Young Adult, 272 pages
Cover art by Richard Stroud
Four cousins visit their
grandparent’s ancient mansion, learn their grandmother has found old silver
coins on the beach...and discover a ship loaded with wealthy passengers had
wrecked outside their grandparent’s beach. This revelation sends them on a
series of perilous adventures that uncovers a dreadful one-hundred-year-old
secret.
Excerpt:
The children sat on
the floor of Sara’s room giggling at
sight of their green faces as they peered through the night vision glasses the
men had let them keep.
“Woo-ee! What a
night,” J.J. gave a chuckle and
scooted closer to Ben. “Bet they were
surprised when they opened that manhole entrance in the floor.”
Ben
grabbed his arm. “Did you tell them where it was?”
“No! Didn’t you?”
“Oh-my-god!” Ben smacked his forehead and jumped to his feet.
“They were in such a hurry I took them through the pantry to save time.” He
glanced at Sara and Tristan. “Did either
of you mention it?”
Tristan shook his
head.
“Me neither,” Sara said, her voice quavering. “And-and that’s the
one Skip used, I-I just know it...”
“Yeah,” Tristan added
with a ferocious frown. “And that means his buddies know too.”
“Yep.” Ben grabbed his packsack and sleeping bag. “I gotta
make sure they don’t get in!” He eyed each of his companions in turn. “Keep the
door locked. Don’t open it for any reason.” He headed for the door.
“Wait, Ben,” Sara
cried. “You can’t be down there all by yourself.”
“I’m the one who
messed up and Grampa’s too old to be creeping around in the dark.” He shrugged.
“So, who else?”
“Us.” Sara, J.J.
and Tristan said as one.
“Where you go, we go
big bro.” J.J. jabbed his fist in the
air. “What do we need, Ben?”
“I can’t let you kids
go with me.”
“We’re going.” Sara swallowed hard and grasped Tristan’s hand.
“Yeah,” J.J. said, “and you can’t stop us.”
Ben
ran a hand over his face. “If you come, you have to do as I say.” He fixed the
boys with a fierce look until they both nodded then went on. “We’ll need a
couple sleeping bags, our backpacks, and...and some kind of weapon.” He thought
for a moment. “I have a baseball bat in my room, and if we use the North Room
panel we can grab some of the fireplace tools.”
A knock sounded on the
door, and they all froze.
“Time for you kids to
settle down in there,” Gram said.
“We will,” they all
chorused and blew out their breath with relief.
Tiptoeing here and
there about the room, they gathered their gear. Ben
caught hold of Sara’s arm and whispered.
“What if she comes back later?”
Sara
took a key from her pocket. “I’ll lock up when I leave.”
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