39 Clues - 05 - The Black Circle (5 page)

They tied his hands and feet, stuffed him in a bag, and dropped him into an ice hole in

a frozen river. And that finally did it. Rasputin suffocated under the ice." Amy's eyes

gleamed and she lowered her voice. "But they say his fingernails were all worn off

when they found him, like he tried to claw his way out for a half hour or more before

finally giving up.""That's the best story you've told me in your whole life," said Dan. "I don't even care if it's true or not.""Dan, I think it is true. We of all people should believe

it, even if history buffs don't buy it. Rasputin was a Cahill! Maybe we're even from the

same branch of the family!"50"Like we could be superheroes!?!" Dan's eyes bugged

out."Calm down," said Amy. "We still have to figure out where we're supposed to go in

St. Petersburg once we get there."Dan and Amy stopped talking, both lost in thought.

And soon they were fighting sleep. The train had a maddening way of making a tired

person even sleepier, the way it rocked and swayed, the clicking noise of the metal

wheels on the track. Dan offered one last idea before conking out."Maybe we should go

where they tried to kill Rasputin."Amy batted that idea away. The carvings inside the

figurine didn't match up with anything close to the Yusupov Palace. She stifled a yawn

and kept digging, searching her book for anything related to a shoe or a heart. Her

fingers floated up to her neck, and she absently rubbed the pendant on Grace's jade

necklace.Grace, what would you have done if you were me? she thought. Amy's eyes

pooled with tears as Dan slept and the worries she tried to keep from him flooded in.

She looked out across a glowing sunset.I can't do this alone, she thought, flipping the

Rasputin page in the Russian guidebook back and forth. One tear dropped, hitting the

paper, and she wiped it away with a finger. Her eyes alighted on a word, and her mind

turned it over, not wanting to let51it go. And then out of nowhere she understood. It

felt like a gift."I've got it! I've got it!" said Amy. Dan jerked awake and jumped to his

feet in a ninja pose as Amy wiped the last of her tears away."There!" she said, pointing

to a picture of the Yusupov Palace. "You were right, Dan!""Does this mean I get to go

back to sleep?""Before the Yusupovs took over the palace, it was owned by someone

else. Care to know who it was?""Enlighten me," said Dan, awake but with his eyes

closed to the world."It was the mansion of Count Pyotr Shuvalov. Count Shoe-VA-Love.

Don't you get it? A shoe, the letters VA, and the heart-- Shuvalov.""That sounds right,"

said Dan. Two seconds later, he bolted upright and turned to his sister with a big

grin."Hey! You know what this means? You and I are on our way to the scene of a

murder!"* * *Six rows back, Irina Spasky put down the newspaper she was hiding

behind and frowned. She had walked past Dan and Amy's seat, shrouded in dark

sunglasses and a low-brimmed hat, and planted a wireless mic. Every word, every

stupid, dangerous idea Amy and Dan had discussed came through loud and clear.52The

young Kabras are maniacs and the young Cahills are suicidal, she thought. And now I

must track them across Russia and protect old secrets instead of hunting down new

clues. She clicked her tongue in disgust and reflected on how much she disliked

children. But her chest tightened in automatic protest. There was a child, a long, long

time ago, she had liked very much.53CHAPTER 6Sleeping on the train gave Dan and

Amy an electric energy when they hit the pavement in St. Petersburg. Why go to a

hotel when there were palaces to be broken into?"We need to go that way," said Amy,

the crisp evening air filling her with new excitement as she made her way down the

bustling platform. They had arrived at Moskovsky Station, less than two miles from the

palace, and decided to walk rather than risk another cab ride."There's a whole cluster

of palaces along the banks of the Moika River. Yusupov is one of them.""You should be

a tour guide," said Dan. "Lead the way."Soon they were outside following Nevsky

Prospekt, an eight-lane avenue. Seventeenth-century pastel buildings and newly

constructed stores stood side by side, competing for space in thriving

twenty-first-century Russia."Dan," said Amy, jerking her brother's hand. "I think

someone is tailing us."54Dan glanced over his shoulder."The man in black," he

whispered.It was unquestionably him. The dark coat and hat, the gliding way he

moved, the craggy face full of shadows. He was unmistakable.Amy and Dan broke into

a run, darting between pedestrians on the busy sidewalk. Their movements seemed to

set the world in motion. A truck barreled across two lanes, heading directly for them.

