Soundtrack:
Spies - Coldplay
Chapter 2: The Mall
"So what could White Oak be?" Elena asked as she popped open her laptop.
"Is it a mission? Maybe they were discussing a mission," Kat offered.
Caroline and Bonnie looked at each other, going through a quick mental checklist of every textbook (and off record) operation they had studied.
"No," they said in unison.
"Could it be a place? Maybe it's a home for retired CIA agents," Kat shrugged, casually leaning against the wall, but then quickly pushing herself off and doing her best to dust off the back of her shirt.
The four girls were in the senior common room- or rather, behind a bookshelf in the senior common room. Every other girl on the senior floor was probably enjoying the last homework free night they would get in a very long time. Caroline had heard rumors of a Vampire Diaries marathon being hosted in Anna's room.
"Haha, focus Kat," Elena said.
"I was offering a valid idea, Elena," the other brunette snapped back.
"Alright so it's not an operation, it's not a retirement home for CIA agents," Bonnie listed, holding up a finger for each option.
"It is a type of tree, though," Elena said from where she sat. "According to the Mystic Falls Historical Society, the Wikery Bridge, due for reconstruction in a couple of months, is made out of white oak wood, gathered from a single white oak tree that once stood at the center of town."
"I highly doubt they were talking about a tree Elena," Kat interjected smugly.
"I was offering a valid idea, Katerina," Elena spat back, narrowing her eyes.
"Maybe it's not an it, but a who," Bonnie said, serving as a buffer once again. "I mean, it sounded like they were talking about someone, right, Care?"
Caroline thought back to the conversation she had heard between her mother and Mr. Saltzman hours before.
"When will they be arriving?" She asked.
"I'm not sure. Right now the exact date is pending," Alaric said and her mother nodded.
Silence filled the room then and Caroline watched as my mom looked through the file once again, focusing on one sheet of paper.
"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" She asked
"Liz, they need our help," Alaric responded.
"I know but," She paused. "Is it right for us?" Another few seconds of silence filled the room before Alaric answered.
"I don't know."
"Yeah they sounded like they were talking about someone- or rather, a group of people." Caroline nodded as she spoke, mentally going over the conversation a couple of times.
"So it's not a thing, it's like a group?" Elena confirmed.
"Maybe," Caroline said with a shrug. She knew that would drive Elena crazy because she liked everything to be one-hundred percent certain with cross references.
But Caroline couldn't give a concrete answer. They were going off fragments of a conversation and assumptions.
"Convention centers, plantations, vineyards- I really don't see anything out of the ordinary here," Elena said. Her eyes were flickering around the screen, surely memorizing all of the information she was reading. "I could hack into a more private database, but that would take some time."
"Elena," Caroline started.
"What? We have nothing to go off of. If it's so covert, we could probably find it in a more covert database."
"Exactly, and if they catch you snooping around they'll know we're looking, and we shouldn't be." Caroline stood up, dusting off her jeans. "Maybe we should just leave it alone," she said.
"Leave it alone? Whatever or whoever white oak is has caused some major remodeling here," Bonnie said. "And when was the last time Mystic falls Academy remodeled?" The question was rhetorical because Bonnie knew that Caroline knew the answer by heart. (1976, when they added a new sublevel to the Covert Operations sector).
"Whatever or whoever white oak is also caused my mother to look me in the eyes and lie to my face," Caroline spat back.
Last year, she would have jumped at the chance to find out exactly what white oak was, using any means necessary. But after Tyler and all the things she had to go through over the summer, she learned that some things are better left alone. That when missions are over, they are documented, filed and put away in a box where no one would remember them, except for those who were there, the operatives carrying out said mission.
"Care," Bonnie started.
"No, Bon. Not this one," Caroline said with such finality in her voice that Elena shut her laptop, Kat helped her up from the ground, and they all left the secret room behind the bookshelf without another word.
"Alright, let me see your walks!" Madame Sommers said as she arrived to class.
Madame Sommers, in her late twenties, had red hair and pale skin. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant updo that left her long neck exposed. She wore a dressy white blouse and a pale pink pencil skirt, a pair of nude heels pulled the look together. She was always impeccably dressed, always smelled like cherry blossoms, and was always on time.
So when she stepped up to the door of the Southern wing tea room, a pair of keys jingling in her hand, Caroline turned to her friends with a frown- the most punctual teacher in the entire academy was thirty-two seconds late.
