Summer Island

by Dori Hillestad Butler

  Sai shrugged. “Let’s see.”

  Ms. Lovelace got into the vehicle. She slipped the key into the ignition, and this time the vehicle roared to life. Marly, Isla, and Sai cheered and backed away as Ms. Lovelace slowly drove out of the garage.

  “Good thinking, Ms. Lovelace!” Sai exclaimed. Marly shoved the strip of paper into her jacket pocket and went to get her stuff.

  Ms. Lovelace blushed. “You know what?” she said. “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together over the next four days. Why don’t you all call me Stella.”

  Stella left the ATV running while they piled their suitcases into the back. Marly laid her metal detector on top. Then they all climbed back in. Once everyone was buckled up, Stella drove slowly down the long tree-lined driveway.

  She stopped when she reached the “road” where they’d been walking before. It was almost wide enough to be called a road. “Which way?” she asked. “Anyone want to guess?”

  Isla peered at the map. “Believe it or not, this road is called Main Path. It goes around the whole island.”

  “That’s creative,” Marly said, leaning over so she could see the map, too.

  “Hey, Mr. Summerling had a copy of this map hanging in his dining room,” Marly said.

  “Weird,” Sai said.

  Marly tried to remember if the two maps were exactly the same or whether the cabin was marked on the map at Mr. Summerling’s house. She couldn’t recall.

  “How about I pick a direction and see what we find?” Stella said. She turned left, which was away from the boat dock. “Can you all help me watch for side trails and driveways?”

  “Sure!” Isla and Sai leaned their heads out their open windows.

  But Marly’s eyesight was so poor, she wasn’t sure how much help she could be. “Maybe I should work on the puzzle,” she said, pulling it out of her pocket.

  Sai turned around from the front seat. “If you’re going to work on the puzzle, I want to help,” he said.

  “Okay.” Marly handed him one end of the paper and they stretched it out as best they could between the front seat and back seat.

  “Careful you don’t tear it.” Isla’s brow wrinkled.

  They came to a fork in the road and Stella stopped driving. A wooden sign pointed to another path that veered off to the side: Wooded Trail. “Isla, do you see Wooded Trail on that map?”

  Sai let go of his end of the paper and peered out the window. “How is that trail any more wooded than the trail we’re already on?” he asked.

  Marly was wondering the same thing. This whole island seemed to be nothing but woods.

  “No Wooded Trail,” Isla said, raising her head. “There’s a Lost Trail, a Raven Trail, and a Deer Lane.”

  “Deer Lane?” Marly said. “Do you think there are really deer on this island?”

  “Could be,” Stella said as she continued driving. “I think I remember Harry talking about deer.”

  All of a sudden, Isla cried, “Stop!”

  “What?” Stella slammed on the brakes.

  “Sorry. Not you, Stella,” Isla said. “I meant Marly. Stop twirling that paper.”

  Marly blinked in surprise. She hadn’t realized she had been twirling it. But somehow, most of her finger was wrapped in the paper. She started to unwind it—

  “No, don’t unwind it. Not yet!” Isla put her hand over Marly’s hand. “There’s a word on your finger.”

  Marly frowned. “There is? Where?” But then she saw it. “ ‘L-O-S-T,’ ” she read, touching each of the letters.

  “Yeah, we’re lost all right,” Sai grumbled.

  Isla grinned. “I think I know how to solve the puzzle,” she said. “We need to wrap the paper around something. Something that’s longer than your finger.”

  “Oh!” Marly said eagerly. “I know what we can wrap it around.” She carefully removed the paper from her finger. Then she unfastened her seatbelt and climbed up onto her knees so she could reach her suitcase and get the stick that she’d tucked into the front pocket.

  Sai narrowed his eyes. “Where did you get that?” he asked

  “Captain Joe,” Marly replied as she plopped back down. She wound the strip of paper around the smooth stick like she was wrapping a mummy. “Hmm. Maybe this isn’t right,” she said when she had the stick half covered. “I only see random letters. No words.”

