by Karen Cossey
It took a few minutes, but Jason filled in Lia on the events of the night. Her disapproval of Meeka’s scheme was written all over her face.
“Dad could come with us, and then we’d be fine,” Meeka said.
“Nope. We made a deal, buddy,” Lia said. “Yesterday you had your dad for adventuring. Today I’ve got him for relaxing. We’re going to sit around and enjoy the sun, maybe go swimming and chillax. We haven’t seen each other for a month.”
That sucked. They’d never get another chance to see the cave in the other cove if they didn’t go today!
Logan looked around and caught Cole watching him.
“You know, Dad,” Cole said to Steve, “we could call through to Sam at headquarters and ask him to swing by the cove on his way out to sea to check if whoever was there last night has moved on. If it’s all clear, then I could go with the kids to explore. Like you said, it was probably just someone tenting for the night. There are no smugglers around here these days.”
Cole was on their side. It might work yet!
“That’s right, Dad,” Nate said. “Plus Mum’s been away all week, so you’d be able to have some time to yourselves without us lot bothering you before you have to head out with the volunteers this afternoon for rescue practice. We’d take the walkie-talkies so we could contact you if we needed to,” Nate said.
How could Steve turn them down now?
“I don’t know,” Steve said. “It is a good idea to have Sam check though. No one is supposed to camp there. It’s private property.”
“Why don’t you phone him, and we’ll think about it over breakfast,” Jason said. Meeka winked at Logan. It was going to work out. They’d be going to the cove for sure.
*****
Logan loved the breakfast as much as the dinner the night before. Janet turned up with primo food—freshly cooked muffins and pancakes, then bacon and eggs that she cooked on the spot for them all.
“Sorry for spoiling your spring clean,” Meeka said to her after breakfast.
“What spring clean?” Janet asked.
“Your brother, Alex, told us at the track yesterday that you wanted him to help with a spring clean here today,” Meeka said.
Janet frowned. “I didn’t have a spring clean planned. Mind you, Alex often gets things mixed up. He has a lot going on in his mind. I’ll give him a call later and set him straight.”
Meeka walked away with Logan, “That was strange, huh? Wonder why Alex thought Janet wanted him here.”
“Yeah, I’ve never known anyone to get upset about missing out on spring cleaning,” Logan said.
“And this place is so cleantubulous it doesn’t need any springing!”
Logan stared straight at her and raised his eyebrows. “I wouldn’t know. Nobody’s offered to show me around.”
“Come on guys!” Meeka called to the others. “I’ll give you the tour while the adults decide our fate. Everybody show them your pit-sad-aful eyes.” The adults laughed as the kids left the room, with their eyes wide open and hands begging.
The house was over-the-top luxurious. Poet, who was known to speak furniture, stood in the middle of the formal lounge, gaping.
“Wow, those couches are so snooty, I can’t understand a word they’re saying,” she said.
Meeka laughed. “Nah, they’re just pretending.” She went over and jumped up and down on one of them. Poet covered her eyes and squealed until Meeka hopped off.
“Take a look at all these old books,” said Cole, running his hand over a row of books in a huge bookcase. “You guys keep going. I’m going to stay here for a while.”
They left him to the bookcase while they explored the second floor, which held countless large bedrooms, many with their own fireplaces and bathrooms. Every room oozed elegance. Maximum cringe.
Nate elbowed Logan. “Look at Poet. She’s in a daze.”
“She’s going to be rearranging her bedroom for weeks,” said Logan.
“I don’t get why she’s so blown away by it. It’s just furniture.”
“Yeah, and you can’t even stand on any of it.”
“Exactly. Every piece of furniture is screaming, “No Foot Zone”. My feet are in agony.”
“Torture,” said Logan.
Meeka called out from the doorway. “Let’s go down to the basement.”
She led them down some stairs. Cole joined them again at the bottom.
“There’s an underground tunnel behind this door that leads to one of those locked doors in the boat house. Janet told me about it, but she said it’s kept locked at both ends because it’s so old now that it’s not safe. I’d love to go down it,” Meeka said.
