Disclaimer: I do not own either National Treasure movies or any of the characters. I only own Arabella.
Chapter Four: Here We Go Again
" It's a who!" I exclaimed happily, answering Riley's question.
" Edward Laboulaye. Where's the phone?" Ben asked.
" I don't know, son, I can't find anything in this mess." Patrick said gesturing to all the boxes and paintings as Ben began to search for the phone.
" It's temporary till I find a new place." Ben said, leaving the room.
" Find the old one! I like her!" Patrick called after him. Riley chuckled and Patrick sighed as Ben grumbled and continued his search for the house phone. I sat beside Riley and rested my head against his shoulder.
" And here we go again." I said. He chuckled and kissed my forehead. Patrick turned around and looked at us.
" How is it you two are still together, but Ben and Abigail aren't?" He asked.
" Well, for starters, I don't question everything she says." Riley said.
" It's true." I said with a smile.
" If only Ben could be more agreeable!" Patrick muttered. I laughed and hugged Riley's arm, already feeling tired.
" Found it!" Ben called from the kitchen. We all turned around as Ben walked into the hall. He dialed a number. " We cracked the cipher!" We heard him say. " It's Laboulaye. The cipher spells Laboulaye." Ben said. There was a pause. " Or maybe there was a treasure map like Thomas Gates said there was," Ben protested as he walked back into the dinning room, to look at the computer. " and Laboulaye had it. We only have parts of the next word. L, A, D. Lad, ladder-"
" Aladdin! Aladdin?" Riley asked as Patrick began to jot things down on a piece of paper. I stifled laughter and shook my head.
" No, Riley, no." I said. He shrugged.
" Worth a try." He said.
" Thank you, Abigail!" Ben said. We all looked at him. " Laboulaye Lady. Do you know what Laboulaye was planning just around the time of the Lincoln assassination?" Ben asked, walking into the kitchen. Riley and I stood. " There's a map or clue leading to a map on the Statue-" Ben tried to finish but he brought the phone away from his ear and looked at us. " She hung up!" He said.
" She took your call!" Patrick told him.
" That's always a good sign." I told him. " Trust me, as a girl, I should know." Riley walked into the kitchen, smiling.
" Are you telling me there's a treasure map on the Statue of Liberty?" Riley asked, just about grinning now. I smiled and stood next to him.
" Laboulaye was a Mason. They built clues into everything." Patrick told us.
" Did you learn that from my book?" Riley asked hopefully. Patrick said nothing. Riley gave a slight nod and a fake smile.
" So the question is, which Statue of Liberty." I said. Riley lightly slapped the kitchen counter.
" Exactly." He paused a moment. " Is there more than one?" He asked.
" There are three actually, Riley." Patrick said.
" One is in New York, one in the Luxemburg Garden." I said
" But there's only one he called his Lady." Ben said. I smiled and nodded.
" Only one." I repeated. Riley smiled and laughed for a second.
" Which one?" He asked. I looked at him.
" It's in Paris, France." I told him. His eyes widened.
" So… We're going to France?" He asked.
" Only way to find the map or the clue." Ben told him. " We should leave as soon as possible. Could you buy us some tickets, Riley?" Ben asked.
" Of course!" Riley said. " How soon would soon be?" He asked.
" Any time in the next couple of hours possibly?" Ben asked. Riley nodded and ran over to his computer.
" Well, Ben, I told you we were gonna clear Thomas's name, and we're well on the road to doing that!" I told Ben, leaning against the counter next to him. He smiled at me.
" Maybe I should listen to you more often." He said.
" That could be a good idea." I said. He chuckled and we heard Riley say,
" We can leave at eleven tonight."
" Let's get packing then." I said.
" I'll stay here- keep track of things in the States." Patrick said. We all nodded in agreement and Patrick let us borrow his car so Riley and I could return to our apartment and pack.
Riley, of course, packed just about every electronic thing possible as well as clothes and various other things, and it all fit into about four bags. I fit everything I needed in one and a carry-on bag. I laughed as I saw him struggle to get his bags into the car.
" Need help?" I asked. He gave me a look.
" No." He told me. I rolled my eyes.
" Okay then." I said getting into the passenger's seat. Seven minutes later, Riley climbed into the drivers seat. As he started the engine, he muttered.
" Not a word to Ben… not a word…." I giggled and nodded.
OOOO
The plane ride to Paris was long and boring. I re-read Riley's book again, still enjoying it, and let Riley sleep with his head against my shoulder. Ben had sat beside me, looking out the window at the passing clouds just about the whole time. I got some sleep as well, but Riley slept the whole way.
When we arrived in Paris, we checked into a hotel room, showered, got dressed again, and set out to find the Laboulaye Lady. It was a beautiful day- the sun was shinning and from the bridge we were standing on, we could see the Eiffel tower, and we also got a pretty good view of the Statue of Liberty. Riley was holding a remote controlled helicopter that had a camera attached to it, and a monitor that would allow us to see what was on the statue.
As Riley began to fiddle with the controls, getting the helicopter into the air, Ben pulled on his sunglasses, which didn't seem to match with his suit jacket, button down and nice. Riley was wearing a pale purple button down with a plaid tie, back suit jacket and black suit pants. I had attempted to look equally as nice, dressing in a pale pink silk blouse and black and white striped slacks with, once again, my converse. My hair was loose around my shoulders and it was curling slightly as it dried. Ben and I watched in amazement as Riley maneuvered the helicopter around the statue.
" This is like impossible what you're doing…" Ben muttered.
" I'm glad your enjoying it." Riley said with a smile.
" Laboulaye had to leave a clue somewhere on here." I said.
