The Virginia Mysteries Collection: Books 1-3

by Steven K. Smith

  “Got you, Derek!” yelled Sam, as he sat up in the water.

  “Sam! Are you crazy? I thought you were dead!” screamed Derek.

  “You love me, you really love me!” giggled Sam, and he splashed Derek with his hand in the water.

  “I’m going to kill you!” yelled Derek, and he pushed his brother under the water.

  Sam bounced back up. “The water actually feels pretty good! And look!” He brought his hand out from under the water and revealed several coins. “I grabbed them when I fell down the bank. I told you they were coins!”

  Derek rolled his eyes. “You’re unbelievable.” He waded up to the spot in the creek where the coins had been, pushing his brother down into the water again with a splash as he went.

  The boys climbed back to dry land and spread the coins out on a smooth spot in the dirt. There were five coins in all – another wheat penny, an unusual looking nickel with a buffalo on the back from 1932, and three silver coins from the 1920s that were the size of dimes but had a lady’s head on the front with wings coming out of the sides.

  “No Indian Head cents,” moaned Derek, disappointed. But these coins were still pretty cool. It was even more fun than opening packs of baseball cards. “These are pretty worn from being in the water, but I bet they’re still worth something.”

  “They keep getting weirder and weirder,” marveled Sam, holding up the one with wings on it. “I wonder what these others are called. We’ll have to look online like Dad did before. He’s going to be surprised!”

  “No, I still don’t want to tell him about all of this yet,” decided Derek. “I want to figure out where that map leads. I think there’s a bigger treasure out here. These are all just smaller clues. This wouldn’t have been enough to steal from a museum. The treasure has got to be near that boulder, but I’m afraid that Dad will say it’s too dangerous.”

  “But it is too dangerous,” argued Sam. “Let’s see – there’s a cliff, those crazy kids, oh, and a bear! Do you want to get attacked by a bear? I’m telling Dad.”

  Derek grabbed Sam’s arm and looked him in the eye. “Don’t tell Dad,” he warned slowly. “It’s not dangerous. You saw those other kids playing down there, how bad could it be? Besides, it’s a treasure, Sam. How often do kids our age get to hunt for a real-life treasure?”

  Sam looked at the coins on the ground and thought about the treasure. “Do you really think these coins could be clues to a treasure?”

  “Definitely,” Derek answered confidently. “Look at all these coins. It has to be connected. You have to trust me, Sam.”

  “Okay,” said Sam slowly, still a little uncertain, “but I’m coming with you.”

  SIX

  The Fourth of July

  July hit Virginia that summer like a furnace. The temperature rose higher and higher, eclipsing one hundred degrees. The ancient air conditioning system in the boys’ house groaned from constant use, and the grass around the yard was slowly turning a crispy brown. It was too hot to play outside, so Sam and Derek spent hours plotting out their search for the missing treasure.

  Derek doubted that anyone else knew about the coins, since there surely couldn’t be another map like the one he’d found in the box. But who knows, those other kids could stumble upon it by accident any day, and then it would be gone. He was determined to get there first, but they hadn’t been able to find a good time to sneak out.

  The next day was the Fourth of July, and despite their protests to Mom and Dad that they had much more important things to do, the boys dragged themselves into the minivan. Mom assured them that there would be lots of fun things to do when they reached the park for a holiday cookout and fireworks with their aunt and uncle and cousins.

  “But Mom, we really don’t have time for this today,” argued Derek.

  “Yeah, we have a lot to do,” added Sam. “Very important things!”

  “What could you have to do that’s more important than our nation’s birthday?” asked Mom. “How would you like it if we skipped your birthday? Did you know that a lot of important historical events happened right here in Virginia? I’m sure you’ll learn about many of them in school this year.”

  “Is this where Lady Liberty lived?” giggled Derek.

  “No, but there was a famous speech about liberty delivered by someone named Patrick Henry right here in Richmond,” answered Mom.

  “Did he say Liberty and Justice for All?” asked Sam.

  “No, that was Superman,” said Derek.

