Vespers Rising

Chapter 2

They nearly missed their plane, Dan wanted to get some snacks for the trip. He was carrying five chip bags in one arm, three bottles of pop under the other and about six candy bars in each pocket, when he boarded the plane. His backpack was filled to the top; he could barely zip it shut. For some reason they let him pass and he followed Amy and Nellie to their seats.

They sat down, Nellie in the aisle, Dan at the window and Amy squished between the two. Dan instantly started stuffing the snacks in his face, his cheeks puffing up like a chipmunk's. Nellie put on her Ipod and turned it up to brain-damage level, while Amy leaned back with a hardcover book and resumed reading.

Dan finished his snacks when they were about a fourth of the way there. His boredom overtook him and he couldn't find anything better to do so he decided to "talk to" his sister.

"What are you reading? The history of door knobs?" Dan interrupted Amy in the middle of a sentence. She decided to ignore him, he should find something better to do by himself, and kept on reading.

"Come on, tell me." Dan was desperate for entertainment and they hadn't started the movie yet, his screen on the back of the chair in front of him blank. Amy gave in, he wouldn't stop doing this until she would talk to him. She slammed her book closed and turned to her little brother.

"I'm reading a guide book to Switzerland. Did you know that Geneva, where we are going, is known for being the headquarters for many international organizations and is the peace capital of the world? And-" Amy began telling Dan everything about Geneva, though he couldn't care less.

"Yeah, blah blah blah. Do you read any good books, El Nerdo?" Dan interrupted, instantly bored. "You practically made me fall asleep."

"I barely said anything." Amy argued, he was the one who asked about the book. Dan opened his mouth to respond when the TV screens flashed on, the words Peter Pan glowing across the screen.

"Looks like you're watching Peter Pan. I've read the book, it was quite good, but not really my type of book. There are sword fights and pirates and-" Dan placed a hand over his sister's mouth, sometimes she could be so talkative and sometimes she would just clam up, usually the worst times.

"You had me at sword fights." Dan slowly removed his hand and shook it. "Ewww, nasty. Nerd germs. You don't think they're contagious, do you?" Amy glared but returned to her guidebook, learning about the beautiful place known as Geneva, Switzerland. Dan turned towards the TV and grabbed the headphones, which he threw over his ears as the movie started.

Getting to Switzerland took so long that Dan and Nellie ended up falling asleep. Dan was leaning up against the window with drool going down his cheek and onto his shirt, he would occasionally burst out some kind of babble, like "Hiya! Your skills are no match for mine!" or "You now must commit seppuku!", which got some weird looks from the other passengers. Nellie had her head on Amy's tiny shoulder, mumbling song lyrics as she dreamed.

Amy, unlike the other two, was wide awake reading her fourth book in a row on the trip. The book was 'Call of the Wild' by Jack London. She had to say that it wasn't her favorite book, she cried every time she read it, but she didn't have a lot of time to pack since they were only going to be there for a few days.

She closed the book, tears in her eyes, when the seat belt sign flashed and a voice on the intercom said, "We are now descending on to Geneva International Airport, please buckle up." The same sentence was then repeated in several other languages. Amy elbowed her brother in his ribs and tapped Nellie on her head. Both woke up startled and wide eyed.

"What's wrong? Where's the fire? Run! We have to get the next clue!" They both exclaimed at the same time. They soon noticed their surroundings and quieted down.

Dan noticed he had some drool on his face and whipped it off on his sleeve. "Yo, Amy, what was with the rude awakening?" Nellie nodded, her eyes still heavy with sleep. Amy pointed her finger at the blinking red sign of a seat belt in the front. "Oh." Both Nellie and Dan snapped their buckles in. Nellie pulled out her Ipod and Dan bounced on his seat, the seat belt restraining him, but just barely.

"I so happy we're finally here. It took forever, I mean come on I thought aeroplanes were fast." Dan complained. Amy placed her hand on Dan, trying to push him down and stop him from jumping. It didn't work.

With a sigh Amy gave up and replied, "Dan, aeroplanes are fast. If we had gone by boat it would have taken us months to get here, and that doesn't even count how long it would have taken us to drive to Geneva."

"Okay, okay I get it. I would be even more bored on a boat and have to be in a cramped space with you longer. Thank the ninja lords for fast-flying aeroplanes." Dan's hands were smashed together as if he was praying, which he was in his own way. Dan looked out of his window and saw the city lights, that left a soft glow in the gloom. Just within the light spheres he could make out Victorian-style stone buildings lining cobblestone streets.

The aeroplane slowly reached the ground and, with a bump, landed. On the intercom, a voice said briskly, "We have landed at the Geneva International Airport, please exit orderly, in a single file line." Nellie, Amy and Dan slid out of their row of seats and followed the other passengers out of the plane.

When they exited the Main Terminal, Dan raced ahead and fell to the ground. "Finally, land! Solid land, oh, how I've missed you so." He yelled. Amy and Nellie just rolled their eyes.

"C'mon kiddo, we've gotta meet Mr.McIntyre at Grace's bank soon. And when I mean soon, I mean, like, now." Nellie yanked Dan off the floor and hustled them out of the busy airport. They came out onto a crowded parking lot, full of taxis, buses and vans. Nellie pushed through the crowd of visitors, like a star quarterback on a football team, and hailed a cab. Dan and Amy slid into the back, Dan getting squished into the window when Nellie joined them.

"Deutsche Bank, dude, and step on it," Nellie said to the cab driver over the shoulder of the seat. The engine roared and with a screech turned down the street.

Amy marvelled at the beauty Geneva, little cafes with umbrella tables lining the streets and the rustic buildings that had a comforting warmth about them. The buildings were just as tall as any building in Boston, but they seemed more homely than those at her real home. Amy didn't know if it was how everything looked so simple or how no one was trying to kill her and her brother anymore, but she was relaxed, not anxious like she usually would be in a foreign place.

They turned down some small side streets until they slowed down right in front of a tall businesslike building that had large glass windows that seemed to cover every inch of the bank. In front of the bank was a small pond with people throwing bread to the birds swimming.

Dan and Amy exited while Nellie paid the taxi driver; the taxi sped away. The little group turned to face the massive bank, it was even larger then the Lucian's stronghold in Paris. The doors were metallic and looked heavy, but when Dan pushed it open it went with ease. Warm air rushed at their faces, making the group involuntarily shiver. The warmth made Dan's face turn bright red and the only thought in his head was ahhhhh.

The place was like any other bank; a front desk reaching from one wall to the other, big comfy chairs spread out as a waiting room, and boring paintings and potted plants everywhere. The place was pretty much empty except for a couple sitting together on a loveseat, a bank worker rushing behind the desk and two men in the far corner. One was tall and was dressed in a black suit, a hat covering his face. The other man wore all gray, even his shoes reflected gray back at them.

Dan rushed at the two-while Nellie and Amy hung back watching Dan with amused smirks. He hugged the man in gray around his waist, "Hey Uncle Fiske. What up?"