Sydney: 4-in-1 Mysteries for Girls

by Jean Fischer

  “And that all fits with the clues,” Sydney conceded.

  “See?” said Galilahi. “And the village lady said that there are dead trees there.”

  “But what about the water part?” Elizabeth asked. “Acts 8:36.”

  “It’s there too,” said Kate. “The Blowing Rock overhangs Johns River Gorge, so there has to be water down there somewhere, and my guess is that you have to travel along a road to get to it.”

  “Oh my goodness!” said Elizabeth. “Maybe we’re really on to something.”

  “But,” Sydney added, “it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

  Kate flashed her never-fear-Kate-is-here smile. “That’s where I can assist,” she said. “Do you remember when you guys were chasing the would-be assassins in Washington DC, and I rigged up a cell phone as a tracking device?”

  “How could we forget?” Elizabeth answered. “It helped save our lives.”

  “Well, I’ve created something similar. It involves tapping into satellites and the technologies used by explorers who searched for Noah’s Ark. I’ve created software that can help you find certain objects from the air.”

  “You mean like Superman’s x-ray vision?” said Galilahi as she looked at the doodles on Sydney’s paper.

  “Not exactly,” Kate answered. “You can’t see through things, but this technology can detect shapes of objects down below and create a rough computer model of what it sees. The best thing is that you can load the program onto a cell phone and use the phone as the locator.”

  “Cool!” said Sydney. “How exactly does it work?”

  “Well,” Kate explained, “let’s say that I’m looking for a cabin. I can program some rough dimensions into my cell phone. That gives the device a clue about what I want it to search for. Then I punch in a numerical code that connects the cell phone to a satellite feed. The data I programmed into the cell phone bounces up to the satellite and back down to Earth. I can point my cell phone at the ground while I’m in an airplane, and if it detects something down below that fits the data, it creates a computer model that I can view on my cell phone screen. It will also lock in and store the latitude and longitude. So, when I’m back on the ground, I know exactly where to go to find what the locater found.”

  “Wow, Kate, that’s awesome!” Sydney said. “But it won’t help us if it’s on your phone in Philadelphia.”

  “You can load the software onto any cell phone,” Kate answered. “Either of yours will work fine. I’ve just uploaded the program to our Camp Club Girls’ web page. Why don’t you go there right now and download it to your laptop? Then I’ll tell you how to load it onto your phones. We’ll fix it so one of you can look for cabins and the other can look for caves. How’s that?”

  “Perfect,” said Elizabeth.

  “Ditto,” Sydney echoed.

  While Sydney and Elizabeth downloaded the software and programmed their cell phones, Galilahi looked again at Grandma Hisgi’s Bible. She thought that maybe it held other clues that they might have missed. She opened the cover and read to herself the list of names: GALILAHI ADAIR COODY, SALLI COODY LIGHTFOOT, LUCY LIGHTFOOT KINGFISHER— She hesitated. NANNY KINGFISHER FIELDS—MARY FIELDS ROGERS!

  Oh my, she thought. It couldn’t possibly be. She jotted the names down on a sheet of paper and slipped the paper into her jeans pocket.

  “Sometimes it’s best to keep a secret,” she said out loud.

  “What?” Sydney asked.

  “Oh, nothing,” Galilahi responded.

  “Oh. Right,” said Sydney. She was preoccupied with figuring out how to use the software.

  Galilahi hadn’t been paying much attention. She was thinking about Billy John Kingfisher and wondering what he knew. In the past few minutes, as she’d read the names, Galilahi decided that Sydney was right. Billy John might be hiding something from them.

  “Okay, Kate.” Sydney said. “I think we have both phones programmed. Explain to us how to use them.”

  Kate pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Syd, yours is programmed to look for a cabin. The dimensions we entered are similar to an average-sized log cabin where settlers might have lived during the mid-1800s. Tomorrow, as you’re flying over the Blowing Rock in the helicopter, just point your cell phone toward the ground like you’re taking a picture. If it detects anything down there that fits the dimensions, it’ll let you know by vibrating. Then look at the screen. The software will create a simple line drawing of what it found. If you save the drawing, you will also save its latitude and longitude coordinates. Understand?”

