Saving the Statue of Liberty

by Andrea Jo Rodgers

  Raphael pointed toward the doors. “Let’s go that way.”

  They slipped through the doors onto the concrete pavement, where sun filtered in through skylights. John pictured people from the early 1900s in their fancy suits and dresses rushing across the platform to catch their trains or meet loved ones.

  Stately evergreens in large clay pots stood guard at each of the track entrances. There were large antique hunter-green cabinets positioned by each of the tracks. Each one had lots of tiny drawers. John had never seen anything like them before. What had the train attendants kept in them all those years ago?

  Shaniqua turned in a full circle. “Well, we’re definitely in the right place. It looks just like the photograph.”

  “Who has the photo? Now that we’re here, maybe we can take another look at it,” Raphael suggested.

  Annabelle pulled it out of her backpack. “Yes, we’re here, but we really don’t know where to find the next clue. I didn’t realize that this would be such a big place. I’m not sure where we should start.”

  “Let’s hope there’s a clue in the photo itself,” Shaniqua said as they huddled around the photograph.

  John stared intently at the photo. Without something more concrete to go on, he worried that it would be tough to stop Team Mischief.

  Raphael pulled his magnifying glass out of his pocket and studied the photo. After several minutes, he declared, “I think I got it. Look here.” He pointed to a sign that read, “Track 15.” “There’s a tiny x after the number 15. I don’t see any markings after the signs for Track 14 or Track 16.”

  “Good work, Raphael. It sounds like x could mark the spot. Track 15 is right there.” Annabelle pointed across the wide corridor.

  “The x was right by the sign for Track 15 in the photo. I don’t see anything visible on the sign itself, but it must be close by,” Raphael said.

  Annabelle ran her hand along a metal gate, just behind the Track 15 sign. “I’m glad Maleficus Academy left two sets of clues, because my guess is that Team Mischief has a jump on us.”

  Following her lead, John slid his hand along the part of the archway that he could reach. Raphael took a step back and scanned the area, looking for anything that could possibly be their clue. They needed to find it quickly, without attracting attention to themselves.

  “Keep looking. It must be here somewhere,” Shaniqua said.

  Just then, an older woman wearing a long floral dress bumped into John. She paused and dumped the rest of her water bottle into a clay pot that held a stately evergreen. She walked away slowly and tossed her water bottle into a garbage can in front of Track 16.

  John watched as the water soaked into the brown dirt until something sticking out of the bottom of the pot caught his attention. He pulled out a long folded-up piece of white paper. Just someone’s old grocery receipt.

  He crumpled it with disappointment.

  “Hey, guys, look at this!” Raphael exclaimed, pointing to a small keyhole in the uppermost top right drawer of the antique green cabinet.

  Annabelle fished the key out of her pocket. “Give me some cover.”

  Shaniqua brushed her hair and Raphael popped a piece of gum in his mouth. John could tell they wanted to look as if they didn’t have a care in the world. He knelt near Annabelle and pretended to tie his shoe.

  “I think I’ve got something,” Annabelle whispered. She pulled a small light yellow envelope neatly labeled “Team Liberty” out of the drawer. “Let’s get out of here. We can look at this more closely outside.”

  CHAPTER 6

  They strode across the lobby and stepped outside into the bright sunshine. John slid on his sunglasses. Cool, as in FBI-agent cool.

  They plopped down under a shade tree.

  “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got.” Annabelle carefully unsealed the envelope and removed a folded piece of white paper. “It’s a word find.”

  “Oh, I hope it’s a puzzle too,” Shaniqua said.

  John had witnessed firsthand at Mount Rushmore Shaniqua’s special talent for solving puzzles and cracking codes. She yanked her pencil out from behind her ear and smoothed the piece of paper so all of them could see it. They studied the list of words at the top of the page.

  LIBERTY

  STATE

  PARK

  EMPTY SKY

  MEMORIAL

  INTERPRETIVE

  CENTER

  PROMENADE

  FREEDOM

  WAY

  HARBOR

  CRRNJ

  FERRY

  SERVICE

  HUDSON

  RIVER

  “The first three words are Liberty State Park,” Raphael said. “What’s Empty Sky Memorial?”

