It was night when they arrived at their destination. Cassie was forced to sit with the three mercenaries in the back of a pickup truck while Harris drove them to their destination. When they arrived there, Cassie was expecting them to actually be swimming underground like they did in Germany but the opposite had happened. They actually drove downtown and they arrived at a large infrastructure with ancient writing on the front door.

"Is this Ys?" Cassie asked Eins.

"I believe so," the merc answered, "Unlike most lost cities, the city of Ys is not so lost, it's just hidden in plain sight. That's about all I know."

Cassie looked at the infrastructure as she climbed out of the car. She kept her eyes on the tomb as she walked up the steps with the mercs and Vita Longa members walking with her. There were tourists taking pictures and she wondered if anybody would notice her running off. She considered it but the three mercs surrounded her from all sides so it would be futile to have history repeat itself.

Like the Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something, there were five guards standing post at the front door with assault rifles. Their guards raised when Harris walked up before he said something in a foreign language that allowed the guards to let them pass for free.

"I wish I knew what they were saying," Zwei said randomly to his companion, "I can only speak English, Spanish, and German."

"To each, their own I guess," Drei shrugged, "Let's just get this over with.

The two mercs pushed Cassie forcefully through the door.

"Alright," Cassie said, "Cálmese!"

Cassie slid through the doors and was on the inside of the tomb. There were the same designs as the Tomb of Hermes Tri-Something had and it made Cassie realized that if the Hermes tomb was in Italy, Ostanes's tomb in Germany, then they must be in the Tomb of the Flamels, the alleged creators of the Philosopher's Stone.

"We've been digging in this tomb for the better part of several months," Harris mentioned to Cassie as he directed her down a path. "Eighteen months to be exact." He leads the group through the path that was always blocked off when Cassie was exploring. She thought she would have to crawl through another rathole but this tomb showed mercy upon her.

She walks through the cave of the path and when they get to the other side, it was the biggest lab of the alchemists so far.

The room was about fifty square feet and there were several bookshelves stacked on one another like a library with tall shelves.

"It took us a year to read all these books," Marcel said, "Not a single one tells us how to open the gate which is down there."

Cassie looks forward and sees the end of the wall. The wall had two giant knobs in the center like a door but in between them was a mirror of some kind and the sudden interest made Cassie's head tilt.

"Is that a mirror?" Cassie asked aloud? "I didn't think that alchemists would be into fashion."

"That's not just a mirror," Harris, "That is the device that will open these doors and lead us to Ys. The only problem is that we can't figure out how to open it. I've consulted with Heisenberg and you would be the best person to open it."

Cassie smiled, "Well, there's no puzzle I can't solve. But before I do this, I want to see Derek, Erkin, and Joshua. And while you're at it, a couple of pizzas from Italy."

Pavel raised a hand, "I could hypnotize you," he warned, "Don't push it."

"Okay," Cassie said in an annoyed voice, "Regular pizza than."

Harris rolled his eyes before looking at Zwei and Drei. "Go get her companions." He turned to Pavel and Marcel. "You two, tell Heisenberg the news."

The four followers nodded respectfully and left the lab, leaving Cassie with Harris and Eins.

"Don't even think of trying to escape," Harris hissed, "Alice is more than enough to take you down."

Eins's eyes widened, realizing that Harris inadvertently said her real name in front of her enemy.

Don't say my real name, she mentally shouted at him, I do have a son and I'd rather him not be in danger!

Cassie ignores Harris and doesn't see the glare Eins was shooting at Harris. The Vita Longa member looked at Eins with a confused look, not realizing what he did.

Cassie steps in front of the mirror and she stares into it. She narrows her eyes and reaches for her journal only to realize that the villain took it. She turns to Harris. "I would like my journal, please?"

Harris complied and threw Cassie her journal.

She catches it and flips to a page.

"There is some kind of snake that acts as a guardian to the lost city of Ys and the only way to unlock the gate to Ys is to shine the light of pure gold in the mirror." She had been reading off from her journal aloud and the two villains approached her from behind, looking over her shoulder.

"The color of pure gold," Harris repeated, "We did the same thing you did with deciphering the Voynich Manuscript, using colors to decipher the code."

"You think that there is some kind of secret writing written within the mirror?" she asked, "If you used a gold-colored clipboard, it would be too easy. It is still a clue."

"We'll be here for a while," Eins said, "We'll help with whatever you need."

"Good," she said nonchalantly.

I got two villains under my thumbs but I shouldn't underestimate them. One is smart and the other is capable of physically overpowering me.

She looks from her journal then back to the mirror, everything seeming to fall into place.

"Oh my god…" she muttered under her breath, "I can't believe it."

"What?" Harris and Eins questioned.

