Edition Eight

 A/N (author's note) To answer the comment about the whole Jordan being a softy, we wanted to bring some of the aspects of the characters from the GG series and also the characteristics of the people we are basing the characters off of. Yeah, Jordan may be a bit of a softy, but she has her own small bit of Bex in her and I'll let you in on a secret (her favorite technique to get info out of people is drugging them, yikes!). So sorry if you were expecting a more Bex-y Jordan, but Jordan is Jordan. 'Cause, you gotta admit, having basically the same exact characters with different names gets a bit boring after you've read ten million stories like that. As for the Sophie, as time goes on you see her more timid and nerdy side so bear with me! Thanks :)

I guess I should explain the significance of Maddie’s eyes turning black. It has happened once before. Her eyes didn’t turn black for little things like kickboxing with Sophie, or cramming for a big test, no it had to be something big. It had happened a grand total of once before. It was last year, Maddie and I were heading up the castle to grab some stuff from our room (cheez-it’s, flip flops, ponytails, and an extra towel to be exact). Sophie and Jordan, were saving our spots by the pool. We were walking and talking about who knows what. When we heard Shea yelling.

“Kayla! Maddie!” We exchanged a glance and quickened our pace. “Maddie! Your dad’s here!” She yelled again. We both froze. Maddie never told me about her dad, I always assumed he’d left her mom and sister. Nobody wanted to talk about it, so we never pushed. I paused, from surprise. As for Maddie, well she looked scared. She whipped around and stared at Shea.

“What?” She demanded.

“Your dad, he’s here. He’s really cute! Although you didn’t get his gorgeous blond hair.” Shea laughed rambling, I’m assuming because of the look on Maddie’s face. Maddie face hardened and she looked everywhere I watched her carefully and saw her eyes turn a deep dark shade of black.

“Maddie your eyes...” I started. Just as an older blond man came walking down the pathway towards the mansion. He was tall, and large, and was kinda cute so I could see where Shea was coming from.

“Get against the wall.” She ordered, face hardening. I could tell by the way she looked at him that it wasn't her dad, but because her eyes turned black anything I knew about her before was quickly erased.

“Maddie what’s...” Shea started, but she couldn’t finish Maddie had pinned us to the wall, knocking the wind out of us. She reached above my head and smacked a brick, nothing happened.

“Come on.” Maddie said urgently, smacking it harder, I heard a swishing to my left, turned, and saw a sort of door opening. “Get in.” Maddie demanded, not we had a choice considering she was already shoving us in there.

Once we all stumbled in Maddie whipped around and quickly closed the door, as the door  clicked shut the sound of someone slamming into the wall echoed across the walls of this “room”

We heard a muffled “No!” And a cry of outrage. The man was definitely not Maddie's dad. He was probably a bad agent coming to get her... but why? 

There was a clicking and all the sudden light filled up the space. Maddie held a small flashlight that look like it hadn't been used in a long time.

Maddie barely muttered a “That way.” (pointing to the right) when she collapsed.

Everyone ended up fine when we dragged Maddie out of the passageway. We dragged her to Aunt Macey’s office where we sat for the rest of the day waiting for any information, but we never got any from her. After questioning most of the other girls, we found out that Maddie’s “dad” had tried in vain to chase us down. When the secret brick door closed the guy freaked and security had him down in about fifteen seconds. Somebody had wanted Maddie, and that day her eyes turned black. Who was this Mr. Taylor, and what did he want with Maddie? Well, as a spy-in-training, I was going to find out one way or another.

*   *   *   *

So when Maddie’s eyes go black we all are concerned. Yada, yada Kayla told you the story...

So it was the second time in history this has happened, so naturally, we followed.

I honestly don’t remember how fast I was running, or who was behind me, or how many people were running after her, all I could think about was finding her. Now, Maddie can outrun just about everyone I know. She’s fast, when she wants to be, she just doesn’t ever want to be. But right then she wanted to be. She outran all of us easily. We lost her trail in about two minutes.

We (Kayla, Sophie, and I) were walking down the East Wing hallway looking for any sign of Maddie, but she was no where in sight.

“We should just give up. She’ll come back when she’s ready.” Sophie said quietly, but impatiently. Kayla and I exchanged a look then turned to her.

“Sophie. Her eyes turned black...” I started knowing I didn’t need to finish.

“And instead of running to us, she ran away from us. Maybe she wanted some time to freak out privately, then come back to us and freak out some more...” Sophie started watching us carefully.

We all looked down, going through our options which don’t even require a list but I’ll make one anyway: A) Go back to our room and wait for Maddie or B) Keep looking. We never had time to make that choice.

As Kayla was opening her mouth to respond the sound of muffled voices carried down the hall. Now we weren’t breaking any rules looking for Maddie but my instincts told me to hide. Only now do I think maybe I wanted some information which is why I hid, but honestly it never crossed my mind.

I looked at Kayla and Sophie eyes questioning. They nodded in response to my silent question. I quickly ran (silently of course) to the window and tucked myself behind the curtain, but left a tiny crack so i could observe who was coming.

Sophie went all ninja on us grabbed the pipe on the wall and scaled it to the ceiling where she sat dangling down. Kayla nodded her approval at our spots. Now here's the thing about Kayla, she just has those moments when she is so concentrated on one thing that she doesn't realize that she's suppose to be doing something else- she doesn't faint like I do though. For example, right then when she was suppose to be hiding, she was being the cheerleader on the sidelines, cheering for us and our wonderful hiding spots. Yeah, that's Kayla for ya.

When the voices got closer her eyes widened, she looked around panicked, she faced opposite of me examining the wall when all the sudden a little door popped open, wow I didn’t even see what she did, but without hesitation she slid behind it silently, she had just closed the door enough to be concealed when they arrived.

It was Mr. Taylor, Aunt Macey, and- most surprising- an unconscious Maddie. Appearing effortlessly Mr. Taylor was holding Maddie, baby style, in his arms. Now, I’m the one of us who doesn’t do guys, but I almost sighed thinking about his muscles.

