“No way. You’re not taking Dog.”
“Just give me the leash.”
“NO! I’m not giving you the leash.”
“Ack, ack, ack.”
“Why are you guys always fighting over Dog?” Hercules asked, leaning against the wall. “He’s Homer’s dog, Lorelei. You can’t keep taking him.”
“I’ll piggyback him and I’ll hold the leash,” Homer said.
Another growl shot through the gap.
“Forget it,” Lorelei said, shoving the flashlight into Homer’s hand. “I’ll piggyback him.” She took off her backpack and slid it over Homer’s shoulder.
“You’re going to piggyback me?” Hercules said.
“Why not? I used to push a soup cart all over The City. I can piggyback a scrawny guy like you.”
While Lorelei staggered beneath Hercules’s weight, Dog led the way, pulling Homer as if they were competing in the Iditarod. It took all of Homer’s strength to slow Dog’s pace so Lorelei could keep up. With Lorelei’s backpack hanging from a shoulder, and with the leash in one hand and the flashlight in the other, Homer stumbled down the tunnel. Dank walls shimmered in the flashlight’s beam. The tunnel twisted and turned. Homer’s heart pounded with fear and excitement, for how often in a person’s life does one path lead to a man-eating bear while the other path leads to treasure? It was just like the lines on his hand. One led to a long life, the other to a dead end.
“Whoa,” Homer cried, nearly tripping as something darted into the flashlight’s beam. A rat scurried down the tunnel and disappeared into the shadows. “I hope that was Daisy,” he said with a shudder.
“Ahhh,” Hercules cried out. “You just bumped my foot on the wall.”
“Sorry,” Lorelei said. “Don’t hold on so tight. You’re choking me.”
“Are you getting tired? Do you want me to piggyback him?” Homer asked.
“I’m fine,” Lorelei said, gasping for breath. “Just. Keep. Moving.”
Dog grunted and pulled harder. “He’s picking up speed,” Homer said. “I can barely hold him back. Something’s definitely down there.”
“How does Dog know something is down there?” Hercules asked. “Does he hear something?”
“Yeah, that’s it,” Lorelei said. “He hears something.”
Please let it be some treasure other than the membership coin, Homer wished. Because he knew how tricky Lorelei was. She’d try to grab the coin before Homer, and she’d very likely succeed. Please let it be something else. But his wishing wouldn’t change the facts. Of course Dog was leading them to the membership coin. That’s what the quest was about. That’s what Lord Mockingbird had sent them to find.
Except for the flashlight’s beam, pitch-blackness coated the tunnel like tar. No sunlight beckoned from the tunnel’s end, which would have been a relief. Homer had lost all sense of direction and couldn’t even guess where they were headed. A few steps later, the flashlight’s beam flickered, then died.
“Crud!” Lorelei said as she bumped into Homer.
“Ouch!” Hercules cried. “Watch out for my foot!”
“Lorelei? Do you have extra batteries in your backpack?” Homer asked.
She was silent for a moment. “Oops.”
Dog’s paws scratched at the ground as he tried to pull Homer down the tunnel. “Hold on,” Homer called to him. “I know what to do.” He dropped the backpack and flashlight, then reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the little folded vest that belonged to Dog. Eerie green light radiated from the vest, casting an alien glow on everyone’s face. Homer wrapped the vest around Dog’s middle, then collected the backpack. Following the waddling light, they continued down the tunnel.
“What if this tunnel doesn’t go anywhere?” Hercules asked. “What if it goes nowhere?”
“Of course it goes somewhere,” Lorelei said. “Why would it be here if it didn’t go somewhere?”
Homer stopped. “What’s that sound?”
A single musical note, clear and bright, chimed in the distance. It grew louder, as if moving up the tunnel. Daisy the rat scurried into the vest’s glow. Dog turned to sniff as she passed by. “Urrrr.”
“Ouch,” Hercules said as Lorelei let go of his legs. He caught his balance and leaned against the wall.
The musical note accompanied Daisy as she passed Homer. Lorelei reached down. “Whatcha got there, Daisy?”
Got? Homer dropped the backpack and whipped around. Daisy climbed up Lorelei’s arm and settled on her shoulder. Something glinted from the rat’s mouth.
