by Penny Warner
“I-yay ink-thay e’re-way in-yay ig-bay rouble-tay,” Cody said in Pig Latin.
Code Busters Solution found here.
Quinn jerked the cart to a halt as soon as they reached the camp. The Code Busters climbed out, leaving Matt in the backseat.
Ms. Stad stepped forward. She didn’t look happy. Not at all. “Where have you been?” Ms. Stad demanded, crossing her arms in front of her. “You knew you were not supposed to leave the camp! We were so worried! Ranger Yee was just about to contact the Coast Guard!”
Cody had never seen her teacher this angry—not even with Matt the Brat. She hoped that once she began explaining, Ms. Stad would calm down and understand.
“We’re sorry, Ms. Stad, but we had a good reason. Honestly.” Before she could say more, Matt the Brat spoke up.
“Yeah, sorry, Ms. Stad,” Matt said quickly. “It’s actually my fault. Don’t blame them. They were just trying to help me.” He glanced at the Code Busters.
They all stared at him, open-mouthed but unable to speak. Cody was in shock. This was a total surprise coming from Matt the Brat.
“What are you talking about, Matthew?” Ms. Stad asked, her frown deepening.
Cody had a sudden suspicious thought. What was Matt the Brat really up to? Did he plan to get the Code Busters in trouble by making up a story that was even worse than the truth?
“I was . . . I was sleepwalking,” said Matt. “That’s why I left my tent and the camp. I was actually sound asleep and didn’t know what I was doing. But these guys saw me leave.” He gestured toward the Code Busters. “And luckily, they followed me. Otherwise, I would’ve been stuck in the woods with a sprained ankle all night.” He grinned at the Code Busters. “Thanks, guys.”
Cody could hardly believe her ears. Why was Matt the Brat lying? Was he planning to blackmail them later? Or was he really trying to take the blame for the kids leaving camp? But why? Maybe he was trying to hide the fact that he’d been spying on them and following them, and that he’d locked them in the room on the second floor of the immigration station as a prank. Still, he really seemed to be covering for them. Cody was about to speak up and tell Ms. Stad the truth, but another golf cart suddenly pulled into the campground. It stopped just inches from where the Code Busters stood. The other students and chaperones who had gathered around to hear Matt’s story gasped at how close the cart came to hitting them.
“What the . . .” Mr. Pike started to say.
Delbert Schnikey leaped out from behind the wheel, his face flushed with anger.
“You almost hit these kids!” Mr. Pike said, stepping toward him.
Schnikey ignored him. “There you are!” he hollered at the Code Busters. He turned to Ms. Stad. “Lady, I want these brats off the island first thing in the morning. Otherwise, I’ll have them arrested for trespassing, destroying state property, attempted theft of valuable relics, and stealing a government vehicle! They should be locked up!”
Ranger Yee stepped forward. “Calm down, Delbert!” she ordered.
Ms. Stad’s eyes went wide at Delbert Schnikey’s outburst. She glanced at Cody and the others. “Is this true?”
“No way!” Cody argued. “He’s lying about everything! We didn’t break into the building—the door was unlocked. We walked right in while he was sleeping on the job. We didn’t damage anything—we just opened a window because we got locked inside and had to climb out to escape. And we didn’t steal anything. He’s the one who’s a thief!” Cody pointed to Schnikey.
“What’s this all about, Delbert?” demanded Ranger Yee.
“I told you!” he said. “They’re a bunch of lying, thieving vandals, and I want them out of here!”
Ms. Stad turned to the tram driver. “Listen, Mr. Schnikey. My students don’t lie, nor do they steal or vandalize property. When they tell me something, I believe them.” She shot a look at Matt the Brat.
Ranger Yee eyed Schnikey. “Delbert, I want the truth now, or I’m calling the cops to come straighten this out.”
“No need for that,” Schnikey said, raising his hands as if in surrender. He seemed to have a sudden change of heart after Ranger Yee’s threat. “Just be sure these brats are gone first thing tomorrow, and I won’t press charges.”
“That’s because you don’t want anyone to find out what you’ve really been doing,” Luke said.
