Embee Quotes

From the moment I met Christina Georgia, I knew why Mr. Bradshaw had chosen her. She was incredibly smart and thoughtful, and her emerald green eyes were huge and wise. Her wispy blond hair was beautiful and shoulder-length, and her bubblegum pink lips stood out on her pale face. She was awesome, and we were friends after about two minutes of talking.

I ... I'm going to show you where I've been going every Monday this summer.

I was going to die.
I was going to die, right now, right here, before I even had a chance to thoroughly apologize to anyone for what I'd done ... before I had a chance to forgive myself.
I wasn't even going to leave with a bang, one final act of dignity or at least the thought that I still belonged somewhere; I would die without even the simple acceptance that I'd done everything I could.
Tears welled in my eyes, but I didn't let them fall. I didn't want to die crying.

I was going to stick with them and find and destroy the Didot if it was the last thing I did.

That's not necessary," Mr. Bradshaw said, "although you are all perfectly welcome in the guest rooms upstairs, I won't ask you to lie to your-"
"Mr. Bradshaw." Nathan grinned. "You've been asking us to lie to our parents from the moment we each set foot in this house. We're spies; we'll all find excuses to stay here. No one wants to leave the only place in the city where the Pentagon won't dare enter. Not tonight. Not after what happened.

Why in the world did the most Pentagon-wanted girl out of all of us," he looked pointedly at me, "go to the place where most members of the Pentagon are located?"
I shrugged.
"It's not a rhetorical question, Ms. Embers," he said dryly.
"We got this," I said, holding up the Didot.
His gaze softened slightly. "Well. That's good. But that's still no excuse for not telling me where you were going!

I can't tell you the things I know," I repeated.
"Why not?"
"They aren't my secrets to tell.

What happened to, 'girls on left, boys on right?'" Mr. Bradshaw asked wearily.
Jayden shrugged. "We got bored. Nothing's fun without people of the opposite gender.

They question me everyday. There's always bright lights and they give me medicine that's supposed to make me tell the truth, but it doesn't work on me. Or maybe it only works when I start talking, but I never do.

The lie detector didn't react to anything I said, but I wouldn't dare smile.

I love you, Tess, he told me, tightening his arms around me as if he would never let go.
He'd better not.
We'd never let go of each other
not Jayden and me, and not the rest of us. We would always be together; we would always be a team.
No matter what happened. No matter what we went through. No matter where our lives took us.
We would always be a family.

Paige claimed my toothbrush!" I complained to no one in particular.
"I forgot to pack my own," Paige replied defensively, "not that I have one. I haven't brushed my teeth in months, Tess, I ran away, remember? So I deserve it."
"You could use mine," Jayden called, only half sarcastic.
"What makes you think that has any potential to be a solution? And just because we're dating now doesn't mean there's no such thing as germs!" I called back.

Paige cleared her throat. "Hey, Taylor?"
"What?" she snapped.
"Um ... he ... maybe he can help us?"
"He doesn't seem very helpful," Taylor said grumpily.

I know. It was hard to decide, but I knew if I told James, he wouldn't let me go, and ... and it's for his own good." After a deep breath, she continued. "Anyway, Jayden wanted to come, but he said he wasn't going to leave you here alone, so therefore you both have to come with me."
I glanced at Jayden and slowly nodded. "Okay ... when do we leave?"
"Now," they said in unison.

You should know by now that I have eyes in the back of my head. -Mr. Bradshaw, Tess Embers

I know you're hurting, Taylor, but grief is clouding your judgement and you need to stay focused. If you attack her now, you won't win. You know she has the advantage, Taylor. I've taught you this. Please, we just need to get out of here.

Aren't there different electrical outlets here? And what about money? And isn't it-"
"Relax, Tess," Taylor told me. "I have everything covered.

The Didots created happiness and power, or in this case, pain and sadness ... but only within its subject's mind.
The power it held was real, but it was not a physical power. It was the power of persuasion, the power of illusion.
Mr. Bradshaw was a genius.

I really had come here.
And I really was staying
at least for now.

The thing is, Ms. Embers, they aren't exactly on our side.

Do you have anything to pick a lock?" She asked desperately.
"Always." I slid one of the three bobby-pins I always kept with me off of my waistband, tossing it to her.

Honestly, I'm sorry you have no more power over me, but I'm not scared of you anymore. It's just not worth my time.

I was sure the door was locked, so I immediately stuck the bobby pin inside and jiggled it around for a while. Then I gave up and looked at James Bradshaw. He grinned, showing his bright white teeth.
Then something occurred to me. He'd never said the door was locked. I dropped the bobby-pin and opened the door.

