The Treasure Hunt

Five minutes before he died, Alexander Churchill change his will. His lawyer brought out the alternate version, which had been his most guarded secret for seven years. Whether or not he would actually be crazy enough to use it, Arthur Williams had never been certain.

"Sir," he asked, "are you sure?"

Alexander gazed out the window, across the sunlit meadows other estate. His cat, Sinbad, snuggled beside him as she had throughout his illness, but her presence was not enough to comfort him today. He was about to set in motion events that might cause the end of civilization.

"Yes, Arthut." his every breath was painful. "I'm sure."

Arthur broke the seal on the brown leather folder. He was a tall craggy man. His nose was pointed like a sundial so it always cast a shadow over one side of his face. He had been Alexander's adviser, his closest confidant, for half he's life. They'd share many secrets over the years, but none as perilous as this.

He held the document for him to review. A fit of coughing wracked his body. Sinbad meowed with concern. Once the coughing passed, Arthur helped him take the pen. He crawled his weak signature across the paper.

"They're so young," Arthur lamented. "If only their parents -- "

"But their parents didn't," Alexander said bitterly. "And now the children must be old enough. They are our only chance."

"If they don't succeed -- "

"Then five hundred years of work have been for nothing," Alexander said. "Everything collapses. The family, the world -- all of it."

Arthur nodded grimly. He took the folder from his hands. Alexander sat back, stroking Sinbad's silver fur. The scene outside the window made him sad. It was to gorgeous a day to die. He wanted to have one last picnic with the children. He wanted to be young and strong and travel the world again. But his eyesight was failing. His lungs labored. He clutched his jade necklace -- a good-luck talisman he'd found in China years ago. It had seen him through many close calls with death , many lucky misses.

But the talisman couldn't help him anymore. He'd worked hard to prepare for this day. Still, there was so much he'd left undone ... so much he had never told the children.

"It will have to be enough," he whispered. And with that, Alexander Churchill closed his eyes for the last time.

When he was sure Alexander had passed away, Arthur Williams went to the window and closed the curtains. Arthur preferred darkness. It seemed more proper for the business at hand.

The door opened behind him. Alexander's cat hissed and disappeared under the bed. Arthur didn't look back. He was at Alexander Churchill signature on his new will, which had just become the most important document in the Churchill family's history.

"Well?" a brusque voice said.

Arthur turned, A man stood in the doorway, his face obscured by the shadows, his suit as black as oil.

"It's time." Arthur said. "Make sure they suspect nothing." Arthur couldn't tell for sure, but he thought the man in black smiled. "Don't worry," the man promised. "They'll never have a clue."

---------

Eric Churchill thought he had the most annoying big sister on the planet. And that was before she set fire to two millions dollars.

It all started when they went to their grandfather's funeral. Secretly, Eric was excited, because he was hoping to make a rubbing of tombstone after everyone else was gone. He figured Alexander wouldn't care. He'd been a cool grandfather. Eric loved collecting things. He collected baseball cards, autograph of famous outlaws, Civil War weapons, rare coins, and every cast he'd ever had since kindergarten (all twelve of them). At the moment, what he liked collecting best was charcoal rubbings of tombstone. He had awesome ones back at the apartment. His favorite read: PRUELLA GOODE 1891-1929

I'M DEAD. LET'S HAVE A PARTY.

He figured if he had a rubbing of Alexander's tombstone in his collection, maybe it wouldn't feel quite so much like he was gone forever.

Anyway, the whole way from Boston to the funeral in Worcester County, his great-aunt Ellis was driving like a very slow lunatic. She went twenty-five miles an hour on the highway and keep drifting across so the other cars honked and swerved and ran into guardrails and stuff. Aunt Ellis keep clutching the wheel with her jeweled fingers. Her wrinkly face was made up with Day-Glo red lipstick and rouge, which made her blue hair look even bluer. Eric wondered if she gave the other drivers nightmares about old clowns.

"Anna!" she snapped, as another SUV careened down the exit ramp because Ellis had just pulled in front of it. "Stop reading in the car! It's not safe!" "But, Aunt Ellis-" "Young lady, close that book!" Anna did, which was typical. She never put up a fight with adults. Anna had long reddish-brown hair, unlike Eric's, which was dark blond. This helped Eric pretend his sister was an alien imposter, but unfortunately they had the same eyes -- green like jade, their grandfather used to say.

Anna was three years older and six inches taller than Eric, and she never let him forget it -- like being fourteen was such a big deal. Usually, she wore jeans and some old T-shirt because she didn't like people noticing her, but today she was wearing a black dress so she looked like a vampire's bride.

Eric hope her outfit was uncomfortable as his stupid suite and tie. Aunt Ellis had a fit when he tried to go to the funeral in his ninja clothes. It wasn't as if Alexander would care if he was comfortable and deadly, the way he felt when he pretended to be a ninja, but of course Aunt Ellis didn't understand. Sometimes it was hard for him to believe she and Alexander were siblings.

"Remind me to fire your au pair as soon as we return to Boston," Ellis grumbled . "You two have been entirely too spoiled." "Nellie's nice!" Eric protested.

"Hmph! This Nellie almost let you burn down the neighbor's apartment building!"

"Exactly!"

Every couple of weeks, Ellis fired their au pair and hired a new one. The only good thing was that Aunt Ellis didn't live with them personally. She lived across town in a building that didn't allow kids, so sometimes it took her a few days to hear about Eric's latest exploits.

Nellie had lasted longer than most. Eric like her because she made amazing waffles and she usually cranked her iPod up to brain-damage level. She didn't even hear when Eric's bottle rocket collection went off and strafed the building across the alley. Eric would miss Nellie when she got fired.

Aunt Ellis kept driving and muttering about spoiled children. Anna went back to her huge book. The last two days, since they got news about Alexander's death, Anna had been reading even more than usual. Eric knew it was her way of hiding, but he kind of resented it shut him out, too.

"What are you reading this time?" he asked. "Medieval European Doorknobs? Bath Towels Through the Ages?" Anna gave him an ugly face -- or uglier-than-usual face. "None of your business, dweeb."

"You cant call a ninja lord dweeb. You have disgrace the family. You must commit seppuku." Anna rolled her eyes.

After a few more miles, the city melted into farmland. It started to look like Alexander country, and even though Eric has promised himself he wouldn't get sappy, he began to feel sad. Alexander had been the coolest ever. He treated him and Anna like real people, not kids. That's why he'd insisted they simply call him Alexander, not Grandfather or Old man or any silly name like that. He'd been one of the only people who'd ever cared about them. Now he was dead, and they had to go to the funeral and see a bunch of relatives who had never been nice to them...