Vespers Rising



Vespers Rising is the eleventh book of The 39 Clues. It was released on April 5, 2011 and is the bridge between the two series.

Summary
The description according to the 39 Clues promotional website is:

Powerful enemies —the Vespers— have been waiting in the shadows of the Clue hunt. Now it's their time to rise and the world will never be the same! In Vespers Rising, a brand new 39 Clues novel, take a whirlwind trip through Cahill history and uncover secrets too explosive to reveal during the Clue hunt.

Bestselling authors Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson wake on the hidden history of the Cahills and the Vespers, and the last, terrible legacy Grace Cahill leaves for Amy and Dan. The hunt was always leading to this.

Gideon Cahill - 1507 (By Rick Riordan)
Travel back to the days of Gideon Cahill and Damien Vesper to read about the rivalry that shattered the Cahill family. . . and changed the fate of the world. Gideon comes to house. Gideon tells Vesper he hasn't found a cure to the plague but he has found something. When Gideon does not tell Damien it is the serum, he releases a mechanism in which the roof collapses on Gideon to kill him. But Gideon remains alive. Balthazar comes in to check if everything is alright. Damien notices he just has a bleeding knuckle. Gideon lies that Damien could do it to, when in reality he had made his abilities more enhanced through the serum. When he goes home, he knows he has 24 hours to finish the serum. Then, he tells his family about the serum he has made for the plague(, the Black Death). He gives each of the children a part of the serum. He says that he has given each of the children the part of the serum that would enhance their natural abilities. Luke would take the quarter that made you cunning and strategic, Katherine would take the part that would enhance her mechanical engineering and her inventiveness, Thomas would take the quarter that honed your sports abilities, and Jane took the part that would make you artistic. Apart, Gideon said, would not make sense, but combined would make the master serum. Luke wants the master serum, but Gideon does not agree. In the end, Luke takes his clues into his body, and because of his portion, has the cunning to break into his father's lab. He warns his father about Damien Vesper coming when it is too late. Vesper is already there and enters the lab just as Luke leaves. Luke tries to get his family out of danger, but just then, the house explodes. The Cahill children blame Luke for the explosion, even though it was Damien's fault, as he wired the house to explode. Luke leaves, followed by Jane, who hoped to keep him from leaving. Katherine and Thomas are angry at both of them, and decide to leave as well, leaving Olivia with unborn Madeline, dead Gideon, and Damien Vesper. Olivia defies Vesper, saying that Gideon's ring, which Damien wanted, was a token of Olivia's love for Gideon. Damien, of course, despised love and anything of the sort, and flatly refuses it after Olivia (cunningly and sarcastically) offers it to him. Damien sensed that a grieving mother and wife was more dangerous than any monster he could create, so he left Olivia, Madeline, and Gideon alone, leaving the threat of watching them hanging in the air.

Madeleine Cahill - 1526 (By Peter Lerangis)
The story begins in a class where Madeleine Babbitt is watching as the last of her classmates fall unconscious because of her sleeping formula her classmates forced her to do. She thinks of lies... She knows all her life is made of lies. Even her name is a lie. Her name is not Madeleine Babbitt, or as her classmates call her, "Maddy Babbitt, scared as a rabbit!" Her name is Madeleine Cahill. Olivia Cahill is killed by Damien Vesper. Madeleine seeks out Luke. She found a job as a babysitter for Luke's son, and explained to Luke that she is his sister but Luke did not believe her because this happened multiple times before when someone lied of being Luke's long lost brother and as such. However, it is then written he thinks she could be his sister, and remarks how she sounds like Katherine and has Jane's mannerisms. Afterwards, it is shown how she escapes her imprisonment and how it inspired her to found the Madrigal Branch. Throughout this part of the book, it is explained how Madeleine has talents from all 4 of her other siblings, called a jot of Jane, a cut of Katherine, a lick of Luke, a touch of Thomas, and her own talent is called the magnificence of Madeleine.

