Part 2
The girls were suddenly lying in a snow drift, freezing cold.
"Where are we?" asked Etta. She dusted snow off the grey ski jacket that had inexplicably replaced her blue Happy Bunny PJ's.
"I think… we're in the Arctic Circle." Abby replied, helping Katie up.
"What? Why would you say that?"
"Look." Etta pointed to a few feet away.
"What is it?" Katie asked.
"I think it's The Charlotte."
"But that would mean…"
"We're in the movie!" Erica cried in elation.
"Shhh!" Abby snapped grabbing the collar of her purple jacket and pulling her down from her ecstatic jump.
"This is your fault!" Katie said.
"How?!" Abby snapped.
"You bought the DVD player from Creepy Old Guy."
"So?"
"Hello? Creepy. Old. Guy. It was probably cursed or something!"
"Oh come on! That only happens in movies and fan fictions." Abby said.
"Well it's happening now!" Etta pointed out.
"Do I look older to you?" Erica asked suddenly. And honestly she did, they all did. They all looked around 26 years old.
"Sweet!" Etta said.
"Sweet? This is crazy!" Katie exclaimed.
"Dude we have to be about ten years older, I find that sweet."
"Ok guys before we do anything, we have to agree, no screwing with the movie. No quoting lines, unless we're helping. No mentioning things that haven't happened yet. Otherwise they'll think we're crazy. Deal?" Abby said.
"Umm… Abby?"
"Yes Erica?"
"We are crazy."
"Yes but not clinically."
"Um… do you guys remember any of the lines?" Katie asked.
They thought on it but truthfully, they could only remember the plot and the characters of the movie but not any of the lines or what happened.
"Looks like we don't have to worry about that." Etta said.
"Hey Ben!" A new voice joined in, "There are… people here."
They saw someone poke their head over the edge of the ship.
"Hey there!" Etta called.
"Hello, I'm Katie." She said, shaking hands with Ben. "That's Erica, Etta, and Abby."
"Hi." Abby said waving nervously. Being a big fan of movies, she was slightly in awe to be in the presence of Nicolas Cage, Sean Bean, and Justin Bartha. She had always been attracted to Justin Bartha but in a never-gonna-happen fan-girl way. He's a thirty-year-old, famous actor and she's a 16-year-old community theater patron. Now she was in front of him, older and ever so available.
"Ben Gates, Ian Howe, and Riley Poole."
"Nice to meet you."
"Is this… The Charlotte?" Abby asked, easily slipping into actress mode.
"How did you know that?"
"What can I say, I'm interested in history. This is so cool… wait… Ben Gates? Your family has that theory about the treasure."
"Yeah."
"It's an honor. See, my dad told me about the legend when I was a kid. And my friends and I… we researched the legend. Right guys?"
"Mhmm." Katie said. Etta nodded in agreement.
"I had nothing better to do." Erica said.
"It's great to meet another person that believes the treasure's real." Ben said.
"I found a way in!" Shippen shouted.
"Do you mind if we join you?" Abby asked.
"I don't see why not." Ben said, despite Ian's slight glare.
They all filed down into the belly of the ship. Riley peeked at one of the hammocks and, finding a body, jumped backwards knocking down Abby, Etta, and Katie consecutively.
"You handled that well." Ben said.
"Human dominos!" Erica said, grinning.
"Sorry." Riley said, helping them up.
"It's no problem." Abby said, biting back laughter. She'd forgotten that part.
"It's the cargo hold." Ben said. Leading them into another room.
"Is it in the barrels?" Riley asked.
"Gun powder." Ian corrected.
"Why would the captain be guarding this barrel?" Etta heard Ben ask. The girls watched as Ben carefully removed the pipe. He held it in a reverent manner, Katie noticed, as though it were made of glass.
"What is it?"
"It's a pipe." Ben replied.
"Is it a billion dollar pipe?"
"It's a meerschaum pipe." Ian said. "It's beautiful."
"Look at the intricacy of the scroll work on the stem."
"Is it a million dollar pipe?" Riley ventured again. Abby laughed.
"I wouldn't bet on it."
"No… It's a clue. We are one step closer to the treasure, gentlemen…and ladies."
"I thought you said the treasure would be on The Charlotte."
"I said the treasure might be on The Charlotte."
"This is good too." Katie said.
"Ah! Don't break it!"
"Chill Mr. Poole." Abby said.
"Riley." He corrected.
"Riley." Abby said softly.
Behind her, she heard Etta snort and she sent a glare her way. Looking back, she saw Ben rolling the blood stem on a piece of paper.
"The legend writ,
The stain affected,
The key in Silence, undetected.
55 in iron pen.