"It can't be that easy," she said again.

"What are you talking about?"

Cassie closed the notebook, everything fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle and it reminded her how much she loved jigsaw puzzles. She turned to Harris and grabbed him by the collars. Harris thought for a second that he was going to be assaulted but that did not end up being the case.

"It's not asking for the color of gold," she said, "It is asking for the color of pure gold."

"What?" Harris and Eins said simultaneously. "What are you talking about?" they both asked.

"Think about it," she said while tugging against his collars, "Colors were used to decipher a text, this mirror requires the actual color to activate. This means holding a clipboard colored gold would not work because it is not pure gold. In simple terms, if there was a clipboard that was made from gold that had been melted and molded into a square like fossilized honey, and we were to shine a light through it over the mirror, then it would work. There's nothing purer than gold itself."

"I was going to say the same thing," Harris said, "But you beat me to the chase."

"Really?" she arched her eyebrows, "You really thought that far ahead?"

"What if I did?" he asked, "I just wanted to see if you could catch up to my intelligence."

"I surpassed your intelligence, Einstein."

Harris smiles, "I'm complimented."

To humiliate me like that in front of a woman, Harris grunted in his head, You're going to pay for that, Cassie. I think I'll slather you in organic iron then use the Philosopher's Stone to turn you into gold. You will be my trophy.

This guy figured out the puzzle? Cassie told herself, He couldn't find his own ass with both hands at noon in the street. He's just saying that to look tough in front of this girl. Because I figured everything out, I gave up the advantage when I told him how the puzzle was to be solved. Even so, they're probably taking their sweet time to get Derek and the other two over here because they wanted me to work my magic. They wanted me to solve the puzzle and only bring out my friends when I was taking too long or until they had the insurance that I wouldn't do anything after solving the puzzle. I can't wait to meet this Heisenberg guy because if he is the main antagonist of this adventure, then Harris is the secondary antagonist, Marcel, and the other illusionist are the tertiary antagonists, while the Three Mercs are the quaternary antagonists.

"I'm impressed with your work, Cassie Drake."

Cassie looks over Harris's shoulder and looks at a shirtless and muscular man with a bald head stomps his way into the room with deep breathes exhaled from his mouth.

Marcel and Pavel come in from behind.

Zwei and Drei have Derek, Erkin, and Joshua dragged into the room forcefully with their hands tied behind their back and potato sacks over their heads.

"You figured everything out in less than twenty seconds of entering this room," the muscular man said again. "My name is Heisenberg and I'm the one pulling the strings at Vita Longa."

Zwei and Drei remove the potato sacks from the heads of Erkin and Joshua but leave it on Derek. Cassie let go of Harris and tried to run towards Derek but Eins pushed Cassie back by one hand to the chest and she nearly lost her balance going back.

"I don't recall Hesinberg saying you can go near Derek," Eins said, "And Heisenberg is stronger than you can imagine."

"I can tell by his muscles and solid stomach," Cassie rolled her eyes, "Take the hood off of Derek's head."

More mercenaries stormed into the room and each one had an assault rifle drawn at Cassie. Their barrels lined up to her chest and stomach and she had no choice but to raise her hands in surrender.

Cassie sighed in annoyance, going over this thing once again for the umpteenth time. "Do I look like I have a bullseye on my head? This is not the first time I've been holding out at gunpoint. Go on, shoot me, I'm immortal."

One mercenary pulled back the hammer.

"Wait," Cassie raised her hand, "Not yet! I left something out that only I can solve."

"Am I really to believe that?" Heisenberg asked as he studied Cassie like she was some kind of exotic animal. "I heard your conversation with Harris and I believe I have all that I need."

"You are dumb," she insulted the bald man, "I'm a seasoned explorer, Derek as well. Do you know what happens when we enter a lost city with a WMD inside? Or any lost city in general? Traps, booby traps that are still active even thousands of years after. I've to head more than enough experience and I take after my father. What happens when you come across traps that you can't solve? You'll need someone with hands-on experience if you want the Philosopher's Stone."

Hopefully, this will buy me some time. I've had more than enough experience with this kind of stuff to be able to predict what every lost city has in common. And if I'm correct, then they will most likely have me move forward ahead through the lost city so I can disarm traps for them. And as a result, I will be the first to see the Philosopher's Stone at the very least. Erkin and Joshua, I will protect them but if they hurt Derek in any way, I will die and they will never get the stone. Even if they scratch him or break a single bone, I will kill myself and they will never get the stone.

"You are sharp," Heisenberg said, "I've known all about your experiences and I can assure you that I have no intention of killing you. These mercenaries are just a little trigger happy because I promised each of them a piece of gold when we found the city."

HAPPY 4TH!