Dan sped up, but Amy froze in her tracks. The truck swerved near the curb and an

envelope came hurtling out the passenger window, landing in the gutter at Amy's

feet."Watch where you're going, you big jerk!" yelled Dan. A lot of people turned to

stare at him as the truck sped back into traffic and disappeared around a corner."He's

gone," said Amy, her voice trembling in the night air. Had the man in black made the

truck move? Either way, just as mysteriously as he had appeared, the man in black had

vanished."I think we should keep going," said Dan. "That dude could be

anywhere."Amy nodded and they hurried down Nevsky Prospekt. Dan ripped open the

envelope as they went."What's it say?" asked Amy.As Dan read the letter aloud, Amy

could almost feel the night getting blacker around them." 'Time is running out. You

need to move faster. You are being followed, and I don't mean the Madrigal.55When

your pursuers show themselves, give them this map to throw them off track and be on

your way. You must enter the palace at night and find Rasputin. Follow the orange

snake. NRR.'""The man in black is a Madrigal! Do you realize what this means? We're

dead. Dead, dead, dead!" Dan yelped."At least we got another note from NRR," said

Amy. "We're hot on the trail of something ... I just wish we knew what it was."She put

her hand on Dan's shoulder as if to steady both of them."I think we should keep going,

don't you? It's not like we have a lot of choices here. And besides, the man in black is

gone," Amy said."Okay, let's assume he's actually hit the road, which I doubt. So what?

Apparently, there's someone else tailing us, not just him. It could be anyone, but it's

probably someone who wants to drop a piano on our heads!""Chances are it's another

team, that's all I'm saying. And besides, NRR gave us something to keep them

busy.""Maybe he wants to get us away from everyone else so we're an easier target,"

Dan argued. "Did you think of that? What if the picture of Mom and Dad is just a trick

to get us totally off on our own?"Amy paused. "Dan, I hate to tell you this, but we've

been on our own for awhile now."56The truth of that silenced them both.Amy took the

letter from Dan. Across the bottom there was an elaborate map of St. Petersburg with a

dotted line winding through it. It ended across two canals in an entirely different part of

the city. Amy tore the map free from the rest of the letter."See? It looks like a trail

leading somewhere important, but it's a wild goose chase. All we have to do is give it to

whoever is tailing us when they show themselves, then they leave us alone for awhile.

Maybe NRR is trying to isolate us, but the photo ... I want to know what it means."Amy

could see Dan had run out of steam. He took a half-empty box of Skittles out of his

back pocket and dumped about twenty of them in his mouth, chomping morosely."If we

can just get inside the palace, I know what NRR means about Rasputin. There's a

reenactment exhibit inside. It's all about when they tried to kill him, the stuff I was

telling you," Amy coaxed."Suppose I gotta see that," said Dan, getting reluctantly

excited again at the thought of an unkillable monk.Amy smiled. "Okay! Now all we have

to do is find a snake to follow."* * *It was nearly eleven o'clock by the time Dan and

Amy approached Yusupov Palace. Things were starting to57wind down along the quiet

banks of the Moika, a river that ran along the front of the three-story palace of yellow

and white. A few pedestrians strolled here and there along the embankment rail, and

the occasional headlights came toward them, but other than that, the area was

deserted.The Yusupov Palace stretched along the river with thirty darkened windows on

each level staring out onto the Moika. There was a giant arched entryway at the very

center of the building, and three tall white columns on each side of the door."Somehow

