The Sword Thief Read online

  He swung around, shoving a book back into a shelf and reaching for another. A ragged old book, teetering on the shelf edge, fell to the floor.

  Alistair cringed. "Careful, some of these are priceless!" he warned, bending to pick up the delicate book and examining the hand-drawn Japanese characters on the cover. "It's five centuries old. Found by an enemy warlord. It was the only item found in Hideyoshi's tent during a raid -- "

  "What's it say?" Dan asked.

  Alistair adjusted his glasses. "The cover reads, 'Hideyoshi, nine' -- perhaps a sketchbook or coloring book from his childhood."

  "Wait, why would this even say 'Hideyoshi'?" Amy asked. "Wasn't he called something else as a child?"

  Alistair's eyes widened. "Yes -- Hiyoshimaru! Good catch. If this were really his childhood book, mar would be the name on it."

  Amy gently took the book. As she flipped through the pages -- landscapes, battle scenes, monsters -- the others gathered around her. Alistair noticed the Kabra boy gently touching her shoulder. "Th-th-this ... this stuff is way too g-g-good for a nine-year-old ... "

  Hands shaking, his niece opened to a page that showed a strange, modern-looking jotting of stars and random lines. "A kid could have done that," Natalie said.

  '"Hideyoshi... nine ... "' Dan said. "Hey -- this is page nine!"

  Suddenly, without saying a word, Amy reached into the book and ripped the page out. Alistair thought he would have a heart attack. "Amy!" he blurted. "This is an antique!" Amy quickly leaned over his table, laying the ripped-out sheet on top of the parchment.

  They fit together. Most of the lines made a detailed landscape of a rocky area. But other lines, tighter and smaller, seemed to form Korean characters. And Alistair saw the method to the girl's madness. "The three horns ... " he said.

  "Say what?" Dan said.

  "Ha-ha!" Alistair gave his niece a hug. She really was an extraordinary child. "Thanks

  to Amy, I know where this is. And we're going there first thing tomorrow morning

  CHAPTER 1 3

  Somehow, on a bumpy morning car ride after an egg breakfast, Dan did not like thinking of the name Pukhansan. But that's where they were headed at the crack of dawn.

  As they neared the city of Seoul, a three-peaked mountain loomed before them. "The three horns -- I should have realized it from the beginning," Alistair said. "It is Samgaksan, the three peaks. The confusion is that it is now known by the name Pukhansan."

  "Glurp

  ... " Dan said, closing his eyes and sinking back into the seat and the oversize hooded Harvard sweatshirt Alistair had lent him.

  Amy stared through the car window. The day was gray and gloomy, and the mountain looked nearly vertical. They had packed lunches in her backpack, but this was obviously going to be more than a day hike.

  "We have to climb that?" Nellie asked. "I'm wearing Vans."

  "Mountains have strong profiles," Natalie said, flicking a piece of dust off her pink jeweled Prada sneakers, which she had given to Harold to clean. "And so should we."

  "It's only about a half mile high, but I do not think we will be climbing," Alistair replied, referring to the overlay of ancient parchment and sheet. "The old drawing has a solid meandering line through it, which I take to be the famous fortress wall. It cuts through several valleys and low-lying areas."

  "What's this?" Dan said, pointing to a funny squiggly formation.

  "Uh, an M," said Nellie. "Or if you look at it the other way, a W. Or sideways, kind of

  S-ish ... "

  "Maybe it's palm trees," Dan said. "Like in the movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

  You know? No? These guys need to find hidden money, and the only clue they have is it's under a big W? And no one sees what it means -- but then, near the end of the movie, there's this grove of four palm trees rising up in the shape of ... you-know-what!

  Classic!"

  Amy, Alistair, Natalie, Ian, and Nellie all looked at him blankly.

  "There is no W in the Korean language," Alistair replied. "Or palm trees in Korea. It might be maple trees... "

  "Mrrp," said Saladin, rubbing his face against Dan's knee. "I'll tell you the rest of the plot later," Dan whispered to the Mau.

  Alistair's driver let them off in the parking lot of Pukhansan National Park. A crowd of tourists had gathered around a giant trail map, which Alistair carefully compared to his parchment-sheet overlay. He traced the dark snaky line with his finger, stopping at various black marks. "These, I presume, are ancient temples. Let's assume the big X is our hidden treasure -- "

  "It's between two of the temples," Natalie said. "But which two?" Alistair shrugged heavily. "There are many of them. And much space between them. This may take several days." "Then let's go!" Dan said.

