Disclaimer: I do not own National Treasure or any of the characters. I only own Arabella.
Chapter Ten: Piecing Things Together and Pulling Them Apart Again
I stopped walking right across the street from the Franklin Institute. The building was tall and the front was composed of Greek columns and in large letters "IN HONOR OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN" was at the top. Riley finally caught up with me and stopped to catch his breath.
" We can't go inside." I said. Riley gave me a look.
" What?" He asked.
" We can't go inside. If anyone there recognizes us, the FBI will be on us in a matter of minutes." I explained. Riley sighed.
" Then how are we going to get the message off of the letters?" Riley asked. I looked around and spotted a boy maybe ten or eleven sitting a few feet away. He was wearing a uniform from either a prep school or a Catholic school or something of the sort. I smirked.
" Think we could get that kid over there to do it for us?" I asked.
" Maybe." Riley said. " Lets go ask." We walked over and Riley sat next to him. " Hey." He said. The boy gave him a look and a nod. " You been inside there before?" Riley asked nodding towards the Franklin Institute. The boy nodded again. He had a backpack resting at his feet and he looked closed to grabbing it and leaving.
" Do you think you could do us a favor?" I asked. " We need someone to go inside the Franklin Institute and search the Silence Dogood letters for something." The kid looked skeptically at me and I grabbed Riley's wallet from his pocket and pulled out five dollars. " We'll pay you for each set of information you get us. I swear." I said holding the five dollars out to him. The kid stared at it a moment before looking at Riley.
" What do I have to do?" He asked. Riley sighed in relief.
" Okay. I have these sets of numbers." Riley said pulling out the piece of paper with the Ottendorf Cipher on it. Each of these numbers corresponds with the-" He began.
" Yeah, it's an Ottendorf Cipher." The kid interrupted. Riley gave him a look.
" Oh. So you know. Well, we need you to get the letters okay? Have anything I can write these on?" Riley asked. The kid pulled out a pile of sticky notes and held them out along with a pencil. " Thank you… okay… here is the first set. Go on!" Riley said handing him the sticky note and the money to the kid, who grabbed his backpack and ran across the street, into the Institute.
" Lets hope this works out, right?" I asked.
" Yeah. Oh, and you now owe me five dollars." Riley muttered, beginning to draw lines on the bottom of the newspaper, one line for each letter.
" Okay, I can pay that back." I said leaning back against the stonewall that was behind us. I pulled out my phone and began to fiddle with it.
OOOO
After fifteen minutes, the kid had gotten us all but the last four letters. We paid him each time he got us a set of letters, just like we promised. I began to help Riley piece the words together as the kid came running back to us.
" S, S, A, N, D." The kid told Riley, sitting between us.
" Okay." Riley murmured, looking down at the paper. " You sure this is right?" The kid gave him a look. " Okay…" Riley continued the letters from where the others had left off so it was, 'PASSAND'.
" No, no, it's an 'N'." The kid told him, pointing to the 'N' Riley had written.
" That is an 'N'." Riley said.
" It doesn't look like an 'N'." The kid stated. Riley gave him a slightly annoyed look.
" You know what, here. Last one. Okay?" He said and handed the kid another dollar. " One more dollar."
" Thank you!" He said, taking the money.
" Go get the last four letters." I told him.
" Go get 'em Chief, come on!" Riley called after him, looking back down at the paper. " Does this look like an 'N'?" Riley asked. I looked down at it. It kind of looked like a lower case 'R' but that's the way I drew my 'N's.
" Yeah, it does. I write mine like that too." I admitted. He smiled at me.
" Okay, care to help divide out the rest of the letters?" He asked. I nodded. " Okay… the vision to see the treasured past comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of pass and… pass and what?" Riley muttered. " Pass and…"
" Liberty Bell." I said. Riley pointed to a bus, that had a picture of the Liberty Bell on it, he probably meant to say something else, but I continued on speaking. " Yes, that bell, it was cast by two men who had the last names Pass and-" Riley cut me off.
