Kristi and Robyn dropped the backpack they were carrying and gasped in pleasure at the beautiful sight before them. Anna stopped just inside the little glade, clapping her hands and jumping with delight. Leilani stood next to the pool, with her arms raised and her face turned towards heaven. Her eyes were closed and there was a smile on her lips. She looked like the Hawaiian princess she truly was.
Steve and Rachel Cameron stood with their arms around each other, taking in the beauty before them. “Talk about romantic,” Rachel murmured. She smiled at Dan and Pete, who were walking around the clearing and saying, “Cool!” Skeeter looked around and simply said, “Hey, neat! Now, where’s lunch?”
They were finishing up their sandwiches and chips when Pete turned to Leilani. She was sitting on a flat rock beside the pool, trailing her fingers in the cool rippling water. “Leilani, didn’t you say your grandmother mentioned a waterfall in the story she told you about the treasure?” he asked.
“Yes, but I think she said there was a cave, too. I’ve been looking around and I don’t see anything that looks like a cave entrance, do you?”
Robyn and Kristi jumped up. “Maybe it’s hidden,” Robyn said. “Let’s look for it!” Anna and Leilani quickly helped Mrs. Cameron take care of the lunch things and then hurried after the other two girls. They looked behind bushes and ferns at the base of the cliff for an opening or crack large enough to squeeze through. Dan and Pete began climbing the rocks on either side of the waterfall, searching for an opening that might not be visible from below. Skeeter tried to follow them as they scaled the cliff side but his arms and legs weren’t quite long enough to reach safe finger and toe holds.
“I have an idea,” his mother said to him. “Why don’t you and I and Dad see if we can find a path up to the top of the waterfall. Maybe we’ll find something up there.” The three of them took off through the trees again—out of sight, but still within calling distance.
The girls were the first to give up. “There’s nothing there,” Kristi said. We’ve looked behind every single bush and fern. A snake couldn’t wiggle through any of the cracks in those walls!”
“Snake!” Robyn shuddered. “You know, the whole time we were pulling back those bushes and weeds, I never even thought about possibly running into a snake! Eww—it gives me the creeps just to think about it!”
“I’m so discouraged,” Leilani said. “I’m not ready to give up, of course, but I’m scared for my grandmother and I don’t know what to do. I feel so helpless. Maybe I should have called the police after all. Maybe I was wrong to come to this island, and drag all of you into this with me. My grandmother has been missing for four days now. I know Michael has her, and I’m almost sure he would bring her here, but it seems like this island is deserted and I have no idea, really, where to even begin looking.”
“Well, we just did begin, Leilani, and this sure seems like a good place to start.” Kristi said. “You’re not alone in this, you know. I just feel like the Lord brought us all together for a reason, don’t you? Somehow, He wanted you in our lives, and us in yours, and I think we will see the reasons why very soon.”
“Don’t give up, Leilani,” Anna said. “I haven’t known the Lord very long, but I have felt Him already helping me and guiding me. I know He can do that for you, too, if you let Him. We’ll all just keep praying and trusting God, okay?”
“Yes, I know, Anna. It is so wonderful to have you all in my life now. I have been so alone ever since my mother died. You cannot begin to understand how much it means to feel like somebody really cares and is there to stand beside me.” Leilani looked at them gratefully.
Robyn grinned, “Well, I told you yesterday that you’ve got a whole bunch of best friends now, Leilani! And we best friends stick together through thick or thin! We’re gonna find your grandma and when we do, I’m gonna—I’m gonna—well, I’m gonna dance the hula!”
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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The Search for Secrets
“Aloha down there!” The girls looked up. There were Dan and Pete, standing at the top of the waterfall. Skeeter and his parents were there, too, on the other side of the water. “We found a pathway to the top!” Mrs. Cameron called down to them. “Dan and Pete came up the hard way!”
Leilani leapt to her feet. “Did you find anything?”
