My brother - There are but a few ingredients I lack, though this is only half the battle. The amounts and the order are confounding. I may need a month or more. Constantine 6.23.1826
"What if they really do have all the others?" asked Dan. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what was on the last slip of paper. If the Lucians really had won already, then everything he and Amy were doing was for nothing.
They'd already lost."Oh, no," said Amy. She was scanning the last note."They have it, don't they? The Lucians have already finished us off."Amy looked at her brother and then in a trembling voice read the last note:
My brother - They found me. They have destroyed everything. I have failed us.
Beware the Madrigals. I fear they are coming for you next.
Constantine 10.07.1826
A heavy silence fell over the room."The Madrigals are more powerful than the Lucians! They maybe even had the royal family murdered!"Amy nodded, then whispered what was on both of their minds.
"And the man in black is a Madrigal.""Let's get out of here," said Dan."Wait!" said Amy. "There might be something about Mom and Dad!" The kids rushed back to the files, riffling frantically until Dan found it, a thin manila folder labeled simply CAHILL, HOPE AND TRENT, ARTHUR.
His heart thumped against his rib cage.Amy looked over. "Dan! What is it?"With trembling fingers, they opened the file together.
Inside were two Australian passports stamped CONFISCATED. Amy opened one."It can't be," said Dan, leaning in for a closer look.
Amy opened the second. "It's them," she said, looking at the two pictures. The names were fake, but the faces were unbearably familiar."Mom and Dad," said Dan. "They were here."Amy flipped through the passport pages, crammed full with stamps from different countries. Egypt. South Africa. Nepal. Japan. Indonesia. France.
"They were searching for clues, just like us.""Only they never finished," said Dan.
Dan's whole world narrowed to the two faces staring up at him. His mom and his dad, young and hopeful, taking on the world just as he and his sister were doing now. And failing.Tears poured down Amy's cheeks.
"It's like they've come back to help us.
Almost like they're watching over us.""They're not the only ones watching you." Irina Spasky entered through the vault door.* * *
"What have you done?"Irina's voice betrayed none of the horror she felt. How could the children have been so stupid? Of all the places in the world they could have tried to break into, a Lucian black circle was the most dangerous.
There was only the slimmest chance....
She advanced on them quickly, crossing the room like a black cat until she had them cornered."Tell me what you have found. Quickly!"
"Nothing yet. We're still looking," said Dan. It was a pathetic attempt. Irina could see he held a hand behind his back and was trying to stuff something in his back pocket.Irina surveyed the room, careful to keep them cornered."I see you've taken something out of its folder," she said, spotting the yellowed paper on the floor. "And you've opened the face of the clock.
Clever. Too clever! Someone has helped you. Tell me who!""We didn't find anything important," said Amy.
"Just some old papers.""Give them to me at once! Your lives are in danger!"Irina glanced toward the door.
There are minutes at best, she thought. But she was wrong. "We'll take it from here."Irina whirled around.
Two men, both with veils of black over their faces, blocked the entrance to the Amber Room. In unison, they pulled back the folds of their gray jackets, revealing the Lucian crest set in a black circle.
"We are authorized by Mr. Kabra," one of them growled, holding his position at the door. "What is your clearance?"
"I created the black circle," Irina spat out. "I have the highest clearance."The men looked at each other, sizing up the situation.
Irina Spasky stared back at them, knowing what their presence meant. She had no choice now.
She would have to kill the Cahill children, or these men would do it for her and kill her as well."I was about to clean up this situation," said Irina. "Cover the door."The two agents retreated into the shadows, but Irina could feel their dark presence.
She hadn't thought it would come to this. Two more minutes and I could have dealt with them, taken the secrets, and gotten them safely out. She moved in closer, reaching behind her for the dagger concealed at her back.The girl seemed to sense the coldness that was coming.
She pressed herself in front of her brother, protectively. "We'll give you what you want," said Amy. "Just let us go. Please."
"It's too late," said Irina. "I tried."When you lose a child, you lose your soul.The dagger felt like ice in her hand.
There was a sharp crack from behind her. Irina turned to see shadows struggling on the wall of the darkened tomb."Behind you!" cried Irina.
One of the agents screamed. Irina felt a flame of wild hope and barked out to Amy and Dan, "Stay where you are!"
She crouched like a cat and burst through the doorway. Voices and shadows bounced off the wall, echoing in her brain. At first she wasn't sure, but then ..."You?" she gasped, her eyes latched on the wiry figure of a man dressed all in black, lunging for the Lucian agents with the blunt end of a metal pole.* * *
Dan and Amy didn't waste any time. The second Irina entered the darkness beyond the door they followed, creeping into the tomb behind her.
There was slashing and yelling and the sound of someone hitting the ground, and Dan's and Amy's shocked eyes made out the outline of a man in black locked in struggle with Irina Spasky.
Dan crept low along the first coffin, raised its lid as quietly as he could, and slid inside. Amy hesitated, but Dan took hold of her hand and wouldn't let go.
She climbed in and Dan pulled the lid of the coffin shut. They listened as combatants crashed against walls and howled in pain, one of them falling against the very coffin in which they hid.
"They've escaped!" cried one of the Lucian agents."We have?" whispered Dan."I see them!"
The gravelly voice was one they hadn't heard before; it was followed by the sound of someone running from the tomb and back into the church.
"That had to be the man in black," whispered Amy. "Is he helping us?""No way," whispered Dan.
He paused until it was silent, then he lifted the coffin lid ever so slightly and peered out into the darkness.
Everyone was gone.
Dan carefully lowered the lid and he and Amy waited, quiet as mice, in a coffin filled with the bones of the royal dead.
CHAPTER 16
Two hours later, Dan and Amy received a call on Nellie's phone in the coffin.
The phone vibrated in Amy's pocket, shocking her out of her half slumber. Dan had fallen asleep, unmoved by the glowing green light as Amy held the phone to her eyes.
Unidentified caller. Perfect.
She decided to risk a whisper."Hello?"The line was barely working underground, and Amy strained to hear the scarcely discernible, static-filled voice on the other end.
All Amy could make out was the word safe, which she took to mean the coast was clear. It was a female voice, so it was probably Nataliya. Or Irina trying to smoke us out. She pushed the thought aside.
Amy nudged Dan hard enough to wake him and he grumbled, trying to nestle in. The bones beneath them sounded hollow and dry."I just got a call. Someone said it's safe."
"You don't have to tell me twice," said Dan, pushing up on the coffin lid without another word of encouragement.
They both peered into the darkness. The doors had been closed. There was no light at all."Here goes," said Amy.She turned on the flashlight and they were blinded by the harsh light of the beam.
Amy sent the light dancing from wall to wall, coffin to coffin, until it rested on the door that would lead them out of the tomb and into the church upstairs.
They got out as quietly as they could, though to Amy's horror, she heard the sound of bones breaking under her weight."Probably just ribs," said Dan. "It's not like he's using them for anything. Who called?"