The Viper's Nest Quotes

“Let's scope the place out," he suggested, heading around the side of the building, "and be careful in the bushes."
"Why?" Amy asked.
"This is South Africa, dude," Dan replied. "Where cobras come from. And not the hot ones, like Ian.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Amy Cahill didn't believe in omens. But black snow was falling, the earth was rumbling beneath her feet, her brother was meowing, and her uncle Alistair was prancing on the beach in pink pajamas.
She had to admit, the signs were not promising.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“You should climb around inside my brain, Dan. It's like this dark room surrounded by quicksand."
"I know what you mean," her brother said quietly. "I hate being in my brain sometimes. I have to get out."
"What do you do?" Amy asked.
Dan shrugged "I go to other places. My toes. My shoulders. But mostly here." He tapped his chest and immediately reddened. "I know. It's stupid."
"Not really," Amy said. "I wish I could do that, too.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“The boy smiled -- mostly at Amy.
"Sorry, her heart belongs to Ian Kabra," Dan said, except that something in her expression made him realize her heart didn't belong at all to Ian
right now.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Okay, listen up, dudes. We have to book. Yesterday, when I find you guys are, like, AWOL? I, like, freak. Yelling at everybody–where are they, why did you let them leave–the hotel people are, like, whaaaa? Anyway, I pack up all your stuff, figuring I may never see the place again, and down in the lobby I find my man Arif. I'm, like, help me, and he takes all of our stuff to this launch–and then we're halfway across the sea when Arif gets this radio message, and he's all excited, but I don't know what he's saying until he's, like, 'POLICE!' in English. And we see these cop cars and somebody's getting a big old boat, so we're, like, sayonara, only in Indonesian, and we tool out into this boat-traffic jam to try to loose them, and I'm hearing these radio reports that are half English–there's been a fire and somebody's dead, yada yada, and I'm totally wigging out–Why did you do that? Why did you and your sister leave me in a hotel without even a note?”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“How do you know, Dan? You were so young when they died. Do you really remember them?"
"Not in my mind," Dan replied, gazing at the passing scenery. "But everyplace else...”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Well, then, happy news! Hakuna matata and all that," Ian said cheerily. "We'll rest and have a fine dining moment while we wait." He looked around at the various airport fast-food choices. "Well, er, we'll rest...”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Ian nodded. Do not question her, he told himself. Not when she is in a state like this.
Still, it was a pity to attack them with such force. Especially the girl, Amy. He'd never met anyone like her. Shy. Gentle. With an exciting edge of hostility. So unlike the girls back home, who flung themselves at him so often that his chauffeurs traveled with first-aid kits.
Doesn't she know better? Isn't she smart enough to stop the hunt?
It was the boy and the au pair. He was a pint-sized hothead. She was a collection of piercings and piggishness. If only Amy and Dan had stayed trapped in the cave in Seoul, at least long enough to get discouraged. Why did they antagonize Mother?
They don't know what it's like to live with her.
"Right you are," Ian said. "They're asking for it. Heaven forbid they listen to the brains of the outfit."
"And that would be–?" Isabel asked.
Ian looked away. "Well, the sister, I'd say. Amy."
He felt a smile inching across his face.
"Ian?" His mother grabbed his wrist. "If you are having the inkling of a shadow of a thought..."
"Mother!" Ian could feel the blood rushing to his face. "How could you suspect for a moment...?”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Dan's skin was beginning to lose color. "Oh, har-har. A library, right? Just to make me crazy. 'Cause there's no reason we would go to a library. Right? I mean, we don't need to research Peoria, do we?"
Amy began heading for the building. "Not Peoria. Something else."
"Not funny, Amy!" Dan called as she pushed open the heavy brass doors. "Amy...Amy?”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“When the guy turned around, Amy began stuttering. Silently. It was a feat only Amy could manage, and only Dan could notice.
And it only happened in front of boys who looked like this one. He had brown hair and caramel-colored eyes, like Dan's friend Nick Santos, who
made all the sixth-grade girls turn into blithering idiots when he looked their way--in fact, would even say Watch, lean make them turn into blithering
idiots, and then he'd do it. Only older.
"He. Is. Hot," Nellie said under her breath.
"You too?" Dan hissed.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“"Whoaaaaa–AARRRGGGGGGGHHHH...shove two fingers down my throat and pull out my heart...to prove that you love meeee...!" Clutching her iPod, Nellie emerged from the hatch ad lurched towards them, like creature put together from spare parts–a motion that Dan and Amy recognized as dancing. Pulling out her earbuds, she raised her face to the sky and let the rain pelt her for a few seconds. "Whoo-hoo, that is better than a facial!" she cried, running to join Dan and Amy under the overhang.
"Stick around," Dan said, "for a lava treatment.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Rock star do not jump!" The launch was cutting sharply, its skipper calling out a phrase that bore no relationship to the English language as Amy knew it.
"Rock star in a hurry!" Nellie replied, one foot on the boat's gunwale.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Don't get me started on the little airplane name badges," Natalie grumbled.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Alistair je nakratko zatvorio oči i sjetio se nečega što mu je otac rekao, rečenice koju kao dijete nikad nije razumio: Tišina je snaga.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Where cobras come from. And not the hot ones, like Ian.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Before him, tribes would throw long spears at each other and wait. Like, ho hum, arrow arrow in the air, hey, want some coffee? Shaka said no way, José — well, maybe not José but the Zulu equivalent — short spears are better! Then you can go right up to your enemy’s ugly face and wham! Stab! Arrrrgghh!”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Winston Churchill once said, ‘In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Who farted?” Dan asked. “It’s our clothes,” Amy said. “Our clothes farted?” Dan asked. “I don’t know them, ladies and gentlemen,” Nellie said under her breath, “never saw them in my life …”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Grandmother Grace’s will had raised the stakes by inviting handpicked Cahills to join a bizarre hunt to find 39 Clues that would lead to the greatest power ever known.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Oh, my God,”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Mrs. Grace Cahill….”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Churchill,”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“library! Oh, I forgot. Same thing.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“I hate being in my brain sometimes. I have to get out. - Dan”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Legend has it he was killed in a place called Durban, which is in the KwaZulu-Natal province."
"Which is, uh, where?" Nellie said.
"Past the Mpumalanga province," Dan replied.
"Thanks a lot.”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest

“Nellie,”
― Peter Lerangis, The Viper's Nest