Finders Keepers

by Melanie Mcfarlane

  Hold tight? What did that mean?

  I tossed and turned all night. I hated not knowing what was going on. In the morning I was really tired. And it turned out Mom had taken the day off work. Great. She said she wanted to get the house in order since we would be leaving soon. So first I washed the walls. Then she had me scrub the floors. Being grounded really sucked.

  When it was lunchtime, Mom asked me to sit with her at the kitchen table.

  “Macy,” Mom said, “thanks for helping me this morning. I really appreciate it. And I know things haven’t been easy. You always watch Ben when I’m at work, and I want to say thank you for that too.”

  I shrugged. “It’s okay. He’s not so bad. Most of the time.”

  “That’s nice to hear,” she said. “When we move to the city, things will be different. There are after-school programs that Ben can attend. You won’t have to be on duty so much.”

  “But I don’t want to move to the city,” I said. “If I keep watching Bug for free, can we stay?”

  “Macy,” Mom said, “we’ve talked about this. You know this move isn’t just about money. It’s a great opportunity. For all of us. It might take some time, but I’m sure you’ll come to love it.”

  “I won’t love it,” I said. “The city is like the deepest part of the lake. There are all kinds of things you can’t see swimming around. In the city everything’s new. I don’t know any of the streets and I don’t know any of the people. It’s all just—too different!”

  “I understand why you’re nervous,” Mom said. “But new places have new treasures. And I don’t know anyone who likes to hunt for treasure as much as you do.”

  I crossed my arms, ready to argue some more, but there was a knock at the door. Mom got up from the table. I heard Joy’s voice. I’d almost forgotten what she’d said about a plan.

  “Hello, Macy,” Joy said, coming into the kitchen. “I heard you got into some trouble last night.”

  “And now she’s paying the price,” Mom said. “No treasure is worth putting yourself and others in danger.”

  “I’m stuck here, grounded,” I said.

  “Well, you’re in luck,” Mom said. “I was just telling Joy how hard you’ve worked this morning. She needs help to fix a broken railing at her boathouse.”

  I looked away. My face was warm. If Mom only knew the truth.

  “I could really use an extra set of hands,” Joy said. “What do you think?”

  I looked from Joy to Mom. “So am I still grounded?” I asked.

  “Why don’t you help Joy out this afternoon,” Mom said. “And then we’ll talk.”

  “Deal!” I said, racing to grab my shoes at the front door. “Let’s get to work!”

  Chapter Nine

  MerKay was waiting for us in the boathouse. “Thank you so much for finding this piece,” she said, holding the pink shell to her chest. “When we get the rest of it back, I can return home.”

  “Okay, kids,” Joy said, turning to us. “Everyone has a job to do. Sam and Ben, I want you two to take a look at that book on the history of the Buffalo Pound area.” She pointed to the bookshelf. “Macy might be onto something. Maybe there’s a reason the Beast is here. See if you can find any clues.”

  She turned to me. “Macy, I do want your help fixing the rail. It’s not safe. But there’s a bigger reason. I find that keeping my hands busy helps my brain solve puzzles. And this is a big puzzle.”

  “And I am going to keep looking the best way I know how,” MerKay said, handing the shell back to Joy. “Please keep this safe for me,” she added and slid back into the water.

  While Sam and Bug stayed in the boathouse to do research, Joy and I unloaded wood from her truck. Then she opened her shed, which I had never been in before. Like most sheds, it was filled with hammers, saws and other tools. But there was also a shelf against the far wall filled with the coolest stuff. A stack of maps, a compass and a book called Archaeology Adventures.

  “Archaeology is kind of like treasure hunting,” Joy said when she saw me looking at the book. She crossed her arms and leaned against the door.

  “You were a treasure hunter?” I asked.

  “Still am,” she said. “Once a treasure hunter—”

  “—always a treasure hunter,” I finished. “Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

  “Back in my day, not many girls were treasure hunters,” she said. “But I’ve been watching you, and I’ve noticed you turn in a lot of lost treasures at the Trove.”

