Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter

by Beth McMullen

  “What do you mean you have the stone?” Jin demands.

  “Last night. I went back to the wedding cake mansion and took it.” Even as I say the words, it feels like a dream, as if I might not have been there at all. “But it’s dangerous and it needs to go.”

  Well, that’s not very nice. I guess if you aren’t going to appreciate the gifts I’m offering, I’ll just give them to someone who will. Did you call her Lipstick?

  Oh no. This is not good. “And, guys,” I whisper, “we have to hurry.”

  CHAPTER 43 INTO THE DRINK

  MY PLAN IS SIMPLE. CATCH a ferry to Sausalito, located on the other side of the bay. In the morning, they run pretty regularly. When we are halfway there, near the Golden Gate Bridge, I’ll throw the stone overboard, where it will disappear into 350 feet of water, silenced forever, and no one will ever find it.

  My friends want to know what’s going on. I explain, leaving out the parts where the stone played on my worst instincts and almost convinced me it was right. “And I couldn’t tell my dad. He’ll just want to turn it over to Star and Fish and I don’t trust those two at all. But we have to ditch it before it connects to Lipstick or we’ll all be EmoJabber zombies.”

  “I don’t want that.” Hannah grimaces.

  On the bus ride to the Ferry Building, not far from Pier 15, where the failed exchange occurred, Jin is rueful. “Too bad we never got to do cool magic stone stuff. That would have been fun.” He doesn’t understand the stone is here on earth to cause chaos, as was Ördög’s desire. But I don’t want to explain how I know that, so I smile.

  “It’s a bummer,” I say. “I was thinking, though.” And I have been, about lots of things, but mostly about how Jin, Hannah, and I were alone before and now we’re not. It feels good not being alone anymore. And that’s better than any magic.

  “What have you been thinking?” Jin asks.

  “About how with three brains we don’t really need magic. What if we were a STEM fair team? Together?” Jin and Hannah stare at me as if I have a banana stuck in my ear or something. A warm spot forms in my belly. Am I pushing this friends/teamwork thing beyond its limits? I’m pretty new at it, so that’s entirely possible. I wait, trying not to fidget.

  “I think that’s a great idea,” Jin says after a long pause, swallowing hard.

  Hannah tries for a casual shrug, but her eyes are bright. “I guess we work pretty well together. I mean, we’ve done some stuff.” She giggles. “Redwood is going to freak. We’re going to be unstoppable.”

  When we climb off the bus, we’re hit with the heavy smell of seaweed and salt. The approaching ferry blasts its horn. The Ferry Building is crowded with tourists here for coffee and the Saturday-morning farmers’ market. Quickly, we make our way to the boarding ramp, where we flash our student transport passes at a woman in a blue uniform, who waves us aboard.

  On our way to the upper-level seating of the ferry, we pass a handful of passengers and none look familiar. No Lipstick. No Buzz or Plaid. This is good. We secure seats up top. No one wants to sit in the open air today. The fog still lingers, chilling the air.

  I pull the stone from my pocket and study it. There are hints of green, but it doesn’t glimmer like it did when I first found it, the moment it must have latched on to me, way back when we were on the Nebula. Down below, engines churn to life and the deck of the ferry vibrates. With the horn blowing, the boat pushes back from the pier and we head into the bay. The wind whips my hair around my head and my eyes water. It’s hard to talk, so we just sit shoulder to shoulder and watch the Ferry Building recede in our wake, the skyline disappearing.

  Will Dad let us stay in San Francisco, or will we be out on the road as soon as he gets his strength back up? I was so focused on finding him and getting back to my old life that I never considered what it would be like to leave my new one. A knot forms in my stomach.

  Cut it out, Lola. Right now I have a job to do and that is to throw this stupid stone overboard so no one can ever get their hands on it again. I’m so busy telling myself to focus that I don’t notice someone has taken the seat beside me. Jin’s eyes go wide.

  “Uh-oh.” Hannah jumps to her feet.

  The scent of orange cuts through the salty air.