“No, I’m sorry, Sweetie. Not yet! But we’re still looking around up here. We’ll be back down there in a few minutes.”
The girls could see by the looks on their faces when they came down that the search at the top of the waterfall had been unsuccessful. “We’re not giving up, Leilani!” Dan said. “We’ve only just begun to look.”
“That’s what we’ve been telling her, Dan,” Kristi said. “This is a small island, and we should be able to cover the whole thing before we have to leave. If they’re here, we’ll find them!”
The group headed back to their camp. They wanted to get there before it got too late. No one wanted to be wandering in the rain forest after dark!
They all looked up at the stranded airplane in the trees as they passed beneath a short while later. They were silent as they walked by—thinking of the poor man who was still strapped in his seat, wondering who he was and where he had come from. Was someone still missing him, all these years after he had disappeared? They would probably never know.
Their campsite on the beach was just as they had left it, although they had to chase a hermit crab or two out of their tents. It looked good to them after their long hike in the woods. The sun was getting low in the sky when they started the campfire again, and the breeze from the ocean was a little bit chilly. The hot soup Rachel heated over the campfire warmed them and they ate it with leftover rolls from the day before, dunked into the hearty soup. They talked quietly for a while as they relaxed by the fire. The sky was turning from the rich jewel colors of the sunset to a deep purple, studded with stars. Skeeter was yawning and rubbing his eyes.
“I’ve made a decision,” Leilani quietly said as a moment of silence fell among them. They all looked at her. “I’ve been thinking, ever since I heard you praying for me on the beach the other night. I’ve been thinking about how I’ve spent the last few years not thinking about the Lord at all. My mother and my grandmother taught me, from the time I was a little child, about Him and I was just a little girl when I asked Jesus to come into my heart and forgive me of my sins. But somehow, somewhere along the way, I kind of strayed away from Him.” She tossed a stick into the fire.
“Oh, when my mom got so sick I started praying again,” she continued, “but when she died I figured He just didn’t care. When Michael took me away, I was scared and alone, but I was also kind of mad at God for taking my mom away from me, you know? So I refused to pray and ask Him to help me. It wasn’t until I began watching you, and saw how happy you all were, and how you really did seem to trust Him and know Him in a real way that I began to see that it wasn’t God turning His back on me. I had turned my back on Him.”
“I think we all go through times like that, Leilani,” Rachel said. “Sometimes we have to go through some really hard things before we are ready to turn back to Him.”
“I’m ready now, Mrs. Cameron. I just don’t know what to do anymore, but I know God knows and He will help me if I trust Him. I want to start living with Him again.”
“Leilani, why don’t we all pray together right here and right now, and you can tell Him that. Would you like to do that?” Mr. Cameron asked. Once more they bowed their heads together as one family in the Lord and Leilani poured her heart out to Him.
The sun was hot when they woke up the next morning. Leilani had slept more peacefully that night than she had in many, many months. Nestled among the girls in the tent she felt safe and secure. She had a family who cared, and her Heavenly Father who had promised He would never leave her or forsake her.
“I think somehow today we need to find a way to tap into the fuel from the plane in th
e trees, but we can’t give up on the hunt for Leilani’s grandmother, either,” Steve Cameron said as they ate their breakfast. “I was thinking during the night—if she and Michael are here, they had to get here either by plane or boat. It would be awfully hard to hide an airplane, or even a boat. Here’s my idea: I want to take Skeeter, Dan and Pete with me to help me get that fuel. Rachel, you take the girls and start walking down the beach. This is a small island and if you keep walking, eventually you would wind up right back here. Be careful as you go! They could be camped out on the beach on the other side just like we are. I don’t want you stumbling right into the middle of Michael’s camp, so go quietly and cautiously. My hunch, though, is that they would not be camped out in the open but somewhere in the rain forest. Just keep an eye out for that plane or boat. It has to be near or on the beach.”
He turned to Leilani. “Did Michael know how to pilot a plane, Leilani?”
