O.. I am so sorry. I failed to upload last Saturday. (wears cone of shame) Let me tell about the things we need to do: make our own god/goddess out recycled materials (for English and Arts), review for our quarterly examinations (ALL subjects), Broadway (Music), PHYSICS (enough said!)

Thank you for the reviews. You lift me up out of my school misery.

Anyways, I received way too many warning about my A/Ns so I shall end here.

I do not own... (first one to guess is the smartest FFer) (Wha?)

Go on and Read.

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Chapter 13: The Proposition, The Task and The Trust

"What do we have to do just so you guys would make up already?" Angelle whined, slamming her fists on the dinner table. Fascinating, really. Seeing a seventeen-year-old whine. Jonah looked at her amusedly.

"If I could make sure that my sister and I would get out alive in this one," Ian declared flatly, clearly seeing nothing amusing in the situation.

Amy bit her lower lip thoughtfully. "We'll just have to work together now. That's what Nellie's message said."

"No choice. Fight back. Something like that." Dan yawned hugely. "If we don't fight back, we'll die. Simple."

He dodged a flying ballpen, courtesy of Natalie. "It's not simple, you daft!" she growled.

"We are not going to sleep until these two childish boys," Angelle glowered at Hamilton and Ian, "make up. We could stay here until the next morning without sleep. Now that's simple."

Ned, Ted and Dan whined, and started fake sobbing. Soon enough, all of them were dodging flying ballpens and notebooks courtesy of Amy, Sinead and Natalie.

"What do you want me to do?" Hamilton and Ian demanded. They glared at each other with clenched fists and gritted teeth.

"Apologize. So that we could work on this blasted thing and win this battle," Jonah said, looking like a stern disciplinarian father. Angelle shot him a raised eyebrow.

"Why don't you just ask dear, old Lucian to help you? Since he's so smart?" Hamilton sneered, pointing his thumb at Ian.

"That's it! I've had enough of this idiocy!" Sinead glared at Hamilton. "If these two immature people won't make up, then let's just go our separate ways. We will go pack our stuff and abscond this derelict place. It doesn't make any disparity anyway! We stay here; we perish because you," she pointed accusingly at the two boys, "won't fix your mess diplomatically. We abscond; it's like plastering a blinking plasma-infested sign that says, 'I'm a Cahill. Kill me now!" She was panting slightly from all that ranting. Her breath came in small gaps as her chest heaved in and out, her steely glare never once leaving Hamilton and Ian.

The others (except for Ned, Ted, Amy and Natalie), on the other hand, are still busy racking their brains for their last Ekat lessons. They can't seem to remember the meaning of all the big words Sinead have used. Finally, Dan can't take it anymore so he whispered to Natalie who is (unfortunately) beside him. "What's derelict, disparity and abscond? And what's plasma-infested supposed to mean?" His eyebrows are actually furrowed in deep concentration.

Natalie gave him the iciest version of The Look. "Look it up, Daniel. I'm not in the mood for tutoring a dweeb."

Dan raised his fist, pretending to smash Natalie's head with it. "You're lucky I'm patient, Cobra. Or else..." he threatened, making swishing motions with his clenched fist like plunging a knife.

Natalie spared him a mere roll of the eyes.

Sinead huffed. "This is how I see it. We should just put it to a vote." She gazed around, seeing the others' attention on her. "Those who want to stay here, say 'aye'. Those who do not..." She raised an eyebrow sardonically. "Well, get outta here."

"Aye." Some declared that proudly, some muttered the word unsurely.

"I dunno if I should say aye," Dan confessed glumly. "This is my house, right? In case you guys are forgetting." He looked at them for moral support, like he lost a relative or something.

"And I don't know if I should say aye precisely because of your reason," Natalie said, emphasizing the difference between 'peasant' grammar and 'sophisticated' grammar.

Sinead rested her hands on her hips. "And the two of you? Aye or not aye?" She checked her watch with a swift flick of her wrist. "It's nearly one in the morning."

Dan, Ned and Ted started groaning and moaning and whining again. Catching the sadistic glares the others are giving them, they quickly shut their trap.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Ian grumbled, knowing his defeat. "Natalie said aye."

"Same here," Hamilton said grudgingly.

Angelle sighed. "That's a start, I guess." She began pulling out a whiteboard and a marker. She began scribbling swiftly. What Do We Do. She fixed her eyes on the others expectantly. "Any suggestions?"

Amy must admit she was stumped. If there was anybody in this room who could make a foolproof plan, it's Ian Kabra. She shot him a furtive glance. In synchrony, Ian withdrew a slow breath and there it goes, The Smirk. "Of course I have a plan," he said, taking the writing materials from Angelle.

"Hallelujah!" Dan, Ned and Ted exclaimed gratefully.

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"You're crazy if you think I'll agree to your brilliant plan!" Sinead screeched, her voice sounding an octave higher.

Ian stared stoically at her. Completely expressionless.

Sinead continued. "You are putting all your lives in my hands! Do you even understand that, Kabra?"

Still the expressionless and stoic face.

"Ugh!" Sinead groaned, seeking help from the others which they can't give.

