The Creeper Code

by Greyson Mann

  Oliver pushed up his glasses. “Buried treasure, you think?” he asked, half-kidding.

  Audrey’s eyes danced. “Buried emeralds, maybe! But where is this place?”

  Oliver squinted and studied the squiggles on the map.

  “Are these lily pads?” He pointed.

  “Yes!” said Audrey. “So this must be a map of the swamp. Maybe the emeralds are buried there!”

  She looked so excited, Oliver feared she’d take off for the swamp without him. “Let me bring the trash can home and get my notebook,” he said. “Then we’ll go together, okay?”

  Fifteen minutes later, they were trudging through the swamp. Oliver hoped they wouldn’t run into any witches—or squishy eyeballs—like they had the last time they were here.

  After crossing a lily pad bridge and circling every tree, they hadn’t run into any mobs. But they hadn’t found buried treasure either.

  “There’s a whole grove of oak trees here. How are we supposed to find the one with the X by it?” grumbled Audrey.

  Oliver raised his hands at his sides—and a scrap of map slipped out of his notebook and fluttered to the ground. As he bent to pick it up, he noticed a word scribbled on the back: ROOMS.

  When he flipped over the other two scraps, he saw two more words. “Brown? Mush? What do these words mean?”

  He tried rearranging the scraps until they made two words instead of three. Audrey watched over his shoulder.

  “Oh!” she said. “I get it.”

  Can you rearrange these three words into just two? Give it a try, and then turn the page.

  Max copied the new words into his notebook.

  “Is that a clue?” asked Audrey. “Brown mushrooms. Maybe the treasure is buried under a patch of mushrooms!” She circled the trees again, as if dancing with each of them before moving on to the next.

  “What do you think, Sniffs?” asked Oliver. “Can you help us find some mushrooms?”

  Woof!

  The dog loped after Audrey, his tail wagging so hard it moved his rear from side to side.

  When he barked again, Oliver knew the dog had found something special.

  He raced toward Sniffs, who was digging at the base of a large oak. Brown mushrooms popped out of the moist earth, but Sniffs was interested in something else. He dug deeper, black dirt spraying out behind him onto Audrey’s boots.

  Then Oliver heard the dog’s claws scratch wood. “He found something! C’mon, Sniffs. Let us see, too.”

  He pulled Sniffs back and reached into the hole, dusting the dirt off the top of a wooden box. A wooden chest.

  Audrey helped him dig it out of the hole. Then they counted to three and opened it together.

  “Emeralds!” shouted Audrey.

  Oliver sucked in his breath. He could barely believe it!

  “We found buried treasure!” said Audrey, running her fingers through the smooth green stones. “The map led us right to them.”

  “Well, Sniffs led us right to them,” laughed Oliver, giving his dog a thank-you scratch behind the ear. “But now we have a new mystery to solve.”

  “Who buried the emeralds?” said Audrey.

  “Exactly,” said Oliver. “Every time we solve one mystery, another one comes along.” But he didn’t sound the least bit disappointed.

  BY GOLEM, WE GOT ’IM

  “Ar-roooo!”

  Oliver sat up with a start in the dark room. “Sniffs?”

  The dog howled again and then scratched urgently at the front door.

  “Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Oliver pulled back his blanket and slid out of bed. He crossed the chilly floor with his bare feet and unlocked the front door.

  As soon as the door opened, Sniffs pushed through it and took off like a shot into the dark night.

  “Sniffs! Come back!”

  Audrey padded across the floor behind Oliver, rubbing her eyes. “What time is it?”

  “Late. Or early. Like middle-of-the-night early.” Oliver checked the clock, which read 3:15.

  “Where’s that crazy dog going?”

  Oliver shrugged. “Chasing a mob maybe.” He yawned and started back toward his bed, until another howl and a pitiful yelp stopped him in his tracks. “Sniffs!”

  Oliver raced out of the house in his bare feet, with Audrey close behind him. Sharp rocks littered the gravel path toward town, but he didn’t care. He had to get to his dog!

  “I can’t see!” cried Audrey. “It’s so dark!”

  A cluster of torches soon lit their way. Villagers were gathered on the edge of town.

  But why? wondered Oliver. He ran faster—and suddenly tripped over something hard and heavy.

  “Is that a brick?” asked Audrey, helping him up.

  Oliver rubbed his stubbed toes and squinted into the darkness. “No, it looks like an iron ingot.”

  “Uh-oh. Did something happen to Birchtown’s iron golem?” Audrey raced ahead toward the crowd.

  When Oliver caught up, he tried to make sense of the chaos. A gaping crater had appeared in the middle of the courtyard. Iron ingots and poppies littered the ground. A rumpled traveler sat on the ground, his face covered in soot. And a ring of villagers—plus one growling dog—stood just a few feet away.

  “Sniffs!” Oliver ran to his dog. “What happened to you? What’s going on?”

  “That’s what we’d like to know,” said Blacksmith Bernard. He stood, arms crossed, facing the man on the ground. “What did you say your name was again?”

  “Levi,” said the man, pushing himself up. He extended his hand, but Bernard didn’t take it. “I was enjoying a perfectly peaceful night walk, admiring the moon, when a creeper snuck up behind me. Then, BAM! Your iron golem was there to defend me. He fought hard against the creeper, but as you can see, that dirty mob blew him to bits!”

