Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery

by Timothy Paterson

landmarks that she had not seen before. Several names also flashed into her mind.

  Before she realized it, she was thinking aloud. “They are in trouble. They are being held captive. They are in danger.”

  Betsy asked Mara what she was talking about. When Mara realized that she had been talking aloud, she decided to tell her friends about her psychic gift.

  After a quick explanation, Mara told her friends what she had seen in her vision. She told them that she had seen the names; “Motohito, Cooper and Mauna Loa” in her vision as well.

  Scott, who was very smart when it came to geography, told Mara that Mauna Loa was an inactive volcano on the island. Betsy said that Motohito was the name of the Japanese Emperor.

  Mara decided that this time, her vision must be wrong, since Japan was so far away from Hawaii, and she tried to push the vision out of her mind.

  After lunch at the hotel, the four families were taken on a private tour of the island, showing them all of the historical sites. When the group passed the volcano called Mauna Loa, Mara looked at Betsy, Scott and Tony. Mara could not help but think that there was a mystery out there waiting for her to come along and solve it.

  On Sunday evening, they were invited to a traditional luau, or Hawaiian feast. When they were asked to join the dancers, Mara and Betsy pulled Scott and Tony with them, even though the boys did not want to dance. After grass skirts were put on them, they started doing the Hula dance. They ended up having a great time, laughing and really enjoying themselves.

  On Monday morning, Betsy had to stay with her parents, so Tony, Scott and Mara ventured out on their own. They promised Betsy that they would take pictures for her.

  The three friends spent the morning, walking around the island using a map that they got from the hotel. By eleven o’clock, they reached the Mauna Loa volcano. Just as they were admiring the size of it, they saw Betsy running towards them. She was nearly out of breath, when she reached them.

  When Mara asked Betsy what she was doing without her Secret Service detail, Betsy told them that she had sneaked away.

  “I’ve got some big news,” Betsy told them. My dad was supposed to have a meeting with Emperor Motohito, who is here, visiting Hawaii. His two children are here with him as well. He did not show up for the meeting and no one knows where he is. On a hunch, I checked at the hotel desk to see if anyone named Cooper was registered. The clerk told me that a man named George Cooper checked into the hotel yesterday.”

  Mara and her friends went over the details of her vision and then started slowly walking around the volcano, looking for a cave, or entrance into the volcano. Scott was the one who first spotted the opening. Mara suddenly felt terrified, as she thought of her dream of the cave-in. Tony and Scott assured her that it was safe.

  The four of them, quietly walked into the opening, and it appeared to be a tunnel in the lava. Scott said that the tunnel must have formed when the lava cooled many years ago. As they followed the tunnel, they began to hear voices. They stopped and listened.

  They heard an angry voice telling someone that he was avenging the death of his father. “I was only six years old,” said the voice, “when my father was tortured and killed in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines, during World War 2. Now, you will see what it feels like to be tortured.”

  Mara whispered to Betsy that she needed to call her father and get help as soon as possible. As Betsy pulled the cell phone out of her purse, it slipped out of her hand and it fell onto the lava floor. The sound of metal on rock, echoed throughout the tunnel. Just as Betsy had picked up the phone, a man appeared, holding a gun, and motioned for them to go ahead of him into the cave. Betsy was able to slip the cell phone into her back pocket.

  When they walked into the cave, they saw the hostages. There were three people; a man and two teenagers, a boy and a girl. They were Japanese.

  The man introduced himself as Emperor Motohito, and his children as Prince Toshihito and Princess Katsu.

  The man holding the gun was an older man in his sixties or seventies. Mara was nervous, but she managed to ask the man who he was. He identified himself as George Cooper. He apologized to Mara and her friends, but told her that he could not let them go, because they knew too much. He told them that the cave and volcano were rigged with explosives and that he would kill them all, if anyone attempted to rescue them.

  As Scott tried to comfort Betsy, Mara went over to Prince Toshihito and Princess Katsu and told them not to panic, that they would think of a way out.

  Two hours later, as Mara looked at her watch; she realized that she had missed her appointment to swim with the dolphins.