I don't think the door is going to be open," said Dan. "Should we try a window?"Amy

walked along the front of the palace, looking for anything that might resemble a

snake."Amy," called Dan. He'd crossed the street to get a better look at the narrow

river. It was only about sixty feet to the other side, where windowed buildings and

houses lined a street similar to the one he stood on.Amy arrived next to Dan and stared

out into the black water."Do you see it?" asked Dan."See what?"Dan pointed into the

center of the waterway, where a glowing orange snake danced on the shimmering

water. It was small, no more than a foot across. Dan followed a laser beam of light up

and over the edge on the other side of the river. There, in one of the windows, he

found what he was looking for: the shadow58of someone in a room high above the

water, pointing a laser out the window."It's moving," said Amy. And sure enough, when

Dan looked back down, the orange snake was slithering across the water toward

them."This is creepy," said Amy. "But cool. It's the kind of hint no one else can get.

When it's gone, it's gone. If we can just follow it and get inside, no one else will know

what to look for."The orange snake had reached the embankment wall, and Dan and

Amy had to lean over the rail to see it rising out of the water along the concrete slabs.

As it came closer, they could tell it was no ordinary laser beam. It was moving a

thousand times a second, creating a 2-D hologram of a snake as it slid along the

stones."NRR has some cool toys," said Dan as the snake cleared the rail and arrived on

the palace wall behind them."It's jumped the street!" said Amy. "We're going to lose

it!"The snake was moving faster now. It flew past the main door, along a row of

windows, then crawled up the wall to the second story. When it hit the third window

from the end, it slithered back and forth along the sill.Amy glanced back in the direction

of the window across the river. It made her nervous to think that someone was

probably watching them through binoculars.59"Come on," Amy whispered, tearing her

attention back to the palace. "I bet that window's our way inside."Dan and Amy stood

below the window, which was a good ten feet over their heads. The palace wall was as

flat as a pancake."Even Spider-Man couldn't climb this thing," said Dan."Oh, yes he

could," said Amy.The orange snake had moved up another level, where a third row of

windows hung low over a decorative facade. When the snake stopped, they heard a

pop from the other side of the river. A split second later, something hit the facade and

a spark flew."That thing is attached to a gun!" said Amy."Not a gun," Dan corrected

her. "A gun would have been way louder. Look!"A coil of rope was falling from where

the snake had been. It rolled all the way down the side of the wall and dangled straight

over the window they were to enter."Sweet!" said Dan."Dan, wait!" said Amy. She could hear a couple talking as they passed by, and a set of headlights was coming toward

them."Just act casual," said Amy. "Pretend it's not there."Dan and Amy started walking away from the rope until they passed the couple, nodding hello as they went. The car

moved on as well.60"Um, Amy," said Dan. "Yeah?""I think NRR wants us to get up that rope right now."Dan was staring down at his own heart, where the orange snake had

come to rest."The coast must be clear. He can see a lot better than we can from up

there. Come on!"Amy went first, holding the rope as she walked up the wall to the wide

windowsill."Hurry, Dan!"Amy pushed on the window, and it opened like a door on

hinges. She darted through, leaning her head out to watch for cars as Dan pulled

himself up."Headlights!" she said, grabbing Dan by his hoodie and yanking him inside.

Dan lost his balance and toppled inside onto the marble floor, bashing his knee and

howling in pain."Shhhhh!" said Amy, closing the window behind them. "There might be

a security guard in the palace.""I can't help it if you tried to break my neck getting in

here!"Dan stood up and tried to put pressure on his knee. "I'm going to have a monster

bruise, but everything's still working. Where to now?""The main floor in the east wing,"

said Amy. "This way."61Amy had already scanned the guidebook and figured out the

general location of the Rasputin exhibit. They passed through darkened rooms filled

with expensive art and furniture."Looks like these royals liked nice stuff," said Dan."The Yusupovs were known for their good taste. They spent millions on redecorating and

rebuilding projects."As they made their way down a wide flight of

purple-velvet-carpeted stairs, Amy heard a thump behind them."Did you hear that?" she

asked."I think someone followed us in here. Hurry!"Amy and Dan bolted down the