  "Someone has to stay here with Saladin and Mr. Chung," Nellie piped up, giving the mountain a dubious glance. "Okay, you talked me into it; I will."

  The rest of them took off down a well-beaten pathway. "Hideyoshi conquered most of what is now South Korea," said Alistair, "including Seoul, which was then called Hanseong. But the soldiers put up a fight, building this fortress wall to ward off the invasion."

  "Why would Hideyoshi bury his treasures here?" Amy asked. Alistair shrugged. "To use the wall's protection, perhaps. He assumed this would remain his territory."

  "Overconfidence is a curse," Ian remarked. "You would know," Dan said.

  As the path climbed, there were fewer and fewer hikers. Each time they passed a temple, Alistair checked the overlay, each time shaking his head.

  His back was coated with sweat now, and he was panting as he finally sat on a rock ledge. "Lunchtime," he announced, handing the overlay to Amy. "My dear, would you kindly keep this in your backpack?"

  "Lunch? We're just getting started!" Ian said, scampering up the wall, his loose Harold pants ballooning in the breeze.

  Natalie sat eagerly next to Alistair. "You didn't happen to bring prosciutto with buffalo mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes on whole-grain focaccia with pesto sauce?" "Peanut butter and banana on white?" Dan offered.

  Alistair was intent on the surroundings. "I fear we may have missed the spot. The wall may have been repositioned over the centuries. It may not look like this anymore."

  As Amy zipped her pack shut, she felt something hit the top of her head -- a clump of moss, which bounced off and landed at her feet. "Hey!"

  Ian was laughing as he wiped the dirt off his hands.

  Laughing.

  Not to mention staring at her. His eyes were mocking, pinning her in place. As if planning some snarky Kabra comment. In front of everybody.

  She fought bock tears, fighting the urge to run back or curl into a shell. "Throw it back," Dan hissed. "Hard!"

  Ian cupped his hand to his mouth. "Amy, will you accept a challenge? A race to the top of the next big rock? I'll give you a head start -- or are you too slow?"

  "She's not slow!" Dan shouted back. "Well, actually, she is."

  Amy stood up. It was one thing to be humiliated by a Kabra, but not by a snot-nosed little brother.

  She eyed the big rock. This was insane. He was baiting her, setting her up for more embarrassment. Unless ...

  There it was. Another path through the brush. More direct. She started to run.

  "Amy leave your backpack!" Dan called out. "And remember to name your first child after me!"

  She ignored him. Her ankle was killing her, but she was nor going to let Ian win. He was running now, stumbling across the top of the wall and then jumping off. He zigzagged into a wooded area, howling with laughter and barreling toward her. Amy yanked off her backpack and swung it, clipping him on the arm.

  The creep.

  "Ow!" he cried out. "That's a fitted Armani shirt!" The backpack skittered over the ground, spilling out Alistair's overlay -- page and scroll clipped together.

  "Finders keepers!" Ian shouted, scooping up the overlay and hopping onto a rock outcropping.

  "You cheater!" Amy was furious. No w
ay was he going to get away with that. She climbed the rock, matching him step for step until she reached the top. There he turned to her, panting for breath. "Not bad for a Cahill," he said, grinning.

  "You -- y-y-you -- " The words caught in her throat, the way they always did. He was staring at her, his eyes dancing with laughter, making her so knotted up with anger and hatred that she thought she would explode. "C-c-can't -- "

  But in that moment, something totally weird happened. Maybe it was a flip of his head, a movement in his eyebrow, she couldn't tell. But it was as if someone had suddenly held a painting at a different angle, and what appeared to be a stormy sea transformed into a bright bouquet -- a trick of the eye that proved everything was just a matter of perspective. His eyes were not mocking at all. They were inviting her, asking her to laugh along. Suddenly, her rage billowed up and blew off in wisps, like a cloud. "You're ... a Cahill, too," she replied.

  "Touche."

  His eyes didn't move a millimeter from hers.

  This time she met his gaze. Solidly. This time she didn't feel like apologizing or

  attacking or running away. She wouldn't have minded if he just stared like that all day.