“What if she remembers?” Mr. Taylor said. I couldn't be sure, but it sounded a little bit strained and maybe even panicked.

“Andy, you considered that possibility when you came here, but you knew you had to.” Aunt Macey said simply, in a calming tone.

“I know, I just wanted to make sure she was okay. Maybe I shouldn’t of come...” Mr. Taylor started trailing off.

“Then the academy would have lost great opportunity for an excellent teacher.” Aunt Macey quietly. He stopped walking, and turned to her looking her up and down.

“Would it be worth it if she remembered?” He asked looking her straight in the eye. The atmosphere changed so fast I knew this was the question he’d been avoiding but couldn't help but ask.

“It’s a risk you took and already decided on.” Aunt Macey said simply starting to walk  again.

“But...” Mr. Taylor started.

“Andy! If you really thought this was a bad idea you’d be gone by now, leaving me to find a halfway decent teacher, but you’re still here which means you’re going to stay no matter what I say so stop trying to get me to convince you when you don’t need convincing!” Aunt Macey snapped.

Mr. Taylor looked taken aback. His eyes widened, his face was pure shock. It was odd to see a well trained spy actually have a taken-aback expression on his face. A moment passed then he shook his head and a knowing smile formed on this lips. “I think you need more time away from her.” He laughed.

Aunt Macey glared at him, then rolled her eyes (yes, actual rollage). “We can take her back to her room.” She said simply walking a little faster. Mr. Taylor opened his mouth but Aunt Macey quickly cut him off. “They’re not back yet.” She laughed. I could only assume she was talking about us.

“How do you know?” Mr. Taylor questioned.

“Cause their moms wouldn’t be either.” She said shrugging her shoulders. They were now turning down the hall, out of our earshot...

The last thing I heard was Mr. Taylor quietly laughing.

Edition Nine

I woke-up the next morning sore, like I’d done nothing for days and days on end. I frowned, cracked my neck, loosened up my shoulder, and finally got the knot out of my back. I looked around and could make out Jordan’s, Kayla’s, and Sophie’s frames in their beds fast asleep. I turned to the clock. 5:00 am. I had a good half an hour before the first alarm would go off (we’re teenage girls do you think one alarms gonna wake us up?).
I silently slipped out from under my covers and crept to my unpacked suitcases. I carefully opened the second suitcase and grabbed my shower stuff, and my morning routine stuff, and slipped into the bathroom. I took as long of a shower as I could stand, but it only ended up being about ten minutes long. I quickly pulled on my uniform and crinkled my nose, the best thing about summer: freedom of clothing selection. I shrugged and began combing my hair. Which wasn’t an easy task. It was very thick (even though I thinned it every time I got it cut, it never got any better) but soon I was done with that too. I quickly washed my face and as I was drying it, off I caught my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were a combination of black and brown. I wondered why, but then it hit me. Everything. Everything from the day before came at me all at once.
          I stumbled back into the wall and my head started throbbing. Instantly, my hands raced to my forehead, trying to make the pain go away. Andy Taylor. Father. CIA. Everything kept echoing inside my mind as pieces of forgotten memories flashed by.
          "Maddie?" Jordan knocked on the bathroom door. "You okay?"
          "Yeah," I lied. "I'll be out in a minute."

I knew that I didn't sound very convincing, but Jordan let it slide anyway. "Okay, well we're gonna head to breakfast now, okay?"

How could they be heading to breakfast this early?

I checked my internal clock and observed that it was ten minutes before breakfast started! I couldn't believe that I lost track of time, I’m a spy-in-training for crying out loud! “Wait a sec,” I called to them.

Edition Ten

We all sat there; tapping our feet, or tapping the desk with our pencils. Class was supposed to start five minutes ago. I don’t know about regular schools, but here teachers were never late. Like ever. They were always there, on time, and they couldn’t make excuses because they had clocks in their heads. So the fact that he was five minutes late was absolutely unheard of. Not to mention that fact that Maddie’s chair was empty. She disappeared on the way to class.
Suddenly the lights in the classroom flicked off. Adrenaline started pumping through my veins, I jumped out of my chair and felt my sisters do the same.
“Sit down.” A voice said smoothly. The voice belonging to the one and only Mr. Taylor. I sat down slowly trying to adjust my eyes to the light.
“How many books are there in the back of the room?” He asked slowly. No one answered, no one moved. “How many tables are there?” He quizzed. For the first time in this classes history, no one answered. No one moved, and I swear no one was breathing. “What color is my jacket?” He questioned. Yet again to no response. I heard him sigh and he flicked the lights on silently. My sisters started glancing around the room studying the tables, or looking at his jacket. But I simply looked at Mr. Taylor, stared into his eyes, and he looked right back never backing down from my gaze. I needed a clue as to what was coming next.
The whoosh of the door ended our stare down, we both waited for the other to look away first before finally we both tore our eyes away from each other. We both looked to see Maddie standing next to Mr. Taylor not backing away once. She carefully scanned the room sizing it up as we were.

“Close your eyes.” Mr. Taylor said quickly. Maddie's eyes snapped shut.

“How many books are there in the back of the room?”

She replied with, "Twenty-six."

"How many tables," he pursued. I had counted four, but never would have guessed unless I had been in this room for at least five minutes before getting a pop quiz.

"Four." Maddie had said this as if she were reciting the first hundred digits of pie: bored and rehearsed. But of course I knew that she had just walked into the room and was only in here for a total of six-point-three seconds before being forced to take the test that our whole junior class had failed not even forty seconds ago (thirty-eight-point-seven seconds to be exact).

Mr. Taylor’s face was well composed. If he were the least impressed or even surprised, he didn't show it.

"My jacket-"

“Brown, leather, medium size, and has a zipper on the outside and inside," Maddie finished for him. Mr. Taylor didn't utter a word, he just stared blankly at Maddie and was obviously thinking hard.

