I played with the coin-sized medallion in my hand, flipping and moving it across my fingers and making it disappear as I sat on my bed. I stared vacantly at the metal box I placed on the desk the night before, the lid of the tin box was propped on the side of the box, and on the side of the box was a pattern of silhouette circus people marching and dancing in a line all around the box and bordered with two red strips that lined the bottom and top. I knew all the contents inside that small box by heart, after all my whole life was in that box. I pulled my knees toward me and glanced out the windows across from me to see the sun was beginning to rise causing streaks of yellow and orange blending and fading in with the dark blue sky, I held up my wrist with my palm up and the medallion settled in the centre, I glanced down at the small, circular watch with a worn and faded border of gold that sat at the front of my wrist. It was nearly four in the morning.
I ripped off the headphones in my ears and got up from my bed after a while and made my way to the white closet door, opening it I saw two of my sweaters hanging on the hangers, a jacket and the school uniform that consisted of a white blouse with the school crest on the side and a plaid skirt. I grabbed a purple towel sitting on top of the drawer inside the closet and opened the top drawer where I pulled out my undergarments, I began to reach for the second drawer where I was about grab my jeans and shirt but my hand hovered over the drawer for a moment, my eyes darted to the uniform, Scarlet did say today was the first day of school. It felt like forever debating with myself before I finally decided to take the uniform off the rack and headed to the opposite side of the room where the bathroom was. When I finally emerged from the bathroom, washed and clean, my hair damp from the shower and in my crisp, clean new uniform I stopped at my bed as I stared at a piece of paper that was folded neatly on top of my rumpled black bed sheets, with a little yellow note in the centre:
Thought you might need this. Good luck.
- Z. Goode, your loving teacher
I picked up the piece of paper, dropping my hand from the towel that I was using to dry my hair, and unfolded the piece of paper and saw it was a printed map of the school and around some of the rooms and the halls were names written in a neater and girly writing than Mr. Goode's messy cursive writing. I looked at one of the square rooms with the name Headmistress's Office in neat, black ink and noticed someone had taken the time to highlight (at least that's what I'm guessing) the fastest routes to different parts of the school where (still guessing) I'm supposed to take my classes. After drying my hair and combing it out, I looked down at my watch it was close to 6:30 now so I slipped into my black boots and headed out the door.
I scanned the map, following the highlighted path, and stopped in front of what I think was the Hall of History, at least that's what it says on the map in black ink. Like all the other halls, the walls were a creamy white with lustrous gold patterns designing the top and sides, a glint caught the corner of my eyes and I walked up to the gleaming sword showcased in a glass case at the side of the hall, on the bottom in a gold plaque was a short commentary engraved about the sword. Above the glass-cased sword was a large portrait painted in Victorian colours and style of a woman standing tall in a large red dress, her head turned slightly to the side as her long brown hair flowed gracefully down her side, and at the bottom of the portrait, also in a gold plaque was the name Gillian Gallagher engraved in neat writing. There was also another portrait, the same size but different in style and colour as this one was more modern, it hung across from the portrait of the woman and this one was of a man, clean-shaved with short dark hair and gorgeous green eyes, he stood with his hands behind his back and his face solemn. Underneath the portrait, just like the woman's, was a gold plaque with a name, Joseph Solomon.
"Ms. Blackburn?" A familiar voice called out and I turned to see Agent– or do I call her Headmistress now? Mrs. Goode? I breathed out and walked toward Agent Goode, where she was leaning against the door frame, giving me a smile then she pushed herself off the door frame and walked into the room and I followed. "Are you finding it comfortable here?" She asked and I thought back to the room given to me and shrugged.
"I guess so." She smiled then gestured to the leather couch while pulling out a single piece of white paper from her desk drawer. I sat down on one end of the couch and Agent Goode sat down on the other, she crossed her leg over the other and handed me the piece of paper.
"This is your class schedule." I looked down at the timetable in my hand. "You will be taking Protection and Enforcement classes with your fellow classmates, along with Culture and Assimilation, and Advanced Languages." Agent Goode pointed to the section of classes with their initials, P&E, C&A and AL. in their own boxes with the times and the teacher's names under them.
"As for Covert Operations," Agent Goode continued and my eyes drifted to the name CoveOps, and the name under it took me by surprise. "You will be having special, one-on-one lessons with the CoveOps teacher," Agent Goode smiled when I lifted my head and looked back her. "Mr. Goode."
