Battle of the Brightest

by Hope McLean

  “Four sixty-two.” Jasmine shook her head. “If we add one hundred, that makes five sixty-two. Okay, it’s still not making much sense.”

  “The next part says, ‘Then find me in the place that tinkers are dying to get into but never leave,’” Willow read. “This next part of the clue tells us where to meet. The first part is when.”

  “Let’s focus on the when now,” Jasmine said. “We have the number five hundred and sixty-two. It can’t be a time, and it doesn’t look like military time, either.”

  Lili was thinking hard as her gaze wandered aimlessly around her room. Her eyes landed on the calendar hanging from her wall. Suddenly, she jumped up and grabbed it.

  “I think I’m on to something,” she said excitedly to the others. “Look,” she said as she pointed at today’s date. “Today is April thirtieth. Can I see your notebook, Jasmine?” Jasmine nodded and handed the pen and book to Lili. “Written out, the date looks like this.” She wrote 4/30 in the notebook and held it up.

  “So five-six-two could be a date — like May sixth?” Erin suggested. “But what does the two mean? It can’t be the year.”

  Willow stood up, her eyes shining. “No, but it could be the time.”

  “Yes!” Erin snapped her fingers. “May sixth at two o’clock. That’s next Saturday!”

  Willow rubbed her chin with her hand. “But is it p.m. or a.m.?”

  “No way am I meeting a stranger at two a.m.,” Jasmine said fiercely.

  Willow agreed. “That’s so not safe. Let’s assume that it’s two in the afternoon. Now, let’s try to figure out where. ‘Find me in the place that tinkers are dying to get into but never leave,’” she read.

  “Elan’s Couture!” Lili cried, naming a fancy boutique the girls had once visited. Everyone looked at her strangely.

  “Not the time to be thinking of fashion, Lili,” Willow said.

  “No!” Lili shook her head, her shiny black hair swinging around her face. “Elan’s Couture is on Tinker Street!”

  Tinker Street was located in the historic section of River Park, a nearby town.

  “That’s right!” Jasmine said. “But what near there would be a place that tinkers are dying to get into but never leave?”

  Erin gasped. “I got it!” she said triumphantly. “It’s the Tinker Street Historical Cemetery. It’s really old. I’ve gone there to do research before.”

  Lili opened her laptop and began to type. “It says the hours are eight a.m. to five p.m.”

  “Then the note must mean two p.m.,” Willow said.

  “That’s good.” Lili shivered. “There is no way I’m going to a cemetery in the middle of the night. In fact, even the thought of going in broad daylight creeps me out a little bit.”

  “Don’t worry, Lili.” Erin put an arm around her friend. “It’s a busy place. There are a lot of tourists hanging around. They even do walking tours with guides dressed in period costumes. It’s not spooky at all.”

  Jasmine finished writing. “So to sum up, we believe the Riddler is asking us to meet him or her at the Tinker Street Historical Cemetery at two p.m. next Saturday, May sixth.”

  They all nodded in agreement.

  “I find something else interesting about this note,” Jasmine said. “It’s like each part of the riddle was designed for one of us.”

  On their quiz bowl team, each member had an area of expertise. Erin handled the history questions, Jasmine took the science section, Willow buzzed in on the math problems, and Lili managed the arts and literature topics.

  “Maybe it’s all an elaborate plan by Ms. Keatley to get us to study for quiz bowl,” Erin joked. Ms. Keatley was the Jewels’ quiz bowl advisor and a history teacher at Martha Washington School.

  “Whoever sent this note knows us pretty well,” Jasmine said thoughtfully. “I can’t wait to find out who it is!”

  * * *

  That next Saturday, the girls all piled into Mrs. Higashida’s car.

  “Tinker Street again?” she chuckled as she shook her head. “You girls do have expensive tastes.” The exclusive shops located on the street were known to be a bit on the pricey side.

  “Window shopping is totally free!” Erin said, but Jasmine sighed. She loved to look at the glittering gems on display in the jewelry shop windows. She dreamed about owning her own rare gem collection one day.

  “But we’ll spend most of our time touring the old cemetery this afternoon,” Lili added.

