McKenzie

by Shari Barr

  The girls hurried to the gate and paid their admission. “Have fun,” the man said as he took their money.

  A few pole lights lined the fence surrounding the maze. Their light cast an eerie yellow glow over the rustling cornstalks.

  McKenzie pulled Kate into the maze. Cornstalks towered above the girls’ heads. They followed the maze, turning around and going in the opposite direction when they reached a dead end. Biscuit trotted along at their feet. A few minutes later they passed a young couple, laughing as they tried to find their way out.

  “Most people must be at the barn dance,” McKenzie said. “There aren’t many people in here.”

  Soon the girls were hopelessly lost in the field of towering green cornstalks. The moon glowed round and bright in the sky. A handful of stars twinkled. The country band sounded muffled at the far end of the Farm. The voices and laughter of the visitors seemed eerily distant.

  The cornstalks rustled in the gentle wind. The glow of the pole lights surrounding the field grew dimmer as the girls reached the center of the maze.

  “I need my GPS system,” Kate said with a nervous laugh.

  “You and your gadgets.” McKenzie shook her head teasingly.

  With every turn in the maze, they grew more and more confused. Each turn led them to another dead end.

  “How will we ever find our way out?” Kate asked anxiously. “Every path looks the same.”

  McKenzie stopped at two intersecting paths. She sighed, glancing one way and then the other. She had no idea which way they had already tried.

  “Let’s go back this way,” McKenzie said, pointing to the right.

  Kate tugged on Biscuit’s leash and turned to follow McKenzie. Before they had gone more than a few yards, the lights suddenly blacked out, leaving the girls in complete darkness!

  Who’s There?

  McKenzie screamed. Shrieks cut through the darkness from somewhere in the midst of the maze. Goosebumps rippled up the back of her neck. “What happened to the lights?” she asked, clutching Kate’s arm.

  Kate stepped closer to McKenzie, tugging Biscuit on his leash. “I don’t like this,” Kate said, her voice high-pitched.

  “I can hear the electric guitars in the band, so the electricity didn’t go out.” McKenzie glanced around the shadowy rows of corn, eerily visible in the moon’s glow. She heard anxious voices of other maze-goers.

  “We’re trapped.” Kate’s voice trembled.

  Before McKenzie could respond, the bright pole lights flashed back on. Cheers rose throughout the maze.

  “I hope we can find our way out this time,” McKenzie said, sighing with relief.

  Biscuit had disappeared into the cornfield, stretching out the full length of his leash. “Come on, Biscuit,” Kate said, pulling firmly.

  The little dog yipped. His legs were stiff as he resisted Kate’s tugging.

  “Come on, boy,” she commanded again.

  McKenzie peered into the cornfield. Biscuit, barely visible among the rustling stalks, sniffed and pawed the ground in front of him. McKenzie pushed her way through the crackling stalks into the darkness. “What’s the matter, boy?” she asked, bending to stroke the dog’s head.

  Biscuit looked at her and yipped again. McKenzie knelt and saw something lying on the ground. She reached out and cautiously touched the object. A rock, she thought, picking it up.

  Glancing back down, she noticed something still lying on the ground. “It’s a book,” she muttered, returning to Kate.

  She gasped when she held the book up to the dim glow of the pole lights. “I found an old book beneath a rock,” she exclaimed, holding it for Kate to see.

  Kate’s eyes widened when she saw the cover. “It’s Mr. Drake’s journal—the one that disappeared from the library!”

  “How did it get out here?” McKenzie asked, thumbing through the book.

  “Do you think the thief dropped it?” Kate asked as Biscuit danced around her feet.

  “Now we can read the rest of the riddle,” McKenzie exclaimed. “Though it’s too dark to read it out here.”

  “What if the thief comes back for it?” Kate asked.

  McKenzie glanced around, watching for anyone nearby. She shoved the journal into the waistband of her shorts, pulling her T-shirt over it. She didn’t want to ruin her chance of reading the rest of the riddle.

  “I don’t want anyone to see us with it,” she explained. “We don’t know who stole it, so we don’t know who to trust.”

