Hehehehe...

Yes...Hello...

*dodges flying tomatoes*

Remember that time when I updated? Like, three months ago? Yeah... good times.

Ok, you guys don't have to forgive me at all. I have been super unreliable, with my past couple updates especially, and I understand that you guys are probably super frustrated. I am so sorry however.

Here is my update. This story is getting there. I won't quit on you now! Cross my heart.

Evan's POV:

I took out my burn phone after Dan and Jonah had left for the kitchen. Hamilton had been occupying the bathroom so I was still careful. I hesitantly texted One of my dilemma, knowing he wouldn't like failure.

Working on Dan is hopeless. Too emotionally overwhelmed.

Only a small while later, the black screen buzzed to life and displayed a reassuring message. I sighed in relief. I was expecting to be shunned or worse.

Move to plan 7.1a

Fortunately, I turned off my phone just as Hamilton came out of the bathroom.

"You coming bro?" asked the hulking teen. Evan nodded.

"Just a minute now, I left something in the bathroom and I was waiting for you to get out," I replied innocently. Completely buying it, Hamilton moved towards the door until he disappeared completely behind it. When I heard descending steps on the stairs, I put the plan into action.

Amy's POV:

I had completely packed all of my necessities into a small, blue, Jansport backpack. Packing was super easy since I had brought practically nothing other than the necessities to Ian's mansion to begin with. I took about half of the clothes I had available, a travel bag of toiletries, and my wallet (I almost didn't bring that considering how little money I had in the first place). I sneaked two wash cloths from the bathroom and packed a second pair of shoes. That was it. It all managed to fit just right in the backpack. The weight was a concern of mine, but it was lighter than expected and I deemed the weight a necessity. I traipsed down the stairs and into the kitchen, where my brother along with Jonah, Ian, and Allistair stood waiting. I heard footsteps behind me and saw Hamilton following close behind me. We were missing...

"Evan!" Dan called out frustratedly, before I could finish my train of thought. The ear-rattling scream for my boyfriend was followed by silence.

"Evan?!" I called out questioningly, becoming increasingly worried. When he didn't answer me and Dan gave one another a knowing look and we bolted for his room.

Ian's POV:

The two siblings looked at one another and ran for the steps. I didn't quite understand the looks they shared but I could take a pretty good guess. I followed behind. By the time I caught up, they had already invaded the room that Evan had shared with the other boys. The window was wide open, the expensive curtains didn't move at all due to the lack of wind, however it was painfully obvious that there had been a struggle. The covers on the bed were thrown off to one side or the other. Lamps were broken and the shards were scattered all over the tan carpet. Even one of the mahogany nightstands had been tipped over and was leaning precariously against the bed. Over to the left was the open closet door and Evan's suitcase lay wide open, half full.

I put my hand on Amy's shoulder in what was meant to be a comforting action, but the moment my hand made contact she tensed.

"Careful," I said lamely, referring to the glass shards strewed about, as she slowly made her way across the room towards the window. I almost walked in after her but a hand held me back. I turned to Dan giving me a disapproving look, so I stood back and watched her take tantalizingly slow, pained steps towards the open suitcase. I couldn't see her face as she looked around in it, before pulling something out.

She turned to us finally and what I saw broke my heart.

Amy looked at us passively, with almost no emotion, "No clues anywhere around here it seems. We better get a move on before they get one of us too." She tip-toed cautiously around the dangerous pieces of glass before reaching the door and walked out, not taking a look back before walking down the hall.

I looked at Dan for an explanation. That was not Amy. Amy would have broken down and cried, then justified it as healthy. Amy would have ran in for a hug, asked for protection. Amy would have shown grief, sadness, anything.

He looked at me as if to say later, but I could see a small flame of anger behind Dan's expression. He left the doorway and followed Amy's footsteps down to the kitchen.

I looked around the room once more before following the Cahill's with my eyes. And in that moment I made a silent vow. I was going to figure out what made Amelia Cahill so broken.

And then I was going to fix her.

Nellie's POV

This was the second day in solitary confinement all thanks to those lovely Vespers. Their hospitality was unrivaled really.

Each day, while I sat in an all-white lab room that reeked of antiseptics, a hand would push a small plate of microwaved who-knows-what through a cat door. I would inspect it as if I were actually considering eating something that was probably drugged and/or poisoned out of a plastic dish. Then I would proceed to shove the still full dish off to the opposite corner of the room, closest to the door. I can't deny that I am not hungry, however living to see another day was more important to me than missing a few meals. When I get out of here, which I will, I will cook up a grand meal and the kids and I will sit around a the table and stuff their gobs like it was thanksgiving.

The kids. I frowned. I needed to get back to them. Who knows how they are fairing?

I tried to suppress the increasingly present maternal instinct that invaded my head. These kids have done far more difficult things. They are Cahills!

With that thought, I unwillingly submitted to a much needed nap, after two days without sleep. (What? Who knows what they were planning on doing while she was out?)

Laura's POV:

I was still fuming at the fact that my superior strength and athletic abilities had been voided by a simple knock-out gas. Don't get me wrong, that was two days ago, but Thomas had a thing with grudges.

How is Hamilton? Is he going to save me? My head filled with fantasies of damsel's in distress and knights in shining armor were interrupted by the sound of plastic sliding across the linolium tiles that covered the floor. I ran to the slop-in-a-box (hehe it almost rhymes) and put the plastic spork to my mouth. I guessed that, if I ended up passed out, then I would know not to take another bite. I think Hammy would be proud of my plan.

After finishing the food, I slid the away from myself and then proceeded to stretch, followed by my daily exercising routine.

