Lexi Magill and the Teleportation Tournament

by Kim Long

  Mal dropped her shoulders. “That I haven’t figured out. But it could be, right?”

  “True. The problem is our Linderhof expert is missing, along with his notes.”

  “Yeah. We need to find Ron.”

  Lexi scowled. “Let’s go.”

  The girls exited the museum and hustled down the street, peeping into shops and stores. Lexi kept an ear out, too, listening for shouts of Packers, football, swag, or anything that might lead them to Ron. But he was nowhere, and worse, as they retraced their steps from the Duomo back to the museum, they saw the Protons and several teams returning to the station.

  Mal shook her head. “Do you think we should tell an official? Maybe something happ—”

  Lexi clutched Mal’s arm. “Wait. There!”

  A ginormous brown backpack leaned against the window of a small café across the street from the museum. Lexi and Mal sprinted inside.

  Feet up on a chair, Ron sat at a table with a bowl of soup in front of him.

  Slurp.

  “What are you doing?” Lexi screamed.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Mal added.

  Ron flinched, knocking the table and spilling his soup. “Hey! Watch it!”

  Lexi widened her eyes. “Watch it? Where were you? I can’t believe you disappeared.”

  “Yeah,” Mal said, lightly sliding the table into him. “Not cool.”

  “What?” Ron protested. He looked at Lexi. “I told you I was going to check out the vendors to see if I could entice them into buying my stuff.”

  Lexi thought back to the conversation in front of the Duomo. Ron had said something, but she didn’t recall the specifics, as she was anxious to get to the museum.

  She exhaled. “I didn’t hear you say anything about vendors.”

  “Yeah, it was noisy and crowded,” Mal said. “Next time make sure we hear you.”

  “Fine. I will. Next time.” He rubbed his hands together and grinned. “So, want to hear how much I sold?”

  “No,” Mal said, slipping into a chair.

  “Later,” Lexi said. “We’ve already looked at the clue, and we’re stuck. We need your notes on Linderhof.” She took a seat, unpacked the clue, and tossed it onto the table. “Here. You did the hieroglyphics part on Egypt. What do you think of this language?”

  He tapped the paper. “It’s definitely some sort of code. I mean, it’s obvious these funky-looking letters are symbols for other letters. It’s like that movie my father loves, The Da Vinci Code. You got the clue at the Da Vinci museum, so I’m sure all we have to do is figure out how to interpret this.”

  Lexi searched the writing for hidden physics formulas, scientists, or elements from the periodic table, but nothing made sense. She returned it to Ron. “What about the part that says there’s a connection between Da Vinci and one of the rooms in Linderhof. Do you know what it could be?”

  “Hm. Maybe.” Ron grabbed his notebook and flipped to the list of rooms. “Yeah, here it is. Reflect. The word ‘reflect’ is italicized in the clue, and—” He pointed to one of the rooms.

  Hall of Mirrors

  Lexi’s pulse quickened as a spark of hope surged through her. “That makes sense.” She turned to Mal. “Can you check—”

  “Already on it,” Mal replied, swiping the tablet. A few seconds later she bolted out of her chair and thrust the tablet over her head as if she was lifting a trophy. “Yes!”

  “What?” Ron and Lexi asked.

  Lowering the tablet, Mal returned to the table. “Mirror writing. Da Vinci was a genius, remember? He was afraid people would steal his ideas, so he wrote his notes backward so they would look like gibberish to anyone who saw them unless—”

  “You used a mirror!” Lexi said, straightening.

  Mal retrieved her compact and angled it over the clue. The unreadable symbols now appeared as letters.

  Lexi clapped excitedly. “I’ll write it down,” she said, grabbing her notebook.

  Ron took off his cap and put it on backward as he set his feet on the edge of the table. “Mirror writing, huh? I’m gonna tell Coach we should do that with our playbook. You know, there was a rumor last year that Park North got ahold of one—”

  “We’re not done!” Mal interrupted, knocking Ron’s feet off the table. “We have to read the whole clue.” She tapped the now-decipherable passage. “To find the painting, we still have to figure out who the first female Nobel Peace Prize winner was and where she was born.”

