Chapter 4 - Information
"If this is a bloody joke, I swear..." Natalie growled, fingering the dart gun at her hip.
Amy shook her head. "No, Natalie, I'm pretty sure it's not. Phoenix sounded serious. Anyway, why would he ask for just you two to come ahead if it was a joke?"
"To annoy us," Natalie returned stiffly. "We'd look like fools, arriving before everyone else and sitting there two days while waiting for everyone."
Dan chuckled. "Don't tell me you'd rather stay here. No Daniel Arthur Cahill over there, you know."
"More's the pity," Natalie returned sarcastically, glaring at Dan.
Amy walked to the door in annoyance. "Where is Ian?! I should've never let him leave the house an hour before you two leave for the airport."
"He shut himself up in his room with the phone before he left, too..." Natalie mused. She smirked. "I think I know what he's doing."
Just then, her brother walked into the room, grinning. He smirked at Amy. "Pack your bags, Cahills. We're all going to Los Angeles by private jet."
Amy's eyes narrowed. "How..."
"Let's just say I talked to your mechanic, and the phrases "extra payment" and "if finished today" were in the conversation." Ian's smirk got wider.
"Sweet!" Dan yelled, running up the stairs. "Los Angeles, here I come!"
"Oh, and we're stopping on the way to pick up the Starlings and the Holts," Ian added.
Amy glared at him before turning and stomping up the stairs.
It was kinda funny how pretty much all the Cahills' expressions were the same when they walked into the living room and saw the unconscious girl on the couch, Phoenix thought. Their eyes had widened, but nobody asked any questions, not even Dan. They all just quietly took seats on the other sofas and waited for the explanation.
Phoenix stood up nervously. "Hi," he said quietly.
A chorus of "Hey"s and "Hello"s answered him. He looked at them, trying to decide on how to start.
Phoenix told them about the airport scene first. Just as he was getting to whatever she had told him in the limo, Natalie stood up. "Wait."
She walked quietly to a window, pulling her dart gun out, and crouched. Everyone waited expectantly. She flung open the window suddenly and shot to the ground.
There was a movement outside, and a thump. "Got him."
All the Cahills except Phoenix and Dan jumped up and ran outside, led by Jonah and the Holts. The two boys stayed back to guard Kristina by silent agreement, in case somebody else came. The rest went around to the side of the mansion and looked at the ground outside the window.
No one was there.
Sinead noticed a slight rustle among the trees in the wood some hundred yards away, and started sprinting towards it. The rest followed quickly, Hamilton soon taking the lead. They entered the woods and had to slow down, fighting their way through hanging branches and thick roots. Hamilton spied a clearing ahead and sped up.
He burst out of the trees and stopped in dismay. Everyone else followed, only to see a road and a car driving away, already too far ahead for them to even see the license plate. Hamilton shook his head. "I can't follow that thing."
"He got away because his friend carried him to the car, but he'll sure have a hard time getting that poison out of his system," Natalie said, grimly satisfied.
Amy nodded, realizing they'd made a mistake by leaving the unconscious girl in the house with no one but Phoenix and Dan. "Let's get back. I want to make sure Phoenix and Dan are alright."
They made their way quickly to the house and ran to the living room.
Phoenix and Dan were in opposite corners, slumped over, unconscious.
They were gagged, and their hands and feet were bound with thick white rope. Amy gave a strangled gasp and rushed over to her brother, quickly unbinding him and checking his pulse. It was slow- very slow.
Jonah did the same to Phoenix. "I'll get the Lucian doctor."
Ian helped Amy carry Dan to the nearest sofa, and Hamilton laid Phoenix down on another. They waited for the doctor. Meanwhile, Natalie did the same cotton-ball test the Dr. Loven had done on Kristina on Dan's neck wound. She showed the poison to Ian, and they came to an agreement quickly.
"We don't think this poison will last too long. The doctor should have an antidote for it, which, when administered once, will let the victim wake up and move around a bit in an hour," Ian announced.
Just then, Dr. Loven walked in and sighed when he saw the two unconscious boys. "Mr. Wizard, I suggest you employ security guards for your house. Either the police or your own Cahill contacts."
Jonah nodded grimly. Dr. Loven did the same tests on both boys as he had done on Kristina, and pronounced Ian and Natalie's verdict correct. He pulled out an antivenom syringe and injected a tiny amount into the arms of both boys.
