The Great Scavenger Hunt (22 page)

Kiki's parents met the boat at the dock.

“Did you get your clue?” her excited mom wanted to know.

“How'd the boat run today? Great conditions! Flat as a pancake out there,” said her dad.

Kiki just shook her head and tossed a rope to her father.

“Tie it off, Dad!” she instructed. “We're on a tight schedule, and when an Underwood intends to win…”

“…she wins!” her mother finished. “Good luck, darling.” Mrs. Underwood blew kisses to her daughter and for good luck blew ones to the rest of the Barnacles too.

Kiki was already halfway to the shed where the kids had left their bikes. “Thanks, Underwood parents!” Ben Briggs shouted back.

“Your parents are pretty cool,” Chelsea pointed out to Kiki as she flung off her life jacket and strapped on her bike helmet.

“Yeah, they're all right,” she admitted with a shrug. But then she suddenly seemed to remember her special Empress of Mean status. “Oh, and we're not slowing down for anyone today, got it? So keep up.”

Chelsea took a deep breath and shook her head.
The Empress of Mean gene is still intact!
she thought as she hopped on her bike.

With a bunch of whoops and hollers from Yurt and Avery, the team was off, pedaling so fast the trees whipped by in a blur. Chelsea was surprised to find that despite her slightly sore leg muscles, she
was
keeping up much better than yesterday.
Take that, Kiki!
she thought with a smile as she passed by a surprised Empress.

When Chelsea managed to pull up even with Henry Yurt, she shouted, “Barnacle style!”

He honked his bike horn. “Two more miles!”

Soon, everyone was chanting the rhyme.

“One and a half miles!” Kiki interrupted them. “I know a shortcut.”

Pump It Up

The Salty Cods whooped with joy as they sped down a hill, feeling the crisp breeze against their faces. Charlotte
raced ahead, wondering how fast she'd have to go to break the space-time continuum, like in
Back to the Future.
The trees and objects whizzed by so quickly, she wasn't sure he could trust her eyes when she saw a park ranger turn down a side path toward the beach.

“BONUS POINT!” Dillon shouted. The park ranger was so startled he dropped the armload of guidebooks he was carrying.

“Sorry, dude.” Dillon got off his bike to help with the guidebooks while the rest of the Cods joined them. “But can we take your picture? We're, like, on this scavenger hunt, and, hey—don't you spell check these things?” He held up a guidebook. “It's
macaroni
, not Marconi!”

“Dillon!” Charlotte slapped her forehead. “This is a guide to Marconi Station! Hand me that clue you read!”

Dillon sheepishly extracted a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.

“Just what I thought.” Charlotte's face looked grim for a second.

“Are we going the wrong way?” Katani asked, worried.

“What's going on?” Patrice demanded.

“Marconi Station!” Charlotte's face broke into a grin. “The answer to clue number six! It had nothing to do with macaroni!”

The park ranger chuckled. “Guglielmo Marconi invented transatlantic telegraphing. Sent the very first message across the ocean from this spot in—”

“1903!” Dillon finished. “And there's the flag!” Dillon pointed down the path to a telltale red flag planted in the
middle of some old stone ruins. The Salty Cods began to clap and cheer.

“We did it!” Katani squeaked. “I feel so…so…
alive
!”

“Sorry, guys…about the noodle thing,” Dillon said.

“Forget it, man.” Nick slapped him on the back.

“Could you get in the picture with us?” Patrice asked the ranger. “It'll give us an extra point!”

“Sure thing.”

As the finder of “Macaroni” Station, Dillon insisted on being right smack in the middle of the photo, and wedged himself between a rather cozy Charlotte and Nick. “Best group ever!” Dillon declared.

Patrice looked at her watch. “Come on, you guys. We only have fifteen minutes before this hunt is officially over. I say we pump it and try to get those ten points by coming in first at Drummer's Cove.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Charlotte agreed. They raced to their bikes and poured every ounce of energy into speeding through the mile-long homestretch. Katani felt a bolt of energy surge through her and found herself cycling ahead of Patrice!

“Hey, slow down, Sis!” Patrice laughed.

“I can't!” Katani sang. “I have no control over the speed of my legs!”

