A Family Affair (Hunter Street)

Chapter Five -- A Trivial Pursuit

"I'M TELLING YOU," Sal said again with a frown on his face, giving him an intense look in his eyes, "that this message is telling us to go to Erik and Kate. What other couple do we know about besides them?"

Florian, the quiet and annoying boy, held the message that was given to them by the blacklight, so Max couldn't see the rest of the message, nor could he remember anything else from it. All he remembered was that it mentioned a couple who would somehow give them their next clue. But it seemed like Sal had already figured it out, so he didn't have to worry about remembering anything about the clue.

"Well, Megabrain, if you think that's it, then you're probably right," Max said, leaning back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. He let out a soft sigh as exhaustion blanketed his body. He hadn't slept at all last night because of how quiet it was in the Hunter House. It was different than his biological family's home in Spain, where there were noises all through the night from someone in the house or people outside. "We should find them to get the next clue."

"Why would it be your parents?" Florian asked, finally speaking up. He had spent the entire time studying the note while Max and Sal shot out some answers that they thought would work initially, like Dottie and Markus (even if Max had never met this man). Florian shifted his gaze from Max to Sal. "Wouldn't they just tell you? We saw them earlier before splitting everyone up, and they seemed to have no idea what we were doing. If they knew that we needed a blacklight, wouldn't they have said something about it?"

"Well, if they created this treasure hunt, then they wouldn't tell us anything," Sal said like it was common sense. Max sat up, setting his hands on the table in front of him.

"But you were the one who was so vehemently against this whole thing in the first place."

A glare appeared on Sal's face, one that Max had only seen a few times before. There was real anger in his brother's eyes, anger that scared him, especially because he was much taller than the last time he saw him. Max had no idea what was going on in his head right now, besides that he was angry at Florian. He wished he could read Sal's face like he used to.

"Can't people change their minds about things?" Sal snapped.

"I'm just saying it took you a long time to believe that there was something fishy about all of this," Florian said with a shrug. Something was glinting in his eyes that Max didn't like. It made it seem like Florian knew exactly what buttons to press to get anyone around him to explode. "You wouldn't listen to Anika, that's for sure."

"Don't bring Nika into this," Sal said, shaking his head. This time, Max could read Sal's facial expression very well: he was protective over Anika from this strange boy that had infiltrated their house without them. Max understood that perfectly. "I just didn't believe that there was another adventure or whatever because . . . I just didn't want to experience another one."

An awkward silence permeated around them. Max wanted to know why Sal wouldn't want to do something like this again with his family, just for old times' sake. But he wouldn't ask that in front of Florian because he knew Sal didn't trust him, and he didn't trust him, either. It would take time for Max to trust him, just like he had to go through with Sophie time after time when she kept going back to her father. 

"Okay, so we got the sleeping stuff figured out," Oliver said suddenly, approaching the table. Jake and Daniel trailed behind him, chatting about something animatedly. Max couldn't help but notice how similar he and Anika were. That made sense because they were twins, but he still couldn't get over all the similarities. They had the same mannerisms and expressions. It was crazy. "Three of us can fit on the pull-out couch while the other three can fit in Daniel's bed."