A/N: At this point in writing the story, I was struggling to come up with lyrics. Suggestions would be UBER helpful :)

Disclaimer: ...No 39 Clues authorisms for THIS fanfictioner...

9 Poisoned Darts

"Daniel! I give my shoes back!" Natalie ordered.

"Make me!" he yelled back to her.

"Okay!" she chirped happily. Dan stopped running to see what she meant by that response, but collapsed before he could fully turn around.

Natalie strutted over to the sleeping boy, grabbed her dropped heels from the floor, smirked at Dan's form, and walked away, leaving five other stunned Cahills watching with dropped jaws.

"Natalie!" Amy shouted. "I hope you had a better reason for shooting my brother than your shoes!"

"Don't worry!" Natalie replied. "I did."

Ian scoffed. "I'm sure."

Natalie shrugged.

"What else did he do?" Sinead asked.

"He poured an unknown substance into my shampoo bottle. Honestly, he couldn't have come up with something more original?" Natalie shook her head in dismay.

"How did you know he did that? Your hair looks normal," Reagan commented.

Natalie flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Lucky for me, it had an ungodly smell to it. I knew exactly what he'd done when I took a step into the bathroom."

"Oh," Reagan said.

"So you shot him with your dart gun?" Jonah said. "That's low, dude."

Click.

Jonah slumped in his chair.

"Natalie!" four voices exclaimed.

She put on an innocent face. "What? I am not a 'dude'."

Her brother face-palmed. "I thought you'd be used to Jonah's slang by now. Are you on a shooting rampage again?"

Ian was no longer talking.

Amy rubbed her temples. "Natalie…" she groaned. "Please stop."

Natalie giggled and the three girls left looked at her with alarm on their faces. Was she crazy?

"You're, like, trigger-happy," Reagan observed.

Sinead's eyes widened. "Natalie, don't…!"

She grabbed the gun just as Natalie was aiming at the Holt twin. Unfortunately, she grabbed the barrel as Natalie fired and the dart went into her hand.

Amy stood and walked out of the room, shaking her head. She heard the unmistakable sound of another shot as Reagan went down.

She found Nellie singing and making lunch in the kitchen. She leaned against the counter and rested her hands on the smooth marble.

Nellie pulled out an earbud without looking at her. "What's up, kiddo?"

Amy sighed. "Natalie's at it again."

Nellie stopped chopping lettuce. "Really? Again?"

Amy opened her mouth to confirm it, but something halted her words. A small silver object whizzed in front of her, almost nailing her nose. She jerked back and whipped toward the kitchen doorway. "What the hell!"

"Oh, you're kidding me," Nellie said. She held up the remains of her lettuce. A dart had lodged itself into the leaves, narrowly missing her hand.

Natalie huffed in the doorway. "Why did you leave? I was talking."

"You weren't talking," Amy retorted. "You were shooting."

Natalie held up her gun and took aim, and Amy braced herself. Click.

Nothing happened.

Natalie's eyebrows furrowed and she pursed her lips. "Oh, shoot. Out of darts. You two stay here."

She walked out of the room.

The two girls made a silent agreement and ran to the living room. They pulled open the drawer of an end table and pulled out two of their own guns – with specially designed darts, much like the Lucian models, courtesy of five Madrigal scientists.

They heard a bone-chilling, "I'm back!" from the hallway and they ducked behind the couch.

Natalie sauntered in casually, looking around for her targets. She heard a sniff from behind the couch. Too easy.

Nellie shrugged apologetically to the freaked-out teen beside her. "I have the sniffles," she whispered.

Amy put her fingers to her lips. She heard another dart pierce the fabric of the couch.

The two Madrigals rolled out from behind the furniture and shot their weapons at the exact same time. Nellie hadn't had much target practice before, and her dart sailed harmlessly past the surprised British girl.

Amy, however, had taken it upon herself to make sure she new how to shoot a gun a year ago, in case she needed those skills in an emergency, and this seemed like an emergency to her. She could have sworn Natalie had glared at her before she fell to the carpeted floor, fast asleep.

The two remaining Cahills stood. They looked at each other.

"How did this all start, anyway?" Nellie wondered.

Amy explained it to her.

"Oh, Dan." Nellie shook her head. "If only you weren't a kleptomaniac."

Hopefully, I'll be able to post a new chapter tomorrow without delay. If my creativity will stretch that far...hmmm...

Ideas? Even something totally out-there can be used for a chapter. Sometimes the weirdest things give my inspiration. DO NOT HESITATE TO SEND THEM!

~Callie~