I tried to figure out what everyone was so frustrated about. I thought maybe the Didot was going to show me an image or do something, but ... it did nothing. Nothing
so that's what everyone was so upset about. Silently, I passed it to Jayden.
"It's a fake," Chloe muttered.

Chills crept up my back. It may seem like nothing to a normal person, but I wasn't normal. I was a spy. And it takes a lot for someone like me to get chills. The scariest part was that I knew it wasn't from the coolness of the morning. Something felt wrong today; I just couldn't figure out what.

I'd grown to trust Mr. Bradshaw, even though he was the one who had taught me how to lie. Not to mention the day he lectured me on how to get close to someone to find out the truth about them, as if he was the ultimate expert. Nevertheless, I trusted him. I really did.

Of course not, dear," Mr. Bradshaw said, tapping her nose lightly, and she giggled. "It's never the end
in fact, in my not-so-humble opinion, it's always the beginning.

You underestimate us, Josephine," Taylor smiled. "A few guards, chains, and a locked door can't keep a family apart.

I'm going after Jayden. I don't care if that's what they want; if it's a trap, then they know me really well. No way I'm letting Jayden be tossed into a car and driven away by them. No way I'm letting you stand there and do nothing about it. Personally, Jayden's more important to me than the Didots. So I'm going, whether anyone's coming with me or not.

Taylor," Nathan said, "Why didn't you take the rest of us?"
"I didn't want to put you in danger," she said.
"Gee, thanks," I said.
"Hey, I brought Jayden, remember? He insisted on bringing you."
"Gee, thanks," Jayden crossed his arms and frowned.

But one thing was for certain: something would happen next. Something always did. Especially when you live the life of a spy.

You know, Tess, I could kiss you right now.

A shadow disappeared into one of the shops, but it could have been anyone. Nevertheless, I had the uneasy feeling that someone was following us.

Aaron, we came here to find the Didot, not to spend our money on hotel movies! You're lucky I didn't plan for us to sleep outside or something!

Jayden shoved through the crowd and pulled me to my feet. I hadn't realized I was crying until he wiped a tear from my face. What happened?

Rosalie had never been one to question or accuse, just to forgive
but I guess everyone had their limits when it came to tolerance levels, and I'd crossed the line.

Hi, my name is Tess Embers.
A lot of thoughts are probably running through your mind right now. Who does this person think she is? Doesn't she know that you should never begin a story with a boring phrase like,'Hi, my name is...'? Doesn't she know to use a hook at the beginning to draw readers in instead of pushing them away?
Well, sorry, but I'm just a teenage girl and I don't necessarily want everyone to know everything about my life. Maybe I don't want to hook people.

You know, for a spy as talented as you, you can really be ... obnoxious," I told her.
She grinned. "I know.

Was it risky? Yep.
Was it rude? Oh, yeah.
Was it stupid? Most likely.
But I'd said it anyway.

Taylor, listen to me. I could tell you that it's okay. That she wasn't a wonderful person, or I didn't love her. I could tell you that she's happier now, and her life would've been sad and filled with pain and longing to see her love again. I could say that I'm not struggling with her death, as well as the death of the hope that she could once again be part of my life. But instead I'll just say that I'm sad, too, sweetheart. That way I can spare you the struggle of detecting the lie in my words.

Mr. Bradshaw was, in a way, my second father. I trusted him and wanted to make him proud. But that day, as I lowered myself to the ground in shock, it was hard to believe I was staring up at the same person.

At this point, I couldn't even make out the helicopter's shape; it was just a gray blur in the distance, and so was everything it represented.

I let out a helpless, frustrated noise that sounded like a combination of a cry and a growl. It took everything in me not to shout a stream of curse words. Seriously
out of all the things that could happen to me, I'd been the victim of a pickpocket? That wasn't supposed to happen
not to a spy. Not to me!

I woke up in a dark room. The first thing I noticed was that my hands and wrists were not tied. That made me frustrated, because that meant that I was somewhere really isolated. It meant that they thought, and were probably correct, that I had no chance of escaping.

One flub, one little mistake, could ruin everything.

She was the best spy I knew, and that was the most terrifying thing of all.

Suddenly, I found myself running along the rooftop, leaping and falling. Falling until I caught the zip-line handle and then I was zooming, flying across the sky. I released the precious glass ball, not even glancing down to see it shatter.

For once in my life, I wished Mr. Bradshaw had slipped a tracker into my shoe or my coat pocket. I wished that he was still keeping tabs on me, even when I told him that I didn't need him to, or that I could take care of myself.
Because the truth was that I knew I'd always need help along the way. I needed help now, and at some point in my life I'd need help again.

I'm fine. I'm at an antique store, by the clothes store just a mile or so from-"
"Which clothes store, Tess? If you haven't noticed, there are about a million.

They might as well have been trying to fit a squirrel through the eye of a needle.