“Yeah,” Quinn added. “Then you’ll have to explain why you have all those fake silver coins in the basement of the immigration station—like this one.” Quinn pulled a coin from his pocket and handed it over to Ranger Yee. “Here’s the proof. There’s a bunch more back at Schnikey’s secret workroom. He’s been making the fake coins there.”
“And he’s been smuggling this fake Drake stuff off the island and selling it to tourists,” Mika added.
Cody chimed in too. “He had help from a guy we saw on the ferry—someone with a pirate’s flag tattoo.”
Ranger Yee took the coin, studied it a moment, and then glared at Schnikey.
“Plus, he pushed us into the basement through a trapdoor and locked us in,” M.E. said.
Ms. Stad, Mr. Pike, and Ranger Yee all stared at Delbert Schnikey.
“They’re lying!” he said, taking a few steps back.
“We’ll see about that,” Ranger Yee said. She pulled her radio from her belt buckle and spoke into it: “This is Ranger Yee.” The radio squawked, then a tinny voice replied, “Go ahead.”
“I need backup at the campground, stat,” she said.
“Ten-four” was the reply. Cody knew that meant “message received” in police code.
Ranger Yee replaced the radio in her belt. “It’s about time I had a look in that basement. It was supposed to have been sealed off decades ago.”
Schnikey backed up a few more paces, eyes wide with fear. Then he suddenly turned and bolted.
“He’s getting away!” Mika shouted as Schnikey ran for the trees.
Ranger Yee shook her head. “Don’t worry. He won’t get far. I know this island like the back of my hand, and there’s only one way off and on. We’ll get him. I’ve called the other rangers and the Coast Guard, and I’ll stay here at the camp until they arrive. Anyway, if what you say is true, I have a feeling he’ll head for the basement and try to get rid of the counterfeit evidence. That’ll be the first place we look. And we’ll put a stop to any smuggling and sale of forgeries.”
The Code Busters smiled until they saw Ms. Stad still glaring at them, one eyebrow raised. “You kids are not off the hook yet,” she said, shaking her head. “You should have told one of the adults that Matt was sleepwalking and let us go after him.”
The Code Busters exchanged glances. Cody thought about confessing the truth right then, but at that moment Matt groaned, reminding everyone he was in pain. Even though he had locked them in that room, she felt sorry for him. He’d ended up trapped in the dark basement with a bunch of spiders and who knew what else, plus he had hurt his foot.
“Matthew,” Ms. Stad said, turning to the boy sitting in the chair and rubbing his foot. “I’m proud of you for taking responsibility, but we’ll talk more after I do some research on somnambulism.”
“Some what?” Matthew said, scrunching up his face at the long, unfamiliar word.
“Somnambulism,” Ms. Stad repeated. “It means sleepwalking. I should think you’d know that since you claim to be a sleepwalker.”
“Oh yeah,” Matt said, squirming in his chair. “I forgot. Zombie-ism.”
Cody stifled a laugh at Matt’s mispronunciation of the word. After all, maybe sleepwalking was sort of like being a zombie.
“We’ll discuss it in the morning over breakfast,” Ms. Stad said. “Meanwhile, all of you, return to your tents and get some sleep.”
As the Code Busters headed toward their tents, Mika whispered, “Should we tell Ms. Stad the whole truth about what happened?”
“Let’s do it tomorrow,” suggested Cody. “We’ll find a way to do it without getting Matt into more
trouble. After all, he did try to keep us out of trouble.”
The boys returned to their tent and gave the girls a quick thumbs-up before closing the tent flap. The girls entered their own tent, closed the flap, and tied it securely.
A light began to flash on and off through the girls’ mesh tent window.
“It’s the boys,” M.E. said, peering through the opening. “I think they’re sending us a message in Morse code.”
M.E. reached over and got her notebook and a pencil. She copied down the letters and read the message aloud.
Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.
Cody started to get out her cell phone and flash a message back in Morse code, until she heard Ms. Stad’s booming voice: “I said LIGHTS OUT!”
“Uh-oh,” M.E. whispered. “We’d better go to sleep. We can’t afford to get into more trouble.”
Mika sighed in the darkness. “I guess we’ll just have to wait until morning to find out what’s inside the box.” She tucked the small box under her pillow.
