Ian Kabra was perplexed. Here he was, sitting on his rear end on the elegant carpeting of a castle, with his sister cruelly giggling behind him. And worse, he had been pulled down by a mere peasant girl. A peasant girl. A simple commoner had caused him to make a fool of himself. People walked past, casting him strange looks. He immediately got off the floor, dusting himself off, and glaring at the witnesses around him.

Natalie quickly put a stop to her display of immature laughter and tilted her head upwards, regaining her superior Kabra air. Ian frantically continued to obtain his dignity. He straightened up and glanced at his younger sister coldly.

She smirked. "Would you care to recap on this...series of unfortunate events, brother?" She had been in the bathroom checking over her appearance. When she reported back to her brother, he was sitting on the floor, slightly stunned.

"No," he answered promptly.

"Oh, come on, young lad! It wasn't that bad! Share it with the beautiful young girl." An elderly man called heartily from where he was standing about five feet behind the Kabras. Based on his dirty food-stained apron, Ian guessed that he was a cook.

Ian felt rage building inside him. She's a beautiful girl and I'm a young lad? I refuse to be called a lad! He opened his mouth to throw a cool and witty comment, but Natalie spoke up again.

"I would love to know, Ian." She blinked her amber eyes, so much like his, pleadingly, and put on her sweetest face. There was a chorus of murmurs from other bystanders who had temporarily stopped their tasks to watch the two guests.

"Fine," he sniffed, glaring at everyone present. "I will tell you when we our shown to our rooms."

"Ahem. You mean room. You will both be sharing." Natalie gasped with the horror of not having her own room. The two Lucians slowly turned and glimpsed their host for the first time. He looked good enough, dressed in a buisness-like suit with his hair neatly combed. He smiled. "We will get to know each other better tonight when we dine. For now, you will call me Mr. M." He gazed at Ian sympathetically. "And I suppose you should tell your sister now. It'll be a while before we take all your luggage to your room." He looked at the two men waiting outside with literally tons of bags. He went outside to instruct them.

Ian sighed with defeat. "Natalie, while you were so vainly checking on your hair, I met up with our dear cousins, Amy and Daniel. Amy was being careless and crashed into me. She landed on the floor, I outstretched my hand as a gesture of kindness, she took it and shoved me to the ground. Then she ran away, dragging her idiotic brother." Ian's explaination was vague and quick.

Natalie chortled meanly. "Oh, are you sure the outstretchhed hand was a gesture of kindness?" She glared at him imploringly, and Ian knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Of course. I have no feelings for her whatsoever. And she obviously doesn't either."

"Yes, she's probably still upset about our plan in Korea. Or, perhaps she's finally realized how to treat competition. But believe me, I'm a girl. And I am quite sure that she has not gotten over you." Natalie informed coolly.

Naturally, Ian was shocked. Sure, Natalie was obsessed with looks, but he never thought she cared about this type of stuff. Was she right? Has Amy moved on yet?

"Yes, yes. Set them right here, please. Thank you. You cannot go any further, so you may leave. I have a few other guests that can help me carry the bags." Mr. M. said.

Natalie was going into slight panic. "We won't have to carry our own bags, will we?"

"Well, the whole staff is busy today, preparing for our extravagant dinner. It would be easier if you could carry some of your own bags, but if you refuse, my helpers and I can manage. We'll just have to make more trips back and forth." Mr. M's face showed his surprise and annoyance that they were too vain to carry their own luggage. "Come, Dan and Amy. Help with the luggage."

Amy and Dan? They're to carry our luggage? Ian thought.

Sure enough, the two orphans stepped out, Dan yawning, feeling a lot better, but incredibly sleepy, after using his inhaler. Amy looked shy, as usual, a few strands of her auburn hair sweeping in front of her face.

"Tired, Daniel?" Natalie asked, smirking.

The two siblings glanced at each other. Ian watched them curiously. Dan glared at Amy, Amy subtly shook her head, and Dan sighed. It was almost as if they were having a conversation without actually talking. But that wasn't possible, was it?

Finally, Amy spoke, her stuttering voice soft. "N-no. We're fine."

Ian felt the need to speak. "Really? You have dark circles under your eyes, love."

There was silence. Amy and Dan looked slightly panicked, while Ian and Natalie narrowed their eyes, trying to find out what they were hiding. Mr. M. was trying to figure out why these two groups were so tense with each other. Amy and Dan didn't act like this with the other teams.

