Shatterproof (22 page)

Amy had to read the text several times before the information fully computed. Her brother was sitting in the seat across from her, staring at the blackness out the window with hollow eyes.

“This can’t be true,” Amy said. “It simply can’t be true.”

Tears streamed down her face.
I sent him into the stronghold. I said yes. I’m responsible for his death.

A Skype call came in on her laptop and she picked up automatically. Ian Kabra’s face filled the screen.

“Hi, Amy,” he said cheerfully. “Where are you?”

“You know exactly where I am,” Amy answered, a storm of raw fury building in her chest.

“Actually, I don’t,” Ian said. “The reason I’m calling is to tell I’ve made some progress. My mother is —”

“How could you do this?” Amy screamed. “How could you do this to your own sister?”

“What are you talking about? I’m trying to find out where Natalie is, just like you —”

“Erasmus is dead!”

“Erasmus is what?”

“I hate you, Ian Kabra!” Amy slammed the laptop closed so hard that the screen shattered.

The Vesper phone rang. Amy grabbed it from her bag and nearly smashed it, too. She took a deep breath and pushed the button. A photograph appeared. The hostages. They looked terrible. Nellie’s jumpsuit was torn to shreds and her face and arm were swollen. Alistair Oh’s jumpsuit was torn as well, and there was blood on his exposed knee. All of them appeared to have injuries except for Ted Starling and . . .

“Where’s Phoenix?” Amy said, shoving the phone at Dan because the flood of hot tears had obscured her vision. “Tell me you see Phoenix!”

“What are you talking about?” Dan asked.

“Phoenix,” she said. “He’s not in the photo, is he?”

Dan got up, grabbed the phone, and looked at the photo. His face whitened, and then two angry splotches of red appeared on his cheeks.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” he said. It was as if he couldn’t bear to believe otherwise. “Maybe they just took him somewhere else.”

“‘And then there were six!’” Amy said bitterly. The plane was starting to blur as the shock coursed through her.

The Vesper phone chimed again. A text message appeared. The two siblings read it together.

Phoenix Wizard sat on a wall. Phoenix Wizard had a great fall. All the Vespers’ horses and all the Vespers’ men couldn’t put Phoenix together again. You didn’t really think that I would reward you for your failure with the Jubilee? And as you can see, the others paid a price, too. I suggest you get to the United States in the next 24 hours or another Cahill will fall.

Vesper One

Sneak Peek

The race to stop the Vespers continues with more dangerous heists to perform, historic treasures to find, and hidden traitors to unmask. Stay one step ahead of your enemy and help save the kidnapped Cahills by following Amy and Dan's next adventure.

Turn the page for a sneak peek! (Just keep your eyes peeled for Vesper spies . . .)

The plane made its final approach into New York City. It was morning on this side of the ocean. Who knew what time it was in Timbuktu now?

Along with his sister, Amy, and two friends, Dan Cahill was a passenger on a private jet. The jet was owned by their distant cousin, hip-hop superstar Jonah Wizard. As Dan gazed out the window, he downed the last of the fresh strawberry and pineapple smoothie made to order by the cabin attendant.

It was a pretty amazing way to travel.

Dan leaned sideways a little to get a clearer glimpse of the skyline. He loved the view of all the iconic structures: the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Brooklyn Bridge.

And most of all, the Statue of Liberty, standing proud in the harbor. Dan would never have admitted it out loud, but whenever he flew into New York, he always felt like she was welcoming him personally, as she had so many travelers before him.

The cabin attendant, a calm and efficient man named Victor, came by to take Dan’s empty glass. He leaned over Dan’s shoulder and pointed out the window toward the southern end of Manhattan.

“That’s where the towers used to be,” Victor said. “The World Trade Center buildings. You probably were just a baby when they went down.”

It was true. Dan had never seen them in real life, only on video. It was easy to recall the footage from that day in September of 2001: the hijacked plane crashing into the first tower, then the second, gouging huge, jagged holes into the buildings. Floods of black smoke and fierce orange flames everywhere.