“Sweet, a secret tunnel. Maybe it leads to the local pub as well. That’s how the smugglers would get down to the beach in the middle of the night,” Nate said.
“Bet there is a couple of skeletons lying in there from when the smugglers had a fight and shot each other,” Logan said.
Poet grimaced and wiggled her fingers in front of her face. “With big rats and spiders crawling all over them.”
“Gross.” Meeka smiled. “Can anyone pick a lock?”
“Cole can,” Poet said.
Cole shook his head. “No way, guys. If it’s locked, it’s locked for a reason. I’m not going to have to tell Lia Castaneda that her daughter got squished flat as a pancake under a pile of falling rocks. Don’t think she would sing very sweetly about that.”
Everyone moaned.
“Hope I don’t get as boring as you when I’m nearly seventeen,” Nate said.
“You can be thankful I am boring. I heard the adults talking, and they all think I’m a nice responsible young man. You know what that means don’t you?”
“We can go to the cave!” Meeka shouted.
“Sounds like it.” Cole looked across the hall. “What’s behind this other door?”
He turned the handle but it wouldn’t open.
“More storage for food and stuff Janet uses for the guests. She doesn’t want little rats like me getting into the chips and cakes,” Meeka said.
Poet got down on her hands and knees. “There’s something stuck under the door. Looks like a coin or something metal.” She pulled out her pocket knife and flicked out the object with the back of its blade. It was an old-fashioned coin.
Cole studied it. “I think I saw a book upstairs about coins like this. Do you mind if I take it and check it out, Meeka? You guys could find out if we can go to the cave and get ready.”
“Sure thing. Last one up the stairs has to carry the most stuff!” Meeka raced ahead to the front living room where the adults were sitting, drinking coffee and talking. The others followed in slow mode, nervous about knocking anything over. They heard Meeka squeal and knew they were going to the cave.
Chapter Eleven
It was a steep climb to the top of the cliff, but a great race down the other side to the cove. Logan would have won but Nate kept pulling at him to slow him down. Cheat! Still, it was hard to be mad at someone when your sides were sore from laughing so much.
The sand was warm from the sun—too warm for the waves, which were constantly coming in to try and dance on it, but then recoiling from the heat back to the ocean. As Logan was watching it, Meeka came up to him.
“What you doing Cliffhanger?” she asked.
“I was just thinking how the waves remind me of you,” Logan said.
“How’s that?”
“They never sit still.”
“Exactly. I wanna see the cave—let’s go.” She tugged on his arm.
The cave’s entrance was like a large slit between the rocks—a giant’s doorway. Cole told them to turn on their torches as they headed in. Wouldn’t it be freaky if someone grabbed them as they stepped inside?
“Watch out for bogey monsters,” Poet said.
Logan stepped in behind her.
“Boo!” shouted Nate, from off to the side.
Logan jumped and hit his head on the rock. “Ow! Nate, yo
u idiot!”
“Oops, sorry,” Nate grinned. “Come on, let’s take a look around.”
A cavern opened before them, with shells and pebbles strewn over the sand. It was about thirty feet around. They searched the rock wall, hoping to find an entrance into another cavern. Nothing. They all groaned in disappointment.
Poet lay down on her back in the middle of the cavern, and Meeka joined her. They waved their torches, crisscrossing their beams on the roof, making a light show.
“Did you see that?” Logan called. “Up there!” He was pointing to a gap in the rocks a little over eight feet up. When they looked closer they found handholds that almost looked like they’d been chiselled out of the rock. Logan scrambled up and helped the rest of them through the gap.
Inside was another cavern, as big as the first. It was eerily quiet, with only sand on the ground — there were no scrunching sounds of shells underfoot. In fact, the sand seemed almost groomed, as if someone had raked it—or dragged something heavy over it.
