“Ian nodded. Do not question her, he told himself. Not when she is in a state like this.Still, it was a pity to attack them with such force. Especially the girl, Amy. He'd never met anyone like her. Shy. Gentle. With an exciting edge of hostility. So unlike the girls back home, who flung themselves at him so often that his chauffeurs traveled with first-aid kits.Doesn't she know better? Isn't she smart enough to stop the hunt?It was the boy and the au pair. He was a pint-sized hothead. She was a collection of piercings and piggishness. If only Amy and Dan had stayed trapped in the cave in Seoul, at least long enough to get discouraged. Why did they antagonize Mother?They don't know what it's like to live with her."Right you are," Ian said. "They're asking for it. Heaven forbid they listen to the brains of the outfit.""And that would be–?" Isabel asked.Ian looked away. "Well, the sister, I'd say. Amy."He felt a smile inching across his face."Ian?" His mother grabbed his wrist. "If you are having the inkling of a shadow of a thought...""Mother!" Ian could feel the blood rushing to his face. "How could you suspect for a moment...?”

“GGRRROOCCCCK...Ian's knees buckled. The rock outcropping shook the ground, sending a spew of grayish dust that quickly billowed around them.Shielding his eyes, he spotted Amy standing by the figurine, which was now moving toward her. She was in shock, her backpack on the ground by her feet. "Get back!" he shouted. Ian pulled Amy away and threw her to the ground, landing on top of her. Gravel showered over his back, embedding into his hair and landing on the ground like a burst of applause. His second though was that the shirt would be ruined. And this was the shock of it-that his first thought had not been about the shirt. Or the coin. Or himself. It had been about her.But that was not part of the plan. She existed for a purpose. She was a tactic, a stepping stone. She was..."Lovely," he said. Amy was staring up at him, petrified, her eyelashes flecked with dust. Ian took her hand, which was knotted into a fist. "Y-y-you don't have to do that," she whispered. "Do what?" Ian asked. "Be sarcastic. Say things like 'lovely.' You saved my life. Th-thank you.""My duty," he replied. He lowered his head and allowed his lips to brush hers. Just a bit.”

“Amy was looking around the sanctum in awe. "It's...beautiful!"The girl was modest and thoughtful. How bizarre. So rarely did Ian see these qualities in others–especially during the quest for the 39 Clues. Naturally, he had been taught to avoid these behaviors at all costs and never to consort with anyone who possessed them. They were distasteful–FLO, as Papa would say. For Losers Only. And Kabras never lost.Yet she fascinated him. Her joy in running up Alistair's tiny lawn, her awe at this piddling cubbyhole–it didn't seem possible to gain so much happiness from so little. This gave him a curious feeling he'd never quite experienced. Something like indigestion but quite a bit more pleasant.Ah well. Blame it on the ripped trousers, he thought. Humiliation softened the soul.”

“Finders keepers!" Ian shouted, scooping up the overlay and hopping onto a rock outcropping."You cheater!" Amy was furious. No way was he going to get away with that. She climbed the rock, matching him step for step until she reached the top. There he turned to her, panting for breath. "Not bad for a Cahill," he said, grinning."You --y-y-you--" The words caught in her throat, the way they always did. He was staring at her, his eyes dancing with laughter, making her so knotted up with anger and hatred that she thought she would explode. "C-c-can't--"But in that moment, something totally weird happened. Maybe it was a flip of his head, a movement in his eyebrow, she couldn't tell. But it was as if someone had suddenly held a painting at a different angle, and what appeared to be a stormy sea transformed into a bright bouquet -- a trick of the eye that proved everything was just a matter of perspective. His eyes were not mocking at all. They were inviting her, asking her to laugh along. Suddenly, her rage billowed up and blew off in wisps, like a cloud. "You're ... a Cahill, too," she replied."Touche."His eyes didn't move a millimeter from hers.This time she met his gaze. Solidly. This time she didn't feel like apologizing or attacking or running away. She wouldn't have minded if he just stared like that all day.”

“The boy smiled -- mostly at Amy."Sorry, her heart belongs to Ian Kabra," Dan said, except that something in her expression made him realize her heart didn't belong at all to Ianright now.”

“Once apon a time, Ian's dark, dreamy eyes had made her melt inside. The angle of his head, the wrinkle in the left corner of his lip—they'd obsessed her. And he'd been obsessed right back.Now all Amy wanted to do was throw her shoe at the screen.”

“When the guy turned around, Amy began stuttering. Silently. It was a feat only Amy could manage, and only Dan could notice.And it only happened in front of boys who looked like this one. He had brown hair and caramel-colored eyes, like Dan's friend Nick Santos, whomade all the sixth-grade girls turn into blithering idiots when he looked their way--in fact, would even say Watch, lean make them turn into blitheringidiots, and then he'd do it. Only older."He. Is. Hot," Nellie said under her breath."You too?" Dan hissed.”