Disclaimer: I do not own National Treasure or any of the characters. I only own Arabella.
Chapter Eight: Cooperation
Ben pushed the doorbell and stood ahead of all of us. I stood to his left, and had my hands in the pockets of the hoodie I was wearing and Riley and Abigail were standing behind us. We waited and watched the back door before us. Ben shifted the Declaration around on his shoulder nervously. After a moment, the door opened, and there stood Patrick Gates, wearing a bathrobe over lounging clothing. Patrick's eyes went straight to Ben, and he just stared at him through his wire-rimmed glasses.
" Dad." Ben said attempting a smile. Patrick glanced at all of us.
" Where's the party?" He asked sarcastically.
" Oh, well, uh… I'm in a little trouble." Ben said. Patrick eyed Abigail.
" Is she pregnant?" He asked. I looked back at Abigail, who looked at Riley in disbelief.
" Well, if she is, are you going to leave the woman carrying your grandchild standing out in the cold?" Ben asked with a tiny smile. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Patrick finally seemed to notice me, and the first smile we saw from him appeared on his face.
" Arabella?" He asked. I smiled back, as he hugged me.
" Hey, Patrick. It's good to see you again!" I said accepting the hug.
" Come in!" He said moving me inside first before letting everyone else in. I walked into the living room and looked around. Not much had changed. The same small pictures were on the mantle piece- a few of Ben and Patrick and his Grandfather, and there was one of Ben and I in middle school.
" This better not be about the dumb treasure." I heard Patrick tell Ben. Ben and I sighed in unison and I walked over to stand beside Ben. " Well, have a seat, make yourselves comfortable, there's some pizza, still warm I think." Patrick said pointing to a pizza box on the coffee table. Riley glanced at Patrick then down at the box. I wondered how long it would take for him to start eating it. I nudged Ben with my elbow.
" Dad. I need the Silence Dogood letters." Ben said. Patrick gave him a disbelieving look. " Yeah, it's about the treasure."
" And he dragged you three into this nonsense?" Patrick asked Abigail, Riley, and I.
" Literally!" Abigail said.
" You know I've been looking for the treasure with Ben since I we were in seventh grade." I told Patrick.
" I volunteered!" Riley said happily, smiling at Patrick.
" Well unvolunteer! Before you waste your life!" Patrick said.
" Knock it off, Dad." Ben said with a tired tinge to his voice.
" I should know! I'm the family kook! I have a job! A house! Health insurance! At least I had your mother for however brief a time." Patrick ranted. Riley had just pulled out a slice of pizza, and was now sitting on the couch munching on it. " At least I had you. What do you have? Him?" He asked looking at Riley. I was about to say something when Ben spoke again.
" If you just give us the letters, we're gone." Ben said.
" You disappoint me, Ben." Patrick stated.
" Well, maybe that's the real Gates family legacy- son's who disappoint their fathers." Ben shot back.
" Ben." I said quietly, giving him a look.
" Get out. Take your troubles with you." He said quietly. After a moment of debate Ben looked up at his dad.
" I found the Charlotte." He said. Patrick's eyes widened and he looked at him.
" The Charlotte? You mean she was a ship?" Patrick asked. Ben smiled.
" Yeah, she was beautiful. It was amazing, Dad." He said.
" And the treasure?" Patrick asked again, his voice slightly tinged with excitement. Ben's face fell.
" No, no, but we found a clue that lead us here-" Ben began, but Patrick cut him off.
" And that'll lead you to another clue! And that's all you'll ever find is another clue! Don't you get it, Ben? I think I've figured it out. The legend says the treasure was buried to keep it from the British, but what really happened was that the legend was invented to keep the British occupied, looking for buried treasure. The treasure is a myth." Patrick told us. Ben looked down at me and I gave him a small smile.
" I refuse." I muttered.
" We both refuse to believe that." Ben said. Patrick took a few steps towards Ben.
