Diana looked back toward the cabin. They had taken a way that would be hard for Helen and the others to see them.
“Why would they have brought us to that cabin anyway?” Diana asked, as the cabin became harder and harder to see.
Elise stopped to catch her breath. “They probably thought they were too close to my home and were afraid of someone finding us.”
The girls began to walk. The cabin was out of sight now.
“I’m just so confused about all of this. You said your horse went missing, and then they captured us and talked about confusing things.”
“What confusing things?” Elise asked.
“You know, about your dad and a precious box.”
Elise became thoughtful. “I really want to know more about that. I’m wondering if my dad is hiding something from me to protect me.”
Diana shrugged. “Why would these thieves steal the horse?”
“Well,” Elise pushed a branch aside, “did you not hear Helen yelling in the cabin? We were listening by the door to all that she was saying.”
“All I heard was my belly growling.”
Elise was annoyed. “Well, if you had listened, you would have heard Helen talking about how Bert Duncan had been digging around in the woods for something and how he had been spying on me and my family. Then he didn’t feel like walking all the way back to the tree house where his sister Amy was. Instead, he stole Blossom and rode her back.”
“Wouldn’t your horse have reared or something because she didn’t know him?”
“I’m thinking that maybe since he’d been spying around a bit, he had seen how nice Blossom was and decided to try to steal her and ride her back.”
“He obviously doesn’t sound like a bright person,” Diana said disgustedly.
“No, Helen definitely is the brains for them all. She’s probably a professional thief or whatever she is.”
“Yeah, well, now that we’re escaping, we can forget about them and move on. I miss my family and I want to take a hot shower,” Diana stated, ducking tree branches and moving around poison ivy and stinging nettles.
“We can’t just forget about them! They’re after me and my family. They stole my horse, they captured us for no reason, and they are really eager to steal something from my dad. I don’t like this at all. I never thought I would have any enemies who’d want to kidnap me. I’m not even sure how they would have known about me at all.”
“Well, remember they thought we were sisters? Maybe they really don’t know much about your family aside from your dad. Maybe they’re just seeking revenge.”
“Maybe,” Elise sighed, crawling over a fallen tree. “Stop! Listen!” she grabbed Diana’s arm. They heard shouts behind them. “They’re after us! They figured out we escaped!”
Diana panicked, “We have to get away fast! They have that vehicle they used to bring us to the cabin.”
The girls sprinted off down the slope of the mountain, avoiding the road in case Helen Kren and her band might be driving on it in order to cut them off. Their hearts were beating fast. They could hear the thieves’ angry shouts trying to figure out which way the girls had gone. The loud shouts of their pursuers caused squirrels to go scampering in different directions and birds to fly away from the racket.
“This is all your fault,” Diana spat, panting.
“Stop! We have to work together, remember?” Elise replied, running as fast as she could and pulling Diana along with her. Diana couldn’t run as fast as her.
“What if they get us again? What will we do?” Diana gasped, gulping for breath as they ran. They were surrounded by woods and Elise had lost track of the direction they were going now. Her head swam and she didn’t know what to do. To her, it was worse than any cops and robbers game she had ever participated in. That game had always made her heart pump wildly. Now it was real-life bad people chasing her instead of her friends and siblings. This was much more intense. Even worse, it wasn’t even a game, so she couldn’t shout “pause” to their pursuers if they got hurt. Elise whipped her head around in all directions and upward. “I have it! The trees!”
Elise looked behind her to see if the people were in sight yet. They weren’t visible yet, but their shouts were becoming closer.
“They’ll see us if we get up in a tree,” Diana said, “and I can’t climb well!”
“Well, you’re gonna have to try.” Elise looked at the trees around her. None of them looked easy enough to climb. Then she saw a big tree that had fallen. There was a small slit where part of the tree hadn’t completely touched the ground. Bark was scattered around the tree. “I have it! We’ll hide in the crevice of that tree and cover ourselves with bark.” Elise ran over to the tree. “Let’s try it!”
“But there are probably spiders…”
“Let’s go, Diana or we’re gonna be captured again!”
Diana looked back. She could hear the thieves’ vehicle coming closer. She hurried to where Elise was. They both squeezed as best as they could in the crevice and covered themselves with bark. Then they waited. They could hear each other’s ragged breathing and could hear their own heartbeats ringing in their ears.
“I have to use the restroom,” Diana whispered. “I haven’t gone since before we got captured.”
“Same, but now we have to stay still,” Elise warned.
Diana sighed.
They were hidden in a good spot. The hum of an engine grew closer and closer. They could hear branches scraping the sides of the vehicle and pick out Helen’s distinct voice saying, “This is taking too long. We’re better off finding them on foot.”
The vehicle turned off, and the girls heard Helen climb out of the vehicle.
“Why not just let ‘em go?” Bert asked. He and Amy had come with Helen to look for the girls. Mr. McCragg had stayed at the cabin.
“I can’t now. I was foolish enough to let them in on the secret too much. I didn’t think they were small enough to fit through that window, either. Those little brats. I’m boiling mad right now. When I find them…” Helen stormed through the woods in anger.
