Up, up, up the steps they went toward the large water fountain in the center of campus. It rested on a large rock, surrounded by various Romanesque columns. Water spewed forth from the mouth of a mermaid. To Katie, it was a monument of beauty. To Buster, it was a watering hole.
“We’ve got him now,” Katie said. She motioned for Maggie to go in the direction opposite of her in order to trap Buster. But the plan failed.
As Maggie crept closer, Buster dove into the water and began paddling across.
Before Katie could regain her bearings, she slipped and fell into the water — and Buster escaped with the passport still in his mouth. Or so Katie thought.
She ran as fast as she could, but she was still several steps slower than Trey, who’d been out wandering around the campus when he spotted all the commotion going on and knew Buster was up to no good. The familiar screams also signaled to him that Katie and Maggie were up to no good as well.
Trey raced over and managed to corner Buster, tackling him to the ground. Then he grabbed the dog and began inspecting him. “What did those two want with you?” Trey asked.
“Buster has my passport in his mouth,” Katie snipped.
“Not anymore,” Trey said.
Katie ran toward them. The angry look on her face didn’t appear to be the least bit contrived. Katie was angry — and she was going to let everyone know about it. In mere seconds, she reached Buster and Trey.
“Where’s my passport, Buster?”
The dog put his head down and wailed and moaned. Buster sounded pathetic — and knew exactly what he needed to do to get his way. While Katie coddled Buster, the dog nudged the passport farther and farther away from her until it couldn’t be seen.
Katie grabbed Buster by the face. “Now, where did you put my passport?” she asked playfully. “Are you gonna tell me or make me look for it?”
Buster dashed around the common area, barking every so often.
“I guess I have your answer.”
It didn’t take long before Katie spotted her passport lying in the grass. It was mangled and torn, but that didn’t seem to bother her. She snatched it up and thought it was safe. But it wouldn’t be that way for long.
Buster lunged for the passport and grabbed it with his teeth. Before she could say a word to him, Buster had darted away with it and disappeared into the forest.
Without warning, a tree nearby decided it’d had enough and crashed to the ground. Buster let out a small yelp as it struggled to break free from the small branch pinning him to the ground.
Katie looked at Buster for a moment. She felt empathy for his plight. A crazy dog who’d found a possession only to have it ripped away at the last moment because of a strange set of circumstances. That meant her passport was on the ground somewhere.
Katie pulled out Trixie and a flashlight and began combing the ground. “It’s got to be near here somewhere.” Several moments later, “Aha! I found you!”
Maggie let out a little whoop, as did Katie and Trey. They all lifted the branch off Buster to free him.
Katie stuffed the passport into her pocket and ran back toward her room. “Thanks, Buster!” she called out as she hit full stride. “I’ll send you a postcard.”
Now all that was left to do was get on an airplane.
CHAPTER 10
The Trouble with Shoes
KATIE’S EYES BULGED as she stared at the bustling activity around John F. Kennedy International Airport from her seat on The Oglethorpe School’s yellow bus. The bus lurched forward and came to an abrupt halt. Katie banged her head on the seat in front of her.
Concern spread across Maggie’s face. “Are you all right, Katie?”
Katie rubbed her forehead and looked up. “Never been better.” She smiled at her friend and returned to gawking at the busy motion swirling around her. Taxi cab drivers beeping their horns. Baggage handlers pushing and pulling carts piled high with luggage. Large jets soaring overhead. Then there was the smell — the thick scent of diesel hung in the air, seeping onto the bus and overwhelming Katie.
“Now this is what I call busy,” Katie said as she turned and looked at Maggie.
Maggie nodded. “Is this your first time leaving the country?”
“First time on an airplane,” Katie answered.
“You’ve never flown before?”
“Not on someone else’s wings.”
Maggie eyed her closely. She knew Katie to be a jokester, but sometimes she would act as if her outlandish claims were true. Before she could determine whether Katie was pulling her leg or making up another wild tale, Maggie caught a glimmer of a smile around the corner of Katie’s mouth. “You almost had me,” Maggie said before both girls erupted into laughter.
Miss McGuffin, Miss Dingledine, and Mr. Buxton along with several parents served as the trip’s chaperones. They directed the students off the bus and led them to the ticket counter. Katie fidgeted and asked question after question to Maggie.
“I can’t remember. Is it loud when we take off? Do we get to watch a movie? What if we have to go to the bathroom? What if I get hungry? What if they forget my suitcase?”
And Katie asked every single question without taking a breath.
“Relax,” Maggie said. “It’s going to be fine. Trey and I will take care of you. Isn’t that right, Trey?”
Trey, standing behind the girls, didn’t respond. With eyes glazed over, he seemed mesmerized by the busyness around him as well.
Maggie stamped her foot. “Trey!”
“Huh? What? Did you say something?” he asked.
“Yes, I did. I said that we’d take care of Katie on her first flight, won’t we?”
“This is your first commercial flight?” Trey asked.
Katie nodded. “I’ve only flown on my uncle’s private jet.”