“Tell me if you needed to get out of here how would you do it?”

“Ummmm the door?” Maddie said in an innocent, mocking tone. A smile crept onto her lips. She headed towards the seat next to Sophie.

Mr. Taylor tried to stop a smile but it still formed.

"Do I have your permission to be seated?" She said it all the way mockingly now.

"One more thing, Ms. Demmerson,” I could’ve sworn he slightly winced when he said her name.“why did you look around the room before coming in?" Mr. Taylor asked.

Maddie shot a quick glance at me and then looked back to Mr. Taylor; looking him square in the eye.

"Well I can’t tell you all my secrets can I?" Again, Maddie's voice was in more of a mocking tone than anything, and it didn't take my spy training to know that Maddie has had a very interesting history with Andy Taylor.

And that's what I intended to find out.  

       *.   *.   *.   *.  

"Observation, ladies. It is essential. It's what keeps you alive and what keeps you aware in a covert operation. It is such a small thing to do, but it makes a great difference."

'Observe' was scribbled onto the black board in the front of the room in Mr. Taylor's (surprisingly neat) handwriting.

“Be good or die, those are our only options. Notice things, I promise it will save your life’s someday.” He said simply, looking straight into my eyes. Like he was waiting for me to understand something, begging me to understand.

I felt a prickle on the back of my neck, I turned around and Jordan and Kayla were looking from me to Mr. Taylor and back again. Both their eyebrows were raised, asking me what was going on. I shrugged my shoulders as if I knew.

Mr. Taylor shook his head clearly disappointed. My heart dropped, I hated that head shake. The I’m-very-disappointed-in-you head shake like I was messing up on a really easy math equation. I looked at him shaking my head this time. Exactly what is it you’re trying to get me to remember? I barely remember my mom half the time! I wanted to scream. But instead I gave him a mocking smile. Like my motto says: if you don’t know-it fake it.

Apparently I was convincing because he simply shook his head in disbelief. He didn’t smile, or laugh, he looked almost disappointed, like he was hoping I wouldn’t remember.Gosh! I couldn’t make him happy! He wanted me to remember, he didn’t, like he wished I’d remember him, and what we had, but not what made us have that... like he was protecting me.

Wow, weird. I hate it when people protect me, I’d put up with Sophie, Jordan, and Kayla doing it since last year. Why, they still won’t tell me, and they get really weird when I bring it up. So yeah people protecting me-I hate it, then when they can’t protect you have no idea what you’re facing.

“You either notice things more, or die, those are your only options.” Mr. Taylor said again, this time he was looking behind me straight at Kayla and Jordan. He shook  his head yet again but this time it was more like he was shaking a thought from his head.
He dropped the chalk, not bothering to put it on the ledge. It shattered into four pieces making a slight clinking sound on the linoleum floor. He turned on his heel, with one hand grabbing his jacket, with the other opening the door. He headed down the hallway without a look behind him.
“Class dismissed.” He said, not even bothering to turn around.
“Ummm I’m gonna go see what’s going on...” I blurted, running out the door after him. I took off down the hall, not running, not walking, somewhere in the middle.
“I told you she’s remembering things, more and more, and now this? Conner this is bad. How do we know she won’t blurt out what she remembers?” I heard Andy, wait Mr. Taylor was talking in a hushed tone. I risked a peek around the corner, and saw Mr. Taylor standing now in his jacket again one arm crossed, the other holding a cell phone to his ear. Wait a cell phone? That’s impossible! All cell signals are blocked! But he was standing there talking on his cell phone. To make it weirder the phone was purple, and bedazzled. It looked like every teenage girls dream cell phone.
“I know, I know. But how do I know she hasn’t already?” Mr. Taylor said sighing, he leaned on the wall. At first I thought I was made, but then I realized I was in the shadows, safe.
“Oh how do I start that question? ‘Hey, do you remember that special school you snuck into a couple years ago?’ ” Mr. Taylor shouted, slamming his fist into the wall. I jumped, all the spy training in the world couldn’t make when someone you love is hurt any less painful. My heart lurched, I hated seeing him like this, so mad. Wait someone I love? I love him? Where did that come from?
“Or, ‘Oh how ‘bout your brother, Conner? Oh my bad! Well, surprise you have a twin brother! Oh by the way the CIA has forbidden you from seeing him. And you need at least level nine clearance for that intel... which you have all things considering. Oh well at least you did, you know before the CIA wiped your memory?’ ” He continued, yelling. He sighed. “It’s too much for her to handle,” he wiped the sweat from his temples, returning to his normal voice. “I can’t tell Maddie, it would ruin her.”
I had about a three seconds time to attempt to process the information before the shock set in. It hit me like a bus. It knocked the wind out of me, I gasped before I could think about stopping it. Mr.Taylor whipped around staring into the darkness that was my cover. He snapped his phone shut, and stepped towards my direction. He stepped forward again eyes darting around, he was obviously trying to make my shape out in the darkness. I could’ve run, in the dark I would have been safe. But I couldn’t, legs weren’t working. Until they buckled, making me collapse to the ground. The movement alerted Andy to where I was, he walked a little faster then stopped, listening.
My whole life, I’ve been trained to for these situations. I can spy, well, like a spy. But weirdly enough I think those words were the worst weapons in the world. I couldn’t control my rapid breath, or my shaking, or any part of my body for that matter.
“Maddie...” He started starting to walk again, slower this time.
“Conner...” I started, trailing off because I didn’t know what to say. “I remember him.” I blurted, and once I heard that I knew it was true.

Edition Eleven

                Food! Finally food! We looked for Maddie for so freaking long that I swear I could’ve dropped dead there. Okay, okay, we looked for like twenty minutes. But still! It was long enough for me to be late for my next class AND to get a lot hungrier. Anyway, here we were in the Great Hall waiting for dinner to come out and I for one was gonna punch Maddie in the face the next time she tried to run away.

