Secret Scouts and The Lost Leonardo

by Mr.

  “I don’t know the way from here. I only downloaded a map of Florence. I didn’t think the building would actually be this big.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Jack sounded sincere. “You already got us safely through the city, we should be able to figure out this last bit, too.”

  A young man standing at the top of the stairs attracted their attention.

  “Leonardo!” Tom’s voice ricocheted across the courtyard. The man froze. He looked at Tom suspiciously.

  “No, birdbrain!” hissed Sophie.

  Tom ignored her and walked enthusiastically towards the staircase.

  “That’s not Leonardo,” said Sophie in a soft voice, hoping Tom would hear her this time. She exchanged tense looks with Jack and Lisa. “That man is, like, thirty years old. That can’t be him! Leonardo must be at least fifty now, which means that’s definitely not him!”

  The man waited expectantly at the top of the stairs as Tom started to ascend the staircase.

  This isn’t going to end well, Sophie thought. She racked her brains trying to find a quick solution to the situation. Suddenly, a figure with a long beard appeared from behind the younger man and pushed him aside.

  Tom was startled by the figure with the beard at the top of the stairs. He realized he had made a mistake and quickly stepped back.

  After the two men exchanged a few angry words, the bearded figure slowly descended the stairs.

  “Leonardo?” Lisa looked up at him, her eyes glistening.

  Leonardo spread his arms. “Amici!”

  “Friends!” said Sophie, “I don’t need any help with that one.”

  She grabbed her telephone and turned on the translation app.

  “For thirty years I’ve been waiting for you. That you arrive at this precise moment, here at the Palazzo, now that it’s ready, that can’t be a coincidence.” He wrapped his arms around his friends.

  “How are you? What have you been doing all these years?” Jack asked curiously.

  Leonardo didn’t respond, but instead looked at them full of emotion. “I’m so happy to see you again, especially now… my friends from the future.”

  “Why is it so special that we’re here right now?” Sophie could no longer suppress her curiosity.

  Leonardo laughed heartily. “You’ll see for yourselves tonight!”

  “What’s happening tonight?”

  “Patience!” He laughed and patted Sophie lightly on the shoulder. “I assume you can stay one night?”

  “But you no longer have the studio?” Jack said, confused.

  This is how Leonardo da Vinci must have looked in his late fifties, as this is a self-portrait painted by the famous artist around 1510.

  “No, I don’t work there anymore. So you already know that? I’m busy working on something very big, my most important piece yet.” Leonardo winked at them and pointed up to a room on the first floor.

  “Oh, wait here for a moment, I’ll be back in a second.” Despite his age, Leonardo took the steps two at the time.

  “Do any of you know what’s up there?” Sophie asked.

  Lisa nodded. “The Hall of the Five Hundred and… The Lost Leonardo!”

  “What’s the Hall of the Five Hundred?” asked Tom.

  “Dad told us that in 1505 – which is now – Leonardo was working on his greatest artwork yet, here in the Palazzo Vecchio,” Lisa said. “That’s how Sophie knew we’d find him here.”

  “And what’s The Lost Leonardo?” Tom asked.

  “That…” said Lisa, “that is a work of art that can no longer be seen in our own time. There are a lot of books written about it, though. They say a wall was built in front of it, meaning there’s no actual evidence that it even exists. Just a bunch of texts and sketches that show what it would have looked like.”

  “Whoa! There is evidence!” Sophie joined the discussion. “Not so very long ago, in March 2012 – I mean, in our time – researchers drilled tiny holes into the front wall so that they could insert mini cameras or whatever to look behind it. They discovered the same pigments that Leonardo used for his other known artworks.”

  Lisa continued the story. “That’s right. That’s why they call that work of art The Lost Leonardo, because everyone in our time thinks it’s behind the front wall but nobody knows for sure.”

  “The Lost Leonardo?” What are you talking about?” said Leonardo as he came back down the stairs again looking very cheerful.

  Lisa cleverly changed the subject. “What were you doing up there?”