" Stow. Come on! We have to go tell Ben and Abigail!" Riley said jumping up, grabbing my hand and pulling me off to Urban Outfitters, which was where the two were shopping (they had called to tell us where they were).
" How did you know the other man's last name was Stow?" I asked.
" Uh, the bus had a giant picture on it of the Liberty Bell, and their names are on it so, I kinda figured that since 'Stow' is four letters and 'Pass' was already on there, that the two pieces fit together." Riley explained.
" That makes sense." I said.
" Yup." Riley said before we ran into the store, and up a small flight of stairs and up to Ben, who had the Declaration over his shoulder in its red canister, and Abigail, who were paying for clothes. " Hey!" Riley called. The two spun around to face us.
" Did you get it, Riley, Arabella?" Ben asked.
" Oh, we got it." Riley said. He looked down at the paper and read, " 'The Vision To See The Treasured Pass Comes As The Timely Shadow Crosses In Front Of The House of Pass and Stow.' And Pass and Stow, of course, referring to-"
" The Liberty Bell." Ben and Abigail interrupted, sending a look of annoyance across Riley's face.
" Why do you have to do that?" He questioned. " Arabella's just as much as a history buff as you two and she doesn't do that!"
" Well, John Pass and John Stow-" Abigail began.
" Cast the bell after the original had been cracked while being tested." I finished. She gave me a small smile, which I returned.
" Okay… then what does the rest of this mean?" Riley asked. We all began to think.
" Wait a minute… 'The Vision To See The Treasured Past' must refer to a way to read the map." Ben said.
" I thought the cipher was the map." Riley said.
" No, it's not." I told him.
" It was a way to find a way to read the map." Ben explained.
" And a way to read the map can be found where the timely shadow crosses in front of the Liberty Bell." Abigail said, walking over to Ben. Looks like they got some bonding done while Riley and I were away.
" No, no, no. The timely shadow will cross in front of 'The House of Pass and Stow', not the Bell. It would be the house the Bell had been in, so it would be Independence Hall." I corrected. I felt like I needed to set the correction.
" The 'Timely Shadow' is a specific time!" Abigail added. Abigail, Ben and I grinned.
" Um… uh… what time?" Riley asked. Ben's face went serious.
" What time… what time… Wait, wait, wait." Ben grinned and put a hand on Abigail's shoulder. " You're gonna love this." Ben walked over to the cashier and asked, " Excuse me, could I see one of those hundred dollar bills I used to pay you with?" The woman gave him a look and shook her head.
" No." She said.
" Oh, well," Ben set the Declaration down and began to remove his watch. " This is a divers watch, it's called a submariner, I use it to dive, it's actually quite valuable, you can use it as-"
" Whatever…" The cashier said taking the watch. I smirked and laughed a bit at Ben.
" Thank you." Ben turned to Abigail. " On the back of a hundred dollar bill is an etching of Independence Hall according to a painting-" Ben was interrupted momentarily by the cashier, who handed him a hundred dollar bill. " Thank you, done in the seventeen eighties, who- this guy, the artist, was actually a friend of Benjamin Franklin! Its wonderful!" Ben explained.
" Fascinating…" The cashier muttered.
" Hold this." Ben said, handing the Declaration over to Abigail.
" Thanks." She said. Ben suddenly began to pull it back, probably remembering last night when she tried to run off with it.
" I'm not going anywhere." She told him with a smile. He smiled back and looked down at the hundred-dollar bill.
" I think that if we look at this clock tower…" Ben muttered, grabbing a bottle of water to use as a magnifying glass. " we may be able to find the specific time…" We all waited for him to find the time.
" What do you see?" I asked.
" Two twenty two." Ben informed us.
" What time is it now?" Abigail asked.
" Almost three." The cashier said, using Ben's watch. Ben, Abigail and I sighed.
" We missed it… of course we missed it…" I grumbled.
" No we didn't." Riley said. We all looked at him, dumbfounded. " We didn't miss it because… be… you don't know this?" He asked us. " I know something about history that you don't know!" Riley said with a grin.
