I dont own 39 clues . . . . . .

I'm also sorry cause I deleted my old er . . . . . story, casue I forgot to put this in.

Ya know, I think the quote might be from Winnie the Pooh, cause when i typed in Winnie the pooh Quotes, this popped up, but. . . . it just doesn't sound like Winnie the Pooh.

"I used to believe in forever, but forever was to good to be true" -unknown

The door stood wide open, trying to stand on just its hinges, beckoning unwanted visitors. Scratch that, it had already welcomed unwanted visitors, and it wasn't even open. She stepped through the sad looking door and surveyed the rest of the house. It wasn't much better than the door, in fact, the door didn't look so bad anymore. She could make out overturned tables that had lost some of its legs. Plates and cups were shattered and spilled onto the floor. Looking down at her feet, she sighed. She would need to find some shoes soon. Maybe she could call one of her children, if they were still here and not badly hurt.

"Luke! Jane! Thomas!" she raised her voice. "Katherine!" No one came running down. If they were still children, they would have run down those stairs that creaked, screaming "Mommy!" and she would laugh. They wouldn't care if they were stepping though a pile of nails, as long as she was at the end. Then, she would rinse out their feet at that pathetic fountain Gideon called a well, and she would tell them it was ok. But for some reason, she felt as if they were growing apart, her and all of her children. Maybe it was because they had found out she was pregnant with another kid. That's impossible. No one knew she was pregnant, not even her husband. So if they would have walked through a house full of nails, then she would walk through a house full of glass. It was like walking through a death trap, except the death trap was her house.

Upstairs, the hallway looked fine. Pictures still hung on the walls, plants were in vases that stood on tables. The hallway had several doors, all of them shut except the one that led into Katherine and Jane's room. Inside, Jane stood hovering over Katherine, looking at whatever she was working on.

"Hello mum." Jane bit her lip.

"Jane," Olivia began. She didn't know what to say, finally, she settled on "What happened here?" Olivia crossed her arms, trying to give then a motherly look. She wanted answers, and that was something she hadn't been getting for a long time.

"I don't know. "Jane looked uncomfortable. She shifted on one leg and back to the other, and then started rocking back and fourth. If Olivia thought that Jane looked uncomfortable, when she looked on Katherine's face, it was pale, and clear balls of sweat had started to drip down her forehead. Katherine had always been the truthful one. Olivia tried to bite back at images of her children, when they were younger, that were forming in her head. What is happening to us? She thought. Katherine continued to stare at her mother, biting her lip like Jane until blood started rolling down her chin. She was hiding something. They were all hiding something.

"M-m-men c-c-c . . . . . "Katherine was cut off by Jane's cry, a cry of pain. She had bitten to far into her lip, and blood had started to fall onto her chin like Katherine, except it was flowing faster, and dripping onto the wooden floor below her.

"Oh my!" Olivia's motherly instincts took over, and any seed of mistrust had vanished, at least for now. She rushed to her daughter's side, took out a handkerchief and started to dab Jane's bleeding lip. They were her children after all.

"Mother," Katherine started again. Jane's glares of hatred and betrayal flashed at Katherine, but Katherine remained loyal to her mother. "Men came. They were hunting for something in father's office room. They trashed the whole place up."

"Did they find anything?" Olivia asked.

"No" Olivia sighed. If Katherine had spoken the truth, then they had nothing to worry about. Not yet at least. Luke and Thomas chose this time to barge into the room.

"Hey Katherine, Jane! Look wha-wha- . . . ." She had never heard Luke shout like that. Actually, she had never seen Luke and Thomas run like that. Never. Well, maybe Luke, but not Thomas. And she had never seen such a grin on their faces. "Mother." Luke said and grinned. One of his grins that stretched from one side of his face to the other, the ones that made girls fall to his feet and bow down to him. But, unlike Luke, Thomas did not seem so trilled to see her. His expressing matched the one on Jane's face. Anger. Hatred. But also . . . . . fear.

"I should go." Olivia hastily rushed out, she had a plan to set into motion. Olivia had watched her children grow up since they were born, and she knew them all by heart. She knew that they would close the door so that they could speak in private. She also knew that the boys voices would be way to loud, making the door disappear enough so she could hear. She also knew there was something going on.

Thomas shut the door. Then locked it. They had absolutely no idea there mother was only a few inches from the doorway. Their voices grew inside the room.

"Found what. . . . . .men were looking . . . in . . .workshop. Hidden under . . . . looks. . . .like . . a . . . . . " Jane's hushed Luke, cutting him off mid-sentence, "Anyways, now if we . . . . .just a sip . . . . it may give us. . . . what the men . . . .looking . . . . "

Jane had had enough. "Well? Where is it!" she demanded.

"Pocket." Olivia didn't want to hear anymore. They had found whatever the men were looking for, and if they had found it from Gideon's workshop, it was probably something that they were not supposed to find. What is happening to them? To me? To our family . . . .

Olivia rushed down to her husband's workshop. The door had been blasted off and thrown yards away. Katherine had been right. The room was a mess. Books were scattered, their pages ripped out. Glasses were broken on the floor; liquids that Olivia couldn't name were dripping off of desks, books, jars, and onto the floor. But the worst part was the huge engraving on one side of the wall. Roughly engraved into the wall, read the words "Vespers."