The Hidden Treasure

by Jessica Burkhart

“Why are you all smiling?” Bella asked. “Vi, what did that ‘oh, right’ mean?”

  “Um, well,” Violet started. “Bells, I’m sorry. I love you, but your drawing skills . . . let’s just say that Clara asked the right person for this particular job.”

  “Hey!” Bella said. She sat up and reached for an outdoor pillow on the nearest lounge chair. She lightly tossed it at Violet, then picked up another and tossed it at Clara.

  Ivy cracked up.

  Bella smiled. At least they could laugh about the whole secret, scary mission! The news about Queen Fire hadn’t exactly been the kind of news that the princess liked to share with her friends. It made her sad when she made them upset.

  “Oh, so you agree with them?” Bella asked Ivy, trying to keep a fake frown on her face. “Then you can have a pillow too!”

  “Nooo!” Ivy managed to say as she continued to giggle.

  But there wasn’t another pillow in Bella’s reach. She darted to the next lounge chair and grabbed a pillow from there.

  Bella launched the pillow into the air as the other girls shrieked and jumped. As they giggled and jumped into the pool, Bella was happy that she wasn’t in this alone.

  4

  Unicorn Sparks

  “That’s an hour!” Ivy said, reaching over to shut off the timer. She, Bella, and Clara were on the princess’s bed with vocab flash cards spread all around them.

  Earlier that morning, Bella had come home from the Rainbow Rail Express Station, where she and her parents had dropped off Violet. The cousins had shared a fierce hug, and Violet had whispered that Bella had to keep her updated about Queen Fire. After Bella and her parents got back, Clara and Ivy came over to study and start on Operation: Find the Crystal.

  “I’m so glad your parents let us come over,” Clara said. “Studying for an hour wasn’t too bad.”

  Queen Katherine had allowed Bella to have friends come over today only if they studied for the upcoming week’s vocabulary quiz.

  “An hour was okay,” Bella said. “But being stuck in school starting tomorrow is going to take up lots of time. Time that we could be using to search for the crystal.”

  “I know,” Ivy said. “But if we don’t get good grades, then you know our parents will only let us see each other in class. And then we would really be in a big pickle!”

  Bella nodded, putting a rubber band around the flash cards. “That is true,” she agreed. “This is so the wrong week for us to be kept apart!” She leaned close to her friends. “I want to make a list of places to search for the crystal, but let me see where my parents are. Did you guys bring your notebooks?”

  Ivy and Clara nodded, and each girl reached for her backpack.

  Bella hopped off her bed and pressed the button next to her intercom. Long before she had even been born, cameras had been put in all over the castle and its grounds. They helped keep everyone safe.

  “Where are Mom and Dad?” Bella asked, letting go of the blue button. Immediately, two screens appeared on the wall. Queen Katherine was in the living room, smiling and laughing with two of her own best friends. “Mom: check,” Bella said in a whisper. King Phillip, seated at his giant desk, rubbed his chin and frowned at whatever was on the papers in front of him. “Dad: check.”

  “Clear?” Ivy asked.

  Nodding, Bella turned off the cameras and climbed back onto her bed. “We don’t have to whisper—just keep our ears open. Mom’s got friends downstairs, and Dad’s in the opposite wing in his office.”

  The princess picked up a pen she’d been using and grabbed her Secret Scribble notebook from her nightstand.

  “Let me see if Violet can hang with us,” Bella said, picking up her Chat Crystal. “She should be home by now.” Bella put the clear, smooth stone on her palm. “Chat Crystal, please ask Violet if she can talk to me and my friends. She has to be alone.”

  The crystal swirled pink, purple, and yellow while it relayed Bella’s message to her cousin. Within a few seconds, a light began to project up from the stone.

  “Yay, she’s free!” Bella said. She put the Chat Crystal on a pillow at the front of her bed. The light switched to a fuzzy outline of a person, and then Violet popped into view. Just like Bella, Ivy, and Clara, Violet sat on her bed with her pink Secret Scribble notebook on her lap.

  “Hi!” Violet said, waving. Her bright-yellow comforter covered in white daisies matched her bubbly personality.

  “Hi!” Bella and her friends chorused back.

