A/N: A new chapter's up! Yay! I'm really happy about this one. I have been working on it for three days. I hope you like it. I want to thank everyone who reviewed. You make me really happy! :'D
Disclaimer: I, Burning Tulip do not own the 39 clues.
Chapter five: A tour and an unexpected surprise
I was early and nobody was up a the GCC Madrigal building. Except for Seraphine and Shaunee that is. The twin girls were not only up, but also up to something. They had identical smirks on their faces and were waiting. Then they looked at each other and Seraphine walked up to Ned's room. She walked in and without making a noise, place a set of headphones on his head, careful not to wake him. She tiptoed out of the room and saw Shaunee waiting for her holding frying pans and pots. Grinning Seraphine took a pan and a pot, while Shaunee held the other ones. Communicating with their eyes, they wore their own sets of headphones and started banging the pots and pans.
All the Cahills ran out of their rooms screaming and in some cases, cursing.
"What happened?" yelled Ian and Amy at the same time.
They never got an answer however, because Seraphine and Shaunee were too busy laughing to say anything.
"Oh...my...God..."said Shaunee before she started laughing even harder.
"You should have seen your faces! Your expressions were hilarious!"
"Do you find this to be funny?" Natalie asked in a dead calm voice.
"Yes!" Another fit of laughter. "But we warn you", said Seraphine suddenly serious, "do not use that tone on us ever again. Get it?" Natalie glared at her. "I'm going to take that as a yes." she staed before smiling again. In the meantime, Shaunee had calmed down too.
"Where is Ned? Where is my brother?", Sinead asked all of the sudden. Then she glared at the twins. "Do you have any idea how much pain all this noise may have caused him? He might..."
"Sinead! Ned's fine. We are aware of the problems he is currently facing and made sure he wouldn't hear a thing."
"That does not mean he will wake up peacefully, though. We prepared your first-day-here prank very carefully last night. Ser, would you mind waking him up?"
"Not at all." said Seraphine and moved towards a bucket full of water that stood nearby. She picked it up and opened the door to Ned's room. She walked in, took the set of headphones off his ears and poured the water all over him.
"WHAT THE HELL?"
"Good morning to you too, Ned. How did you sleep?" asked Seraphine in a kind tone.
"Oh good morning to you too! I slept just fine until you woke me up by soaking me wet!"
"Oh, don't make such a fuss!" said Shaunee, who stood on the doorway. "The others woke up in a less gentle way!"
"How did they wake up?"
"We started banging pots and pans." said Shaunee mater-of-factly
"Oh."
"Now, we will let you get ready. You will find clothes in your wardrobes in your rooms. We had no idea what each preferred, so we put in a little of everything. In case you don't find what you want, though, you can always ask the House to give it you. When you get ready, come in the kitchen, where you will have breakfast. Then we will start our tour. Any questions?"
"Yes, where is the kitchen?"
"You turn right once and it is the first door to your left. Anything else?"
"Yes." said Ted "Where is Flamsteed?"
"Who?" Seraphine looked confused.
"Flamsteed. My seeing eye dog."
"Oh! The cute Labrador Retriever? He is in our animal building. We will visit it later. Would you like us to bring him to you?"
"Not now, thank you. Will he be able to stay with me?"
"Um, sure, as long as he doesn't bark a lot."
"He won't bark."
"Okay, then! Now go get ready. You have about 30 minutes to get ready and have breakfast. We have a tour to make and it si going to be long, so we better start soon. We'll wait for you in the kitchen."
With that, the twins left and the Cahills went into their rooms to get ready.
Exactly 30 minutes later, they were ready to go.
"Okay so, were to start? Oh! I know! We'll visit the branch buildings!" Shaunee decided.
"Okay, where to first?"
"Lucian!"
"Ekaterina!"
"Tomas!"
"Janus!"
"Why not Madrigals? We are already here!"
"Everybody calm down!" Seraphine said. "We will visit all the branches, so relax! The order does not say anything! We will visit the Madrigal training facilities first. We are here after all!"
"Okay, so follow us. This is the Madrigal building, which is where you will be staying." Shaunee began.
"It is also where you will stay for as long as you are here."
"This is the biggest of all the buildings, because it contains the House, which is where we are now, the Madrigal training facilities and the GCC's headquarters."
While the girls were talking, the had reached a door.
"In here are Madrigal training facilities. It is where all Madrigals train, at least once in their lives."
"Here the agents train in diplomacy, communication skills, negotiation techniques etc."
"Basically in everything a good Madrigal should have."
"To enter all you have to do is type your code in the code panel right there." Shaunee then demonstrated by typing in a number. The door unlocked and opened slightly. The Cahills entered and took a look at the room. Correction; the corridor. There were many doors each having a sign with information about the room on them. The sign was written in English and Braille code.