                “Jordan!” Kayla laughed next to me. I looked at her confused. “I just heard your stomach growl!” She laughed. I rolled my eyes at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me in return.
                “Hey.” An out of breath voice said beside me. I turned to see Maddie, casually walk up to our table. Although her casual walk looked effortless, I could tell that she had been running- I don’t know from who or what, but I knew that she had been running.
                “Hi,” Sophie said to her, trying to analyze Maddie’s situation.
                “Nice of you to show up,” I said, my voice was dripping with sarcasm.
                “Ease up, Joze, she sounds like she just ran five marathons,” Kayla said in between bites of her mashed potatoes.
                “She made me hungry!” I fake-yelled. As if to prove my point, I shoved a piece of steak in my mouth and chewed violently.
                “Since when have you had a problem with eating?” Maddie laughed then sat down next to me.
                I thought about this for a moment then said (with my mouth still full of steak), “Good point.” The four of us laughed.
                “Ladies, could I have your attention, please?” Ms. McHenry was mounted behind the podium at the front of the Grand Hall, quieting all of us down. “The junior Covert Operations class will be going on a field trip tonight. Meet at the entrance of the academy in casual clothes at precisely seven PM tonight. Thank you and enjoy your meal, Ladies.” Ms. McHenry then walked off to join the other academy teacher at the head table.
                I could practically feel the excited vibe going through us juniors the second she said ‘field trip’. It was quite hysterical, if I say so myself. Maddie’s eyebrows were raised, Kayla’s lips started to curve up in a smile, Sophie’s face looked petrified, and I’m sure that my face had the evilest look on it. I don’t know why, but whenever something like this is announced, I always think about all the things that I could do while there; like drug ‘innocent’ guys who try to flirt with me (I always carry around extra drugs in case of an emergency), mess with girls who try to look cool but just look ridiculous, even try to make Sophie even more nervous than she already is with horror stories that my mom use to tell me about when she was on missions (okay, I may have tweaked some of them to make them a little more scary... but just a little). Long story short, field trips are my kind of thing.
                In what seemed like FOREVER, but was only forty eight minutes, the junior CoveOps class was waiting at the front entrance of the Gallagher academy, piling into a black van. I can’t say that it was comfortable, because we were all jam packed into the back of the van so badly that my body was squished so that I could barely breath and my boot was shoved into Maddie’s face.
                “Move the boot, Baxter,” she said to me.
                “Deal with it,” I said back.
                “I’m gonna punch you,” Maddie said.
                “I’m gonna punch you back harder then throw you off a cliff,” I threatened.
                “I’m gonna punch you back harder than I’ve ever punched anyone before, throw you off a cliff, then drop rocks on you to make sure you’re dead,” responded Maddie.
                I replied with, “I’m gonna punch you harder than twenty spies combined, throw you off a cliff, drop rocks on you to make sure you’re dead, then run you over with a bulldozer- without a proper burial.” This was usually a game that Maddie and I played (which I won pretty much every time): we would keep adding on till one of us cracked from our “serious” face, or one of us couldn’t come up with anything.
                Maddie laughed, giving up her serious facade (and losing the game... again!), and said, “Fair enough.” then pushed my foot aside. I laughed along with her and my two other roommates.
                “Alright, Ladies,” Mr. Taylor said, interrupting our fit of giggles- we had the whole van laughing by now except for Mr. Taylor and the teacher driving (who I think was Professor Weise- she couldn’t drive to save her life! I mean, seriously, I was clutching onto whatever I couldn’t o keep from puking! Maybe I shouldn’t have had that second steak...). We all quieted down and waited for Mr. Taylor to explain what we would be doing on our field trip.
                “Roseville is having a pre-school festival, celebrating the beginning of fall,” he started. Gallagher starts a week before regular school starts, and Roseville’s celebration of fall starting was directly a week before school started for the Roseville kids. “We will be going there. However, this isn’t an ordinary stroll in the park, Ladies. I have a few friends that will be constantly changing their appearance. It will be your job to count how many people there are, how many times they change, and memorize what they are wearing. You may go in however many people you want, but just remember that the more of you together, the easier it is to spot. Here are your comms.” Mr. Taylor each gave us a comm unit and just as we all were set up, the van came to a stop.
                “No more than two at a time,” Mr. Taylor said.
                I grabbed Sophie’s arm and, before she could resist, pulled her and I out of the back of the van.
                “Oh, and one more thing, ladies,” I heard Mr. Taylor’s voice in my comms unit as I stepped out into the busy street. “Be at the theater in one hour.”

Edition Twelve

I appologize, I'm kinda lazy so I didn't edit this, please forgive the mistakes and make sure to comment!!!

As I roamed the streets of Roseville with Kayla by my side, I felt a small memory tug at me. It was more of a deja vu moment. I felt like I had already done some kind of variation of this when I was younger. I remembered that Andy was my dad, and that Conner was my brother. But I just couldn’t remember what happened before that. I didn’t have any childhood memories- well, I had flashbacks but they weren’t very long. I only had glimpses of people or a place, but nothing much...
            This situation felt familiar though, like I had already been taught this. I remembered Andy- an Andy that was a few years younger than he was now- telling me to watch for the one who was constantly changing and to follow him, see what he was up to-
            “Maddie!” Kayla interrupted my thoughts and snapped her fingers in front of my face.
            “What?” I asked.
            Kayla held up a necklace and said, “Don’t you think this necklace would be perfect if it were in red?” This was a cut out (a phrase that one operative uses with another operative that means something totally different than what it sounds like). In this case, ‘this necklace’ represented the subject (whom we haven’t found yet) and the color red represents the number 1 on the clock. Translation of what she said: “The subject is at my 1 o clock.”
            I looked at Kayla’s one o clock and saw a middle aged man that had on a jogging suit. I already saw this guy ten minutes ago in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Target one, spotted.
            “Yeah,” I said to Kayla. “Red is just the right color for that.”
            “Well, we should move on, we don’t wanna keep everyone waiting,” Kayla said. Hinting at me that we need to look for our next targets.
            But something made me stay at that kiosk. Although I question that something now, seeing how as Kayla walked away, two arms grabbed me from behind and dragged me away.