They all just shrugged, shaking the detail off.
Madame Sommers finally managed to push the doors open. All the girls that had been waiting outside filed into one straight line in front of the door, awaiting orders.
"And, go!" Madame Sommers clapped twice and the girl at the front of the line began the procession.
Caroline swayed her hips slightly, placing one foot in front of the other as she walked. She kept her shoulders back and her chin up, relaxing her features into one of graceful pleasantry.
Culture and Assimilation had always had always been one of her favorite classes, and one she excelled at with hardly any effort. She was good at grace and gala, good a blending into a crowd.
As she walked into the room, she found an empty seat and sat down. Bonnie, Kat and Elena followed soon after.
She crossed her ankles and placed her folded hands on her lap, just like the other twenty three girls in the room.
"Very good, very good. I see you've all managed to maintain some level of poise after your summer break." She set her keys and purse down on her desk and began walking around the room, inspecting everyone's posture as she walked.
"Now, I would like to go over some basic material that will set most of the groundwork for the rest of the year," she paused. "April, honey, don't forget to breathe," she said and Caroline heard a loud exhale coming from the table where she had stopped.
"Anyways, a gala requires one to…" Madame Sommers started and Caroline tuned out. She knew what the attire, etiquette, and proper mannerism was when attending a gala.
What she didn't know was what the hell white oak was. Sure she had told Bonnie, Kat and Elena to leave it alone, but that didn't mean she couldn't think about it. It was hard not to think about it.
A knock on the door pulled her from her thoughts.
"Yes, Mr. Saltzman?" Madame Sommers said and Caroline turned to look at the man standing at the door. It was a little hard to look at him, knowing that he knew something she didn't, knowing that he was keeping a secret.
Spies always kept secrets, Caroline knew that. But for some reason, knowing exactly what secret they were keeping changed the situation.
"Sorry to interrupt, Jenna, but-" He looked away from Madame Sommers to point at the twelve girls in the class who were on the CoveOps track.
"Pop quiz."
Caroline pulled her dark blue cardigan over her white blouse as she bounded down the stairs and met the rest of the class in the front parlor. She unconsciously looked toward the East wing, which was of course still locked up. She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts, and focused on the task at hand.
She hadn't exactly slept the night before. She hadn't really eaten breakfast that morning. It was probably the worst time for a CoveOps assignment.
But when she reached the first floor landing, the entrance's door opened. Everyone looked up to see Mr. Saltzman, standing with his hands behind his back, something large emerging from the field behind him.
"Mr. Saltzman?" Megan asked. "What's that?" She pointed at the large black machine appearing behind him.
There was what looked like a helicopter emerging from what looked like an opening at the center of the field. Twin blades rose steadily from the hole in the ground, the sunlight bounced off the sleek black body of the aircraft.
Mr. Saltzman casually looked over his shoulder and then turned back to look at the wide eyed girls.
"That," he pointed over his shoulder. "Is our ride."
When Caroline was five, her mother had taken her to the Mystic Falls Academy for the first time. She's had thought it was the biggest building in the world. But as the helicopter lifted off and Caroline looked out the window, the school started to look smaller and smaller.
They flew low over the woods, almost touching the tops of the highest pines. Caroline thought about everything she had learned in the past five years at the academy- chemistry, biology, even calligraphy. But helicopters were totally new territory. Would there be jumping? Repelling? (Hello, their uniforms had skirts!)
On top of all her internal conflict, it didn't help that Alaric came out of the front cabin holding twelve blindfolds in his hand.
"I'm afraid this isn't a sightseeing tour," Mr Saltzman said as he cinched the bands over each girls' eyes. "If I were you, I'd get comfortable. We're going to be up here for a while."
It turns out that "a while" was exactly forty seven minutes and forty two seconds, because that was how long it was until Caroline felt the helicopter's quick descent. During this time, Mr. Saltzman had warned "No peeking, Ms. Young" twice but other than that and Kat's snoring, there wasn't a single sound on their mysterious ride.
Caroline had no idea how fast they had been going, or in what direction. All Caroline knew was that they had been in the air for almost forty-eight minutes and she really had to go to the bathroom.
The helicopter touched down, the doors slid open and someone guided Caroline out onto concrete and into a waiting van. Soon they were off again, destination still unknown.
