Chapter 1
Location: USA, Boston, Massachusetts
"… in many places it's mentioned as the Lost City of the Incas and is situated above the Sacred Valley, 80 km northwest of Cuzco." said Miss Zapata " It is said to be built by the great emperor Pachacuti around 1450, but a century later it got abandoned because of the Spanish conquest. Nowadays thousands of people…"
That was the part when the snoring came, escorted by giggling and a strange noise, which was halfway between the meowing of a cat and aunt Beatrice's singing voice under the shower – or that was at least what Dan Cahill thought after he got awake in the middle of the history lesson.
" Slept well, darling? " a girl asked. Dan has always hated her. Charlotte - alias the queen bee - was starving for revenge from the day the boy put snails into her pencilcase. And now she imitated British accent – speaking the way like someone Dan used to know. Someone who was important for him. Someone who died to save the world.
" Daniel Arthur Cahill," the infuriated teacher shouted "how you dare…" this time she was thinking about something to say to show in how much trouble the boy was, but suddenly Tomas Smith interrupted and asked her a question that took the attention of everyone – even Dan - away.
" Miss, is it true that the aliens built the pyramids? " he questioned. Dan smiled to himself. The old Tom has never disappointed him. They were the ones in the class making jokes of everything and sending up teachers all the time: the legendary "Dweeb Unit".
But to their surprise, Miss Zapata stayed calm and serious.
" There are thousands of rumors. " she said " This was, is and will be just a made up story, a fairytale like the magic lamp of Aladdin. Anyway, it's much more believable than the gem helping the Incas to travel in time " the woman smiled " or that Kennedy was assassinated by some so called Janus contract killers, because he nearly collected the 37 clues, right, Daniel? "
Dan inhaled slowly " 39, Miss."
"Pardon?" the teacher asked.
"There are 39 clues, not 37."The boy answered.
A minute later the ring went off and all of the children ran out of the room. The summer holiday has begun.
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That night Dan had a ridiculous dream. He was in a dark room - no, it was rather a cave and all he could see was a reddish brown stone. For a little period of time, he was staring at the glowing light of it. Suddenly he heard voices comming from every direction and felt that he had to escape to survive. He was tempted to take the gem, so he started running towards it. But right before he could have touched it, he felt terrible pain in his left shoulder. He realised, that he couldn't make it. From the distance, he could see a blond haired man throwing another iron spear at him. Then everything went black.