“Hmm—I don’t think so, Mr. Cameron. I never heard him talk about it, anyway,” she replied.
“Well, then, unless he got someone who knew how to fly to help him, we’re probably looking for a boat. If you find anything, don’t try to do anything without me! Come back here and get us. Michael may be dangerous and I don’t want you girls anywhere near him, okay?”
“Have you thought about how we’re going to get the fuel out of the plane, Dad?” Dan asked.
“Yes, actually I have. Remember the groves of bamboo we passed on our hike yesterday? They weren’t far from where the plane is. We can cut down six or seven tall pieces of bamboo. They should be hollow. Then we’ll tape them together with the electrical tape I have in my tool box and make something like a hose down to the ground. We’ll punch a hole in the bottom of the fuel tank, get the bamboo line into the tank and drain it into a container on the ground. We’ve got a couple of empty five gallon containers that we brought fresh water in. We can use them. It will mean several trips between the plane in the trees and our own plane here on the beach, but with the four of us working together, we can do it!”
“Wow, Dad! How’d you ever get to be so smart?” Skeeter asked, grinning proudly at his father.
“Hmm—I guess I just started getting smarter and smarter the day I decided to marry your mother! Okay, everybody up! We’ve all got a lot to do today!”
A little while later the guys headed off in one direction through the trees and the girls started off in another direction down the beach. It was a lot warmer today than it had been the day before. Rachel had insisted they all load up on suntan lotion before they left their camp, but the sun reflected brightly off the water and white sand and before long they were dripping with sweat. At first, while they were still close to their own campsite, they had laughed and talked and every now and then run into the surf to cool off. As they drew further and further from their side of the island, however, they grew quiet and proceeded cautiously around each curve in the coast. Here and there they could catch a glimpse above the inland trees of the volcano that gave the island its name. It was smoking a bit more than it had the day they flew in.
They had been walking for almost two hours when Kristi held her hand up and said softly, “I see something!” Fifty feet ahead of them, the trees ran right down nearly to the water’s edge. A small inlet was carved into the shoreline and a stream trickled from beneath the trees into the water of the Pacific.
“Wait!” Rachel whispered before the girls could go any further. She looked around carefully, searching the trees and bushes for any sign of life. Finally she said, “Okay, but go quietly!” They pushed forward and cautiously approached the trees.
The stream blocked their progress around the beach. It was deeper than they had thought from a distance. Trees and undergrowth lined both sides of the stream, and their shade darkened the space below them. Robyn took a few steps down the narrow bank of the stream under the trees. “Look at this!” she called out in excitement. Her voice echoed in the silence. She clapped her hands over her mouth and looked around warily.
The rest of them froze in their tracks. No one spoke for a moment, and then Rachel whispered, “Shh!”
Robyn said softly, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Cameron! I forgot!” They all stood silently for a minute more, but when nothing happened Rachel signaled to them that everything was okay. They followed Robyn into the shadows of the trees.
There, tied to a tree, was a boat. It had been pulled into the narrow inlet as far as it would go in the shallow water. It was empty, except for a tarp and some rope. There was nothing to tell them who owned the boat, but it looked fairly clean and new—like it had not been there for long.
“Mom! This must be it!” Kristi said, bursting with excitement. “I’ll bet anything that this is how Michael brought Leilani’s grandmother to Fire Island! I think we should follow the stream inland! Maybe it will lead us to them!”
“No!” her mother said sharply. “You heard what your father said. We’re going back right now and telling him what we found. Then we’ll figure out together what our next step should be.”
It was a long hot trek back to their camp. The guys were not back yet. They began preparing lunch. Rachel was about to tell the girls to go ahead and start eating when Steve and the boys appeared through the trees. “Hey!” Skeeter yelled as he raced towards them. “I’m starved!”
“So what else is new?” Kristi laughed. “Did you guys get the fuel?” she asked.