  “You messaged me at the perfect time,” Violet said. “I got home a few hours ago, and my parents are out at some kind of grown-up event.”

  “I miss you already,” Bella said. “But I’m glad you’re ‘here’ to help.”

  Violet stuck out her lower lip. “I miss all of you, too! I’m sorry I can’t be there, Bells, but I’ll do everything I can from here. Oh!” Vi held up a folded piece of paper. “This is the map I promised to draw. Hold on a second.”

  Violet put down the paper and placed her Chat Crystal on top. “Please send this to Princess Bella of Crystal Kingdom,” she said.

  The Foris princess had no sooner finished her sentence when a paper floated down from the ceiling and landed in Bella’s lap.

  “Got it,” Bella said, smiling and holding it up so Violet could see.

  “I hope it’s helpful,” Vi said. “I did the best I could.”

  “I’m sure it will be,” Bella said as she unfolded the paper. “Violet!” she exclaimed.

  The map was easily four times as big as Bella’s notebook. Violet had managed to draw all of the sparkly and important details of the Crystal Castle. She even included the lush and beautiful gardens that were on the grounds of the castle—some of Bella’s favorite places!

  “Um, wow,” Clara said.

  Ivy’s eyes were wide. “How did you do this?! This is amazing!”

  Violet’s cheeks blushed almost as red as her hair. “Thank you! I started to draw the castle but realized that I didn’t know every room, even though I’ve visited a lot.”

  “I live here, and I don’t even know every room!” Bella said. All of the girls laughed.

  “I virtually visited Foris Kingdom’s library, and because I’m a princess, I was able to see really old maps of the castle,” Violet said. “It was the perfect thing to do on the train. So I used those to help me. That map should have every single room of Crystal Castle on it.”

  “Every one is labeled,” Bella said, touching the headings for KITCHEN and FIRST-FLOOR GREAT ROOM.

  “Violet, thank you,” Bella said. “This is going to help so much. I’m holding on to this map to use next time I’m half-asleep and my mom is calling me to breakfast!”

  The cousins smiled at each other. A clock chimed in Violet’s room, and Bella was soon reminded of the reason that she and her friends were all gathered.

  “Is it okay if we all start throwing out ideas and I’ll write them down in this notebook?” Bella asked. “Tomorrow after school, we can start with the ones that seem like the best guesses and check them off as we go. Today, after we make the list, I’ll go to Queen Fire’s castle.”

  “We’ll have your back,” Ivy said.

  “Ivy and Clara, you won’t be able to cover for Bella every second while she’s searching for the crystal or with Queen Fire,” Violet said. “What if you covered for them, Bella? You could assign different rooms of the castle to each other. Bella, you would know the castle the best, so maybe you can search some rooms that aren’t used as much after your parents go to sleep or are busy. Rooms that aren’t as familiar to Ivy and Clara.”

  “Smart,” Clara said. “Bells, maybe you could also search any rooms—like your parents’ bedroom—that would be fine if you were caught in them, but not if Ivy and I were found.”

  “Brilliant,” Bella said.

  “Everyone is a million percent sure that their notebook is totally secret, right?” Ivy asked, worried.

  “Yes,” Bella said. “I kept testing mine last night to
make sure. I must have opened and closed it a dozen times.”

  “I did the same thing,” Clara said.

  “Me too,” Violet added.

  “Okay, so on to the list,” Bella said. “Basement and basement storage rooms.”

  “I’ll check off rooms on the map once you write them down,” Clara said. She made two tiny pink check marks on Violet’s map. “Don’t forget—we have to really check each room. Like spies. We have to move paintings, look under rugs—stuff like that. The crystal probably isn’t in plain sight.”

  The other girls nodded.

  “How about the library?” Ivy said. She wrinkled her nose. “Oops. Sorry—I meant libraries.”

  Bella wrote that into her notebook.

  The four friends worked nonstop until each wing of the castle was divided up. Bella made a big wish on all the stars in Crystal Kingdom that this plan would work.

  * * *

  “Glimmer, I have to tell you a secret,” Bella began.

  Her unicorn’s purple-tinged ears swiveled back and forth—something Glimmer did when she was nervous.

