NO SOUVENIRS
by
Piper Merlyn
Chapter 2
The Chapters
San Francisco seemed to glow in the late afternoon sun. The Golden Gate bridge shimmered with the sunlight glinting off of cars and trucks. They had taken two taxis to the hotel where Andrea said they were staying. The five of them entered the lobby and just froze.
Vibrant colors were on the walls, a rich blue carpet studded with gold stars covered the floor. At one end of the lobby was a fireplace. A design painted around it made it appear to be the sun – or perhaps a sunflower. Joe noted several gold damask chairs with no arms, and the backs looked for all the world like a scrunched wizard’s hat complete with tassel. “Whoa.”
Andrea Bender looked up from the reception desk and gave him a wry smile. “Yes, the Hotel Triton is a bit unusual.”
A bellhop came forward and loaded the five suitcases on a luggage rack and led the way to the bank of elevators. Joe looked around and shook his head. “I keep expecting to see Looney Tunes characters popping up or something,” he whispered to Vanessa.
Vanessa grinned as the elevator moved upwards. Finally on the second floor, the bellhop showed Joe and Frank their room. Callie and Vanessa were sharing another room while Andrea had a room of her own.
Joe looked around at the double beds and the room itself. It was painted a dark navy blue, including the ceiling and had silvery stars painted on the ceiling. In one corner was a crescent moon. Joe just shook his head as Frank moved to sit in one of those chairs Joe had already dubbed ‘crazy wizard’ chairs.
There was a knock on the door and Joe went to answer it. Andrea stood there, looking tired already. “I have to head on over to the Moscone Convention Center to register. I’ll put down that I brought four guests, so you’re welcome to come over anytime the convention’s going on.”
Joe nodded. “Thanks, Mrs. Bender.”
Andrea sketched a wave and headed down the corridor to the elevators. Joe started to push the door closed but something on the other side resisted. He pulled it open to see Vanessa nearly bouncing on her toes. “Hey, Van.”
“Hi. Want to go wander around? Maybe take a cable car ride? I was looking at the little guidebook in the room and only two blocks from here is a cable car stop.”
Frank managed to get to his feet without falling over and saw Callie join Vanessa in the doorway. “Sounds good.”
The four teenagers left the hotel and headed to the cable car stop. According to the times posted, they didn’t have a long wait until another boxy car rattled to a stop in front of them. They got into the cable car as it jerked to a start.
Joe held onto the strap and leaned out as the scenery passed by. “Ah, what fun...”
“Pretending to fall out of the car?” asked Frank, rolling his eyes.
Joe grinned as the cable car approached the huge Dragon Gates leading to Chinatown. They enjoyed a leisurely ride through Chinatown but Joe noted that Vanessa grew increasingly anxious the closer they got to Nob Hill. “Hey, you okay?”
“My pen pal lives in Nob Hill. Her name is Mary Celeste Wilder but all her friends call her Macey. We’ve been writing each other for three years and she’s invited me time and again but this is the first time, I’ve been able to actually come.”
Vanessa took a deep breath. “Macey’s so cool, she’s into fantasy and all this New Age stuff. We met through an animation magazine pen pal list.”
Once in the area known as Nob Hill, Vanessa pulled the string to signal the operator to stop. The cable car clattered to a stop and the four teenagers got off. Vanessa took a piece of paper from her jeans’ pocket. “I’m looking for Pine Street.”
Callie looked around, finally spotting a street sign. “We’re on Prescott. I think that street’s Pine,” she added since the street sign posted two narrow green markers, one reading Pine, one reading Prescott.
Vanessa let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, let’s go.”
After a few minutes’ walking, it didn’t seem as if the four teenagers had gotten anywhere. Joe grunted something about too many hills but they kept going until they reached the corner. Vanessa glanced to her left and nodded. “There’s the painted lady.”
Joe looked around, puzzled, half-expecting to see a wooden statue or something. “What?”
