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         It wasn't until the next day that

everyone was fairly satisfied that they had everything straight. Billy was

working to make sense of all he had been told. "So ya'll are saying that this

Maggie girl started this whole mess rolling?"

She turned red. "I guess so."

"High five little sister!"

She slapped his hand. "What's that

for?"

"Hell's bells little one. I've been

riding around for years trying to find hide or hair of the kind. You found our

little ole Eddy here and set the ball a rollin! Albert Fish! Who knew that old

bastard was still creeping around the Earth? Ya sure he's dead this time?"

Edward nodded. "Pretty sure."

"And you found my pretty little

cousin here. Verona you look good enough to eat!"

Edward choked back a smart responcse.. "Uh, what do you

eat?"

"Anything I want! I ain't all

caught up in the humans-for-food philosophy. Don't get me wrong, I understand

it. But since I can eat regular food I do. It's gotta suck for them that can't.

What about you?"

"I don't know. Up until a week ago

I could eat what I wanted. Now, I'm not sure. So far, regular food seems to

agree with me. Does that make me weird?"

"Hell no! It makes you lucky. My ma

and pa would kill to eat a normal diet. They say it was a curse laid down years

ago. I don't believe in curses, though I do believe in luck."

"Speaking of luck, how did you know

we were here?"

He pulled out his cell phone.

"There's an app for that."

"What?"

He chuckled. "I programmed it

myself. Yep. Braun, beauty and  brains.

Who knew?"

"An app? For your phone?" Maggie

was incredulous.

"Sure. It skims news reports for

weird animal sightings. I've chased Bigfoot sightings, Grassman, Mothman,

anything that was unexplained. They all were dead ends. But then this thing in

New York City. Now that had all the makings of being a good lead to follow.

Then I heard about this incident down at the diner. That brought me back into

home territory. I didn't want to assume none, but when I got close to the old

homestead, I had a feeling something was up. When I heard the commotion, I

bypassed the house and found you. Damn you can make some noise!"

Edward was suddenly embarrassed. He

liked it better when people were assuming he and Maggie were behaving, even if

they knew batter. His display in the woods would be hard to live down.

"Yeah. Being able to change is hard

to get used to. I just had my first transformation in New York City.  The thing at the diner was an accident."

"Accident?" Billy roared with

laughter. "You clobbered the entire gang of Spyders! They'll never live it

down. Bikers Beat By Ballsy Bear; my

favorite headline by far."  Then he

stopped laughing. "Why so late in life."

"I guess we forgot to mention the

coin." So for the next half an hour Edward told him about his bike accident and

such. That then brought them up to speed with the recently uncovered box.

Marcus set in on the table. "Cool! So this was buried just down the road and no

one knew it?"

"We knew it existed son, which just

never looked for it. We assumed it was removed when the house was destroyed, or

else, it was in the hands of Edward's parents."

"Yeah! Hey, where are your

parents?"

"I can't say for sure. Probably

dead."

"Probably?"

"The house was burned down and no

evidence remained of them."

"Oh. Sorry dude. If they were hit

with the silver, then their bodies would have vanished. What a bummer!"

Edward mentally slapped himself. Of

course there were no bodies. Their bodies would have crumbled. He felt like an

idiot.

Billy was pretty much an open guy.

He didn't seem to care so much about propriety, like his parents did. Once they

had made it back to the house, he had stripped of all his silver, taken a

shower and dressed back in his leathers. He was friendly enough, though a

little rough around the edges. Overall Edward liked him. It was too bad he

couldn't remember him from before.

"So Maggie, what's your story? I

hear you own the pretty little number in the driveway."

"Yep. I bought with my own money."

"Your money?"

"Yep! I stole it fair and square

from a thief."

"I knew I liked you. You're my kind

of girl. Ya got any extra laying around for poor old Billy?"

"I'll see what I can do for you!'

The conversation turned back to

more grave matters. Billy pointed out what they already knew, or rather didn't

know. "If the box is empty, what was inside it to begin with?"