  A couple of hours ago, the princess and her friends had finished with their list of rooms. Bella’s mom still had guests, thankfully, so the queen had been a little distracted when Bella had told her that she, Ivy, and Clara were going outside to play in the gardens and stables.

  Bella had just left her friends in Snapdragon Garden and had collected Glimmer from the Royal Stables.

  They were in one of the many large pastures that King Phillip and Queen Katherine kept for the royal unicorns. Bella had taken Glimmer far away from the stables so no one could hear them. She hoped the Busy Bees would stay away.

  “You have to trust me and not get scared,” Bella said. She smoothed her cheery sky-blue sundress and took a deep breath.

  Glimmer’s mostly white coat dazzled in the sunlight like thousands of diamonds. Her mane and tail were purple—the color of Bella’s aura.

  Bella looked into Glimmer’s big brown eyes. “I’m going to Queen Fire’s castle.”

  Glimmer snorted and threw up her head.

  “Shhh, it’s okay,” Bella said. “I promise! I owe her a favor, remember?”

  Glimmer stared at Bella with scared eyes.

  Bella and Glimmer were so close that their bond allowed Bella to read Glimmer’s thoughts by watching the unicorn’s body language. They had been together since Bella’s eighth birthday, when Glimmer had been the one, out of a lineup of royal unicorns, who had matched Bella’s aura. Once a royal and a unicorn were paired, they took care of each other for life.

  “You want me to take you with me?” Bella asked. “I can’t. There’s less of a chance that Mom and Dad will notice I’m gone if you’re still here.”

  The unicorn shook her head, and tiny sparks began to crackle all over her body. They were like tiny firecrackers that left itsy-bitsy clouds of smoke.

  Bella gasped. She put a hand on Glimmer’s forehead. “Oh, Glimmer, don’t be so worried about me! Is that why you’re . . . sparking?”

  Glimmer bobbed her head; her purple mane flew everywhere, some hairs staying stuck up after she’d finished moving.

  “Oh, poor girl,” Bella said, reaching forward and fixing the bits of mane.

  She threw her arms around the unicorn’s neck. She hugged Glimmer tight. The sparks slowly stopped until the final poof of smoke disappeared. “Glimmer, please don’t be scared. The best thing you can do is be brave and not let Frederick or Ben see you sparking or acting nervous. Okay?”

  Frederick was in charge of the royal stables. His nephew, Ben, was his apprentice. Ben and Bella were good friends. Ben had been busy brushing a unicorn when Bella had passed on the way to Glimmer’s stall. Besides the need to keep everything tip-top secret, Bella wanted to keep Ben safe, too. It was bad enough that her best friends and cousin knew—and were already so deep into the plan.

  Bella swept her fingers over Glimmer’s cheek. “You really think Queen Fire might hurt me?” She paused. “I don’t, sweet girl. I saw a good side of her, and she’s my aunt. I don’t think she would ever do anything like that.”

  Glimmer snorted, dropping her head.

  “I wouldn’t go if I didn’t owe her,” Bella said. “The sooner I pay her back, the sooner we won’t ever have to think about Queen Fire again. If I get into any sort of trouble, you’ll know. Stay out here,” she added with a wave of her arm. “Eat some dandelions and take a nap. That way, I’ll be back when you wake up.”

  She hugged Glimmer, then turned away. I hope I can keep my promise, Bella thought. She touched the Chat Crystal in her pocket, comforted by knowing Ivy and Clara had their own Crystals in hand, waiting for any signal of trouble.

  “Oof,” Bella exclaimed as she jerked to a halt. She twisted around and saw that Glimmer was tugging on the hem of her dress.

  Bella couldn’t help but laugh. “Glimmer. Please don’t worry!”

  The unicorn kept her teeth clamped on Bella’s dress.

  Bella sighed. “Glimmer, if I don’t go, then there will be trouble. Please.”

  Glimmer stared at Bella with her big brown eyes and long eyelashes. Finally, she dipped her head and let go of her dress.

  “Don’t worry, Glimmer. I’ll be back in a unicorn minute!” Bella said. She kissed Glimmer’s cheek.