“It’d be a lot more fun if we could hack into the cockpit and listen to what the pilots are saying,” he answered.
“You don’t have to do that, silly,” Maggie said as she playfully slugged Trey in the arm. “You can listen in on channel 1 and hear everything they’re saying. Besides, I thought you would’ve given up computers for a while after the incident at the art gallery.”
Trey laughed nervously. “What’s the big deal? Besides, how much trouble could you get into on a plane anyway?”
Maggie’s eyes shifted between Trey and Katie. “I’m sure we’ll find out with you two troublemakers.”
After everyone in the class got their tickets, they proceeded to the security checkpoint. Once one of the security agents compared their ticket to the passport picture, they were free to enter what Katie decided to call “the cattle gate.”
“If everyone started mooing, I’d think I was on a farm,” Katie said.
Maggie and Trey both laughed.
Katie continued. “Everyone moves around like robots. This is crazy. And they’re all about to go somewhere exciting?”
“Some people are going to places like Omaha or Topeka,” Trey said. “Those places aren’t nearly as exciting as Prague or Sydney or Paris.”
“I think Omaha sounds like an interesting place,” Katie said. “I certainly wouldn’t turn down a trip there.”
“Why’s that?” Trey asked.
“I hear they make really good steaks there.”
Trey shook his head. “You don’t have to go to Omaha to get good steaks. Besides, who likes steak anyway? Give me a hamburger any day.”
As they inched closer to the final checkpoint, a bespectacled woman with beady eyes strolled along the waiting passengers, inspecting everything she could. She finally stopped in front of Katie.
“Your shoes, young lady. You need to take those off,” she barked.
Katie put her hands on her hips. “Excuse me? Are you talking to me?”
“Yes, I am. And don’t give me any lip. Take your shoes off now.”
Maggie tugged on Katie’s arm, but Katie flung her arm away and glared at the woman.
“Katie!” Magg
ie pleaded.
Katie ignored her, focusing her gaze on the woman. “I’ll have you know that I get sent back to my room almost every day to change my socks, but never my shoes. These are completely acceptable by The Oglethorpe School’s standards.”
The woman looked over the top of her glasses at Katie. “Miss, I don’t care about anyone’s standards. I just want you to take your shoes off like everybody else.” She gestured toward the feet of all the passengers around her.
Katie looked down and noticed that every one of them had their shoes off. She sheepishly looked up at the woman. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you, Katie,” Maggie said. “Everyone has to take off their shoes. Not everyone is out to get you.”
“It feels that way sometimes.”
“It’s only because you’re different — and that’s a good thing. I don’t want you to change.”
Katie proceeded to take her shoes off and place them on the conveyor belt.
“Sometimes you have to do what everyone else is doing — but you don’t have to be like everyone else,” Maggie said. “Keep being yourself, Katie.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” Katie said as she pointed to her mismatched socks.
In a matter of minutes, they were through the security checkpoint. An hour later, all 35 students and chaperones were safely on their flight to Prague, unaware of what adventures awaited them in the near future.
CHAPTER 11
A Mysterious Passenger and a Near Accident
“FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, PLEASE FASTEN your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff,” the captain squawked over the intercom.
Katie sat in the middle seat and grabbed the armrests with a grip so firm she was certain not even a hurricane could loosen her hands. To her left was Maggie — and the window. Katie looked at her friend and forced a smile. Her eyes darted toward the window and then back ahead again. She wanted to say something, but worried that if she opened her mouth she might scream in fear.
“Nervous?” the man on Katie’s right asked her.
Though Katie knew a strange man was sitting next to her, she hadn’t paid him any attention until now. His voice was scratchy, matching his scruffy face. She could barely see the rest of his face since he wore large sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled down just above his eyebrows.
Katie finally stopped her inspection of the man and nodded. “Very nervous.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’ll be fine. Once we get in the air, you’ll forget all about it.”
She smiled and looked straight ahead, unsure now what made her more nervous: the man or the flight.
He continued. “So, what are you going to Prague for? Singing in a choir? Competing in a tournament?”
Katie was unsure if she should even speak to him anymore. Despite his appearance, he seemed like a nice man. But their teachers had warned them to be careful about whom they talk to and what they shared with others. However, Katie didn’t want to be rude.
“I’m on a class trip. We’re here for education.”
The man’s face lit up. “Fantastic. There’s so much history and culture in Prague. You’re going to love it.”
“What are you going to Prague for?” Katie asked.
“Business.”
“What kind of business.”
“I’m a treasure hunter,” he said.
“Sounds exciting,” she said, forgetting to be cautious when talking to a stranger. Though, suddenly, this man didn’t feel so strange anymore. “What kind of treasure are you looking for?”
“Gold — and lots of it.”
“There’s gold buried in Prague?”
“Perhaps. That’s what I’m going to find out.”
“Do you have a treasure map?” Katie asked.
The man laughed. “No, no. Nothing like that. I’ve just heard that there’s a few landmark buildings around the city that have gold hidden in them by the Germans during World War Two.”