  And just like that, my heart surges. I want to squeeze my eyes shut and pretend none of this is happening, but that won’t change things. Lipstick will still be seated beside me, grinning like the cat who ate the canary. Sorry, Zeus. No offense.

  I react quickly, cocking my arm to hurl the stone into the frothy ocean, but Lipstick is faster. She grabs my wrist mid-throw and peels the stone from my hand.

  “Nice try.” She clutches the stone in a tight fist. “But the stone is done with you. It wants me now. You two, don’t move.”

  But the stone’s magic is intoxicating and she can’t peel her eyes from it. Jin and Hannah slide around behind her. I think they have a plan. Or they are running away and leaving me here. I’ll have to wait and see.

  “Too bad you don’t know the secret to make it work,” I say sharply, wanting to keep her attention on me so she doesn’t see my friends slip from their seats. This works like a charm.

  Fully behind her now, Jin and Hannah gesture wildly. I think they are telling me to buy time. Right. On it.

  “I could make your life complicated,” she says, “if you don’t tell me.”

  “Jeez, lady,” I say with a sigh. “My life is complicated already. Talk about not having any power. You should try being a kid these days. Nobody listens to kids. You get used to it after a while.” Whatever they’re plotting back there, I hope they hurry. “You already have power. Why do you need more? Why do you need to brainwash the world with EmoJabber? Why not do something good instead? You know, helpful?”

  “I don’t remember asking for your opinion,” she says. She can’t pull her gaze from the stone. It’s like I’m barely there. Is it talking to her right now? Whispering in her ear? Is it offering her everything she wants and more? In a moment she will have the power to convince me to jump up on the ferry railing and squawk like a seagull. Whatever Jin and Hannah are doing, it has to be now. “You should go home. Count yourself lucky you got your father back in one piece. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

  In the beginning, yes, but things have changed. Now I need to save the world.

  “Unfortunately,” I say, “the situation is not what it was.”

  Her eyes shift to me, glaring. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll forget all about the stone. I have people watching your house. Don’t think I won’t ring that ridiculous bird’s neck to make a point if I have to.”

  Oh, now she’s being really mean. “You leave Zeus out of it,” I growl. Just as those words leave my lips, Jin leaps forward and shoves Lipstick to the side, where she collides with Hannah, who hip-checks her hard enough that the stone flies from her hands. In a flash, I snatch it from the air, holding on tight.

  The stone is warm in my hands, iridescent green, glowing. It tugs at the edges of my consciousness. Should I really toss it in the water, never to be seen again? The stone has important historical value. Shouldn’t it be studied? Shouldn’t it be on display in a museum or something? Is this a choice I’m really willing to make? Lipstick is regaining her footing.

  And suddenly Jin and Hannah are beside me.

  “Throw the stone, Lola. Let it go.” Jin is calm, his voice confident. All his self-doubt is gone.

  “We don’t need it,” Hannah says. “We are fine just as we are.” Her eyes sparkle. She’s not budging an inch.

  Their words needle into my thoughts, pushing the lure of the stone out of the way. They are right. We don’t need magic. We can make things happen all on our own. We just have to try.

  I wind up like a pitcher on the mound and throw the stone as hard as I can. It sails in a perfect arc before hitting the water with an insignificant splash. Lipstick howls with pain and it’s not from skinned knees. Kicking off her shoes, she climbs up on the f
erry railing. It’s a pretty big jump, but that doesn’t stop her. She leaps into the water after the stone.

  The three of us stand at the rail and watch with awe as she swims frantically toward the splash zone of the stone. But it’s long gone, sunk deep into the muck at the bottom of the bay. Pandemonium breaks out when one of the crew spots Lipstick frantically diving below the waves, again and again. There’s lots of screaming and running around. Someone throws a rescue buoy.

  But Jin, Hannah, and me, we just stand there, grinning, and watch the chaos.

  CHAPTER 44 STAR AND FISH HAVE PROBLEMS.

  IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOW, there are lots of questions to which I give unsatisfying answers. Apparently, Star and Fish find my insistence that the stone had a bad attitude to be obstinate. My father is disappointed I tossed the stone overboard, although he tries not to show it.

