Disclaimer: I do not own either National Treasure movies or any of the characters. I only own Arabella.
Chapter Seven: Cibola
We returned to the hotel after we had gone to a local doctor. I got all the bits of glass out of my arm and luckily it only needed to be bandaged- and that was wonderful because I hated getting stitches. They had to put a gauze pad over the cuts and then wrapped an ace bandage around it to keep it in place.
Once we returned to the hotel I went straight to the bathroom and scrubbed the dry blood off my hand as Riley began to pack up our stuff. I threw my skirt away- I wouldn't be able to get the spots of blood off of it, so I changed into some comfortable jeans. Riley had been so worried about my arm that he was beginning to refuse to let me lift anything with that arm. I thought it was sweet how worried his was about me- he was the sweetest man on earth. Riley handed me a comfortable lightweight sweater to change into, and I smiled at him.
" Thank you." I said as I unbuttoned my blouse.
" Anytime. Here let me help you." Riley said helping me move the sleeve over the bandage on my arm.
" Thanks." I said, grateful that I didn't have to move that arm much, seeing as it still stung and throbbed. I pulled the sweater on over my black tank top and sat on the bed, pulling my shoes on. I looked over at Riley and saw he was dressing a little more relaxed. He was still wearing a blue button down with a tie, but he wore a dark blue sweater over it with a pair of blue jeans, and, of course, his favorite black converse. I smiled. It was nice to see him in something other than the suits he began to wear on a daily basis.
I gave him a hug, resting my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes, smiling. He hugged back, resting his cheek against my head.
" I love you." I said. I felt Riley smile.
" I love you too, so, so much." He said pressing a kiss to my forehead. I smiled up at him and took off his glasses, which he had put on while searching through the London Police database for that picture of Ben. I slid them into his sweater pocket.
" You guys ready to go home?" Ben asked. We looked over at him.
" More than you'll ever know." I said grabbing my suitcase against Riley's protests. I smirked at him. " It's not as heavy as yours." I pointed out with a giggle before I followed Ben towards the door and the taxi downstairs.
OOOO
When we arrived in D.C. it was late morning- the air was cool and pleasant and the sky was a cloudless blue. Grass still had dew on it and leaves rustled in the breeze. I slept most of the plane ride so I was pretty rested. We found Ben's car in the parking lot, and we drove to Patrick's house, giving him a call on the way to let him know we were coming. When we got to Patrick's house, we all grabbed our bags and began up the walkway towards the door, Abigail in the lead, Ben following her, I followed Ben, and Riley was lagging behind with his heavy luggage.
" Abigail!" Patrick said when he opened the door.
" Hey, Patrick!" She said smiling.
" Nice to see the two of you together again!" He commented, smiling.
" Oh, well, we're not." Abigail said.
" You should have seen their fight at Buckingham Palace." I commented with a quiet laugh, earning a look from Ben, which I just responded with a shrug.
" Oh, well I was hoping to get some of these boxes out of the house!" Patrick said taking Abigail's bag and assisting her inside. We walked in, and I waited for Riley who was struggling to yank his bags up the porch steps. I rolled my eyes and took a few of his bags to help. When we got inside I shut the door and Riley took off his sunglasses.
" Hey, Riley, could you show my dad the picture of the plank? I think he might be able to decipher it." Ben said.
" Sure, sure let me just find it first." Riley said as he began to search through the mess his backpack was in. He finally found it and handed it to me. " Could you pull it up? It's in a little file marked 'Plank'." Riley told me. I chuckled and opened up the laptop. I found the file and placed the laptop on the table, and opened it up, revealing the picture of Ben holding up the plank.
" Wow…" Patrick muttered pulling his glasses off. I sat on his right and Riley sat on his left, Ben and Abigail behind us as we waited. " I can't read the whole thing, but I can tell you that these are definitely pre-colonial Native American markings!"
" Easy five hundred years old." Said Ben, who had put on his glasses, which made him look all scholarly.
" Easily." Patrick said. He zoomed in on one symbol, eyes wide. " I can identify one symbol… Look at this. Do you know what that is?"
" Sacred calindracle? I don't know." Ben said.
" I don't know what it is either." I stated quietly.
" That symbol is Cibola. That's Cibola." Patrick said.
" Oh my dear Lord…" I muttered.
" Wh-what's Cibola?" Riley asked.
" The City of Gold…" Ben muttered so quietly Riley barely heard him.
" I'm sorry, what?" Riley asked.
" Riley, Cibola is the City of Gold." I said smiling at him. Riley grinned.
" Sweet!" Riley said.
OOOO
" In fifteen twenty-seven, a Spanish ship wrecked on the Florida coast." Ben began to tell the story, glancing down at a big book in his hands. He stood by the fireplace where a fire crackled, and I sat between Abigail and Riley on the couch, and Patrick sat in an armchair. " There were only four survivors. One was a slave named Esteban, who saved a local tribe's dying chief. As a reward, he was taken to their sacred city, a city built from solid gold. Later, when Esteban tried to find the city again, he never could. But the legend grew, and every explorer came to the new world in search of it. When General Custer's search for gold ended with his last stand at Little Bighorn, it became clear that no one would ever find it." Ben finished. Riley looked like he was in awe. Patrick looked up from staring at the carpet.
