No Escape by Julie Moffett

 

Chapter Forty-Eight

 

Lexi Carmichael

 

We all looked at Slash expectantly, but he didn’t explain further.

“But how do we get started?” Oscar asked. “How do we solve a puzzle if we don’t know what the puzzle is?”

“We figure it out,” I said. “That’s part of the challenge. We need to determine what the puzzle is and how we solve it.”

“So, we just work as if there are no rules?” Alessa asked.

“There are rules,” Tito said. “Well, at least two. We must finish before cocktails at six thirty, and we can go anywhere in the castle or on the island, except for the kitchen and the staff quarters, to get the answers we need. And, apparently, the answer is two names.”

“What does any of this mean?” Mia moaned. “Names of what?”

I held up a hand, stopping any further questions. “None of us know the answers to these questions, no matter how important they are. Let’s just start with this table and work outward. Perhaps as we figure out a few things, the challenge will become clearer.”

“I like that plan, Lexi,” Father Armando said, smiling at me and putting a hand on my shoulder. “One thing that leaped to my mind as soon as we walked through the door is that this room looks and feels like a planetarium.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “I thought the same thing.”

“The room is kind of dark and the walls and ceiling look like they have stars,” Vittoria said.

“Those gold discs are the same style the gamemaster presented us with after every challenge,” my mom said. “And they have numbers etched on them, just like the ones we received. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“The gamemaster did say we might need the discs we won,” Gio said. “But I didn’t bring mine. I left it our room.”

“Let’s go get them,” Alessa suggested. “Mine’s in my room as well.”

“Alessa is right,” I said. “Let’s bring all the golden discs we won from the challenges here. Everyone who has one, go get it.”

Since I had the disc from the maze, I quickly returned to my room and retrieved it. Within minutes, those of us who’d gone to get the discs had reassembled in the planetarium and carefully laid them out next to each other on one end of the marble table.

In the meantime, Slash, Father Armando, Vittoria, Oscar, and my dad stood at the center of the table on one side, pointing at something on the stone device and having a deep discussion. Stefan and Tito were on the other side, arguing and adding commentary.

“Lexi, come here, please,” Slash said, waving me over.

My dad made room for me to stand next to Slash. I realized for the first time the table was longer than it was wide, although it was easily the width of the banquet table in the dining room. The statues of the naked men who supported the table left the giant ring device in the center easily accessible from both sides.

Gio, Alessa, Mia, Juliette, and my mother joined the group on the far side of the table while we all studied the unusual stone ring from our vantage point.

“A closer inspection of the table indicates our supposition that this is a planetarium is confirmed.” Slash pointed at some markings on the table. “These carvings surrounding the device are the sky, stars, and the moon.”

I leaned closer to the tabletop to get a better look at the carvings, my arm brushing against Slash’s. “Is there a pattern to them?”

“Not that I can see,” Slash said. “Yet.”

“There are six rings and a small center area with that metal part sticking out from the middle,” Oscar said. “Like we saw on the sundials in the maze.”

“And each ring on the device has a different number of discs,” Stefan said. “Naturally, there are more discs on the larger outer rings, and fewer on the smaller inner rings. As far as I can see, though, none of the etched numbers on a disc have more than three digits. However, several of the discs have single digits.”

“And the numbers on the discs on the circle are not in sequential order,” Mom offered.

“Maybe we just need to put the discs in numerical order,” Mia suggested.

I absorbed all the information, considering the best course of action. “It’s a possibility, Mia. Do any of the numbers match the discs we won?”

Slash walked over to the row of discs we’d left on the table. “What was the number on the disc from the maze, cara?”

“It’s 509.”

“Everyone, look at the stone circle,” Slash said. “Is there any disc that has the number 509?” he asked.

Everyone began searching, and then Vittoria cried out. “Yes. I found it. It’s right there on the second ring from the outside.”

I followed Vittoria’s pointing finger and saw where it sat. “But we can’t lift it out.”

“Alessa, which disc came from the bull room?” Slash asked.

“The one that says 395. And I’ve already found it on the outer ring, here.” She pointed at the spot.

“My disc from the blackout room has the number 476 engraved on it,” Mia offered.

