YAY, an update! I told you one would be here soon, though this wasn't as soon as I'd hoped it would be.
Ah, well, I don't own National Treasure. Now go read it!!
--
In the blink of an eye, I was standing in an alley. I stumbled back, a bit surprised. At first, I wasn't sure where I was. Then I saw a familiar red Ferrari parked across the street and felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement explode inside me. I walked out of the alley, brushing some dirt off my jeans, and looked in the window of the Borders stores. I opened the door and approached the table where Riley sat, a bit anxious. I picked up one of the books on the table, attempting to look nonchalant. Something inside me kept me from looking him in the eyes.
"Riley Poole…" I murmured, a smile creeping onto my face. "You helped Ben Gates find the treasure right?"
"Yes, I did." Riley said, proudly. I looked up, looking deeply into his blue eyes. Something seemed to click, as he looked at me thoughtfully. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"I think so." I said, setting the book back down. I tried to choose my next words carefully. "We met during the treasure hunt, if I recall correctly. Does a magic TV ring a bell?"
His eyes widened in recognition. "Kathleen?"
I let out a sigh of relief. "Riley." A grin spread out across my face. "I wasn't sure if you'd remember."
"I don't know how I could forget, though it's been nearly two years." He commented, putting emphasis on the last couple words.
"Two years, hmm?" I asked thoughtfully, picking up the book. "What exactly have you been doing for the past two years?"
He turned crimson. "I've mainly been working on my book."
Before I had a chance to say anything else, a blonde girl walked up to the table. "Oh, wow. Is this a book about the Templar Treasure?" She asked, sounding a bit interested.
"Yes, it is about the Templar treasure, but it's also about other things. Conspiracy theories, urban legends and other myths that are true." Riley explained.
"So… The author's here signing copies?" She raised her eyebrows, looking even more interested. I bit my tongue, looking down at the book as I flipped to a random page. Chapter 13. Ironic.
"I'm the author."
"You are?" She asked disbelievingly.
"Yeah, see. There's a picture of me right there." Riley pointed at the picture on the dust jacket. I peered at the picture, and then began to ignore the conversation, not really interested.
"Oh, I've never heard of you." The blonde commented with a little laugh, setting the book down on the table on walking away.
"Oh." He said bitterly. I smiled sympathetically.
"Hey, she's one girl." I shrugged, setting down the book I was holding.
"You're right." Riley said, perking up again.
Suddenly a brunette walked up to the table, looking at one of the books. Here we go. "Oh my gosh, are you Ben Gates?"
"Yes, yes I am." Riley said. I held back a snicker.
"Do you own a red Ferrari?"
Riley took off his glasses, obviously trying to impress the girl. "Yes I do."
"Well it's being towed." She indicating the tow truck across the street. Riley laughed nervously for a moment, then jumped up and bolted out the door, knocking over his chair on his way out. I felt sorry for him, but I couldn't help laughing anyways. The brunette gave me a funny look, walking away.
"WAIT! THAT'S MY CAR!" Riley bolted down the street after the tow truck. I covered my mouth, setting down the book and walking out the door. Riley walked back down the sidewalk, looking both embarrassed and sour.
"That's just the icing on the stale cake." He muttered. I patted his back.
"Let's pack up, Riley."
--
After everything had been packed up, we started heading towards Riley's apartment.
"So…" He began. "How've you been for the past…"
"4 months." I said with a small smile. "I've been alright. A bit lonely. I had a little bit of trouble readjusting to everything, but I was OK over all."
"That's good." He paused for a moment. I looked at the ridiculous looking cardboard cutout under his arm. "I just wanted to be sure nothing happened that I should be aware of."
"What d'you mean?" I asked quizzically. His cheeks turned red.
"I dunno. I mean like..." He shrugged. I suddenly realized that this would be a great chance to mess with him a little bit. I made my face as serious as possible.
"Well, I did just find something out the other day." I pretended to be nervous as I spoke to him.
"What would that be?"
"I'm pregnant."
"You're WHAT?!" His eyes grew wide and he began to panic. "Oh my god! Oh my GOD! Are you serious?!"
I looked at him, trying to stay serious. But the corner of my mouth twitched, and I began to giggle a little bit. "No."
He put a hand to his heart and glared at me as I began to grin at him. "That was NOT funny, Kathleen!"
I rolled my eyes. "Don't be so over-dramatic about it, Riley. It was a joke." I reminded him, putting emphasis on the word joke.
He just scowled at me, muttering something about how it still wasn't funny. I rolled my eyes again and continued walking down the sidewalk, the cart of books rolling behind me.
Nicole
I wandered through the halls of what appeared to be a museum of some sort. I slipped in the door of the auditorium just as Ben was concluding his speech. I slid into an empty seat near the bottom of the auditorium.
"- operating in the North to subvert Union forces. Had Thomas not burned the legendary missing pages from the Booth diary, the killers may have found a vast treasure of gold, and the Union very may well have lost the Civil War. Thank you."
Applause rang out all over the room, and I clapped as well, though I could honestly care less about Ben's lecture. A man whose name I think was Dr. Nichols walked up to the podium.