" You can believe that if you want. You're grown people! What am I doing? Do what you want, Ben. Do what you want. Just don't ruin others lives because of this! Don't!" Patrick said looking at me on the last part of his statement. I shook my head and sighed.
" He's probably right." Abigail said. " You don't even know if there is another clue."
" Well, I could think of a way we could find out. We could find out right now." Ben said looking at her.
" Okay, we'll need a table, gloves, q-tips, and a sterile surface. Oh, and lemon juice and a few cups." Riley said standing. We all began searching the house frantically. I grabbed a few trash bags and ripped them open, taping them to the dinning room table, creating a sterile surface. As I began to tape it down, Patrick came in.
" So, you still believe in this treasure?" He asked.
" Mm-hm. And based on what we've been discovering, my belief is even stronger!" I told him, crouching down to tape the side down.
" Arabella, I want you to listen to me." Patrick said quietly. I looked up at him. " Please don't ruin your life. I know you're a smart girl, I've known you since you were in middle school. I don't want to see you throw everything away like Ben has." I stood and put a hand on his shoulder.
" Ben hasn't thrown anything away, Patrick. He's going after something he believes in. This time he's right, Patrick. I know it. He has been wrong about things before, I do admit it, but this time, he is right. You're whole family has been right all these years! Believe me. Please. No, better yet, believe Ben. Believe your son. He won't let you down. I swear. Okay?" I said. Patrick gave me a small smile before giving me another hug. He then departed for the kitchen, grabbing a plate that had a slice of pizza on it that was on the oven.
Eventually, we had gathered all the supplies we needed, and Ben pulled on a pair of white cloth gloves, holding out a pair to Abigail and a pair to me. Riley pulled on a pair yellow rubber gloves. He unrolled the Declaration and laid it down on the table, the back facing us. We all glanced at each other and let out a collective breath, all nervous about we were about to do.
" Looks like animal skin." We all heard Patrick say. We all looked up to see him standing in the doorway of the dinning room. " How old is it?"
" At least two hundred years." I said.
" Really?" He asked. " You sure?"
" Pretty darn!" Ben replied.
" Now, if this thing is in invisible ink, how do we look at it?" Riley asked, pulling his glasses on.
" Throw it in the oven!" Patrick suggested.
" NO!" We all said.
" Well, self-fade inks can only be brought out with heat!" He informed us.
" Yes, but this is-" Abigail began.
" It's very old. It's very old, and we can't risk compromising the map!" Ben told his father. Patrick shrugged.
" You need a reagent!" He said, walking back towards the kitchen.
" Hey, Dad, it's getting late, why don't you get some rest?" Ben suggested.
" I'm fine!" Patrick called back at us. I rolled my eyes.
" Did you really think that that would get rid of him?" I asked. Ben shook his head and sighed, looking back down at the Declaration.
" Lemons…" Ben muttered. Riley handed Ben a small plate of lemon wedges, and Ben took a wedge, and set it down holding the lemon above the Declaration.
" You can't do that." Abigail said gripping his wrist.
" But it has to be done." Ben told her, looking over at her.
" Then someone trained to handle antique documents is going to do it." Abigail said.
" She has a point. It is the best way to keep it safe." I admitted, crossing my arms. The sleeves on the hoodie slid down over my hands and I felt like a little kid. I quickly rolled them up to my elbows again, hoping they would stay there. Riley's arms were obviously longer than mine.
" Okay." Ben agreed after a moment. He handed her the lemon wedge and sighed.
" Now, if there is a secret message," Abigail began, grabbing a q-tip. " It will be marked in the upper right hand corner." Ben was staring at her again.
" That's right." He said. I rolled my eyes. When he didn't stop staring, I waved a hand in front of his face, finally knocking him out of whatever trance he put himself into. She rubbed the cotton edge of the q-tip against the lemon and sighed again.
