Chapter 1

Five minutes before her death, Grace Cahill changed her will.

Her lawyer, William McIntyre left the room and returned moments later with the alternate version of the will. For seven years, it was a precious secret that no one knew but William. He wasn't quite sure if the woman actually had the guts to use it, but if he knew anything, it was that Grace was person who had a lot of guts.

"Madam, are you sure about going through with this?" He asked carefully.

Grace took a long while to sigh and stroked her Egyptian Mau's soft silver fur. Saladin had stuck by her side through thick and thin (mostly thick), and could usually comfort her. But today, nothing would make Grace feel at ease. She was about to make a decision that could cause the end of the world as humans knew it.

"Yes," she paused for a breath, "I'm positive."

As her adviser began breaking the seal of the envelope, Grace prayed that everything would work out in the end. If only she had more time, if only this day on Earth wasn't her last...there was so much that she didn't tell the children, so much that would and could aid them.

William held out the document for Grace to look over and sign.

In a few short moments, everything would change. Mostly for the worse.

It's a chance I'm willing to take...Grace thought as she closed her eyes.

Dan knew he had the most bothersome older brother ever in existence. Why did he have to suffer? Why was he born a Kabra? What with their money and power and family and--

He stared at his reflection through the window. Silk suits and ties? Kill. Me. Now!

However, Ian was instead smoothing out his silk suit like there was a wrinkle or perhaps a small piece of lint or dust on it. Obviously, there wasn't, but he was double-checking.

"You're good, Ian. It's spotless." Dan huffed under his breath as Ian began triple-checking.

Ian, being the one with perceptive hearing replied, "I suppose someone--ah, what is it they say in America?--woke up on the right side of the bed this morning?"

"It's 'wrong' side."

"What is it with Americans and their sayings?"

Dan rolled his eyes.

The Kabras always wondered about him the minute he was born. He definitely did NOT act like one, for starters. From a tender age, instead of learning how to play the piano and speak fluent French, he was interested in video games and ninjas. Definitely ninjas. Then when the Kabras took a trip to Boston a few years ago, Dan was determined to become like an American.

Ian (along with the rest of the family) was clearly not happy with this. Why try to act like a filthy American? It was mind-boggling.

Just then, the car--or perhaps, limo--pulled to a stop. Ian and Dan stayed sitting in their seats until the driver came around and opened the door on Dan's side. He stepped out first, and Ian followed shortly.

Ah, Grace's mansion. Dan liked this place. He had only visited the great manor once every year when Grace hosted her annual Christmas party, but he knew this place already like the back of his hand. With photographic memory, it wasn't hard. This was a house that Dan would like to live in. But that wouldn't be possible.

Ian nudged his younger brother in the ribs and gestured with his head at the large crowd a few meters away.

"Right, the funeral," The unhappy Kabra murmured, following behind Ian.

"Well, well, well, look what the snakes dragged in..." A voice boomed from behind the brothers.

They turned in unison and saw purple--a lot of purple. Ian kept a straight face, but Dan wanted to make a mean comment to his freakish cousins and their equally freakish parents.

"Hello, Dolts." Ian greeted, a fake smile on his lips.

"Oh, am I supposed to laugh?" Madison Holt sneered, turning up her nose.

Dan rolled his eyes yet again that day.

Madison stood next to her twin sister, Reagan. Beside them was their older brother, Hamilton (who Dan had to admit was the coolest out of the whole bunch), their pit bull, Arnold, and taking up the rear was the odd match of Eisenhower and Mary-Todd. They all wore identical purple running suits and had blond hair. But you knew better than to mess with them; they may be idiots, but they could still beat you to a pulp.

"Nice suits," Hamilton commented with a smirk.

"Thank you; it was custom-tailored." Ian began.

Dan finished before Ian started going into detail, "Where did you guys get your outfits? The 99-Cents Store?"

Ian patted Dan on the back as if he were saying, "Jolly good, old chap! We got those nits!" Or something like that. Dan wasn't sure what his brother said half the time.

