AN: So, here's the next chapter. I'm in the process of moving, so I don't know how fast the next one is gonna come out. It could be a couple of days, could be a couple of weeks. I'll try not to let it be a month before I update. It really all depends on how much free time I have. I promise though, longer it takes more chapters I'll post at a time.

So this chapter is dedicated to Musical Cake and Guin Parris.

I hope you guys like the chapter.

Happy reading everyone!

'Here, pretend - pretend that that's a seed.'

'It's a rock.'

'Oh, I know it's a rock, I know. But let's just pretend for a minute that it's a seed, alright? We'll just use our imaginations. Now, now do you see our tree? Everything that made that giant tree is already contained inside this tiny little seed. All it needs is some time, a little bit of sunshine and rain, and voilá!'

'This rock will be a tree?'

'Seed to tree. You've gotta work with me, here. Alright? Okay. Now, y-you might not feel like you can do much now, but that's just because, well, you're not a tree yet. You just have to give yourself some time. You're still a seed.'

'But it's a rock.'

'I know it's a rock! Don't you think I know a rock when I see a rock? I've spent a lot of time around rocks!'

'You're weird, but I like you.'

-Flik and Dot, A Bug's Life

Chapter Twenty Six: Letters from Juliet

Riley's POV

-Italy 2013-

Verona was nice. I get why Kaelen and Eva would hide a clue here. We were over by the wall. We hadn't found anything yet.

"Riley, I'd rather not be the one to tell you this, because I don't really care, but your kid just ran off that way." Ian stated still looking at wall, he pointed near the Club Di Giulietta.

'Crap…' I groaned and ran off after her. I ended up running into a lady with a basket of letters in her hand. I helped her pick up the letters she dropped, "Mi dispiace. Sto cercando mia figlia. Lei corse via qui vicino."

(I'm sorry. I'm looking for my daughter. She ran off near here.)

"Circa 3 metri di altezza, lunghi capelli biondi, occhi azzurri, e non parla italiano?" The woman asked.

(Around 3 feet tall, long blonde hair, blue eyed, and doesn't speak any Italian?)

I nodded, "Sì che è lei."

"E 'con i segretari de Giulietta. Vieni con me."

(She's with the secretaries de Juliet. Come with me.)

"Grazie."

(Thank you.)

I followed her into the building. When we got to the room where they answered the letters, the secretaries were crowded around what, well who, I'm guessing was Carissa.

"Lei è così carina." One of the secretaries cooed.

(She's so cute.)

"Da dove è venuta da?" Another secretary asked.

(Where did she come from?)

"Mi piace. Facciamo la sua conservazione." A secretary exclaimed.

(I like her. Let's keep her.)

'Yup. Carissa is definitely in the middle of that crowd.' I smirked shaking my head.

"Lei ha una famiglia, Arabella. Deve essere un turista." Another secretary said to the one who was called Arabella.

(She has a family, Arabella. She must be a tourist.)

"Lei è un turista. Siamo Americano. Sono sorpreso che non ha ancora detto nulla. Lei è molto brava in questo. Le piace raccontare storie." I said breaking up their crowd.

(She is a tourist. We're American. I'm surprised she hasn't said anything yet. She's very good at that. She likes to tell stories.)

"Hello Daddy." Carissa smiled, "I told you I could help. I followed the lady with the letters to find the clue."

"Thank you, Carissa."

"Clue?" One of the secretaries asked, "Are you Mr. Riley Poole?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Do you mind if we ask you some security questions to make sure?" Another asked.

'You really had to make this hard, didn't you, Bianca?' I thought, "Sure."

"Where were you when you had your first kiss with your wife?" One asked.

"In an alleyway." I answered.

"What's an alleyway?" Carissa asked.

"It's a narrow backstreet." I answered.

"That isn't romantic." Carissa asked.

"It was rushed and wasn't supposed to be." I replied, "How do you know what romantic means?"

"Mommy."

I shook my head, "Do you have any other questions.

"Yes, she gave us one for each of us." The first secretary to ask a question said.

"Where did you get married?" The second one asked.

"On a beach in Islamadora, Florida" I replied.

"Where did you go on your honeymoon?" The third asked.

"Maui." I replied.

"Where's Maui?" Carissa asked.

"It's an island that's in Hawaii." I answered.

"What kind of animal is Carissa's stuffed animal and what's its name?" The fourth asked.

"Her stuffed animal is a teddy bear. His name is-"

"My bear's name is Madeline!" Carissa exclaimed.

"What are Carissa and Zach's full names?" The fifth secretary asked.

"Carissa's is Carissa Marie Poole and Zach's is Zachary Sherlock Poole." I answered. I got to pick Carissa's first name and Zach's middle name. I got to pick Zach's first name and Carissa's middle name. It was the only way would agree on the names.

"What languages do you speak?" The last one asked.

"Italian, English, Klingon, Romulan, Elvish, Dwarfish, and Vulcan." I replied. The first woman gave me an envelope. "Thank you."

I picked up Carissa and we left the building.

"No more running off by yourself, okay?"

"But I can help…" Carissa argued.

"You have helped." I told her, "Just please leave the clue finding and big people stuff to us from now on."

"But I want to help." Carissa replied.

'Her first word was no, it's not like I didn't see this coming.' I sighed,setting her down, "And you have, just let me do the bigger jobs like this from now on. You could get hurt doing this stuff."

"But I don't want to do the little jobs; I want to be like you and mommy. I want to be big and do big stuff."

I smiled, "And you will one day. Right now you're little, but that's not a bad thing. There's a lot of stuff you can only do when you're little."

"Like what?"

"Well, you can obviously get through a crowd without being noticed easier than others, for one thing."

"But you don't like it when I do that." She pointed out.

"No, no I don't good point." I replied, "Let's see what's in the envelope, shall we?" I opened the envelope before she could reply and then read quietly to myself, 'Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.'

"One…Six…Five…One…Five…" Carissa started to say.

"What are you-"

"Turn it over, Daddy…" She cut me off. I turned it over. There was a message in numbers. Now I got what Bianca had said about simplicity.

'16-5-15-16-12-5…4-15…3-18-1-26-25…20-8-9-14-7-19… 23-8-5-14… 20-8-5-25'18-5…9-14…12-15-22-5.'

"Simplicity is best…" I said aloud, and then looked down at Carissa, "How would you figure this out?"

"How many letters are there?" She asked.

"In the Alphabet?" I asked, "26."

"Are there any numbers that are bigger?" She asked.

I looked at the letter again, "No." I smiled, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"You helped." I replied, writing the numbers down above the letters. 'People do crazy things when they're in love.'

"That's from Hercules!" Carissa exclaimed.

"The Disney movie?" I asked her.

She nodded, "He and Meg both say it."

"So you think the next clue is in Greece?" I asked her.

"The musical?" Carissa asked.

'She spends way too much time watching movies with her mother.' I thought shaking my head, "Where the Disney movie Hercules takes place."

"Oh…"

"Now where in Greece…" I said to myself, and then flipped the card over and typed the message into Google. The top result was Plato. I guess the clue's leading us to Athens then. "Time to go, angel."

We headed back to the others to tell them what we found.