by T. L. Clarke
“Jeez, what is your problem, girl? Anything she says seems to make you angry. Relax, would you?” Gabrielle exclaimed.
Rosalinda slammed her hands on her hips. “Pardon me? I don’t see how that is any of your business,” she said rudely.
“Girl, you don’t want any part of me, so you better watch it,” Gabrielle said angrily.
Zora adjusted her glasses. “Gabi, you don’t have to defend me. I can handle myself, but thank you.”
Jessica shifted from side to side nervously. “I don’t like this one bit. The Gabby Girls Adventure hasn’t even really started and we’re already fighting. I want to go back,” she wailed.
Gabrielle gave Jessica a worried stare.
“See what you’ve done? Now you have Jessica all upset. Great going, Rosalinda,” Gabrielle said.
“Excuse me? I didn’t do anything,” Rosalinda screamed.
Jessica wrung her hands nervously. “Oh, my…oh, my,” she muttered.
“Okay, everyone stop it right now. Just pull it together. We are going to finish what we started. Let’s go, Gabby Girls,” Gabrielle stated. She stormed off down the passageway and the others cautiously followed. As they walked towards the end of the passage, Zora suddenly stopped and touched the worn metal base of a torch.
“Wow! Do you know how old this torch is?” she exclaimed with excitement.
They gave her blank stares.
“It was made in the nineteen hundreds, right here in America. I think maybe Pennsylvania,” she continued matter-of-factly.
Rosalinda gave Zora a nervous stare. “Zora can you stop that? It’s really creepy.”
Zora self-consciously pulled her hand back from the torch. “Sorry, I can’t help myself. I’ve been doing that since I was very young. My father and I would go on digs and I would just touch an object and could tell when it was made and sometimes where. That’s why he calls me his little psychic,” she said apologetically.
Gabrielle snapped her fingers impatiently and gestured for them to step inside the room. “Gabby Girls, will you focus here? Jeez, we’re wasting time.”
They cautiously stepped into the large room. Rosalinda and Zora’s mouths dropped open as their eyes scanned the contents of the room.
As if in a trance, Zora slowly walked over to the large wooden hourglass table, running her fingers across the intricate details etched into it. Quickly, she pulled her hand away as if it were burned by fire. Her face turned deathly pale as she warily backed away from the table.
Gabrielle walked over to stand beside her. “What’s wrong, Zora?”
Zora adjusted her glasses nervously. “Uh, nothing.”
Gabrielle gave her a disbelieving stare but did not push her further.
Rosalinda sauntered over to the table and boldly touched a chair. “Wow, what is this weird carving on the back?” she asked.
Zora nervously dug into her backpack, pulling out her magnifying glass. Her hands trembled slightly as she examined the chair.
Rosalinda huffed, “Why do you need your magnifying glass? Why don’t you use your weird psychic powers to figure it out?”
Gabrielle rolled her eyes at Rosalinda. “Zora, please ignore Princess Rosalinda’s nasty comment,” she said angrily.
Zora ignored both of them as she continued to examine the chair. Her eyes sparkled confidently when she finally looked up.
“Gabi, quick…let me see your pendant,” she demanded excitedly.
Gabrielle unhooked her necklace and handed it over. Zora’s forehead crinkled with deep concentration as she examined Gabrielle’s pendant. Suddenly, her eyes lit up; she quickly leaned down and looked at the carvings on the chair again. Her face flushed bright red with excitement as she walked over to each chair, examining them closely.
“Gabby Girls, take off your necklaces. I think I’m on to something here,” Zora demanded. Her glasses slipped to the tip of her narrow nose and she pushed them up impatiently. “Interesting, very interesting,” she mumbled.
“There she goes again with that ‘very interesting’ nonsense,” Rosalinda said rudely.
“Don’t start, Rosa,” Gabrielle warned.
“These chairs are awesome; just take a look at them. I mean, each one has a carving on it, a big one in the center and four carved symbols circling it.”
Gabrielle’s face glowed with excitement. “Awesome! Just like our pendants, right?”
“Exactly, but here’s the problem. The symbol in the center of the chair does not match any of our pendants,” Zora said with disappointment.
Gabrielle plopped down in the chair. “Okay, great, so we’re back to square one again.”
“Well, not exactly, Gabi. Let me finish. You see, the carving in the center does not match the symbols on our pendants, but if you look at the chair closely, you’ll see the small symbols that circle the center symbol are similar to the small symbols on our pendants,” Zora said excitedly.
Jessica’s eyes clouded with confusion as she leaned down to examine the chair beside her. “I just don’t get it. My pendant looks nothing like the symbols on this chair,” she said as she handed the pendant over to Zora.
Zora quickly examined it and her face slowly flushed with excitement. She walked around the table, examining each chair, her face glowing as she examined the fourth one.
“That’s because you’re standing next to the wrong chair. Quick, come over here, Jess; the first chair has a symbol that matches the first symbol on your pendant,” Zora said excitedly.
Jessica grabbed the magnifying glass from Zora and examined her pendant. She leaned down and looked at the carving on the chair again. Her face flushed with excitement when she noticed that, indeed, the first symbol on the chair was an exact match of the first symbol on her pendant.
“Zora! You’re an absolute genius,” Jessica exclaimed as she hugged her.
Zora beamed with pride. “Okay, Gabi, you’re next. Take the magnifying glass and look at your pendant. Find the first symbol on it and look around for a chair that has the exact same symbol,” she demanded.
Gabrielle quickly grabbed the magnifying glass and examined her pendant. She impatiently circled the table looking for a matching chair. She stopped at the second one and examined it. “No match,” she said tiredly. She walked over to the third chair and examined it. “Ditto,” she said flatly.
She walked over to the fourth chair, her eyes widening with excitement. “I found it! I found it! The first symbol on my pendant matches the first symbol on this chair exactly,” she said excitedly and jumped up and down.
“Okay, Rosalinda, it’s your turn. Take the magnifying glass and look for your chair,” Zora said quickly.
Rosalinda looked at Zora as if she had two heads. “Okay, does anyone else think this is absolutely ridiculous?”
Gabrielle held out the magnifying glass impatiently. “Look, we don’t have time for this, Princess Rosalinda!”
“Fine,” Rosalinda responded heatedly as she grabbed the magnifying glass from Gabrielle and examined her pendant. She stormed over to the second chair and examined it. “No,” she snapped. She quickly walked over to the third chair; her face glowed as she screamed with excitement. “Incredible, I found it! The first symbol on my pendant matches the first symbol on this chair,” she exclaimed incredulously.
Zora took the magnifying glass from Rosalinda and quickly examined her pendant. “Okay, since the second chair is the only one left, logic would say that it matches the first symbol on my pendant,” she declared excitedly. She quickly walked over to the second chair and examined it.
They looked at her expectantly but she shook her head with disappointment.
“Sorry, Gabby Girls, the first symbol on my pendant does not match the first symbol on this chair,” she said sadly.
They breathed out with disappointment.
“Great! So we did all this for nothing,” Rosalinda wailed angrily.
They slowly walked away from the chairs with great disappointment.
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nbsp; In a last-ditch effort, Zora stopped and examined the chair one last time. Suddenly, her face flushed with excitement. “Wait a minute. I found it! It’s the third symbol on the chair that matches the first symbol on my pendant,” she said with excitement.
They yelped and jumped up and down.
Zora squinted curiously at the chair. “Hmmm, wait a minute…there’s something wrong here, but I can’t put my finger on it. Why would the first symbol on my pendant match the third symbol on this chair? I mean, everyone else’s matched the first symbol on the chair.”
Jessica bit her bottom lip as she shifted from one foot to the other nervously.
“You’re right, Zo, that’s so strange. Do you think it means something?” Gabrielle asked.
Rosalinda huffed out angrily, “Please, Gabby Girls, can we focus here? These chairs have absolutely nothing to do with the clue.”
“You’re half-right, Rosa. We are here to solve the clue but I have a sneaking feeling that these chairs and table are somehow part of it,” Zora said cryptically.
Gabrielle looked over at Rosalinda with reluctant agreement. “I don’t know about that, Zora. As much as I hate to admit it, I kind of agree with Rosalinda.” She shook her head with utter disbelief. “Jeez, I never thought that I would hear myself say that,” she said wryly. “Anyhoo, we don’t have much time, so I think we should focus on solving the clue.”
“Okay, I’ll go along with you for now, but I really think that ignoring the puzzle of the chairs and table will come back to bite us later,” Zora said anxiously.
“The way things are looking right about now, it definitely might come back to bite us, but we’ll just have to deal with that problem later on, okay? Let me see the clue again,” Gabrielle demanded.
Zora handed it to Gabrielle. “Okay, the second part of the clue says, ‘It’s wide and tall from floor to ceiling and always filled with words and meaning. You’ll know that you have found a clue when all that binds has come unglued.’”
She stuffed the clue into her pocket as she paced back and forth, mumbling to herself. Her face suddenly flushed with excitement. “I got it! I think that we should start looking in the bookshelf. It’s the only thing in this room that’s wide and tall from floor to ceiling.”
“Are you serious? There has to be at least a thousand books in there. It would take us forever to find a clue,” Rosalinda’s voice squeaked with panic.
“Well, Princess Rosalinda, do you have another idea? Because if you do, we all would love to hear it right about now,” Gabrielle responded.
Rosalinda gave her an annoyed glare. “There’s no need to get all huffy about it, Gabi. All I’m saying is that it will take forever to look through all of these books. There has to be a better way.”
Zora walked over to the largest section of the wall. “I agree with you, Gabi. The clue is somewhere in this bookshelf. And I also agree with Rosalinda that it will take forever to look through all of these books,” she said calmly. She scratched her head and looked at the enormous bookshelf. “But where do we start? There’s a gazillion books on the bookshelf,” she uttered.
She quickly spun on her heels, looking at the wooden table, then spun around, looking at the bookshelf again. Her face lit with excitement as she stomped over to the table. “Okay, I just got a great idea. You see how the chairs seem to be oddly pointing to the different sections of the wall? I think that we should start there,” she said calmly.
Rosalinda gave her an annoyed glare. “You can’t be serious? What you’re suggesting makes absolutely no sense.”
With agitation, Zora adjusted her glasses. “Hear me out first, okay? First, let’s start with everyone going back to the chair that matches her pendant.”
They all reluctantly walked back to the chairs and stood behind them.
Zora adjusted her glasses as she turned around to face the bookshelf. Her legs gently pressed against the back of the chair. In a straight line, she walked from the chair towards the bookshelf, which landed her right in front of a densely packed section of the shelf. She smiled slightly. “Okay, so this is my section of the bookshelf. I’m going to search all of the books in this section,” she stated matter-of-factly.
Rosalinda, Gabrielle, and Jessica quickly turned around and walked in a straight line toward the bookshelf. They looked at each other in puzzlement as they stood in front of their section of the shelf.
Zora gave them an encouraging smile. “Well, I guess we better start looking. We’re bound to find something interesting,” she said.
They frantically pulled books from the bookshelf, carefully examining each one.
Gabrielle blew the thick dust off the book cradled in her hands and quickly flipped through the pages with eyebrows furrowed. “Wow! This is so weird…the title of this book is written in English but the pages inside have some sort of strange language written on them,” she exclaimed.
Absorbed in her task, Zora quickly flipped through the book nestled in her hand. “It’s the same with this book. The title is in English but the pages inside are written in… Oh! I recognize this language; it’s based on the Latin alphabet,” she muttered.
Jessica looked over. “Well, can you understand it?”
“Well, I understand some of it, but not all,” Zora said.
Rosalind snorted nastily. “It figures—the psychic can’t understand what’s on the page. Classic!” she scoffed.
Gabrielle looked over at her. “Well, at least she’s trying to help. What have you contributed so far? Nothing! So either help or be quiet! I, for one, vote for being quiet.”