“Look at this, guys.” Poet was holding out a coin she had found in the sand. Trust her, her curious eyes never rested. Cole took the coin from the basement out of his pocket. Exact match.
“What did the book from the library at the house say about the coin?” Nate asked.
“Not much. It wasn’t the right kind of book.” Cole seemed disappointed. And something else too—worried? Cole always suspected the worst. The coins were old, and probably valuable. Didn’t mean anything suspicious was going on, though. Or did it?
“We could Google it,” Meeka said.
“Or we could Gomander it,” said Nate.
The others all laughed, except for Meeka, who was obviously baffled.
Logan helped her out. “He means we could ask our history teacher, Mr Gomander. He collects old coins. He’s mind-derailingly boring about them. I bags to wait outside and keep a lookout for smugglers. There’s something about Mr Gomander I don’t like, and he doesn’t like me either. But might just be my inability to grasp historical concepts.”
“You know, concepts like time management.” Nate was smirking. “If only you could get your homework in by the due date, you might stand a chance of getting into his good books.”
Cole said he would phone Mr Gomander when they got back home and ask to meet him the next morning at his place. There wasn’t much else to be discovered in the cave, so they headed outside again. They found the remains of a fire further along the beach, but it looked too old to have been lit the night before.
Nobody else was about, and there were no more caves to explore, so they went for a swim, lay in the sun and played football. Cole acted as rogue, helping whichever side was losing. After playing for an age, everyone sat down to rest and eat chocolate.
Meeka laughed. “This is double rainbow brilliant.”
Logan smiled at her, remembering her lonely look from the day before. She must be one sad kid if this was double rainbow brilliant. Apart from inside the cave, they hadn’t even climbed anything.
Nate said, “Come on Meeka, you must have heaps of fun living the life of superstar daughter. Friends galore, concerts and parties. Sounds like a dream.”
Meeka sighed and leaned against Logan’s arm. She looked like she was ready to cry.
“There are a lot of concerts. I often go with Mum on tour. But it’s a lot of stress for me because I hate the crowds. I could never perform like she does in front of all those people. I can’t even sing in front of a roomful of friends. It makes me feel like throwing up. So even though the atmosphere at her concerts is buzzarific, I get nervous for her before every show.” She poked the sand with a stick. “As for parties, I am only eleven. I’m not allowed to go to many parties, and the ones I do go to I find pretty boring. I’m not much into them. Probably because I don’t know many people.”
Yep, he was right. There was a tear or two, splattering the sand.
Logan put his arm round her shoulder like Nate did with Poet when she was upset. He waited for her to get control of herself.
“Surely you have lots of friends? After all, you’re so much fun.”
The others all murmured their agreement and Meeka looked up and gave a thankful smile as she wiped her eyes.
“Dad’s away most of the year at one movie location or another, and Mum goes on tour at least once a year, then performs all around the UK when she’s not on tour. She’s home a lot more than Dad, but we miss him so much we try and spend some of our time out on location with him, so I’m homeschooled. I have a tutor and a minder, but not many friends. It’s pretty difficult to keep friends when you don’t spend much time in one place. Plus there’s the whole daughter of a superstar thing. Sometimes I think it’s easier to not even bother.”
She sighed so hard she could sink a few feet into the sand.
Poet looked like she was sinking into a hole too. “So when you finish your holiday, you’ll be going on tour or out with your dad somewhere and we won’t get to see you again for ages. If at all.”
Poet had really taken to Meeka. They’d been laughing all through breakfast that morning—a couple of giggly girls sharing deep secrets.
Logan had liked that. It was true Poet could be silly, but usually only when she was with Nate. Most other times she was serious and sensible, especially around other kids. It was like her sense of humour had been squashed flat when her father died and now she was mostly quiet and calm, like Steve. It was great to see Meeka bringing out her fun side.
Come to think of it, Meeka was bringing out the fun in him too. If what Poet had said was true, he was sure going to miss Meeka. He had only known her a day and a half, but she had crept under his skin and sneaked into his heart. He was beginning to think of her like a sister, in the same cool way Nate thought about Poet.
