Super Important! Re-written chapter! Thanks to my friend Breanne being brutally honest, like I asked her to be, I have realised that she is right, and this was quite OOC. I am re-writing/posting both of the chapters before publishing the next.
Set after Day of Doom, but before the Unstoppable series. I refuse to believe Natalie is dead. I hope she will come back in Series 4 after faking her death, as Alistair did in The Sword Thief. *crossing fingers*
Disclaimer: If I owned the 39 clues, there would be so much more Amian. And there would already be a movie out. Seeing as none of these have happened, I'm guessing you've realised I don't own the 39 clues (or anything else I happened to mention)
~Looking out a dirty old window. Down below, the cars and the city go rushing by. I sit here alone and I wonder why~
{Family Reunion: Day Two}
Hamilton had beaten Dan at basketball again and Dan was extremely tired after his valiant struggle for victory. Suddenly, the world started to swirl and spin. He leaned against the old maple tree and slid down the trunk until he was sitting safely on the ground, where he couldn't fall and hurt himself. It hadn't been a good idea to play basketball for three hours straight after only getting an hour and a half of sleep.
He was starved. It had been three whole hours since he had last eaten, and to Dan, that seemed like an eternity. He wanted ice-cream so badly, but the ice-cream truck never came up this road (they were twenty minutes from the main town) and he couldn't trust himself to walk the distance to the door without falling over.
Music played in the distance, gradually coming to a crescendo. It most definitely wasn't Nellie's music; hers was so much louder and more energetic. The calming sound reminded him of an… ice-cream truck? Yes. It was there in the distance. It appeared to by driving towards him. Correction - hurtling towards him at top speed, and at the same time, the wheels made no contact with the ground.
HELP! Pull the breaks. Someone stop it! he thought as its path straightened out so it included him. He closed his eyes and hoped that if he was hit, it would be a quick and painless death. And then he heard the screech of brakes. The acrid smell of burning rubber was strong, intoxicating, and most definitely headache-inducing. He thought he felt woozy earlier. It was so much worse now. It took him several moments to snap back to reality; there was free ice-cream sitting outside his house! Why there was no driver, he wasn't sure. But there was something amiss about how the truck had stopped when he wanted it to. He had a theory, but he needed to tell the others what happened first—not that they would believe him.
He ran into the mansion and grabbed the megaphone Fiske bought in case an emergency evacuation, or something like that, was needed. "The Vespers are back!" he bellowed into the megaphone. The others raced into the room, carrying whatever they had just been holding to use as a weapon.
Amy clutched a thick, heavy book so tightly, her knuckles were white. Nellie, who had just been cooking, brandished a spatula, still covered in some sauce or another from whatever dish she was cooking. Fiske and Natalie were the only ones with real, useful weapons. Natalie with her dart gun and Fiske with a small stun-gun.
Ian carried a polo stick. Madison had a soccer ball at the ready to be kicked; Reagan held one ballet slipper, and was hopping around attempting to remove the other. The toes on those shoes were hard, and when thrown by a Holt, they could do serious damage.
Hamilton came running in with the basketball we were playing with, and Ned, Ted and Sinead ran up from the basement with one of their new inventions and a vial filled with some sort of chemical.
Jonah was nowhere in sight.
For a moment he thought that the Vespers had actually come back and kidnapped Jonah. And then Dan heard the pounding of footsteps as the rapper ran down the stairs.
He came out in metallic gold pajamas with "Da Wiz" written all over them in white graffiti font. He was actually that self-obsessed that he wore his own clothing line's pajama range. He was hugging a pillow to his chest for comfort. His eyes were wide. That was understandable. No one wanted to be captured by the Vespers, and others—not again.
"Wh-where are they?" Jonah asked timidly, stuttering slightly. Phoenix had told him about what it was like in the cell. He didn't want it to be him stuck in there. He didn't want anyone stuck in there.
"Relax! I just needed a way to get you down here quickly. The Vespers are long gone. But you will never believe the awesome things that just happened to me!"
"Let me guess," Natalie began, "you finally completed your ninja video game? Yes? Great, now let's all go back to what we were doing."
Murmurs of "yeah" were given from everyone as they turned to walk out.
"Wait! That's not what I wanted to tell you! This might be important!" Dan shouted as they made their way out the door.
They came back in, bored and wanting to go back to their activities. Once they all sat down, Dan started to retell what is now known as the Ice-cream Truck Incident.
"So, I was tired, sweaty, and hungry, so I wished for an ice-cream truck to come and I stared at the horizon and it suddenly came flying towards me! I thought it was going to crash into me so I willed it to stop, and it did. It was just hovering. Then I wanted it to land in front of me, and it did. And, and-"
"Whoa. Slow down, Dan-o. I think we need to start at the start," Hamilton interrupted, before Dan could confuse the others any more than they already were. He was currently claiming to have superpowers. Yesterday it was ninja abilities. Amy had her fingers crossed that her brother was over ninjas for good.