  “That’s our state’s memorial to New Jersey’s victims of 9/11. It lists the names of each of our residents who died that day,” John answered.

  “That’s right.” Annabelle scrolled down the web page on her phone. “The names of the 749 victims are engraved on a couple of 210-foot-long steel towers. That was the length of each side of the Twin Towers.”

  Shaniqua slipped off her backpack and placed it on the ground. “What about the interpretive center?”

  “The interpretive center teaches people about the Hudson River Estuary,” Annabelle said. “They hold classes there for people of all different ages.”

  Raphael had his phone out too. “The promenade is a two-mile walkway called Liberty Walk. It has really good views of the Statue of Liberty.”

  John pointed to the letters CRRNJ. “That stands for Central Railroad of New Jersey.”

  “The rest of the list is pretty self-explanatory. There’s a harbor with ferry service on the Hudson River. Freedom Way is the road that runs the length of the park. That covers all the words. Now we need to find them on the word search,” Raphael said.

  They hovered over the word search.

  G O T S K R A P S O T H C

  E I N T E R P R E T I V E

  M H S A M E M O R I A L N

  O U C T P R I M V R E I T

  D D N E T O C E I I J B E

  E S W A Y B E N C V N E R

  E O C E S R N A E E R R T

  R N E R K A T D U R R T N

  F E R R Y H N E E L C Y L

  “Interpretive takes up most of the second row across,” John pointed out.

  Shaniqua circled it.

  “Freedom runs from the bottom left corner upwards,” Raphael said.

  “Empty Sky runs down in the fifth row. And promenade is also running down, three rows farther to the right,” Annabelle said.

  They continued taking turns pointing out the words until they’d found them all.

  “What are we supposed to do next?” John asked.

  Raphael pointed to the list. “It seems like they’re all related to Liberty State Park in some way. Do you think we’re supposed to go to one of the places, like the Empty Sky Memorial or the promenade?”

  “It’s too open ended. It seems like it lists almost everywhere in the whole park,” Shaniqua pointed out. “I have an idea. Let’s write down in order all the letters that haven’t been used. John, can you read them out to me, and I’ll jot them down?”

  John cleared his throat. “G-O-T-O-T-H-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E-C-E-N-T-E-R-T-U-N-N-E-L-L.”

  “I’ve got it. It reads, ‘Go to the science center tunnel. Well, actually, the word tunnel is spelled wrong. There should be only one L, but this message has two of them,” Shaniqua said.

  Annabelle giggled. “Maybe the person who created the clue isn’t the world’s best speller. I guess they must be referring to the Liberty Science Center that we read about. Does anyone know if there’s a tunnel there?”

  “When I went with my family, we had to feel our way through a long, pitch-black tunnel. It would be a great place to hide a clue,” John said.

  Annabelle pulled her backpack over her shoulders. “I bet that’s what it’s referring to. It’s a bit of a walk there, so we better get a move on.”

  They wa
lked along an old cobblestone road that had lots of bumps and ruts in it. It preserved the old-fashioned feeling of the historic building and trains. They turned onto Freedom Way and continued toward the science center.

  John grabbed an apple from his backpack and munched on it as they went along. After the last crunchy bite, he washed it down with a swig of cool water. John often shared his apples with his dog. He nearly dropped the apple for Ranger to finish, then remembered he was far away in Maryland. Missing his dog, he texted his grandmother. Are you giving Ranger lots of treats? He really likes the liver ones.

  A few seconds later, he received her response. Wyatt is busy playing with his trucks on our kitchen floor.

  John frowned. He’d asked about Ranger, not Wyatt. That’s nice, but how is Ranger?

  Well, we’re going to take him to the vet in a few minutes.

  John’s stomach did a painful flip. Ranger was his best friend. He hated being apart from him for the whole summer.

  John: Why does he have to go to the vet? Is he sick?

