by TOMMY DAVEY
"This one you will like," he said, handing me another.
I took it from him and read the title out loud, "The Crystal Caper. Wow, that does sound exciting. Have you read it?"
"No, not yet, but some other patrons have told me it was one of the best stories they have read in a long time. I think you should give it a try."
That was enough reason for me, so I tucked the book under my arm and made a mental note to check it out.
"Can we get this over with?" said Shelby, who'd suddenly appeared by my side.
"Hi. I'm ready if you are."
"Cora, do you want to trade topics? I think you'd do much better with this one than I would."
"No way. I'm quite happy with my subject. Let's go look for some books and we'll meet back at one of the big tables."
"Fine," she said. "I'm going to need some help," she said to Mr. Burton.
"What exactly are you looking for?" he asked.
"Here," she said, handing him the slip of paper with her topic on it. "I have to do a report on this."
He took the paper from her hands and studied it closely. "Ah, well, that is quite interesting. Come with me and I'll show you where to look."
She followed Mr. Burton and disappeared into the stacks in search of books on local vegetation.
I had been to the library so many times that I knew exactly where to start looking for my books. I skipped over to the section on local history and started to scan the shelves for anything that might help.
There were not many books to choose from, and in fact only one seemed worth reading. "Shipping Routes of the East Coast." Maybe it wouldn't have anything for my area, since it covered the whole East Coast, but I thought I'd look through it to see if anything caught my eye. It was a pretty large book, so I hauled it back to one of the project tables.
SLAM! The book fell onto the desk with a loud thump, startling everyone in the otherwise silent room.
"Sorry," I whispered loudly. "It was an accident."
I sat down at the table and began to flip through the massive book. It was very thorough, covering many different regions, each represented by a number of maps.
"Finally," I said as I discovered the part of the book that covered our town.
I began to skim through the description of industries that used the river to ship their goods to and from our region. There were a number of references to salt and flour refineries, making it sound like our town was the best place for a baker to live.
I turned the page and noticed a small piece of paper tucked into the middle part, the gutter, of the book.
"Ugh," said Shelby as she joined me, dropping a pile of books on the table. "Can you believe all of these books? There are ten or twelve of them, and I have to read them all."
"Shhhh!" said a man two tables away.
"Sorry," she said in a tone that didn't sound very apologetic. "What is that?" she asked, noticing the small piece of paper in my hands.
"I found it tucked into this book."
I started to open the paper, unfolding it until I could read the message written inside, "Fortune and love favor the brave. CMXLVI JON."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure."
I stared at the last part for a long time. CMXLVI JON. What could that mean? Some sort of code, I guessed. But for what?
CHAPTER FIVE
That night, I sat in front of the computer and typed in the code written on the piece of papery I'd found. CMXLVI JON.
I hit search and browsed the results that appeared on screen. There were quite a few references to CMXLVI, but nothing that paired it with JON. I could not find a link between the two things.
Next, I tried searching on the rest of the message, "Fortune and love favor the brave." That one uncovered many hits, and it became clear that the quote was from a Roman poet named Ovid who died in AD 17.
I tried saying it out loud to see if it made any sense. "Fortune and love favor the brave."
"Reading poetry?" Mom asked from the doorway.
"Yeah," I said, not wanting to get into the details of my discovery.
"How did your library search go?"
"Okay, but I only found one helpful book. I think I might need to look up some stuff on the Internet."
My mother shook her head, "I doubt you'll find that much online. I remember when we first decided to move here, we tried to search for information on the local area and did not find much at all."
That disappointed me a great deal. If I couldn't find anything on the Internet, I wasn't sure where to go next.
"You know who you could talk to? Mr. French, at the Town Hall. He curates the little museum that is in the lobby."
That little museum was nothing more than a bookcase, mounted to the wall with three or four black-and-white pictures of the area, and a few bricks from the original town hall that had burned down in the 1920s.
"Maybe. I could try," I replied.
Mom disappeared as quickly as she'd appeared, and I continued my search to make sense of the CMXLVI.
Wait a second, I thought to myself. I know what these are!
Something clicked in my head and I suddenly remembered seeing letters arranged like this before. They were numbers, but not normal numbers that we use today. Roman numerals!
I quickly searched, "CMXLVI Roman numerals" and up popped a whole bunch of answers. They all pointed to the same thing. CMXLVI stands for 946. I read the message again, "Fortune and love favor the brave. 946 JON."
I wasn't entirely sure that figuring out the Roman numerals had made a difference. 946 JON was too short to be code for a phone number, so what else could it stand for?
Blip! My computer announced an incoming message from Shelby.
"Hi," I typed.
"I'm so bored," she responded. "I hate this project."
"Give it a chance," I typed. "You just started!"
"I think Mr. Levine hates us. Why else would he give us homework on the first day?"
"That's normal for our grade," I responded. "We'll probably get homework every single day, and weekend."