"Quiet, you little rat! Or I'll--!" Eisenhower stepped forward, fists clenched and teeth bared.

"Eisenhower, be calm." Mary-Todd advised.

"Yeah, Dad, be calm." Reagan repeated.

"RAWF!" Arnold barked.

"Whatever, punks. You won't be the ones laughing when we inherit all of that crazy old bat's fortune!" Eisenhower roared. The rest of the family laughed with him and together, they strode off.

"Wow, I can't believe they actually got lamer and stupider this year." Dan shook his head with disbelief.

"Well said, brother." Ian agreed.

Not far away, a small car pulled up on the street next to Grace's driveway. Two girls made their way out of the car.

The younger girl, with dark hair and cinnamon-colored skin--who strangely resembled Ian--wore a black dress that looked simply stunning on her. The older girl, with reddish-brown hair and pale skin--who strangely resembled Dan--wore a black dress that looked somewhat similar to the younger girl's. She seemed uncomfortable in it; whereas the younger girl looked perfectly fine to be all dressed up.

Then Dan noticed his older brother looking over at the older girl, Amy. He waved his hands frantically in Ian's face. "Ian, snap out of it!"

Ian blinked a few times, before focusing on Dan. "Yes, what is it?"

"Do you like Amy?" He asked, a sneaky smile making its way onto his features.

"No. Don't make such preposterous accusations." Ian retorted in a serious manner as if liking a common person was as ridiculous as wearing the same clothes twice.

Oh, maybe he was admiring the...shrubbery. Yeah, that's it. Dan thought to himself.

Amy and Natalie Cahill walked up to the Kabras. Amy looked kind of scared, while Natalie looked exactly the opposite. Dan didn't know how the two were related.

"Hello, Ian. Daniel." Natalie seemed to be scheming something and had a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Natalie." Ian replied stonily. "Amy." His gaze seemed to linger on Amy much longer than Natalie.

"H-Hi, I-Ian," Amy stuttered, avoiding his penetrating stare.

Dan really wondered how she was related to the elusive, mysterious Natalie Cahill now.

"Well, places to go, people to see." Dan sighed dramatically. "Better be going now..." Dan pushed Ian towards the funeral with all his strength. He managed to get him to the rest of the Cahill family and put his hands on his knees, panting. "You're heavy."

"You could have told me to move." Ian pointed out matter-of-factly, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, yeah," Dan mumbled, tapping his fingers on the object in his right pants pocket.

Suddenly, the minister cleared his throat and the crowd grew silent. He said many long things that Dan didn't bother listening to. Some men lowered the coffin into the ground. Everybody tossed in a clump of dirt. Dan realized that the Holts seemed to like this part a lot and began throwing in extra clumps for the people too sad to throw anything at all. Dan recognized some other relatives; some seemed mournful, some looked like they wanted to be somewhere else, and some didn't show any emotion whatsoever.

There was Alistair Oh, the old Korean dude with his weird diamond-tipped cane. He was in the Ekaterina branch and apparently, he made a living by inventing microwaveable burritos or something. Dan never really had a liking for burritos--he preferred tacos--, so he didn't know all the details. Then he saw Irina Spasky, a Russian lady who always hid some kind of weapon in her fingers and always glared at you. She was in the Lucian branch, the same one he and Ian were in. The Starling triplets--Ned, Ted, and Sinead--all had red hair and looked like a bunch of cloned super geniuses. They were Ekaterinas, no doubt. Even Jonah Wizard, the hip-hop sensation was there. He was off to one side, taking pictures with girls and signing posters, CDs, and foreheads. He wore lots of gold chains, ripped baggy jeans, and a black muscle shirt, which Dan thought was pointless since Jonah didn't have any muscles at all.

After the long service, a man in a dull gray suit made his way up to the podium. Dan squinted and tried hard to remember him. He had a long pointed nose and a bald head. What was his name?

"Thank you all for coming here today. I am William McIntyre, Grace Cahill's lawyer, adviser, and executor."

