The 39 Clues Book 7: The Viper's Nest by Peter Lerangis Page A
Authors: Peter Lerangis
Tags: Fiction, General, Historical, Children's Books, Action & Adventure, Family, Juvenile Fiction, Action & Adventure - General, YA), Children's Fiction, Ages 9-12 Fiction, Orphans, Brothers and sisters, Other, Children's stories, Children: Grades 4-6, Adventure stories (Children's, Code and Cipher Stories, Orphans & Foster Homes, Mysteries; Espionage; & Detective Stories, Family - Siblings, Juvenile Mysteries, Ciphers, Historical - Ancient Civilizations, Historical - Other, Family & home stories (Children's, Cahill; Dan (Fictitious character), Cahill; Amy (Fictitious character)
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rocks and soil now."
"A sinkhole!" Amy echoed.
Kurt lifted a powerful flashlight from a window ledge and shone it out over a section of sunken earth.
"I -- I would have been buried in that?" Dan said.
"Don't think about that, my friend," Kurt said. "Let's have a look."
Dan glanced at his sister. "Aren't you going to repeat what your new boyfriend said?" Before she could react, he spread out his wall rubbing on the table:
AM LOST,
TIRED, GONE IN,
DRIVEN NOUGHT.
WE HIT
A SHARK
- O CONFUSED LETTERS
FLEE, LOVER, FROM THESE LINES!
WLSC -29.086341 / 31.32817
115
Dan stared at it in silence, reading it over and over. "WLSC ..." Kurt said.
"Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill!" Amy added.
"You guys make a great team," Dan remarked. Once again, Amy blushed.
The old man was beaming. "Will you look at that! We didn't even know he'd been hiding in that shaft!"
"Well, some of us did," Kurt murmured. "But... what does the writing mean? It's completely daft. Like the ravings of a madman."
"Word," Nellie agreed. "The dude was shut up for weeks in a mine shaft. Who wouldn't go a little postal?"
Kurt burst out laughing. "'We hit a shark'?"
Churchill going postal. Madman. Daft ravings.
Dan did the only thing that made sense.
"Yeah, you're right," he said, holding up the sheet. "Total nonsense. Let's forget any of us ever saw it."
As Amy and Nellie stared, open-mouthed, he ripped the secret message into small pieces.
116
CHAPTER 18
Amy couldn't believe it.
Something had happened between her and Kurt. She couldn't really explain it. Yes, they'd played chess. But there had been more to it than that. Like her senses had all been suddenly plugged in.
For the first time in weeks, she had been able to think about something other than the hunt.
Then, just like that, she had to go.
There was barely time for a good-bye.
"Good luck," Kurt had told her.
But all she felt was the bad luck of the moment.
And then there was Dan's destruction of Churchill's message.
"How could you do that?" she asked as Nellie sped them away from the Witbank mine ... and Kurt.
Her brother looked at her in disbelief. "Come on, Amy. You didn't think that just because I ripped it up--"
"I know, I know, you memorized it!" Amy said. "It's the Dan Cahill Mental Gymnastics Show. But that's not the point! How could you have taken that incredibly
117
stupid risk in the mine? You could have died! Again!"
"I found what no one else has found in a hundred years," Dan said, "so maybe you say, like, thanks?"
"He also tricked those two guys into thinking the paper meant nothing," Nellie said.
"You're just as bad as he is!" Amy shot back.
Dan held up a finger. "Winston Churchill once said, 'In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.'"
"How do you know that?" Amy asked.
"It's right there, on the page your book is open to," Dan said, pointing to the biography on the car seat. "Churchill was all about hidden messages. He worked with spies. I locked this baby in my head, dude."
On the other blank page Nellie had given him he wrote out what he had found in the mine:
AM LOST,
TIRED, GONE IN,
DRIVEN NOUGHT.
WE HIT
A SHARK
- O CONFUSED LETTERS
FLEE, LOVER, FROM THESE LINES!
WLSC -29.086341 / 31.32817
118
"Churchill wasn't crazy," Dan said. "And he wasn't drunk. I'm betting this all means something."
Amy stared at the words. '"We hit a shark'?"
"I'm buying the nutcase scenario," Nellie said.
"Okay, okay, it sounds a little weird, but let's think," Dan said. "Isn't that what you do when you're attacked by a shark--hit it on its snout?"
