The Maze of Bones

Irina waits to meet with Ian and Natalie Kabra in Copley Square. She reminisces about the days when she was a KGB agent in Russia. She evaluates the poison needles she has hidden under her fingers; they contain a slow-acting but effective paralytic poison. Despite the Kabras’ youth, she fears them and wants to take no chances.

She spots the Kabras across the square. They follow each other at a distance in case either of them attracted any surveillance. She finally corresponds with the Kabras in a hotel lobby. They have both concluded that the next clue is not in Boston, but the Kabras have already chartered a jet. Irina resents the Kabras’ wealth, glamor, and lack of personal connection to the 39 clues. The Kabras propose an alliance with Irina since they are all from the Lucian branch of the Cahill family. They want Irina to set a trap for other family members, as it will be too obvious if the Kabras themselves do it. Irina asks if they have considered the Madrigals, but Ian brushes off her question. They wonder why the Lucian database contains so little information about Benjamin Franklin and what kinds of secrets he must have kept. Irina agrees to set the trap and feels temporarily empowered by how much the Kabras seem to need her.

Irina realizes that Natalie holds a poison dart gun with much deadlier poison than whatever Irina has in her fingernails. The Kabras smugly command her to let them know when Amy and Dan have been eliminated.

Amy and Dan arrive in Philadelphia. At the rental car facility, Nellie finds a strange package that McIntyre left there for Dan and Amy. Despite the risk, Amy opens the package, revealing a strange cylinder with a purple light. They don’t understand what the cylinder does. McIntyre also left them a note requesting they meet him at Independence Hall that evening with the information they find. Nellie drives them recklessly across Philadelphia. The Starlings catch up to them on the highway, but Nellie manages to lose them.

They arrive at the library, and Amy sifts through piles of Franklin’s original documents. The librarian tells them about how Franklin wrote many secret messages in disappearing ink. Dan realizes that the strange cylinder from McIntyre must be a black light. None of the documents at the library have any secret writing on them, but Amy wants to check the Franklin Institute, the science museum that holds some additional Franklin documents. There, Amy discovers a letter with a secret message only visible under black light. It reveals that Franklin was a Lucian and he thought somebody was after his clan.

The Starlings intercept them and hijack the clue. Amy sees the man in the black suit again and tries to warn the Starlings that he’s dangerous, but they do not listen. As the siblings run away, a bomb goes off. 

The explosion injures the Starlings. Dan and Amy begin to worry about the danger of the clue quest. Nellie expresses her own misgivings about the children’s safety and nearly pulls out of the arrangement.

They run into McIntyre again and Amy hugs him. She tells him everything that happened and accuses the man in black of orchestrating the bomb and the fire. McIntyre expresses his worry for Dan’s and Amy’s safety, especially given how much the other teams seem to be targeting them specifically. Dan considers giving up and asking Aunt Beatrice to take them back. McIntyre encourages them to continue, saying that Aunt Beatrice would put them into foster care and separate them. He gives them one hint: Jonah Wizard made overseas flight reservations, so Amy should consider their next location abroad. Amy asks why McIntyre helps them. He tells them it’s because they are the kind of people who would help the Starlings even if the Starlings would not help them. Amy and Dan agree to stay in the challenge but leave Saladin in McIntyre’s care for his safety.

Nellie gets a call from social services and demands the siblings tell her what’s going on. The siblings woo her with the next location in Franklin’s life story: Paris. Between the siblings’ passionate arguments about the importance of the scavenger hunt, the danger of failing it, and the allure or Paris, Nellie agrees to go with them.

Alistair walks through the Paris airport with the pilfered almanac and runs into Ian and Natalie Kabra. Natalie holds a blue china doll that Alistair realizes must be some kind of weapon. The Kabras know about the almanac and demand they hand it over. They bicker about which of them is in charge. Alistair counters by alluding to a war between their branches and threatens to mobilize his allies. The Kabras remind him that the last war went poorly for Alistair’s branch. Ian and Natalie’s bickering allows Alistair enough time to plot an escape route. He flags down a gendarme and claims he forgot to declare his fresh fruit at customs. The gendarme whisks him away back through customs.

He returns to the terminal, pleased to have dodged the Kabras. He didn’t want to share all he knew with anyone, especially since he has been spying on Grace for the past two years. He understands the meaning of the clue and smugly thinks about how even Amy and Dan haven’t figured it out. He is about to get in a taxi when a purple van pulls up. A fist collides with Alistair’s face.