Thanks to iheartamianplusnatan for following! Plus VolcanicLily, Agent Get Amy and Ian Together, Guest, dude, AzulaTano, and iheartamianplusnatan for reviewing. Drum roll please... PLOT TWIST!
On October thirty-first, Ian woke up and found a note on his door. Ian looked at it in bewilderment, and slight annoyance when he realized to put the note on his door, someone would have to be inside his room without him knowing. That always made him nervous. He was even more uncomfortable when his note contained not a well-explained letter with an apology for being in his room, but a cryptic four-word note: LOOK IN YOUR CLOSET. He recognized Amy's cramped, roundish handwriting, which made him relax, and laugh a little. He heard Natalie's patronizing voice in his head Paranoid much, Ian? He smiled.
In his closet he found an unfamiliar suitcase. With the note: PACK FOR ONE NIGHT. Underneath note, when he pealed it of, was a note that said INCLUDE RED SUIT PROTECTER-NO PEEKING! Ian was now fully amused. He smiled. He did love Amy Cahill. He began to pack.
Amy giggled, very unlike her, as she packed. This year, she had it in the bag. She had a place where Ian couldn't be recognized: Middlesex County, New Jersey. Who has even heard of that? Plus, it was a masquerade, so no matter who was there, they couldn't be recognized anyway, not to mention it was close enough to Attleboro that they can get back in time for afternoon classes tomorrow She arranged for them to meet Natalie at the Ball, and take a plane. Coach, of course. The average person Ian wanted to be would take coach.
After 2 hours through security, Dan, Tabitha, Amy, and Ian reached their seats on the plane. Amy reached to put her carry-on bag above in the compartment. When she turned around, Amy looked directly into the face of Symphony Oh, Leader of the Ekat branch.
Alistair's fathers, brothers, son's, son's daughter has held a running grudge after the Vesper attack. She felt as if the other branches were keeping secrets, because theirs was the only branch that's leaders aren't close to Amy. (Tomas is run by Morgan Holt, Janus by Jonah Wizard) and found it oh so ironic that of the 4 Ekats involved in the original clue hunt, all of them are either shamed into exile, or dead. For this, the Ekats have cut ties with both the Lucians and the Madrigals.
"Aunt Symphony?" Tabitha looked at the leader of the Ekat branch with surprised recognition.
Amy was shocked. Ian was flabbergasted. Dan was intrigued. No one spoke, until Ian, straight to the point and slightly accusing said, "I thought you were Chinese."
"Huh? Yeah my dad's Chinese; my mom's half Korean on her dad's side. Do you know my aunt?"
Symphony had always been Tabitha's closest relative, even her best friend. She was the only relative who preferred Tabitha to Charlie, and treated her as if she were an adult. Symphony taught Tabitha all she knew about practically everything: physics, sociology, and phycology. But when Tabitha was 13, Symphony became strange and withdrawn. She spent more time on business trips and research, less time with her sister's family. Tabitha and Symphony still corresponded through email, but Tabitha and Symphony haven't seen each other face to face in 7 years.
"Tabitha… You know Ian Kabra and the Cahill's?" Symphony said their names in such disgust; Tabitha knew that her dating Dan was not, in Symphony's opinion, a good idea.
"Dan…Dan and I…we-"
"Tabitha and I are dating." Dan broke in. It wasn't like Tabitha to be tongue-tied. Not with her father, her sister or the police, (long story) which made it even more disturbing that someone could have such a hold on Tabitha. After Amy and Nellie, Tabitha was the toughest person he knew.
"How do you know my Aunt Symphony?
Dan, Amy and Ian looked at each other.
This going all wrong. The one night we decide to skip the private jet, we run into the leader of the branch that hates us most, we happens to be the aunt of Dan's girlfriend. On Ian's birthday. Are we on hidden camera? How could this possibly happen? Then Amy Cahill went into emergency mode.
