12: 42 p.m. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hamilton Holt clicked on the unopened e-mail, curious as to who would send him a video link from London. Hopefully the Kabras weren't sending them another video invitation to yet another ball. He shuddered at the thought and clicked the link. An image of Michael Phelps popped up onto the screen. The video started playing as Hamilton watched, wide-eyed.
"Hi, Hamilton, Reagan, and Madison! Michael Phelps here – "
Hamilton hit the pause button. "REAGAN, MADISON, GET IN HERE!"
"What?" the twins said in unison when they came in the room.
"Michael Phelps e-mailed me!" Hamilton said. "Watch!" He hit play again.
" – with a great opportunity for you three. I want to meet you all. Be at the nearest McDonalds, and I'll see you there. Hope you can make it." And with that, the Olympian smiled, and the screen went blank. The Holts stared at each other in surprise. Then they ran out of the house, jumped in the car, and Hamilton drove them all to the nearest McDonalds. The three of them chanted "We're gonna meet Michael Phelps!" the entire way there.
Hamilton parked crookedly by the door and the Holts hopped out, racing inside the restaurant. They whipped their heads around in confusion, not seeing their idol, and a few seconds later, Hamilton felt a sharp pain in his neck. Before he crumpled to the ground, a pair of arms grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him out the door, along with his sisters.
12:42 p.m. Attleboro, Massachusetts.
"Dan! Where did you hide my Tablet? I need it!" shouted Sinead Starling. She went down every hallway, checked every room, but couldn't find Dan anywhere. "Dan!" she yelled again.
"Sinead, why are you yelling?" Amy asked behind her.
"Dan stole my Tablet. It has all my blueprints on it."
"Oh, well, he's in the guest house. Said you gave him permission to borrow a test tube," Amy said.
"Crap," Sinead groaned. "Come on, we'd better go get him before he blows up the place."
Amy and Sinead hopped on two ATV's and drove across the grounds, stopping at the guest house. They ran into Sinead's lab, where they found Ned and Ted on their knees, and Dan holding some sort of beaker out the window.
"We swear we won't tell Amy, just don't drop that beaker!" Ted pleaded.
"Tell me what?" Amy demanded, arms crossed. The three boys whipped around. Dan's fingers slipped, and the beaker fell out of his grasp, shattering on the tile floor.
"NO!" The Starling boys yelled.
A green gas started filling the air. The five of them started coughing violently, falling to the ground. Then the room was suddenly cleared of the gas, and the Cahills and Starlings lay sound asleep on the floor. Five men rushed in, then dragged them all outside, to the awaiting black SUV.
12:42 p.m. London, England.
Natalie Kabra sat in front of her mirror, brushing her luxurious black hair. She was thinking about that boy from her boarding school, Alexander, when she heard a crash from the kitchen. She set her brush down and ran into the hallway, following her brother who had apparently heard the same thing and was going to investigate. They reached the kitchen, but nothing seemed out of place or broken.
"What in the bloody – " Ian started, but stopped abruptly when he fell to the floor, clearly unconscious.
"Ian!" Natalie yelled. She whipped around, only to have her gaze settle on a man in a black ski mask, his dart gun trained on her. Her eyes widened just as he pulled the trigger. She collapsed. The man hefted her over his shoulder, grabbed Ian by the wrist, and walked out, Kabras in tow.
12:43 p.m. Beverly Hills, California.
"They've all been captured, sir."
"Don't say it like that, yo. It makes it sound bad," said Jonah Wizard.
"Yes, sir."
"Thanks, man. Drop them off at the stadium."
"It's already been done, sir."
"Sweet. Thanks. You can go now."
Jonah hit a button, ending the video chat. He swiveled around in his chair. Oh, this was going to be good.
Amy Cahill's eyes fluttered open. She had a horrible headache. Holding her head, she slowly sat up, looking at her surroundings. She blinked, confused. Why was she on a stage?
Her brother groaned beside her. She shook him.
"Dan, wake up," she whispered. "Look around."
Dan's head swiveled. "Where in the h – "
"MY HAIR!" a girl shrieked. Amy turned. Sitting towards the middle of the stage was Natalie Kabra. She was looking at her reflection in the polished floor. "WHO MESSED UP MY HAIR?!"
"Natalie, shut up, please," Sinead growled next to her. "I think we've got more important things to worry about."
"What are the Holts doing here?" Ned and Ted asked at the same time.