            ********

            I did my best to get away. You can believe me on that part. I fought like a crazy lady. I tried every forbidden move in the book, but whoever had me blocked them easily.

Then when he tried to get me down an alley, I tried some moves that weren’t necessarily in the book. Only on my last, most desperate move, did he fall to he ground. I whipped around and had him pinned before he had a chance to say, Whoa.

            “Okay, I need a name and a reason you’re here. Fast.” I hissed. It was really dark, I couldn’t make out him out yet, it was to dark (though I knew it was a guy from the way he was built, let just say figure).
            “Conner Taylor, looking for my twin sister Maddie. You haven’t seen her have you?” Answered a mocking tone. I loosened my grip a little and remained silent until my eyes adjusted to the light.
            It was Conner, same dark hair as mine, same kinda pale skin. But his green eyes were different. But still it was creepy how similar we looked. I loosened my grip all the way and sat up.
            Then we had one of those awkward silences I hate, where something needs to be said but no one will say it. I hate them because I’m normally pretty good at saying whats on my mind.
            “I have actually.” I said finally. He looked at me confused. “Seen her that is.” I laughed. He smiled at me widely and all the awkwardness melted away. He stood up and gave me a breathtaking (literally) hug.
            “So you do remember?” He asked excitedly. I shrugged my shoulders, nonchalantly. I didn’t even know if I remembered. I felt like I was living someone else’s life, learning my story as I went along. His smiled widened, but didn’t make it to his eyes. “I missed you.” He said quietly, looking at the ground. I could tell that wasn’t an easy thing to say.
            “I missed you too.” I replied carefully. As soon as I said it I knew it was true. This time the smile reached his eyes. My mind was spinning, yeah I remembered him, I knew he was my brother, and I loved him, but I had no big memories. And for the life of me I couldn’t remember why I hadn’t remembered him. I knew I would stop him from smiling but I had to get something out there.
            “Conner, I’m sorry I-” I started, pushing the words out quickly. He held up his hand.
            “Don’t apologize for things you’re not sorry for.” Conner cut in. His words sounded rehearsed and bored, but I knew them from somewhere.
            “Rule number five.” I mumbled. Conner looked at me surprised. “Stay together no matter what, everything’s better together. Rule number one.” I recited, watching the pain rush into his eyes. my comms unit was a buzz with Kayla, Jordan, and Sophie calling my name.
            “Conner I’m so sorry.” I said slowly.
            “Maddie I don’t wanna-” He started sighing.
            “No. Conner I hurt you. I can tell and it was because me leaving or something. I’m sorry for hurting you.” I cut in. He looked like he wanted to object but then his face turned back to a  smile. I felt like I had my entire life was on the tip of tongue, but wouldn’t come out. I didn’t know much but I knew I couldn’t let him get hurt, and that I'd hurt him once before.
            My ear was ringing with the sound of Kayla, Jordan, and Sophie calling for me. I guess I made a face, because Conner sighed and helped me stand.
            “They panicking now?” He asked, laughing a light airy laugh. “I guess that’s good, if they weren’t by now I'd be a little concerned.” He finished.
            “I should get you back.” Conner sighed, his smile once again vanishing.
            “Wait, I don’t want to leave you again.” I said stupidly.
            “I know Madironi, but you need to get back. They’ll be here in about, oh I don’t know fifteen seconds?” Conner sighed.
            “I’ll see you soon though right?” I asked quickly listening for the sounds of my roommates footsteps.
            “Well I can try.” Conner sighed, looking down the alley. I finally heard my roommates footsteps.
            “No.” I demanded. “We will see each other soon.” I stated simply. He looked at me confused, and then ran down the alley. I sighed, rumbled my hair, and walked out to meet my roommates. “Accidentally” dropping my com on my way. Oops. But then I picked it back up, pretending like that’s why nobody could reach me- at least I had an excuse and didn’t have to lie to my best friends and dad. Well, at least not lie completely.
            I had an idea. A devious (is there any other kind?), manipulating, and overall crazy idea. I had no memory. I wanted it back. There were two people who could give me some, but refused to. So I wanted them both, in the same place, at the same time, for a longer period of time. To maybe get a little bit of my memories back. I was going to go to where Conner belonged. The place where they teach guys how to block all of our moves, where they train guys to equal our abilities. I was going to Blackthorne. Whether they liked it or not. 

Edition Thirteen

Maddie Demmerson’s Ideas of Getting Blackthorne

1. Attempt to escape the Gallagher Academy covertly in the middle of the the night leaving only a note to explain my absence. (Yeah, not gonna happen. I don’t know the secret passageways as well as Kayla, and there’s no telling what kind of security measures they’ve put up.)

2. Attempt to escape the Gallagher Academy covertly in the middle of the night with my roommates leaving only a note to explain our absence. (And how exactly am I going to convince my roommates to leave the academy. Let alone calm Sophie down because she’s never done that before, drag Jordan out of bed, and make sure Kayla isn’t screaming in her sleep as we’re making our way to Blackthorne???)

3. While on a Covert Operations field trip, attempt to take over the van and drive my CoveOps class and my dad to Blackthorne. (I could end up in prison for several different things for attempting that, and locking myself in a car with one of the best spies in the world and ten spies-in-training probably wasn’t the best idea...)

4. Attempt to manipulate Macey McHenry (one of the top spies in the world and the head of the Gallagher academy) into letting me go to Blackthorne. (And what exactly would I say to one of the top spies in the world and the headmistress of the Gallagher academy?)

