The Vampire's Apprentice

"Happy birthday, then, munchkin!" the waitress beamed. "How old are you now?" As if realizing she shouldn't be spending quite so much time jawing as she was on a day shift and not the night shift today, she started pulling out her order book.
 
"Aw, a fresh faced daisy like you? I would have bet you were sixteen!" the waitress teased then held up a pen. "So, what will the birthday girl have today, hmm?"
 
Kitty grinned in return. It took her a moment, but she located something breakfast-worthy and relayed her answer. Never once had she tried waffles, so that was what she had found.
 
The waitress brought her her order along with an extra hamburger patty that was going to be thrown away and gave it to Sam on his own little plate. Of course, Sam was in love with her, even if her need to keep clean meant she couldn't pet him. The waitress looked after Kitty, letting her enjoy her waffles and even suggesting the syrups to try with them.
 
Syrup with waffles was even better than waffles themselves. It didn't take very long to clean her plate. One could almost consider skipping washing it; it was spotless.
 
"Looks like somebody enjoyed themselves," the waitress said, beaming as proudly as if it were her own cooking and Kitty her own child. "Will you be wanting anything else, darlin'?"
 
"Wonderful! Well, you just wait here one minute, and I'll bring you your check." She disappeared and soon returned with a bill that could be more than covered by the cash in Kitty's new purse. "Oh, right, and you'll be wanting this, too." The waitress dropped an envelope on the table with the bill with Kitty's name on it in Clancy's writing. Before the waitress could be asked any questions, she had to rush off to deal with an irritated customer.
 
She called a thanks, paid, then went outside before she opened the envelope. Better to do it in the open air than hold up a seat.
 
Miss Kitty,
Much has changed since we have been together, but some things never do. Remember where we once sat and you thought you might catch me sneaking up on you? Such was a time of fun, in hindsight, and I admit to looking forward to seeing you there often. It is a quiet place of contemplation and an excellent place to visit after a good meal.
Clancy
 
Kitty smiled. It seemed like such a long time ago, but yes, she remembered. Her eyes skimmed the note once more before she tucked it into her handbag and started towards the park.
 
Sam trotted along happily beside her, eager to get to the park. Instinctively, he turned toward the old bench since that was where they usually ended up. This was a good place to be!
 
Kitty made her way to the bench and sat down, only briefly wishing she had a book with her. It was nice outside, after all. Green and growing; not too chilly and not quite hot yet. The sunshine certainly felt pleasant.
 
Sam lazed beside her for a while, but in his curious, doggy nosing about, he uprooted a little wooden box about the size of a ring box at double thickness. He picked it up in his mouth and dropped it again to stare at it as if it was a strange, alien thing. The letter K was etched in black on one side, presumably the top.
 
"Hm? What did you find?" She asked him, tugging the box away before more drool could be bestowed. Of all the strange things she had seen.... Kitty examined the wooden item, chuckling, and curiously, she opened it.
 
A piece of paper was folded on top of the contents.

Sometimes you can learn a lot by counting the stones. Why don't you write down the number?

Underneath the paper, tiny grey pebbles filled the box, hiding something in their midst, and there was something written on the bottom of the box, but she wouldn't be able to see it until she removed all of the pebbles, and there were a lot of them. 184, to be exact.
 
Twenty minutes later, she came up with 179 pebbles and an empty box. She was concerned she'd miscounted them, not ending at 180, so Kitty began again before continuing with anything else. This time, she found herself at 186.

Ugh.

An hour and a half later, along with a lot more meticulous counting, Kitty was convinced: There were 185 pebbles. Now, what else had been in that box...?
 
At the bottom of the box, easily missed due to the color, two small rings were taped to the bottom along with another small note. Both rings were simple little gold bands - real gold - with one small green stone on one ring, and one small yellow stone on the other ring. The note was simple.

Visit Hamilton at the library

A box of stones, two rings, and a note to visit the library. Surely there could be worse places to visit, right?
 
Hamilton? Kitty considered this on the way to her destination. Either it was a person—which was unlikely—or it was a book. The latter sounded more logical, so that is what she decided to look for first.

Interestingly, her initial discovery lead her to the history section. 973.4, that was the number. Right where it should have been, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. The other novel was Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter, found over at 792.6.
 
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