Trunks of Ages: The Seven Seals
Page 8
Back in the house, Marshall, Sebastian and Makayla were up in the attic, looking over several pieces of paper Marshall was holding up.
“Look, guys, I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Something was bugging me about what I saw yesterday, but I couldn’t figure it out. So, I snuck up here while everyone was asleep, wanting another look in the trunk. I didn’t find anything new with the mysterious box, but I did find this.”
Marshall pulled the trunk open and reached for the inside of the lid. He carefully pulled back a corner of the fabric where the glue had been seemingly tampered with a long time ago. A piece of paper was hidden there and had something neatly written on it. He read it out loud. “The jewelry box is the answer to the trunks' mysteries.”
“That’s it? How are we supposed to get anything out of that?” Makayla gawked.
“I wonder what it means.” Sebastian sighed. “How are we supposed to be able to figure out the mystery? Besides, the jewelry box is locked. There is no way of getting it open.”
Marshall sat down with the note, holding it up to a newspaper article he found in the trunk. The article was a picture of Makayla at her college graduation and on it was written, “Purdue University, with best friend, Julia.”
“Look! I noticed this last night.”
“What did you find, Marshall?” Makayla scooted over to him to peer at the two pieces of paper.
Marshall held them out for the two of them to see. “Look, the handwriting is the same. Whoever wrote the note on this article also wrote the message about the jewelry box.” Marshall looked up at Makayla and glanced down at her hands. “Makayla, write something down and we’ll see if it’s your handwriting.”
“I don’t have a pen!” Makayla said, mesmerized by the two pieces of paper. “But it looks like mine, only a little nicer. Hold on, I’ll go grab a pen.” Makayla raced down the stairs, making enough noise to wake the entire house.
“Be quiet!” Sebastian called out after her.
“Sorry!” Makayla whispered harshly, as she left for her room.
“This just gets weirder and weirder by the minute,” Sebastian groaned, turning toward Marshall. “I don’t know if I want to keep looking in this trunk. Marshall, are you listening to me or what?” Sebastian shot him an annoyed look.
Marshall was digging in the trunk again and looked up at his brother only to roll his eyes. Sebastian knew Marshall thought this was the best thing that had happened to them in a long time. He had overheard him say to Julian, “Finally, something for them to be excited about, really excited!” Sebastian still wasn’t sure what to make of it all.
He knelt down to help Marshall sort through the contents until Makayla got back.
Marshall looked up at him. “Look at all this stuff. There are loads of old photos and newspaper clippings. They look old, but the dates on them are in the future.”
Marshall grabbed a white corner, sticking out from under the stack of papers. “Hey! An envelope! I wonder what’s inside?” Marshall handed Sebastian the envelope.
Sebastian opened it and some photographs of children slid out into his hands. They were black and white pictures of kids at a park, kids in classrooms, and some children with their parents. The pictures looked old, like some he’d seen at his grandpa’s house.
“Don’t you think it’s really weird that everything in here has to do with children? I mean almost every article is about how Makayla’s fighting for something to do with education and kids.
“Well, it sounds like her, that’s for sure.”
Marshall was hanging over the trunk when Makayla got back with her journal and pen.
“OK, well I guess I’ll just write the same message as the note.” Makayla began to write. When she was done, the three of them peered over her shoulder to compare the messages.
“Impossible!” Sebastian muttered under his breath.