Okay, so my ideas weren’t great. I’ll admit to that. But considering I was trying to either escape the Gallagher Academy or attempt to convince trained spies to let me go to a school that is for assassins, those were pretty good ideas. Those were the only ideas.
I went through and calculated all the odds of how well they would work, and all of them were pretty low.
I thought all of this in a couple of seconds as I made my way out of the ally and into the street.
I saw Kayla come up to me, and say something, but my mind wasn’t comprehending much right then. All my thoughts evolved around Blackthorne and my brother that I hadn’t seen in years. Conner. Blackthorne. Conner. Blackthorne. Conner. Blackthorne. Maddie. Wait, ‘Maddie’? I didn’t think about myself.
“Maddie!” I heard a voice call me back to reality. I recognized the voice as the one and only Makayla Goode- oops, I meant Andrews.
“What?” I asked, sounding a lot more harsher than it was meant to be.
Kayla raised her hands up, a sign of surrender. “I was only gonna ask if you were okay,” she said timidly.
“Oh... sorry,” I said. Suddenly, my shoes became a lot more interesting. “I’m fine.”
I knew Kayla didn’t believe me, and I knew I wasn’t hiding my emotions real well also, but I was relieved when she let it go then nodded.
“Guy in the police uniform. Third time,” I said and just like that, Kayla and I were back to business.
“No, it’s his fourth time,” Kayla said, retying her shoe laces.
“Jogging suit, clown uniform, and now the police officer. That’s three,” I said.
“And he was dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans with tennis shoes three minutes and twenty seven seconds ago,” she said. “It was after the clown.”
I was about to ask if she were crazy or something, but then I remembered that I was gone talking to Conner for a couple minutes. So instead of arguing, I lied and said. “Oh yeah, you’re right.”
Kayla eyed me weirdly, but kept walking. She then pointed to the Ferris wheel, sending me a clear message saying ‘We’ll get better view for seeing the people up there.’ but to an average person, it would just look like a teenage girl excited to go on the Ferris wheel.
I nodded as if it were an amazing idea, but really I couldn’t have Kayla seeing Conner. That could be really bad.
“I bet you ten bucks you can’t get us on there for free,” I whispered to Kayla as we approached the guy that was taking money for the Ferris wheel ride. I saw Conner about ten feet away buying cotton candy from a cart, and I wanted to distract Kayla so she wouldn’t see him.
“You’re on,” she said with a smirk.
“Hi,” Kayla said as she approached the Ferris-wheel-guy.
The guy looked Kayla up and down. “Hey, how are you doin’?” A small smile played on his lips. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Conner’s position change into a offensive stance. Curiosity shot through me. Why would Conner be ready to attack? It wasn’t like there were enemy agents around, because Conner’s gaze wasn’t darting around looking for more. No. His gaze was locked on Kayla. Crap.
“I’m doing just fine,” Kayla said, batting her eyelashes. “And you?”
“I’m doing pretty darn good now,” he said.
“So how much does it cost?” she asked him.
The guy smirked. “Does what cost?”
Kayla rolled her eyes, but smiled. “The tickets to go on the Ferris wheel.”
“Three dollars each,” he said.
Kayla dug in her pocket, and pretended not to feel any money. Her eyes went wide as she “checked” her other pockets. She turned to me. “Hey, do you have any extra money?”
“No, sorry,” I lied. “I spent it already.”
Kayla’s face fell, and as she turned to the guy, I noticed a fake blush forming on her cheeks. “This is really embarrassing.” She bit her lip.
“Don’t be embarrassed,” the guy said. “Embarrassment doesn’t fit your pretty face.” Kayla fake blushed again, but didn’t say anything. “You can go ahead and get in cart ten.”
Kayla’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
The guy laughed. “Yeah, really.”
“Thank you so much!” she went up and hugged the guy, then skipped over to the cart with me on her tail.
“Thanks,” I said as I passed by the guy.
“No problem,” was his response.
I looked back to Conner, and he was also in line for the Ferris wheel. Why?!? Why was the idiot in line for the Ferris wheel?!? I noticed the glare he was giving the Ferris-wheel-guy, then Conner’s gaze shifted and softened. I thought he was looking at me- now in Ferris wheel cart number ten, sitting beside my best friend- but a closer look told me that he wasn’t looking at me. No. He was looking at the dark-haired girl in a white blouse/tank top, jean shorts, and her wavy hair down, that was sitting beside me. He was looking at my best friend. Why? I didn’t know.
The Ferris wheel started to move, and I could feel our cart teeter slightly as it had to adjust to the movement. Conner was still in the line, watching our cart so intensely.
“Fox, Tootsie,” I said into my comms unit. “How many do you have so far?”