Everyone woke up then. All seemed to have a bad headache also, because they all had their hands to their faces. The Kabras, the Starlings, and the Holts all sat around Amy and Dan, and every Cahill there looked confused as heck. To make it worse, a bright spotlight turned on then, blinding them all. Amy held her hands up to shield her eyes, but she still caught a glimpse of Jonah Wizard standing in front of them, the biggest possible smile on his face.
"Yo! Mah peeps!" he said. "Wassup?"
"What's up? What's UP? I'll tell you what's up! LOOK AT MY HAIR!" Natalie yelled again.
"I brought you all here," Jonah said, ignoring his British cousin. "Y'all are gonna enjoy this."
"So far, I'm not enjoying it," Ian grumbled. Amy looked at him, and he met her eyes. He smiled. She looked away quickly.
"I've set up a competition," Jonah continued. "Can any of you guess what it is?"
Nobody said a word.
"It's called…" he paused for dramatic effect, "The Cahill Singathon!"
"WHAT?!" Everybody yelled.
But Jonah didn't stop there. "Every single one of you's gonna sing on this very stage," he said, pointing toward the floor, "and you're gonna be judged. The winner will be announced at the end. The winner also gets to produce and direct their own movie starring moi."
"Why would anyone want to do that?" Hamilton asked.
"Because it can be about anything you want," Jonah explained.
Dan grinned mischievously. Amy groaned at what could be going through his mind.
Realization also seemed to dawn on the rest of the Cahills as they thought about all the possibilities.
"You're all going to meet here tonight at six. You got three hours to pick a song and get ready. You've all got your own dressing rooms and personal stylists. There will be a huge crowd, but this ain't goin' on television. Unless I decide otherwise," Jonah said, grinning again. Amy paled. TV? She was going to die.
"Any more questions?" Jonah asked.
"Yeah, who's judging?" Reagan said.
"That would be us," said a woman's voice, to the right of the stage. Everyone turned and gasped as Nellie Gomez and Alistair Oh walked over and joined Jonah.
"N-Nellie. You're judging? With Jonah and Alistair?" Amy said.
"Yep. You don't expect me to sing, do you? That wouldn't turn out too good." Nellie smiled.
"Why is Alistair judging?" Madison asked.
Alistair cleared his throat. "Because Mr. Wizard needed three judges, and Fiske is apparently on vacation." Alistair looked like he didn't want to be there at all.
"All right, yo. To your right are the dressing rooms. You've got," Jonah looked at his watch, "two hours and fifty-four minutes to choose a song and get ready. In the meantime, I'mma grab somethin' to eat. Later!" And with that, Jonah walked off the stage with Nellie and Alistair right behind him.
Silence filled the air until Madison shouted: "Dibs on the biggest dressing room!"
That's when everyone decided they wanted the biggest one, and tried to beat her to it. Amy, Ian, and Sinead hung back.
"Why do you think he's making us do this?" Sinead asked.
Amy shrugged. "His own personal entertainment."
"Well, he's certainly going to get it," Ian interjected. "I'm not sure some of these people can sing at all."
"Can you sing, Ian?" Amy asked.
"I guess you'll just have to wait and see," Ian said. He winked at her, turned, and walked to find his dressing room.
~Page Break~
Amy wore a strapless dark-blue dress that went to her ankles and sparkled in the light. Her stylist, Clarisse, had picked it out for her. Her hair was given soft curls, and it was swept over one shoulder. But even though she looked great, she had no idea what to sing. She sighed, and left to find Nellie.
She was just leaving her dressing room when she ran into Ian.
"Sorry," she murmured, before taking off to the right. But she didn't even make it two steps before a hand caught her arm. She turned, and found herself staring into amber eyes. Ian released her arm.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but seemed to change his mind and said, "Good luck."
"You too," Amy said, and she started walking again. But suddenly she stopped. Why? Because she had just thought of the perfect song.
~Page Break~
"Yo! Welcome to the first ever Cahill Singathon!" Jonah yelled into the microphone. The crowd of ten thousand screamed and cheered. Apparently, they didn't care if it was just for a certain family. As long as they got free tickets, they would see anything and not give it a second thought.
Amy peeked through the curtain. "So many people," she breathed. She was sweating like crazy with nerves.
She felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry, kiddo," Nellie said. "You'll do great."
Amy smiled. "Thanks, Nellie."
"Anyway, have you seen Dan? He's not here," Nellie asked, worried.
