Ian stood at the doorway of Clements Library, with two tall buff men standing behind him. He looked scary in the doorway. Ian pulled out his gun.
"Okay, I'm really getting tired of being shot at." Ben said.
"Who's he?" Deb asked wide-eyed.
Ian started shooting. The bullets were bouncing off of the wood bookshelves. Deb held the book with the letter in it close to her chest.
Abigail made her way slowly, weaving in out of the bookcases. Ian came behind her. He ripped the locket off of her neck, and the tie broke with a snap.
"Somebody you really don't want to know." Rely said, as he helped Abigail out the window.
"Ben, I know about the clue." Ian said. "I know about the second part of the treasure. I know everything. Give me the clue, and I'll let you go."
Ben rolled his eyes, as he crawled around the maze of bookcases. Slowly but surely he made it out the window, avoiding the bullets, shooed Abigail, Deb and Riley into the car.
Ian got in his car (which he probably stole) and made his way behind Ben's car.
Deb pulled out a piece of gum and started blowing bubbles. Then she pop them.
"Do you mind?" Riley asked.
"Oh, you want a piece?"
"No."
"You don't like gum?"
Ben sighed. "There will be no gum in my car!" He said, still going about 90 miles per hour. "Spit it out!"
Deb rolled down her window and spit the wad of gum at Ian's car. She stuck her head back in. Riley and Abigail were just staring.
"What?" Deb asked.
Riley and Abigail turned back around, and tried to conceal their laughter.
"Where to now?" Deb asked.
"God forbid you take notice that WE ARE BEING CHASED!" Abigail said.
"No, you see, you have way to many stress issues." Deb said very calmly, ignoring Ben's sharp turns and the speed they were going at. "I think you should try yoga or take up a craft or something."
"I like history." Abigail said. "Maybe that's why I have a Bachelors degree and a Ph. D. and I work at a museum and I'm a historian and I deal with historic documents on a daily basis!"
"Okay." Deb said. She looked around. "Anybody know where my magazine went?"
"NO!"
"But it was the NEW Vogue and-"
"Shut up." Abigail said clearly and evenly. Deb sat back and silenced.
……………..
"Woodlawn plantation." Abigail said, as she slowly made her way out of the car.
"Wow." Deb said. "Its, like, really pretty."
Abigail made an impatient sigh. "Of course its PRETTY."
"Lets go." Ben said, and helped his wife up the stairs to Woodlawn.
Woodlawn plantation was set up very simply, each half of the house was a mirror image of each other, and the rooms were the same size.
They all made it through the house, looking for a clue or something that would lead them to another clue.
"Ben I'm telling you, it's in the library." Abigail said.
"You have been telling me that for the past half hour." Ben said, searching the kitchen.
"I think that she's right." Riley said.
"Why?" Ben said.
"Wait I know why!" Deb said.
As usual Riley and Abigail ignored her.
"I just have a gut feeling." Abigail said.
"A gut feeling."
"LOOK!" Abigail said. "YOU SHOULD JUST LISTEN TO THE HIGHLY HORMONAL WOMAN HERE OKAY!" She stomped across the house.
Riley started, "Well, I was going to say because Ben Franklin invented the-"
"SHUT UP!" Abigail said.
"Okay." Riley said.
The library was a perfectly square room with neat and tidy bookshelves stacked with books. There were a few chairs and a large trunk against the wall.
The trunk seemed out of place. Everything else in the room was old, but clean. The trunk looked older than the house. It was dark brown and peeling in some places. Naturally, this was the object that Abigail flocked.
A tour guide stopped in. "Hi ya'll." She said with a southern drawl.
"Wow, this is beautiful." Abigail said.
"Really?" The tour guide said. "We all tried to get it outta here, but none of us could lift it."
"Oh." Abigail said. The tour guide left, and Ben, Riley and Deb went to the trunk. "This is it. Nobody could lift it to move it."
"Because it wasn't supposed to me moved." Ben said. He ran his hands around the trunk. There was no lock; just an indent shaped… like the locket Ian had just taken.
"Find something, Ben?" Ian asked.
Everybody got up, but Abigail who stayed planted on the ground.
"No." Ben lied.
"Tell me the next clue." Ian said.
"There's no clue in here." Ben said. "There are three stories in this house. What make you think that the clue is in this room?"
"Tell me the next clue." Ian said. He pulled out his gun. "Or I'll shoot your wife, and your baby."
Abigail looked at the gun. She looked at Ben.
"The locket." Ben said.
Ian put down the gun. "What locket?"
"You know, the one you kinda like stole?" Deb asked.
Ian looked at her weird. "Who's the blonde?"
"Long story." Ben said. "We need the locket so we can get in there. I don't have it you don't have it. Good-bye and have a nice life."
"I've got it." Ian said, as he pulled the gold locket out of his pocket.
"Great." Ben said. He put the locket in the lock, and it turned with a small click. He opened the trunk, and saw a whole passageway going down below the house.
"IN!" Ian said. He pulled out his gun. "You stay behind." He said to one of his buff friends. "Don't let them leave without me."
The buff guy nodded.
"What are you waiting for?" Ian asked.
"Look, Ian, Abigail's due in a few weeks, can't she stay behind?" Ben asked.
"NO!" Abigail said.
'You heard her." Ian said. "LETS GO."
Ian jumped down into the trunk. Ben helped Deb and Riley into the trunk passage way.
"Abi?" Ben reached out his hand.
Abigail walked over to Ben. Right before Ben lifted Abigail into the trunk, she felt a sharp stabbing pain. She sharply drew in a breath.
"Are you okay?" Ben asked.
Abigail grew white, but she managed to keep her calm. "I'm fine." She said, and wondered maybe if she was making the worst mistake in her life.
Ben knew she was lying. "Abi are you really okay?"
"Ben," Abigail said. "We've got a treasure to find."
(This is my fave chap so far! Okay, I have a question. Which would you like to read more: National Treasure: The Confederacy or National Treasure: The secret of the Loyalists. If I do the one about the Loyalists, I can include Arnold Benedict and Miss Jenny. If I do one about the Confederacy, I'd be about mostly the Confederate woman. Tell me what you think please!)