  Mom laughed. “No, wise-guys. Patrick Henry said, ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’”

  “Whoa, that’s serious,” said Derek. “He must have really loved her.”

  Sam gave Derek a strange look.

  “What?”

  “You know, Lady Liberty. That Henry Ford guy must have really loved her if he would rather die than live without her,” explained Derek.

  “Oh brother,” moaned Sam.

  “Patrick Henry,” corrected Mom. “And liberty is not a she – it’s a thing. It means freedom. Which is why we think about it on the Fourth of July, when America declared its independence, or freedom, from England. Patrick Henry argued that Virginia should join the revolution, and they did.”

  “Was it a New Year’s revolution?” asked Derek. “Those are really hard to keep.”

  Sam looked at his brother again. “Seriously, Derek?” Derek just laughed.

  “Here we are!” shouted Dad as they turned into the state park and pulled up next to their uncle’s big pickup truck. Everyone piled out and brought all their food and supplies over to picnic tables under a pavilion for a tasty meal of burgers, hot dogs, and corn on the cob.

  A little while after the meal, everyone swam out to the middle of the nearby pond and enjoyed the cool water. Sam and Derek’s aunt and uncle had a pair of Retrievers that came along to cool off from the heat, and the two dogs ran and jumped in the water like they were born to swim. The boys threw a tennis ball to each other in the shallow areas, and the dogs jumped back and forth, trying to grab every throw out of the air.

  An old wooden platform floated off the far shore of the pond. The kids jumped in and out of the water, judging each other’s best cannonball splash. Uncle Drew said that the water was nearly twenty feet deep. When no one was looking, Derek gathered up his courage and did his very best dive into the water. At first, he was scared, but as he got deeper down, he loved how the water grew ice cold where the sun did not reach. It felt like he’d escaped from the heat into some unknown glacial waters. Derek stayed down as long as he could in the cold water. When it felt as if his lungs would burst, he kicked and pulled with all his strength back up to the surface. When his head broke through, he sucked in the warm air and smiled at the fun.

  After everyone had their fill of swimming, the families all dried off and walked over to the other side of the park where the locals gathered for the fireworks celebration. Camp chairs were unfolded and set up in a row. A big blanket was spread out in the grass for the younger cousins to sit on. Derek stared up and watched the last pieces of sunlight slip from the western horizon as the sky faded into darkness.

  “Are there going to be screamers?” Sam asked his mom.

  “Well, your little cousins might get scared at the loud noise but I don’t know if they’ll scream,” she answered.

  “No, not screaming, Mom, screamers! You know, the fireworks that make a squealing sound.”

  “We call those screamers, Mom,” said Derek. “There’s also bangers, poppers, boomers, crackers, sizzlers…plus a few more that I forget. You’ll see.”

  “Believe it or not, boys, I’ve been to plenty of fireworks. More than you, in fact,” said Mom.

  Before the boys could answer, everyone was startled by an enormous BOOM that shook the ground.

  “That was a boomer, Mom!” shouted Sam. “I felt that one inside my chest!”

  “I see what you’re talking about,” laughed Mom, and for what seemed like hours, they all stare
d wide-eyed as the heavens exploded in color and sound.

  On the ride back home, the boys rested their heads in the darkness as their van slowly crept along in the lines of traffic. It seemed as if the entire town was filing out along the same small country road back to their homes. Derek squinted his eyes till they were nearly shut and made the taillights of the other cars look blurry like fire bursts.

  “I was talking with your Uncle Drew at dinner,” Dad called from the front seat. “He said that we could borrow his big tent if we wanted to try to camp out in the woods behind our house next week once this heat breaks.”

  “Awesome!” shouted Sam, suddenly alert at the news. “That would be so cool, I love camping!”

  “How do you know if you love camping?” sneered Derek. “How many times have you done it – just that one time when you were two? You practically slept through the whole thing.”

  “Yes, but I loved it!” shouted Sam. “Can we go tomorrow, Dad?”

  “No, it’s too hot this week, but the weekend should be cooler,” Dad replied. “I think there’s an empty field on the other side of the creek that Mr. Haskins told me about. He said he’s used it as a campsite before and no one minded.”