Cody closed her eyes, but after all that had happened, she knew it was going to take forever to fall asleep.
Morning came way too early for Cody. At first, she thought the whistle sound she heard was coming from her dream about being chased by evil tram drivers, but it turned out to be Ms. Stad’s campground wake-up call.
Cody pushed herself up. She glanced at the other two sleeping bags and saw that her friends were still asleep.
“M.E.! Mika! Wake up!”
The other two girls groaned and stretched. Cody peered out the tent flap and checked the campground. The adults were standing around the campfire, drinking coffee, and talking. Among them was Ranger Yee, along with another ranger.
“I wonder if they’ve caught Schnikey yet,” Cody said to the girls as they rubbed sleep from their eyes. “Come on! Let’s find out what’s happening.”
They slithered out of their sleeping bags, put on their shoes, and climbed out of the tent. Mika held the small puzzle box in her hand.
“Did you catch Mr. Schnikey?” M.E. asked Ranger Yee as the girls joined the teachers, chaperones, and other rangers.
Ranger Yee nodded. “We found him hiding in the immigration station basement, just as we expected. He’s in custody. The Coast Guard took him to the authorities early this morning.”
The boys appeared, already changed out of their PJs. Mika gave Quinn a shy smile, and he grinned back.
“Did you find all the stuff he was making?” Luke asked the ranger.
“We sure did,” Ranger Yee said. “We need to thank you kids for exposing his black market business, even though you shouldn’t have been out exploring in the middle of the night.”
Ms. Stad shot the Code Busters a look that reminded them they were still in trouble.
“What about the other guy?” Luke asked. “The one from the ferry who was helping him?”
“That would be Felix Farley. Police traced him based on your description. He was arrested too. The police found quite a collection of counterfeit artifacts in his apartment, waiting to be sold to unsuspecting tourists.”
The Code Busters grinned at one another.
Matt the Brat came limping up, using a stick to support himself, his ankle wrapped in a bandage. With his hair sticking out like a porcupine’s quills, he looked kind of funny wearing superhero pajamas. Super Porcupine, Cody thought, and laughed to herself.
“No more sleepwalking last night, Matthew?” Ms. Stad said, raising her famous eyebrow. Cody knew her teacher suspected Matt had lied, but Cody didn’t want to embarrass him in front of everyone. The Code Busters had agreed to tell their teachers the truth in private.
“Nope,” said Matt. He looked at the box in Mika’s hand. “What’s that?”
“Mika, where did you get that?” Ms. Stad asked, suddenly noticing the object.
“We found it,” Mika answered. “It was hidden in the old kitchen at the immigration station.”
Ranger Yee shook her head. “I’m sorry, honey, but if you discovered it on national park property, it belongs to the museum and has to remain here.”
“But . . .” Mika’s eyes filled with tears. “I think it’s my great-great grandfather’s. My mother and grandmother told me he used to hide a puzzle box filled with special treasures for my great-great-grandmother while they were on the island. It’s the only way they could communicate.”
Ms. Stad looked at the ranger. “Ranger Yee, if it did belong to her relative, then I believe it is her property.”
Ranger Yee looked concerned. “Well, let’s open it and find out what’s inside. That may tell us something about the original owners. May I?”
Mika reluctantly handed the box to the ranger, who turned it over in her hand several times, her frown deepening. “Hmm, maybe this doesn’t open at all,” Ranger Yee said. “There’s no lid. No hinges. I think it’s just a block of carved wood.”
“Let me open it,” Matt said, reaching for it.
“No way,” Cody said. “You could break it. Let Mika try.”
Mika took the box from the ranger and held it for a moment, rubbing her thumbs over the intricately carved wood. She began to gently but firmly press one side of the box, as if trying to slide it open. Nothing happened. She turned the box over and tried again. This time the side of the box slid forward a quarter of an inch.
“Awesome!” M.E. said. “It moved!”
Everyone looked on as Mika continued to work intently, rubbing and pushing the sides of the box.
Mika turned the box over again. “Japanese legends say that if a person can open a Koyosegi puzzle box, he or she will receive good luck.” She pushed another side in the opposite direction of the first side. It also moved forward a quarter of an inch.