  Kate nodded. McKenzie’s mind whirled as they continued walking through the maze. Did the thief lose the journal or had he or she tried to hide it?

  McKenzie clutched her arm across her waist, holding the journal in place. As they turned a corner, they nearly ran into a couple of giggling teenage girls.

  “Hey, if you want to know the way out, follow us,” a curly-haired blond said. “We’ve been through a dozen times.”

  McKenzie and Kate eagerly followed the two older girls around the twists and turns. McKenzie sighed with relief when she saw the path lead into the open edge of the field.

  Two men standing next to a power pole stared into a fuse box. McKenzie recognized the man who had taken their tickets to enter the maze. The other man had been at the lookout post earlier. She overheard them discussing whether someone may have flipped the fuse switch.

  “Did someone shut the lights off on purpose?” Kate asked as they walked through the exit.

  “I don’t know,” McKenzie said, shaking her head. “Uncle Luke won’t be very happy if someone was messing with the fuse box.”

  “Hey, isn’t that Blake?” Kate asked, motioning to a boy slipping into the corn maze.

  McKenzie looked back toward the maze and grabbed Kate’s arm. “There’s someone climbing the lookout tower. It looks like that guy who was with Blake earlier.”

  Kate glanced in the direction McKenzie pointed. “It does look like him. I wonder what he’s doing up there.”

  “I don’t know,” McKenzie said. “Do you think Blake turned the lights off so he could sneak into the maze?”

  Kate sighed and wrinkled her brow. She tugged on Biscuit’s leash as the girls moved down the road.

  “They both look suspicious,” McKenzie whispered. “Blake is a bully, but why would he do something like that?”

  Glancing at her watch, McKenzie continued, “We’d better go find Uncle Luke and Aunt Cara. They’ll be wondering about us.”

  The girls hurried back along the streets still crowded with visitors. They saw Uncle Luke and Aunt Cara coming out of the barn, and they all walked home together.

  The girls told the Randalls about the blackout at the corn maze. But Uncle Luke had already heard about it. He said he’d install a lock on the fuse box the next day.

  “Someone was just playing a prank, I’m sure. But it won’t happen again,” he assured them.

  McKenzie wondered if he really thought it was a prank or if he didn’t want the girls to worry. When they reached the lane, she pulled the journal from her waistband and showed Uncle Luke.

  “We found this in the maze. It’s the missing journal.”

  Uncle Luke looked stunned as he took the book. “I’d guess the thief decided he didn’t want the journal after all so he tossed it away. But I’m glad you girls found it. I’ll return it to the library tomorrow.”

  “Can we look through it first?” McKenzie asked as they entered the house.

  “Sure,” Uncle Luke said, handing the journal back to her. “Keep it until you’re done.”

  By the time the girls were in their room, it was still early enough to go online with the Camp Club Girls. While Kate logged onto the computer, McKenzie flipped through the journal until she located the riddle. She scribbled the last half down as Kate quickly filled their friends in on the events of the day. Besides Alexis and Elizabeth, Bailey, from Peoria, Illinois, and Sydney, from Washington, DC, were also online.

  Bailey: Why is Blake so mean to Charity?

  E
lizabeth: He must not be very happy. He probably wants to make other people unhappy too. We need to remember to pray for him.

  McKenzie pulled the laptop over and quickly typed a message. I can tell he bothers Charity. But even though he’s mean to her, she’s nice to him. He called her a liar, but she would never do that. Why would he say something like that about her?

  Elizabeth: He could be jealous of Charity for some reason. God wants us to love our enemies. I guess she’s doing that.

  Alexis: Blake is being mean to you guys too. Is he mean to everybody?

  Kate: I don’t know. We haven’t been around him much.

  Sydney: Hey, I just thought of something. Didn’t you say Charity told you her great-grandfather was Harley Drake? The farmer who supposedly hid a treasure? Maybe Blake stole the journal and doesn’t want you to get close to Charity and find the treasure first. Maybe that’s why he called her a liar.

  McKenzie: That would make sense, but we can’t prove that Blake stole the journal. But since he works at the Farms, he could be the one who stole the keys too.