  Bella broke into a jog as she headed toward the castle’s drawbridge. The bridge was always protected by guards and their dogs. Bella slowed to a walk as she neared the guards.

  “Good day, Princess Bella,” a tall, thin guard greeted the princess.

  “Same to you,” Bella replied. She smiled at that guard and the one on her other side. He bowed his head as Bella passed.

  Bella walked along the drawbridge and let out a huge sigh. The guards were behind her! That meant—

  “Princess!”

  Bella stopped in her tracks.

  “Yes?” Bella said, slowly turning around. Her heart pounded in her chest and her palms sweated. Keep your cool, she thought. Don’t let the guards see that you’re nervous!

  One of the guards walked up to her, towering over her.

  Bella swallowed hard. Was her mission over before it even began?

  “This fell out of your pocket,” the guard said.

  The guard placed a small, folded piece of notebook paper on Bella’s waiting hand. She closed her fingers around the paper.

  “Thank you,” the princess said. “This was a recipe that I needed. I’m going to the sunray berry patch. My friends are staying here to find the other ingredients for sunray pie in my mom’s gardens. I’ll be back in a bit.” Bella forced herself to stop rambling.

  With a little wave to the guards, she was off again. Bella hurried—the longer she was gone, the higher the chance that she would get caught. She hoped her mom would be busy with friends the entire time that she was away, so that Ivy and Clara wouldn’t be put to the test of covering for the missing princess.

  Bella acted as if she was going to take a left and go to the sunray berry patch. She glanced behind her, and the second she was out of sight, she went in the opposite direction toward the Dark Forest. Cutting through the scary woods was the fastest way to Queen Fire’s. This was definitely a trip that Bella wanted to make as fast as possible.

  She slipped the paper that she’d been clutching into one of her jacket pockets. It was a very important note that she had written and then put a Go Home and Find Parents spell on. In the note, Bella told her parents that she was at Queen Fire’s castle in the Blacklands and needed help.

  If anything went wrong while Bella was with Queen Fire, all she had to do was drop the paper onto the ground. It would zip through the air in millions of little pieces and turn back into a readable note only when it reached the king or queen.

  A compass was in her other pocket. It would help her find the fastest path to Queen Fire’s castle.

  Bella stopped at the edge of the Dark Forest. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She look
ed back toward Crystal Castle. The sun was high in the cloudless sky. Knee-high emerald-green grass grew on both sides of the cobblestone path she had just traveled along. Rainbow butterflies floated through the air, some stopping on pink, purple, and yellow tulips that dotted the fields.

  In front of Bella was nothing but darkness. A crow cawed, and the noise made the hairs on Bella’s arms stand up. She shivered even in the warm air. The trees lining the forest entrance were leafless and skinny. The temperature dropped with each step closer to the forest—a place forbidden to Bella and all of her friends and classmates.

  “You can do this,” Bella said out loud. “This is for Glimmer.” She inhaled, saying a silent thank-you to Ivy, Clara, and Violet. The princess had a feeling that it was going to take all of them to pull this off.

  5

  The Queen’s Castle

  The Dark Forest swallowed all of the sunlight as Bella took a few steps inside. She pulled the compass crystal from her pocket. She held it in her hand, ready to give it instructions.

  “Queen Fire’s castle,” Bella said. Her voice was shaky—something that she had to fix before she spoke to Queen Fire. She couldn’t show the queen how scared she was.

  The compass shone a rainbow of light forward on the ground, pointing the way. Bella started to follow its path, then turned around. She could not see Crystal Kingdom anymore. It was as if the trees that she had passed had grown together to trap her inside the forest. Bella took another deep breath and kept going.

  Buzz!

  Bella swatted the air with both of her hands. A basketball-size fly that glowed in the dark zoomed toward her. The Hairy-Scary—a fly native to the forest—had bright-yellow wings and bulging green eyes. It was covered in glowing orange fur.

  The Dark Forest was full of gross bugs!

  “Go away!” Bella shouted as the Hairy-Scary headed toward her. She ducked before it ran into her, then started running, not even looking at the compass.

  Bella ran until she couldn’t hear the fly’s wings. She slowed down, looking behind her. Nothing but darkness and—“Oompf!”