Chapter 6: Lucian Paradise

Amy's P.O.V:

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulders. I groggily opened my eyes, I saw the concerned faces of my cousins and the laughing face of my stupid younger brother.

"Shut up, Dan" was the first thing I mumbled after awakening.

"Yep, she's alright. Ya here that Cobra! She's okay! You can stop having a panic attack!" Dan hollered.

"There's no need to shout, I'm right here" Ian said, his lips pressed into a tight line "and I was NOT having a panic attack"

"Sure" Dan muttered.

"So is it really true? Do we have to go on a vacation, specifically for each branch?" I asked, part of me foolishly hoping it was all a strange hallucination brought on by my exhaustion.

"Yep" Dan grunted.

"But look on the bright side, the next one is for Lucian's" Ian remarked, smirking happily.

"And that's supposed to make us feel better?" Dan asked.

Ian glared at him "haha, very funny"

"I thought so" Dan said smugly.

"You mean you actually think before you speak? I didn't think it was possible" Ian replied smoothly.

"Well..um…it's better than overthinking!" Dan spluttered.

"Ah, a battle of wits, such a shame you came unarmed" Ian snapped wittily

"Anyway! If you two are quite finished going at each other, what are we doing?" I asked frustrated, would they ever get along? Probably not.

"Currently, it has been arranged for all of us to stay at your house for the week between trips" Ian answered coolly.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

Ian cleared his throat, slightly startled by my outburst "is that a problem?"

"Yes! Our house will be destroyed!" I shouted.

"Yes, probably…but if it's any comfort, you're always welcome at our home" Ian soothed.

"No, Dan is not welcome at our mansion!" Natalie shouted from across the clearing.

"Thank you, but somehow I don't think Natalie and Dan living under the same roof, is a good idea" I said glancing over at the two, who were currently glaring at each other.

"You're probably right" Ian agreed.

A few hours later…

"Natalie! But the gun down! And Hamilton, you may not work out in the science lab! You have to go to the gym! Dan! Put the water gun away! Ugh! Dan! Where did you hide Natalie's clothes?!" I yelled trying to be heard over all the commotion.

Suddenly, a boom was heard from outside and a ton of smoke came wafting through the open windows. I ran outside to see Ned and Ted, high-fiving each other as the smoke cleared to reveal a gaping hole in the backyard.

"Ned! Ted! You ruined the yard!" I shouted.

"But our contraption was a success!" Ned cried gleefully.

My eye twitched dangerously and I smacked a hand to my face.

"Just get in here!" I snapped, before hearing cries of pain coming from the kitchen.

"Don't go anywhere" I told Ned and Ted as they sat down in the living room.

I ran into the kitchen to see more smoke and a bunch of burnt lumps sitting on the counter. There was dough, everywhere, and the oven was on fire.

Jonah was spraying the oven with a fire extinguisher, while Dan and Natalie had traded their guns for cookie dough and were throwing it at each other viciously.

"Give me my clothes back!" Natalie cried hurling a piece of dough at him.

"Make me!" Dan taunted throwing a piece back.

I never thought I'd think this, literally never, but I could not wait for the Lucian vacation to start.

One week later…..

You know how I said I wanted to go on the Lucian vacation…I was so wrong! I don't think I've ever been more wrong in my life!

We were supposed to solve some sort of puzzle, but I had no idea what I was doing. All I could focus on was the snapping of the crocodiles' jaws beneath my feet. You get the puzzle wrong, you fall through to the crocodiles.

This is their idea of paradise?! I thought frantically, I forgot just how twisted most Lucians were.

Alright, focus Amy. So the circle goes before the square, which goes after the trapezoid, but where does the rectangle go? The triangle goes two spaces after the rectangle and the cube goes somewhere in between the triangle and the rectangle. The cylinder also goes in between the triangle and the rectangle, but then the diamond is left out. Where does the diamond even fit in? There's way too many shapes!

I give up, I thought.

Luckily, the Lucians were merciful, and decided that if we get two out of three puzzles right, we get to live.

I let out a sigh of relief when I heard that and turned to see Dan banging his head against the wall. I looked around to see Ian and Natalie high-fiving each other as they had finished in the first five minutes. Ian finished in two minutes, Natalie in three.

The Holts had no idea what they were doing and the Starlings had not been puzzled for long. They finished seconds after Ian did.

The next two puzzles were more my style and I managed to figure them out before the timer went off. The Starlings and the Kabras, were of course, not stumped at all. While The Holts and Jonah had not managed to finish. However, Ian later explained that the crocodiles were a scare tactic, they weren't even real, they were robots.

That had the Holts going for Ian's throat, but before they could even touch him, we were whisked to the next task.

A shooting range, wonderful, I thought. I glanced at Dan and saw his eye twitch.

We were each handed a gun and told to shoot the target and to try to get as close to the bull's eye as possible. I heard Ian and Natalie take their first shots and fear flooded through me. I had previously thought that the guns would be water guns or at the very least dart guns.

The guns were loaded with real bullets.