Mr. Matlack can't offend." He read aloud.
"Sounds like a riddle." Erica mused.
"Nah, really?" Etta snarked.
"I need to think. The legend writ, the stain affected. What legend? There is the legend of the Templar treasure; the stain affects the legend. The key in Silence undetected. Wait. The legend and the key... Now there's something. A map. Maps have legends, maps have keys. It's a map, an invisible map."
"Wait a minute. What do you mean invisible? An invisible map?" Ian asked.
"The stain affected could refer to a dye or a reagent used to bring about a certain result, combined with the key in silence undetected." Katie clarified.
"Right." Ben agreed. "The implication is to make what was undetectable, detectable. Unless the key in silence could be…"
"Prison." Shaw said suddenly.
"Albuquerque. See, I can do it too. Snorkel." Riley replied. Abby laughed.
"It's where the map is. Like you said, 55 in iron pen. Iron pen is a prison."
"Or, it could be since the primary writing medium of the time was iron gall ink, the pen is… just a pen. Then why not say a pen, why say iron pen?"
"Because it's a prison." He muttered.
"No it really isn't." Etta replied. Shaw glared.
"It's ok," Erica said. "I believe you."
"Maybe…maybe the ink does not describe the pen, it describes what was penned." Abby offered helpfully.
"That makes sense. It was iron, it was firm. It was mineral. No, no, no, no. It was firm, it was adamant, it was resolved. It was resolved. Mr. Matlack can't offend…"
"What are you looking for, Erica?"
"The light bulb above his head. He realized something."
"Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the Continental Congress. Calligrapher, not writer. And to make sure he could not offend the map, it was put on the back of a resolution that he transcribed, a resolution that 55 men signed. The Declaration of Independence."
"Come on. There's no invisible map on the back of the Declaration of Independence." Riley said.
"He's got a point." Katie agreed.
"Clever, really. A document of that importance would ensure the map's survival. And you said several masons signed it, yeah?' Ian asked.
"Yeah, nine for sure." Ben nodded.
"We'll have to arrange a way to examine it."
"We can't just go and run chemicals tests on the Declaration." Etta said.
"She's right."
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"I don't know!" Ben said exasperated.
"We could borrow it."
"Steal it?" Erica asked, amused.
"Yeah that a great idea." Etta said sarcastically.
"I don't think so." Ben said.
"Ben, the treasure of Knights Templar is the treasure of all treasures."
"I didn't know that, really?"
"God is everyone on this bloody ship sarcastic? Look, Ben, we all have our areas of expertise. You don't think mine is limited to writing checks, do you? I've arranged a number of operations of… questionable legality."
"There's a surprise…" Etta muttered.
"I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence." Ben said, standing up.
"Me either." Katie agreed.
"Yeah." Erica said jumping up off her place on a barrel.
"I can see from this point on, all you're going to be is a hindrance." Ian said as Shaw drew his gun.
"Never mind." Erica said, sitting back down. Nervously, Abby grabbed Katie's hand and pulled her back a few steps.
"What are you going to do? You going to shoot me Shaw? Well you can't shoot me. There's more to the riddle. Information you don't have, I do. I'm the only one who can figure it out, you know that."
"You're bluffing."
"We play poker together, Ian. You know I can't bluff."
"Tell me what I need to know," Ian said, as Shaw pointed the gun at Riley. "Or I'll shoot your friend."
"Hey." He protested weakly.
"Leave him out of this."
"Quiet or he'll shoot."
Suddenly Ben grabbed a flare and lit it, startling Ian.
"Look where you're standing. All that gunpowder. You shoot me, I drop this, we all go up."
"Ben…" Abby said nervously.
"Tell me what I need to know."
"You need to know… if Shaw can catch!" He threw the flare. Ian caught it midair.
"Nice try, though, Ben." Ian smirked. Until, his sleeve caught on fire.
"Crap!" Etta cried, stumbling back.
"Pretty…"
"Erica!" Abby shouted.
"Over here!" Ben cried.
"What's this?" Riley asked.
"Smuggler's hold. Get in!" Ben shouted. "Follow me!"
The six of them charged down the tunnel and into another room. Ben barely closed the door when an explosion shook them all. Dragging themselves out of the wreckage, Etta shouted a few choice words at Ian's retreating vehicle. All of which concluded that he gave British people a bad name.
"Great. He blew up the ship AND he got the bloody pipe." Abby groaned.
"What do we do now?" Katie asked, obviously shook up but trying to stay calm all the same. Sometimes Abby was surprised at how shakable the tall, red head was.
"There's an Inuit village nine miles east of here."
"Right well. We'd better get moving then." Abby said. "Um… which direction would that be?"