Cracking the Code II
"Yes, and with the magic show coming up the day after tomorrow, too — the spotlight's been stolen completely," Lynette said, narrowing her eyes. "You're bothered by it, aren't you, brother? There's no need to put on a brave face in front of your little sister."
Lyney waved his hands awkwardly, his expression strained. "It's not quite at that point, really."
"Oh, speaking of the performance..." With a flourish that seemed genuinely magical — at least judging by the astonishment on Apollo's face — Lyney produced several tickets out of thin air and handed them over. "These are invitations to my magic show the day after tomorrow. If you're free, do come watch with your family."
He then turned to Ran and explained why she hadn't received any tickets earlier. "I heard you're all leaving London tomorrow night, Ran. You wouldn't have been able to make it to Lynette's and my performance, so I didn't give you tickets yesterday."
"That's all right," Ran said, clearly not giving it a second thought. "It's just a shame we won't get to see another one of your and Lynette's wonderful magic shows."
"By the way, Lyney — you all arrived in London before we did. Did you turn up any leads related to Holmes?" The conversation circled back to the cipher at hand.
Lyney shook his head and was about to say something more when—
Suddenly, a woman wearing a hat, who had been standing a short distance away from them the entire time, stepped forward and handed Ran a thick sheet of paper wrapped in a pink plastic bag.
Ran accepted it, blinking in bewilderment as she watched the woman's retreating back — the paper handed over, the stranger simply turned and walked away without a word.
"Who was that odd woman?" Mouri Kogoro frowned.
"No idea. Though she seemed to know Ran, somehow." Lyney stroked his chin, staring down at the ground in thought.
The question was soon set aside, however — cracking the cipher was the urgent matter at hand.
Guided by the clue to A Scandal in Bohemia written on the thick paper, Lyney, Ran, and the others quickly located the hidden letter S.
Since their paths had crossed, Lyney and Lynette decided to join forces with Ran and the group.
Only the second and seventh lines of the cipher remained — the buildings they pointed to had yet to be found.
The sixth line read: The bell that rings once more kindles my hatred. It mentioned the tolling bells again, which was clearly Big Ben once more, so they passed over it without further ado.
Perhaps it was true that many hands made light work — despite a few hiccups along the way, they managed to locate both the Elephant & Castle station indicated by the second line, and the pottery shop pointed to by the seventh: Let it all end — pierce the white back with two swords.
At each location they discovered a letter — a U at one, an R at the other.
With that, every letter had been found. Strung together, they spelled SATURN — Saturn, the day of Saturday.
Which meant the culprit intended to strike tomorrow. There was no time to lose!
Just then, a car pulled up beside the group. Inside sat Apollo's mother, along with Minerva's coach — Ares.
While Apollo spoke with his mother, Lyney suddenly sensed something and whipped his head around toward the corner of the pottery shop's wall.
Nothing suspicious met his eye, but he signaled to Lynette with a glance.
Lynette gave a small nod, and in the instant no one was looking, she vanished from where she stood.
The figure lurking behind that corner was none other than Hades — the man who had written the cipher in preparation for his campaign of revenge.
He had caught Lyney's reaction and slipped back behind the wall just in time.
He gave a cold snort. The magician had decent instincts, didn't he? A shame he still hadn't spotted him.
And besides — they hadn't actually solved the whole cipher, had they?
Don't say I never gave you a chance. If you want someone to blame, blame your own incompetence.
Hades sneered inwardly at the quality of these people, then cast a disdainful glance over his shoulder, the corner of his mouth curling into a chilly smile. He was about to turn and head deeper into the alley, eager to put this place behind him as quickly as possible.
But at that very moment, he felt an odd presence before him. He snapped his head around — and froze in shock at the girl who had appeared out of nowhere directly in his path. It was her — the girl he had just seen at the mouth of the pottery shop, standing with Apollo and the others!
His breathing quickened, his heart began to pound, and his body tensed of its own accord, bracing for danger.
But he quickly realized she had come alone — a single girl, no less, and apparently without telling anyone else.
Hades let out a breath of relief, his taut nerves gradually unwinding.
"Little girl, you're in my way." The smile on Hades's face turned distinctly unfriendly, and he studied the girl before him with a look of amused interest, as if anticipating her reaction.
However, Lynette, standing squarely before him, did not oblige.