A/N As promised here's another Rapid Fire eBook being read by the Cahill! This is the first eBook in the Rapid Fire series.
Also, for those of you who wondered why I didn't do this one first, I have two reasons.
1. When I first came up with this, I only thought about doing Crushed.
2. Crushed is my favourite eBook.
I did Crushed first in case my story wouldn't be a success. So here's Legacy!
Lastly, for new time readers, I suggest you read Cahills Reading CRUSHED first. :D
Disclaimer- I don't own the 39 Clues series, the Rapid Fire series, or any of the characters. If I did, Amy and Ian would be together and Evan would never exist. :D
Arianna was enjoying the character's humiliation. Her plan was going perfectly.
As the Cahills were stuffing their faces with food, she left her room and walked down the corridor.
The Cahills were taken to a secret headquarters located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The headquarters was hidden securely underground. No one would ever find them, and they would never find a way out.
She turned to the last room in the corridor and knocked on the door.
"Come in," a deep voice said.
Arianna took a deep breath and walked in.
The room looked like a regular boring office. There was a brown wooden desk, some wooden chairs, and a MacBook on the table. The only light in the room was a single light bulb in the center of the ceiling. There was not a single decoration in sight.
This guy seriously needs to decorate, she thought.
"Sit down," the man said.
The man's name was unknown. He was very powerful but no one knew his true identity. He had black hair and piercing blue eyes. Arianna couldn't distinguish his face because he was wearing a ski mask. The man was wearing all black. He was called Professor.
"Professor, you called?" she asked sitting down. While Ian Kabra was reading the last part of Crushed, she received a text message from him.
"Yes," he said closing his MacBook. "I'm very disappointed in you Arianna."
"Pardon?" she asked. Did he just say that he was disappointed in her?
"You heard correctly," he said as though he could hear her thoughts. "Why did you defy my orders?" He said his voice getting slightly louder.
Arianna grimaced. What did she do wrong? She did everything he asked her to do. She captured the Cahills he wanted. She made them read one of their past experiences. What more does he want?
"Arianna," he continued. "Why did you make them read Crushed?"
Oh, great, she thought to herself. He's seriously angry about this?
"Because," she replied. "I thought that the Cahills should read that first. It's the most embarrassing."
Professor put his hands on his face and sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you? We didn't capture them for personal gains. We don't care about their pathetic lies. We captured them for answers."
"May I ask you a question?" she asked.
"You just did you silly little girl," he replied clearly not amused.
"Sorry," she said. She silently cursed. She kept on forgetting who she was talking to. "How is this going to help you? How are reading these stories helping you?"
"You'll know soon," he said. "Everything will be revealed later. Now, I don't want any more sidetracks. I want you to make them read Legacy. Got it?"
"Yes sir," she said.
"Good," he said. "Now, no more mess ups, or else."
She shuddered at the thought of what he could do. The Professor loved to torture people. She didn't want to be his next victim.
"You are dismissed."
Arianna quickly got out of his office.
Dan Cahill had to win the contest.
He and Hamilton were having a hotdog eating contest. The competition was tough. Dan would never be able to eat as much as Hamilton. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't try winning.
They were just about to determine the winner until the mysterious Lucian had to barge in.
"Everyone, go back to your seats!" she yelled.
"What, why?" Dan asked. He officially didn't like Arianna. Anyone who interrupts fun isn't a sane person.
"Now," she said sternly.
Everyone went back to their seats.
Geez, what's her problem? he thought.
"Okay, open up your tablets and open up to Legacy," she ordered. Everyone did what they were told.
"Hey! It's me!" he exclaimed. Finally, someone decent is in it!
"Excuse me, Arianna?" Amy asked.
"What?" she said.
"Is everything alright?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, I have to agree with nerd-san here," Dan said. "You've been acting strange ever since you came back from your little break."
"I'm fine," she said. "Now who wants to read?"
Only Dan had his hand raised.
"Alright, Dan."
He went to the first page and started to read.
Eight Months before the Clue Hunt
On Christmas morning, Grace Cahill learned she was dying of cancer.
She watched as Dr. Zimmerman set a thin folder down on the desk. They were in a wide study in Grace's house. She was the kind of person people made house calls for, even on Christmas. All that bad news from such a small file. It struck Grace as strange, though she wasn't sure why. She was an accomplished chemist and knew that the most terrible things often came in small doses.
"How long?" Grace asked, as though the question were an involuntary reaction. "Isn't that what people ask in this situation?"
Dr. Zimmerman sighed, removing her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Patients at this stage usually have a time frame of around six months. That's about where I'd put you, Grace."
"Six . . ." It wasn't enough time. There was still too much to prepare, too much that the children didn't know. And if they weren't ready, the whole world could suffer. "I'll take eight," Grace said.
"Grace," said Dr. Zimmerman. "You're a strong and ambitious woman. I know you're going to fight this, which is why I'm telling you six months instead of three. But you need to accept that you are dying. Soon."
Dan stopped suddenly. He was surprised. Of course, he knew that Grace was sick before she died. But she never knew that it was during Christmas.
He instantly felt grief. It has been two years since she died, but he missed her do much. He would never forget the great times he had with her.
He looked at Amy and saw tears forming in her eyes. Surprisingly, the Cobra held her hand to comfort her. Amy didn't even move her hand away.
Dan wanted to gag. Of course the lover boy would make her feel better.
He hoped that they got out of here soon. He didn't want to see Amy fall for Ian again.
