Good day, mates. I'm thinking this may be the last one. If not, there will only be one more. Then…we'll see from there.

Ian, Phil and Patrick Gates arrived at the platform. They were on the elevator.

"Get on." Ian commanded.

"Ian…" Ben said slowly, "It's not worth it."

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

"This guy's insane…" Ivy muttered.

"Shut up, Liberty, and stay with me." Ian snarled, grabbing her wrist and hurting her again. Riley grinded his teeth angrily at this, but knew it was best to say nothing.

They carefully lowered the platform little by little.

"I guess…this is where it all leads." Ben's father said softly.

By now they had reached another platform, but this one was different. It seemed to be leading somewhere, not just sitting in the middle of nowhere.

Once they were perfectly level, Ben tied one of the ropes around a nearby post. He took a torch from Abigail and stepped forward.

"Ok," Ben said bravely, "Let's go."

The group followed closely behind Ben. He cleared a doorway of cobwebs, and then lit two torches, one on each side of the doorway. The new light revealed a circular room that had strange markings on the walls. In the far corner, Patrick spotted a lantern.

"What is this?" Riley asked.

Phil interrupted impatiently, "So where's the treasure?"

"Well?" Ian inquired.

Ben stared at the floor and shook his head, and Riley immediately got it.

"This is it?" Riley said in shock, "We came all this way for a dead end?"

Ben wiped his brow and sighed, "Yes."

Ivy bit her lip. Abigail said nothing.

"But there's…there's gotta be something more…" Riley started to say.

"Riley, there's nothing more." Ben said tiredly.

"Another clue, or-"

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

Ian suddenly spoke up, "You're not playing games with me, are you Ben?"

Ben looked at Ian, "What?"

"You know where it is." Ian said evilly.

"No." Ben replied.

Ian kept his gaze, then decided to give up, "Ok, go."

Ian and his comrades started towards the elevator.

"Hey, wait a minute…" Ben started after him, Riley and Abigail close behind.

"Wait, Ian!"

"Wait, wait, wait!"

"You can't just leave us here!"

Ian stepped onto the elevator.

Riley started to say, "Ian, maybe we could work this out if you just-"

Ian took out a loaded gun and pointed it at him, "Don't speak again."

Riley gulped, "Ok."

"The clue," Ian said, "Where's the treasure?"

Ben was silent. Ivy and Riley stared at the gun nervously.

Patrick gates stepped forward, "The lantern."

"Dad…" Ben begged him.

Patrick looked at his son.

"Don't." Ben said softly.

"It's part of freemason teachings," Patrick explained, "In King Solomon's temple there was a winding staircase. It signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth. The lantern is the clue."

"And what does it mean?" Ian asked.

"Boston. It's Boston." Ben said, giving up completely.

"Paul Revere…" Ivy mumbled.

Riley looked at her and whispered, "Huh?"

"The Old North Church in Boston where Thomas Newton held a lantern in the steeple. To signal Paul Revere that the British were coming, one if by land, two if by sea. ONE lantern. Under the winding staircase of the steeple, that's where we have to look." Patrick finished.

"Thank you." Ian replied, though he didn't sound grateful. He gave Phil a signal.

"Hey, you have to take us with you." Patrick said urgently.

"Why?" Ian said calmly, "So you can escape in Boston? Besides, with you out of the picture there's less baggage to carry. And if, by chance, you lied to me, I'll know right where to find you."

The elevator started to move, but Ian stopped Phil for a moment. He turned back to see Ivy standing there, shaking.

"Well?" He said expectantly at Ivy, "Get on."

Ivy's eyes glanced from Ian's urgent face to Ben, Abigail and Riley's terrified ones. Of course, like everyone else, Ivy wanted to get out of this place, but something held her back. An invisible force that made her keep her feet planted firmly on the ground.

"No."

Everyone gaped in surprise.

"Liberty," Ian said, stepping toward her, "There is no other way out of here. You could play the fool and die down here. Or you could do the right thing and be lifted out. Make your choice."

"I think the choice is obvious," Ivy said, glaring at him evilly, "I'd rather die down here with people who actually care about me instead of getting out with someone who ruined my life."

Ian scoffed, "Suit yourself."

Ivy stood there and watched the platform rise until it was out of reach. Then she turned to Ben, Abigail and Riley, all of which were surprised at her choice.

"You could've got out!" Riley said, his voice a cross between surprise and anger.

"I could have," Ivy said, nodding, "I could have got out and then Ian would've taken me back to my parents' house. Where I'd have to face my mother and my siblings. Besides, I can't just leave you guys down here. It's just…not right."

Riley sighed, "We're all gonna die."

"It's going to be ok, Riley," Ben said comfortingly, "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Ok boys, what's going on?"Abigail asked them, "The British came by sea. There should have been two lanterns."

