Free Click Here to Start by Denis Markell Page B

turn and see Caleb crouched down next to me. He puts his hand on my shoulder. “You have no idea what could happen. It could be booby-trapped. You said your great-uncle was weird.”
    “But he
wanted
Ted to find it,” Isabel says. “Why would he do anything to hurt him?”
    “Maybe this wasn’t for Ted,” Caleb says. “What if someone
else
was looking for it?”
    “Then they would have had to get this far.” Isabel is getting exasperated.
    “Besides, who else would be looking for this?” I ask.
    “He might have had enemies,” Caleb says.
    “You read too many comic books,” sniffs Isabel.
    I turn back to the little compartment. “Look, I’m the one he left this stuff to. Clearly this was a test to see if I could solve the puzzles. And I did. So—”
    “Don’t you mean
we
did?” Isabel asks, hands on hips.
    Oh, how I hate the hands on hips. Luckily, Caleb has my back. He stares at Isabel incredulously. “You…you think Ted couldn’t have solved this without your help?”
    I look back at her, trying my best not to look cocky. Not sure I succeed.
    “I am kind of good at this,” I say simply.
    “Yeah, I guess so,” Isabel admits.
    Will wonders never cease?
    “So reach in, already.”
    I put my hand in and feel something hard and smooth. The top of a box. I put my other hand in and gently retrieve it. I carefully bring it over to the window, where there’s more light.
    It’s a wooden box, the kind you might keep jewelry in, but slightly bigger. Hinged in the back, it’s secured with a single inlaid lock, with the keyhole showing in the front. On the top is a beautiful hand-carved scene of a tropical beach at sunset. A woman in a grass skirt and lei is resting against a palm tree.
    Isabel leans in and takes a deep breath, a small smile forming on her face. “What kind of wood is that? It smells so rich.”
    I can’t resist. “I’m sorry, did I hear right? Is there actually something else you don’t know?”
    “I wish you would quit that. I already asked you about stuff I don’t know. I don’t know a
lot
of things,” Isabel snaps. “And when people ask me about things I
do
know, I’m nice enough to tell them, as opposed to being a snot rag about it.”
    I ponder whether anyone has ever called me a snot rag before. I decide they haven’t.
    And let’s face it, I
was
being a snot rag.
    “Sorry. I think it’s called Koa wood. It’s native to Hawaii. My mom has a jewelry box she got there, and it has the same smell.”
    “So the key’s got to be around here somewhere, right?” Caleb starts rushing around the room and pulling at the curtains.
    I shake my head. “The key’s hidden somewhere else.”
    “But that can’t be the end of the game!” Caleb protests. “And what makes you so sure?”
    “Well…one of the last things my great-uncle told me before he died was ‘The box is only the beginning.’ This is where this part of the game ends. Finding the box.”
    Turning the box over, I let out a small gasp. “And here’s our next clue.”
    Taped under the box is a cigarette lighter. I take it off.
    It’s an old silver lighter, with a medallion of some kind on the front. The medallion is a six-sided shield, with a hand holding a torch inside it. Scratched into the box where the lighter was attached is a number: 1405.
    “I bet you have to hold the box under the UV light!” Isabel pipes up, looking like she’s the only one in class who’s figured out the answer to a particularly hard question.
    “You only use those things
once
in a game. Don’t you know anything?” Caleb scoffs.
    “Maybe his great-uncle didn’t spend all his time playing games like some people. It’s worth a shot,” grouses Isabel, folding her arms and glaring at Caleb.
    I hold the box under the lamp. Nothing.
    “See?” crows Caleb.
    Snot rag #2.
    “Wait, Caleb. It wasn’t a total waste of time,” I say, trying to make Isabel feel a little better. “Look at the way the number is carved into the