Map to Treasure

by Kaylie M. Dameron

  “I know. I was going to ask Dad why he didn’t let Blossom out to the pasture.”

  “Elise, he isn’t here. He’s in town. He told me he didn’t have time to let the horses out this morning and to ask you if you could. I forgot to remind you to let them out.”

  “Well, someone else let them out, then.”

  “Nobody’s been out of the house except your father,” Mrs. Rethman stated, rinsing out her towel and beginning to wash off the table, “but I guess you can check it out. Someone might’ve left their stall doors unlatched yesterday.”

  Elise slipped on her boots and ran out the back door. She hurried through the wet morning grass to the stable. Spiderwebs were everywhere on the grass. Drops of dew had made the complicated networks look gorgeous.

  When Elise got to the stable, she ran inside it. Walking over to Blossom’s stall, she saw that it stood open. She peered inside. Blossom wasn’t in it. Her head whipped around everywhere inside the stable as she looked for Blossom. The horse wasn’t there.

  “Mom!” Elise raced back to the house screaming. Mrs. Rethman came out seconds later.

  “Blossom’s not there. She’s gone!”

  “What do you mean ‘she’s gone’?”

  “She’s not in her stall! Oh, Mom, do you think she ran away?”

  “I don’t know! Look around everywhere while I call your father,” Mrs. Rethman instructed.

  Elise sprinted off again as her mom rushed back inside. Before long, the other girls were running around outside, searching for the horse.

  Mr. Rethman came home as soon as he could. Elise filled him in on everything he needed to know.

  Elise broke into tears. Lexie patted her shoulder, “We’ll find her.”

  “I can give Leah a call,” suggested Adara. “Maybe Blossom got away somehow and is out by where they live. It’s possible. They’re only three miles from us.”

  “You’re right. Yeah, you can call her,” Mr. Rethman nodded.

  “Mom, do you think Blossom might’ve been stolen?” Austy asked quietly so Elise wouldn’t hear.

  “I doubt it,” her mother whispered back. “We’re in a pretty secluded area.”

  “All the more reason for a thief to strike, right?”

  “Austy, we’re not going to assume things yet, and I don’t want you too involved. We’ll let your father deal with this for now.”

  Austy’s shoulders sagged, “Yes, mom.” She was hoping for some sort of quest. She loved adventure.

  “Girls, you need to work on your school while we figure this out,” Mrs. Rethman instructed. When the girls had started walking back, she said, “Jonathon, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m not going to call the authorities yet. We’ll wait to see if there is any evidence,” Mr. Rethman answered. “We don’t want to report the horse missing until we’re sure it’s not around. We can all check the woods and alert the people within a couple miles of us. If nothing still, then we’ll give the police department a call.”

  “That sounds good,” his wife covered her face with her hands. “I just hope the horse didn’t get stolen.”

  Mr. Rethman put his arm around her, “If someone did steal the horse, the thieves are in big trouble with the authorities.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Finding the Evidence

  Elise was crying hard as she tried to work on her math. Her parents had told her a few minutes ago to go finish her schoolwork. How could she? The whole time she’d be thinking about poor Blossom. What was she supposed to do? Not to think of her beloved horse? Adara had called Leah with no luck. Elise let her head drop onto her math book. Then she sobbed long and hard.

  After a long, struggling day of schoolwork, tears, and cross country practice, Elise was able to go out with Austy to investigate. It was after supper, and Austy had pleaded to be able to look for evidence concerning the missing horse. Her case had finally been accepted by their parents, and both she and Elise were going to check things out.

  The two sisters were heading toward the pasture.

  “So, what do we do first?” Elise asked. Her eyes were swollen red from crying.

  “We look for evidence to see if Blossom got stolen or not.”

  They searched around the stable to see if the horse could’ve gotten out on its own. After twenty minutes, Austy stated, “Yep, it’s clear. The horse didn’t get out on its own. It had to have been let out. Let’s look for more clues.”