"Also," Agent Goode pointed to the last class on my sheet that read Dramatics, a smile stretched her lips as she looked at my timetable, "Every Saturday morning you will have private lessons in Dramatics with Mrs. McHenry-Winters. Do you have any questions, Ms. Blackburn?" Just one, I thought but didn't ask, wondering if Agent Goode knew I was staying in the abandoned part of the mansion, but then thought if Mr. Goode gave me that room then Agent Goode probably knew as well so I shook my head and began making my way back to the door when Agent Goode called out again.
"Oh, Ms. Blackburn," I turned and managed to catch whatever it was that she threw at me. I opened my palm and saw a little flashlight, I clicked on the button and a dim, purple light shone. I looked back up at Agent Goode with my brow raised. "That is your welcome present. I hope you will find it useful." She winked at me and turned back to her desk where she sat down and began writing. I nodded slowly, looking back down at the flashlight and its dim purple light that would be useless in the dark halls.
'Thanks for the useless gift,' I thought as I closed the door behind me, but I still shoved the small flashlight into the pocket of my skirt anyway. I pulled out the map and began making my way down the hall when I ran into something, or someone, and got knocked back but I felt an arm catch me before I fell. I looked up from the map and into a pair of dark chocolate brown eyes, I breathed in the fresh scent of soap and shampoo.
"Hey, oh man. Sorry, are you okay?" He asked his hand now at the small of my back while the other ran through his short, dark hair. I stepped away and toward the hall.
"Yeah, fine," I mumbled and then quickly added, "thanks." I glanced back up at him to see a small, amused smile on his lips. He reached out his hand.
"I'm An–"
"Andrew!" Agent Goode's voice came from behind the closed door of her office. The boy, Andrew, looked back at the door, and then back at me. I began to turn and walk away when he called out.
"Hey," I glanced back at him. "See you around?" I expected him to turn back around when Agent Goode called his name again from her office but his eyes were glued on me.
"Maybe," I said and rushed out of the hall before he could say anything else.
I turned a corner and to my clumsy surprise, I bumped into another person, heard the clattering sound of something being dropped and the girl in front of me dropped to ground onto her hands and knees, I knelt down beside her and helped her gather her equipment that had scattered on the floor. I looked at her from the corner of my eyes and saw a younger version of Agent Goode; the girl's hair was the same light shade of brown as Agent Goode, but unlike Agent Goode her hair was cut just above her shoulders and her fair skin held some blemishes of acne scars just below her hair line.
"I'm so sorry," I said as I handed back the equipment to the girl, "are you okay?" I asked. The girl nodded, I smiled and she smiled back.
"Persephone," I said pointing to myself, "Blackburn."
"Morgan," She said then looked down and her voice got quieter as she then added, "Goode." I nodded, makes sense, I thought. Then I pointed to the equipment in her arms.
"What are those for?" She looked at me, her face surprised then confused in a matter of seconds before she broke into a grin.
"Want to see?" She asked. I followed Morgan down a series of halls and stairs before arriving at another part of the mansion that looked as abandoned as the corridor my room was in. Morgan pushed open a door with her back and led me into a dark room, she placed her stuff down and then flipped on the lights, In the centre of the small, almost empty room was a metal table with scraps and parts scattered about on the outer side of the table but in the middle was a lumpy object hidden under a dark blue cover. Morgan looked up at me, excitement gleamed in her eyes as she placed her hand on the cover and pulled it back revealing two small, round metal contraptions and in the middle of the contraptions were small black lenses. Morgan held up a finger as if to tell me to wait, she picked up one of the contraptions and pressed a couple of buttons on the side, soon a blue holographic blueprint of the contraption itself beamed up from the black lens, and she eagerly held up another finger, telling me to wait again as her thumb slid across something on the side of the contraption and the second contraption beamed the same blueprint. Morgan looked up at me, her mouth wide in a grin and her eyes gleamed. I circled the table, admiring the holographic blueprints.
"That is so cool," I breathed and waved a hand over the hologram, the blue lights engulfed my hand and the contraption in the blueprint spun with my touch, I turned to look at the second blueprint and it spun as well. Morgan giggled when I turned back at her.
