Map to Treasure

by Kaylie M. Dameron

  “Dad’s sure she did?”

  “Positive. Today, while you girls were at practice, Mr. Simpson came over, and both of them did a thorough search through the woods. With what you girls told him yesterday about the corn, he’s sure the horse got stolen.”

  Elise nodded. If her dad did a thorough search through their part of the woods, he would’ve seen if there was anyone hiding out. She probably didn’t need to tell him about the flashlight story from the night before.

  CHAPTER 10

  A New Trail

  That evening, after supper and chores were finished, Elise decided she wanted to ride around on the trails in the woods. Her parents were heading out for a date, saying they’d be home by ten. After they left, the girls went off to do miscellaneous things. Elise grabbed a light jacket and two long carrots out of the refrigerator, pulled on her boots, and hurried out to the stables. She looked up at the sky. It was still pretty light out. Checking her watch she saw that it was seven o’clock. She’d be able to ride for an hour or two before it started getting too dark.

  When Elise got to the stable, she opened the door and stepped in. The scent of fresh, sweet-smelling hay filled her nostrils, and she breathed in deeply, closing her eyes. She opened her eyes and exhaled, walking to Ranger’s stall. Pulling out a carrot, she fed the pretty Arabian horse. When Midnight reached her head out of the stall expecting a one also, Elise reached into her pocket and pulled out the second carrot, feeding it to the horse. Then she grabbed a halter and reins off a hook, put them on Ranger, and started leading him out the stable.

  She passed Blossom’s empty stall and sighed; her shoulders sagged. Ranger nudged her with his head. She smiled as they exited the stable. Today she would ride bareback. She brought him up by the fence. Elise climbed up the fence and swung onto Ranger’s back. Then they were off. They exited out the gate of the pasture and rode off to the trail in the woods. Entering the trail in the woods seemed like going into a cave because the entrance was almost circular, with how the trees gave way for the opening.

  The two trotted off down the trail. Riding bareback was a bit different than riding with a saddle. Elise’s tailbone always hurt when she rode bareback, but she liked it better than saddle-riding because she felt so free. Ranger was a lot different than Blossom to ride. Blossom was always gentle and galloped smoothly. Elise only mostly rode Blossom. The rest of her family rode the other two horses more. Elise loved watching the trees fly by her. She had ridden on this trail hundreds of times. There were lots of “mountains,” as the girls referred to them, around the Rethman’s home, and the trail led up around a little bit of one of them. These “mountains” in Clyde and the surrounding towns were the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and were commonly known as the Great Smokey Mountains.

  Elise sweetly spoke to Ranger as they went along. The breeze from riding tossed her wavy red ponytail about and made it whip around her face.

  Their trail, in all, was a loop of about a mile. There were other small trails in their woods also that Mr. Rethman had created by clearing trees and mowing weeds.

  They were almost to the halfway point of the loop when Elise looked right and spotted a little trail by the creek beyond the Rethman’s trail. She had often led Blossom down to this creek to drink.

  Curious about the new trail, Elise pulled back on Ranger’s reins, causing the horse to stop. Then she slid off Ranger’s back and led the horse down to the creek. The other side of the creek wasn’t the Rethman’s property, but the little trail had never been there before. Elise wondered what it could be from. The people who owned that part of the woods never went in it unless they came to hunt which was only once or twice a year. The trail hadn’t been there when Elise had ridden Blossom the last time, she was sure, before Blossom had been stolen.

  She was going to check it out but then she looked at her watch. She had been riding for a while. Her sisters wouldn’t want her gone from the house for too long. Using a tree stump, she hopped back onto Ranger’s back and urged him on down the loop trail away from the creek. They would end up right about where they had started. She looked back, hoping to check out the trail tomorrow after her cross country meet.