“Two men. One currently dressed as police officer- changed four times. The other in a red t-shirt and basketball shorts- changed six times,” Sophie rattled off.
“What about you?” asked Jordan.
“Same,” I said. “Keep your eyes open, we’re on the Ferris wheel for an overview of the grounds.”
“Okay, we’re at the popcorn cart three carts west of the balloon toss contest,” Jordan said.
Kayla’s eyes trailed over toward the balloon toss contest, but before she could get there, she noticed that one boy in line for the Ferris wheel. Great.
I pretended to find Jordan and Sophie as Kayla saw Conner. Conner lifted his hand and waved a half-wave to Kayla, then set his hand back down. I saw him smile slightly.
“Hey, that’s Jake!” Kayla said, giving a half-wave back.
“Who?” I asked.
“Jake from the vintage store, last Sunday,” Kayla explained, her eyes never left Conner.
“Where?” I asked.
Kayla looked at me with a smile on her face, “He’s in line for the Ferris wheel!”
I looked at the line and furrowed my eyebrows. “Kayla, there’s nobody that even looks like Jake in there.”
“Yes there is! He’s right-” she cut herself off, looking at the line with the absence of Conner.
Conner was gone. He wasn’t there and that would probably be the last time I saw him unless I went to Blackthorne. Kayla seemed nearly disappointed as I was, but for entirely different reasons. “He was right there!” Kayla said, desperation for me to believe her was in her voice. “I promise, Maddie, he was right there. He even waved at me.”
“Kayla.” I believed her. I did. I knew he was right there and I knew he waved at her. I knew everything that had happened and more, but Kayla couldn’t. Right then, I understood why I didn’t want Kayla to think about Conner (or ‘Jake’ in her eyes). I didn’t want Kayla to look at Conner. I didn’t want Kayla to think that she could have him, because I never could. I hadn’t had my brother for years and I couldn’t stand the thought of my best friend getting him in less than a week. It wasn’t fair. So, call me selfish, but that’s what made me say, “Jake was never there. You only saw him because you wanted to see him.”
“That’s not true!” Kayla objected. “I saw him. He waved to me!”
“Kayla, you’re playing a dangerous game here. You know what happened with the Chameleon,” I made sure to remember that I had to say ‘The Chameleon’ and not ‘your mom’, but I knew that Kayla got the message.
“But I’m not falling for him!” Kayla said, we were almost done with the Ferris wheel ride and I could tell that she was ready for it to be done also. I raised my eyebrows. “I’ve only talked to him once, and when I did, I was honey potting him!”
“Kayla, you’re seeing him because you want to see him. Now get your head in the game,” I said, not looking her in the eyes. If she were able to see she my eyes, she’d know that I was lying to her.
In response, Kayla pursed her lips. “Whatever,” she mumbled.
I checked my watch and we had ten minutes to get to the theater. Considering it would take us about eight minutes to get there while looking around for the subjects changing. “Let’s get a move on it,” I said as I stepped onto the solid ground.
Kayla and I slowly made our way to the theater, small cart by cart and checking our surroundings. I was silently praying that we wouldn’t see Conner on our way there, and it sort of worked; I only saw one small glimpse of him and then he was gone. This time, it was for good.
We made it to the theater in record time, stepping into the doors at the exact moment my internal clock told me that the hour was up. I saw the entire junior class there, but there was a lack of Andy’s presence.We all kind of stood there for a second, waiting for him to suddenly appear from right around the corner... but he never did.
I glanced at Kayla, confusion probably showed in my eyes because Kayla’s face was more than likely echoing my own. “What’s going on?” Joze came up beside me and asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Why is he not here?” Kayla mumbled. “There has to be some reason.”
Every spy knows that in everything, there is something- even if there’s nothing, there’s always a reason for the nothing. Then it occurred to me, “You guys, observe. That’s what we need to do.”
Kayla’s eyes widened and she finally understood what Andy was trying to tell us. “It’s a puzzle. We have to look for all the clues then find the van.”
“Exactly,” I said. There was a small piece of paper tucked into the corner of a loose board by the entrance to behind the counter. I walked over casually, and bent down to “tie my shoe”/get the note from the counter. When I got done “tying my shoes” I stood up and walked back over to my three friends. By this time, the entire junior class was surrounding us, and i realized that both Kayla and Jordan had two slips of paper in their hands like me.
“Security is up,” Kayla read from her piece.
“Everyone thinks you’re home,” Jordan read.
I looked down at my piece of paper and read aloud the three words that pulled a twist on our junior class’s night: Don’t get caught.

