Saturday Afternoon

Amy's thoughts whirled around in her head like they were being swirled in a blender. Something was missing. Something wasn't right. She and Dan must have missed something, anything. It was like trying to complete a puzzle when half the pieces were missing. It just wouldn't work.

They had until the end of the week to come up with that missing puzzle piece. One week. Only about a day left, though. Amy stood up, and then sat down. She walked around the house once, bitting her nails and twisting her hair.

Something was nagging at the back of her brain. Something she remembered, but it didn't seem important at the time. And then, all of a sudden, it hit Amy. "Dan!" she yelled, racing towards the house, her boots clunking against each other. "Dan! I've got it! DAN!" She was picking up speed, racing through the thick snow. "Dan, DAN!"

Then, darkness.

Wednesday morning, three days earlier

Sweaty palms. Irregular breathing. Dry mouth. Pounding heart. The Cahills should come with a warning label listing the possible symptom they come with, Amy thought wryly as she stood by the door, pacing. Outside, the snow was falling steadily, and the roads were clogged. The forecast for that night was a blizzard, and Amy had been looking foreward to it. The first day of Winter break should always be snowy. Always. That was a rule.

That happiness had lasted up until Fiske, Amy's Uncle and legal guardian, made an announcement at breakfast that morning.

Dan, Amy's little (annoying) brother, was trying to see how many pancakes he could fit into his mouth. "Keep it coming!" he tried to yell at Nellie, their au pair, but with his mouth full, all it sounded like was "kep oot cermy!" Amy was pulling on her school blazer and smoothing her plaid skirt (the uniform for her and Dan's private school in downtown Boston) when Fiske stumbled into the kitchen in an old robe and fuzzy slippers. He grabbed the newspaper and mumbled "hi", sitting down and opening to the sports page.

Amy shouldered her loaded backpack. "Bye Fiske! See you at noon!"

Fiske looked up from the paper, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "What? Why are you coming home so early?"

"Last day of school!" crowed Dan, who had finally shoved all his pancakes in and was yanking his tie on. "At least, for winter break. It's a half day because of finals."

Fiske furrowed his brow. "Winter break? It's coming up soon?"

Amy raised her eyebrows. "Um, try this afternoon?"

Fiske set the paper down and turned to face Amy and Dan, who were halfway out the door. "Kids, I have some…..news."

Dan's eyes lit up. "Is it good news? Like, we're going to the beach for Winter break? How about skiing? Skiing's good! Or-"

"Shut UP Dan." Amy turned back to Fiske. "What is it?"

Fiske looked uncomfortable as he cleared his throat and tugged on the neck of his bathrobe. "I don't really know how to say this….but your cousins are coming to Attelboro for Winter break and are arriving today."

Amy froze. Her brain seemed to have stopped working. "Cousins?"

"Yes, the ones that were in the Clue Hunt with you."

The Clue Hunt. With those three magic words, the kitchen became absolutely still. A cold shiver tingled down Amy's spine. As a rule, they didn't talk about the clue hunt. Like, ever. The buzzing around Amy's ears grew louder as she controlled her breathing. The Cahills were coming? Now? Why? Did Fiske WANT them to remember that nightmere? He had always been telling them to move on and forget it and have normal lives. So why was he inviting their once mortal enemies that wanted to kill them over for a cozy Christmas? . How normal was that?!

In the back of her mind, Amy could hear Fiske's voice. "It's only the children, of course, because we're still on rocky terms with the parents. But I have a lot of fun games planned for everyone. I've even got a- Amy? Amy, do you hear me? AMY?"

But that's all that Amy had heard before running blindly out of the kitchen and up to her room, the only place where she could be safe.

Now thinking back on that moment, Amy shuddered. She was just as scared now as she was then. How was she going to face them?

Apparently, Fiske had sent out a private jet to pick up all the families and bring them to the house. There was Jonah Wizard and his cousin, Phoenix, Hamilton Holt and his little twin sisters, Reagan and Madison, the Starling triplets, Ned Ted and Sinead, and the Kabra sibling, Ian and Natalie.

Amy was especially dreading the arrival of one certain family that's mother was a homicidal lunatic, had tried to kill her and Dan numerous times, and were handsome/beautiful, rich, and had British accents.

The living room door swung open and Dan walked out with Nellie behind him. Nellie had taken him in there to talk to him about proper behavior around the guests. Dan looked slightly dejected, and dragged his feet across the marble floor. Their footsteps echoed in the main room. With nothing else to do, Amy turned her attention upwards to the ceiling. When Amy looked up at the ceiling, she was fully able to appreciate the beauty of it.

