The Secret of the Puzzle Box

by Penny Warner

  “I bet the gift is a puzzle box he left for my great-great-grandmother,” said Mika. “And the rest of the poem is a clue about where to find it. But what does the clue mean?”

  Before anyone could come up with an answer, Ms. Stad called out. “All right, students, it’s time to head back to camp.”

  Mika’s face fell. “But we haven’t had time to figure out the message!”

  “Let’s take a picture of it!” said Cody. “Then we’ll work on it when we get back to camp.” Cody tried to reassure her friend as the students began to file out of the room.

  “But we’re not coming back here!” Mika cried. “How am I going to find the box he mentioned in the poem?”

  “Hey!” came a booming voice behind them. “What were you kids doing with that table?” It was Delbert Schnikey, standing right behind them, his hands on his hips. He looked even crabbier than he had earlier. “And what’s all this talk about some hidden box?”

  The Code Busters looked at one another.

  Then Quinn said, “Lima-echo-tango-sierra golf-echo-tango Oscar-uniform-tango Oscar-foxtrot Hotel-echo-romeo-echo!”

  Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

  Cody knew Mika was reluctant to leave the immigration station without finding more from her great-great-grandfather, but on the tram ride back to camp, Cody promised her friend that the Code Busters would work on the puzzle. Maybe they could find an answer if they studied it together.

  After the students arrived at the campsite, they handed over their scavenger hunt answer sheets, along with details of each photograph they’d taken. After a campfire dinner of hot dogs, corn on the cob,

  salad, and s’mores, the students listened to Ranger Yee’s stories of the Miwok Indians. She even taught them some American Indian sign language, which Cody loved.

  With an hour before bedtime, the students were free to read, listen to music, or play games in their tents. Cody, M.E., and Mika headed for Quinn and Luke’s tent to work on Mika’s haiku puzzle.

  Quinn got out his Code Busters notebook and a pencil. “Okay, let’s figure this out.” He reread the poem aloud.

  Seek the place that nourishes

  Body but not soul.

  Find, behind the flame, my gift.

  “It definitely seems to be talking about something Senjin hid,” said M.E.

  “So what’s a place that nourishes the body?” Luke asked.

  “Someplace with food,” guessed Mika.

  “And a place that also has a flame?” Quinn added.

  “What kind of flame?” Mika said. “A campfire? A fireplace?”

  “It could be a stove,” M.E. said. “You’d find a stove in a place that has food.”

  “I think you’re right!” Quinn said. “A place with a stove and food has to be . . .”

  “. . . a kitchen!” Mika squealed, finishing the sentence for him.

  Cody hushed her and peered out of the tent, checking to see if Matt the Brat or anyone else had heard them talking. The coast looked clear, but she couldn’t be absolutely sure. She decided to use sign language with the others, just in case.

  Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

  “We have to go there!” Mika said, again too loud.

  Cody hushed her again.

  Mika whispered, “But it makes sense. That’s one place both men and women would go, even if it was at different times. My great-great-grandfather could have left something there for her to find.”

  “But do you really think it might still be there, after all these years?” M.E. asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mika said, shrugging, “but I have to find out.”

  Quinn smiled at her, looking impressed by her determination. “Okay, we need a plan.”

  Just as the Code Busters finished devising their plan to find the hidden object, Ms. Stad called, “Lights out! Everyone back to your own tent!”

  The girls packed up their notebooks; said good night to the boys; and headed for their tent, using their phone flashlights to find their way in the dark. They went to the latrine, put on their pajamas, and slithered into their sleeping bags. Ms. Stad and Mr. Pike announced they’d be around to check on everyone. Now all the Code Busters had to do was wait.

  “Are you sure you really want to do this?” M.E. whispered after Ms. Stad had stopped by to see if the girls were snuggled in their bags.

  Cody knew M.E. was scared and probably having second thoughts about their plan, but she also knew how important it was to Mika to find her ancestor’s hidden gift, whatever it was.

