Yay, new chapter! I'm posting this from Fra-a-ance, where the keyboards go azertyuiop and you have to press the shift key for all the numbers. It's confusing, but I'm getting the hang of it.

Again, thanks soooo luch to omg-KITTENS and Cinnamoncookies98!


"Are you out of your mind?"

Those were the first words out of Amy's mouth. And it rather surprised Ian. No begging, no pleading. Just an incredulous assessment of Isabel's sanity. Of course, he could hear the undercurrent of fear in her words - are you out of your mind, why are you doing this - but it wasn't obvious.

"You don't need a suit." Isabel didn't answer the question; she didn't need to. The answer was obvious. She was in full Lucian mode: cold, calculating, and in complete control of her mental faculties. "It won't matter in a few seconds anyway. Or minutes. The sharks might be feeding on the fish parts, but they'll get to you eventually." She nudged the bucket with her foot, and a couple drops of blood slopped over the rim. Ian saw them splatter on the deck like red-brown flowers, and his field of vision seemed to shrink until he saw only the bloodstains. "And I have plenty more. So. What do you say? Swim or talk?"

Talk, Ian urged mentally. Talk. Tell everything. He didn't know why, but somehow obtaining the information and getting this over with seemed so much more important now.

"I'm not jumping in that water." Amy crossed over to the other side of the boat, as far away from the sharks as possible, and Ian wondered how she did it; the boat's motion suddenly seemed a lot more violent. At least, his stomach felt strange, and the deck seemed even more unsteady under his feet... But the water was calm.

"Well, if you won't do it yourself, I can toss you in," Isabel replied. "Heave ho and all that. Martial arts training. Not a problem. Ian can help."

Of course. The test. To see whether he was as committed as he said. Ian tried to picture himself doing it, tried to imagine going up to Amy, using the railing as a fulcrum to tip her over the edge, watching her fall to the brown-tinted water where the sharks were feeding - "Mum?" He hated himself for the way his voice shook on that one word.

His mother turned around, her face furious. Too late Ian remembered: never call her Mum when she's angry, or around enemies. "Not Mum! How many times must I remind you? It makes me sound old!" She turned her back to Ian again and didn't spare him a second glance. "So, maybe my lazy coward of a son won't give me a hand. But I don't need one."

There it was. She'd thrown Ian the test and he'd failed. Already he'd interrupted her - and now he'd failed to obey what was essentially an order. What was wrong with him? He wasn't always this... afraid.

Afraid. Was that it?

But it was more than fear, it was panic. Now that he'd named it, it was unmistakable. He could hear his pulse echoing in his ears and his palms were clammy. Why was he afraid? It made no sense. He was on the boat, perfectly safe from the sharks. At any second, Amy would cave in and spill the beans. It was all going according to plan. So why was he so scared?

In the time it had taken for Ian's mind to formulate the thought, Isabel had cornered Amy, pressed against the rail. "Little Amy and little Dan. Who knew they would find a way to travel the world?"

Guiltily Ian remembered how, on the plane to Japan, he and Natalie given Amy and Dan's au pair all their loose change - a considerable amount - in exchange for the antidote to the poison. But before that - Paris, Venice - how had they gotten anywhere?

"Paris, Moscow, Venice, Seoul, Karachi. You sent the Lucian stronghold into a frenzy."

The entire Clue hunt had done that, Ian thought. But Karachi? He was fairly certain that none of the teams had ever been to Karachi. Through the fear in Amy's eyes, he caught the flicker of puzzlement and knew she'd had the same thought.

"Who helped you in Russia? How many Clues have you found?" Isabel's questions snapped out like darts.

Who helped you in Russia... Ian had to admit, he would never have thought of that question - but now that he'd heard, it seemed obvious. Amy and Dan had made it through a Lucian black circle, a feat which was considered nearly impossible. The only way they could have done that was if... if another Lucian had been helping them.

