Recap
"We better get out of here, and then we can figure this out." Troy said standing up.
"Not if I can help it." said a menacing voice. The five of them whisked around to see Jasper Casmir smiling devilishly at them. He started to close the door. The five some yelled, trying to get to the door before it closed. But it was already closed. Troy tried to open it up, but it wouldn't shift.
They were too late.
End Recap
Troy, Tyler and Sam all tried over and over again to open the door. But over and over again, they failed.
"We've got to search this room for another way out. There's got to be an emergency exit somewhere." Troy said "Tyler, you look over there, Sam, over there." Troy continued pointing in different directions.
Gabriella watched them hopelessly. She glanced back down at the paper in her hand. Alex came over to her and read it aloud over her shoulder.
"The way is hidden, with those who learn Swiss. So go read a book. Hmm, it sounds like a riddle?" Alex said thoughtfully. Gabriella nodded.
"And look at all these numbers, I wonder what they mean? And why are they arranged like this, 8-6-25?" Gabriella asked sitting down on an old chair. Alex knelt down beside her taking the paper in his hands.
"I don't know, but as long as we're just sitting here, we could try and figure out this riddle?" Alex suggested. Gabriella agreed and started thinking aloud.
"The way is hidden, with those who learn Swiss. What could that mean? Learn Swiss? Hmm…where could you go to learn Swiss?" Gabriella asked. Alex thought for a moment.
"Umm, school, home….I don't know." They sat in silence for a minute, watching the other three search the room.
"Hey, wait. What if it means somewhere Swiss that you learn?" Alex said. Gabriella thought about it.
"Maybe your right. But where could it be talking about, it could be anywhere." Gabriella said in despair.
"Maybe that's the second part of the riddle. So go read a book."
"The library!" Gabriella and Alex said at the same time. "But what library, there's probably hundreds here." Gabriella said with a fallen face.
"I would probably bet the Swiss Government library, it's the biggest one, and the closest one from here." Alex said proudly.
Gabriella smiled from ear to ear. "I think your right again brother." She gave him a big hug.
"Hey, Gabriella, Alex, over here, I think we found a way out." Troy yelled over to them.
They walked over there to find Tyler, Troy and Sam standing in front of a trap door. There was light coming from the bottom left of it. They all made there way down the ladder and within minutes were climbing out into the bright sunlight of Switzerland. Once everyone was out and brushed off Gabriella and Alex explained what they had figured out. Everyone was they all jumped into the helicopter and flew off.
It was about an hour's flight to the city where the library was, so everyone but Tyler, who was flying the helicopter, took a short cat nap. Once they were there, they all hopped out and grabbed a taxi to the Government Library. When they walked in, something hit Gabriella and she stopped where she stood. They all looked at her with concern.
"What's the matter princess?" Troy said worried.
"The problem is, we don't know where to look. There's hundreds of thousands of book here. It would take a lifetime to try and find it." Gabriella said, stating the setback they were in. No one had thought about that yet.
They all groaned. This wasn't good. They all walked over to the sitting area, and sat down in misery. They all thought long and hard. Over the course of a half and hour, everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, not saying a word to anyone else.
Needing to stretch his legs, Troy stood up and walked over to the drinking fountain. Right above the fountain, was a large poster, advertising a historical archeology museum that was about to open up. Troy looked at it for a moment. The poster triggered an idea in his head. He quickly got a drink and half ran and half walked back over to the others.
"Guys, I have an idea." Troy said looking at them all. Everyone was immediately at the edge of their seats.
"What if, the book is in the cave section?" Troy said quickly. "It really makes quite a lot of sense, since this whole thing is concerning a cave." Troy explained.
"You could have something there Troy." Sam said standing up. "I say we find the section and start searching."
"Then, let's go." Gabriella said standing up, leading the way to the information desk. She asked the woman where the area was and thanked her when she pointed the way. Gabriella led the way to where the woman said and stopped in front of the room she had suggested.
"Okay boys, here we are." She opened the door and everyone walked in. Instantly, everyone took different isles and started searching the books.
It was going on for 5:30 pm when Tyler suddenly called everyone's names. They all found him holding a dark brown, worn book.
"What did you find Tyler?" Alex asked curiously. Tyler showed the front cover of the book to them. Everyone gasped. The cover didn't contain any words. Only a symbol. The symbol.
"This is it, you found it Tyler. Way to go!" Troy said in a hushed voice. They all stood there staring at it.
"So what do we do now that we found it?" Sam asked, looking at each of their faces.
"Maybe these numbers are the next clue." Gabriella said pulling out the paper they had found in the drawer.
"But we couldn't figure out what they were for." Alex clarified. Troy took the paper and studied it.
"Well, maybe the first number indicates the page, then the second number means the line and the third number is the letter on the line." Troy said. Everyone gaped at him and his quick assumption.
"What?" he said. Gabriella just smiled at him. "Why didn't we think of that before?" she said. She took the book from Tyler and grabbed a pen out of her pocket. She then gave the paper to Sam.
"Here Sam, you tell me the numbers and I'll find the letter. Troy you write down the letter." Gabriella sat in a chair at the side of the room and listened to Sam as he called off the numbers. Fifteen minutes later, they were all staring at the piece of paper with all the letters on it.