  “Honey, isn’t that where the…” started Mom, and then she whispered something that the boys couldn’t hear from the back seat.

  “What?” said Sam. “Isn’t that where the what?”

  “Mr. Haskins also said that a few years ago, he saw a couple bear cubs running down the hill when he and the land owner were clearing a trail,” answered Dad, “but that was a while ago.”

  “Bears?” asked Sam. “Forget it, I don’t like bears. No way.”

  “I thought it was snakes that you were afraid of,” teased Derek.

  “Bears too,” said Sam. “Snakes and bears, they’re both bad. Very bad.”

  “You’re afraid of everything, Sam.”

  “Be quiet, Derek. You’re afraid of the wind and storms.”

  “Alright,” said Dad. “Don’t worry, they won’t bother us if we all keep our food put away and make plenty of noise.” He glanced in the mirror back at the boys and chuckled. “I’ve never seen you two have a problem making noise. I think we’ll be fine.” Mom smiled and the boys laughed uneasily.

  Derek nudged Sam across the seat and leaned over to whisper in his ear. “That’s over toward the boulder. Maybe we can get over there during the camping trip.”

  “No way,” said Sam. “I changed my mind. I’m not getting trapped in a mine. I don’t want to be like Mr. Haskins’ brother and fall in a hole. I might get trapped and eaten by a bear.”

  “We’ll see,” answered Derek, and they settled back into their seats and closed their eyes. Soon they had both drifted off to sleep with visions of campfires exploding in the sky and brightly colored bears falling into holes.

  SEVEN

  The Night

  The heat wave broke by the end of the week just as their dad had predicted. Late Friday afternoon, Dad drove Sam and Derek up an old access road to the field that lay past the woods behind their house. The boys helped gather firewood, and before long, the three were seated around a glowing campfire.

  “Mmm, marshmallows. Pass the chocolate, please,” said Sam. He squeezed the gooey treat onto a sandwich of graham crackers and chocolate and shoved it into his mouth. “These are so good!”

  “Hey Sam, watch this,” called Derek. He reached his roasting stick deep into the bottom of the hot embers and held it there for two seconds. Poof! The white marshmallow on the end of his stick burst into a flaming fireball, glowing in the darkness like a torch.

  “On guard!” yelled Derek, and he held his flaming stick out like a swordfighter. He slashed the fiery ball back and forth in the air. It looked like a comet racing across the dark night sky.

  “Watch out!” said Sam.

  “Derek, that’s enough,” said Dad. “Your marshmallow is going to fly off and start a brush fire in the field.”

  “Or burn me to death, that would be even worse,” said Sam.

  “Yes, that would be worse, you’re right,” answered Dad.

  “Dad, could someone die from falling into a hole?” asked Sam.

  “Well, I guess it depends how deep the hole is,” replied Dad. “Do you mean like a pit? I guess that could be pretty deep and someone could get badly hurt or killed. You need to make good decisions and stay away from deep holes.”

  “What about quicksand?” suggested Derek, trying to change the subject. “Someone at school last year told me that in the jungle, there’s something called quicksand, and if you step in it, before you know it you’re sucked in to your doom.”

  “We don’t live in the jungle, Derek,” said Sam. “I don’t see any gorillas, do you?”

  “No, but there’s a snake! Look out!” Derek shouted and pretended to run in panic.

  “Where?” screamed Sam as he jumped up in the air.

  Derek doubled over in laughter. “Ha! Got you, Sam! That’s for tricking me in the creek the other day.”

  “Not funny, Derek,” yelled Sam.

  “Okay, boys, relax,” said Dad. “Derek, there’s no quicksand in Virginia, so you don’t need to worry about that. Sam, why are you thinking about falling into deep holes? Did you see one?”

  “Well, someone said there are old mines in Virginia, is that true?”

  “Virginia is new to me too,” answered Dad, “but I think there were coal mines in this part of the country years ago. I’m not sure if they were around here though. You certainly don’t want to go around one of those, they’re unsafe.”