Callie smirked. “She means that old Victorian.” She pointed to a three-story Victorian home with rich coral color on the outside, with cream trim and lacey curtains hanging at the huge first-and-second-floor windows. Beautiful stained glass sparkled in the afternoon sunlight.
Joe looked up at the top of the Victorian and thought he saw a red-haired girl in the large window on the third floor. She looked down at him for a moment and then gave him a wave.
Joe waved back and then followed the rest of them to the corner. Vanessa pointed down the street to another Victorian house, this one a rich lavender color with dark sage green trim. “There’s Macey’s house.”
Excited now, Vanessa led the way to the lavender house. Joe took a deep breath after they made their way up the six steps to the front door. “No more hiking in San Francisco. This is supposed to be a vacation.”
Callie rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. She and Frank were a little breathless too. Vanessa knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.
After a few minutes, a tall dark-haired woman opened the door. She had a set of small glasses perched on her head and was holding a file folder full of papers. “Yes?”
“Is Macey here?”
The woman blinked and looked at Vanessa. “You mean Mary Wilder?”
Vanessa nodded. “Is she here?”
The woman slowly turned her head to glance up the stairs and then looked back at them. “Usually, I see Mary at least once a day. This house was converted to apartments about six years ago and I’ve got the top one, Mary has the second one. I haven’t seen her for the last several days though.”
Frank frowned. “When was the last time you saw her, Miss—?”
The woman cleared her throat. “Jasmine Cates.” She blinked again and gestured for them to come on inside. “How do you know Mary?” she asked, looking at Vanessa curiously.
“We’re pen pals.”
Jasmine took a deep breath and smiled. “You must be ‘Nessa then. Mary talked about you all the time.” She turned to look at Frank and her smile faded slightly. “The last time I saw Mary was...well, probably Friday afternoon.”
Joe shook his head. “That’s over twenty-four hours, you didn’t report anything?”
“When the weekends come, Mary’s been known to vanish the entire weekend. Mary is eighteen, legally an adult. I’m not exactly her keeper.” Jasmine cleared her throat again. “I’m sorry, that probably sounds rude.” She looked down at the stuff in her hands. “Look, at least come upstairs with me. You all look rather hot and tired. I’ve got cold tea and cheesecake you can have, before you have to head back to wherever you’re staying.”
“The Hotel Triton,” muttered Joe.
Jasmine laughed. “Ah, that place. Well, most of my friends like it. They think it’s quirky and fits San Francisco.” She led the way up the stairs to the third floor. Her apartment was an airy huge space, with a folding screen in one corner that blocked the bedroom from the living room.
Jasmine set her file folder down carefully, so none of the pages would slide to the floor. Her computer sat on an old table rather than a desk and the table was piled with books and folders and papers all over the place.
Frank looked around at the eclectic furnishings. “What do you do, Miss Cates?”
“I’m a professional researcher.”
Joe arched an eyebrow at Frank. He’d never heard of a professional researcher. “What do you research?”
“This and that and everything under the sun.” Jasmine looked over at them. “And please call me Jasmine.” She gestured to the galley kitchen. “Come on, I’ll get you some iced tea and cheesecake.”
The four teenagers followed her to a bar where several bar stools stood. They sat down and watched her get out the glasses and plates just as her phone rang. “Hold on.” She grabbed the cordless and hit the talk button. “Hello?...No, I didn’t. You did....Michael, you have a computer, you have the Internet, why can’t you do it yourself?...Well, I’m going to give it to you again. Why not this time keep it under your Favorites’ list?...Yes, Michael, you do...No, I haven’t bought the book, Michael, why don’t you?”
As she talked, she poured the tea one-handed and set the glasses in front of them and then got the cheesecake out of the refrigerator. “No, Michael, I don’t have time to slog through a technical book...With everything I have to research for you, for Thane, for Sheldon, I don’t have time to slog through a layman’s version either. You own a book store, you read it.”
