Chapter 19

Chapter 19 Dan was thrilled that the second clue had been safely smuggled out of the church in his pants. "So, really, I saved the day," he decided. "Wait a minute," Amy said. "I climbed onto the roof in the middle of a thunderstorm." "Yeah, but the clue was in my pants." Amy rolled her eyes. "You're right, Dan. You are the real hero." Nellie cracked a smile. "You both did pretty good, if you ask me." They were sitting together at a café on the Champs-élysées, watching the pedestrians and enjoying more pain au chocolat. It was the morning after the storm. The sky was blue. They'd already packed their bags and checked out of the Maison des Gardons. All things considered,

Dan felt lucky. He still had some doubts about what they'd gone through. In particular, he didn't like that Ian and Natalie had gotten away. He'd hated being tied up, and he wanted to get back at Ian. But it could've been worse. At least they hadn't gotten lost forever in the Catacombs or slammed in the face with a box of ice cream. "I still want to know what was in that vial, though," he said. Amy twirled her hair thoughtfully. "Whatever it is, it's supposed to give one team an advantage freeing the truth — that has to mean the final treasure of the contest. Since Ian and Natalie have the vial … well, I've got a bad feeling we'll find out what it does pretty quick." "If these Lucian dudes created it," Nellie said, chewing on her croissant, "maybe it's like some special kind of poison. They seem to love poisons." "Maybe," Dan said, though the answer felt wrong. He still didn't like the idea that Ben Franklin was related to Ian and Natalie. He'd started to admire Franklin — what with the fart

essays and the lightning and all. Now he wasn't sure if old Ben was a good guy or a bad guy. "But what would poison have to do with a piece of sheet music?" Amy took the parchment out of her backpack and spread it on the table. Dan had already studied it a dozen times. He knew it was an exact copy of the song they'd seen engraved on the stone pedestal in the secret room, but he didn't know why it was important. When he'd woken up that morning, Amy had already been researching on his laptop. Usually she didn't like the Internet. For some weird reason, she said books were better, so Dan knew she must've been really desperate for information. "I found it online," Amy said. "How?" Dan said. "I did a search for Benjamin Franklin plus music. It came up right away. That's an adagio for armonica." "Ben Franklin's instrument," Dan remembered. "The water on the glass rims thing." "Yeah, but I have a feeling this is more than a musical score." Amy sat forward. Her eyes were

bright, like she knew a secret. "We found the song and downloaded it. Listen." Nellie handed over her iPod. "Not my kind of music. But whatever." Dan listened. He felt like he was being filled with helium. The music was so familiar and beautiful it made him want to float across Paris, but it also confused him. Usually he had no trouble remembering things, but he could not recall where he'd heard this music before. "I know this song …" "Dad used to play it," Amy said. "In his study, when he was working. He played it all the time." Dan wanted to remember what Amy was talking about. He wanted to listen to the song over and over until he could see their dad in his study. But Nellie took back the iPod. "Sorry, kiddo. You've still got, like, mud in your ears." "The notes are a code," Amy said. "The whole piece of music is some kind of message." "And our parents knew about it," Dan said in amazement. "But what does it mean?" "I don't know," Amy admitted. "But, Dan, you remember how Mr. McIntyre said the thirty-nine

clues are pieces of a puzzle?" "Yeah." "I started thinking about that last night, after you decoded that message on the vial. I started wondering … why wasn't the first clue like that?" She brought out the crème paper they'd paid two million dollars for. Dan's scrawled notes filled the back side. On the front side was their first clue: RESOLUTION: The fine print to guess, Seek out Richard S_______. Nellie frowned. "That led you to Franklin, right? Wasn't that the answer?" "Only partly," Amy said. "It's also the first piece of the puzzle. It's a clue to an actual thing.

That clicked for me last night when you mentioned anagrams, Dan." He shook his head. "I don't get it." She took out a pen and wrote RESOLUTION. "You asked me why this word was part of the clue. I didn't understand until now. We're supposed to guess the fine print." She passed the paper and pen to Dan. "Solve the anagram." Dan stared at the letters. Suddenly, he felt like he'd been zapped by a Frankin battery. The letters rearranged themselves in his mind. He picked up the pen and wrote: IRON SOLUTE "I don't believe it," Nellie said. "This whole thing was about iron solute?" "It's the first piece of the puzzle," Amy said. "It's an ingredient, or a component, or something like that." "For what?" Dan asked. Amy pursed her lips. "Iron solute could be used for chemistry, or metalworking, or even printing. There's no way to tell, yet. And we don't know how much we're supposed to use. Every time Franklin mentioned iron solute, he just wrote