A/N: Hi! If you hate me, you're right. I am an terrible, terrible person. I am so sorry I took so long. I could just go on and on explainong why I did so, but that wouldn't get me anywhere now, would it? So, I'll just move on with the chapter and hurry off to write the next. Befpre that, I want to thank my cookie senters (me reviewers). You guys are all amazing! I love you all!
Disclaimer: I, Burning Tulip, do NOT own the 39 Clues.
Chapter eleven: Monthly report
At about 5, all the newly arrived Cahills met with their mini branch leaders. They were given their passwords and were told more about the mini branches. They also got the chance to see the facilities they had at their disposition, and learned how to operate some high-tech machines. Then, at about 8, they went to the kitchen to get something to eat. When they reached the room, though, they saw a post-it note on the fridge, addressed to them. It read:
Dear Cahills. Now that you have had the chance to converse with your mini branch leaders and get acquainted with your surroundings, we would like you to join us to dinner at 8:30 pm. You will find us in the dining room. There is a map next to a fridge to help you find it. ~Seraphine and Shaunee
Indeed, there was. So, they did what the twins told them and moved to the dining room. There they found both girls with their bother, father and what looked like their mother already seated.
"Hello!" the woman said. "You must be the new comers! I'm glad to meet you. I am Eloise, Seraphine and Shaunee's mother."
"Nice to meet you."
"Please, take a seat." Seraphine said, smiling.
They did and had a chance to observe their surroundings. They were in a spacious room which had golden white walls and polished light wooden floor. There was a fire place at each end the table they were seated on was in the middle. It had light chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and beautiful landscape paintings decorated the walls.
They were soon engaged in conversations with each other.
"So, Mrs. Cahill, I thought you were in Italy?" Amy asked the twins' mother.
"Please, call me Eloise. Yes, I was in Italy. Top secret mission and all that. I never really was one to go to missions, but I still went on some. This particular one was carried out perfectly. I came back today, early in the morning."
"So, you usually stay at home? Since you are not one to go on missions?"
"Yes, mostly. I am the organizing type; I usually just plan out missions. How about you my dear Amy?"
"Well, I do go on missions for the Madrigals. I am the next in line branch leader, so I kind of have to."
"So, you're a diplomat?"
"Yes, you could say that." She laughed.
Then the doors opened and the mini branch leaders walked in.
"Well, look who's late. Again." Seraphine said, but she was smiling.
"We do have other things to do you know! Besides, we're not that late. You said 8:30 and it's 8:34!" Ron, the Janus male mini branch leader said.
"Whatever. You're till late!"
He just rolled his eyes and sat like everyone else. There were two more people, teenagers, who the others hadn't seen before. Except Amy and Dan, of course.
"Oh, guys this is Antoinette and David, the Madrigal mini branch leaders. Amy and Dan, you must have already met them, right?"
"Yep." Dan answered for both of them. "They gave us our passwords and a tour around the Madrigal facilities."
"Madrigal mini branch leaders?" Ian asked. "I thought you were the heads of the Madrigal mini branch."
"No, no. Shaunee said. "We are the mayors, not mini branch leaders. Speaking of whom, are you guys ready for tomorrow's monthly report?"
"It's tomorrow?" Oliver asked. "Yes. Don't tell me you forgot again!"
"Hey! You said you would tell me beforehand!"
"I did! I left you a message! I have told you time and time again to check these things! Will you have enough time to do it now before the meeting tomorrow?"
"Yeah… I'll do it when I get home. I still have more time than I did last month!"
"True. Just please don't forget it again…"
"I won't! Promise!"
"Good. Now I think you should get on with the dinner. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry!"
"You're right, sweetie. Angela!" Joshua, the twins' father said and immediately, a blond woman came in.
"Yes, mister Cahill?"
"Would you please serve the dinner?"
"As you wish, sir."
Very soon, they were eating. The food was delicious, Nellie even asked for the recipe. While they were enjoying their meal, Eloise suddenly told her daughters:
"Girls, I almost forgot. Your cousin Claire is going to pay us a visit in two weeks."
"Seraphine, who had been taking a sip from her glass of wine, chocked on her drink and Shaunee dropped her fork.
"WHAT?" they said at the same time.
Eloise seemed calm. "What did you hear?"
"But-"
"Mom-"
"You cannot-"
"Possibly do-"
"That to us!"
"Girls you are overreacting! "
"No, we are not!" the said in sync.
"Mom, we can't-"
"Deal with Claire-"
"Right now!"
"Or ever." Seraphine added under her breath. She said so quietly, though, that nobody heard her comment but Ted and Shaunee who were sitting next to her. Shaunee tried her best to stifle a laugh.
"You'll do just fine. Besides, she'll only be staying for a week."
"A WEEK?"
"Yes, a week." Their mother said, rolling her eyes.
"But, Mom-"
"No 'but's! Claire is coming and I expect you to behave yourselves while she'll be here. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Mom." The twins said, frowning.
"Good. Now let us all finish our meal."
They continued their dinner in silence. Once they had eaten the twin Cahill girls excused themselves. Before they left, Seraphine told Ted quietly:
"Tomorrow at 8 will be our first piano lesson."
Then they left.
The next day Ted woke up at 7:30. He got ready and went to Seraphine's room. He knocked on the door once and waited. Three seconds later she opened and let him in.
"Good morning, Ted!" she said as she led him to the piano.
"Good morning to you too, Seraphine."
"So, are you ready for our lesson?" she asked him when they sat. "Sure!"
