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Promises

Cammie's POV

It was exactly 3:47 a.m. when I finally rolled out of bed after hours of lying awake in the dark listening to my sleeping roommates snore. Bex turned over and mumbled something about the ambassador of New Guinea as I crept past her bed and silently slipped out the door. I found myself wandering the halls very slowly, pausing to stare out one of our beautiful stained glass windows every so often.

You know something; the world looks different while bathed in moonlight. I could almost forget the fact that I'm being hunted, that everyone I love is in danger, that I hadn't spoken to the boy who saved my life in weeks even though we were living in the same building, and that in that same building another man was lying, in what seemed to be an eternal sleep. I could almost forget all of that. Almost. But one thing about being a spy is that we can never really forget, not even when we want to. For the rest of my life I won't ever forget the pain I have caused others, not even while the world is asleep. Maybe that's why I ended up in the hospital wing.

Staring through a window where the man who had always been so strong lay wrapped in bandages from head to toe, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Joe Solomon was a role-model to a hundred girls and one lonely boy. He was who we wanted to be. He was brave and smart and strong in every aspect of the word. And Joe Solomon was wasting away before our very eyes.

I crept into his room which smelled of antiseptic and dying flowers and sunk down into one of two chairs made for purely functional purposes. I mean seriously, no one makes chairs that hard to be comfortable. But then again, nothing about that room screamed 'comfortable'. From the unnaturally white walls to the hard concrete floor it was cold and hard. When I looked at the bed a face I hardly recognized greeted me. It was a purple, swollen face covered in tell-tale stubble that told us just how long he had been in this coma. I stared at him for a long time not really thinking about anything, just staring at this sleeping man. I realized that some people seem invincible, but no one really is, not in this life we lead. My dad had seemed invincible, but then he had died. Abby had seemed invincible too, but she had been shot. And Joe Solomon had seemed invincible, but he had burned. So I just sat looking at the invincible man, who apparently, was not so very immortal. Lost in this realization, I did not hear the door reopen, nor did I notice the soft footsteps approaching behind me. That's why it was such a shock to me when I heard a deep voice behind me,

"You're roommates are going to wake up in a while and be pretty pissed when you're not there." I jumped up and almost used one of the self-defense moves that were forbidden fifty years ago on the figure standing in the across the room. But as they came towards me, I recognized something broken about their walk, something injured in those bright green eyes. It was the same way that I was broken and injured inside. A way of being broken that only happens when you've watched everything you love slip through your fingers.

"Yeah," I said, because quite frankly, I didn't know what else to say.

"It's weird seeing him like this, isn't it," he said in a soft voice that didn't belong to the cocky and arrogant Zach Goode. That voice belonged to a scared little boy who is lost and alone in the world. I knew why he sounded that way. I knew why Zach never offered up anything about his past. And I knew why he never opened up to anyone. And that, was what bothered me the most.

"How long, Zach?" I whispered, "How long have you known they wanted me?" finally asking the question that had been eating away at me for weeks. But I didn't get a reply. He just slumped down farther into that hard chair next to mine and stared straight ahead. "Zach?" I whispered again, my voice threatening to crack at any moment. He was silent for a long time before whispering,

"The tombs are where I was meant to belong, but I never did. And because of it no one will ever trust me, from either side. I can never be good, but I can never be bad either," and the way he looked right then scared me. It was a look of complete calm, like a cancer patient who has accepted that they're dying. "Cammie, I know you don't understand anything that's happening to you but I need you to promise me something." He looked desperate as he finished, "Don't ever go looking for the circle. You have too much to lose."

"I can't just sit here forever watching my friends die around me."

"Cammie!" he whisper cried, "You don't know how much people care about you. You can't let this have happen to Joe in vain. He was trying to protect you, and now you're trying to go off by yourself?"

"What am I supposed to do? The day I sit around and do nothing hell will freeze over. I've got to get out of here. This place feels like a prison and it's all my fault." He closed those green eyes and shook his head.

"Just promise me you won't go alone, Gallagher Girl," he told me, sounding more like Zach than he had all night, "I'm leave, if you're going to leave too, then come with me. " he said standing up. He looked down at Mr. Solomon and nodded as if the sleeping man could see him. Then without another word disappeared through the open door and was gone.

I sat there processing what he'd said for a long time. Above the bed, the small window began to grow brighter, and as the sky cleared, so did my thoughts. I knew what needed to be done. So just as silently as I came, I made my way back the suit where my friends would still be asleep for a good twenty minutes and collected my things. I looked at my best friends once more, silently apologizing for what I was doing before heading towards the only passageway that was currently still functioning. It is inside the Hall of History beneath the statue of the Gallagher Girl who bugged the first United Nations Assembly without first notifying Scotland Yard. When the hidden door slid shut with a thud, I turned around to find a smirking boy leaning against the wall.

"So you've decided to join me, Gallagher Girl," and I couldn't help but feel relieved that at least something was familiar, even if it was Zach's infuriating smirk.

We walked down the passage together and out into the thick woods. He reached for my hand halfway to Roseville and that's how we stayed. Hand in hand going who knows where. But then again, that's the life of a spy. So world, you'd better watch out, because here we come.

So what did you think? Thanks for reading and please REVIEW!

Thanks, MaceyGoode000