Sana and Alan alighted at the entrance of Crystal Art Gallery. Edwin , their high school friend had invited them to his dad’s art gallery. “Hi...am so glad you came. I get bored here all day. Dad is mostly in his office. I have been watching the same paintings and guided tours since one week.”  “If you appreciate the intricacies of the artist, you can interpret the same painting differently, each time you look at it.” “Oh come on Sana, you know that art has never been my cup of tea, I like science; I can’t explain how suffocated I feel having to look at paintings all day long.” “Each picture has a story.”said Sana “It’s okay mate. It’s not that bad.” “It is. If my dad had paid for the science workshop. I wouldn’t have to spend my vacation in a stupid art gallery.”  “Cheer up Edwin, now we are here. You will have company. It’s gonna be fun.”Alan added. The three teenagers climbed up the steps leading to the art gallery. A large and spacious hall with soaring high-vaulted ceiling welcomed them. Portraits and landscapes were on display on both sides plain off-white panels with soft yellow light atop. A tour had already started. The group was composed of tourists who lingered at and admired each painting while art students jotting down notes furiously. “Come on I will give you a tour myself.” “You just said you know nothing about art.” “ Well it’s not rocket science,”  Edwin remarked, “Each painting was accompanied by a brief description and relevant details of the painting beneath it, like the title, year and name of the artist. I’ll just read it out for you.” Wow the paintings here are exquisite! “Am glad you are loving them, am loving your company too.” Sana caught sight of a painting at the end of the corridor. “Hey tell me about this painting. It’s so beautiful.” “This painting is by an unknown artist. I will be shifting it soon. People only like to admire painting by famous artists.” The tag read-  Title :unnamed Artist: unknown.  The background showed a meadow, with verdoyant greens fading into a mellow yellow. the foreground showed the silhouette of a lady standing on a balcony, her flowy dress and hair were caught in the wind. She was holding a chalice and looking skywards as if looking for answers amongst the painted moon and stars. “It’s a beautiful piece.” “Yes Sana but the art connoisseur think differently. They buy the works of famous artists only. This tableau has been kept here only because it was retrieved from the castle.” “Castle?” “Yes few antiques from the Tempury castle are on display here as a means to preserve the cultural heritage.” They took a look at the abstract displayed at the far end  of the corridor. On their way back, Sana glanced at the painting again. “Hey!”she exclaimed,“The woman was pointing at the moon. Now her silhouette is blowing dandelions.” “Come on Sana!” “If you don't believe me let's ask Edwin.” “Well am not so sure.” Edwin looked at the tableau again, “I guess you are right she was holding something in her hand previously.” “Exactly!! It has changed!” “Ssh keep it low!”hissed Alan. “Maybe someone has replaced the tableau while we were touring the hall.” “I don’t think so. As I told you I know each and every painting on display here.” Edwin pointed out. They looked at it closely-Among the dandelions were alphabets scattered around. “Let’s jot them down”, said Sana excitedly. “Edwin your notepad please?” Sana yanked it from his hands and started noting the alphabets. “Hey that my chemistry notepad! It’s for my formulas.” “W K C L R O C T E O” “What? This makes no sense!” “Lemme see.” Said Edwin. “KCL is potassium chloride.” “I doubt it means potassium chloride here Edwin.” “We will work on it at home.” Back home, the trio were busy scrabble letters trying to make sense out of the alphabets they had noted down.  The letters are jumbled, let's try to rearrange them. “I got LOW ROCK. But the rest of the alphabet make no sense.” “I got TOWER.” “Tower this seems to make more sense. What are the remaining alphabet?” “Potassium Chloride and carbon monoxide.” What you mean? Yeah...see its K C L and C O which are remaining. “Can you forget your chemistry periodic table for a while?” “Clock!!” squealed Sana. The two boys turned to look at the wall clock. “What it’s still eight o’clock.” “No duffers the remaining letter spell out the word Clock.” “Clock tower, that makes more sense.” “Is there any clock tower  around here?” Yes just next to the church opposite the cemetery. “Let’s go!” To their dismay, there was nothing intriguing; neither about the  clock nor in the surroundings. “Let’s go see the painting again maybe we missed something.” “See she is blowing dandelions again.” “Maybe you just imagined those letters.” “We can’t both imagine the same things.”Sana argued. “Wait let’s see...hey the letters are here again, it’s the same letters.” Alan peered over them and was dumbstruck when he saw indeed there were alphabets instead of dandelions.  “Hey there is a number too?” “ Number 7.” “What could seven mean for a clock tower?” “Duh really?” “7 o’clock ofcourse!” Oh yeah, so tomorrow morning first thing we meet at the clock tower. Why morning? “She is pointing at the sun.” The next morning the trio presented themselves at the clock tower again. “She was pointing at the sun, right?” Sana said, squinting her eyes to look at the sun and then back at the tower. Then she caught sight of its shadow. “The shadow is falling directly on a tombstone in the cemetery across the street.”  “Let’s see whose tomb is that?” Sana said excitedly. “Are you sure about this?” “Why is a scientist is suddenly so fretful?” “Come on lets see, what if there is treasure hiding there.” They followed the shadow and reached an old marble tomb with overgrown weeds serpenting over the headstone “I can’t make out the Name on tombstones... there are too much of grime and weeds.” Hmmm the tomb is made of  calcium carbonate. Thank the weeds for protecting it from the acid rain. Else it would have been eroded long back.” Edwin remarked. ‘Edwin our main concern is to be able to read what's written here. Does your chemistry table has any answer for that?” “Ofcourse It’s not rocket science.” He replied, “Like I said its Calcium and will react with both acid and alkali...but we can't use an acid it will erode it.” “ Just name it Edwin!” sighed Sana. “We will need baking soda and vinegar.” They quickly brought the ingredients and poured it on the tomb...the reaction caused a white foam and bubbling. The moment they wiped it away, it was like magic all the dirt were gone. Lord Vince Artenon A magical soul 1854-1908 “Woah that's so long ago! “The question is why would she point to this particular tomb?” “We need to find out about him.” “But how?” “The public library is in the next lane we can go there”. Exclaimed Edwin, “There is a section on the history of the town there.” They walked to the library with numerous questions on their minds. They requested the librarian to issue them books on Lord Artenon. “Oh it's pretty rare to see young children showing interest in historical figures nowadays.” remarked the librarian. “Have a seat and no noise!” He retreated and came back with an old leather bound book. “Here you go- Chronicles of Lord Artenon.”   They leafed through its yellowed wrinkled pages, and embarked in the journey of the tribulations of Lord Artenon. They read about how he quickly rose to fame and overnight lost a great portion of his riches. They found no mention of the canvas lady. “But what is the connection between him and painting?”inquired Sana. “Maybe there are more books?” Can we help ourselves with more books? “Absolutely not. They are in the top shelves. If even one of those heavy books fall on you, you might pass out!” “Why so much of interest in Lord Artenon?” “For a history project!” Sana blurted. “Yes we need to do a  presentation. We wanted to get the highest score.”spurted Alan. “Ssh why were you overreacting?”She whispered “I was only adding to your excuse.” I interjected Alan. “Stop it you two! I can hear him coming this way!”chided Edwin. “These are for you-Journalings of Lord Vince Artenon ... it has some interesting and queer details and his poems too- which are sure to get you some extra marks.” 15 Feb 1890 Amanthine is a whiff of fresh air Her Tender innocent face Rosebud like puckered lips Her elflocks dancing in the air As she walks like a swan. 20 March 1890 I have still kept her silky scarf... Her bethrothal has been fixed How dare she agree to be someone else's while am burning in the amber of her love. 16 Nov 1890 She was found serenading Christopher. Is he a suitor proper for her 4Th Jan 1891 With Christopher sent to a faraway land No one between me and Amanthine can stand I professed my love, she shunned my offer Her refusal  draws me more towards her. 8th March 1891 The spear of the pangs of my yearnings I wish to lavish you with all my earnings Amanthine you have to be mine and mine only No....I can no longer bear to be this lonely 10 August 1891 If the golden bird can’t be mine she can't be anyone else's Her place is in my golden palace So I can admire daily her face. 9th October 1891 The golden bird captured in this golden frame for me to admire O birdie who will free you from this quagmire.   “Golden bird...chalice...am guessing the lady in the tableau is the golden bird. Amanthine?”said Sana. “Yes, he started referring her by the name golden bird  in his poems so no one will know how he conspired against her.” “It says trapped in a golden  cage...the tableau has a golden frame!”  “It means Amanthine is trapped in the frame!!” “Oh my goodness! How can we free her?” “Let’s keep on reading maybe we will find some clue.” 12th December 1891 When I wake up from slumber  Somethimes that fated day I remember Drinking from magical chalice Golden bird trapped with malice Enveloped in purple fume Invited her own doom. “We got the clue! A magical chalice.” “ Hmm chalice...there are chalices from the castle on display at the gallery. It must be one of them.” quipped Edwin. They went  on to read the journal to glean more details. 