Even more horrific than the crashes themselves were the unbelievable moments that followed, when both of the massive superstructures collapsed and crumbled into dust, as if they were no sturdier than sand castles. The first time Dan saw the footage, he thought it looked like something out of a Hollywood action movie.

But it had been all too real. Nearly three thousand people had died.

“That part of Manhattan always looks so empty to me now,” Victor said.

The southern end of Manhattan was hardly empty. There were hundreds of buildings massed together, short, tall, taller. It reminded Dan of a crowd jammed into one of Jonah’s concerts: The tallest buildings were like the people who sit on their friends’ shoulders so they can see better.

It was hard to imagine how or where two massive towers could have squeezed into that jumble.

“So sad,” Victor said, “the things people will do to each other.”

Dan sat back against the seat cushion and let out a sharp breath. Victor’s words had hit him like a body blow.

The Vespers.

They had already done terrible things to people Dan cared about. If they got everything they were after . . . Dan couldn’t imagine what they might do next.

He had to stop them. And he knew exactly how to do it.

All he had to do was finish assembling the serum — and then take it.

Amy had her phone out and ready. The moment the plane’s wheels touched the ground, she turned it on. It seemed to take forever before the home screen finally lit up.

And sure enough, there it was: a text message from Vesper One.

The winding trail now leads to Yale,

and four-oh-eight is oh so great!

Seventy-four and out the door.

You have three days — or someone pays.

Observe the tetrameter and perfect rhymes. I could have been a poet, don’t you know it?

For weeks now, Amy and Dan had been gofers for the Vespers, a shadowy cabal and nemesis of the Cahill family for centuries. With the help of Dan’s best friend, Atticus Rosenbloom, and his brother, Jake, Amy and Dan had traveled the globe stealing artifacts, manuscripts, artwork, even jewels, at the behest of the anonymous Vesper One.

Why? Because the Vespers were holding hostages. Seven people whom the Cahills cared about deeply, including two members of their immediate family —
their guardians, Nellie Gomez and Fiske Cahill.

Vesper One had threatened to kill the hostages if Dan and Amy did not perform the specified tasks. This was the latest assignment: Go to Yale and steal — what?

Amy forwarded the text to Evan, who was overseeing the Cahill headquarters in Attleboro, Massachusetts. She added nothing further; Evan would know from the message where they were headed next.

Besides, she had absolutely no idea what to say
to him.

“Hi, how’s it going?” Utterly banal, given the circumstances.

“We need to talk.” Like they could take the time for a cozy heart-to-heart in the midst of this Vesper-induced insanity.

“I have something I need to tell you. I know we’re dating, but yesterday I kissed another boy.”

Amy felt her face get hot. She didn’t know if it was because she was mortified about even the idea of telling Evan . . . or if it was the thought of the kiss itself. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to blank out the memory of Jake’s arms around her, the warmth of his lips . . .

STOP IT!
Amy scolded herself inside her head.
Don’t get distracted — you have to stay focused! Nellie, Fiske, Phoenix, all the rest — they need you!

Maybe someday Amy would get to be a normal teenager with nothing to worry about except grades and friends and boys.

Maybe. But first, she had hostages to rescue.

Amy and Dan dashed through the terminal, with Jake and Atticus right on their heels. Amy couldn’t remember the last time she had been able to
walk
through an airport.

She handed her phone to Dan so he could read Vesper One’s text.

“Yale?” he panted. “What about the rest of it?”

“Don’t know,” she gasped back at him. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Hey, wait up!” Fifty yards behind, Atticus was struggling with his jacket and backpack. Amy glanced over her shoulder and saw Jake turn around to help his brother by grabbing the pack. She plunged on,
darting and weaving past knots of people.

They all caught up with each other at the taxi stand. The line wasn’t long; they were able to get into the third cab. With Evan still on her mind, Amy took the front passenger seat so there wouldn’t be any possibility of ending up thigh-to-thigh with Jake.