{"sf1_id":755656,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Breaking the Da Vinci Code","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":1657,"posted_at":"2014-09-11T19:12:00.000Z","tags":["Discovery","Eureka moment","FAMILY","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Werewolf","mystery"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/755656-breaking-the-da-vinci-code","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/755656","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=755656\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#33 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"          It wasn't until the next day that\neveryone was fairly satisfied that they had everything straight. Billy was\nworking to make sense of all he had been told. \"So ya'll are saying that this\nMaggie girl started this whole mess rolling?\"\nShe turned red. \"I guess so.\"\n\"High five little sister!\"\nShe slapped his hand. \"What's that\nfor?\"\n\"Hell's bells little one. I've been\nriding around for years trying to find hide or hair of the kind. You found our\nlittle ole Eddy here and set the ball a rollin! Albert Fish! Who knew that old\nbastard was still creeping around the Earth? Ya sure he's dead this time?\"\nEdward nodded. \"Pretty sure.\"\n\"And you found my pretty little\ncousin here. Verona you look good enough to eat!\"\nEdward choked back a smart responcse.. \"Uh, what do you\neat?\"\n\"Anything I want! I ain't all\ncaught up in the humans-for-food philosophy. Don't get me wrong, I understand\nit. But since I can eat regular food I do. It's gotta suck for them that can't.\nWhat about you?\"\n\"I don't know. Up until a week ago\nI could eat what I wanted. Now, I'm not sure. So far, regular food seems to\nagree with me. Does that make me weird?\"\n\"Hell no! It makes you lucky. My ma\nand pa would kill to eat a normal diet. They say it was a curse laid down years\nago. I don't believe in curses, though I do believe in luck.\"\n\"Speaking of luck, how did you know\nwe were here?\"\nHe pulled out his cell phone.\n\"There's an app for that.\"\n\"What?\"\nHe chuckled. \"I programmed it\nmyself. Yep. Braun, beauty and  brains.\nWho knew?\"\n\"An app? For your phone?\" Maggie\nwas incredulous.\n\"Sure. It skims news reports for\nweird animal sightings. I've chased Bigfoot sightings, Grassman, Mothman,\nanything that was unexplained. They all were dead ends. But then this thing in\nNew York City. Now that had all the makings of being a good lead to follow.\nThen I heard about this incident down at the diner. That brought me back into\nhome territory. I didn't want to assume none, but when I got close to the old\nhomestead, I had a feeling something was up. When I heard the commotion, I\nbypassed the house and found you. Damn you can make some noise!\"\nEdward was suddenly embarrassed. He\nliked it better when people were assuming he and Maggie were behaving, even if\nthey knew batter. His display in the woods would be hard to live down.\n\"Yeah. Being able to change is hard\nto get used to. I just had my first transformation in New York City.  The thing at the diner was an accident.\"\n\"Accident?\" Billy roared with\nlaughter. \"You clobbered the entire gang of Spyders! They'll never live it\ndown. Bikers Beat By Ballsy Bear; my\nfavorite headline by far.\"  Then he\nstopped laughing. \"Why so late in life.\"\n\"I guess we forgot to mention the\ncoin.\" So for the next half an hour Edward told him about his bike accident and\nsuch. That then brought them up to speed with the recently uncovered box.\nMarcus set in on the table. \"Cool! So this was buried just down the road and no\none knew it?\"\n\"We knew it existed son, which just\nnever looked for it. We assumed it was removed when the house was destroyed, or\nelse, it was in the hands of Edward's parents.\"\n\"Yeah! Hey, where are your\nparents?\"\n\"I can't say for sure. Probably\ndead.\"\n\"Probably?\"\n\"The house was burned down and no\nevidence remained of them.\"\n\"Oh. Sorry dude. If they were hit\nwith the silver, then their bodies would have vanished. What a bummer!\"\nEdward mentally slapped himself. Of\ncourse there were no bodies. Their bodies would have crumbled. He felt like an\nidiot.\nBilly was pretty much an open guy.\nHe didn't seem to care so much about propriety, like his parents did. Once they\nhad made it back to the house, he had stripped of all his silver, taken a\nshower and dressed back in his leathers. He was friendly enough, though a\nlittle rough around the edges. Overall Edward liked him. It was too bad he\ncouldn't remember him from before.\n\"So Maggie, what's your story? I\nhear you own the pretty little number in the driveway.\"\n\"Yep. I bought with my own money.\"\n\"Your money?\"\n\"Yep! I stole it fair and square\nfrom a thief.\"\n\"I knew I liked you. You're my kind\nof girl. Ya got any extra laying around for poor old Billy?