"Amy, I need to talk to you." It was Dan.
I closed A Wrinkle in Time and turned to Dan, who was sitting on my bed. A serious expression was on his face. "What's up?" Dan was never serious, as far as I was concerned.
Dan had changed somewhat since we won the contest. For starters, he was older. 16 years old, and I absolutely hate saying this, but not bad looking. He had girls all over the world (literally) chasing him. He had also matured a bit. Not a lot, but a little. He was still my maniac ninja-obsessed little brother. Going through what we went through can't not leave a mark on someone.
He closed his eyes and sighed. Then he said slowly, "I think someone's trying to kill you." I immediately gasped at him. "Are you sure Natalie's been giving you Doritos, Dan?" How could he just pull something like that out of nowhere? "Dan, I fell down the stairs. It could happen to anyone! If you're suggesting someone planned this, then how would they know exactly when I was going to come down? Did they plan my every step? And…wait, are you suggesting Ian was part of this?"
"Amy-
"No! I'm not finished! If he were trying to kill me, then why did he catch me and ask for a doctor? Don't they want me dead? Who the heck are they, anyways?"
"Amy-
"….And, of course there's you and Natalie, why are you yelling at me about Ian if you're eating Doritos and all with her?
"Amy-
"…..Trapped here the whole time, they've had about a million chances to kill me, the moment I stepped out of the taxi, the Cobras could have pulled out some shiny silver gun or pull out one of those obsidian dagger things, and-
"AMY!!!"
"What?"
"Would you let me say something?"
"I've given you about a million chances, but you just started yelling…" He opened his mouth indignantly as if he were going to argue, but seemed to think better of it. What did he have to argue about, anyway?
"Amy, I did not suggest the Kabras did anything- but good observation, any-hoo." I rolled my eyes. Any-hoo? It might work on the Japanese girls, but didn't soften me one bit. He grinned what he might have thought was a cute, boyish smile- as a matter of fact, it was, but don't tell him I said that- then went all serious.
In a frustrated voice, he said, "Amy, I don't know how I know, I just know it- something bad's gonna happen. And that Jake dude, there's something funny about him. He told you his parents are friends with Natalie's parents, right?" I nodded. He nodded , and said slowly in the voice reserved for teaching little children addition and subtraction, "Do you know who Ian and Natalie's parents are?" Who…who…the Kabras! Ohmigosh, how did I not notice this? "The Lucian branch leaders!" I gasped. He rolled his eyes. "Duuuuh," he said. "But-but…I don't think they're doing anything," I said, my voice gaining certainty with each word. "If they were planning anything, then they wouldn't have waited this long. It's their castle, I'm the hostage, they're the rulers." He nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. But I have a hunch about Jake's parents. If they're friends with the Kabras, then obviously they're rich and powerful people; like the Kabras would associate with anyone lower than that. And from what we know about the Cahills, they were all rich and powerful, or, at least rich. With a possible exeption." He nodded his head toward me and himself. I grinned faintly; look at us now! We may not have as much money as the Kabras, but for a 16 and 18 year old, we were living large.
"So you're saying that Jake McGuire and his parents are Cahills?" Dan nodded. "But not just any Cahills," Dan added. "Lucians," I finished.
In all our years of clue hunting, Dan and I never found out what branch we were. That was our greatest peeve. And we were certain that everyone else knew, but since we won the clues and they didn't, chances of them telling us weren't so great. So we had basically everything in the world except for one of the things we wanted. Amazing how life works, right?
"But Dan, Lucians aren't always bad- and if they are Lucians, they would be under control by the Kabras, meaning they wouldn't hurt us!" He opened his mouth, surely to argue, when his mouth froze. Well, not just his mouth. His whole body. "Amy," he breathed. "What if- what if they're- they're Madrigals?" Oh. My. God. It made total sense. If they were Cahills at all, they couldn't be any other branch than Lucian. But if they weren't under the will of the Kabras, then they weren't Lucian. The only other- deadly- option would be Madrigals. "Dan-
"Get them."