“I think so,” Elise said.
Suddenly Arianna jumped up, her eyes wide, “Dad, I stumbled on some metal handle sticking out of the ground by the tree house. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, and I had never noticed it before. You don’t think it could be the trapdoor?”
Her dad looked surprised, “It could very well be!” he declared excitedly. “If it is, then we’ll have plenty of time to find it again. I just wish we had the key so that we could figure out what’s under the trapdoor. We’ll look into it when we know for sure Helen’s not around anymore.”
“You don’t even know what’s inside?” Austy asked. “Golly, that would be an adventure worth having.”
“Yes, indeed, but for now, you girls keep quiet about this. Y’all can go to practice today, but don’t say too much about everything. I myself need to rest and then get back to working on my sermon.”
They all got up and went off to do their various things. Mrs. Rethman grabbed her husband’s arm before he walked off to the bedroom, “There’s something we need to talk about.”
The girls got ready to head to practice at two-thirty. “I don’t know what we’ll say if they ask why we weren’t at practice yesterday,” Elise said.
They all stepped into the car and Adara drove them to the school in Pisgah for their practices. The oldest girls went off to the gym in the high school for volleyball practice, and the other girls went to their cross country practices.
Charity asked Elise and Arianna where they had been yesterday, and Elise told her that it had been a family matter. Charity seemed to understand. “Oh, I saw you on the news,” she said.
“Really?” Elise was startled and Charity nodded.
Coach Wilson told them what they were going to do for practice. They ran on the track. It was a hard practice. They were doing 800s, which were two laps on the track. Eight hundreds were half of a mile, and they ran five of those. Then they did a cool down run and stretched. After that, the two sisters walked over to the high school to wait for their older sisters to finish up their practices.
“I feel like Dad and Mom are still hiding something from us,” Elise said as they walked together on the sidewalk to the high school.
“Yeah… maybe. I’ve never noticed them ever being secretive before until you and Diana were kidnapped.”
“I know. They probably have a lot on their minds, though.”
When the girls all got home from practice, they saw that their parents were at the kitchen table talking together. They all walked into the kitchen.
“We’re back safe and sound,” Austy assured them. Their parents answered with nods.
“Is something wrong?” Adara asked, sitting down with them.
“Well, your mom and I have been thinking,” Mr. Rethman began, “we believe that it would probably be best if you girls went away for a few weeks.”
“What do you mean?” Austy asked, her throat suddenly going dry with worry.
“You see, I think you girls had best stay away for a while, so your mom and I can finish up this whole business with the trapdoor. We’re going to go through Grandma’s things in our cellar again to see if we really have the key,” he explained.
“You mean we can’t help you with the whole trapdoor mystery?” Arianna’s shoulders sagged.
“We think it’d just be best for you girls to stay in New York with your aunt for a bit. Just while we get all this cleared up. We already asked them if it was okay, and they’d be more than glad to have y’all. You girls won’t have to do schoolwork while there, but you won’t get school off for the month around Christmas since you’ll be catching back up.”
Austy’s mouth dropped open, “Go to the wretched city?”
“It’s not wretched, Austy,” Adara corrected. “It would be quite fun.”
“I’d much rather stay here,” Austy sighed. She glared at Adara. Adara was always more willing to go to new places, especially cities. Of course she’d be the one to like to go to New York.
“I suppose if it’s best, then we had better go,” Lexie said. “It would be nice to see our cousins again. We haven’t seen them since they were living here in Clyde for a while. Then we have our other aunt and uncle and their family up there. And our grandparents live up there, too. I suppose it wouldn’t be too terribly awful, if it wasn’t for too long!”
“No, it won’t be,” her dad promised. “We’ll send for you as soon as we think we have everything figured out.”
“Are you completely decided that we’re going?” Austy asked.
“No. We’re going to think about it for a bit and then tell you girls what we decided.”
“But what about cross country? We’ve only gotten two meets done! I really enjoy it,” said Elise.
“We understand, but if Helen’s still around, it’s not safe for you girls to be around either.”
“Are you and Mom not in danger, then?”
“We are, but we can’t just leave. We have to figure out why she keeps harassing us.”
“I thought you said it was because she wanted to figure out what was under the trapdoor?”
“Yes, but we don’t know her full intentions, so we want you girls away from trouble for now. Do you understand?”
The girls nodded. They were disappointed.
CHAPTER 21
The Note
Two days later, Mr. Rethman had the girls quit their sports. The girls were very sad as they did their last practices with their confused teammates. The coaches were upset as well, but Mr. Rethman had long talks with them, and they seemed to completely understand when he was through.
When they came home, Mr. Rethman had another “family meeting” in which he told the girls that they’d have to leave on Saturday.
“Saturday! But today’s Thursday! That’s not much time to pack,” Lexie said.
