"That's not what I was saying no to," Mr. McIntyre said. "It was the student loan part." He reached into the box where he'd kept Grace's letters and pulled out another envelope. He handed it to her. "Let's just say you're now as rich as Amy and Dan. It's only fair, for siblings. And this is what Grace wanted."
Nellie peeked into the envelope, which must have contained a bank account number. It was too thin to actually be loaded with millions of dollars.
"Really? REALLY? Sweeeet!" Nellie said, beaming. "Then --first month's rent is on me! Wow--it is so fun to be able to say stuff like that!"
"Oh, but if we go back to Boston ..." Amy began. "Won't Aunt Beatrice have us stopped by Social Services?"
Mr. McIntyre went back to the box where he'd kept Grace's letter and Nellie's check. This time he pulled out a stack of paperwork.
"These documents transfer your guardianship
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jointly to one Fiske Cahill and one Nellie Gomez," he said. "It's unconventional, but I know a judge who will approve it."
"You mean, Uncle Fiske will be, like, our adopted dad?" Dan asked incredulously.
Fiske blushed and looked at the ground.
"I don't have any experience being a father," he said.
"Lots of ice cream, that's the key," Dan said.
"Late bedtimes," Nellie said.
"Love," Amy said, smiling gently at him.
"So, back to Boston," Nellie said. "I might even be able to pick up some late-start fall classes."
A stricken look came over Amy's face.
"Ahhh!" she shrieked. "What's the date today?"
"September, uh," Mr. McIntyre looked at his watch, which was the kind with an entire month's calendar on its face. "September twenty-seventh."
"We were supposed to go back to school three weeks ago!" Amy cried. "I was so scared about starting high school! You know what they say about people putting freshmen in lockers and knocking books out of their hands and ..."
She seemed to realize exactly what she was saying.
"Amy, you survived the clue hunt," Nellie said. "High school will be nothing!"
Dan rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to admit
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that he'd been a little worried about starting seventh grade, too.
A new school year, he thought. The old apartment. My old friends. Saladin will he happy to stay in one place. I can finally do the brass-rubbing kits I got in Stratford. We can hang the swords from Italy on the wall. I can buy all my baseball cards back.
Going back to ordinary life sounded wonderful -- for a while. But he knew all of that would just be like a recess before something bigger and even more important than the 39 Clues began.
I'm eleven years old, he thought. I deserve to enjoy recess while I can.
"All right, then," he told Nellie and Amy, "let's go home."
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THE 39 CLUES The Black Book of Buried Secrets
With an introduction by Rick Riordan
For the past five hundred years, the Cahills have silently dominated the world. Their desperate hunt for the 39 Clues lies behind some of history's biggest enigmas -- the curse of the Hope diamond, the race to summit Mount Everest, the wild life and death of Harry Houdini. And now -- finally -- the secrets are out. With an introduction by Rick Riordan, The Black Book of Buried Secrets uncovers the mysteries surrounding history's most notorious family.
It's never too late to join the hunt, especially with The Black Book of Buried Secrets lo reveal the truth about the Cahills -- five centuries' worth of shocking information you were never supposed lo discover....
Available 10.26.2010
The 39 Clues Book 10: Into the Gauntlet Page 22
