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Vampire?” Amelia asked. “No, I don’t think so.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Amelia’s cousin, Luther, said. “Have you ever seen Grandpa Joe? Pasty white, dresses like he’s a thousand years old, has a weird accent. How does that not scream vampire to you?”
“Um, maybe because he’s the nicest person in the world?” Amelia replied as she inspected a display case that held several ceramic bowls.
Luther leaned over her shoulder. “And you don’t think that’s a trap to lure us in?”
“You weren’t here for Thanksgiving. He cooked with a lot of garlic. I don’t think a vampire could have handled that,” Amelia said as they wandered down one of the halls in Grandpa Joe’s mansion.
The house was large and old, made of stone and dark wood that Luther said reminded him of castles in England. Display cases lined the walls, filled with treasures from all over the world. The house smelled of mothballs and old books and felt like a smaller version of the nearby museum where Grandpa Joe worked. The hall the cousins were in now had beautiful dishes from China, suits of armor from Europe, and even the tusk of a wooly mammoth.
One of their older cousins, George, stepped into the hall, stopping Amelia and Luther in their tracks. He was dressed as a caveman.
“This is quite a birthday party Grandpa Joe’s throwing,” George said, leaning against a display case filled with stone age tools. “What costumes did your families pick for the festivities?”
“Well, I’m a tall, skinny Nepali kid with shaggy black hair in a fake monk’s costume,” Luther said in his thick British accent. “I look like an orange peel with nothing inside and the rest of my family looks about the same.”
A little grin tugged at George’s mouth. Even though he was seven years older than Amelia and ready to leave for college, she had always liked him. “What about you, Amelia?”
Amelia looked down at her own costume. The light dress hung loosely on her, except around the waist where it was pulled tight with a belt. “I’m Cleopatra; we’re ancient Egyptians.”
“Nice! You both look great!” George said, winking at Luther. “My mom was telling me earlier that they used to do this kind of thing all the time at the museum when they were kids. They’d give tours and pretend to be different people from history. But hey, I’ve gotta get back downstairs. There’s a few people I want to see before they leave.”
“Our family is so weird,” Luther said once George was out of sight. “Hey, do you have any idea what happened to your little brother?”
Amelia sighed. “Dave’s probably pretending to be Grandpa Joe. If I had to guess, he’s waist deep in artifacts from a thousand years ago. Let’s try my dad’s old room first.”
They made their way to the bedrooms, passing a cluster of gemstones, a small library, and a dozen old wooden puppets on strings whose blank stares always made Amelia’s spine tingle. They were just outside the door to her dad’s old room when they heard a creak in the hardwood floor behind them.
“Amelia, Luther! There you two are!” Grandpa Joe called from the other side of the hall. “I suggest you stay up here. There are half a dozen gnomes searching for you downstairs.”
Luther leaned in and whispered to Amelia. “I know I haven’t been in America long, but is it normal for grandfathers to call their grandkids gnomes?”
Amelia giggled, her long, curly brown hair swishing across her cheeks. “No, just Grandpa Joe. He called me a gnome until last year. I think he stops when you turn ten. Well, except for Dave, who has never been called a gnome. Dave’s always been his favorite. He calls Uncle Albert’s son, Declan, a ghoul.”
Amelia’s voice trailed off as she watched Grandpa Joe step past, his hands full with several old-looking things—a flowery hairpin made of jade green stone that matched Amelia’s eyes perfectly, a little wooden cow, a telescope that looked like it once belonged to a pirate, and a few others.
“Ah! You noticed some of the treasures I found,” Grandpa Joe said in his high voice, following her gaze. As he did, the little wooden cow slipped from his grasp. Quick as lightning he stuck a foot out, catching the wooden cow on his silver-buckled shoe before it could hit the floor.
He peeked over his round wireframe glasses with eyes full of mischief as he balanced on one foot. “That was a close one! This is a 2,800-year-old artifact from Carthage in North Africa, across the sea from where your grandmother and I adopted your father, Amelia. Not a single other one left in the whole world. Luther, would you be so kind as to get it for me?”
“Are you having a nice birthday party?” Luther said, setting the cow back on the stack of things Grandpa Joe held.
“I most certainly am,” Grandpa Joe said as he rose to his full height. He was not much taller than the two eleven-year-old grandchildren standing before him. The wisps of feathery hair on his head left him looking a lot like an elf who should be fixing shoes in a cottage. “I just needed to put up a few of my more important things. You know, keep them safe.”
Grandpa Joe leaned forward to let Amelia and Luther have a better look at what he carried.