"Good. Since today is our first one, I think we should start with the easy staff, like the notes. You'll play what I tell you to and this way, you'll get used to playing without seeing. Ready?"
Ted took a deep breath, placed his hands on the instrument and nodded to show her that he was ready. Their lesson began. Seraphine was instructing him and he did exactly what she said. It was easy to do so. She kept her voice soft and even and was very patient. She corrected his mistakes first by telling him how to do things in the right way and then, if he made the same mistake, she would put her hands on top of his and show him how to do it. As their lesson progressed he found it easier and easier to follow her instructions and, for a moment, he forgot that he wasn't able to see. He kept his eyes closed focused on two things only: the piano and Seraphine's voice. Soon, the lesson ended.
"You did very well!"
"Thank you."
"Next time we'll start working on an actual musical piece. I won't take you in too deep, though."
"Okay, I'm fine with that when will our next lesson be?"
"Um… How about tomorrow, same time?"
"I don't have a problem."
"It's settled then. Oh my God! It's 9:30 already? I have a meeting in half an hour. Wait. You have a meeting in half an hour too."
"I do?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Dad said that you, along with Ned, Sinead, Amy, Ian, Jonah and Hamilton should attend the monthly reports. Your uncle Fiske agreed to this because he said that you should get a closer look on how GCC works since you are the ones most likely to be branch leaders."
"Oh. So we have to come?"
"Yes. In fact I think we should get going. Don't worry about the others; the house has already woken them up."
With that they left.
They reached the conference room and saw that everyone was already there. They all took their seats, which were named, and once everyone was there, the meeting started.
"Welcome to the monthly official mini branch report, everyone." Seraphine began in a formal tone. "Today is June 15th and we have a few more attendants than we usually do. This is a decision made by Fiske Cahill, the head of the official Madrigal branch, and Joshua Cahill, the Protector of Great Cahill City's secret. From now on Amy, Ian, Jonah, Hamilton, Ned, Ted and Sinead will be present at every monthly report. Has anybody have a problem with that? No? Good. Now we shall begin with the meeting. Would the Janus like to start?"
Cindy and Ron stood up.
"Of course." The female leader said. "No incidents have been reported this month. We are at present working on the Great Ball, which will be in two weeks. Everything has been going according to the plan so far." Then, it was Ron's turn to speak. "The Janus cooperation with the other mini branches has been excellent. There have been absolutely no fights or disagreements."
"That is great news!" Shaunee said. "I'm glad to hear that no problems have occurred. Would the Lucians be next?"
"As you wish, Mayor." Mathew, the Lucian male leader, said in formality. There still was mischievousness in his eyes though. "There has been a poisoning due to carelessness, but the person was given immediate help, so his life is not in danger. There has also been a hacking attack to our system, but it was not successful. Our guess was the Vesperlings. However, it turned out to be an Ekaterina in training. We do not blame the mini branch though, since they had informed us earlier that day, but, due to technical difficulties, we weren't able to receive the e-mail. The problem has been successfully fixed."
Then Alyson, the girl in the Lucian GCC leadership spoke. "We are too working on the Ball, of course, on the safety department, and are happy to inform you that all safety precautions have been taken. We worked with the Ekaterina branch to achieve this and no problems surfaced. To sum up, despite the little mishap with the lost e-mail, this month has gone by smoothly.
"I see." Seraphine was talking again. It's a good thing this trivial misunderstanding was cleared up quickly. What about the Tomas?"
"We've only had one broken arm and two sprained ankles this month!" Eric, the Tomas mini branch leader said proudly. "We have worked with the other branches without any problem ensuing, too." Melanie, the female Tomas head added.
"Only one broken arm, huh?" Shaunee commented on Eric's previous words.
"Well, it's better than last month! We had no broken legs or ribs this time!"
Amy flinched when she heard that. She hated seeing or hearing about people getting hurt.
"True. Is that all?"
"Yup."
"Alright. The Ekaterinas?"
"Well, you already know about the little… incident with the Lucians, so no need to repeat that." Oliver stated. "Other than that, nothing has happened. Everything's been fine. We are handling the Great Ball's tech issues and I'm proud to say that nothing has gone wrong." Marilyn finished.
"Excellent. It's good to know that no rivalries exist here. That leaves the Madrigals."
"Well…" Antoinette began, "Everything has been going perfectly. No problems." "That's true. It's quite surprising really, consider we are talking about Cahills, but everyone seems to be okay with everyone else."
"That's wonderful! It's amazing how everyone seems to be getting along!" Shaunee exclaimed.
"We always get along Shaun." Ron told her. "We might have our problems, but we are not that bad."
"True." She agreed. "Now, if there is nothing else anyone would like to say," she paused for a second, waiting for a response. When it didn't come she moved on, "I now declare the meeting to be over. The next one will be in a month from now, July 15th. You may all go."
When the meeting ended, all the mini leaders left, along with the other Cahills. That left Seraphine and Shaunee in the room.
"Well, I guess we have nothing to worry about." Shaunee said. "Everything's been working perfectly."
"Yeah. Except for Claire's visit, of course. Which just happens to be at the same time with the Great Ball. How does that sound?"
"Splendid." Her sister replied with a sigh.
They left the room too. They both had a bad feeling about this years Ball and the feeling had a name. Claire.
A/N: A semi-cliffhanger! What cha think? Who is Claire? Will she be important? What do you think of the story so far? Wht do you think will happen next? There is only way of teeling me and that is to cookie! I love reading your cookies. They never fail to mame me smile. That's all for now! Be well and do not fogrt to COOKIE! AMy kind of criticism is accepted, but please be polite.
Love,
Burning Tulip.