"Don't call me that! I have no daughter! You chose your friends over your own mother!" Cassandra's tone of voice was absolutely furious.
Kimmie tried to remain unfazed by this, however, and said: "Look, I know this isn't exactly the best time to be asking this, after what happened and all, but... you told me your grandmother - my great-grandmother - was Elizabeth Mann." Cassandra had turned away and closed her eyes in anger and said nothing. "Finnwich told us," Kimmie continued, "that all of the founders of this company - Ping included - were marked, and this mark is supposed to pass down, since Lee has it. If that's true, then... why do I not have the mark?"
"Bravo! Congratulations! You figured out a logical inconsistency. However, I'm afraid I'm not going to tell you anything. Go back to your friends - you obviously belong with them, not with your mother."
Kimmie could see that it was pointless trying to talk her mother into telling her what she needed to know now. "Fine," Kimmie said, after a long pause, "I'll do that. I guess I'll just have to tell Lee you won't help us open the pyramid."
Cassandra's anger suddenly turned to confusion, although she displayed virtually no outward signs of that fact. "What are you talking about? Why would that troublesome child want to open it?", she snapped.
"Nothing, just that there's some guy trapped inside and we wanted to free him, but none of us seem to know how. I thought, well, what with all your obvious secrets and all, that you might know something about that - but I guess asking you about it is pointless..."
Cassandra now had almost the same reaction that Lee had had, and in her case it was quite unusual to see: "No... it can't be..." However, in her case it was quite momentary and fleeting, and her cold gaze returned almost instantly. Kimmie was already at the elevator when her mother said: "Wait. Are you saying that tired old man doesn't know how to do it either?"
Kimmie turned, saying: "Duh, that was obviously part of what I meant."
Cassandra looked at the lizard being, who was still crystallized, and asked: "Why don't you ask him?"
"Oh, please - he doesn't know how to open it either. Finnwich told us he made this whole company just to figure that out!" It seemed to Kimmie that a momentary smirk crossed Cassandra's face after she said that, but perhaps it had just been her impression. Kimmie continued: "Look, you obviously want that thing opened, don't you? Tell me what you know - it could help us open it."
"Why would I..." Cassandra's expression then changed for a moment, as if she had had a moment of realization, and she said: "Fine - I'll tell you what you want. You see..." Cassandra paused for a moment, as if trying to decide where to begin - or perhaps simply what to say. "As you well know, I do not have the mark either. However, we are indeed descendants of Elizabeth. We are not marked because... why don't you have a seat, Kimberly?" Her mother's tone was now quite different - almost the opposite, in fact - of what it had been at the start of their conversation. "It's a long story, after all."