  “Don’t worry, M.E.,” Cody reassured her. “It will only take us about ten minutes to get there. We’ll sneak inside, run upstairs, check behind the stove, and get back here in less than a half hour.”

  “But what if there are a bunch of wild animals that come out at night?” M.E. said.

  “The only animals on Angel Island are deer, raccoons, and birds, remember?”

  “And snakes,” M.E. mumbled. “And rats. And spiders.”

  Mika shook her head. “M.E., you don’t have to go. Seriously. This is my idea, and I don’t want anyone to get in trouble.”

  “I know,” M.E. sighed. “I’m coming. I just hope nothing bad happens.”

  Cody nodded. She knew M.E. was a worrier, but Cody was sure they’d be there and back in no time.

  A light flashed in through the tent screen. Cody got out her notebook and copied down the Morse code message as the light blinked on and off from the boys’ tent.

  ?

  ! Cody answered,

  using the flashlight app on her phone.

  the boys’ message said.

  replied Cody, using the police code for “message received.”

  the boys warned.

  replied Cody.

  Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

  “It’s time!” Cody whispered to M.E. and Mika. The girls put their clothes on over their pajamas and puffed up their sleeping bags with extra clothes in case the teachers came to check on them again. Cody glanced outside to make sure no one was around. She didn’t see anyone and only heard the hooting of an owl and the rustle of the leaves in the trees. At least, she hoped they were just leaves. Leading the way, she tiptoed carefully toward the latrine, with Mika and M.E. right behind her.

  Quinn and Luke were already there, waiting for them.

  “Did anyone see you?” Quinn whispered to the girls.

  “No,” Cody whispered back. “But let’s do this fast. We’ll be in real trouble if we get caught. It won’t be easy to explain why we left our tents.”

  They were about to start up the path toward the immigration station when Cody heard the crack of a twig. That was no raccoon, she thought. Something much bigger was moving around in the nearby trees.

  M.E. grabbed Cody’s arm. “What was that?” she whispered.

  The sound came again. M.E. squeezed Cody’s arm tighter.

  The kids froze, listening. After a minute passed quietly—except for the sound of Cody’s thumping heartbeat—she let out her breath. Luke whispered, “Probably just a deer. Nothing to worry about. Let’s go.”

  The five Code Busters began climbing the steep hill that led to the immigration station, using their cell phones to light the way. They were winded by the time they reached the entrance and took a moment to catch their breaths.

  Cody checked her watch. Ten minutes had passed. They were right on time. If everything went according to plan, they’d be back in their sleeping bags in another twenty minutes.

  Quinn pointed to a light in the front window of the building. “That must be the office.” He crept up and peered in, then turned to the group.

  “Schnikey’s in there, but it looks like he’s sound asleep in his chair,” he whispered to the others.

  “I wonder what he’s doing there,” Cody said.

  “I bet he’s supposed to be guarding the building, but he’s not doing a very good job. Let’s go around back and see if we
can get in that way.”

  The kids followed Quinn as he lit his way along the side of the building. When they reached the back door, Quinn tried the knob. It didn’t budge.

  “Locked,” he said. “How are we going to get in? This place is like a prison.”

  Mika said, “I think we’ll have to go in through the front. Maybe it won’t be locked, since Schnikey is there. But we’ll have to be really quiet if we’re going to get past him.”

  Cody wasn’t so sure about this part of the plan, but she agreed when the others nodded. This looked like their only option.

  They returned to the front entrance, and Quinn slowly turned the knob.

  The door opened.

  They listened for a few seconds and then heard the unusually loud sound of snoring coming from the office, just down the hallway. To Cody, it sounded like a machine gun going off inside a tunnel. She wondered how Schnikey could sleep through all that noise he was making.

  Quinn opened the door wider but stopped when he heard it creak. Then, timing it to Schnikey’s snores, he inched it open a little at a time, until the kids could fit through.