" Move in on the torch." Ben instructed.
" It's not as easy as it looks…" Riley muttered, trying not to bump into the statue.
" Excusez-moi, monsieur." We heard a voice say. Ben and I turned around to see two cops on bikes. "Pourriez-vous vastant?" Ben and I both began to cross the street on the bridge. We both looked at each other and shrugged.
" Excuse me, Officer, may I help you?" Ben asked. We walked over to them.
" Ah. American, eh?" The police officer asked with a thick French accent. " Of course you see no problem in disturbing everyone's pleasant morning with your buzzing there." He said looking pointedly at the helicopter Riley was still using.
" Hey, do you know how much our Constitution was influenced by your man Montesquieu?" I asked, smiling at the two men.
" You know Montesquieu?" The officer asked with disbelief, a small smile drawing on his face.
" Oui, Montesquieu!" I said smiling more.
" Our government should be set up so that no man need be afraid of another!" Ben and the officer said together, both smiling. " Oui!" Ben said.
" Very good!" The officer said.
" Ben! Arabella!" Riley said, jogging over, holding the helicopter. " I got it! I got it!" Riley handed the small monitor to us. " I hope you read French…"
" May I?" The officer asked. Ben nodded and handed it to him.
" Ben, he's a cop." Riley muttered to him. Ben gave him a look.
" Um… 'Across the sea, these twins stand'… um… determined?" He asked the other officer.
" Resolute." The other man said.
" 'Resolute to preserve what we are looking for.' Laboulaye, eighteen seventy-six." He finished. Riley took the monitor back.
" It's a clue!" Riley said.
" 'These twins stand resolute'… let's see… resolute twins…" Ben said, beginning to pace and think. " Resolute… Resolute… and then twins." He leaned against a support beam. " Siamese twins? Siam? Trade routes between France and Thai Lands? But th-that's ridiculous." Ben said. Something popped into my head. I jumped a bit and pointed to Ben.
" The HMS Resolute!" I said excitedly, grinning. Ben smiled and began to talk to the officers.
" A British ship that got lost in the arctic, in the eighteen hundreds. It was salvaged by American whalers, only congress sent it back to England. When the ship was finally retired, Queen Victoria had two desks made from its timbers. Wha-la! Resolute twins!" Ben said, all of it directed to the French officers. Riley and I glanced at each other.
" Well, where are those desks now?" The man asked.
" The, uh, closest one is in London. Uh, Riley, how fast can we get to Buckingham Palace?" Ben asked Riley. Riley shrugged.
" I don't know, why don't you ask your new best friend." Ben gave him a look. Riley sighed. " It would be faster to fly, lets just put it that way." The Officer said something to his partner in French then said,
" He's going to call you a cab." He smiled at us.
" Merci beaucoup." I said smiling back. The officer looked at Riley, then at the helicopter he held.
" Nice helicopter, is it yours?" He asked.
" Yes, actually, it is." Riley said.
" So you get the ticket!" He said cheerfully.
" Ha, ha! Great!" Riley said sarcastically as he gave a fake smile and laugh. After Riley received his ticket and the cab arrived, we returned to our hotel, Riley ranting about his ticket the whole time. We grabbed our stuff, then went to the airport again and flew all the way to London.
We were all exhausted, and as we took a cab to the Savoy hotel, I stared out at the cloudy sky. I yawned and almost fell asleep, but Riley pulled me into his arms, and he decided to start a conversation. I was grateful that he kept me awake- I knew I was going to have to stay awake for a while. It was only early evening.
As we walked into the hotel I looked at Ben and Riley.
" So, are we all going to share a room?" I asked. Both looked at me. Ben shook his head with a small smile and a calm 'no.' Riley gave a quick and loud 'no!', which made me laugh. Riley looked over at Ben who raised an eyebrow.
" What? I can't want to share a room with my girlfriend?" Riley asked. Ben rolled his eyes and shook his head.
" I'll go check us in okay?" I asked, leaving the two to stand in the middle of the lobby. I decided to just rent out a suite for the next two days- it was a two-bedroom suite that had a view of the Thames. The woman at the front desk appeared surprised I could afford the room, but I got the room keys and walked back over to Riley and Ben. I held up the keys.
" Shall we go?" I asked. We went up to the fourth floor and entered the suite.
" Who-ho-ho!" Riley said as he looked around. " This is nice!"
" Better than anywhere I've ever stayed! I said smiling. Ben set his bags down.
" So, we need to figure out how to get into the Queen's office. Riley, could you pull up something on the Buckingham Palace?" Ben asked. Riley laughed.
" Of course I can! Let me just get out of these clothes." Riley muttered. I laughed and plopped down into a chair. Ben sat beside me as Riley began to set things up.
" I can't believe we're doing this again." Ben said.
" Hey, it makes life exciting, and I've always loved excitement." I said with a yawn, leaning back in my seat.
" Okay, give me a minute…" Riley muttered. " And here… we… go."
Afterword: CHAPTER FOUR! =D Hope you liked it! Sorry I didn't get to post sooner, my life is like a tornado of stress and music related stuff- I have a paper due Thursday, midterms in two weeks and musical rehearsal for about three hours every day after school. Fun! So, I would now like to thank my reviewers: HeraOfTheStars, and Hawk's-GaL4077. Thanks for reviewing! And I'd like to thank those who do read this and don't review. I'm just glad people read my stories! XD Anyway, I hope to get the next chapter up tomorrow, but if I don't, I advise you not to panic. XD I sound like the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy now. XD Anyway, REVIEWS ARE LOVED! Thanks! =D
~Mary