The Mystery of the Pirate's Treasure (5 page)

She glanced at the map and located the icons, then turned her attention back to the directions.

Code Buster's Solution found on
this page
.

That sounded easy enough, but she wondered where, exactly, the path would lead. And what hidden messages they were supposed to find? Ms. Stad had hinted that there would be clues along the way. Cody hoped so. That would make it even more fun! Only one thing bothered her.

Why was there a # symbol?

Cody and Quinn texted each other during the nearly two-hour bus ride to Carmel. At one point, Quinn said, “Check your mini.” Cody pulled out her mini-tablet and saw an e-mail from Quinn, but when she opened it, it was totally blank.

She turned to Quinn, who was holding his own mini-tablet, and said, “There's nothing in this message!”

Quinn smiled. “It's invisible,” he said mysteriously. “So no one can read it without knowing how to translate it.” He shot a look over at Matt the Brat,
who'd been staring at the kids.

“So how
do
you read it?” Cody whispered so Matt wouldn't hear.

Quinn leaned in. “Select the message, then click ‘Black' for the font color.” He sat back.

Cody did as she was directed. Magically, words appeared on the screen: “I just wrote you an invisible note!”

“That is so cool!” she said, delighted to learn a new secret method of communicating. “How did you do that?”

Quinn held up his tablet. “Write your message, like normal. Then select it and change the font to white. Then send the message.”

The kids spent the rest of the trip sending invisible messages back and forth.

As the scenery changed from tall city buildings and busy streets to wind-swept cypress trees and rolling sand dunes, she imagined what life must have been like two hundred years ago. There would have been no malls, no movie theaters, no parks or playgrounds—just the mission, surrounded by miles
and miles of trees, bushes, rivers, and lakes.

Before she knew it, the bus pulled to a stop. Cody looked out the window and saw the mission on one side of the street and the campground on the other. She stepped out and surveyed the small city of tents, all empty and waiting for them to move in. Cool.

As she stepped out of the bus with her backpack, she glanced back at the mission. A man with a long beard, dressed in baggy clothes, and a woman with her hair tied in a scarf, also in baggy clothes, stood near the entrance. Cody wondered if they were tourists there to see the mission, too. But instead of heading inside, the couple turned and stared at the bus.
Weird
.

“Welcome to the Mission Trail Nature Preserve,” Ms. Stad said as the sixth-grade students began gathering their backpacks. “Collect your things and drop them off at your assigned tents. Then we'll meet at the camp amphitheater in twenty minutes.”

Cody and M.E. were excited to find they would be together. They found their tent, dragged their suitcases and sleeping bags inside, and unloaded their
gear. When they were done, they met up with Quinn and Luke at the amphitheater, nestled under some trees.

“This place is awesome,” Cody whispered to Luke, while Ms. Stad began reciting the history of the area. “It smells like pine trees. And our tent is so cozy.”

Luke whispered back, “I know. I feel like I'm in the middle of the frontier. I can't wait till we start the hike.”

Cody noticed Ms. Stad had grown quiet. She looked up to see her teacher staring at her. Busted! Cody made a zip-the-lip gesture and Ms. Stad nodded, then went on with her talk.

“You'll be following trail signs Mrs. Van Tassell and the other parent volunteers set out yesterday when they came to set up the camp. The signs will lead you to the mission museum. They're much like the ones used by trailblazers and Indians years ago. There will be three kinds of signs to watch for: stone signs, also known as stone talk. These are stones placed in special positions that indicate
which direction to go. There are also twig signs, which are small branches that have been arranged in a specific way, and grass signs, which are handfuls of grass tied together—they also show where to go.”

“What about smoke signals?” a kid named Spencer asked.

Ms. Stad smiled. “Good question, Spencer. The Plains Indians and Ojibwas did use smoke signals to communicate across long distances, but for us to use them now would be too dangerous, since they might cause an out-of-control fire. We're going to keep communicating simple and just use stones, twigs, and grass. Now, here's a special card with a list of symbols you'll find along the trail.”

Ms. Stad and the other adults began handing out small cards printed with symbols and their meanings. Cody looked at hers and immediately started to memorize the codes.