The celing was adorned with gold/gilded decorations, all wrapped around the room's capstone, which had been painted by a Janus artist. Dozens of statues were stuffed into niches along the high wall, and right in the middle of the ceiling was a massive gold centerpiece chandelier. It had diamonds dripping down from it and real live candles fixed into the spots. It was one of the most beautiful pieces of art in the whole house, and in the world, at least in Amy's opinion.

A low rumble broke into Amy's pleasant reverie, and she hurried to the windows and peered out.

A state of the art government quality Cahill helicopter was descending from the sky, right on to the Cahill's sweeping lawn. Fiske was already out there in his snowplow, shoving tufts of snow aside. He stepped down and opened up the hatch for all the kids to climb out.

There were the Holts, all dressed in matching blue ski gear, complete with ski goggles around their necks and huge furry boots. Next came the Starlings, who were bundled up so heavily that they resembled red and green plaid snowmen. Jonah Wizard (who still managed to wear gangster jewelry over his snow coat) and Phoenix climbed down next. And finally, the Kabras appeared.

Amy curled her hands into little balls and pressed her fingernails against her palm. The siblings looked perfect of course, right down to the very last hair. Natalie was wearing a pink leather Gucci coat with fur in the hood, matching her (also Gucci) purse. She was wearing tight, which looked cold but must have some Lucian heat technology in the threads or whatever, and furry high-heeled boots. Her dark hair was in a complicated braid-thing down the side of her head, and she looked immaculate. Amy turned her attention to Natalie's brother.

Ian looked like a model, as always. He was wearing pressed black pants, black coat, and black loafers. His black shades completed the ensemble, making him look like an underage FBI agent. He looked at the mansion in distaste, and then went back to checking his iPhone. Amy bristled. This was one of the most beautiful mansions in New England! He couldn't just take a glance and then decide that it wasn't worth looking at!

She was so intent on watching Ian that Amy almost didn't notice the two girls that followed.

One girl had thin, straight white-blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was wearing orange, which would seem like a weird color, but totally worked for her. She had her nose scrunched up in a way that almost seemed….familiar, although Amy couldn't place it. The other girl had short black straight hairthat framed her round face perfectly. She was dressed in light blue sweat pants and a purple coat. Unlike the other girl, she was smiling and seemed happy to be there. One thing that Amy could see from a distance; the girls were probably sister. They had the same nose and vivid green eyes. But the blonde looked taller and thinner, around Amy's age, and the other girl looked about two years younger; Dan's age.

Amy turned to Nellie and Dan, who were trying to shove the other out of the way so thet they could see through the window. "Guys, seriously. Who are those girls?"

Nellie shrugged while struggling against Dan. "No idea. Maybe some unknown relations."

"Maybe," Amy muttered.

The group of Cahills were getting closer and closer. Amy palms had red indent marks where her nails had dug into her palms. This was going to be the worst winter break EVER!

The wide double doors swung open, and Amy, Dan and Nellie took a quick step back while smoothing their hair. Standing in front of them were their cousins. It was like Amy's nightmeres, only this time, they were real.

There was an awkward silence hanging in the air. Dan was glaring at them, Nellie had put her hands on her hips, and Amy was looking everywhere BUT them, not meeting anyone's eyes.

Fsiek entered and shut the door. Next to him were the two mystery girls. Fiske cleared his throat. "Um, well, yes, hello everyone. We have two additions to out merry group that I might have forgotten to mention. These are my sister Beatrice's neices on out mother's side. They are not Cahills, but they really didn't have a place to stay, and I thought they would have fun hanging out with you youngsters, so..." his voice trailed off helplessly. "How about everyone come into the dining room and we introduce everyone and have some refreshments cooked up by Nellie?"

Natalie Kabra flipped her silky braid and pointed at Nellie. " If SHE made them, then there is not way that i'm touching them!" Her haughty British voice was clipped and tired, and the bags under her eyes indicated that she had not slept well the night before. "She's mad!"

Nellie made a frightening growling sound in the back of her throat. "If anyone's mad, it's you, you she-cobra."

Fiske clapped his hands tohether, evidently trying to break the tension. "Ah, family. Isn't this just great?"

By the looks on people's faces, nobody thought that this was great. Fiske led the wat to the dining room, and everyone else trudged behind.