"I have to go back to the library tomorrow," she answered. "There's one more book I have to check out. Do you want to come?"
The library. Of course, that was it!
"I have to log off," I hastily typed.
I closed the chat window and looked at the sticky note in front of me.
946 JON.
It was a code, and I knew exactly what for. I had to go back to the library the next day to find a new book.
CHAPTER SIX
I was not able to concentrate much at school the day after figuring out my coded message.
Twice Mr. Levine stopped speaking to ask me if I was okay. Both times, I'd turned my head toward the wall and let my eyes glaze over. He must have thought I was bored, or focused on something unrelated to his lesson plans. Both times, I apologized and tried to refocus.
"Are you coming to the library after school?" Shelby asked as we prepared to go for lunch.
"Of course!" I responded, with no attempt to hide my enthusiasm. "I can't wait to get there."
"It's just the library, not the Dairy Palace."
The Dairy Palace was our favorite ice cream shop. We often met there on Saturdays to talk about our friends and trade gossip.
"I'm going to the lunch room now," Shelby announced, taking her knapsack from under her desk. "You coming?"
"Yeah." I grabbed my bag and followed her out the door.
"Just a minute," said Mr. Levine. "Cora, can I talk to you before you go to lunch?"
"Uh oh," said Shelby, under her breath. "It's the second day and you're already in trouble."
Shelby left the room and I walked up to Mr. Levine's desk. "Yes?"
"Cora, I know we have just met," he began. "But you seem a little lost today. Is something wrong?"
"I'm just thinking about my school project."
"Really?" he sounded genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, honest. Well, sor
t of. When I was researching my project, I discovered something else that interested me. It's a bit of a puzzle that I am trying to figure out."
"That sounds intriguing. Maybe you will present your second project to the class if it turns out to be as puzzling as it sounds."
"Maybe, but I've just started looking into it. It might turn out to be nothing."
Those words pained me. I felt awful that the clue on the small piece of paper might not turn out to be anything meaningful. At the same time, I only had a hunch that might not have led anywhere.
"Go for lunch then, and enjoy."
Every day for as long as I had been at the same school, I'd sat with Shelby and our friend Tricia Morgan. Tricia was in the same grade as us, but in a different class. There were an unusual number of eleven-year-olds in our school, so we were split into two separate classes, but we all knew each other and hung out.
"I heard your teacher was in jail," said Tricia.
"No, he wasn't," said Shelby. "He taught at a prison. He was not a prisoner."
I couldn't help but think it ironic that Shelby was deflecting the accusation against Mr. Levine since she'd started the rumor in the first place!
"Oh," said Tricia, sounding a little disappointed. "I guess that's different."
"What are you doing this weekend?" I asked.
"We are going sailing. Do you want to come?"
"Yeah!" I yelled.
"My mom told me to ask you," she said.
"Well I want to come, too!" cried Shelby. "Can I come?"
"Yes," Tricia said. "You are also invited."
Shelby's depressed expression immediately turned into a smile. "Thank you," she said graciously.
"That might help my project," I said. "I have to research shipping routes in our region. We'll be sailing right through the same areas. I can take some pictures to use for my presentation."
"You're showing pictures in your presentation?" asked Shelby. "Ugh, I can't show pictures of vegetables in my presentation. I'll get laughed at!"
"What time should we be ready?" I asked.
"We'll pick you up at nine on Saturday. Have a good breakfast before we get there."
We finished our lunch talking about the new boy in Tricia's class. Nathan, or something like that.
The rest of the day went by just as painfully slow as the first part. I could not wait for it to end so I could get over to the library and start searching for the answer to my clue!
CHAPTER SEVEN
As soon as the bell rang at the end of the school day, I grabbed my bag and ran to the door calling after Shelby. "Let's go!"
"Well wait for me, at least!" she yelled.
I really wanted to run all the way to the library, but Shelby was not interested in high-tailing it with me.
"Why are you so excited to research your project, anyway?" she asked. "Is shipping that interesting?"
"I don't know," I said, "I'm just anxious to get started. I don't like to leave anything to the last minute."
That was the truth, and she knew it. I was always prepared and had my work done well ahead of schedule, most of the time. Shelby, on the other hand, often did not get started on things until the night before they were due! Surprisingly, she was able to get good grades and managed to stay out of trouble.
The library was a bit quieter than the night before; we were earlier and most people were still at work. It would be easy to search for the book I needed without people getting in the way.
"I'll see you at the tables later," I said to Shelby as I made my way to the back of the library.
"Okay," she said. "Try not to be too excited. It is a library after all."
I took out the piece of paper I'd found the night before and looked at the clue once more. "Fortune and love favor the brave. CMXLVI JON." The last part, which I'd determined to mean 946 JON is the reason I had to return to the library.
I knew that books in the library were filed under the Dewey Decimal system. Children's books were assigned a three-digit number followed by the first three letters of the author's last name. I guessed that 946 JON was the call number for a book. The clue I found in the shipping book was leading me to another book, in section 946.