Joe sipped his iced tea and arched an eyebrow at his brother. The woman didn’t seem to be bothered that they were listening to her side of the conversation. She finished serving them cheesecake and set the plates in front of them. She moved to cut herself a piece only to slam the knife on the edge of the plate. “Michael, I swear once an idea gets into that head of yours...No, you said last year you were giving up that angle since it didn’t fit with your new theory...Of course I saved it, Michael. I save everything just so you can ask me six months down the road.” She let out a rude sigh. “Fine. Call me back in a couple of hours then.”
Jasmine didn’t quite throw the cordless phone. She just slammed it rather hard into its charging cradle. “Ooh, I swear...” She seemed to remember she had guests and let out another sigh. “Sorry, Michael tends to have a one-track mind.”
“Michael a friend of yours?” asked Callie hesitantly, as she ate her cheesecake and savored the sweet raspberry tea.
Jasmine grunted. “Something like that.” She took a deep breath. “Look, you might want to try the temp agency over on McKinley. Mary works there.”
The four teenagers nodded and finished off their snack. Vanessa smiled over at Jasmine. “Thanks.”
Joe spotted an old oversized book on the corner of the table where Jasmine’s computer sat. “Whoa, big book there.” He moved to touch it when something about it made him stop. It was covered in old leather worn smooth and shiny from years of handling. “Wow, this is pretty old, huh?”
Jasmine stared at the book and gave a slow nod. “Older than you think.” She blinked and cleared her throat. “Oh, I have to find that stuff Michael asked me to find.” She looked over at them and frowned. “Do you need to call for a taxi? Or are you going to walk back to the cable car stop.”
Joe glanced over at Vanessa, a pleading look on his face. Vanessa rolled her eyes and sighed. “May I borrow your phone then?”
Jasmine gave her a distracted nod and sat down in front of the computer. She saw Joe still eying the book. “It won’t disintegrate if you open it. Go ahead. Michael and I have looked all through it over and over again.”
Joe touched the cover and gently lifted it. On the first page was what looked like a circle that bent and twisted around, back and under forming one continuous line but looping over and over to make the circle look almost like a vine wreath or something. “What is that?”
Jasmine didn’t even look up from her computer screen. “Celtic knot circle.”
Frank frowned. “Celtic. As in Ireland?”
“Celts weren’t just in Ireland.” Jasmine did look up then. “They spread all the way to eastern Europe. In fact the mummies found in the Gobi desert—“
“Mummies?” Joe blinked and looked over at her. “I thought mummies were in Egypt.”
Jasmine gave a faint smile. “These were Caucasian mummies, and according to the extensive investigating Sheldon did, he concluded that they were Celts.”
“Sheldon?” asked Callie, quiet until now.
“Sheldon Reeves, he’s an archeologist.”
Frank’s eyes widened. “I’ve heard of him. Didn’t he find some unique items in a small Egyptian tomb several years ago?”
Jasmine looked over at him. “I didn’t realize that made the news.”
“It was on the Internet.” Frank shrugged. “I don’t remember what the items were now.”
Jasmine cleared her throat. “It doesn’t matter anymore. There are bigger things that Sheldon’s working on, along with Thane, Cristina and Michael.”
“They’re all archeologists?” asked Joe, as he slowly turned the brittle parchment pages.
“Michael’s officially an historian.”
Frank arched an eyebrow. “And unofficially?”
Jasmine grunted. “A pain in the—“
Vanessa cleared her throat softly. “Thank you,” she said and returned the phone to its charging cradle and then joined Joe looking in the book. “Hey, that’s a cool drawing,” she said.
Frank leaned over her shoulder. “It looks like a huge island.” He frowned. “The way it’s drawn, it can’t be Australia.”
Jasmine took a deep breath. “It’s Pangaea.” She scooted her chair back, looking as if she wanted to snatch the book away from them. Instead she clenched her fingers together and sighed. “It’s a controversial theory at best.” She shook her head. “I’m sure you’re not interested in ancient, ancient history.”
