Emerald

Chapter Four- Clues

There was nothing but an envelope with a name written on it. I waited for my friends to catch up with me and pointed to the corner. They had the same look my face held when I saw it; surprise and disappointment. We were expecting maybe a map or some tracking device that held an address or something along those lines. Ari looked closely at the envelope and read what was on the outside.

"To Ariana Solace, my little sister."

She opened the envelope carefully as if were the last thing on Earth and she read it aloud to all of us.

"My dear sister, I can only assume that you have discovered part of Em's secret. I can only tell you one thing, I have a secret, but it is not the same as Em's. I'm discovering something about all of us. And, Em; I promise, what I'm doing is for your own protection. Anyway, here's the clues to why I was here. The clues as to where I'm heading next will be in the same spot as to where these next clues will lead you,"

To say we were all shocked was an understatement. My mouth was even hanging down in surprise.

"The secret room of famous artist one is right of painting two. To open the seal, knock five times and say the engraved. Inside will be boxes three. Inside them will be all the reasons I was there. Good luck! Love, Shawn."

Ari stood there, just thinking. Suddenly, I saw a light bulb go off in her head. She gasped in realization as she ran to the large entrance the museum, with the rest of us trailing right behind. Matt opened the doors and we all walked in.

I just stood there in awe of the majestic building. I felt a rough tug at my hand, and looked to my left to see Ari pulling me along. I giggled as she pulled us toward the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. It was beautiful, so many paintings. Again, I stood in awe until I saw the beautiful painting that I'd came to love; the Mona Lisa. I walked up to it and noticed something on the wall to the right of the painting.

There was a little sticker-like label on the wall with a "2" on it. I then noticed that there was a large space between the Mona Lisa and the other paintings to the right of her.

"Guys! Come check this out!" I hollered at my friends, but not loud enough for it to widely echo. They came running over and I pointed to the label on the wall. "The secret room of famous artist one. That's the secret room of Leonardo da Vinci that I've read rumors about. Rumor has it that Philly found some of his secret blueprints and artwork and kept it in a secret vault. Right of painting two... Painting two, in Shawn's wacky mind, must be the Mona Lisa. The sticker has a two labeled on it!"

They all just stared at me in shock, which became smiles. They silently cheered hugged me tight as we all looked at the sticker. Oh, and if you haven't noticed yet, I was a serious hugger and they all knew that.

"You should do the honors, Em. You're the one that figured it out." said Ari. I nodded and quietly knocked on the seal five times. Suddenly, a small section of the wall slid away to reveal a small carving with words on it. Knock five times and say the engraved. I cleared my throat and read them aloud;

"May the remembrance of the greatest artist live on in secret. His work will always live on in the secret room. This room will now be opened for you."

The engraving...did nothing and I just stood there, dumbstruck. I didn't know what I had done wrong.

Then, Ari gently pushed me out of the way.

"I think I know why the letter was addressed to me... Leonardo Da Vinci was from France right?" she asked us. We all nodded in response. "I think you have to say it in French." I had completely forgotten! Ari spoke fluent French! She cleared her throat.

"Que le souvenir du plus grand artiste de vivre dans le secret. Son travail sera toujours vivre dans la pièce secrète. Cette chambre sera maintenant ouverte pour vous."

The engraving started glowing a beautiful green color. Kind of like the color of my eyes; my namesake. When it died down, there was a large opening where the wall once was.

I looked behind us, just to make sure that no one saw anything. No one was even in the great hall. I sighed in relief as I walked through the large opening. It led into a dark, wooden staircase with a whole lot of spider webs. Ew. I carefully led my friends down the staircase until we came to a large, wooden door. It seemed to be shining in the light from the torches on the wall. I never got to know why they were able to burn when it looked like no one had been down there for decades.

I slowly opened the large door that led to a room with old walls and three boxes on small, wooden podiums. The one on the left seemed to be made of gold, the right was silver, and the center was bronze. We all slowly made our way to the boxes. Ari opened the gold box. Inside was a picture of the large center of a city. It was a picture of Times Square!

"Ha! He went to New York City! That's where we grew up before we moved to Pennsylvania!" she smiled. "Do you think there's a clue about specifically where he went?" I looked over to the silver box which Rose was opening. Inside was a Polaroid of the five of us when we went on a class trip to NYC. We were standing in front of the Grand Hotel as we were walking by. It was a beautiful building, so we decided to take a picture in front of it. I smiled at the memory.

