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Revere was a member of the Illuminati, too.”
    Alara looked over when he said
Illuminati
. “That’s a joke, right?”
    Priest shrugged. “As far as I know, my granddad’s research was always accurate.”
    “Back up,” Elle said. “Does someone want to explain the difference between the Freemasons and the Illuminati for the regular kid in the class?”
    Alara looked unamused.
    “In 1776, the Illuminati surfaced in—” Priest began.
    Elle held up her hand to stop him. “I just want the CliffsNotes.”
    “My granddad used to say the devil is in the details. Along with the truth.” Priest gave her a sheepish smile. “But I’ll do my best. The Freemasons and the Illuminati are both secret societies that date back centuries, but they had different agendas. The Illuminati wanted to overthrowthe existing governments and churches and create a new world order.”
    “Then, the Illuminati were the bad guys?” Elle asked.
    “Definitely,” Lukas said. “And it was the Legion of the Black Dove’s job to stop them.”
    “What about the Freemasons? Good or bad?”
    Lukas grinned at her. “They were stonemasons who formed a group in the Middle Ages to protect their trade secrets and pass down their skills. So the Freemasons were good guys.”
    “Why would Paul Revere be a member of both?” I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that the patriot who made the Midnight Ride to warn the minutemen the British were invading was also a member of the Illuminati.
    “The Illuminati were a much smaller group than the Freemasons, and they needed a place to hide from the Catholic Church—and the Legion,” Priest explained. “So the Illuminati infiltrated Freemason lodges, and they’ve been hiding ever since.”
    “Are you saying they’re still around?” I pictured the Illuminati as a bunch of bearded Leonardo da Vinci types who were long gone, like the Knights of the Round Table.
    “My granddad had a run-in with a couple of them when he was a student at Yale,” Priest said. “One night, he was studying in the Beinecke Library, where they keep allthe rare books, and he caught two guys breaking into one of the cases. He tried to stop them, and they beat him up pretty bad.”
    “How did he know they were Illuminati?” I asked.
    Priest held up his ring finger. “Their rings. Not the crap they sell online with pyramids and pentagrams all over them. These were the original design. The Eye of Providence surrounded by the Rays of Illumination. Between those rings and what they stole, it was obvious. At least to a Legion member.”
    “What did they steal?” Lukas’ tone hardened.
    “The
Grimorium Verum
.”
    “One of the oldest and most dangerous grimoires in history.” Alara shuddered. “A book of black magic. It deals specifically with methods for harnessing the powers of demons.”
    “Why would they want that?” Elle asked.
    Alara shook her head. “No idea. All I know is that my grandmother didn’t trust the Illuminati. She called them ‘demons among men.’ ”
    Elle walked over to the last case, labeled
Modern Patriots
. “The Illuminati totally sound like a Legion thing. I’ll stick with John Hancock and the patriots.” She peered into the case. “I don’t believe this junk is real. That shoelace could’ve belonged to anyone.”
    Jared grabbed me around the waist affectionately,and gestured at the case in front of us. “This is definitely a fake.” Behind the glass, a framed poem attributed to Edgar Allan Poe hung prominently in the center. “I’m pretty sure Poe didn’t use a rollerball.”
    We had studied the poem in English class the previous year, and my eidetic memory flashed on mental images of the text. As I scanned the actual poem behind the glass, my mind tripped over the last few words.
    “Alone”
    Edgar Allan Poe
    ca. 1829
    From childhood’s hour I have not been
    As others were—I have not seen
    As others saw—I could not bring
    My passions from a common spring—
    From