Just a one-shot about what Ian might have thought after Amy saved him in Mount Everest. Hope you like it!

I paused a little while packing in my hotel room. I sat down on the bed, thinking of what happened back at the mountain.

Amy saved me.

She could've saved the Janus serum. She could've taken revenge for what happened in Korea, where I left her to die in a cave. Or for what happened in Australia, where I watched as she almost got thrown into shark-infested waters before that dolt—er—Holt literally swooped in to save her.

But no. She chose to let go of the clue in order to help me. I was hanging on, seemingly helpless. I knew my face showed how terrified I was, despite the fact that a Kabra should never show that kind of emotion. But I hung on to the clue. That is, until it was snatched from me by a girl with auburn hair and green eyes.

Then she looked at me. If I weren't hanging off Mount Everest with about two miles of air beneath me, I would've paid attention more to how…lovely…she looked. In that beautiful face I saw her seeming to make a quick decision. Then she dropped the clue.

I heard the bottle shattering to pieces far below as she grabbed my arm. She, along with some of the Sherpas that helped me up Mount Everest, saved me from a horrible death in the highest point in the world.

I know that Cahills are ruthless, devious, lying traitors. Kabras, I'm afraid, are even more so. But Amy is a Cahill. I heard she may even be a Madrigal. So how come she saved me?

Me, the one who has attempted to kill her himself several times.

The one who made her fall in love with him, then left her for dead in a cave.

The one who helplessly watched as his own mother made her attempts to kill her and her brother, Daniel.

But now, I know. Amy Cahill has a good heart. She shouldn't belong to our family. She shouldn't be in this hunt, which pulled our family farther and farther apart with each decade, each attempt to become the most powerful Cahill in the world, each betrayal.

I have not told mother or Natalie about this part during my attempt to get the clue in Mount Everest. Partly because they would not appreciate me being so careless and nearly falling to my death. They were mad at me enough already for "dropping the clue." But it is mostly because that smile might creep up in my face as soon as I think about that stuttering, clumsy, smart and beautiful girl with the auburn hair and green eyes. And if Mother thinks that I actually like Amy, she might use her to get me to do what she wants. Or worse, she might be even more determined to kill her for serving as my distraction for the clue hunt. And, of course, Natalie would tease me to death.

I cannot let any of these happen. Life is crazy enough. I do not want my mother and sister meddling in my personal life.

I now have a name for what I feel for Amy. I care for the poor orphan girl. Caring is not what we Kabras do best though. It's hard to show, and that is why I always look at her with that smirk that never seems to be far from my face.

But, how I long to smile at her again. Sincerely. How I long to see that twinkle in her beautiful green eyes when she smiles back at me.

I get up and continue packing, deciding to thank her for what she did the next time I see her. This thanking thing is not how a Kabra works. But ever since I got to know her better, she has been transforming me in ways that not my mother, my father, my sister and even I could ever have imagined.