BANANAPIETHIEFX'S NOTE: Everything from here on out is written by Ben and Riley unless I say otherwise so, review as it it was theirs...

AN: This is a TRUE story. Forget what everyone else says.

Disclaimer: I don't need to own anything. I'm Benjamin Gates for crying out loud!

And I'm Riley Poole!!

Ben

It all started with this story my Grandfather told me. Well actually, it started before that, my Grandfather, John Adams Gates, would always talk to himself about treasure. Needless to say, it sparked my curiosity. Then there was the story. It was a dark, stormy night. The dark stormy night of November 14, 1832 to be exact. It was a Wednesday. No, it really was, do you honestly think my grandfather would leave out something that important?

Riley

I rolled my eyes at

Ben

Hey! It's MY turn! Anyway this is supposed to be a true story, not like the trash your sister posted about us…

Lexy

(I'm adding this later, since they can't put their own story up on the site. My work is NOT trash, and most of it is true…)

Ben

But that's not the story. Like I said, it was a stormy Wednesday, November 14, 1832. Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the only Catholic one. Charles Carroll was born in Annapolis, Maryland on September 19, 1737. When he died on that stormy November night at the age of ninety-five, he entrusted a secret to my great-great-grandfather, Thomas Gates. Thomas was Charles' stable boy at the time, a mere seventeen-year-old boy. He made ready Mr. Carroll's carriage, as it was urgent that he speak to the president. So, they rode for a total of six hours through the storm to the White House in Washington D.C, where the current President, Andrew Jackson, had been living for- never mind.

Anyway, Charles was going to tell a story to President Jackson, but the President wasn't there that night. So he entrusted the story and secret to Thomas Gates, my great-great-grandfather. The secret was a treasure. The treasure of all treasures. A treasure fought over by kings, tyrants, dictators, emperors, warlords, changing hands continually, growing larger every time. This continued for thousands of years and then it vanished!

It wasn't found again until knights from the first crusade found secret walls under the temple of Solomon. The knights believed, and rightly so, that the treasure was too big for any one man, even a king.

Riley

Yeah, you agreed didn't you. One percent Ben….

Ben

Shut. Up. We're not there yet. Anyway, they brought the fortune back to Europe and took the name, 'The Knights Templar'. Over the years, they smuggled it out of Europe and formed a new brotherhood. The Freemasons, in honor of the builders of the great temple. Then, when the Revolutionary war began in 1775, the treasure had been hidden again. By then, the Mason's included many important founding fathers, such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Paul Revere.

They had to make sure that the treasure would never fall into the hands of the British. So, to prevent it, they devised a series of maps and clues to its location. Over time, the clues were lost, forgotten abandoned or stolen, until only one remained. And that was the secret Charles Carroll entrusted to Thomas Gates. 'The secret lies with Charlotte' Now, of course, nobody knew who Charlotte was, except one kid who was good with computers in Washington, fresh out of college.

Riley

We're ending the chapter here, that is if Ben's details haven't put you to sleep yet. And I am not akid. Just because I'm younger does not make me a kid and he knows it….. And Lexy, if you're reading this… I hate you.

Riley: Feel free to review and say how much more cool this is than my sister's stories, or to compliment me on my awesomefulness.