Caroline could smell Kat's expensive, limited edition Gucci perfume, and drew some comfort from the familiar scent.
"Blindfolds off," Mr. Saltzman said.
Caroline reached back and pulled at the knot that kept the black band secured around her eyes. She squinted, trying to adjust to the light, the situation, and most of all, the sight of eleven other teenage girls with very questionable hair.
The van was filled with static electricity. Elena's usually pin straight hair was standing on all ends and sticking out in every direction. But Caroline didn't look at Kat's unruly curls or Bonnie trying to fix her fringe, she was more interested in the state of the art equipment that lined the windowless walls. Gadgets two generations better than anything they had ever had at their fingertips. Caroline didn't need Alaric Saltzman to say "Today we are playing with the pros, ladies," to know it was true.
Alaric turned to Elena. "Counter surveillance has two functions, Ms. Gilbert. Name them."
"Detect and evade surveillance procedures," Elena said automatically, reciting a line straight out of page twenty-nine of A Covert Operative's Guide to Surveillance Countermeasures.
"That's right," he said. He then turned his attention to the screens that filled the walls of the van. "It's a big world, ladies, but that doesn't make it easier to hide. Remember that as a Covert Operative, you have to be looking over your shoulder for the rest lives."
It was a crude way to put it, but true none the less.
"Counter surveillance isn't something you learn from a book- it isn't about theory. It's about the prickly feeling on the back of your neck, the voice in your head telling you something is not right." The van stopped.
"Last year, some of you proved that you are pretty good at not being seen when you don't want to be." He paused, his gaze resting on Caroline. "Today you go from being tailers, to tailees. And ladies- this is much harder."
There was a moment of silence while everyone let his words sink in, knowing that there was more to come.
"Split up into teams of two, and remember I don't know exactly how many operative are out there waiting today, but if they are good-and you should assume they are very, very good- then it will take every trick you know, every ounce of luck you can muster to identify them and make it to this location before five o'clock." He pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket and placed it in Elena's hands.
He eased toward the back doors of the van. "Oh, and ladies- surveillance might help you do your job, but counter surveillance is what keeps you alive." With that last shred of wisdom, the doors swung open, bright light streaming inside. Every girl in the van shielded their eyes and by the time they heard the clank of the heavy metal doors, Alaric was gone.
Twelve pairs of eyes shifted back and forth before Bonnie spoke up.
"Do it, Care," she said.
Caroline got up and made her way to the back of the van, opening one of the doors enough so that she could see outside. "It's a mall," she said.
"Cool," Kat said from her spot in the van. Caroline pulled away from the door, looking at the rest of the girls.
"Not that kind of mall," she said, throwing the door open.
They crawled, one by one, out of the back of the van and stood staring at the grassy promenade that ran between the Washington Monument and the United States Capitol, the heart of Washington, D.C.
A man in a jogging suit stretched his hamstring on a park bench before taking off on a jog. A long line of women wearing matching shirts that read "Louiseville Ladies take D.C." milled in front of a metro stop.
Caroline took it all in, letting a slow smile settle on her lips. She shook her head. "Mr. Saltzman, you are good," she muttered.
Alaric had always said that surveillance was all about home court advantage, and that the more limited the location's access to the public, the easier it would be to see someone who didn't belong.
But that day, Alaric Saltzman had brought them to the place where tourists converge from all over the world, a place home to everyone from panhandlers to politicians.
"We're being watched," Megan said.
"By friends of Mr. Saltzman," April added.
"And they could be," Anna started.
"Anyone," Kat finished for her.
Elena began to tear open the envelope Alaric had given her.
"What does it say?" Bonnie asked.
Elena turned the folded brochure around and pointed at the picture of a pair of tiny red slippers, a message scrawled across it.
There's no place like home.
5:00
Caroline looked over at the National Museum of American History. It didn't look that far away. But as an operative, she knew that getting to the slipper exhibit, tail free and on time, would not be easy.
"Flip," Kat said about an hour later. Caroline nodded and the two girls turned on their heels and started back in the opposite direction.
The guy in the red baseball cap that had been following them since the National Gallery of Art kept walking as if he didn't care that the two girls in front of him had just done a total about face. And maybe he didn't care, or maybe another operative from his team had just rotated into position.
There was no way to know. So they kept walking.
"We could be clear," Kat said, sounding wishful.