"Uh, nope, haven't seen him, sorry," Amy said. She looked through the curtain again. And then she gasped as a giant waterfall of green sludge fell from the ceiling, covering Jonah in muck. The rap star looked completely shocked as the last of it fell on him. The crowd seemed shocked, too, because it immediately fell silent.
But the silence didn't last long. One kid started laughing and the whole audience joined in.
Jonah looked absolutely pissed off.
That's when Dan tapped on Amy's shoulder.
She whirled. "Did you do that?" she hissed.
"Now, why would you think that, dear sister?" Dan smirked. "That's payback for making me sing in front of thousands of people." Dan walked off laughing.
It took ten minutes for the cleaning crew to get rid of the goo. Jonah spent that time getting cleaned up and ranting at all the contestants. Eventually, though, he figured out it was Dan and chased him all around, until finally giving up and going back onstage to announce the judges. Nellie and Alistair took their seats and the judge's table, and after announcing Reagan Holt as the first to sing, joined them.
Reagan walked onstage. Her floor-length strapless red dress glimmered in the spotlights, and her hair was put up in a purposefully messy bun. She started singing a song Amy didn't recognize.
Reagan sang, then Madison, then Hamilton. Sinead went, then Ned, then Ted. Dan sang Mario Cart Love Song, and he surprised Amy by actually being a good singer. After Dan, Natalie went on stage. The only ones left were her and Ian. Joy.
As she watched Natalie from the side of the stage, someone grabbed Amy's hand and pulled her back to the dressing room area. Just when she was about to cry out, she recognized the person. It was Ian.
"I apologize for startling you, but I had to ask you something," Ian said. Amy waited, unsure of where this was going.
"Well…erm…"
Ian Kabra seemed at a loss for words, which shocked her.
"I was wondering if you'd want to sing a duet with me."
Now Amy was even more shocked. A duet? With him? "Isn't that against the rules?" she asked.
Ian shook his head. "Jonah said it was okay."
Amy bit her lip, thinking. She wanted to say no, but the look on his face made her pause. "What song?" she asked.
Ian held out a sheet of paper. It was Realize by Colbie Caillat.
"Oh…I don't know, Ian – "
"Please?"
Again with that look. She couldn't believe he was giving her the puppy dog eyes. Dan had done that to her a million times, but Ian's were a thousand times more convincing.
With one final sigh, she nodded. Ian smiled.
"Lovely," he said, then he walked away, leaving her speechless.
~Page Break~
"Our final act of the night is a duet, sung by Amy Cahill and Ian Kabra," Jonah announced.
"What?" Dan shouted backstage. "Can they do that? They can't do that, can they?"
"Apparently Jonah's letting them. Shut up, I want to see this," Sinead said.
Amy followed Ian onto the stage, shaking like a leaf. She desperately hoped she wouldn't freeze and stand there like an idiot.
Ian seemed to notice this and gave her a reassuring smile. All of a sudden, the nerves disappeared and when the music started playing, she started singing the first verse.
Amy: Take time to realize That your warmth is
Crashing down on in
Take time to realize
That I am on your side
Didn't I, didn't I tell you
But I can't spell it out for you
Both:
No it's never gonna be that simple
Amy:
No I can't spell it out for you
Both:
If you just realize
What I just realized
Then we'd be perfect for each other
And will never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other now
Then it dawned on Amy as she realized why Ian had picked this song. He smiled at her as he sang the second verse.
Ian:
Take time to realize
Oh-oh I'm on your side
Didn't I, didn't I tell you
Take time to realize
Oh-oh I'm on your side
Oh
But I can't spell it out for you
Both:
No it's never gonna be that simple
Ian:
No I can't spell it out for you
Both:
If you just realize
What I just realized
Then we'd be perfect for each other
And will never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other, but…
Amy:
It's not the same
No it's never the same
Both:
If you don't feel it too
Ian:
If you meet me halfway
If you would meet me halfway
Both:
It could be the same for you
If you just realize
What I just realized
Then we'd be perfect for each other
And will never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other
Just realize
What I just realized
That we'd be perfect for each other
And will never find another
Just realize
What I just realized
We'd never have to wonder
If we missed out on each other now
When the song ended, both of them were standing directly in front of each other, staring into the other's eyes, breathing hard. A few seconds of silence, then –
"AWWWWWWWWWW!" Sinead shouted from backstage. That sent the audience into screams and cheers. The applause was louder than that of any of the other contestants'. Ian smiled at her, and she smiled right back.