After they all received their code cards, Ms. Stad called the kids to attention. “On the front are the stone, pebble, twig, and grass codes. On the back
you'll find more symbols: one that means ‘danger' and one that means ‘hidden message.' If you find a hidden message, write it down but don't disturb it for the next group. The team that figures out the answers to the hidden messages will get to make the first s'mores tonight at campfire.”

A cheer went up from the students. Cody turned the card over and found the additional symbols and translations. Underneath were the numbers 1 through 4, with lines next to each number.

“How cool!” Cody said to the others. “This is perfect for us. It's all in code! And Luke's always going
on those orienteering trips. It should be easy for him.”

Ms. Stad raised two fingers, the sign for “Quiet!” and everyone hushed. “You'll be going in groups of four, leaving every three minutes. The trail begins with a rock set on top of another rock, so keep an eye out for that first. Remember, stay with your buddies and do
not
leave the trail. There's a lot of poison oak around, so be careful. And we don't want you getting lost, so if you think you're in trouble, just call out for an adult. There will always be someone nearby.”

The Code Busters gathered their backpacks filled with water, their notebooks, and cell phones. Cody figured if they did get lost, she could always use a cell phone app, like the air horn app, to attract attention, even if there was no service. The kids got in line, excited to start the journey. They were the fifth group.

“I hope we find all the hidden messages along the way,” M.E. said while they waited their turn.

“I'm sure we will,” Quinn said.

“I wonder what the messages will say,” Luke said, picking up a long stick that lay on the ground nearby.

Cody said nothing, but she hoped that when they found the hidden messages they could crack the final code. After all, they were Code Busters. How would it look if they couldn't solve it!

T
here are the stacked rocks,” Quinn called out when their group reached the starting point. He was pointing to two rocks, one on top of the other, a few feet in the distance. “The first trail marker! Let's go!”

The small group headed down the pine-needle-covered path, bordered on either side by pine and cypress trees. Cody heard birds cawing overhead
and could smell the salty air of the ocean mixed with the woodsy scent. Finally! They were off on their adventure!

“Watch out for poison oak!” M.E. called, bringing up the rear of their single-file line. “I got it last year when my family went camping. I was covered in calamine lotion for a week.”

Cody knew what to look for—a leaf with three arcs on each side, shiny, and either pink, red, yellow, or green. Although she'd never had poison oak, a friend back home had gotten it once when she fell into a creek bed. Even worse, she had broken both arms and had to wear casts over the poison oak! Cody couldn't think of a worse form of torture.

After hiking over the uneven terrain, the group soon came upon a split in the trail. Luckily, there was another trail marker—this one a V shape made from pebbles, with the tip pointing to the right. Cody thought how easy it would have been for someone—like Matt the Brat—to change the direction of the pebbles and get the Code Busters
lost. Luckily, parent volunteers were posted along the route to make sure the kids were safe. Cody spotted one of the parents sitting on a bench a few feet ahead, holding a clipboard. Next to her was a miniature lighthouse made of wood and painted red and white. Cody marked the location on her map.

“Look! A hidden message!” Quinn called out.

Sure enough, Cody spotted a square made from twigs, lying on the ground ahead of them. Inside were six pebbles. Outside were two more twigs pointing to the right. Quinn stood at the edge of the message, facing the direction indicated by the V-shaped twigs. He walked six paces, his steps stiff and deliberate, and stopped by a hollow log that lay beneath a tree.

“You found it!” Luke said, catching up with Quinn.

Quinn bent over to reach into the log.

“Stop!” M.E. yelled. “There could be a snake in there!”

Quinn pulled his hand back.

M.E. was right, Cody thought. It was not a good
idea to go sticking your hand into a log when you couldn't see what was inside—even if the snake was not poisonous, and even if you had a snake kit, which they did. She knelt down and studied the log, then looked up at the tree branches above it. Hovering just over their heads, skewered on a branch, was a piece of green paper, nearly camouflaged by the leaves around it.

“There it is!” Cody said, rising.

Quinn stood up. The kids looked at the paper. It contained a drawing that resembled a bottle of soda pop.

Cody glanced at M.E. Quinn looked at Luke. They all frowned.