Sinead lifted her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun's harmful rays. She looked ahead and thought she could see water in the distance, but knew it was probably a mirage. They had only been walking for thirty minutes and she already felt like she had been baked alive. If she thought her side hurt last night, she had no way of preparing for the pain that hit today. She felt like her side was actually on fire, and she knew what that felt like. Every tiny shuffle sends a wave of pain up her side, even with Ned and Amy helping her. She was afraid that if she continued any longer she might pass out again.
"Can we stop for a minute?" she asked.
"Sure, but for only a minute." Said Amy. Sinead gave her a grateful smile.
They all slumped down into the hot sand. Even though it burned her legs, Sinead didn't care, and neither did the others, even the Kabras. She leaned back in the sand and closed her eyes to protect them from the sun. What she would do right now to get home. She sat there for about a minute before a sharp blow to the shoulder brought her back to reality.
"Oww!" She said as she opened her eyes. Then she saw the twins cracking up and realized they had hit in the shoulder with a pebble.
"If only I had a video camera!" laughed Madison.
"Good one!" said Reagan as she gave her sister a fist bump.
Sinead rolled her eyes at them, but couldn't help smiling. Those Holts never change, she thought. Then she heard something.
"Did you guys hear that?" she asked.
They didn't answer but by the looks on their faces she could tell they heard it too. She looked up at the sky and almost fell backwards from relief. A helicopter! A real working helicopter!
They started waving their arms in the air and screaming "Over here!" She could see the relief on everyone's faces. No more time out in the desert baking alive. The helicopter saw them and was starting to land when she saw it, the big V on the side of the black helicopter. They had painted it on with a darker shade of black paint so that you couldn't see it unless you were within twenty feet of it. She should have known they were too lucky, how often do helicopters fly over the desert? Unless they are Vespers trying to recapture some escapees. Then the helicopter landed next to them, the wind knocked all of them over except for the Holts. When the propeller stopped, out stepped their old friend: the female Vesper.
"We missed you Cahills! Did you really think you could get away that easily? Oh and since we will be seeing a lot of each other from now on you should know my name, It's Ilisa. I think you already know my twin sister though."
And then she came out of the plane, the one person they dreaded as much as the Vespers.
Isabel Kabra.