Hana's POV

"This morning I thought we'd visit the Palatine Hill. It was the sight of the most homes and palaces of the early Roman emperors. You'll find it interesting."

"It sounds amazing Aunt Sora," I said.

"Omo, Go Hana, I am surprised to hear such lazy adjectival usage from you," Aunt Sora told me a bit severly. "The word 'amazing' should not be used as a substitute for 'interesting' or 'fascinating'. It's meaning has more to do with being startled or shocked. I believe you can do better." 

I could feel my cheeks reddening. "Um–sorry, I think." I glanced at my friends Jandi and Yoona for help.

"Don't look at us," Jandi told me. "Just accept it."

"I would if I understood what it meant," I retorted.

Aunt Sora unexpectedly burst out laughing. "I'm sorry dear, I was being pompous."

She's not actually my aunt. She's the great aunt of Han Jandi and Kim Yoona, who are my bestfriends and also happens to be each other's cousins. I call her Aunt Sora coz she asked me to.

For a great aunt, she's very cool. She never married and spends a lot of her time travelling. She knew everything there was to know about the history and culture of Rome. Not long ago, she announced that she wanted to take Jandi and Yoona to Rome with her. She invited me to come along too. "All young people should spend time in Europe," she'd said firmly. "It's imperative for their education." 

Aunt Sora has an old-fashion manner but she can be wickedly funny. She's also been super nice to me.I was really glad to come on this trip.

I'm actually an amatuer detective. Even though I'm still a teenager, I'm well known in my hometown. Some police officers are also my friends because of my dad. He was their chief inspector, before he died. It seems like I almost always have a case to solve. But for once my slate was empty, so I'd booked my flight to Italy with a clear conscience. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Rome.

We'd been here three days already, and we'd been doing some serious sightseeing. We were staying in the elegant pensione of one of Aunt Sora's old friends, Alfonso. Yoona, Jandi and I trooped down the spiral staircase to the courtyard while Aunt Sora took the elevator. In most Roman buildings, the elevator is only big enough for one or two people.

We stepped out into brilliant sunshine. It was only May, but it already felt like summer. I paused to put on the sunglasses I'd bought the day before. I checked my reflection in a shop window. Not bad! My honey-brown hair was pulled back into a loose braid, and I wore a black low-waist pants with leather sandals and a black sleevless top. The combination of the outfit and the oversize glasses made me look mysterious, like a movie star in disguise. 

We set off. "Look at that!" Jandi exclaimed as we walked past a section of ancient-looking brick wall. "I can't get over how you can just walk right past all this stuff that's hundreds of years old!"

"I know," I agreed. "History is everywhere!"

"There's the Temple of Hercules," Aunt Sora told us as we passed a small, round building with weathered marble pillars. A wrought iron fence protected it from visitors. "It's the oldest marble building we know of in Rome. It dates from about 120 B.C."

I quickly did the Math. Wow. That little building was over one thousand years old!

"And that temple down there, past the fountain, is called the Temple of Portunus, the god of the port." she added.

As we walked on, with Aunt Sora pointing out the historical sights, from ancient temples to medieval churches to Renaissance fountains. 

"And we haven't even gotten to the big historical sight yet," Yoona whispered to me. "When are we going to get to go shoe shopping?"

I grinned. "When they start building shoe stores inside the ruins," I whispered back.

We were picking our way now through the outskirts of the forum, the market area of ancient Rome. Masses of tourists milled around us, looking sunburned and happy. Cameras clicked and I heard snatches of atleast six different languages. Hawkers selling souvenirs called out their wares. Near the Colosseum, a man dressed in the leather armor and plumed helmet of an ancient Roman soldier posed for photos with passersby.

A woman wearing a colourful embroided blouse and a headscarf stepped in front of me. "Il povero bambino," she said to me, and held out a crying baby. "Per favore, signorina!"

I stepped back, startled, and Aunt Sora took my arm with a firm grip. "Basta," she said to the woman, and pulled me away. "I should warn you girls, that the pickpockets of Rome are legendary," she told us. "That woman was almost certainly one of them. A favorite trick is to hand you a crying baby and then, while you are holding it and therefore offguard, to deftly rob you of your wallet." 