Amy's emergency mode was one of her most distinctive, scariest, most inspiring and one of Ian's favorite things about her. In that mode, Amy was as tough than any Tomas, smart as any Ekat, socially smooth as any Janus and as intimidating as any Lucian. What Amy didn't know was that the reason the Madrigals are so powerful today was because of that quality. It was the reason Dan and Amy, which the elder Cahills are still trying to figure out, won the clue hunt and defeated the Vespers. It was her internal Cahill instincts that seem as if they were lost over the years that made Amy special. He loved her for them.
Amy looked to the people sitting in a row of 5. "Hi, we were wondering if we could possibly switch seats with you?"
The passengers in the seats looked angry and annoyed. "I know this is an inconvenience, but we coincidentally ran into a friend and we'd like to sit together."
The passengers don't budge. Amy switches tactics. Her face hardens, and she says nothing. Only gives them a look. With a sigh, the first passenger, a young lady takes down her luggage, and sits in the seat Amy points at. A young couple follows.
A flight attendant approaches Amy. "I'm sorry miss, but we have to give the safety message. Please find your seat."
Amy takes a breath, but Ian puts a hand on her shoulder. "I'll take it, Love."
The last passengers move, and Symphony moves to sit. Amy grabs her shoulder. "No. Dan far right. Tabitha, beside him. THEN Symphony," Amy gives her a pointed look. "Me and Ian." They fall into place. "Dan, start at the beginning."
Tabitha spent her life studying, learning to retain information. But suddenly the words started to swim as if she were reading a Swahili dictionary. Ekaterina, what she, her mom, her sister and her Aunt Symphony is now supposedly. Madrigal, who Dan and Amy were. Lucian, who Ian and sister Natalie, who apparently is recovering from mental issues that she obtained from being kidnapped by a secret society called Vespers who tried to destroy the world, literally, 6 years ago, and killed a distant relative of hers, Alistair Oh, which made Symphony head of the branch which is why she hasn't seen her in 7 years and Dan knows the formula for a serum that makes a person the most powerful person on the planet, which she has in her blood along with Ian, but not Amy and Dan, which is why Ian, Dan and Amy seem to have something against Symphony, that and the fact that the Starlings betrayed them, who are also closely related to her and there was a fire? WHAT? She was taking the information, but not comprehending it fully. But on a higher level, she did understand, a level that didn't seemed to be unlocked until Dan told her something she never knew about herself. "Tabitha, you're a Cahill."
Ian had grown up knowing the truth about himself, because of that; he always enjoyed witnessing when someone learned that they were special. That they didn't have random natural ability; they were part of a blood clan.
Symphony Oh had waited for her niece to learn about her Cahill ancestry. Who knew a pair of Madrigals and a Lucian would be the people that lead her to learn the truth. Her sister, Harmony had wasted her talents. She became a housewife, married a tyrant who gave her "everything" she ever wanted, and only used her talents to do her taxes each year. Her conditions for being able to see her nieces were that she never mentions Cahills or the 39 clues. Not even her husband knew. And Harmony liked it that way. After Alistair was pronounced dead, Harmony was the next Ekat heir. But naturally, she declined, which made it Symphony's responsibility. Harmony had urged Symphony to decline, but alas, could not convince her, and told her she was no longer welcome at her home.
Amy had only spoken to Tabitha on one occasion when she was waiting for Dan in the living room. Amy had been working on an old Cold War era code to decode for her cryptology class. Tabitha had looked over her shoulder, and asked her if she needed help. Amy gladly accepted it, and Tabitha so patiently showed her how it worked, going through every step slowly and carefully. Amy felt as if she and Tabitha could become friends. Amy had felt a strange urge of déjà vu, but wasn't able to distinguish where she had seen it. Now she knew where. Tabitha reminded her of Sinead.
Dan was beside himself. He knew Tabitha was special, and he loved her for it. Sometimes, he would just sit and watch her methodical ways, her determined jaw, and wonder how someone can be so smart without recognition. She always knew the correct answer, always had her corners lined up perfectly, a perfectionist. Even though he now knew Tabitha was an Ekat, he knew she was different. Tabitha was never afraid to ask for help. Which is good because she will never, ever be better than him at Black Ops.
Hope you liked it, please review, and dont forget, it's still Ian's birthday!