“What is it? Give it here, Daisy,” Lorelei cooed. She plucked the something from Daisy’s mouth. The musical note chimed again. “I think it’s a crystal.”
Homer expelled a long, relieved breath. The membership coin was still his to claim. But what had Daisy found?
Dog walked up to Lorelei’s feet and sniffed. The glow from his vest revealed a clear, grape-size crystal in Lorelei’s palm. Hercules peered over Lorelei’s shoulder. “Is it a diamond?” he asked.
“If it is, then I claim it,” Lorelei said. “My rat found it.” She patted Daisy’s head. “Good girl, Daisy.”
Dog sniffed and whined. Then he rose onto his hind legs and balanced his front paws on Lorelei’s pant leg, his nose pointed up at the crystal. He sniffed and whined again. Was this the treasure he’d smelled?
Daisy the rat blinked at Homer, then climbed down Lorelei’s torso and leaped back onto the tunnel floor. Her little claws scritch-scratched as she scurried into the darkness. And then the tunnel fell silent.
A memory stirred in Homer’s mind. His thoughts flew to the maps on his bedroom ceiling. “Shake it,” he said. “Shake the crystal.” Lorelei did and the musical note once again filled the tunnel with its clear, bright tone.
“Wow,” Lorelei said. “How does it do that?”
“It’s a harmonic crystal,” Homer said with awe. “An actual harmonic crystal. This is amazing. They’ve only been found in one place—the Great Crystal Cave. I’ve always wanted to go there and see them.” Was it possible that another crystal cave existed? If so, it would be an amazing find.
“Is it worth a lot of money?” she asked.
“Anything rare is worth a lot of money,” Homer said. “Can I hold it?”
Lorelei closed her fingers around the crystal. “You’ll give it back to me?”
“Yes, I’ll give it back to you.” Homer frowned. “I’ve never lied to you, Lorelei.”
She narrowed her eyes. Then slowly, her fingers opened. Homer plucked the crystal from her palm and held it close. The crystal sang softly as he turned it. Imagine an entire cave filled with such wondrous inventions of nature.
“Um, the crystal is pretty, but we’ve got a bear after us, remember?” Hercules said. “And this broken ankle isn’t getting any better.”
“Right,” Homer said. “Sorry.” He handed the crystal back to Lorelei.
Dog dropped onto all fours and tugged at the end of the leash, trying to pull Homer farther down the tunnel. Another musical note sounded. And then another and another. Homer’s and Lorelei’s eyes locked.
“There’re more,” she said.
35
The Cave of Crystal Music
Lorelei grabbed her backpack and took off, stumbling into the darkness.
“Hurry,” Homer told Hercules. “Get on.”
With Hercules on his back and Dog at the end of the leash, Homer struggled down the tunnel. If his teacher, Mrs. Peepgrass, could see him, she’d surely change his grade in physical fitness from a C-minus to at least a B.
The music grew louder, joined by more notes, each one sweet and clear, ringing like water-filled crystal goblets. Dog barked. The loud music was probably hurting his ears, Homer realized. But Dog continued to lead the way until they turned a corner and Dog’s vest lit up a large space.
A cave.
Homer set Hercules against the wall. They both covered their ears with their hands. Where was the music coming from? “That music is to
o loud!” Lorelei yelled. She stood in the cave, her fingers in her ears.
Dog ran in a circle and as he did, the green glow of his vest revealed two lanterns and some matches sitting on the floor. Homer hurried across the cave. He struck a match and lit each of the lantern’s thick wicks. The wicks ignited and a soft white glow spread throughout the cave.
Homer’s first reaction was relief to find no bear cubs napping and no bear droppings, either. He’d expected the cave walls to sparkle, just like the illustration of the Great Crystal Cave on his map. But they were boring old cave walls, dripping with water, nothing else. “Look!” Lorelei cried.
A wooden crate sat in the center of the cave, filled to the top with crystals. Daisy the rat was digging through the pile, the way rats do to make a nest. She was the cause of the ear-splitting music, for the crystals were reacting to each of her movements. Lorelei scooped her up and the music immediately faded. Dog stopped barking. All was quiet.
“Wow,” Lorelei said, kneeling next to the crate. “There must be hundreds of them.” Dog sniffed the crate and wagged his tail.
