Exams Are Over, Now I'm Bored.

In the limo a block away, Isabel Kabra leaned forward, intent on the headset piping an uncultured girl's words into her ears: "We've been --"

Static. Nothing but static. The audio link was gone.

So they discovered the listening device. So what? It had been overkill anyhow. Isabel had the Cahill children's lead, and she had vastly more resources than they did for figuring it out. She had vastly more of everything that mattered than they ever would.

This was just...annoying.

Isabel almost frowned--no, don't do that. Remember? Frown lines? There's only so much Botox can do. Those brats aren't worth getting wrinkles.

They really weren't worth noticing, but just in case, she mentally sorted through everything she'd heard, checking for any significance at all in those pathetic children's pathetic conversation.

"You agreed with everything the Madrigals wanted in Jamaica"..."If we can't win the Madrigal way..." This meant they'd joined forces with the Madrigals, the shadowy ne'er-do-wells who had been the bane of Isabel's family's existence for centuries. Ah, well. In Isabel's experience, loyalties were nothing more than opportunities for betrayal.

Isabel mentally fast-forwarded to something the boy had said: "Can you imagine letting Isabel Kabra take over the world?"

Isabel let herself smile, even though smiles were nearly as likely to cause wrinkles as frowns.

Yes. She could imagine that. She could imagine it perfectly: the power, the glory, the rightness of it. Isabel Kabra was superior to everyone else in the world. When she won the Clue hunt, everybody would finally see that. She would rule, and everyone on the planet would obey.

They would obey--or they would die. Exactly as they deserved.

Amy and Dan Cahill certainly deserved to die.

Isabel's smile widened. She was almost grateful to those brats for managing to stay alive so long. This way, she could think of even crueler ways to kill them.

"Mummy?" Isabel's eleven-year-old daughter, Natalie, half whined from the opposing seat in the limo. "You look a little scary right now."

Isabel realized she was still holding the disgusting monkey.

"Here," Isabel said, thrusting the nasty creature into her daughter's lap. "You and Ian take the paper out of his mouth and figure out what it means. Justify your superior abilities and education for once in your life."

Isabel had trained her children well--the girl cringed away from the monkey, instinctively knowing that monkey hair would look horrible on her haute couture black dress. And fourteen-year-old Ian looked nauseated at the thought of potentially exposing himself to monkey spittle. These instincts would serve Ian and Natalie well someday, if they ever became the heads of the Kabra empire--after long decades of Isabel's astute rule, of course. But right now, Isabel's children were mere underlings, and she couldn't have them failing to obey a direct order.

"Whatever happened to, 'Yes, Mum. Whatever you say, Mum'?" Isabel demanded. "When did you stop obeying instantly?"

Ian mumbled something Isabel couldn't quite catch.

"What's that you say?" Isabel asked. "Speak up!"

"W-we--" Was Ian stammering? Ian, whom she'd trained to be smooth and suave, who'd known how to wear a tuxedo properly since he was three? He cleared his throat and managed to get the words out: "We haven't stopped obeying. We just think first now."

Isabel slapped the boy.

-MichelleLim-