  “Try turning the stick,” Isla said.

  Marly slowly rotated it.

  “There!” Isla cried, her finger shooting out. “See? There’s LOST again.”

  The lines of letters still weren’t totally straight, but they were straight enough to spell words. “ ‘LOST TRAIL TO,’ ” Marly read.

  “Keep winding,” Isla said, jiggling Marly’s elbow.

  Marly wound the rest of the paper as fast as she could. Once she finished, the full message appeared: LOST TRAIL TO BUNNY TRAIL.

  “So, finding the cabin really is our first puzzle,” Sai said, rubbing his hands together.

  “And this strip of paper was our first clue,” Marly said.

  Isla pored over the map. “I see a Lost Trail,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “But no Bunny Trail.”

  “Well, let’s find Lost Trail,” Stella said. “Then we’ll worry about Bunny Trail. Buckle up, Marly.”

  Marly fastened her seatbelt, and Stella started driving again.

  The girls checked the map. “Shouldn’t be much farther,” Isla said. “It’ll be a right turn.”

  “Harry left a lot of instructions for this trip, but somehow he forgot to mention the ATV or how to find the cabin,” Stella grumbled.

  “When did he leave you instructions?” Sai asked.

  “It was in a letter that I opened right after I gave you the envelope that started you on the treasure hunt inside Harry’s home,” Stella said. “Remember? I had several letters from Harry.”

  Marly remembered. They’d seen those extra envelopes both times they’d visited Stella’s office.

  “Harry left specific instructions for when each one was to be opened and by whom,” Stella explained. “The one that was addressed to me told me what I was supposed to do when you found the tickets to Summer Island. And I had no doubt you’d find them quickly. So, as soon as you left, I closed up my office and started making arrangements for this trip. Harry’s letter told me how to get in touch with Captain Joe, and the captain told me everything I needed to know about the cabin. Except, apparently, how to get there.” She looked a little frustrated.

  Isla leaned forward in her seat. “It’s okay. We found the ATV. We’ll find the cabin, too.”

  “I think Mr. Summerling liked to turn whatever he could into a puzzle,” Marly said. “He knew we’d figure it out.”

  Soon they came to a wooden sign that read Lost Trail. Stella turned onto another dark and narrow path. It was barely wide enough for the ATV.

  She stopped a few minutes later. “Another fork in the road,” she announced. “But no sign saying what this trail is called.”

  “Then let’s keep going,” Isla said, her eyes focused on the map. “Maybe there will be a sign for Bunny Trail like the one we saw for Wooded Trail.”

  Stella kept driving. A little farther down the path, they did indeed come to another wooden sign.

  “ ‘Bunny Trail’!” Sai cried, reading the sign out loud.

  Stella turned onto Bunny Trail and followed it around a bend where the path opened up into a wide clearing. And there, standing in the setting sun, was a beautiful log cabin with a wide front porch.

  Stella stopped the ATV and leaned back against her seat. “Now, that’s what I expected Harry’s cabin to look like,” she said.

  Everyone got out of the vehicle and Marly, Isla, and Stella began to gather their things from the back. Sai raced straight up the steps to the cabin. H
e opened the screen door, then let it fall shut again. “Door’s locked,” he said, running back to get his suitcase.

  “Of course it is,” Isla said with a sigh. “Do we have another key?”

  “Well, there’s the one Sai found in the glove compartment. I’ve got it right here.” Stella patted her front pocket as they tromped up the stairs. Stella inserted that key into the lock and turned the handle. The door opened!

  “Hooray!” the kids cheered.

  “Wow, this is nice,” Isla said as they stepped into the living room.

  The walls were made of smooth, thick logs. Marly couldn’t resist touching one. There was a large stone fireplace, a sofa, two chairs, and a cabinet with a TV in the main room. Beyond the fireplace was a small kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom.

  “There should be two more bedrooms up there.” Stella gestured toward an open loft above them.