  Lexi stifled a laugh, happy to see Mal wouldn’t let them repeat Ron’s Ludwig castle mistake. “Don’t worry,” Lexi said. “I know that one. It’s Marie Curie, Madame Marie Curie. It was in physics. She discovered radium and polonium, which scientists use today to create the massive amount of energy needed to teleport.” Lexi paused. “Oh, and she was born in Poland.”

  Glaring at Mal, Ron flipped his hand toward Lexi. “There, there’s the other half of your clue. Jeez, Moreno. You’re getting as bad as Magill. You two really need to do like my boy Aaron Rodgers says and r-e-l-a-x.”

  Lexi and Mal traded quick eye rolls. As Mal typed into her tablet, Lexi edged to her side, excited Mal was anxious to solve the clue. While Ron had run off to sell swag, Mal hadn’t even mentioned taking photos. She was becoming a great race partner, and it was fun teasing Ron together. Lexi hadn’t felt this comfortable around a classmate in a while.

  Mal stopped swiping the screen and squealed. “This is it!” She tilted the screen so Lexi and Ron could see. “Da Vinci’s portrait of Lady with an Ermine is housed at the Czartoryski Palace Museum in Kraków, Poland.”

  “Lady with an Ermine?” Ron leaned in for a closer look.

  Lexi cocked an eyebrow at the image. “Yeah, what’s an ermine? Is that what she’s supposed to be holding? It looks like a goat.”

  “Who knows, and who cares,” Mal answered, pressing the tablet to her chest. She gazed into the distance. “Just think, in a few minutes, we’ll be face-to-face with an original Da Vinci.”

  Lexi glanced at Ron, and both suppressed giggles.

  “Anyway,” Lexi said, pulling out her tableau and a Travel Request Form. She reviewed the cities listed under Poland and smiled. “Great! Kraków’s on here! I’ll write in the code, and we’re good to go.”

  “Cool. Just a sec,” Mal replied, running to the counter.

  “What?” Lexi called as she completed the form.

  “They gave me food vouchers when we checked in. Italian sausage soup and bruschetta. I’ll get it to-go.”

  “Free food? Awesome!” Ron said, punching the air.

  Lexi packed her things, catching a glimpse of the Stargazers as they raced past the café. Her excitement fizzled, and her stomach twisted. Tracking down Ron had eaten up valuable time.

  “Hurry up, you guys!” she shouted, swinging her pack over her shoulder. She opened the café’s door, poked out her head, and looked both ways down the street. Kids wearing dark blue, gray, and green T-shirts weaved their way down the road to the teleport station.

  “Let’s go!” Lexi called as she stepped into the street. She clenched her hand around her pack’s strap and pursed her lips. If she had any shot at winning, she had to keep Team RAM moving, and right now they had some major catching up to do.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Team RAM arrived in Kraków and hurried across the station toward the tournament booth. A clock on the counter flashed 9:01 p.m.

  Ron poked Lexi. “Nine o’clock? For real? It doesn’t feel like it.”

  Lexi nodded. “We jumped ahead seven hours when we teleported to Germany, remember? And we were in Italy a while.”

  A curtain behind the booth opened. “Witamy w Polsce,” greeted a tournament monitor as he stepped to the counter. He showed them his name tag. Stanislaw.

  “Hi, Stanislaw. We need to go to the Czartoryski Palace Museum. Is it far?” Lexi asked as they supplied their passports and badges.

  Stanislaw shook his head. “Not at all.” He tapped a few keys on h
is computer. “Please be aware that this will be your team’s last stop for the day.”

  Ron stretched his arms over his head and then waved his arm in front of him. “Nah. We’re good. We can definitely keep going.”

  “Psst,” Mal said from behind. “There’s no teleporting after ten p.m. Remember?”

  Ron spun to face her and Lexi. “But I’m not tired. It’s stupid to stop now.” He turned back around to Stanislaw. “Look, how about we do the rest periods on our regular time zone? We can keep racing, and whenever it’s ten p.m. back home, we’ll stop.”

  “Ron, he can’t change the rules for us. Come on,” Mal said.