  Grandma: I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. He’s been throwing up. Maybe he ate something in our garden.

  John wished his mom could help, but by now her plane was flying somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

  John: Please keep me posted and give him hugs from me.

  Now John wished more than ever that Ranger had come to South Dakota with him. John closed his eyes and pictured himself rubbing Ranger’s tummy. Engrossed in his thoughts, he tripped over a curb.

  “John, are you okay? You look kind of funny.” Shaniqua put her hand on his arm to steady him.

  “Just some bad news from home. My dog, Ranger, is sick,” he mumbled.

  “Oh, I hope he’s better soon,” she replied.

  “That’s too bad. Mr. Gibbons threw up once after he ate some herbs in my mom’s garden. I was scared to death, but he got better after a couple of hours,” Raphael said.

  “Maybe Ranger’s just adjusting to being without you,” Annabelle suggested.

  Raphael pointed to a large light gray building with many glass windows near the entrance of the park. “Look. There’s the science center up ahead. Wow, this place is huge. I wouldn’t mind spending the whole day here. Hopefully, we can come back later when we’re not in such a rush.”

  Annabelle swung her backpack off her shoulders and headed toward a table on the right side of the entrance hallway. “We’ll have to go through security to get in.”

  Two guards stood behind the table. One was an older gentleman with short silver-gray hair, while the other was a middle-aged woman with platinum-blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

  “Please put your cell phones and keys in this basket and pass through the metal detector,” she instructed them.

  John slid off his backpack and handed it to the man, who unzipped it and gingerly poked through the contents.

  “Enjoy your day,” he said, passing the bag back to John.

  The rest of Team Liberty also passed through security without a problem.

  As they stepped into a large welcome area, Raphael grabbed an information brochure and map from the counter. He pointed across the room. “We can buy our tickets over there.”

  “Why don’t you hang out here and look at the map? I’ll buy the tickets with the school credit card,” Annabelle suggested and strode away.

  Shaniqua unfolded the map. “The Touch Tunnel is on the third floor.”

  As soon as Annabelle rejoined them, they passed a large gift shop with a vast array of toys, games, and books and hurried up a long flight of dark gray stairs, climbing them two at a time.

  They reached the second floor and rushed past the café and up a second flight of stairs.

  “Where do we go now?” Annabelle asked.

  Raphael opened several sets of double doors. “Follow me.”

  Almost immediately, they came upon a large yellow sign that read “Touch Tunnel” with an arrow pointing toward the left. Team Liberty paused to read a wall-mounted pink, orange, and red sign that described the tunnel’s features.

  They rounded the corner and entered a dimly lit room.

  Raphael paused. “Good. No one in line in front of us.”

  Annabelle nodded. “It’s going to be pitch black in the tunnel, so make sure you have your flashlights with you. I’d rather not use them because it’ll draw attention to us. But realistically, we may need to at some point. We’ll feel as much as we can with our hands, and hopefully, we can find the clue.”

  John pulled his flashlight out of his knapsack and slid it into one of the cargo pockets of his shorts. “I hope it’s in an envelope. That’ll make it easier to find.”

  An obscure clue could be very challenging to find in the pitch blackness.

  “Raphael, you have the best eyesight, so you should go first. I’ll go after you, followed by John. Shaniqua, I want you to take up the rear.”

  Shaniqua shuddered. “As long as I’m not leading! I hate the dark.”

  A museum employee with long frizzy brown hair sat on a tall black stool at a monitoring station next to the tunnel’s entrance. She wore a royal-blue polo shirt with the name tag “Felicity” near her right shoulder. “Okay, everyone. Keep your right hand on the wall to help you find your way through. You’ll be on camera, and I’ll be watching as you make your way through. The red lights are cameras, so please try not to cover them. If you need help, wave both your hands in front of the camera.”

  “How long does it take to get through?” Shaniqua asked.

  “About three to five minutes,” Felicity replied. “You can leave your bags over there by the wall.”

  Annabelle turned around and whispered, “I doubt we’ll be able to use the flashlights, since Felicity will be watching us.”