  Mrs. Higashida pulled into the parking garage. As they left the car, she reminded them to stay together, before heading off to meet a friend on Tinker Street for lunch.

  The girls traveled down the cobblestone sidewalk, passing pretty, old brick buildings as they walked. They wore hoodies and sweaters as it was still a bit cool in late spring, but the shining sun high in the bright blue sky was warming everything up.

  “It’s one forty-five.” Willow glanced at her phone. “I want us to be a few minutes early.”

  “We’re almost there,” Erin said. “It’s right at the end of the block on the left.”

  The block ended and the girls found themselves standing in front of a tall black gate, which was attached to a black picket fence that encircled the area. Although it was a sunny day, the numerous trees growing throughout the cemetery blocked out the sunlight, filling it with a spooky shade of gray. Old, crooked tombstones jutted out from the ground. The girls spotted several angel statues here and there, some weeping.

  Lili shivered. “Maybe we’re making a mistake,” she whispered.

  Erin grabbed her hand. “Don’t be nervous.”

  A woman dressed in a Revolutionary-era costume smiled at them. “Would you like a tour? The next one starts at two.”

  “No, thank you,” Willow answered. “But do you have a map?”

  “Yes, of course! Here you go,” she said as she handed one to Willow, who took out a dollar from her bag and placed it in the Plexiglas donation box.

  “Thank you. Enjoy!” The woman smiled at them as they walked into the old graveyard. “But watch your step. There are some fallen tombstones and tree roots that are easy to trip over.”

  The darkness seemed to swallow them up as they stepped inside and began strolling down the main path. Erin eagerly began reading the tombstones they passed. Some of the really old ones had skulls and crossbones etched into them.

  “Very gothic,” Jasmine remarked.

  “If you like gothic, then check this out.” Erin started to read from a tombstone dated 1789. “‘All you that doth my grave pass by, as you are now, so once was I, as I am now, so you must be, prepare for death and follow me.’”

  Lili let out a moan. “What time is it? I need to get out of here!”

  Jasmine shook her head. “Creepy. But I wonder where we should meet our mystery person?”

  The woman who had greeted them at the gate passed by with the two o’clock tour. She was talking about a skull carving on one of the headstones as a group of about ten people followed behind her. The girls scanned each one, but nobody looked familiar or suspicious.

  “Let’s just stay around here. It’s central to the rest of the cemetery,” Willow said as she consulted the map, “and we can see anyone who comes in the gate here.”

  The girls passed the time by reading the tombstones. “‘Here lies Mary, the beloved wife of James Selman. She did much good in her life,’” Erin read.

  Lili sniffed. “Awww. I should come back and bring flowers for her.”

  Several people passed through the gate, but they didn’t pay any attention to the Jewels.

  “It’s after two,” Willow said. “I wonder if we got the riddle wrong after all.”

  Erin gasped. “Rats!” she said in a loud whisper. “Of course he would have to show up and ruin everything.” She jerked her head toward the gate, gesturing for the other girls to look.

  Ryan Atkinson, the captain of the Rivals’ quiz bowl team, was walking into the cemetery. A tall boy with wavy blond hair, he wore jeans
and a blue shirt.

  “He might scare away whoever is trying to contact us,” Jasmine whispered back.

  “Should we try to hide?” Lili asked, panicked.

  “It’s too late,” Willow replied as Ryan began walking toward them. He looked directly at the Jewels and waved, giving them the smug smile they had all come to hate.

  “Don’t give anything away,” Willow whispered to the others as Ryan strode over to them.

  Willow looked Ryan right in the eyes. “Hi, Ryan,” she said. “Here for the tour? You’re a little late.”

  Ryan grinned. “I’m not here for the tour — I’m here for you. I’m the one who sent you that note, and all the others before it,” he said, as the girls went silent in complete shock. “And I need you to help me steal the Atkinson sapphire.”

  The girls were totally stunned for a moment. Erin spoke up first.

  “What do you mean, you sent us the note?”

  “It doesn’t make any sense,” Jasmine blurted out. “I mean, those notes in New York warned us that you were going to steal the diamond. Why would you do that to yourself?”