  “I get it,” said Sydney.

  Elizabeth was writing down Kate’s instructions in case the girls needed to refer to them later.

  “Does my cell phone work the same way?” she asked.

  “Almost,” Kate answered. “Beth, you point your cell phone at the ground, and it will look for caves. When it finds one, your phone will vibrate to let you know. You won’t get a drawing, though. Instead, you’ll receive data about how big the cave is and its longitude and latitude. That’s the best I can do for caves. My advice is to look for a place where a bunch of caves are close together.”

  Elizabeth wrote down: “Look for a bunch of caves.”

  Sydney’s forehead wrinkled with frustration. “You realize, Kate, that we’ll be flying over miles and miles of wilderness and mountains. We’re bound to find more than one cabin down there.”

  “But think about it,” Galilahi said. “We’re looking for an old cabin hidden in the wilderness, and it has to be close to caves and rocks. If we see anything that doesn’t fit, we should ignore it.”

  “And any cabin we find has to fit with the wind and water clues too,” Elizabeth contributed. “So that should further eliminate some of them—”

  Kate interrupted. “And, then again, you may not find anything that fits the criteria. But you can trust my software. It works. And one more thing, I’ve set it up so all of the Camp Club Girls can see the data from your phones. We’ll be analyzing what you’ve found, and we can text you with our thoughts.”

  Galilahi’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. “It’s my dad,” she said, taking the call. She went into the living room so she wouldn’t disturb the girls’ conversation.

  “Alexis and McKenzie are working on the genealogy angle,” Kate said. “They’re trying to find out more about Galilahi Adair Coody.”

  “Grandma Hisgi,” Elizabeth said.

  “Right,” Kate confirmed. “But instead of searching for information about the Adair family, they’re looking at the Coody family and their ancestors. There might be a connection that mentions Grandma Hisgi.”

  “That’s a great idea,” said Sydney. “If we find out about Grandma Hisgi’s husband, that might help us learn more about her.”

  “Send us a text message if you uncover anything important,” Elizabeth told her.

  “I will,” Kate promised. “And Bailey is working on the name, Cabin of the Rising Sun. Her mom knows a docent at a historical museum near their home. The docent has Cherokee relatives, so maybe she can help us.”

  “What’s a docent?” Sydney asked.

  “Someone who takes you on a tour and explains things,” Elizabeth said. “I know because they have docents at the Amarillo Museum of Art.”

  Galilahi walked into the kitchen. “We’re all set, if it’s okay with your aunt, Sydney. Dad will fly us to Blowing Rock tomorrow morning. That’s not only the name of the cliff, but also of the town where it is. He almost didn’t let us go, but I convinced him. He trusts Billy John, and as long as he comes with us, we have Dad’s permission.”

  “I’m sure Aunt Dee will give us permission to go as long as you got your dad’s permission,” Sydney said. “Tomorrow the four of us will go to Blowing Rock. But, Galilahi, Billy John is not to know about Kate’s software. Our spy stuff is top secret. Do you promise?”

  “I promise,” Galilahi said.

  Trailing Through the Woods

  The next da
y, Sydney asked Mr. Lowrey to fly low over the Blowing Rock and the rugged terrain around it.

  “The Blowing Rock is North Carolina’s oldest attraction,” said Galilahi’s dad. He swung the helicopter toward the rock and flew in wide circles above it. “It’s been open to the public since 1933. Blowing Rock is actually a cliff that overhangs a gorge several thousand feet below. It got its name because the walls of the gorge make a chute, a sort of chimney, and the northwest wind shoots up it. Sometimes, the wind is so strong that objects thrown over the cliff will fly right back up.”

  Galilahi laughed. “Dad, you sound like a tour guide.”

  “I am, honey,” he said. “I know all about this part of North Carolina. In the few months since I’ve been on the job, I’ve seen just about everything from the air.”

  “Except the Cabin of the Rising Sun,” Galilahi said with a sigh. “You’re still looking for it when you fly around, aren’t you?”

