Morning Meir Mysteries: Case 3: A Mayan Island Mishap

by XombieSlayr

Chapter 19: "The Keys To Success."

Chapter 19: "The Keys To Success."

I kept thinking about Oracle's hint the entire way back to the hotel in Cannon Bay, and even as I awoke from my much-needed nap on the couch. I got up and headed for the hotel lobby, my brain racked with thoughts on the current matter.

I was curious as to what Oracle had meant. But, there are a set of keys.

A set of keys...wait.

Of course! The Sacred Stone! That must be the key Oracle was referring to. That explained why those initiates we fought at the ship yard were so persistent to get it back, and why Simon wanted it in the first place. If they were the only thing that could stop his plan, then obviously he would want to get his hooves on it.

But wait, she had said keys. Did this mean there was more then one of these stones? And if so where could we find them? I decided to head down to see Dr. Seastone. She had been researching non-stop since we had rescued her from that warehouse, and I was eager to see what she found out from the files Clotter had lent us as well.

In the hotel lounge, she sat in a well-crafted lounge chair, pondering over a folder of papers and scratching her head thoughtfully.
We had all been immensely relieved to finally get back to the city, and out of the sweltering hot jungle, back to the magical land of air conditioning, purified water and above all a place to sit and think. Oracle's words had led to the Oloya letting us leave, apparently finally understanding what was at stake, and that they needed to let us go, to save not just them but the whole world. The chief still seemed tense as we departed the village, but I payed no mind to it at the time.

Dr. Seastone looked up and smiled at me. "Feeling better, after your nap?" she asked.

"Immensely." I replied. "I came to see if you found anything out about the stone. I think it may have greater significance then we thought."

Dr. Seastone got up from chair and stretched. "Then you're in luck! Follow me."

She led me to the hotel dining room, where Daring, Clover as well as two familiar faces also greeted me.

"Ralah!" I exclaimed. Ralah's response was to tackle me near to the ground in a hug, while Salah sat at their table and chuckled to himself.

"Good to see you again, Morning." he commented while Ralah let me out of her arms.

"Good to see you two again, as well." I turned to Ralah. "What happened to you after you left with Mara? Did she find out who you really were?" I asked her.

"Pfft! What kind of masters of disguise would we be, if either of us ever got caught?" she laughed. "No, we actually hit it off pretty well. She invited me to her birthday party next week, and we made plans to go shopping on Thursday, so yeah. We're basically besties now." she explained.

"Huh. Alright then."

"Oh! Don't worry Morning, you're still my best bestie though!" she exclaimed wrapping me in her arms yet again. This time her brother broke up the moment.

"We can get all touchy-feely later Ralah." He said sternly. "We have to get down to business, we're running out of time to stop this lunatic."

He had a point, naturally. Though this didn't stop Ralah from slinking back to the table and pouting with her head chin down on the table. Salah shook his head, before turning his attention back to me. "Ever since we last saw you in Emerald Town, I've been digging non-stop into any source of info we had, seeing if there was some connection between Simon and the Setting Sun. And now, we have an answer-

"That he's not only connected. He's the leader. He calls himself, Al-syd, The Master." I finished for him.

Salah looked surprised for the briefest of moments, before leaning back in his chair to take a sip of his cider cocktail. "Makes sense." he said simply. "I'm sorry." he added, knowing how I must feel about the whole thing.

"It's alright. All that matters is we stop him." I said, trying not to think about it.

Dr. Seastone then chimed in brandishing a printout of a newspaper article. "And luckily, we have found out how to do just that!" she handed me the article, and asked that I read it aloud.

"Emerald Keyes History Museum to host this year's Island History Presentation, featuring the Sacred Stones Of Oloya, on display for all comers to see." I read. "All Historical Buffs and eager tourists welcome. Refreshments provided by Feather Moon Catering." I added, reading the final paragraph of the article. So there were two more stones. Of course, a set of keys. In order to stop Simon, we had to get our hooves on these last two stones. Somehow.

Finished reading, I looked over to Daring and Dr. Seastone, who had both broken out into huge grins.

"There you have it." Dr. Seastone said proudly. "The last keys we need to stop Simon, are right there on display in the museum, ripe for the picking!"

"Plus, you heard what the article said: History buffs welcome." Daring explained. "And I'm practically the definition of a history buff." She added confidently.

But I had to say something here. "Even if they are there in the museum, we can't just ask them if we can borrow their two most prized exhibits to stop the so-called benefactor of the entire atoll from destroying the world." I explained. "They'll either throw us out onto the streets or into an asylum." I added, looking over the article again.

Daring sighed. "Meir's right, as usual. Even if we tell them what's really going on, they all think Simon is just your run-of-the-mill eccentric and benevolent philanthropist. Nopony will believe us!"

I nodded. "We need to find some other way of getting those stones without alerting Simon to what were doing, or turning the entire island against us."

Then I heard Salah chuckle from his and Ralah's table. Looking over to them, he looked up at me with a sly, almost wicked grin. "Come now, Meir." He said with a clear bite of excitement already building in his words. "It's simple...

"We steal them!" Ralah exclaimed happily.