  “Thanks,” I said. My face was getting warm again. “I saw your pictures in the boathouse. Did you find treasure all over the world?”

  Joy nodded. “Yes, I did. But some of my favorites were found here in Canada. You never know what you can find right in your own backyard.”

  We both looked at the boathouse and laughed. A mermaid had to be the greatest find of all time.

  “Now let me teach you some carpentry,” Joy said. “It’s a skill every good treasure hunter should have.”

  We set up a sawhorse on the deck and got to work. Joy showed me how to measure and mark for my cut and even let me use her saw. While we cut a new length of railing and posts, we talked about the Beast and where it could be hiding. We had just started the repair when Sam and Bug appeared.

  “No luck,” Sam said. He slumped down at the open end of the dock. He kicked off his sandals and stuck his feet in the water.

  “I guess we’re not that good of treasure hunters,” said Bug sadly.

  “Nonsense,” said Joy. “You kids just need a break.” She looked at me. “Macy, we need one last thing to finish the railing.” She put down the hammer. “I want you to go back to the Trove. Tell the Captain we need eight six-inch bolts to secure these posts.” She stopped and winked at me. “That way, no one will accidentally break the railing again.”

  “But what if my mom—” I started.

  “It’s rail-building business,” Joy said. “She’ll understand. But you must go straight to the store and back. No side treasure-hunting jobs. Deal?”

  “Deal,” I said, joining Bug and Sam.

  “Good,” she said. “I think I’ll go up and make myself a cup of tea. Oh, wait a second.” She popped into the boathouse. “Take this with you.” Joy tossed the shell at me. “You never know when you’ll find the other half.”

  On the way to store, Bug and Sam told me what they’d learned from the book. Nothing that seemed like a clue to the Beast though.

  “There must be some place we haven’t thought of,” I said.

  When we got to the store, it was locked again. That seemed even weirder this time. It was the middle of the day!

  “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go around back.”

  A pail of rocks propped open the screen door to the Captain’s quarters. I knocked on the door, but no one answered.

  “He’s probably way back in that storage room again,” Bug said.

  We walked inside and headed toward the storage room, calling out for the Captain. We opened the door. The room was dark and lined with way more boxes than before. But there was no sign of the Captain, so we walked to the end of the room and through the door that opened into the store.

  The store was empty. “Captain?” I called out. “Anyone here?”

  “What should we do?” asked Sam.

  “I guess it would be okay if we found the bolts and left a note and some money,” I said, moving toward the counter. I was thinking that if Mom saw the great job I’d done on the railing, she’d “unground” me. Then I spotted something shocking.

  “You guys,” I whispered. “Look!”

  Sitting on the shelf, right next to the Captain’s ship in a bottle, was the missing shell. I ran over for a closer look. The Captain had found the shell!

  As I reached for it, I bumped the ship in a bottle off its stand. The bottle rolled toward the edge of the counter. Just before it rolled off and crashed to the floor, Bug grabbed it.

  “Good job, Bug!” I said.

>   “I owed you one after smashing the shell bottle,” he said, carefully putting the Captain’s boat in a bottle back on its stand. I watched him turn the bottle and then lean in closer.

  “Whoa, Macy. Take a look at this!”

  Bug pointed to the bow of the tiny ship. I read the tiny painted letters of the ship’s name.

  The Beast!

  Chapter Ten

  “We need to get out of here,” I said, slipping the shell into my backpack.

  “Not so fast.” The voice came from behind us. It was the Captain. “What are you kids doing in here?” He did not sound friendly at all

  “You left the back door open,” I said. My mind raced. How was the Captain connected to the Beast? Had he been hiding MerKay’s shell from us all along?

  “And we were—we were looking for you,” Sam said quickly.

  “Well, here I am,” the Captain said, holding his arms out at his sides.

  “We need some bolts,” I stammered. “Six-inch ones. Eight of them.”

  “They’re for a railing,” Sam added. “At Old Lady Wilson’s place.”

  The Captain frowned, looking past me to the ship in a bottle. “What are you doing over there?”

