Map to Treasure

by Kaylie M. Dameron

  “I hope they’d say something,” Mrs. Rethman answered.

  “Where’s Elise? I’ll tell her what I figured out.”

  “She and Diana are riding the horses in the woods.”

  “Okay, then I’ll work on my sermon some more for next Sunday. I’m glad that Roger’s doing the sermon this Sunday.”

  Mrs. Rethman nodded. Roger was an assistant pastor and sometimes did the sermons on Sundays.

  “We’re going to need to make supper before too long. I hope the girls come back soon.”

  ……

  Diana and Elise were pulled to the other side of the tree by the two people.

  “Don’t struggle and we won’t harm you,” the woman hissed.

  “How dare you say that! You would be struggling too,” Diana blurted, breathing hard and fast. Beads of sweat were forming at the top of her forehead and beginning to slide down the sides of her face. The other person pushed her against the tree.

  “I can tell you’re a smart aleck. Well, we’re not going to have any of that,” he growled in her face and then shoved her down. When Diana fell, she couldn’t use anything to catch herself because her hands were bound, so she popped her knees forward and fell on them. The person yanked her back up.

  “What do you want with us?” Elise asked, her voice sounding a bit shaky. “We were just going on a peaceful ride, so why don’t you let us go and we can be on our way?”

  “Oh, and have your father arrest us?”

  “Why? Did you do something wrong?”

  “Okay, Bert, she’s starting to test it.”

  “Well what do ya want me to do? You’re the one who wanted ‘em.”

  The lady pulled them to the ladder that led up the side of the big tree. “We’ll take them up the ladder and we can discuss things with them there where it’s safer.”

  “You girls better go up or y’all are in for trouble,” the man threatened.

  Elise looked at Diana. Tiredness and fear were a thick fog over her face, and Elise whispered quietly, “we’ll do what they say, for now.”

  The woman unbound their hands when they started going up the ladder. Elise wanted to jump off the ladder and run for home, but she figured it wouldn’t be wise yet. She didn’t want to leave Diana, friend or foe. She figured her parents would come looking for them soon if they were gone too long.

  When they reached the top of the ladder, they climbed onto a deck. They walked straight forward into the little tree house. The people pushed Elise and Diana onto a little cushion in the tree hut. They took their masks off. Elise thought that was really risky because now the girls knew what their descriptions were. They looked a lot alike, and by the way they talked to one another, the girls could quickly tell they were siblings.

  “Tell us why you captured us,” Elise crossed her arms.

  “Whoa-o. You think you get first dibs in this conversation?”

  Elise shrunk back a little, afraid to upset them because she didn’t know what they’d do.

  “Well, if you must know, we need your help.”

  “Hah!” Elise laughed out loud. “You need our help!”

  The woman sent a burning glare at her, and Elise gulped and fingered her shirt. She had slipped her key necklace on the inside of her shirt while they had been riding the horses before these people had captured them.

  “You see,” the lady started, “we’re looking for something. Your dad has the key to what we’re looking for.”

  “A key? You’re looking for a key?” Elise shook her head.

  “Something to get us on the right track.”

  “Well why’d you capture us? We know nothing of it.”

  “Oh, you don’t do you? You expect me to believe that? We captured you because we think you can help us and also because you were getting a little too close to our tree hideaway. Two men came close as well the other day.”

  Elise raised an eyebrow, “You sure don’t try to hide yourselves very well.”

  “Don’t need to. This here’s Dean McCragg’s property, is it not?” the lady wanted to be affirmed.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, he’s with us.”

  “I could’ve guessed.”

  “Now there’s something you girls need to know. Your father stole something a long time ago from my boss, Helen Kren. She’s set on having it back, so she sent us out here to do her dirty work. Well, when we saw you two out riding and exploring, we thought we’d snatch you to help us out. Make sense?”

  “My father would never steal anything. He’s a God-honoring Christian man.”

  “Oh, well, was he always that way? How long ago did he really ‘come to Christ’ as y’all say?”

  Elise chewed her lip, thinking it might be a trap, “About fifteen years ago.”

  “Aha! So you still think he was doing things perfect fifteen years ago?”

  “I never said he was perfect! Nobody is! I’m just saying that he would never steal.”

  “Honey, by the looks of it, you weren’t around fifteen years ago, so I’m afraid you can’t speak for your father. Now, I’m not going to let you in on many details, but I will tell you this: your father stole an ancient box from Helen Kren over fifteen years ago.”

  Flashbacks of the incident in the cellar filled Elise’s head. Could that be the box this woman was talking about? Was it really so important that this woman would be holding a grudge against Elise’s father still?

  After letting that sink in, the woman went on, “It was Helen Kren’s grandfather’s box. Its contents are very precious. Helen’s grandfather died years ago, and she wants it back. She won’t be refused.” Her voice grew really stern, “Have you ever seen it? Or what’s inside of it?”

  Elise was all in a panic now, and her mind was swirling with questions and doubts. She thought her head would explode.

  “Answer me!”

  Elise was trembling. Diana was looking at her in curiosity.

  “If you don’t answer me, I’ll make it all the worse for you!”

