The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers Book 2: A King's Ransom by Jude Watson Page B

many friends to spare. Being an eleven-year-old college freshman wasn’t easy. He couldn’t exactly join in conversations about dating or concerts. And he didn’t have much to say to kids his own age, either. They just thought he was weird. Atticus smiled, remembering what Dan’s response to Atticus saying that had been.
Dude, you
are
weird. Embrace the weirdness! It’s cool.
    “What do you want for breakfast” Jake asked him.
    “Are you actually going to cook?” Atticus asked.
    “I think I can manage to boil water and put some oatmeal in it.”
    Atticus snorted. “If you think that’s all there is to it, you haven’t lived in Italy long enough.”
    The phone rang, and both brothers looked at it for a moment before bending over their books again. Mark Rosenbloom was a world-famous scholar with a bestselling book. He got calls all the time.
    The answering machine was turned up, and the accented voice was clear and crisp.
    “Good afternoon, Dr. Rosenbloom.”
    “Hungarian,” Jake said.
    “Czech,” Atticus corrected. Jake was terrible at accents.
    “This is Katja Mavel, from the Library of Philosophy and Cosmology in Prague. Perhaps … ah … you’ll remember me from your last visit.” The voice had suddenly dropped in a flirtatious way.
    Jake rolled his eyes. Atticus sighed. Sometimes it was hard being a skinny nerd with glasses in the Rosenbloom family. Mark Rosenbloom tended to make librarians weak in the knees. Jake had inherited every bit of his dark good looks.
    “We shared a cup of coffee and you were
zo
informative about cataloging our object collection… .”
    With a sigh, Atticus got up to turn off the volume on the machine.
    “In any event, I thought I would contact you directly about two students of yours who say you sent them to us. A brother and a sister. They looked rather young … but I know that you do work with younger students. Perhaps they are prodigies like your son.”
    Atticus stopped. Jake sat up.
    “Sarah Teague, she said her name was. They said they were researching Johannes Kepler? The
Mysterium Cosmographicum —
the one that was rescued from Neuschwanstein Castle after the war. Odd, because I did not think this was quite your field. We could not let them in without the proper letters of introduction. I am
zo
sorry if this becomes a problem. If you could call me directly, I’m sure we would be able to clear this up. Good-bye, Dr. Rosenbloom … Mark.”
    Jake threw aside his book. “It’s them! It’s those Cahills!”
    “We don’t know that for sure,” Atticus said.
    “Of course it is. Stop protecting him!” Jake fumed. “Now they’re probably using our father’s name and reputation to steal something else!”
    “You don’t know that they’re going to steal anything!”
    “Atticus, come on! They stole a priceless manuscript! They’re crooks!”
    “A thief doesn’t say he’s sorry. Dan said that to me! And he really meant it! He didn’t
want
to take it.”
    Jake shook his head sadly. “Buddy, you’ve got to stop hero-worshipping this guy.”
    “I’m not!” Atticus’s throat felt tight.
    Jake stood up. “I’m going to call Interpol.”
    “They didn’t believe you last time.”
    “This time I’ll be more convincing.” Jake crossed the room in three quick steps. “Who knows what they’re going to steal next? The Mad King’s body?!”
    Atticus froze. “What did you say?”
    “Neuschwanstein Castle. It was built by Ludwig the Second. What you don’t know about history after A.D. 100 scares me.”
    Atticus felt the words hit him like hard punches, like when he used to get beat up at his locker before his parents took him out of middle school.
    Jake had his hand on the receiver. Atticus leaped across the room and threw himself at his brother. It was like a small twig battling a redwood. “You can’t!”
    “Hey!” Jake backed up. “What
is
it with you?”
    “You can’t,” Atticus repeated desperately. How could he convince Jake not to