to move in slow motion as her words sunk in, weighing deeply against my heart. My hand dropped to my side as I stared at her in utter bewilderment.

How was this possible? How could I have a sister whom I didn't even know about? Why, when my parents had so lovingly raised my brother and I, had they never so much mentioned Megan's existence?

"I do lie, but I do not lie without reason," Amanda said. "What I am about to say to you contains only truth. Now, I am telling you this with a very specific purpose in mind, so I expect you to be listening."

She paused for a moment, allowing me to regain my bearings. I suppressed my doubts, forcing myself to pay attention to the President's words. Something about the level tone of her voice lent me to trust what she was saying, despite the fact that the more logical choice was to do otherwise. If I listened to her, perhaps my questions would be answered.

"It all began close to ten years ago. The President of WGO at the time, along with myself and the other members of the Government Division, located a Glitch named Megan King. As is customary, we reviewed the case in order to decide on the best way in which to contact her. We planned to send two of our oldest and most experienced officials to her door to retrieve her. However, this plan failed when they were sent out by her father- your father. A miscalculation had been made somewhere in the process, causing us to send our agents to your house while your parents were home."

"Of course, here at WGO, we never give up on a fellow Glitch. So, the agents tried again another day. This time, they were successful in collecting Megan. Since these events took place before your rise to stardom at age six, you were present during the recruitment of your sister. She, the agents, and I left your home in the late afternoon, headed for the plane that would bring us here. This was where things started to go wrong." She sighed deeply, as if the very thought that her organization had experienced a lapse in its invincibility disgusted her.

"We were pursued and overtaken your father, who must've been alerted of his eldest daughter's supposed 'kidnapping' by you or your younger brother, Justin. He confronted us before the plane, demanding that Megan be 'given back' to him, but your sister stated quite surely that she would rather go to WGO. Hence your father's extreme aversion toward WGO, which you have probably observed."

"That's crazy," I breathed, trying to picture the events that the President described to me. Despite her clear explanation, something wasn't adding up.

"If you're really telling the truth, why don't I remember any of this? Why don't Justin and my parents remember it?"

"We did what we had to do to keep your family whole, Claire," Amanda smiled softly. Yet, there was nothing kind in her gaze. Whatever Coding she had done to cover up her work, she had done to protect the secrecy of her own organization. "Ah, your family. That brings me to my second point. There is a skill that every Glitch here has mastered: a skill that I will take the liberty of teaching you. It is called Long-Distance Coding. In its most basic essence, it allows a Glitch to manipulate people and things that he or she cannot directly see."

"In order to begin, you must first see the person or object you wish to manipulate in your mind's eye. This is what limits usage of this technique to things the appearance of which the Glitch is very familiar with. Once you have established a mental picture of your subject, expand your view to the subject's surroundings. What people, places and things are around that which you wish to manipulate? When your picture is complete, Code should begin to appear in it. At this point, you can Code normally, potentially manipulating somebody on the other side of the world. Although, you must not expect immediate results. It usually takes a few tries before the average Glitch is able to actually have an effect on his or her subject. Why don't you give it a go? There is a short, empty blue flowerpot in the room next to this one. I'd like you to turn it upside down."

Closing my eyes, I visualized the flowerpot, hoping that my mental image wasn't too far off. This was the first time I would demonstrate my Glitching abilities in front of any WGO member, let alone the President, and the last thing I wanted to do was embarrass myself. Sure enough, to my utmost surprise, other objects began to appear around the pot: objects that Amanda hadn't described to me. The flowerpot rested on a coffee table, which was positioned between two leather couches. Soon, all of the items possessed the same Code in my mind that they would come with in real life. At this point, completing the task was easy. I changed a single Code sequence in the flowerpot, causing it to flip over.

"I've done it." I opened my eyes, looking up at Amanda and hoping that I hadn't taken too long.

She, too, closed her eyes, probably to check my work. When she opened them, I noticed a hint of surprise sneak through her perfectly controlled front.

"Very well done," Amanda smiled. "I have to say, I'm impressed. That is one of the most difficult Glitching techniques out there, and only a few of our best Glitches, mostly Codies, have mastered it to this day."

I raised an eyebrow, awed. I had never thought to use both the Code and my imagination in this manner. "Thank you. I'm sure that will be very interesting to experiment with, but what does it have to do with my family?"

"You are more than intuitive enough to answer that question yourself," Amanda smiled grimly, stepping away from my bed. She moved toward the door with such grace that I found it hard to believe that her feet were even touching the ground.

Once I was sure she was out of sight, I reclined against the stack of pillows behind me, intrigued by everything the President of WGO had said and especially by her final words to me. I wondered what she had meant by them.

Does she want me to do something, or is she just trying to get me to think?

It was difficult to tell with Amanda. Nearly every word that came out of her mouth was worded enigmatically, almost to the degree that it was impossible to discern whether her statements were generic remarks meant to be shrouded in mystery or concrete orders disguised in riddles.

And then, I had it.

The pieces came together in my mind in a single moment, and I almost laughed at the simplicity of it all. She couldn't have made what she wanted me to do more obvious if she had said it to me up front.

Smiling to myself, I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, preparing to make my first significant attempt at Long Distance Coding.