Another thing the Thomas were known for.

Dan's POV:

I looked out the window of the plane. I mentally rebelled against Ian's constant nagging that this was indeed a jet and that the term "plane" didn't do it justice.

It is a flying metal contraption and I will call it whatever I darn well please.

Pictures of Natalie's tanned skin and large amber eyes took over my mind. As clearly as if I had been talking to her only moments before, I recalled her voice, tinted by the British accent. But he also recalled her screams for help. And the gun held up to her head suddenly was too much and he barely managed to pull himself out of his reverie. Positives and negatives to having a photographic memory. Positives? Never study. Negatives? You can't get rid of dangerous formulas or plaguing memories.

I looked at my sister. How much she had changed over the course of the clue hunt. The surprise on Ian's face attested to that. Suddenly my eyes narrowed. He shouldn't be surprised. I found that my "over protective brother" mode was kicking in so I calmed myself down before I did something stupid.

I'm not going to lie. I love my sister. For too long we were all one another had. I act like the annoying younger brother who is disgusted by all this lovey-dovey stuff and hates his sister's motherly attitude but, especially during the clue hunt, I realized that she needed to be taken care of just as much as I. Second to Grace, she was the closest thing I had to a family and the fact that she was so broken made my blood boil. I knew she wouldn't enjoy having to clean up blood so I kept my feelings to myself and I moved over next to her. She poured herself over some building schematics, mumbling to herself and every once in a while, marking the white paper with a thin, red pen. She was drowning herself in work, trying to get her mind off of the cold emptyness that reality created. And I wasn't going to be the one to bring her attention to the nagging in her heart that she was no doubt feeling.

I looked over at Ian, who looked like he was going to make his way over to her. I gave him a warning look. He looked at me in confusion. I gave him a look that said later. His confused mask still remained.

That's when I remembered no one other than Amy could understand my silent conversations.

I looked at Amy warily, trying not to distract her, as I stood up once more and whispered to Ian, "After she sleeps."

Ian's POV:

I looked again at Amy who was two rows behind me, as I had been doing for the past hour and a half. Still awake.

Dangit.

I looked back down at the book I was "reading". In reality, I had just kept reading the same sentence over and over. I had given up trying to move any further in the novel and just opted for staring at the page as if it were blank, waiting for "forever" (five minutes) to look back at the red-haired beauty as she continued to mumble to herself.

Dan had told all of us to just leave her be, and let her figure out our plan on her own. Hamilton had a fit, claiming that it wasn't just Evan who was missing. But Dan had managed to reason with him (reasoning with a Thomas? I never thought I would see the day) so they sat by idly while Amy dedicated endless hours to devise the perfect plan. I laid my head back and listened to the sounds of the wind riding up against the walls, interrupted by the occasional frustrated grunt from two seats behind.

Five minutes later I looked back and saw she was still awake. The pen in cap in her mouth as she narrowed her eyebrows in concentration.

It was adorable really.

I turned and faced forward once more. I was really worried about her. If the fact that Dan had gone to bed early just days ago wasn't a sign that the entirety of the Cahill family was going insane, Amy's lax expressions were.

Five minutes? Huh, time to check on Amy again.

I turned and saw her head slumped over her shoulder unceremoniously. I smiled despite myself and grabbed one of the plush pillows from beside me and walked over to her. Careful not to wake her, I delicately placed it in between her shoulder and her head. I walked over to Dan, who had fallen asleep a few hours ago, and shook him awake. I motioned over to Amy.

"Care to share?" my tone left no question as to what I was referring to.

"Well, Ian. I shouldn't have to share to you," Daniel sneered, "However, because you are being a completely ignorant armpit I will tell you." Armpit?
"That whole clue hunt was a wake up call for all of us, Amy especially. She has always been sensitive but that clue hunt made her think that her emotions were a weakness. However, she never really acted upon it until you," he poked me forcefully in the chest, "decided it would be funny to screw with my sister's heart. After that was when it finally hit her and she closed up. We all ended up pretty bad off because of the whole hunt but you especially hurt her."

With each whispered word my heart sunk further and further until it hit rock bottom in my stomach. I wanted to kill whoever had hurt Amy that bad, never had I suspected it would be my own doing. I never realized how hard she had fallen for me. Nor did I realize the pieces that she shattered in to when I wasn't there to catch her.

I was sincerely beginning to doubt the possibility that I would be able to keep the promise I had made to her. Not because I didn't want to, but because of sheer impossibility.

Evan's POV:

I walked into Itex after a painfully long flight to Death Valley.

So appropriately named wouldn't you agree?

I greeted the receptionist, in which he responded by nodding his head solemnly before returning to his keyboard, no doubt creating fake I.D.s or printing off floor plans for the nearest building.

I walked up three flights of stairs before I reached the labs. I looked around to see Six and Four sitting in the rather large observation room, whose color schemed mimicked a polar bear. As the scent of chemicals hit my nose I shuddered, then began to breathe through my mouth.

I smiled as I looked into the one-way window that allowed us to spy on each of the kidnapped Cahills. One caught my eye specifically. The feisty nanny.

"Are we going to tell her?" I asked four, who shook his head.

"We are awaiting orders from Number One," he held out the burn phone that was currently in his hand.

No one ever saw Number One. We didn't know where he was located, not a name, not a face, nothing. It was all for the better I suppose, if one of us was captured we wouldn't be able to divulge information. But the yearning to see who I was working for was always there for me, for every one of us really. But we kept quiet and did what we were told. Because we did know one thing.

He was ruthless, and we were expendable.