Title: Formatia trans sicere educatorum
Pairing: RileyOC, BenAbigail
Rating: Pg-15
Summary: Chrissie Howe is pleased that her gun happy thug brother is in jail. But what happens when she takes a family heirloom to Ben Gates to figure out its significance? Ian Howe is royally pissed. Can Ben, Abigail and Riley help her find the treasure before Ian?
Spoilers: Through the second National Treasure, which means Ben and Abi are married.
Disclaimer: The disclaimer says I can't own Riley, or National Treasure. Didn't say I couldn't kidnap him though although Chrissie Howe is mine.
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Chapter 1: The Locket
Christina Howe looked through her jewelry case for something to wear to Ian's hearing. It had been the third hearing she had to go to and she kept wondering why she bothered on going. Ben Gates and that dork of an assistant always showed up to throw Ian right back in jail anyways. Honestly, she was happy Ian was in jail. She never suspected him of being a gun toting manic but it happened that he proved her wrong. It was sad really, he was the only family she had left and now he was in jail.
She shook her head and closed the box. She put on her black heels that went nicely with her black knee length skirt and grey button up. She felt like her clothes were choking her. She rarely dressed up even though she and Ian were rich. It felt too constricting and she felt comfortable with jeans and a band tee shirt along with people not knowing she had a lot of money. As she slipped on her grey rain coat she stopped by her mother's room to look for a necklace.
She tried not going in there since her mother died of cancer not too long ago. She remembered waiting at the funeral for Ian to show up, but he never did. She guessed it was when he was betraying Ben Gates up at the Charlotte.
As she passed through her mother's room and opened up her jewelry cabinet, her blue eyes recognized something shining near the bedside table. Chrissie kneeled down near the bedside and picked up a silver locket next to the lamp. She blew the dust off it and ran her fingers over the front of the locket. She squinted at the worn down surface and tried to pick up the symbol. It looked like an Egyptian hieroglyph, but she'd have to consult an expert to make sure.
She stood and walked over to the mirror and placed the locket around her neck and flipped her golden brown hair aside. She looked just like her mother. Chrissie needed to figure out what that symbol meant and what it led to; and she knew exactly who to ask.
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"Can you remind me why we have to show up for these hearings?" Riley Poole asked rudely from the passenger seat.
"Unless you want Ian getting out of jail and try to kill us…" Ben Gates trailed off and glanced at Riley, who had fear in his eyes and shook his head.
"I just don't see why I have to be there." He grumbled putting his knees against the dash. "Especially since his creepy sister shows up too."
"Oh come on Riley, you've met Christina before. She's nothing like Ian." He turned the car sharply, making Riley grab onto the seat.
Riley gave Ben a doubtful stare. "I've taken Geosciencebefore Ben, and I know for a fact that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Especially if they're on the same branch."
Ben just shook his head and pulled into the court house parking lot. He knew Riley couldn't really judge people well, so he just let it slide. Besides, he had a feeling the whole Christina bashing was more than just the fact she was Ian Howe's sister.
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Through the whole entire hearing, Riley couldn't stop staring at Christina. She was honestly beautiful and if it wasn't for her being related to Ian he would have gone for it. Deep down he knew Ben was right; Ian and Christina were really nothing alike. She didn't have a strong accent like Ian did and her hair was a darker brown. She had beautiful blue eyes…and that's when Riley rolled his and looked away. If he kept referring to the enemy as beautiful he was gonna have trouble denying anything she might ask. He learned the hard way that that's how people got hurt.
The hearing ended and Ian was guilty again, not that riley was surprised. He tried stealing the Declaration of Independence and tried to kill them. Not to mention Abigail and Patrick, Ben's father.
Riley saw Chrissie hug Ian and he made comment about something around her neck, but he couldn't understand what it was. She saw her motion over to Ben and he stood thinking she was going to attack him or something. Riley motioned Ben towards the exit but to no avail; she had gotten right in front of them.
"Mr. Gates?" She asked and naturally Ben stopped.
