Dear Amy,
I am not quite sure how to word this positively. I hate to be the bearer of bad news.
The other high-ranking Lucians are not taking the new rules very well. In fact, I would go so far to say that I have had several attempts on my life since I announced the news.
I do hope that the other branches are cooperating better than mine is.
-Ian
PS:
Be sure to check your food/utensils until I settle them down.
~O~
RECEIVED: 10:03 GMT
Ian,
Sorry, Amy's on a date and couldn't answer right now.
So what part of "Hey, we're going to stop hurting/betraying/all around being mean to the other branches and get along - oh, and by the way, you know those evil Madrigals, well they're Cahills, too" are they not getting?
Dan—The Ninja Lord of Awesomeness
SENT: 5:01 EST
~O~
*ring*
*ring*
*ring*
"Hello? Cahill residence, this is Nellie speaking."
"Hello."
"Hey, if you're one of Dan or Amy's friends neither one of them is home right now."
"I am Natalie Kabra."
"Ooookay, why not? Hi, Natalie, why are you calling us mere peasants on this lovely day?"
"Well, since Ian has locked himself in his room, I felt it was in our common interests for me to update you on the Lucian… issues."
"You want the Madrigals to send help?"
"No, I simply want you to know that I have dealt with it."
"How does an eleven-year-old girl deal with several power-hungry Lucians?"
"First of all, I am twelve; secondly, don't you want plausible deniability?"
~O~
A TASTE OF NORMALITY
Written by: Anonymous
*on the front porch of an extravagant mansion*
EVAN: I had a great time today, Amy.
AMY: Me too.
Awkward silence
AMY: Well, I should be getting inside; Dan's probably making a mess right now.
EVAN: Okay, I'll see you tomorrow.
AMY turns around to walk inside and reaches an arm out to open the door
Suddenly EVAN grabs her hand
AMY: Evan…?
EVAN kisses AMY
AMY breaks away and turns bright red
AMY: I have to go now.
AMY hurries inside leaving EVAN on the front porch
EVAN: I wish that she'd open up sometime soon. I'm her boyfriend; she shouldn't be keeping secrets from me!
~O~
hey Madison, guess what!
what? did Dan txt you?
what! noooo, anyways, the Lucians issues have been taken care of!
yay? still not seeing why you're all happy
NATALIE is the one who fixed it!
still not seeing the problem here
how does a twelve year old girl fix that issue?
She-Cobra is a She-devil, nothing else to it. hey how did you get this information in the middle of class anyways?
…
OMG, Dan really did txt you!
pshaw
as soon as you admit you like him I'll shut up, now tell your twin the truth darling
fine, it was Dan, you happy now?
my dear sister, your never ever going to live this down
~O~
Dear journal,
Can I call you journal? I'm not calling you diary so you're going to have to settle for journal.
You know why I'm even writing in you, journal? 'Cause my Dad thinks it would be a great way for me to deal with Mom not talking to us anymore.
I'm totally fine, it's not like it affected my life much; she was hardly ever around. In fact, I'm going to rebel a little against her; I am going to use grammar in here. It's actually hard to write out full words, you know? It's so different than my normal day-to-day speech.
But what to talk about, what to talk about.
I know! Janus business.
So recently I received Intel from the Starlings, who received news from the Holts (though how those two families actually managed to get on speaking terms…but I digress) that the Lucians have calmed down, and that Natalie Kabra was the one who fixed the issue.
I almost wish I had had her skills at negotiating, but I don't want to hurt innocent people.
You know, I still don't know how unhappy the Lucians were about the changes... Anyways, Ian and/or Natalie have been doing a very good job at keeping it secret. I don't even think Amy knows, and I'm pretty sure that Ian has been in contact with her somehow. And we both know that there are some feelings between the two of them.
Until next time,
Jonah Wizard
~O~
RECENT ACTIVITY IN THE EKATERINA BRANCH
A report by Ted Starling. With commentary by Ned Starling
Hi, Amy!
How's life going for you? Stuff had been going pretty well for us Ekats until the subject of Madrigals came up. You see, we're smart enough to realize that we may actually be better off working together. When you guys came up it kind of, well, snowballed. That's putting nicely; you guys should've been there! If it wasn't for the extremely high fact that they might've been killed. Details, details they both would've found it worth it if only they saw the head's faces. Okay, I'll admit it was pretty funny. Pretty funny? It was HILARIOUS!
Back to the point, half the branch is mad at Alistair saying that we are crippled and obviously too young to know how to make such a big decision. The other half is still mad at us for failing so horribly in the Clue hunt. That isn't exactly how I would have put it, but yes, they are rather mad at us.
We're just hoping that the other Ekats were a bit (lot) more open-minded.
I hope that there weren't any errors, I can't see very clearly yet.
Oh, yeah, the surgery that Ted and I came up with is working, my headaches are less intense, and his vision will be coming back in gradually!
Toodles,
Ned and Ted
~O~
A letter from Ian to Amy
An email from Dan to Ian
A call from Natalie to Nellie
A play scene with Evan and Amy
A note between Madison and Reagan during school
Jonah's journal entry
And a report from Ted (and Ned) to Amy
And many, many thanks to my lovely bets RageRunsStill, who helped me finetune this story.
In case you haven't noticed yet, this story is slightly AU from the end of the Clue Hunt.