“No, but the sooner you girls get to New York, the sooner your mother and I can sort through this mess.”
“We decided that I would take you girls on a shopping day, and then you can have your friends over before you leave,” their mom explained.
“Now that sounds fun!” the girls all exclaimed together, though they still weren’t sure about the whole matter yet.
“You girls can run off now and do what you need to do,” Mr. Rethman said.
“Maybe this won’t be so bad after all,” Elise said as Lexie, Arianna, Austy, and she ran outside to play a game of soccer.
There were two small soccer nets set up, and the girls battled each other for the ball. It was Arianna and Austy versus Lexie and Elise. No one really played goalie, they just ran around trying to score goals.
When Arianna and Austy together scored a goal, Elise exclaimed, “We should see if our friends can come over this afternoon right after we go shopping!”
“That’d be fun!” Austy nodded.
When their soccer game was over, they came back inside and their mom said they could go shopping now. The girls all got ready, grabbed their purses, and walked to the van.
They shopped at a local clothing store where they each got a nice outfit for their trip to New York at their cousins’. They also got some necessities for the long drive up. Afterward, they got groceries from the supermarket, and when they were all ready, they came back home and put everything away.
“You girls can call your friends now to see if they can come over,” their dad told them.
“Why don’t we just ride bikes to the Simpsons’ house?” Adara asked.
“Yeah, that’d be fun!” Lexie exclaimed. “Let’s go!”
They hurried to the shed and grabbed out their bikes. The Simpsons only lived three miles away.
The girls all set off down the road. The birds chirped and frogs croaked as they pedaled along on the road. The clear blue sky spread above them and the hot sun shone bright. They rode the three miles down the hilly, twisty road to the Simpsons’ house. When they rode up the driveway, the Simpsons’ friendly dog ran to greet them. The Simpson girls
came rushing out of their house as well.
“Hey!” they all waved.
The Rethman sisters parked their bikes.
“Y’all want to spend the night at our house?” Austy asked.
“Sure! We have to ask our parents!” Brianna ran into the house. She came out a minute later. “We can go!”
“All right! Let’s pack and then we can meet y’all at your house,” Leah exclaimed.
“Sounds great!” Adara waved. “See y’all soon! Don’t forget swimsuits!”
The Rethman girls pedaled back to their house and then hopped into the car and drove to the Davis’ house. The two Davis girls were also able to spend the night.
When their friends arrived, the girls spent the rest of the day swimming, running around in the woods, horseback riding on Ranger and Midnight, and playing soccer and volleyball. They set up tents in the backyard to sleep in later.
Elise and Iris went trail riding together. They bounced along on the horses’ backs as they galloped down the trails. They ran into a lot of spiderwebs spread across the path, but they didn’t mind. It was too fun. Elise missed riding on Blossom’s back. She hoped her parents would pick up the horse soon from the farm in Tuscola
The older girls were playing volleyball. They enjoyed playing it together.
For supper they had campfire food. It tasted so good when cooked that way.
“It’s just like a couple weeks ago when our families got together,” Brianna told Austy.
“Yeah, that was a lot of fun,” answered Austy.
The crackling fire and the smell of roasting sausages filled the air.
After supper, they played more games and it became darker and darker out. The fireflies flew around everywhere like little glowing lights.
The girls didn’t get into the tents until close to midnight. The oldest girls all shared a tent, and then Arianna, Emma, Elise, and Iris all shared a tent together.
“Wow,” Elise yawned. “It’s midnight! We need to get to sleep!”
“Yeah, so why are you guys going to New York?” Iris asked.
The girls had already told their friends that they’d be gone for a little while.
“We’re going to stay in New York with our aunt, uncle, and cousins,” Elise answered.
“That’s why you’re going?” Emma asked as she climbed into her sleeping bag.
“Mostly,” Arianna sighed. “Dad doesn’t want us talking about it much.”
“Oh,” Emma laid down and put her hands behind her head, staring up at the top of the tent.
“That would be cool to go up to New York,” Iris said.
“Yeah, it’ll be all right,” Arianna said. “Hopefully it’s not very long at all.”
“I’m switching off the lantern light,” Elise said. The other girls nodded and laid down as she did so.
They all eventually fell asleep, although it was very hard because they constantly had other things they wanted to talk about with their friends.
Right before Austy’s eyes closed, she thought she saw a dark shadow pass by her tent. She didn’t think anything of it, being half asleep. She closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep. She was the last one to fall asleep.
The next morning, at the first sign of light entering the tent, they got up, dressed in the house, and rushed off to do things together. They all had left their shoes by the tent opening, and Austy found a piece of paper sticking out of her tennis shoe. She picked it up.
“What is that?” Brianna asked.