  “Do we get to sleep up there?” Sai asked.

  “You do,” Stella said.

  “Yes!” Sai raised his fist in the air.

  Marly set her metal detector by the door and the kids hauled their suitcases upstairs. There was a cozy sitting area at the top of the landing. It had a small couch, three bookshelves, and a railing where they could look down on the main floor of the cabin. Off to the left were two small bedrooms and a bathroom.

  Marly and Isla claimed the bedroom with the twin beds, leaving Sai with the smaller bedroom.

  Sai didn’t bother to unpack. “I’m starving,” he said from the railing. “Can we get dinner?”

  “Absolutely,” Stella replied. “Then I think we should all go to bed. We’ve had a long day. And I know you’ll have some puzzles to solve in the morning.”

  “Can we get our next clue tonight?” Sai asked as Marly and Isla joined him at the railing.

  Stella looked confused. “Your next clue?”

  “Don’t you have our next clue?” Sai asked.

  “Not that I’m aware of,” Stella replied. “I didn’t have the first clue, either, remember?”

  Marly, Isla, and Sai exchanged looks. If Stella doesn’t have our next clue, where is it?

  * * *

  Considering how tired she was, Marly had a hard time falling asleep that night. She wasn’t sure if it was the strange bed, or maybe a bit of homesickness, or both.

  She rolled over and squinted into the darkness. She didn’t have to wear her patch at night, but it was too dark to see anything in here anyway.

  “Psst,” she hissed at Isla. “You awake?”

  Isla didn’t respond.

  Marly lay back on her pillow and sighed. She wondered if Sai was awake.

  She got out of bed and crept out into the sitting area. Stella had left a kitchen light on downstairs, but her bedroom door was closed. Judging from the loud snores coming from Sai’s room, he was asleep, too.

  It wasn’t any fun being the only one awake. But since she was up, Marly wandered into the bathroom. She closed the door and turned on the light. After using the toilet, she washed her hands and started to dry them on a towel that hung on the rack, but it felt damp.

  There have to be other towels in here somewhere. Marly opened the cabinet behind the door and found a whole pile of them, as well as some extra soaps, shampoos, and bubble bath. As she started to close the door, a paper stuck to the inside caught her eye. The top, bottom, and left side of the paper were cut straight, but the right side had been cut at weird angles.

  There were no words on the paper. No From the Desk of Harry P. Summerling at the top, either. But the whole page was full of little groupings of dots.

  Marly grinned. It had to be another puzzle. Too bad Isla and Sai were fast asleep.

  In the morning, Marly was eager to show Isla and Sai the paper she’d found during the night. But when she got up, they were already downstairs. She dressed quickly and hurried down to join them.

  Stella was frying bacon and eggs at the stove. Isla was setting the table. And Sai was watching the toaster. But as soon as Marly entered the room, he looked up and waved a piece of paper at her. It had three straight edges and one jagged edge. And the writing was all dots. “Look what I found!” he said.

  “It’s our next puzzle,” Isla told Marly.

  “Yeah, I found it, too,” Marly said. “During the night. But I left it so you two could see where it was.”

  Isla blinked in surprise. “You made toast during the night?” she asked.

  “What? No,” Marly said, confused. “Why?”

  “Because the clue was in the toaster,” Sai said, as though it were obvious. “It looks like dominoes, don’t you think?” He held the paper up so they could all see it.

  “I think it looks like Legos,” Isla said.

  “Wait,” Marly said. “I found that same clue in the bathroom. Not the toaster.”

  Marly ran back upstairs and opened the cabinet behind the bathroom door. The paper was still there! She carefully untaped it and brought it back downstairs.

  “Looks like there are two clues,” she said, bringing the paper to Sai. The papers appeared identical at first glance, but the pattern of dots was different.

  “Oh! Maybe they fit together like a puzzle,” Sai said. He tried to line up his paper with Marly’s, but the jagged edges didn’t match up.