Slowly, I walked down the bookcases until I came to the 900 section. I knew the 900 section had the history books, but I was not sure what the 940's section was. I started to see books that started with 940, and they appeared to be about the history of Europe.
As I made my way down the shelves, I saw books on Britain, then Germany, France and Italy. Next in the list was Spain, and all the books on Spain started with – 946!
Next, I began to skim the books to find ones that had JON as the first letters of the author's last name. There were only two, The History of Ancient Spain by Amanda Jonas, and Spain's Enemies by Steven Jones. I took both books off the shelf and started to flip through them, looking for anything that might be noteworthy.
The first book, The History of Ancient Spain contained no writing or notes tucked into the spine. I placed it down on the floor beside me and began to flip through the second book.
Near the back of the book, something did not seem right. Two of the pages appeared to be glued together. They were a bit thicker and stiff. I looked at the pages closely, and could see a spot where the glue was not right to the edge. Using my fingernail, I pried the two pages apart, and discovered the glue only ran around the edges of each of the pages, almost like a frame.
This left a spot in the middle of the pages where there was no glue—a perfect place for someone to tuck a small folded piece of paper.
I reached into the gap and pulled out the note someone had left. After unfolding it, I could not believe my eyes.
It appeared to be a treasure map, or half of one–hand drawn, with part of the map seeming to be water, a river or lake. There were no labels, so I couldn't tell what area the map illustrated. A single red 'X' was drawn over some jagged lines next to the water, cliffs or mountains of some sort.
Suddenly, I heard a noise from the other side of the bookshelf. I peeked through to find another pair of eyes looking back at me!
I let out a slight scream and dropped the book where I'd found the note. I made sure to hold on tightly to the map as I ran around to the other side of the shelf, but by the time I got around to the other side, the person had disappeared. I ran to the end of the row just in time to see a man in a beige trench coat run out the front door of the library.
"Wait!" I called out.
Mr. Burton wasn't behind the counter, so I couldn't ask him if he knew the man in the beige coat.
I could only stand helplessly in the middle of the library wondering who had been spying on me, and if he was after what I'd found.
A treasure map.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"Calvin, we have a treasure map!" I exclaimed. My dog responded by energetically wagging his tail.
Curiously, one half of the map appeared to be torn, but there was a big red X on the half that I had. A blue line pointed from the red 'X' to some words, "REE WISE" and "OW ALL" underneath. The first few letters of the writing must have been on the other side of the map, the half I didn't have.
"Whatcha got there?" asked my mom as she entered my room.
"It's nothing. Just a map."
"For your school project?"
"Yeah."
I wasn't in the habit of lying to my mother, but I had a feeling she wouldn't be too thrilled with me going on a treasure hunt, especially after my recent adventures with the Diamond of Madagascar and a close call with a ghost in Mount Topaz. I decided to not worry her by telling her about my latest finding. It might, after all, turn out to be nothing.
What could the treasure be? Gold? Jewels? Maybe pirate treasure—a chest with priceless coins, rubies and gold chains overflowing onto the ground. I had seen too many pirate movies! Did my area even have pirates? Could that have been a possibility?
I grabbed the book on shipping routes I'd checked out of the library. Maybe
pirates would be mentioned in there.
Flipping through the book, I found the reference to my region. The first paragraph of the section said:
The Filbert River was used mainly in the early 1800's and into the mid part of the century. After the railroads were built, shipping by river in this area declined heavily. The water levels changed frequently due to the runoff from main tributaries, and although this was controlled in the 1920s with the building of a dam, most of the transport had already shifted away to the railroads and the industry never recovered.
That sounded interesting, but said nothing about pirates. I skimmed through the rest of the section, mostly looking for the word "Pirate" or "Shipwreck", but did not see anything.
I started to research pirates on the Internet, and discovered they were actually a very serious threat in the heyday of shipping, with some believing it began when the first boats hit the water. Modern-day pirates were still active in some parts of the world, even now.
That night, I dreamed about pirates, and treasure and what I would do with all of the gold coins and jewels if I found them. Even though modern day pirates seemed to operate far away from where we lived, there was still the possibility that the map led to a stolen treasure... but what could the treasure be?
CHAPTER NINE
I returned home from school the next day to an empty house. Mom was still out with Ethan, so I'd have to take Calvin on his walk.
The year before, my mom had given me my own key so I could let myself in after school. It took a lot of convincing for her to let me stay on my own, but I hated when she made me go to Mrs. Trumble's house until she got back. Mrs. Trumble was nice, but all she ever had to drink was ginger ale and that always reminded me of when I had my tonsils out. I'd gotten sick of it the first day.
As soon as I entered the house, Calvin jumped up on me and started licking my face, his version of giving kisses. I thanked him with a gentle squeeze and reached for his leash, which we kept conveniently beside the front door.