" We'd be very excited to learn about it, Riley." Ben said in a monotone.
" Hold on one second, let me just… take in this moment. This is… this is cool… Is this how you feel all the time?" Riley asked mostly Ben, but also me as well. " Because, you know… except for now, of course-"
" Riley!" Abigail and I said.
" Alright. What I know, is that daylight savings wasn't established till World War One. If it's three PM now, okay, that means in seventeen seventy-six, it would be two PM." Riley explained.
" Riley, you're a genius." Ben told Riley, handing the money back, and receiving his watch again. Riley smiled happily.
" Good job." I told him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before following Ben and Abigail.
" Yeah…" Riley muttered, standing there a moment. He quickly began to catch up with us. " Do you actually know who the first person to suggest daylight savings was?" He asked, obviously hoping we didn't know, so he could still be king of the moment.
" Benjamin Franklin." Ben, Abigail and I said in unison. We heard Riley stamp his foot and I laughed a bit as we headed out of the store, and towards Independence Hall.
" We're getting so close." I said to Ben as I caught pace with him. He smiled at me.
" Who would have known that we would have gotten this far. I only dreamed of getting this far…" Ben said still smiling.
" I know. I still remember when you first told me about the treasure. You thought I was going to call you crazy, but I believed you and you were shocked for the rest of the day." I said tucking my hair behind my ear, smiling.
" And now our persistence has paid off." Ben said.
" Indeed it has. Look. We're here." I said as we rounded a corner and spotted the top of Independence Hall. We managed to merge into a tour group, and as we walked inside, we quickly diverged from the path and followed Ben to a flight of off limits stairs. We quickly ascended the staircases and Ben opened a door, stepping through to another set of stairs, and those led up to the bell tower. Riley shut the door behind us and we climbed the rest of the way to the top.
Ben pushed open a hatch and climbed through, helping Abigail out, then helping me up, and I was careful not to hit my head on the bell hanging above us. Riley gazed up at the bell as he appeared out of the darkness of the staircase.
" What bell is this?" He asked.
" It's the Centennial Bell. It replaced the Liberty Bell in eighteen seventy-six." Ben explained as we headed towards the direction the shadow of Independence Hall was falling. He checked his watch and then we all looked at the shadow hitting a brick structure on the roof below. The shadow of the very top of the steeple was hitting a certain point on it.
" There it is." I muttered.
" Alright, I'm going to go down there, meet me in the signing room." Ben planned, as he headed back towards the stairs, Abigail following.
" Alright, lets go." She said. Riley walked over to look at the shadow. He smirked as he checked his own watch.
" Three twenty two. My idea." He said with a grin. I smiled at him and pulled him back towards the stairs. Abigail, Riley and I all headed back down to the signing room, where we began to wait for Ben.
" So, you and Ben have been searching for the treasure since you were kids?" Abigail asked me. I smiled at her.
" Yeah, I believed him when he said it was real, and we were searching for clues since then. But it wasn't until a few days ago that we got a lead on the clue thanks to Riley and Ben finding a ship called The Charlotte, and that clue has led us here. It's amazing, it honestly is." I told her, smiling the whole time. She smiled back.
" She works for the Smithsonian, too. She loves history, just like Ben." Riley added on.
" If we don't get arrested, when all of this is over I'll take you on a tour of the American History Museum- you could pick up on some more information and maybe one day out history Ben or maybe even me." I told Riley. He grinned.
" Your on." He said. Just then, we saw Ben walk into the signing room, hiding something under his jacket. " Hey, what'd you score?" Riley asked as we all swiftly walked over to him.
" I found this." Ben said holding out what looked like a pair of glasses, with four different little circular pieces of colored glass that could be lifted or put in place by pressing down on the ends of the wire they were attached to. I stared at them in awe. " It's some kind of ocular device." Ben said. Riley carefully took them. " The Vision to See the Treasured Past." Ben smiled at me and I smiled back. We were even closer. " Let me take this." Ben said taking the Declaration and walking over to a windowsill
" They're like early American X-ray specs!" Riley said holding them out and looking through them slightly before handing them to me. I carefully handled them, not believing I was holding something that had been hidden for over a hundred years.