Once evetyone was seated in the chairs around the long table, Fiske turned to the two girls. "This," he said, pointing to the blonde,"is Mary Shea Bernard, and her sister, "he gestured to the dark haired one,"is Heather Lee. Their parents are skiing and they asked if I could include them in this fun activity! So of course, I agreed.
Mary Shea, Heather Lee, these are some...very distant relatives. These are Ned Ted and Sinead Starling, and those over there are Jonah and Phoenix Wizard,"

Heather Lee gasped. "No WAY! You're Jonah Wizard! You're famous! I didn't know that you were related to anyone famous, Uncle Fiske!"

Jonah nodded, obviously pleased at being recognized. "Yes, I am Jonah Wizard. I was going to do a concert tonight, but then...I just decided not to."

Heather Lee nodded, sympathetic. "I guess it must be hard, being famous."

Her sister, Mary Shea, snorted. "Hard, shmard. I bet he's never done an ounce of REAL work. And Wizard, your music stinks. And what kind of a last name is Wizard,anyway?"

Heather Lee looked embarassed. "Just ignore her. She's PMS-ing. She's not usually this grouchy, I promise."

Amy nodded, and so did Sinead, Nellie, Regan, and Madison. Natalie just rolled her eyes.

Dan looked confused. "What's PMSing?"

"Nothing," Amy hurriedly answered. "Well, it's really great to meet you guys."

Fiske smiled thankfully at Amy. "Well, we should probably pas out the rooming chart and the itenirary.

Rooming Sheet:

Girls-

Amy- Amy's room

Sinead- Guest Suite B

Natalie- Guest Suite B

Reagan- Guest Suite C

Madison- Guest Suite C

Mary Shea- Amy's room

Heather Lee- Guest Suite C

Boys-

Dan- Dan's Room

Hamilton- Guest Suite A

Ian- Guest Suite A

Jonah- Guest Suite A

Ned- Guest Suite D

Ted- Guest Suite D

Phoenix- Dan's room

Amy scanned the sheet quickly, and her heart sank. she would have to share her room? With Mary Shea? Could life get any worse?

Amy wasn't the only one complaining. Ian was (loudly) voicing hisopinion about sharing a suite with three other people. Hamilton rolled his eyes. "C'mon dude! It'll be like a mancation!"

Ian turned to Hamilton. "What, amy I aks, is a MANCATION?"

"A mancation! A MAN vacation! You know, like what Dads go on! Where you sleep in a tent with a bunch of other guys and do manly things like chop down wood and fish and hunt and...stuff."

Ian regarded Hamilton coldly. "Excuse me for not knowing what a maneration is, but my father does not DO that sort of stuff. It sounds like something YOUR father would do, though, I guess it;s just a form of entertainment for the, ahem, LOWER class."

Hamilton cracked his knuckled menacingly. "It's a MANcation! And insulting my dad? That's just cold. I have a lot more ammo on YOUR dad, though. Wanna hear it?"

Amy wanted to move her feet forward and break up the fight, but for some reason her legs wouldn't move. Heather Lee came to the rescue though. She planted herself in between the two large guys and put her hands on her hips. "Break it up, or i'm gonna have my new roomates break YOU up!" Reagan and Madison stood on the side wth their hand son their hips also. Hamilton and Ian stepped away from each other, still glowering.

Amy couldn't take it anymore. She turned and, for the second time that day, ran up to her bedroom, where she knew she would be safe.

After a few minutes of sitting on her bed, looking up at the ceiling, the door swung open. Mary Shea stood in the doorway, carrying what looked like a million bags full of clothes, makeup, and shoes. She dumped the stuff at the foot of Amy other twin bed and surveyed the room. "God, it looked like a towyear-old picked out the decorations!"

Amy bristled, but couldn't open her mouth. Apparently, her muteness extended to Mary Shea and Heather Lee, too. Mary Shea just smirked and dumped her stuff out on the bed. "Look, since we're going to have to share, I'm gonna set down some ground rules. You rich folk probably aren't used to sharing, am I right?" Once again, Amy stayed silent. "Thought so. But we need to split this, fair and share, so i'm going to go get some duct tape and make a line across half of the room. You can't come in to my half, and I won't go into your half. I know this is a hard concept for you," here she nodded sarcastically, "but i'll help you. Don't worry."

Amy longed to say something clever and sharp to Mary Shea, but once again, words failed her. So Amy just pressed her lips together, nodded, and scampered out of the room, her head down.