The Greatest Lost Treasure

Chapter 12

     Luke stood in Rome, Italy with his cat by his side. He was still a little surprised as to how quickly he had gotten there in under twelve hours, but nevertheless he was ready for what came next.
     Standing out on the cobblestone streets, he pulled out his grandmother's purple leather bound journey and flipped to the pages where he had made some notes. He looked at the list of all the potential locations that could have possible clues left by Columbus when he journeyed this way. Luke had narrowed the list down to famous monuments that Columbus must have known wouldn't be going anywhere in years to come, so obviously they had to be somewhat famous. Of the fourteen famous Italian monuments, four were built after Columbus's death and five were too far from the coastline. That left him with five options, three of which were in Rome and the other two were in opposite directions.
     Happy he had made his deductions on the flight over, he headed in the direction of the first monument on the list with his cat in tow.
     The Colosseum was, in one word, massive, it towered above the teen at a staggering height of 157 feet. With its stone and concrete arches, Luke tried to imagine what it was like back in the day when chariots raced inside the amphitheater for glory and riches, though most of them died in the end.
     Looking through a pamphlet he managed to snag at his hotel, he walked though an archway and into the main interior of the Colosseum. If he wasn't so engrossed by what he was reading, he might have noticed a very familiar face that he ended up bumping into causing him to drop his grandmother's journal.
     "I'm so sorry," he stated in Italian. Then he locked eyes with the individual whom he ran into. Skylar.
"We've got to stop running into each other like this," she laughed.
He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah we do," he laughed nervously.
"So what are you doing here? Looking for another clue?"
"Actually yes," he replied. Luke couldn't explain it, but he was happy she was here. "When I went to the American museum they had this piece of a device on display with a clue left by Columbus stating the country where I was born, so I came to Italy trying to find out where he hid the next clue." Luke decided to leave out the parts where he was kidnapped and stole the astrolabe piece, it was probably better she didn't know.
     "I'm so glad you've found where to head next. So I'm guessing you think the next clue is here?" She asked curiously, knowing he wasn't there to sight see.
"I am. I figured Columbus would've left a clue somewhere he knew would be there for a while, most likely a famous monument. Doing a little research I've narrowed it down to five places," he stated before leaning down to grab his grandmother's journal. He noticed the pages had some dirt on them so he proceeded to wipe it off.
"What are the other four?" She asked. Skylar waited a couple of seconds for a response, but it never came. He was too engrossed in the journal. "Luke," she called his name to try to get his attention. "Luke," she tried more forcefully.
"Huh? What?" He finally replied being pulled out of the trance. "Sorry about that I was trying to place this picture."
He walked over to her and showed her the page. Their shoulders brushed as they intently looked at the drawing of a beautiful fountain. "I've seen this fountain," he paused for a moment letting the information sink in. "Here."
Only taking a second to say the words Luke was thinking. "Oh my gosh, this is where the clue is!" Skylar exclaimed.
     "It has to be, I just didn't make the connection," he then proceeded to pull out his phone and mapped how far the pantheon was from their current location. "Great it's not far from here, we can walk there now."
     "We?" She asked surprised she had been invited.
     "Well yeah," he replied sheepishly. "If you'd like to come."
     "I'd like that," Skylar blushed. "Let me just tell my sister where I'm headed and then we can leave."
     "Your sister can come too if she wants," Luke suggested. He surely didn't want Skylar's sister walking around in a city alone, though he did want to hang out with Skylar exclusively, he didn't want anything to happen to her family either.
     Skylar went and grabbed her sister happy that she was being included as well.
"Luke this is my sister Stella. Stella, Luke," she introduced.
Luke took in her sister's unusual appearance. Stella wore a loose black and purple plaid hoodie with a black shirt, black leggings, and black combat boots. The only thing that wasn't black was her strikingly platinum blonde hair which she wore short. If Skylar hadn't introduced Stella as her sister, he would've thought they were anything but, though they both did share the most beautiful emerald green eyes.
     "Nice to meet you," he stated sticking out his hand for her to shake. When she didn't respond he thought her music was too loud in the headphones she wore, but they weren't.
     "Hi," she finally replied in a monotone voice.
     "Okay...I guess we can head out then," Luke replied leading the way.
     The trio plus Stitch made it to the Pantheon in a little over twenty minutes. When they arrived it was nearly dust, causing the architectural masterpiece to throw shadows in every direction.

     The Pantheon was larger than any of them had expected with its fifty foot grey granite columns supporting the roof of the building. How could a building such as this one be around for nearly two thousand years? The Romans obviously knew more about longevity when it came to their craftsmanship and it sure showed the world what they could do.
     Though the Pantheon was truly something, it was not what the group was there for. It was the fountain.
     Luke walked around the fountain inspecting every inch of it. He questioned himself as he looked at the delicate sculpting left by Leonardo Sormani wondering why he was looking at a piece of work created after Columbus's death. Obviously there was no way he could've left a clue after his death. Could he?
     "Luke over here!" It was Skylar, she had found something.
     Luke raced around the fountain and asked, "What is it?"

     "There's some writing on the pages of the book up in the middle of the crest," she stated pointing to the center of the fountain.
     Indeed there was some words written on the pages of the book. "I see it, but how can you tell it's what we are looking for?"
     Skylar smiled wide then pulled out her phone for him to see. She had taken a picture of the book and zoomed in to read the inscription. "The path you seek in not above, but below. Follow the wayward fish and go with the flow," she translated.
     "This is it but..." he trailed off and looked at the large amount of people that were in the courtyard. When he spoke again it was much softer, "We will need to wait until there is no one around before we can poke around a little more closely."
     Skylar nodded she knew they couldn't risk getting caught touching a foreign country's famous monument, even if it was for buried treasure.
     "We'll come back in a couple of hours when the coast is clear and find what Columbus left," he stated.
     As the sun finished setting and the stars came out, Luke couldn't wait to be one step closer to finding King David's treasure.