(A/N: So that was a really bad place to end it. I kind of spaced out and didn't finish before I posted. Whoops. Here ya go.)

I looked at Cammie. She was shaking her head. "Duh." We both pulled out our phones and got a location and directions (which didn't include secret passageways or air vents, though one of the hallways smelled like garlic or old socks, or both). When we finally reached the foyer, I saw my visitor.

"ZACH!" I cried, running to my twin.

"Hey Val. What's up?" He gave me a half-hug, and I remembered that I was supposed to be mad at him. Unfortunately, ever the spy, Zach countered my punch and grabbed my wrists. "We'll talk later sis, okay?"

I glared at him for a few moments before nodding.

"Hey Gallagher Girl," Zach said to Cammie. He gave her a hug too, and high fived Bex.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, forever the sanest when it came to boys.

"Visiting. On my way home actually. I came to get Val."

"Oh. Um. Right." I turned to Bex and Cammie.

"You don't know how to get back, do you?" Bex asked with a grin.

"Oh, I definitely know how. I'd just like to know the short version."

"Go down the hall and take a right," Mrs. Baxter said, coming into the foyer. "Hello dear. I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Zach, Val's twin," he said, extending his hand. I rolled my eyes at Cammie and did what Bex's mom said. Sure enough, there was the hallway that I had stepped into before. I rolled my eyes and managed to get my stuff (what I had actually taken into Bex's room, that is) and get back without an issue. I hugged my friends goodbye, promised I'd come back soon, and walked out with my twin.

Zach walked straight up to a car that was parked on the street and got in on the passenger side. Feeling excited, I walked to the driver's side, and had a mini heart attack when I didn't see a steering wheel. Zach started laughing, and I realized that since we were in England, the sides were flipped. Which also meant that they drove on the other side of the street.

"Please tell me you're joking about this whole driving thing," I muttered as I got in the car.

"It'll be fine sis. No worries. I'm a pro at this." Zach said with a wink and started the car.

Never in my life had I been more terrified.

Luckily, the two houses weren't far from each other, and involved no major roads, so we arrived safely. I was kind of hoping for the same level of security that Bex's house had, but I could tell right away that it wasn't even close. True, we had to go through a few scans and I disabled the GPS blocker, but it was no biggie. The house was huge though. Like, I think it could have eaten our other one for lunch. Or a snack. I got lost twice trying to get to my room, and ended up in the kitchen. I took this as a sign and made myself something to eat. Zach walked in, grabbed a banana, and walked out. It took me longer than it should have to realize that he was wearing swim trunks. Curious, I put down my spoon and followed him.

I now know that this house has an indoor, heated pool.

Eeeesh.

***

Christmas was fun. I ended up going over to Bex's after like ten in the morning. I mean, hello! I never spend Christmas with them, and I'm always with my "parents", so one year didn't matter. The time before ten in the morning was spent disarming half of my gifts and hacking into Zach's, just to mess with him (I got a new, uber quick laptop for Christmas). That was fun.

It was more fun at Bex's house. Apparently, "Christmas" is synonymous with "spy practice" at her house. I walked in to find Cammie sitting on top of the coat closet, with her finger to her lips. I nodded and kept walking. Next, I saw Mrs. Baxter come flying out of nowhere and tackle Mr. Baxter onto the sofa. She sprayed a water bottle at him, and ran off. I kind of stood there for a minute until he got up, and noticed me.

"Hi Val," he whispered. "Here." He handed me a can of silly string and winked. I watched as he turned and climbed halfway up the stairs. There, he flicked on a light switch, which caused a piece of the wall to pop out slightly. He crawled in the space and slid it shut. From the ground, I shot silly string at the wall square, and hoped that whoever he scared wouldn't fall off the stairs. I turned to see Bex standing behind me, holding a bag of giant marshmallows. When I say giant, I'm talking HUGE. The bag was the size of a pillow case, and the marshmallows were massive, like the size of a computer mouse. I felt my eyes get wide, and she grinned.

"Team?" she asked quietly, and I nodded. We moved through the house, after Cammie, who was no longer where I left her, and my brother, who had vanished the second we entered the property.

I'm proud to say that by the end of the day (it gets dark in England at about 4:00 pm during the winter holidays), the teams were Bex and I, Cammie and Zach (which was odd, because he's totally my twin, and Cam and Bex are best friends, but whatever), and Bex's parents. We won. Cue happy dancing.

***

Saying goodbye to my parents wasn't hard at all. Saying bye to Zach was kind of tough, but we'd be meeting him at the airport to say bye for real. The flight was long and fairly boring. I think we all slept. About an hour before we landed, Bex's alarm went off, and we managed to pull ourselves together enough so that in the event we saw anyone we knew between the gate, customs, and the limo, we wouldn't die of embarrassment. In the end, we saw no one of importance, and made it to the school without the slightest problem.

The problems started once we reached the school.

The main one being that we were the first ones there. I'm not just talking about the first students there. No. We were the first ones there, period. There were no teachers, no Cammie's mom, not even any janitors.

If you're not seeing the problem here, our little situation left us unable to get into the building the conventional way.

"Well…" Cammie started. "We could still get in."

"Or we could just take a walk…" Bex said. "You don't know what kind of security things they did this time."

The two looked at each other for a while, and Cam accepted that as the truth. The limo driver said he was staying at the school until someone got there (he needed to sign off that he got us here), so we left our luggage with him. We walked into town, and Cammie and Bex pointed out various locations. Since my first year had been at Blackthorne, I had never seen it before. We were in a small diner, thinking about grabbing something to eat before we started back to school. Someone coughed from behind us, and before we could even turn around, a male voice spoke.

"Hi Cammie."

(A/N: I'm sorry its shortish. I just liked the cliffy. I really do love you guys. Especially kas. Thank you for making me laugh at an insanely early hour of the morning. Tell your brother that long reviews are the best.)