The Maze of Bones (The 39 Clues #1)(21)

"Starlings," Amy corrected. "Our relatives. Ned, Ted, and Sinead."

Nellie snorted. "That's not really their names."

"I'm not joking," Amy said. "It's, um, part of the scavenger hunt. Nellie, we can't let them follow us. We have to lose them."

Nellie didn't need to be told twice. She yanked the wheel to the right and the Toyota careened across three lanes of traffic. Saladin yowled. Just as they were about to slam into the safety-impact barrels, Nellie slipped onto an exit ramp.

The last view Amy got of the Starlings was Sinead's freckled face pressed against the window of the Mercedes, her jaw hanging open as she watched Amy and Dan get away "Is that lost enough?" Nellie asked.

"Mrrp!"

Saladin protested.

"You could've killed us!" Dan had a big grin on his face. "Do that again!"

"No!" Amy said. "Locust Street. And hurry!"

Their first stop was the Library Company of Philadelphia, a big redbrick building in the middle of downtown. Amy and Dan asked Nellie to wait in the car with Saladin. Then they walked up the front steps.

"Oh, boy, another library," Dan said. "We have such great luck with libraries."

"Franklin founded this place," Amy told him. "It's got a lot of books from his personal collection. If we can convince the librarians -- "

"What's the big deal with Benjamin Franklin, anyway? I mean, so the guy invented electricity or whatever. That was hundreds of years ago."

"He didn't invent electricity," Amy said, trying not to sound too annoyed. "He discovered that lightning was the same stuff as electricity. He invented lightning rods to protect buildings and experimented with batteries and-"

"I do that. Have you ever put one on your tongue?"

"You're an idiot. The thing is Franklin was famous for a lot of reasons. He started out getting rich with his printing business. Then he became a scientist and invented a bunch of stuff. Later he helped write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He was even an ambassador to England and France. He was brilliant. World famous. Everybody liked him, and he lived until he was, like, in his eighties."

"Superman," Dan said.

"Pretty much."

"So do you think he knew what it was -- this treasure we're looking for?"

Amy hadn't thought of that. Franklin had been one of the most influential people in history. If he was a Cahill, and he knew about this secret family treasure...

"I think," she said, "we'd better find out."

She pushed open the doors and led Dan inside.

Fortunately, the librarians were having a slow day, and Amy wasn't shy around them at all. She loved librarians. When she told them she was doing a summer research project on Benjamin Franklin and needed to use historical documents, they fell all over themselves to help her.

They made Amy and Dan wear latex gloves and sit in a climate-controlled reading room while they brought out old books to look at.

The librarian set the first one down and Amy gasped. "This is Franklin's first cartoon!"

Dan squinted at it. The picture showed a snake, cut into thirteen pieces, each one labeled with the name of an American colony.

"Not very funny for a cartoon," Dan said.

"It's not supposed to be funny," Amy said. "Back then, cartoons made a point. Like, he's saying if the colonies don't get together, Britain will cut them apart."

"Uh-huh." Dan turned his attention to his computer. They'd been in the library maybe five minutes, and here he was, already looking bored, clacking away on his laptop rather than helping her.

Amy pored over the other artifacts: a newspaper that had been printed on Franklin's own printing press, a copy of Pilgrim's Progress that Franklin had owned. So much amazing stuff ... but what was she looking for?

Amy felt pressured, and she didn't do well under pressure.

"Find what you need?" the librarian asked. She had frizzy hair and bifocals and looked sort of like a friendly witch.

"Um, maybe some more, please. Anything that was ... important to Franklin."

The librarian thought for a moment. "Franklin's letters were important to him. He wrote many, many letters to his friends and family because he lived in Europe so long.

I'll bring you some." She adjusted her glasses and left the room.

"Franklin invented those, too," Amy said absently. Dan frowned. "Librarians?"

"No, bifocals! He cut up two sets of lenses and pasted them half-and-half, so he could see long distance and short distance with the same pair."

"Oh." Dan didn't look impressed. He went back to playing on his laptop. He had the mystery flashlight from Mr. McIntyre in front of him, and he kept switching it on and off.

The librarian brought them a stack of new stuff, including old letters preserved in plastic sheets. Amy read through them but felt more hopeless than ever. Nothing jumped out at her. Nothing screamed "clue."

Suddenly, Dan sat up straight. "I found it!"

"You found what?" She'd assumed Dan was playing games, but when he turned the laptop to face her, there was a picture of a flashlight just like the one Mr. McIntyre had sent them.

"It's a black light reader," Dan announced.