"Yes, Ms. Howe?" Ben asked nicely.
It made Riley give him a questioning look, which Ben ignored.
"Call me Chrissie." She stuck out her hand and Ben took it and shook it lightly.
Riley shook his head almost insistently. When they moved onto first names it meant she was trying to be friendly. And that way it was harder to tell when she'd try to kill them. Although if he told Ben this he'd just tell him he was paranoid. Which Riley knew he was, after all Ian had tried to kill them.
"I was wondering if you could take a look at this." She unclasped her necklace and handed it to Ben which caught Riley's interest.
"Look's old." Riley said stupidly. He honestly didn't know what else to say. He shook his head; he never got so nervous around anyone.
"Is this Egyptian?" Ben asked.
She nodded. "I think so, but I wasn't sure."
Riley took it from Ben and adjusted his glasses. He could feel her eyes on him and it made him even more edgy. "It's Egyptian. It looks like a windpipe and a heart."
"Which means?" Ben asked. He hated when Riley tried to draw things out.
"Goodness and Beauty."
"It's been passed down through my family."
"Hmm, I wonder how you're family got a hold of it." Riley mumbled.
His side comment didn't go unnoticed when Ben nudged him in the side.
"It wasn't stolen if that's what you mean." She replied icily and turned her attention back to Ben. "My mother didn't have a chance to give it to me when she died suddenly of cancer. I found it this morning."
"I'm sorry." Ben consoled and Riley started to feel guilty for the comment he made earlier.
"Its ok, it was a month or two ago. But anyway I heard stories that my grandmother used to tell. She used to say it led to a treasure somewhere but it was never found."
"Does it open?" Ben asked suddenly.
Chrissie shrugged. "I never tried to—"
Her sentence was cut short when Ben suddenly popped it open. A lot of dust and dirt fell from the locket; it was if it'd been in the ground before she had brought it to them. Ben blew into the locket to reveal an inscription written inside, along with a picture of what looked like a goddess of Ancient Egypt.
"It looks like Isis." Riley said quietly.
"Who's Isis?" Chrissie asked leaning closer to the locket. Riley felt uncomfortable and stepped a place back which she noticed.
"Isis was the wife of Osiris, or the god of the underworld. She's depicted on coffins as a way to ward off evil."
"The inscription says, "Formatia trans sicere educatorum." Ben said and closed the locket.
"Enter all ye who seek knowledge." Chrissie said excitedly. Maybe the story her grandma always told her was true.
Riley shook his head at her. "How could you know that but you didn't know who Isis was."
She looked at him angrily. "Well I guess not everyone can be as smart as you."
Riley looked entertained and was about to add another snide remark when Ben stopped the argument before it got any worse. "Did you want to find the treasure Chrissie? See if it exists?" He asked walking out of the court house to his car.
She nodded. "If it exists, nothing would make my family happier."
Riley nodded. "Yeah I'm sure. Finding and taking treasure seems to be what her family does. Not to mention trying to kill us during it." He couldn't believe Ben was actually falling for beautiful blue eyes and a stupid locket.
"Riley." Ben grit out.
"First of all, I had nothing to do with what Ian did. I was too busy trying to bury my mother." She suddenly felt the urge to smack this Riley guy.
He felt the guilt seep in again and ignored it by getting in the car. If he pissed her off too much she'd just take the locket and find someone else to help her. And that would make Ben pissed at him.
"Why don't you come to dinner at my house tonight. We can discuss what the plan's going to be."
Riley shook his head. Yes, that is exactly what they needed to do. Invite the enemy into your million dollar home so she could see all the stuff she could steal.
Chrissie nodded and let Ben hang onto the locket. "Alright sounds great."
Riley suddenly laid on the horn and motioned for Ben to get in. She couldn't wait, as long as that idiot Riley wasn't going to be there. Although as she got in her car as well, she couldn't deny the beautiful ice blue eyes he had.
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please r&r. this is the first national treasure story i've done. how is it so far?