Into the Gauntlet

Dan blinked.

  "You mean, like I lost my mom and dad?" he asked.

  "Dad, stop it!" Hamilton yelled, tackling his father and knocking him away from Dan.

  Eisenhower let go.

  Does Dan think it's my fault his parents died? he thought. It wasn't, but... what does Hamilton think?

  "Dad, what's wrong with you? Dan's on our team!" Hamilton was screaming, pinning Eisenhower back against some sort of wall.

  Eisenhower bit back the words, "No, he isn't! Not really!"

  How had he thought he could lie to his own son?

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  What does Hamilton see when he looks at me? Eisenhower wondered. Doesn't he know--everything I've done, everything I'm doing --it's so he can be proud of me?

  Now Eisenhower felt like the world around him had gone dark, and he was plunging down. Like everything he'd ever believed in was falling away, and the very ground beneath him was dropping.

  Wait --it really had gotten dark, and the ground was plunging downward.

  "Is this an earthquake?" Eisenhower bellowed. "A rock slide?" He grabbed Hamilton by the shoulders. "Quick--let's get someplace safe!"

  "Dad, I think it's just an elevator," Hamilton said, shoving him away.

  Eisenhower put together the sensations. The darkness could have been from a door closing behind them. And the falling was slow and steady.

  Exactly like an elevator.

  "Right," he said gruffly. "I was just testing you, son."

  Everything was going to be okay. The elevator was undoubtedly taking them to the final prize. The Holts were still going to win.

  The elevator stopped moving. The door slid open.

  They were back at sea level.

  Back by the cemetery.

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  CHAPTER 23

  Chaos erupted around Amy. "Look--that rock's opening!"

  "There's a door!"

  "Why couldn't we see that before? It was so perfectly hidden from--"

  "Run!"

  Amy couldn't tell who was saying what. There wasn't time to think about any of it. One minute she was sitting beside Nellie, both of them craning their necks and trying to see what was happening on top of the cliff. The next minute she was sprinting toward the open door alongside Madison and Reagan Holt. It was like her body knew what to do even before her brain registered what her eyes were seeing: Door. Elevator. Dan. Hamilton. Eisenhower.

  The two Holts and Dan were all sprawled on the floor of the elevator, far apart from one another. Amy couldn't make sense of that, not while she was trying to run, dodging tombstones.

  "Out of the way, loser," Reagan said, swinging her

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  elbow toward Amy's face. "Hamilton and Dad came back for us."

  "And Dan came back for me," Amy muttered, ducking the elbow.

  She was already down low enough --and close enough -- that she decided to dive in through the elevator door. Someone landed on top of her: Reagan? No -- it was Natalie. Then Reagan and Madison crammed in behind her, pushing Amy farther back.

  Amy's right ear was squashed against the wall, and Natalie's hand was shoved over her left ear. But she could hear a mechanical beeping sound and then an automated voice: "Elevator will not move from this spot without at least one representative from each Cahill branch. Step to the mirror for retinal scan. Ekat?"

  "If you please," Alistair said coldly from outside the elevator. There was a shuffling about--Amy caught a glimpse of Mary-Todd stepping out and Alistair stepping in.

  The elevator beeped again.

  "Approved. Janus?"

  "Out of my way," Jonah said.

  Amy couldn't see, but she thought maybe he was yanking Madison and Reagan out of the elevator and shoving himself in.

  "Approved," the automated voice said. "Lucian?"

  "Present," Ian said.

  He must have moved over in front of the eye

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  scanner because the automated voice said, "Approved. Tomas?"

  "Oh, no," Eisenhower objected. "There are two Lucians on this elevator right now because Natalie is over there hiding at the back. That's not fair. One of you has to leave."

  "Is it fair that there are two Holts?" Alistair asked. "You and Hamilton?"

  "That's different," Eisenhower said.

  While Eisenhower was complaining, Hamilton stepped up to the mirror.

