Read 39 Clues - 05 - The Black Circle for Free Online

almost impossible to kill. Doesn't that sound like something a Cahill would be?
    Un-killable?"48Dan's eyes widened."Rasputin worked his way into the inner circle of the
    most powerful Russian families ever: the Romanovs. They were royalty, like Princess
    Diana in England.""Keep it coming, but no more princesses. You're starting to bore
    me.""Rasputin was a real charmer. He convinced the royal family he had supernatural
    healing powers, and the evidence seems to suggest that he actually did.""You're
    kidding," said Dan, looking almost as excited as when he realized his teacher was

    wearing a toupee."He was especially close to the heir to the throne, Alexei, and his
    sister Anastasia. She was amazing, trust me, but Alexei was constantly sick. He had
    hemophilia."Dan pulled back. "Isn't that, like, something on your butt?""Gross! Not
    hemorrhoids, Dan! Hemophilia is a blood disorder. If Alexei got even the smallest cut, it
    wouldn't stop bleeding. So imagine like, I don't know... like if you fell off your
    skateboard and skinned your knee and it just bled and bled and bled until all your blood
    spilled out.""Cool!" said Dan."Not cool! If it hadn't been for Rasputin, Alexei would have bled to death before he was ten. But that's not the most interesting part. There were a
    lot of nobles49who didn't like the power Rasputin had over the royals, so they plotted
    to kill him.""Okay, now this is getting good.""Wait until you hear this," said Amy. She scanned the next part of the guidebook and put things into her own words. "On
    December 16, 1916, Prince Felix Yusupov invited Rasputin to a dinner party. First he
    fed Rasputin poisoned wine and cake, but that didn't seem to bother Rasputin at all.
    Rasputin figured out they were trying to kill him, so he ran for the door. Then Prince
    Felix shot Rasputin in the back.""End of Rasputin. Too bad -- I was starting to like the
    guy.""Wrong! Rasputin kept on going, right up the stairs and out of the house. The
    prince's men shot him a few more times in the front yard, but Rasputin wouldn't die.
    They tied his hands and feet, stuffed him in a bag, and dropped him into an ice hole in
    a frozen river. And that finally did it. Rasputin suffocated under the ice." Amy's eyes
    gleamed and she lowered her voice. "But they say his fingernails were all worn off
    when they found him, like he tried to claw his way out for a half hour or more before
    finally giving up.""That's the best story you've told me in your whole life," said Dan. "I don't even care if it's true or not.""Dan, I think it is true. We of all people should believe
    it, even if history buffs don't buy it. Rasputin was a Cahill! Maybe we're even from the
    same branch of the family!"50"Like we could be superheroes!?!" Dan's eyes bugged
    out."Calm down," said Amy. "We still have to figure out where we're supposed to go in
    St. Petersburg once we get there."Dan and Amy stopped talking, both lost in thought.
    And soon they were fighting sleep. The train had a maddening way of making a tired
    person even sleepier, the way it rocked and swayed, the clicking noise of the metal
    wheels on the track. Dan offered one last idea before conking out."Maybe we should go
    where they tried to kill Rasputin."Amy batted that idea away. The carvings inside the
    figurine didn't match up with anything close to the Yusupov Palace. She stifled a yawn
    and kept digging, searching her book for anything related to a shoe or a heart. Her
    fingers floated up to her neck, and she absently rubbed the pendant on Grace's jade
    necklace.Grace, what would you have done if you were me? she thought. Amy's eyes
    pooled with tears as Dan slept and the worries she tried to keep from him flooded in.
    She looked out across a glowing sunset.I can't do this alone, she thought, flipping the
    Rasputin page in the Russian guidebook back and forth. One tear dropped, hitting the
    paper, and she wiped it away with a finger. Her eyes alighted on a word, and her mind
    turned it over, not