Sophie felt a wild excitement as she cradled the cryptex and began dialing in the letters. An ancientword of wisdom frees this scroll. Langdon and Teabing seemed to have stopped breathing as theylooked on.

　　S... O... F...

　　"Carefully," Teabing urged. "Ever so carefully."...I... A.

　　Sophie aligned the final dial. "Okay," she whispered, glancing up at the others. "I'm going to pull itapart.""Remember the vinegar," Langdon whispered with fearful exhilaration. "Be careful."Sophie knew that if this cryptex were like those she had opened in her youth, all she would need todo is grip the cylinder at both ends, just beyond the dials, and pull, applying slow, steady pressurein opposite directions. If the dials were properly aligned with the password, then one of the endswould slide off, much like a lens cap, and she could reach inside and remove the rolled papyrusdocument, which would be wrapped around the vial of vinegar. However, if the password they hadentered were incorrect, Sophie's outward force on the ends would be transferred to a hinged leverinside, which would pivot downward into the cavity and apply pressure to the glass vial, eventuallyshattering it if she pulled too hard.

　　Pull gently, she told herself.

　　Teabing and Langdon both leaned in as Sophie wrapped her palms around the ends of the cylinder.

　　In the excitement of deciphering the code word, Sophie had almost forgotten what they expected tofind inside. This is the Priory keystone. According to Teabing, it contained a map to the Holy Grail,unveiling the tomb of Mary Magdalene and the Sangreal treasure... the ultimate treasure trove ofsecret truth.

　　Now gripping the stone tube, Sophie double-checked that all of the letters were properly alignedwith the indicator. Then, slowly, she pulled. Nothing happened. She applied a little more force.

　　Suddenly, the stone slid apart like a well-crafted telescope. The heavy end piece detached in herhand. Langdon and Teabing almost jumped to their feet. Sophie's heart rate climbed as she set theend cap on the table and tipped the cylinder to peer inside.

　　A scroll!

　　Peering down the hollow of the rolled paper, Sophie could see it had been wrapped around acylindrical object—the vial of vinegar, she assumed. Strangely, though, the paper around thevinegar was not the customary delicate papyrus but rather, vellum. That's odd, she thought, vinegarcan't dissolve a lambsk............