“It's called
adrenaline
,” Charlotte explained, flying by both the Summers sisters. The boys, both horrified at the thought of being outdone by all
three
girls on their team, also began going faster and soon enough the five members of the Salty Cods found themselves in an unofficial race to the finish line.

A
re you
sure
we're going the right way?” Betsy demanded of Fabiana for the millionth time. “Look. There's a four-way intersection up there!”

“Bethany showed me the set location,” Fabiana patiently reassured the panicky Bogger, “and it was a straight shot to get to Drummer's Cove.”

“Hey!” Danny shouted. “Check out that bike group up ahead!”

“It's Katani and Patrice!” Isabel remembered the Summers sisters' matching orange bikes.

“And that must be Charlotte…and Nick…and Dillon!” Maeve shouted. “They just turned right on that street up there!”

“Come on, we can catch up!” Fabiana urged her team.

“But do we go
straight
or
right
?” Betsy wailed.

Just then, another group of bikers came into view in the distance, zipping toward the intersection down a battered dirt path that wasn't even a street.

“Hey! That's Avery!” Maeve said, more quietly this time.

“And Chelsea, Ben, Yurt, and Kiki,” Riley finished.

“They're going…left?” Betsy let her bike fall to the ground and plopped down in the dirt at the side of the road. “What are we going to do?”

“How is this even possible?” Fabiana muttered. “Drummer's Cove is straight ahead, isn't it?”

“We did already get lost once,” Isabel said softly.

“And those teams probably know where they're going!” Maeve agreed.

“They're going in
opposite directions
, if you didn't notice,” Betsy said.

Danny sat down beside her and patted her back awkwardly. “It'll be okay. Hand over the map, Fabiana! It's in the pack!”

The Cranberry Boggers' leader giggled a little, and found the map on the first try.

“Okay,” Danny said. He turned the map sideways. Then upside down. Then he flipped it over and peered at the other side.

“I'll do it!” Betsy grabbed the map, and struggled to get the thing to lay flat on the grass. “What does it matter?” she yelled. “We're in last place anyway.”

Danny nodded. “We've already lost!”

“What?” Maeve folded her arms and tapped one foot.
“We'll definitely lose if you two just sit here on the side of the road moaning! Get up!”

Startled, Betsy and Danny obeyed.

“Now let's get moving!” Maeve sped off toward the intersection.

“Which way?” Fabiana asked.

“No idea!” Maeve answered. “We'll figure it out!”

Three Cheers for the Great Scavenger Hunt

The Cods charged into the parking lot at Drummer's Cove in full force to the sound of applause and cheering. “Congratulations!” Mr. Moore exclaimed in delight from behind his video camera. “You are the first team back! Well done, Salty Cods.”

Ms. O'Reilly and Mrs. Moore joined them with a cooler full of chilled juice boxes and ice-cream sandwiches—in cow-patterned paper, of course. “This was the bonus reward for the lighthouse clue,” Mrs. Moore shared.

The Cods hadn't realized how famished they were. “These taste so
délicieux
!” Charlotte exclaimed, smacking the ice cream off her lips. “Especially now that we can relax and appreciate the creamy goodness!”

“Do you always talk like that?” asked Dillon.

Charlotte was puzzled. “Like what?”

“You know…like a writer?”

Nick put his arm over Charlotte's shoulders, making her cheeks turn a deep cherry. “She
is
a writer. Can't help talking like what she is.”

Charlotte reminded herself to chronicle this moment in her journal as one of the more romantic instances in her life,
when suddenly a chorus of rowdy whooping burst into the parking lot…led by (big shocker) Avery Madden.

“BARNACLES! BARNACLES! WHOOOO-HOOO!” Avery hollered. She ran around her teammates, high-fiving everyone, so absorbed in her victory dance that she didn't even notice that the Cods beat her to the punch.

“Aw, man!” Yurt exclaimed, seeing the other group at the far end of the lot. He jogged over, stopped before his classmates, and bowed dramatically. “You may have won the battle, but we shall see who wins the war…when Mr. Moore tallies the points.
Wah hah hah
!” he bellowed, in a fake, evil laugh.

“You're nuts, man. We're gonna cream you!” Dillon assured him and, winking at his teammates, added, “fair and square.”

The rest of the Beach Barnacles joined them. Charlotte, using her incredible observation skills, immediately knew that something was off. “Hey, why does it look like you were out in the rain?” she asked.

