The world spun, careening out of orbit, and the four children and one old man were the only ones who almost suspected what was really going on.
"How'd they find out?" Julia hissed.
Measures had been taken and the earth advanced towards the black blob faster. But still . . . they had time. And the earth couldn't move any faster without killing the inhabitents. And they didn't want that.
Ashleigh shrugged. "I don't know. We went through our plans a million times. They should have been foolproof."
"Well," Julia said, taking a deep berath. "They don't have our . . ." She paused. "Our special bodies."
Ashleigh glared at her. "Don't make us sound like we're freaks." She stopped. "Yet. They don't have them yet."
Julia shook her head, looking out at the space around her. She wasn't wearing a space suit, neither was she attached to anything. She just floated, almost magically, Ashleigh thought, knowing she looked the same way.
Julia glanced up at Ashleigh, concerned. "Do you think they're Cahills?"
Ashleigh laughed. "Not true ones, anyway." Her slim body shook with laughteer. "Look, the Cahills are too busy trying to make up after 500 plus years of fighting. I would know, because I'm a Janus. Right now, Cora Wizard, head of the Janus, is furious with her son for making peace with the 'Cahill brats', as she calls them." She shrugged. "Honestly, I don't even care. It's not as if they can do anything to the new me."
Julia shook her head. "Not unless they find the . . . Glysi serum, the one that Gideon Cahill found."
Ashleigh nodded. "Even then the Glysi had a hold on our earth. And even then they had humans working for them, studying under them."
"He was scared of it." Julia said. "That's why he developed the other one, the one that kills you after a week. He wanted you to die with the knowledge. And that's why he took the serum. He wanted to die with the knowledge."
Ashleigh stared at Julia. "But what about his children. Why'd he give some of the new serum to them?"
Julia shrugged. "Who knows? So they wouldn't suspect, or something."
"But the Glysi were still here, and when we started working for them, we discovered the original serum."
Julia laughed. "And hid it in Fain Oaks for all our . . . helpers."
Asheligh shook her head. "But . . . what's their names? Amy and Dan? But Amy and Dan could find it there too."
Julia snorted. "They've had miminal training. They didn't even find out about their Madrigal heritage, or even get to the Gauntlet. We've got nothing to fear."
Ashleigh nodded but she couldn't ignore the feeling in her gut that Julia was wrong.
oO0Oo
Somehow Nellie landed the plane safely, much to everyone's relief. The car they had found abandoned by the side of the road had just enough fuel to take them to the next car and that car to the next.
By hopping cars and using them until they ran out of fuel, they managed to make it safely to Fain Oaks.
Hundreds of stands of skeletal trees waved their naked branches in the cold, biting wind. "Great." Dan moaned. "We shouldn't be here too long at all. We just have to check like, what, ten trees? That shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes."
"Cut the sarcasm." Amy snapped. She didn't want to admit it, but she too was irriated. Maybe Ashleigh Gordon was a little smarter than she looked. "We need to be positive." She stated, mostly for her own benefit.
"Amy's right." Natalie said. "But Dan does have a point. All we know is 'Fain Oaks Hid'. Where are we supposed to look?"
Amy shrugged and looked around her at the haggard trees, once beautiful green monarchs, now starving peasants. "Split up?" She suggested.
Ian nodded. "Good idea. Amy, you and I will go this way." He gestured down a narrow path that looked cold and barren to Amy, but she kept her mouth shut. Take one for the team, Amy She thought. "Natalie, you and Dan go that way." Ian commanded.
Dan glared at Amy, his eyes screaming, Why are you letting him boss us around? Then he said, much to Amy's humiliation, "Why don't you two stay here and make out while we're gone?"
Natalie snorted and the two of them took off running, laughing all the way.
"Hey, Dan!" Amy called. "Why don't you tell Natalie about that picture you have behind your mirror?"
Dan paled. "Why were you snooping behind my mirror?"
Amy shrugged, grinning. "I don't know, maybe the same reason you snoop through my stuff." Halfway through her sentence her smile evaporated off her face.
Dan glared at her, and then stalked off, grabbing Natalie's hand and yanking her in their assigned direction.
Amy laughed and then turned to Ian. "Ready?" She asked.
Ian nodded, his eyes staring off into the distance. He started off down the trial that led deep into the Fain Oaks. "Have fun!" Nellie called after them. "I'll stay in the car."
Amy nodded and then ran after Ian, nearly running to keep up with Ian's fast stride.
They had only been walking for a few minutes when said, "There." He pointeed at a tall, thick tree, which dominated the landscape.
Amy arched an eyebrow. "How do you know?"
Ian snorted. "We're talking about Ashleigh Gordon here, and she's a model, so she's not very smart. She'd either hide it in the tallest or smallest tree. The smallest trees are barely more than twigs stuck in the ground, so I assumed she'd pick the tallest tree."
