"Jonny!? Jonny, come on! Don't do like this."

Jessie looked around her, her arms crossed over her chest.

This was so typically him. Why did he have to do stupid things like this? He knew very well how much she hated the old attic.

Dr Quest may be a brilliant scientist in all aspects, but he had no order whatsoever in his attic at the Quest Manor a few miles outside West Palm Beach, Florida. As for one thing, there was not nearly enough light up here, and most of the space were hidden in shadows.

She hesitatedly took a few steps forward, trying to look in all directions at the same time.
There! She was sure she had seen a movement behind that big sailors's coffin over there.

Aha, gotcha, she thought smugly.

Very carefully, and almost without a sound she sneaked up to the coffin. She took a deep breath and jumped over it.

"AHA!!!"

There was no-one there.

"Aaarghh, where IS he?" she grunted annoyed.

Then a pair of bony hands closed around her throat from behind, and she gave out a death-fright-ened cry as she jumped almost a feet up in the air. She felt the skeleton fingers tighten their grip, and for a moment, she was struck with panic. A low and gruesome voice wispered in her ear.

"All ye that disturbs my rest, I will take with me into the eternal darkness of death."

Then she heard another voice, one that she knew so well, and was beginning to dislike very much, that laughed behind her.

She growled, and broke free. Furious she swung around.

"JONNY!!!"

Jonny stood, still laughing, in front of her. In his hands he held two skeleton-hands, which he waved at her.

"You should have seen yourself, Jess", he said, shaking of amusement. "I mean, I know that you scare easily, but this..." He collapsed in laughter and pressed his hands to his stomach. "Oh, God, I think I'm gonna die!"

"You gonna die alright." Jessie's voice cut like a razor, and she flung on him and they both tumbled around on the floor, Jessie punching and pinching him where she could, and Jonny, barely able to defend himself, still chuckling.

"No... no, please Jess. Ahahahahahhahah, you're killing me!"

"That's the point you twit!", she said through clenched teeth, and continued to punch him.

"O'kay, o'kay, I give up. C'mon, stop it! I give up, I give... outch!

She backed off, and stood there watching him. He got up on his feet, rubbing the spot on his cheek where Jessie's fist had made it's impact.

He made a sore face. "You didn't have to punch me so hard! It was only a joke."

"I didn't think it was funny."

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, okay?"

She thought about it for a minute. "Okay. Apology accepted. For this time. Don't do it again, you here me?"

"I won't." His answer came just a little too fast.

He looked around. "Hey, I wonder if dad knows exactly all things that are up here."

"He can't! There are millions of things here. No-one can keep check of everything."

She was still angry that he had frightened her, but she had to admit that it was nice not to be alone up here.

"Maybe there's a treasure or something here", Jonny said, excited.

"Come on, Jonny, you really don't think that, do you?"

He looked at her. "Why not? You said yourself that no-one can know for sure what's up here. Let's have a look around."

"What for?" She sat down on the coffin and stuck her hand in her pocket. "Well I'm not going to run around here and look for your 'hidden treasures'."

He gave her a quick glance.

"Scared?"

"Am not! Don't start again, I warn you!"

He smiled. "So what are you waiting for. Come on."

With a sigh she got up and seemingly uninterested strode around amongst the big piles of boxes and junk that was spread all over the attic floor. God, this is immature, she thought. How can I even stand KNOWING him? Well, she could at least hope for that he got caught in a mousetrap or something. She pictured him jumping around on one foot, screaming and trying to get the trap off his other foot. The vision made her giggle. He turned his face and looked at her but she quickly straightened her face and looked back with a blank expression.

He continued to search eagerly among the junk and trash, and she began to look around as well. Not with any great interest, of course, just to be doing something.

Suddenly her eyes fell on something. It was a painting, in a very delicate frame of some dark wood, carved with the highest skill. The painting was covered with thick layer of dust, almost an inch thick, and she brushed it away with her hands as much as she could.

The canvas was yellowed and wrinkled, and looked very old. In the foreground was a ship, a large, proud ship, with many sails blowing in the wind, and the prow plowing through the waves away from the viewer. The ship was steering towards an island in the background of the picture, covered with green forests, and a mountain that rose high above the shore. There was something written on the top of the painting, but she couldn't make out the words in this bad light.

"What's that?" Jonny said over her shoulder, eyeing the painting.

"I dunno. Just a painting. But it's beautiful, it look so real."

"Let's take it downstairs, we can have a better look at it."

Jonny almost ran to the stairway, and with a little more effort - carrying the painting and all - Jessie followed him. They sat down in the library, laying the painting carefully on a table. Jonny went to get a piece of cloth and then carefully wiped the canvas clean, or at least a kind of clean.

"Hey", Jonny said. "Can you get dad's magnifying glass, it's in one of the drawers over there.

He waved his arm behind his back, and Jessie raised her eyebrow.

"Sure. Anything else, sir?"

He didn't seem to have heard the irony, so she sighed again and went over to one of the big desks, totally overloaded with books and paper and things that she had no idea what they were. After a while, she found the magnifying glass and returned to the table where Jonny was starring at the words. He took the glass and took a long look.

"Wow, I can see it!" he yelled. "It must be very old, the language isn't really updated. And it's in Spanish or something. I don't understand a word."

"Well, come on dummy, give it to me! Now, let's see."

She looked closely on tha painting.

"I'm not quite sure, most of the letters have faded away, but it looks like something like: 'The Aleanthus... eeh.. I think it is: king's crown at the... o'kay, let's see, yeah that's right... the Island of Phua'."

"The what?"

"C'mon Jonny! The ship is called Aleanthus, and the Island is called Phua."

"Right, now I understand SO much more. Is there anything else?"

Jessie scanned the painting closely with the magnifying glass.

"Yes, wait a sec. There's a name down here at the bottom. It is... 'Salvatore Montoya'.

"Never heard of him.

"Me neither. But Dr Quest might know. Come on."

They went off to find Jonny's father. They found him outside on the field behind the Manor with Race Bannon. Race had a strange object in his hand, and suddenly he swung his arm. With great force, the object cut through the air and embedded itself in the sack of sand that was hanging in a rope.

"Hi dad", Jessie said. "What is that?"

Her father, Race Bannon turned around when he heard her voice.

"Hi Ponchita. Come here." He went and collected the object and showed it to the two youths. It was a flat ring of metal, maybe ten inches in diametre, and its edge was razor-sharp.

"This is a chakram. They were used among the sikhs in India. You can tell it's an effective weapon."

"Yeah, certainly is. How come you have one?"

"Well, you know that have been a couple of times in India, Jess, and I found this and thought it worth keeping. Besides, I thought I'd surprise Hadji when he comes back."

"Dad? There's something we wanted you to see." Jonny cut in.

"Oh." Dr Quest raised his eyebrow. " Certainly this must be of such a great importance that I would have no choice but to attend my last bit of concentration and time on it, lest I would cause the downfall of today's civilization, or some other global catastrophe?"

"Dad!!"

"Alright, Jonny, I'm coming. No sense for humor today have we?"

Jonny groaned and gave his father a miserable look.

"Come now, son. What was it you wanted to show me?"

"Well, I found... outch! Hey, stop that! We... um... Jessie found a painting in the attic, and we wonder if you know what it is."

"A painting? Of what?"

"It's a ship, the Aleanthus, and it's made by a Salvatore Montoya."

Dr Quest shook his head.

"I do not have any memories of a painting such as that. Well, we'll soon find out. Let's go inside, shall we?"

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