Frank's eyes fluttered open for a brief second before snuggling into his pillow. What time was it anyways? Probably close to time to get up. A melodious humming reached his ears.
"Going to the Mead Mansion today," sang Joe. "We're going to the Mead Mansion today, and solving a puzzle."
Frank smiled into his pillow. He couldn't wait to go either, but he wanted just a few more minutes. His bed was so comfortable. Plus, he was trying to place the melody Joe was using to sing his made-up lyrics to. If they were going to be part of Pete's band, he had better brush up on his music knowledge. That got Frank thinking, was Pete going to enter the group into any kind of competition? It would be great for Pete, but that made Frank nervous.
"Oh we might be dealing with thieves and crooks, but we won't be … uh …" Joe paused and scratched his head.
A mischievous grin spread on Frank's face as he propped himself up. "Stuck on a rhyme because of your looks," he sang out.
"Hey!" Joe turned and tossed his pajamas at Frank. Frank laughed before grabbing the pajamas and tossing them back. The pajamas went back and forth before their mother called them to breakfast. Joe let out a whoop and dashed out of the room. Frank quickly changed before dashing out. They ate quickly and gave their mother and aunt their plans. Their father was already out working on his mystery.
A few minutes after they finished eating, the doorbell rang. The boys rushed to the door. There stood the gang. Well, at least the ones joining them that morning.
Ken saluted. "Reporting for duty, sir!"
Frank laughed. "At ease, soldier, we're not in the military."
"Aw, come on! I'm so excited to get to help you guys out!"
"Even if this is just a rather calm mystery?" asked Joe, shooting a pointed glance at Chet.
"What?" asked Chet. "The less danger the better! I mean, it's cool to watch your brains in motion, but I don't want anyone's life in danger to get it done!"
Joe shot him a cocky grin. "But that's half the fun."
"He does have a point though, Joe," said Frank. "After what happened with us and Biff during our last mystery, I'd want a calmer mystery myself."
Joe huffed. "Fair point."
"Thank you," said Frank. He turned and shouted into the house. "The guys are here, we're heading out!"
"It's about time! You're letting all the air conditioning out!" came their aunt's voice.
"Bye Aunt Trudy!" called out Joe with a soft chuckle. "Bye Mom!"
"You boys be careful!" called out their mother.
"We will!"
"That's where we come in!" called out Chet.
Laura chuckled. "Good to know! Have fun!"
"We will!" Frank closed the door behind them before they dashed off to their respective vehicles. The Hardys got into the Queen with Chet and Pete while Ken, Jack, and Jerry went into Biff's car.
Chet got into the driver's seat and tossed a couple of envelopes at Frank and Joe. "You can thank Pete for the early access."
The boys glanced at each other before shooting Pete a curious glance. Pete merely grinned as Chet pulled the vehicle out of the driveway. Frank and Joe tore open the envelopes.
"A masquerade party!" chorused the boys.
"For the Fourth of July?" exclaimed Joe. He held up his envelope. "How is this early access?"
Pete laughed. "It's early access for you. The party was supposed to be a surprise for you two in honor of successfully solving your very own mystery!"
"We were going to come up with a way to get you two to the party and have you guys guess who's who, but since Pete decided to rope you into the band …"
"And we're going to perform," quipped Pete with a grin and a waggle of his eyebrows.
"The girls had to cave and give you the invites. Everyone else got the invites last week," said Chet.
"So I take it you've found the rest of your band, huh?" asked Frank as he turned to Pete.
"Yup," said Pete, twisting in his seat to look at the Hardys. He nodded at Chet. "Chet's going to be on drums and Wanda's going to be doing the tambourine. I'll be on the keyboard, which leaves you two for guitar."
"What about vocals?' asked Frank.
"We'll be taking turns," said Pete. "And don't worry, we won't be doing all the songs. I'm making a playlist of our summer favorites, so you'll get some dancing in." Pete winked at Joe.