“And those people will let you just look through their buildings to find it?”
“I’m not sure about that, but I’ll find out soon enough.”
“Well, good luck, Mister. Mister— ?”
He took his sunglasses off and looked her in the eyes. “Mister Templeton.”
Katie stuck out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mister Templeton. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
“Me too,” he said.
During their conversation, Katie hadn’t realized that the plane had already taken off. She glanced out the window to see the ground below disappearing. The cars looked like little toys — and she couldn’t even see a person. In a matter of minutes, the New York City skyline disappeared, replaced by the vast Atlantic Ocean.
After about an hour, Katie unbuckled herself and climbed over Mister Templeton. She had to pee. Moving quickly down the aisle toward the bathroom, she made a face when she realized the people standing in front of her were also in line to use the bathroom. She counted four people ahead of her, one of which was Trey. He spun around to notice her.
“Having fun, Katie?”
Katie nodded. “I’d be having even more fun if I could go to the bathroom right now.”
“Have patience,” he said. “You can go in front of me if you really have to.”
“Thanks.” Katie wriggled past him and continued to fidget while she waited.
“Why don’t we talk so you get your mind off of going?” Trey said.
“Okay, fine,” Katie said. “I need to tell you about the guy I’m sitting next to — he’s a treasure hunter.”
Trey’s eyes lit up. “A real treasure hunter?”
“Yeah, and he said he’s going to Prague to look for gold.”
“Probably the Nazi German gold.”
“You know about this?” Katie asked.
“Yeah, we went over it in class. You were probably changing your socks when Miss McGuffin talked about it recently.”
“Well, what happened?” Katie asked as a woman and her daughter slid past them down the aisle toward their seats.
“During World War Two, the Nazi Germans raided banks and took out all the gold. Then they hid it somewhere, probably hoping to use it to pay for their weapons and bombs if some of their land was captured. But it’s never been found.”
“Never?”
Trey shook his head. “Nope. And everyone is still looking for it. Miss McGuffin said most people think it’s hidden in Europe somewhere — and some people think it’s near Prague.”
“Seriously?”
“That’s what she told us. And that’s all I know.”
Another man exited the bathroom and turned sideways so he could pass them. Katie’s face lit up. “We should look for it, Trey. We can be treasure hunters ourselves while we’re here.”
“That’d be fun, but you do remember that we have a strict schedule while we’re here. We can’t exactly go wandering off by ourselves whenever we want. This isn’t going to be like Winkleville, you know.”
“I know. I know. Why do you have to spoil all my fun?”
“Just trying to keep your mind off having to go to the bathroom mostly,” Trey said as he nodded toward the bathroom door. “It looks like you’re up.”
A woman exited one of the restrooms, leaving the door open for Katie. She turned and slugged Trey in the arm. “You’re tricky, Trey. Just when I thought you were serious about helping me find some gold—”
“Who says I’m not serious?” Trey asked. “We’ll figure something out. Now hurry before you have an accident.”
CHAPTER 12
A Bridge to Cross
IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN on a long trip, you probably know it’s a good idea to settle down first. Whether it’s Grandma’s house or a new and exciting city, it always makes sense to unpack and gain your bearings before charging off to explore new things. Katie didn’t know this.
Once the class arrived at their hotel in Prague, Katie threw her suitcase i
nto her room and begged Miss McGuffin to let them go on a walk.
“We were stuck in that stuffy plane all day — and there’s a whole new world out there just waiting for us to explore it,” Katie pleaded.
Miss McGuffin looked down at Katie. “Oh, all right. Let me get my sweater. But we must keep this short.”
“Thank you, Miss McGuffin. I understand.”
Katie dashed back to her room to retrieve Trixie. She also convinced Trey and Maggie to join them.
Just outside their hotel door was one of Prague’s most famous landmarks, the Charles Bridge. Just over a quarter of a mile long, the bridge spanned the Vltava River. Statues of saints decorated the structure and made it both an interesting lesson in history and culture.
As they came upon each statue, Katie pulled out Trixie and began examining the inscriptions.
“What are you doing, Katie?” Miss McGuffin asked.
“I’m looking for clues.”
“Clues to what?”
“Clues to the gold, of course,” Katie said. “We’re going to find it while we’re here.”
“Katie, you do realize that people have searched for that for years — professional treasure hunters, people much more knowledgeable than you. And even so, many people think it doesn’t really exist.”
“Well, if it does exist, I’m going to find it. Besides, I may not be a professional but I have something no professional has — I’ve got Trixie.”
The moment those words left Katie’s mouth, a man snatched Trixie out of Katie’s hands and ran back across the bridge.
“Katie, wait!” Miss McGuffin called.
Katie ignored her pleas and pursued the thief. Maggie and Trey joined her.
“Come back here right now!” Katie called.
Wearing a dark coat, sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled down over his face, the man hardly had any identifiable traits. But that didn’t matter in the moment. The only thing that mattered was that he still had Trixie in his hand — and she was going to get it back no matter what.
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