Chapter 6

"They're good," Clari said. "But we'll catch 'em."

I sighed, staring up at the ceiling of the room we'd first discussed our plan to figure out what they were up to. For a week, Clari and I had been watching the two "spies" like hawks, and they hadn't shown any sign of wanting something from us. Besides, although I wasn't going to admit it to Clari, I was really staring to like them.

"Maybe we're over thinking it," she continued.

"Mabye…" I mumbled, skeptical. "Although I think bugging their rooms would've covered pretty much everything."

Yes, Clariia had actually bugged their rooms, and it had been all I could do to keep her from doing the same to their clothing. My final argument had been, "They'd notice if there were microphones on their clothing." Still, she'd demanded that we settle it with a good, old-fashioned coin-toss, which I'd thankfully won.

Clari shot a glare towards me. "Don't mock me."

"I wasn't mocking you."

"Whatever."

We sat in an awkward silence for about thirty seconds, completely stumped, before we heard the clattering of gadgets falling to the floor from the front of the garage. While Sean had gotten the hang of navigating the mess, Victoria was still prone to tripping over everything.

After a while, her smiling face came into view. "Hi, guys!"

Clari glared at her. She'd taken a particular disliking to Victoria, it seemed.

I looked around for Sean's shocking red hair, but I couldn't find him anywhere.

As if reading my mind, Victoria answered my unspoken question. "Sean's not feeling well today. I was wondering if you guys had anything that might help a tummy-ache."

"I'm an inventor, not a doctor," Clari retorted.

Victoria shrugged. "I just asked. Well, I'd better go, then."

"Yes, yes you should," Clari whispered, too quiet for Victoria to hear. I smiled. Clari could be entertaining when her wrath was not directed toward you.

"Bye," I said.

With that, Victoria disappeared, her departure accompanied by the sound of piles of gadgets and gizmos being knocked over.