"Braille code?" asked Dan.
"Well, yes. We want our facilities to be easy for everyone to use. That is why all the signs here are written in both English and Braille code, while you ask the House to translate it in any langauge you wish. Shall we continue now?"
"Yes."
"Good. We are not going to enter any of the rooms, because you will do that at some point either way. So we will over in to the next branch. We will visit the GCC's headquarters last. Are you ready?"
"Yeah."
"Okay! House, open elevator."
All of a sudden the wall in front of them opened, revealing an elevator big enough for all of them to be comfortable inside it. They entered and Dan suddenly exclaimed:
"Did you do this?"
"Well, the House is equipped with incredible technology. That is how it prepared your rooms with only you placing your palm on its walls."
"It was designed and created by Seraphine and me!"
"Really?" ,asked Sinead, "You did this all on your own?"
"Well, yeah!"
"This place is our very own creation and we can assure you, that you won't find anything like it, wherever you look."
The rest looked awed.
"What branch are you in?" asked Jonah suddenly. "You said you'd tell us when we got here."
"Yeah!" said Hamilton "and we are here now!"
Seraphine and Shaune looked at each other for a moment before Seraphine answered.
"You will be told this information by the end of this day. We promise."
"Why won't you just tell us?" Ian said, looking annoyed.
"Because it is... complicated. What matters is that we are now Madrigals. That is our current branch. You will figure out the rest later."
"Okay..."said Amy, understanding that they didn't want to talk about it.
Seraphine smiled at her thankfully before moving on.
"So, I suggest we visit the Lucian now. House, Lucian."
The elevator began. It wasn't moving like any other elevator though. It turned and went up and down until it stopped suddenly. The doors opened and they were in a gigantic room filled with people. They were talking, laughing and working in a way that someone could have thought it was just a really big office, if it weren't for glass walls creating small rooms all around the place. Rooms where people were shooting targets, practicing in a variety of martial arts, dodging bullets and avoiding laser pointers, which were probably deadly. All of a sudden, they heard a scream and saw someone crumbling to the ground and a girl looking at him with curiosity.
"Alyson!" ,Seraphine said warningly, "What did you do to him?"
The girl, Alyson, turned to look at her. She had golden blond curls and amazingly deep blue eyes.
"I didn't do anything!" she said quickly. Too quickly.
"Alyson..." Seraphine's tone was still even, but it emitted such a power, that even the Cahills flinched a bit. Alyson did not step back, but it was obvious that she understood the power in her voice too, because she answered:
"I...might have...poisoned him...a little bit." she admitted, shooting an apologizing look at Seraphine.
"Give him the antidote. Now."
Not saying a word, the girl obeyed. The boy on the ground moved a little, before his eyes shot open and he run as far away from Alyson as he could, leaving the building so fast, he could have been a blur.
"Alyson! What have I told you? We do not poison people!" Seraphine's tone was now normal again.
"He deserved it!"
"What could he have possibly done to deserve being poisoned? Wait... don't answer that!" Ser said, this time smiling a bit. "Anyway... Everyone this is Alyson. She is one of the best Lucians- slash- Madrigals we have. Alyson, this is Sinead, Amy, Natalie, Nellie,Ned, Ted, Reagan, Madison, Jonah, Hamilton, Ian and Dan."
"Oh! You must be the new guys! Hello, I'm Alyson!"
After everyone bid her hello, Shaunee talked.
"Alyson is one of the two Lucian, um, Madrigal leaders, lets say. She was born a Lucian, became a Madrigal and is now in charge, along with Mathew, of the other Lucian/Madrigals."
"As you can see, here is a Lucian training facility. It is not available for Lucians only though. In fact, most of the people in here are not Lucians. In GCC we give the members of each branch to learn more about the other branches and train the way their members do."
"Lets move on now, shall we? We will now visit the Ekaterina section."
They went back into the huge elevator and with a simple "House, Ekaterina", they were off.
"As you can see all the buildings are designed the way the Madrigal one is and they are all called House."
"Oh! It looks like we're here!"
The Ekat building was exactly like the Lucian in size, but the inside was different. Yes, it had glass walls too, but instead of people dodging bullets, there were people working on computers, mixing chemicals, solving complicated equations and working on weird devices.
"So, this is the Ekaterina part. In charge here are Oliver and Marilyn, but they are usually busy blowing things up."
As if on que an explosion was heard.
"That's what I mean!" said Shaunee. "Oliver! Hey! Oliver! Over here! OLIVER!"
"Oh, hey Shaunee, Seraphine! How are you doing?" asked a boy, about 19 years old. He had chocolate brown hair and light blue eyes.
"We're fine Oli, how are you?"