  “Mr. Haskins said that…” started Sam, but Derek reached over and kicked his leg hard. He shot his younger brother a fierce look through the firelight.

  “What was that?” asked Dad.

  “Oh, nothing,” Derek chimed in. “Mr. Haskins said to be careful about snakes, and Sam is paranoid about them.”

  “Well maybe if you didn’t always try to scare him, he wouldn’t be so worried,” suggested Dad. “Okay, let’s finish up the smores so we can get things put away.”

  They picked up the chocolate wrappers and boxes of food from around the fire and carried them and the rest of the supplies over to the van that was parked behind their tent. When everything was put away, Dad took a long stick and spread the remaining burning logs around the fire pit so they’d burn down safely.

  “Okay, guys, it’s late, let’s head into the tent and get ready for bed.”

  The boys climbed into the tent, pulled off their socks and t-shirts, and slid into their sleeping bags. The air was warm in the darkness. Derek unzipped his sleeping bag halfway down the side so he wouldn’t get too hot. Since it was a clear night, Dad pulled back the rain flap from the top of the tent so the breeze could flow through.

  They all stared up at the sky from their pillows through the mesh top of the tent. A cloud slowly eased to the west, and the brightness of the moon crept out little by little. Soon the cloud was gone, and a round, yellow moon stared down at them. The creaks and clicks of the woods all around were now cast in a hazy glow by the moonbeams.

  “Wow, that’s cool,” said Derek.

  “The man on the moon is shining down on us tonight,” whispered Dad.

  “What?” said Sam.

  “The man on the moon,” answered Dad. “See him?”

  “What are you talking about, Dad?” asked Derek. “I think you might have been standing a little too close to the fire.”

  “What, you can’t see it?” said Dad. “Look up there. See the dark moon craters and how they kind of look like a face?”

  “Oh yeah…you’re right, it does kind of look like that,” said Derek.

  “Where, I don’t….oh yeah, I see it,” said Sam. “Cool.”

  “No you don’t, you just heard me say that,” protested Derek.

  “I do so, Derek, it’s right there!” shouted Sam.

  “Enough,” sighed Dad. “Goodnight, boys. I love you.”

  “
Goodnight,” yawned Derek.

  “Goodnight,” said Sam.

  They laid in silence for a few moments.

  “Dad, are there really bears out here?” asked Sam.

  “Goodnight, Sam,” said Dad. “We’re fine,” and he reached over and laid his arm over Sam’s shoulder. The warm summer air filled the darkness and the three campers drifted off to sleep listening to a night symphony of crickets and tree frogs.

  ***

  Derek’s eyes opened wide. What was that sound? He looked down and felt his brother’s legs draped over the bottom of his sleeping bag and remembered that they were camping. He shoved Sam’s legs back over to his sleeping bag and they fell with a thud. Sound asleep as always, marveled Derek.

  Then another blood-curdling screech poured out of the darkness. It sounded like a whistle or a weird rooster. Derek had never heard anything like it. It was really loud! Like it was almost inside the tent.

  “Whoooo, whoo, whoo, whoooooo!”

  Derek sat up in his sleeping bag and looked over for Dad. He could make out his sleeping figure still lying next to Sam. Derek pulled his watch from the side pocket of the tent and pushed the light button. 4:00 AM. Still the middle of the night. But what was that sound?

  “Whoooo, whoo, whoo, whoooo!” There it was again. It was right on top of them.

  “Dad?” whispered Derek, but he still seemed to be sound asleep. Maybe that’s where Sam got it from, thought Derek.

  Scared by the noise but even more curious, Derek eased out of his sleeping bag. The air had grown cool, so he pulled on his sweatshirt and sneakers. He picked up a flashlight, slipped out of the tent, and tiptoed over to the logs around the fire pit and listened. The night was so quiet. The crickets and tree frogs had stopped singing their songs and everything was completely still.

  “Whooooo, whoo, whoo, whoooo!” Derek flipped his flashlight on and his eyes followed the beam ten feet up a tree branch above their tent. He found himself staring into two huge bright eyes. It was an owl.