“Sweet!” Ben ran to the post and began climbing the fence directly behind it, “I got something!” he hollered. He ripped something off the back of the sign and jumped off the fence just as Lacey and Megan approached. In his hand he held a zip lock bag with a small envelope inside, he opened the bag and slid the envelope out. On one side in very small calligraphy print read, “If you decide not to follow the instructions please replace this envelope exactly where you found it. Thank you, Cache Master.” Ben opened the envelope and found a small brass key, and a note. He read, “If you’re serious and wanna play my game, go to the waypoint on the enclosed key. I must warn you, this is not for the novice.” He looked at Lacey and Megan, his mouth wide with awe.
“Well let’s go!” Megan blurted as she jumped.
“Wait…we don’t even know who this guy is? This was the only geocache he had listed on geocaching.com.” Lacey’s anxiety came through her words. “Plus, we are headed to Alaska, this key might not go to a cache in Alaska, it could lead anywhere.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Ben turned the key over and showed Lacey and Megan the inscription on the back, he then entered it into his phone. “58 degrees 26’18.04” North and 134 degrees 59’49.43” West.” He then hit enter, a second later excitement overcame him, “How ya like me now?” he said as he shoved the phone in his aunt’s face. Sure enough the red dot indicated the waypoint to be next to the ocean, on the coast of Alaska.
“I guess I can’t argue with that, but are we sure?” Lacey looked sternly at both Megan and Ben, she so didn’t want to get in trouble again.
“Of course we’re sure,” Megan said, “I mean, what could happen?”
Lacey chuckled nervously, she looked at Ben, hoping he would back her up and tell Megan no, tell her that anything could happen, tell her that they could get hurt, that they could die, that, that…Ben interrupted her thoughts,
“Best case scenario, we win a million dollars,” he laughed, then immediately stopped as he read his aunt’s expression. “Worst case scenario, we go, it’s too dangerous, so we bail. Or we go, it’s lame, and we find another cache on geocaching.com.” Ben and Megan both stared at their aunt.
“You’re right, you’re right, I mean what are the odds of something crazy happening two years in a row, right?” Lacey shook her head, almost surprised that these words were coming out of her mouth, as she said them she felt it deep down inside, she knew it was a lie, she knew something wasn’t right. She felt scared and panicked, but deeper down, under all that fear, she really did, wanna play.
2
Ben stretched his arms high as he climbed out of the taxi cab that had brought them through the Alaskan capital city of Juneau. The air was crisp, and cool, but the sunshine was unbelievable, it was shining almost twenty hours a day, bright, clear, and sort of exhausting. His body still hadn’t grown accustomed to not having a dark night which forced him to sleep. After days of riding in the RV, and then another trip on the Ferry boat over to Juneau, the lack of sleep was really starting to wear on him. Perhaps he could convince Aunt Lacey to stay in Juneau for the night so they could all get a good, “RV free” night sleep.
Megan stood next to Ben staring at the blue waters of the ocean in front of them, she almost seemed annoyed when Aunt Lacey suggested they get their bearings before starting to look for the cache. Already, this trip has started slow. After all the driving, then riding on the boat, while fun, it wasn’t exactly what Megan thought an adventure should consist of.
“Okay so Ben, let’s look at the map on your phone now that we are here, where is the exact waypoint?” Lacey insisted. Ben pulled his phone from his jacket pocket, and advanced past his text message screen to the aerial map of their location. He zoomed in to get a closer look.
“Huh,” he said. “Well it looks like we were a little off with this waypoint.”
“What do you mean ‘a little off’?” Megan questioned.
“Well…the dot on my screen…it’s um, in the water, like way in the water,” he paused. “I think the geocache, might be out there,” he stretched his arm in the direction of the frigid sea.
Lacey sighed, “Great,” she huffed. Ben continued to play with his phone.
“Okay, I double checked and yes, this waypoint is right, but…look at this.” He passed the phone to Megan who then shoved it in Lacey’s face.
“Is that what I think it is?” Lacey questioned.