"The two devices are connected to one another, so if there's a change in this blueprint," She said as she placed a finger on the holographic contraption and swiped to the left where a chunk of the contraption was torn away and disappeared, the second hologram mimicked the first, "then the person on the other side with same blueprint can see the change too." I gaped in wonder at the device in front of me and thought this device would have been very useful and handy for the Four Suits when we were planning our stage and performances. Morgan tucked her hair behind her ear, which at the tip was a bit red as she looked at me.
"What do you think?" She asked. My gazed widened and a smile spread across my faces as I gestured to the holograms.
"Uh, it's obvious," I said with a laugh. "This is awesome! It's genius!" Morgan blushed harder as she said a sheepish thank you.
"Does your mom know about this? Your dad?" I asked but Morgan shook her head.
"No, I'm still working out the kinks." She said as she tapped a button on the two devices, shutting them down and covering them with the dark blue cover again. We stood in silence for a moment, and I was beginning to wonder if she wanted me to leave but was too polite to ask me to do so when she turned to me.
"You're new, aren't you?" Morgan asked.
"That obvious, huh?" I laughed and Morgan smiled sheepishly and shrugged.
"Kind of," She said, "but I meant, you're new to this, to all this spy stuff, aren't you?" I stood silent for a moment, unsure what I should say then Morgan quickly added, "Because you didn't really react to… Um," her voice trailed off, she blushed even more and then she pointed to herself.
"To me being the Headmistress and the CoveOps teacher's daughter."
"Well, I mean you do look a lot like Agent, um, Headmistress Goode." I shrugged. "And it's not really a big deal to be the daughter of a principle and a teacher." I said then wished I hadn't said that because the last part sounded a bit rude. Morgan's eyes widened a bit then her brows furrowed.
"You really don't know," she whispered quietly that I almost didn't hear her.
"Know what?" I asked. Morgan opened her mouth, thought for a moment and opened her mouth again.
"My parents, they're famous for being one of the few students who helped take down the leaders of an inner terrorist group, the Circle of Cavan, back when they were seniors. It was a terrorist group full of double agents who had moles in all CIA, FBI, MI6, Interpol and those kinds of facilities, so I guess you can imagine how hard it was for them to take down the Circle since they didn't even know if they could trust their own teammates, let alone their government." I was politely nodding as Morgan continued, "So are you like Liz Sutton? Or, oh! Or are you like Macey McHenry, a descendant of Gilly's family?" I didn't even know who those people were, but I did know I was probably neither of them. After all, I was just a ghost to the world. I didn't know what I should tell her and was relieved when Morgan shook her head and smiled.
"You don't have to tell me," she said and I breathed, "We don't really know each other that well and I didn't mean to pry." Before I could say anything else, a low growl came from my stomach and I realized I hadn't eaten at all yesterday, Morgan laughed.
"Come on," she said as she grabbed my wrist and led me out of the room and toward the hall. "You're going to love the food here, the son and daughter of the previous chief, who used to cook for the White House, makes the most amazing food ever." Morgan took me back toward the Hall of History where she led me down the stairs, and even before we arrived at the large room with both its double doors propped open, I could smell the delicious smell of waffles and I think I might have drooled. I followed Morgan into the room, weaving our way through the long tables and students eating and talking, making our way toward the waffle bar where she handed me a plate and plopped two warm, steaming waffles down on the plate, I grabbed a glass of orange juice and followed Morgan to a table where six people had already occupied. I stopped dead in my tracks, already recognizing four of the six faces who stared back at me. Cass was the first to break out into a smile as she waved at me.
"Persephone! Come sit!" She said as Morgan took a seat next to the boy I almost ran over, she looked up at me and smiled while also waving me over. I walked to the end of the bench and took a seat next to Trena, across from Morgan and Andrew.
"So that's your name," Andrew said with a smirk and raised a brow.
"Oh, so the two of you already met?" Lindy asked as she looked from me to Andrew.
"Yeah, this morning," Andrew said. His mischievous smile grew and a glint in his eyes as he looked at me, "when she almost plowed me over in the hall." I shrugged.
"I guess someone needs to do more leg work and learn how to keep their balance." I shot back with a smile. A chorus of oh's sang from the group, the two guys sitting on his other side had their brows raised high on their foreheads as one of them slapped Andrew's arm and from the corner of my eyes I saw Trena break out into a huge grin, everyone was looking at Andrew but Andrew was only looking at me.