"Or there might be a team of twenty CIA agents out here, and we're just not good enough to see them," Caroline said.
She wasn't looking at her, but she could just feel Katerina rolling her eyes.
"Yeah," Kat said. "There's that, too."
Caroline had always prided herself at being good at blending into the shadows, being a pavement artist. Seeing the shadows, it turns out, was much easier said than done.
"I can't believe I haven't seen anyone," Caroline said, frustrated.
"Look on the bright side, Care," Kat said, her Bulgarian accent as thick as ever. She sat down on a bench, crossing her legs and throwing her arms over the back.
To anyone passing by, she probably looked rather beautiful and foreign, and nothing like an operative memorizing everyone's face within a thirty foot radius.
"We could be in ancient languages right now," she said, which was a very good point. "We could be taking hits with Fell," she listed off. "And here, the view is infinitely better." She smirked.
Caroline sat down, pulling off her cardigan and tying it around her waist, crossing her legs and swinging them slightly. She was about to say something when she caught sight of the two boys sitting on a bench thirty feet away from them. Suddenly, Kat's statement made so much more sense.
"Dibs on the one with the slacks."
"Kat," Caroline started.
"Come on," she said, getting ready to stand up. She fluffed her curls slightly. "Let's go talk to them."
"Kat, we have a mission," Caroline said, glancing at the two guys on the bench. At that exact moment, the one wearing a dark Henley looked over, catching her eye. She met his gaze, unable to look away for what felt like forever but was only a couple of seconds.
She blinked quickly, shaking her head slightly and turning back to her friend who had a small, knowing smile on her lips.
"It's called multitasking, Care."
"No, Kat. Talking to civilian boys during a CoveOps exercise is a bad idea. Trust me," she pointed at herself. "I would know."
"You aren't over it, are you?" Kat said, tilting her head.
"Over what?"
"Tyler." She said, raising her perfectly manicured eyebrows. Caroline had never been on the receiving end of Katerina's attitude, but getting a glimpse of it just proved her point that it wasn't a very side good to be on.
"Of course I'm over him," Caroline said, rolling her eyes. She stood up, but Kat stayed on the bench, looking at her skeptically.
"Seriously, Kat!" She scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away annoyed.
At that moment, Katerina Petrova could have chosen to argue the point some more. But at that exact moment, Katerina and Caroline's eyes both landed on a women in a pinstriped suit, twenty feet away from them, talking on the phone. There was nothing unusual about her- not her hair, not her face. Nothing except for the fact that fifteen minutes before, she had been wearing a Washington D.C. sweatshirt and pushing a baby stroller.
"Kat," Caroline said as calmly as possible.
"Yeah, I see her," she replied.
The thing about detecting and losing a tail that every operative had to keep in mind- you need to cover half a city. To do it right, you'd have to climb in and out of cabs, weave in between crowds, squeeze into tight spaces. You'd take all day.
But we didn't have all day.
So that's why Caroline and Katerina tried their best to play off the fact that they had just detected a tail, and pretended as though they had just forgotten something and began walking into the nearest museum, only to exit it no more than five minutes later.
They spent the next hour going in and out of museums, up escalators, down elevators, stalling at points to tie their shoes (even though they were already tied).
They cleared corners, alternated their pace, made abrupt stops and nonsensical turns- everything they had ever learned.
Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to another hour- time was running out.
"Elena?" Caroline said through their comms unit, as a last resort. "How are you and Bonnie?" Silence. "Anna? Megan? April? Is anyone there?"
Caroline looked at Kat next to her, both girls sharing a worried glance. They both began to cut through the mall, hoping that luck was on their side and that there would be no one on their tail.
"Forty-two minutes," Caroline said, but she didn't need to. Katerina already knew.
They passed by a glass door that opened just in time for Caroline to catch a glimpse of the man walking too fast behind them.
A crowd of girls filled the sidewalk in front of them and started down the steep escalator to the Metro station below. Caroline and Kat didn't hesitate and jogged the short distance between them and the crowd, inserting themselves smoothly.
Most of the girls wore white blouses like Caroline and Kat, so they blended in well.
"I love that scarf!" Caroline said to the other blonde next to her, because, while most girls were on to the whole strangers-with-candy thing, the strangers-with-compliments strategy was still remarkably effective.
"Thanks!" The girl said with a bright smile before turning back to her friend. "Are they back there?"
Her friend, who had raven-black hair, turned and looked up the escalator.