“They’re some of the more valuable artifacts I’ve discovered,” Grandpa Joe whispered. “And they have to be protected at all costs, no matter what. If they ended up in the wrong hands, the results would be catastrophic.”
“Cat-a-straw-fik,” Luther said slowly before Amelia could ask Grandpa Joe what he meant. “I’m glad I haven’t heard that word in a while.”
“Give it a bit,” said another voice from behind them. “Crazy things happen to people every day.”
Amelia turned to see her nine-year-old brother, Dave, poking his head out of the door. His brown hair, which was normally well styled, was tucked away under a greenish-grey turban. The color matched his eyes fairly well, but it left his already pale skin looking even less healthy.
“Oh, Dave! A mummy costume; very nice!” Grandpa Joe said, smiling. “Did you do any more reading on the ancient Hittites like we talked about?”
“I made it through chapter 15,” Dave replied, his face lighting up. “The book’s been amazing!”
“A real page turner,” Grandpa Joe said wryly, with a wink at Amelia and Luther, before his voice turned serious again. “I’ve been collecting things from the most important moments in history for my entire life. It’ll be up to all of you one day to keep them safe.”
Grandpa Joe looked down, his eyes landing on the flowery green hairpin.
“Ah! This would be a good place to start!” Grandpa Joe said, holding it up. “I think this should go to you, Amelia. Why don't you pick it up from me right before you leave today?”
Amelia stood silently, trying to understand what Grandpa Joe was saying. For a moment, the whole house seemed to grow darker, as though whomever they were supposed to keep these things safe from had just stepped inside.
Then Grandpa Joe’s face brightened as he grinned, and the moment passed. “Don’t forget the most important thing of all: ‘It’s twice greater than prime to remember that half a day is all your time.’”
With that, he turned and continued to his study.
Luther leaned over and whispered in Amelia’s ear. “I know I’ve only met him a couple times, but he’s always this crazy, right?”
Amelia whispered back. “Our Grandpa Joe—Jacob Johnson—is the most famous explorer in the world. He can be a little cuckoo sometimes.”
Grandpa Joe froze in mid-step and then turned, a sly grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
“And don’t you forget that either,” Grandpa Joe said with a wink. He slipped into his study without another word, leaving them with a glimpse of floor to ceiling shelves filled with mysterious artifacts, old books, and a narrow spiral staircase.
“Wow. He’s got good hearing, too,” Luther said as soon as the door shut, wiggling his shoulders to pull his monk’s robe back up. “I get that it’s his birthday and all, but do we have to wear these costumes?”
Amelia shrugged. “Grandpa Joe’s always got the family doing something like this. Chinese New Year celebrations, Nigerian talking drum performances. You should have seen us at the Renaissance Faire last year. People thought we ran the whole place.”
“Well, I’ll say what my mum always does: ‘The Yanks are a weird lot,’” Luther laughed.
Dave shrugged. “Maybe we are. But come here, I’ve got something awesome to show you!”
“Not on your life, Davie. Your mummy outfit is absolutely terrifying,” Luther said.
“Whoa, really?” Dave asked, beaming with pride. “I worked on it for weeks.”
“Nope. Not a bit. But it’s way better than dressin’ as an oversized orange like me. I mean, I get that my mum’s from Nepal and all, but the last time any of us were there was when Grandpa and Grandma Joe adopted her. And now I’m stuck in this monk’s robe that for some reason only has one pocket to keep my extra sandwich!” Luther said, pulling out a ham and cheese sandwich before stuffing it back in again. “Where’d they pick up your dad again?”
“They adopted him from the Balkans, in southeastern Europe,” Dave replied, opening his dad’s bedroom door wide enough for the other two. “You’re never gonna believe what I found in here. Old books!”
Luther rolled his eyes. “Wow. Old books. In Grandpa Joe’s house. The height of surprise.”
Dave walked over to the dresser and opened a drawer. He rummaged through it for a minute before holding up a huge silver cross, tarnished brown with age, with flowers and decorations all around it. “Is this any better?”
“Whoa, now that’s something exciting,” Luther said, his eyes growing large. “I bet you could sell it for some serious coin in Covent Garden.”
Amelia’s mouth quirked up with distaste. “Sell something my dad got when he was a kid? I don’t know what things were like back in London, but nobody’s going around to a bunch of pawn shops here in Chicago.”