"Well good to know," said Joe with a grin.
"But what will we be singing?" asked Frank.
"Haven't quite decided yet, I'll get you the list when we meet up for our first practice," stated Pete.
"So when's the first practice?"
"I'm thinking we should practice at the Morton farm," replied Pete, "and we should start this Saturday."
The boys glanced at each other. "Well, guess we're going to have to let Chief Collig know the change of plans," said Frank with a shrug.
"Sorry about that," said Pete with a wince. "This was a last minute decision."
Joe cocked his head. "Are you thinking of entering us into a competition at some point?"
Pete shot a knowing glance at Frank before looking at Joe. Frank groaned inwardly as Pete nodded slowly. "Yeah, but it's a national contest. Very highly doubt we'd get much further than the New York finalists."
"Well then, we'd better come up with a name," said Joe.
Frank shot Joe a smirk. "You stay out of that part. You're not particularly creative. Remember this morning?"
Chet and Pete shot each other a quick, confused look before Chet's eyes went back to the road and Pete looked at the Hardys. "What happened this morning?"
Frank sang the little ditty that Joe made up, despite Joe's protests, and ended with his addition. Chet and Pete were howling with laughter.
"Oh come on man, I'm driving here!" shouted Chet, tears falling down his cheeks and his face turning red as he tried to calm down the laughter and focus on the road.
"Sorry!" said Frank.
"I know, I know," said Pete, holding up a finger, "tell us more about this Mead Mansion and how you got this mystery."
Frank and Joe glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes. "Well …" Taking turns, the Hardys related the events leading up to this endeavor. The story of the near accident did somber up all four, and as they told the story, they also commented that nephew John really did seem genuine.
"But so did the Jones," said Joe, rubbing his chin.
"Looks like there's a puzzle piece missing," said Frank. "One we might only be able to get once he gets back from England. In the meantime, we have his front door to work on." They then told all Chief Collig knew about the house and its original owner. By the time they finished their story, the Queen was pulling into the driveway of the Mead Mansion.
"Well, so much for a completely calm mystery," quipped Chet as he parked the Queen. "But hopefully the rest of it is relatively calmer than that."
"I guess we're about to find out," said Frank as he got out of the car. Biff parked next to them and his riders got out. The group walked over to the Mead Mansion.
"Wow, it's pretty big," said Ken. "Bigger than I thought."
"I'm hoping that means there are hidden staircases and/or secret rooms," said Joe with a gleam in his eyes.
Frank chuckled. "But first, we've got to figure out how to get in. The front door has a puzzle."
"Ok this I have got to see," said Jerry.
"Then let's go!" shouted Chet with his fist going into the air. The group dashed to the front door. They paused and looked at it, letting out soft whistles. The door was made up of a hodgepodge of different pieces; curves, triangles, and little strange shapes.
"This is a puzzle?" asked Ken.
"Looks pretty hard," said Jerry.
"What exactly are you supposed to do?" Biff asked.
"Come on guys, give them space and let them get to work," said Pete. "We can go check out the back."
"Good idea, thanks Pete," said Frank. They took off around the back, leaving the Hardys at the front door. Frank and Joe noticed that Jack didn't leave with them. A pensive look was on Jack's face. "Hey Jack, is everything alright?"
"Maybe … it's just something that happened yesterday. Dad asked me not to say anything about it, but I'm of the mind that you can help. Maybe, hopefully this will convince him you can." He glanced between the Hardys. "That is, if you don't mind helping out. It's not exactly something for the police, but I would feel better if someone else came in to help."
Frank laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I think you should wait until your dad really thinks he needs help, then talk to us about it."
Jack nodded. "Sounds good." He glanced around. "If you don't mind, I'll stay here and be the look-out."
"That'll be great. Thanks!"
The two went back to the house. "No offense to Jack, but I kinda hope it does clear up on its own," muttered Joe. "I would like to be able to solve more bigger mysteries."