"Ian needed another clue, so we gave it to him." Ben's father stated.

"It was a fake," Abigail said, "A fake clue. Genius, I must say."

Ben, meanwhile, was carefully examining the wall, "The All-Seeing Eye…through the All-Seeing Eye…"

"That means…by the time Ian figures it out and comes back here, we'll still be trapped, and he'll shoot us then." Riley said dramatically.

"Nerdpants, take a chill pill. Ben's gonna figure something out, he always does." Ivy said, crossing her arms.

"Will you stop calling me that?" Riley shot back at her, "I don't think you get the gravity of this situation! We could starve to death done here. Maybe, just maybe, we'll have to be cannibals and-"

"Eww, no!" Ivy said, covering his mouth.

Riley pulled her hand away from him, "Either way we're gonna die."

Ben looked back at them, "No one is going to die. There's another way out."

"I told you so." Ivy said in a girlish mocking tone.

"Shut up," Riley sneered, then went to Ben, "Where?"

"Through the treasure room." Ben replied.

He pushed a stone button on the wall and the wall moved. Together Patrick and Ben pushed what was now a door to the side so they could enter the newly discovered room.

"Wow." Abigail said.

"Yeah." Ivy whispered.

But it wasn't what they thought it was. A room that was supposed to have been full of treasures of every kind…was empty. Only a few pots and spider webs were left behind.

"Looks like…someone got here first." Riley said sadly.

"I'm sorry, Ben." Abigail said sadly.

"It's gone," Ben whispered in disbelief, "It may have even been gone before Charles Carroll even told the story to Thomas Gates."

"Listen, Ben," his father began, "It doesn't matter. You were right all along. This room is real. And that means the treasure is real. We're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history, because you figured out what they left behind. You understood the meaning of it. You did it, Ben. For all of us. And I've…I've never been so happy to be proven wrong."

Ben walked away, completely overwhelmed with what his father had just said.

"I just…" Ben said, "I just really thought I would find the treasure."

"Ok, then we keep looking for it." Patrick proposed.

"I'm in." Abigail said, stepping forward.

"You can sure as hxxx count me in, too," Ivy said.

"Ok." Ben said, his spirits slowly lifting.

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

"Good 'ol Nerdpants," Ivy said happily, "Always looks at the bright side of things. That' s a pure optimist we have there."

Riley ignored her, "Now Ben, where's this other way out?"

"Well that's it. It doesn't make sense," Ben replied, "The first thing the builders would have done is built a secondary shaft back out for air and in case of cave-ins."

Ben walked over to the wall. A group of strange markings, plaques and holes where on the wall, spread out and covered in symbols. Riley, Ivy, Abigail and Patrick gathered around.

Ben was drawn to one bronze plaque in particular. It was circular, like the others, but it had an engraving of a ship in the middle.

"Could it really be that simple?" He asked himself, reaching into his pocket.

They watched nervously as Ben pulled out the pipe that he and Riley and found earlier in The Charlotte. He turned it over in his hands before taking to the engraving.

"The secret lies with Charlotte." Ben whispered.

Ben placed the ship in the engraving. Perfect fit. Then he took the stick part that had been attached to the pipe, and put it in the hole beside it. In amazement, the five treasure-protectors watched as Ben turned the bronze circle all the way around. Then he pushed it in.

A strong gust of wind startled them. They turned to look at the other side of the room, where the wall had started to move. Eagerly, the group went into the room.

Ben was speechless. His father was the same. Abigail's eyes grew wide. Riley's mouth hung open. Ivy said, "Holy sxxx," under her breath. All around them was the treasure.

Slowly, they went to explore it. Abigail found a collection of old scrolls. She examined them.

"From the library at Alexandria…" Abby said breathlessly, "How is this possible?"

Patrick Gates found an old medallion. He lightly cleared the dust from it.

"The Unfinished Pyramid…" He said quietly.

Ivy and Riley had begun looking at the Egyptian items. Riley spotted one in particular.

"It's a big, bluish green man with a strange goatee…" Riley said inaudibly, "I'm guessing that's significant."

Ivy stood back and gave Riley the strangest look while he hugged the statue.

"Puh. Nerds." Ivy said, shaking her head and walking away.

Ben had ventured off further. Hearing the sound of fire lighting, Patrick, Ivy, Abigail and Riley looked just in time to see something extraordinary. Ben had lit a large, long fiery line, and as it stretched further and further, more treasure was revealed. Before long, they were standing in what looked like a room big enough to cover an entire football field. And it was filled with the Gates Treasure.

Abigail heard someone sniffing. She looked over to see Riley.

"Riley, are you crying?"

Riley was looking at the other side of the golden room.

"Look," he said, filled with emotion, "Stairs."

The story ends there. Just kidding, but it looks like I'll have to post a #11. Nothing wrong with that, huh? Still working on sequel names…