A member of the Lucian branch had turned traitor. Ian knew the information ought to be sending his mind whirling, exploring all avenues of possibility, but for some reason, that wasn't happening. The inexplicable fear was too immediate.

"Throw some more fish in the water."

It took Ian a moment to realize the words were directed at him. To his great annoyance, he found himself unable to obey.

"NOW!"

Ian forced himself into action. Rising up, he went over to the bucket, fighting the bobbing motion of the boat, and reached a hand in. Immediately, cold liquid brushed his fingertips, and he recoiled. The idea of blood not being warm was strange. In cold blood. It seemed like some sort of strange joke.

Steeling himself, he reached once more, and this time his fingers closed around a slippery piece of fish. He dropped it over the railing and watched it fall down, landing with a splash. There was a glimpse of it bobbing white in the water, then a shark's teeth snapped shut around it, leaving only a hint of yellowish-brown, the color of diluted blood. Ian swallowed.

He noticed his mother watching him impatiently, and quickly picked up another piece of fish. A head this time. Cold blank eyes stared at him; the mouth gaping open stupidly. Ian sent it spinning into the water before he could look more, and picked up another chunk. Blood ran down his arm, staining his sleeve. He grimaced; that might not come out.

Amy's face was perfectly visible on the edge of his vision; eyes wide in terror, complexion white as a sheet. It unsettled him. Every time he tried to focus on something else, the something resolved itself into that panicked face: rust-colored bloodstains became reddish-brown hair; green-blue water became jade green eyes. There was no escaping it.

"Hurry up!" The command was like a whip crack. Ian quickly threw the piece into the water and picked up the next one, but before he could drop it in, he noticed something that gave him pause.

A flash of color in the sky. Orange, red, swooping triangle - a paraglider. It was only a brief glimpse, but he knew it was that - and it was close. Very close. But Isabel hadn't seen it.

He had to warn her. He tried to, but the words lodged in his throat. Something was stopping him. With a shock, he realized that he wasn't sure if he wanted her to know. But why...

And then a shadow slid over the sun and there was no need to say anything, because the paraglider was directly above them. Isabel looked up a moment after Ian did. It was the Tomas boy, Hamilton Holt, yelling "Come on!"

Amy moved faster than Ian had ever seen her react - except maybe during the affair of the exploding harpsichord in Venice, the time she'd inadvertently saved his life. She vaulted onto the bench, stood up, and grabbed Hamilton's ankles in a fraction of a second. For a moment, Ian thought she would be too heavy, but the paraglider had all the momentum. It yanked her off the boat and into the air, and Hamilton let out an elated yell.

With an inarticulate cry of rage, Isabel lunged forward, but the paraglider jerked to the left. Ian noticed Amy focus on the bucket, and he leapt aside just in time for her to deliver a savage kick that knocked over the bucket and sent its contents spilling all over the deck. Ian slipped and managed to land on the seat, but Isabel landed heavily on the ground, fish blood soaking into her clothes. Ian winced. His mother had been angry before; now she would be furious.

Ian heard Hamilton yell "Way to go, Amy!" but a gust of wind blew them straight into the path of Isabel, who seized Amy's ankle. The paraglider tilted to one side.

It occurred to Ian that he ought to be doing something to help, but the next moment he wondered what the use would be. And anyway, the unsteady terrain of the deack had now become doubly treacherous, slippery as it was. It would be best just to stay put. And the fear was still gnawing at him, for reasons he didn't know.

Then Amy kicked loose of Isabel's grip and the paraglider was off, skimming over the water. Ian noticed a shark right beneath Amy, and she appeared to have noticed it too, judging by the nervous way in which she stammered, "H-Hamilton..."

"Just hang on!" They were getting farther away now, but Ian could see the spray of water that went up when Amy's sneaker hit the surface, and the way the shark immediately turned at the disturbance. The fear spiked up into Ian's throat just as Amy yelled "HAMILTON!" again.