“You get splashed riding in a boat,” Kiki replied. “We took my Boston Whaler over to the Wildlife Sanctuary. It's an awesome shortcut.”

“You can't do that! Using a boat is against the rules.” Katani looked at the teachers. “Isn't it?”

Mr. Moore pondered this for a moment and finally pronounced, “Well, technically there was no rule against alternate modes of transportation. I'll allow it.”

The Beach Barnacles cheered and the Salty Cods
groaned. “Well, there
should
be a rule against not working on the scavenger hunt at all!” Katani fumed. “We know what you guys did.”

Mr. Moore looked at the kids. “What's this all about?”

When no one answered, Katani—who had become good and heated—continued, “They spent all of yesterday playing on the beach, and didn't even start working on the scavenger hunt until today!”

Ms. Reilly looked the Beach Barnacles in the eye. “Is this true?” she gravely confronted them.

Kiki, Avery, Chelsea, and Yurt hung their heads in shame as Ben Briggs stepped forward. “I admit…it's true. We were all having so much fun at the beach…well, we made a mistake.”

“But we spent all day today working really hard on the scavenger hunt!” Kiki defended. “It's true, I swear.”

Mr. Moore sighed. “Ben, kids, I must say, I am disappointed in you.”

Charlotte, who had been dreading this moment all day, found she had no idea what to say. There was only one person on the team who she was really disappointed with. Charlotte turned to Chelsea and in a soft voice asked, “After how hard we worked to make this weekend perfect…how could you…sell out like that?”

Chelsea opened her mouth to explain, but before she even had a chance to get a word out, her big brother intervened, “Now, hold on just one minute! This was
not
Chelsea's idea. She didn't want to hang out on the beach, and was the only one who spent all day yesterday looking for
clues on that bonus-list thingy. In fact, if it wasn't for Chelsea, I think this team would have just given up all together. She's the reason we tried to win.”

Chelsea blushed and looked up adoringly at her brother. “Thanks,” she whispered.

Ben shook his head. “Whatever. It's true. I'm just sorry I didn't listen to you yesterday.” The rest of the Beach Barnacles nodded in agreement.

Charlotte felt terrible. “Yikes. I'm sorry, Chels. I had no idea.”

Chelsea waved her hand. “Forget about it.” She beamed at her brother, relishing the sensation of being recognized for doing the right thing.

“We worked really hard today,” Avery offered. Charlotte gave her a disappointed look. “And I'm really, really sorry….”

“Fine,” Charlotte sighed. “It's not just you, though. It's—”

At that moment the group was interrupted by an uproar of heaving and guffawing as the Cranberry Boggers shakily rolled into the lot. “Oh…my…
goodness
!” Maeve groaned. “I have never been so tired in my life!”

“Water! Somebody, quick! I'm dying of thirst,” Danny proclaimed, panting like a hungry Labrador.

“You can cut the act,” Katani informed them. “Or should I say…continue it?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Fabiana feigned innocence.

“We saw you at the movie set today,” Patrice declared.

“Um, uh…” Betsy stuttered. “There's a really great explanation for that…. See, we, uh…” The crowd was shocked—they had never seen Betsy Fitzgerald speechless before in their lives.

Mr. Moore folded his arms and tapped his foot. Fabiana took a deep breath and stepped forward. “Okay, here's the story. Yesterday on the scavenger hunt we got lost, and accidentally found ourselves on the set of the Black Sam Bellamy movie…. You know,” she said, glancing at Ms. O'Reilly, “the one with Simon Blackwell?”

“
You met Simon Blackwell
?” asked Ms. O'Reilly in a squeaky voice. She coughed and revised, “I mean, go on, Fabiana.”

“They asked us to be movie extras,” she confessed.

“And consultants,” Danny added proudly.

Fabiana nodded. “It all happened so fast. We had copies of our photo release forms and the next thing we knew we were in costumes and makeup and Riley even had a couple of lines.”

Fabiana, completely enraptured in the story, became more animated. “Lola Lindstrom—she was playing the female lead—quit right in the middle of the last scene. And guess who they filmed to replace her…
ME!
Oh, we knew we should have been working on the scavenger hunt and everything, but this seemed like a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and…well, it was…like a dream.”