  “I-I, well…”

  “Go on!”

  Tears streamed down Elise’s face, “I don’t know!” She didn’t know what to say. She thought her dad would never have done such a thing, but she remembered that he had seemed almost mad at her in the cellar. Maybe he was hiding something from her.

  The lady smacked her across the face. “I know you know something. I can see the lie in your eye.”

  Elise was fuming. “I’ve had a lot of things going on in my life right now! I don’t need this to add on to all of it! Leave me alone!”

  The woman looked mortified and angry.

  Diana stared at Elise in what seemed to be admiration.

  Elise had mixed feelings right now. She didn’t know what to do. She was more scared than she’d ever been and just wanted to go home. It was all complicated to her.

  The lady pulled out her flip phone. “I’m calling Helen Kren. I think she can deal with you.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Strangers

  At the Rethman’s house, everyone was beginning to wonder where the two girls were because they’d been gone for quite some time now.

  “Maybe they decided to become friends and are confessing some things to each other up in our tree house,” Arianna suggested.

  “I don’t think they’ll ever become friends,” Austy blurted out.

  Adara elbowed her.

  “They haven’t been gone too long,” said Lexie.

  “It’s been long enough,” Mrs. Rethman answered.

  “Well, do you want me to go look for them? I don’t have a horse to ride,” Mr. Rethman said.

  “No, but you have two feet.”

  “Fine, you win. I’ll check it out,” he smiled reassuringly. “You can get games ready for when we get back.”

  Mrs. Rethman shooed him out the door.

  “I don’t think men really have much concerns,” Austy stated.

  “They don’t seem to, but believe me, they do,” her mother an
swered. “You heard your dad. Why don’t you girls get some games to play when they get back?”

  The girls walked off down the hall to the game closet.

  “Are y’all worried at all?” Lexie asked.

  “Nah. They’re fine,” Austy batted the air with her hand as if Lexie’s statement had been a fly.

  “Well, with everything that’s been going on lately, I can’t help but be a little concerned,” Adara said.

  “You’re the oldest. The oldest kids always are the most concerned.”

  “Very funny.” Adara shook her head, “It seems the second oldest are always happy-go-lucky.”

  “That’s me!” Austy exclaimed.

  Adara put a hand to her face. Whitney giggled.

  They grabbed out a couple of games and then began setting them up on the table.

  They waited… and waited.

  ……

  When the two kidnappers had gone out of the tree house and climbed down the ladder to discuss matters by the foot of the tree, they called Helen Kren. Elise and Diana began to talk with one another about their predicament.

  “Do you think we should try to escape?” Elise asked.

  “I don’t know what to do. It’s your fault all of this happened! You’re the one who wanted to come this way, and now we’re caught!”

  “I know. You’re right.” Elise looked down and sighed. “They’re just not acting cautious enough.”

  “Who?”

  “These strangers. You’d think they’d consider the consequences of kidnapping more seriously, and you’d think they wouldn’t be this close to our property and consider themselves safe,” Elise explained.

  “Well, remember, we’re not on your property anymore, and they said your dad stole something from them. They’re probably not scared to try to take it back because if he calls the police, then they can file a lawsuit against him saying he stole the box from them.”

  “I guess,” Elise shrugged.

  “If your dad wasn’t a thief, then this wouldn’t have happened to us!”

  “My dad’s not a thief! If you weren’t so whiny, then I might’ve had a plan figured out by now.”

  “You’re so inconsiderate.”

  “Inconsiderate!? You’re the one who’s so self-centered and obnoxious,” Elise fumed.

  The argument went back and forth until Elise said, “Well it’s no use arguing anymore. We have to get away one way or the other. We’re going to have to work together.”

  “Yeah, before that Helen Kren gets here. If you wouldn’t have…”

  “Quiet. They’re coming back.”

  “Helen Kren will be here in an hour. You girls better tell her the truth. If not, she can make it terrible for you,” the lady explained.

  Elise just glared at her, and then she looked down at her own hands. They were shaking. She was terrified. Her home and property had always been so safe. She never dreamed that enemies of her father would kidnap her and Diana and hold them hostage. She had never even dreamed that her father had “enemies.” How many “enemies” did they have that they never knew of?

  CHAPTER 14

  Interrogations

  After waiting for a while, the door burst open. “I couldn’t find them anywhere, but I found Ranger and Midnight running around in the woods.”

  Mrs. Rethman was astonished.

  “I’m going back out right now,” her husband assured her. “I just wanted to tell y’all that so you know why it’s taking so long. I also need to grab my phone and bring it with me, just in case this is bad. Austy, you need to put the horses back in their stalls.”

  All the rest of the evening, they searched for the girls. When it was midnight, they still hadn’t found them. Mr. Rethman called it a night for the girls.

  “You girls go to bed. Y’all need your sleep. Your mother and I will look for them throughout the night. It’d be best if y’all went back inside,” Mr. Rethman told them, sounding tired. “It’s getting serious.”

  The girls obediently turned back, out of the woods, and headed to the house. They had called some of their friends and neighbors about the dilemma, and they were helping in the search, too, looking throughout the town.

