I gave Ian the directions. And sure enough, the spot was completely untouched other than sidewalks, benches, and lamp posts. The boulder was still there to my surprise. I went to sit down on it. I looked out into the harbor as I recalled all the moments I spent with Alex just looking out under the stars. A hand touched my leg and I turned my head to see Alex. Tears were ready to come out.

"Essie, you can cry if you want to."

Why didn't you come to me when I called for you?

"I didn't want you depending on me. Besides, you were being drugged and needed to trust your gut over my word. You should understand this of all people."

I know. And I feel like a total idiot now.

Alex laughed and kissed my cheek. He sat by me for whatever time he could. He stood up eventually.

"I'm afraid I will have to go for a little longer. Trust yourself. When you are in real mortal danger, then I will be there for you in an instant."

He pressed his lips to mine and sauntered down to the dock where his boat was waiting, like mine was in my dreams. I had to focus on my training and what it taught me if I was going to get out okay. Footsteps came my way. I gasped at the sight.

"I know. Shocking that I should be mixed up in all of this. By the way, you can call me Patrick, if you'd like, Esther Livingston."

"How did you get my full name?"

"It wasn't hard, after the agents undid your work and told me who you were."

"Huh. I didn't think I was that significant. I only thought my past was more important than me."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you recognize my last name?"

Patrick Gates paused for a moment, putting the pieces together, realizing who I was talking about.

"You're a descendant of Robert Livingston?"

"Indeed I am. But not many people know it."

We sat there for a very long time until Ian's assistants took us black SUV. Patrick's hands were bound with duct tape while I was gagged again with the oxygen mask. I sat in the SUV next to Patrick while the vehicle went down the roads of the city. We arrived at Wall St. and Broadway, knowing that the clue had been figured out.

One of the things you learn in New York history is the very beginning. The very beginning deals with the Dutch settlers taking up Orange and New Amsterdam, renamed Albany and New York City in 1664 after Peter Stuyvesant surrendered to the British. There was a wall on Wall St. and the only entrance was on a street known as De Heere, renamed Broadway. Thus, "Heere at the Wall" meant the intersection of Wall St. and Broadway.

I was pulled out of the car, mask still on. I couldn't tell what was going on, but I figured Ben and Ian were talking across the street. The mask was removed and I was barely able to walk, let alone stand, as I was dragged out into the open to see Ben's face. He looked horrified at the sight. I started to read Ian's lips as he talked.

"Don't expect me to give her up like the Declaration and the pipe. I have some unfinished business to take care of with her. Now where is it? Where's my treasure?"

Ben gave Ian the answer that the treasure was at the road intersection as I still stood there, trying to keep a grip on reality. Ian didn't look the slightest convinced. Then I knew the reason why Ian had Patrick around. I started to struggle and fight back, but I was so weak that pushing me to the ground was effective. I was finally dragged back into the car, sitting on the seat with shame. I felt very useless. I really wanted to talk to Alex, but he said he would come to me in the most dire of situations and that moment was dire. It was just depressing and down in the gutter.

We arrived at Trinity Church and I knew that the end was near for all of us. I tried staying as silent and useless as possible. Besides, talking would take a great deal of energy out me since I needed to recover from the sedative exposure. I didn't pay attention to what Ian and Ben were discussing since I knew that they were talking about the newly discovered clue on the back:

/

Beneath Parkington Lane

/

Parkington Lane was a very high up Mason who requested to be buried above the treasure and be a part of the map to finding it. And of course, a lot changes over 200 years. So I didn't know that Parkington Lane's tomb was in the boiler room along with other dead important people.

Riley was the one to find the grave. As Ben was reading the inscription, someone took a heavy wrench and just broke away the stone. The wooden casket was pulled out. The bottom came undone and the bones of the man appeared. My heart was squeezed and released, causing a sorrowing pain to grow. I looked at the tunnel with the rest of the group.

"OK. Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?"

Very funny, Riley. You have to be the comedian of the group?

"Right. McGregor, Viktor, you stay here. And if anyone should come out without me, well... use your imagination. Shall we?"

I was about to go in first, but Ian grabbed me for a minute.

"No funny business, Livingston. I'm sure you're still trying to recover, so if you want to live, do us both a favor and don't try to run."

