26.

The first thing you should know is that the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women doesn't train girls to jump over waterfalls. Nope, not at all. They don't even teach us to swim because swimming is something that every girl should learn at the age of five (or somewhere close to that age).

The second thing that you should know is that I did – in fact – learn to swim when I was three-years-old. My dad took me out to a deserted section of the lake one afternoon and taught me how to swim. After that, I loved swimming. And I was actually very good at it, even though I didn't really find time to do it when school was in session.

The third thing you should know is: It's scary. I was holding on to my grandpa's hand, but it was ripped away after a split second. The water was crashing down on us and the force ripped us apart. "Morgan!" I heard his voice call, but when I opened my mouth to reply, water entered and it gagged me. I fell down for what felt like an hour but what was actually only about seven or eight seconds. Spy training or not, I didn't count. I didn't want to count.

Hitting the water at the bottom felt like falling from the Empire State Building onto the street below. (Not that I'd know that for a fact or anything, but still.) My whole body hurt instantly, especially my head, and stars danced before my eyes. My mouth had slackened when I hit and water entered too fast, choking me.

Images danced before my eyes. Trey laughing. Rider and Josie. Archery exams at Gallagher. Training with my grandpa. The compass that he had made from the needle and that rock.

A strong hand grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the water. I could feel myself being pulled along, but I couldn't really do much besides cough up a bunch of water. My whole body was killing me, but the freezing water helped to numb the pain, at least.

The Circle…had they found out by now? Were people already on their way? Would they be able to find us? What would they do with us if they did? I had so many questions that I wanted answered, but I knew that no one could be sure of the answer.

I felt solid ground beneath me all of a sudden and a hand on my wrist, steady fingers feeling my pulse. And then, a voice said, "Can you hear me, Morgan?"

I nodded, but the motion hurt my head and I winced.

"Easy, baby girl" the voice said and it sounded like whoever was talking was using a voice changer. It was strange. "Is anything broken?"

I didn't know, to be totally honest about it. All of me hurt. The pain wasn't centralized anywhere, though, so I figured that nothing was too badly injured. "No," I managed to get out and then I began choking up water again.

Arms helped me sit up and I coughed the water back onto the ground. There was the sound of something in the water and another voice said, "Who are you?"

"Are they coming?" The first voice said as whoever it was put something in my mouth. I swallowed and felt instant relief, though I still hurt. The stars quit dancing and began to go away, but everything was still dark.

"Not yet. Who are you?"

"Zach Goode," the voice said. "I'm her father."

"You're married to my daughter…"

"You're Cammie's father?"

And then everything came into focus and I could see my dad, looking at my grandpa, who had just pulled himself out of the water. They were staring at each other, looking bewildered. "Daddy?"

My father turned and knelt beside me, feeling my head. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "We need to get out of here," I said in a groggy voice.

He nodded and pulled me to my feet. "Come on, let's go."

My grandpa got on my other side and they helped me along for a while before I decided I could do it myself. My dad looked unsure, but I managed to assure him and we took off again, going a little faster. My grandpa filled my dad in on everything and I just walked, not really listening.

I wanted, of course, to ask if he knew anything about Trey. Obviously he would if he had known to come after me. But, then again, I didn't want to know the answer. Because what if Trey was dead? What would I do then? But what if he was alive? Was it worth taking the risk?

"To the right," my dad said. "We'll cut across here. My vehicle is about two miles away."

Two miles seemed like forever. Far too long. I mean, sure, I had run two miles before. Lots and lots of times before. In fact, it was two miles to the town of Roseville from Gallagher, and usually I chose to jog there whenever we got to go into town. Two miles normally wasn't even a workout for me. Now five miles, completely different story. But, I felt like I'd been beat with a bag of bricks and needless to say, I didn't feel like going two miles, whether we were going to run or just walk.

After about a mile, a guy jumped out with a gun pointed right at us. As my dad was moving to step in front of me, someone else jumped out from behind the guy and kicked him. Then, the guy with the gun was knocked out cold with another kick.

"I thought I told you to stay by the car?" My dad said, though he sounded grateful.

The rescuer looked up and I saw Trey's bright smile as he said, "I don't take orders well."

"Trey!" I ran into his arms, not caring that my body was hurting.

"You two can make out later," my dad snapped. "We need to move."

And then, Trey grabbed my hand and helped me through the last mile and into the waiting van.