  “I would have liked to study it. I think we could have learned a great deal by having that opportunity.”

  But there is no point in describing to him what it was like to have the stone whisper in my ear. Or how as it got comfortable with me, it found darkness to exploit. It wanted to turn me rotten. Sure, we might have learned great things from it, but the risk was too high. Star and Fish grumble, but I don’t regret my decision. In some situations, adults cannot be trusted to do the right thing.

  Like Lipstick. She wanted to be heard and no one would listen. I know a little bit about what that kind of desperation feels like and how easily a person can erase lines she swore she would never cross. I mean, I became an art thief! I was terrible at it, but still, I was willing to try anything.

  And what would my path have been had I succeeded, made it out of the wedding cake mansion with the ballerinas intact? This thought makes me uneasy. It means Lipstick and I are not that different. In her shoes, I might have ended up just like her, isolated and alone.

  But I’m not alone. Not anymore.

  * * *

  As Dad has decided to let us stay on at Great-Aunt Irma’s for a while longer, at least until he is feeling right enough to go back out on the road, I am now a very ordinary Redwood student. I have channeled all the energy I spent on finding Dad into trying to win the STEM fair with my three-brain team. I really want to go to NASA summer camp. If they take us up in the reduced-gravity aircraft, I have vowed not to puke.

  On a damp Tuesday in March, six weeks out from the STEM fair, Jin, Hannah, and I stop for milkshakes on the way to Jin’s house. We have a work session scheduled to get Frank 3.0, Spy Goggles 2.0, and Noise Muffler 4.0 (please don’t ask) in tip-top shape for competition. My friends bubble with ideas, everything from new power sources to better lenses to wireless earbuds to cuter bunny ears. I like to listen to them talk. It makes me think that I have found a lot of lost things lately, some that I didn’t even know I was missing.

  We are deep in a debate about how to present our projects, possibly as a tool set for those who are searching for something that has gone missing, when we notice two figures looming in the fog ahead. As we draw closer and they come into focus, I give a start. Star and Fish? I don’t know what they are doing out here, but there’s no way it’s a coincidence. They wear their trademark black suits and dark sunglasses despite the fact there is no sun anywhere today. Hands clasped behind their backs, they stand at attention waiting for us to approach.

  The last time I saw them, they were leaving Great-Aunt Irma’s house in a huff because I refused to provide details on what it felt like to communicate with the stone. I believe they said I was being a brat. If they are seeking me out for another try, they will be disappointed. I steel myself for an unpleasant encounter.

  “Is that who I think it is?” Jin’s eyebrows spike.

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Friends.” Star offers a wide awkward grin. It’s easy to pick out people who have no experience with kids and possibly were never kids themselves. Star and Fish fit the bill. “Imagine running into you here.”

  “I live right there,” Jin says flatly.

  “Don’t even bother with a cover story,” Hannah adds.

  “I already told you everything I know,” I say. We’re out of the magical artifact recovery business. We are busy people. We have STEM fair projects to perfect if we are going to win. “I have nothing else to add. There’s no point in asking. You’re just wasting your time.”

  Star stretches that awkward grin clear across his face. Sometime in the last few weeks he’s grown a mustache. It sits like a droopy caterpillar on his upper lip. “Actually, we aren’t here about the stone at all.” Fish nods in enthusiastic agreement.

  “Well, then what do you want?” I’m uneasy. There is no way they are here to bust me because I haven’t done anything. I have been the perfect student since Dad came home.

  “It’s very convenient to find all three of you together.” Fish is also grinning widely and weirdly. Star and Fish are never this happy. Something is definitely up.

  “You better just spill it,” I suggest.

  “We like to think the experiences with the stone were sort of a test for you young people.” Star’s grin falters a bit, but he pushes on. “You proved you have what it takes to assist the Task Force in its very important work.”

  “Sort of a test?” I eye him skeptically. No way. Their mission to find the Stone of Istenanya went totally off the rails and they were just lucky we persevered and saved the world.

