Chapter Four
It was greater than the Great Hall; that was confirmed immediately.
Amy imagined a small, private library that was big enough for only about two people, at most. What she got was a library that stretched on and on and seemed lengthy enough to challenge the Great Wall.
The shelves were dark wood and most of the books seemed old and valuable. Persian carpet covered the floor and tan and brown reading chairs were evenly spaced out in the library. A Swarovski chandelier hung from the vaulted ceiling-which was basically the floor since they were underground-to provide more than enough light.
"It's amazing!" Amy breathed.
"Hurrah for books!" Natalie cheered as unenthusiastically as possible once she reached the carpeting.
Alistair tentatively picked up a red portfolio from the shelves. "This is Caesar's campaign in Gaul-modern-day France-copied on Vellum. It's handwritten by a scribe from circa 1500."
Natalie plopped down on a reading chair. She was ready to take a power nap into the next century.
"These are all alphabetical by author." Amy observed. "We need to find the S section!"
Natalie rose slowly and joined Amy to help. The S section didn't prove to be much help at all. There were ten shelves packed with Shakespeare to Suleiman I.
"Saladin!" Amy cried suddenly. The siblings ran over to a box sitting on the middle of an empty shelf.
The Persian Mau blinked his green eyes. "Mrrp?"
"What are you doing down here?" Natalie asked, holding back a sneeze.
Saladin closed his eyes contentedly. It was like a part of Grace was still alive.
"Saladin, what are you sitting on?" Amy asked.
Natalie lifted him to the floor. "Achoo!"
The box had the initials GC engraved in pure gold on the mahogany lid.
"Grace's jewelry box!" Amy declared, recognizing the familiar box.
Natalie opened it up excitedly. Amy stared at the things inside: pearls, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires-this was all worth thousands and thousands of dollars.
Amy felt a pang of sadness. She was standing in Grace's library, looking at Grace's jewelry box and stroking Grace's cat. She missed her so much and now everything reminded Amy of her.
"What's this?" Natalie asked, pulling a necklace out of the bottom.
Alistair peered over at the kids. "If memory recalls, that was Grace's favorite necklace."
Amy took the necklace out of Natalie hands. Alistair was right. Grace always wore the necklace to parties, to travel, to sleep, to eat lunch with Amy and Natalie, and everywhere else. Twelve squares of jade, all the exact same size, with a green dragon medallion in the center; it had been Grace's good-luck charm.
"Hey!" Natalie called from somewhere. "Come over here!"
Amy and Alistair turned a corner and found Natalie staring at giant map of the world covered in five different colored pushpins: red, blue, yellow, green, and white. Every major city had at least one. Some areas were more heavily populated with certain colors than others, while other areas were covered with all five colors together.
"What do these mean?" Natalie pondered out loud.
"I think they're markers." Amy said.
"Markers for what? The best shopping places in the world?" Natalie suggested.
Amy rolled her eyes. "Of course not. Maybe they tell something about our family." she turned around and looked at Alistair.
Alistair shrugged. "I'm sorry, but I do not know. I am most curious, though." Natalie got the feeling he was hiding something as usual.
"Well, Europe and the East Coast have all five colors. You can't even see the cities underneath them." Natalie pointed out.
If the pins represented the Cahills, then it looked like the family started in Europe and spread across the whole world, heavily colonizing North America. Amy thought: Europe. Colonies. North America. Richard S-made his way back into Amy's mind to remind her why she was here in the first place. Was he from the eighteenth century? Did he write resolutions?
As if a light bulb had suddenly gone off in her head, Amy turned and darted down the maze of shelves.
"Amy, where are you going?" Natalie shouted.
Ian saw her almost instantly.
They were impossible to miss, what with their matching red hair, bright green eyes, and freckles. Dan pointed out that they also coordinated outfits, which Ian thought was a good point. It was absolutely absurd that they did that. If Ned and Ted wanted to be known as two different people, they didn't act like it.