  Alexis: I don’t think the library thief threw the journal out like your uncle suggested. I think the thief lost it and might be going back for it.

  Bailey: I thought of something else. Maybe the guy with Blake shut the lights off at the maze so Blake could sneak back in and look for the journal.

  Elizabeth: All of you have good ideas. But you can’t accuse him without any evidence. Maybe McKenzie and Kate can keep an eye on him at least part of the time. I’m sure whoever stole the journal wants to find the treasure.

  McKenzie: We’ll try. But we’d better go for now. It’s getting late. Will talk to you all soon. Bye.

  After logging off their chat room, McKenzie and Kate quickly got ready for bed.

  Biscuit sighed as he settled onto his pillow beneath the window. Kate’s breathing grew slow and steady as she fell asleep, but McKenzie was wide awake.

  If Blake was the person who turned off the lights at the corn maze, maybe he hid the journal and was going back for it. He could have counted the rows from the end of the field so he would know where he had hidden it. If so, what would he do when he found it missing? Did he suspect they found it?

  Her mind whirled with thoughts. Had he called Charity a liar to discourage them from looking for the treasure?

  McKenzie listened to the tree branches rustling in the wind outside her window. It didn’t seem fair that first Charity lost her dad, and now her family didn’t have enough money. She knew that God allowed everything to happen for a reason. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t figure out why Charity’s life should be so hard. McKenzie squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that God would help the Whitsons find a better life.

  With prayerful thoughts flitting through her mind, McKenzie finally drifted off to sleep.

  “Why don’t we take some pictures after supper?” McKenzie asked the next evening, taking a bite of chicken and rice. “Then we can send them to the Camp Club Girls so they can see what it’s like here at Heritage Farms.”

  “Oh, I just thought of something,” Kate exclaimed with her fork in midair. “I left my camera in the 1900s’ school this afternoon when we were helping with an exhibit. I put it in the cupboard so it would be safe. Then I forgot about it.”

  “You can go get it when you’re done eating,” Luke said. “I’ll give you the key to the school. Just remember to lock up when you’re done.”

  The girls hurriedly ate supper and helped clean the kitchen. The moment they were finished, Kate hooked Biscuit’s leash to his collar. Seconds later, the girls bounded down the back steps and slipped through the gate of Heritage Farms.

  “Did your aunt and uncle figure out why food is disappearing?” Kate asked.

  “Nope,” McKenzie answered as they walked down the quiet streets. “The cooks at the Grill have been trying to see if the thief has a schedule. But little things, like cartons of juice and milk, disappear at different times of the day.”

  The girls walked in silence. Biscuit ran ahead as far as his leash would allow. He sniffed at every little bush and shrub. He jumped in the air, trying to catch a flying bug.

  They passed the public restrooms and the employees’ shower house. Kate touched McKenzie’s arm. “There’s a light on in the shower house. Aren’t all the employees gone by now?”

  “Maybe the janitor is cleaning,” McKenzie answered, approaching the shower house door. “But there’s no cleaning cart outside. I’ll check.”

  In a second, she ran back to Kate. “I didn’t want to go inside. I could hear the shower running, but I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the men’s or women’s side. The lights were on in both sides.”

  “Who would be showering now? Didn’t the employees leave hours ago?” Kate asked.

  McKenzie shrugged. “I thought so, but maybe someone stayed late.”

  The girls continued down the streets of Cedar Grove. The sun hung low in the western sky as they approached the schoolyard. Only a few hours earlier, children serving as volunteers raced about dressed in turn-of-the-century clothes. Now the yard was silent. The whole town was quiet as a ghost town.

  McKenzie unlocked the front door of the school and stepped inside. Biscuit rushed ahead of them, straining his leash.

  “Where did you leave your camera?” McKenzie asked, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.

  “Upstairs,” Kate answered. “In the cupboard behind the desk in the principal’s office.”

  “Okay, let’s go,” McKenzie said, leading the way down the shadowy hallway. “I wonder where Ozzie is? Here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.”

