Dear Mad Dog,

As I write this, it's been forty-eight hours. I'm sure I'll lose all of my "cool dad" points by saying this, but what the hell. I miss you, kiddo. I miss you a whole lot. By the time you get this, you'll have finished your first week of school, and I'm sure you'll have forgotten all about me. The truth is, I always knew you belonged at Gallagher, but we were already living in Alaska by the time you were old enough to attend. I hope you're loving it.

Love,

Dad

Maddie had waited until she was finished with her homework to open the letter from her father, and she didn't regret that decision.

"From your dad?" Logan asked, studying her.

Maddie nodded. "My Dad knows how to keep a promise when he makes one," she said pointedly.

Logan returned to his textbook, looking chagrined. Casey bit back a soft giggle from her chair on the other side of the fireplace. At Casey's urging, they had moved their regular study space from the drafty library to the hearth in the common room, and Maddie wholly supported that decision. The sophomore common room was surprisingly unpopular, and they were rarely interrupted, except by the occasional girl looking for an opportunity to casually eyeball Logan.

Maddie fingered the edges of her father's letter, and considered whether writing back would make things better, or worse. How could she describe her first week at Gallagher without worrying him? If Michael Manchester so much as suspected that she was struggling, he would move heaven and earth to get to her, even if, at the end of the day, there was nothing to be gained by it. And if she wrote to him with anything less than the absolute truth, he would see straight through it, Maddie had no doubt. The only safe choice was to stay silent. The irony of it was almost too much.

But Maddie couldn't tell her father about the sleepwalking. She couldn't tell him that she'd slept in the P&E barn every night this week. She couldn't tell him that she was struggling with Farsi and just about every other subject area. That she strongly suspected she would never catch up to the other girls her age. She couldn't tell him that she had smuggled in her second-favorite hatchet, her second-favorite throwing knife, and her magnesium necklace in violation of the rules. Well ok, maybe she could have told him that.

Maddie glanced over at Logan, who was intently studying Casey's notes from Countries of the World. "You know, I could totally handle this," Logan said brightly. "I can't believe Headmistress Morgan won't let me go to any of the spy classes. I mean, I'm here, in a spy school. I spend all of my time with a bunch of women studying to become spies. I hear their conversations. I read their notes. How much more of a security risk would I be if I actually attended the classes?"

Maddie rolled her eyes, but Casey took Logan's side. "I mean, did she actually tell you you weren't allowed to go to spy classes?" Casey asked. "Or did she just decline to enroll you in them, and you interpreted that as a prohibition?"

Logan was silent for a moment. "You're right," he said, after considering it. "Technically she never said I couldn't go to spy classes. Just that I had to continue my online classes."

Casey shrugged. "Then come to Countries of the World with me tomorrow," she offered.

"Sweet!" Maddie rolled her eyes again, but no one noticed. The last thing Logan needed was a better knowledge base to pull from the next time he decided to do something incredibly stupid, like ditch his secret service detail or confront a Russian Crime Boss.

Maddie shook her head involuntarily, as if rattling her brain a little could scrub out the image of Logan on his knees, defenseless, before the most powerful criminal in Russia. Truth be told, Maddie was still a little mad about it. Logan had been an idiot, and he'd been incredibly lucky that she'd had six years of boredom and a lot of pent up hostility to work on her throwing skills.

"I think this is a bad idea," Maddie said firmly. "Headmistress Morgan is a very very intelligent woman, and if she wanted you to go to class with us, she would have arranged for you to do that."

Logan rolled his eyes. "Then it's probably good I'm not in the habit of doing what other people want."

Maddie shrugged. "Have it your way," she said coldly. "Just don't forget you're not the only person who ends up in harm's way as a result of your decisions." It was a low blow, and Maddie knew it, but she had a point to make, and she wasn't done yet. "You've already managed to get one secret service agent fired, and injured another three, all of whom could have died. Including my dad. Next time I might not be there to kill a man on your behalf."

Logan's face turned white at Maddie's words, which satisfied her a little.

"Ok," Casey said skeptically. "I think that's a little bit of an exaggeration of the consequences of going to class with us..."

But Maddie's hands were shaking and she couldn't stop it. And she didn't want anyone to see. So she stuffed her books into her bag, and took off down the hallway.

She could hear Logan's steps behind her, his voice calling her name, so she walked faster. She couldn't face Logan, not now.

Maddie speed-walked down the hallway, without paying any attention to where she was going. All she knew was that she couldn't be in the same room as Logan and Casey for one moment longer. Lost in thought, she descended two levels of the back staircase without thinking about it. She found herself in front of Gillian Gallagher's family tree tapestry, which had been painstakingly reproduced after the great fire, completely disoriented. She could hear Logan a flight up, following her, but she didn't want to be caught. Maddie silently cursed herself for her failure to develop a comprehensive mental map of the mansion. And then she saw it. A small portion of the alcove where no dust had collected. A portion where dust should have collected.

Maddie pushed against the wall with her shoulder. It didn't budge, but her instinct told her not to give up. Her fingers searched the wooden frame. A latch clicked, and the panel fell away from her, revealing a small, black hole. Maddie breathed a sigh of relief, slipped into the dark space, and pulled the panel closed behind her.

There was only darkness. As the silence settled around Maddie, she felt a giant weight lift from her shoulders. At last, for the first time in weeks, she was alone. She let the quiet wash over her, like water. Solitude. Silence. She hadn't realized how much she'd needed either until this moment.

Maddie took a deep breath of the musty air and pushed her way through the cobwebs and deeper into the tunnel. Silky strands of spider floss clung to her hair, but she paid them no mind. Maddie had never really been the kind of girl who was concerned about getting dirty, after all.

