The Maze of Bones (The 39 Clues #1)(37)

And Amy was sure he was watching them.

CHAPTER 15

Dan thought Nellie was going to kill them. He'd never seen her face that shade of red before.

"You did what?"

She paced their tiny hotel room. "Two hours, you said.

Two hours.

And I was standing outside the hotel for, like, ever, and you didn't come. You didn't call. I thought you were dead!" She shook her iPod for emphasis and the loose earbuds danced around.

"Our phone didn't work," Amy said sheepishly.

"We got sidetracked," Dan added. "There was this concussive grenade, and a cement truck, and a battery. And a loaf of bread."

Dan was pretty sure that covered all the important details, but Nellie looked like she didn't understand.

"Start from the beginning," she said. "And no lies."

Maybe it was just because he was too tired to lie, but Dan told her the whole story -- even about the thirty-nine clues -- with Amy filling in the stuff he forgot.

"So you almost died," Nellie said in a small voice. "Those jerks were going to pour cement on you."

"Maybe a little cement," Dan said.

"What did the inscription say?" Nellie asked.

Dan didn't know any French, but he'd automatically memorized the words on the marble slab. He repeated them to Nellie.

"'Here lie Amy and Dan Cahill,'" she translated, '"who stuck their noses into the wrong people's business.'"

"It was Irina Spasky's fault!" Dan said. "She tricked us into going there. The whole thing was a setup."

"And we can't even pay you," Amy added miserably. "We don't have enough money for the flight home. I'm ... I'm really sorry, Nellie."

Nellie stood very still. Her glitter eye shadow was red today, which made her eyes look even angrier. Her arms were crossed over her T-shirt, which showed a picture of a screaming punk rocker. All in all, she looked pretty scary. Then she grabbed Amy and Dan and hugged them fiercely.

She knelt down so she was looking them in the eyes. "I've got some credit left on my MasterCard. We'll be fine."

Dan was confused. "But ... you're not going to kill us?"

"I'm going to help you, stupid." Nellie shook his shoulders gently. "Nobody messes with my babysitees."

"Au pairees," Dan corrected.

"Whatever! Now get some sleep. Tomorrow we're going to slap some people senseless."

Maison des Gordons did not mean the house of gardens. Apparently, gardons meant roaches. Dan found this out because Nellie told him, and because he heard scuttling sounds along the floor all night long. He wished Saladin were there. The cat would've had a great time playing jungle stalker.

In the morning, everybody looked bleary-eyed, but they showered and changed clothes. Nellie came back from the corner café with coffee for herself, hot chocolate for Dan and Amy, and pain au chocolat for al of them. Dan figured any country that ate chocolate for breakfast couldn't be all bad.

"So," Dan said, "can I get some more grenades today?"

"No!" Amy said. "Dan, you're lucky it was only concussive. You could've wiped out the whole Holt family."

"And that would've been bad because ... ?"

"Okay, knock it off," Nellie said. "The important thing is you guys are safe."

Amy picked at her croissant. She looked pale this morning. Her hair was a tangled mess. "Dan ... I'm sorry about last night. I -- I panicked. I almost got us killed."

Dan had pretty much forgotten that part. He'd been annoyed with her at the time, but it was hard to stay mad when Amy looked so miserable and apologized.

Plus she'd done that cool thing with the battery, which had kind of made up for her freaking out.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"But if it happens again -- "

"Hey, if we let Irina lure us into a trap again, we're stupider than the Holts."

Amy didn't look very comforted. "What I don't understand is the man in black. Why was he there last night? And if the Holts started the fire at the mansion and set up the museum explosion -- "

"Then what was the man in black doing in both places?" Dan finished. "And why did Irina have a photo of him?"

He waited for Amy to come up with one of her "oh-I-did-a-book-report-on-that-last-year" answers, but she just kept frowning at her breakfast.

"Maybe you guys should concentrate on where we go next," Nellie advised.

Amy took a deep breath. "I think I know where to go. Dan, can I use your laptop?"

He stared at her, because Amy didn't like computers. But finally he brought it over and Amy started searching the Internet.

In no time, she grimaced and turned the screen for them to see. The picture showed a pile of bones in a dark stone room.

"I've suspected for a while," Amy said, "but I was hoping I was wrong because it's risky. The Maze of Bones. That's what Mom's note said in Poor Richard's Almanack. We have to explore the Catacombs."

"Is that where they keep the cats?" Dan asked.

It seemed like a perfectly reasonable question to him, but Amy gave him a "you're-such-a-dummy" look.