The Maze of Bones (The 39 Clues #1)(15)

"He took it," Dan wheezed.

"What?" Amy wasn't really listening. She sank to her knees and watched as the only place she'd ever cared about went up in flames. She pictured Grace telling her stories in the library. She remembered running down the halls, playing tag with Dan when they were little. She thought of the secret nook in the bedroom where she liked to read with Saladin on her lap. All gone. Her whole body shook. Tears welled up in her eyes. For the second time in her life, fire had robbed her.

"Amy." Dan sounded close to tears, but he put a hand on her shoulder. "You've got to listen. He took it. Alistair did."

Amy wanted to tell Dan to shut up and let her mourn in peace, but then she realized what he was talking about. She got unsteadily to her feet and stared into the distance, where the BMW's taillights were disappearing around a hill.

Alistair Oh had tricked them. He'd stolen the

Poor Richard's Almanack with their mother's notes -- their only lead in the quest.

CHAPTER 6

Dan had always wanted to ride in a police car, but not like this.

His chest still hurt from the smoke. He sat in the backseat of the police car with Saladin on his lap and tried not to wheeze, but every breath was like inhaling sand.

"If you'd just brought your inhaler..." Amy chided. But he hated his inhaler. It made him feel like Darth Cahill or something. Besides, he hadn't had an attack in forever, and he didn't know they were going to get caught in a stupid fire.

He couldn't believe the family mansion was gone. He'd woken up this morning sure that Amy and he would inherit the place. Now there was nothing left -- just a smoking mountain of rubble.

The police detectives hadn't given them many answers. It looked like arson, they said.

The fire spread too quickly to be an accident. They said William McIntyre would be okay. Amazingly, no one else had been hurt. Dan had told the police about Alistair Oh leaving the mansion in a big hurry.

He figured he might as well try to get the old creep in trouble. But Dan had said nothing about the thirty-nine clues or the secret library or the strange guy with the binoculars.

"Who was the man in black?" Amy whispered, like she'd been thinking the same thing. She had Grace's jewelry box on her lap, and she was twisting her hair the way she always did when she was nervous.

"Don't know," Dan said. "Alistair?"

"He couldn't have been in two places at once."

"Mr. Holt?"

"Mr. Holt's not that old, and he's a lot more buff."

"Aunt Beatrice dressed as a man?" Personally, Dan liked this idea, because Beatrice definitely had the "evil" factor going for her. After all, she'd just left them at the mansion without a second thought. But Amy rolled her eyes.

"He wasn't anybody we know, Dan. At least, I'm pretty sure. But he was watching us, like he wanted to see if we got out. I think he set that fire to trap us."

"Mrrp," Saladin said.

"I agree with the cat," Dan said. "After that man in black and Uncle Alistair, I say we make a new RESOLUTION. Stay away from old guys."

"We'll have to be more careful about everybody." Amy lowered her voice even more.

"Dan, our mother was involved in the thirty-nine clues. That writing -- "

"Yeah, but that's impossible. The contest just started!"

"It was Mom's writing. I'm sure. She said, Follow Franklin, first clue. Maze of Bones. We have to find out what that means. This is just the kind of mystery Mom would've loved!"

Dan knew he shouldn't have felt annoyed, but he hated that Amy remembered more about their parents than he did. He would never have recognized their mom's handwriting. He had no idea what kind of person she'd been.

"We lost the book," he grumbled. "We kind of failed already, didn't we?"

Amy traced the monogram on top of Grace's jewelry box. "Maybe not. I have an idea, but we're going to need an adult. Alistair was right about that. We'll never be able to travel without one."

"Travel?" Dan said. "Where are we going?"

Amy glanced at the cop. She leaned closer to Dan and whispered, "First, we need to find a chaperone. And quickly.

Aunt Beatrice is going to call Social Services soon. We need to get home, get our stuff, and get out. If the police find out we've been disowned, they'll take us to a foster home or something. We'll never be able to find the thirty-nine clues."

Dan hadn't thought about this. He didn't know much about foster homes, but he figured he didn't want to live in one. Would a foster home let him take his collection?

Probably not.

"So how do we get an adult?" he asked. "Rent one?"

Amy twisted her hair into a noose. "We need somebody who'll let us do what we want without asking too many questions. Somebody old enough to look like we're being chaperoned, but not strict enough that they'll try to stop us. Somebody kind of pliable."

"Does 'pliable' mean we can lie to them?"

"Mrrp," Saladin said, like that sounded good to him as long as he got fresh fish.

The police car turned onto Melrose Street and pulled up in front of their weathered brownstone apartment building.

"This is the address?" the cop asked. She sounded bored and annoyed.