"Executor?" Dan poked Ian in the arm. "Was he the guy who killed Grace?" He whispered.

Ian learned to deal with his brother's idiocy over the years and sighed slightly. "No, Dan. He is in charge of her will. And Grace died of an illness, not from murder."

"Oh." Dan sighed, slightly relieved. He didn't want to admit it, but he had grown fond of Grace.

"Now, on to the most important part," William straightened his tie and cleared his throat. "Everyone has received a program, yes?"

Answers were murmured.

"Please look inside your programs now. Some of you will find a gold invitation."

This got everyone excited. The sound of over four hundred programs being ripped and torn rippled through the air. Most of them found nothing and said explicit words. Dan carefully opened his program while Ian hovered over him.

A gold invitation! It read:

Ian and Dan Kabra are hereby invited to the

reading of the last will and testament

of Grace Cahill

Where

The Great Hall

When

Now

"I suspected this." Ian said thoughtfully, peering at the invitation.

Dan glanced over and saw Amy mouthing the words on the invitation. Natalie caught his gaze and gave him an evil look. If there was an Olympic event for glaring evilly, Natalie would take home the gold.

"I assure all of you," William said, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd, "the invitations were not done by random selection. To those of you who did not receive an invitation, Grace Cahill did not mean any impertinence towards you. Only a few of the Cahill family were chosen as the most likely."

Dan wasn't sure what 'most likely' meant, but he was happy he and Ian were included in the will reading. People with invitations were already hurrying toward Grace's house like someone was giving away a million dollars.

Little did he know that that was exactly what could happen in the next few moments.

The Great Hall was certainly great.

Light shone in from the enormous windows that took up an entire wall. There were coats of arms and a realistic-looking model of a knight from medieval times. The hall made you feel like you were living among kings and queens.

People scrambled to find seats. Dan did a quick head count of about forty people, including the Holts, Starlings, Jonah, Alistair, Irina, all of the creepy people he didn't trust. As William McIntyre pressed a button on a tiny remote, an old-looking woman hobbled in and plopped down in the front row next to Amy with a permanent scowl on her face. Dan sat directly behind the frightening woman. He didn't exactly know her, but he knew her well enough that she was not to be trusted either.

A projector screen slowly descended from the ceiling as William held up a hand for everyone to settle down. He pulled a document out of a leather folder and adjusted his reading glasses. " 'I, Grace Cahill, being of sound mind and body, do hereby divide my entire estate among those who accept the challenge and those who do not.' "

"Yo, dawg, what's that supposed to mean?" Jonah hollered from the back of the room.

"May I continue?" William asked patiently.

"Sure, homie."

The lawyer seemed uncomfortable with Jonah's response, but read on: " 'All of you have been chosen as the most likely to succeed in the most dangerous, yet greatest competition mankind has ever known. This will be a mission of significant importance to the entire Cahill family and the entire world, as well.' "

Forty people opened their mouths that second and started blabbering away.

"Competition?" Cousin Matilda demanded. "What's that old woman talking about?"

"Where's the money?" Uncle Francis hollered. "Who does she think she is, telling us to go on a mission? I want the money!"

Dan immediately knew what Grace was talking about and glanced at Ian meaningfully. Ian nodded slightly. Alistair muttered something and Irina whispered something back to him, but most of the other Cahills looked bewildered.

"Please," Mr. McIntyre held up a hand once again. "If you wish for an explanation, I suggest you watch the screen. I am positive that Madame Cahill can explain this whole ordeal better than I."

Ian looked at Dan and raised an eyebrow. Dan shrugged. Wasn't Grace already dead? Everyone saw the coffin being lowered in the ground. Everyone tossed in dirt--some more than others.

The shouting ceased as Grace appeared on the screen, sending some people into a complete shock. She was stroking Saladin and looked less ill. This video clearly was made months ago, before her cancer had gotten fatal.

"If you are watching this, it means I am dead, and I have made the decision to use my alternate will. Surely, you all have many questions unanswered and are giving Mr. McIntyre a hard time about this contest I have instituted. This may be difficult for all of you, but stop talking for a minute and pay attention."