  "Approved," the automated voice said. "Madrigal?"

  "What?" Alistair exploded. "Madrigals aren't a Cahill branch!"

  "Madrigals?" This was Eisenhower. "Madrigals are evil!"

  "Everybody hates Madrigals!" Ian cried.

  The voices blended together, the indignation and fury rising with each word. It was the most unity Cahills had shown in five hundred years.

  Except when the other branches united to kill Mom and Dad, Amy thought with a shiver. She was tempted to yell, "I hate Madrigals, too!" just to throw everybody else off.

  "Dan told me in China that he was a Madrigal," Jonah said, his stage voice somehow cutting through the other's screams. "Dan, you want to pretend that again? Think you can fool the elevator?"

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  Lie, Amy thought desperately at her brother. Deny it. Act. It's not safe to tell the truth right now. Smashed in the back of the elevator, Amy couldn't even see Dan. She hoped he was standing close enough to the mirror that he could rise up on his tiptoes a little and secretly set off the retinal scan.

  "I am a Madrigal," Dan's voice rang out boldly from the front section of the elevator. "My whole family is Madrigal. Even Nellie's a Madrigal. But it's not what you think. We're--"

  He was trying to explain. Amy thought her heart might burst, listening to her brother. He was so brave.

  And so foolish.

  The grumblings around them turned darker and even more menacing.

  "No!" Eisenhower bellowed. His voice was louder than anyone's --he was at the front of the elevator but had turned around. "I will not be on a team with Madrigals! I refuse!"

  The others cowered away from Eisenhower's fury, so Amy could see over them. She saw Eisenhower grab Dan and lift him up, ready to toss him out of the elevator.

  "No!" Amy screamed, shoving forward.

  But her shout got lost in the automated voice calling out, "Approved. All present and accounted for."

  Eisenhower must have lifted Dan past the retinal scan at exactly the right angle.

  This seemed to startle Eisenhower, who took a step back, half in and half out of the elevator.

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  Everything happened fast after that.

  Nellie broke past Mary-Todd Holt and stabbed something into Eisenhower's right arm. Amy saw a flash of silver. Was Nellie using her snake nose ring as a weapon?

  Nellie screamed, "You let go of Dan," just as the pilot tugged on Eisenhower's left arm. "Sir, sir--" the pilot began.

  Are they crazy? Amy wondered. Thinking they can fight against Eisenhower Holt with a snake nose ring and good manners?

  But Eisenhower dropped Dan with a thud. He stepped back to face his attackers. He grabbed Nellie with his right hand and the pilot with his left and swung them toward each other, as if he intended to slam their heads together.

  "Nellie!" Amy screamed, pushing forward. She had no idea how she could help, but she was going to try.

  She was too late.

  Not because Nellie was already injured. Not because Nellie escaped on her own. She was too late because, just then, the door of the elevator snapped shut.

  And the elevator began to zoom upward.

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  CHAPTER 24

  "Ow! Ooh! No--don't step on my hand!" Dan screamed in the darkness.

  "Dan--Dan! Are you there?" Amy yelled behind him.

  "Yeah," Dan mumbled. He managed to pull his hand out from under somebody's shoe. And then he was able to mostly stand up, even though his face was smashed against the elevator door. "I'm here."

  The grumbling around him had mostly turned into whispers, but somehow that
was even scarier: "Madrigals. Dan and Amy are Madrigals...."

  * * *

  "Dad! Dad! Are you there?" Hamilton called.

  No answer.

  "Reagan? Madison? Mom?" he tried again, even though he'd watched all of them step out of the elevator.

  Still no answer.

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  I'm alone, Hamilton thought. I've lost my family. I've lost my team.

  Except for Dan and Amy. And did they still count if they were Madrigals?

  * * *

  "Natalie?" Ian called into the darkness.

  He knew she was behind him. He expected to hear her complaining: about how the crowding in the elevator was wrinkling her designer dress, about how the sea air was terrible for her hair, about how their time was running out.