  Elise was searching around the fence of the pasture. When she reached the pasture gate, she stopped. Corn was sprinkled on the ground. She kneeled down. “Austy! Come here, quickly!”

  Austy had still been searching for clues around the stable, and when she heard Elise’s earnest cry, she dashed to where her younger sister was.

  “What is it?”

  Elise pointed.

  The pieces of corn were scattered on the ground by the pasture gate.

  “This could be an important clue.” Austy knelt down next to her.

  “Maybe Blossom did get stolen. What if the thief gave her corn to bribe her to come to him and then ran off with her?”

  “Wouldn’t Blossom have made lots of noise and reared the thief?” Austy asked.

  “I didn’t train Blossom to be mean, did I? She’s the friendliest horse ever! She wouldn’t hurt anybody.”

  “But she bucked you off when the bear chased you last month.” Austy wasn’t convinced yet, “And remember her last owner was wicked to her?”

  “She threw me off her because she was scared half to death. The thief must’ve known she wouldn’t make a fuss for him. Oh, Austy, what if the thief’s been around for a while watching how our horses behaved? What if he stole Blossom because he knew she was nicer than Ranger or Midnight?” Then the color drained from her face, “what if Diana Cox stole Blossom?!”

  Austy shook her head. “Elise, I don’t think Diana would be associated with this. Horse thieving is a big crime. Let’s stick to the facts.” Her heart was beating fast, though, because she could feel adventure nearby. She got an excited feeling. “I don’t think the thief would hang around here to figure out how to steal Blossom,” she said.

  Suddenly Elise gasped, “Austy, remember when we had the Simpsons, Davises, and Evers over?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well, you know how I had looked off toward the woods, and then the volleyball hit me in the head?”

  “I’ll never forget it!”

  “Austy, I had seen movement in the woods. What if it had been the thief? I had thought it was the bear that had chased me and Blossom that one time.”

  “Elise, that was before cross country even started. I don’t think the thief would be around still.”

  “He could have his own reasons. Maybe he’s camped out there in our woods where he’s been spying on us.”

  “You sure think things through well, Elise. No wonder Dad calls you a problem-solver. But I’m still not convinced yet.”

  “Yeah, I wonder why I’m not better at math.”

  Austy smiled, “Let’s tell Dad what we’ve suspected so far.”

  The girls went off to the house. When they entered, their dad was on the phone in the living room. He was calling nearby neighbors about their missing horse, but with no luck whatsoever. As soon as he put the phone down, the girls told him all about their hypothesis. Mr. Rethman nodded as they talked. “That is actually very probable,” he said. “I’m very upset about all of this happening.” He put a hand on his chin. “Let me think about this more before I act on what you girls told me.”

  The girls rushed out of the room. “We should tell the others about what we have so far,” Elise said.

  “We’re not even sure it’s accurate,” Austy reminded her.

  “Well, we’ll tell them our progress so far,” Elise answered.

  “All right,” Austy consented.

  They went to find the others, who were busy in Adara’s bedroom making fliers entailing Blossom’s picture, their phone number, a
nd a description.

  “Good idea,” Austy applauded as they walked into the room.

  “Mom’s idea,” Adara smiled.

  “I would’ve guessed,” Austy laughed, sitting on one of the beds. “We have news of our search results so far.”

  The others looked up as she spoke. Austy told them all about her and Elise’s findings. The others nodded in comprehension.

  “That’s actually a pretty good guess. I wouldn’t doubt if that’s what happened,” Lexie praised. “Good work.”

  “We’ll keep at it. We’re good at this.”

  “It’s almost fun looking for evidence,” Elise added and then wished she hadn’t said that. Immediately her thoughts turned to poor Blossom. She got gloomy and sad.

  “At the rate we’re going, I’m sure we’ll figure out everything soon,” Austy tried to make her feel better, but she knew her words didn’t sound convincing. There was a lot more investigating left to do. The police would also probably have to get involved. This was a pretty serious matter.