"Ian," Sinead smiled almost sweetly. "Dan," Her voice turned meaner for a nanosecond. Sinead paused for a second then continued. "You two attract too much attention, you know."
"What are you talking about?" Dan asked, flipping through a random magazine, unbeknownst to a group of teenage girls giggling behind him.
"We need to talk." said Ian.
"Oh, of course." Sinead smiled again.
"I believe we are in need of an alliance." Ian replied smoothly, oblivious to the fact that Sinead was flirting.
"Why am I not surprised?" Ned sighed, combing his hair.
Dan tried to hold in his laughter, but found it very hard.
"What's so funny, Kabra?" Ted demanded.
"Nothing, Ned."
"I'm Ted. He's Ned." Ted corrected, jerking a thumb towards his twin brother.
"And I'm Frank." Dan rolled his eyes, annoyed.
"Anyways," Sinead continued. "How can we be so sure that this alliance is...safe? I'm not an idiot, Ian."
Ian knew that. Sinead and her brothers were Ekaterinas. It seemed that persuading them to team up would be harder than he imagined.
"Well, we've both come to the same conclusion, right?" Dan asked.
"Duh." Ted and Ned said in unison with a roll of their eyes. "The second clue isn't in Boston."
Ian and Dan both nodded.
"Our parents have chartered us a private jet. We will leave in an hour." Ian explained. This clue hunt was almost too easy. Ian could see the world in his hands-and Dan's too, but mostly his. Dan could possibly cause World War III, and that would not be pretty.
"So, where are you going?" Sinead asked.
Dan opened his mouth to answer, but Ian silenced him with a look.
Quiet, Dan. Do not give away anything.
I wasn't gonna!
Oh, really?
Yes, really. Now please resume your talking. I'm about to die of boredom.
"You know the clue is about Benjamin Franklin." Ian said, leaning forward.
"Yes."
"Then you know where we're going and what we're after." Dan finished.
"What part do we play in this?" asked Ted.
"We need you guys to set a trap, since you're all smart and stuff." Dan said.
"We're flattered, but why can't you do it yourselves?" Sinead asked, bored.
"They'll be expecting us." Ian said. His voice trailed off and it seemed he was thinking of the real reason why he wanted the Starlings to set the trap.
"Are you sure there isn't another reason?" Sinead asked with a smirk.
Ian raised an eyebrow. Could Sinead read minds? It all seemed far-fetched, but she was a supergenius after all.
"What are you yammering about now?" Dan asked, irritated. He stood up. "We're done here, right? If we get rid of them, then our competition is gone."
"What about the Madrigals?" Ned asked quietly.
"We don't have time to be worrying about them." Ian said quickly.
Just then, a thin man wearing a black trench coat with a black hat over his eyes entered, looking both ways.
"Yeah, let's go now." Dan's eyes widened.
Ted and Ned scrambled up to leave through the back door. Ian and Dan followed close behind. Sinead followed the Kabras even closer behind. Once they were outside, they split.
Ted and Ned walked out of sight. Sinead stayed a little longer and whispered in Ian's ear. "I know about your crush for her. Let's just say that you should forget about it, or there will be dastardly consequences."
"Ian, let's go!" Dan waved his arm frantically, getting inside the car.
Ian turned to respond to Sinead, but she was already gone.
She got to the Fs in a matter of few seconds and found it: a tiny book with the cover hanging off the side. It had a red-and-white woodblock print of Colonial farmers. The title was almost completely faded out of existence, but she could make out: POOR RICHARD'S ALMANACK, For the Year 1739, by Richard Saunders.
"Richard Saunders, of course!" Alistair praised. "Very good, my dear."
"Wait, if this was written by Richard Saunders, why is under F?" Natalie questioned.
"Richard Saunders was a pseudonym," Alistair explained.
"Isn't that a fake name?" Natalie asked.
"Yes, it is," the Korean man nodded.
"This book was written by Benjamin Franklin. I did a report on him in sixth grade." Amy opened the book. Some of the black text was beginning to fade away. There were charts, illustrations, and numbers to help you understand it. "This is the most famous thing he ever published. Poor Richard was a character Franklin created. He had lots of pseudonyms. When he wrote, he pretended like he was many different people."