" I'm so getting fired for this." Abigail muttered. I was probably going to get fired as well. But, if we found the treasure, it would so be worth it. She lowered the q-tip, and stopped, half an inch above the paper. I could tell everyone was holding their breaths. She gently began to rub the q-tip against the corner. We waited, and nothing happened. Abigail gave Ben an 'I told you so' look and he just stared at the paper.
" I told you. You need heat." Patrick said. Abigail and Ben glanced at each other, a silent agreement passing between them. They both leaned down over the Declaration, and both let out a breath. A symbol appeared in the corner, as well as a few numbers. They quickly disappeared again. We all grinned at each other. I was so happy I grabbed Riley in a tight hug. He stood there a moment in shock before hugging back, and patting my shoulder. I pulled back, slightly embarrassed, and blushed, catching a slight blush on Riley's cheeks.
" We need more juice." Ben said.
" We need more heat." Abigail added.
" I'll get a hair dryer!" I said running towards where the bathroom was. I yanked a drawer open and pulled out a hair dryer, running it back downstairs, giving it to Abigail. Ben was carefully running a light amount of lemon juice over the back of the Declaration and Riley was watching. Abigail plugged in the hair dryer and began to lightly blow it across the back of the Declaration. A pattern of numbers was appearing on the back, and I marveled at them. Ben was ready with a pen, writing down the numbers.
" That's not a map." Riley said. He looked closely at the numbers. " Is it?"
" More clues. What a surprise." Patrick stated. I shook my head. Ben's father had always been like this. He never thought that Ben would do anything good with his life that he'd throw it away looking for the treasure. He was also convinced Ben had brainwashed me into believing him, which was so not true. He needed to trust Ben more.
" Are they latitudes and longitudes?" Riley asked. I leaned over Ben's shoulder and noticed the pattern in the numbers. I immediately knew what it was.
" It's why we need the Silence Dogood letters." Ben said looking up at Patrick.
" That's the key?" Abigail asked. Ben nodded.
" The key in Silence undetected." He agreed. " Dad, can we have the letters now?" Patrick looked down at the floor for a moment.
" Will someone please explain to me what these magic numbers are?" Riley asked.
" It's an Ottendorf Cipher." I told Riley.
" That's right." Patrick said.
" Oh, okay." Riley said with a nod. He looked at me. " What's an Ottendorf Cipher?"
" It's just codes." Patrick said.
" Each of these three numbers corresponds with a word in a key." Ben said. I looked at the back of the Declaration. The last of the numbers had faded again, descending into invisibility for what might be forever.
" Usually a random book or a news article." Abigail explained.
" In this case, the key is the Silence Dogood letters." I said, stealing Ben's notepad to explain to Riley. " So it's the page number of the key text, the line of the page, and the letter in that line." I explained, pointing to each number. Riley was staring at the page, fascinated, and I was pretty sure he understood it.
" So, Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asked.
" You know, it was just by sheer happenstance that his grandfather even found them!" Patrick began the story he'd told me before.
" Dad." Ben said, picking up on something that was clearly off. His father only launched into stories when he was nervous.
" They were in a desk in the press room of the New England Current!" He continued.
" Dad…" Ben muttered.
" Patrick." I tried to interrupt, but it didn't work.
" That's a newspaper." Patrick said.
" Dad, where are the letters?" Ben asked again. Patrick looked at us.
" I don't have them, son." Patrick told us. We all stared at him in shock. Where were they now, and what were we going to do?
Afterword: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! I know it's a bit short, but I was pressed for time for finishing this chapter, and I'm exhausted today! And again, thanks to the reviewer(s): Neverlandlover. Thank you for reviewing! I might get a chapter up tomorrow, but I'm not sure- I have some doctors appointments (including one for my injured shoulder) and horseback riding. I'll try and get one up! One more side note, I went to the movies, and I saw a commercial for the re-release of Titanic! I am SO HAPPY! =D If none of you know, I wrote a Titanic fanfiction and am possibly writing a sequel for it so I'm happy it's coming back to theatres! Anyway, REVIEWS ARE LOVED! Thanks!