  One by one, they tiptoed past the open office door, making sure to step on the old wooden boards only when Schnikey snored. Once they’d made it to the other end of the hallway without waking him, they located the staircase. It was blocked off with rope and a sign that read NO ADMITTANCE. Another faded sign painted on the wall read MESS HALL. An arrow pointed up.

  “That must be where the kitchen is,” M.E. whispered to the others.

  They headed up the stairs, stepping over the rope and taking each step slowly and carefully. Cody, bringing up the rear, paused to listen once more for Schnikey’s snores. Certain he was still asleep, she joined the others.

  When they reached the top of the stairs, Cody looked around. She was disappointed to find the room was basically empty. It was hard to tell what it had been like in Senjin’s time. She spotted more poems carved into the walls, but otherwise, the place was bare.

  Cody saw disappointment on Mika’s face as well. “We might as well look around,” Cody said, and Mika nodded. They started walking slowly around the room, shining their phone along the walls. Luke, who had been staring at the wall, pointed to a large rectangular area that looked lighter than the wall around it. “See that spot? I’ll bet the stove used to be there.”

  Mika bent down and examined the space. She shined her phone light over the floorboards near it.

  “Oh my gosh!” she whispered. “Look at this!”

  The others bent down to examine the board Mika was touching with her fingertips. In the light from their phones, Cody could see some scratches on it.

  “What?” M.E. asked. “They’re just scratches.”

  “No, they’re Japanese characters. This says Senjin!”

  Cody noticed the board looked a little warped, while the other boards were pretty flat.

  “Luke,” she whispered, “is there any way you can pull up that board? It looks like it might be loose.”

  Luke reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. Using one of the keys, he began digging at the edge of the board. Seconds later, he yanked the warped board from the floor, revealing a four- or five-inch hole underneath.

  Mika gasped.

  Inside, undisturbed for decades and covered in cobwebs, was a small box, about the size of half a cube of butter. It was made of tiny pieces of wood that had been put together in an intricate design and carved with Japanese characters.

  “I think we’ve found my great-great-grandfather’s Koyosegi puzzle box!” Mika picked it up and brushed away the cobwebs. But before she could open it, Cody held up her hand, her eyes wide.

  The kids froze. Then Quinn asked in sign language:

  Cody pointed to her ear, then fingerspelled.

  Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

  Before they could move, the open door to the mess hall slammed shut with a loud bang.

  Luke ran to the door and tried the knob. It wouldn’t move. The door was locked.

  The Code Busters were trapped inside!

  Luke tried the door again, ramming his shoulder into it. It still didn’t budge. “Shh!” said Quinn. “You’ll wake Schnikey!”

  “Ahoy, mates!” came a familiar voice from the other side of the door. “It’s Davy Jones’ locker for ye swabs!”

  The Code Busters looked at one another.

  “Matt?” they all said at the same time.

  “Ho ho ho and a bottle of bilgewater!” came the reply in a bad pirate accent.

  “Matthew Jeffreys!” Cody said, “You let us out of here right now, or I’m telling Ms. Stad!”

  “Oh yeah?” Matt said. “What’re ya gonna tell her? That you sneaked out of camp and came here in the middle of the night? No problem. She’ll find out soon enough, when I get back and tell her you’ve all run away! Man, you guys are going to be in trouble then!”

  Cody shook her head. Luke tried the door again.

  “It’s no use,” M.E. moaned. “He must have locked it from the other side. What are we going to do?”

  “MATT!” Quinn yelled. “Unlock this door—now!—and let us out!”

  Cody winced. Apparently Quinn wasn’t worried about waking Delbert Schnikey anymore.

  “Sorry, sea-rats, but my ship is sailing soon,” Matt the Pirate replied. “Gotta shove off. Been nice knowin’ ya!”

  The kids heard Matt’s heavy footsteps as he lumbered down the stairs. Surely Schnikey would wake up now.

  Suddenly the kids heard a loud crash, followed by a shriek.

  “What was that?” M.E. asked, looking terrified.

  No one answered.

