Disclaimer: I don't own National Treasure, but I do own Grace and Sam.

National Treasure 2: The Treasure of Charlemagne

Prolog

Abigail Gates stood outside her car trying to find the right key to unlock the car. She was in Philadelphia on a busyness trip of sorts. She glanced worriedly over her shoulder. It was late and she had a feeling she was being watched.

"Get a hold of yourself, Abigail!" she berated herself. She returned her gaze back to her keys. She quickly slid in the right key. Suddenly a hand clasped over her mouth and grabbed her around the waste. She blindly kicked backwards and was rewarded with a solid thud. The grip of her attacker loosened and she wrenched herself away. She turned and ran down the sidewalk only to have another man step out in front of her. She barely stopped before colliding in with him but it was too late. He reached out and grasped her wrist in an iron strong grip.

"Hello, Abigail," he said smoothly. She immediately recognized the voice.

"Ian!" she gasped. Another shadow crept up behind her and sent the butt of his gun crashing onto her head, sending her into blackness.

Chapter one

"I'm home, Dad!" shouted Grace as she trotted into the mansion.

"Ben's not here," Riley explained as he slid down the banister rail. "He went to pick up Sam from his acting class."

"Oh, thanks Rie," she replied absently as she walked up the stairs and toward her room. She dropped onto her bed. She let out a sigh and rolled over to stare at a picture that sat on her night stand. It was of her family and Riley with the National Monument sitting in the back round. Her gaze fell on her mother, Abigail.

"At least you will come home tomorrow," she said softly. Her mother had been gone for three days and everyone missed her. Grace was the second child of the Gates. She was fourteen and a year younger than her brother Samuel Gates. She got off of her bed and turned on her computer. It was Friday so she had all weekend to do her homework. She heard a creak and a hand touched her shoulder, making her flinch. She whirled around to see her older brother standing there. "Samuel Adams Gates! You are going to get it!" she yelled as she leaped up. Sam whirled around and ran down the hall with Grace racing behind him. They ran down the stairs and nearly collided with Ben.

"Be carful!" he shouted after them a smile playing across his lips. He turned and marched up two flights of stairs until he reached the attic which also served as his office. He sat down with a folder in one hand, he was head of a museum that housed some of the items that were found in the mason's treasure. He was disturbed by the wind blowing through a wind that he had left open the entire day. He walked over and was just about to close it when a powerful gust ripped through the window and through the attic. There was a slight rustling as a dusty piece of cloth slipped off of a chest. Ben's curiosity aroused, he kneeled before the antique chest. The lock was old and decrepit. He managed to brake it open with an old piece of medal he found laying in the attic. Inside was an extremely brittle map with several other sheets of yellow paper. He gently took out the old map. There were some letters on the top that might have been Greek. His heart quickened as he pulled out another sheet of paper. It was a riddle written in old English.

Thou must travel my world,

If to find the treasure you seek,

Thou must find the leak in Lombardy,

Stand before the holy place only then take Ten paces toward the holy city,

To find my treasure look to the cross when all is lost,

Humble yourself before the Lord lest you miss the mark of my word.

Emperor Charlemagne

Below that was written in a newer script:

I have copied this from the original text.

That was all, nothing about how it came to Ben's mansion or who the owner was. Ben felt the old excitement of treasure hunting rise within him. He ran over to the top of the stairs.

"Riley, kids, get up here!" he bellowed. In a matter of seconds three sets of feet could be heard pounding up the stairs.

"What is it Dad?" asked Sam as he stood in the door way panting. Soon Riley and Grace joined him.

"Come and look at this!" He bent down again by the map and paper. All three of them read the riddle on the paper.

"Wait, so there is another treasure?" asked Riley as he read the riddle.

"Of course ours wasn't the only one," said Ben with a slight laugh.

"How do we know if these are authentic?" asked Grace as she gently touched the brittle map. Three pairs of eyes turned expectantly toward Ben.

"Well, there is no way to tell, but they do look authentic, and how would they get into our house in an antique chest?" Grace smiled excitedly, a light gleaming in her eyes.

"So you think this stuff is real?"

"Possibly, your mother would be a better judge of that."

"So, what does the riddle mean, Ben?" asked Riley, who was bent over the map.

"Hmm . . . First of all we know that this riddle was composed by Charlemagne, so we would have to assume that the first line refers to the known world at that time."

"That makes sense," said Sam thoughtfully.

"What time was that?" questioned Riley.

"Around eight hundred A.D.," stated Sam with a proud expression.

"How did you know that?" demanded Riley.

"They mentioned it in school last week." Grace and Ben were both muttering the riddle under the breath. Suddenly Grace spoke up.

"Look at this map, it's not of the world, only Europe I think. Yeah, look, here is Italy." She pointed to the boot-shaped peninsula.

"Riley, do you think you could decode these letters for the cities on the map? They appear to be Greek."

"Yeah, let me get my laptop," said Riley as he stood and trotted toward the door.

"Okay we will meet you in the dinning room."

Five hours later they were all still huddled around the table in the dinning room, with plates and glass littering the table form the meager dinner they had ate. Riley was typing away at his laptop. So far they had gotten five of the maybe twenty cities transferred from Greek to English.

"Ben, didn't the riddle mention a place called Lombardy?" inquired Riley as he stared at the screen of his laptop.

"Uh, yeah it did," stated Ben who was flipping through a large history book.

"Well, then look at this!" Riley pointed with the tip of a pencil at a cluster of Greek symbols printed at the top of Italy "When these letters are translated to English they read Lombardy!"

"Now we're getting some were," said Sam in a tired tone. As soon as the words left his mouth the door bell rang.

"Now who could that be, this late at night" mumbled Ben as he got up to answer it. He flipped on the porch light and opened the door. He heard a screech of tires and saw the bob of headlights some ways off. He looked down at his feet to see a envelop with his name written elegantly on the front. He bent down and picked up and walked back to the dinning hall. Grace looked up from the map when he entered the room.

"Who was it?"

"I don't know. Whoever it was only left an envelop," he replied absently as he ripped open the envelop. It contained one sheet of paper with typing on it. He read it slowly and his heart sank. "Oh, no," he said softly. "Ian's back."

ok, I hope you liked this so far, I will try to update as often as school allows.

Mac