Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Six and a Half Keys
Chapter Twenty
Five Hundred Years Ago
The alchemist was showing off his laboratory to King Rudolf II. "I've already given my trunk to Marelka," he said. "It can only be opened with the jewels I gave to Oscadena. Inside is the key, which must be used on the snowglobe, to unlock the door to this lab."
"What's a snowglobe?" King Rudolf II asked.
"I have no idea," the alchemist said. "The point is that it will be nearly impossible for a villain to gather all the items necessary to even enter the laboratory. And even if they did, I have taken steps to ensure that only the truly worthy will be able to find the blueprints for the seven keys."
"And what are these steps?" King Rudolf II asked.
"Check the book, your majesty," the alchemist said.
"There are a hundred different books in here," the king said.
"Exactly!" the alchemist said. "Only a true alchemist would be able to determine that this"—he tapped on a black book—"is the correct tome. Only a true alchemist could decipher the instructions and create the formula necessary to reveal the combination to my safe!"
King Rudolf II smiled. "It is good to hear that the blueprints will not fall into the wrong hands," he said. "Only the greatest of intellects could bypass our puzzles."
Present Day
"What do you call a chemist named Al?" Nancy asked. "An AL-chemist! HA HA HA!"
Nancy did a sideways dance as she entered the alchemy lab. She stopped dancing when she bumped into a desk covered with papers, old books and a peculiar black rock. Picking it up, she ran her fingers against the cold metal. This was definitely not a naturally-formed rock. A human must have made it.
"I think there's something inside," Nancy said. "I need to get it out, somehow."
She threw the rock against the wall, causing it to crack. A few more throws and it fell apart completely, revealing a rectangular block with three symbols. It didn't take Nancy long to realize the symbols matched with the lock on a nearby cabinet.
"Opening safes is easy, when you know the combination," Nancy said. The cabinet contained several coins and gems, which she slipped into her purse. She also found an old book.
"The alchemist's journal!" Nancy cheered. "It'll have the blueprints for the six and a half keys! All I have to do is make sure they're safe, and—wait."
The journal wasn't written in English.
"This makes less sense to me than the list of ingredients on my cereal boxes," Nancy said. "Who can I get to translate this thing? I could ask Oskar, but he's mad at me right now. I could ask Radek, but he might talk about marionettes again. I could ask Patricie, but I'm not sure how to do that without letting it slip that I'm a detective."
Nancy eventually decided to ask Adela to translate the journal. She left the alchemist's lab and tried to leave the hidden tunnels. She quickly ran into a problem.
"Hey, who locked the exit door?" Nancy complained. "Nobody knows I'm down here! Now I gotta find another way out."
She looked around for an exit sign, but found none. She wandered the tunnels, trying every single door she found. They were all locked.
"Hey, Prague Castle, Blackmoor Manor just called," Nancy said. "They want their secret alchemy lab and creepy tunnels back."
Since every single door and passage in this place looked exactly the same, it was mere luck when Nancy found the correct one. The door led to a rock-lined hallway with skeletons and a cage.
"Creepy," Nancy said. She walked to the end of the tunnel, which was a locked door. Then she turned left and went down a side passageway. She climbed up the conveniently-placed ladder, which somehow led her to the fountain in the plaza.
Standing at the base of the ladder was a confused skeleton knight. "Did—did she even notice I was chasing her for the past five minutes?" he asked. "Maybe this costume isn't as scary as I thought..."