"Fascinating," Natalie sighed.
"And this almanac has facts for farmers. It's a big book with all these useful tips, articles, and statistics. There were lots of quotations Franklin put, like 'Early to bed, early to rise.'" Amy continued.
"I'm intrigued, Amy, I really am."
"And 'A rolling stone gathers no moss.'"
"You know, I didn't know that stones could gather moss in the first place."
Amy sighed. "Natalie, the point is that he got very famous for this. And he also made tons of money."
"So if I write a book with tips on how to help farmers, I would get lots of money?" Natalie asked, starting to get interested.
"No."
"Well, thank you for crushing my dreams."
"Children, let's focus." Alistair clapped his hands. "How can this book aid us in finding the clue? And what does RESOLUTION mean?"
"Well, Franklin used to write resolutions for himself." Amy started. "His resolutions weren't goals, but they were rules he wanted to follow to improve as a person." She flipped open to a random page and studied the notes written in the margins.
Then something caught her eye: One line of elegant handwriting in purple ink. Follow, Franklin. Maze of Bones.
Amy thought her heart stopped for a second.
"Mom wrote in here!" she exclaimed, holding up the book.
"What?" Natalie's eyes widened and she tried to grab the book out of Amy's hands.
"May I?" Alistair held out a hand.
Amy was hesitant for a moment. "Alright...but I want it right back!"
"I didn't even get to see it yet!" Natalie protested.
Alistair held the book close to his face and scrutinized a few pages. "This book seems to have been passed down for several generations. These notes are in Grace's hands. And here, my father, Gordon Oh's handwriting. This is James Cahill, Grace's father."
"Why was Mom writing about Benjamin Franklin?" Natalie persisted.
Alistair's eyes didn't leave the book. "Franklin was a Cahill. He was an inventor like me. Most of the books in this library were written by members of our family. Half of these authors probably didn't even know they were Cahills."
Amy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was it possible that all of these famous people were related to her? She thought that her family consisted of regular people-she wasn't counting the Kabras or Jonah Wizard in this equation—with regular jobs, regular homes, and regular lives. Amy began to realize just how powerful the Cahills were.
How did her mom know about the first clue before the hunt even started? And what did her mom mean by the Maze of Bones? Was it a code for something, or was it an actual thing?
There were just too many questions that would never be answered.
"I think if we read through these notes, we'll-"
Amy's whole body froze. "Wait, do you guys smell smoke?"
Alistair closed the book and sniffed the air. Natalie looked around the room.
Amy saw it first. White smoke was forming a thick layer across the ceiling. It was starting to descend towards them.
"Fire! To the stairs, children!" Alistair commanded.
Amy stood, still frozen. Fires brought back bad memories. Memories that she didn't need to be reminded of.
"Amy, snap out of it!" Natalie shook her sister.
"Huh?" Amy blinked. "Saladin...we have to find him!" She sprinted into action with Natalie on her heels.
"We must get out quickly! We don't have much time!" Alistair shouted.
Amy coughed, and lifted up her shirt to cover her mouth. Saladin disappeared from his spot. Natalie tugged on Amy's arm and pointed to the stairs. They ran up the steps. Natalie shoved her shoulder against the bookshelf/door.
It was stuck.
"Is there a lever of some sort?" Alistair asked, coughing and hacking.
The girls looked confused. Neither of them knew anything about mechanical stuff. All three felt around for a lever, switch, or button. Nothing.
The smoke was getting thicker as they all began having coughing fits. Amy pushed on the wall. "The fire's coming from the other side! If we open it-"
"We don't have a choice!" Natalie shrieked.
Amy dragged Natalie down the stairs. The smoke was so close to them that they could barely see each other. "Get down low!"
The two sisters began crawling through the secret library, looking for some sort of exit. Uncle Alistair mysteriously disappeared, Natalie observed.