  “We can’t talk here,” Ryan replied, looking around. “Why don’t you follow me to Café X?”

  Without waiting for an answer, he turned and began to walk out of the cemetery.

  “We should follow him,” Willow said. “We need to figure out what’s going on.”

  “Are you serious?” Erin asked, folding her arms in front of her. “I am not going anywhere with that thief. He’s probably leading us into a trap.”

  “Erin’s right,” Jasmine said, frowning. “We can’t trust him.”

  “It’s a public place in the middle of the day,” Willow pointed out. “What can he possibly do? Aren’t you curious to know what all this is about?”

  Lili anxiously bit her lower lip. “I definitely am. I think we should go.”

  Jasmine sighed. “Me, too, I guess.”

  “No way,” Erin said.

  “If anything looks weird, we’ll leave right away,” Willow assured her.

  Erin’s eyes narrowed, and she made a low growling noise. “I am going under protest,” she informed her friends.

  Ryan had already left the cemetery, but they knew where Café X was. The hip coffee shop was on a corner along Tinker Street, with wide windows on the front and side. Several patrons sat at small round tables by the windows and sipped their drinks, watching people walk by.

  The girls stepped inside. Ryan was beckoning to them from the back of the room. Seated with him at the rectangular table were the other three members of the Rivals’ quiz bowl team: Aaron Santiago, Veronica Manasas, and Isabel Baudin.

  Erin quickly turned and started to walk away. Willow grabbed her by the arm.

  “Erin, where are you going?” she asked.

  “Isabel’s here,” Erin said. “I said I would leave if I saw anything weird, remember?”

  “Very funny,” Willow said. “Come on, I’m even more curious now.”

  The girls sat down, four Jewels facing four Rivals.

  “I’m glad you came,” Ryan said. “I guess you probably want me to explain.”

  “Um, yeah!” Erin answered, annoyed.

  Isabel rolled her eyes. “I told you it is ridiculous to trust them,” she said in her French accent. “This is a big mistake.”

  “It’s ridiculous to trust us?” Erin asked incredulously. “You guys are the jewel thieves.”

  Veronica turned to Isabel. “Just let him do it,” she said, sounding even more annoyed than Erin. “I’m sick of this whole thing.”

  “Will you guys let Ryan talk, please?” Aaron interrupted.

  Erin, Veronica, and Isabel got quiet.

  “Okay,” Ryan said. “It’s like this. You know about the Atkinson sapphire, right?”

  Jasmine nodded. “It belonged to your school, but then it was stolen, like, seventy years ago.”

  “Right,” Ryan said. “So my uncle Arthur came to us one day and told us that he knew how to get it back. He said we had to find three jewels: a ruby, a diamond, and an emerald. He said that each jewel had a clue on it, and if we got all three, they would lead us to the sapphire.”

  “Three clues?” Willow asked. “But there are four clues, and they all lead to some kind of treasure, not the sapphire.”

  “I know,” Ryan interrupted her. “You see, that’s the story my uncle told us at first, and we believed him. We wanted to get the sapphire back, to restore the honor of our school.”

  “I just wanted to have fun,” Isabel piped up.

  Veronica shook her head. “Fun? Really? Because I’ve been miserable this whole time.”

  “Well, it has been kind of fun,” Aaron admitted. “And I mean, we didn’t think we were doing anything wrong. We really thought we were going to get the sapphire back.”

  “Exactly,” Ryan said. “But then we started to get suspicious. Lili, remember when we bugged your pen?”

  “How could I forget?” Lili asked. “That was really mean!”

  “I guess it was,” Ryan admitted with a sigh. “So, we were listening to you guys through the hidden microphone in your pen and we heard you talking about four clues, not three. We asked my uncle about it, and he convinced us you guys were wrong.”

  “That was easy to believe,” Isabel remarked, and Erin glared at her.

  Ryan continued his story. “But once we got the emerald, my uncle confessed that he had been lying the entire time. He admitted that the sapphire had a clue, too, and once he had all four clues, they would lead to something big.”

