Me: I think it's about time for another disclaimer.
Ian: Not me. I'm gone! *runs away*
Me: Dang it...fine, how about...
Nellie: Get the Kabra chick!
Natalie: What? No! I don't want to!
Me: You must.
Natalie: No! I can't do it! You can't make me–oh! Like this? KTRose12 doesn't own The 39 Clues or any of its characters.
Nellie: *laughs* *faints*
Me: See how easy that was?
Dan let out a war whoop, and the seven Cahills jumped out of the shadows.
Hamilton ran forward and knocked the gun out of Will's hand. It went skittering across the pavement, but Jonah stuck his foot out and caught it. He tossed it to Natalie.
Meanwhile, Stephanie tried to get away. Reagan ran over and sent her sprawling with a single punch. Stephanie fought, but Ian grabbed her arms and yanked them behind her back. "Hello, Stephanie," he said.
Stephanie turned and looked at him. "You!" she exclaimed, "You're a..."
"A Cahill," Ian finished rather cheerily. "Yes, a Lucian, in fact. No wonder you had a 'small admiration' for me."
Dan pulled out his Swiss Army knife and quickly cut Amy's bonds. He helped her stand. "Are you okay?" he asked her worriedly.
Amy nodded, rubbing her arms. "I'm fine," she said shakily.
Dan gave the cut ropes to Ted, who quickly tied Will and Stephanie together.
"How did you find me?" Amy asked, joining the others.
Hamilton gave her a wry smile. "Well, it started when my dance partner tried to pull a gun on me in the hallway," he said. "So I was forced to knock her out."
Stephanie gasped. "Michelle!"
Hamilton turned to her. "Oh, do you know her?" he asked with mock surprise. "Don't worry, she's not dead. She's just taking a nap in the janitor's closet."
"Dan and I found Blondie here talking to another guy in one of the hallways," Reagan continued. "We followed her here, then went to tell the others. Ham had already taken care of that Michelle girl."
"And another guy I danced with," Natalie added. "He was acting strangely, so I brought him into the hallway and he tried to pull the same trick. Ham was waiting behind the door."
"Jerry," Will muttered. "Stupid kid."
Ted was on the phone with Mr. McIntyre. "Yes, sir, we'll just...what? Oh, okay. I got it. We'll see you soon. Bye." He closed his cell phone. "Mr. M's gonna bring the SUV around the back of the soccer field."
"Just let me get the two sleeping beauties from the janitor's closet," Hamilton said. "Meet me by the gym doors."
Hamilton went back to the cafeteria. Ian and Jonah lifted Stephanie and Will by the ropes and legs, and the group walked around the building to the gym.
Dan and Amy walked side by side. Amy caught Dan glancing at her worriedly. "I'm fine," she said to him.
"I thought you were going to die," he said in a surprisingly soft voice. "When he lifted the gun to your head, I thought you were going to die."
Amy looked at him. "Why are you so hung up over this?" she asked. "You've seen me almost die before."
"This was different," Dan said. "Those other times, I was almost going to die too. This time, it was just you. If we hadn't surprised him, the bullet could've reached you before I could." Dan looked down. "I was scared."
"You were scared? I was the one with the gun pointed at me. How do you think I felt?"
Dan smiled a little. "Did you feel like bursting into song?"
"Hey, you're the one dressed like Zach Efron, not me."
They laughed softly.
The group reached the gym doors. A minute later, the doors swung open, and Hamilton emerged carrying two unconscious bodies. "I got them. Let's go." They walked across the soccer field and waited in the shadows by the road.
Two yellow headlights sliced through the night, and the SUV pulled up to the curb. "Need a ride?" Nellie asked through the open window.
Dan scrambled into the passenger seat. "Where's Mr. McIntyre?" he asked.
"He had something he needed to finish up back home, so I volunteered to pick you all up. That, and I made a bet with Madison that you caught more than two people." She glanced out the window at the captives. "Yes! She owes me five bucks!"
Jonah and Hamilton threw the tied up kids into the trunk, and the Cahills piled in.
Amy was last, and she realized that there was no more room for her. "It's okay, I'll walk home," she said.
"I'll go with you." Ian climbed out of the car.
Hamilton shut the door, and the SUV drove off. Amy and Ian started walking.
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Amy pulled off her wig and the latex makeup that covered her face. She stuffed them into her purse, and enjoyed feeling the cool, evening breeze on her face.
Ian finally spoke. "I'm glad that you're okay," he said.
"Yeah, me too," Amy said.
"When I heard Dan over the microphone," Ian said, "he said that they had you. I got scared. We all ran out the doors as fast as we could. I thought we were too late." He swallowed. "I wanted it to be me, not you."
