Page 44 of A Love to Remember
Henry squealed. “That’s it. You’re so clever, Drake.”
The boys made to rush off.
“But which birdcage? There is more than one,” Philip said.
“That’s why we need to start moving. There are many to check.”
“But why don’t we think for a few moments and try to work out which cage it might be and start there?” Philip suggested.
The boys nodded at his words. Soon they began discussing where, if they were Lord Kirkwood, they would hide the next clue. It couldn’t be too hard as it was simply the beginning of the hunt. It also wouldn’t be too easy or everyone would arrive at the second clue at the same time.
They decided to start not in the orangery like most of the guests would but at Lord Kirkwood’s favorite birdcage, the one in his study. It contained a pair of yellow canaries.
They guessed right. The two boys could barely contain themselves when they realized they were the first to receive the second riddle.
A pile of words
Jackets of hordes
Take a quick look
In the place of the book
“The treasure hunt will be over in no time if the riddles are this easy,” Henry said.
“Come on, let’s hurry. I can hear someone coming.”
As Drake flung open the door there stood Rose. A smile crossed her lips when she saw her son and widened upon seeing Philip.
“You three will make an indelible team, but watch out. We are close behind.”
And on the wordbehindTremain came up behind her and slipped his hands around her waist and ushered her into the study. Philip’s jealousy rose swiftly and fiercely. His hand began to curl into a fist, ready to smash into Tremain’s face when it suddenly occurred to him that he had no right. For all he knew Rose welcomed Tremain’s attentions.
He quickly stepped back out of the pair’s way and followed the boys, who sidestepped Grayson and took off toward the library.
Soon the clues led them from the bottom of the house to the top of the house and back down again. Almost two hours later and the current riddle was making the three of them think.
Up and down, and up and down
you climb these every day.
You’ve likely seen the clue on these,
but passed it anyway.
The boys understood the riddle meant the stairs, but the riddle also said they had been walking up and down them the last two hours. They had never seen the next clue.
He let the boys ponder on this. To him it was either the attic stairs or the servants’ stairs. The boys decided to split up. Henry would take the servants’ stairs and Drake would slip up past the nursery to the attic stairs. Philip chose to wait there on the third floor landing. From there he could catch sight of the other guests as they searched. He couldn’t help wanting to catch glimpses of Rose.
He leaned farther over the banister as he spotted the trio coming out of one of the bedchambers that held the ninth clue. They were a bit behind. A smile engulfed him as he noted how Rose stepped to the other side of Grayson so that Tremain was not near her.
He had just stepped back in case she looked up and glimpsed him spying on her, when a high-pitched scream filled the air.
Drake.
Philip took off at a sprint up the stairs, and as he came to the bottom of the attic steps his heart jumped into his mouth and the blood in his veins struggled to flow as it turned to ice.
He raced to the prone form and only breathed once he saw Drake was still alive and simply had had the wind knocked out of him. It looked as if the lad had fallen down the stairs. He had hit his head and the skin had split but Drake appeared to be more shocked than anything. He scooped him up in his arms and made his way down to the landing where many concerned faces greeted him. When Rose saw Drake she gave a cry and crumbled to the floor in a dead faint. Philip cursed under his breath.