" Ben, can you imagine if the Confederates got their hands on the City of Gold? My God…" Patrick muttered, standing and beginning to walk away.
" I'm going to talk to her." Ben stated. Patrick froze. There can only be one 'her' that the two always fought about, ever since Ben was a kid. " You're coming with me." Ben said pointing to Patrick.
" No!" Patrick said, trying to leave the room.
" Hey, no one else can translate it!" Ben pointed out, stopping him. Riley looked horribly confused. We all turned to watch them.
" There are others! There are several others!" Patrick pleaded.
" For Ancient Native American? There's no one better." He said. Abigail and I smiled and Abigail shook her head.
" Who?" Riley asked in confusion.
" Look, Ben, I can't go with you. It's been, what, twenty-five years-" Patrick tried.
" Thirty-two." Ben pointed out, face blank.
" That long?" Patrick deadpanned, turning away. " There's a reason we haven't spoken in thirty-two years! We have nothing in common!"
" Me." Ben pointed out.
" Yes, of course, and I'm sure she's just as proud of you as I am!" Patrick said.
" Who?" Riley asked me.
" His mom." I whispered.
OOOO
We all drove to the University of Maryland, where Ben's mother, Emily Appleton, worked. We walked into the crowded halls, and I remembered how glad I was that I wasn't in school anymore.
" Will you please calm down? Everything will be fine." Ben told Patrick, as the rest of us walked behind them.
" Sure, lets look at the Brightside. It's been a long time maybe she's lost her memory and doesn't recognize me." Patrick said. We turned towards a door that led to Emily's office just as a disgruntled student stormed out, slamming the door.
" I hate her!" She yelled, pushing through us and disappearing into the hall.
" We're in the right place!" Patrick said with a smile. Ben knocked on the door and stepped inside, followed by Abigail.
" I'm gonna go ahead and take myself out of the line of fire for this one." Riley said, sitting in a chair. I smiled down at him and gave him a kiss on the head.
" We'll be right out." I told him, walking into the office next, Patrick slowly (very slowly) following.
" Hi, Mom." Ben said.
" Benjamin! Abigail! What a surprise!" Emily said. She was grinning at Ben and Abigail, and when I stepped in she grinned at me. " Arabella! My God, it's been too long! Come here, sweetheart!" She said holding out her arms. I gave Emily a hug and smiled at her. Her light blond hair was curled slightly tickled my face. When she pulled back, she saw Patrick. Her smile dropped.
" Oh." Was all she said.
" You see? One syllable, a knife in the heart!" Patrick said with a hard tone in his voice.
" Oh, no, no." Ben said shaking his head.
" She can do that!" Patrick insisted.
" Yes and I can also track the whereabouts of my tooth brush!" Emily said.
" I was not the one who left the toothbrushes in Marrakech! I stowed them both in the travel case as instructed!" Patrick stated.
" Yes and you also- you also insisted loading the luggage into the taxi!" She said. I sighed quietly, running a hand through my hair.
" I didn't insist, I loaded the luggage." He said.
" Except for the travel case!"
" The travel case is not luggage, the travel case goes into the luggage!" Patrick pointed out. " Who was in charge of packing the luggage?"
" I didn't put the travel case into the luggage because it was full with that stupid rug you bought because you thought it had some kind of secret stitching!" Emily told Patrick. " How stupid was that?"
" Mom…" Ben muttered.
" It DID have secret stitching!" Patrick insisted. They continued to argue.
" Mom!" Ben yelled. The two stopped arguing. They looked at him. " I need you to take a look at this." Ben said handing the picture of Ben and the plank to Emily.
" What is that a picture of?" She asked, walking towards her desk.
" Its very interesting, we're thinking it might be Olmec." I said.
" Yes, it is." She confirmed. " Yes, yes, definitely proto-Zoquean."
" We were hoping you could translate it." Patrick said. Emily looked up from her desk.
" Yes, of course you were." She said, pulling her glasses on. I stood to her right and we waited as she began to decipher it. " Oh, oh this doesn't involve another treasure hunt does it?" She asked. We all went silent.
" Mom, this is actually very important." Ben said. Patrick sat down on a couch that was crème colored with matching pillows.
" Alright, what have we got here." She said looking down. " This… this glyph here, that means 'bird'. And that means-" She stopped and looked at Patrick as he began to stand. He sighed and sat back down. " Uh, 'noble bird'. 'Find the noble bird, let him take you by the hand, and give you passage to the sacred temple'." She decoded for us. She paused and then looked up again. She laughed. " Oh, you think this is a treasure map for Cibola, don't you?" She asked. I scratched the back of my head.
" Well that is exactly what it is!" Patrick said finally standing.
" No, Patrick. This glyph doesn't mean Cibola, it means the center of the world!" Emily insisted.
