Less than a month after
the first time, Kaitlyn needed Aaron to put on that "Older Brother" act with her again. By that time, some Sanctuary residents had heard about their arrangement, and more than a few people had gotten curious. Why would the Sanctuary's owner pay for somebody's gym subscription at another place, when the Sanctuary itself had perfectly good exercise equipment? Why would the boss-lady's daughter insist on being able to go there with him? What was the deal with the fake names? Why wasn't she at the Sanctuary as often as she used to be?
Needless to say, rumors had gone flying. The mutants behind those golden doors would look around to make sure they weren't being overheard, then, in hushed tones, compare theories. Some said that the gym was a drop location for a foreign intelligence agency, and that Lori Faust was using her quasi-daughter to help her sell government secrets. Others said that she was keeping tabs on people of interest to underground mutant crime circles. Most of these theories, and certainly the most believable ones, suggested that the girl was being used as a mule for some kind of drug. Most likely, the M drug. There was more than one stealthy debate over more than one poker table about whether it was a good thing, or a bad thing, that the girl was already getting into organized crime.
Kaitlyn heard about the rumors, and she didn't appreciate them. But she wasn't sure what to do about them.
"So, Kaitlyn," Aaron said on the way to the gym, "Do you mind telling me why we're doing this?" If he was going to be part of all those rumors, he felt he was at least entitled to
some knowledge of what he was doing.
The girl didn't even say anything; instead, she tilted her head back and looked up at the sky. The clouds looked like fish scales and horse's tails, bright white from the light of noon. A cold breeze made her thankful for her bright red scarf and fuzzy jacket. Aaron's gray hoodie simply didn't compare. "Fffffff..." He shivered, "...firetruck! It's cold."
Kaitlyn smirked. His attempts at last-minute self-censorship always made her want to laugh. As if she didn't already know what he was going to say.
They had reached the gym, now, and Aaron rushed through the door and into the warm embrace of its heated air. Kaitlyn wandered over to her usual spot at the foot of the staircase. This time, she was reading Twilight. It came well-recommended for "girls her age," apparently, and it had a surprising amount of Bella
not getting her blood sucked out by vampires, and vampires
not getting killed by sunlight. She was starting to wonder whether Edward was actually lying about the whole being-a-vampire thing to impress girls. Fifteen minutes in, she got bored with it and decided to do what she came for.
The door to the Unicorn's room was locked again, but the lock was still just as easy to pick. Again, the military-grade thing Lisa gave her was so easy to use it felt like cheating. Kaitlyn would later tell everyone back at the oracle shop that she used bobby pins exclusively.
She opened the door slowly, and peeked in. Nobody was home. The door closed almost soundlessly behind her, and she got right to work.
Calley would never find
this one. Or
this one. Or even
this one. All of them looked fairly similar to things that were already present in the unicorn's bedroom. Similar enough, at least, that he would've had to spend a lot of time in Sebastian's room to notice them. She didn't even think Sebastian or his ... girlfriend? ... would notice them. Much less Calley. She stole and replaced the wall clock and the power strip that were already in the bedroom, and plugged the fake charger into an extremely difficult-to-reach socket, hidden behind a dresser. These were all far more expensive than the last one, Lisa was sure to tell her, but she didn't care. She wasn't about to be
embarrassed by Calley again.
That should have been it. But Kaitlyn, against her better judgement, felt like she needed to mess with Calley. She wasn't going to let him off easy. This is why there was yet another plastic box taped to the bottom of Sebastian's bed. It looked a little bit like the first spy-box, except this one was hollow. If Calley cracked it open, he would find a piece of paper, on which he would see the words "Smile for the camera, Calley!" and a smiley face.
There weren't any cameras.