  Her dad didn’t answer.

  “There is no such thing.” Billy John’s voice came into the girls’ headphones.

  Sydney felt her face turn hot.

  “Billy John,” she said as calmly as she could. “Do you know something about the Cabin of the Rising Sun that you’re not telling us?”

  His answer was terse. “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Then how do you know that it doesn’t exist?” Sydney blurted.

  The boy turned in his seat and looked at her.

  “Because,” he said, “I know that most of the old cabins around here were destroyed as settlers came to North Carolina and built neighborhoods with modern houses. A few of the old Indian cabins were moved to the Indian Village museum where you were yesterday.

  “If a mysterious old Cherokee cabin was hidden somewhere in the mountains, don’t you think someone would have found it by now? It would be as famous as the Blowing Rock.”

  It wasn’t the answer Sydney had hoped for. She sat quietly, silently counting to ten, trying to calm herself.

  He’s such a know-it-all, she said to herself. One … two … three … four …

  Elizabeth pointed her phone toward the ground. “Mr. Lowrey, would you mind circling over the area so we can take pictures? We want to send them to our friends.”

  Sydney aimed her phone at the ground too. “Yes, we’d like to record the whole experience of flying in a helicopter over the North Carolina wilderness,” she added. “It’ll be like our friends are taking a virtual field trip.”

  Mr. Lowrey obliged. He flew low over the area, occasionally identifying points of interest. “Over there, to the southwest, you can see Hawksbill Mountain and Table Rock. If you look due west, you’ll see Grandfather Mountain.”

  “That’s the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains,” said Billy John.

  “And Mount Mitchell,” Galilahi’s dad continued.

  “The highest peak east of the Mississippi River,” Billy John added haughtily.

  Sydney felt the muscles in her face tighten. She tried to stop the scowl that swept across her forehead. “How do you know so much?” she asked.

  “Because I explore,” Billy John responded. “That’s how you learn stuff. You explore and you ask plenty of questions.”

  “And I suppose you always get straight answers,” said Sydney.

  Suddenly, Elizabeth’s cell phone vibrated. She looked at the screen and saw rows of numbers spilling onto it. She didn’t understand any of them.

  “Oh,” she gasped, “I hope Kate is watching this and analyzing the data.” Then, realizing that she’d said it out loud, she looked to Sydney.

  “Who’s Kate?” Billy John asked. “What data?”

  Elizabeth saved the numbers to her cell phone’s memory. “Urn … Kate is our friend in Pennsylvania,” she said. “She’s been helping us with … uh … with a project that has to do with a new invention … a technological invention …”

  Sydney looked at Elizabeth and caught her eye. Don’t say too much, she thought.

  Elizabeth looked back at her with desperation.

  “Did you know explorers are planning to search again for Noah’s Ark?” Sydney didn’t know why she said that, but the words just came out. She had to say something to move the conversation away from Kate and the data.

  “What’s that have to do with anything?” said Billy John.

  “Mountains,” Sydney replied, thinking quickly. “I thought about it because of the mountains. A lot of people believe that Noah’s Ark is still on Mount Ararat in Turkey.”

  They flew without talking for several minutes. Elizabeth’s phone continued to vibrate, and she saved the data, hoping Kate and the girls were making sense of it. “Mr. Lowrey,” she said, “are there any caves around here?”

  Billy John was the one who answered. “We’re getting near the Linville Caverns.”

  Sydney kept her cell phone pointed at the ground and waited.

  “The Linville Caverns are deep inside Humpback Mountain,” Billy John said. “They were discovered more than two hundred years ago and were used as a hide-out for Civil War soldiers. A stream runs through the caverns. If you got lost, you could follow the flow of the stream to find your way out.”

  Sydney grew excited. She and Elizabeth exchanged a knowing look. Galilahi caught it, and her face brightened.

  “Water, mountains, and rocks!” Galilahi exclaimed. “That has to be the place!”

  Sydney poked her with her elbow. “That’s very interesting, Billy John,” Sydney said. “Mr. Lowrey, do you think you could fly low over where the caves are, so we can get a better look?”