  When she and Ranger got back, Elise led him back to his stall, fed him some oats and water, and gave him a quick brush down. As she did so, Elise wished for the hundredth time that day that they would find Blossom soon. She headed back to the house. The sky was a pretty array of orange, yellow, red, purple, and pink. The trees across the road looked like gorgeous silhouettes. Elise looked around her as she walked. The woods hugged the edge of their open property all the way from the road to beyond the back pasture.

  Elise opened the door to the house and stepped in. She needed to pack for the cross country meet tomorrow. High school wasn’t going to run there. They’d be at a different meet, so Lexie wouldn’t run at Arianna and Elise’s meet tomorrow. She walked up to her bedroom. The other girls were on the couch watching a movie in the living room.

  The bus would leave at seven fifteen in the morning, and it was a little longer drive to get to the school since the meet was in Riverbend, so Elise and Arianna would both have to wake up early. Elise checked to see if Arianna had already packed her bag. They wouldn’t have much time tomorrow to get ready, so it was better to get some things ready the night before. Arianna had already packed a bag of things to bring to the meet. Elise grabbed a bag for herself and threw some snacks, a sweater, water bottle, and extra shoes inside. Then she zipped it up and brought it down the stairs, setting it by the front door.

  Elise then joined her sisters where they were watching a movie and wished that she didn’t have to run tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 11

  Captured

  Elise sighed as she rode the bus back to the school. They had just competed in the race in Riverbend, and she was disappointed with her performance. Some of the kids chattered in the bus, but not her. She was depressed. Blossom was gone. She hadn’t been able to run well because she was thinking about her horse the whole time. She had been stressing about where Blossom might be, and she was also tired from lack of sleep, which was also because of Blossom’s disappearance. Her head rested on the window and she watched the trees and cars whizz by on the busy highway.

  Arianna was sitting in the seat in front of her. The seat behind her was occupied by Caitlin Market who had pretty blond hair and was really sweet. All the girls were nice, but Elise didn’t feel like conversing with anyone now. Charity, who had become a good friend to Elise, sat across from her. She kept giving looks to Elise that asked if she was okay. Elise just looked down when Charity glanced at her. She felt terribly sick. The bus jolted along the road.

  Elise had run a slower time than at the Waynesville race and a much worse place. She had run half a minute slower, which was a lot in a cross country race. Everyone else had run faster than on Tuesday. Charity had beaten her by a lot this time. Kendyll had almost beaten her. Her team had gotten third place at this race, which had thirteen teams. The boys had placed first. It had been a much larger race, but Elise felt like it was all her fault that they hadn’t done better. She had let the team down.

  The bus dropped them off at the school, and their parents, who had also gone to the meet, brought them home. Lexie’s race had also ended, and she was waiting at the school for her parents to pick her up.

  When the Rethman girls got back to their house, Arianna said, “We’re supposed to quickly clean up the house.”

  “Why?” asked Elise. All she wanted at the moment was to lay in her bed, rest, and cry.

  “Were you not paying attention when Mom and Dad were talking on the ride back from the school?”

  “Probably not. I was thinking about Blossom.”

  “Well, Diana and Whitney’s parents are going to be away in Michigan for a funeral until Tuesday, so the girls are going to stay with us till they come back. They’re coming tonight.”

  “You mean that Whitney and Diana will be here? Are you serious?
”

  Arianna nodded.

  “First, Blossom goes missing, next, I can’t even run the race well, and now my enemy is coming to my house for a couple days?”

  “Elise, you shouldn’t have an enemy in Diana. Dad always says we shouldn’t make enemies.”

  “I didn’t. She’s the one who thinks I’m an enemy to her.” Elise was fuming and raced up the stairs with her bag.

  Arianna was about to go after her but Adara stopped her. “Give her time. Don’t go after her now or she might have a blowout,” she warned. “I think she exaggerates the term ‘enemy’.”

  Arianna nodded, “you’re right.”

  She started to pick up some of the things lying around in the living room. Then she got out the vacuum and swept up the floor. Adara was working on the kitchen and the other two were in the hallway and bathroom.