Dan was the first to break the quiet atmosphere. "Of course the great Ian and Natalie are too lazy to bring their own luggage down one hallway." he said, poorly imitating Natalie's british accented voice.

Natalie stuck her nose up in the air. "Well, Daniel, some of us were raised better than penniless orphans."

"Hey! We're-"

"Children, let's get moving." Mr. M chided, while picking up two of Natalie's many suitcases.

Dan immediately walked toward Ian's bags calling, "Can I help Ian? I don't want to die by getting buried under luggage." Ian noticebly had less bags than Natalie. A lot less.

"Dan, as gentlemen, we are obliged to handle the larger tasks. Amy shall help Ian, and you and I will carry Natalie's."

Dan rolled his eyes. "Of course. Let Amy help her lover boy."

Ian glanced at Dan's older sister, inspecting her reaction. Amy's cheeks turned bright red with embarassment. "Dan!" But Dan was already walking down the hall, dragging two of Natalie's duffel bags. Natalie, of course, wasn't happy with this.

"Don't drag them!" she shrieked. "They'll get scuffed!" She ran after him, yelling about the correct way to hold a bag. Mr. M. shook his head and followed them, his arms full of Natalie's belongings.

It was only Amy and Ian now. Ian gestured toward the small pile of his bags. Amy sighed and glared at him, though Ian had to admit, she wasn't very good at glaring.

He picked up two of his bags and handed them to her. Her cheeks reddened slightly as she grabbed the bags and gave him a small nod. Ian watched her green eyes stray to the large suitcase behind him.

"Um, I guess I'll come back for that later," she murmured.

Ian was greatly ashamed to admit that he thought about offering to carry it himself. After all, it had wheels, and he could easily roll it to his room. But that would be much too un-Kabra like of him. So he simply gave her a curt nod, just as his father would do.

Amy turned around and started after Dan, Mr. M., and Natalie, who were far ahead. Suddenly she looked back at him, took a deep breath, and blurted," S-sorry."

As Ian watched her retreating form, he couldn't help but wonder which she was apologizing for. Dan's comment, her earlier action of shoving him to the ground, or not being able to carry all his luggage at once?

He shook his head and examined the castle. It was exquisite, that he would admit, but he still preferred the mansion in London. He looked down at the red carpet. To his surprise, there was a small piece of paper there.

"Amy and Daniel Cahill", it read. He scanned over the contents before dropping it distastefully to the floor again. It was just the letter that had instructed them to report to the Compton estate. Nothing of use there.

However, unknown to all of them, that specific note held great importance, and would eventually be the key to all the Cahills' safety.

***Page Break***

Meanwhile, Dan and Mr. M. were having some trouble controlling Natalie.

"Ahhh! The bathroom's too empty! Where are all my lotions and shampoos?"

"Natalie!" Dan had to shout to be heard over Natalie's raucous. "You haven't put them in the bathroom yet! Duh!"

"Then hurry up and bring my things in! I need to put them in!"

"Hey! Both of you sentences ended using the word 'in'!" Dan pointed out gleefully.

"I. Don't. CARE! Go and get my other belongings!"

Mr. M. quickly hurried out. Dan reluctantly followed, muttering something inaudible.

Dan passed by Amy in the doorway. "Watch out for Natalie. She's a screaming machine!" Dan whispered loudly. Amy nodded in agreement.

"I heard that, Daniel. And it is not funny!" Natalie screamed.

Dan ran ahead to ask Mr. M. if he could go buy ear plugs.

***Page Break***

Mr. M. forced a smile toward the young Cahill boy. He had asked for ear plugs. But he couldn't let them leave. Not until his boss took over.

"I will try to provide some for you." he replied steadily, gazing down at Dan.

Dan breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks." He ran off to the room that he and his sister shared. Mr. M. watched him leave. Right now, Dan's biggest problem was trying not to go deaf by the screaming of Natalie. If only he knew what dangers lay ahead. If only they all knew.

Ugh. Another boring chapter. Sorry. But don't worry! I'm planning to have some action in the next chapter. I apologize for any OOCness in the characters, especially Ian. Hey, are there any types of expensive, fancy luggages? Because sutcases and duffel bags seem too normal for Ian and Natalie. Review please!