  “Just checking out your ship,” I said, blocking his view so he wouldn’t see that the shell was missing. “I’ve never seen it up close. What happened to it again?”

  The Captain’s face darkened. “You mean I’ve never told you kids about how I lost my ship one dark night? A bad storm came out of nowhere, and it sank,” he said. He seemed agitated and clearly wanted us out of there. “Now what was it you said you needed? Bolts? I’ve got some over here.” He moved to the front section of the store and starting putting bolts in a bag.

  “I noticed your boat is called The Beast,” I said.

  “The Beast?” Sam said, eyes wide.

  “It was a crabbing boat,” the Captain said. “And a tough one. The storm that night was just too rough—almost supernatural…” The Captain’s voice trailed off as he stopped filling the bag.

  “Where is it now?” I asked.

  The Captain shook his head and turned back to us. “Somewhere deep in the Pacific, off the coast of Vancouver Island. It never had a chance against those monstrous…waves.”

  I glanced at Sam and Bug, but they looked too scared to move.

  “Thanks for these,” I said, grabbing the bag of bolts the Captain held out. “Can you put it on Mrs. Wilson’s tab? We better get going. She’s waiting for us.”

  We headed for the door, but the Captain stepped in front of us before we could escape. “Hold on a minute. I need to talk to you kids about that shell you found,” he said.

  My heartbeat went into overdrive. I held my breath. Think, Macy, think.

  “I got hold of Drake,” the Captain said. “The shell wasn’t stolen. Someone claimed it the same day you brought it in.”

  He was lying! Thankfully, the air that escaped my lungs sounded like a sigh.

  “And I’m sorry,” the Captain added. “But they didn’t leave any reward money.”

  “That…sucks,” I said.

  The Captain nodded, then opened the door for us. “You better get going. You don’t want to make Old Lady Wilson even more grouchy.” He winked.

  The three of us ran through the open door to freedom.

  Chapter Eleven

  It didn’t take us long to bike back to Joy’s cabin. I couldn’t wait to tell her we’d found the other part of the shell! And see what she thought about the newest clue Bug had discovered. But as we got closer to her cabin, I spotted Mom’s patrol car. We slowed to a stop and looked at one another. I hoped I wasn’t in bigger trouble for leaving Mrs. Wilson’s property.

  We ditched our bikes near the patrol car and walked slowly toward the cabin. Mom’s voice drifted from Joy’s porch.

  “So it’s not your fish?” Mom asked.

  “No,” Joy said. “I rescued it.”

  “And the person you rescued it from took it back?” Mom asked. “This all sounds, pardon the expression, a bit fishy.”

  “Well, really, they stole it back,” Joy said. “It wasn’t theirs to begin with.”

  Mom sighed, a sound I was getting all too familiar with. “Joy, I don’t understand. Why didn’t you call me the moment you found out someone had brought a fish from out of province without a license? It’s my job to handle these things.”

  “I hadn’t gotten around to it yet,” Joy said. “I was planning to inform you this week. But then I realized that the fish was missing. There’s evidence of a struggle.”

  “Okay,” Mom said. “Let’s take a look.”

  What was going on? Had someone taken MerKay? We had just been with the Captain. So if he wasn’t the Beast, who—or what—could it be?

  “Hi!” I squeaked out as I rounded the cabin. I held up the bag of bolts. “We’re back with the supplies.”

  “Hi, kids,” Joy said. Her forehead was scrunched with worry. “Thank you for getting those. But we have a problem. My fish is missing.”

  Mom turned around. A frown lined her face. “Have you kids seen this fish?”

  I slowly nodded. “Yes, we have.”

  “We were helping Mrs. Wilson protect it,” said Sam.

  Mom shook her head. “I can’t believe you kept this from me. It’s against the law. Even if you thought you were rescuing it.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” I said. “We thought we were helping.”

  Mom closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she turned back to Joy. “Show me the boathouse.”

  The padlock was on the floor. The door was wide open, and the place was a mess. I felt sick. What had happened?