"Sis, it's late. Just agree already." Ned and Ted yawned hugely.

"What if I make a mistake?" Sinead asked.

"Anybody could."

"What if I make the wrong strategy?"

"Anybody could."

Natalie held a hand for interruption. "Technically, we could NOT make a wrong strategy... There might be little flaws, very little indeed, but still... We're Lucians, after all."

Sinead raised both her hands in her direction. "Exactly! Why don't you Lucians do it?" she demanded.

Ian feels the urge to do a repeated face palm. "Because, Miss Starling, we need to confuse our enemy. They expect Lucians to be the chess masters because we are the master strategists in our family. If we arrive there performing the duty of the chess master, then they'll know who is who –"

"And would know who to abduct and what DNA they are expecting from us." Sinead sighed. "I get it."

Amy who has been silent for the last couple of hours spoke up. "We need to confuse them of our real talents. Most of us are not part of the kidnapping anyway. There's a huge chance they don't even know what branch Natalie and the others belong. And they must have just assumed that there would be a Tomas in our batch to 'play the game' Ian is talking about."

Dan, Ted, Phoenix, Reagan, Madison and Keightlyn had their heads on their table, already sleeping. Jonah is on the verge of a deep slumber. His head kept on bobbing sleepily.

"Give me back my baseball cards, Cobra," Dan mumbled in sleep, falling off the chair.

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "I sure do hope I'm not the one he's accusing of baseball cards theft," she noted lazily. She checked her perfectly manicured nails. "I hate baseball cards."

"You little monster," Dan continued to mumble.

Natalie kicked him hard. "I hate you, too," she said with a huge smile. Dan stirred ever so slightly in his sleep.

Angelle clapped her hands. "Okay, that's it. Ned, Ted, Reagan, Madison, Phoenix, Dan, Keightlyn, and even you, Natalie," she eyed the little girl who merely nodded at her, "go to bed. Now, up, up, up, UP!"

All of the mentioned people perked up and walked up to the dormitory absentmindedly. Ned and Ted bumped each other with strength enough to make them topple over. Dan bumped the wall headfirst. Natalie sighed, flipping her hair to the side. "Why must I always be the mature one in this bunch?"

"Why... can't I go to bed... too?" Jonah mumbled, resting his head in his hand. "I'm sleepy..." he whined.

"Don't be such a baby!"Angelle yelled, her voice sending huge and terrifying sound waves in Jonah's ears. Jonah perked up, sitting all straight and proper.

"Let's say I agree," Sinead said slowly, considering the idea. "Can you trust me with all these responsibilities? With your lives? With your families' lives?" She knows the answer would be 99.99% no, but she still posed this as a challenge.

Nobody spoke. The truth slapped them hard. No matter how long they have been together, no matter how hard the circumstances they have been through already, no matter what kind of training you put them through... They will never find it in them to trust one another.

"I want to be happy," Amy stated.

Hamilton looked up at her. "What's that got to do with anything?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Walter Anderson once said," she proceeded on, "'We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone – but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.'" She drew huge long breath. "Trust is very hard to give. It's fragile and when broken, even when fixed, it will never be the same again. We, the Cahills, should know about that more than anyone."

The others were silent once more.

"But you know, if we don't try, if we don't give it away," she gave them all a serene smile, "we'll never know how strong it has gotten, will we? We'll just assume that our trust is still breakable, but when in truth, it's stronger and more reliable."

There was another round of long silence. Finally Ian clapped his hands. "Well said, Amy, love. Very well said," he declared, smirking slightly. "My, my. How you've matured through the years."

"W-Way to go br-breaking the mood, I-Ian," Amy muttered, blush creeping up to her cheeks.

"Okay, Romeo and Juliet," Jonah said, impersonating a perfect British accent. "Break it up." Sinead, Hamilton and Angelle snickered, temporarily forgetting the tension.

Ian and Amy rolled their eyes.

"I can trust you, Starling," Hamilton said.

"Me, too," Angelle smiled warmly at her.

"Me, three," Jonah piped up.

"Me, four," Ian said, rolling his eyes at the weird grammar.

"And me, of course," Amy beamed.

Hamilton grinned. "Now let's set about planning who's who, shall we?"

"We shall, Holt. We shall," Ian responded.

And everything is going to be alright.

Maybe.

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Well.

That was short.

How about I post another chapter tomorrow? How does that sound? Ugh. It's like 8:48 in the evening. Mwahaha - *cough, cough* I hope I get this laziness out of my system. Review to help me?

We're nearing the end! Seven chapters to go. Haha. Oh and yeah. 'Damien' Vesper has an important character. Finally! After weeks and weeks of pondering. Can you guess?

Oh and yeah. The chess part is coming near, but not the next few chapters. It will be... Chapter 18 and 19, I hope. Will you wait for that? Don't worry those chapters and the preceding and proceeding chapters will be long, I hope you continue on waiting and alerting and favoriting (?) this story. There will be more...? Revelations? *sighs* I'm confusing myself. But don't worry, it's tightly planned in my head. I just need the power of diligence.

Read and Review?

QUESTION of the DAY:

How would like a story to end: Happy ending or Tragedy?

ASpring is recommending A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn.