by Mclean, Hope
Lili stifled a cough. “We should go,” they heard Ryan say. As soon as the Rivals went off in a different direction, Willow and Lili made their way back to the others. Ms. Keatley was talking to another advisor, so they pulled Erin and Jasmine aside.
“You won’t believe what we just heard!” Lili whispered excitedly. She quickly filled them in.
“They didn’t mention the ruby, did they?” Jasmine asked.
“No, but what else could they be talking about?” Willow wondered.
“I’m not saying anything to anyone about it,” Jasmine said fiercely. “Not after what happened last time.”
“Besides, the police searched the whole school and the Rivals’ houses and proved they didn’t take the ruby, didn’t they?” Erin asked.
Willow shook her head. “That only means that they didn’t hide the ruby at home or at school. Think about it. They made a big deal about how they didn’t have the ruby. Maybe that was their plan. They hid the ruby someplace no one would imagine, and in the meantime everyone thinks they’re innocent and we’re losers.”
Jasmine looked skeptical. “You mean Arthur Atkinson was in on it?”
“Why not?” Lili chimed in. “I mean, a bunch of sixth graders couldn’t steal a valuable jewel all by themselves, could they?”
“Exactly,” Jasmine said. “Which is why we shouldn’t be trying to act like detectives, either.”
“But we have to!” Willow pleaded. “You’re right. We can’t go to Principal Frederickson with this, because no one would believe us. But we can at least check it out. And if we’re right, everyone will know we’re not losers.”
Jasmine sighed. “I guess, as long as we don’t say anything until we’re sure ….”
Erin was strangely quiet the whole time. “Could it be possible?” she said, mostly to herself. “It seems so unbelievable.”
“What?” Lili asked.
“You said that Ryan mentioned Minerva. The fresco at the Capitol Building shows six scenes, each depicting Roman gods and goddesses,” Erin explained. “One of those goddesses is Minerva, the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom.”
“Oh, yes! The painting on the ceiling!” Lili said in agreement. “But how would you hide a ruby there?”
“That’s not all,” Erin said. “He also mentioned the neck of Columbia, right? Columbia is the name of the statue on top of the Capitol. Not one, but two references to the Capitol Building. It seems like more than a coincidence.”
“It’s worth checking out,” Willow said.
In the car ride back to school, Ms. Keatley tried to cheer the girls up.
“You know what would help?” Erin asked. “Another field trip!”
“Could we go to the Capitol Building tomorrow?” Willow asked. “For more research?”
Ms. Keatley sighed. “I still haven’t gotten to see the John Adams miniseries yet.”
“Please, please, Ms. Keatley,” Lili begged.
“Oh, all right,” Ms. Keatley replied. “I’ll ask your parents when they pick you up. You’ve all had such an awful day, I’d do anything to put a smile on your faces.”
* * *
The next morning, the girls met again at the Metrorail train station. But this time, the vibe in the air felt more serious than fun.
Jasmine yawned. She had had bad dreams again the previous night. In this nightmare, Principal Frederickson wore a beret and legwarmers as she chased Jasmine around, demanding the ruby back in a French accent.
Ms. Keatley looked tired, too. “I stayed up half the night watching John Adams. I couldn’t turn it off.” She clutched a big cup of coffee in her hand.
The train pulled into the station and everyone got on. Before they knew it, they were once again back at the National Mall. They walked to the east end, toward the impressive, towering white Capitol Building. The central dome rose above a rotunda and was flanked by the two wings of the building.
Willow pointed to the top of the dome. “There’s Columbia.”
Erin pulled a pair of minibinoculars out of her bag and trained them on the statue. Lili laughed.
“Erin, do you have a bag full of detective tools in there?” she asked.
“That’s the best part of being a detective,” Erin replied. “All the cool stuff they use. I’m saving up for night-vision goggles.”
Willow took the binoculars from Erin. “Did you see anything?”
“I don’t think so. Hey, did you know the statue is also referred to as the statue of freedom?” Erin asked.
“Now I do,” Willow said. “Either way, she’s pretty cool-looking.”
She gazed up at the bronze statue of a young woman wearing a feather-fringed helmet. In her right hand, she held the hilt of a sheathed sword. In her left, a laurel wreath and a shield. But no ruby.
Willow lowered the binoculars and frowned. “We might as well go inside and check out the Minerva clue.”
They got in the long security line at the visitors’ center, but it moved quickly. While they waited, Ms. Keatley read from a guidebook. “‘The US Capitol is a massive building, with five hundred forty rooms divided among five levels. The site is home to the Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and the US Botanic Garden.’ Oh dear, where do we start?”
“Let’s take a tour,” Jasmine suggested.
The tour began with a short film about the history of the Capitol and Congress. The tour guide, an older woman with a gold emblem on her blazer, took them to the National Statuary Hall next.
“This was the meeting place for the US House of Representatives for nearly fifty years,” she explained. “Now it is the main exhibition space for the national statuary collection.”
The girls gazed around in amazement at the large, two-story semicircular room. From the gold ceiling hung an elaborate chandelier. And there were marble and bronze statues of famous Americans, donated by each of the fifty states, all around the room. As the guide talked, the girls carefully looked at each statue. Lili even stuck her head into an unused fireplace.
“Nothing here,” she concluded.
The tour continued. The Jewels kept on the lookout as they browsed galleries displaying artifacts from the Library of Congress and the National Archives. But when they reached the Rotunda, they were all extra alert.
“The Rotunda is the symbolic as well as the physical heart of the United States Capitol,” the guide said. “It connects the House and Senate sides of the building and is visited by thousands of people each day. It is located below the dome and is the tallest part of the Capitol.”
Erin’s jaw dropped. She almost forgot about the ruby as she stood under the swirling, massive ceiling. High above, at the very top of the dome, was the large fresco painting The Apotheosis of Washington, which showed George Washington hanging out in the clouds with some Roman gods and famous people from history. It contained the scene with Minerva. Erin groaned out loud. “There’s no way the Rivals could have gotten up there,” she whispered to Willow.
“Yeah,” Willow agreed. “But let me take a closer look.”
She pulled out Erin’s binoculars and looked up. After a few minutes, she lowered them and shook her head. “Nothing.”
The girls finished the tour, dejected. Ms. Keatley was puzzled. “I thought this would cheer you up!”
On the way back to the train, the girls hung back, letting Ms. Keatley walk ahead so they could talk.
“It’s hopeless!” Erin moaned. “We should give up.”
“I hate to say it, but I agree with Erin,” Lili said sadly. “This was a waste of time.”
Jasmine met Willow’s eyes and nodded. “We should just concentrate on the next quiz bowl and put this behind us.”
Willow sighed. “I guess we’ll never get the ruby back!”
The next day, Aaron Santiago walked up to the table Eli and Zane were sitting at in the Atkinson Prep cafeteria.
“Did you guys hear?” he asked. “They’re filming Curse of the Black Tiger Two! I can
’t wait to see it!”
Eli was suspicious. After all, he knew Aaron and Ryan had been lying about seeing the first movie.
“Cool,” Zane replied. “I wonder if I can get a part?” He held up his hands in a classic kung fu stance.
Aaron laughed. “Yeah, that’d be great. Well, gotta go. Just thought you guys would want to know.”
As he turned to leave, a piece of paper fluttered from his pocket to the floor.
“Hey! You dropped something,” Eli said loudly. But Aaron didn’t seem to hear him and kept walking.
Zane scooped it up. “It’s just an old ticket stub,” he said. “I’ll throw it out.”
“Wait! Let me see that,” Eli reached out his hand. He read the paper. “Very interesting.”
After school, Eli popped his head into Lili’s room. All of the Jewels were there, studying for the next quiz bowl. They wanted to redeem themselves after their last disastrous match against the Rivals.
“Go away, Eli! We’re busy,” Lili said.
“Okay, if you don’t want to hear about how weird Aaron Santiago was acting today, fine.” He made like he was going to walk away.
“Wait!” Willow called. “What happened?”
Eli filled them in. “When he was leaving, he dropped a ticket stub to the National Zoo. But this is where it gets stranger. The ticket stub was dated the same day the ruby was stolen from Martha Washington.” He held up the stub.
Erin grabbed it from his hands and studied it. “It is!”
“If Aaron was really at the zoo that day, why would he lie about going to the movies?” Jasmine wondered.
“Maybe the Rivals hid the ruby at the zoo!” Lili cried.
Erin laughed. “And Mei Xiang the panda is wearing it?”
Willow scowled. “That’s weird,” she said. “I just got a Chatter update that Veronica uploaded a new pic.” She peered at her phone. “And it looks like it was taken at the zoo!”
She held up her phone to show a photo of two large brown turtles.
“Let me see.” Jasmine held out her hand. She studied the photo. “Those are Aldabra giant tortoises.”
“I’m on it!” Lili jumped on her computer and began typing furiously. “Here they are!” She pointed to the screen, which showed the National Zoo’s website. “There is an Aldabra tortoise exhibit there.”
Jasmine groaned. “I thought we weren’t going to get involved anymore. I’ve had enough humiliation to last a lifetime, thanks very much.”
“What would it hurt to take a trip to the zoo?” Erin asked. “Besides, you love the zoo!”
“Tomorrow is a half day at school because of teacher conferences,” Willow said thoughtfully. “Maybe my mom can take us, if we help out with my little brothers.”
* * *
On Tuesday afternoon, the girls piled into Mrs. Albern’s minivan along with Willow’s three younger brothers: two-year-old Jason, six-year-old Michael, and eight-year-old Alex. With their dark brown hair and big brown eyes, all three boys resembled their big sister.
“It was so nice of you all to suggest this outing.” Mrs. Albern smiled. “The boys love the zoo! Although it looks like it might rain.” She glanced up at the sky with concern. “Does everyone have an umbrella?”
With Mrs. Albern pushing Jaden in a stroller, they walked through the visitors’ center and started their trip on the Asia Trail. They oohed and aahed over the adorable otters and red panda cubs and had a contest to see who could spot the clouded leopard first. Next up was the famous giant panda exhibit, with Tian Tian and Mei Xiang.
“What goes black, white, black, white, black, white?” Michael asked.
“What?” Lili asked.
“A panda rolling down a hill!” Michael cracked himself up, and Alex joined in.
Although Jasmine loved the zoo, she felt herself growing impatient. Willow noticed her friend was anxious. “We’ll be there soon,” she promised.
They made their way through the elephant exhibit and past the monkeys and great apes cages before arriving at the Reptile House. In the area just before the reptiles, there was the tortoise exhibit with a low fence running around it.
“Easy to get into,” Erin said. “Not like the dome of the Capitol Building!”
They scanned the exhibit. Two giant tortoises sat inside, just like in Veronica’s picture. But this time, something was different.
On both of the turtles’ shells was written in chalk: “Ha.”
“‘Ha, Ha,’” Michael read aloud. “Is that their names, Mom? Ha?”
Just then, the skies opened up and it began raining. The downpour washed the chalk off the shells.
Jasmine turned to the rest of the Jewels, her wet hair plastered on her face. “Ha-ha,” she said bitterly. “It looks like the joke’s on us!”
When they got back to Hallytown, the girls gathered around Willow’s kitchen table, drinking hot cocoa that Mrs. Albern had made for them.
“So do you really think the Rivals wrote ‘Ha Ha’ on those tortoise shells?” Lili asked, shaking her head.
“Who else would do that?” Erin pointed out. “They’re mocking us!”
“It does seem like a setup,” Willow said thoughtfully. “First Aaron drops the ticket right in front of Eli. Then Veronica posts the photo of the turtles. It’s like they were leading us there.”
Jasmine looked miserable. “Well, I don’t think it was funny.”
“But don’t you see?” Erin said, her face brightening. “This proves they’re the thieves! They just gave themselves away!”
Willow shook her head. “All it proves is that they’re trying to embarrass us even more.”
“Willow’s right,” Jasmine said. “They know we suspect them, so they’ve turned this into a game.”
“But they didn’t know you guys were listening the day of the quiz bowl, when they were talking about their foolproof plan, or whatever,” Erin pointed out. “I am so sure they’re the ones who stole the necklace!”
“Maybe, but we can’t prove it,” Willow reminded her.
The girls stared into their mugs of cocoa, dejected. Willow’s mom walked in and noticed their sad expressions.
“You girls have been so gloomy all day,” she remarked. “I know this whole situation with Atkinson must be difficult for you. I think you need to clear your minds and get a fresh start. Hey, there’s a free beginners’ yoga class at the community center tonight. Why don’t you all stay for supper and I’ll take you there? As long as it’s okay with your parents.”
“Yoga?” Erin asked skeptically. “Don’t you have to twist up your body like a pretzel or something?”
Mrs. Albern laughed. “Only when you get really good. Seriously, though, this class is very gentle and relaxing. I think it would be good for you. And I’ve got a huge batch of veggie chili working in the slow cooker.”
“Mmm, I love your chili!” Erin said happily. “I’ll twist my arms in knots if we get to eat that.”
“Sounds good,” Lili agreed.
Jasmine sighed. “It’s worth a try. I would love to erase the last week from my brain if I could!”
* * *
After eating dinner with the Alberns and changing into some sweats borrowed from Willow, the girls found themselves in a small room with smooth wood floors at the community center. Soft music played in the background as the yoga instructor, a young woman named Seline, talked to her students in a soothing voice.
“This next position is called downward dog,” Seline said. “We’re starting from the tabletop position. Tuck your toes under, and press your hands into the floor.”
Like the other girls, Lili was on her yoga mat with her knees on the floor, her hands flat on the mat, her elbows straight, and her back as flat as the top of a table. She could hear Erin giggling next to her. Normally, she would be giggling right along, but she had to admit that she was kind of enjoying the yoga thing. It really was making her feel calm.
“Now straighten your legs to come up into the pose,”
Seline directed, rising from the mat and forming an arched shape with her body.
Lili did the same, and now her head was upside down. Through the space between her feet she could see the plain white wall behind her.
“Let’s hold this pose for five breaths,” Seline said. Her voice was loud yet soothing at the same time. “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out ….”
Lili felt more and more relaxed. Thoughts from the last few days kept drifting into her brain, and she tried to let them pass on through without dwelling on them, like Seline had instructed at the start of class.
Turtles … the Capitol … joke’s on you … Minerva …
Minerva. That name stuck for some reason. And then it hit her.
“I’ve got it!” she cried, not realizing she was saying the words out loud. Most of the students were too polite to laugh, but Erin was cracking up next to her.
“Very good, Lili,” Seline said. “Now let’s smoothly release the pose so that we’re back down on hands and knees.”
For the remainder of the class, Lili could barely concentrate. She was sure she had figured out something important, and she couldn’t wait to tell her friends. When Seline finally dismissed them, Lili ran up to the Jewels.
“Wow, Lili, you really got into it,” Erin teased.
“No, I didn’t,” Lili said. “I mean, I did, but that’s not why I shouted like that. I think I figured something out.”
“What do you mean?” Jasmine asked.
“Well, Ryan mentioned Minerva, right?” Lili asked, and Willow nodded.
“Well, I thought of another Minerva. One that has to do with jewels,” Lili told them. “It’s my favorite thing in the National Museum of American History. It’s called the ‘Minerva’ Dress, and it was designed by Oscar de la Renta. It’s all gold and shimmery and everything. Maybe he was talking about that!”
“Hey, you could be right!” Erin agreed.
“Yes, but Ryan said that they didn’t hide it in Minerva,” Willow reminded them.
“Right, but maybe they hid it in another dress, and that’s why they mentioned it,” Jasmine suggested.