Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 Ian adjusted the focus on the binoculars. "He's definitely got something in his hand," he said, "but I'm not sure what it is. It could be— it's long and pointed—" "Another fang?" Natalie asked. She glanced at her mother's wrist. Isabel was wearing a bracelet of heavy gold links that held a small collection of intricate charms. So classy, Natalie thought. Why do the masses persist in thinking that more is always better? One of the charms was a gold wolf fang. Natalie didn't know why the charm was important, only that it was somehow part of the Clue hunt, and that Isabel was sure there were other charms like it out there somewhere. They were on the Kabra family yacht, the Universal Force. Natalie loved everything about the sleek black boat, especially its name. It had

been Isabel's inspiration, but Natalie and Ian had done the legwork. With the help of the Internet, they had researched anagram sites and found the perfect name. Universal Force was an anagram for Lucians Forever. "Whatever it is, they've found it," Isabel said in a grim voice. She lowered the binoculars and stared at Ian, her eyes like laser beams. "How long have we known that the cave was a Tomas site? And you searched it how many times?" Ian muttered something under his breath. Natalie glanced nervously between her mother and her brother. "Maybe it wasn't there before. Maybe it got washed in by the waves." she said. "Or somebody put it there, um, just now." She cringed from the force of Isabel's withering glare. "Don't you dare make excuses for him, Natalie," Isabel said. "Those brats have bested you again." Isabel shoved the throttle. The boat leaped forward.

"I'm telling you both," she said, "I won't stand for it anymore!" Natalie knew that to the rest of the world, she and Ian were golden. They had it all: money, good looks, intelligence. It was only around Isabel that Natalie found herself feeling uncertain, hesitant, afraid to make a mistake. Especially lately. It wasn't easy having a mother who was always perfectly dressed and exquisitely coiffed and strode through the world as if she owned it. (She did, in fact, own considerable chunks of it.) Natalie stood alone at the Force's bow, trying to collect herself. Her mother was always at her worst when it came to Dan and Amy. They made her so angry! Why did they have to keep fouling things up for Natalie's family? The Kabras had to win the race for the Clues, it was as simple as that. Who else could possibly handle the power and responsibility? The dunderheaded Holts? The shallow, media–crazed Wizards? The inept Alistair Oh and his decrepit uncle?

Any one of them as head of the Cahill clan would be a complete disaster. From the beginning of the Clue hunt, Ian and Natalie had worked to find the answers, sometimes even competing against each other in an effort to win Isabel's approval. But time after time, Dan and Amy had defeated them. How was it possible? They're nothing! No family, no power, not even any staff— except for that crazy au pair— how could they have beaten us so many times? And the worst of it was that her mother had lost faith in Natalie. In Ian, too. Since their failure in Russia, Isabel had taken over, and nothing Natalie or her brother did was ever right. Now Natalie shivered in the full sunshine. The scene in the hangar was haunting her waking hours as well as her dreams. The propeller, rotating slowly at first, then faster, faster, until it was a lethal blur… the boy tied to the chair being pushed closer and closer… Natalie squeezed her eyes shut tight, which did nothing to block out the image in her mind.

She wouldn't have done it. She'd have stopped the propeller somehow. At the very last second. She wouldn't really have killed them. Not like that. Natalie herself, along with Ian, had tried several times to thwart Dan and Amy in ways that were… less than pleasant. But their ruses were all planned so they would never have to witness the end results. Which meant that Natalie could— and did— choose not to consider the grisly consequences of their actions. She focused instead on the hope that Dan and Amy would be out of the way once and for all. When Isabel stepped in, some of her plans had followed a similar pattern: the poisonous snakes in the mine, the fire in Indonesia. If those schemes had worked, the Kabras wouldn't have been there when the Cahills actually met their doom. The sharks in Australia— that would have been different, but Natalie hadn't been there. So she had conveniently been able to put any thought of bloodshed out of her mind.

Until the propeller had started its deathly whirl. Overhead, a seagull made a harsh sound, almost like it was laughing… like the laughter in her dream. Natalie gasped and opened her eyes. The person laughing in her dream was Isabel! Could her mother be so cruel and heartless that she would laugh at the prospect of a violent and agonizing death for the Cahills? Is that what the dream meant? No! She's perfect! Or as perfect as anyone can be. And nobody really understands her except me— not even Ian. She might be a bit demanding at times, but that's only because she's so determined. She's warned me about this— that people always resent when a woman has a lot of power…. Natalie knew that Ian was having doubts about their mother. She had seen it in small ways: how he wouldn't quite meet their mother's eyes and often muttered under his breath when she was around. Perhaps it wasn't surprising; after all, he was the one who had turned on the propeller,