  “I was just asking my assistant to hang up a few fire baskets.” He gave them a mysterious look. “Now that my old studio no longer exists, we’re going to sleep here tonight, upstairs in the Palazzo. In the room where I am currently working, to be precise.”

  “Fire baskets?” Sophie’s mouth fell open. “Does the paint still need to dry?” She asked the question even though she already knew the answer.

  “The paint still need to dry?” Leonardo looked at her with a frown. “No, the paint is dry. The entire work is finished actually, except for a few minor details. It is amazing, even if I say so myself!”

  “But…” Sophie didn’t get it. She was sure her father had told them the paint had started to drip, which is why Leonardo had hung up the fire baskets. That’s what was written in the history books.

  “No, I’m having my assistant hang up some fire baskets so that the room is well lit when we return later on this evening. Otherwise it will be too dark to see the work properly.”

  Lisa looked at her sister and shook her head furiously. “Let it go Sophie, let it go,” she whispered.

  Sophie reluctantly kept quiet. She had already been anxious to know more about The Lost Leonardo, but now she was absolutely bursting with curiosity. “Where are we going now?” she asked. “Can’t we just have a quick look first?”

  “Patience, Sophie, the work isn’t going to walk away on us. Besides, I’m in a hurry – I mean, we’re in a hurry.”

  They all looked at him inquisitively.

  “I’ve been invited to dine with Giovan Francesco Rustici this evening.” He adopted an aristocratic air. “And you are going with me, as my guests! I’ll tell them you’re the children of a foreign friend. That will explain your strange tongue. But one important thing: that device you call a ‘phone’, you have to turn it off, okay? We can’t be seen with that!”

  “Disgusting!” Leonardo spat, as they passed by the marble statue of the naked man outside.

  “Isn’t that statue yo…” Sophie caught herself just in time. “Who made that statue?”

  “That brat you saw standing on the stairs,” Leonardo growled. “I should have shoved him harder...”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Oh, Michelangelo, an insufferable show-off. He has also been commissioned to paint something in the Hall of the Five Hundred, but so far he hasn’t done anything but draw a few sketches, pfff…” Leonardo didn’t even try to hide his irritation. “By the way, I still have to think of something to eat for tonight. Do you have any suggestions?”

  “I thought you had been invited?” said Jack.

  “Yes, but this is different. Tonight is a small gathering of prominent men. Artistic talent and scientists from Florence. I’m not actually a member of the group, but Giovan asked me to come along.”

  “That’s not really an answer to Jack’s question,” Sophie said.

  Leonardo bowed his head and smiled. “You’re right. For this gathering every guest is required to bring along something to eat. I really have to think of something. Oh, and it has to be something out of the ordinary!”

  “Can you get your hands on some beef?” asked Lisa, and, just as it had thirty years previously, her smile again enchanted Leonardo.

  He nodded. “I can, but I don’t eat meat, you know that!”

  Sophie gave her sister a goofy smile. “No way Lisa, this is just too much!” She knew immediately what her sister was up to.

  “Have you ever heard
of Spaghetti Bolognese?” Lisa had to laugh when she asked the question.

  Leonardo pursed his lips and shook his head.

  “No way, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Sophie burst out laughing.

  “What?” Lisa said, shrugging her shoulders innocently. “Someone had to invent the recipe at some point or other, didn’t they?”

  “Okay, but let’s make it without meat. Leonardo can tell the other guests that it can also be made with ground beef.”

  Sophie looked at her sister, hoping that she would agree. The mere idea of eating meat was enough to horrify her, and she knew that Leonardo felt the same way.

  “Okay, we should also let the Italians discover a few things for themselves, I suppose,” giggled Lisa. She rummaged through her pockets: flour, basil, onions, celery, garlic, and carrots. “Tom, you still have the tomatoes?”

  Tom removed the tomatoes from his pockets and held them up triumphantly.

  “If this Giovan guy has oil, stock, and wine, then we’ll be able to cook the meal tonight.”