"I think he went to the Grand Hotel. We always did say that we wanted to stay there someday. Maybe he's giving us an excuse to! Awesome!" smiled Rose. We all giggled. "Well, we know where he is now. But why was he here?" she wondered. We were all wondering the same thing.

We all looked to the bronze box as Matt opened it. Inside was a small envelope addressed to him. He smiled as he opened it and read it aloud.

"Congrats on figuring it out, guys! I knew that Matt would open the bronze box. I don't know why, though. I just had a feeling. Oh well, I hope you know that I am now on my way to NYC. You also could have probably guessed that I'm at the Grand Hotel. Well, I can't wait for you to see the clues that I've set up for you there. Anyway, now for why I was here. I was doing some research on if Em was technically classified as a species, because of her dream powers, etc. So, I searched her powers and such, and it just leads me to a website that was talking about the legend of the secret room that you are in right now. I discovered the three boxes and decided to put the clues in there. I did not find any clues about Em, but if you look at the podium underneath this box, there should be a little handle. It will open a little cabinet containing another box. I need you to look into that box and find out if it means anything to any of you. Oh, and watch out when you try and get out of there. The legend also told of a guardian keeping people from going out and telling the world of the secret. I didn't see it, but maybe you will. Anyway, good luck, again! Love, Shawn."

Wow, that was confusing.

"Well, let's open up that cabinet and see that box," said Rose. We all giggled as I knelt down to the podium. Sure enough, there was a small, silver handle that opened up a small cabinet. I looked inside and was dumbstruck when I saw what the box looked like. It was similar to my jewelry box at home, but it was made of sparkling emeralds.

What is it with all this stuff and my namesake?!

I slowly opened the small box. Inside was a note, a Polaroid, and another box. I decided to read the note first.

"To my sweet little girl, If you are reading this...that means that you are finally discovering who you are. Your mother must have taken very good care of you. The elders that I have met told me a small prophecy of your future. 'A man shall go on a quest to rescue his most cherished one. He will leave riddles when she chooses to go, as well. Three other cherished ones shall accompany her on her quest, and one will change her life. On a long journey, they will go and many dangers they will face, but the woman's magic will not be strong enough to save everyone. Someone will be lost forever, even at the hands of their own cherished one. But what was lost, can finally be found by another who shall be loved.' I'm so very sorry, no one I have come across has been able to translate this riddle, but I do still wish the best of luck to you all. I miss you, my shining Emerald. With all my love for my little jewel, Father."

At the end of it, I broke out in sobs. I fell to the ground while holding the letter to my heart. Everything was happening so fast, but it was one of the best moments of my life.

"Em, why are you crying?" asked Matt. I smiled at him through my tears.

"Guys! I think my dad is alive!" I answered. They all smiled and hugged me. I got up and looked in the box again. I took out the Polaroid and saw the most beautiful picture I'd ever seen. It was my mom, a man who must have been my father and a little baby in their arms. That baby was me.

My mother's midnight hair and brown eyes shined in the long dress she adorned. My father seemed to have deep green eyes and light, almost white, hair. His skin was a bit tan and he was so handsome. They both looked so happy.

They had so much love in their eyes. I smiled as I looked in the box again and finally took out the final item, a little black box.

It was soft as velvet, which I assumed it was made of. I opened the small clasp on the outside and opened it. Inside were the two most beautiful things I'd ever seen; a small, emerald ring and a silver chain with a small key. On the inside of the lid was engraved, 'Wear these and never forget who you are'. I gladly obeyed as I put the ring on my right ring finger and slipped the chain over my midnight hair. I was so happy, but then I was being shaken back to reality.

Literally. Rose had grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me so that I paid attention.

"Alright! Let's get out of here. It's getting cold and we need to get on our way to NYC!" she smiled. We all happily agreed and began walking back up the old, wooden stairs. But, suddenly, we were all stopped. The door to the room was closed. Rose tried to open the door, but it was locked. Matt even tried kicking the door open but to no avail. Then, we heard the footsteps behind us...We looked, and I was terrified. We all screamed for dear life. In front of us was the Guardian of the Da Vinci room; Leonardo Da Vinci, himself...