Listen Between the Lines - A Gallagher Girls Story

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"They're definitely not telling us something," Alice concluded after I told her everything from the night before. 

"Something big," I confirmed.

"Maybe she really is an assassin," she said with a shrug, as if we encountered assassins every day (and honestly, one look at the security guards and you might not be so quick to rule out that possibility).  "But then again, it doesn't necessarily have to be something bad.  Maybe she's a war hero or something and she just doesn't have a lot of respect for the rules.  You know how Madame Baudin is about rules."

"Actually, I was holding out for circus performer turned con," I joked, but Alice just rolled her big blue eyes at me.  "I just think that Madame Baudin was way too worked up for it to be anything good."

"Well she can't be that horrible or else they wouldn't have hired her—they wouldn't hire her, right?"  I didn't answer, because to tell you the truth I wasn't sure.  "Or has your grandma been employing rouge KGB this whole time without telling anyone?"

"She's not rouge KGB," I dismissed, but then when I thought about it, I decided that we weren't exactly in a position to be dismissing anything.  "Is she?"

"That was the latest rumor at breakfast this morning," she informed me, sneaking a glance at Erin Cross.

At the mention of Erin, I realized that maybe the crowded hallways of the world's premier spy school wasn't the best place to be having this conversation.  You see, when you have my particular listening skillset, you can start to get a little paranoid.  You start to think that everyone is listening in on your private conversations and sometimes (especially when those conversations included intel on the school's most mysterious faculty member) you're right.

Usually, though, there would be something that gave away the eavesdroppers, like when they stood a bit too tall or when their ears got the best of them and they started to turn their head towards the conversation.  They weren't super obvious signs and they were probably easy to miss if a girl didn't know what she was looking for.  Thankfully, I did.

In that particular moment, I spotted three listeners.  The girl who was standing just a little too close behind us, the girl whose eyes occasionally darted our way, and Erin Cross, who looked entirely too busy for her own good.  She knew what I knew.  The busier you seem, the less likely someone is to suspect you're eavesdropping.  Except I knew the game she was playing and I wasn't going to let Erin Cross hear a single word from me.  "Later," I whispered to Alice.  "Someone's listening."

Our covert conversation had been forced to a halt, which meant the two of us walked down the hall without another word, our minds occupied by questions that we didn't have answers to.  The chatter continued around us, but we didn't hear a word of it.  I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed when we reached our destination and Alice had to tug on my sleeve to stop me.

Everyone knows where the entrance to the Sublevels is, but everyone also knows that you don't have access until you're in the tenth grade.  If you tried anything funny before then and you'd be stuck in the elevator, listening to a prerecorded lecture about the dangers of entering restricted areas and then when you came back up, you'd be greeted by the very unamused face of my grandmother and two whole months of detention.  You may be asking how I know all of this.  Well let's just say that last year, Alice and I had taken part in a rather intense game of truth or dare.

So maybe you can understand why this year, I felt a little bit of a jolt in my chest as our eyes were scanned and the large mirror in front of us slid away, revealing the sleek silver of the elevator.  When we stepped in, I half expected to find my grandmother over my shoulder and threatening to drag me away.  When I checked behind me, the only person I saw was Alice.