Grace found her eyes were locked on her hands, which were knotted firmly in her lap. They were the only things she could focus on right then. She didn't dare meet the oncologist's eyes, in case she betray not sadness or fear, but anger. Grace was furious with herself. She'd spent her whole life searching for the 39 Clues, but it still wasn't enough time. She'd failed.
Dr. Zimmerman reached for Grace's hands. "You need to be thinking about your loved ones right now. Your family. Are they taken care of? Have you spent the time with them that you need to? It's Christmas morning, and where are they? Now is the moment to make sure they understand how much they mean to you, and ensure that they are provided for."
Provided for. Grace's thoughts snapped back to the legal documents locked in a hidden compartment in that very desk, right below her test results. They would change not only the lives of her family, but perhaps the very course of human history. Grace slowly withdrew her hands, patting out invisible wrinkles in her blouse.
"Thank you, Barbara. I think you're right. There are affairs that still must be set in order."
"I'm sorry, Grace. I'll still do everything I can —"
"No, thank you. You said exactly what I needed to hear, I think. I'll come to your office next week to talk treatments."
Grace led Dr. Zimmerman to the door and said good-bye, then moved silently to the window. She was nearly eighty years old. Death was no stranger to her. She'd seen it take many others, including her beloved daughter and son-in-law. Staring death in the face now was nothing compared to finding it had sneaked by to claim her only child first.
Grace watched the snow begin to fall over the front lawn of her estate like a blanket, or a powder, or any of those soft and comforting things snow was supposed to be in moments like this. But she didn't need comfort right now. She needed to make a decision.
A coughing fit brought her cat, Saladin, into the room. Saladin was a large, gray Egyptian Mau and had been Grace's travel companion on many adventures. When she first started getting sick, it had been Saladin who seemed to sense it. In the week preceding her recent prognosis, he had barely left her side at all.
Grace's cough subsided. Reaching down to pet Saladin, she noticed his fur was wet with melted snow.
"You've been prowling the neighborhood, haven't you?" she said. "Quite a trek through the snow, just to fertilize the neighbors' yards." Saladin mewled, as if feigning surprise at the accusation.
"Well, it'll be spring by the time they find your little gifts, and by then . . ." Grace paused. "By then, they'll have much bigger things to worry about. The whole world might."
"I miss Saladin," he said to no one in particular. "It would be great if he was here!"
"No," Ian said too quickly.
"Why not?" Dan grinned. He already knew why but he liked seeing Ian looking uncomfortable.
"Because," Ian replied. "That beast you call a "cat" doesn't know how to treat his superior properly."
"Actually," he said. "Saladin treats everyone perfectly fine. He probably has something against you. Then again everyone does…"
Ian was about to retort until Dan continued reading. Score One for the ninja!
Grace was the matriarch of the Cahills, the most influential family the world had ever known. George Washington, Napoleon, Amelia Earhart — nearly every important figure in the last five hundred years had belonged to one of its five branches. Most of the family members themselves didn't know the true extent of the Cahill legacy — or the terrible responsibility that came with it. Only Grace had figured out the truth of the 39 Clues that concealed the source of the Cahills' great power. It had been the defining goal of her life to find each of the Clues, and protect them from her ruthless family.
And only Grace knew that the Cahills weren't alone in the search for the Clues. A shadowy organization, the Vespers, lurked somewhere in the dark places of the world, and crept into her thoughts now.
Grace produced a small key seemingly from nowhere, and moved quickly from the window to the large, carved cherrywood desk at the center of the room. She opened a drawer in the desk, then felt around within it. There was a soft clicking noise as a smaller, hidden compartment descended into place. She unlocked the secret drawer and pulled it open. Splayed within, like an open deck of cards, were the legal documents that would set into motion a deadly serious scavenger hunt for the very Clues she'd worked her whole life to protect. But she was dying, and someone must come forward who was strong enough to stand against the Vespers.
Now that the moment had finally arrived, however, she found that she was hesitating.
She picked up the small pen that lay beside the documents. Just a bit of ink to paper, and she would drop her only grandchildren into the fray. Such terrible things from such small doses.
Grace set the pen down.
All her life, Grace had been tormented by the worry that someone with selfish or evil aims would find the 39 Clues. But for five hundred years, the Clues had remained safely hidden.
Saladin approached cautiously, watching Grace tuck the documents back into the secret desk drawer.
No one had ever been able to locate all the Clues. Soon Grace would be dead, and here she was on Christmas morning, laying plans to protect them from her grave. She wouldn't place such a heavy burden on the two people she loved most — Amy and Dan Cahill, her grandchildren.
Grace locked the drawer once more, and moved hurriedly to the phone on the other side of the room. Saladin scampered out of her path as she crossed, now completely oblivious to him.
The world was safe enough without eccentric old Grace Cahill shaking things up one last time. The Vespers hadn't been heard from in over a decade, and Grace pushed them firmly out of her mind. It was decided.
The secrets of the Clues would die with her.
"So Grace Cahill didn't want to do the Clue Hunt in the first place?" Natalie said. "It's a good thing she still did it."
"What do you mean it's a good thing?" Dan asked. "We could've died!"
"Quit being a baby Daniel," Natalie said.
"Okay guys," Arianna said. "Natalie can read next."
So, what do you guys think of Arianna? Things are not what they seem.
Hope you enjoyed it! Please review and/or constructive criticism.
Next chapter will be posted soon!