Dan led the way into the darkness along the back wall of the theater. "The balcony's up there, so the stairs can't be too far. This place is gigantic. It must hold at least six thousand people."They could hear a door opening as they crept onto the stairs, which were hidden behind a curtain.
Amy put her finger to her lips, then looked back to see that a security guard had entered. And what was worse, he had a giant German shepherd on a leash.
Dan waved Amy along and soon they were at the top of the gilded stairway, down a short hall, and standing in Balcony Box 4.
Dan began searching for row number 3, then tried to imagine what Dl meant. He hadn't got that far in his thinking before Amy could tell he was stumped. She crouched down low, peering over the edge of the balcony.
The dog was guiding the guard closer toward the stairs."He's coming this way!" said Amy.
She crept over to Dan, and they both looked at the scribble of numbers and letters on the piece of paper again."There are three Ds Dl, D2, D3. Maybe they refer to doors?""Could be," said Dan. He whispered all the letters and numbers again. Sometimes it helped to say things out loud. "SKP BAL BOX4 R3 Dl 45231 D2 45102 D3 NRR.""Hurry, Dan! That dog is serious business. It looks angry and hungry. You know what that means-- "
Dan walked along Row 3 and sat down."What are you doing? This is no time to sit around! Do something!"
"I am," said Dan. "I think I got this.""You think you got what?" Amy said nervously. She was searching on the floor for a button or a lock, anything that might get them away from the approaching guard dog.
"Look for some dials or a hidden panel. Make yourself useful!"Dan calmly got up and sat in the next seat over, seat number 5 in the row. He'd been in seat number 4. Then he got up again and sat in seat number 2."Seriously, Dan, you've lost your marbles.""I don't think so," he whispered. "45231 might be the order in which a person has to sit in the seats in Row 3. Let me finish."He sat in seat number 3, then moved right up next to Amy.
"If something doesn't happen when I sit down, we're in big trouble."He took a deep breath and plopped down in the seat.
There was a soft snick behind a curtained wall at the rear of the balcony."I think you did something," whispered Amy. She could hear the German shepherd sniffing at the top of the stairs now.
Dan and Amy moved quietly to the rear of the balcony and pulled back the red curtain. One of the panels had slid open an inch, revealing a black seam of darkness behind. "Kto tarn?"Amy nearly jumped out of the balcony at the sound of the guard's voice. He was right outside, about to enter, as Dan slid the panel open just enough to glide through.
Amy followed and the curtain dropped. She slid the panel shut.The German shepherd whined and sniffed, searching everything in the balcony, including the curtain. But the dog didn't find anything. Dan and Amy had vanished.* * *
"I guess we follow the lights," said Amy.
They were in a long, narrow corridor with runway lights embedded in the center of the floor.
The walls and ceiling were black, so that it felt like walking in the midnight sky along a line of stars. They snaked back and forth for fifty feet and came to the end."Looks like an elevator," said Dan. "D2 -- door number two."Amy nodded her agreement in the darkness.
A row of five elevator buttons, each round and circled in red, glowed softly against the black wall.
"Remember the order?" asked Amy. Dan stepped up to the bank of buttons and began pushing them one at a time.
First the 4, then the 5, then the 1, 0, and 2.127The doors opened with surprising speed and Dan jumped back, accidentally clocking Amy in the arm with his elbow. The entire back wall of the elevator was covered with a giant portrait of the Kabra family. Ian looked particularly smug."They really think a lot of themselves, don't they?" said Dan."You said it," agreed Amy.
They glanced at each other, and Dan could see that Amy's hands were trembling again. She had a lot on her plate, being the older of the two, always having to be the responsible one.
Dan felt an unexpected twinge of guilt. "We're doing okay, you know," he said.
Amy started to smile, but just then the elevator began to plummet. She grabbed a rail and held on for dear life. Dan wasn't so lucky. He rolled around on the floor of the elevator until it came to an abrupt stop, the doors opening once more.
'I’m starting to think this place is haunted," said Dan. There was something about being way underground that scared Dan, like he was trapped in a mine shaft and the air was running out.
"How far below-ground do you think we are?"Amy didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on the monstrous Gothic door that stood twenty feet in front of them down a cavelike passageway."This is so Dungeons and Dragons," said Dan."It's D3, the last door. Dan, I think we found him. We found NRR."
"We've discovered a lot more than that. I think we just found some sort of old stronghold."Amy walked out of the elevator and Dan followed until they stood before a door of iron and wood with an ancient set of dials set into its surface. There was only one problem.
The writing on the dials was in Russian."Give me the guidebook," said Amy. Dan unzipped the backpack and handed the book to Amy.
She thumbed through the pages, trying to remember...."Here! This is it. It's zero to ten written out in Russian and English."Dan leaned over and glanced at the page. The passage was dimly lit at best, but he could see the strange Russian letters."Are we sure about this?" asked Dan.
Everything about their Russian journey had smelled like a trap, and now they'd entered some sort of secret lair from which they might not be able to escape. But none of that mattered to Amy, and she was pretty sure it didn't matter to Dan, either. Come alone, as your parents did.
The words thrummed in her mind, driving her forward."What if Mom and Dad were here?" she whispered. "They could have stood right here, trying to figure this out. It's like they're calling us."Dan nodded."That's exactly how I feel," he said. "You want to do the honors?" asked Amy.
"You bet I do," said Dan. He scanned the list for a few seconds and went to work on the dials."Four ... Five ... One ... Zero ... Two."When the last dial was turned, the lock clicked open and the door slid back on its hinges with a grinding sound of old metal. A female voice echoed quietly from behind the door
Come in. I have been expecting you."
CHAPTER 13
"This place gives me the serious creeps," Dan whispered."You're not k-k-kidding," stammered Amy. No one was waiting for them. They'd entered a small, round room with an elaborate painting that covered all the walls and the domed ceiling. There were no doors except the one that had closed behind them."Where'd she go?" asked Dan. "And how the heck are we getting out of here?"
Amy shrugged her shoulders nervously, gazing at the intricately painted walls around her."It looks like something Michelangelo would have done.""Hey!" said Dan. "I know some of these people.
That's Ben Franklin!"Sure enough, the bespectacled figure was towering over their heads, holding the string for a kite and smiling into the sky."And I'm pretty sure that's Napoleon. He's definitely small enough," said Amy.
"That's gotta be Churchill," said Dan, spying a round man making the V sign."Dan," said Amy, her eyes huge in her face. "They're all Lucians. Every one of them."Dan's stomach sank. It could only mean one thing. "We're in a Lucian stronghold," he whispered."Bad," said Amy. "Very bad! Let's get out of here!"She ran her hands frantically over the great surface of the door, searching for a latch or a dial that would set them free.
"Come on, Dan!"There was a fast sliding sound from one of the walls, and Dan turned around to see that a panel on the far wall had opened.
The painted form of Sir Isaac Newton stood next to the door and seemed to beckon them forward.
The voice returned, confident and smooth as silk."There is no need to be afraid. Follow the lights.