"And who was it that caught who from falling?" He said with his head cocked, his smile grew as he took on my challenge and I leaned forward, and felt a smirk tug on the corner of my lip.
"Don't worry, sweetheart," I said. Andrew raised a brow. "I won't tell them what happened." I leaned back and began cutting into my waffle. I saw Morgan cup her mouth and Trena covering her mouth with the back of her hand, I heard the friend beside him say, "I like her. She's feisty." I stuck the waffle into my mouth and looked back up to see Andrew still looking at me, smiling.
"I'm Tristan Newman," the boy next to Andrew said. Tristan's skin was a bit darker than Scarlet's but he also held the strong accent that Scarlet had. "This is Thomas Ng." He introduced the slightly skinny boy with short brown hair and glasses, Tristan draped an arm around Thomas's shoulder while Thomas gave me a smile and bowed his head slightly before pushing his glasses up with his long, slim fingers that would be elegant and great for a pianist. I noticed Tristan and Thomas sat closer together than the rest, with their sides touching then Tristan dropped his hand from Thomas's shoulder and rested it on his lower back, he then looked back at me and grinned.
"So you're–" Before he could finish his sentence, I choked on my orange juice as my eyes settled on the pigeon perched in front of one of the many long windows that surrounded the giant room. Andrew and the rest of the group turned to look at what I was looking at, but I knew they couldn't see what I was seeing. I wiped my mouth with a napkin, broke a small piece from the bread on my plate and excused myself as I hastily got up from the bench and sped-walked out the room, pulling out the map and scanning the halls I found my way to the front door. I pushed the door open and walked to where I thought the grand hall was facing and soon found the window where the pigeon was sitting but now it was gone, from the corner of my eyes I saw Morgan and the others staring at me from their seats at their table. I looked around and saw a forest just behind a large pond and headed toward the trees for cover. I followed the path through the forest until I was sure I was far enough from prying eyes and took a detour into the labyrinth of trees, I sat down under one of the many trees and whistled the tune that Raz had trained his pigeon to respond to. I waited a moment and then heard the flap of wings and the coo of the pigeon as it stepped into view next to me, I reached for the small slip of paper tucked beside the pigeon's foot and unrolled it where a single word was typed and printed:
Leaving?
That was all the piece of paper said, no initials, nothing else but I knew exactly who sent me the message. I felt the paper between my fingers and knew instantly it was flash paper, and it wasn't the thin tissue-like paper that's easily lit. No, this piece of paper was slightly thicker and more robust, less likely to burst into flames. Raz always wrote his letters, plans and blueprints on flash paper, it made it easier to erase evidence as proven a couple of nights ago when I lit all the paper strewn in my room on fire.
"Love letter?" I whipped my head to where the voice had come from and saw Andrew standing with his hands in his pocket, a gesture that felt too familiar. I didn't even notice he had followed me all the way here. He was looking at me but he wasn't smiling, his eyes darted to the slip in my hand and then to the pigeon that sat idly beside me, and I noticed he stood at a distant.
"Yeah, if you'd call this a love letter," I said as I held out my hand with the slip in between my fingers. Andrew stared at it before moving a step forward and taking the slip, still leaving a large amount of space between us. He looked down briefly before handing it back.
"Where are you leaving to?" Andrew asked as he shoved his hand back into his pocket.
"Here," I said. My brows furrowed when his gaze met mine, his eyes narrowed at me and he took a step back. I opened my mouth to ask what's wrong but he only wheeled around, not even looking back at me.
"Okay," he said to me, I watched his back as he disappeared into maze of trees. What was his problem? I shook my head and glanced back down at the slip and sighed heavily, the pigeon cooed again and I reached into the pocket of my skirt where I pulled out the piece of bread and fed the pigeon. Satisfied with its treat and having fulfilled its duty the pigeon flapped its wings and took off, flying back to Raz, back to the Four Suits and I watched as the pigeon disappeared through the trees.
I was sitting in my room, playing with the medallion again when a knock came from my door and a familiar face popped through the crack of the door.
"Ms. Blackburn, Headmistress would like to see you," Mr. Goode said while holding the door open for me. I followed Mr. Goode back to the Hall of History and back to the Headmistress's office. I stepped inside and heard the door click close, Mr. Goode made his way to Agent Goode's desk where he sat on the corner of the desk and Agent Goode was already sitting in the chair behind her desk.