It hit Ian then: he wasn't afraid for himself, or the information, or for his team in the Clue hunt. He was afraid for Amy.

And the last time he'd felt like that...

The memory of What Happened Outside The Cave At Pukhansan, which Ian normally kept at the back of his mind, burst to the forefront again. Angrily he shoved it away, in time to hear Hamilton's faint voice, echoing across the water, "Don't worry! This baby has a motor!"

And Amy's panicked reply. "Then USE IT!"

Then the paraglider rose up into the air and soared above the water, flying into the distance. Both Ian and Isabel watched it go until it disappeared.

As soon as the orange triangle vanished into the distance, Isabel screamed. She slammed her fist into the captain's chair, then again, then delivered a vicious kick that dented the base. "That IDIOT BOY! We were bested by Tomas! Defeated by the stupidest Cahill branch! This is all Irina's fault. If she'd been faster delivering Amy, then that numbskull Eisenhower Holt wouldn't have had time to mobilize his family!"

Ian was accustomed to this sort of thing. Whenever failure occurred - not that it happened often - Isabel would go on a rampage of blame, pointing fingers at anyone she thought was responsible. But her accusation of Irina reminded him of something.

"Mum - " he began, then remembered too late. "Mother - When you told Amy Irina set the fire - did you see her face? She looked confused. Extremely so. And the way Irina took a detour... I can't help thinking she told Amy something. Something that contradicts what you told her."

Isabel nodded slowly. "Yes..." she replied. "Yes, I think so. All the more reason to get rid of her. Argh! Why did I ever trust that woman...?"

Suddenly she rounded on Ian, and her eyes were blazing. "And you!" She began to pace the length of the boat, her feet splashing in the fish blood. "I told you not to intervene, and you went and spoke out of turn. You wouldn't help me throw Amy in and you hesitated when I told you to throw more fish in the water. You didn't do anything when the paraglider came in, and when it flew off... I saw that expression on your face. It was relief."

Relief? Really? Ian tried to remember, and it was true that as the paraglider lifted Amy out of Isabel's reach, he'd felt a surge of - yes, that had been relief. But why?

"I should have seen it before now," Isabel continued. "I should have given you a stronger role - something that would force you to take action. As it is, I know why you were so hesitant on this mission, so weak."

Good, thought Ian. Because I don't. I have no idea what's wrong with me.

Isabel stopped pacing and turned to face him, and her next words came with the weight of a death sentence.

"You have feelings for the girl."


Okay, so that's done. One more chapter and then this fic is finished! *sniff* I'm going to miss it. This is my total favorite fic. And next chapter... next chapter pours on as much IanxAmy as I can manage to keep IC. I might even need a beta for it. Well, since this is my best fic, maybe I should get a beta to go over all the previous chapters as well. Okay, it's official: ANYONE WANT TO BETA? COME AND VOLUNTEER!

Anyway... for those of you who are wondering, Ian's memory of What Happened Outside the Cave At Pukhansan does refer to Page 123. I wasn't actually planning to put it in there, but the bit where Ian realizes it's Amy he's worried about sounded so much like Page 123, I thought, "What the heck, might as well drop in a reference." Because Page 123 is just that awesome.

I GOT A DEVIANTART ACCOUNT! WHOOP WHOOP! The reason I'm telling you that is because I'm currently working on a piece of fanart that shows this scene: Amy being scared, Isabel being evil, and Ian being indecisive, with Hamilton's paraglider in the background. I'm not working on it now because I'm on vacation (again) and don't have access to my beloved Photoshop, but I'll get started on it once I'm home. By the way, if anyone's interested, it's www(.)tribal-girl(.)deviantart(.)com. Yes, Tribal-Girl has a hyphen. (TribalGirl without the hyphen was already taken.)

Speaking of vacation: I'm in France and the computer doesn't speak English, so there are red lines under everything I'm typing. This makes it hard to pick up on misspellings, so if I spelled something wrong, just ignore it, okay?