"Doc, you could also tell Ian and Natalie what poison Kristina's system has and what times they need to give the antivenom at," Jonah suggested.
Dr. Loven nodded and took the Kabras aside, telling them about it quietly. Ian and Natalie registered the information quickly and took the necessary antivenom, leaving it high on a shelf.
After the doctor had gone, Jonah said, "Dudes, it's 6:45. Aren't y'all hungry? Is pizza okay for dinner?"
"Pizza's always okay," Madison cracked. Her twin nodded in agreement. Nobody disagreed, not even Natalie, so Jonah went to the phone and ordered pizza.
Everyone slumped onto the couches as they ate, finishing quickly, both because they were hungry and because they wanted to know what was going on.
When all the pizzas were gone, Jonah continued Phoenix's story. When he got to the part about Kristina being Alistair's daughter, there were quite a few gasps.
"Alistair's daughter?! Are you sure?!" Sinead asked unbelievingly. "She wasn't at the funeral, I'm sure... but then, there were so many people there that she might have been..."
"Alistair always had a soft spot for children," Amy said quietly, but everyone heard her and stopped talking. "He did leave us on our own after we trusted him in the clue hunt quite a few times, but he reappeared. At the time of the hunt, Kristina must have been no more than ten. He probably missed her a lot... It also explains why he had such a huge mansion- it wasn't all for one person. There were probably a few Ekats living there, taking care of the child and making sure she remained anonymous. But... why did he hide her?"
"We don't know," Jonah said. "Phoenix didn't want her to talk about it in the car. Smart boy, because the driver turned out to be evil. When Phoenix got out of the car here, Kristina didn't follow, and when we found her she was unconscious and the driver had flown. But... Phoenix did say she told him that there was a reason behind it. Oh, and there was a note attached to her collar when we found her."
He walked over to a shelf and pulled down the tissue-wrapped package. "Here, pass it around, and try not to touch it. We thought maybe we could have it tested for fingerprints or something."
The note was passed around, and each person read it as it rested on the tissue. It came to Ned, Ted and Sinead last. All three's eyes narrowed as they read it. They looked at each other for one long moment.
"We think we might know who T is," Ted said.
Sinead nodded. "The Ekat branch isn't peaceful, even within itself. We have the smartest minds in history, and competition is fierce."
By now, everyone was listening to the three interestedly. "Go on," Ian said, leaning forward.
"Normally, Ekaterinas do not place much upon fantastical myths. But if it means they can be smarter and better recognized than their fellows, some will do anything," Ned continued. "There are lots of legends- some say there is a stream of bubbling water in the Sahara desert which, when drunk from, will give that Ekat a clear, focused mind, enabling them to work while others deal with daily distractions."
"Some say Katherine's long-lost necklace contains strong doses of the Ekat serum in the pendant," Ted said. "It's often called the Ekat Legacy. She left clues to it around the world- it's like the Ekaterinas' own clue hunt. We Starlings have never been interested in looking for the legacy, but apparently Alistair was."
"I'm guessing he only went on the clue hunt to get more clues to the Legacy," Sinead said. "Oh, he might have been interested in the main prize, the serum, but he was also looking for the Legacy."
"But who's T, then?" Amy asked.
"T isn't any one person," Sinead said. "They're a group of Ekats who detached themselves from the branch to look for the Legacy. They plan to use the serum for evil purposes- they're already smart, and making them extra-smart will be a big problem."
"Well, they're not exactly evil," Ned amended. "Not intentionally. They're not like the Vespers, who wanted world domination. T members just want to be famous for their knowledge, so they'll experiment more and more. Sinead meant they're evil in the sense that, for example, if they need live people for their experiments, they won't hesitate to use live people. They'll break all kinds of human rights laws for their science, and nobody will be able to outsmart them 'cause they'll be so mega-smart."
"Wait. What does T stand for?" Hamilton asked.
"No one knows. They always sign themselves with a T," Sinead answered.
Natalie said slowly, "The fact that Katherine was able to keep a small part of her Ekat serum still intact after all these years is a miracle. Isabel and Vikram consumed their Lucian serum- I suppose they left some too, but no one as yet knows where."
All the Cahills sat in silence for a while, mulling over the information. Amy sighed. My Madrigal duty never ends, does it?