  CHAPTER 9

  The Light in the Woods

  The next day, Elise was looking through the cellar for some pickles that her mom had told her to get. They were stored away in the jars of food the cellar concealed. She never really liked going down there much because she thought it was spooky and the light didn’t work well. But today was different. She decided to look around a bit more than usual. Pretending she was an adventurer, she explored through barrels and boxes she’d never seen before. The cellar was quite large and there was plenty of roaming space. She saw a couple boxes stacked up, and on the top of them sat a small wooden box. Curious, Elise reached up and grabbed the box off the shelf. It was sizeable. It looked ancient. Elise took a deep breath and began to lift up the latch.

  She could hear someone start to walk down the cellar stairs. She tried to put the box away, but her dad appeared and was going to see what she was doing when he saw it.

  “Why do you have this?” he asked, startled. “Your mom sent you down for pickles, not to get into things that aren’t yours. Put it back where you found it and don’t tell anybody about it for now.” He acted like he didn’t want her to know anything concerning the box. Elise was startled, but she set it back where she had found it.

  “Go back upstairs now,” he commanded.

  Elise rushed up the stairs, taking the pickles with her and leaving her dad to his thoughts. She gave the pickles to her mom and rushed to her bedroom, where she sat down on her bed and thought. Why would her dad be so secretive about an old box?

  The rest of the day, as she and Austy searched for more clues and the others made fliers, Elise kept wondering what was inside the box.

  That night, after her parents already tucked them in, Mr. Rethman came back into her and Arianna’s room. Arianna, who always fell asleep unusually fast, was snoring. Mr. Rethman stole a glance at Arianna’s sleeping figure.

  “She’s asleep,” Elise confirmed, sitting up expectantly. Light from the hallway streamed into the room, and her dad’s dark figure was in front of her bed.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t happy with you in the cellar today,” he apologized.

  She sighed, “I didn’t think I did anything wrong.”

  “You didn’t.”

  Elise was surprised.

  “I just don’t want you to touch that box or look inside it for now. Don’t tell anyone about it either. Is that clear? I don’t want to have to do a bunch of explaining right now.”

  Elise nodded, “Why are you so secretive about it?”

  “You’ll figure out when you’re old enough to understand.”

  Elise slumped. That was a popular statement for her to hear. “So what age will I get to hear about all these things?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, everyone always says ‘wait till you’re older.’ As soon as I’m “older,” is everyone gonna tell me everything?” Elise asked innocently. She felt her cheeks get hot but could see her dad smile in the near darkness.

  “You are clever, Elise. Your mother and I will decide when we will tell you things like this. Now you need to get some sleep.”

  Elise laid back down as her dad went out and shut the door. She tried to sleep, but thoughts swirled around in her head of Blossom, “the box,” and Diana Cox. On and on, her train of thoughts traveled until she sat up in bed an hour later. She was hot and sweaty. Strands of sweaty hair were plastered to her face. She couldn’t fall asleep. She needed water.

  Getting out of bed, she walked to the door. The floorboards creaked under her feet, and she hoped her parents wouldn’t hear it. Elise stepped out into the hallway and walked to the far end where the bathroom was. Entering, she flipped on the light and turned the sink on. She stuck her mouth under the water and gulped it down. It was so refreshing. When she was finished and had walked down the hall back into her room, a flicker of light flashed on her bedroom window. Just as soon as it was there, it had disappeared. Elise’s heart stopped beating for a moment. What was that? she wondered. She was scared.

  Walking up to the window, she peered out to the backyard of their property. Staring off into the woods, she thought she caught another glimmer of light. It was hard to see. It stayed in the same area it seemed, flashing back and forth on the ground. It looked like a flashlight. What if someone is out there looking for something? she thought and then raced back to bed in fright. Wait! I need to tell Dad! She was shaking with fear, not wanting to go down the steps. She felt like anything would scare her at the moment. I’ll wait till tomorrow. It might be too late then, but I’m not going anywhere now. Elise was breathing shakily. She threw her covers over her head. It took another hour until she finally fell asleep.