"Ian–"
"No, it's true. If anyone should die, it should be me. I deserve it."
Amy was silent for a moment. And then she spoke. "Are you done?" she asked.
Ian looked at her questioningly.
"Good," she continued. "Because I have something to say. I was wrong. Sure, you've done bad things. Things that haven't given me the best reasons to trust you. But we all know that it wasn't your fault. It was the way you and Natalie were brought up. You didn't know any better."
"But–"
"I'm not done." They walked under a streetlight, and Amy could see his face filled with emotion that she couldn't understand. She continued. "I was wrong," she said. "I was blinded by what you used to be, and refused to see who you are now. I thought that everything you said to me was a lie. But when I talked to you earlier, I realized that you had no reason to lie to Maddy. So it must be true."
"It was," Ian said softly. "Every word."
They stopped in the shadows and looked at each other. "I sort of trust you, Ian," Amy said. "And I sort of believe you."
"Sort of?"
Amy smiled a little. "Give me time."
Ian looked at her in surprise, and then slowly smiled.
In the sky above them, the stars sparkled against the darkness.
"WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIENDS!" Dan and Reagan burst into the apartment, singing at the top of their lungs. Natalie followed behind them. "I hate that song," she muttered.
Ned ran into the front hall. "Did you get them?" he asked excitedly.
Jonah and Ted walked in carrying the tied-up Stephanie and Will. Hamilton was right behind them with the unconscious Michelle and Jerry under each arm.
Nellie walked in behind him. "Madison!" Nellie yelled.
"What?" Madison entered the room and saw the captives. "Dang it!" she cried.
Nellie waggled her fingers in the universal sign for hand it over. "Fork over the money," she said cheerfully.
Madison dug into her pocket and begrudgingly gave Nellie a $5 bill.
"That's what you get for having little faith in us," Hamilton said cheerfully, dropping the two kids onto the floor.
Fiske entered the room, a cell phone pressed to his ear. "Okay," he was saying. "Yes, just honk twice." He closed the phone.
"I have some Madrigal agents coming to pick these four up," he said. "They'll be here in five minutes." He looked around at them. "Where's Amy and Ian?" he asked.
"They walked home," Natalie said nonchalantly.
Fiske decided not to press the topic. Instead, he turned to Nellie. "Did they see the apartment from the outside?" he asked her.
Reagan stepped up, holding four strips of cloth. "Dan had the idea to blindfold them," she said. "So they didn't see anything."
Stephanie mumbled something through the duck tape over her mouth. Dan yanked it off. "What was that?" he asked.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" she snarled at Fiske. "You'll pay for this, old man."
Fiske's mouth twitched at the corners. "My dear young Vesper, do you have any idea who I am?"
Stephanie stayed quiet.
"I," Fiske continued, "am a Madrigal. So you better watch what you say to me."
Stephanie and Will's faces blanched. They glanced at each other and shut up.
Two honks sounded from outside. Fiske clapped his hands together. "That will be them," he said. He grabbed four large body bags. "Put them in here, so the neighbors won't get suspicious. I'll confirm the driver's identity and come back for them." He went out the door before Dan could ask him where he got the body bags from.
Hamilton, Dan, and Reagan stuffed an outraged Stephanie and a struggling Will into two of the body bags. Then they turned to the two unconscious Vespers. "Jeez, Ham," Dan said. "You sure hit 'em hard."
Hamilton grinned and put the bodies in the other two bags.
Fiske came back in. "I've confirmed the driver's identity. Hamilton, can you manage all four bags?"
Hamilton lifted the body bags experimentally and grinned. "Easy as pie," he said, and then followed Fiske out the door.
"Which doesn't mean much," Reagan murmured, "considering the fact that he can't bake for his life."
Dan and Natalie laughed.
The thirteen Cahills and Nellie sat together in the den, discussing the night's developments.
Hamilton, Jonah, and Ted were sprawled out on one couch, Dan, Reagan, Madison, and Natalie on the other (well, Natalie's upbringing didn't allow her to "sprawl", so she just sat). Amy had collapsed in one of the armchairs, and Ian sat on the arm. Nellie, Sinead, and Ned were lounging on the floor, and Fiske sat in another armchair.
Mr. McIntyre paced at the front of the room. "Now," he said, "tonight's proceedings were good. Exemplary, in fact. Much, much more was achieved then we could have hoped for. You kids did amazingly tonight."
Nellie started a round of applause. Dan stood up and bowed. Reagan pulled him back down. "The last thing we need is for you to get a swelled head," she said, rolling her eyes.
Mr. McIntyre continued. "However, it has come to our attention that some changes need to be made after tonight."