Ben grabbed her shoulder, spun her to the right and pointed, eagerly. In the distance she saw an enormous cross that stood out of the jagged rocks which bordered that side of the beach. Lacey instinctively started walking, Ben and Megan followed. “Where are we going?” Megan asked.
“I wanna be sure about this, maybe the coordinates were off? Maybe the geocache is by the cross, and not, well in the actual water” Lacey tried to think as fast as she could. What would she tell them if Ben was right and they had to go into the water. She would definitely make them get scuba equipment, she knew the kids had gone scuba diving in Hawaii, but that was only for one day, could they do it in this cold water? Could she?
They finally reached the cross, after slipping and scraping knees on the rocks of the jagged reef. The cross stood a lot taller than any of them thought it would, it must have been about 15 feet high. They all looked around the base, found nothing, around the rocks, nothing, and then Lacey saw something. A small metal marker right at the junction of the two cross arms. She squinted to see it better, the salty sea air had corroded the metal, the letters were blending together in a mixture of greens and dark rusty colors, but finally she made out what it said. As she started reading Ben and Megan froze, “In Honor of the 353 souls lost, voyaging on The Princess Sophia. Vanderbuilt Reef. 1918.” Lacey shivered.
“So is Ben right? Is this a ship wreck? Will we be going down and exploring a sunken ship?” Megan asked.
“I think so, I think we need to get to a scuba store and rent some equipment, because if this isn’t some crazy joke, then our geocache is sitting at the very bottom of the ocean.” Lacey pointed as she motioned with her hand toward the sea. “You both ready for that?”
“Bring it on.” Ben said.
“I’ve just been waiting for you to say, Go!” Megan added enthusiastically.
“So I’m the only one who’s a little nervous about this?” Lacey questioned, Ben and Megan nodded their heads eagerly. “Great,” she mumbled.
An hour later the three climbed out of a tour van. It was a good thing, Lacey now realized, that they couldn’t bring the RV through the town, the roads were too narrow and it would have been a night- mare trying to drive and park. But right now as she was deciding on where they should go to change into their dry suits and scuba equipment, she really wished they had the old RV for a dressing room.
The tour guide answered her question when he pulled open the back doors of the van and strung a cord to hang a curtain on to make a semi private changing room. “We’ll just get changed and the boat will come pick us up in a few minutes, one great thing about doing the ‘Princess Sophia Shipwreck’ tour with us is that you don’t have to carry an air tank, we have hoses that you’ll take down to the wreckage with you, it doubles as a safety harness, if you get lost or stuck, we’ve got you on a leash!” he laughed at his own joke, then quickly popped out of the curtain.
Ben walked in next, followed by Megan and then finally Lacey changed into her dry suit. The three stood on the dock, flippers in hand waiting with the tour guide for the scuba boat to come pick them up. Within minutes it arrived and they climbed on. It was a four hour boat trip to Vanderbuilt Reef. The captain explained how the ship had gone done, how it had hit the reef and become stranded. It sat stuck on the reef for many hours, rescue had come but the winds and jagged rocks prevented them from coming close enough to unload the passengers. Ultimately the captain had called off the rescue boats, for fear of causing damage to them. He was certain the hull of the ship could hold and last until the weather changed and
larger ships could come. He had called off the smaller ships, sent them away because of the foul weather, but as the storm grew fiercer the ship sank, ultimately the captain was wrong, and all lives were lost.
The story gave Ben chills, even though they were surprisingly warm in their scuba gear, the thick neoprene didn’t let in any cool air, and it also didn’t let any of their body heat escape. The captain of the boat went over basic instructions. The masks they were wearing were a little different, they looked more like an astronauts helmet than a diving mask. They didn’t connect to an individual oxygen tank, just to a multitude of hoses that were bound together. Each hose delivered a different gas into the helmet, to create breathable air. And each hose could extend hundreds of feet down into the depths of the ocean from the scuba boat above.