  “Did he say what it was?” Jasmine asked.

  Ryan shook his head. “No. But anyway, we realized he had been using us. He said he was close to finding the sapphire and didn’t need our help anymore.”

  “Can you imagine that?” Isabel fumed. “He just tossed us aside, like we were peasants.”

  “So that’s why we want you to help us find the sapphire,” Ryan said. “We want to find it before my uncle does.”

  “But why do you need our help?” Willow asked. “And why were you sending us clues to help us find the diamond? Weren’t you trying to steal it for your uncle?”

  “Yes,” Ryan admitted. “And we had some ideas about where the diamond was in New York, but we weren’t sure. So Isabel had this idea that maybe you could help us figure it out.”

  “Which we did,” Erin said, glaring at Isabel.

  “I still don’t get it,” Willow said. “Weren’t you worried that we would get to the diamond before you?”

  Ryan looked sheepish. “Honestly, we didn’t think you had it in you to actually steal it,” he said. “Which, technically, you didn’t. You outsmarted us after we stole it and got it back.”

  “Just for a little while,” Isabel interjected. “Stealing it back from you was like taking candy from a baby, as you say.”

  “That’s because we’re not lousy jewel thieves,” Erin said hotly. “What you guys did was wrong.”

  “And now we want to make it right,” Ryan said quickly. “Besides, don’t you want to get your ruby back?”

  The four Jewels looked at one another. This whole thing had started when the Rivals stole the Martha Washington ruby, and the girls wanted it back more than anything.

  Jasmine looked suspicious. “How could we get it back if your uncle has it?”

  “Once we get the sapphire and find the treasure, we can use it as leverage,” Ryan said confidently. “He wants that sapphire pretty badly. He’ll have to meet our demands.”

  “Besides, he already has the clue from the ruby,” Isabel added. “That’s all he really needed from it, anyway.”

  Willow was still full of questions. “How do you know the four jewels lead to a treasure? We’ve been wondering about that ourselves.”

  Ryan frowned. “My uncle wouldn’t tell me,” he said, and Willow could tell this upset him. “Uncle Arthur was always my favorite when I was a kid. It felt good to help him — made me feel important, you
know? But in the end it was like he didn’t care about me at all, unless I could help him.”

  “But we imagine that the jewels lead to something very valuable,” Isabel added. “Otherwise, why would he go to all this trouble to get it?”

  “Well, Martha Washington said the jewels led to something important,” Erin said. “That’s a fact, not a guess.” She looked at Isabel as she emphasized that last word.

  Willow nodded thoughtfully. Everything was adding up.

  “So will you help us or not?” Ryan asked.

  “We need to talk it over by ourselves,” Jasmine said quickly. “Come on.”

  The four Jewels went to a table in the far corner of the café.

  “So what should we do?” Lili asked.

  “It’s an interesting proposal,” Willow admitted. “I like the idea of getting the ruby back.”

  “And I really like the idea of getting back at Arthur Atkinson,” Jasmine said, remembering the embarrassment he had caused her.

  “I can’t believe you guys!” Erin said. “It is completely ridiculous to think about trusting these losers for one second. They’re thieves! You heard Ryan. He used us once to find the diamond. How do we know he’s not using us again now?”

  Willow nodded. “I get it.”

  “But somehow I think Ryan is telling the truth,” Jasmine added. “I can just … feel it.”

  “I think we should help them,” Lili said. “I mean, I really want to know what the four jewels all lead to. And even if the Rivals are tricking us, we might be able to find out.”

  “I agree,” Willow said. “I say let’s trust them.”

  “And I say no way!” Erin said, shaking her head in anger. Then she stormed out of the café.

  Erin furiously stomped out onto the sidewalk and flopped onto a black wrought-iron bench along the street. Have my friends all lost their minds? she wondered. Do they seriously want us to work with the Rivals? As she shook her head, she felt a hand gingerly touch her on the shoulder.

  “Lili,” she began as she whirled around, expecting to see her friend. “There is no way I’m working with those jerks and that’s that!”

  But it wasn’t Lili. It was Veronica! She smiled sheepishly at Erin.