"Yes. I must agree with this peasant, Daniel. It is impossible that you have telekinesis. It must just have been an ordinary ice-cream truck. You did say you were tired and dizzy. You probably hallucinated," Natalie argued, disgusted by the fact she had just agreed with someone of such a low class as Hamilton. "I can't believe our family. Second day of our reunion and already you have to confuse us with your wild fantasies."
"Teleki-what? What on earth does that mean?" Dan quizzed.
"It means the power to move things with your mind, dweeb. Now let's start this again. How about, half an hour before we called everyone over for the reunion and onward? We need evidence to back this theory up," Amy said wearily, in an attempt to stop the argument before it had even begun. No one objected, so Amy started them off.
{Flashback}
"Sinead? Are you all right?" Amy asked her best friend. Sinead's parents were who-knows-where and her brothers were in the hospital for their surgeries. The explosion at the Franklin Institute had left Ted blind, Ned with headaches if he attempted to concentrate on anything, and Sinead with plenty of scars. Amy had let her stay with them for the time being.
"Huh? Oh! Hi, Ames. Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"I've been trying to get your attention for five whole minutes! Is something bothering you?" Amy asked, worried for her friend. She had never been so distracted before.
"No, nothing," Sinead replied, a little too quickly for Amy's liking.
"Fine, if you won't tell me… Truth or dare?" she asked.
"I'm guessing if I say truth, you'll ask me what's wrong?" Sinead inquired.
"No, of course not!" Amy replied, clearly not meaning what she said.
"I pick dare, then," a triumphantly smirking Sinead said.
"I dare you to tell me what the problem is, truthfully," Amy replied, now smirking instead of Sinead.
"Fine, you win. Well, I'm worried about Ned and Ted, and also… Well, I just can't stop thinking about someone. I guess you could say that I'm having a few boy troubles…" Amy was intrigued by this point.
"Did I just hear the smartest person I know say she's having boy troubles? Like, with your brothers or… boy troubles?" Amy queried, slightly blushing as she said those last words.
"The last one, but not exactly. You see, Hamilton has been really nice to me because he wants to make up for the Franklin Institute. My heart is saying to forgive him, but my mind keeps reminding me of the pain it caused my brothers."
"Just forgive him already! Trust your heart, not your head."
"No, I can't! In the movies, the girl forgives the guy only for him to do something worse and break her heart! And besides, the next reunion is ages away."
"One week away, actually," Amy corrected. "Wait, since when did you watch chick flicks, Sinead?"
Sinead was too deep in thought already to notice the question. She stared out the window thinking. One week. Only one week. How will I do this?
"Sinead!" Amy yelled to snap her friend out of her daze. Amy set down the phone. By the looks of it, she had just finished a phone call. "Ned and Ted are ready to come out of the hospital! We're going to send a car to pick them up and they'll be here tomorrow!" she squealed in excitement.
"Really?! Get Nellie to cook a feast and send private jets to get the other Clue hunters here early. We need to celebrate!"
"Great idea! I'll send out the jets and call the others to make sure they're ready. You tell Nellie, and start thinking up what foods to make."
The two girls ran off in separate directions, still bubbly and excited, completely forgetting their earlier conversation.
{Present Day}
She won't forgive me… ever. Will she? Hamilton thought to himself. How can she? I hurt her and her brothers permanently.
"So that explains the party as soon-" Ned began
"As we walked through the door" Ted finished.
"Wait. Did you two just finish each other's sentence? Weird!" Dan exclaimed. The others shared puzzled looks. Ned and Ted had just finished each other's sentence.
"It seems we did."
"Hey, Ted. We should do that more often! I like seeing the faces everyone gives us when we do. Did you see Sinead? Her face-" Ned didn't get to finish, as he burst into a fit of laughter.
"What was wrong with my face, Ned?" Sinead asked. She picked up a cushion from next to her and threw it at her brother, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth.
"Pillow fight!" Hamilton yelled.
"NO! I just finished cleaning up after the party!" Nellie snapped. Everyone dropped the assorted cushions and sat back down.
"Who's going next?" Fiske asked.
"Me! Me! Me!" Dan exclaimed.
Ian and Natalie groaned and sat there, silently cursing Dan in their heads.
{Flashback}
The phone rang in the distance and Amy and Sinead started squealing. Dan's first thought was that they were in trouble, but then he heard them laughing and decided to go back to his video game. He had just unpaused the game again when his 'dork of a sister' ran into the room, panting heavily.
"Dan, family reunion tomorrow, Ned and Ted are coming back from the hospital. I need you to clean up. Eww! Is that pizza sticking to the ceiling? Never mind, we'll find a way to get it off and clean the stain. Now get off your butt and clean!" She turned around and tripped over something on the floor.
"Dan! Why are your socks in the doorway? I just tripped over them. You're so lucky it wasn't Fiske who tripped!"
"So that's where I put those," he casually replied. Amy just rolled her eyes.
She picked herself up and walked out the door. Dan waited until he could not hear her footsteps anymore and continued with his game. He noticed a shadow in the corner of his eye. It appeared to be watching him.