  Elise came down a little later with a mad look on her face. She grabbed the broom and angrily swept the stairs. She did such a half-hazard job and slammed the broom around so carelessly that her mom rushed out of the kitchen where she had been working and scolded her.

  The girls wouldn’t have school while the Cox girls were there. Mr. Cox’s grandfather had passed away, so he and his wife were going up to Michigan for the viewing and funeral. They intended to go to both and then stay up there for a couple of days for a long date. The Cox girls had also taken school off for Monday and Tuesday. Their teacher had let them off since their great-grandpa had just died.

  Whitney and Diana came right before supper. Their parents drove up the lane and dropped them off. The girls came into the house with their bags. Elise gulped; here we go, she thought.

  “We’re just getting ready to eat, so you girls can run your things up to Elise and Arianna’s room.”

  “My room?” Elise whispered hoarsely to her dad.

  “Yes Elise,” he tried to play it cool. To the other two, he said, “Make yourselves at home.”

  Whitney smiled politely, and Diana turned to follow Elise and Arianna up the stairs. They all entered the room together.

  “Well, we only have two beds, so you’ll have to sleep on the floor,” Elise said, as nicely as she could muster.

  Diana made a horrified face, and Arianna said, “Elise! That’s not nice. Whitney, you can sleep on my bed.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yep.”

  Diana didn’t even bother to ask Elise if she could sleep on Elise’s bed; she plopped her bag on it.

  “Umm…” Elise started.

  “You guys have a small room,” Diana said.

  “Diana!” Whitney gave her a look.

  Elise groaned. Already she could tell it’d be worse than she had thought.

  During supper Mr. Rethman asked the two girls how they were doing. Diana was unbelievably polite around Mr. and Mrs. Rethman. Elise supposed it was because she didn’t want them to think she was mean to Elise. Mrs. Rethman sympathetically said, “I’m sorry about your great-grandfather.”

  Whitney said “thanks” quietly and Diana did the same.

  After supper the girls tried to play games together while their parents went to town to get groceries, but Diana was cheating and playing unfairly, so they just watched a movie and then went up to their rooms. The girls were already worn out with all Diana’s complaints and actions. They were getting ready for bed. When they turned off the light and crawled into their beds, Diana whined again, “this bed isn’t comfortable.”

  Whitney threw a pillow at her, which meant “be quiet,” and Diana stopped. She kept making annoying whining noises though. Elise and Arianna were on the floor trying to sleep in sleeping bags.

  “Now do you finally see why I don’t like Diana?” Elise whispered to Arianna.

  “I guess I do, now.”

  The next morning they went to church with the Cox girls and then ate out with the Evers.

  That afternoon, after another long day of Diana, Elise told her parents that she wanted to go out riding in the woods. She wanted to check out the new trail she had seen the other day. Her parents said she could go.

  When Elise tried to sneak out the back door to go to the stables, Diana saw her. “Where are you going?” she demanded.

  “I’m going out riding.”

  “I’m coming too.”

  “But…”

  “You’ll have to show me how to ride your horses.”

  Elise groaned. She grabbed a jacket. Diana did the same. Then they both put on boots and walked out to the stables. Diana always got her way whether people liked it or not.

  When they walked into the stable, Diana said loudly, “It smells!”

  “Of course it smells. It’s a stable. You’re going to spook the horses!”

  “Which one do I get to ride?” Diana asked.

  “I’ll pick.”

  “That’s not…”

  “Then you’re not riding. I’ll let you ride Midnight.”

  Diana stamped her foot, “Fine, but you’ll have to show me how to get on.”

  After a long process of showing Diana how to get onto Midnight, how to hold the reins well, and a bunch of other important things, they finally started off to the trail.

  “You told me you have three horses,” Diana said as they trotted down the trail at a slow pace.

  “We did. Blossom just got stolen.” Elise searched Diana’s face to see if she looked surprised. She did. In fact, her eyes opened almost wider than her mouth usually did. Elise guessed that it couldn’t have been Diana who stole the horse.