"Whoa," Jandi said with a whistle. "That's creepy!"

We paid the entrance fee and began climbing the steps set into the slope of the Palatine Hill. It was less crowded here, and as we moved up the hill , Yoona gave a little cry of delight. "Look!" she said pointing. I followed the direction of her finger and saw, set into the hillside, a little cave with a tinkling natural spring inside. Cool, moist air wafted out and stirred Yoona's blackish-reddish hair around her face. "The air smells like a forest," she said. 

"Waah, it's so nicee," I agreed.

"Isn't it lovely?" Aunt Sora said. "And just ahead is the palace of Augustus, the first of the Roman Emperors." she pointed farther up the hill.

It was amazing, I thought. You couldn't walk two feet in Rome without tripping over a huge piece of history! 

"Wooow.." Jandi was mesmerized.

We continued up to the top of the hill, which was a flat area the size of several football fields. Though we were in the middle of the city, up here there were no cars or buses, and you could hear grasshoppers droning in the long grass. All around us lay huge slabs and pillars of marble, remnants of the palaces where Rome's rulers had lived so long ago. You could see the outlines of massive, stately buildings in the ground. Pine and cypress trees scented the warm air. It was peaceful and a little bit sad.

"I can almost imagine that we're back in ancient Rome right now," Yoona said in a hushed voice.

"I know what you mean," I agreed. "It's easy to picture the buildings that used to be here. They must have been huge!" 

"The ancient Romans didn't think small, Hana." Jandi commented.

"The new excavation, Claudius' Emerald Bower, is this way." Aunt Sora said, leading us forward and to the left. "Shall we have a quick look?"

As we followed her, she continued her lecture on Roman history. (I'm not gonna mention them all! Too lazy xD sorry) 

"How do you remember all this stuff Aunt Sora?" Yoona burst out. "You're making my brain hurt!"

"Am I boring you?" Aunt Sora raised an eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant," Yoona protested. 

"Ani! We're not bored," I hastened to add. " Just.. a little.. overwhelmed."

"I'm pleased to say that you're all dreadful liars," Aunt Sora told us with a smile. "But thank you for humoring an old lady."

"The history is interesting Aunt Sora," Jandi said.

"Ara, how about," Aunt Sora, thinking, "this afternoon, I'll visit with my old friend Diego while you three go off on your own. How does that sound?" 

"Cheongmal?! Yay!!!" we cheered together.

The hill began to slope down. Ahead of us I could now see what looked like a construction site. A couple of trailers sat on a clear stretch of ground next to a large roped-off area of freshly dug earth. Lengths of string divided it into several smaller quadrants. In each quadrant three or four people squatted with tiny picks or brushes in their hands, sifting through the soil. At one end of the site, I could make out the remains of some brick walls and what looked like a doorway.

"I don't think we can go any closer than this," Aunt Sora said as we halted several yards away. "As I mentioned, the digsite is not open to the public yet."

"Yah.. Hana," Yoona said in a low voice. "Check out that guy in the square to my left. He's cute!"

I looked. I couldn't see the guy's face, but he had slighlty shaggy black hair, muscular arms set off by his white T-shirt. He wore a red bandana as a sweatband around his head. 

"You know who he reminds me of?" Yoona mused. "Choi Sungjae. Remember Sungjae and his brother Daehyun?"

"Ofcourse I do," I said. How could I forget? Sungjae and Daehyun were teen detectives like me. They worked for a secret organization called KTCA. We'd met them at a rock concert a while ago where they were working undercover on a case. I'd gotten invovled too, and we'd ended up making friends. They were great guys.

I squinted at the black haired guy.He really did remind me of Choi Sungjae–same build, same haircut, same style.

My gaze moved over the other quadrants–and stopped on one to my right, where a shorter, slightly wirier guy with short brown hair was working. He wore a black tank top. Hah! He reminded me of Daehyun! Imagine, someone that looked like Sungjae and someone that looked like Daehyun in the same place. Funny coincidence.

Or was it? As I stared at him, the brown haired guy starightened up and turned in our direction, wiping sweat from his forehead. Omo! 

My mouth fell open as I took in his thin face and dark eyes.

"I don't believe it," I said. "It is him! That's Choi Daehyun!"

X