I pulled my arm away from him and climbed down the tunnel first. A great chill went up my spine. I heard screams from further down so I went on, not bothering to stay with the group. I found a small lantern and lit it with one of my matches. I continued down until I found the chandelier. By then, everyone else caught up. Ben lit the chandelier and used the rope to move it so the whole place was lit up.

"Look at the elevators."

"A dumbwaiter system."

"How do a bunch of guys with hand tools build all this?"

"Same way they built the pyramids and the Great Wall of China," Ben stated in awe.

"Yeah. The aliens helped them."

Okay, NOW I'm getting sick and tired of Riley's jokes.

"Right, let's go. What are we waiting for?"

"I'm not going out on that thing. 200 years of termite damage and rot."

"Dad, do what he says."

Patrick hesitantly obliged and walked down the stairs. He stepped on a piece of wood and it fell down below.

"Watch your step. We're right under the Trinity graveyard. That's probably why no one ever found this."

A great shaking halted our progress. We started to worry as of what it was.

"What is that?" Riley asked. The shaking subsided.

"Subway," Ian replied.

I was right behind Patrick when suddenly, Shaw fell right through the wooden stairs. He continued to fall down into the abyss. I gripped the wood on the walls, trying to take in the fact that Shaw was another victim of the hunt.

It wasn't long before the floor started to shift. Riley jumped to a stable area. Ben and Abigail had trouble staying on the elevator. I moved ahead of Patrick and started to slip, falling down until I grabbed onto one of the stairs. I was at least 3 floors down from them. I pulled myself up and lied down on the wood, catching my breath. I was definitely recovered from the sedative dosing and I ran to help the others. Abigail was dropped onto a platform and Ben was holding onto the Declaration while clinging to the edge of the elevator for dear life. I ran faster and faster. Alex was at the same pace as me.

Oh, so NOW you decide to show up. That's very convenient of you, considering how I almost DIED no thanks to you!

"I'm sorry, but you didn't tell me you were in trouble until I sensed you were about to die."

I was very close to everyone. I heard Ben and Abigail discuss about dropping the other and saving the Declaration.

"Really?"

"I would've dropped you both. Freaks."

I laughed and fell onto my knees. I was really exhausted from running and having the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

"Get on."

"Ian... it's not worth it."

"Do you imagine any one of your lives is more valuable to me than Shaw's? We go on."

The elevator came up to me, with everyone but Shaw aboard.

"That includes you, Livingston."

"I'm not going."

"Childish. Get on. Now."

I glared at Ian. He could say all the things he wanted to, but I wasn't going.

"Now, Livingston. Or do you want me to convince you?"

I huffed. I knew what he meant by trying to convince me: fighting dirty. And how he did it was quite simple. All he needed to do was threaten a person's life and I would give in. And the bad news was that it wouldn't be hard to find someone that I would willingly give my life to, given the circumstance. I reluctantly got on the elevator, not happy with my choice. Alex held my hand as we descended into the abyss getting closer to the floor leading to the treasure.

We entered a chamber containing 4 doorways to who knew where. Only one of them would lead to the final test. Ben seemed to know the answer and pretended to look frustrated. I was ecstatic that he would try to lie about where the treasure was so that Ian wouldn't get it. But Ian had to know what my gift was or he wouldn't look so confident.

"This is it? We came all this way for a dead end?"

"Yes."

Buy it, Ian. Buy it.

"There's gotta be something more."

"Riley, there's nothing more."

"Another clue, or..."

"No, there are no more clues! That's it, OK? It's over! End of the road. The treasure's gone. Moved. Taken somewhere else."

"You're not playing games with me, are you, Ben? Hm? You know where it is."

"No."

Ian looked to me. He knew. He had that confidence. He walked up to me and held my chin in his hand.

"Is he telling the truth, Livingston? You already know what's at stake. I don't think it'd be wise to lie to me and risk such things."

"Ben is telling the truth."

He moved his hand and slapped me, pushing me to the ground. He knew I lied. I was so good at it, but I knew I slipped up somewhere in the conversation.

"The truth, Livingston. I want the truth. Now."

"Even if you convinced me enough to tell the truth, I would never tell you where the treasure is. Only those who succeed in passing the tests are worthy to see it."

"Forget about your bloody integrity and tradition. I know in a heartbeat you would sacrifice yourself to save the people you care about. Have you forgotten about that detail?"

"Dig your own grave, Ian. I would rather die than tell you the truth."

"Then you'll get your wish."