  Ron crossed his arms. “But—”

  “Think about it,” Lexi stated. “At ten p.m. back home, it’ll be five a.m. here. Museums and other places aren’t going to be open at five a.m. We have to follow the time zone where we are. And we have to use the time to rest. Otherwise, we’ll be one of those teams who falls apart and doesn’t finish the race because we’re too tired.”

  Stanislaw gave Lexi a nod. “Your teammates are right. I can’t change the rules, and you really should get rest when you can.”

  Ron tapped his chest. “Yeah, I know all about conserving energy and pacing myself. Have to leave something for those critical plays in the fourth quarter. All right.”

  “Good,” Mal said, nudging Ron out of the way. “Do you have a map?”

  Stanislaw slid a map across the counter. “Here you go.”

  Lexi noticed a block of info in the map’s corner. She knew most places in Europe used a twenty-four-hour clock, but unless she was misinterpreting the times, it looked like the museum had already closed.

  MUSEUM HOURS:

  MON: CLOSED

  TUES–SAT: 10–18

  SUN: 10–16

  She tapped a finger to the box. “This means it’s open from ten a.m. to six p.m. on Saturdays, right?”

  “Yes, but don’t worry,” Stanislaw replied. “They agreed to stay open longer specifically because of the tournament.”

  Lexi wiped her forehead. “Oh whew! For a second there—”

  “It closes at ten,” Stanislaw interrupted.

  “Ten?” Lexi checked the clock. 9:06 p.m.

  As if he could read her panicky mind, Stanislaw gently patted Lexi’s hand. “Don’t worry. It’s not far.” He pointed to an exit on the other side of the station. “Go out those doors and take a left.” He tapped a finger to the map. “It’s straight down this street. Stay on the sidewalk past the town square and restaurants, and you’ll walk right into it. We have a few monitors along the way if you have any questions.”

  Lexi nudged Mal to go.

  “Come back here when you’re done,” Stanislaw called. “The rest area’s right through these curtains. We have cots and food waiting for you.”

  Lexi halted and did an about-face. She stared at the curtain. How many teams were already behind there and, more importantly, how many other teams had been allowed to continue to the next stop? She craned her neck to see around Stanislaw and peek through a teensy gap in the drapes, but the hole was too small for her to see anything. Knowing she was wasting time, she rejoined her teammates.

  “Good luck!” Stanislaw shouted. “If you get confused, look for the McDonald’s. It’s a short stretch from there!”

  “Oh man, I could go for some McDonald’s,” Ron said as they maneuvered through the crowded station.

  “We are not stopping at McDonald’s,” Mal replied.

  “Duh,” Ron mumbled. “You heard him. The museum’s closing soon. We’re obviously in a rush.”

  Mal groaned. “That’s not what I meant. It doesn’t matter if we had all the time in the world. We’re in a foreign country. You should eat something you can’t eat back home. Not McDonald’s.”

  Lexi thought a fudge sundae sounded pretty awesome, and almost said so, but she didn’t want to say or do anything that would distract Ron from hurrying to the museum.

  Ron waved off Mal. “Relax. I didn’t say I was stopping. All I said was I could go for some McDonald’s.” He sped up, passed his teammates, and called over his shoulder. “Besides, as slow as you two walk, I can probably go there, eat, and still beat you to the museum.”

  Lexi and Mal quickened their pace to catch up to Ron, and Team RAM exited the station into Kraków’s night air.

  Like Florence, people congregated on the cobblestone streets, which contained rows of buildings, most five or six stories high, that seamlessly ran into one another. With the artificial light from the windows and streetlamps, the buildings’ vibrant colors popped across the cityscape. Building fronts changed from tangerine to soft tan to pale green to red and on and on down the street until the block ended. It was as if Kraków’s painters had been inspired by a rack of fresh spices.

  Taking the lead, Mal blazed a path through a crowd listening to street musicians and vendors selling bagels. “This section of the city is called Old Town,” she said, glancing at the map. “There’s always music, and a lot of these cafés and pubs are really popular, especially on the weekends.”

  “That’s for sure,” Ron said as they passed the third club with customers spilling into the street. He repeatedly jostled his backpack, and each time Lexi held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t yank it off and start selling.

  A short ways past a McDonald’s, a large maize-colored building with red brick panels came into view. The tournament official standing out front was a dead giveaway it was the museum, and Team RAM rushed inside.

