Disclaimer: I don't own the 39 Clues

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When you hold resentment toward another,

you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel

Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free

- Catherine Ponder

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Dan wondered how their group had looked like to other people back at the restaurant. Ten teens handcuffed together, with one guy who resembled the famous teenage superstar Jonah Wizard. He concluded that they looked pretty suspicious. They tried to avoid the police at all costs, fearing that they would be mistaken as kids who had escaped from jail. They didn't need the police involved with this. They tried to hide their handcuffs as best they could, but it wasn't easy.

Dan looked up at the bridge. It was a dirty white bridge surrounded by tall buildings. The Cahills were currently riding in a gondola under it on the canals. The gondolas held only six people, so they left Madison, Ned, Hamilton, and Sinead back at the restaurant to wait for them. There was still more than six people, though, so they had to squeeze in for them all to fit. They had managed to steal one of the gondolas, and had Jonah disguise as a gondolier.

"Amazing," Amy said in awe.

Dan couldn't see what was so awesome about it except that it was connected to a prison and criminals had walked across it years ago. Other than that, Dan couldn't see what was so amazing about it.

Leave it to Amy to see the good things about a bridge. Dan thought. What's so great about architecture, anyway?

"Move over!" Natalie snapped at him. "I'm going to fall in the water if you don't scoot over soon!"

"That's what I'm hoping for." Dan grumbled.

"You know, if she falls over then you will too." Ted said. "You're handcuffed together, remember?"

"Don't remind me," Dan muttered.

It was bad enough that the Vespers had already attacked, he didn't need to be reminded that Natalie Kabra was handcuffed to him.

"I'm not very happy about this either." Natalie muttered. "Now move!"

"Do you see anything?" Amy asked, looking around.

"I see water, and lots of tall buildings." Dan replied, scooting over for Natalie.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Other than that."

"Maybe one of the hostages are in one of the buildings?" Reagan suggested.

"Or maybe on the Bridge of Sighs itself." Ted sighed.

"We'd need to book a tour if we want to check out the Bridge of Sighs." Jonah said.

"Should we book a tour, Amy?" Dan asked. "Amy?"

But she wasn't listening anymore. She was looking at a gondola in the distance. "Is it just me, or is that gondolier waving at us?"

The Cahills turned to where she was looking and saw that she was right. A gondolier ahead of them was waving at them frantically, obviously trying to get their attention.

"Should we stop to talk to him?" Reagan asked.

"He might need help." Amy said. "He obviously has something to say."

"What do you think he would want with us?" Jonah asked, rowing faster so they could reach the gondola ahead of them.

"I don't know," Amy said.

They reached the gondola. A teen stood in front of them. He looked about Amy's age and had messy brown hair and brown eyes. He had fair skin and wore the outfit gondoliers were supposed to wear: black pants, a striped shirt, and dark shoes.

"Do you need help?" Amy asked.

The teen didn't answer, instead he said, "You are Amy Cahill, yes?" He had an Italian accent.

"Yes," Amy said, hesitantly. She didn't have a good feeling about this.

The teen smiled and held out his hand for her to shake. "I was sent by Maddie to give you a message."

Amy's blood turned cold. "Wh-what?"

The teen just kept on smiling and pointed at something in the gondola. The Cahills looked down. Mary-Todd Holt lay there on the gondola, tied up with a gag on her mouth. She seemed to be unconcious.

Amy gasped. Reagan's hands were in fists.

"Mary-Todd," Ian said in disbelief.

"That's right," the teen said, grinning. "I assume you want her back, yes?"

"You better give her back," Reagan said, through clenched teeth. "Or I'll-"

"Now, now, no need to get violent, Tomas." the teen said. "I have orders to give her back to you. I was just here to make sure no one found the hostage before you did." The teen took out an envelope and set it down next to Mary-Todd. "Now, I must be going. Perhaps we will meet again. Ciao." Then, to Amy's shock, he jumped into the water and swam away.

Reagan didn't waste a moment, she got into the gondola and quickly untied her mother. She picked up the envelope and handed it to Ian, who stuffed it into his pocket. With Ted's help, Reagan lifted up Mary-Todd and put her into their gondola.

"Who was that guy?" Dan asked, peering into the water where the teen once was.

"He works for whoever Maddie works for, that's for sure." Ted said.

Amy and Dan exchanged a look. Vespers.

"So, what do we do now?" Natalie asked.

"We should get back to the restaurant and tell the others what happened." said Amy.

"Yo, what about Mary-Todd?" Jonah asked.

"We'll wait for her to wake up first. We wouldn't want to be seen carrying an unconcious person through the streets of Venice. It's suspicious enough that we're all handcuffed to each other." Ian said.

"Sounds like a plan." Jonah said, starting to row the gondola.

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An hour later, Mary-Todd had woken up, and the Cahills had explained the situation with her. They all quickly ran to the restaurant and over to the other Cahills who were waiting for them. After a reunion, they all sat at the table and opened the envelope.

"Is it another clue?" Madison asked.

"It seems so," Ian murmured.

He started to read:

Complimenti to you, Cahills. I'm impressed. You've found hostage number one: Mary-Todd Holt. Now you just have six more to go. I'm sure you're all wondering where your next destination is. Figure out this clue and you'll be on your way.

Good luck, Cahills. Hope you got to see some of the sights.

Rome is nice this time of year.

Eboli, maybe? It's a city there, isn't it?

Empoli? I've never been there before, but it sounds like a nice place.

Cinque Terre is a nice place to visit I hear. You should visit there.

Emilia-Romagna, perhaps? I'm just shouting out ideas, here.

The Cahills were silent as they thought about the clue.

"It makes no sense." Hamilton said. "She's just listing off places for us to see in Italy!"

"Maybe one of those places are where they're keeping the other hostages?" Mary-Todd suggested.

"I'm not sure about that." Amy murmured. "It just seems a bit too easy, doesn't it?"

"Maybe the location of where the next hostage is is hidden in the message." said Ned. "Maybe they're not telling us outright where the location is."

"Let me see that," Dan said.

Ian handed him the letter. Dan studied it for a few moments, then his eyes lit up.

"I got it!" Dan exclaimed.

"What? How?" Natalie asked.

"Read the first letter of each line only." Dan said.

"Greece," Ian said, softly.

"Exactly. Our next destination is Greece." Dan said, looking triumphant.

"But how did you figure it out?" Sinead asked.

Dan grinned. "I once played this game that had the hidden message just like that. So, I decided to try it out for this one."

"Of course," Natalie said, rolling her eyes.

Jonah grinned. "Then let's go to Greece!"

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A/N: I actually did play a game that had the hidden message like that. Please, review!

Translations:

Ciao: Bye

Complimenti: Compliments

luverinreadin: Yeah, I did have to do some research on it. I actually didn't know the Bridge of Sighs existed until I researched it. XD I'm happy I learned something new, though!

amianfan102: Thanks! Your review made my day! :D

space case dudette: Ha, I use to read that series, too! The riddle was actually easy to come up with. I didn't think I could come up with it so fast. :)