Meeka squeezed his hand. “We better make the most of our time then. We’re leaving on Thursday, so we’ve still got a few days of fun left,” she said. She was forcing a smile, trying to seem happy. She was probably embarrassed about crying in front of them. She was right though—they should make the most of the days left.
“You know, maybe your parents would let you stay at our place until Thursday,” Cole said, “Make it much easier to solve the mystery of these coins, and we could maximise our Meeka moments.”
There, Cole had mentioned the coins again. He was worried about them.
“Sounds like an infomercial,” Nate said. “What d’ya reckon, Meeka? How would you like to experience life at the Kelly-Parker-Seagate household?”
“Huh?” said Meeka.
Nate put his hand on his chest then pointed to the others as he spoke. “You know, firstly and most importantly, Nate Kelly, then Cole and Poet Parker, and last but not least, Logan Seagate. Ta-da. The well-adjusted Kelly-Parker-Seagate family.”
“Oh, you mean the KellSeaPark family,” Meeka said. “Or maybe the Parkly-Gate family.”
“Definitely not. Kelly comes first.”
“We’ll have to take a vote later,” said Cole, “once we’ve tried a few more combinations.”
“Good idea,” said Nate. “In the meantime Meeka, if you come to stay, I can promise you sleepless nights, an annoying sister, brave and handsome brothers, grumpy parents and a chocolate chip cookie competition as an attempt to make up for the hideously boring meals.”
“Do you have microwave pies?” Hope lit up Meeka’s eyes.
They all nodded.
“I’m in!” She turned and gave Logan a sisterly hug, “Bet you’ll be glad to see me go by Thursday.”
“If you eat my share of the cookies, I’ll be kicking you out way before then,” he said.
*****
Mr Gomander put down his phone after talking to Cole later that day and frowned. So, Cole had found some old coins at the beach. What if they were from the lodge? Maybe Cole would bring the people from the lodge with him. That could be helpful. Perhaps he should get some sedative to quiet them down so he could keep them out of the way for a while. Mind you
, with all the martial arts Cole and Nate did, he’d likely need more than something in their drinks. Best to have Oscar and Zach nearby in case he needed some help to, err .... detain them.
Chapter Twelve
Sunday Afternoon
Back at Hideaway Lodge, Logan leaned against the wall with Nate and Cole, listening to the parents talk. Meeka stood in between them, doing her best begging act. Her parents needed a lot of convincing before they would allow her to stay at Steve and Abby’s without a minder.
“What do you think a minder is?” Logan asked Cole.
Cole shrugged. “Must be some kind of babysitter, or nanny.”
“Poor kid, that’s worse than a big brother watching your every move,” Nate said as he elbowed Cole.
Jason seemed the most unsure about Meeka staying over. He was leaving for Spain the following week, and was going to miss her. However, when Meeka reminded him that the private investigator had declared Logan’s family to be trustworthy, he had to agree to let her stay. Still, he made the proviso he and Lia would have dinner with them each night. Excellent. It would be wicked to spend some more time with Jason. Oh yeah, and Lia.
Meeka seemed to love their home. It was no superstar mansion, but Logan loved it. It was an old rambling three-storey house just outside of town, set back among the trees. From the top floor you could see the ocean. The house had been done up, but it still looked old. The wooden staircase, doors and framing gave it a comfortable old-fashioned charm.
The back yard was lower than the front yard, so that the ground level was a basement which was used as a music room, sewing room and gym. The main living area was on the first floor, with an entrance from the front driveway and garden, but was one level off the ground at the rear of the house. The next floor had four bedrooms and a bathroom.
Cole and Poet each had their own bedroom, Nate and Logan shared, and Abby and Steve’s room was at the end of the hallway. From the road the house looked like it was only two storeys high, but from the back yard you could also see the basement, making the bedrooms three storeys off the ground.
They all stood in Poet’s room, looking at the treetops directly in front of them. Meeka whistled.