"Churchill just escaped from prison, right?" Nellie said. "So maybe it's some English expression for victory. Like, 'Ho-ho, we really hit a shark there, didn't we, old chap?' Very Kabra, don't you think?"
"Dan?" Amy said. "Remember that code we had to solve on Uncle Alistair's estate, to open the hatch in his backyard? Where the hint was actually a play on words?
"A sinkhole!" Amy echoed.
Kurt lifted a powerful flashlight from a window ledge and shone it out over a section of sunken earth.
"I -- I would have been buried in that?" Dan said.
"Don't think about that, my friend," Kurt said. "Let's have a look."
Dan glanced at his sister. "Aren't you going to repeat what your new boyfriend said?" Before she could react, he spread out his wall rubbing on the table:
AM LOST,
TIRED, GONE IN,
DRIVEN NOUGHT.
WE HIT
A SHARK
- O CONFUSED LETTERS
FLEE, LOVER, FROM THESE LINES!
WLSC -29.086341 / 31.32817
115
Dan stared at it in silence, reading it over and over. "WLSC ..." Kurt said.
"Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill!" Amy added.
"You guys make a great team," Dan remarked. Once again, Amy blushed.
The old man was beaming. "Will you look at that! We didn't even know he'd been hiding in that shaft!"
"Well, some of us did," Kurt murmured. "But... what does the writing mean? It's completely daft. Like the ravings of a madman."
"Word," Nellie agreed. "The dude was shut up for weeks in a mine shaft. Who wouldn't go a little postal?"
Kurt burst out laughing. "'We hit a shark'?"
Churchill going postal. Madman. Daft ravings.
Dan did the only thing that made sense.
"Yeah, you're right," he said, holding up the sheet. "Total nonsense. Let's forget any of us ever saw it."
As Amy and Nellie stared, open-mouthed, he ripped the secret message into small pieces.
116
CHAPTER 18
Amy couldn't believe it.
Something had happened between her and Kurt. She couldn't really explain it. Yes, they'd played chess. But there had been more to it than that. Like her senses had all been suddenly plugged in.
For the first time in weeks, she had been able to think about something other than the hunt.
Then, just like that, she had to go.
There was barely time for a good-bye.
"Good luck," Kurt had told her.
But all she felt was the bad luck of the moment.
And then there was Dan's destruction of Churchill's message.
"How could you do that?" she asked as Nellie sped them away from the Witbank mine ... and Kurt.
Her brother looked at her in disbelief. "Come on, Amy. You didn't think that just because I ripped it up--"
"I know, I know, you memorized it!" Amy said. "It's the Dan Cahill Mental Gymnastics Show. But that's not the point! How could you have taken that incredibly
117
stupid risk in the mine? You could have died! Again!"
"I found what no one else has found in a hundred years," Dan said, "so maybe you say, like, thanks?"
"He also tricked those two guys into thinking the paper meant nothing," Nellie said.
"You're just as bad as he is!" Amy shot back.
Dan held up a finger. "Winston Churchill once said, 'In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.'"
"How do you know that?" Amy asked.
"It's right there, on the page your book is open to," Dan said, pointing to the biography on the car seat. "Churchill was all about hidden messages. He worked with spies. I locked this baby in my head, dude."
On the other blank page Nellie had given him he wrote out what he had found in the mine:
AM LOST,
TIRED, GONE IN,
DRIVEN NOUGHT.
WE HIT
A SHARK
- O CONFUSED LETTERS
FLEE, LOVER, FROM THESE LINES!
WLSC -29.086341 / 31.32817
118
"Churchill wasn't crazy," Dan said. "And he wasn't drunk. I'm betting this all means something."
Amy stared at the words. '"We hit a shark'?"
"I'm buying the nutcase scenario," Nellie said.
"Okay, okay, it sounds a little weird, but let's think," Dan said. "Isn't that what you do when you're attacked by a shark--hit it on its snout?"
"Churchill just escaped from prison, right?" Nellie said. "So maybe it's some English expression for victory. Like, 'Ho-ho, we really hit a shark there, didn't we, old chap?' Very Kabra, don't you think?"
"Dan?" Amy said. "Remember that code we had to solve on Uncle Alistair's estate, to open the hatch in his backyard? Where the hint was actually a play on words?
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