Chapter Text
Cammie was safe. She was back at the Gallagher Academy and under the protection of Joe and the Headmistress and all of the other staff. But then why did I feel so uneasy? I wandered around the country once more, heading to Roseville, the dead drop location Joe and I agreed on. This long fence made of varying stones on the outskirt of Roseville, heading into farmland. There was a simple note. 'meet me at the place we did the brush passes; at the time and day of your leaving'
I had a week. To wander around Roseville, doing nothing except waiting. I found myself wandering towards the Gallagher Academy, trying to catch a glimpse of the school I knew so well in the the winter and the spring, but looked so foreign to me in the coming fall. I didn't see it as an operative, or a student who went there would. I saw it as an outsider. The world inside the walls, the people inside those walls were inaccessible to me.
I was waiting in the center of town, right on those same gazebo steps when I heard a voice.
"There are six cameras pointing at us. Name them." asked Joe
"The ATM, The pharmacy, that woman's phone, the general store, the dashcam on that car and the hair salon." I rattled off.
"Very good, Mr. Goode." He said. "I've missed you. How have you been?"
"I've been good. How's everything at Gallagher?" I asked.
"The girls are fine, if that's what you're asking." He said.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. I already knew that, but the confirmation makes me feel better. "So, you're just going to keep Macey in all semester right?"
He studies me. "No, not exactly."
"Wait. What do you mean? " I exclaimed
"Well, her parents want her Ohio for the Rally. We've kept her under our protection for as long as we could but politicians are, in a word, relentless. They don't give up so easy. But there will be security."
"If you're sure." I said
"I am."
And that's how I ended up riding a train all the way to Ohio. It was hot and crowded, people were constantly bumping into one another, and there was a ton of security dressed as everyday civilians. A long grassy promenade covered at least two city blocks. Beautiful historic buildings lined the space, but at the far end, someone had erected a stage. Bleachers circled behind it, facing the lawn. Everywhere around me boasted "Winters-McHenry" so I took a button, hoping it would help me blend in.
I kept an eye on the stage where the McHenry's were standing. Macey went up to give a speech on her parent's behalf.
"It's great being here today." Macey looked out over the crowd. She looked lost for a moment—dazed. But then I could have sworn she saw someone else in the crowd... A Gallagher girl. A new light seemed to fill her eyes as she looked at us and added, "With my family." At this point Senator McHenry put his arm around his wife. "And there's something I want to say," Macey went on, even stronger now. "There's nothing we can't do if we stick together. There's nothing we can't overcome if we try. I learned that from the people who love me. The people who know…the real me." This time I knew Macey wasn't alone here. She had her girls.
As the crowds pushed through, trying to get closer to the canadates, I slipped away. There was a small sound. A flapping in the wind where a yellow banner had broken free of its restraints, banging against the aluminum posts. I slipped through the tiny crack, trying to get away from the noise, the hot Ohio sun.
And then I saw her come through as well.
Cammie.
She pushed her way under the bleachers, and stopped as her eyes adjusted to the dark. I ran towards her, and grabbed her shoulder to spin her towards me, to kiss her. But she reached back to grab my hand, stepped into the move, and swung me smoothly through the air as I landed on the red balloon with a pop.
"Hello Gallagher Girl" I managed to wheeze out and her mouth opened with shock. She didn't move from off of me but instead just sat there, questions darting through her eyes. There were so many things I wanted to say, so many things I wanted to do, but instead I just sat there, gazing up at her while she sat on top of me, my arms pinned down under her knees.
"Hey Gallagher Girl..." I said "You going to let me up now?"
But she just leaned over me, like a Gallagher Girl. "What are you doing here?"
I looked her, trying to explain but unable to find the words. How was I supposed to tell her that my mom wanted to extract her, and that she killed her dad, and that it was all my fault? And now I was trying to protect her from it.
So I just tried to smile when I said "Oh, I'm very interested in Ohio politics."
She scooted backwards, stumbling into her feet. "You can't vote."
"Yeah, but I can campaign" I say, gesturing to the button pinned to my jacket.
Her breathing got uneven and her hands started shaking. She looked down at me and muttered "You're a long way from Blackthorne."
"Yeah." I smiled. "Well, I heard that Macey McHenry was going to be making her first post-convention public appearance here today"—I stood and brushed some stray confetti from her hair—"and where there's one Gallagher Girl, there are usually others." I smiled bigger, unbelievably happy that I was seeing her again.
"We're like smoke and fire that way," she stuttered.
I smiled at her, "Something like that."
"I thought you'd vowed to stay out of secret passageways and laundry chutes, but I guess…" I started but didn't finish. I couldn't finish. Instead I reached up and traced the bruise that had all but faded along her hairline, and I got a flash of anger so deep I knew it could only be quenched by vengeance. Next time I saw my mom, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd do what I'd been trained to do.
To kill.
Lost in thoughts, I faintly heard Cammie say "How did you know about the laundry chute?"
I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, and I pointed to myself like I use to. "Spy."
Cammie lifted up her hand to her ear piece and said "Bleachers"
"Bex?" I asked her
"Yeah" She said bluntly.
I was relieved that she wasn't here alone on one of her "Special Missions." That Joe was there, and the other Gallagher Girls. She was safe.
"So you got back up?" I asked, just to be certain. "The girls are here? And Solomon?"
"Of course they are" she said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
She put her hand up to the comms unit on her head once more and turned to me. "Zach there's someone under the bleachers-" And she stopped, realizing we were the people under the bleachers. I turned away, expecting her to follow me so we could talk more but I heard her voice behind me.
"Miss this area is restricted." Said a guy
"Oh my gosh!" She said, sounding ditzy and not at all the Cammie I know. "I had to go to the bathroom so bad so I-"
"We?"
But I was already gone.