“That’s so cool!” Cody said. “It really is a puzzle box. I never would have figured out how to open it.”
Mika continued pressing and sliding the sides of the box. One by one, the sides slid out, a little bit each time. She pushed once more, and the top of the box slid completely off.
“Oh my gosh!” M.E. said. “You got it open! So what’s inside? Show us!”
Mika carefully handed the lid to Cody. She reached into the small space and pulled out a tiny object wrapped in a ragged piece of faded silk. Peeling the fabric open, she revealed a tarnished silver locket. She held it up, clicked the latch on the locket, and flicked it open with her thumbs.
Mika gasped. “My great-great grandparents,” she whispered.
After a moment, she turned the locket so everyone could see. Inside were two yellowed photographs, one on each side. The man in the photo on the left wore a black suit with a round collar. The woman on the right had on a white dress with a high neck.
She pointed to the man. “That’s my great-great-grandfather, Hiraku Takeda! Or Senjin, his pen name. And my great-great-grandmother, Yuka. We have an old picture just like this at home, only with them standing together. These two images must be cut from another copy of their wedding picture.”
“Awesome,” Cody whispered. “The locket’s so old and delicate. And the picture is so faded.”
“Hiraku left it for Yuka to find,” Mika said, “but she never did, so it’s been hidden all these years.” She closed the locket and noticed a tiny engraving on the back, written in Japanese characters. “It says ‘Senjin,’ the name he used when he wrote his poems.”
“Well, I guess you might be right, Ms. Stadelhofer,” Ranger Yee said. “If those really are pictures of her ancestors, the box and the locket belong to this young lady and her family. The inscription seems to confirm it.”
“Your family will be so happy you found it,” M.E. said, giving Mika a hug.
Mika nodded, her eyes shining.
“Thank you so much for helping me find it,” she said to the Code Busters. “I’m so sorry I got you all into trouble.” She turned to her teacher. “Ms. Stadelhofer, I’m sorry I broke the rules. It’s all my fault.”
Ms. Stad was smiling.
“Well, Mika, obviously I wish you had told me or a chaperone about this instead of trying to find it on your own. But I understand what this means to you and your family.”
“And it all worked out,” Cody said. “Not only did we find the box, but we figured out what Schnikey was doing. Even Matt helped in a way.”
Ms. Stad frowned. “Yes, but about the sleepwalking . . .”
Matt the Brat cut her off. “Guess what! You know my relative, Vincenzo Gambi? He was one of Jean Lafitte’s pirates, you know. Anyway, he used to sleepwalk too. I read that on Wikipedia.”
Ms. Stad shook her head, obviously not believing a word of Matt’s claim.
Cody had also looked up Vincenzo Gambi and had discovered the Italian pirate was, in the words of one website, a “violent, ruthless, murdering privateer, looting and sinking ships,” until he was finally killed by his own men while asleep on a pile of gold he’d kept hidden from his crew. There was no mention of Pirate Gambi sleepwalking.
But Cody kept that information to herself. She felt sorry for Matt, and she appreciated that he wasn’t trying to get the Code Busters in trouble anymore. If he wanted to tell everyone his pirate ancestor was a sleepwalker, that was fine. For now.
* * *
When the kids returned to their clubhouse after school on Monday, Mika handed each of the Code Busters a wrapped present the size of a half cube of butter. They opened their gifts and found their own Japanese Koyosegi puzzle boxes.
“How cool!” M.E. squealed, holding hers up. Each box had a different wood-carved pattern. The kids immediately went to work on opening their puzzle boxes. Inside, they each found a rolled-up piece of fabric. Cody unrolled hers and saw it was rectangular with a pointed notch at the top, much like a bookmark.
Running down the front of the fabric, written in black marker, were these letters:
Oyu heav draccek het deco
She frowned at it. “What does it say?” she asked Mika, thinking it might be Japanese—although the characters didn’t look Japanese.
Mika only smiled. Cody knew instantly this was some kind of code. The others unrolled their pieces of fabric, but each one had a different set of letters. M.E. showed hers to everyone. It read,