She passed Elise and Diana’s tree, muttering under her breath. Elise let out a sigh of relief when she had passed. A little later, Amy walked by them as well. Diana started to wriggle, but Elise clutched her arm hard. “We can’t get out. They’ll see us. One of them might’ve stayed with that vehicle.”
The girls held still for a while longer. Sure enough, they could hear Bert at the vehicle. His phone rang, and when he answered it, Elise and Diana could hear what he said. The girls heard enough to figure out that Helen wanted him to meet her and Amy at a certain road. The vehicle turned on and they heard Bert drive off toward the left. When the sound of the vehicle vanished completely, they crawled out of their hiding spot. Leaves and twigs clung to their hair. Elise tried to fix her hair but it was a tangled rat’s nest. She felt her cheek and could feel the sticky blood dried down her face from the broken bottle in the cabin. It hurt just to think about it and her head started to swim again, but she focused on what they had to get done right then. They had to make it home. “Let’s get out of here now,” she urged, and the two girls ran off among the trees once more, hoping to reach the Rethman’s property soon.
CHAPTER 18
Helen Kren Spotted
After they had searched around for clues awhile longer, Adara tiredly said, “All right, we need to go home now. Mom and Dad might be back.”
“We haven’t been out too long,” Austy answered. “We got to keep looking for them.”
Adara sighed. “Can’t we just let the police look out here instead of us?”
“Oh yeah? What would we do? Sit at home and wait for them to be found? Well, what if they’re not found? We have to do something!”
“I wish I had your fire,” Adara smiled. “Let’s keep looking.”
“Where could they be?” Austy said as she and Adara trotted their horses further into the woods. “It’s so unsettling and odd. This can’t just ha
ppen.”
“Well, it did, so now we have to figure out how to get through this, find them, and move on.”
Austy sighed and patted Midnight’s neck. “I hope Mom and Dad and the others are having luck. I think we might be on to something with that letter I found in that tree house.”
“I hope so. The letter scares me.”
“Now we can just search and hope and pray that we can find them. I hope they’re all right.”
Austy and Adara rode the horses for a while longer through the thick maze of trees, trying to figure out where the tracks had led. It wasn’t too hard to follow them since they could tell where the vehicle mostly went by the way the weeds had been flattened or branches had been snapped. As the girls went on, they heard a commotion to their right. They reined in their horses.
“What is it?” Adara asked.
“I’m not sure. I can’t see.” Austy looked hard, trying to pick out what was going on. She slipped off Midnight’s back and threw the reins to Adara. “I’m figuring out what’s going on.”
Adara was about to protest, but Austy was already racing through the brush of the forest floor. As she neared the place where all the commotion was, she ducked down behind a tree. She was still far away from the sounds, but she could make out two girls running. Seconds later, she realized it was Elise and Diana! She was about to shout to them but saw them hide under a crevice in a tree and cover themselves with bark.
Austy was confused until she heard a vehicle, what seemed to be a sort of utility vehicle, come into view. She had often seen hunters ride on something like this. It had a double row of seats and a big bed in the back, where the people had put all sorts of metal crates and boxes. The people who were in the vehicle looked mad, and Austy wondered if these people had kidnapped Elise and Diana and the girls were escaping them. Austy sat there and watched as a tall woman, who seemed to be in charge, got out and began to walk off. Another woman went after her a little later. The man stayed until he got a phone call awhile later, and he drove off to the left.
Austy sighed in relief and was going to go to the girls but watched as they got out from their hiding spot and ran on. Luckily they were going in the direction of home. Austy didn’t want to yell after them in case the girls’ pursuers heard her. Instead, she ran back to where Adara was and told her everything. Then they raced their horses after the girls, hoping to meet up with them before the other people did.
……
The Rethmans were driving along the town and country roads searching for the girls. They had been driving for a while now with no luck.
“We might as well head back. Maybe the girls, the Coxes, or the police figured something out,” Mr. Rethman said. His wife nodded.
Lexie and Arianna were sitting in the middle two seats listening to their parents talk. They were more anxious than ever to find Elise and Diana.
Mr. Rethman began the drive back to their house. Arianna propped her elbows against the window and stared out at the woods and slopes at the edge of the road. Birds were flying around and squirrels were scampering about on the forest floor, but Arianna was gloomy and sad. She didn’t know what happened to the two girls. No one did. She really wanted to get out and look for them instead of searching in the van, but she knew her dad could think clearly while he was driving, so she trusted he would somehow get on the right track. While they were driving, the girls eavesdropped on a quiet conversation their parents were having. Their mom was saying, “Jonathon, you don’t think this has to do with anything in the past?”
“What do you mean?”
“Helen Kren,” Mrs. Rethman whispered.
“We can’t be sure.”
The two sisters had caught the name and looked at each other. Arianna sent Lexie a confused look and Lexie responded with a shrug.
“I heard she’s out of jail now. Do you think she’s in on this?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me, but who says the girls got kidnapped?”
“I don’t know,” Mrs. Rethman looked back out the window and sighed.
The two curious girls in the back were anxious for more. Who was this Helen Kren their parents spoke of? Was she an enemy of their parents? Had she done something to their family before?