Luther straightened, offended. “Covent Garden is not a pawn shop. Besides, I know a guy there who’d pay a fortune for my stuff. Mum brought this amazing chess set we had in our sitting room back in England. Gold and silver pieces, jewels, the whole thing. I’ve been begging her to sell it for ages so we can finally get something nicer than a minivan, but she keeps telling me it’s off limits. Anyways, what’s so special about that cross you got, Davie?”
Dave looked at it closely, feeling it’s weight in his hands and inspecting the edges. He even took a moment to smell it, wrinkling his nose afterwards. He scratched his head a couple of times, thinking. Amelia loved to see him like this, working out a problem, especially one from history. He seemed to know almost as much as Grandpa Joe.
Soon Dave took a breath. “It’s Ethiopian. I’m almost 100% sure. If it’s not from there, it’s Coptic. It’s not a real silver cross—it’s a little too brown for that—but it is old. Probably at least a hundred and fifty years.”
“How do you know all this stuff?” Luther asked with a lopsided grin.
Dave shrugged. “I just do. I read about it in Grandpa Joe’s books and then he and I talk about it.”
Luther blew out a breath. “Davie, you’re nine years old. You should be going out and doing things that kids do, like playing cricket or something, not reading dusty ole books.”
Amelia stepped between the two of them. “Give him a break. Dave loves history.”
Luther rolled his eyes. “Alright, I get it; he’s a mini version ‘a Grandpa Joe. Is that cross the only cool thing you wanted to show us?”
“Oh, not at all! You need to see this!” Dave said, holding up a big red book.
“Great,” Luther said sarcastically. “More books. You gonna ask Grandpa Joe’s museum to add it to their collection?”
Dave rolled his eyes. “It’s not Grandpa Joe’s museum; he’s just worked there longer than most of the other staff have been alive. But you should see the stuff in this book. It’s Shroll’s Big Book of Weird, Wonderful, and Wild Facts. It’s almost 100 years old!”
Luther looked at Amelia to see if she agreed. She nodded.
Luther sat. “Alright, Davie. What’s the first thing you can find in there? Make it good, or I’m going back down to the party to find scones.”
Dave flipped open the book and held it up. “Look at that! A box with lines in it!”
“Boring!” Luther said. “I can make a box with lines in it, no problem.”
Amelia put up her hand. “No, wait; look closer. It says ‘How to Jump Through a Piece of Paper.’ First, you take a piece of paper this size. Then, you cut in all these places,” she explained, pointing to the lines. “If you do, you’ll be able to spread it into a ring and step through!”
Luther leaned in for a closer look. “Okay, really. Who wants to jump through a piece of paper?” A door slamming made them all pause as Grandpa Joe left his study, muttering to himself. After he made his way back to where the rest of the family was gathered for the party, Luther perked up. “Listen, I’ve got a better idea. Let’s go see what’s in Grandpa Joe’s study.”
“His study?” Dave asked uncertainly. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You’re new here, so you don’t know, but that’s his special room. If he catches us in there, he’ll...well, I don’t know what he’ll do, but it won’t be good! No one ever goes in there. Even George says it’s off limits”
“No way,” Luther said. “He’ll love that we’re interested in all his stuff, right Amelia?”
“I guess...” Amelia said hesitantly. Even though she agreed with Dave that it was a bad idea, she had always wanted to know what Grandpa kept in his study.
“We won’t touch anything,” Luther continued. “Just go in, take a look at that horny toad lizard I keep hearing about, and leave.”
Amelia bit her lip. She’d never been in Grandpa Joe’s study, and she knew that for all his protesting, Dave was dying to go. She looked at his eager face before making up her mind. “Okay, but for the record, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Come on then,” Luther said as he left the room. Amelia and Dave traded glances and shrugged, following.
They walked down the hall toward the study, passing doors to bedrooms on either side. Between the doors were display cases of old Greek pottery, painted red and black with scenes of people fighting terrible monsters. As they walked, Amelia could feel her excitement growing and the blood pounding in her ears. She wanted to see what was in Grandpa Joe’s study as much as the boys.
When they arrived at the study, Luther looked behind them to make sure no one was watching. He nodded that the coast was clear and opened the door. Dave slipped in, still holding the Schroll’s book, and Amelia closed the door behind them, catching the briefest glimpse of full to bursting wood shelves stained ebony and a large old leather chair.
The door latched shut and the room went dark.
“Someone find the light switch,” Dave said nervously.
“I got it,” Luther replied.
Amelia heard Luther’s hand bump something just as the light came on. She watched as he made a wild grab to save whatever it was. Even as he did, she knew it was too late.
Luther had knocked over one of Grandpa Joe’s treasures.