The Serpent's Curse by Tony Abbott Page B

she gently spiraled it around the dowel like the stripe of a candy cane, making sure that the letters sat next to one another. The first line of the message read:
    TGOSNOTSTPHID
    Which, because of the peculiar wiring of his brain, Darrell said aloud before anyone could stop him. “‘To go snot stupid.’ No, wait. ‘Togo’s not stupid.’ Is that the dog from The Wizard of Oz ? Who’s Togo?”
    â€œYou are,” said Wade, glaring at his stepbrother. “And we’re not sure what language it’s in, remember that. Copernicus knew several. Either way, that’s obviously not the right staff. Can we try a bigger one, to spread out the letters—”
    â€œKeep your pant . . . s on, young man,” Rosemary growled at Wade, who she suddenly seemed to like less than she liked Darrell. “I shall choo . . . se what we do next. And I choose . . . a bigger one, to spread out the letters more.” She returned the first dowel to the case, then selected a thicker one and carefully wrapped the ribbon around it. It produced the following sequence of letters:
    TOSMNHTTHLDE
    â€œThat’s not a word,” said Lily. “Another one?”
    The curator’s wobbly cheeks turned red, and Wade wondered if she would explode and what that might look like. He stepped back. Rose . . . mary waved a hand in front of her face as if to cool off, then pulled out a staff with ten sides and a diameter of about one and a half inches. Wrapping the ribbon around it produced the following first three lines in English:
    TOTHELAND
    OFENDLESS
    SNOWTOBEG
    â€œTo the land of endless snow . . .” Becca gasped. “That’s it! Yay, we found it!”
    Rosemary’s face was purple when she whirled it around to Becca’s. “ Who found it, dear? Did we . . . find it? Because I rather th . . . ink I found it.”
    â€œYou did, Rosemary,” said Julian. “As usual, you are being tremendously awesome. My friends here, as grateful as they are, are simply super anxious to know what the rest of the message says. Forgive them, please.”
    â€œDear . . . boy!” Rosemary said, pausing to pinch Julian’s cheeks a few times. “Here then . . . is the whole th . . . ing.”
    TOTHELAND
    OFENDLESS
    SNOWTOBEG
    THEATHOSG
    REEKCONCE
    ALTHEUNBO
    UNDDOUBLE
    EYEDBEAST
    FROMDEMON
    MASTERAVH
    Wade drew out the notebook containing the major clues they’d discovered so far and, after much scribbling, broke down the text into individual words.
    TO THE LAND OF ENDLESS SNOW TO BEG THE ATHOS GREEK CONCEAL THE UNBOUND DOUBLE EYED BEAST FROM DEMON MASTER AVH
    And there it was, a riddle to the location of the second Guardian and the second relic.
    â€œWe’re all thinking it, right?” said Becca. “‘Demon Master AVH’?”
    â€œAlbrecht von Hohenzollern, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order in the fifteen hundreds,” said Darrell. “I like that Copernicus finally called him what he was.”
    Wade set his father’s college notebook on the table, closed his eyes, and tried to think. Land of endless snow, Athos Greek, conceal the unbound . . . double-eyed beast . . . double-eyed . . .
    â€œIf I close my eyes . . . for that long . . . people think I’m dead!” Rosemary cackled.
    â€œNo, no,” Wade said, opening his eyes. “It’s just that . . . double-eyed beast describes the object we’re looking for, and it’s based on a constellation.” From his backpack, he took out and unfolded the celestial map his uncle Henry had given him.
    â€œOh, there are several star charts in our collection,” Rosemary said, “but that’s a very nice one.”
    â€œThanks.” Carefully running his fingers over the constellations, Wade searched the chart’s colorful illustrations, hoping something would pop out at