Rosalinda huffed nastily.
“Okay, from what I can tell, this is definitely a science book by all of the formulas written on the pages,” Zora stated.
Jessica pulled another book from the bookshelf and plopped down on the floor with exhaustion. She rubbed her eyes tiredly as she ran her fingers along the dusty front cover and marveled at the beautiful book title that was written in bright gold. Tiredly, she flipped through the pages, stopping at the last one, which revealed a loose binding.
She looked up with excitement. “Uh, I think I found the clue,” she muttered nervously.
They quickly ran over to her.
Jessica pointed at the binding. “Look at how loose the binding is, and it’s definitely unglued. Here…take a look if you don’t believe me.”
Gabrielle excitedly took the book from Jessica’s trembling hands. She ran her fingers along the worn back cover. “Look, there’s a bulge under the back cover. Does anyone have something sharp that I can use to pry it up?”
“Wait, I do,” Rosalinda said excitedly as she pulled a nail file from her bag and handed it to Gabrielle. “The end of my nail file is sharp enough to pry it up.”
“Awesome, this will work,” Gabrielle said gratefully as she pressed the end of the nail file along the outer edges of the cover, piercing the paper. She quickly scratched at the corner, prying it up with her nails. Her hands trembled excitedly as she peeled the gold lining back, revealing an old yellowed envelope, which fell to the floor with a soft clanking sound.
They looked at each other anxiously as Gabrielle reached down and picked up the envelope. She tore it open with excitement and they all gasped as she pulled out a piece of paper, which she carefully unfolded to reveal a small gold key nestled in the center.
Gabrielle cleared her throat as she read aloud,
Now finding the answer to this second clue will be quite easy for the four of you. It has a back, supports four legs, it’s made for one, and rests the arms when they get weary. When you have found the answer you seek, just plant your arms and then your feet.
Jessica gave Gabrielle a confused look. “Gosh, what in the world does that mean?”
“Hmmm. Gabi, can I see the clue?” Zora asked.
Gabrielle quickly handed over the clue and then plopped down on the floor with frustration, closing her eyes and resting her head against the bookcase. “Think, Gabi, think. After all, this
is not rocket science,” she muttered tiredly.
As if in a trance, she pulled out a lollipop from her ponytail, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth. The lollipop rolled loudly from side to side in her mouth while she mumbled,
Now finding the answer to this second clue will be quite easy for the four of you. It has a back, supports four legs, it’s made for one, and rests the arms when they get weary. When you have found the answer you seek, just plant your arms and then your feet.
She sighed and opened her eyes. “Okay, Gabby Girls, we’ve got to figure this out. If we don’t, the Gabby Girls Adventure ends right here, right now. And I, for one, can’t live with failure.” She glanced around the room wildly, looking for something, anything, that could help them out of their dilemma. Suddenly, a slow smile spread across her face and she jumped to her feet.
“Gabby Girls, I got it! I know what the clue means. It’s a chair. It’s the only thing in here that has four legs and a back. Quick, everyone, go back to the table,” Gabrielle screamed happily.
She quickly ran over to the table with Rosalinda, Zora, and Jessica following with doubt written all over their faces.
Gabrielle’s face pinched with annoyance. “Okay, why are you just standing there? Sit down.”
They nervously pulled the chairs back and sat down, their bodies tensed with expectation.
Zora anxiously adjusted her glasses. “Wait a minute, this is all wrong.”
Rosalinda angrily threw her hands up in the air. “Bastantes—enough! I’ve had about enough of this Gabby Girls Adventure gibberish. I just want to go back to our nice comfy room right now.”
Jessica bit her bottom lip as she squirmed nervously her chair. “What do you mean, Zora? Why is this all wrong?”
Zora looked at them tiredly. “Okay, first of all, we’re sitting in the wrong chairs. I think we have to sit in the chair that matches the symbol on our pendants,” she stated.
“Okay, that’s no biggie. Let’s just move to the correct chair,” Gabrielle said.
Rosalinda huffed with frustration as she stood up.