\"\n\"I'll see what I can do for you!'\nThe conversation turned back to\nmore grave matters. Billy pointed out what they already knew, or rather didn't\nknow. \"If the box is empty, what was inside it to begin with?\"\n\"We don't know. I looks like it was\ndesigned to hold a ring, but there was no ring, or even a trace of one. It\nlooks like it was removed, the box locked and the key hidden away.'\nBilly picked it up. \"Can you close\nit without the key being in it, like a normal lock?\"\n\"No. The key has to be in the\nlock.\"\n\"Smart. That way someone couldn't\ndo something stupid and stick the key in the box and then close it. Self\ndefeating. So the key had to be in it to lock it. But whatever was in it was\ngone. So if everyone wanted what was inside it, why not leave it open and show\nthem it was gone?\"\n\"Good question son,\" said Marcus.\n\"Have you got an answer?\"\nHe turned the box over in his\nhands. On the top was the obvious sign, that of a full moon and a werewolf.\nThere were words and inscriptions over the whole box, but none seemed to make\nany sense. Under the lock were tiny words inscribed with great care by a\ndelicate hand. Convertimini ad justitiam,\net tunc revertimini. \n\"Hey pop. What does this say?\"\n\"It depends on the translation.\nRoughly translated it means \"turn ye unto righteousness, and then return.\"\nBilly let out a laugh. \"Righteousness?\nThat's a laugh. Only the ignorant chose that path. All that means is that you\npicked a direction that someone else chose for you and followed it. I can't\nbelieve that Leonardo da Vinci would have been so dense as to put that on a box\nmeant to hold something valuable to the kind.\" \nEdward leaned forward.\"Could it\nhave been added later?\"\n\"Nah. It's all the same hand. Most\nof it is just names and dates. It must have meant something to someone a long\ntime ago. It certainly doesn't tell us how to open the box.\"\n\"Righteousness. Do they mean sort\nlike pure of heart, like the old legend concerning unicorns. The tales say only\na virgin had control over one.\"\n\"Son, do you know how rare they\nare?\"\n\"Unicorns?\"\nBilly started pounding the table in\nan outburst of laughter. \"Nah. Virgins!\"\nEdward started to say something but\nSophia put her finger to her lips. \"He doesn't mean any harm son. He just likes\nto laugh a lot.\"\nBilly settled down, tears streaming\nfrom his eyes. \"Sorry. I get carried away once in a while. It's good to laugh,\nbut I don't do it public. Ruins the effect.\" He made a sweep of his body,\nindicating his outfit.\n\"But could it have something to do\nwith that?\"\n\"Innocence and virginity? I doubt\nit. Nothing in this world cares about a little piece of thin flesh but\nhusband-to-bes and dirty old men. Besides, you already opened it. It's empty.\nGet over it.\"\nMaggie crouched down in front of\nthe table. Then she sat down. She turned the box, running it over in her mind.\nThe book hadn't mentioned the box, just the key. She got up, opened the book up\non the floor and turned to the page.\n\"Look! Here's the inscription\nrunning around the key. I ignored it before, because this book is filled with\nwords. And I don't know Latin. But it says the same thing as the box. Why would\nthey put it in two places if it wasn't important?\"\nBilly was suddenly serious. \"Kid,\nyou're nearly as smart as I am. I think you're right. Where would be the best\nplace to put instructions except with the object they were meant for. Otherwise\nyou might lose them.\"\n\"Instructions? I've done way too\nmany things in the past week for me to be righteous.\"\n\"Maggie punched him. \"You killed\nAlbert Fish, and then fixed the problem you caused with the wolves. You found\nVerona's aunt and uncle. I'd say you've done pretty good!\"\n\"I know what I've done Mags. But if\nbeing righteous has anything to do with this, then I'm not the man for it. I\nthink you need to find a priest or a nun.\"\n\"None of the kind right now happen\nto be in the priesthood. And I would think that this box was meant only for members\nof the kind.\"\nMaggie picked up the key. She stuck\nit in the box and turned it in the lock. He lid popped up. Billy looked inside.\n\"Yeah, it's empty as a politician's head. Whatever was in there was removed a\nlong time ago. I think Eddy's grandma and granddaddy were protecting nothing.\"\nMaggie's eyes lit up. \"And then\nreturn!\"\nSophia bent down. \"What is it dear?\"\n\"And then return!\"\n\"Return what dear? The key?\"\n\"YES!\"\nShe set the box on the table and\nwithout closing the lid, turned the key back and then all the way to the left.\nThe bottom of the interior of the box popped up just a crack \"It was right\nunder our noses! Turn the key right to open the box, and then left again to\nfinish opening it. It has a hidden compartment! Leonardo was a genius!\""}