“It was. It really was,” Maeve seconded. She got down on her hands and knees before Katani, Charlotte, and Avery, and in a cracking voice implored, “Please, you guys
are my bestest friends in the whole world. You have to forgive me. Say you will! Please!”

“Would you get up?” Katani said gruffly, but pointed at the Beach Barnacles. “They kind of blew off the scavenger hunt too.”

Avery bit her lip guiltily.

“If it's any consolation, the scavenger hunt seemed totally awesome,” Isabel assured Nick and Charlotte. “I would have loved to do it.”

Charlotte sighed. “I just feel like everyone has been lying for two days….”

“Well, technically speaking, we weren't lying,” Avery explained. “We just weren't telling the complete truth.”

“Have you ever heard the concept of lying by omission?” asked Mr. Moore.

Maeve was puzzled. “What do you mean?” she asked nervously.

“Omission. It's when you purposely leave out a part of the truth to trick people into thinking something untrue,” Mr. Moore said and glancing at Avery added, “It's
technically
the same thing as a lie.”

Avery shrugged and admitted quietly, “Yeah, my inside voice kind of already knew that. But I was so busy surfing and telling that voice to be quiet…I'm sorry, guys.”

Fabiana looked at her little brother. “I'm really sorry, too, Nick. I got caught up in the moment and I wasn't a good team leader. An awesome movie extra, maybe, but a bad team leader. Please forgive me?”

Nick shrugged. “Yeah…you are my big sis, after all.” He kicked the dirt with his sneaker and added, “But when you become a mega famous Hollywood star, you owe me a Porsche.”

“Deal!” Fabiana extended her hand and they shook on it.

“I'm sorry too, Chels,” Ben said. “For all the things that she said”—he pointed a thumb at Fabiana—“and also for being a big jerk on the beach yesterday. You were right, and we were the lame ones.”

Chelsea whipped out her camera and took a picture of her big brother looking like a big, sorry goofball. “I wish I had that on videotape!” She giggled, giving Ben a giant hug.

“Want to film it?” Mr. Moore joked, offering his camera. “I think some of us have had enough of filming for one weekend!” Fabiana said, looking around at her team, who all nodded in agreement.

“Are we cool?” Avery meekly asked Charlotte.

“I'm not mad,” Charlotte acknowledged. “We just worked so hard to make the Outdoor Adventure Club's first field trip exciting for all you guys. And no one had a good time doing what we planned.”

Isabel tilted her head and said thoughtfully, “You know, the point of the Outdoor Adventure Club is to have amazing adventures, right? And I think we can all agree that everyone had amazing adventures this weekend. So I think the trip was a smashing success, Char.”

Charlotte contemplated her friend's positive outlook. “You know, Izzy, I like thinking of it that way.” She grinned. “Now that I think about it, we had a blast too. So if everyone had fun…”

Katani, who had been talking to Mr. Moore, suddenly bounded over and clasped Charlotte's hands. “WE WON!” she shouted. The Salty Cods stopped what they were doing and starting jumping up and down and hugging each other. (Charlotte was secretly thrilled that Nick hugged her first.) “Mr. Moore just tallied the points. Five clues, six bonus pictures, and first place finish gives us thirty-one points!”

Patrice shrugged and smiled. “What did I tell you?”

Katani looked up at her sister with newfound admiration. Yesterday, she would have expected Patrice to be the most obnoxious winner of all, but as it turned out, her sister was rather gracious about the whole thing. Not only that, but Ben and Fabiana had both let their teams go astray, and Patrice had stayed true to the mission the whole time. As a team leader, she pretty much rocked it…and led the Cods to victory.

“Who came in second?” Avery demanded.

Mr. Moore looked at his sheet and shared, “The Beach Barnacles. Three items, including Yurt—I liked your creative thinking; ten bonus pictures—thanks to Miss Chelsea; and second place finish is a whopping twenty-four points. Well done.”

Avery glanced at her teammates and, her eyes glimmering with mischief, asked, “Can you imagine if we'd actually
tried
both days?”

“But you didn't!” Dillon sang joyfully.

“What about the Cranberry Boggers?” Isabel bleakly asked.

“Six bonus pictures…six points,” Mr. Moore said. “Might I ask how you all thought you were going to get away with this?”