Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26 Amy and Dan sat on the beach the next morning, looking out at the calm tropical waters. They had spent the longest night of their lives, unable to sleep, just sitting, waiting for dawn. Now they stared with bloodshot eyes out at the horizon. Their white T-shirts were gray from smoke and soot, and their throats still felt dry and scratchy despite the water they'd drunk. They knew Nellie would be here soon on a launch. It was important they leave before the authorities arrived. Alistair had ordered them to stay on the beach. He didn't want them to see what remained at the house. They didn't want to think about it. He had wandered off, and they knew he wanted to be alone. Irina had been his enemy, but he'd known her a long time. Maybe he wanted to mourn her. Irina had been their enemy, too. Last night, she

had saved their lives. Amy touched the jade dragon on her necklace. Why? How could someone she'd thought of as pure evil have the goodness inside to sacrifice her life for them? Last night someone had stolen the poem. Alistair knew that much. He had awakened, smelled smoke, and immediately checked for the paper. They all knew it had to be Isabel. Alistair had heard the sound of a motor out on the water, but he hadn't been able to see anything. This morning they'd found the vessel that no doubt Irina had used, a small fishing boat she'd probably paid someone to borrow back at the harbor. They had the facts, or most of them. What they couldn't sift through was their feelings. The only thing Amy knew for sure was that it was time to tell Dan. She had to tell him now, before Nellie showed up. She couldn't go through another day like yesterday. She could face anything, but she couldn't face it without Dan. She'd been so wrong, and he'd been so right.

He'd been so scared last night, but he'd never lost his nerve. He'd been like that all along. Times when she was frozen with fear, he'd kept on moving. In so many ways, he was braver than she was. He could face anything. "There's a reason I didn't tell you about Mom and Dad being murdered," she said haltingly. "And it wasn't because I didn't trust you. It was because I remembered something I did. I didn't want you to know. I-I didn't want you to blame me." He shot her a questioning look. "That night… the night of the fire… I was still awake when the strangers came. I heard them downstairs. I listened at the door. They were asking Mom and Dad where they'd been. They asked over and over." Amy paused, and then the words rushed out. "I was scared. S-so I ran inside the room. A woman picked me up. Isabel. She talked about the teddy bears on my nightgown and I corrected her. I said they were koalas. So that's how they all knew." Dan shook his head. "Knew what?"

"That Mom and Dad had gone to Australia in search of Robert Cahill Henderson. And they must have figured that they'd brought something back. Because later, when they were outside, Isabel said, They traced him to Australia, didn't they? This has to be taken care of tonight." "Do you think that they did bring something back? And that's what Dad was looking for?" "What do you do when your house is on fire?" Amy asked. "You run for the most valuable thing. So Mom ran for us, and Dad ran for whatever it was." "Maybe somebody set the fire so they could watch what happened. Maybe things went wrong. But the fire wouldn't have happened if I hadn't told them that Mom and Dad were in Australia! If I hadn't been such a… know-it-all!" Amy buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook with sobs. She felt as though she could cry forever. She could cry out her grief and her shame but it would keep welling back up, and it would never stop. Dan squirmed. "Amy. Wigging. Totally." She lifted her head, swiping a hand across her

eyes. "What?" "Let me get this straight. Because you had koalas on your pajamas, our parents died?" "Well…" "That's just dumb. Our parents died because our house caught fire. You didn't light the match. One of our dear, devoted relatives did. You dweeb. You think that because you said the magic word, you changed everything? We're talking Cahills here. They would have done it no matter what." The scorn in Dan's voice took away Amy's fear. If Dan had been soothing, if he'd tried to reassure her, she would have lost it again. Soot still streaked his pale face. He looked tired, worn out, sad. And honest. "You are one awesomely weird sister-dude," Dan said. She wanted to hug him, but she knew it would totally freak him out. She hugged her knees instead. She felt a little of her shame begin to lift. Dan saw things clear. If he didn't think she was to blame… maybe she wasn't. She had said the

words out loud, she had dredged up every memory, and she hadn't shattered. Instead, Amy realized, the opposite had happened. She was stronger. "Irina said something else in the tunnel," she said. "She asked me why Mom ran back into the house. Was it just for Daddy? What could be more important than their children?" "The fate of the world?" Dan joked. But his grin faded as he met Amy's serious green eyes. "The fate of the world," she repeated. They didn't say anything for a minute. It seemed impossible to think about right now, with the smudge of pink on the horizon and the lightening blue of the sea. Impossible to think of the great, wide world around them… depending on them. "I think I know what they were looking for," Dan said. "The poem." "Alistair stole it," Amy said. "It all makes sense now. Last night I remembered him standing by the fireplace. While everyone was looking at me, he