“And there it is on the innermost ring,” my dad said, his brow creased in concentration. “What does it mean, Slash, that we’re able to match our winning discs to the discs that are already on this device?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Slash said. “How about the game room, Gio? Which number was on your disc?”

Gio’s cheeks reddened slightly. “I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean, you’re not sure?” Slash said. “You just brought it down from your room.”

“I didn’t pay attention to the number.”

Slash gave his brother an exasperated look. It reminded me how sometimes my brothers drove me crazy with their lack of attention to detail. Different family, same dynamics.

“It’s forty-five,” Alessa said, saving the day. “I typed it into the keypad in the game room.”

“Thanks, Alessa,” Slash said. “How about the disc from the pool room? Mama, you had that one, right?”

“I did,” Juliette confirmed. “It’s the one with the number sixty-four on it.”

“It’s on the fourth ring from the outside,” Father Armando said.

“That leaves the library,” Stefan said. “Clarissa, do you know the number?”

“I do. It’s the one with 121, and it’s sitting on the fifth ring.”

Slash placed that disc to the side and studied all the golden discs we’d won at once. My dad joined him, and together they looked for a pattern or something that might be significant.

Figuring they had that covered, I kept my focus on the giant stone circle. “What I’ve noticed is the discs appear to be ordered consecutively with the challenges that we performed. For example, the gamemaster took your team, Slash, to the room with the bull before he came to take us to the garden maze. So, the bull room was technically the first challenge, and the garden maze was the second one. The number for the bull room, 395, is located on the outer ring. The number for the garden maze, 509, is located on the second ring, and so on. It’s a precise match of challenges and position of the discs on the stone circle. That has to match up for a reason.”

I looked up and saw Slash smiling at me. Had he been thinking the exact same thing?

“You’re right, Lexi,” Tito said. “That has to mean something.”

“But what does it mean in terms of the big picture?” Father Armando asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted.

“What are those holes for?” Juliette asked, pointing at the one-inch-diameter holes found on each of the rings. “There’s one on every ring.”

Gio leaned over, sticking a couple of his fingers into the hole. “It’s round, like a pole or something should go here.”

“So, maybe we should look for a pole or a broom handle to stick in there?” my dad asked.

“Possibly,” I said. “But I suspect there’s something special about the length or weight of the object. Let’s look around and see if we can find anything that would work.”

Everyone split up and started searching for a suitably sized rod or a pole. Several people left the room to look in other areas of the castle, while Slash, Vittoria, and my mom stayed in the planetarium room, as I’d started calling it in my head. It didn’t take us long to clear the room, as it had no additional furniture or decorations.

I headed out of the room to look elsewhere and nearly collided with Stefan and Gio, who were running back into the room, Stefan held a marble rod about twice as long as the width of his hand out in front of him like a spear. I was lucky I hadn’t gotten skewered.

“Sorry, Lexi,” Stefan said, catching me by the arm and straightening me. “I yelled at everyone to come back to the room as soon as I found this. It was sitting in the drawer in the butler’s desk right in the entryway.”

“What does a butler need a marble rod for?” Vittoria wondered aloud.

“Everyone needs at a stiff rod at some time, right, Gio?” Stefan said, snorting.

Gio burst into laughter and smacked his brother on the back of the head. “You’re lucky Mama didn’t hear you say that.”

“Here, Romeo,” Stefan said, handing over the rod. “You take it from here.”

Slash rolled his eyes at his brothers but took the rod. Holding it in front of him, he walked over to the stone circle, sliding one end into the hole on the outermost ring. It fit perfectly, sinking in about halfway. By this time, our entire team had reassembled back in the room.

“It fits,” my mom said. “Now what?”

We looked around to see if anything happened on the device or the ring, but we saw nothing.

“Try the next hole,” Oscar said. Slash removed the rod and tried the hole in the outermost ring.

Again nothing.

Slash tried sticking the rod in each of the holes on the device, with no success.

“Perhaps the rod acts as a handle to turn the individual rings?” I suggested.

“Good idea,” Slash said. He reached over and pulled the rod, which was now in the innermost ring, trying to pull it toward him. After a moment, he put some real muscle in it. As he increased his effort, the ring began to rotate.

“Look!” Mia shouted, pointing at the wall. “The stars…they’re moving.”