  The copter made a wide sweep to the southwest.

  Sydney recited Ecclesiastes 1:5-7 to herself and thought about the clues. “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises”—East. “The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course”—Blowing Rock, where the wind blows up and down. “All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again”—A stream cut a path through Humpback Mountain and it still flows there today.

  She thought hard, remembering the other scripture clues. “As they traveled along the road, they came to some water; trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead”; “every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.”

  She didn’t know yet how all the clues fit together, but she had a feeling the answer might lie near the caves.

  Mr. Lowrey made a wide circle, and they approached the caverns from the east. Suddenly, Sydney’s phone vibrated. A line drawing of a cabin appeared on the screen, and Sydney looked at the earth. She could barely make out a rough shingled roof among the towering pine trees.

  “Look, down there!” she said. “I think I see a cabin.”

  Galilahi and Elizabeth looked to where Sydney was pointing. “I see it too!” Galilahi exclaimed. “It’s hidden in the woods. Maybe it’s the Cabin of the Rising Sun.”

  “Lea, we’ve talked about this before,” her dad protested. “Your great-great-great-great-great-grandmother’s cabin no longer exists. Your mother and I said you may look for it, just for fun, but this is getting out of hand.”

  Billy John turned and looked at the girls. “Mr. L. is right. There are hundreds of cabins down there, mostly owned by people who can afford a vacation house in the mountains.”

  Sydney wasn’t going to give up. She had a feeling about the area around the Linville Caverns, and she wanted to check it out.

  “But this cabin seems to be tucked in the woods away from the others,” she said. “I think we should go there. We’ve seen the Blowing Rock from the air. I vote that we check out the caverns instead.”

  She looked at the other girls, silently pleading with them to agree.

  “I vote for the caverns too,” said Galilahi.

  “Me too,” Elizabeth said.

  Mr. Lowrey looked at Billy John. “Well, what do you think?” he asked.
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  “Set her down near the caverns,” Billy John answered. “I’d rather hang out there than at the Blowing Rock anyway. It’s a hot day, and it’ll be cool inside the mountain. You’ll have to radio Jay at the office, though, and have him get permission for you to put down near the caves. There’s an old parking lot about a hundred yards from the entrance. If they’ll let you, you can set her down there.”

  Galilahi’s dad radioed the heliport office and asked Jay to get permission for them to land near the caverns. While they waited for a reply, Sydney got a text message from Kate: You ARE 50 MI SOUTHWEST OF BLOWING ROCK. ASK TO GO TO LINVILLE CAVERNS. 411 SHOWS IMP LANDMRKS. CAVES & RIVERS BELOW. K8

  Sydney replied: WE KNOW. THAT’S THE PLAN. SEE CABIN EAST OF CAVERNS. WE’LL CHECK IT OUT.

  “They said you can land in the parking lot north of the entrance.” Jay’s voice crackled in their headphones. “Then head back here, Jack. We have a group of tourists waiting.”

  “Ten-four,” said Mr. Lowrey. The helicopter swooped toward the northwest, and Galilahi’s dad lowered it onto the empty lot. He shut down the engine.

  “Enjoy yourselves,” he said. “But don’t wander off and get lost. When you’re done at the cave, there are plenty of marked trails that you can hike and other public places to explore. Billy John knows his way around, so listen to what he says. I’ll be back at three o’clock to get you.” He looked at his daughter. “Do you understand?”

  Galilahi slid open the helicopter’s door.

  “We’ll be good, Dad,” she promised. “And by the time you come to get us, we’ll have found the Cabin of the Rising Sun.”

  Billy John shook his head and laughed.

  As Sydney climbed out of the helicopter, her cell phone vibrated. It was another message from Kate: LOOK 4 TRAIL EAST OF CAVERN ENTRANCE. FOLLOW IT ABOUT 1 MILE TO THE CABIN. K8

  She showed the message to Elizabeth and Galilahi. Luckily, Billy John didn’t notice. He was getting last-minute instructions from Mr. Lowrey.