  “Well, fine,” Star grumbles. “It wasn’t really a test, not a planned one anyway, but it could have been. In any case, it seems we have a situation.”

  “A delicate situation,” Fish clarifies. “Do you kids know about Pegasus?”

  “From Greek mythology?” Where this is going, I really can’t say.

  “The flying horse?” Jin asks.

  Star sighs. “Yes. That one.”

  Hannah steps forward. “What about him?” In the past, I would have found this conversation strange but not so much anymore. I have seen things.

  “Pegasus supposedly wore a jeweled necklace,” Fish says, “bestowed upon him by a minor goddess who I guess liked horses.”

  Goddesses? The last time we messed with a goddess’s work, things got a little out of hand. Jin nudges me and waggles his eyebrows. Hannah grins. “Remember when I said there would be more adventures?”

  I cross my arms against my chest defensively. “I’ve never heard of Pegasus wearing a necklace. And I’ve read a lot of mythology.”

  Star gives an apologetic shrug. “Surprisingly enough, there is an ancient text that describes the necklace. It seems thousands of years ago, during a long drought, the necklace was discovered along a stretch of parched Nile riverbed. The Pharaoh took possession and the necklace was passed down from dynasty to dynasty until it was lost.”

  “And?” My stomach tightens.

  Fish jumps in. “There has been chatter about it, on our networks. Developments.”

  “Are these the same networks that the Shadow used to trick you? Forgive me if I’m skeptical.”

  “We’ve beefed up security,” Star says quickly. “Created redundancies. Instituted encryption. Trust us. It’s safe.” I snort. Trust them? Never.

  “A number of agents have been looking for the necklace,” Fish says. “But success has been elusive.”

  “The boss says we might need a new perspective.” Star’s nose crinkles up as if something stinks. “A different approach to the search.”

  “You want us to find Pegasus’s necklace?” Jin blurts.

  “We’re going to be on the Task Force?” Hannah claps her hands with delight.

  “You’d be honorary members,” Fish clarifies, mopping her sweaty brow with a sleeve.

  “Supplemental,” adds Star.

  “Extra help.”

  “Fresh eyes.”

  “Temporary.”

  Jin casts me a sideways glance. “They want us to be on the Task Force.” He smirks. “Because they can’t find stuff on their own. That’s cool.”

  “Okay,�
� says Hannah. “Let’s say we agree. What do we get out of it?”

  This question perplexes Fish. “You get to save the world. I thought that would be obvious.”

  “Do we get school credit? First-class airfare? Our choice of meals? Special Task Force passports?”

  “I guess?”

  Hannah grins. “Excellent! This is so fun. I’m in.”

  “Wait just a minute,” I say. Have my friends already forgotten our experience with the Stone of Istenanya? What is wrong with them? Saving the world was supposed to be a one-off. I did not intend to make it my life’s work. Still. Pegasus’s necklace. “Before we agree to anything, you need to answer one question.”

  “Ahem… well… okay, I guess,” says Star.

  “If I were to put this necklace on, what exactly would happen?”

  Fish swallows hard. “You could fly.”

  You have got to be kidding me.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I REMEMBER SEEING RAIDERS OF the Lost Ark when I was a kid and instantly falling in love, and not just with Indiana Jones. How did the storytellers weave action, adventure, humor, and characters that felt so real into a single tapestry? I had no idea (I was twelve), but I was hooked.

  Later in life, when I had this ridiculous idea that I would write books, I wanted to serve up the same ingredients to readers that I had so loved in Raiders. Sure, the stakes are high, but we can have fun all the same, can’t we?

  I hope you enjoy Lola’s adventures. I hope she makes your heart beat a little faster and makes you laugh. I’m already itching to get on the ride again.

  There are a few people without whom this book (or any of my books!) would not see the light of day. Leigh Feldman of Leigh Feldman Literary, who always has my back; Alyson Heller, a superhero of an editor who regularly saves me from falling into holes I have no hope of ever escaping; and the various lovely middle-grade authors it has been my pleasure to meet over this past year, including those wild and crazy Renegades of Middle Grade. You know who you are.