  “You kids stay outside,” Mom said.

  Mom and Joy went inside while Bug, Sam and I stood in the doorway. Joy’s desk had been knocked over. Her books were all over the floor, and so were the scales that had been on the desk. Mom leaned over and picked one up. It was as large as a clamshell and fit in her palm.

  Gradually the scale changed from a shimmery blue-green to the color of her hand. Mom stared in disbelief. “Exactly what kind of fish was this?” she asked.

  “Uh…well, I’m not exactly sure,” Joy said. “I was always better with the names of artifacts than of marine life.”

  Mom raised an eyebrow, then turned to us. “Describe the fish for me.”

  “It was large,” I stammered.

  “Yeah, and it had a long tail,” Bug continued.

  “And really spiky fins,” Sam added.

  Mom’s eyes narrowed. “A large fish with a long tail and spiky fins.” She turned to Joy. “What is really going on here, Joy?”

  I stepped forward as Joy’s head dropped. “It’s not her fault, Mom. Sam and I snuck in here yesterday.”

  “I lost my soccer ball,” Sam added. “We were just trying to find it.”

  “You broke into Joy’s boathouse?” Mom asked, looking from Sam to me to Bug. “And you dragged your little brother into this?”

  Bug shook his head. “I was looking for birds.”

  Mom threw in her hands in the air. “Macy, what does any of this have to do with the missing fish?”

  “It wasn’t Joy’s fault we found the fish,” I said. “That’s all.”

  “We will talk about this later,” Mom said. “Now go home and wait for me. Right now I need to take Joy to my office for a statement. There are laws at this lake to not only protect the people, but also the wildlife.”

  I turned around and walked past Sam and Bug. Man, Mom was pretty upset with me. I wondered how long I would be grounded for now.

  When I stepped off the dock, I realized I was still holding the bag of bolts. And I hadn’t told Joy the most important thing! “Joy,” I said, turning back, “here are the bolts for the railing. Sorry it took us so long. The Captain was telling us about his old ship, The Beast. Did you know he used to catch crab in the Pacific Ocean?”

  Joy took the bag from me and raised an eyebrow. “How interesting. Thanks,
Macy.” Then she leaned in and whispered, “We’ll talk soon.”

  We watched Mom drive away with Joy in her patrol car. I would eventually have to face Mom. But right now MerKay needed us. With Mom busy with Joy, it was the perfect time to try to find MerKay and the Beast ourselves.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I can’t believe MerKay is missing,” I said. “What do you think happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Sam said. “But the boathouse looked like a gruesome crime scene!”

  “We’ll never find her now,” Bug said.

  “Never say never, Bug,” I said. “What do we know so far?”

  “I thought the Captain was acting pretty weird at the store,” said Sam. “And when Bug saw that the boat was called The Beast, it occurred to me that maybe the Captain is the Beast. But how could he possibly have gotten from the boathouse to the store before us?”

  “Yeah, I thought that too at first,” I said. “But even if he got here super fast, where would he have put MerKay?”

  “What about that big tank he had?” Bug asked. “I didn’t see it in the store today.”

  “That’s right!” I said. “Bug, you’re brilliant! I bet he put the tank back in that old truck at the bison pen. We need to find it again.”

  The ground vibrated, and all three of us moved to the side of the road as a large cube van sped past. The driver looked very familiar.

  “Did you see what I saw?” I asked Sam.

  “Yes! That driver looked a lot like Drake McDaniel!”

  “And that van is big enough to hold a tank!” I added.

  We sped after the van as fast as we could. We saw it go down a dirt path just before the turnoff for the store. It stopped behind a row of trees where the road turned into a path. I knew that path—it ran downhill to the beach. The driver slid out of the front seat, tossing a soda can onto the ground. I stopped dead in my tracks, making Sam and Bug brake abruptly behind me. It was Drake. What was he up to?

  Dropping my bike at the side of the road, I scurried behind a tree. Drake continued down the path toward the lake. This was our chance to see what was in the van!