  They rode until they got to where the creek was. Beyond it was the new trail. “I’m going to check this out,” Elise explained.

  “Is it your property?” Diana asked.

  “No, but I want to see where it leads. I think someone or something just made it.”

  Diana climbed off of Midnight’s back. They both led their horses off the trail for about ten feet and then walked down to the creek. They walked through it because the water only reached up past their ankles, and they had boots on. Then they trudged up the little slope across it and onto the new trail.

  “Maybe Dad and Mr. Simpson made this trail while they were looking for Blossom the other day. They said they searched everywhere. I just want to see where it leads.”

  They followed the new trail for a bit. It didn’t seem to lead anywhere. It led past an enormous tree. Elise stopped walking. They were both still leading the horses.

  “Wow, look how big this tree is!” Elise said, gazing up. Then she froze.

  “What’s the matter?” Diana looked up also.

  “Dad said he searched the woods everywhere for the people who stole Blossom. He didn’t say he looked up into the treetops!” Elise gazed up again. There seemed to be a big tree house of some kind up there. “I bet the ladder’s on the other side of the tree where you can’t see it from the trail.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” Diana said, getting ready to turn around. Her hands were shaking as she held Midnight’s reins.

  Suddenly they heard a stick snap, and looking behind them, they saw a shadow dart behind a tree.

  “Wh-o’s th-th-ere?” Elise questioned.

  Diana was still. Elise turned to face forward again, to see if anything else unusual was around, when a person wearing a black mask over its head jumped out from behind the tree right in front of her. Before Elise could react, the person grabbed her and Elise screamed, thrashing around, but the person had a tight hold on her. Elise veered back and slapped Ranger on the back as a signal for the horse to run. The horse neighed and began to dart off.

  “No!” the stranger screamed but held on to Elise so she couldn’t get away either. By the way the person’s hands felt and the way her voice had sounded when she had screamed, Elise could tell it was a woman, a very strong woman. The person in the shadows sprinted forward and Diana was just in time to release Midnight as well. The horse tore off into the woods, after Ranger, back in the direction of the Rethman’s house. The girls were terrified and
they fought hard, but the people bound their hands.

  Elise hadn’t imagined anything like this could ever happen to her. Now they were captured, and these strange enemies were dragging them toward the big tree. Elise couldn’t walk straight. She was delusional. She tried to scream but she couldn’t. Her captor had to drag her. Diana was no better off. They couldn’t do anything. They were being kidnapped?

  CHAPTER 12

  Complications

  “Where did Diana and Elise go?” Austy asked Whitney and Arianna.

  “Well, Elise was going out riding, and Diana decided to go with her,” Arianna explained. “They’ve been gone about an hour.” She checked her watch. It was four o’clock.

  “Yeah, Diana’s been following Elise around everywhere,” Whitney said.

  “Oh, well, I made brownies so I wasn’t sure if anyone wanted any,” mentioned Austy.

  “You made brownies? They actually turned out?”

  “Arianna Sue!”

  “I’m just joking with you!” To Whitney, Arianna whispered, “she usually burns things.”

  Austy glared at her. “Well do you want any brownies?”

  “We’re coming.” They raced after Austy to the kitchen where they each grabbed a brownie and a glass of milk and sat down to eat.

  Mr. Rethman had gone to the police department for the second time in the past couple days, and while the girls were still enjoying their brownies, he came home and said to his wife, “I went to the police department again because they never got back with me from the last time I went up there. Now they said they would partner with us for a week, and if nothing was figured out in that time, they wouldn’t help anymore with the search for Blossom. They’re going to scan our property and might send a detective or two out if they need more help uncovering the more detailed problems.”

  “Oh, I just hope we can find that horse!” Mrs. Rethman cried.

  “Well, you and the girls can put the fliers up around town. With the police helping for a week and people seeing the fliers, I’m sure someone will say something if they’ve seen anything of the horse.”