“Ever since we bought this house, we’ve had to keep too many secrets from our children. I think we should just outright tell them the truth because if Helen Kren does return, she’ll make it all the worse for us. We should’ve just stayed in New York where we knew nothing about all of this.”
“You know I couldn’t have done that. If we had stayed in New York, I wouldn’t know Christ like I do now, and I wouldn’t be the pastor of our church family. Would you have wanted that?”
“You’re right. I guess all this was worth it then. I’d rather know Christ than live in safety.”
Lexie and Arianna were moved by their mom’s statement.
As if she had forgotten the girls were in there, Mrs. Rethman looked back and gasped. “Uh… did you hear anything?” she asked. Their dad seemed startled as well.
“Well, if it doesn’t concern us or our family, then we didn’t hear anything.” Lexie said.
“So that means you did hear us,” her mother sighed. “Well don’t repeat it to anyone.”
From the driver’s seat, Mr. Rethman added, “One day we’ll let you in on all of this.”
“You say that every time!” Arianna exclaimed.
Her dad smiled, “The day will come soon.” He pushed on the brake at a stop sign, and when it was all clear, he turned left, toward their home. The girls were anxious to see if anyone had figured anything out about Elise and Diana.
“It’s ten o’clock,” said Arianna, glimpsing at her watch.
“We still have a lot of the day left. I’m sure we’ll find the girls by then,” Mr. Rethman said.
“Whoa, it’s only been a day since they went missing! They disappeared just yesterday?” Lexie was shocked. “Man! It seems like it’s been forever!”
They neared their home. Suddenly, Mrs. Rethman cried out, “Jonathon, look on the road! Is that not Helen Kren in that vehicle with two other people?”
Mr. Rethman craned his neck as he drove. “What in the world?!” he cried, in shock. “It is!”
“Turn right! Avoid her. We’ll take a longer way home so she doesn’t see us. Keep a hand on your phone just in case she follows us.”
Mr. Rethman turned right and his wife continued on about Helen Kren popping out of nowhere again.
Again? Arianna wondered, her hands shaking.
“Nervous about Elise and Diana?” asked Lexie.
Arianna snapped out of her thoughts. “I just hope they’re all right.”
They drove up the driveway to the house. As soon as they had parked, Lexie rapidly unbuckled and swung the door open. She ran out before the others to see if anyone had figured anything out. She ran around the house. None of the police cars were there at the moment, and the Cox’s vehicle was gone, so Lexie assumed they were still searching around. Arianna ran up beside her when she stopped on the back patio. “We can see if Adara and Austy have figured anything out,” Arianna said, trying to stay as confident and bright as she could.
“How? They’re not even around,” Lexie answered, kicking a pebble on the ground. It skittered across the cement.
“What do you think Mom and Dad were talking about in the van?” Arianna asked, changing the subject for the time being.
“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t seem like they want us in on it right now.”
“No, they’re always telling us that they’ll let us know when we’re older. They’ll probably forget by the time we’re ‘older.’”
“They’ll do what they think is best, so don’t push it,” Lexie advised, and Arianna sighed.
“I’m going to go inside to see what Mom and Dad are doing,” Arianna said, and Lexie nodded. Arianna went in the back door that was right there and opened it, stepping into the kitchen. She was going to look for her parents when s
he heard them talking. She had just caught her mom saying, “Yes, well, you have another duty first, and that’s to your family. I think they should know about this and help us decide what we should do next.”
Mr. Rethman said, “I don’t know what to do in this scenario. It’s so confusing and I’m not sure the girls would like it one bit if I told them everything.”
“Why? They hardly even know about their ancestors’ pasts, so I think they deserve to know at least a little bit, don’t you?”
“Yes, but I’m not telling them yet. Not unless we know for sure this is Helen Kren’s doing.”
“Didn’t we just see her on the road? I’m sure she’s up to something, Jonathon.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to try to follow her to see what she’s up to.”
“What if she kidnapped the girls?” Mrs. Rethman cried.
“Then she’ll be sorry for it,” her husband answered. “You’re tired. You need rest. Lexie, Arianna, and I will all go out looking together again. Don’t worry.”
“We are going to find them,” Mr. Rethman said.
Arianna stopped listening then as she heard her parents walking toward the doorway she was kneeling by. She hurried quickly away down the hall.
Who in the world is Helen Kren? Arianna wondered, as she went over again in her head her parent’s conversation. Then she shuddered, not really wanting to know. Please God, protect Diana and Elise, she prayed, and then thought, there seems to be some secrets about this Helen Kren lady that Mom and Dad have never told us about. I don’t understand. What’s going on? Oh, watch out for Helen Kren, Diana and Elise!
CHAPTER 19
Back Home
“Faster! Come on, Diana, we have to get home as soon as we can so we can report Helen to the police!”
Diana was huffing and puffing. “I don’t run!” she panted.
“I can tell!” Elise gasped, pulling her along. Branches and thorns scratched her arms and legs, but she kept moving on. Finally Diana let go of her and plopped to the ground. “I-I can’t!” she blurted. “I’m tired and I can’t breathe!”
Map to Treasure Page 9