"I'd like to thank Ben and Patrick Gates, and say what a wonderful addition Thomas Gates is to our Civilian Heroes exhibit." More clapping. I sighed, going along with the crowd.
"Thank you, Dr. Nichols." Patrick said. "I only wish my grandfather were here to see this wonderful day." He gave one last wave to the crowd.
Suddenly a man in the very top of the auditorium spoke up. "Excuse me, I have a question I'd like to ask." He called out, his Southern accent unmistakable. "What do you think happened to the Booth diary page that was pulled out of the fire?"
I rolled my eyes. "Here it comes…." I muttered to myself.
"We may never know."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." The man leaned forward, resting his folded hands on the railing. "You see, I have one of those great-great-granddaddies, like you, way up in my family tree, name of Silas Wilkinson. He used to tell a story about the night Lincoln was shot..."
By now I was completely ignoring Wilkinson, having heard this speech several times.
"How absurd." Ben shook his head slightly.
"That's a lie!" Patrick countered.
"Ladies and gentlemen…" Wilkinson opened his briefcase and stood up. "…I present to you one of the missing pages from the infamous diary of John Wilkes Booth, with the name Thomas Gates written on a list with all the other killers."
A look of disbelief and anger flickered across Ben's face, and then he just stood there, paralyzed. Everyone in the auditorium began muttering amongst themselves, and continued to do so as they walked out. I made my way up to the states.
"Ben!" I called out, and he looked at me, seeming to immediately recognize me.
"Nicole? What are you doing here?" He asked in disbelief.
I shrugged "Kathleen and I came into the second movie in my magic TV." I said in a hushed whisper.
"Ah." He nodded. "Speaking of Kathleen, where is she?"
"I dunno. She's probably making out with Riley, wherever he is." I rolled my eyes. Ben shrugged and the two of us, plus Patrick, Mitch, and Dr. Nichols stood up on the stage. I held up a hand, wiggling my fingers at Patrick in a small wave. He gave me a small smile, but still looked very troubled, but I couldn't really blame the guy.
"Latin?" Dr. Nichols asked, sounding a bit confused.
"Booth was student of Latin. He shouted 'Sic Semper Tyrannis' after he shot Lincoln. 'Thus always…."
"We already know what it means!" I cried a bit impatiently. Mitch looked a bit annoyed.
Dr. Nichols looked at the page closely. "Surratt, copiae?" He murmured.
"Mary Surratt was convicted and hanged for supplying Booth with a rifle and field glasses."
Ben walked up to the screen, deep in thought, his eyes fixated on one name in particular. "Thomas Gates." He said bitterly. "Artifex."
"Designer, or mastermind." Mitch said. "He must've… planned the assassination."
"I see." Ben answered with a little sigh. I patted him on the back, trying to be sympathetic.
"It could mean mastermind of anything!" Patrick nearly snapped. "See that?" He pointed at the singed edge of the page. "Burned out right there."
"I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you."
"Stop trying to act like you're sorry. If you were sorry, you would've kept your diary page to yourself." I said defiantly.
"I felt it was an important artifact that needed to be brought forth." Mitch said, keeping his voice level.
I bit my tongue, holding back my comments. I could already hear Kathleen's voice in the back of my head. 'You're going to ruin everything!'
"May I, Mr…"
"Wilkinson." We said simultaneously. I bit my lip.
"You said it during your little speech." I covered quickly.
"I'll just see if this new page matches the Booth diary." Dr. Nichols took the page out of the protective sleeve and walked over to the display where the diary was kept.
"This is an outrage!" Patrick shouted. "You're calling my grandfather a liar!"
Mitch looked at him calmly. "Well, with all due respect, sir, now you're calling my great-great-grand-daddy a liar."
"Yes, sir, I am! This isn't some garbage from a history book! My grandfather told me this story himself, I saw the truth of it in his eyes!"
I saw Ben put a hand on his father's shoulder, trying to hold him back. I stood there in silence, not sure what to do. The tension in the room was crushing me.
"I'm sorry, sir, I truly am." Mitch apologized. Dr. Nichols put the diary on the magnifier and put on the page. It was a perfect fit. Ben touched his mouth, at a loss for words. I patted him on the back again.
"I'm sorry, Ben." I whispered.
Dr. Nichols looked sorry too. "We'll test this thoroughly, Patrick. To authenticate it."
"It can't be." Patrick muttered.
--
After a tense and silent car ride, we went to Patrick's house. He began looking through boxes, defeated.
"Maps to presidents' houses, keys to lock that don't exist." He mumbled. "What am I looking for? Proof? What proof?
Ben sighed, watching his father for a moment. He ran a hand through his hair, opening the front door and leaving. I followed him to his car.
"Where you going?"
"We're going to go see Riley about something." He muttered, getting into the front seat. "Get in."
--
Well, I didn't like it that much. Too much from the script in this chapter, if you ask me. The next chapters should have more from Nicole and Kathleen, though.
Please review and Thanks for reading!
-PI