  “You mean we don’t have to pick up anything else?” asked Leonardo. He was delighted that everything was going so smoothly. As they walked through the streets of Florence, he continued his story.

  Most of the homes in Florence stood on narrow, unpaved streets and alleyways littered with filth, but the street they were now walking down was breathtaking. It was paved with beautiful stones and free of trash. The homes on the street were large and well maintained. Leonardo saw the astonishment on their faces.

  “Giovan is a noble. This neighborhood here is the most well-to-do in all of Florence.”

  They stopped in front of an impressive building and Leonardo knocked on the beautifully crafted door a few times. A few seconds later the two wooden panels opened elegantly inwards. Two immaculately dressed servants held the doors open as Leonardo and his guests walked through.

  The hallway, the stairwell, the paneling – everything appeared to be made of marble. Gold leaf mirrors hung on the wall, and candles flickered everywhere.

  Jack threw his arm over his brother’s shoulder. Look at us now, he thought. They’d never been in a house like this in their entire lives.

  As Sophie walked down the hallway with Leonardo, Lisa made funny faces in every single mirror she passed. Sophie turned down the volume of her phone to make sure no one could hear it. Leonardo saw her slip the phone into her pocket and pointed to the stairs.

  “Follow the wizard with the long gray beard!” Lisa joked, causing Tom to burst out laughing.

  “Shh,” Jack tried to shut him up before he got them thrown out.

  Another well-dressed butler-type held the door open for them on the first floor. Leonardo paused in the doorway to allow them to enter before him. Before they had a chance to look around, several middle-aged and elderly men stood up and introduced themselves, first to Sophie and Lisa.

  “Italians certainly have good manners,” Lisa immediately joked, “but I don’t understand a thing they’re saying.”

  Leonardo walked into the room and spoke in a voice loud enough to make everyone stop talking. Sophie hid behind Jack and crouched down on her knees. She brought her ear close to the pocket in which the telephone was hidden so she could understand what Leonardo was saying. When he finished she stood back up and shuffled forward again. All the men applauded and bowed to the friends, before returning to their seats at the table. Leonardo went over to them, pointed to an adjacent room, and then took his place at the table along with the other men.

  “Does anyone know what that was all about?” asked Jack.

  “That area over there with the table is the dining room and we’re standing in the entrance to the kitchen,” said Lisa. “I think we’re supposed to start cooking.”

  Sophie nodded. “I heard everything.”

  “You’ve got the phone in your pocket? That’s what you were doing, wasn’t it?” Tom asked her.

  “Yep, I have the volume turned down so that you can only hear it when you press your ear right up to it.”

  “What did Leonardo say?” asked Tom.

  “He said he was grateful for the invitation, blah-blah-blah, that we were the children of a friend from a foreign country, and that we don’t speak any Italian, but that we are fabulous cooks! That’s when they all began applauding.”

  Lisa laid out all the ingredients from her pockets on a long table and motioned to Tom to do the same.

  Communicating with her hands, she made it clear to the kitchen servants that she wouldn’t be needing their help. She picked up a large knife and prepared to chop the vegetables. It might not be as challenging as a rotting horse, but she was still eager to get started.

  Tom stood in silence next to her and helped where he could.

  From the kitchen, Jack and Sophie watched the wonderful scene in the dining room. Judging by their raised voices and animated gestures, the men sitting around the table were exchanging incredible stories. Some of them stood up every now and then to add emphasis to their tales.

  “Do you think we can join them later?” Jack asked softly.

  Sophie nodded. “Why not? And we’ll be able to chat with each other as well. No one will give it a second thought!”

  Jack gave her a satisfied grin. “Cool, eh?”

  Occasionally, Leonardo looked over at them from the table to see if everything was going okay. Sophie gave him a nod of her head each time he looked, just to reassure him.

  “Out of the way, it’s hot!” Lisa and Tom walked into the dining room carrying hot plates of pasta. Leonardo jumped up and took two plates from Lisa. When he felt how scorching hot the plates were, he glanced at their hands. Tom had wrapped his hand in a towel, but Lisa was stoically holding the plates with her bare hands. Leonardo set the plates down on the table as fast as he could to keep from burning his fingers.