They put on their flippers, large helmets and gloves. Before the captain connected their oxygen tubes he attached large glow sticks on each of their chests and backs, he called them his own little search and rescue identifiers. Just in case the worst happened. He assured them though, nothing would happen to them while under his watch. Once they were connected to their oxygen tubes he gave them each a thumbs up. Ben patted a small zippered pocket on his hip, just to reassure himself that he did in fact have the geocache key. It was so small and yet at this moment it felt heavy, the anticipation of what treasure the key could unlock made his heart beat faster. He felt a little more confident knowing that his aunt had the waterproof cell phone, which could receive GPS imagery even under water. It could also pinpoint the exact spot they needed to be in, just then his thoughts were interrupted when suddenly the distant sound of water brought him back to reality. He saw Megan roll backwards into the ocean and then his aunt followed. He said a quick prayer then turned and forced himself to fall backwards off the boat as well.
Once in the water the low hum and static of the microphones filled their helmets. Ben looked down toward his aunt and sister; they were kicking hard, swimming eagerly in order to be the first to reach the wreckage below. Suddenly, Ben was reminded of his near drowning experience in Crater Lake, his stomach turned for a moment and he froze, the panic overcame him. He tried to remember that he ended up fine, he was here now in this place, and right now he had to focus.
Lacey and Megan were now much deeper in the dark water, he could barely see the glow from the glow sticks that were attached to their chests. He mustered some courage and faced down getting ready to swim to them. “Hey guys, wait up,” he said loudly into his helmet, the radio would carry the sound to both his sister and aunt. He was surprised that they didn’t turn, they didn’t respond, did they even hear him? Just as he was about to say something else to try to get their attention something grabbed his shoulder, the weight pushed him down, he panicked and struggled, thrashing about. Suddenly he felt both shoulders being commanded down, something was pushing on him, he continued to fight. Trying to throw punches and prevent his attacker from gaining control, but in his panic his helmet fogged up, he couldn’t see anything, he was breathing too heavily. Suddenly his chest felt tight, he realized he couldn’t breathe, his eyes got blurry, he tried to kick his assailant, but somewhere in the middle of lifting his leg, trying to get enough strength and fighting the resistance of his flipper in the water, Ben passed out. His head rolled to the front of his helmet, unconscious, his body went limp. He floated in the water for a brief moment, and then suddenly disappeared.
Lacey and Megan pulled themselves deeper into the water. It was so dark that even with the aid of their underwater flashlights they could only see ten feet in front of them. Hundreds of fish zoomed around them, first scared and then slowly becoming more aggressive in their movements. The pressure of the water felt strange on their bodies, and the silence was eerie.
As they continued down into the depths of the ocean Lacey noticed what appeared to be a cloud of white below them, she turned to point it out to Ben. But all she saw was blackness. Frantically she spun, looking for him, where was he? Wasn’t he right behind them? She turned to Megan and gasped “Where’s Ben?” Megan also spun, shining her light in every direction.
“He was right behind us? Where’d he go?” Megan panicked.
“No clue! We better head back up to the boat, maybe something happened.” She started pulling herself through the water and suddenly it wasn’t Megan’s voice echoing in her helmet.
“Lacey?” A man’s voice called out.
“Yes? Who is this?” She demanded as she looked to Megan for answers.
“It doesn’t matter, who this is. All that matters is that you have something I want and I have something you want, or should I say, someone.”
“What?” She shrieked into her helmet, swimming faster toward the surface.
“Calm down Lacey, you can’t come up too quickly now, don’t wanna get the bends,” he teased. “Now Lacey, let’s think about this, what is more important? Don’t you wanna see your nephew again?”
“Of course, now who are you, let me talk to Ben!” she begged now.
“Not gonna happen, I’ll tell you what is gonna happen, though. You and your little friend are gonna go to that ship wreck and you’re gonna find that safe. Once you do, you’re gonna bring it to me.”
“Safe? What safe?” she questioned.
“Don’t play dumb girl! You know what I’m talking about!”
“I really don’t and besides, I don’t have the key, only…” she tried to negotiate with him.
“Don’t you worry about that, I’ve got the key right here in my hand. Wasn’t too hard to get away from Ben here, he couldn’t put up much of a fight. So do as I say and your nephew lives, you have one hour. And Lacey, don’t try anything funny, I’ve got my hand on your oxygen valve up here on the boat.” He sighed heavily.
