The Second

"Hey, kiddo,"

"Hi, Nellie," Amy looked up from her book to see Nellie lugging a suitcase around. "Where are you going?"

"Fiske wants me to go on a three-day trip; says I have to take a break because I'm working too hard." she explained, stuffing a whole blueberry muffin in her mouth.

"Oh," Amy's face fell slightly. "How long again?"

"Dwee days," Nellie chewed and swallowed. "Sorry, three days. I'm going to Europe."

"That's so far away..." Amy murmured.

"Don't worry! I'll be back before you even know it," Nellie smiled and ruffled Amy's hair. "Until then, can I trust you to be in charge?"

The 17-year-old nodded. "Of cour-"

"NOOOOOO!" Dan screamed from upstairs. The two girls heard a bang, then lots of booming and thumping noises. Dan jumped down the entire staircase, not even bothering to use the actual stairs.

"Don't go, Nellie!" he clamped onto her leg. "Amy will run a child labor camp and make me clean the toilets!"

Amy wrinkled her nose. "Ew, that's disgusting! Dan, I'm not that mean."

Dan gave her a look. "Nellie doesn't know how you really are."

"And what am I really like?" Amy challenged.

"Guys, chill," Nellie removed Dan from her leg and pulled on her favorite hoodie. "Dan, if you shut up and manage not to harass Amy while I'm gone, I'll get you 'Ninja Gaiden III' for XBOX360 before anyone else in the country can get it."

The look on Dan's face was priceless. "No WAY! I thought it wouldn't come out for another six months!"

"The Europeans have a lot of stuff we don't have, dude." Nellie pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Bye, Nellie!" Amy waved.

"DON'T FORGET THE-!"

"I know, Dan, just shut up about it already!" Nellie stuck her head back in the taxi and rolled up the window. The yellow cab stayed on the side of the road for a few seconds, and then sped away towards the airport.

"Well, it's 11:39," Dan announced.

"So?" Amy crossed her arms.

"It's time for me to play video games, duh." Dan rolled his eyes and walked off towards the game room. "It's like you don't even know me."

Amy walked slowly up the steps to her room. It had been two weeks since Ian sent her the letter. She had written back, of course, right after he sent it. She should have gotten a reply already...

Holding back a sigh, Amy pushed her bedroom door open and walked over to her desk. There was a note.

Amy,

The mail came early. This envelope was addressed to you. I didn't look in it, swear! Have fun while I'm gone, kiddo. But not TOO much fun! Take care of yourself.

- Nellie

Amy moved the note aside to reveal an envelope. Her heart pounded with anticipation. This time, she took careful notice to open the envelope carefully with her finger.

Once open, she reached in and pulled out a piece of fancy stationary.

She smiled slightly to herself, knowing this was a letter from Ian Kabra.

Dear Amy,

I am glad to have gotten a response from you. It's good that you're doing well. I never see you (or Dan) at the meetings. (1) Perhaps you've become lazy after the whole affair with the Vespers. (2) But that doesn't sound like the Amy Cahill everyone knows, does it?

I'm doing pretty well, thanks for asking. I'm pleasantly surprised with how well we're managing since Isabel (we dropped the whole "Mum" thing a while ago) disowned us. And since you asked, we live in New York City now. Natalie didn't want to stay in London near our parents. Although I guess they're not our parents anymore. Every now and then, an aunt of ours checks up on us, which annoys Natalie extremely.

Speaking of annoyances, the other day, Natalie ran into Hamilton Holt. Actually, more like he ran into her. It was quite an amusing exchange, really. You should've been there.

Better wrap this letter up now; Natalie needs a new pair of heels.

Hoping to hear from you soon,

Ian Kabra

(1). If you haven't read the last book of the 39 Clues series, then you won't understand what I'm talking about. [SPOILER ALERT! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!] At the end of the book, Jonah, Hamilton, Alistair, yes, even Ian and Natalie, become Madrigals. So by meetings, I mean like Madrigal meetings. Yeah.

(2). There will be a second series that follows after the 39 Clues. It will be about a different family, the Vespers, who are also after the Cahill serum. Since the next series' time period will be right after the last book, three years later (time period of this story), the whole thing with the Vespers will already be over. Sorry if this sounds confusing, but I wanted to clear that up since some people might be wondering about that.

Anyways, it's been about four months since I've updated this and I feel terrible. I'll try to write the chapters faster, but no promises.

This wasn't betaed, so I'll apologize for mistakes now.

I hope you at least enjoyed this short little chapter, though. :)

And as always, reviews are appreciated.

-Sky