"They are so following us!" She squealed.
Caroline and Katerina both stood stock still, about to check their tail when the blonde girl leaned in.
"Those two hot guys have totally been checking us out," she said excitedly.
"Oh, really?" Kat said and both she and Caroline took that as an opportunity to look behind them. Sure enough, the red-baseball-cap guy from before was back, this time dressed as a navy lieutenant. And then a few steps behind him were the two guys from the bench.
Caroline and Katerina turned around again and smiled at the two girls. When they turned to talk to one another again, Caroline and Kat looked at each other, trading glances because the two girls didn't know how lucky they were.
Cute boys were on their tail, and maybe they thought they were being covert and cool, but all that really mattered was that once they got home they would have a story to tell. And it wouldn't be classified.
The escalator then entered the cavernous room, and the train was already in the station.
"Let's run and get it!" Kat screamed, her accent changing from Bulgarian to American in record time.
Everyone was off, racing to the bottom of the escalator, and dashing to the end of the train. Girls piled inside and red-baseball-cap-slash-navy-lieutenant guy jumped forward, making it onto the last car just as the train began to pull out of the station and away from where Caroline and Kat stood under the escalator.
Caroline watched as the man on the train pressed himself against the glass as the train disappeared into the tunnel.
She smiled at Kat who smiled back.
They were clear.
But as any good operative knows, the conditions out on the field shift in the blink of an eye.
Overconfidence is a spy's worst enemy, so to be sure, Caroline and Kat split up to leave the Metro station. Caroline stayed in the shadows and watched as Katerina ascended the escalator, and then waited long enough to be certain that no one was following her. Then she headed for the elevators, her internal clock telling her that there were only twenty minutes left.
As she reached to press the button, another hand beat her to it.
"Hello," the boy from the park bench- the one with the Henley- said. Caroline unconsciously looked him over, committing his features to memory.
He had full raspberry lips and sandy curls, blue eyes and an accent that should be made illegal in the United States.
"Hi," Caroline replied and offered a tight lipped smile. She looked back at the elevator doors and pressed the button a couple more times, hoping that would bring the elevator down quicker.
A couple of seconds later, the metal doors slid open and Caroline stepped inside, the boy following close behind her and Caroline rolled her eyes- without him looking, of course- because she had kind of been hoping that he wouldn't get on, which in hindsight was a ridiculous notion.
And the Metro station was forever and a day underground, so the ride up would be forever and a day long.
The doors slid closed and Caroline clasped her hands in front of her. She watched from the corner of her eyes as Henley boy leaned against the wall and crossed his ankles, crossing his arms over his chest as well.
"So," he started. "The Mystic Falls Academy," he said, pointing at the emblem on Caroline's blouse.
She looked down at it. "Yeah," she responded, not really encouraging small talk but the guy was persistent.
"Never heard of it," he said.
"Small town," Caroline offered simply.
She could hear the whirling of the gears as the elevator continued to ascend, but she felt like it was going at snail's pace. The seconds began to slow and Caroline began to wonder exactly what would happen if she didn't make it to the rendezvous on time.
What if everyone was already there and she was the only one missing?
"Do you need to be somewhere, love?" His voice drew her back to the present and she looked at him, slightly taken aback by the question and the term of endearment.
"Huh?"
"You're fidgeting a lot," he said, glancing down at her hands which she had been wringing and relaxing since they had stepped into the elevator.
"Sorry, I have low blood pressure," she said, quirking her lips into a small apologetic smile.
"Would you like me to get you something when we get to the top?"
"Oh, um," she said flattered by the offer. Maybe she would have taken him up on it- if she was a different girl, in that elevator for a different reason.
But she was Caroline Forbes, daughter of Elizabeth and William Forbes, student at the Mystic Falls Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a senior CoveOps student who was currently in the middle of an assignment.
So that's why she said "No, that's okay. Thanks, though."
"Okay," he said, nodding once. "So where are you going?"
Damn it, Caroling thought. She thought she had evaded that question.
"Just to the ruby slipper exhibit," she shrugged casually. "I have to be there in twenty minutes or else my teacher will kill me." Not literally, she hoped.
"How do you know?"
Caroline frowned, answering his obscure question slower than she had answered the others. "Because he said to meet him at the slipper exhibit…" she trailed off.
The boy smirked, closing his eyes while he shook his head.