  Elise woke up to her alarm beeping. Throwing her hand out from under her covers, she pushed the “off” button. Then she looked over and saw that Arianna’s bed was empty. She was probably eating breakfast or doing schoolwork. Elise yawned and got out of bed. She got dressed, threw her red hair into a ponytail, and then walked out, down the hall to the stairs. Hurrying down the stairs, she passed through the living room to the kitchen where her mom was making pancakes. She sat at the table and rubbed her eyes.

  “Sleep well?” Mrs. Rethman asked from where she stood, flipping the pancakes.

  Elise shook her head.

  “Still worried about Blossom?”

  Elise nodded.

  “We all are. We’re going to look into the case further. Don’t worry.”

  Elise wished she could stop worrying but she couldn’t. She had cared for Blossom as a mother would care for a child. Blossom was her responsibility.

  “Well, I have food almost ready. Muffins are on the counter. Can you call the other girls to breakfast?”

  Elise stood up to do as she was bidden and went to the older girls’ bedrooms. She came back a little later with Adara, Austy, and Lexie.

  “I can’t find Arianna,” Elise said a little worriedly.

  “She rode Midnight in the woods this morning. She said she wanted to have a clear mind before she began school.”

  “In the woods?” Flashbacks of the night before came to Elise, and she sat down suddenly on the chair.

  “You okay?” Adara asked.

  “I don’t know. Where’s Dad?”

  “He’s in his room working on his sermon. I told him there’d be no interruptions this morning,” her mother answered.

  Elise nodded. She could wait to tell him till after breakfast. Arianna came inside when Elise was just about finished eating.

  “Is your mind cleared?” Mrs. Rethman smiled.

  “It’s better,” Arianna grinned back.

  After breakfast Elise’s mind was on getting her schoolwork done. She forgot to tell her dad about what she had seen in the woods last night.

  ……

  For cross country practice at two-thirty, Coach Wilson said it’d be a slower-paced thirty-minute run. “You should be able to run and talk today,” he explained. Tomorrow mo
rning they were having a meet in Riverbend, so Coach Wilson was taking it easier on the kids today. Elise was glad. They began their run. The boys, Ava, Tara, and Arianna were ahead of her. They were allowed to run anywhere around the school property, so Elise turned to run in the grass. The others had gone straight. Charity ran up beside her. She didn’t want Elise to run that way by herself. “You okay today?” she asked.

  “No, I’m not,” Elise answered. She tried to control her breathing while running and talking, but it was hard.

  “Arianna told me about your horse.”

  Elise sighed, “Yeah.”

  They talked together the rest of the run.

  “You ready for the race tomorrow?” Charity asked when the thirty minutes were almost up.

  “I think so.”

  “We just had one on Tuesday. That’d be two this week,” Charity said, taking a deep breath. “That’s a lot. I’m glad that starting tomorrow most of the meets will be on Saturdays.”

  Elise nodded.

  The thirty minutes were over as the two girls made it back to the school. The rest of the team finished when they did.

  After practice, the girls met up with Lexie by the high school. There they waited for Adara and Austy to finish up their volleyball practice.

  Since Adara was a senior and this was her last year playing volleyball, Austy had decided she would run cross country next year. She would be a senior, then. She wouldn’t have any sisters playing volleyball, and cross country sounded fine to her. They had competed in volleyball through a Christian co-op, and it had been lots of fun because it was both enjoyable and competitive. They also got to wear shorts, not compressions. If they did it through the school, then they would have had to wear compressions. Adara and Austy didn’t approve of the tight shorts the school provided, so they played it in their co-op instead against other homeschool girls who were within reasonable distance from them.

  When they came home, Elise remembered what she had to tell her dad. She ran inside ahead of the others.

  “Mom, is Dad around now?”

  “He’s reporting that Blossom got stolen,” Mrs. Rethman replied.