  “Oh, I wish we could do more. What good is there in going to bed when Elise and Diana could be anywhere? I won’t be able to fall asleep,” Adara told the others, as they slowly trekked back to their house.

  Austy swung the lantern in her hand. Without it, the going would be impossible, for it was dark out now. “I guess we can just hope and pray that they’re not in any danger,” she stated. “Dad and Mom said they would probably call the police.”

  “I hope nothing bad happened to them,” Arianna cried, brushing away tears that had been constantly flowing since she’d heard of Elise and Diana’s disappearance.

  Lexie and Whitney wrapped an arm around her as they walked into the house.

  As they were getting ready to walk up the stairs, they saw a flash of lights coming from the front.

  “I think someone’s driving up our lane,” Austy said, running to the front window. Sure enough, a van was pulling up.

  “Who is it?”

  “Um… it looks like… Oh, it’s the Simpsons!”

  The Simpsons all hopped out of their van. The girls ran out of the house to see why they were there.

  “We’re here to help,” explained Leah. “You’re dad called our dad about the girls.”

  Adara ran over and hugged her.

  They all walked inside, out of the dark.

  “Dad and Mom are out back,” Adara told Mr. and Mrs. Simpson, who nodded and headed out the door.

  “So, are y’all gonna look for Diana and Elise with our parents?” Austy asked their friends.

  “Well, Mom and Dad said they’d help your parents, and we could just keep you company while they look,” Brianna answered.

  “We were told to go to bed, but that works,” Austy did a small smile.

  “Well, we could all talk together while our parents search,” Arianna said.

  They followed the Rethman girls up to their bedrooms.

  Arianna, Whitney, and Emma all walked into Arianna’s bedroom, while the other girls split up into the other two bedrooms to talk.

  Whitney sighed, “I hope they’re okay.”

  “You mean Diana and Elise?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sure they’re fine. They probably got lost in the woods and are trying to find their way back,” Arianna tried to sound hopeful. “Or maybe they went on an adventure.”

  “That’s a pretty long adventure then,” Whitney said.

  Arianna grew quiet. She didn’t know what to say.

  ……

  It was midnight, and still Helen Kren hadn’t arrived.

  “Perhaps she got into an accident,” the man said.

  “She’d better hurry up or I’ll just finish this myself,” the lady looked at the girls.

  Diana and Elise were so tired and worn out that they had fallen asleep. A couple minutes later, however, they woke up to the neighing of a horse below. Diana was terrified. Their captors rushed over to the edge of the hut, and as the girls watched, they helped up a figure dressed in black. The person stepped forward.

  “What do we have here?”

  “Two of Jonathon Rethman’s girls. We think they might be able to help us figure out what we need to know,” the lady answered.

  Helen tossed the lady a little pouch that clinked. She caught it. “You and your brother can split the money. Good work.” Helen walked up to Diana and Elise and squatted in front of them. “So,” she smirked, “let’s let the interrogation begin. You have news for us?”

  Elise glared, “no.”

  Helen’s eyes flared. She turned to Diana. “Since your sister is being so stubborn, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  “She’s not my sister!”

  Helen stood up, disgusted. “What? Then who is she to you?”

  Diana was angry. “My enemy!
”

  At that, Helen burst out laughing. The other two joined in. Elise glared at Diana, “You had to say that?”

  Diana elbowed her. “Be quiet,” she glared back.

  “So I had to ride all the way over here just to figure out that the girls you two captured are not sisters but enemies?” Helen Kren burst out laughing again.

  Elise was infuriated. “What do you want with us?” she shouted.

  Helen stopped laughing to glare at her. “You’re going to show us where the treasure is buried. We know it’s in your woods. You’re father has a map to it, as you know.”

  “Treasure? Map?” Elise’s mind swirled. “No, he doesn’t have a map…” Suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fit together for Elise. Her eyes widened. The light she’d seen in the woods had been these people digging for “the treasure.” The box her father had in the cellar probably concealed the map these people were after. They had caught her and Diana because they wanted her to tell them where the map was. Elise bit her lip. She really was in a muddled mess.

  Helen Kren stood up from where she had squatted, “You will tell us where it is or we will hurt your family.”

  Instead of giving in to the pressure, Elise mustered up her courage and boldly stated, “You need the map? I know what it is. You’re seeking treasure? I know where you can find it.”

  The two kidnappers’ eyes popped open wide, and Helen shot a smirk at them. “I knew I could pry it out of you.”

  “Pry it out? No, I’m giving it out of my own free will. You want to hear it?”

  “Spit it out,” Helen knelt down once again.

  Elise let out a shaky breath and began, “The map you need is the Bible, which is the Word of God. It will guide you to your treasure, which is Jesus, God’s Son. Would you accept this map if I give it to you?” Elise innocently asked.

  Helen Kren jumped up and slapped Elise in the face. “Filthy Christian! Don’t ever tell me this again!”

  “You asked for the map we had, and I told you what it was. You wanted it, but now you won’t accept it.” Elise’s heart pounded.

  “It’s not the one I wanted.”