"No, I meant how do you know you have to be there in twenty minutes? You aren't wearing a watch."
"Oh," Caroline said, unconsciously rubbing her left wrist. "My friend just told me," she said, the lie slipping easily from her lips.
"Oh," he said.
"Yeah," Caroline replied, nodding her head and pursing her lips.
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open and Caroline threw a smile back at the stranger before stepping out.
Because that was all he really was- a stranger. A boy she met in D.C. and he would stay in D.C. and she would get to the slipper exhibit, click her heels and go back home to the Academy.
But as she took a couple of steps forward, she heard his steps right behind her.
"What are you doing?" She said, spinning on her heel and facing the boy behind her.
"I thought we were going to meet your teacher at the Wonderful World of Oz," he added the last part with a smirk.
"We?"
"Sure, I'm going with you."
"No, you're not."
"Look," he started, a hint of confidence in his tone. "It's dark, you're by yourself, and you've only got fifteen minutes to meet your teacher." He was only off by about a minute and a half.
"And I just happen to be a nice young man willing to get you there on time." His hands were clasped behind his back and he leaned forward slightly, not enough to make Caroline feel uncomfortable, but enough to give her a whiff of his cologne.
He smelled good.
"Fine," Caroline said finally, turning on her heel again and beginning to walk.
She made about seven different excuses in her head as to why she had agreed, the ones that most made sense to her being; A) Arguing with him would have wasted more time than just agreeing with him, and B) He was cover.
No tail would expect her to be with a boy. At least, she hoped they didn't.
"You're quick," he said about a minute later. His long strides matched hers and he had no trouble keeping up, but she knew what he meant. She didn't answer.
"So, do you have a name, sweetheart?"
"Sure, lots of 'em," Caroline answered without hesitation. She thought of all the covers she had had in her lie. She thought about how she had been Candice Accola for almost a year.
She spared a glance at the boy when she heard him chuckle, another smirk spread across his lips.
He probably thought she was being cute and flirty. She wasn't.
She was hungry, thirsty, tired and cold. Her feet were probably swollen from all the walking (boating shoes are not meant for counter surveillance) and she would probably catch a cold if she didn't do something about it soon.
All she wanted to do was go home, not have to put up with a boy that thought she was a normal teenage girly-girl in need of assistance.
"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked.
Caroline rolled her eyes and scoffed, stopping abruptly.
"Look, thanks for the chivalry and all, but I kind of have to get going," she said, pointing over her shoulder to where the Museum of American History was, only twenty yards away. "It's right over there and there's a guard over there."
"What?" He nodded toward the officer standing on a street corner. "You think that guy could do a better job of protecting you than I can?" He sounded offended.
"No, I think that if you don't leave me alone, I can yell and that cop will come over and arrest you."
The boy looked back at Caroline, his eyes capturing hers like they had earlier that afternoon as they both sat on park benches, thirty feet away from each other.
He smirked, putting his hands up in surrender and taking a step back. He took a couple more steps back and was turning to leave.
Caroline suddenly felt a little guilty because, well, he had been a gentleman. He had tried to be her night in shining armor, but she wasn't the kind of girl that needed saving.
"Hey," she called out and he turned to look back at her. "Thanks anyway."
His lips turned up and he nodded, then turned and began walking away again.
Caroline wasted no time as she too turned and sped to the building behind her.
She pushed open the doors and quickly slipped into the nearest hallway, stopping and waiting about ninety seconds to make sure no one had followed her. She looked around the corner but there was no one in sight.
Caroline made her way out of the hallway and picked up a visitor's brochure, quickly skimming it and locating the place where the slippers exhibit would be.
She disposed of the brochure in a nearby wastebasket, looking behind her one last time before taking off into a sprint.
She took the stairs, two at a time, until she arrived at the far end of the floor where the ruby red slippers were displayed. Her internal clock struck five as she walked toward the case where the tiny slippers were held.
There was no sign of Alaric or any other one of her classmates.
"You're four seconds late," Alaric's voice sounded from behind her. Caroline spun around.
"But I'm alone."
"No, Ms. Forbes. You are not."
Caroline frowned and watched as someone emerged from the shadows behind Mr. Saltzman.
He looked at her.
He smirked.
And said, "Hello again, love."
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I got the whole D.C. scene from Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (the second book in the Gallagher Girls Series by Ally Carter).
Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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