  “I’d better hold on tight to Biscuit this time,” Kate said, wrapping the leash around her wrist.

  McKenzie’s tennis shoes squeaked on the polished wooden floors. She softly called for Ozzie as she made her way up the dimly lit stairs. “I’ve got my flashlight this time. But it’s kind of fun in here without any lights. It’s kind of spooky. Ooohoooh!”

  Kate laughed as she climbed the stairs beside her friend. Biscuit scampered along beside them, eager to get to the top.

  “I left the camera right over here,” Kate said as she entered the principal’s office. She opened the cupboard and grabbed it. Seconds later she joined McKenzie waiting in the study hall.

  McKenzie jumped as a door slammed on the first floor. She looked at Kate, her heart beating rapidly. “What was that?” she asked.

  “Did someone come in the school?” Kate asked, her eyes growing wide with fright.

  “It sounded like the back door,” McKenzie whispered, edging closer to Kate.

  Footsteps sounded slow and deliberate as the intruder approached the staircase. Biscuit growled as the footsteps grew louder, creaking beneath their weight.

  “Uncle Luke,” McKenzie called. “Is that you?”

  The footsteps suddenly stopped. McKenzie felt a ripple up the back of her neck. Who was there? And why didn’t the person answer?

  Kate edged closer to McKenzie. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

  “The fire escape,” McKenzie whispered anxiously. “We can slide down to get away. Let’s go.”

  McKenzie hurried across the gloomy study hall. She lifted the panel that covered the opening to the sloped tunnel. “You go first,” she commanded. “Get Biscuit and go. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Kate sat and held Biscuit on her lap. Whoosh! She disappeared down the dark tube. The metal fire escape rumbled as Kate slid to the bottom.

  McKenzie dropped to the floor and scooted into the dark, gaping hole. She gave herself a push and with lightning speed, flew through the inky blackness. Musty air rushed at her face. The orange glowing spot of remaining daylight grew larger as she sped down the tunnel. In an instant she shot out the bottom and landed with a thud on her rear.

  Kate grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet.

  “Let’s go,” the younger girl cried.

  The girls fled down the streets of Cedar Grov
e. The buildings were quiet, their windows black and vacant, staring like blank eyes.

  The girls’ shoes slapped against the street as they raced toward home. When they reached the round barn, McKenzie slowed down, clutching her side.

  “I’ve got to rest for a minute,” she gasped. She slipped inside the dark barn and settled on a bale of hay.

  Kate set Biscuit on the ground and settled beside McKenzie. The girls were silent as they caught their breath. McKenzie’s racing heartbeat slowly returned to normal.

  “I feel better now,” McKenzie whispered. “I’m glad we got away from…whoever.”

  Kate nodded but didn’t speak. She bent over and scratched Biscuit’s ears.

  “While I’m here, I’m going to see if the horses are okay,” McKenzie said.

  Kate and Biscuit followed quietly to the horse stalls. McKenzie stroked the brown mare’s head.

  Kate stepped closer to her friend and her voice trembled as a creak sounded from the ceiling above their heads. “I don’t think we got away from the person. I hear someone climbing the stairs to the loft!”

  The Storm

  For a minute McKenzie panicked. “Whoever is up there must not know we’re here.”

  “What should we do?” Kate asked, pulling Biscuit to her side.

  McKenzie chewed her bottom lip as anxious thoughts flitted through her mind. The intruder could be anyone. Was it someone she knew? Or a complete stranger?

  “Should we go see who it is? Or should we run home and forget this happened?” McKenzie murmured.

  “I’m all for going home,” Kate whispered, clutching McKenzie’s arm.

  “I’d like to go home too,” McKenzie said, her heart pounding. “But now’s our chance to find out who’s been staying in the loft.”

  McKenzie gulped, took a deep breath, and tiptoed toward the stairs to the loft. She pulled her small penlight from her pocket and switched it on.

  “Try to keep Biscuit quiet,” she whispered.

  Kate scooped the little dog into her arms and followed McKenzie. The door to the loft swung open quietly at McKenzie’s tug. The circle of light from her flashlight bobbed as they crept up the stairs.