“I’m not sure,” Austy was confused. Her heart was pumping fast as she opened it up. It read:
Give up your silly search of the treasure. We will get it before you. I have more spies than you think. You are all in danger if you stay around. Don’t even try to put up a fight. We will win. Beware. Leave this property now or you will regret it. This is your last chance.
Austy tore off toward the house.
“Austy! What is it?” Brianna called after her, confused. She had tried to see what the paper said from over Austy’s shoulder but hadn’t been able to make out a word.
“Dad!” Austy ran into the house. She showed the paper to him.
“We need you girls in New York soon!” he exclaimed. “We’ll have to call off your friend’s visit now. You girls need to pack.”
So they had to abruptly end their great fun. Their friends were very confused, but Austy told them it was urgent. “We’re leaving soon,” she explained. “We won’t see you for probably a couple weeks.”
They all hugged and said their goodbyes.
“Call me as often as you can!” Leah told Adara.
“I will!” the latter answered.
“Come on. We have to hurry up and pack,” Arianna said, as their friends drove away.
The girls all dashed into the house.
“You girls can get everything you need packed. I think we’ll have you go sooner than we expected,” Mrs. Rethman said.
The girls went upstairs to do as commanded. They pulled out suitcases from the upstairs’ closet and began packing.
“I’m glad we each got a nice outfit from the clothing store,” Arianna said to Elise, packing the lovely dress she had bought.
When they had packed everything they thought they would need for the trip, they enjoyed some family time the rest of the day, not knowing when they’d be able to do that again.
Austy, however, was still a little scared by the note that had been placed in her shoe.
CHAPTER 22
Map to Treasure
Early the next morning at five-thirty, the girls all packed snacks for the trip up and ate breakfast. Then they loaded everything into the van.
They all hugged and kissed their parents goodbye, not knowing how long it’d be till they saw them again.
“Make sure you call me when you get there so I know that you arrived safely,” Mrs. Rethman said, already worrying about them.
“We will,” Adara assured her as she jumped into the driver’s seat. Austy claimed “shotgun,” so the other girls hopped into the other vacant seats.
“Be careful with all that city traffic! I don’t want you girls to get hurt!” Mrs. Rethman yelled as they shut the doors.
“All right, Mom!” Adara responded. Then she turned the key in the ignition and the van roared to life. She rolled down all the windows. The girls stuck their heads out and waved hard as their van pulled away from their parents’ view and their beautiful rustic red house, down the long twisty lane and past the creek that swirled and ran under their driveway in a big black pipe at the end of the lane. They all looked back at their wonderful home as they turned left to head out of their hometown, Clyde, North Carolina.
The girls in the back all tried to sleep, but Elise couldn’t get over how fast everything had happened. It was too much to take in.
Adara followed the route the map showed, and they all sat still, watching the gorgeous rolling countryside of North Carolina pass by.
Towns flew by, and they traveled on through the states.
Another hour passed as they drove along. The girls in the back were all talking now and Adara and Austy were figuring out where they would stop to eat when it was time for lunch.
After two more long hours of driving, they stopped in West Virginia for lunch.
Adara parked the van at “Arby’s.”
“I haven’t had Arby’s in forever!” Lexie exclaimed, clambering out of the van.
“Oh, I’m so cramped from sitting for so long,” Austy said, stretching as she got out of the front seat of the van.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” Elise told them as she also hopped out of the van.
The five sisters entered the restaurant and went straight to the bathroom.
Soon after, they were ordering their food and then sitting at the restaurant table enjoying it.
“Shouldn’t we have taken this for ‘on the go’?” Lexie asked.
“Nah, we needed a break from the van,” Austy pointed out.
/> “I suppose.”
“How much farther do we got?” Elise prodded Adara.
“I’m not sure.” Adara took out a map. The others leaned forward to see what she was doing. Then Adara took out a pen and paper from her purse and began writing the routes down. “So we started on route 40,” she began, writing that down. “Then we went to route 85. We’ve been taking route 95 for a while and will take it all the way through Maryland. Then it changes to route 495,” Adara continued to write it all down. “We’ll take route 495 till we get to the capital city of New York. We’ve been traveling by main highways the whole way and will continue to do so till we’re there,” she finished.
“Okay, sounds good,” Lexie nodded. She took a bite out of her roast beef sandwich and savored the taste as she chewed.
Elise was enjoying her curly fries. She and Arianna had a game going as they were eating the fries. They would each try to find the biggest fry and then compare their fry to each other. It was a silly game, but they were enjoying it. When they had finished up their sandwiches, fries, and milkshakes, they got up and headed out the door. They all climbed back into the van and Adara drove to the nearby gas station where she filled the van up on gas.
Arianna looked about her as they were stopped at the gas station. All kinds of vehicles rode by on the highway. She spotted a helicopter up in the cloudy sky, and she watched as a soft patter of rain began to hit her window.
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