I ran up to the back of it and pulled on the door handle. It was stuck. Bug and Sam grabbed on too, and we finally got it open. Inside was the Captain’s large fish tank. But it was empty.
“No,” I said, stepping back from the van. “That doesn’t make any sense. Where’s MerKay?”
“Look!” Bug said, pointing down to the beach.
Drake was kneeling at the end of the boat dock. It looked like he was checking a rope tied around the post. Then he leaned down and looked into the water. After a few minutes he stood and walked back toward the van.
“Hide!” I said. I ducked behind the trees. Bug and Sam followed. The three of us squeezed together.
As Drake approached the van, he slowed down. Oh no! I’d left the back door open. He checked inside, then looked over his shoulder. I held my breath. If Drake found us, what would we do?
Drake shrugged. He slammed the door shut, then climbed back inside and drove away.
“That was too close,” Sam said.
“Let’s see what he’s hiding in the water,” I said, running down the path.
At the end of the dock, Sam and I pulled on the rope while Bug leaned down to look. “It’s MerKay!” Bug cried. “She’s trapped in a net.”
“We’ll save you,” I called to MerKay. Even with her being underwater, I could see that her eyes were big and wide. She looked terrified.
Sam and I tried to untie the knots, but they were too tight. I stood up, looking for something that could help us cut the net. There was nothing.
“Hold on, MerKay,” I said. “We’re going to help you.” Treasure-hunting rule number five: Never leave a teammate behind. Running back to my bike, I yelled to the others, “You guys stay with MerKay, and I’ll go get Mom. She’ll know what to do.”
Chapter Thirteen
I had never ridden so fast in my life. I wished I had a phone! But Mom had said no way, not until I could pay for it myself. As I came closer to the Trove, I had a crazy idea. I didn’t want to go anywhere near the place again, but it did have a phone. Help would come that much faster if I could call my mom. I checked. The old pickup wasn’t there, and I didn’t see the cube van either. Maybe this would work.
I would just have to take a chance.
I reached the door and carefully swung it open so it wouldn’t squeak. No one was inside. Whew!
But then the Captain popped up from behind the counter. I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Well, hello there, Macy. What can I do for you? More treasures to show me?”
Think fast, Macy. Think! “Uh, I need to call my mom,” I said. “It’s…it’s a lake emergency.”
“Of course. Let me get the phone.” The Captain turned and rummaged the back counter. He turned back with a cordless receiver in his hand.
“You know, I noticed something missing from my shelf.” He passed the phone to me.
“Oh yeah?” I said. I wasn’t really listening. Obviously he wasn’t suspicious, or he wouldn’t have given me the phone. I quickly punched in Mom’s cell number.
“Yes.” The Captain’s voice got quiet. “And I think you know where it is.”
Oh no. I raised the phone to my ear. There was no tone. Oh no.
“Um…er…” I tried to say something, but the Captain was coming out from behind the counter. “I can explain…”
“There is no need. I suspect you and your friends found something much more valuable than a shell, didn’t you?”
I quickly punched in the number again and put the phone to my ear. Nothing. I lowered the phone and looked at the counter. The phone base was unplugged.
And the Captain now stood between me and the door.
“I’d like that shell back, please,” the Captain said menacingly.
I threw the phone at him and ran toward the storage room.
“It’s no use, Macy. You can’t run from me,” the Captain called.
Inside the storage room, I hid behind a tall wall of stacked boxes and tried to move slowly toward the door to the Captain’s bedroom.
“I’ll tell you what, Macy,” the Captain said. “I’m feeling generous. You want money. I need that mermaid. How much money do you want for the shell? That way no one gets hurt. Well, no one human, that is.”
“I know you’re the Beast!” I cried. “And I will never betray MerKay!” The door to his quarters was so close. I needed to make a run for it.
“Oh, there you are!” he said, popping into view. “Give it up, Macy. I’ve got you now.”