“We sure did!” Dan answered. “You should have seen it, Kristi! Dad’s plan worked like a charm! We took turns filling the containers and bringing them back here to our plane. This is our last trip. We brought back over forty gallons of fuel altogether!”
“Dad was up in the tree with our bamboo line in the fuel tank, and I was on the ground making sure the other end stayed inside the container and then capping it off when the container was full,” Skeeter said proudly. “Dan and Pete were in the trees, too, keeping the line secure, and then they carried the full cans back here. We made a great team!”
“Good work, guys!” Rachel applauded. “Now wash up and we’ll be ready to eat right away. Oh, and by the way, we girls fulfilled our mission successfully, too! We’ll tell you about it as we eat.”
Everyone was so hungry that they ate quietly for the first few minutes. Finally Steve said, “Okay, so what happened on your trip around the island? Did you find anything?”
Leilani couldn’t keep it in any longer. “We found a boat hidden in a little inlet! We think it’s the one Michael used to bring my grandmother here! Oh, Mr. Cameron, I’m just sure she must be here somewhere! We have to keep looking for her!”
The girls all began talking at once, trying to fill the guys in on all the little details of their search along the beach. Finally Pete held his hand up and asked, “May I ask a question?”
“Sure, Pete,” Mr. Cameron said.
“What would you think about us finding that boat again and bringing it back here to our own section of beach? Leilani’s stepfather could not get away then without us knowing about it. Maybe instead of us having to search for him, that would bring him directly to us.”
“Hmm, Pete. I’m not sure. I’ll have to think about it for a while. That could be dangerous. I don’t know what kind of man this Michael is, but I do know he’s a scoundrel, and I don’t want to put any of you in danger. What do you think, Leilani?” Mr. Cameron asked.
“Well, he is a cruel man—I know that for a fact. But he never actually hit me or hurt me physically, and I don’t think he ever hit my mother, either. I think he’s just greedy and selfish and sneaky and will do whatever he can think of to get his hands on that treasure—if it even exists. He did take me away, and he’s kidnapped my grandmother, too, but I’m not sure how far he would actually go. He hasn’t physically harmed anyone—yet.”
“Well, Pete has a good point,” Steve said thoughtfully. “Michael will be trapped here on the island—our prisoner, if you will—if we have control of his boat. But we need to weigh the risks and be sure
that this is a safe thing to do. Why don’t we pray about it, and ask the Lord to show us what to do?” He began, “Lord, once again we ask that You guide us and give us wisdom. We may have a dangerous situation here, and we need Your protection, as well. Please help us to make the right decisions and show us exactly what You want us to do. Most of all, please give Leilani peace and help us to find her grandmother very soon. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”
“Daddy,” Kristi said as they lifted their heads, “I’ve been thinking, too. I just have this feeling that we missed something at the waterfall yesterday. Leilani’s grandmother mentioned a waterfall. Maybe the cave isn’t by the waterfall, or maybe there is a totally different waterfall somewhere else, but I’d just like to go back there and see if we missed a clue or something.”
“Well, we still have quite a bit of this island to explore, but if you have a strong feeling about this, then I think you should probably check it out. Actually, why don’t all four of you girls go together, and Skeeter, would you mind going with them? We’ve already looked around there, and I think it is pretty safe, but there’s safety in numbers and I’d feel better if there is a large group going. I think your mom and I will go check that boat out. We’ll decide when we get there what to do about it. Dan and Pete, I have a job for you, too. Would you two please go up the beach, in the opposite direction that the girls went this morning, and see if you find anything suspicious in that direction?”
“Sure, Dad. How far should we go?” Dan asked.
“I’m not sure exactly how big this island is. Your mother and the girls walked about two hours before turning back, which would be maybe five miles, or so. If you and Pete go another two hours, that will be another five or six miles. Let’s start with that. I want everyone back here in four hours—or before, okay? Stay together! Try to be fairly quiet, too. We don’t want to advertise the fact that we are here. Are you all ready?”
The Secret of Fire Island (Kristi Cameron Book 1) Page 9