  "Hey, Amy? This hike is rated PG, and we're starving!" Dan shouted.

  "Not to mention Alistair wants his map!"

  Amy felt herself blushing. She turned her eyes away. "Here," said Ian, handing her the overlay.

  Alistair's ripped-out page, which had been attached by a paper clip, was dangling cockeyed. Amy nervously replaced the paper so it was superimposed as before -- everything lined up, marking for marking - Her eye wandered out over the landscape and then back again.

  "Oh, my god ... " she murmured. "Pardon?" Ian replied.

  She checked it again. And again, just to be sure. But it was unmistakable -- the shape they noticed earlier on the map. The one they'd been guessing about.

  It wasn't palm trees.

  Or maples.

  "Dan!"

  Amy screamed, leaping down the rock as if her ankle had never been injured. "Everyone! Come quickly!"

  She ran back, but the others were on the run, meeting her halfway. Amy took her brother's hand and pulled him up the pathway and up the steep rock. "I love you, Dan, you're a genius," she said.

  Dan glared at her. "Did Ian drug you?"

  "Look," she said, gesturing over the area. "What do you see?"

  "Trees. Rocks. Deer poop." Dan shrugged. "The rock outcropping. What does it look like?" Amy pressed on. "Kind of a zigzag?" Ian spoke up.

  Suddenly Dan looked as if he'd given himself a wed-gie. "It's a W!" he cried out. "Amy, you found our W!"

  Alistair smiled. "Excellent. X marks the spot on the map -- and the spot is a W-shaped rock formation."

  Amy took the overlay and began running down the rock ridge. As she got to the edge of the outcropping, she began ripping vines and brush away from the bottom. "Spread out," Ian commanded. "Look for a cave. A hidden entrance."

  The others began poking and tearing, examining the rock. "Look!" Natalie cried out.

  Amy ran to her side. She had pulled away a thick bush from the rock wall to reveal a carving of a man. He had a thin, monkeylike face with piercing eyes and a slit for a mouth. "Eww," she said.

  "The Bald Rat," Alistair said with awe, running his fingers over the relief. "This is an image of Hideyoshi, in the Japanese style of the period." "Brilliant," Ian said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

  "How do we get in?" Dan demanded, his face still buried in the map. "Maybe you've noticed -- this big old W is made of solid rock.

  There's got to be some instructions here - "

  Amy and the others crowded around Dan. He pointed to the bottom of the overlay. "The letters at the end. Toota. What do they mean?"

  tOotA

  "Hideyoshi's father was Thomas Cahill -- perhaps he taught his son English," Alistair said.

  "It's Toyota!" Amy said. "The letters. They spell Toyota without the Y." "Great, Amy," Dan said. "Our third clue is a buried Sienna minivan." "I believe she is suggesting that the parchment may be a fake," Ian said. "Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Kabra," Dan said, looking closely at the parchment. "But it isn't a fake. Not at all."

  He placed the map gently on the ground and pulled a small Swiss Army knife from his pocket. Then, with quick strokes, he began tearing the parchment to shreds.

  "Dan!"

  Alistair cried out.

  Amy felt her heart stop. "What are you doing?"

  Dan had the small pocket scissors out now. In a moment, he had carved out all the letters precisely. Handling the thin, fragile cutouts carefully, he arranged them -- the big A inside the big O; the two smaller Ts beside each other, upside down within the A; and finally the smaller O in the center:

  "It's the symbol for the philosopher's stone," Amy said, astonished.

  Dan nodded. '"And by the elements united is entrance granted I just united the elements."

  He was beaming at Amy now. And she knew exactly what was on Dan's mind. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the coin Ian had given her. On it was the same symbol -- the philosopher's stone. "Now, let's give that Rat something to eat," she said.

  Cautiously, she stuck the coin into the slitted mouth of Hideyoshi.

  And the ground began to rumble.

  CHAPTER 14

  GGRRROOCCCCK

  Ion's knees buckled. The rock outcropping shook the ground, sending a spew of grayish dust that quickly billowed around them.

  Shielding his eyes, he spotted Amy standing by the figurine, which was now moving toward her. She was in shock, her backpack on the ground by her feet. "Get back!" he shouted.