  “It’s the same kind of code on both papers, though,” Isla said, looking on.

  “Breakfast time,” Stella said. She set a bowl of eggs and a plate of bacon on the table. “Why don’t you put those papers on the counter so you don’t accidentally spill food on them.”

  “Aww,” Sai groaned. But he did as Stella asked, and they all sat down at the table.

  “Are you going to help us with the treasure hunt, Stella?” Isla asked as she passed the eggs to Marly.

  “No.” Stella shook her head. “Harry said I work too hard, so while you’re off solving puzzles and searching for treasure, I’m supposed to ‘relax.’ ” She made air quotes around the word.

  “He gave us a treasure hunt and he gave you a vacation!” Sai said, reaching for a slice of toast.

  “Except for taking care of us,” Marly said.

  “That shouldn’t be too hard.” Stella smiled. “I think I’ll have plenty of time to sit and read on that nice front porch.”

  “What happens if we don’t find the treasure by Monday?” Isla asked, concerned.

  “We go home without it,” Stella said.

  Marly, Isla, and Sai exchanged worried glances.

  “Do you know what the treasure is this time?” Marly asked.

  “I do not,” Stella replied.

  “Let’s hurry up,” Sai said, shoveling his breakfast in. “We need to get going on the puzzle.”

  * * *

  “So, each ‘letter’ is a group of up to six dots,” Isla said as she, Marly, and Sai sat in a line on the sofa and studied the papers.

  Marly opened the notebook they’d been using to solve all the other puzzles and flipped to a fresh page. But until they figured out what to do with this puzzle, she didn’t have anything to write.

  “What kind of puzzle is all dots?” Sai asked.

  “Can you draw lines between the dots and form letters?” Isla suggested.

  Marly tried tracing a few different paths through the dots with the eraser end of her pencil. She found an L and a backward C, but nothing that formed actual words.

  “Wait a minute,” Marly said, sitting up a little straighter. “I did a report on Helen Keller last year. She was blind and deaf, and she read braille. I’m pretty sure that every letter in braille has up to six dots.”

  “Yeah, but don’t you read braille with your fingers?” Isla asked. She ran a finger over one of their papers. “I can’t feel these dots at all.”

  “Still could be braille,” Marly said.

  “Do either of you kn
ow braille?” Sai asked. “Because I sure don’t.”

  “No,” Marly said. Isla shook her head. “We could look it up, though.” Marly turned all the way around on the sofa. “Hey, Stella?”

  “Yes?” Stella looked over. She was cleaning up the kitchen.

  “I know you didn’t have cell phone service when we first got to this island, but do you have it now?” Marly asked. “We need to get on the internet so we can look up the braille alphabet.”

  “Sorry,” Stella said. “I checked last night. No cell service and no Wi-Fi. That means no internet.”

  The kids groaned.

  “How are we going to solve this without the internet?” Sai slumped back against the sofa cushion.

  “I knew Harry pretty well,” Stella said. “I’d be surprised if you needed the internet to solve any of his puzzles. Whatever you need is probably right here in this cabin.”

  Marly, Isla, and Sai scanned the bookshelves in the upstairs sitting area. They were on the lookout for something, anything, that could contain the braille alphabet.

  “Hey, encyclopedias!” Marly exclaimed. “That’s like the internet in book form.”

  Isla grabbed the B book and started flipping pages. “Here we go. ‘Louis Braille.’ And look!” She held the book so Marly and Sai could see it. There was a small chart of the braille alphabet at the bottom of the page.

  Sai picked up one of their papers of dots and held it next to the chart. “It is braille!” he exclaimed. “See? The first letter is an H.” He pointed back and forth between the first character on the paper and the H on the braille chart.

  “It is?” Marly said, squinting at it.

  “Can I have a pen or pencil?” Sai asked, holding out his hand.

  Marly reached into her tote bag and pulled out both. Sai took the pencil, and he and Isla sat down on the floor with the two papers and the encyclopedia. Marly sat down beside them.