Amy sat down at a table and clutched Grace's jewelry box in her hands. She couldn't leave it behind, no matter what.
The heat only got worse. They were getting baked. Natalie crawled with amazing super speed ahead of Amy in pursuit of an exit. Amy struggled to keep up because she wasn't used to doing things in a stupid dress.
Amy thought for a second. If she designed this room, she wouldn't only make one exit. Amy collapsed to the floor, running out of breaths. The oriental carpet...the dragons were all flying the same way. It was a reckless thing to do, but this was a dire situation.
"Natalie, follow me!" Amy managed to sputter out.
Natalie turned and crawled alongside Amy. She noticed that part of Natalie's dress had burned off. Amy knew not to mention it to Natalie or it'd slow them down even more. The dragons led them to a space between two bookshelves that weren't on fire. There was a metal air grate in the space. Natalie sat on the ground but crouched down. She used her right foot to kick it, making it come loose. Amy tossed it into the fire.
"Go, go!"
"Mrrp," Amy realized with a start that Natalie was carrying Saladin and hadn't sneezed once. Did the fire manage to mess up her allergies?
Natalie crawled with such incredible speed that Amy was shocked for a second. She managed to regain her senses and crawled after Natalie.
They kept going up, up, up. Saladin kept making noises and clawing Natalie, but she kept going. The smoke was following them through the shaft and began thickening around them. Amy only hoped that the way out was coming up soon.
"Dead end," Natalie shouted, coughing.
"Kick it!" Amy commanded.
"Uh, I don't think so. It's stone, Amy." Natalie explained. Even though Amy couldn't see her face, she could tell that she was trying to say, "I am Natalie and there is no way I'm putting my foot at risk."
Amy squeezed in the small space next to Natalie and pushed on the stone. "Help," she pleaded.
Natalie put her hands on the cool stone and pushed.
Miraculously, the stone fell out. The sunlight blinded them. They stumbled out of the hole into the daylight. Saladin scurried off under a tree with a: Mrrrrp!
Amy lifted her head up and saw that they were in the cemetery. The stone they pushed aside had been someone's tombstone.
"Natalie, are you okay?" Amy shook her sister's arm lightly.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Natalie coughed and then moaned. "My dress!"
Amy rolled her eyes. It was about time she realized.
Up the hill, past the cemetery stood Grace's mansion...or what was left of it.
Because of the fire, the house had collapsed. Windows were shattered, the roof had caved in on the whole structure, and the main entrance with its magnificent archway and family crest was nothing but a pile of bricks and stone. Seeing the house destroyed made Amy's heart drop.
"Amy...Are you okay?" Natalie asked carefully, turning her body so she was facing away from the house. She had a hard, outer shell, but even the cruelest people didn't want to see their favorite place being broken down.
"N-Natalie, look!"
Natalie turned. "What?"
Amy shook slightly as Natalie's eyes widened. Hidden quite well in the trees was a man wearing all black, standing as still as a statue. He was holding binoculars in his hand. Amy shivered as a cool breeze passed by, whipping their hair in their faces.
He was watching them.
Thoughts? Comments? Criticism? I don't care; tell me in a review! IMPORTANT QUESTION!: Do you think everyone is in character? Be honest. Trust me, you won't hurt my feelings...much. But seriously, just tell me.
Better late than never is my motto. Well, I made up for it because this is a very long chapter. It's the second longest. Be happy! :)
Let's see...oh, and if there are any grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, sentences that make absolutely no sense mistakes, it's because this chapter is unbetaed. I think Another Artist has enough on her plate already, so I'm giving her a break. Hopefully she can beta the next one though.
When Amy and Dan-sorry, Natalie-get to Paris, there will be changes. The beginning has to be the same or it will just be plain nonsense.
Tomorrow is my last day of school and it's a half-day! That means more updates...and more stories. I have lots of things in-the-making right now.
Thanks for everyone who puts this story on story alert or favorites it. It means a lot! (Reviews mean a lot, too. I like getting them. CoughCough.)
-Sky