“Good boy,” Homer said, scratching Dog’s rump. “You found treasure,” he whispered. “Yes, you did. You found treasure.”
“Urrrr.” Having done his job, Dog yawned, then lay next to the crate. His tongue hung out the side of his mouth as he panted. He closed his eyes.
Lorelei leaned close to Homer. “He’s going to sleep. The coin must not be here,” she whispered.
So where was it? The question clung to Homer as he helped Hercules sit against the side of the cave. Lorelei carefully lifted a crystal from the crate and laid it on the floor. She made a little line of crystals. “Watch this,” she said. Gently, she tapped each one and a long stream of notes ascended. Then she tapped them in a different order and an entirely different stream of notes rose toward the ceiling. “Isn’t that pretty?”
Hercules moaned as he stretched out his injured leg. The ankle had turned purple and was double its normal size. “We need to get you to a doctor,” Homer said, running his gaze along the cave walls. “There’s got to be a way out of here.”
“I don’t see a way out,” Hercules said. He grimaced as he tried to move his leg to a more comfortable position. “We can’t go back up the tunnel. Not with that bear waiting for more honey.”
Lorelei reached into her backpack and pulled out a small blue packet. She snapped the packet then handed it to Hercules. “Instant Ice,” she said. “I used to burn myself all the time when I worked the soup cart. Oh, and I’ve also got some aspirin in my first-aid kit.”
“You have a first-aid kit?” Hercules managed a small smile. “That’s great news.”
Lorelei wrapped an Ace bandage around Hercules’s ankle, securing the Instant Ice in place. Homer watched, relief filling him like a mug of his mother’s warm cocoa. This was the Lorelei he remembered, the girl who had helped him when he was lost in The City. The girl who cared about other people.
“This is a very nice first-aid kit,” Hercules said as he shuffled through its contents. He opened a tube of antibacterial ointment and dabbed it onto his cuts and scrapes. He insisted Homer do the same. Lorelei reached into her backpack again and pulled out a box of granola bars.
“I was saving these in case I needed them, but I think we all need them.” She tore open the box and divided up the bars—two for each of the boys, two for herself, one for Daisy, and one for Dog. Sitting on the cold cave floor, his entire body aching from bumps and bruises, Homer could have eaten a hundred granola bars. He ate the first and split the second with Dog so they’d each have one and a half. Then Lorelei handed around a water bottle, which they all shared, including Dog, until the last drops were gone.
“So,” Lorelei said, wrapping her arms around her knees, “you’re the one who knows all about treasure hunting. What are these crystals doing here?” She flared her nostrils, waiting for Homer’s response.
It was a question Homer had been struggling with. “Harmonic crystals have only been found in one place, and that’s the Great Crystal Cave.”
“Who found the Great Crystal Cave?” Lorelei asked.
“Dr. Gertrude Magnum,” Homer said. He picked up one of the crystals and slowly turned it over. It whispered its little song.
“That fat lady at the L.O.S.T. meeting? The one with those tiny little eyes?”
“I read her paperwork,” Hercules said as he unwrapped a Band-Aid. “After she found the cave, Lord Mockingbird invited her to join L.O.S.T. That was more than twenty years ago.”
“So when she found the cave, what did she do with all the crystals?” Lorelei asked.
Hercules explained. “Because the crystals were considered a natural phenomenon, she couldn’t lay claim to them. The government sold some to the Museum of Musicology in The City, and the rest of the crystals were left in the cave so that people could enjoy them.”
“It’s a tourist attraction,” Homer said. “You can ride this little train deep into the cave and watch a music and light show. It’s supposed to be really cool.”
“Well, I think it’s obvious that she took some of the crystals for herself,” Lorelei said as she stroked Daisy’s tail. Daisy had stuck her head into one of the granola bar wrappers and was cleaning it of every single crumb. “We just found her secret hiding spot.”
“But that’s against the rules of L.O.S.T.,” Homer said.
“She wasn’t a member of L.O.S.T. when she found the Great Crystal Cave,” Hercules pointed out. “So she wasn’t actually breaking L.O.S.T. rules.”
“The only reason to put stuff in a cave is because you want to hide it,” Lorelei said. “Dr. Magnum doesn’t want L.O.S.T. to know. It would make her look bad. She’s probably selling these crystals to pay for things. I saw those jewels on her fingers.”
