Ally Carter

I think you__e freaked about what happened at Cambridge. I think it scared you."____e been through worse, Bex,_ I said, joining her on the lower stairs. __ay worse.___h, not the attack._ Bex raised her finger in contradiction. __hat happened before the attack. I think you saw the future. Which is kind of freaky when - two months ago - you didn__ think you were going to have one.

I didn't know there were this many math guys," Hale said as they stepped onto the crowded concourse.Kat cleared her throat. "And women," he added. "Math women.

You know" - Hale's breath was warm against Kat's ear in the chilly ballroom- "I don't know that both of us really have to be here...." The slide changed. While hundreds of mathematicians waited with baited breath, the boy beside Kat whispered,"I could go make some calls... check on some things...""Play some blackjack?""Well, when in Rome...""Rome is tomorrow, babe," Kat reminded him.He nodded. "Right.

Kat," Hale groaned, then fell back onto the pillows."Funny, I didn't hear a doorbell.""I let myself in; hope that's okay."Hale smiled. "Or the alarm."She stepped inside, tossed a pocket-size bag of tools onto the bed. "You're due for an upgrade."Hale propped himself against the antique headboard and squinted up at her."She returns." He crossed his arms across his bare chest. "You know, I could be naked in here.

You know you're smarter than all of them, right?" Hale said flatly."In fact, if you wanted to PROVE it..."He glanced at the blackjack tables.Simon shook his head. "I don't count cards, Hale.""Don't?" Hale smiled. "Or won't? You know, technically, it's not illegal.""But it's frowned upon."Sweat beaded at Simon's brow. He sounded like someone had just suggested he swim after eating... run with scissors... "It is SERIOUSLY frowned upon.

Do you understand any of this?" he said, pointing to the lines and symbols that covered the massive screens."Some people understand the value of an education."Hale stretched and crossed his legs, the settled his arm around Kat's shoulders."That's sweet, Kat. Maybe later I'll buy you a university. And an ice cream.""I'd settle for the ice cream.""Deal.

I thought the morning would bring change. But I should have known that it doesn't take that long for change to happen - it takes a second. A moment. In a single breath, reality as you know it can simply fall away.

A lot of people think that being a Gallagher Girl means not being afraid of anything. Actually, that couldn't be further from the truth. It's not about ignoring fear. It's about facing it, knowing the risks and the costs and sacrificing safety and security anyway.

Power has always corrupted, my dear. Even the promise of power. It is a hard thing to look at through the fence for hundreds of years without wondering what it would be like on the other side.

A mind is totally big enough to get lost inside - to go crazy if you're left with too much time and too much room to let your biggest fears run free.

Because even though the truth can set you free, that doesn't mean it won't be painful.

Every decent con man knows that the simplest truth is more powerful than even the most elaborate lie.

Somebody knows.

It is an occupational hazard that anyone who has spent her life learning how to lie eventually becomes bad at telling the truth.

Do you know what pain is, Cammie? It__ thebody__ physical response to imminent harm.It is the mind__ way of telling us to move ourhand off the stove or let go of the brokenglass.

Unusual financial activity: none, unless you count the fact that someone in the family is way too into Civil War biographies. (Can this be a possible indication of Confederate insurgents still living and working in Virginia? Must research further.)

'Tell Suzie she's a lucky cat.' Have sexier words ever been spoken?

If you ever put a student at this school in danger again-''Oh, I thought you Gallagher Girls were immune to danger.'Despite the hundred girls the filled the foyer, no one moved or gasped or tried to defend our honor. We stood silently, waiting for our headmistress to say, 'Oh, we are quite used to being underestimated, Agent Townsend. In fact, we welcome it.