  A high-school-aged girl greeted them.

  “Cześć! Dobry wieczór. Witamy w naszym muzeum.”

  “Oh no,” Lexi and Ron said. They looked at Mal.

  Mal threw her hands in the air. “Don’t look at me. I don’t speak Polish!”

  The girl giggled. “I speak English, too. My name is Martyna.” Team RAM sighed with relief as Martyna handed Lexi a map. “If you have any questions, let me know. Otherwise, we’ll be closing at ten o’clock, so if you don’t find what you need by then, you’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

  “Got it,” Lexi said. They walked to an information desk, where Lexi unfolded the map so they could figure out where to go.

  The two-story museum consisted of over twenty rooms, each displaying a variety of crafts, armory, weapons, antiquities, and, of course, paintings, from several European countries. While sections of the museum exhibited historical relics, other rooms presented more modern work.

  “It’s got to be in one of the art gallery rooms,” Mal said, reading the list.

  Lexi noticed a room on the upper level labeled Sala Leonarda da Vinci. “Let’s try here first.”

  Team RAM took off. Rooms dedicated to Polish military heroes and Polish poets decorated the ground floor. They passed through quickly, with only Ron pausing to view some of the older military uniforms. On the upper level, everyone slowed down, especially as they walked through rooms containing ornate ceramics from the Renaissance era. Lexi kept her arms at her sides, choosing to examine the various plates and vases from afar. No way could her family afford replacing a priceless piece of art on the new Magill family budget!

  A room covered with painted portraits was next. “We’re getting close,” Mal said, taking a sharp left.

  Sure enough, blue and gold from a tournament booth stuck out in the corner. They sped to it.

  “Hi,” Lexi said as they approached.

  “Cześć!” replied the official.

  Lexi reached for one of the envelopes stacked on the counter.

  The official placed his hand on top of the stack. “Nie.”

  “No?” Lexi repeated. She swiveled toward Ron and Mal. “What do you—”

  “Don’t we have to find the painting first?” Mal asked.

  Duh. Of course! Lexi glimpsed past Mal. A painting on the far side of the maroon room had been cordoned off with velvet rope. The three strode to it, and as they drew near, the subject came into focus. Surrounded with a gold frame, the painting
was a portrait of a woman wearing a blue-and-golden robe cradling an animal in her arms.

  “Still not sure what she’s holding. Maybe a lamb?” Lexi asked.

  “Hang on,” Ron replied, stooping to read a sign below the painting. “It says she’s holding a stoat.”

  “A what?” Lexi and Mal asked.

  “A stoat.” He pointed to the sign. “This is definitely the right painting.”

  Lady with an Ermine, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

  As Ron and Mal read the plaque’s description of the painting, Lexi focused on a blue-and-gold note below the portrait:

  Congratulations! You have solved clue #3. Receive your sticker at the tournament booth and place it over the circle marked No. 2 on your Trek Tracker.

  To continue:

  PUZZLE TIME!

  Take one of the worksheets below and calculate your answer.

  Then, select the corresponding ticket and bring it to the tournament booth.

  Lexi grabbed a worksheet.

  MARIE CURIE

  1. Take the year Madame Curie was born.

  2. Multiply it by the number of Nobel Prizes she won in Physics.

  3. Subtract the atomic number of Radium.

  4. Add the melting point of Radium (Celsius), rounded to the nearest hundred.

  5. Subtract the mass number of Polonium.

  6. Add the number of neutrons in Polonium.

  7. Add the number of neutrons in Radium.

  8. Subtract the number of elements in the periodic table that exist naturally.

  9. Subtract the year Madame Curie died.

  10. Reverse the order of the numbers.

  ANSWER:

  “This is great you guys! The worksheet’s a science problem. I totally got this!”

  “An extra puzzle?” Mal complained. “Isn’t it supposed to be a clue to our next destination?”

  Lexi didn’t break her smile. She’d answer fifty puzzles on science if she could. Previous tournaments she’d studied had as many as ten science worksheets spread throughout the race. She’d been counting on them, and it was about time the first made its appearance. This was how they would vault to the lead.