"Me too, but it makes for great practice," pointed out Frank.
"Fair point." Joe cracked his knuckles. "And now, Mr. Mead, time to tackle this famous door of yours."
"Yes indeed," said Frank as he got closer to the door. The two peered at the door for a few minutes before fiddling around with the pieces. They found they could move the pieces around without an issue and began trying different combinations. They only paused for a moment when the rest of the gang came back to report that there was a boathouse at the beach behind the house, but nothing else.
Frank and Joe continued to work on the puzzle for several hours, only breaking for lunch when Chet practically dragged them away from it. But once lunch was over, they were right back at it. Reilly and Franklin stopped at the house to check on their progress a few times, but other than that, it was mostly quiet. John Mead chose his spot well, very few cars passed the house.
Finally, a whoop came from Joe. The others crowded around them.
"You got it!" exclaimed Chet.
"Just one piece that clicked into place," said Frank, pointing at one of the triangles that fit the corner. "But maybe with one out of the way …"
"The others will start fitting into place!" said Joe, rubbing his hands with glee. With renewed enthusiasm, the boys began moving the pieces around again. Soon, all four corner pieces were in place, which left the middle pieces.
"Ugh, what is up with some of these oddly shaped pieces? Couldn't he have just stuck with something simple?" complained Joe after a few more minutes fiddling with them.
"It's got to mean something to him, Joe," said Frank, "otherwise he wouldn't have used it on his front door." Frank peered at one piece before his eyes widened with realization. "It's an animal!"
"What?" chorused the others.
"It's got to be! That's why these shapes are so so weird! Look! See this one? That's got to be eyes and a nose!"
"Hey, I see it!" said Ken.
"I do now!" said Joe.
"But what kind of animal has a head like that?" asked Chet.
Jack gasped. "That's got to be a turtle!"
Frank snapped his fingers. "You could be right!" He and Joe began moving the pieces around, and sure enough, a turtle clicked into view. The boys cheered and high-fived each other.
"But wait, where's the keyhole?" asked Joe. Nothing had shown up. "This doesn't make sense. Those pieces obviously fit into place!"
Frank rubbed his chin. "Hmm, maybe there's something we're missing. The placement of the legs?" They swapped the legs around, nothing happened. They put them back into place, and heard the click again.
"Maybe there's another step," suggested Ken.
"That is a possibility," said Frank. "But what is it?" He took a step back and thought about it. Joe began pacing around, his eyes never leaving the door.
"What other step could there be? John Mead would have had to leave a clue somewhere," said Joe.
"He had to have, but what could it be?" Frank glanced down for a moment and glanced back up. He blinked. Wait, was that it? "Joe, the symbol on the ring! That could be the final clue!"
"The Y in the square!" The two quickly moved the turtle's legs into the shape of a Y. Something clicked, and one of the wooden pieces slid open to reveal a keyhole.
The others whooped. "Three cheers for the Hardys!" called out Chet.
Frank let out a breath as he pulled out the key from his pocket. "Here goes." he put the key into the keyhole and unlocked it. It opened noiselessly. He turned to Ken. "Ken, text your uncle. We're going into the Mead Mansion."
(Author's Note: Hello rosy readers! Sorry, no Hardy boys Hulu show review this time, I have not had the time, nor the desire to be honest, to finish the next episode. I mean, I still kind of want to finish the show just to see where they took it, but I am starting to lose interest. Even the perfection that is Joe Hardy can't save it ... though also partially because I am a Frank fan and I do not exactly like where they're going with the character's story. I mean, it's still Frank in a way, but maybe it's the actor, the writing, the direction, or all of it, but it's not quite Frank. Joe's awesome, don't get me wrong, but I still can't exactly get behind the dynamic, or more like lack thereof, between the brothers and the direction they're taking with Frank. Well, at least, the relationship drama isn't needed, at all. Anyways, thanks for waiting and thanks for reading! Hope you have a wonderful day! God bless!)