Amy shrugged. "I guess it makes sense." She paused. "And we don't really have anything else to go on right now."
Ian nodded. "So that would mean that we go to-"
Amy cut him off. "That tree." She finished, pointing to the largest tree. It stood head and shoulders above the rest of the forest, the monarch of all, the king of kings. "Let's go." She said.
They took off running towards the huge tree. When they reached it, Amy was surprised to see Dan and Natalie already there.
"Hey." Natalie said.
"Yo!" Dan greeted. "Look we just have to climb up five hundred plus feet to get that little knot hole . . . or whatever you call it, up there." He gestured towards the tree. "Not at all hard."
Amy scanned the tall trunk until she spotted the small knot hole Dan was speaking of. It was small, a tiny crevice, but it seemed to have been deliberately placed in the bark of the tree and something was up there. She just knew it.
Ian cleared his throat. "Who knows how to climb trees?" He looked down at his fancy pants, which he insisted on calling trousers. "I'll tear my trousers if I do that." He said. "These are custom made."
Amy gritted her teeth.
Ian and Natalie turned to glance at Dan. "No!" His voice cracked. "Not me, please!" He looked so forlorn, Amy reflected, with his baggy jeans and twiggy arms. His thin body quivered, although Amy could see he was trying to hide it.
Amy shook her head, biting her lip. "No. Not him."
Natalie turned to her, arching an eyebrow. She wore a delicate flowered sundress with leggings and tall boots. "Are you suggesting you do it? I couldn't climb, you people would see up my dress and plus, it would tear."
Amy inhaled. "I'll do it."
Ian looked at her, astonished. She pulled him aside and gestured at Dan. "Look at him."
He looked at Dan and nodded. "Alright." Ian said. "Go ahead." With one arm, he gestured towards the tree."
Amy scanned the tree again. "Ladder, anyone?" She said. "Cuz I'm not just going to wrap my arms around the trunk and shinny up."
Ian snorted. "You missed something Amy." Grabbing her arm, he pulled her closer to the tree. "Look."
Small chunks of the tree were carved out of the thick turnk. "What's that?" She asked, running slender fingers over the carvings.
"This." Ian said, pushing Amy away. He then began to rapidly hit first one and then another mark, as if they were letters on a keyboard.
Suddenly, as he hit the mark that looked suspiciously like an elongated flash-drive, something whistled down from the top of the tree, hitting Amy on the head. "Ow!" She cried. "What is that?"
"So." Ian said, his accent clipping the words. "Ready to climb?"
A rope ladder hung from the tree.
"How'd you do that?" Amy asked.
"It's an old Lucian code." Ian smirked. "I'm not telling you what it is, unless you tell me what branch you're in."
"No deal." Amy said, hating that she was ignorent of this one useful fact.
"Climb then." Ian said. "And good luck . . . love."
oO0Oo
It was beyond terrifying, swinging two hundred plus feet above the ground, clinging on to a flimsy rope ladder, with Ian's haunting last words echoing in her ear. Good luck . . . love. She got the good luck, but what about the love?
Amy shuddered, braced herself and let go with her left hand, reaching above her head to grab the rung above her. Pulling her foot up to the next rung, she breathed a huge sigh of relief, feeling safe . . . for the moment.
It was horrifying to let go, even if it was only for a second, to grab the next rope section and lift herself up.
"Ian!" Amy heard herself wail. "I can't do this!"
Ian's voice was even and strong, despite faint, as he called up to her, "Keep going! You can do it and you will. Amy, you're a Cahill. Be strong."
Her body shook and fear coiled itself around her. "I can't! Dan! Ian! Please!" Her hands trembled and she almost fell off the ladder.
The ground beneath her seemed to wobble, shake and grow closer.
"Keep going." Dan yelled. Dan. Dan.
What would Dan do if she fell, down, down, down to her death? What would happen to him? Would he keep on living?
She pictured herself a bloody heap on the ground, every bone in her body broken. She saw Dan bending over her, tears streaming down his face, screaming.
If she couldn't keep going for herself, she could keep going for Dan. "I have to go on." Amy told herself.
She thought of her brother, so far below, watching and probably terrifed that she would plummet to her death and she smiled. Dan was so brave. If she were on the ground and Dan were up here, she would be sobbing her heart out. Instead, Dan was telling her to be brave and keep going.
Strength flooded through her arms. Amy pried her hand off the rung she was currently gripping and reached for the next one. The wave of strength that washed over her washed away the fear and with renewed strenght, Amy began ascending again.
When she reached the small hole, she gasped. There were more carvings, but this time they made sense. The letters spelled out words that were very, very familar to a Cahill.
"Clues!" Amy shrieked. "Dan, Ian, Natalie, guys, there's clues up here!"