The further she crawled, the more at ease she felt. This was where she belonged, in the silence, alone. The passage grew taller, and Maddie stood. She wasn't really quite sure where she was, but the tunnel was dirt now, and less even. Maddie glanced over her shoulder for a half second, considering her options. And then she broke into a jog.

The tunnel stretched out in front of her, and Maddie found a sureness in the rhythm of her steps, the beating of her heart. She pushed further, embracing the feeling as her muscles tired, as her breaths began to quicken.

And then the tunnel opened before her, and there it was. The soft flickering glow of a streetlight somewhere in the distance. The gentle patter of rain. The outside.

Maddie stopped short as she reached the end of the tunnel. Maddie was out. Maddie was free.

She hadn't realized, until this very moment, just how much the Gallagher Academy had felt like a prison. But the mansion was probably 2.8 miles behind her, if she was estimating properly, and a world away. From here, Maddie had options. From here, Maddie could run.

Maddie stood in the icy rain for a few moments, allowing the water to drench her hair, to plaster her clothes against her body. In Alaska, if she'd done this, she would have frozen to death. Here, Maddie knew she could be back in the mansion, if she chose, dry and warm, in approximately 18 minutes. Maddie was definitely the kind of girl who could survive being cold and wet for 18 minutes.

The raindrops running down her face also hid the tears that ran alongside them, and even though there was no one around to see her, Maddie was grateful for that. What had happened to her? Maddie's hands began to shake again as the thought crossed her mind. She had killed someone, that was what.

Maddie heard the footsteps and spun, her hand reaching unconsciously for the hatchet in her boot before she recognized Logan jogging toward her, panting, from the tunnel.

Maddie squared her shoulders and drew herself up to her full height as he came to stand in front of her. She could barely even feel the rain on her face anymore. If Maddie was truly being honest, she hadn't felt much of anything since she left Alaska.

Logan stared at her, panting, and placed his hands on his knees. Maddie waited for him to speak first, but he didn't. He simply stared at her, waiting for answers Maddie swore she would never give. Logan could wait all day for all she cared.

Maddie turned her back to Logan and stared into the distance, as if to clarify her opinion on his presence. Logan didn't move for another three minutes, although Maddie noticed that he stayed back about four feet, so that he was still inside the edge of the tunnel.

Even over the rain, Maddie could hear Logan's resigned sigh.

"Maddie..."

Maddie spun on him. "What are you doing here?" she demanded. But even furious and damaged as she was, the pain in Logan's eyes stopped her short.

There was a desperation, a fear, that reached Maddie's core, that matched the feelings she had carried silently for weeks now.

"I'm so sorry," Logan started, but his voice cracked and trailed off. "For everything..."

And then Maddie found herself crossing the distance between them and embracing Logan as if pulled by a magnetic force. Her hands found their way into his hair as their lips met, and something changed in Logan at her touch. His hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her into him, then traveled over her sides, up her back. Maddie could feel the passion in his kiss, the hunger in his hands, like he'd been waiting a lifetime to have her in his arms again, instead of a week. Maddie's entire body burned under his fingers, but she had never felt more safe.

It was a few minutes before Maddie realized the wetness running down her face wasn't rain anymore. Maddie's tears dripped onto Logan's skin, and he immediately pulled away and held her at arm's length.

"That's not the reaction I usually get from girls when they kiss me," he said gently, and Maddie managed a small smile through her tears.

Logan pulled her back into his arms and rested his much taller head on top of hers.

"Oh Mad," he whispered into her hair. "You're really not ok, are you?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Maddie felt her body grow tired at the words. She'd been telling herself the same lie for weeks, but now that Logan had seen the truth, there was no going back.

"I killed someone," she said quietly.

"You also saved a lot of people, Mad," Logan said, stroking her hair. "Two secret service agents. Your dad. Stefan and his sister. Me. And everyone else the Wolf would have hurt or killed in the future."

"None of what happened was your fault, Mad," Logan continued. "Really, it was all mine. And I am so so sorry, Maddie."

Logan held her tight against him, and Maddie could feel in his touch that he would have given anything to go back and change what had happened. That if he could, he would have done it all differently. But nothing either of them did now would ever rewrite history.

"I killed someone, Logan," Maddie said again, and she felt her own body recoil at the words, at the truth of what she had done.

"I know, Mad," Logan said softly, stroking her hair.

Maddie's hands began to shake, and then her whole arms. She felt her body collapse against Logan's, but he held her tightly. And then the tears came for real. Full-on, ugly, heart-wrenching tears. Maddie would have been embarrassed if she'd had the presence of mind to think about it. Instead, she sank into Logan's embrace and allowed herself to be guided to the ground just inside entrance of the tunnel.

Maddie cried until there were no tears left to cry, and then she leaned her head against Logan's chest and closed her eyes. Logan kissed her forehead. They sat in silence for a while, before Maddie felt Logan stiffen beside her.

"We should get back to the mansion, Mad," he said uncharacteristically insistently, and he gently but firmly hauled Maddie to her feet before she could respond. "We're not supposed to be out here."

The whole situation felt off to Maddie, but she didn't argue as he took her hand and walked swiftly back down the tunnel through which they'd come. He didn't slow down for almost 12 minutes, until Maddie could tell they were back inside the walls of the mansion, and he looked back over his shoulder in the least covert manner possible for almost the entire walk.

A shiver ran down Maddie's spine as she realized that Logan had seen something in the woods that had scared him. And somehow Maddie had missed the whole thing.