  Instead, his sister reached out and held his hand.

  * * *

  Children, Alistair thought. It's down to just me and a bunch of children.

  He'd begun to think that he really wasn't very good around kids. Especially after all three of the Starling triplets had vanished from Stratford without even saying good-bye. And Amy and Dan--could they really be Madrigals? Was it possible?

  What else might be possible?

  * * *

  Chill, Jonah told himself. Be cool.

  He tightened his grip on the backpack he'd brought, stuffed with his Clues. He knew he couldn't panic now.

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  Not if he was going to show Mom he could win on his own.

  Just think of the others as an audience, he told himself.

  But audiences were all about love. All he could feel in this elevator was hate.

  * * *

  The elevator stopped. The door opened.

  They were back at the top of the cliff.

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  CHAPTER 25

  "Somebody hit the button to go down again!" Amy yelled, forgetting that nobody would want to help her now. "We've got to go rescue Nellie from Eisenhower Holt!"

  Amy stabbed her fingers uselessly at her cell phone, trying to call Nellie. But the lit-up screen gave her the same message she'd been getting for the whole elevator ride: no service.

  Hamilton seemed to be having the same problem with his phone. He threw it to the floor in disgust.

  "Yeah! Go down! We've got to go rescue my dad from ..." A baffled look came over Hamilton's face as if he'd just realized he couldn't say Eisenhower needed to be rescued from Nellie or the helicopter pilot. Unless he really did believe that Madrigals were the most evil people on the planet. "We've got to go back for the rest of my family!" he said instead.

  Alistair was feeling around on the elevator wall.

  "Yes, yes, of course some of you will want to go back down," he said in an oily voice. "I'll do everything to

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  help you with that, just as soon as I get out here...." He had one foot out the door. "Hmm. I'm not finding a control panel."

  Hamilton shoved his way out of the elevator and began pounding on the keypad outside.

  "Down! Down! Down!" he screamed.

  The elevator didn't budge.

  "Ham --your family can climb up here on their own," Dan said.

  "Oh, right," Hamilton said numbly.

  "Fortunately, that will take a while," Alistair muttered. "And by then ..."

  By then, somebody else will have found the prize, Amy thought.

  Everybody seemed to be thinking the same thing, a distraction from being outraged about Madrigals. The whole group surged forward.

  "No! Don't push! I'll fall!" Jonah screamed. "You need me! You need a Janus!"

  Amy reached the front of the elevator and saw what he was screaming about: There was only a narrow rock ledge and then a straight drop, all the way down to the cemetery. Amy stepped out of the elevator and immediately moved to the side, clutching the rock wall.

  "Amy?" Dan said quietly beside her.

  Amy braced herself for him to make fun of her fear of heights. But when she turned, Dan looked just as white-faced and terrified as she felt.

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  "Maybe we should ... hang on to each other," he whispered.

  Their mind-meld was working again. Amy could tell Dan had been thinking the same thing as her: What if the others hate Madrigals so much that they decide to throw us off the cliff?

  But Dan's thought had a second part to it: They needed someone from every branch --even the Madrigals --to get the elevator to work. They might need a Madrigal again. But they only need one of us. So ... we have to stick together to be safe.

  Amy grabbed her brother. She turned and saw that Ian and Natalie were clinging to each other Just as desperately.

  Same reason, she thought. We only need one Lucian, too.

  Alistair was watching Jonah thoughtfully.

  "Need a Janus," he murmured. "Perhaps ..." He turned toward the keypad beside Hamilton. "Perhaps someone from each of the five branches should touch this at the same time. What would happen then?"

  Nobody answered him. But suddenly everyone was pushing and shoving again, each person fighting to get to the keypad.

  "Come on! Now let's jump back into the elevator!" Dan yelled, tugging on Amy's arm as soon as he'd touched the keypad.

  We'll go down, Amy thought. Not back to the cemetery, but to some other level--where the prize is ...