He paused the game again and looked over. Nothing. But when he turned back to the T.V., the screen was black. He heard laughing behind him and cautiously turned around, ready to strike if needed. Amy stood by the door holding the game console and the T.V. remote.
"Clean up, and maybe you will get these back, dweeb," she chided, waltzing out of game room once again.
So if Dan ever wanted to see his console again, he had to clean. His best bet was that she'd open all the drawers and cupboards to make sure he hadn't just stuffed everything in there.
He picked up the pile of dirty clothes that had somehow accumulated in the game room. The pile was heavy, and that was the problem with living in Grace's mansion: The place was big. They had to walk past fifteen rooms and down three corridors before getting to the laundry. The prices people pay.
Dan had never actually been in the laundry room. Doing it was Amy, Nellie and Sinead's chore. He had never understood the point of washing clothes that would just get dirty again. It was a waste of time.
The room was so clean. The benches, walls, floor, dryer and washing machine; all spotless. Probably because he had never been here before to mess it up.
He opened the box thing that he hoped was the washing machine and dumped in the dirty clothes. I'll let Nellie deal with this. I have to work on the pizza on the ceiling,he thought turning to walk out the door.
Oh, who cares about the game room? It's not as if anyone will go there except, maybe, Hammer. Where can I hide from Amy so that she will never know where I am? Grace's secret library! She'll never look there for me! He took off down the corridor to the library, acting like a ninja the whole way.
{Present day}
Dan felt Amy's glare burning a hole in his head before he even turned to look at her. He gave her a winning smile.
"Dan," she said, "I *told you* to clean up the game room! You seriously never did that?"
"I felt the pizza was a nice addition to the ceiling, and I figured that if I wasn't going to do that, maybe I should just skip it all."
Amy looked ready to blow.
"Hamilton," Sinead piped up, hoping to stop the fight that was surely gearing to start, "maybe you should go next."
"Good idea," the Holt answered quickly. "So I was in my bedroom..."
{Flashback}
Hamilton was staring out the window again. He had been doing this a lot lately.
"Hamilton! Dad wants you down here!" his sister, Madison, yelled from downstairs. He heard the pounding of footsteps as his other sister, Reagan, ran up the stairs.
"Hamilton?! Hammer...? Something must be wrong. You always answer to 'Hammer,'" Reagan said. He took no notice. "I FOUND A NEW CLUE!" she yelled in his ear, while waving her hand in front of his eyes, in an attempt to break him out of the trance. That worked. Even after the Hunt finished, all the Cahills jumped to action upon hearing the words "found" and "Clue."
"What did you say?" Hamilton asked, coming back to reality.
"I knew that would work! Dad wants you downstairs. He said something about being the first to try one of his 'delicious' protein drinks." She made air quotes while saying "delicious." "Why were you staring out the window?" she probed.
"I was just thinking about someone- I mean… suitcases… yeah, suitcases… I don't know what to pack for the reunion?" The way he answered made it sound like a question.
"Sure… Well, Dad wants you." Reagan ran out the door, he followed behind, begrudgingly, not overly impressed with the fact that he was the test subject for the drink.
Hamilton could not believe himself. Was he really about to say he was thinking about Sinead... again? Why was he thinking about her?
Just then, the phone rang. He downed the drink quickly and immediately ran to the bathroom to vomit. He quietly—at least, as quietly as possible for a Holt - slunk back to his room to get away from his loud, boisterous family. He seemed to be staring out the window, drowning in his thoughts a lot lately. Two minutes later, both his sisters barged into the room, not bothering to knock, of course.
"Hamilton, you need to pack!" Reagan yelled.
"Ned and Ted are out of the hospital. Amy and Sinead planned a surprise party so the reunion was moved forward. They're sending a private jet. After being the ones who caused their injuries, I think it's important to celebrate their recovery!" Madison called, already running back to her room, which she shared with Reagan.
Hamilton sighed at those words. We caused their injuries; the bomb idea wasn't mine, but I was the one who made it and planted it. I can't help but regret it. It's my own fault that the Starlings were injured. I can't blame anyone else, he thought.
{Present Day}
"Okay. Nothing interesting going on at the Holt crib," Jonah chimed in.
"Why did you say Sinead's name there, Hammer?" Dan asked innocently.
"I didn't. You must have misheard me. I was saying… sandwiches… yeah, sandwiches."
Hamilton was sure he saw Sinead frown slightly when he said that. He figured it was just wishful thinking.
"Right, that's the Holts down. Who's next?" Amy inquired.
"Natalie and I will go next, then," Ian spoke up, and began recalling the events from back in London.
A/N I intended this to be a one-shot… yeah, so much for that. Also, thanks to Breanne for reminding me that the Starlings are actually eighteen in the second series.
Next Chapter: Unproven Theories and Untold Secrets.
Random questions:
1 Which pairing for Amy do you support most? (My answer: Amian!)
2 What games should they play at the reunion (truth or dare, etc.)
3 Zebras: white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
See the button that says 'review'? Mind pressing it? Please?
Constructive criticism welcomed, in fact, completely encouraged. Be brutally honest!