  Librarian Lucy stepped forward, holding her torch. “Iron golems don’t attack creepers,” she said simply.

  Boy, she sure knows a lot about fighting, thought Oliver.

  Levi shrugged. “Then I guess that golem was attacking this vicious dog here, and the creeper got caught in the cross-fire.”

  Sniffs growled, and hot anger swelled in Oliver’s chest. “Iron golems don’t attack dogs,” he said, stepping in front of Sniffs. “I think the golem was attacking you.”

  “Oliver!” said Audrey in surprise. “Why do you think that?”

  He tried to keep his voice from shaking. “Because I caught him in a lie.”

  What lie did Oliver catch Levi telling? Solve this Creeper Code for a clue. Read ONLY the words that come after the word “BLAST.” Then turn the page to solve the mystery.

  “The moon is hidden behind the clouds,” said Oliver. “No one would go for a walk to admire the moon tonight. It’s too dark to see anything.”

  “Unless you have a potion of night vision!” Audrey piped up.

  Levi shook his head. “If I’m lying about the moon and the creeper, then what do you think caused this explosion?”

  “TNT,” announced Blacksmith Bernard. “Let’s check his bag.”

  Butcher Bart picked up the sack with a grunt. “Woah, it’s heavy,” he said, spilling out the contents. Iron ingots plunked out into a teetering pile, along with a flint and steel.

  “You blew up our iron golem with TNT to get ingots!” accused one villager.

  “To trade for emeralds,” said another, shaking her fist. “You dirty griefer.”

  “Wait, that’s not all,” said Oliver, noticing a bump in the bottom of the sack. He dug down deep and pulled out a bottle made of thick glass. Orange liquid sloshed inside.

  “Potion?” asked Librarian Lila. “Which one?”

  “Potion of night vision!” said Audrey. “I knew it.”

  “Mystery solved,” said Blacksmith Bernard. “Let’s get this thief into a jail cell so that we can all get some more sleep before dawn. We have some rebuilding to do tomorrow.”

  “C’mon, Sniffs,” said Oliver. “You did your job, buddy. Let’s
go home.”

  As they hurried out of town, the clouds parted for a split second—just long enough for the moon to cast a glow over Birchtown, and long enough for Oliver to grin at his big sister.

  “We did it!” he said. “Mysteries solved.”

  “All of them,” she said, her eyes dancing. “At least for now.”

  MYSTERY GIFTS

  “They’re here!” announced Librarian Lila from the doorway. She waved the kids inside.

  Oliver was surprised to see the blacksmith and the butcher standing behind her. And on a long wooden library table, he spotted three brightly wrapped gifts.

  “They’re not emeralds,” said Blacksmith Bernard. “But we wanted to reward you kids for your work in cracking the mysteries in Birchtown. We picked out something special for each one of you.”

  He handed Audrey a package wrapped in glittery blue paper. Oliver’s was wrapped in green-striped paper.

  “And this one is for Sniffs,” said Butcher Bart. “Wait, where’s Sniffs?”

  When paws scrabbled outside the door, the librarian laughed and let the poor dog in.

  “That’s better, isn’t it, Sniffs?” she said. “Do you want your present now?”

  Woof! He nosed at the gift in her hand.

  “Wait!” said the blacksmith. “Don’t you kids want to guess what we got you? We’ll give you a clue.” He tapped his chin and then said, “Every gift starts with the letters B and O.”

  What did each “detective” receive as a gift? Take a guess, and then turn the page to find out.

  Audrey got a B O __

  Oliver got a B O __ __

  Sniffs for a B O __ __.

  Before Oliver could take a guess, Sniffs had already chewed open his gift—a tasty new bone!

  “Sniffs! You were supposed to guess,” teased Oliver. “But maybe your nose knew what was inside.”

  When he heard the sound of paper ripping, Oliver whirled around. Audrey had torn open her gift, too! She held a beautiful new bow and arrow.

  “Do you like it?” asked Librarian Lila. “I picked it out myself.”

  Audrey ran her finger along the smooth bow. “I don’t just like it,” she said. “I love it!”

  “But you were supposed to guess!” said Oliver, trying not to whine.

  Audrey shrugged. “I think we’ve solved enough mysteries lately, don’t you? Open yours now, Oliver!”

  He sighed and peeled back a piece of the wrapping paper. When he saw the smooth leather cover beneath, he tore off the rest of the paper in one fell swoop. “A new notebook!” He raised the leather cover to his nose and took a big sniff. Then he opened the book and flipped through the crisp white pages.

  “Now you can take more notes,” said Audrey with a smile.

  “And solve more mysteries,” said Oliver, hugging the book to his chest. “I can’t wait to get started!”

  “Me neither,” said Audrey, sliding an arrow into her bow. “How about you down there, Bone Breath?”

  Woof!

  THE END

  CREEPER CODE ANSWER KEY:

  Blow-Up at the Blacksmith’s

  Answer: Creepers run away from cats.

  Music From the Wall

  Answer: Creepers drop music discs when struck by skeleton arrows.

  Whatever the Weather

  Answer: Creepers hit by lightning become super charged.

  Sketching a Suspect

  Answer: Creepers have four feet and no arms.

  Trapped in a Lie

  Answer: Max lied. The sign was painted today, not yesterday.

  By Golem, We Got ‘im

  Answer: There’s no moon to admire. It’s pitch black outside!