Edition Fourteen

There are many pros and cons of living in one of the top secured buildings in the world. For example, if there is any chance of an attack, the building has numerous built-in defense systems that are top of the line and updated annually. PRO.
Having all that security, you never get to fight the enemy agents for real and use the really cool forbidden moves that you’ve wanted to use on someone for FOREVER unless they get past the defense system. CON.
If there is someone without the enough clearance level to know the truth about the real curriculum that the academy teaches, the security system alerts us when they are in a three mile radius of the academy. Therefore, it helps us prepare for a potential Code Red. PRO.
Having a security system so high that it’s impossible to get in- especially spies-in-training with only comms units, a laptop (Sophie never leaves home without it), and a few extra gadgets to get into the GALLAGHER ACADEMY undetected- and if you do, you may lose an important body part and/or be extremely injured. CON.
That’s what I thought as everyone in my Junior CoveOps class was staring at me, wanting direction, in Roseville’s theater. “What?” I asked.
Emmalie Jonason (codename: Silver) responded with, “Well, you know all the secret passageways, don’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but not all of them,” I blurted.
“And you pretty much know the security system like the back of your hand, too,” Emmalie continued.
“Well, kind of...”
I’m one to generally like the center of attention, but only in certain scenarios. Right then, in the Roseville theater with my classmates surrounding me, I wished that I were invisible. I didn’t like to be relied on, especially if there was a high chance of me failing. I relied on myself and nobody else- even now, it’s very hard for me to depend and trust other people. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I wouldn’t ever be able to be proud to wear the Goode name. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I’ve lived pretty much lived my whole life lying to the people that I love. Maybe not.
“It doesn’t matter, the question is can you get us in?” Joze asked.
I looked around at all the hopeful faces of my sisters, then I looked around to make sure there weren’t any people eavesdropping (there probably weren’t but it was a just-in-case kind of thing, and mostly a habit). “I can try.”
Not kidding you, in less than ten minutes we were in the woods that were located on the east side of the Gallagher academy, ready to break in with a plan already coordinated, and we were already camouflaged (let’s just say that we were fast runners, we formulated a plan very quickly, and Maddie protested greatly to us putting mud on her face). Basically, we were going to run across the grounds to one of the entrances to a secret passageway that lead into the mansion. Simple, right? Ha, when you’re talking about the Gallagher academy, nothing is simple.
“Ready?” I asked into my comm as I crouched behind a bush- out of the line of sight of one of the many security cameras we had to get by. I heard “Ready” from the entire CoveOps class through my comms (everyone was hiding behind something, waiting for my signal).
I watched the security camera move away from where we were hiding, and whispered a small “Go!”. We would have eight seconds until a camera would make its way to us. After seven seconds I whispered a “Down.” indicating that we needed to get out of the camera’s sight (obviously). Everyone dropped to the ground. I counted to twelve, and making a quick counter surveillance to make sure that no cameras were trained on us, and said “Go.”
My sisters and I silently trekked across the forest floor (which was really difficult considering leaves were all over the ground and we had to be absolutely silent). Eight seconds passed and I ordered everyone down. Again, we all fell to the ground, camouflaged by the mud that we smothered all over ourselves. We went on like this until we came to the entrance of the secret passageway that my mom use to use to sneak out of the Gallagher academy. I discovered it the first week I was there. I brieftly remembered that I was absolutely determined to find something of my mom to hang onto, and this was the closest thing considering the CIA  took everything from me that had to do with my parents.
When we finally reached the willow tree that the passageway was hidden in, I knew that not one camera would be able to find us once we crossed that line. Easy. Simple. Just kidding. I hadn’t been to that passageway since last year when I snuck out to get cheez-its from a nearby little store in Roseville.
“It’s blocked off,” I said, dumbfounded that Mr. Taylor went to the extent of blocking off the only secret passageway I knew to get into Gallagher. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, he is one of the best spies in the world... He was just trying to make this difficult. Great.
“How do you know?” One of the girls asked.
I looked at her for a long moment and gestured toward the tree trunk that was solid as can be. “Do you see a secret doorway opening this this trunk?” The girl shook her head, a little embarrassed, and I just shook my head and grinned.
“What do we do now?” Emilie whispered quietly from behind me.
Suddenly, and idea seemed to spread throughout me, Sophie, Jordan, and Maddie at the same time. Maddie, Jordan, and I were all smiling slightly, and Sophie was furiously shaking her head. “It won’t work! We’ll get caught for sure!”
“We won’t,” was Maddie’s reply.
“Not with me here,” I said.
“What am I missing?” A few of the other girls murmured.
“Follow us,” the three of us said simultaneously with Sophie’s small debate- which she quickly stopped because Jordan sent her a glare that would make anyone shut up.
The rest of the girls followed us three- even Sophie who sighed and started to follow after the other girls pushed past her. “Fine, but if we get caught, I’m not the one explaining,” she said.
Using the same system as before, we made our way to the front gates of the academy. It was a breeze- well, except for the part when I sort of tripped and landed into a thorn bush... yeah, that hurt pretty bad. Anyways, we finally reached the entrance of the Gallagher Academy gates, hidden in between the high stone wall and a tall bush that needed a trim very badly- luckily the bush didn’t have thorns.
It was actually kinda nice in between there. The bush was well overgrown so the entire junior class was able to fit in the space and even stand up! Maintenance needed to fix this, fast. Then again, it was very convenient for hiding by the main gates unseen. The bush could’ve been an amazing hang out place, but I didn’t think that Aunt Macey would let it be here for long.
“So how exactly are we getting in?” I heard Makenzie Morrison whisper.
“We’re going through the front door,” I heard Joze say beside me.
“What?” nearly half the girls shouted (considering there were ten of us, it was a fairly large portion).
“I hope that this plan sounds a lot less insane than it seems,” Olivia whisper-snapped. All of us were extremely tired, covered in mud, and probably PMSing, so it wasn’t a surprise that we were in snappy moods.
I started laughing and my sisters looked at me as if I had gone mad- which I probably was getting there; I was so tired that I was ready to just drop to the ground and sleep the night away, and because I literally got no sleep last night- Maddie, Sophie, Jordan and I were all talking like crazy- I was on the verge of crazy... I think. “I need a mountain dew,” I said in between laughs.
Many eyes went wide and my sisters all shrieked, “NO!” Let’s just say that me and mountain dew equaled no sleep and a very drunken-like Makayla Andrews, but I enjoyed the craziness because it was really fun to be all silly for a little while. In a serious world there always needs to be a bit of silliness to it in order to keep everyone sane.

Immediately after they all had shouted, we could practically feel about seven security cameras eyeing the bush that we were hidden behind. This made me sober up quickly. I knew that if the cameras didn’t hear another out-of-place sound coming from the bush in thirty-seven seconds, they would go back to their normal sweep of the grounds. In the meantime, nobody dared to move or even breath. We were just ten, junior, girl, spies-in-training who were covered in mud and praying that we wouldn’t get caught even when our real mission hadn’t even started yet.

“We’re clear,” I said in a hushed tone thirty eight seconds later.

“We can’t just waltzed right through the front doors. We would get caught,” Makenzie said, getting right to business.

“Not if we’re careful,” Maddie said.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re not going to literally waltz through the front door,” Maddie said, a smile threatening to break through onto her face. “But we are going to literally go through the front door.” She caught my eye and we simultaneously smiled; her and I were thinking the exact same thing.

“I’m not following you,” I heard Emmalie say from the opposite end of the circle.

This is the time when I chip in. “What she means is that we’re not going to open the doors- we would definitely get noticed that way- but we’re going to literally go through the door.”

Realization dawns on them. “But how?”

“Haven’t you paid any attention in History of Espionage? Especially when we covered the academy’s history and structure?” Maddie said with a smirk. “Mrs. Linquist told us that the oak doors took days to built- considering that they were made with panels.”

“Okay, so the doors are made of panels. Big deal,” Makenzie snapped. Jeez, she really needed to go to bed.

Maddie, however, continued on as if she hadn’t heard Makenzie’s snappy remark. “That night at dinner, Shea overheard Kayla, Jordan, Sophie and I talking about the ridiculous use of that information. So Shea started to talk about rumors- what a surprise- and she told us about a boy. A spy boy. He had snuck into the Gallagher academy somehow, and wasn’t caught by the security camera. Well, a certain Tina Walters was looking out her window that particular night and happened to see how this spy boy- who later became her husband- snuck into the academy.” The way Maddie told the story reminded me of Mr. Taylor’s lectures in CoveOps- very intriguing and informational at the same time. It was cool the way she presented the story with a certain bluntness but at the same time it left you in the dark until the kicker finale: “He pulled the lower right hand corner panel of the oak doors out from its place and then crawled through the hole.”

“Long story short, ladies,” Jordan mimicked Mr. Taylor then looked at all of us. “We’re going through the Gallagher academy doors.”