this, remember? He told her to visit this booth if she came to the festival.â
I nodded. But why, after stealing a magical urn, would she stop here?
The shelves were filled with board games and jigsaw puzzles. People stood around a table, working on different puzzles, some wooden, some made from metal. Rubikâs Cubes were stacked to the ceiling.
âAre you the puzzle master?â the girl asked a woman who was sitting on a stool. The woman was very plump, with frizzy black hair sticking out of a red scarf. Her big, golden hoop earrings and white blouse made her look like a pirate wench.
âThe one and only,â the woman said.
âIt was told to me that you are an expert in puzzles.â
âThatâs true.â Then she pointed at a little boy. âHey, kid! Donât open the box unless youâre going to buy it!â The boy put the box down and darted away.
Ethan and I stood to the side, watching as the girl reached into her black bag and pulled out a brown leather belt. She straightened the leather belt and held it in front of the woman. The puzzle master pursed her lips. âI donât sell belts,â she said. âCostumes are in aisle five.â The girl flipped the belt over and the puzzle masterâs eyes widened. âOh, I see.â She leaned close to the leather. âWhat language is this?â
âGreek,â the girl answered.
âIâm afraid I donât read Greek.â
âI do, but this message makes no sense. The letters form no words.â
The puzzle master tapped a finger to her round chin. âIt would appear that what you have is a cipher.â
âA cipher?â
âIndeed. A cipher is like a code, however it requires a key. Let me show you.â The puzzle master slid off her stool, then pulled a box from one of her shelves. After opening the box, she removed a wooden rod and a long strip of leather. Ethan and I stepped closer so we could see what was going on. âWhen ancient armies needed to communicate, they often used a cipher. The commanders would carry identical rods. After winding the leather around the rod, a message was written along the length of the leather. You see how it says, The enemy is near?â
The girl nodded. So did Ethan and I.
The puzzle master continued. âOnce the message was written, the leather strip was unwound and the blank spaces filled in with other letters. Thus, when the leather strip lies flat, the message is indecipherable to the naked eye.â She unwound the leather and showed it to the girl.
âIt makes no sense,â the girl said.
âExactly. That is the genius of a cipher. Onlythose with the proper key can decipher the message.â She rewound the leather onto the rod. â Voilà . The message appears once again.â
The girl took her leather belt and began to wind it around the wooden rod. âIt doesnât fit,â she said.
âIt will only work if you find the correct size key, both in length and width.â
âWhat does this have to do with the urn?â I asked Ethan. We were standing shoulder to shoulder, watching as the girl tucked the belt back into her bag.
âI donât know,â he said, reaching into his pocket. His phone was ringing again.
âTell Tyler to quit calling. Weâre trying to accomplish something!â Seriously, Tyler had zero patience. All he had to do was wait in the car and be ready to drive at warp speed. We were doing all the work. But how were we supposed to focus when he kept interrupting?
But Ethan pushed the telephone in front of my face. The screen read, Ricardo.
15
Ethan
FACT: There are two types of stressâacute and chronic. My nosebleeds came from acute stress, which is a temporary reaction to a situation or eventâlike lying to my parents or getting a phone call from a mysterious evil villain. Chronic means living in a constant state of stress. I was heading in that
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