I pushed a tall stack of boxes at the Captain. They toppled over, hitting another stack. And then another. Soon dozens of boxes were crashing down on him.
This was my chance! I raced for the door and ran through the Captain’s quarters. The pail of rocks was still holding the outside door open. Freedom!
“Not so fast!” Drake said, blocking the way to my bike. The pickup truck was parked behind him. “I told you nosy kids that I’m a master hunter.” He slapped a coil of rope against his palm. “Now it’s time to shut you up for good.”
I grabbed the pail of rocks and chucked it at Drake. Then I ran toward the lake and the private dock. The gangplank was my only hope. I climbed the ladder as fast as I could. I had almost reached the top when Drake grabbed hold of my sandal.
“I’ve got you now!” he cried.
I kicked him. Hard. He slipped and fell down the ladder. I climbed out onto the gangplank. I carefully walked to the end. I looked down at the dark water and shuddered. I looked back behind me. Drake was halfway back up the ladder again. And now the Captain was there too.
I was trapped!
Chapter Fourteen
“Macy,” the Captain said. “It’s time to give up. We’ve got you cornered.”
“That’s right,” Drake said, crawling onto the gangplank behind me. “You’ll never jump. We know you’re afraid of the water.”
“I’m not afraid of the water,” I said, turning back to the lake. “I just don’t like not knowing what’s in it.” Way down the beach I could see two small figures on a dock, waving their arms. Sam and Bug! Could they see me?
Something shimmered just below the surface. It was MerKay! I glanced over my shoulder one last time. Drake was coming toward me fast. I took a huge breath and jumped.
The cold lake water surrounded me, but this time I didn’t panic. I calmly swam back up to the surface. MerKay was right beside me.
“The mermaid, Captain!” Drake cried out overhead. “She’s escaped again!”
MerKay took my hand, and we swam away faster than I’d ever swum before. The power of her tail and fins pushed us through the water like a speedboat. We were on our way to the dock she had been tied to. Sam and Bug jumped up and down as we approached. MerKay helped me out of the water and then turned to leave.
“MerKay, thank you so much for saving me back there,” I said.
“No, thank you. If you hadn’t been so brave in the first place, I would never have gotten free.”
“I have something for you,” I said. I took off my very soggy backpack and handed over MerKay’s two shell pieces. She squealed with joy as she put them together. With a shimmer, the shell welded itself together.
“Now I can go home!” MerKay said. “We should let Joy know what’s happened. Why don’t I take you all to her cabin?” I was thrilled at the idea of another high-speed ride.
Just then the Captain came racing down the beach toward us. He was holding a big net. Drake was right behind him.
“Run!” I yelled to Bug and Sam. I made it off the dock and started down the beach. Sam caught up to me. But where was Bug? I looked back and realized the Captain was right behind him. Sam and I both ran back, just as the Captain tossed his giant net into the air. It landed on top of all three of us, catching us like fish.
“Get over here and help,” the Captain called out to Drake. “This is all your fault.”
Drake came into view. “My fault?” he hissed. “If it weren’t for me, this entire plan would have fallen apart. I’m
the one who thought of the fish tank for the mermaid. I’m the one who found a replacement van when the police took our old seafood van. I should be the Captain.”
“Well, you’re not,” the Captain said. “You don’t even have a ship!”
“You don’t either,” Drake said. “And you don’t have the guts to get revenge on those mermaids. We never should have left the West Coast.”
“What did MerKay ever do to you?” I asked through the net. I could see that MerKay was still nearby—her head popped up every so often. I was stalling as best I could while trying to think up a plan to get us out of this mess. “We need to keep him talking,” I whispered to Sam.
“What did she do?” the Captain said. “I’ll tell you what she did. She wrecked my life. Took away my livelihood.”
“She’s not strong enough to take down a ship,” I said. “What really happened?”