Homer remembered the giant yacht anchored off Zelda’s shore—Cave Woman. A yacht must cost a lot of money. “Even if Dr. Magnum took the crystals before she took her membership vow, keeping the crystals still goes against the beliefs of L.O.S.T. Those crystals could be given to more museums, so more people could enjoy them.”
“I bet I could sell these for a lot of money,” Lorelei said. She pulled her clue box out of her backpack. Then she began gently filling it with crystals.
“What are you doing?” Homer asked.
“Finders keepers, isn’t that the motto of treasure hunting?”
“Maybe some treasure hunters believe that, like pirates,” Homer said. “But not everyone. Treasure found is for the greater good.”
Lorelei closed the clue box, now filled with crystals. Muffled music sounded as she shoved the box into her backpack. “I need money, Homer. I’m taking care of myself, remember?”
“I’m sure my parents could give you a job,” Hercules said. “We just lost two maids.”
“No, thanks,” Lorelei said. She picked up a crystal and held it out. “Homer? Aren’t you going to take some?”
Homer looked at the crate, temptation tickling his fingertips. He wasn’t an official member of L.O.S.T., so he wouldn’t be breaking any rules. It would be so easy to pocket a few crystals. His professional adventurer clothing certainly had enough pockets to carry as many crystals as he wanted. And perhaps Mr. Tuffletop’s special fabric was soundproof as well as bladeproof, sunproof, and waterproof. A few of those crystals could certainly pay for a new gunnysack slide. It would be so easy.
“The lure of limitless wealth can eat at the soul the way cancer eats at the body,” Uncle Drake had once told Homer.
Hercules, a half-opened Band-Aid in his hand, sat very still, watching Homer. Don’t do it, his eyes seemed to say. Even Dog raised his chin off the cave floor and thumped his tail, looking at Homer with his heavy eyes. Homer folded his arms. “I’m not like you,” he told Lorelei.
“Well, that’s your loss.” She picked up one of the lanterns and walked around the cave. “Since the tunnel dead-ends back there, how does what’s-her-name get into this cave?”
&
nbsp; Homer picked up the other lantern. He crept along the cave’s edge, holding the light close to the wall. “Hey,” he said. Lorelei hurried to his side. The wall receded, forming a nook that had been hidden in the shadows. All sorts of stuff littered the nook—another lantern, a dozen or so empty paper muffin cups, and a whole bunch of brochures. Homer picked one up.
Terry Tour’s Great Crystal Cave Family Special.
Hold on tight! Our tram will whisk you deep underground, where you’ll be dazzled by the crystal music and laser show. Then enjoy a barbecue under the stars with all the fixin’s.
“She’s got a bunch of brochures for fancy cruises and luxury spas,” Lorelei said. “I bet that’s how she’s spending her money.” Then Lorelei grabbed a box. “What’s in here?” She opened the box and pulled out a white beard and mustache, along with a pair of white eyebrows and a puffy black hat.
Homer picked up the hat. Excelsior, the fortune-teller from the fair, had worn the exact same hat and beard. Treasure hunting will kill you.
Homer looked at his palm. Excelsior’s voice had been high and squeaky, just like Dr. Magnum’s. And they’d both worn a big gemstone ring. Dr. Gertrude Magnum had come to the fair to scare Homer.
Homer reached into the box and pulled out an orange scarf and orange gloves. Treasure hunters rank highest on the misery scale. Ms. Pore, Ph.D., hadn’t been a writer at all. Dr. Gertrude Magnum had tried to scare Homer with false statistics.
It wasn’t Lord Mockingbird or Torch after all. Gertrude Magnum was the one who didn’t want Homer to join L.O.S.T. But why?
Lorelei rummaged through some more brochures, then wandered back to her backpack and sat on the floor with a humph. “I don’t get it. We found the place on the map that was marked with an X, but the coin wasn’t there.” She looked over at Homer. “Maybe you read the map wrong.”
“Huh?” Homer tossed the scarf and gloves aside. “What do you mean I read it wrong? You read the map exactly the same way.”
“No, I didn’t.” She folded her arms and stuck her chin out. “I couldn’t make any sense of that stupid drawing, so I decided that since you’re the map expert I’d let you figure it out. I followed you here.”
Smells Like Treasure Page 21