"Hölloch Caverns huh?" Troy said whistling. "I guess that must be where the cave is located." Gabriella sighed.
"We did it." She said softly. Everyone chuckled at her. "We're not going anywhere today little missy. It's getting late, and we're all starving. We want to be fresh and energized for it tomorrow." Troy said. The other three all nodded their heads in agreement, rubbing there stomachs.
Gabriella just laughed at them. "Okay, okay, I realize a man can only go so long without a good meal." They all laughed at her while walking out the big brass doors. They decided on a restaurant and ate to their content. They all headed back for the hotel and said goodnight outside their doors.
Troy opened his and Gabriella's door and let her walk in. Gabriella took in a deep breath as she set down her things, and pulled off her shoes. While Troy was doing something in the other room, Gabriella changed into her favorite silk pajamas and turned on the TV. At the same time she heard the shower water turn on. She flipped the channels until she reached an old classic movie. She lay back on the couch and watched the movie. A few minutes later Troy came in a t-shirt, pajama bottoms and wet hair clinging to his face. Gabriella smiled up at him. He smiled back and walked over to her and sat down. Gabriella could smell the fresh scent of soap about him. She giggled.
"What was that for?" He said looking at her. Gabriella looked back at him.
"You smell good." She said simply. Troy smiled as well and wrapped an arm around her.
"Why thank you Mrs. Bolton." He said kissing her neck. Gabriella tried to watch the movie as Troy kissed her hair, neck, and arms.
"Troy, I'm trying to watch the movie." Gabriella said softly. Troy ignored her and enveloped her in his arms.
"Why don't you humor me, Mrs. Bolton?" Troy said frankly. Gabriella turned her head to his, and only had a second to look at him because Troy's lips collapsed on hers. Gabriella immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, completely forgetting the movie. Troy lifted her in his arms and kissed her all the way to the bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed, landing on top of her, holding her close. He kissed her passionately, as if nothing else in the world mattered. Gabriella gasped when his tongue flicked across her lips. She gladly obliged. Her hands went up into his semi-wet hair, ruffling it. How she loved this man.
Troy pulled back minutes later, breathing just as deeply as Gabriella. He laid his head on her chest, holding he close. Gabriella's fingers ran through his hair, massaging his head. Troy sighed into her. He lifted his head up and kissed her once more, then threw the covers over them and fell asleep in her arms.
CIACIACIACIACIACICIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIACIA
"Well, are we all ready to find a cave?" Gabriella said cheerfully the next morning as they were packing for the day. The men smiled at her enthusiasm. They all finished packing and then walked out to where they kept the helicopter. Over the good part of the next hour, they all planned what they were going to do, and how to do it. Once they were at the cave, they met a tour guide at the mouth of the cave.
"Can I help you?" the young man said pleasantly. "No, we're fine; we're just taking a look around the cave." Troy said a little too quickly. The man stared at him suspiciously, but opened the way to the cave anyways.
"Have a nice time." He said. Troy nodded to him and led the way into the cave. It was cold and wet. There were stalagmites and stalactites everywhere. If there wasn't lights put in the cave, it would be completely dark. During the course of the morning, they were mostly silent, just walking in a line, looking in every direction. At around noon, they stopped for a light lunch.
While Gabriella took a bite out of her sandwich, she noticed a large dark hole in the rock wall across from them. She set down her sandwich and walked carefully over to it. The other four watched her curiously. Once Gabriella reached the hole, she concluded that it was some sort of tunnel.
"Hey you guys come here and look at this." Gabriella said behind her shoulder. She shined her flashlight into it to see it more clearly. The others came up behind her and looked in as well.
"This looks out of the ordinary. I say we explore it a bit." Tyler said excited.
"What a brilliant idea, just so happens we had the same thought." said a voice from behind. Gabriella groaned inside, knowing all to well who it would be. But before she could do anything, there were men suddenly on Alex, Tyler, Sam and Troy. They tried to fight back, but only resulted in a punch in the stomach. They were soon restrained with guns pointed at their heads. Gabriella stood terrified. Jasper Casmir started walking around her.
"So my young child, it comes to this. We've had to come through all of this hassle just to come to this. You could have just told me from the beginning and we wouldn't have gotten in to this mess." Casmir said with a smirk. Gabriella glared at him. She put her hands in her pockets. She felt something in her right one. Casmir continued to talk.
"Do you really think it was worth all this trouble, just to die at the very end? I wouldn't have. But, I will make you an offer." Gabriela shot a look at him. He continued.
"You don't have to die. You can tell me what you know, and I can give you your little men here. Or I can let you help me find the cave, and just get rid of the extra baggage here." Casmir said, pointing to Troy, Tyler, Alex and Sam.
"No!" Gabriella shouted. "It's your choice my dear." Casmir said with an evil smile.
"Don't do it Gabriella!" Troy shouted to her anxiously. Tears started welling up in Gabriella's eyes. She looked into Troy's eyes. His were pleading. Gabriella sank to the floor. Casmir started laughing. Gabriella shook her head in her knees.
What am I going to do?
(a/n: okay, there's that one. How did you like it? I tried to make up some of the troyella stuff. I'll make sure I don't forget it again. Tell me how you liked this one. Thanks for your comments and suggestions.)