"We don't know. I looks like it was

designed to hold a ring, but there was no ring, or even a trace of one. It

looks like it was removed, the box locked and the key hidden away.'

Billy picked it up. "Can you close

it without the key being in it, like a normal lock?"

"No. The key has to be in the

lock."

"Smart. That way someone couldn't

do something stupid and stick the key in the box and then close it. Self

defeating. So the key had to be in it to lock it. But whatever was in it was

gone. So if everyone wanted what was inside it, why not leave it open and show

them it was gone?"

"Good question son," said Marcus.

"Have you got an answer?"

He turned the box over in his

hands. On the top was the obvious sign, that of a full moon and a werewolf.

There were words and inscriptions over the whole box, but none seemed to make

any sense. Under the lock were tiny words inscribed with great care by a

delicate hand. Convertimini ad justitiam,

et tunc revertimini.

"Hey pop. What does this say?"

"It depends on the translation.

Roughly translated it means "turn ye unto righteousness, and then return."

Billy let out a laugh. "Righteousness?

That's a laugh. Only the ignorant chose that path. All that means is that you

picked a direction that someone else chose for you and followed it. I can't

believe that Leonardo da Vinci would have been so dense as to put that on a box

meant to hold something valuable to the kind."

Edward leaned forward."Could it

have been added later?"

"Nah. It's all the same hand. Most

of it is just names and dates. It must have meant something to someone a long

time ago. It certainly doesn't tell us how to open the box."

"Righteousness. Do they mean sort

like pure of heart, like the old legend concerning unicorns. The tales say only

a virgin had control over one."

"Son, do you know how rare they

are?"

"Unicorns?"

Billy started pounding the table in

an outburst of laughter. "Nah. Virgins!"

Edward started to say something but

Sophia put her finger to her lips. "He doesn't mean any harm son. He just likes

to laugh a lot."

Billy settled down, tears streaming

from his eyes. "Sorry. I get carried away once in a while. It's good to laugh,

but I don't do it public. Ruins the effect." He made a sweep of his body,

indicating his outfit.

"But could it have something to do

with that?"

"Innocence and virginity? I doubt

it. Nothing in this world cares about a little piece of thin flesh but

husband-to-bes and dirty old men. Besides, you already opened it. It's empty.

Get over it."

Maggie crouched down in front of

the table. Then she sat down. She turned the box, running it over in her mind.

The book hadn't mentioned the box, just the key. She got up, opened the book up

on the floor and turned to the page.

"Look! Here's the inscription

running around the key. I ignored it before, because this book is filled with

words. And I don't know Latin. But it says the same thing as the box. Why would

they put it in two places if it wasn't important?"

Billy was suddenly serious. "Kid,

you're nearly as smart as I am. I think you're right. Where would be the best

place to put instructions except with the object they were meant for. Otherwise

you might lose them."

"Instructions? I've done way too

many things in the past week for me to be righteous."

"Maggie punched him. "You killed

Albert Fish, and then fixed the problem you caused with the wolves. You found

Verona's aunt and uncle. I'd say you've done pretty good!"

"I know what I've done Mags. But if

being righteous has anything to do with this, then I'm not the man for it. I

think you need to find a priest or a nun."

"None of the kind right now happen

to be in the priesthood. And I would think that this box was meant only for members

of the kind."

Maggie picked up the key. She stuck

it in the box and turned it in the lock. He lid popped up. Billy looked inside.

"Yeah, it's empty as a politician's head. Whatever was in there was removed a

long time ago. I think Eddy's grandma and granddaddy were protecting nothing."

Maggie's eyes lit up. "And then

return!"

Sophia bent down. "What is it dear?"

"And then return!"

"Return what dear? The key?"

"YES!"

She set the box on the table and

without closing the lid, turned the key back and then all the way to the left.

The bottom of the interior of the box popped up just a crack "It was right

under our noses! Turn the key right to open the box, and then left again to

finish opening it. It has a hidden compartment! Leonardo was a genius!"