“You want the truth?” the Captain asked. “One night when Drake and I pulled in our crab traps, we caught a mermaid. Imagine that! A real mermaid! What would you have done?”
“I would have helped her,” Sam said. “Not kidnap her!”
“Well, I didn’t have a choice,” the Captain said. “That night the other mermaids attacked our ship. We woke up to find it sinking in the Pacific.”
“So we fled to the mainland in a lifeboat,” Drake said.
“Why did you take MerKay with you?” I asked.
“We had to,” Drake said. “She was the only way we knew we’d get to land safely. Otherwise those monsters might have attacked us again.”
“They attacked you because you had one of them!” said Sam.
“And then you didn’t even let her go,” I added.
“Once we got to land, I realized we couldn’t,” the Captain said. “We needed her to help us find the others. So we brought her as far inland as we dared to go and planned our revenge.”
“We need to get out of here, Captain,” Drake said.
The Captain glanced one more time in my direction. I scowled back. These two were nothing more than dirty kidnappers. And now they were adding kidnapping three kids to their rap sheet.
“When my mom catches you, you’re going to be sorry,” I said.
“Yeah,” said Bug. “You don’t want to mess with her.”
“No one is getting hurt,” the Captain said, holding up a hand. “I swear. Before we disappear, I’ll take you back to the store and leave you inside. Just tell me where the shells are.”
“We don’t have them,” I said. “She does.”
Right on cue, MerKay rose from the water. She held her shell to her lips, and a low humming filled the air. I motioned for Bug and Sam to cover their ears. I just knew it wasn’t a sound we should hear. As the humming got louder, the Captain and Drake slowly turned and started moving toward the lake. They continued walking, right into the water, until it was up to their waists. What was MerKay going to do? Drown them?
“Stop!” I called to her. “You don’t want to do this. You’re not a monster. Let them go!”
MerKay took the shell away from her lips and disappeared under the water.
“Hurry up,” I said to Bug and Sam. “We need to get out of here before it’s too late.”
MerKay’s spell didn’t last long. Drake started shaking his head, then pulled at the Captain’s arm. “Wake up!” he said. “Those kids tricked us.” He turned toward us and yelled, “You little brats are going to be sorry!”
Then I heard Mom’s voice coming from the trees. “Stop right there.”
The Captain froze, but Drake ran out of the lake and down the beach, headed toward the store.
“Get him!” Mom said. Two other rangers chased down Drake while Mark grabbed the Captain.
Mom raced to the bottom of the hill. “Are you all okay?” she asked, pulling the net off us.
“We are now,” I said.
“You kids could have been seriously hurt,” Mom said, taking the three of us into her arms. “Or worse.”
“We had to save the mer—the fish,” Bug said.
“Joy kept trying to tell me this story about a how the fish was kidnapped by a beast,” Mom said. “It made no sense. But when she mentioned you had told her a Beast was at the Trove, I got a terrible feeling that you kids hadn’t gone straight home like I’d asked.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s all my fault. But like Bug said, we had to try to save the fish.”
“Where is it now?” Mom asked.
I looked out into the lake. “It’s finally free.”
Chapter Fifteen
The inside of Joy’s cabin was just as interesting as the boathouse. She had pictures and artifacts from all over the world. It was amazing!
“One day you could visit these places too,” Joy said. She pointed to a world map hanging on her living-room wall. Pins marked all the places she’d traveled to.
“Especially now that you’re ungrounded,” Mom added.
Even though I had helped catch the Captain and Drake, I had still broken the rules. I’d been grounded for two weeks. But it hadn’t been all bad. Sam had stopped by to play soccer most days. Bug had kept me updated about birds and bugs he’d spotted at the lake. I’d even done some treasure hunting in our yard. The lake was ten thousand years old. There were a lot of treasures buried around here!
“It’s too bad we’re moving next week,” I said. “We won’t see you again.”