"Hey, just a minute!" Eisenhower Holt objected, but his entire family shushed him. He grumbled and stared back at the screen.

"This contest must be taken seriously. You all belong to the Cahill family, but many of you do not comprehend how important this family is."

More shouting erupted from the spectators. Irina Spasky stood up and glared personally and each and every one of her relatives. "Silence, all of you!" Dan thought he heard her curse in a different language. It was probably Russian.

Grace's image flickered. "I have chosen all of you specifically because I believe you all have the potential to succeed in this great challenge. You may form a team to pursue the competition or you might prefer to work alone. I am afraid, however, that a good fraction of the people in this room will decline the challenge and run away. Let me remind you that only one team or person will win, and each of you must sacrifice your portion of the inheritance to partake in this."

At this point, all was quiet in the Great Hall; everyone held their breath, awaiting Grace's next words. She held up a manila envelope. Her eyes were hard and she was dead serious.

"If you accept the challenge, you will be given the first of thirty-nine clues. These clues, put together, unlock a secret that can change humanity as we known it. This secret has the power to make you the most powerful human beings on the planet. You now realize the importance of the Cahill family, I hope. Now, my next step is for you all to listen to Mr. McIntyre. He will explain the rules. Think clearly before you make your final decision." She stared straight into the camera, and for a second, it seemed like she was actually there, among the rest of the family.

Dan saw Ian peering over at Amy and Natalie who were completely frozen. Amy looked and probably felt a mixture of emotions. Natalie just looked baffled, which was rare.

Before they even knew it, the screen went black. Amy and Natalie shared a look and seemed to be speaking to each other through their minds.

Ian heaved a heavy sigh; he and Dan already knew about this whole thing. They just wanted Mr. McIntyre to explain everything already so they could begin.

"Importance of the Cahill family? We're just ordinary people!" Cousin Marcus protested.

"She insulted us!" Eisenhower bellowed.

"William," Alistair Oh interjected, his voice rose above the others. "There are people in this room I don't even recognize, people who may not even be of the Cahill bloodline! How can we be certain that--?"

"Mr. Oh, I assure you that everyone here is a Cahill." Mr. McIntyre said.

"Even you, Mr. McIntyre?" Dan asked curiously.

The old man turned away quickly. "That--"

"Where's the money?" The old woman beside Amy complained. "It's just like my sister to come up with this imprudence! I--"

"Madam Beatrice, you may decline the challenge if that is what you wish. If you do so, you automatically receive what is under your chair."

Just like that, forty people stuck their hands under their chair.

"Hey, Dad, put me down!" Reagan cried, her chair (with her still in it) a few feet in the air.

"Oh, sorry, kiddo." Eisenhower lowered the chair back onto solid ground and Reagan gave her dad a mean look behind his back.

Ian revealed a green slip of paper with a lot of numbers and the words 'ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND'. Dan held one up, as did everyone else at this point.

"That bank voucher will only be activated when you decline the challenge. If you do so, each of you has the opportunity to walk out of this room with a million dollars without a second thought about Grace Cahill. Or..." Mr. McIntyre paused. "You may accept the challenge and receive a clue, the clue that could lead you to the most important treasure in the world and make you powerful beyond your wildest imaginations."

Grace's lawyer moved his focus to Amy and Natalie. "Keep in mind, that this very clue might be the thing that will kill you. One million dollars or the first clue; you all have five minutes to decide starting now."

Yeah, I lied. Sorry. REALLY sorry. If you want, you can tomato me. Or cabbage me; whatever vegetable you dislike!

Anyways, this won't happen again. I should never set dates for myself. It always turns out horrible.

But enjoy this chapter nevertheless! :) Review and tell me what you think. If Dan seems out of character sometimes, it's because he's a Kabra, so of course he'd be more...diabolical. A little bit more, though, not like murder-someone-diabolical.

Uhm...that's all. Thanks for reading all the way down to this last sentence! You're amazing!

-Sky