  “Okay, you can go in.” Felicity pointed toward the tunnel entrance.

  Eager to find the clue, Raphael dropped to his hands and knees and disappeared into the tunnel with Annabelle close on his heels. John ducked down and followed, relieved not to be last.

  Annabelle spoke in a hushed tone. “Feel everywhere you can. If we don’t find it on the first pass, we’ll have to act like we enjoyed it so much that we want to do it again. It’ll look suspicious if we spend too much time in here.”

  Her words were a good motivator for John. He didn’t relish the idea of crawling through this dark, creepy tunnel twice. He kept his right hand on the right wall as Felicity had instructed them but paused often to feel the left wall and ceiling with his left hand in hopes of finding the clue. He inhaled deeply. The smell vaguely reminded him of his grandmother’s basement.

  The tunnel veered to the left, the right, and the left again as they slowly crawled along. He ran his hand along the wall, noting a smooth surface in some areas and a thinly carpeted texture in others. He fought off a shiver. If I let go with my right hand, I could definitely lose my way.

  The four proceeded along at a snail’s pace, determined not to pass by the clue.

  “Did you find anything yet? This is much spookier than I thought it would be.” John knew Felicity could see them with the cameras, but he wasn’t sure whether she could hear them too, so he spoke softly. He didn’t want her to think they were “up to something” and kick them out.

  “No, not yet,” Annabelle whispered back.

  They crawled for several long minutes. By now we must be close to the end of the tunnel. John wound his way once more to the left and then again to the right. A sudden commotion in front of them startled him.

  “Looking for something, Liberty nerds?” a familiar voice hissed.

  Devlin!

  CHAPTER 7

  Although John couldn’t see Devlin’s face in the dark tunnel, he knew he must be sneering. Or maybe even snarling like a hungry wolf that just spotted its lunch.

  “Look what I found,” Devlin said. “Or is it too dark for you babies to see? It’s our next clue. Unfortunately, it won’t be so easy for you to find yours.”

  “Why’s
that?” Raphael asked.

  “Because it’s about to get a lot tougher to see with those super-eyes of yours.”

  John yanked out his flashlight and flicked it on. He figured Felicia seeing it was now the least of their worries.

  A few yards ahead, Devlin was holding a small bottle, and he sprayed it directly in Raphael’s face. Raphael let out a howl of agony.

  “My eyes,” he whimpered.

  “Later, losers,” Malicia said.

  “Yeah, good luck with all that.” Slade laughed as he kicked back hard with his left leg, knocking Annabelle’s arm out from under her.

  “Everyone out right now!” Felicia’s voice boomed.

  Devlin, Malicia, and Slade exited the tunnel, shoved past her, and raced out the door.

  Felicia pulled her radio from its holster. “I need assistance at the Touch Tunnel. Send security. It’s an emergency!”

  Annabelle sprang out of the tunnel, then helped Raphael to his feet. John followed. His flashlight beam caught the edge of something white tucked in a crevice just ahead. He crawled forward and pulled out an envelope, then shoved it in his pocket and wriggled out of the Touch Tunnel.

  Felicia guided Raphael to a chair. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “They attacked him with mace. I hope your security guards can stop them before they get away,” Annabelle said.

  “I’ll call for an ambulance.” Felicia reached for the phone at her workstation.

  “No ambulance,” Raphael said. He knew a trip to the hospital would delay their mission.

  Felicia hovered over the phone. “You need one.”

  Raphael pawed his eyes. He let out a moan. “It hurts so bad.”

  “Don’t rub your eyes,” John urged. “That’ll just make it worse.”

  Raphael whimpered as his eyelids grew to the size of mushrooms.

  Felicia dialed 9-1-1. “I need an ambulance at the Liberty Science Center near the Touch Tunnel…”

  John searched his memory. His mother, an emergency-room physician, had taught him a lot about first aid. He remembered that she’d told him about a woman who’d been sprayed with mace. Suddenly the answer came to him and he spoke it aloud. “Milk.”