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Caitlin and Caleb stood in Boston Co the park He held a ht in a store, and he ran his finger along it again and again Caitlin stood beside hi out both halves of the ancient scroll

"Read it again," he said

Caitlin squinted to make out the words She read:

The Four Horseround,

Enter a ring of blood,

Meet at the house,

And find the ones they loved

Beside the fourth tip of the cross

"A trail to freedo "It must be a reference to the freedoht in the ht between Salem and Martha&039;s Vineyard We&039;re in the center

"And the &039;coround&039; referencethat ht now It would alsothe witches It is a very important spot, especially for the varound&039; But that in here I&039; of blood&039; &039;meet at the house,&039; &039;the fourth tip of the cross&039;I just don&039;t knohere we go froain The view fro There was still so weather, and several kids were sledding down the other side of it, screa them As Caitlin looked out, she saw a very beautiful and idyllic park It was hard for her to i here

She surveyed the hilltop, but all she saas a large tree There was no clue whatsoever

"Why &039;four Horsemen&039;?" she asked "What&039;s that about?"

"It&039;s a reference to the Apocalypse The Four Horse out to the four corners of the earth I think what it&039;s saying is that, if we don&039;t find the sword, it will bring the Apocalypse"

"Orthe apocalypse if we do find it"

Caleb turned and looked at her, deep in thought "Perhaps," he said softly

He looked around "But why here?" he asked again "Why this spot?

Caitlin thought, and so occurred to her

"Maybe it&039;s not about this place," she said "Maybe it&039;s about leaving this place About the journey," she added

He looked at her "What do youone place and going to another Maybe it just wants us to go to these places, to travel the road But not necessarily find things along the way Maybe it&039;s about the journey"

Caleb furrowed his brows

"It&039;s like those people alk those- that&039;s the reason they go Not the destination By walking in certain directions, in certain patterns, it&039;s supposed to, like, change you in some way"

Caleb looked at her with appreciation He seemed to like her idea

"Okay," he said "I&039;ll buy that But even so Where would alk? Where would we go next?"

"Well," she said, exaround,&039; and enter &039;a ring of blood&039; So our next stop would be the ring of blood"

"Which is?" he asked

She stood next to him, and stared at the map There were 18 sites on the historic freedom trail Two and a halfat it She had no idea where to go next She looked at all of the And there was certainly no reference to a ring of blood

She read the captions on the

Then, she saw it

There, at the bottom of the map, was a footnote Beneath the caption for the Old State House It read: "At the base of the building, on the street, stands the spot co where the Boston"The Boston Massacre There&039;s nothing about a ring, but that certainly qualifies for blood"

She looked at him "What do you think?" she asked

Caleb studied the map Finally, he looked at her

"Let&039;s do it"

As Caitlin and Caleb left the park, turning down Court Street and heading into the heart of the historic district of Boston, the old Statehouse ca, perfectly preserved from the 1700s, with e, white cupola It was stunning in its simplicity and beauty

As they reached its base, they walked around the structure, looking for the site of the Boston massacre Finally, as they turned the corner, they saw it

They both stopped in their tracks

It was a ring A perfect circle

The spot er than a manhole cover They cas It was just a huround at the base of the Old State House

"It ht trail"

"Why?"

"That balcony, above it," he said, gesturing "That&039;s where the Declaration of Independence was first read"

Caitlin looked up at the s

"So?" she asked

Caleb breathed deeply, preparing to explain

"The founding of this nation was really the founding of a vaious persecution A shty nation Do you really think a sroup of humans could have achieved this?

"It was us Our kind That is what the textbooks won&039;t tell you The founding of A of our nation

"But the darker vampire races, like the Blacktide Coven, have tried to hijack our work ever since That&039;s why there have always been tarring factions Good and evil Liberty and persecution Wherever there is one, there is the other

"Your father, whoever he was, I&039;m convinced was one of our founders The most powerful vampires were And it is they who held the enerations"

"Stored the to process it all

"The se&039;re searching for - the Turkish sword - is designed to protect, not attack In the right hands In the wrong hands, it can be a horrible weapon That&039;s why it was hidden so carefully Only the right people are meant to find it And if anyone was in a position to hide it, it would have been your Dad"

It was too much for her to process at once It was hard for her to take it all in, to believe that all this was true But it did see the end of the trail

"I don&039;t see any clues here," Caitlin said, looking around

"Neither do I," he said "So, if your theory is right, and it&039;s about the journey, that would mean that, for whatever reason, ere meant to just see this, and then continue on the trail"

Caleb took the scroll and studied it again, holding it with her

"&039;Meet at the house&039;," he read slowly He stood there, thinking "What house?" he asked aloud

Caitlin took out the freedoain

"There are a lot of houses on this trail: the Paul Revere house, John Coburn&039;s house, the John J Smith houseIt could be any of them Or it could even be a house that&039;s not even on the trail," she added

"I feel like they put us on this trail for a reason," Caleb said "Whatever it is, I feel it ain, reading all the captions Suddenly, Caitlin stopped So occurred to her

"What if it isn&039;t a house at all?" she asked

Caleb looked at her

"For some reason, the reference to an actual house feels too obvious to me All of the other clues are much more subtle What if it&039;s not literal? What if it&039;s figurative?"

She ran her finger along the trail

"For instance, what if it&039;s actually a church? Look," she said, pointing "The Meeting House Church It&039;s just around the corner"

Caleb looked at her, and his eyes open wide in approval