Joy laughed. “Don’t be silly. I go into the city all the time. I’ll come visit once I’m back from my trip. Now, stop worrying about things you can’t control. Race down to the boathouse. I’ve got a surprise for you. I’ll meet you there.”
The three of us ran across the lawn to the boathouse and swung open the door. Inside, MerKay waited next to an old canoe.
“Joy wants you three to explore the lake while she’s away,” MerKay said, holding out her arms.
“Cool!” Sam said, stepping into the canoe.
“We could row all the way to the flats in this,” Bug said.
“It’s a great way for you to get out on the lake,” MerKay said to me. “The lake is no different than the land. It’s filled with lots of treasures.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “The canoe looks pretty tippy to me.”
MerKay shook her head. “Macy, you only have one week left at the lake. Do not miss this opportunity to explore.”
I sighed. MerKay was right. It was time I got used to the unknown. We were moving to the city soon. The practice would do me good.
“Do you really have to leave?” Sam asked. “Can’t you give us a tour of the lake first?”
MerKay sighed. “I wish I could. I have enjoyed getting to know you all. But I miss my family more than anything. It’s time for me to return to the ocean.”
MerKay said goodbye to Sam and Bug, then turned to me. “Macy,” she said, “you’re braver than you realize. Look at everything you’ve done since we met. You found my shell. You stopped the Captain and Drake. And you made the big leap off the gangplank, even though you were really scared. Trust yourself. I am sure you will come to love the water as much as I do.”
I nodded. “I’ll try. I promise.”
We heard Joy’s and Mom’s voices getting close to the boathouse.
“That’s my signal to leave,” MerKay said.
“Wait,” Bug said. “We need to know one thing. How did you get the shell into the bottle?”
“Magic,” MerKay said. Then she winked and disappeared into the water, leaving behind a tiny ripple that surrounded the canoe.
“What’s going on in here?” Mom asked from the doorway of the boathouse. Joy stood next to her.
“Nothing,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
“I thought you were getting a surprise,” Mom said.
As Sam and Bug showed Mom the canoe, Joy pulled me aside. “Before I forget,” she said, reaching for a rolled-up piece of leather on her desk, “these are for you. These last few weeks with you kids have made me realiz
e that you’re never too old for an adventure.”
I unrolled the fabric, revealing a set of archaeology tools. “Why don’t you see what you can dig up in the city,” Joy said. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“Thank you!” I said, giving her a hug.
The four of us stood in Joy’s driveway and waved as she drove away.
“That woman sure has led an interesting life,” said Mom.
Sam, Bug and I looked at each other and smiled. Mom had no idea how interesting.
Chapter Sixteen
My hands pushed off the ledge in the deep end of the city’s outdoor pool. I put on my snorkel and dove with the rest of my scuba-diving class.
MerKay had taught me not to be afraid. A true treasure hunter is an explorer at heart. I live in the city now. Once I started checking out the different streets, stores and parks, I realized that the city wasn’t scary at all. Plus, I was finding tons of cool treasures all over this place. City people were always losing their things!
At the end of the class, I quickly packed up my diving gear and headed home. On my way I walked past my new favorite store, The Early Bird. It had treasures from all over the prairies. And Bug loved its wildlife photos. The only thing it was missing was ice cream. But I didn’t have time to stop today. Joy was back from her trip. And she was bringing Sam with her to the city for a visit!
“How was the west coast?” Mom asked Joy.
“Wonderful!” Joy said. “I did some sightseeing. I saw the ocean. I even saw an entire school of—a pod of killer whales. A once-in-a-lifetime event.” She turned from Mom and winked at me.
“They never found that strange fish,” Mom said. “And the weird thing is, I couldn’t find anything in the database that matches those scales. Can you kids describe it for me again?”
“Big,” I said.
“Yeah.” Bug nodded. “With a long tail.”
“And spiky fins,” Sam finished.
Mom sighed. “Well, they’ve got people watching the lake now. The poor thing won’t likely survive for long out of its natural habitat.”
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