"Andrew told me you got a message this morning?" Agent Goode asked as I walked over to her desk.
"Wait, he told you?" I asked, confounded and a bit confused. What was the big deal? Then I thought back to the distant he placed between us, the look on his face when he saw me with the note. Oh, dags. Was he jealous? I felt the palms of my hand grow warm as my heart, to my surprise, skipped a beat.
"May I see it?" Agent Goode asked her gaze impassive as she looked at me. I dug into the pocket of my skirt and fished out the slip and handed it her. Just like Andrew she glanced down briefly then back at me. "Is this all?" She asked and I nodded. I saw both the Goodes breath out what I think was a sigh of relief.
"What?" I crossed my arms and the Goodes laughed, it was a breathy, almost in relief kind of laugh. Then Agent Goode got serious as she looked at me, she clasped her hands together and rested them on her desk but it was Mr. Goode who answered.
"Andrew thought you were a double agent." I turned to Mr. Goode, who shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants, and I realized where that gesture was becoming familiar. "That's why he came to us. He thought you were communicating with your associates while inside our walls." Oh, so he wasn't jealous, just cautious. I felt the tips of my ears burn as the realization washed over me.
"It's not uncommon," Agent Goode said, "these things happen, an agent turning or going rogue. That happens in this line of business." Agent Goode and Mr. Goode shared a quick look between them. Then their attention snapped back on me as their eyes widened and brows furrowed, and I realized I had said the Circle of Cavan out loud. "How did you…" Agent Goode started.
"Morgan," I answered then shrugged. "She was surprised I didn't react when she told me she was your daughter, so she figured I was new."
"Ms. Blackburn, you understand that what you're going to do is classified, yes?" Agent Goode asked and I nodded, Agent Goode pressed her lips together. "Which means we should establish a cover, at the least." She said but it was said more to herself than to anyone in the room, Agent Goode then glanced up at her husband and they both shared another look.
"Rumors?" Mr. Goode said and Agent Goode nodded. Mr. Goode pushed himself off the desk and began walking toward the door. "I'll call Tina." And with that, he left the room.
"We'll create a cover from the rumors that will surface, but for now if anyone asks, you tell them it's classified, understood?" I nodded and started heading back toward the door when Agent Goode stopped me again. "Oh, Ms. Blackburn, one more thing I want you to be cautious when talking to Taylor Vale, until we create a cover for you. He is the son of Tina Walters and he has, for better or worse, inherited Tina's… curiosity."
"Taylor Vale? Is he–" I began to ask but Agent Goode only smiled and nodded.
"Trena Vale's brother. Luckily, Trena hasn't inherited Tina's ways."
Mr. Goode come back again later that evening to my room to bring me to the welcome-back dinner, something I was obviously unaware of and had little knowledge of what to do, but Mr. Goode assured me it will be a regular dinner, just with a lot more students. He left me to walk on my own through the doors as he turned back and walked the opposite direction, reaching the entrance of the door I heard Morgan call my name and found her sitting with the others, everyone was looking and waving me over except for Andrew who occupied his eyes with the basket of bread sitting the middle.
"Guys, there are way more chairs at the front than there should be." Tristan pointed out as I sat down and all heads turned to the front.
"More teachers?" Cass guessed and before anyone could say anything else the doors to the Grand Hall opened, the room went unbelievably quiet as a group of adults walked in with Agent Goode leading and Mr. Goode just behind her.
"Mom? Dad?" I heard the gasps and whispers from the seven people around me, my gaze followed theirs and I saw one familiar face, Grant's face as they passed us, some of the adults winked and smirked down at their children. I, along with everyone else in the room, watched as the adults took their seat except for Agent Goode, who walked up to the podium and adjusted the mic and everyone in the Grand Hall stood up, I followed a second late.
"Women of Gallagher Academy, who comes here?" she asked. And I must admit I kind of jumped at the sudden chorus of every female voice as they spoke.
"We are the sisters of Gillian."
"Men of Blackthorne Institution, who comes here?" Her voice carried through the room, and every boy in the room spoke in unison. From the corner of my eyes I watched as Andrew's voice emerged with the rest.
