Free Buried Secrets at Louisbourg by Jo Ann Yhard Page A

“Grace?”
    â€œYeah, is he gone?”
    â€œIt’s just me and Mai.”
    The grass moved and Jeeter and Grace emerged. “Finally,” Grace said. She stood on the dirt road and shook out her skirt. “I swear a grasshopper climbed up this dumb dress. That wouldn’t happen if I had pants.”
    â€œStop complaining. You’d have been in shorts anyways,” Fred said. “What happened?”
    â€œThe giant came back again. We barely had time to dive into the weeds,” Jeeter said.
    At least Molly’s longer-than-long tour had had one benefit. Giant guy had given up, for now. Fred had to get his box.
“I gotta go back to the tent.”
    Ignoring him, Mai breezed past Fred and walked over to Jeeter. “You’ve got grass in your hair,” she said.
    â€œI do?” Jeeter lifted his hand toward his head.
    â€œI’ll get it.” Mai stood on her tiptoes and placed her hand on Jeeter’s shoulder. She reached up and pulled strands of grass free, waving them in front of his face. “See?” she laughed.
    Jeeter smiled down at her. “Thanks.”
    Fred swallowed. “I, uh, gotta go.”
    â€œWe’re coming too,” Grace said. “Safety in numbers, I say.”
    â€œShe’s right,” Jeeter said. “Whatever that guy is after, we have to stick together. Maybe we should look for your dad and find out what’s going on.”
    â€œGrow some gills and maybe you can,” Fred muttered.
    Jeeter raised his eyebrows. “What are you talking about, Freddo? Did you say
gills
?”
    â€œNever mind.” He started walking down the hill.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” Grace asked. “We can’t go that way. It’s all in the open—we’ll be sitting ducks!”
    Fred stopped. Much as he hated to admit it, she was right. The road back down the hill was flanked by gravel and short grass. Absolutely no hiding places. They needed cover. Giant guy could come back any second. What about the King’s Bastion at the top of the hill? Lots of people and cover, but it was in the wrong direction.
    The large patch of meadow directly in front of them would hide them for most of the way to the edge of the town. Then there were lots of places to hide as they made their way back to their campsite on the quay. “Okay, I guess you’re right.”
    â€œWhat was that?” Grace smirked, her hands on her hips. “Could you say that again? I didn’t hear you.”
    â€œOh, stuff it,” Fred grumbled. He waded into the tall grass. Well, not really grass. More like a maze of tall brown stalks with fuzzy, dull-white balls on top, like dandelions. But it did the trick. When he crouched down a bit, the stalks were over his head. Crickets trilled as Fred, Mai, Grace, and Jeeter began to snake through the weeds.
    They inched forward, popping up every few minutes to check for the giant. It seemed like he really had given up on them. Maybe he had already gotten what he wanted from the tent, Fred thought. No! He’d hidden it well. No one would find it.
    But then, who would even be looking for it? No one knew he had it, right? Maybe he was overreacting. He didn’t even know this giant guy. He was probably just being paranoid.
    Something flew into his mouth. “
Pllfff!
” Fred spat. A swarm of no-see-ums had come out of nowhere and enveloped them in a cloud. The miniature flying pests were everywhere at once. In their mouths. Up their noses. In their ears. They were under attack! Gagging and spitting, they pushed forward through the last of the meadow, their arms waving crazily over their heads at the receding cloud of bugs.
    Pieces of the fuzzy flowers were stuck to their clothes. Fred kicked off the wooden clogs and dumped them out, bits of dirt and plants scattering on the ground. Grace and Jeeter’s complaints were a faded drone in the background.
    He looked up to find Mai staring at