Treasure Hunters: Book of Secrets

Twelve: Family Reunion

"Uh, I'm going to take myself out of the line of fire for this one guys," said Riley, sitting himself down in a chair outside the office. Patrick's anxiety about their meeting with Ben and Alex's mother had only made Riley nervous too. Alex rolled her eyes.

"I hate her!" A girl stormed from the very office they were just about to go into, brushing past them angrily.

"We're in the right place," Patrick stated. "You know what, maybe I'll wait out here too, keep Riley company-"

"No Dad! You're coming too." Reluctantly, he obeyed, and with that, followed his children into the office of Doctor Emily Appleton.

"Alexandra, Benjamin!" Emily cried when she saw them, hugging her children.

"Hi Mom."

"And Abigail! So nice to see you too! Hello sweetheart." She hugged her too. Then she turned to the last member of their party, Patrick. Her face instantly fell. "Oh."

Patrick looked to his children. "See, one word, a knife in the heart. She can do that you know."

"Yes, and I can also track the whereabouts of my toothbrush," Emily shot back.

"Here we go," mumbled Alex as their parents began to argue.

The siblings and Abigail stood there awkwardly for a few minutes as Patrick and Emily continued to have their heated argument about one of them forgetting to pack the toothbrushes on one of their trips - toothbrushes, really?

"Mom," tried Ben.

"Who was in charge of packing the luggage?"

"I couldn't fit the travel cases into the luggage because it was full with that stupid rug you bought! You thought it had some 'secret stitching' or something."

"It did have secret stitching!"

"Mom," Alex tried. But their parents only continued to argue.

"Mom!" Finally, they managed to break up the argument. "We need you to take a look at this." Ben handed her a printout of the security photo of the plank. "It's very interesting - we think it might be Olmec."

Emily put on her glasses and inspected the photo. "You're right, it is. Yes, yes, definitely proto-Zoquean. Hang on a minute - is this a security photo?"

Again, the siblings shared a guilty glance. "We were hoping you could translate it," jumped in Alex.

"Yes-" Emily eyed her children skeptically. Then she paused. "Oh this doesn't involve another treasure hunt, does it?"

"Mom, please. This is really important."

Emily sighed but turned back to the photo. "Alright. This, this glyph here means 'bird' - uh 'noble bird'-" Patrick moved to sit on the couch in the centre of the office, but stopped when she shot him a glare over the rims of her glasses. She pointed to the next symbol. Ben scribbled down what she said as she continued the translation. "'Find the noble bird, let him take you by the hand and give you passage to the sacred temple'-" She stopped then and looked around at the group, removing her glasses and letting out a small laugh. "Oh, you think this is a treasure map to Cibola don't you?"

"Well that's exactly what it is," Patrick said affirmatively.

"No, Patrick," scoffed Emily. "This glyph doesn't mean 'Cibola' it means 'the centre of the world'."

"You used to like it, remember. You fell in love with me on a treasure hunt."

Again, she scoffed. "Oh that wasn't love! That was excitement, adrenaline, and tequila. And I was just trying to get course credit."

This obviously hurt him. "Well the treasure hunting paid off, in case you haven't read the papers lately."

"That had nothing to do with you, that was Ben and Alex. They found the treasure, you did nothing." On that hurtful note, they fell silent.

"Mom, Dad, can we please just figure out what's on this plank," Alex prompted. She hated when her parents fought, especially in front of others. She was certain Riley could hear them from outside.

"Well that's it I'm afraid." Emily came back to inspect the photo one last time. "These glyphs are only partials, so you have only half of a treasure map. I'm sorry." She glanced back at Patrick and then mumbled, "though not that I'm surprised."

--------------------------------

"So, how'd it go?" Riley asked, joining Alex as they left the building after the meeting.

"Embarrassing."

"Did she translate the clue?"

"Yeah, but it looks like that plank was only half of the full clue."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, but at least we know where the rest of it is," Ben stated knowingly.

The others stopped. "We do?"

"You know where it is? Why didn't you tell me?" questioned Patrick.

"Cause obviously you have a tendency to overact!"

Patrick grimaced, then sighed. "I'm sorry. So where is it?"

"The inscription on the statue in Paris said 'these twins stand resolute'."

"So you think the map's divided between the two Resolute desks," Alex figured.

"That's right."

"Resolute desk," said Patrick. "The Resolute desk? The president's desk?"

"The president? Which president? Our president?" questioned Riley. The others nodded. "Oh no..."

Patrick sighed. "Now why would I overreact to that?"

(Haha! Oh another one of Ben's elaborate schemes that's bound to get them into trouble ;) hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! :))