"We are the brothers of Joseph." I saw a smile on Agent Goode's face as they spoke.
"Why do you come?" Agent Goode asked.
"To learn her skill. Honor her sword. And keep her secrets." The girls said.
"To uphold his legacy. Honor his work. And keep his changes." The boys said after the girls.
"To what end do you work?"
"To the cause of justice and light." They all said in unison.
"How long will you strive?"
"For all the days of our lives." They finished and Agent Goode smiled as everyone sat down.
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen," Agent Goode beamed another smile. "To our newest members," Agent Goode's eyes skimmed over me for a brief moment and then toward a bunch of smaller students sitting on the other side of the room, "welcome. Believe me when I say you would not be here if we did not think you could step up to the challenge. To our returning students, welcome back, it's another exciting and new year and I hope all of you will make the best of this year and learn as much as you can." Agent Goode glanced back at the table full of her colleagues before turning back to face the students, she smiled and for a moment I could have sworn her eyes were on me. "Thank you. Now please enjoy the rest of your evening." She stepped away from the podium and just as Agent Goode sat with her colleagues, the Grand Hall exploded with chatter and the clinking sound of tableware.
I had just finished my dinner and desert, which Cass eagerly handed to me, swearing the crème brulee was always excellent, when I felt someone approach from behind me and heard both Morgan and Andrew exclaim "Mom!" I turned around. Agent Goode smiled at our table then rested her hand on my shoulder.
"Ms. Blackburn, could you come with me for a moment?" She asked. I stood up and followed Agent Goode, I felt eyes on me as they followed me to the table up front where all the teachers sat. Agent Goode introduced me to everyone at the table, she then glanced at her husband, who nodded and half the people at the table stood up. I walked next to Agent Goode as we made our way out of the Grand Hall, voices lowered to whispers as everyone watched, I caught a glimpse of Andrew whose face showed confusion, a lot of confusion.
"Ms. Blackburn I would like you to meet your Saturday instructor, Mrs. Macey McHenry-Winters," Agent Goode gestured to the super-model with long black glossy hair. Mrs. McHenry-Winters smiled as she crossed her long leg over the other and leaned back on the leather couch. I mumbled a hello before turning to Agent Goode.
"Was that necessary? Pulling me away like that, spontaneously making an exit like that?"
"That will probably enforce the rumors," Mr. Goode shrugged, "depending on what Tina has already told her son." Before I could say another word, Agent Goode interrupted.
"Ms. Blackburn I want you to meet my fellow colleagues, who will be here and there from time to time to help you along with your lessons. This is Rebecca Newman, she will be the CoveOps teacher for the others when Zach is teaching you," Agent Goode gestured to the tall, lean woman dressed in a black suit and heels, Mrs. Newman smirked as she said a very thick British accented hello. "Dr. Elizabeth Ng, who is already the teacher for Research and Development, and Computing, will show you the basics of..." Agent Goode trailed off, trying to find the words until the small blonde woman spoke up from the group.
"Hacking," Dr. Ng offered her voice carried a soft southern accent, Agent Goode turned to her and Dr. Ng shrugged, "that's basically what it is."
"Right," Agent Goode said slowly, "we don't know if you'll need it for your task but better safe than sorry." I nodded and looked at each and every one of my new teachers, then I turned to the two men, one of them was Grant, and noticed Agent Goode hadn't explained their role in my new life but Grant only held up his hands and chuckled.
"Oh no, Jonas and I only came back for the food." The tall, pale man beside Grant laughed, and I realized Thomas resembled Jonas very closely that Thomas could be the younger version of Jonas, and then figured Jonas was probably their father.
"So, Ms. Blackburn," Agent Goode said and I turned to look at her, "are you ready for this?" I took in my surroundings, looking at the faces of the adults who had no doubt, way more training in the spy business than I ever have and yet they all depended on me for this particular task. I mean, no pressure, right?
I looked down at my clothes, and realized I had already given them my answer when I pulled on the new white blouse and zipped up the plaid skirt that morning. I lifted my head up to look at the adults that needed a teenage girl- no, they didn't need a teenage girl, they already had half a school full of them. What they needed, I realized, was a ghost, an illusionist, an orphan without anything to lose, a girl that time had forgotten over and over again, so I took in a breath and when I looked Agent Goode in the eyes again, I found I meant it when I said:
"Yes."