  Cody waited, listening, but there was no other sound. Only dead silence.

  Luke shrugged. “Matt’s just trying to scare us.”

  “Maybe Mr. Schnikey heard him and will come rescue us,” Mika said.

  “Maybe,” Luke said, “but I think we’d better try to figure out a way to escape on our own. Schnikey isn’t the nicest guy on the planet.”

  Cody had to admit she didn’t like the thought of the crabby caretaker finding them up here.

  The Code Busters searched the room for another exit, but the only other door was nailed shut.

  “There has to be a fire escape,” Cody said. “All buildings have fire codes.”

  “Not really old ones,” Quinn said. “This place was probably built before they thought of anything like that.”

  “What about the window?” Mika said, pointing to a dirty-paned glass window next to an ancient, rusted radiator. The kids ran over to it, and Luke tried to push it open. “Oh great! It’s stuck!”

  “Is there a lock that we’re not seeing?” asked M.E.

  “Nope.” Cody pointed to the edges of the window. “It’s just been painted so often that the paint has sealed it shut.”

  “Luke, what about your keys?” Mika said. “Maybe one of them could loosen the windowsill.”

  Luke pulled his keys out of his jeans pocket again. “Good thing my grand-mere makes me keep these. They sure come in handy.”

  “Yeah, except for unlocking that door,” Quinn added.

  Luke dug at the crevices along the window’s edges, slowly carving away the thick paint. Then he tried lifting the window again. “Ta-da!” he announced as the window inched up a crack. A few more tugs and grunts, and the window opened wide enough for the kids to fit through.

  They leaned over and looked out.

  It was at least a twelve-foot drop from the second story onto the pavement below.

  “No way,” Quinn said. “We can’t jump. The fall will probably kill us.”

  Cody had an idea. “Take off your jackets,” she told the others, as she peeled off her own red hoodie.

  “Why?” M.E. said. “It’s freezing in here.”

  Cody reached for M.E.’s jacket. “We’ll tie the arms together and use the jackets like a rope to climb down. I saw it in a movie once where these pri
soners tied their bedsheets together and escaped. We can tie off the last one here.” She pointed to the radiator, which probably hadn’t been used to heat the room in years. She just hoped it would stay anchored to the floor and hold their weight as they shimmied down the side of the building.

  “It’s worth a try,” Luke said, tying the sleeve of his athletic jacket to the sleeve of M.E.’s jacket. Quinn and Mika handed their jackets to Luke, and he finished tying all five together, making sure the knots were secure.

  “Okay,” he said, “I think they’re strong enough.”

  “You think?” M.E. said, crossing her arms over her chest to keep out the cold. She was starting to shiver.

  Luke tied the end of Cody’s hoodie sleeve to the radiator and tugged to see if the old heater would stand firm. “So far, so good. So who’s going first?”

  “M.E.?” Quinn suggested. “You’re the littlest.”

  “Thanks a lot,” M.E. said, frowning. “So if I fall, you’ll know the plan’s not working, right?”

  Quinn grinned at her. “Right! So try not to fall.”

  M.E. stuck out her tongue at Quinn.

  Luke looked out the window again, then pulled his head back in. “Listen, there’s a drainpipe right next to the window,” he said to M.E. “Hold on to it as we let you down.”

  “And when you get to the ground, give us a thumbs-up to let us know you’re OK,” added Cody. “Don’t call out, or Schnikey might hear you.”

  M.E. nodded as Luke began tying the other end of the jacket-rope around M.E’s small waist. When it was secure, she hoisted one leg over the sill and ducked under the window. Gripping the drainpipe to steady herself, she pulled her other leg over, while Luke and Quinn held the other end of the jackets. Slowly they let the line out, lowering M.E. inch by inch. Cody watched as M.E. half dangled along the side of the building, her face frozen with fear.

  Moments later, to Cody’s relief, M.E. was safely on the ground. She looked up at the others with a big smile and gave them a thumbs-up.