" You know, you used to like it! She fell in love with me on a treasure hunt!" Patrick said looking at Ben and then at me. I smiled and looked down at the floor.
" That's not love, that was excitement, adrenaline and tequila!" Emily insisted, walking towards the bookshelf.
" Mom…" Ben muttered.
" I was just trying to get course credit!" She said.
" Well it paid off! In case you didn't read the news papers lately." Patrick pointed out.
" That had nothing to do with you! That was all Ben and Arabella! You did nothing!" She said.
" Well, Ben wasn't the only one who fell in love on that treasure hunt!" Patrick said. Emily looked over at me.
" You did?" She asked. I smiled and nodded, quickly running out into the hall, dragging Riley into the office. He looked a bit surprised, but went along with it, not sure what to do. I wrapped my arms around Riley, resting my head on his shoulder.
" This is Riley Poole." I told Emily. Riley smiled at Emily and waved.
" Hey." He said.
" It's good to meet you." Emily said. " I take it you are the Riley Poole Ben has spoken of?"
" I probably am, I'm the only Riley Poole I know of, so…" Riley said with a small nod. Patrick suddenly began to bring up Emily's previous comment about him not doing anything in the treasure hunt.
" I did something! I helped out!" Patrick said.
" Patrick, Emily!" Abigail said. They both looked over at her. " Please, could we just figure out what's on the page?"
" Well, that's it I'm afraid. These glyphs are only partial." Emily said, walking back over to the page and picking it up. " So, you only have half a treasure map. I'm sorry." She bent down to Ben. " Not that I'm surprised." She whispered, looking at Patrick.
" Well, I think we should get going." I said. " We need to get back to D.C. It was really nice seeing you Emily." I smiled to her. She smiled back, giving everyone- except Patrick- a hug before we left. Riley and I left first, walking out of the door hand-in-hand.
" So, I decide to stay out of the line of fire for once, and yet you drag me into it?" Riley asked. I smiled sweetly at it.
" I had to, but I wouldn't have let you get hurt, you know." I said placing a kiss on his cheek. He grinned as we all walked out on to the campus again.
" At least we know where the rest of the map is." Ben said.
" What? You know where it is? Why didn't you tell me?" Patrick asked, Ben spun around.
" Obviously you have a tendency to OVERREACT!" Ben yelled, causing Patrick to jump back, surprised. Everyone was quiet.
" I'm sorry." Patrick said.
" So am I." Ben replied.
" So, where is it?" Patrick asked.
" Well, the inscription on the statue in Paris said 'These Twins Stand Resolute'." Ben said.
" We think that the map could be divided between the two Resolute Desks." I said.
" The Resolute Desk? The Resolute desk?" Patrick asked, shocked. Ben and I nodded. " The President's desk?"
" The President? What President?" Riley asked. " Our president?"
" Unfortunately, yes." Abigail said, looking over at him. Riley's face was mixed with shock, and something that looked almost like pain.
" But that means… we'd have to… The White House?" Riley finally managed to say I put my hand on his shoulder and nodded.
" Well… to be exact…" I muttered.
" The Oval Office." Ben said. Riley now officially looked pained. He obviously didn't want to figure out how to break into the White House. Who could blame him? Patrick shrugged.
" Why would I overreact to that?" He asked sarcastically.
We all got back into Ben's car and drove back to Patrick's house, and by the time we had gotten there, it was late evening. Riley had pulled up the White House's website and began to look for anything about the desk.
" The Resolute Desk is near the south wall in the Oval Office." Patrick said, walking in with a book in his hands. " Look at this." He set the book down.
" There's a small door on the front of the desk." Ben said, pointing to the picture of Kennedy at his desk with his son playing underneath the desk, peeking out from behind the open door.
" FDR had that put in so guests couldn't see his wheelchair. But-" I explained but Riley cut me off.
" Guys. Take a look at this." Riley said pointing to the screen with a smile. On the screen was a little ad for something. It read;
Annual Easter Egg Roll
On the White House Lawn
General Admission, Tickets Are Selling Quickly. Don't Miss Out On This Wonderful Holiday Tradition
[More Information]
" That might just work." I said smiling.
" Why, Abigail, I do believe it's time to make a date with your new boyfriend." Ben said. We all looked at him shocked, save Abigail who nodded and smiled.
" I think your right!" She said. I looked at Riley, who shrugged, and we were both at a complete loss.
" Now lets buy some tickets…" Riley said.
Afterword: Hope you guys liked the chapter! I'm hoping in the next few chapters to fit in Riley's point of view somewhere. Now we get to the White House scene in the next chapter! YAY! =D I'd like to thank my reviewers: HeraOfTheStars, Phillipfan24, grapejuice101, Snicker if you Doodle, and fantasyluver714. Thanks for reviewing! Do forgive me (in advance) for this next week- midterms. DX I'm soooooo gonna die… I'll update as much as possible! Thanks for reading the chapter! REVIEWS WOULD BE LOVED! =D Thanks!
~ Mary