Ian didn't pull out his gun. He kicked me viciously, knowing I was still weak. I finally succumbed to the darkness within seconds because I couldn't handle the torment. I felt my life slipping quickly. Even with the support of my friends beyond life, I just wanted to give up. The gift was only a curse. People would use it for their selfish reasons to gain power. It was better that I die so that no one else could get hurt.

"Is that what you really think, Esther?"

I looked around the void I was in. A man was in front of me, dressed in Colonial attire. Black clothes, white in the middle, and a gray wig, I had sworn that I had seen him. He came onto his knees, eyes level with mine.

"Tell me, Esther. Do you really think that having this gift is a curse?"

"Well, yeah. People fight for power and I'm a shortcut to it with my gift."

"True, but you can only see into the past. You don't see the present or the future. And only God can guide us so that you see what you should only see. Why do you think you visited Alex so often?"

"So that I would know about the treasure and protect it with my life."

"All of that is true, but not entirely."

"What?"

"You were given this power to secure the future. If you know the secrets of the world, then you hold great knowledge and wisdom to make fair decisions. This also means that you can decide when people are ready to know the truths about their culture and past."

"Like the fact that I dated a man who is 200 years older than me?"

"I suppose," he chuckled. "But you have a rich history. A history of negotiations. This is a history of people that wanted peace and if they were unsuccessful, then they fought for what they believed in. You believe that, do you not?"

"Of course I do! Talks before actions, as my grandma told me. A lady is the best speaker while a man is the best fighter. She taught me about discussing issues before raising a fist."

"And I am very proud of her for teaching you that."

"Huh?"

"Understand this, my dear. You are a rare case. Few people are past seers. You might be the last of them. But there is no record of someone in your family of being one."

"It's a passed on trait?"

"It can skip a few generations. Yours? Well, the last one in your family was before my time."

"That reminds me. Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me, Little Star? I know we never fully met before, but you should know who I am with no trouble."

I looked at him more carefully. His face looked all too familiar. As if there was a painting of him somewhere.

Wait! His eyes! They're-they're-they're the same as mine!

"Robert?"

"I'm glad to have finally met you face to face, Esther. I must be going now. I hope you never lose sight of your gift. We will meet again soon. Take care, my greatest descendent."

He walked away from me, leaving me to sit on the ground in confusion and realization. I started to stand up and run after him. A bright light blinded me and I was in the fire line of a battlefield. Someone grabbed me and I was brought behind a line of cannons. The men around me were in many clothes but all wore a tricorn hat. I knew I was in a battle in the American Revolution on the Americans' side. As for the person that grabbed me, I didn't see his face as he dragged me further and further away from the fight. A tent was pitched under a tree. The person opened the flap and pushed me inside. I was wearing another petticoat dress. I tripped and fell on my hands. I turned my head to see the face of the person that saved me and abducted me. Before I could say a thing, lips crashed onto mine. I tried breaking apart and eventually he did. I stared, shocked at who it was.

"What are you doing here, Esther? I left you in New York."

"I-I-I-"

"You could've been killed!"

"Even if I died, it would've never really happened. I don't exist, remember?"

"But to see you die…"

I hugged him. He worried a little too much.

"I'm fine, Alex. I didn't intentional come here. I just, well, appeared."

"How long can you stay here for?"

"I don't know."

"Then I will hold you close for what time I may have with you."

We held each other close. I was sad that I would never truly have a life with the man I loved. But I knew that love could never die and that it would always go beyond time. Even if I was never destined to live with him, I would always love him.

"ESTHER! ESTHER!"

"I have to go Alex."

"Come back soon. Promise?"

"I will."

"And Esther?"

I turned back to face him.

"Will you find the treasure?"

"Soon I will. Why?"

"Remember the pendant?"

"Yes."

"I never know if you are real or not, but I had left the box of letters to you and something small for you to keep. Please find them."

"I will."

I gave him one last kiss before leaving the tent and running off into the forest where another bright light came to me. I shielded my eyes that time and woke up in a dimly lit room with Ben's face in front of mine.

"Esther?"

"Ben?"

He picked me up in his arms.

"I was worried when Ian left you there. I really thought you were-"

"Oh come now, Ben. You should know by now that it's very difficult for me to die so easily."

"Yeah, well, we're about to die again. Ben and his dad here gave Ian a fake clue and once he finds out, we're all going to get shot."

"Sounds comforting. Considering how I was shot before."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but I didn't die, as you can plainly see."