" Benjamin Franklin invented something like these." Abigail said.
" Uh, I think he invented these." Ben told us, carefully pulling the Declaration out of the grey canister.
" He's right. If these were invented by him, it fits the time span perfectly." I agreed.
" So… what do we do with them?" Riley asked, taking the glasses back.
" We look through them, of course." I said playfully nudging his shoulder a bit. Riley began to put them on but stopped when Abigail asked for his help holding the Declaration. All of us carefully took a hold of it and Ben unrolled it. As he stopped he let out a breath.
" What?" Riley whispered.
" Its just that the last time this was here, it was being signed." Ben said. I smiled at him.
" It's amazing, right?" I added. Riley sighed.
" Arabella, Ben, there's another tour coming." He pointed out.
" Right." I said as we carefully flipped the Declaration over.
" Careful…" Abigail muttered.
" Spectacles." Ben said and Riley quickly handed them to him. Ben put them on and let out a shocked breath. " Wow…" He muttered.
" What do you see?" Abigail asked eagerly.
" What is it? Is it the treasure map?" Riley asked excitedly, a smile forming on his face.
" It says 'Heere at the wall', spelled with two 'e's. Here, take a look." Ben said handing them to me first. I looked down at the Declaration and gasped quietly.
" Oh my dear Lord…" I muttered. On the back of the Declaration I saw the words 'Heere at the wall' on the back in a haze of purplish green. The words appeared to be on a piece of paper that wrapped around an intricate cross. I grinned and I pulled the spectacles off and held them out again. Riley reached for them but Abigail grabbed them first and he scowled at her.
" Wow." Abigail said as she gazed down at it.
" Why can't they say just go to this place, here's the treasure, spend wisely?" Riley asked.
" Because it wouldn't be as much fun." I told him. Ben looked out the window and I followed his gaze, spotting one of Ian's men I recognized from the catering van.
" Oh no…" We said in unison. Riley ran over to the window and pulled the curtains back.
" How'd they find us?" He asked.
" Ian has nearly unlimited resources." Ben said as he and Abigail began to roll up the Declaration. I walked to stand beside Riley as we stared out at Ian's men. " And he's smart." He added.
" I don't think we can get out of here without being spotted." Abigail said.
" Well we don't want him to have the Declaration or the glasses, but we especially don't want him to have them both together." Ben said.
" So what do we do?" Riley asked.
" We separate them. Like taking a lock away from its key. We're splitting up." I finished Ben's thought. He nodded.
" Good idea." Abigail said.
" Really?" Riley questioned.
" I'll take this," Ben said grabbing the empty red canister. " And that," He took the spectacles from Abigail. " You keep that." Ben said gesturing to the Declaration and the grey canister. " Meet me at the car, call me if you have any problems." Ben said.
" Like if we get caught or killed?" Riley specified. Ben turned to look at Riley.
" Yeah, that would be a big problem." He said. " Take care of her." Ben said looking at Abigail and then at me.
" I will." Both Riley and Abigail said at the same time. I rolled my eyes at the two. Ben left first, and after a minute, we walked out of the door and into the open.
" Lets walk this way." Abigail said, turning left. Riley and I both kept walking straight for a moment before turning and running to catch up with her. We headed towards Patrick's Cadillac through a crowded street, and we hoped we were loosing them, till we heard a shout behind us.
It was time to run, wasn't it?
Afterword: Here's the next chapter! Hope you all liked it! HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE! =D Wow, the last day in 2011 and a whole new year ahead of us! =D I want to thank my reviewers yet again: Neverlandlover, Hawk's-GaL4077, and Phillipfan24. Thanks for the reviews, they make me happy! Since I'm staying up all night like every New Years Eve, I could possibly post another chapter tonight, no promises though. One will be up tomorrow though! Reviews would be loved! Thanks!