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  Amy tripped over Jonah's feet; Dan tumbled on top of Natalie. Alistair was the last one to climb in.

  He probably planned that, Amy thought. So he'll be the first one out. The first one to get the prize.

  But the elevator didn't move.

  "Perhaps my hypothesis was wrong," Alistair said.

  Just then there was a whirring sound at the back of the elevator. Amy spun around to look: The entire back wall had vanished.

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  CHAPTER 26

  The first thing Hamilton saw was more rock. The back of the elevator led into a huge cave.

  All right! he thought, staring at another sheer rock wall. Holt skills rule here, too! Get out the climbing gear!

  But then, in the dim light filtering in from outside, Hamilton saw that there were also stairs leading down in a spiral along the wall.

  Hamilton considered running ahead of everyone else. He was stronger, he was faster--surely he could beat everyone else to the prize. But how would Hamilton get the prize back out past the others without his family's help?

  With Amy and Dan? Hamilton wondered. With Madrigals?

  He glanced at the two siblings, who were already pulling out flashlights and moving toward the stairs. Dan had a streak of dirt across his cheek, and his right eye looked a little swollen where Hamilton's own father had hit him. Amy was nervously twisting a lock of hair around her finger. They didn't look like evil

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  Madrigals. They looked as innocent as Bambi. As the Easter Bunny. As --

  Hamilton's childhood hadn't exposed him to many stories about cute, cuddly, innocent creatures, so he couldn't think of the right example. But it didn't matter. Even if Amy and Dan weren't evil, they also weren't strong enough to fend off all the others if there was a fight for the prize. For that, Hamilton needed someone with muscles.

  Hamilton needed his family.

  "Coming, Ham?" Dan asked hopefully, as if trying to find out, Are we still on the same team? He and Amy were at the top of the stairs, right behind Jonah, Ian, and Natalie.

  "Um," Hamilton said. "Just a minute." He glanced over his shoulder, back toward the outdoors.

  "Why don't you go out and see if your family's getting close, climbing up the cliff on the other side of the elevator?" Alistair suggested, right at Hamilton's elbow.

  "If I do that, you'll find some way to close the door on me!" Hamilton protested.

  "No, no, I would never do anything that underhanded," Alistair said, flashing Hamilton a completely untrustworthy smile.

  Hamilton saw that Alistair already had his hand over something on the wall beside the elevator -- another button?
/>
  He's playing mind games with me, Hamilton thought.

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  If he can't lock me outside, he wants to get me mad enough that I run ahead. And then, when I'm not watching, he'll shut the door and lock out my family.

  Even in sports, Hamilton hated mind games. But he kept his mouth shut and waited for Alistair to give up on his plan and start walking down the stairs.

  Alistair didn't move.

  Hamilton didn't move.

  Alistair didn't move.

  Now Ian, Natalie, Amy, Dan, and Jonah were all far ahead of them on the stairs. For all Hamilton knew, they might already be claiming the prize.

  Think! Hamilton told himself. You can't always just out-muscle everyone!

  And then Hamilton got an idea.

  He dropped down low, muttering about needing to brush mud off his shoes. It was dim down near the floor. While he was crouched over, he strung together a couple of carabiner clips from his climbing kit and jammed them in the doorway of the elevator. So even if the door closed, it wouldn't close all the way.

  Then--and Hamilton thought this was the brilliant part --he stood up and waited a few more minutes.

  "Okay, guess I'll catch up with the others," Hamilton said nonchalantly.

  He strapped on his climbing kit and began descending the stairs, into the darkness. Once he was out of Alistair's sight, he stopped to switch on a flashlight and double-check to make sure his jacket pockets still

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  contained eleven small silver tubes -- samples of each of the Clues the Holts had found.

  We'll need them if this really is the end of the due hunt, Hamilton thought. Won't we?

  He was still thinking "we," not "I."

  They'll come! He assured himself. My family will be here soon!