Ben stood up and looked at the right door: the one with the All-Seeing Eye over the Unfinished Pyramid. His hand brushed at the dirt around the button.

"Nobody's gonna die. There's another way out."

"Where?"

"Through the treasure room."

And with that, Ben pressed the button. The door opened and Patrick helped his son push aside the stone door. We entered the room with the final test. A table set for guards and workers had cobwebs encasing them. Ben looked absolutely devastated. He didn't understand that there was another test before reaching the treasure.

"Looks like someone got here first."

"I'm sorry, Ben."

"It's gone."

It's not gone. It's just hidden.

"Listen, Ben..."

"It may have even been gone before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates."

"It doesn't matter."

"I know. 'Cause you were right."

"No, I wasn't right. This room is real, Ben. And that means the treasure is real. We're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history, because you found what they left behind for us to find and understood the meaning of it. You did it, Ben. For all of us. Your grandfather and all of us. And I've never been so happy to be proven wrong."

That's the real family Gates' legacy: fathers who admit that they're happy to be proven wrong by their sons.

"I just... really thought I was gonna find the treasure."

Patrick put his hand on Ben's shoulder.

"OK. Then we just keep looking for it."

"I'm in."

I stepped up to Ben.

"You've come too far to give up. I'm with you the whole way."

"OK," he answered.

"Not to be Johnny Rain Cloud here, but that's not gonna happen. Because as far as I can see, we're still trapped down here."

Way to kill the mood, Riley.

But unfortunately, he had a very good point: we were still trapped and only inches away from the treasure. And I had to be hands off for the most crucial part of the hunt.

"Now, Ben, where is this other way out?"

"Well, that's it. It doesn't make any sense, because the first thing the builders would have done after getting down here was cut a secondary shaft back out for air..."

"Right."

"...and in case of cave-ins."

Ben stood in front of the last test. His hand reached out into the little depression in the wall. He was ever so close.

"Could it really be that simple?"

His hand went into his pocket as he pulled out the pipe and handle.

"'The secret lies with Charlotte.'"

He pushed the pipe into the depression and the stem below it. Turning the handle and pushing the whole thing in, he opened the door. Patrick, Riley, and Abigail walked ahead. I stayed with Ben for a moment.

"Esther, there's more to who Alex is. Tell me who he really is."

I sighed. I knew it was better to not tell him, but something made me trust him.

"You see Alex every day and most people don't realize it."

He smiled and hugged me. Ben and I walked down to the treasure, fewer secrets between us. We saw only a part of the whole room but enough to let us know just how much history was lost. Abigail admired the lost scrolls of Alexandria and Riley was unsure about Egyptian royalty symbols with a statue of a pharaoh. Patrick wandered to the pedestal where the pendant laid. He rubbed off the dirt and dust caked on the silver medallion. I joined his side to find a box underneath the stand on a built-in shelf.

That's impossible. Alex had never seen me in real life in his timeline.

I gingerly reached out my hand to the box. On the top was an outline of New York City harbor where I constantly met Alex. My heart was breaking and I started to cry.

"What is it?" Patrick asked me.

I didn't answer. I opened the box to find letter upon letter addressed to me, starting with "Dearest Esther". Inside the box as well was a small cloth bag. I put my fingers in to retrieve a necklace made with gold, holding a pendant with a white bone star etched with the words "God has given us freedom". My heart rang with truth and joy, but my body could only give tears to these wonderful gifts.

Ben set fire to the gunpowder, which would light the whole treasure room. I didn't bother joining the group as the treasure was revealed since I was in the glory of the treasure before. I could bask in it later. What was most important was the box. I couldn't fathom the reasoning behind such possibility. It was impossible for him to have seen me in reality.

"Not entirely, Esther. Did I not tell you that I couldn't figure out if you were real or not? This is a result of my questioning. I wrote letters to a ghost, a figment, waiting for the answer to me question to appear."

But I didn't exist until much later, Alex.

"Even so, I still saw you and grew an attachment to who you were. Take them with you."

I didn't know what to say. I was sad and delighted and confused by all that happened. I accepted what was and moved on with what I had. Ben came over to me shortly.

"We have a way out." He looked at the box in my hand. "From Alex?"

I nodded my head.

"I just don't understand how this is possible."

"Well, finding the treasure also seemed impossible. And yet, here we are."

"I know." I sighed in defeat, not wanting to understand the reasoning. "Let's get out of here."