A Family Affair (Hunter Street)

Chapter Twenty Four -- A Family Meeting, Part Two

"OKAY, GUYS, WHAT is going on?" Tess asked once everyone had gathered into the living room of Hunter House. Tess, Anika, Evie, Jasmyn, and Jennie were all squished on one of their couches while the rest of the boys were squished on the other one. Sal had gotten Daniel and Sophie's video call on his computer to keep Anika's phone alive longer, and Sal's computer was sitting on the coffee table, facing the other adults, who all had brought chairs from the kitchen into the living room to sit down in. "Have you all been doing this treasure hunt for us?"

"Yes," Kate said with a nod. She had a warm smile on her face as she gazed out at all her children -- the ones she had adopted, and the ones she had taken in and loved just like her own. "It wasn't originally our idea, though."

"Gertrude is actually the one who came up with this whole plan," Erik explained, pointing to the woman who used to run the Relatives. It had been a long time since Tess had seen her, so she was surprised to see the old woman smile at them. "She was sort of the figurehead when William was the leader of the Relatives, the one who did everything out in the open. We didn't want anyone who wasn't part of the Relatives to know who the real leader was, which was why Gertrude was here with us."

"And then I decided to visit the other factions of the Relatives around the world," Gertrude continued for Erik. "I wanted to see how every faction was doing, so I put Diane in charge as a figurehead leader while I was gone." Her voice had gone a little sour, and Tess noticed that Gertrude shot Diane a quick glare. "She did things a little differently and let you guys do whatever you wanted instead of sticking close to the Relatives. Once I got back to Amsterdam, I knew I wanted to make sure you all were willing to still be Relatives by giving you something I knew none of you would ignore: a treasure hunt."

"Though, you guys did it a little strangely," Martin said with a laugh. "None of us expected you to split up, let alone add people who aren't part of your family to the treasure hunt."

"Wait," Tess said, shaking her head. "You didn't think that we held tight enough to your Relative leash? That's why you did this?"

"I told her that I had everything under control," Diane said, her voice a little harsh. Still, she gave everyone a smile, one that reached her eyes. "I didn't think we needed to have you do all of our work for us. I mean, you all do have lives of your own that shouldn't be spent protecting the treasures of Amsterdam and watching over the most powerful families here in the Netherlands, because, well, you'd basically be watching over your own family."

"But what does Josh have anything to do with this?" Anika asked them, gesturing to the boy sitting between Oliver and Florian. 

"We recruited him to help us," Rinus explained. He smiled at Josh, who Tess didn't really know before today. "He actually found out about us from searching online, so we knew we had to do something."

"I'm that good, guys," Josh said, grinning widely. "I hacked into the Relatives database."

"Actually, our database isn't built up the way we want it to," Diane said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Jennie helped out a bit when she first joined, but then she was busy with school, and we hadn't had time to keep up with it."

"Ha, so you're not that good," Jennie said teasingly. Anika wiggled her eyebrows at Jennie, who elbowed her in the ribs. The rest of the girls on the couch were jostled by their interaction with each other, and Tess shot a glare at Anika and Jennie, who both giggled together like little schoolgirls.

"Anyway," Erik said loudly, "we held this treasure hunt to see if you guys were still wanting to be in the Relatives. It seems like you guys do, and we may have a few more Relatives up our sleeves." He smiled warmly at Jasmyn, Josh, Oliver, and Florian, and Tess frowned when Florian looked away. She swore there was a sad look on his face, almost like he knew something they didn't. "Since you guys found the coins, the treasure hunt is over."