Nancy Drew: Mystery of the Six and a Half Keys
Chapter Twenty-Two

"Gee, I wonder who set up this long and complicated puzzle to give me one of the keys," Nancy said. "Didn't Radek say you have to be the President of the Czech Republic, in order to get one? I should really tell someone that the President was robbed."

Nancy shrugged. Surely the key would be explained, when the mystery was solved. No way would a major plot element like that be overlooked.

"Hey, Nancy!" Radek called, as she went through the courtyard. "Wanna chat about Rezidente for a few minutes?"

"No!" Nancy called back. "I've gotta go call my boyfriend, who is way better-looking than you are!"

"Why would you feel the need to bring that up?" Radek whimpered sadly.

Nancy returned to her hotel room, where she had a lonely dinner at an overpriced restaurant and went to sleep. At 3:15 AM in the morning, she was awoken by a text from Adela.

Nancy. Dude. That translation is, like, sooo simple. You should have just used an online translator. It says "I hid the six and a half blueprints in three different places. Solve my riddles to find them." And you don't even have to bother, bruh. I solved the riddles myself. They're totally "candle", "suit of armor", and "time". Didn't you say you already found blueprints in a suit of armor? Dude? Dude.

Nancy turned off her phone and went back to sleep. The next morning, she got ready to solve the alchemist's clever riddles. Clearly, "candles" referred to the candle display near Leo's office. She went there and stared at it.

"There are letters on this display case, definitely a puzzle," Nancy said.

She stared at the puzzle.

"So...now what?" Nancy asked. "Am I supposed to spell out a word or something? Am I supposed to light the candles?"

Nancy messaged Adela, asking if there was a specific word she needed to spell out. Adela didn't respond, which was unhelpful.

To the left of the candles was a slot, adorned with the alchemy symbol for "copper". The alchemist intended for someone to see the symbol, then activate the puzzle using one of the copper coins from the lab. Sadly, Nancy wasn't symbol-minded. She thought it was just some weird design.

"Open open open!" Nancy said, hitting the candle display.

There was clearly a secret drawer, built into the desk. It was a different color than the rest of the desk. Nancy pulled on it, but it wouldn't open.

Nancy reached into her purse and pulled out her ever-useful crowbar. Jamming it in between the desk and the drawer, she pulled with all her might until the drawer fell off.

Nancy smiled as she bent down and picked up the now-broken drawer. There were blueprints inside! Two riddles down, one to go.

For a moment, Nancy considered she didn't have to solve the last riddle. She already had most of the blueprints. She could easily destroy the blueprints now, forever spoiling the culprit's plan to recreate the six and a half keys from the original blueprints. But that wouldn't be very interesting, now, would it?

The last riddle was "time", which clearly referred to the clock inside the café. Nancy ran into the café, ready to smash it into pieces with her crowbar, but Patricie stopped her.

Nancy wasn't sure what time and date to set the clock to. She tried messaging Ned for help. He responded with a five-page lecture on the history of the Prague Astronomical Clock. Nancy responded with a picture of Homer Simpson yelling, "NERRRD!".

Nancy saw the bottom of the clock had something about King Rudolf II's coronation on it. She tried looking it up online, but all she got were weird clickbait articles about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer catching coronavirus.

"Only one thing can help me now: gullible tourists," Nancy said. She made a sign that said "Clock challenge! Set this model clock to the correct date and time! Win a free snowglobe!"

She slipped the clock into her purse and set up the challenge in the courtyard, directly in front of the real Prague Astronomical Clock. Sure enough, plenty of tourists tried their hands at the puzzle. Before the hour was over, Nancy had the next set of blueprints, and one lucky tourist had a 500-year-old snowglobe.