A/N-I'm back! And...well...could someone please give me some CC? I know this story's kinda weird and stuff, but...
Okay, on with it.
Amy Cahill fingered the little metal dove. It was white and cold, with a little holographic 'C' inscribed on it. Underneath, something was carved in Greek.
The little diamonds on each wing were sparkling.
"Why are you giving me this?"
"I need to." The man pushed back a tuft of his silvery white hair. "Look, Amy, Grace gave it to me. And...she asked me to give it to you when I needed to." He took a deep breath. "And I think the time has come."
"S-s-stop being so overdramatic. I know you're a Cahill. Grace would have given it to me if she'd wanted to."
"I can prove she did." A muscle in his temple twitched. "I'm Fiske Cahill. Her brother."
"Right. Obviously you'd say that..." Amy couldn't help thinking about Dan and how he'd have made fun of the name.
"My dear, you can't trust Dan with this. You can't trust anyone."
"Well, Grace trusted you and you seem to trust me..." Amy's bottom lip quivered. She hated it when the other branches used Grace to manipulate her.
"Look, Amy, it was an ancient tradition. We Seekers should have united ages back. But then this other group called the Hunters got into the hunt. They began to recruit young Cahills who had close relatives suspected of-"
"Wait. Seeker? What's that?"
"Each branch has a token. We suspect a snake, wolf, dragon and bear in the branch colours-"
"So where's my branch's token?"
"In your hand. The Cahill token, the master one."
"Why is it a dove?"
"I don't know." Fiske licked his lips nervously. "But Seekers try to get together so they can combine all the tokens to form something...great. Collaborate to do it, then use it for good...which know one knows about. And when Seekers think they're close to being discovered, they hand it to the next generation to do the same."
"Discovered by whom?"
"Hunters. Close friends and relatives of Seekers...Hunters discovered a way of using one token to gain individual power, not all. I'm almost positive Dan is a hunter-hunters aren't bad, but they'll do anything-not harm you, but trick you to give up your token if they think you're a Seeker. All your closest friends are probable Hunters-Cahills, that is. And if Hunters get power..."
"Every branch has a Seeker? Even the Lucians?"
"Yes. And this is more powerful than the 39 clues, Amy. Madeleine hadn't anticipated Hunters to spoil her plans of reunion when she used her tricks to make something better than Gide-" Fiske broke off. "Just know that the serum is destructive, and so is this, if found by one person or a Hunter. But Seekers are the best of their branch, the most peaceful and understanding. If they collaborate and join the tokens...peace will be restored. And be warned...Hunters love to make fakes to manipulate you."
"But how do I know who's a Seeker and who's a Hunter?"
But Fiske glanced at his watch and began walking away. "I'm sorry, Amy", he muttered. "You'll have to find out for yourself."
Amy relieved her Q&A session with Fiske, trying to find out if there were any clues she had missed. This had to be the answer to how Natalie had zapped them into the future. Maybe she was a Hunter who'd found a token and this was Madeleine's great power. Whoever she was. Or maybe...Natalie was a Seeker trying to send out a distress signal. Maybe this was her way of calling out to all Seekers.
A knock interrupted Amy's thoughts.
"Come in", she called wearily, stuffing the dove into her front pocket.
"Amy."
Amy froze. That snooty, seductive voice could only belong to only one person...
"I missed you, love."
Amy turned beetroot red. "W-w-why are you here?" Amy bit her tongue. Why did her reaction to Ian's surprise visits never change?"
"To see you."
"Drop the act."
"What?" Ian sat down next to her. "My sister obviously brought us here for one reason-to let you and me enjoy a romantic vacation in the midst of a billion dead bodies."
If it were possible, Amy would have turned even redder than she was.
Wouldn't. Think. About Ian.
As if he was reading her thoughts, Ian smirked. "Don't go all 'You betrayed me!' again. It was just a spot of fun." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm here to talk about what we're doing here."
"W-w-what do you mean?"
"You and I both know about Madeleine's gift...I overheard everything." He smiled eerily. "Hand it over, love."
"You're a hunter."
"Quite the contrary." He pulled out a red double headed snake. "I didn't know Madeleine had started the hunt, though." He coughed into his hand.
"I'll let you touch it to yours." He handed her the snake.
"W-w-why should I believe you?"
"Take your time. I'll be there. Tent L39."
And with one sweeping motion, Ian Kabra was out the door.
Ian Kabra knew it was a big risk.
After he'd switched theories with Natalie last night, he'd stolen the snake from her pocket. It was a half-piece. Ian had merged it wth his with a little screwing, gearing and pressing...and the snake had split into two.
Ian's quick brain had formulated that the you're-the-only-one-beware of-each-other talk was garbage. Apparently...the Lucians had two tokens. And it had been morphed into one and broken into halves.
But he didn't get why. When Nataliya had grown old, she had instructed Ian to keep her favourite half snake heirloom: without explaining anything. Ian hadn't known what to do with it...until he'd overheard Fiske the previous day.
"You have to trust me. You have to take this."
"Why?" Amy had asked.
"See this green leaf at the back? It's at the back of very special tokens."
"Why are you giving this to me?"
That had got Ian interested:his half-snake had that symbol too. He'd eavesdropped on the rest of the conversation.
Giving Amy Natalie's half was dangerous. There had to be something about the Lucians that gave them two tokens:losing one would be very dangerous.
But Ian hoped it would be worth it.
"HELP!"
The call stung Ian's ears.
Startled he got up. Vikram used to set his alarm to the sound of terrified voices. Ian hated the sound. This was real; it was twenty times worse.
"HELP! IAN!" Followed by a loud fit of coughing and sobbing.
And that's when Ian recognized the sound: Natalie.
Natalie Kabra sobbed into her expensive Prada dress.
She'd woken up at 12 and found her snake missing. She'd rushed out: only to be caught by a Russian man.
When she was being taken to the field, she'd heard the distant noises. And in no time, explosives were dropping on the building.
"GIVE US OUR BRITISH BACK!"
The voice chilled Natalie's spine. It was her mother.
"WE ARE TARGETING YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE THE MOST POWERFUL PART OF THE RUSSIAN SIDE!"
The now sixty five year old woman had barely aged: an image of her was projected on a nearby wall.
"TAKE SOME BRITISH WITH YOU, BUT DIE!"
And they were smoking. The explosives didn't go beyond one building; Natalie was sure her mother wanted the Brits back.
And Natalie screamed. Her life didn't matter, but she had to tell Ian about the snake.
And Ian came rushing in. He didn't care about the fire all around; he just rushed in, and as Natalie told him everything, his eyes filled with tears. As Natalie Kabra looked into her brother's deceitful eyes, she saw beyond them. And the world crashed around Natalie, literally and proverbially, as she realized her brother had been a true Lucian. He'd tricked her, just like he'd betrayed Amy.
"Ian..."
"NO!" Ian shouted maniacally. "Mom!"
And the last sight she saw was Ian flinging a red snake across the room into the fire. Before she could protest, Natalie Kabra had gone.
A/N-I can't wait to do Ian's sad little, angsty chapter next! *rubs hands together evilly* Yeah, I had this idea up my sleeve for quite a while. No, not the WWIII one, that was a recent one. But you're going to find out...in the next chapter. And the snake? It won't be destroyed. It going to be found...and get into the wrong hands. Ian is not that much of a Lucian...no true Lucian acts on impulse. Then again, the only people truly that Lucian would probably be our favourite Lucians, Isabel and Vikram.
Okay, cut out the Vikram part of it.
Isabel.
To be continued...
~Grass-Berry09
