Just so nobody gets confused, this chapter and the following will be set BEFORE the first chapter. (: Enjoy! Reviews are very welcome! Again- I don't own Gallagher Girls! Its short but I wanted to get another chapter up.

The marketplace was extremely crowded for so early in the afternoon. Too crowded.

"Back off, Duchess." Cammie spoke into the comms unit that was implanted in her necklace. "I don't think he's alone. We'll have to wait to make the grab."

She watched Bex from her hotel room window, her binoculars trailing her while Zach peered out the window next to her, scanning the street for possible threats. Cammie watched her gothic-clad best friend continue down the path, flipping open her cell phone and reaching up to play with the hoop ring in her nose. She wasn't heading the other way, she was still making her way to the mark.

"Duchess," Cammie growled. "I said to back off."

Bex kept going, her hips swinging from side to side as she stared down at her phone. It was when she wasn't paying attention (or that's what an ordinary person would have assumed) that she collided with a boy. Her phone skidded across the pavement and she turned to the boy, furiously shouting at him to next time watch where he was going, even though she had been the one to hit him. Bex then retrieved her phone and continued down the street.

Before Bex rounded the corner she glanced directly up at Cammie and gave her a wink. Cam couldn't help but smile, her best friend was nothing if not determined.

Preston Winters had been on a crazy scavenger hunt for over an hour now. After he had arrived home from the marketplace he tossed the contents of his jacket pocket on the bed and took a shower.

It wasn't until he went to drop down onto his bed to relax that he saw the origami horse lying under his keys. He frowned and retrieved it, turning it over in his hands. He took the time to carefully undo the paper horse and stared in confusion at the words written inside.

It didn't take Preston long to realize who this might be from and then he was up, pulling on his jacket as he rushed outside. It only took ten minutes on foot to reach the harbor nearby but he realized in disappointment that nobody was there waiting for him.

He shoved his hands deep into his jacket pocket to fight off the bite of the cold wind and froze when his fingers brushed up against something. He slowly pulled another origami item out of his pocket and stared down at a small flower that he knew hadn't been there when he had left the house.

Unfolding it, this time not as carefully, he found another set of instructions inside. Preston shook his head in confusion and stuck the paper back into his pocket before he set out again, this time ending up at a phone booth. An origami swan waited for him on top of the phone and he smiled as he opened it, shaking his head. This was a strange way to spend his afternoon.

The park was his final location and he must have waited there for thirty minutes, circling the bench mentioned in the note and checking all of his pockets every few seconds for another note but there was nothing. After another thirty minutes of nothing he headed back home, maybe this was just some kids playing a joke on him and not Macey McHenry trying to get in touch with him. This was stupid, if it was Macey then why would she go through the trouble of planting all these origami animals? Besides, she was back stateside at school.

Preston stopped outside his door and fished out his set of keys. One second he was standing there about to unlock the door and the next second he was being pulled up through the air, a hand planted firmly over his mouth. His world was spinning and he felt nauseous, he had never done well on fair rides and whatever had just happened was worse because he hadn't been expecting it. He landed on the roof of the building next door and fell to his knees, looking up to see the gothic girl from earlier smile down at him before he blacked out.

"You were suppose to grab him and bring him here, not knock him out!"

A loud laugh. "I didn't! He fainted."

Preston groaned and put a hand to his head, rubbing a sore spot before opening his eyes. Macey sat next to him on the bed and at the sound of his groan she turned from the goth girl and rested her eyes on him, giving him a soft smile. "Hi Preston."

"What is going on?" he mumbled, sitting up. All of Macey's friends were here: Cammie, Bex (who was wiping off her dark makeup), Zach, and Liz. "Why aren't you at school?"

"We came to save you." The small girl, Liz, blurted out and then instantly got glares from the others. "Well…we have to tell him!"

Bex rolled her eyes and turned back to Preston, "I'm just going to be blunt here. To make a long story short we have the list and it turns out that your dad is a part of the people who kidnapped Cammie and tried to kill her."

"Bex!" Macey hissed, her eyes searching Preston's face.

Everyone in the room grew quiet until Preston started laughing. Really laughing, like clutching-my-stomach-because-its-about-to-burst laughing. "You can't be serious!"

Bex cracked her knuckles loudly, "Oh, we are."

Preston shook his head, "This is insane. You're talking about my dad. Don't you think I would know if he belonged to the Circle?"

"Well seeing as it's suppose to be a secret, no you wouldn't know." Bex told him.

He turned to Cammie, his eyes pleading. "He helped you at the bank! He helped you!"

"I'm sorry Preston, but he wasn't helping me." She explained. "He was trying to lead me to them."

Preston sat there for a moment, his jaw clenched tightly in anger. Finally he shook his head and stood, "This is insane, my dad isn't a bad person. I'll prove it."

Zach crossed his arms as he watched Preston disappear out the door, "Well that was a waste of time."

Cammie sank down onto the bed, "Guys…"

"Should we go stop him and bring him back?" Liz asked.

"Guys…we never told him the name." Cammie said, louder this time.

"What are you talking about, Gallagher Girl?"

The Circle of Cavan. Preston said 'Don't you think I would know if he belonged to the Circle?' but we never told him the name."

Macey took a sharp breath and excused herself from the room.

"What do we do now?" Liz asked quietly.

"We leave. Now." Bex said, "Before he gets his friends."

OK, I really can't remember whether Preston knows about the Circle or not. I know he knows Cammie is a spy and all that but I'm too lazy to go pull out my book and search. So let's just pretend he knows the basics but not anything about COC ok? Sorry if so, don't yell at me lol but do let me know!