Frank wondered if he should push for the theory. The woman seemed awfully uptight over a theory. But it wasn’t like he was investigating something and he really didn’t have the right to push. “You’re probably busy. We can wait outside. It’s a pretty day.”
Jasmine looked over at him and smiled. “You don’t have to. It’ll take a good ten minutes for a cab to get here.” She sighed and shrugged, swiveled her chair to face the computer again.
Vanessa leaned forward. “It’s not labeled Pangaea. It’s labeled l’Anthia.” She frowned and nudged Joe. “Casi – isn’t that the place she writes about in her stories.”
Jasmine swiveled her chair around to face them. “You know Casi?” She stared at them. “How on earth do you know Casi?”
Joe forgot about the book. “You know her?”
Jasmine nodded. “I met her two years ago, in Egypt.” She took a deep breath. “She had amnesia...” She cleared her throat. “How do you know her?”
Frank spared a brief look at Joe and then looked at Jasmine from his spot over by the large window. “Last year, she presumably disappeared. It ended up being a misunderstanding.” He glanced out the window and saw a taxi pull up. “Hmm, that must be our ride.”
Jasmine managed a faint smile. “It seems that’s usually the case.” Her smile widened. “Usually.”
Joe kept turning the brittle parchment pages. “What’s this language?”
“Celtic. It changes to Latin a third of the way through.” Jasmine shrugged. “I figured that would be your next question.”
Vanessa frowned. “The handwriting changes, like different people have written in this.”
Jasmine typed a string of words on the screen and a file came up, full of symbols and words. She turned to face her guests. “It’s technically called a grimoire.”
“What’s a grimoire?” asked Callie. She glanced at Frank. “Did you just say our taxi’s here?”
Frank nodded. “Yeah,” he said and started for the door.
Jasmine stood up. She nodded to Vanessa. “I’ll tell Mary you’re looking for her. If I see her before you see her,” she added with a shrug.
Vanessa smiled. “Thank you.”
“Stop by Banning Temp Agency. Paige might know where Mary could be.”
Vanessa nodded. “I will.” She sketched a wave as they left Jasmine’s apartment. She led the way down the stairs to the second floor.
Joe glanced over at the door. “I wonder...”
Vanessa took his arm. “Joe, no.” Before she could say more, a tall slender blond walked up the stairs, humming to herself and jingling keys. Vanessa blinked. “Macey?”
The woman stopped, stared at Vanessa and gasped. “Nessa? That you?” She hurried up the rest of the steps, dropped the tote bag she was carrying and gave a Vanessa a hug. “Oh I knew something momentous was going to happen today.”
Frank and Joe shared a brief curious look but didn’t comment on the odd phrasing. Macey jingled her keys. “Oh you must come in. I have cold sodas and snacks.” She unlocked her door and pushed it open wide. The room was of the same dimensions as Jasmine’s apartment one floor up, but where her apartment had seemed airy and cluttered, this one was dim and intimate.
Lacey panels shrouded archways, and swirled across windows. Up against a wall near a long row of lace curtains sat a low table. It sat against the wall on squat legs and a long black scarf was draped across its top.
On its surface sat several taper candles, brown, white, dark blue and pink. An oversized goblet that looked like it was gold sat to one side and beside it was an antique-looking dagger.
Joe walked over to it and frowned. There was an oddness about the items on the table, the large throw pillows on the floor as if they were used to kneel on. There was a rustic broom leaning against the wall beside the table. “What’s this?” he asked, looking over at Macey.
She gave him a startled look and then looked at Vanessa. “Oh, this must be Joe, then.” She suddenly noticed Frank and Callie. “Oh hi. I see Nessa brought her friends. I’m Macey.”
“I’m Joe Hardy, that’s my brother Frank and his girlfriend, Callie Shaw.”
“Nice to meet Nessa’s friends.” Macey set her tote bag down, veered for the kitchen and then shook her head. “No, no, we have to go out. We have to celebrate.” She rubbed her hands together and grinned at the four of them. “And I know just the place. Come on. I think my old van will hold all of you. Let’s go.”
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.