Barking Up the Wrong Lead - A Gallagher Girls Story

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

THINGS YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY EXPECT IF YOU EVER PLAN ON BEFRIENDING WILLIAM KIDD AND WILLIAM KASEY

(A List by Morgan Goode)

- Bickering.  Seriously, if you can’t handle bickering, don’t even bother.

- Your pudding cup will be stolen.  Every time you eat a meal with them.  I promise.

- Elaborate, superspy games of keep-away.  Usually with your pudding cup.

- Two people willing to bend over backwards for you (sometimes literally).

- A continuous, looming concern for your safety.

- At least once every week, either Will or Bill will grab onto your wrist and pull you to some unknown location, very enthusiastically and usually very, very loudly.

“C’mon, Cap,” Bill urged, dragging me towards the training room.  Will was already at the other end of the hallway, looking in on Hughes’ gym like a kid looking downstairs on Christmas morning.  I started to trip over my own two feet as Bill ran to join his best friend.

The room was ablaze.  Literally.  Fire was everywhere, spinning and shooting and flying all over the place.  A boy with short red hair shot a flaming arrow at a target on the wall opposite him.  Two tall boys were playing catch with an actual ball of fire—gloveless—as if it were a game of very, very hot potato.  Behind me, Collins was spinning huge, flaming chains to the beat of the workout mix blasting over the room’s speakers.  I couldn’t ignore the distinct smell of singed hair that curled in the air around me.

“Sir!” Will called, breaking me from the hypnotic effects of spinning flame. 

My eyes followed Will as he ran to Mr. Hughes.  He was standing cross armed on the other side of the training room looking eerily like Charlotte Woods did just before she assigned a mission. 

Hughes turned his gaze away from the field of fire, smiling his winning smile at the sight of us.  He gave the redheaded archer a quick pat on the shoulder, then hustled over to me.  “Nice job boys,” he said, handing out more pats on the back.  “Jump in with Nathan and Al.  Remember, it’s all about quick decisions—certainty.”

“We know the drill,” Will said, already starting off towards the two boys playing flaming catch.  I looked up at Hughes, expecting him to tell Will and Bill that they were headed in the wrong direction.  There had to be a mistake.  There was no was no way that he would’ve insisted that the two of them go off and play with fire, but yet, Hughes didn’t stop them.  He just let them jump right into the game.

Hughes caught me looking at him. I tried to look away before he noticed, but the smile on his face told me that he’d seen.  “Does it make you nervous?” he asked as I watched the world’s most catastrophe-prone people toss a ball of fire around at alarming speeds.

“Is it not supposed to?” I wondered.

Hughes seemed to find amusement in this.  “They’re certainly not the most trustworthy people, are they?”

“I disagree,” I heard myself say.  Hughes raised his eyebrows and I felt an intense need to justify my argument.  Hughes was the teacher, after all.  I was just the foolish young Virgo who didn’t know what she was talking about.  “They are trustworthy—they are.  They’re the kind of people I’d want on my rescue team if I ever needed one.”

“But not on your recon team?”  Hughes asked. 

“Will and Bill don’t quite understand the concept of looking without touching,” I reminded him.  At this, he laughed.  “But they are trustworthy, Mr. Hughes.  They just have a hard time…”