Grace Cahill - 1942 (By Gordon Korman)
Follow thirteen-year-old Grace Cahill as she embarks on her very first mission during one of the most dangerous moments of the 20th century. Grace, 13, is playing with her younger brother Fiske. We meet Beatrice and find that she hates Fiske because their mother died giving birth to him. Grace decodes a Morse code message from the light-post outside that warns their father of the Vespers trying to regain Gideon's ring. She riskily goes to Casablanca, where a war is occurring to find GSP (George S. Patton). When she can't bribe any of the pilots to go there, she finds a man named Drago, who will take her to Casablanca for 20 thousand dollars. When Grace only gives him ten thousand and tells him she will give the other half at the end of the trip, the man runs away. Angry, Grace kicks the man, runs to his plane and tries to get there herself. After several cries from Drago, he agrees to take her to Casablanca on Olga, which he named after his gun. When they get to the war site, Drago is killed and tells Grace that Olga was not named after his gun but his daughter. He then tells Grace that he has not seen her since she was a little child but he hopes that she is going to be just like Grace. Grace then breaks her wrist when she is in the middle of a battle and collapses. She gets a cast and goes to the tent of George S. Patton. Grace tells Patton the information in the letter and Patton tells Grace about the Vespers—that they some aren't related by blood (similar to the Madrigals, like how they recruit people from other branches) but they all have the same goal—world domination. Grace then tries to find the answer for the mysterious letter she found and sees that the letter was talking about the eye of a bull statue in the Torch Cafe. When she finds that nothing is in there, Patton tells her that a Vesper agent beat them to the ring. Grace sees a bulge in Patton's pocket and discovers that he is the Vesper agent. While Patton is sleeping, Grace steals the ring and tells the guards that she is anxious to get moving and wants to go. The guards take her to Lisbon, where she is now under protected ground. When Patton wakes up, he discovers that he has beaten by a thirteen year old girl. Grace then goes home, reunited with baby Fiske. Beatrice demands Grace to tell her who she thinks she is to go in the middle of a war. She answers certainly-- "I know exactly who I am. I'm Grace Cahill!"

Amy and Dan Cahill - Present (By Jude Watson)
Finally, flash forward to the present to join Amy and Dan as they prepare to fight their new enemy—the Cahills' historic rivals—the Vespers. Amy and Dan go to Switzerland to retrieve Gideon's ring from Grace's bank deposit safe. However, a Vesper named Casper Wyoming continuously attack them, endangering their lives and the future of Cahills everywhere. Amy is appointed by Grace as the keeper of Gideon's golden ring.

Characters:
Amy Cahill

Dan Cahill

Casper Wyoming

Evan Tolliver

Mrs. Zapata

Fiske Cahill

Nellie Gomez

Erasumus

Cards

 * Card 254: The Newest Target


 * Card 255: The Superdweeb


 * Card 256: Footprint


 * Card 257: Gideon's Ring


 * Card 258: Vesper's Armor


 * Card 259: Vesper Transmission

Letter
Dear Cahills,

I wrote six different drafts of this letter until Dan threw a cookie at me and said just to be blunt. So here it is: Our family is in danger.

We thought we were the only ones who knew about the 39 Clues. We were wrong. There's another group out there - the Vespers - and they're coming for us. If the Vespers get their hands on the Clues... the world doesn't stand a chance.

Dan and I are calling all Cahills, from every nation around the globe, to come together. Only together can we be strong enough for the fight that's coming.

Are you ready? Because we need heroes now and we're counting on you.

-Amy and Dan Cahill

Trivia
1) In book 10, the logo appears to be made of glass and breaks. In book 11, we can see red dots in the oval where the world logo was. In the inside cover, the red dots fill the empty oval, zooming into their place wherever they are, and finally, on the inside back cover, we can see that the red dots are what makes the new logo.
 * So far in The 39 Clues Series, this book has the most authors.
 * In the back cover, the blue rectangle that usually says "Join the hunt at the39clues.com now" is replaced with: "The Vespers are coming and YOU must be ready. Find the Secret Vesper files at the39clues.com".
 * The 39 Clues logo has changed for the next series, Cahills vs. Vespers, from blue to red
 * In book 10, the logo for the 39 clues seems to be made of glass and breaks on the cover. Then in the inside cover it becomes the Cahills vs. Vespers logo
 * There are four changes in books 10 and 11:

2): The font on most of the covers on the books has changed.

3) The blue hexagon that is on the bottom of each book cover now says, "Read the books. COLLECT THE CARDS. Play the game. There is no "Win the prizes."

4) Inside the book, instead of the title of the book on the right hand side, it says the author, one per chapter.

Cover Messages
The page numbers code is "Time is running out for the ring keeper."

Key: Every letter has been shifted 12 places in the alphabet.

The inside cover message is "Find Medusa".

Preview Videos
These are five videos that will be shown leading up to the release on the book on the 39 clues website:


 * Video 1: Danger in the Shadows


 * Video 2: Gideon and Damien


 * Video 3: Madeleine Cahill


 * Coming Soon - Video 4: Insider Look: Grace


 * Coming Soon - Video 5: Insider Look: Amy and Dan