Delving Beneath the Surface

Chapter 11

Gunther probably knew something was up at this point.

His eyes glossed over the four people now standing on the other side of the counter. A small audience compared to when this all began a few months ago. Gunther probably hadn't seen this many people in his museum in some time.

Verona and Sebastian planned on going together when Gunther sent her a message. They dropped off the third scroll a few weeks ago. She was beginning to thinkt he had forgotten about it, but he finally found something for them. Sam heard about their plans from Sebastian and told Haley. They ambushed them on their way to the museum and insisted they come too to see what Gunther had learned. Who was Verona to argue with that? They played a huge part in getting the third canister and deserved to know too.

She settled in her usual seat and said, "I brought a few friends with this time around. Hopefully, you don't mind?"

Gunther shook his head in exasperation. "At least you're gettin' more of the young folk into history," he said as he straightened his glasses, "I've been workin' on the translations these last few weeks. And I think I found—" He hesitated. "—somethin'?"

She shifted forward in her seat, balancing precariously on the front legs of the stool. "And that something would be?"

"A code? A puzzle? A piece of fiction, perhaps?" He reached under his desk, pulling out a spiral notebook for her. "I spent a lot of time translatin' a lot of nonsense, but I was able to pull a few cohesive phrases from the scrolls. I'm not entirely sure what these little buggers are tryin' to communicate with us though."

He slid it across the counter and Verona flipped it open. The first page included a small passage. She flipped to the next page, then the next, dismayed to find them blank. Three scrolls had amounted to one page of cohesive text. She expected more to come of them. Hiding her disappointment with a heavy breath, she read Gunther's neat scrawl aloud for the others.

Only those who are searching can find us.

A treasure found where no one is looking.

A well of knowledge.

Hidden in plain sight.

Here since the very beginning.

Find us where it all began.

Copper, silver, gold, and iridium.

All four make us whole.

A key.

All four will—

The passage ended abruptly. Gunther had written and rewritten the ending phrase several times, but he scribbled each out. She buzzed her lips irritably. She had no idea what to expect from these scrolls, but this certainly wasn't it. "Is this a riddle or something?" Verona asked as soon as she finished, "What do they want us to find? What will all four do?"

"Not sure," Gunther said with a shrug, "but the passage isn't complete. I thought I could extract the last part from the most recent scroll you found, but it didn't work. We're still missin' a piece of the puzzle."

"So, we need to find another scroll," Sebastian offered, "That'll give us the last part, right?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, but between the three scrolls, this is what I managed to scrounge up. It wouldn't surprise me if there was more hidin' down there. Those mines are a treasure trove of weird and unusual things, I'm sure."

"Fuck yeah, do you know what that means?" Sam pumped the air with his fist, "Another adventure!" Haley smacked him. She shook her head, wearing a grave expression. He sputtered and quickly amended, "Oh. I mean, uh, looks like you'll be heading down there on your own, without us, because ya know, that would be irresponsible."