CHAPTER NINE

"Are you sure that it's a good idea if you come along, Bailey?" Cody asked as we were setting up to get going later that night. All five of us were in the room that Zack and Cody used for themselves, talking and running over the plan again. I looked up at him, tearing my gaze from my mini notebook laptop and smiled as he nervously wrung his hands together. "I mean, you're probably going to get hurt and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that ever happened."

How cute.

"Cody, I'll be fine," I reassured him as best as I could. But deep down I was as scared as he was. What if something did go wrong? After seeing what these guys could do, I was really putting my life on the line here. Really, I didn't know if I was going to be fine. But I wanted to help my friends and I had to focus on putting them first before I worried too much about myself. "This plan is going to work."

"How can you be so sure about that?"

That threw me for a loop. It wasn't the way that he had asked it, but it was the look that was on his face. It wasn't the usual look that Cody gave me when he we were in a fake competition to see who got a better grade. It wasn't even the look that he got whenever we were talking about science or math. No, this look was far too serious to be Cody, and that made me think that maybe I shouldn't do this. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after al.

"Dude, don't psyche her out," Zack came over and placed a hand on Cody's shoulder so gently that I was surprised that this was the same Zack that always tormented his brother. But since they were twins, I guess they knew that they didn't mean what they said. "We want to know what's going on and she's probably the only one that can figure this out."

I felt a smile stretch across my face. "Well, thanks Zack, I-"

"That and the fact that without her we'd probably go mi much faster but not be as efficient." Zack continued, causing me to frown.

"Thanks, Zack." I mumbled as I rolled my eyes. "Ok, guys, I'm almost positive that this plan is going to work." I looked at my watched before tightly clutching my clipboard to my chest and looked over at Zack, Cody, Max, and Tapeworm, who were staring back at me, waiting. "We're still in Italy and if I'm not mistaken you guys said that along with your powers you were able to 'sense'" I used air-quotes around the word. "Whenever the…bad guys were around." I then turned to Max. "And your guardian is a dog and you guys said that you gain a little bit of your guardian." She nodded. "So that means that you'll be able to sniff them out."

"I never wanted to," Max scowled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But they just smell so fowl that you can't get it out of your nose."

"I'll take your word for it." Tapeworm agreed as he made a funny face, laughing a little. He looked over at Zack and Cody, expecting them to laugh I guess, but they were silent. That was only slightly surprising, but it's probably the fact that they were so used to this that they were serious each and every time.

"So, if you guys continue to follow my directions that I had planned out," I turned my clipboard around and quickly showed it to them again, taking a deep breath. "And everything will be fine!"

What was I thinking? There was no way that I could do this! I couldn't lead some kind of a revolution against people I don't really know and with things that I don't really understand. I mean, the only thing I understand without even having to try is math and science, and now science is showing me that everything can't be learned.

"Alright, so let's get out of here." Tapeworm stated as he rubbed his hands together, rolling his shoulders.

"How are you going to do that?" I asked as I furrowed my eyebrows together. "The whole Sky Deck is crowded and that's, pretty much the only way that you can get out of here…and we're kind of in a hurry."

"Don't worry," Zack snorted as he rolled his eyes. "You're forgetting that we've gotten out of places that were crowded before. And the only way that we can do that is with a diversion!" His eyes started to shine with mischief, letting me know that this was the same Zack that I've gotten to know. He can be serious, but in the end he'll always be himself.

"Zack is the one that likes to do the diversions," Cody corrected his brother as we started to follow him out of the small room. "I'm the one that likes to blend in to leave."

"But that doesn't sound as fun," I replied after a second of silence.

I have to admit, that even though I am really scared to know what's going to happen…I'm excited too…

A/N: Alright guys, the next chapter gets to the real point of the story, when all of the adventure starts. This chapter was shorter because I wanted you guys to get in anticipation for it and because I'm still working around my college schedule to get writing in. Bear with me, but I'm getting the hang of it. I hope you guys are still enjoying it.

-Riley