  Mara looked around the cave, trying to locate another way out. In the furthest end of the cave, she saw a pool of water. As she slowly edged towards it, a bunch of pictures flashed through her mind. When she put them all together, she formulated a plan. Mara knew now, that the pool of water connected to an underground stream that flowed under the volcano and out to the Pacific Ocean.

  Mara was an excellent swimmer and her visions had always been one hundred percent accurate, except for the recurrent dream of the cave-in. Mara realized by now that Mr. Cooper was mentally unbalanced and she knew that six lives were in serious danger. She must act quickly.

  Mara told Betsy that she had a plan. After she explained, Betsy told Mara that it was too dangerous. “What if the pool leads nowhere?” Betsy asked. “You will drown.” Mara quickly explained her vision to Betsy.

  Reluctantly, Betsy agreed to distract Mr. Cooper while Mara attempted to escape. Betsy gave her cell phone to Mara and told her that her dad’s cell phone number was on the speed dial. Mara put the phone in a waterproof pouch and put it in her pocket.

  As soon as Betsy had distracted Mr. Cooper, Mara hesitated for only a moment, and then dove into the pool. Everybody heard the splash and turned towards the pool.

  Mr. Cooper realized that one of the girls was missing and he was noticeably agitated. When the girl had not surfaced after six minutes, he said; “She probably drowned. It serves her right, for trying to escape.”

  Scott, Tony and Betsy looked at one another, wondering, if indeed, Mara had drowned. Betsy quickly filled Scott and Tony in on Mara’s plan.

  Once Mara had dived down deep enough, she located the lava tunnel that she had seen in her vision. She swam into it, and surfaced. In the tunnel, there was about a foot of air above the level of the water. Mara started swimming with the current, under the volcano, to the ocean. After ten minutes, she saw light at the end of the tunnel and headed towards it. Soon, she was out of the tunnel and in the Pacific Ocean.

  Mara was tired and as she rested, she realized that her soaked clothes and her shoes were weighing her down. Since she was wearing her swimsuit under her clothes, she kicked off her shoes and after tucking the cell phone into her swimsuit, she quickly removed her t-shirt and shorts.

  By the time Mara had gotten rid of the extra weight, she realized that she had drifted quite a ways from shore. Mara started swimming towards the island. Because she was swimming against the current, it was very difficult, and Mara was beginning to tire.

  As she rested, and tread water, she saw something in the water coming towards her. As they got closer, Mara realized that she was looking at the dorsal fins of two sharks, which were heading towards her.

  Mara began swimming as fast as she could, praying that she would make it safely to shore. She could sense that the sharks were getting closer and she was terrified. Then, she heard some clicking noises behind her and a commotion in the water. When she turned around, she saw four dolphins chasing the sharks away.

  Once the sharks were gone, one of the dolphins swam up to Mara and started making noises. Mara realized that the dolphin wanted to help her. Mara grabbed hold of the dolphin’s dorsal fin and rode the dolphin, as it swam towards the sh
ore.

  When Mara was close enough to the beach, she started swimming to the island. When she was standing on the sand, she told the dolphin thanks and waved goodbye to it. She could not believe her eyes. The dolphin was bobbing its head up and down, as if to say, “You’re welcome”.

  Mara took out the cell phone and called the president. She explained about the kidnapping of the emperor and his children and how Mara, Betsy, Scott and Tony had found them and had were being held captive as well. She gave President Morgan the exact location of the cave.

  President Morgan told Mara to stay where she was and wait for someone to get her.Mara got scared. She was afraid something would go wrong.

  “No, Mr. President,” she told him. “I have to go back the way I came. I have to distract Mr. Cooper. Otherwise, he will detonate the explosives when he hears anyone coming into the cave.”

  As President Morgan started to forbid Mara from going back to the cave, Mara hung up on him. She knew that she was running out of time. She dived back into the ocean and with her psychic instinct; she found the lava tunnel that led back into the cave.

  Mara swam as fast as she could, going against the current. Fifteen minutes later, she swam up to the surface of the pool in the cave. When her head came out of the water, Mara saw that Mr. Cooper was pointing a gun at