Six steps up and look to the right, the map said. I counted the six steps and looked to the right, and all I saw at first was the ivy covered wall. Then I saw it. The rusty square drain cover on the ground.
Everyone walking by would see it as a drain cover. They would have no reason to believe it to be anything else. But me, with my ancient map and the three overlapping ovals matching the ovals on the cover, I now know it to be something else.
The Ancient Mediterranean Medieval Order of the Ovals. The name is just filled with Mediterranean mysticism. According to the map, this place, the drain cover, holds one of the three prizeless ancient scrolls.
My heart pounds in my chest as I kneel above the cover.
I find the cover, with all its rust, rather easy to open.
I peer inside and see a metal box.
I quickly grab the box, take it out of the hole, and open it. There’s a scroll inside!
I open the scroll – I can’t wait until I’m back in the hotel. I read the text:
Congratulations. You have found scroll number three (of three). You may still win a prize. Call the number overleaf to register for our prize draw, where you need to answer one question: what tells you the order isn’t real?
I don’t believe it. A hoax. Four years I’ve been following this map. How can it not be real?
Posted for The Unicorn Challenge. A challenge hosted by Jenne Gray and C E Ayr, where they provide a photo as a prompt, and we provide up to 250 words based on it. I have to admit this week’s prompt was more than a little challenging, but it’s something!
The Mansionic Perspective 
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