  Lisa bowed and, together with Tom, accepted the applause. One of the men stood up, waved to the servants, and shouted something in Italian. Soon afterwards the servants returned carrying a couple of extra chairs.

  “Pasta Bolognese!” shouted Lisa, pointing at the plates.

  “Pasta Bolognese?” she heard the men say, some of whom were already nodding their heads in approval after tasting her dish.

  The man who had just summoned the servants stood up again and began speaking expansively. At that same moment Sophie felt something prickly rub against her ankles. She glanced underneath the table and found herself staring straight into the eyes of a porcupine sitting next to her feet. With her mouth wide open and eyes fixed on the porcupine, she elbowed Leonardo.

  Sophie tapped her pocket to make clear they should both bend down so that they could talk using her phone.

  “A porcupine?” she said softly, her head almost touching her knees.

  Leonardo laughed. “Yes, Giovan is a special man. A friend of animals, too. The porcupine is tame, that’s why he’s cuddling up to your leg!”

  Fascinated, Sophie stared at the creature. She’d never seen a tame porcupine before. When she went to sit up straight again Leonardo grabbed her arm.

  “It’s fate,” he said. “Fate has brought the porcupine to you tonight, and now you have an excuse to keep crouching down so that you can listen to the translations on your telephone!”

  Sophie’s squeezed her eyes shut. Leonardo’s right about that, she thought.

  He sat up again and rejoined the conversation.

  “Giovan, she has discovered your porcupine!” Leonardo shouted.

  Giovan laughed. “That means she’s a good person,” he said. “The porcupine will only sit next to people it trusts.”

  The table fell silent momentarily. “Leonardo, I want to thank you for introducing us to your special friends. We may not understand them, but my gut instinct tells me that they’re good people!”

  “And they can cook, too!” someone shouted.

  Sophie sat back up grinning and glanced at her sister. “There’s a porcupine underneath the table!”
/>   Lisa looked at her in surprise, grabbed her glass, and emptied it in one go.

  “Lisa, that’s wine!” Sophie’s attempts to keep her sister from drinking alcohol were doomed to failure it seemed.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Lisa said. “If you saw a porcupine underneath the table, you’re the one who’s drunk!”

  Sophie continued to stare intently at her sister, until Lisa looked under the table. She sat back up, flabbergasted. “There really is a porcupine underneath the table,” Lisa said giggling.

  All of a sudden there was a commotion on the other side of the table. A couple of small sculptures were being passed from hand to hand.

  Jack marveled at a small clay horse when he got it in his hands.

  Leonardo bent down and Sophie followed her. “Those are Giovan’s sculptures. I taught him how to make those beautiful horses.”

  Leonardo was keen to exhibit the extent of his influence, but he was immediately embarrassed, too, by his behavior. He tossed a couple of breadcrumbs to the porcupine and added, “Giovan is a fascinating gentleman, a very kind man who treats the poor and his servants well.” He laughed, hoping Sophie would quickly forget his boastful remarks.

  Sophie sat upright again, but about ten seconds later a large brown bird appeared out of nowhere and flew past her face. All the men laughed and clapped.

  The bird landed in the middle of the table with a heavy thud. It was an enormous eagle that moved its head quickly as it looked around the table. Its claws made a loud scratching noise as it rocked from one leg to the other. One of the men provoked the bird by tossing it a piece of bread. The bird instinctively leapt up and nabbed it out of the air with its beak.

  “Giovan,” Leonardo said softly, making sure everyone acknowledged the man who stood up as their host.

  They all went quiet when Giovan began speaking to the bird in a friendly voice. A few men clapped their hands softly until the bird opened its beak and flawlessly spoke a few words in Italian. The men applauded in amazement. The eagle flapped its wings and flew back to the corner of the room.

  Sophie looked at Leonardo, her eyes bulging. He grabbed a few more pieces of bread for the porcupine and together they bent down again.