18th December 1891 I drink my turmoil raising a toast to the chalice of your sufferings. As I remember our last exchange You want this moment to be frozen forever. Yes I do, you replied What you want shall be your fate And you took a sip from that silver chalice. “Let’s hurry back to the gallery. We need to get the magical chalice.” When they reached the gallery a guided tour was just over. “Great we can examine the chalices at ease now.” said Edwin  Six chalices with intricate designs were displayed on a shelf. “How will we find the right one? The one infused with magic?” “We can already rule out two of them.” “How?”asked Sana. “Remember the poem mentioned silver chalice? These are copper ones.” “Great going. Now we are left with four.” “Lets have a look at the painting again.” Her chalice seems to be tulip-shaped with a long stem and narrow cup. “This one here has a wide cup and broad base. We can eliminate this one too.” added Sana. “We are down to two now.” Edwin opened the glass case and ccarefully took out the chalices. “Let’s see, he said grabbing both of the goblets.” He inspected both of them, “This is the one!” “How can you be so sure?” “It’s not rocket science!”he continued, “This one has a brownish purple stain in the cup most probably from the contents of a certain potion or concoction.Wine or water normally don’t cause any reaction with metallic chalices.” “You know  chemical reactions are not limited to labs. They are also coveted by magicians to impress people. Sometimes simple mixing of two compounds creates sparks and smokes leading people to think they are doing some complicated magic.” “Ok without further ado let’s bring the chalice to the tableau.” “Yes but not here. It will attract unnecessary attention.” “Hola friends, still trying to christen the unnamed painting.”put in Daniel. “Am shifting this painting to the store room.”said Edwin. “Finally you grew out of this tableau. See I told you its worth nothing.”   Once in the storeroom,Edwin placed it on an easel. Alan brought the chalice. “Try bringing it to her mouth.” Nothing happened. “Oh no!” “Give us a clue how to release you Amanthine.” The slate grey sky in the painting took a violet hue, her chalice disappeared and she took her blowing dandelions pose. “Quick let’s look for letters amongst the dandelions.” “E P O M” “Mope? What’s that?” “Poem!!”announced Alan, “The clue lies in Lord Artenon's poems.” “This violet sky reminds me of something in the poem...purple fumes!” “Yes it was mentioned that she was enveloped in purple fumes.” “We must somehow recreate purple fumes.” “How do we do that?” “That shouldn’t be too hard actually,” mused Edwin scrutinising the chalice, “the answer was in the chalice all the time.” “Really?” “Yes see this purple stain...it’s from potassium permanganate. That’s how we gonna create the purple fumes.” “I just need potassium permanganate crystal’s and glycerin.” “I’ll get the supplies we need  and be back in a jiffy.” “Right boss. Alan and me will go to.the library and read the poems again to get some clues.” Few hours later, the trio were back in the storeroom. Alan placed the permanganate crystals in the chalice, he made a small depression in the center and then added glycerin. Instantly there was a yellow spark as if a mini volcano had erupted and  a purple fume started rising from the chalice. “Nothing is happening in the frame!” “We have to be quick this redox reaction is short-lived.” Edwin uttered. “Nothing is happening what do we do?” “There is this phrase from the poem... Do you want this moment to etched forever?” Sana said. The tableau started glowing in a deep purple colour. “What you want shall be your fate!” shouted Alan A purplish smoke emanated from the frame and spilled downwards, the children stepped back. It spiralled and accumulated to a thick mass which condensed to a human form. The lady in the tableau was now in front of them. She took a deep breath and greeted them 'Hello kids I am-“ ' Amanthine!' They said in chorus. "I thought no one will ever pick my cues. For years I used to give hints on the tableau but no one seemed to catch any of them.”She replied “What exactly happened to you?”asked Sana. “I am Amanthine, I am half human and half fairy. I was the flower lady at Lord Artenon’s castle. He was attracted to me to the point of obsession.” She recounted how when Lord Artenon got to know she was in love with his drover  Christopher and was going to be betrothed to him,he schemed against them. He sent Christopher to another village under some pretext and called Amanthine at his castle to give her a pre-wedding present. But he had something else on his mind. He had a wizard bring a cursed photoframe and prepare a potion.  “The moment I touched the chalice he mumbled something and the next thing I knew I was trapped inside this painting!” She started sobbing. “I used my remnant fairy powers to give clues for someone to rescue me but to no avail until you three came!” “we are so happy to have rescued you. Come have a coffee with us!” “Am afraid i won’t be able to.I can't stay here for long this isn't my era. I have to go back in my time frame.” “We understand.” “Speaking of frame you have to get rid of this cursed frame now!” But I can’t just throw it away. My dad will ask me so many questions. We are already on the verge of bankruptcy” Dont worry I will send someone from fairyland to buy it and we will lock it with magic and dispose it.” Saying this, Amanthine vanished. The next morning, a jolly man in a suit appeared in the gallery and offered to buy the tableau. Even Daniel was shocked by the amount he offered to pay. “I guess you all were right about that painting, there must be something about it for it fetch such a good price!” The trio shared knowing looks with each other. “Wow this was quite an adventure! And Edwin you science knowledge came in handy!” “Yes who would have thought that I can apply science in an art gallery?” Edwin replied. “Well it’s not rocket science!”   Penmancy gets a small share of every purchase you make through these links, and every little helps us continue bringing you the reads you love!