"Okay, I guess. Things have been going well here too. We're close to something. I didn't forget to give you a report, did I?" he said, suddenly anxious.
"No, no don't worry. We'll inform you when its time. By the way, let me introduce you to inead, Amy, Natalie, Nellie,Ned, Ted, Reagan, Madison, Jonah, Hamilton, Ian and Dan. They came here yesterday. Guys, this is Oliver."
"Hello! Aren't you the ones the V-lings kidnapped?"
"Yes, we are the ones." said Ian.
"Wait, weren't there three Ekats?"
"That would be us." said Sinead, Ned and Ted.
"Oh great! I look forward to working with you! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go." with this, Oliver took off.
"He is a really sociable person. He is almost always in a good mood, but when he is not-" Seraphine shivered. "It doesn't matter. We should get moving. Hmmm I think we should now check how the Janus are doing. Lets go!"
"House, Janus" They were on their way.
The Janus building was the same in size as the previous ones, but it was by far more beautiful. The walls were colorful, and had breathtaking paintings of landscapes on them. Music was playing and everybody was dancing.
"Hey Ser! Hey Shaun!"
A girl approached them. She had black hair and grass green eyes.
"Hello Cindy! Everyone, this is Cindy, the head of the Janus/Madrigal branch. Her co-head is Ron, but I don't see him anywhere. Cindy, this is Amy, Natalie, Nellie, Sinead, Ned, Ted, Hamilton, Ian, Jonah, Dan, Reagan and Madison."
"He's busy right now. He has a dancing class." mentioned Cindy.
"Doesn't he always? Anyway, what have you been doing?"
"Oh! Oh! I have finished your dresses for the GB. They are spectacular! I'm really excited about them! They are my best so far!"
"What is GB?" Natalie asked.
"GB is the Great Ball. It is held every year and has been organized by me and Shaun for the past five years. It is the most fabulous event of the year!"
"A ball, huh?" Natalie was talking to herself. Her face lit up and then she frowned. They hadn't been invited.
"Yes! And you are all invited, of course. It is in two weeks."
"We are? That's fantastic!" Natalie looked like a three year old on a sugar rush.
"Yes, yes you are! All of you. Oh and your presence is mandatory."
"Mandatory? Why is it mandatory?" Amy looked terrified. She would actually have to go to a ball? An actual, formal occasion?
"You are the new ones around here! Fresh news. You cannot not come!"
"We can help you with your outfits!"
"You mean go shopping?" Dan could have sworn that if Natalie got any more excited, she would blow up.
"Of course."
Natalie grinned. Dan was amazed. He didn't know she was even capable of grinning.
"Okay, we'll talk about the details later. Now we should pay the Tomas a visit."
Once again the all went into the elevator. "House, Tomas."
The Tomas building looked like a football field. It was enormous and had all of the athletic equipment there was. People were training, running, jumping and fighting. Hamilton looked around him in awe.
"It's...it's beautiful!" Reagan managed to say.
"So beautiful!" Madison agreed.
"I guess you are the Tomas ones?" a boy behind them asked.
"Yes, sir!"
"Good. I am Eric,one of the Tomas/Madrigal heads. The other is Melanie, but she is in practice right now." he stated. Eric was a mountain of pure muscle, with caramel colored hair and honey eyes. He was young, about the twins age and his eyes were laughing.
"Hey Eric! How's it going around here?"
"We're just fine!"
"No broken bones this week?"
"Nope!"
"Good!"
"So, you're giving them a tour?" Eric asked.
"Yeah. Oh, let me introduce you. Eric this is Amy, Natalie, Nellie, Sinead, Ned, Ted, Hamilton, Ian, Jonah, Dan, Reagan and Madison. Everybody else, this is Eric."
"Nice to meet you"s and "Hello"s followed her statement.
"Okay. Now we will go to our tour's last stop. The GCC's Headquarters. Please, enter the elevator."
They got in again and this time, when the doors closed, Seraphine said "House, Headquarters." and the elevator started moving.
When it stopped and they all got out, they were in front of a safety door. On it was a retinal scanner.
"When you want to enter the Headquarters, all you have to do is go through the retinal scan. The House identifies you and says who you are. It announces your full name, your branch and your position. Here, let me demonstrate."
She moved forward and let the scanner scan her eye. Then a voice was heard:
"Serahine Sharlin Cahill. Confirmed Lucian. Confirmed Ekaterina. Confirmed Tomas. Confirmed Janus. Confirmed Madrigal. Mayor of the Great Cahill City. Welcome."
A/N: You didn't see that coming now, did you? I really hope you liked it. I sure enjoyed writing it. So tell me what you think by reviewing. I want you to tell me your opinion and what you think will happen next. Any kind of criticism is accepted, but please be polite.
Love,
Burning Tulip