  Ian pulled Amy away and threw her to the ground, landing on top of her. Gravel showered over his back, embedding into his hair and landing on the ground like a burst of applause.

  His second thought was that the shirt would be ruined. And this was the shock of it --that his first thought had not been about the shirt. Or the coin. Or himself.

  It had been about her.

  But that was not part of the plan. She existed for a purpose. She was a tactic, a stepping stone. She was...

  "Lovely," he said.

  Amy was staring up at him, petrified, her eyelashes flecked with dust. Ian took her hand, which was knotted into a fist. "Y-y-you don't have to do that," she whispered. "Do what?" Ian asked.

  "Be sarcastic. Say things like 'lovely.' You saved my life. Th-thank you."

  "My duty," he replied. He lowered his head and allowed his lips to brush hers. Just a bit.

  The air was slowly clearing, and the noise had stopped. Ian sat up, letting go of Amy's hand. The carving now jutted diagonally outward a few inches from the rock. Where it had been was now a rectangular opening.

  A rotten, acrid smell blasted from within.

  Alistair was the first to stand, dusting off his carefully pressed hiking pants.

  "Hideyoshi's hiding place ... " he said in awe.

  Dan and Natalie were right beside him, coughing and shaking off the dust. Dan recoiled as he tried to peek inside. "Dang, someone forgot to flush."

  Alistair had found Amy's backpack and was pulling out two battery-operated collapsible Coleman lanterns.

  Ian helped Amy to her feet. "Do you have the coin?" he asked gently. "We may need it later, to close up the entrance."

  "Po-pock -- " Amy tapped her pocket. "I put it in there when the thing s-started to open "

  Alistair handed her a lantern. "You and I will lead, Amy."

  As she walked on shaky legs into the cavern, Natalie glared at Ian. He winked at her and walked inside. Oh, she of little faith.

  Focus.

  All Amy could feel was her lips.

  The bluish fluorescent lantern light danced off the crags of a domed cavern, the ammonia smell of animal droppings invaded her nostrils. They were in a cave that most likely hadn't been seen by a human being in half an eon, and her shoes were squishing into a carpet of something she'd rather not see. And all
she could feel was the tingle in her lips.

  Everything was happening at once. The coin, the hiding place, the ...

  The what?

  What exactly had just happened?

  Ian was walking beside her quietly. She was supposed to hate him. She had hated him. But for the life of her, she could no longer remember why. Despite the surroundings, she felt alert, alive, and unbelievably happy.

  "Thank you," she said quietly. "For what?" Ian asked.

  "For giving me that coin back in the alleyway in Tokyo," she said. "If you hadn't done that, this whole thing might not have happened."

  Ian nodded. "It was one of the Kabra family's most cherished possessions. There were rumors it was the key to a Tomas clue, but my parents didn't believe it. I had to steal it from them." He shuddered. "I will not like to face my father once he's found out."

  Amy reached into her pocket and handed him the coin.

  "I -- I couldn't," Ian said. "I promised."

  "We don't need it anymore," Amy said.

  "Thank you." Ian took the coin and put it in his pocket. But his eyes were focused upward. "Amy? Do you see something moving up there?" Amy swung her lantern upward, into a shadow that flitted and danced -- and then broke away in a shrieking cloud.

  "DUCK!"

  Dan cried out as a liquid mass of flying bats chittered overhead. They screamed and flapped, their wingtips flicking Amy's hair like rain as she cowered. Then, like smoke through a chimney flue, they exited through the narrow entrance.

  "Are you all right?" Ian asked.

  Amy nodded. "I hate bats." She sat up, swinging her lantern around, allowing the arc to include his face. Just to see it.

  And that was when Dan yelled again.

  "Amy, shine that thing over here!"

  It was the coolest thing he had ever seen. Cooler than the lifetime supply of Wii games he'd almost won in his sixth-grade raffle.

  Now Alistair and Amy were both racing over, their lanterns illuminating a mammoth pile of objects stacked floor to ceiling. At the top, where the bats had been, a grove of stalactites hung down. They surrounded the pile like an upside-down picket fence holding it in place.

  They were swords -- a tower of them, arranged neatly in a crisscross pattern. The hilts jutted out, some fancy and jeweled, others dented and dull. They looked like hands, reaching out as if daring someone to pull, which would probably upset the pile like a falling house of cards.