“What should we do?” Megan asked, tears running down her cheeks.
“I guess we have to go, and we have to remember that whoever this is they are listening to us.” Lacey responded. Just as she finished her sentence the man’s voice returned,
“I am listening, and I’m watching the clock, hurry up girls…time is running out.”
3
Megan grabbed her aunt by the shoulders to try to get her to stop panicking. “Aunt Lacey, c’mon we just have to find it and bring it to him, or them or whoever. We’ll just hand it over and then get Ben and be done with it. It’s okay, I know it is, I can feel it.”
Lacey shook harder, her sobbing was uncontrollable now, how had this happened again? She thought she had done everything right. She had chosen a simple geocache, and followed the clues, but somehow they had messed up along the way. Was this geocache special? What was in it? Why would someone take Ben to try to get it? Lacey wracked her brain for any reason this could be happening when suddenly she felt Megan pulling on her foot.
“What are you doing?” she growled.
“Well, you heard him, we are running out of time, we still have to make it down to the ship- wreck, find the geocache, and get it to the top!” Megan continued to pull, “And aunt Lacey, I’m guessing there is something special about this geocache, like maybe it’s hard to get out of the shipwreck or something, why else would this guy take Ben? Why wouldn’t he just come down and get it himself?” Finally Lacey began to swim next to Megan, kicking and pulling deeper into the dark water.
“Maybe this is all just a scam, ya know, like last time?” Lacey tried to convince herself.
“We won’t know ‘til we get to the top, c’mon,” Megan encouraged her aunt.
As they moved deeper into the water the silhouette of the shipwreck came into view, it definitely didn’t belong among the jagged rocks of the reef. The sleek lines of the bow seemed eerie in this setting, and although it wasn’t moving and hadn’t in almost one hundred years, it appeared to be alive. They swam closer and realized the movement was coming from the thousands of white sea anemones that had attached themselves to the metal and wood.
“Looks like cauliflower,” Megan said as she shone her light on t
he waves of white. They swam harder and reached a jagged piece of steel that was sticking out of a large pile of rocks. Evidently it was these rocks that had brought the ship down. Megan looked to the sandy sea floor below her flippers. Aunt Lacey was busy pressing screen buttons on Ben’s cell phone, it was still impressive to Megan that this phone was water proof, even when they were down so deep. Megan turned toward the ocean floor, looking at pieces of metal, a box that had been rusted almost all the way through, and even broken pieces of pottery that had never moved since their final fall from the ship. She glanced around some more and then she saw it. Shivers ran down her spine when she realized what she was looking at. About five feet in front of her wedged between two rocks was a an old leather boot. She swam over to it, and wiggled it free from the clenches of the reef rocks. A lump came to her throat when she realized this boot had belonged to one of the many passengers that had died when the ship sank. She tucked the boot under her arm and swam back to her aunt.
“Any luck?” she asked.
“Yep, I think we have to go about twenty feet this way,” Lacey motioned in front of them, toward the massive ship. They looked at each other trying to gather enough courage to move closer. Together they advanced, methodically moving through the water. As they got closer to the side wall of the ship they moved with more deliberate motions, for some reason this place felt sacred, and they felt like intruders or trespassers. Indeed the ship deserved their respect.
Once they reached the rusted metal side they immediately realized a problem, there was no geocache, which meant it must be on top of or inside the shipwreck. They both continued to swim together, not wanting to lose sight of one another for even a second. They swam to the top of the side wall, over the ship’s railing, looking for any entry point. The wooden planks were broken and awkward, more sea anemones clustered together, forming communities all over the railings, benches, and even the ships steering wheel. Megan explored the exterior of the cabin area while Lacey tried to lift the jagged pieces of wood that had once made up the flooring. Once they had both realized there was no geocache they decided to move to the other side of the ship. As they slowly floated toward the sea floor they saw the dark, ragged tear in the side of this ship. This was what had brought the ship down, this must have been where the reef rocks had torn into the Princess Sophia.
Waypoint Alaska Page 2