The kids looked at one another questioningly.
Fiske cleared his throat. "Amy, Dan, you won't be going back to school for awhile."
Dan jumped up again. "YES!" he yelled, punching his fist into the air.
Amy had a different reaction. "But why?" she asked.
Fiske sighed. "We have been careless," he said, "using your real last name. Now that we have taken the four Vesper children, the Vespers will he on the alert. They will discover two children named Cahill right here in Boston, and immediately get rid of you."
Amy shivered, and Ian put a hand on her arm.
"Therefore," Fiske continued, "you will be staying home."
Amy nodded, looking solemn. Dan was a different story.
"Free!" he yelled, running out of the room. "Free at last!"
Reagan face-palmed.
Fiske yelled after his great-nephew, "Don't get too excited, my boy," he said cheerfully. "You'll still have to do schoolwork here!"
The apartment was silent for a moment. Then Dan re-entered the room, walked quietly back to the couch, and slumped down next to Reagan again.
"Darn it," he muttered. Reagan patted his shoulder comfortingly.
Amy rolled her eyes at her brother's dramatics.
Natalie raised her hand. "Mr. McIntyre? When will our next mission be?"
Mr. McIntyre raised an eyebrow. "You're ready for another mission already? Don't you want to wait a week or two?"
The other kids shook their heads violently. Then they noticed the twinkle in Mr. McIntyre's eye, and realized that he was just kidding.
"Tomorrow night, at the Dhine residence on Sycamore Avenue, Mr. and Mrs. Dhine will be hosting a dinner party."
Mr. McIntyre paused and looked at the others. "Mr. and Mrs. Dhine also happen to be Vespers."
"Alright!" Dan whooped, quickly getting over his depression. "Let's do it!"
"Unfortunately," Mr. McIntyre continued, "the party is for adults only. So for those 5' 3'' and under..."
Dan, Natalie, Reagan, and Madison all groaned.
"The rest of you," Mr. McIntyre said, turning to the older kids, "will be attending under false identities."
He searched his pockets until he pulled out six engraved invitations. He handed one to Amy, Hamilton, Ian, Sinead, Jonah, and Nellie.
"Ned and Ted will remain here and man the communications unit," Fiske said.
Amy studied her invitation:
Miss Rebecca Forringer
is invited to a formal dinner at the Dhine Residence.
February 14th, at 6:00 PM.
Dinner will be served at 6:30 sharp.
Formal dress required.
"Ah, a black tie dinner," Ian said approvingly. Natalie muttered something unladylike under her breath from the couch.
Mr. McIntyre finally turned to the younger Cahills. "Don't worry," he said. "All four of you will still take part in tomorrow's mission."
"YES!" Dan, Reagan, and Madison jumped up from the couch excitedly.
Natalie smiled. "Well, that's a relief," she said.
Mr. McIntyre spread a map on the coffee table in front of the couch. "This is the map of the Dhine estate," he said.
Hamilton whistled. "Dang," he said. "It's huge."
Ian and Natalie exchanged a glance but didn't say anything. The Dhine estate was about a tenth the size of the Kabra estate.
But they didn't talk about that anymore.
Mr. McIntyre pointed to the woods behind the main house. "Dan, Reagan, Madison, and Natalie—you four will be stationed at the edge of the woods." Then he pointed to the main house. "This is the main house, where the party will be," he said. "There will be security at the door, but hopefully these invitations will get you in."
Amy looked up at the lawyer. "Hopefully?"
Mr. McIntyre smiled grimly. "An 82% chance."
How are the odds?
Yay! Another chapter updated! Hope you all liked it!
So originally during that little moment with Amy and Ian, I had Ian kiss Amy. That was, like, seven months ago. Then at one point I decided, nah, it's too soon. Later on there will be another point where I had The Kiss. I plan on changing that, too. I'M SHOWING RESTRAINT, PEOPLE! GIVE ME CREDIT!
Response to Reviews:
Well, I'm just going to respond to everyone: Thanks for reviewing!
SO WHO READ THE MEDUSA PLOT? Bought and read it yesterday and it was EPIC! Don't worry, I'm not going to say any spoilers ((no matter how much I want to...))
I spent the first half of the afternoon reading it, and the rest of the afternoon and evening adding quotes from it on Goodreads. And the next one is coming out in December! It's gonna be the best Christmas/Hanukkah present EVER!
So yesterday, after I finished the Medusa Plot, my mom dragged me out shopping. In one store the started playing Miley Cyrus' See You Again over the PA, and since I had just finished the Medusa Plot, I made up a 39 Clues parody to the chorus. And now I can't get it out of my head! GAAHHHH!
But anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review!
Until chapter 15,
-KT