~Page Break~
"Amy! Oh, my God, that was amazing!" Sinead yelled as she embraced her best friend backstage.
"Thanks, Sinead," Amy said. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. "You know, I wasn't actually planning on – "
"Hey, Cobra," Dan sneered, interrupting her. "Why'd you sing a duet with my sister?"
Ian remained impassive. "Because I can."
Dan snorted. "Okay, then. Why'd you sing that particular song?"
"I really don't see how this concerns you," Ian replied smoothly.
"Dan-o!" Hamilton called.
Dan rolled his eyes. "I'll deal with you later." He turned and stalked off.
Ian turned to Amy. "Can I talk to you? In private?"
Amy looked at Sinead, who nodded in encouragement. "I guess," she said. She followed Ian in the direction of the dressing rooms. Ian stopped and went inside his, holding the door open for her. She walked through the doorway, then turned back to him. He shut the door.
Ian took a deep breath, then exhaled. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. Either this would work, or he would get slapped. But in his eyes, this couldn't wait.
"Amy, that song…"
"I know," she said. "I got it. I'm not that oblivious."
He grinned. "I know, it's just – "
"Ian," Amy interrupted. She couldn't believe she was doing this. It went against everything she'd previously thought about him.
Ian stared into her sparkling green eyes. And then he knew. She felt the exact same way.
So he took the plunge, and pressed his lips against hers. And she kissed him back with the same intensity.
~Page Break~
"Settle down, yo!" Jonah yelled at the audience. A bunch of people shushed each other in the crowd and eventually they all quieted down. "The judges have chosen the winners. If all the contestants would please gather onstage."
The Holts led the group onto the stage, followed closely by the Starlings, then the Cahills, and then the Kabras. Jonah stood to the far left of the stage, and Nellie and Alistair stood on either side of him.
"First, I'd like to congratulate all of you on not totally sucking," Jonah said. The audience laughed. "But sadly, there can only be one winner. Let me tell you who didn't win, first."
Jonah turned to face his cousins. "Hamilton, Madison, Ned, Ted, and Sinead. Please step forward." They complied. "You all did great, but it just wasn't good enough. Sorry, guys." And when Madison took a step toward him, he held up his hands and backed away. "And don't hit me!"
Some of the audience booed, angered at the judges' choice, but most clapped as the five walked off the stage. Sinead winked at Amy as she passed. Amy smiled nervously back at her.
"Reagan, Natalie, Dan, and Amy and Ian are the ones left." Jonah said. "Reagan."
Reagan stepped forward.
"You were better than the other five, but the other four were better than you. I'm sorry." Jonah instinctively stepped backward, but Reagan shrugged and nonchalantly walked off the stage.
"We're down to Natalie, Dan, and Amy and Ian," Jonah said. Nellie handed him an envelope. He opened the flap. "And the winner is…" He pulled out the slip of paper and smiled. "Amy Cahill and Ian Kabra."
The crowd was ecstatic. Amy couldn't believe it, and apparently Ian couldn't either because his mouth was hanging open. Then he turned to Amy and grinned. She threw her arms around him in a hug. When they pulled away, Ian looked into her eyes for a split second before cupping her face in his hands and pulling her in for a kiss. The crowd screamed louder, if possible. Amy couldn't, for the life of her, smile any bigger than she was now. Dan and, surprisingly, Natalie, along with the others that had been backstage, all surrounded the two in a huge group hug, laughing and smiling at their family members. They eventually dispersed, and Ian intertwined Amy's fingers with his as they all exited the stage.
Two days later. Attleboro, Massachusetts.
Amy was curled up on a sofa in the library, reading her favorite book. Dan was probably in the game room. The Holts were outside chasing Ian and Natalie with water balloons. The Starlings were in the guest house, working on their time machine again. Jonah was in the kitchen, helping Nellie cook dinner.
After 'The Cahill Singathon', they all decided to go back to Grace's mansion and stay there for a week or two; the eleven Cahill cousins hadn't seen each other in forever, and they all wanted to catch up.
A ding sounded from her smartphone. Amy picked it up. She had a new e-mail from Jonah.
It was a YouTube link. She clicked on it, and her eyes widened.
It was The Cahill Singathon – the entire competition had been posted on YouTube for the world to see. Including her and Ian's kiss at the end.
"JONAH!" she yelled. She was going to get revenge on him when she and Ian produced their movie. Jonah had no idea how evil movie directors could be.